Needing Prophets!

This Sunday’s AFC and NFC football championship games will determine who’s in the Super Bowl. It’s the first time since 2009 that neither Aaron Rogers or Tom Brady aren’t playing. Instead there’s 4 “young guns.” There’s Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, age 25; Patrick Mahomes, age 26, of the K.C. Chiefs; Jimmy Garapollo, age 30, of the S.F. 49ers; and the old guy in the crowd is Matthew Stafford, age 33, of the L.A. Rams. Not to overexaggerate, but Jesus did His best work at age 33! The point being, whether it’s with a prophet like Jeremiah who tells God that he’s too young for his calling, or some of the rest of us who say that we’re too old, God can work with whomever says, “Yes!” and makes themselves available.

We certainly need people of all ages to step up and do something about the mess our world is in! A lot of people have given credit to Sir Edmund Burke for the statement, “All that it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” Others have said that the statement, though a tad different, actually comes from English philosopher, John Stuart Mill. At his inauguration as president of the University of Saint Andrews in 1867, he said, “Let not anyone pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to accomplish their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.”

No matter who said it, it’s still true. Hardly anybody wants to be a prophet. Jeremiah didn’t. He came from a priestly family. His father was Hilkiah, a famous priest who rediscovered God’s law under King Josiah in 2 Kings 22:8. Jeremiah thought that God wanted him to be a priest, but God wanted him to be a prophet. Priests have cushy jobs compared to prophets. Priests speak soothing words for the most part as they try to represent and reconcile both humans and God. They get to eat from the sacrifices at the Temple while prophets are relegated to locusts and wild honey, and prophets have to speak hard warnings that are not usually welcome. Even when their warnings of calamity come true, people still don’t like them, “There goes so-and-so, the know-it-all who brought all these problems on us!”

Nobody likes “I-told-you-so” prophets. Jesus said prophets weren’t even welcome in their hometowns, but don’t we need them today as much as any other time in history? Charles Spurgeon, a preacher and prophet from the middle of the 1800s said this about the progression of what he called, “The Six Stages of Moral Failure.” See if any of this reminds you of today: “First, we overlook evil. Then, second, we permit evil. Third, we legalize evil. Then, fourth, we promote evil. Fifth, we celebrate evil. Sixth and finally, we persecute those who still call it evil.” Wow! This sounds too familiar.

We need prophets who will take heed of Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil, good; and good, evil.” I know that many of us feel ill-equipped or afraid to be a prophet. We’re no different from Jeremiah and his excuses. We need to hear the same reassuring word from the Lord, “You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord (Jeremiah 1:7b-8). That’s a relief! We can trust God to be with us even when we have to share a tough word.

Trust, in other words, is key to being a prophet or a championship NFL football team. God likes to throw “leading passes.” A leading pass is when the Quarterback throws to where the receiver will be, not where he is. So, this Sunday, receivers are going to have to trust that their young gun QBs will put the ball in the right spot. Their job is to run their routes and go where they’re supposed to go.

Remember the “Miracle in Miami” when Doug Flutie of the Boston College Eagles heaved a “Hail Mary” pass to Gerard Phelan to beat the defending national champions, Miami Hurricanes. With only 6 seconds to go, down 45 to 40, he called the “Flood Tip” play in the huddle which is when all the receivers flood the same area in the end zone and tip the ball to whichever teammate can catch it. He looked into his receiver’s eyes and said, “Just keep running, and I’ll take care of the rest.” He dropped back, scrambled for his life, backing up 17 yards to his own 35, and heaved a 64-yard pass. Gerard Phelan caught it and BC won 47-45.

If receivers can trust Doug Flutie, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Jimmy Garopollo, or Matthew Stafford to get the ball to them, don’t you think we can trust the Good Lord? He wants to throw a leading pass to us and send us on a mission to reclaim the world. Are we willing to run our routes and go where we’re sent? I certainly hope so!

Remembering 9/11

Twenty years ago, September 11, 2001, 3,229 people lost their lives to terrorism. Most of us remember exactly where we were we heard the news or tuned into the newscasts. It was a national tragedy like Pearl Harbor, JFK’s assassination, the Challenger explosion, and other seismic events that have rocked our lives. At first it seemed like an awful accident that a plane had hit one tower of the World Trade Center. That notion quickly evaporated as another plane hit the remaining tower. Then there was news out of Washington that the Pentagon had been hit, and next was the word that Flight 93 had been hijacked, put on autopilot and was headed for D.C. Possible targets were the Capitol or White House.

We recall with poignant pride that Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer said, “Let’s roll!” He and the other passengers assaulted the terrorists holed up in the cockpit, and selflessly gave their lives in a Pennsylvania field just 20 minutes flying time away from Washington. Forty-four souls died on Flight 93. One hundred eighty-nine souls died at the Pentagon, and two thousand nine hundred and ninety-six died at the World Trade Center. Of those, three hundred forty-three were firefighters, twenty-three were NYPD, and thirty-seven more were police with the NY Port Authority.

Some of you, like me, have been to one or more of these historic sites. At Trinity Church, two short blocks away from where the twin towers once stood, I saw the photo-copied faces of the missing on the makeshift barriers as the nearby buildings were held together by wire, rebar, and blue tarp. This was just a few months after 9/11, and the graveyard at Trinity was still covered in the gray ash of the dead mixed with debris. None of us will forget the scenes: fire departments and police from all over the country doing their part to sift through the rubble; President Bush with bullhorn in hand at perhaps his finest hour standing on the twisted metal; enlistment lines at local military recruitment stations; churches that were full. We were one nation pulling together.

NFL star Pat Tillman turned down a multi-million-dollar contract to keep playing for the Arizona Cardinals so he could enlist. It was 8 months after 9/11. Pat Tillman became a US Army Ranger and served several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He died in combat from “friendly fire” in the mountains of Afghanistan. He gave the supreme sacrifice like all those first-responders who ran toward the destruction, not from it. We can honor them by continuing to stand in the breach, and declare, “Not on my watch!” We will honor them by filling churches once again like the Sundays after 9/11. We can promise to stand tall and support civility and civilization. We will depend on our faith in our struggle against injustice, tyranny, and the destruction of morality.

Foreign adversaries laugh now at how our fissures have exposed our weaknesses. We have given them fodder for their attacks. We have become what Jesus and Lincoln both described as a “house divided against itself.” It is our turn to say, “Let’s roll!” We cannot let our freedoms divide us. Can we not do what was done in 2001? Can we not pull together and honor one another though we might disagree? Can’t we embrace the Golden Rule by doing unto others as we would have them do unto us?

Jesus came to foster freedom, but it was not a freedom from responsibility. It was a freedom to embrace responsibility: to love God and neighbor because we want to, not because some totalitarian government threatens us. We can all be American, and live and let live if there is a common cause worth the greater fight or larger battle. We can all do our part to save America from another 9/11. The fabric and soul of our country depends on more than the few and the brave. Each one of us has a part to play.  God bless every 9/11 family, and God bless America.

Reflection on Afghanistan, COVID and Leadership

Everything about Afghanistan has confirmed my strong conviction that sacrifice, duty, and leadership count. God bless the families of fallen service men and women who have made the supreme sacrifice and those who have paid the last full measure of devotion. The latest casualties strike at the core of what makes America great because their mission was humanitarian. They were there in Kabul to rescue and evacuate. May their memories encourage us, and inspire us to be like Jesus who gave his all so that we might live, and in life itself was willing to wash the disciples’ feet.  Lord, have mercy, we plead and pray.

Lord, give strength and comfort to all those who have given of themselves in all of our battles, especially against illnesses like COVID, injustice, terrorism and every infraction against the Golden Rule. Help our teachers, parents, nurses, doctors, caregivers, hospice workers, firefighters, police, EMS, first responders, last responders, and, of course, our brave service men and women who serve in harm’s way. All of these are for whom the words of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade,” are eerily appropriate today.

That charge at the 1854 Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War by the British was heroic, but disastrous because of miscommunication, but they did their duty nevertheless. It reads:

Theirs was not to make reply,

Theirs was not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Duty, honor, and sacrifice are the by-product of leadership in families, schools, churches, and town halls on up to the highest reaches of government. We are a chain, only as strong as the weakest link, and the crucibles we’ve been facing have proven the mettle of our leaders and found it either worthy or not. The history books are the final arbiters. There will be applause and pundits in the meantime. The best leadership is gauged not by polls, but purpose.

For instance, I have been reading about Brigadier General Teddy Roosevelt, Jr., often called, “The Toughest Man in World War II.” He and his family were keen on purpose. His father was President Theodore Roosevelt of San Juan Hill and Roughrider fame who proposed that prudence demands that freedom-loving people, “Speak softly, and carry a big stick.” President Teddy Roosevelt’s youngest son, Quentin, was shot down and died in World War I. Another son, Kermit, served in World War I and II. Son, Archie, retired from the military after being shot in the knee in World War I, but insisted on coming back for World War II. He served in the Pacific Theater, was wounded again and received the Silver Star with three oak-leaf clusters. Ted, Jr. led the D-Day invasion as a part of the first wave at Utah Beach.

Why so much dedication to fight for their country? Their father, President Teddy Roosevelt, modeled and instilled a mindset of duty and military obligation. So, no wonder Ted, Jr. was the highest-ranking American officer on the invasion beaches. He was warned against it, but he replied that his troops needed him.

One author, K.S. Bruce, sums it up with this account: “Imagine it is D-Day, June 6, 1944, and you are a young private hitting Utah Beach in the very first wave, into the teeth of the German army, against a rainfall of enemy gunfire, artillery shrapnel and gore. You are filled with fear, and there on the beach in front of you, stands an old man. An American brigadier general – bull-frog voiced, pop-eyed, 5-foot-8 inches tall and directing the troops with his cane. Calm as a man can be in combat, he is Ted Roosevelt, Jr. At age 56 with bad arthritis, he had volunteered to be on the landing boats in order to give the young troops reassurance and to arm them with his same fortitude and courage, and he did exactly that. When he realizes he and his men are a mile from their designated drop-off point, he calmly looked at a map while dodging bullets and opined, ‘We’ll start the war from here.’”

Now, how’s that for leadership? In 5 weeks, he would be dead from a heart attack, but not without first leading his men ashore. His own son, Quentin, named after Ted, Jr.’s brother who was killed in World War I, was also in the first wave on D-Day, only to die some time later. How many invasions had this privileged son of a President been in that he, no doubt, could have escaped? Basically, all of them. As a combat officer in the 26^th Regiment of the First Division (The “Big Red One”) during World War I, Ted, Jr. helped lead the Americans into France. In 1941, he was back again to help lead the same regiment in the amphibious invasion of North Africa in World War II. He battled into Sicily, and he was with the Fourth Division at D-Day.

For his bravery on Utah Beach, General Ted Roosevelt, Jr. was awarded the Medal of Honor. His father, President Theodore Roosevelt, also received one for his leadership and bravery on San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. They, along with Arthur and Douglas McArthur, are the only father and sons to ever both win a Medal of Honor. Ted, Jr. is buried in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, alongside his younger brother, Quentin, who was killed in World War I. Leadership’s ripple effect spreads far and wide. Its lack does, too.

Oh, how we need leaders today. God help all of those trying to do their best to emulate duty, honor, and sacrifice in our battles both at home and abroad: in classrooms, boardrooms, family rooms, hospital rooms, and in the continued fight against all that is not of God everywhere. May it be said of us, we pray. Amen.

Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., seen in Ste. Mere-Eglise on July 12, hours before he died of a coronary thrombosis. Arthritis caused him to walk with a stick. The 4th Infantry Division commander described him as “the most gallant soldier and finest gentleman I have ever known.” (US Gov)

Reopening after COVID is HARD!

Do you have any frenemies? You know what I mean, family members, friends, or others that just get under your skin? You are friends, but they are just as easily classified as enemies. Passive-aggressive behavior is their specialty. They say things like, “Do you think that color looks good on you?” or “Do you like your hair that way?” Both comments sound innocuous, even helpful, but you know they are really trying to get in a jab under the guise of “speaking the truth in love.”

I like Nathanael-types as in John 2:43-51. Nathanael thought out loud like many of us do and said about Jesus’ hometown, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?” When Nathanael finally meets Jesus, the Lord says of him, “Here is a true Israelite, one in whom there is no guile.” Some Bible translations say, “deceit” instead of “guile.” Either way, Jesus pegs Nathanael’s basic character trait as a straight-shooter, one who isn’t a passive-aggressive flatterer who is a well-intentioned dragon, or a devil in disguise.

Can our world take the truth, or have we created a world where truth gets so massaged that it is hardly recognizable? COVID-fatigue has severely hampered our abilities to be honest with each other. Our lack of Nathanael-like clarity for fear of being labeled or chastised in our hyper-sensitive world has caused us to keep quiet and repress our true feelings. Unfortunately, those repressed feelings come boiling to the surface at some point, and one of the easiest places for that to happen is the church. At first glance, this is a good thing. The church is where we should be able to voice our thoughts without impunity, but, let me tell you, loosening our restrictions has been TOUGH on everybody who works in and with the church! It has become quite apparent that it was easier to shut things down than to open them back up. I had hoped that we wouldn’t have to get back to “normal” in stages or in a piece-meal fashion, but thanks to the powers that be, “Here we go!”

This is all on my mind because we’re so tired as a culture, and our feelings are on our sleeves. Some people haven’t been vaccinated. Some have. Some people can’t get vaccinated due to health issues. In other words, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all plan or strategy for reopening, so can’t we be patient and quit being so “what about me” in our selfish desire to get back to what WE think is normal? Worse is that COVID and reopening our shut-down world has given a megaphone to everyone’s opinions. We live in an age where the squeaky wheels get the grease, and with all that we have been through this year it seems that everybody’s wheels are way louder than a mere squeak. We have taken the autonomy of the individual to an extreme. Everyone’s truth is declared to be THE truth, and if everyone’s truth is THE truth, then there is no truth. It’s really all just opinions and everybody’s got one, and a lot of people have had theirs on full display.

The truth is that only God is TRUTH. I am not the absolute truth, and you are not the absolute truth, so why can’t we all just keep trying to do the very best we can under whatever our circumstances, let God be God, and we all do the right thing as consistently as possible. It could be said that the Golden Rule is an excellent example to follow. However, in our autonomy-worshipping society, even the Golden Rule has been co-opted by free-thinkers and self-absorbed survivalists who don’t give a whit about what’s good for everybody. Our self-interests and so-called “rights” have made us little kings and queens of our own domains. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” has been flipped, reversed, and turned into “What’s good for me better be good enough for you, end of story!”

It is reminiscent of the passages in the Book of Judges (17:6 and 21:25) that are so indicative of our world right now, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” Everybody can’t be right, right? So, how do we determine the best course of action in any given situation? Do we go with our gut, what our friends say, what the media suggests, the advice of sage counselors, or as in the words of the main song in the popular animated film, Frozen, do we just let all boundaries go? Unfortunately, I can hear the echoes of my youngish granddaughters singing “Let It Go!” in perfect pitch. Great, except the self-proclaimed independence it promotes is rubbish. Read this snippet:

It’s funny how some distance makes everything seem small

And the fears that once controlled me can’t get to me at all

It’s time to see what I can do

To test the limits and break through

No right, no wrong, no rules for me

I’m free

To be sure, things turn out better as Elsa mitigates her newfound acceptance of her own autonomy by remembering her family and the community of friends that she has. She realizes that “me being me” isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I sure wish our world and everyone in it, including me, and a boatload of church members would figure that out. We, like Elsa, may discover that our own worst frenemy is ourselves.

Individual autonomy can be helpful for traumatized ice princesses, but not if our independence sinks us deeper into selfishness. That is the prison that our culture is embracing. Isn’t that the root of a lot that’s going on? It can be called such things as sheer selfishness, my way or the highway, or the living out of the words in William Ernest Henley’s Invictus, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” NO, WE ARE NOT! Jesus is, and His two great commandments, not one without the other, are, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Mother Church and Mother’s Day

“What have you done to Mother Church?” rings in my ears. I’ve heard those words preached recently by a passionate Roman Catholic priest on the internet. Lots of people have been concerned about the erosion of values like respect and morality. Common decency is far too uncommon. There also seems to be a universal concern over the state of the church. Has the church lost its way? Is it irrelevant in our pluralistic society? The assault on our culture and church has been going on since most of us can remember.

It isn’t new, but what is new is that the assault is now unashamedly out in the open. It’s direct. The nonchalant cavalier manner in which we have become anesthetized to the attacks on our very foundations is utterly appalling, and we hardly wring our hands at it anymore. We don’t blush, and we hardly fight back. Perhaps that’s because It has crept up on us. We have betrayed Mother Church and other cultural building blocks in little ways, inch by inch, little by little, and have become the proverbial frog in the pot of water who doesn’t mind the temperature slowly rising until it is too late to do anything about it.

With Mother’s Day approaching, is that also where we are with our understanding of family? We have redefined so many givens in such short order that if we dare speak up for traditional values, then we are instantly castigated, canceled, protested, or even slapped in jail like Pastor John Sherwood in the UK 5 days ago. Something is really awry if “woke” people can say all sorts of things, but a guy who happens to be quoting the Bible is arrested. This sounds too much like some situations in the United Methodist Church where some bishops and progressives have claimed to be “Big Tent Methodists,” except when the tent has conservatives in it. Some pastors have been arbitrarily moved, licenses revoked, and churches closed.

This culture war makes me wonder how we will celebrate Mother’s Day 5 years from now? Maybe we won’t even have a Mother’s Day or a Father’s Day per se. Our designations may evolve into a generic politically correct “Parent’s Day.” Don’t get me wrong. I understand and appreciate all the ways that families are configured, and praise foster parents for their sacrificial ministry. Maybe I’m being nostalgic for the days when it seemed like all the Mothers in town set a commonly agreed upon curfew. There were certain rules, spoken or unspoken, that defined acceptable behavior, but “Ozzie and Harriett” are long gone. Think about it, though. “The Andy Griffith Show” didn’t have a Mom unless you counted Aunt Bee, and “My Three Sons” didn’t have one unless it was Uncle Charley. So, I get it, families come in all shapes and sizes.

What ever happened to when we used to celebrate “Festival of the Christian Home” during the week of Mother’s Day? That’s about as out of sight and mind as what we used to call revival services, or “Festivals of Faith.” Those things seem so passé to a lot of people. The world has changed, some for the better, but a lot for the worse. Somehow down at the gut and soul level, it seems like we’ve reached a tipping point. We’ve gone over the brink, and crossed the proverbial Rubicon. Has COVID accelerated the point of no return? Maybe, but surely, we shouldn’t toss out time-honored definitions of human personhood and family, or the church’s positions on critical issues?

Part of me wants to rail on a street corner like the priest, “What have we done to Mother Church?” What have we done to the church that gave us spiritual birth and sustenance? I also want to say, “What have we done to the family?” It strikes me that there is a corollary between the two. Both are our mothers. How we treat one says a lot about our treatment of the other. It seems to me that a laissez-faire attitude about either is the death knell of much that we hold dear. Trust me, this concern isn’t about preserving motherhood or church as a static institution. We need these hallmarks of culture to be living and breathing. By definition, doctrine should never change, but theology, the contemporary interpretation of doctrine, should always be changing. Institutions can be so self-serving and self-perpetuating, seeking their preservation as an entity over their purpose. So, how do we ask the right questions so we can better discern and fulfill John Wesley’s admonition: “In essentials, let there be unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity?” What are the most important questions that we need to ask this Mother’s Day? How do we shore up, promote, and strengthen motherhood and Mother Church?

Identifying Your Highest Values

So far 2021 feels like 2020 part two. This has been an emotionally draining time for all of us. We can identify with the excerpted words of Psalm 13: “How long, O Lord? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? Look on me and answer me, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death.” There’s almost a death pall over the world. We’re tired of this. We weren’t made to be isolated creatures. We long for relationships and interpersonal contact. Our country and world have seen tempers boil over because of the sheer weight of this prolonged assault.

Added stress to an already worn out world is the politics of division. No matter what “side” one is on, COVID and evil has taken advantage of our ongoing malaise and pitted us against one another. Our inward focus on self-survival in these past months has exacerbated our differences more than our common values. If someone were to ask you what your highest value is, what would it be? What would they be?

Our church just received 150 face masks free-of-charge from our denominational communications people. What they have written on them is very telling in terms of priorities and highest values: “Love Your Neighbor” is in big bold letters, and down at the bottom in small letters is “The people of the United Methodist Church.” My cynicism is on full display at this point because I don’t think loving my neighbor should be my highest value. It would have been much more preferable to me that the mask boldly said, “Love God,” “Love Jesus,” or “Love God and Neighbor.” In these days of division and hyper-judgement, loving our neighbor is extremely important, but when I read what Jesus called the two greatest commandments, he didn’t start with love your neighbor. He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,” and then he said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Celebrating the individual is our national pastime nowadays, and we justify ourselves by buying into this anti-social tactic. It is anti-social for us to say everything anyone does is fine. Don’t we realize that God made differences between plants, fish, birds, animals and people as a good, even great thing? We want to flatten the curve on differentiation by overplaying sameness. We have made individual autonomy our highest value. This over-valuing of self is most insidious when it demands that everybody else understand me; i.e., appreciate me, love me, support me, condone me, and applaud me.

You begin to see why the commandment to love your neighbor becomes a warped slogan of self-actualization when it requires everyone else to kowtow to whatever my self-proclaimed values are. The problem with this is that no one can really understand someone else. It is absolutely important and a good thing to try to walk in someone else’s shoes, and attempt to see their perspectives. We should value one another as made in God’s image, but identity politics is basically narcissism because it doesn’t recognize that we have all been marred by original sin. Everybody can’t be right, right? So, what do we do? What message would you put on your mask that represents your highest value?

Maybe your highest value might be to hang on to The Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If that’s not good enough, we could go further and take our national conscience a bit higher by following the two great commandments, but doing them in order: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” Hear me, I am talking both/and, not one without the other. One cannot even begin to understand and love one’s neighbor without first loving God. A blanket kumbaya that accepts any and everything from others too easily becomes a convenient rationalization of my own actions, desires, and identity. God has to come first before I can really appreciate my neighbor or love myself.

The Bible actually has a very clear statement that spells out what it means to love God first and foremost, and our neighbors second. That statement, of course, is the 10 Commandments, albeit in the McClendon version: “Have no other gods but Me; Don’t make or bow down to idols; Don’t use my name in a way to make it mean something it doesn’t; Keep at least one day holy so you can have time to remember Who I am; Respect your parents and those who take care of you; Don’t murder and that includes way more than you think; Sex is sacred, so don’t fool around in your head, bed or on your TV, computer, or phone; Never steal in any way, shape, or form; Don’t lie or spread anything that isn’t 100% accurate; Be content, and don’t be envious or want what you don’t have.”

These commandments are pretty evenly split between love of God and neighbor. They beg the question: What would happen if we took them to heart, and put them into practice? What changes would occur in our country, world, and our personal lives? How would they shape our values, how we treat one another, and, most importantly, how we view and worship God? These commandments, seriously observed, make me get out of my pompous perch of judgment and self-approval, and take God and everybody else seriously.

Fred Craddock, consummate story teller and preacher, gives us a hint of hope and instruction on how this can work. He talked about how he had to get from one place to another on his family’s farm when he was growing up. His experience as a young man gives us a good lesson in civics, civility, and Christianity in a world fraught with divided opinions. As he walked the fields working in the family truck garden, the red mule he used to plow with would often get loose and make Fred have to chase him through an old family graveyard.

He would complain to his mother about having to go through that spooky old cemetery. His mother’s usual reply was, “There’s no other way. Now when you go through the graveyard, make sure you don’t step on graves. Graves are sacred ground.” Fred, in the late hours of waning sunlight, was chasing the mule through the cemetery, and he got frustrated because, in the diminished light, he didn’t know whether or not he was stepping on his Mama’s precious graves. Getting home he told his mother, “Mama, I couldn’t tell what part of the cemetery was sacred.” And she said, “Well, I know, it sometimes looks the same. But if you’ll just treat it all as sacred, you’ll never miss.” Craddock concluded, “You treat it all as sacred, but that’s just the way Mama was.” Is that the way we are? Do we treat whatever or whomever as sacred or profane? Something to ponder as we name our values in our complicated world.

The Pecking Order and a Possibility for Peace

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ isn’t Greek to me, but it is Hebrew, and to follow it, you must read it from right to left. If we were to read this in English, it would be left to right and, if anglicized, it would read: “Bereshith bara Elohim eth hashamyim v-eth haaretz, “In the beginning created God the heavens and the earth.” “In the beginning” is repeated in John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

Here we are at the beginning of a New Year, with a new president and administration about to be sworn in, but somehow my expectations for 2021 have been diminished. So far, 2021 seems a lot like 2020, a year that most of us would like to forget. We are weary of isolation, death, disease, restrictions, high and low domestic drama and endless commercials attacking political opponents.

Fascinating to me is the Hebrew verb, “bara,” “to create.” It is ONLY used as God’s prerogative. The New Testament Greek verb to create, “κτίζω,” or “ktizo” is similar. It is also ONLY used of God. So, guess where that leaves me and you? We are not God, but we are caretakers. Psalm 8:5-6 describes where we as humans fall in the pecking-order and what our job description is: “You (God) made humanity a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands.” This sums up Genesis 1’s description (vss. 26-27) of us humans as uniquely made in God’s image crowned with glory, and though we are not equal to the God who creates, we do have responsibilities to have stewardship over the “works of God’s hands.”

Genesis 2:15 is even more succinct as it describes our function in God’s created order: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. So, how are we doing? Do we treat one another with proper respect? Are we taking care of the planet? Do we acknowledge the image of God in other people, or judge them too harshly? Have we exhibited stewardship of Spaceship Earth or taken advantage of it to its own demise?

God used positive words in Genesis 1 saying, “Let there be light…” and described everything as either “good” or as Genesis 1:31 puts it, “God saw all that he had made. And it was very good.” Wouldn’t we do well to follow God’s positive assessment rather than being hypercritical? God spoke into the formless chaos and brought forth order as his Spirit hovered over the waters. Our ill-chosen words too often create more chaos.

Can we please lay down our swords of vitriol and venom? Might we pray for peace and it begin with me, each of us? We pray for a peace that surpasses party, personal preferences, and tightly held prejudices. I know I have allegiances for things and ideologies that would put me at odds with others, and, worse than that, I have made choices that have put me at odds with the God who so loved the world that he gave his Son to redeem us.

I know that there are causes and truths for which sacrifices are necessary. This week I am utterly dismayed as people of both parties jockey to move God off the throne as the sole creator, and try to set themselves up as the arbiters of what or who is right and wrong. Yes, there must be standards, consequences, and repercussions, but I feel a strong need to say to everybody in D.C., “Please just be quiet!” As much as I love our flag, this week and every week, I need to pledge my allegiance to the one and only God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop the mutually assured destruction. I want to follow Jesus who looked into the storm (Mark 4:39) and said, “Peace, be still!” I want to watch the winds and waves of a horrible year subside into a calm that can only come from God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. Please Lord, redeem 2021 and our country. Please give us a second chance as the caretakers of your Creation. Amen.

The iconic “Earthrise” image taken by astronaut Bill Anders on Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve 1968. Friday marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 liftoff.

A Civil Body Politick

The Pilgrims and Indians make a great tableau to consider for Thanksgiving, but the peace between the two groups didn’t last long. Massasoit and Squanto of the Wampanoag tribe had already been on the losing end of things because of smallpox brought by Europeans to American shores. Squanto knew English so well because of captivity, not deliberate education, but the first Pilgrims joined forces with these friendly Natives out of common necessity to survive the attacks of hardship, hostile tribes, and hunger. Common enemies and privation caused the two groups to work together. How does that compare to America today?

Unfortunately, as is often the case, a balanced reciprocity surrendered to animosity and hatred. The Pilgrims who were Separatists saw no future at all in the English Church. They came to America to start over, not to redeem or revive what they saw as a corrupt institution. But, then came the Puritans. The Puritans were all about redeeming and purifying the English Church. The Puritans and Pilgrims had totally different goals, and the Puritan attitude of judgment and superiority annihilated any goodwill toward Native Americans. Instead of the partnership the Pilgrims enjoyed and promoted with peaceful tribes, the Puritans looked down their noses at Indians, and if they couldn’t convert them, they killed them. What a difference it would make if we had stayed Pilgrims and rejected Puritanism. Collaboration between the Pilgrims and the Mashpee Wampanoag should have been the norm, not the exception in relationships between European settlers and Indians.

The Puritans also led us into problems among Europeans. Immigrants went from the Pilgrim’s “Civil Body Politick” of mutual benefit found in the Mayflower Compact to a Puritan Work Ethic of overwhelming greed and capitalism. The essence of the Puritan Work Ethic is one that often raises its head among religious-types; i.e., “if I want to prove that I’m pure, and blessed by God, then I need to be as wealthy as I can, and own as much as possible.” Mutuality is replaced by an emphasis on individual rights and ownership. It’s easy to see that America bought into that notion big time, and the Mayflower Compact devolved or evolved, from your perspective, into a “Bill of Rights” and a confederation of states, and led to Nullification and Civil War, and spiraled into the anarchy we too often see today.

I know that this is too broad a subject for a blog, but I cannot help but to think about our current incivility. What would our Thanksgivings look like if we truly shared without being piggish? Tomorrow’s celebrations should be quieter because there are less people getting together, although we will miss our traditional feasts. But, won’t there also be less chance of tension because college football rivalry games have been mostly cancelled this year? There also seems to be no point in arguing about who won or lost the election. Maybe like the Pilgrims and Wampanoag, we can focus on our common enemy named COVID and communicate more about what we hold dear together.

I would hope that we ponder our American Indian brothers and sisters. As a group, though from many tribes, they have per capita enlisted and fought in every American war more than any other demographic group. They have been loyal to the American Experiment even when they have been the most mistreated, overlooked, disenfranchised group in our history. As a T-Shirt I saw said about them, they have “Been Fighting Terrorism Since 1492.” If Native Americans had not introduced the Pilgrims to the “Three Sisters” of corn, beans, and squash, the pilgrims would have starved to death. Think about American Indian contributions at your meals tomorrow, and be reminded of how wonderful it is to work together and get along.

Being Christ-Like in a Crisis

Red states, Blue states, and purple states abound. The same is true for people. If there is anything this election has taught us is that Americans are all over the map in our convictions. In spite of our acrimony and recrimination, I pray that we seek and find reconciliation. Some are not ready to move on because their disappointment is too fresh, but we cannot and must not continue to abuse one another. Just when I thought we might at least have a respite from the mud-slinging TV ads, Georgia has a run-off coming up that will decide the US Senate majority. Our TV market is 13 miles from Georgia, so our ads will continue to turn up the heat at least until the first week of January. For many it would be a good time to be like Rip Van Winkle who slept for 20 years and woke up to a changed world. On the other hand, wouldn’t it be better to stay awake and be a part of the change? In my worst moments, I simply want to tune it all out. Have mercy.

Oh, we do need mercy, don’t we? God is gracious enough to give it. Someone said it this way about grace: “There is nothing that we can do to make God love us less, and nothing we can do to make God love us more.” What a gracious way for God and us to act. Jesus loves us all and wants us to be His body, though with different parts and particular opinions. He wants us to work together and seek peace. What a tough message to hear when so many are so emotionally spent by the effects of COVID, racism, civil unrest, economic uncertainty, violence, and the aftershocks of election season. The holiday season we’re about to enter exacerbates our turmoil. Isolation and quarantine have upset plans for families to get together for Thanksgiving, and many, like me, are wondering whether or not to even put up a Christmas Tree. It’s so tempting to yield to this option and hunker down in our bunkers until all this passes.

This year has taken a huge toll in deaths and emotional stress, but God dares us to be people of hope and perseverance in spite of everything. It’s not like the church hasn’t been in this spot before. Goodness, according to a seminary professor, 500 Christians died from persecution every day for the first 400 years of the church’s existence. According to current figures it’s still about 100,000 per year. Nevertheless, we still have hope. The church didn’t just survive those early centuries of martyrdom, it actually thrived.

In their honor and for my own good, I will put up a Christmas Tree. I will not stay in my bunker and live on wishes and platitudes. I will put up that tree and turn on its lights because it represents that hope is ever green, even in bleak midwinter. That tree symbolizes the words from John 1:5 that we usually say at our Christmas Eve Services, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” If I ever needed the light of grace and hope in my lifetime, 2020 is it! This should be both our personal testimony and our message as the church to a hurting world. Our individual and corporate ministry is to attempt to bring healing and hope to the world by being the hands and feet of Jesus.

Seasoning our words with grace is far better than accusations whether we dealing with actual falsehoods or not. There was a fellow who came to know the Lord, but he really didn’t understand the Lord’s way of dealing with people. As a new convert he focused more on the texts of Scripture about Jesus using whips and turning over the money-changers’ tables. The man conveniently overlooked the fact that Jesus forgave Peter, and even said from the cross, “Father, forgive them. They know not what they are doing.”

The man’s pastor tried to have a conversation with him about the difference a kind witness makes versus one that is as bitter as vinegar. The man replied, “For years I worked for the devil full-time. Now I work for the Lord full-time. I have dedicated my life to opposing everyone whose beliefs are false and who teach errors. Fighting lies is a full-time job.”

The pastor asked the man if he had ever put himself in his opponents’ positions and felt what they feel. Additionally, the pastor pointedly asked the new convert if the man had ever thought whether grace or wrath worked better in changing peoples’ minds. The man replied, “Of course, I study my opponents’ positions carefully. I do it in order to make my arguments more devastating. Through study I discover their weaknesses. It’s not important how they feel!”

Suddenly the mild-mannered pastor exploded! He shouted at the top of his lungs, and repeatedly poked the man in his chest. He called the man names until the new convert begged the pastor to stop. The pastor did stop and resumed speaking gently to the man, “It is not enough to know what your opponents think. To be like Jesus, you need to feel what they feel. It doesn’t feel good to be yelled at or attacked. Jesus used love and wisdom much more than he did anger or temper. You go and do likewise, and you will not only be more like Jesus, but you will see God truly change people. Your desire to refute people’s falsehoods isn’t wrong, but the way that you’ve been going about it is.”

Pray with me: “Oh, Lord, we do not want to cause more harm than help. Forgive us for getting so worked up over other people’s opinions. Help us take the log out of our own eye before we try to take the speck out of a neighbors. Help us today to listen more than we spew. Help us to model your response to all of our world’s tension, and speak the truth in love; in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Election Day Observations

I’ve voted and am proudly wearing my complimentary sticker on my shirt. I have no illusions about whether or not we’ll know anything about who won the election by tonight. Exit polls are about as reliable as the ones we’ve been hearing about for months. Americans are a fickle group. We’re about as bad as the Palm Sunday crowd that celebrated Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but then turned on him by the end of the week, and asked for him to be crucified.

People will tell you that this is the most important election in American history. In many ways, I think they’re right. The differences between candidates could not be any starker, but the most important election is our vote for Jesus. If I vote for Jesus then I can hold my nose and survive whomever is elected president. Don’t get me wrong! I voted for issues that I think are hugely important and are non-negotiable. I am reminded, however, that solutions to issues can often remain elusive even if your candidate wins. Our political system necessitates bargaining and compromise, a negotiation that hammers out legislation that everyone can live with. If it doesn’t, then that party or person certainly won’t last long.

The way our democracy works reminds me of making hash with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It’s not a pretty sight, but the finished product is darn good! The difference between Republicans and Democrats reminds me of the story of a fellow trying to explain the difference between capitalism and communism. Pardon the sexist language, but here’s what he said: “In capitalism, man exploits man. In communism, it’s the other way around.” In other words, either way you go, usually somebody is the exploiter and someone is the exploited.

If you think any candidate or party is pure and clean as the morning dew, good luck with that. So, what we do is to try and discern, while admitting that everyone is subject to the failures that are common to all humanity, who or what is closest to the truth. Whose track record delivers, and who best upholds your non-negotiables? Frankly, I’m astounded at why in the world would anyone want to go into public service anyway unless they have a strong streak of masochism. It’s often a damned if you do, and damned if you don’t proposition. Thankfully, there are those well-intentioned servants who are truly willing to get into the fray because they care passionately about the common good. Today, of all days, I pray for these brave souls and their families.

The mud-slinging, personal attacks, and vicious rumors that would kill a weaker person end up aging people before our very eyes. Even the humor, both on late-night TV and around the water-cooler, is tainted and doesn’t do our public servants justice. There was one story going around that the word “politics” says all that you need to know about people running for office. It comes from two words, “poli” which means “many,” and “tics” which obviously means “blood-sucking creatures.” Of course, it doesn’t really mean that! Another jab has its roots in the man who wanted to try to figure out what his son’s profession would be. The man placed a Bible, a $100 bill, and a bottle of whiskey on a table near the back door so that his son couldn’t miss them. He hid behind the door and looked through the crack to see which of the items his son would pick up, thus determining what his son’s vocation would be.

The son walked in and picked up the $100 bill and the father thought, “Wonderful, he’s going to be a banker!” The son, however, put the $100 bill back down on the table. Then he picked up the Bible, and the father thought, “He’s going to be a minister!” Then the son put the Bible back down, and picked up the whiskey bottle. “Oh no, the father thought, “He’s going to be a drunk.” Then the lad put the whiskey bottle down and stared at all three objects. Thereupon, he picked up the $100 bill, the Bible and the whiskey bottle. The father thought, “Dear God, he’s going to be a politician.”

We can easily make fun of public servants, but these serious times demand great sacrifice of our public servants. We need to pray for them all daily. With the pandemic, social unrest, wildfires, hurricanes, and all the rest, this is no time for the faint of heart in the political arena. This is a difficult time for our country. God bless our leaders, our people, and our world so that “government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.” God bless America. Amen.