The Cup We Share

 My most cherished glass

This is my most favorite and most cherished glass, to understand you need to know the story.  A friend of mine was starting a church in Atlanta.  Their meeting place was to be an old strip-club.  He asked me to come and help clean the place up.  Contrary to the glamorous portrayal in the media of strip clubs this place was filthy.  While cleaning I found this glass. It was nasty beyond words.  Why someone would relieve themselves in a cup is beyond me.  

When I found it my first thought was to throw it away. But for some reason I didn’t.  Instead I put it in a bucket and took it home.  I filled the bucket with water and chlorine bleach and after letting it soak for a couple of days I put it in a pan of boiling water.  After another soaking in bleach water I washed, rinsed, and dried it.  Now I use this cup for only one purpose.  I tell the story of the cup and then I pour the wine of the communion service into this same cup.  What once held something that was revolting and disgusting now holds that which is most sacred.  

That, by the way, is our story.  We were once filled with all kinds of evil, at our best we were as ‘filthy rags’.  But Jesus washes us, He cleans us, He removes from us all that is revolting and then He fills us with the Holy Spirit.  We who once held the most disgusting things possible now have dwelling in us the very Spirit of God.  

We may not be able to fully explain how God did what He did, but we invite you to join us as we explore the wonder of God’s kindness and love for us.

M.I.G.A.

 MIGA

They were deeply dedicated to seeing a moral revival among their people.  They believed the Word of God to be authoritative and if studied could bring an immoral people back to the God who founded their nation.  I suppose they even sang with great hope 2 Chronicles 7:14  “If my people who are called by my Name shall humble themselves…”  To say they were zealous would be an understatement.    They believed that if the citizens of the nation would live by the laws God had given then God would bless the nation with new heights of freedom, security, prosperity, peace and blessing. 

They could be a little harsh at times, but if being direct and confrontational could end corrupt behavior that would be a small price to pay.  They had to defeat the immoral influences that came from overseas.  They were constantly at war with liberal theologians and religious compromisers that watered down the Word of God.  The political insiders were not trustworthy, but in a pinch they would work with them.  Who knows, they may have even had hats that were stitched with the letters. M.I.G.A.  Make Israel Great Again.  

I am not talking about the Moral Majority, the Christian Coalition, Concerned Women for America, the John Birch Society, or the Tea Party.  The above description is of the Pharisee party of Jesus’ day.  The Pharisees were the conservative, Bible believing, repentance preaching people of their day.  They were also the ones who were most frequently opposing the ministry of Jesus.  

I find this concerning because I can more closely identify with the Pharisees than the Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, or any other party in the time and ministry of Jesus.  Where they were wrong I have a strong potential to be wrong.  What they missed I am likely to miss.  What they misunderstood I have the potential to misunderstand.  While a great many scholarly articles and essays have been written about the Pharisees and their failure to accept the Messiah when He arrived, I would like to offer my minor contribution to the discussion.  

The Pharisees, because of their addiction to rule making and rule keeping, were susceptible to two specific failures that can afflict us today.  While there were, and still are, exceptions to my theory, when we come across those who adopt an “improved behavior will be our rescue” mentality these two failures will be present.  

The first of these is a tendency to be fakes.  Let’s face it, no one can or will keep all the rules. In our heart of hearts we know we are not keeping the rules.  But it is very, very important to appear to be keeping the rules, so we fake it.  We may deride the uber rich, but in our hearts we covet the goods of others as much as anyone else.  We may insist that women wear modest clothing, but we would never want anyone to look at our computer’s browsing history.  Pleasant to someone’s face and excoriate them behind their backs. All humans are fakers, but for a Pharisee faking it is critical to their very life because of their belief that the rescue comes from good behaviors.

The second failure of Pharisees is related to the first; Pharisees can be powerfully unkind.   That may be putting it too mild, that could and still can be brutal.  If the problem is the bad behavior or bad people then the cure is to make bad people stop doing bad things. They seemed to believe that if you condemned bad people long enough and loud enough they would decide to stop being bad and start being good.  The fact that anger never accomplished lasting moral reform apparently never occurred to them, so they would double down on their condemnations.

These are both very easy traps for me to fall into.  I want to be admired and respected by people of the highest moral character and standing.  If I want that kind of esteem I have to live that kind of life.  The problem is I often don’t.  So, the easy and pride protecting solution is to fake it.  To redirect attention away from my failures I can, and at times do, point out the failures of bad people.  If I can turn the attention from myself to tax collectors, prostitutes, news reporters or some other ‘evil’ person, I feel safe.  I can even justify my actions by claiming that I want them to repent. 

But Jesus was different.  Jesus was many things but never fake.  At His trial Jesus asked His accusers to name some sin He had committed.  But with His moral perfection came unparalleled compassion. “Does no one condemn you?” He asked the sinful woman. “No one, Sir.”  Jesus tells her, “Go and leave your sinful life.” 

Real and kind, that is a pretty good description of Jesus.  It is also a worthy aspiration for us all.

There are three possible futures and one is correct.

 

We have of late had a lot of conversations about the possibility of the world being on the brink of doom.  That has caused me to look at the three main theories regarding humanities’ future. Those three expectations are mutually exclusive, only one can be correct.  None of these theories are recent developments.  They have all existed in human thought for a very long time. Every so often, they get a twist and are presented as new ideas, but they all have predecessors.  

One theory is expressed in the Kardashev Scale which is a method of measuring a civilization’s level of technological advancement.  This scale gets its name from Nicholi Kardashev, a Soviet era Russian astrophysicist.  Summaries always fail, but here is an attempt.  Civilizations move from lower to high forms of technological advancement, while they may experience setbacks along the way, the general direction is always upward.  The Kardashev Scale has been modified and used by many theorists and sci-fi writers.  John Borrow expanded it to seven stages.  At the highest levels a civilization would be able to manipulate the most elementary particles of matter and the basic structure of space and time.  In short, civilization over a long, slow process gradually becomes the God of the universe.  Not entirely unlike the plans that prompted the Tower of Babel.

The second theory about humanities’ future is summed up in what is called the Malthusian Catastrophe.  Thomas Malthus was an influential political economist from England.  His theory is also called the population trap.  It works this way, as civilization grows and progresses it produces more and more goods, causing more and faster population growth and progress.  Like a hamster on a wheel the cycle gets faster and faster until the hamster stumbles and falls and the whole process comes to a halt.  In the case of humanity the stumble and fall comes from an exponential growth in population and a slower growth of food, water, energy and other needed services.  The result is worldwide famine, wars, mass die offs, social collapse, and the inability for earth to support life as a result of environmental degradation.  The process is slow and occurs over centuries or even millenia till it reaches a crisis point, then there is a rapid doom. 

If Kardashev’s theory were put on a chart, it would be a line of constant upward progress with only occasional dips.  If Malthus’ theory were charted, it would be a slow decline with intermittent upward ticks.  In both cases, you see the common thread of vast amounts of time and slow progress toward a destination. Both theories have devastating consequences for people.  Thankfully, however, they are both wrong.  The third answer is the right answer.  Rather than slow progress over a very long time toward some unknown and unknowable end, the third is sudden, definitive and hope filled.   

This expected future is summed up well by the Apostle Paul; “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”  What we see here is not a slow gradual progression toward some vague end.  It is a certain sudden ending that will not be missed by anyone and will be very personal for everyone.  Paul does not rule out some future progress nor that there will be hardship in history.  

But while Kardashev talks about something that may happen tens of thousands of years into the future and Malthus only offers a future of gloom and despair, the sudden return of Christ offers us a future so wonderful it is beyond the capacity of mind and speech.  

So, the next time you hear talk about the doom of our world or that the only solution is in our capacity to build that better future just remember that Jesus is coming to our rescue.  It will be sudden, it will be final, it may happen very soon (even today) and it is for us the great hope.    

God bless America, on second thought let's hold off on that.

Over the last weekend I heard the patriotic hymn “God Bless America” several times. Some of the renditions were absolutely amazing.  The vocalist sang with such passion and energy it was hard not to be moved.  On one occasion the camera panned the audience and a number of people appeared to be enraptured by the music.  Others were more interested in their image being on the jumbo-tron.  Personally, I think this would be a better national anthem than the “Star Spangled Banner”.   But this is the opinion of a musical dunce, so take it for what it is worth.  

As I watched the presentations or performances, I couldn’t help but ask; “What do we mean by ‘God Bless’?”  I wonder if it is taking God’s name in vain?  We can sing the song and mean nothing by it.  If we take God’s name as meaningless or mean nothing by it we are taking it in vain.  I wondered if by “bless” we are thinking of the lowest form of blessing; “Give us prosperity, stop inflation, provide for us more and better stuff so that we can indulge our appetites.”  Maybe we mean something a little more noble, but nonetheless still focused on what we want: “Give us peace, safety and security at home and from enemies around the world.”  Nothing wrong with these in and of themselves, but is that all we mean by ‘God Bless America’?

Do we want God’s blessing or do we just want the good stuff He can provide?  Ask anyone who has lived any length of time and they will tell you that growth, maturity and strength are developed not in times of ease, comfort and prosperity.  These best character traits are more likely developed in times of difficulty, suffering and hardship.  If courage, strength, and toughness were developed when times were easy Army boot camp would be a vacation at a seaside resort.  

So, when we say ‘God Bless America” what do we mean?  God’s blessings are always good, His character could give nothing else.  That is not to say all His blessings are always pleasant, pleasing or what we desire.   In fact, the history of God blessing His people is one we might call tough love.  What my children wanted for supper and what was good for them were not always the same thing.  They were blessed with what was good for them, not what they asked for or wanted.  

When God blessed Abram He began by calling Abram away from everything he knew, loved or with which he was familiar.  When God blessed Moses with the role of being the law giver, it began with 40 years in exile.  It also required 40 years of wilderness wandering with a group of people that would try his patience time and again.  When Israel suffered from an addiction to sex, luxury, and comfort (sound like any nation we know) God blessed them with the destruction of their cities and capital, conscription of their best and brightest into emperial service and 70 years of Babylonian captivity.  Before God would bless His people with the incarnation of the Son, the Jews would be politically broken, internally divided and taxed to near starvation. 

Not all of God’s blessings are punitive and severe.  “For You bless the righteous person, Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.” Psalm 5:12  The operative word there is “righteous”.  A person or people who are righteous might have reason to expect the pleasant (from our perspective) blessings of God.  However, I don’t know anyone who would describe contemporary America as righteous.  

So, if God were to bless America what might it look like?  If a spoiled child is consistently  behaving poorly it is unlikely that additional indulgences will rectify the problem.  Rather the spoiled child might be given intentional and carefully directed corrective discipline.  Or as former Alabama governor Fob James put it, “A butt whipping and a prayer”.  There is nothing wrong with peace, comfort, and prosperity.  But if a person or people believe that these things are most important and that for which we ought to live and work, then they might be blessed if those things were removed.    

On the evening of September 11th I was out doing church visitation.  As I drove, I passed a Hooters’ and on the marquette there was posted, “Pray for America''.  I thought that perhaps our nation was waking from its moral slumbers.  For the next 3 weeks or so, church attendance was up and people were talking about spiritual and eternal things. But within a month things had returned to what might be called a secular norm.  What will it take for God to bless America with a deep and lasting turn to Him?   I am almost afraid to ask. 

So then, let us pray, “God bless America”.  But let us also pray, “Give us the strength and wisdom to learn from and endure with grace such a blessing.”  One final thought.  In addition to our praying, “God bless America” we need to admonish our people to say and live, “America Bless God”.  That may take us near the beginning point we need.  

The Matrix, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Lord's Prayer

In the model prayer Jesus said; Lead us not into temptation.  Why should we ask God to not lead us into temptation?  If God doesn’t want us to sin, why would He even lead us to the place of temptation?  What is the point of asking God to not do what His nature and character would keep Him from doing?  The word temptation has been translated as “the moment of hardship or suffering”.  That helps us a little, but still why would God lead us to the place of hardship or suffering unless it was in the long run good for us, in which case, we ought to embrace that moment?  This line from the Lord’s Prayer has been paraphrased, “keep us from the occasion of stumbling”.  Now we may be getting somewhere.  

Later in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us: Enter by the narrow gate: for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.  It is apparently easy to miss the right way. Along the path from here to our eternal home there are a multitude of options, all of which are opportunities for us to stumble, to fall into temptation and to take the wrong path.  Perhaps an illustration will be helpful. 

In the confusing and occasionally entertaining movie trilogy The Matrix, there is a scene in which the hero, Neo, is walking down an endless corridor filled with an infinite number of doors.  Each of these is a back door to and within the giant mainframe/software that runs The Matrix universe. Each is, or appears to be, a short cut. 

Jesus calls us to “the narrow way”. He never said there were no exits or off ramps along the narrow way.  In fact, one of the stratagems of the enemy is to provide for us what appears to be shortcuts to worthy goals and ends.  These stratagems fall into three general categories. One is the category of our appetites or the desires of our body. These in and of themselves are not wrong; the trying to find their satisfaction outside of God's will is an exit off the narrow way. A second strategy is for us to find confidence and the future in our possessions and things. Again there is nothing wrong with legitimate ownership. Provided we understand that we are stewards and not really owners, that we will give account of those things entrusted into our care and that having more of those things will never bring us the satisfaction of soul. The final and most dangerous strategy is the strategy of pride. Pride can take so many forms that the number of expressions of pride is itself infinite. It could be the pride in the color of our skin that turns into racism. It could be the pride of our good works that is a form of self-righteousness and legalism. It can be the pride of accomplishments in which we imagine in some way that because we do something that gives us value and meaning. Each of these three strategies has 1,000 or perhaps 10,000 doors that would lead us off of the narrow way.

So, what are we to do? A couple of strategies might be helpful. First, always keep our focus on the one who is at the end of our journey. Humility, generosity and purity can never find enough motivation except in wanting to do it for the sake of Christ. Second is praying that God would make us blind to the doors that would lead us away and if we should try one of those doors may God grant us the grace that that door is locked and dead bolted and welded shut and barred.

To pray, “Lead us not into temptation” is to meditate on God's grace and provision that would keep us from falling. It is not to think about sinful things and then try to resist them, that's counterproductive. It is, rather, asking God to help us to want Him more than anything else.

  

 Tell me about your heroes

We all need heroes, we just need to be very careful who we select as our heroes.  From the time we are toddlers we begin to identify people we admire, love and respect as our heroes.  Our heroes embody those things we value most, tend to shape our character and motivate us to action.  That is why the selection of heroes is so important. 

Heroes refine our values

We generally select heroes that are in some way consistent with our values.  Rarely will someone choose to admire someone we find to be repugnant and despicable.  In the beginning, even if we don’t like everything about the person, there will be some thing or things that we appreciate.  But heroes refine our values.  Suppose you like a coach’s commitment to winning and developing excellence in his players.  This coach may hold a position on an unrelated subject with which you disagree.  But follow that coach long enough and before long you might begin to tolerate and perhaps even adopt his perspective.  I once knew a man who was deeply committed to tea-totalism; he was also a passionate fan of a specific sports team.  When his team hired a coach with a history of recreational alcohol use and even a DUI this man was willing to “look beyond his drinking” if he could coach the team well.  Those people who are our heroes refine our values.  

Heroes excite our imagination

Our heroes also excite our imagination.  What we see our hero do we want to do and we even imagine doing that ourselves.  It doesn’t matter if our hero is a sports star, a political icon, a military figure or our dad. We see what they do and in some way we want to do that as well.  One of my heroes is C. S. Lewis.  He once wrote about how he loved a cup of hot tea by the fire with a good book and/or conversation.  My office has a fireplace and memorabilia from Lewis’ books that decorate the walls. I have English Breakfast tea in the cupboard and when the weather is cool enough I sit in a rocking chair by the fire to read and sip tea. I wonder, “What would Lewis say to this or that?”  

Heroes ignite our action.

What do you do for a living?  Reflect for a moment about the choice you made in your career.  Was there someone you admired, loved or respected that did that or recommended that vocation?  Have you noticed that careers tend to run in families?  I was talking to a doctor friend of mine recently about how he got into medicine.  While they each had different specialities most of the men in his extended family were doctors of some sort or another.  It seemed to have begun with one of his progenitors who at the turn of the last century was the doctor, dentist and, if need be, vet for a small rural community.  

The Church Needs Heroes

The church needs heroes or, perhaps, I should say the church needs better heroes.  Over the last generation or so our heroes have not served us very well.  We make heroes of our mega church pastors, music stars, religion iconoclasts and growth gurus.  Sadly, the church has lived down to those heroes.  They have at best reflected our culture and its values and at worst been as Paul puts it, “But evil men and impostors, will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”  

Let me suggest a better class of heroes.  June 29th is the day we remember the greatest band of heroes, Christian Martyrs.  The Sunday before, many churches will stop and reflect on the lives and faith of those for whom Jesus’ invitation to come and die were physically lived out.  Christ doesn’t call all His disciples to become martyrs.  However, we are all to take up our cross daily and follow Him.  When we have martyrs for heroes we refine our values, excite our imagination and are moved to action.    

Getting Back to Nature

We all have a craving for something, but we don’t know what it is.  A deep longing that can’t be named and comes out in what can be odd and even dangerous ways.  We have lost something, but we don’t know what it is, where to look for it, and how to recognize it if we found it.  Sometimes this longing manifests itself when people say, “I want to find myself.”  In one sense of the meaning that is the dumbest thing a person can say.  Look at the ground, that is where you are, you have now found yourself; congratulations.  In another way, “finding oneself” is about discovering one's place and connection to the whole of life and the universe.  In their late teens and early twenties more than a few young adults have gone on lengthy expeditions to find themselves.  Walking across the continent, hiking the AT, or the Pacific Crescent, riding the TAT.  These adventures are symptoms of looking for something.  Often discovering the question is more important than finding the answer.  But what is to be found sleeping in a tent in the wilderness at the mercy of the elements?

Another example is people developing relationships with animals. I've known more than a few people who said they like animals better than human beings. In view of the behavior of some human beings, that's understandable. But this quest for extreme relationships of animals goes far beyond having a dog or cat or goldfish. People will dedicate their lives to learning about every detail about specific animals. People will travel the globe to scuba dive and see some exotic fish or coral reefs. Some climb high into the Himalayan Mountains to get a picture of a snow leopard. In some cases, they will even dedicate their lives to having exotic animals. There seems to be a search for a connection to something and these animals appear to be the doorway. What are we looking for that we are trying to find in this return to nature?

 Sometimes we find disastrous results in these efforts to go back to nature. More than a few people have died of exposure, dehydration, malnutrition, poisoning or accidents while they are out in the wild. Nature seems to be fickle and untrustworthy. The accounts of wild animals that were thought to be domesticated but turned into killers or naturalists who in the wild are killed by animals are not terribly uncommon. Nevertheless, people continue to look for something in nature the way salmon return to the stream where they were hatched.  For what are we looking?  

In Genesis 2, we learned that God made a beautiful world populated by plants, animals and  something special: the human being.  For an undetermined period of time Adam and Eve lived in a paradise along with the flora and fauna.  There was a stewardship or management of creation given to the humans, both meaningful work and delightful enjoyment.  But as a result of sin the whole of creation is thrown into chaos and corruption. The relationships within the paradise in the creation is disrupted and indeed becomes hostile.  That paradise of Eden exists only in the memory of the race who ruined it.  A memory that haunts us like a delightful, recurring dream that always ends too soon.  It is like a splinter in the mind and inflammation of the soul, an inexhaustible longing for something we know not what, but are sure we would recognize it if we ever saw it.   

We are homesick for Eden.  Every heart throb caused by a sunset over the ocean, every soul sigh that comes from looking at a perfect rose, every fantasy to snuggle a bear, play tag with a lion, or swim with a dolphin is a homesick cry for Eden.  Eden is coming back, not by man learning to live in harmony with a fallen world.  Eden is coming back because God will restore the broken world.  As Isaiah says

Also the cow and the bear will graze,

Their young will lie down together,

And the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra,

And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den.

They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord

As the waters cover the sea.

Let every pang of your heart call you to Eden or, I should say, call you back to the God who made you for Eden.