Traveling Light

We suffer from Bible over-familiarity.  By this I mean we know the Bible stories so well that they no longer produce an emotional reaction in us.  For example, in today's sermon I told the story-in-the-story of John the Baptist's unjust murder.  He upset some powerful people and they have his head cut off and placed on a dinner platter.  We've heard that story so many times that it has lost much of its power. 

Today I tried to "re-frame" the story by telling about the horrible murder of five missionaries more than 50 years ago.  Hearing about the incredible faith, not only of the young men, but also of their young wives and later of their grown children, makes the story produce many emotions.  Someone said I should have provided tissues in the pews. 

This story impacted my life when I was a college student and continues to shape it to this day.  If you would like to learn more I would recommend the following resources:

•  Elisabeth's Elliot's classic book, Through Gates of Splendor is avaliable at most public librarys
• At least three DVD's are available
• Through Gates of Splendor is a documentary narrated by Elisabeth Elliot.  It is 36 minutes in legnth
• Beyond Gates of Splendor is professionally produced documentary which appeared in theaters in 2002.  It features Steve Saint, son one of the slain missionaries and is 96 minutes long.
• The movie clip I showed today was from The End of The Spear produced in 2006.  It is a powerful retelling of the story bringing it up to the current day.

Below (if reading this on my blog) you can find some easy links to buy each of these items on Amazon.