There is no cure for those who will not see

There is all this fear that "Obama is going to invade Texas."  What would he do with it if he invades? I think the people who suggested that Obama's real posture towards Texas is that he would give it back to Mexico if they would take it.

There is all this fear that Christian ministers will HAVE TO marry gay couples. Who is the one who started that rumor?  Ministers in all the denominations I know have never had to marry anybody.  The ministers ask for pre-marital counseling and frequently they tell the couple that the couple should not get married.  All these governors who are signing laws that exempt ministers from doing gay marriages are showboating for their political base.

There is a fear that Obama is coming for your guns and your Bible.  There has never been any suggesting, except for Karl Rove, that all guns should be removed from the country. We just want better limit on who can have them, how many you can have, and how many bullets they can shoot at one time.  No one needs assault weapons as a hunting rifle nor home invasion protection, And why should Obama or anybody come and take away your Bible. The Gideons will give anybody one free.

The great sadness for me is that all of these fears are being flamed because some group or some person sees a way to benefit from the fears.  The media that continues to report these things and the talking heads that encourage these fears do so for their own profit.

The Two Tune Motto

Jimmy Buffet has a lot of great music but I find myself caught between two lines in two different songs. One is Trip Around the Sun, and the line is "If there is one thing that I've learned from all this living is It wouldn't change a thing if I let go."  I decided to retire and that song kind of summed it up. The life of the church and the life in the community would just go on. It would be like pulling a stick out of the water, it would not leave a hole. It would not change anything if I retired, let go of the offices I had. And that has been true.

The other line is from the song " I just growing older, I am not growing up." and the line is "I would rather die while I am living, than live while I am dead."  I hope that my family knows that as well. I do not want to live on if I do not know it or cannot participate in life. We are planning to do as much living, loving and traveling and doing as we can and hope we wear out and not rust out.

I guess I got some of that from life, from my mother. She would get on a plane and fly to visit us, and said when her friends worried about air travel,  air crashes, mother said she just told them "What a way to go."

We are just passing through and most of us do not make that big of an impact that it makes a difference if we let go, but we can all enter into living as much and as fully as possible so that we die while living.

Something like the catechism "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

The Perspective

I have always like to fly in airplanes.  I have always enjoyed coming to the beach and standing on the sand and look out at the horizon.  Both of these give me a great perspective on life.

As we go up in the plane the people on the ground, of course, become smaller and smaller. Which then makes me think and feel like the problems, the strutting, the things we all get for evidence of our status, the new car, the cell phone, the chains on the chest, all of those disappear from high up.  We all become just little creatures like ants hurrying and scurrying around and what we think are major issues become invisible.  I think there was a song ages ago about "from a distance you look like my friend."

The Ocean and the horizon have another way of reminding me of how small and temporary I am and human life is. It is great fun to play in the water and to enjoy the shore, but when you look out to the horizon and cannot see the end, you are "put in your place" and are reminded that we are really so small and the earth is so great.

It is a perspective that we might benefit from acquiring more often. The Psalmist asked that question, "What is man that thou art mindful of him?"  We are God's creatures, but our importance is in who made us not in ourselves. I think that we might make a lot more progress toward cooperation if we would allow this perspective to humble us.

Some Times a Light Surprises

There is a hymn in one of the older hymn books that begins "Sometimes a light surprises The Christian while he sings. It is the Lord, who rises, with healing in His Wings." I certainly was surprised to hear the President of the United States break into a solo of Amazing Grace on Friday.  But it was a moment of light with healing in its words.

There is a lot of surprises in Charleston and around the country in response to the deadly shooting in a church. Nine people at Bible study were killed.  The Charleston community surprised many by the reaction they had to that event. The families surprised us all by the healing forgiveness they offered to the shooter.  The community turn out for the eulogy for the Pastor led by President Obama. The light surprised us and there was much healing in the grace proclaimed.

The surprise of forgiveness and grace, and hope and mercy gives us all another chance to get it right and make a difference. To listen to the pain and anger that certain deeds, flags, symbols and statues caused our neighbors.

The two major court decisions which affirmed that the Health Care law would continue to provide health insurance for so many, and the affirmation of the right of same sex couples to have legal weddings also surprised some and brought a light of hope and possibility to all.  Things can be changed, there is hope that efforts, conversations and political action can bring about changes. Sometimes we get discouraged by the long battle, but then a light surprises and a new day comes and there is hope for all of us.

Sometimes a light surprises. It does not happen all the time. We cannot make it happen, but we can work towards it and be ready to celebrate it when it comes.

Let's keep it a secret

I must confess that I almost laughed at the passage. It is in Mark's gospel. Jesus goes to the home of Jairus. His daughter is sick when he comes to get Jesus, but by the time Jesus gets through with the woman and the bleeding, the child is reported as dead.  Jesus goes to Jairus' home. There is a crowd of mourners there. They are all sure that the child is dead. Jesus said the child is sleeping. They laugh at him. Jesus goes into the room where the girl is, he restores her life, and she gets up and he suggests that they give her some food.  What was most amusing to me was that Jesus then gives them strict orders not to tell anyone.

So how do they keep it a secret when the girl goes out to play?  How do they not tell anyone when she is seen moving around.  What are they supposed to keep secret?

Anyway, one of the constant themes in Mark is the scholarly subject of the Messianic secret. But what I find most appropriate now for Christians is that Jesus spends a lot of time telling his disciples to cool it. To keep their mouths shout. Not to say anything. Just to keep doing what they are doing, healing the sick, caring for each other, and listening to Him.

I think that in our current situation as Christians in a culture that is evolving and trying to find a way to have a multi-religious society, one of the best contributions Christians could make is to curtail and refrain from a lot of talking.  As followers of Christ, we do not have to out yell everybody. There might be a lot less stress and hostility if we were a lot more silent and patience.  The advice of Gamaliel to the Jerusalem council is still good advice for us, "If this great evolution of our society is of God, it cannot be stopped. If it is not of God, it will not endure."

something is missing in worship

When I was in seminary I read a book by Rudolph Otto who had made a study of the religious experience. He stated that there were two basic elements to the religious experience: there was a powerful experience of mystery and wonder; and there was a deep feeling of fear, apprehension and anxiousness. One of the early American preacher once said “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.”  Annie Dillard spoke of the silliness of humans playing at worship because it was such a mysterious and dangerous activity.

The places I go lack both of those aspects. The worship services I go to, even the ones where I am scheduled to preach at, lack both of these aspects. The whole direction of most of the worship services is informality.  There is a prelude music, which might set some ground work for mystery and wonder, but that is destroyed immediately by some one who gets up and makes announcements.   These announcements are usually printed in the bulletin so they should not have to be read or given at the first of the service. The feeling that most of these churches want to convey is one of friendship, family, comfort, and happiness.  The idea that one might come to encounter the holy and be scared to death like Isaiah is foreign to most of them. The worship services are not much different from the civic clubs that hold weekly meetings.

I mentioned that to one person and they responded in agreement about the announcements, the singing, but claimed that you did not hear the Word of God preached or the sacraments observed (thanks, Calvin).  My response is that most of the preaching sounds like civic club programs as well. Case in point:  two sermons in the June 26, 2015 Christian Century by a highly respected professor of preaching had as topics: one was “interruptions in your life” and the second was “failures in your life.”  You would have both but they both might be good for you.  Not much mystery or fear in those messages. 

The greatest sadness for me is that most of these churches are not even trying to encounter a living, mysterious, awesome, holy love that could frighten their comfortable, predictable little world.  The Kingdom of God is a vision of God that is in direct conflict with the kingdoms of this world.  Pope Francis is correct. His vision of the way towards being the Kingdom of God is in direct conflict with the kingdoms of this world. But he is staying faithful to the vision of the Kingdom. He is exciting.

It would be my observation that most of the Christian worship I experience is trying to enable us to be at home and comfortable in the kingdoms of this world.  There is no awesome, scary, wonderful alternative vision of the Kingdom of God being shared.