I love Nairobi, though I haven’t been there since ’02. I really knew the city in the mid-eighties when I worked in Tanzania, and when Nairobi was a safer and more-stable-looking place. Your articles made me (again) want to go back, though that contrast of the poverty and the wealth always left me with a nagging feeling in my gut.

But I really want to reinforce your bigger view of the gospel/atonement. I won’t pontificate here; interested parties can check out what I’ve written on my own blog. I do want to affirm your expansion of your faith…you are on the gospel track, and I will be linking these articles from my own site.

Blessings on your travels and your further discoveries!

Dan

One thing I haven’t talked about here in relation to the Gospel and another reason why I am convinced the good news isn’t limited to the substitution Christ gifted on the cross through his blood is that I believe the good news (the Gospel) must extend to, and speak to the earth itself.

The earth itself needs redeeming and the message of substitution does not speak to that redemption in the same way it does for individual humanity – other parts of the story do.

Sorry for beating this drum so much – but it has had a real impact on me. I am more convinced of the breadth of the Gospel than I have ever been.

God charged us with caring for creation. Nairobi speaks volumes about the ravages of sin but also the tranformation of the Kingdom.

When I get pictures up you will see something amazing. The city is a mess of smog – the environment is being destroyed – it is groaning under the effects of the depravity of humanity.

The safari was beautiful, but here where I am staying – a resort called Brackenhurst – run by Christians – there is an understanding that we are charged to redeem the environment. With that in mind, a group of Christians have engaged in restoring the land at the resort with the understanding that they are redeeming and transforming.

They have taken an area that once only had a few trees and they have planted many native trees – because of this the area has been beautified and native birds are returning in great numbers.

Just as the project stood as testament to the proclamation that the Kingdom had drawn near within the slum of Kibera – so the efforts at Brackehurst testify to the Kingdom drawing near within the depravity of the destructive environment of the city.

This area is a testament to the transforming power of the Gospel for the redemption and restoration of the earth itself.

If we limit the message of the Gospel to the substitution present on the cross then we limit the good news to only individual humanity – the message must speak to the entirety of God’s creation – to the individual, the communal and the environmental. God’s concern exists for all of it. The proclamation and action of the Kingdom permeates it all.

Until we grasp this, all of creation will continue to groan for the revelation of the children of God. Environmental concern is not something we undertake as an optional extra – secondary to getting salvations through the message of substitution – it is part of the very heart of who we are.As citizens of the Kingdom we have a heart for and participate in the restoration of the whole of God’s creative expression – the Gospel enables us to do so.

Sometimes you can’t help but sit back in astonishment with how good God is.