Rediscovering Values for Lent: The Mind of Christ | Sojourners

Rediscovering Values for Lent: The Mind of Christ

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[Editors' note: During the season of Lent we will be posting excerpts from the Rediscovering Values Lenten Study Guide. We invite you to study God's word with us through these posts.]

Lectionary reading: Philippians 2:5-11

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

Excerpt from Rediscovering Values:

In 2005, Yahoo handed over to the Chinese government the names of Chinese dissidents who used Yahoo email accounts to try and hide their identities. As a result, one reporter was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sending to foreigners a message he had received from Chinese authorities telling their newspaper to downplay the fifteenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

A Chinese dissident named Liu Xiaobo, who had spent time in a Chinese prison himself, saw it differently. In an open letter to Yahoo's founder, Jerry Yang, he wrote, "I must tell you that my indignation at and contempt for you and your company are not a bit less than my indignation at and contempt for the communist regime. ... Profit makes you dull in morality ... [Y]our glorious social status is a poor cover for your barren morality, and your swelling wallet is an indicator of your diminished status as a man."

Discussion Question:

Contrast how Paul describes the "mind of Christ" in his letter to the Philippians versus how Liu Xiaobo describes the morality of Yahoo in his letter to CEO, Jeffrey Yang. What is the difference between humility and self-effacement?

[This post is excerpted from A Lenten Study Guide for use with Rediscovering Values.]

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