Loss and Gain

 

Thursday, May 26, 2022

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”  He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.  And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  After saying this, he was taken up into a cloud while they were watching, and they could no longer see him.  As they strained to see him rising into heaven, two white-robed men suddenly stood among them.  “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven?  Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”  Acts 1:6-11

Just when the disciples were beginning to sense some kind of peace about having lost their leader, their Lord, Jesus, and then getting him back, he disappears again.  The pain and horror of the cross isn’t repeated, thankfully.  But, once again, they are left to wonder what to do next. 

As they stood, staring “bug-eyed” into the heavens, straining for one more look at their loved master, mentor, and Messiah, angels suddenly stood next to them.  And the angels brought words of comfort and assurance.  They said:  What you’ve seen here, the same way you’ve watched him go…that’s the same way he’ll be coming back.  Stop your staring; it’s not over!

The promise of a “better day coming” is comforting, yet it can strain our faith in difficult times.  And sometimes the test of faith itself is almost unbearable.  This week’s tragic, unspeakable event in Uvalde, Texas, where at least 19 children and two adults were murdered by gunfire at their school, is one of those times. 

I live nearly 1,400 miles from Robb Elementary School, and have never met anyone who lives in that small town.  Yet, the sense of loss I feel is overwhelming.  And the sense of shame is palpable (for me), that this happens so often in our country, where we unashamedly proclaim dedication to liberty and civilized treatement for all people. 

“Mass shootings” are commonly defined by four or more victims at one location, or closely related locations.[1]  May 24^th is the 144^th day of the year, and this country has seen 212 episodes of those “four or more victims” this year.  That’s an average of one rampage every 16 ½ hours…or at least one heart stopped every 4 hours and 8 minutes.  You can keep the statistical records, but how can you possibly measure the loss in terms of pain, both physical for the victims, and the emotional suffering for the surviving families that will never fully end?

May 24^th in Methodist circles, celebrates the day when founder, John Wesley recorded in his diary how his heart was strangely warmed, the sudden, wonderful awareness of God’s love, and transforming power to bring eternal life.  Yet, on the record in Uvalde, Texas, May 24^th will bear the names of 21 beating hearts senselessly made cold and still.

For You Today

As the disciples were told by the angels to anticipate the next advent of their Lord, we must continue to have our hearts beat for the families who can barely breathe today…to do what we can to help them gain a sense of hope in their terrible losses.  I can think of no better way to offer that hope than voices raised to end the violence of guns, or any other weapons.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] What is a Mass Shooting; What Can be Done?  Richard Berk, University of Pennsylvania, Dept of Criminology

The Trouble with Theological Heels

 

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

Your royal laws cannot be changed.  Your reign, O Lord, is holy forever and ever.  Psalm 93:5

The story begins:  John Calvin and John Wesley walk into a tavern and discover Martin Luther sitting at the bar.  Anyone who’s been to Sunday School more than twice can take that scenario into an infinite number of directions, none of which would likely reach a conclusion.  (Unless, of course, it were pre-destined.)

All three of historical note, Luther, the priest who broke with the Roman Catholic Church, Calvin, whose history, current events, and eschatology are set in immovable type in Heaven’s print shop, and Wesley, somewhere in the vague middle, shuffling Scripture, experience, tradition, and reason, to hold together the wildfire of theological movement; these are a sort of earthly tiumverate of heels, firmly-dug in theological sand, a monument to stubbornness, passion, and total surrender to movements, still evoking deep thinking and shallow arguments. 

Not wishing to add to the arguments of which of these theological heavyweights was right, with apprehension I wish to submit that they were all wrong.  And, of course, I’m not referring to their institutes, general rules, or theses.  I am pointing at the manner in which these were held.  If historical portraits of the battles royale held by those who followed these pipers are correct to any degree, you can imagine the bloodshed over which group “won” anything worthy of laying at the feet of Jesus.  Therein lurks the devil of the details of theological heels dug in the sand…the sand gets torn-up, and the furrows continue, a plowed field of misery.

I recall one seminary class, taught by Dr. Jerry Breazeale, at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.  We were discussing the topic of predestination…that God has designed and is orchestrating all of history’s events.  You could easily sense the argumentative anxiety of students raised in this denomination or that.  It was nearly palpable…is it once-saved-always-so, or can you drop-off heaven’s roster in a single, sinful act?  Is there any wiggle-room…or does God have everything planned, down to who I’ll marry, and what I’ll have for breakfast?

To his unending credit, and with my undying thanks, Dr. Breazeale wouldn’t be drawn into the abyss of arguing either side.  Instead, he told one of his Louisiana Bayou Cajun Thibodeau jokes…exceedingly hilarious, and nowhere near the point of predestination or free will.  After the laughter died-down, one of the more surly students (whom I’m certain didn’t even get the joke) raised the question to press the professor into declaring which side he was on.  Dr. Breazeale, in his best bayou Thibodeau affect, drawled, well, y’see, I’m t’inkin ‘bout dis ting…I prozlabhy gots jus’ enuf Calvin in me t’ know deep down, dat dere ain’t nuttin God can’t do.  An’ He be havin some kinda plan…enough to keep dat ol’ debel down whar he belong.  An’ if God be wantin me to joins Him in dat fight…God will make me some room right next t’ His-side.  Dat’s whut I’m t’inkin.

Class dismissed!

For You Today

Predestination and Free Will aren’t supposed to hurt your head by getting it all down in forty pounds of textbooks.  These are gifts of God to bless your life, if you’ll understand that the love which gave it to you doesn’t need a theological defender…only an open heart of surrender.

If you haven’t got a Cajun friend to explain these things to you, I suggest you get one. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Images:  WikimediaCommons Calvin Wesley Luther Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

After the Fire

 

Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says, “I will take revenge on my enemies and pay back my foes!  I will raise my fist against you.  I will melt you down and skim off your slag.  I will remove all your impurities.  Then I will give you good judges again and wise counselors like you used to have.  Then Jerusalem will again be called the Home of Justice and the Faithful City.”  Zion will be restored by justice; those who repent will be revived by righteousness.  But rebels and sinners will be completely destroyed, and those who desert the Lord will be consumed.  You will be ashamed of your idol worship in groves of sacred oaks.  You will blush because you worshiped in gardens dedicated to idols.  You will be like a great tree with withered leaves, like a garden without water.  The strongest among you will disappear like straw; their evil deeds will be the spark that sets it on fire.  They and their evil works will burn up together, and no one will be able to put out the fire.  Isaiah 1:24-31

When God starts a fire, no human being can end it before Heaven allows.  To the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Isaiah brought the quintessential Bad News/Good News message.  The moral/spiritual climate of the nation was past reforming; only transforming by the judgment of God would purge the slag from their government. 

That God does such things, moving in judgment on whole nations, is evident in nature; the parallels of God’s merciful hand straightening our crookedness are impossible to ignore. 

When God judges a nation for its sin, the true story (when recorded accurately) also shows the rebirth of justice.  A forest burns thousands of acres until the natural cycle is reborn…out of the ashes.  The forest regrows, in God’s time, and in God’s way.

Lately I’ve been thinking about that cycle. 

When I was a teenager in the early 1960’s my parents looked at the mania that followed the singing group from England, The Beattles, and they imagined the rapture and Apocalypse couldn’t be far behind.  In retrospect the only revolution John, Paul, George, and Ringo started was a fire that would bring deeper moral wickedness, which always accompanies the downfall of (supposedly) great societies. 

Founded on principles of freedom, and the opportunities a level playing field offers to all persons, America has always stood precariously close to the judgment fires God brings to burn off the slag of turpitude.  The great awakenings of American History with Jonathan Edwards, Finney, Whitefield, and, of late, Billy Graham, always held up the image of God’s fire, and the response saw American culture draw-back, like spiders threatened in their web.  In many ways our blessed beginnings have stood in memory sufficiently to avoid the cataclysmic shattering of America on the level of Greece, Rome, or the Third Reich.  But we aren’t (ever) that far removed from the imposing hand of God’s righteous judgment.

Should that judgment come during my lifetime, or after, is entirely a matter for God’s own choosing.  But the falling of judgment is as certain on sinfulness as the sun is hot, and floods sweep away whole landscapes.  Should America keep on the path it now slithers, Isaiah’s prophecy will be revisited from 7^th century BC Jerusalem to these days in Washington, D.C.  May God have mercy on us.

For You Today

No single person moves history (other than what happened at Calvary!).  But each of us has our own part in history.  Like Whitefield, Wesley, and the firebrand preachers of our history, there were men and women who helped…a little here, a lot there…and God gave the increase. 

May the increase be our shedding of the slag before God has to melt us down.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

For another post on this topic see Awakening and When the Light Dawns