Community Spirit

             During the 19^th century and first half of the 20^th century community spirit was much in vogue.  It was common for neighbors to help neighbors during times of need, especially in rural America.  Growing up during the latter years of this period, before the radical shift to individualism occurred, I was fortunate enough to witness this phenomenon.  While still a young boy, I had the privilege of attending a barn raising where farmers from twenty miles around came together to help a neighbor to build a new barn.  As part of a threshing ring, our family along with several others bought a threshing machine to harvest grain.  During the harvesting season, the entire group would move from farm to farm, harvesting each farmer’s grain, the men and boys working in the fields, the wives and girls cooking the meals.  I have always felt privileged to have been old enough to participate in this activity prior to its cessation from American life.  One spring, when my father was ill and unable to prepare our fields for planting, several neighbors showed up one Saturday morning with their tractors and plows to prepare the fields.  These types of activities were common during my youth.

            Moving into the latter half of the 20th century things radically changed with the rise of both industrialization and individualism.  The urban flight to suburbia with its protected yards and garage door openers, the vast increase in mechanized equipment on the farms, the shift in attitude towards “doing one’s own thing” and “I’ve got to be me” all led us away from community.  Front porches, with neighbors sitting on them and conversing, were replaced with decks in backyards, resulting in further loss of community.  Churches, by en large, also succumbed to this loss, as, with better roads and faster automobiles, coupled with the thrill of individualism, the concept of local community churches disappeared.  It is not uncommon today for people to live thirty or more miles away from the church where they worship.  This makes community life much more difficult.

            The emphasis upon individualism which began in the 1960s, moving through modernism into the postmodern era has increasingly fractured society, with many today feeling alone, aloof and disenfranchised.  The void that individualism brings can only be filled by community because God, being triune, is in community, and expressed our need for human community when he said “It is not good for man to be alone.”  In constituting the church, God has chosen the symbol of the body to illustrate its communal nature.  We are called together, with the understanding that we need each other to function properly.  

            The church, because of its body structure, is poised to overturn the aloneness and abandonment of our current individualistic society.  As a caring community, it can reach out to the world, meeting the needs we find there.  But community does not occur by osmosis.  It requires intentionality.   It will not occur without deliberate effort. To be successful, it will require men and women coming together with the conviction that God has called them to such an endeavor. 

            God calls each of us to be a part of His redeeming community.  He calls us to reach out to the alienated world around us and draw them into His community, the church.  But it will not happen unless we are willing to abandon our own individualistic ways of living.  It is only by our active involvement as the body of Christ that others will find the Christian community attractive and seek to enter.  Are you willing to make the effort?

The Sounds of Silence

Over the past few weeks, following the Benghazi attack, there has been much in the media, the veracity of which is suspect, of a u-tube video as the cause of the outbreak of violence.  Whether or not that video was the sparkplug, the mere fact that it has been accused as being the cause points to the seriousness with which Muslims consider an affront to Allah.  We can ask ourselves why Christians do not take similar action as our faith is bombarded almost on a daily basis by the media and the Hollywood elite.  For the most part, we remain strangely silent.

There may be several reasons for this, some of which point to our having a weakened faith; others to having a robust and active faith.  Some will remain silent because they do not want to get involved.  They could really care less about what others say about God as long as they are, for the most part, left alone.  After all, just because they attend church, it doesn’t mean that they are much different than their non Christian neighbors.  They don’t want to be identified with those reactionary “Christian” nuts, and so remain silent.

Others don’t see God as active in today’s world.  To them, he is more of a feeble retired grandfather who never-the-less cares for them as a loving grandfather does his grandchildren.  Since God is no longer active, it’s best to not make waves, keeping quiet.  After all, if they get into trouble for speaking out He won’t be able to help them.

The third group takes a strong stand regarding the ranting against Christianity.  Unfortunately, at times they can be as obnoxious as their opponents.  Just like the Muslim radicals, they regard anything spoken against God as heresy.  It almost seems that they must come to the defense of God, only not quite as violently as the Muslim radicals often do.  Like the preceding group, they don’t really believe that God is very active in the world today and needs their help.  The famous debate held in Ann Arbor, Michigan during the 1960s between the death of God theologian Thomas Altizer and John Warwick Montgomery is a case in point.  Montgomery, treating Altizer as a heretic, totally destroyed him in the debate. But the sympathy of the crowd was with Altizer.  There was no love shown.

A fourth group sees God as very active in today’s world.  He doesn’t need our participation to defend Himself.  Since He is fully capable of defending Himself, they remain silent.  Those holding this view would do well to remember the words of the prophet Jeremiah when he decided to stop speaking the Word of the Lord because of all the trouble it brought him.  He concluded that he had to speak up because not to do so was like having a fire gnawing at his bones, thus he had to speak out, and did so.

The final group speaks up out of the conviction of a sincere and robust faith.  Like the fourth group, they have a strong faith that God is in control of history, guiding it to His ends. But how they speak up is vital.  Their speech is seasoned with love.  The more they are ridiculed, the more love they show.  They exemplify the song “They will know we are Christians by our Love”

As we look at our own lives, we likely find ourselves emulating one of these positions.  We can be silent, speak out rudely, or speak out in the context of demonstrating God’s love to those against us.  Which will it be?

Words and Lives

The passing of the legendary collegiate UCLA basketball coach John Wooden a year ago at age 99 provides an opportunity to reflect on his legacy. Though retiring in 1972, his achievement has yet to be surpassed, and likely never will. During his final twelve years of coaching he won ten NCAA national championships, at one point winning 88 games in a row. Various sports commentators, reflecting on his legacy, have questioned whether or not he would have been as successful in today’s game, concluding that he probably would not. In many ways, the game has changed over the past forty years, and not for the better. Others conclude he still would be, for he always stressed education, commitment and team play. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, commenting on Wooden on the occasion of his ninety-ninth birthday stated “Because of Coach Wooden’s mentoring I have never felt uncomfortable being a scholar in addition to being an athlete.” He noted that Wooden thought more of his players graduation rates being over sixty-five percent than he did of his amazing championship runs.

Those who personally knew Wooden point more to his character as a man and teacher than to his coaching ability, for his concern was always to develop the total person, not just his player’s basketball ability.

Trained as an English teacher, he sought to inculcate into his players the creed given him by his father at his eighth grade graduation. These principles were to be true to yourself, make each day your masterpiece, help others, drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible, make friendship a fine art, build a shelter against a rainy day, and pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day. Wooden lived and taught these principles; they became the basis for his Pyramid for Success, developed over fourteen years of reflection.

The disciplines he developed throughout his long life contributed to his success as a coach, whether it was teaching his players how to put on their socks and lace their shoes, dribble a basketball, or dealing with their stardom. He could praise his star players, like Abdul-Jabbar and Walton without fawning over them, and criticize them without berating them. In all of his years of coaching no one recalls one time when he swore at a player. Although blessed with megastars, he always insisted that the main ingredient of stardom was the rest of the team.

Avoiding pre game emotional speeches, believing that emotional peaks are usually followed by passing through deep valleys, he focused on intensity, teaching his players to think small during games – to concentrate on quick but proper execution. Success was not winning, but obtaining the peace of mind that comes from knowing that one made the effort to do the best to become the best that one is capable of becoming.

But it is in an anonymous poem which Wooden considered one of his favorites that we see perhaps most clearly the character of the man that his players and associates saw most clearly.
"No written word, no spoken plea
Can teach our youth what they should be,
Nor all the books on all the shelves.
It’s what the teachers are themselves."
In this poem we see the essence of authentic, unhypocritical living, Because he lived this way, Wooded had a profound impact on the young men who played for him. becoming a mentor to many. As we go though life we often find ourselves taking on roles as mentors and teachers. In them our character is set forth for others to see. As they observe our lives, do they see us teaching what we truly are?

Separatists, Culturalists and Restorers

Gabe Lyons, in The Next Christians describes three types of Christians, the Separatist, the Cultural and the Restorer. Each type can be further subcategorized. Among the Separatists are the Insiders. Most of Insiders time revolves around Christian activities. They only send their children to Christian schools, only listen to Christian music. read Christian books, etc. Their lives revolve around the safety of church. While their motive to live holy lives separated from the degradation seen in the culture around them is pure, they have great difficulty in engaging the culture in which they live without being judgmental. There are also the Cultural Warriors who consider that America and Christianity are deeply intertwined. To their credit, they are passionately concerned about our moral decline as a nation. They seek out politicians who support their positions on abortion, gay rights, etc. But they also have difficulty engaging a society which no longer believes in the value of the Judeo Christian heritage upon which our country was founded. Finally, among the Separatists, are the Evangelizers who believe that the only Christian activity of any value is getting people saved and will go to any means to see that accomplished. They reach out with the best of motives, but many times their technique turns off those they are trying to reach.

Among the Cultural are the Blenders. They attempt to blend so well with society that it becomes very hard to even identify them as Christians. They want to be like everyone else, attempting to be relevant and seeker friendly as a way of reaching their community. There are also the Philanthropists whose focus is upon social concerns and good works. In their zeal they often miss what the essence of the gospel is about – restoring people’s lives to a relationship with God through the grace that Jesus offers.

The Restorers have a different mission than the other two groups. Lyons states that their mission is to “infuse the world with beauty, grace, justice and love.” While acknowledging that our broken world will not be completely healed until Christ’s return, they seek to be a part of Christ’s healing ministry by attempting to assist in healing the broken spiritual and physical lives of the people around them. Instead of separating from or blending in, they engage the culture in which they live. Instead of being offended by what goes on around them they are provoked to become involved in making change. Instead of judging, they love the broken ones around them because they realize that they are just as broken and that it is only the grace of God that has rescued them. They use their talents, gifts and passions to make a difference in their world, affecting their jobs, their neighborhoods, their schools, their community, promoting the common good. As Lyons observes, “They are motivated to bring the love of Christ into every broken system they encounter.”

This is how Christianity grew by 40 percent per decade over its first three centuries. The early Christians were restorers. To the multitudes of homeless and impoverished in the large cities of the Greco-Roman world it gave hope. To the newcomers who migrated from the rural to the urban areas it offered community. To the many widows and orphans it brought family. In place of ethnic strife it yielded total acceptance. During famine, catastrophes and times of plague it brought compassion and care.

As we examine our lives, which of these three categories do we most identify with? Are we Separatists, Culturalists or Restorers? Which do we want to be?

God's Love Story

Carolyn Arends, in an article on the film Evan Almighty notes that some Christians objected to the concept expressed in the film that the story of Noah’s Ark is a love story. She goes on in her article to reflect on this important question: “Is there any story about God that isn't a love story?” Upon reflection, she concludes that even the parts of the Bible that speak of God’s wrath and anger are really part of a love story.

Many Christians have grown up with two viewpoints about God that appear on the surface to be contradictory. God is a God of love. But God is also a holy wrathful God who hates sin. How do we keep these two viewpoints in tension? As Carolyn probed this question, she realized that she had always viewed God in a good cop bad cop routine, with the Holy Spirit acting as a sympathetic parole officer. While expressing that God was a God of love she concluded that there were limits to his love.

How does the concept of a vengeful God fit into a love story? As Carolyn wrestled with this, she found the following analogy helpful. If her young daughter started to dash out into the street into heavy traffic, grabbing her daughter, yanking her back from harm’s way and yelling “No!” would not be a sign of harsh anger, but of fierce love. She would even punish her daughter if it led to her future safety. She concludes that it is the same with God. His punishing us for sin is a sign of his fierce love, for he knows that the consequence of sin leads to ultimate destruction, an end he does not desire for us. .

We see this dynamic at work throughout the period of the Judges and in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. Each time God brings disaster upon or punishes his people it is for a purpose – to bring them back into a loving relationship with him. Nowhere is this message more clearly seen than in the book of Hosea. For most of the book Hosea talks about how God will punish Israel. But in the final chapter he reminds them that if they will repent, God will bless them and love them freely. The entire point of chastisement is so they will return to God and be in relationship with him. This is also the point of loving one’s enemies in order to heap coals of fire on their heads. St Augustine interprets Romans 12:20 to imply that one’s enemies, provoked by our kindness, will have their malice towards us burned away in repentance.

Christian parents discipline their children because they love them and desire them to live morally upright lives that are dedicated to God. Punishment stems from this love, with the goal that their children will understand that there are consequences to their actions and will live better lives as a result. In much the same way God disciplines us when we go astray, not because he is vindictive, but because he deeply loves us and wants what is best for us. At times he punishes us as a way to draw us back to a relationship with himself.

How often do we find ourselves, like Carolyn, trying to maintain a dual image of God? How often do we flit back and forth, between images of God as a God of love and as a wrathful God? How much do you really view the entire Bible as a love story?

Medium or Message?

Several years ago Marshall McCluen wrote that “The medium is the message.” While this has become increasingly true in today’s world, (witness the influential role of the media in swaying public opinion), his statement is far from true in the spiritual realm. In God’s eyes, the medium is a channel used solely to proclaim the message – the good news that Jesus came to save sinners and reconcile them to God.

But because of the constant bombardment of the primacy of the medium in today’s culture, we often find the medium too attractive. Thus we are always seeking the latest fad or program, constantly changing direction and focus. The Holiness Manifesto, produced by the Wesleyan Holiness Study Project points out two of the dangers associated with this approach.

The first danger is that we become ineffective in our ministry. The Holiness Manifesto” states “The power and zeal of churches has been drained by the incessant search for a better method, a more effective fad, a newer and bigger program to yield growth. In the process of trying to find the magic method for growing healthy vibrant churches, our people have become largely ineffective and fallen prey to a generic Christianity that results in congregations that are indistinguishable from the culture around them.” We can easily lose excitement about the latest fad knowing that we will soon be moving on to another one.

The second danger is that we can confuse the medium with the message. When this happens, we can easily corrupt the message. The Holiness Manifesto states concerning church leaders that “They have become so concerned about ‘how’ they do church that they have neglected the weightier matter of ‘what’ the church declares.” We can focus so much on the program that we lose sight of the fact of God’s holy love being declared through the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus. We can lose sight of God’s desire that we live holy lives ourselves.

There are also additional dangers to be aware of. The third danger is that we can focus upon the form and lose the function. It is easy to emulate such programs as Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Church”, or Willow Creek. What we often forget is that the form they are using was designed to serve a particular function in their particular church. Merely duplicating the form, without replicating the underlying function, will lead to frustration, and ultimately failure.

The fourth danger is that this approach can lead us into spiritual adultery. The book of Hosea points out how Israel, though very religious, was constantly chasing after foreign cultures and their gods. They sought to emulate the “successful” societies around them. Hosea refers to this as adultery. If we seek to follow all the church growth fads more than God himself, we are in the same danger of spiritual adultery.

If we are to reach out to those around us we must avoid the dangers listed above and focus on our own personal and corporate holiness. This must begin with repentance and humility. We must become a holy community with a strong message of the love of Jesus who died for our sins. We must be a community which demonstrates love for each other and the world around us. By focusing on living holy, transformed lives, we will become a magnet, drawing people to Jesus. By living this way, a program, while helpful, won’t even be necessary to see people coming into the kingdom. Which do you find more attractive, the medium or the message?

The Pursuit of Happiness

The Roman historian, Tacitus, observed that “There are many men who appear to be struggling against Adversity, and yet are happy; but yet more, who, although abounding in Wealth, are miserable.” His observations about happiness, or lack thereof, have not changed much over the centuries. A friend who has been on several short term mission trips to Haiti recently noted that although the people of Haiti live in extreme poverty and have deplorable living conditions, they are very happy. He then said that many people he knows here in the states, although having a much higher standard of living, are basically unhappy with the quality of their lives.

Such an ironic twist! Those whom we would think have no right to be happy are happy, while those we would except to be happy because they have the good things of life, aren’t! Why does happiness seem to be so elusive in our society today? Two thoughts come to mind. People who are happy tend to have a purpose outside of themselves. It is usually found in having a relationship with God and in caring for and serving others. These are often people who have a deep faith and dependence on God, greatly appreciating the things they receive as a gift from God. They don’t merely take things for granted, but receive them with thankful hearts. They freely give to others, whether of their possessions, or time. They find joy in serving others.

Why does our society seem so unhappy? We have bought into the slogans such as “Grab all the gusto you can” and “Look out for number one” etc. Focusing upon self-centeredness robs us of the ability to truly be happy. Self is a hard taskmaster who never satisfies. It leads us to obsession with our rights and the continual drive to always want more. We are never satisfied. We become narcissistic, seeking only our own personal pleasure, even at the expense of others. Self-centeredness destroys relationships with others, as we find ourselves envying their good fortune. Focusing upon our selves opens up a great void that is never able to be filled; one which leads us to spiral downward into the blackness of despair and unhappiness, never to be satisfied, consumed with always wanting more. The resulting dissatisfaction only leads us to a more desperate search for that seemingly elusive state of happiness, one which we can see but can never grasp. It is always just beyond the horizon, enticing us onward in an illusive pursuit, much like searching for the end of the rainbow.

To find true happiness requires getting out of self, having a purpose which is other centered, in service to God and mankind. It is in the process of serving others and making a difference in their lives that we discover joy and contentment. We must seek the good of others more than of our own. Only then will we find the satisfaction and joy of true happiness. We have been created by God to live this way, to live in community, because God himself is in a communal relationship as Father, Son and Spirit and desires to have a communal relationship with us. Jesus, during his brief three years of ministry, established a model of service for us to follow. It is a model based on love and relationships. It is only in abandoning our selves in loving and serving others that we truly find the contentment of happiness. It’s time to ask ourselves, what am I looking for to provide happiness in my life?

The Fallacy of Political Correctness

In the world in which we live, political correctness has almost become a mantra. It is felt that if the politically correct word or thought is repeated often enough in the right circumstances, the repetition will somehow transform people to accept the idea being espoused. It is often tied to diversity, with the idea that if we are politically correct we will be more accepting of cultural diversity. It is sometimes used to embarrass people for being intolerant of others. To avoid feeling embarrassed, many people will avoid stating their true feelings or will go along with the crowd.

But political correctness has a more sinister side lurking in its background. It is often a cover up for immoral, unethical and bad behavior. Tying behavior to political correctness provides it with a false sense of legitimacy. It can then become an excuse for intolerance, discrimination, bigotry and immorality. Being considered politically correct, these behaviors are never examined and judged for what they truly are. Under the guise of political correctness abortion and homosexuality are fashionable, intolerance towards Christians is acceptable, freedom of speech is discouraged, and discrimination against anyone disagreeing with political correctness is encouraged. Anyone not accepting the current politically correct positions is ironically heavily discriminated against, as several Christian students attending various universities have recently discovered when they went against the accepted social norms of the day.

The burden of political correctness seems to affect the Christian community the most, for many of the false ideologies that hide behind political correctness run counter to biblical ethics. They foster oppression against the church, even targeting individual Christians. As society becomes more pagan in nature, this trend will only continue. The physical, cultural, emotional and spiritual oppression we now feel will only intensify. Will the church be prepared to stand against the malevolent storm building against it?

In many ways the issue facing Christianity in the Western world today is similar to the situation faced by the people of God in the book of Judges. Several times they were oppressed for many years before God would step in. But he would only act when they cried out to him. The Hebrew word for “cry” in these passages implies a cry of desperation. It comes from a confession that they cannot control the situation. After trying everything else on their own, they finally cry out to God as their only hope and savior. They have to first acknowledge that they are totally dependent upon him. Only then does he act.

I wonder if the church today is going through similar times. For many years we have acted self sufficiently. We have attempted to do it on our own under the guise of success and power. We have sought to be successful by imitating successful church models, though experiencing the disquieting notion that all may not be well. We have inaugurated coalitions and joined political parties, but the various coalitions we have put together, such as Moral Majority, Focus on the Family, and the joined political parties, etc. have proved to be illusionary, unable to fully deliver the desired goals they have sought. We may wonder why God seems to be so inactive, not realizing that he is waiting for us to cry out to him for his help. He desires that we place our total trust and dependence upon him; only then will we experience his miraculous intervention on our behalf. And so he waits, waiting for us to cry out for deliverance. Have you reached the point of crying yet? May it be soon!

Embassy Christianity

When living abroad, a person is bound by the laws of the country in which he lives. But when he enters the American embassy located in that country, he is bound to obey the laws of the United States for as long as he is in the embassy compound. This makes sense when living in a foreign country. But it is dangerous when we take the same approach in our religious life. There are many in our secular world today who believe that religion is a private personal matter which shouldn’t affect the rest of our lives. While we can live for God on Sunday, we should not let our religious faith affect the rest of the week. They expect us to live as embassy Christians: following the laws of God while at church but following the laws of society when outside of church. This view has even led some to desire to replace freedom of religion with freedom of worship. We can worship as we want, but make sure to keep our religion on the sidelines, where it is ineffective in our daily life. The results of such thinking, as noted in various surveys, show that the lifestyles of many Christians are practically the same as society at large. The only real difference is that Christians may attend church on Sunday.

I wonder how many of us have succumbed to this approach in our relationship with God. Do we order our lives after the pattern of the world for the majority of our lives? But then for one hour on Sunday (0.6% of our week), we switch to following God? This attitude can be called embassy living. Others have coined it as “living for God on Sunday and for the Devil the rest of the week.”

While it is true that as the Apostle Peter says, we are strangers and aliens here on earth, God does not want us to have an embassy mentality. He wants our total allegiance 24 / 7. He calls us to holiness. As citizens of his kingdom, we are bound by his laws and commands. He calls us to be a part of a redemptive community that lives in and reaches out to a fallen world. We are to be, as the Apostle Paul says, ambassadors for Christ.
An ambassador is the representative of the government whom he serves. In effect, he is an extension of that government. He has the responsibility to faithfully serve those he represents. He doesn’t represent his country only when on the embassy grounds. Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he represents his country. His every action is governed by his reflection upon its effect on the country he serves.

As Christians, we are to have the same type of attitude. Wherever we go, whatever we do, God expects us to be his ambassadors. All of our actions should be governed by the question of how aligned they are with the desires of our King. As representatives of His kingdom, we are to represent Christ to the world. We are to be incarnational Christians, living Christ-like lives. Anyone who sees us should see Christ. He expects us to live this way day in and day out. It is only through incarnational living that we will have an impact upon the world. God does not want us to be embassy Christians. He wants us to fully represent Him here on earth. How do you live your life? Do you live your life as an ambassador or as an embassy Christian?

The Desire for Knowledge

Tenney Frank, in his book Life and Literature in the Roman Republic describes how the quality of literature decreased in the late Roman Republic. He notes that the literary writers acquiesced to the wishes of the audience. He writes “It is not surprising, therefore, that these audiences – eager for entertainment which might exclude all possibility of having to exercise the intellect – finally demanded an extravaganza that appealed solely to eye and ear.” We see much the same when we look at the current state of the entertainment industry in our days. Much of prime time television tends to be sit-coms which titillatingly appeal to the eye and ear. Very little intellect is required when viewing these programs. The purpose of many movies appears to be to provide a visual spectacle. As in the times of the late Roman Republic, the entertainment fare available caters to the whims of the audience.

Outside of documentaries, which tend to engage one’s mind, most programs on television offer mindless entertainment. Our minds are never exercised. These programs erode our desire-for-intellect IQ and it begins to atrophy. The mindless drivel of their content tends to stultify our minds, resulting in a paralyzing dullness. This dullness has become so pervasive that it has not only affected our homes, but also our schools and society at large. In many inner city schools the desire-for-intellect IQ is virtually non-existent. The depth to which we have devolved can be seen in an assignment given by a law professor to his first year law students. The students complained that the papers they were to read were almost incomprehensible. The professor retorted that they must understand for whom these papers were originally published – New England farmers. They were the Federalist Papers, written when our nation was in the process of being born. This example shows how far down we have sunk. When the intellect of modern day graduate students is inferior to that of less educated farmers of former days, we are in desperate straits.

God desires that we have a high desire-for-intellect IQ. Many passages in Scripture speak of the necessity of our studying God’s word. The prophet Hosea states that without knowledge the people perish. The Apostle Paul says we should study to be approved to God. Many passages in the Old and New Testaments speak of the studying of God’s laws and his word as having a high priority. They all imply that we must have a desire to know God. We are to love God with our minds as well as our hearts.

When the intellectual malaise which we observe in our society infects the church, it also is in trouble. Dallas Willard, in The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, notes that while we would reject an analyst or surgeon with shallow thinking, we easily put our minds away when it comes to religion. The focus of many church youth programs appears to have more interest in keeping their young people entertained than in a serious study of God’s word and the deepening of their spiritual lives. Many church services contain little more than pabulum which does not engage the mind. The author of Hebrews has sharp words for the Christian who constantly has a need for milk instead of solid food, noting that solid food is for the mature individual who can discern good from evil (Heb 5:11-14). By implication, those on milk cannot make such discernment.

The desire to know God requires a decision on our part. We have to make it a priority. Where is your desire-for-intellect IQ? Is it in the 150s or in the low 70s?

The Benefits of Silence

Walking into the store, the echoes of musak tickle my mind, enticing me to buy, buy, buy, since the tunes projecting from the sound system are not merely for my enjoyment alone. We are caught up in a world where silence and solitude are foreign to both our hearts and our ears. One would think we thrive on noise; it constantly is entering our ears, whether it is from the radio, television or our ipod. If nothing else, the whoosh of automobiles on the not to distant expressway as they travel to and fro invades our ears. There are even machines that will produce white noise. White noise consists of sound from all of the frequencies that the human ear can hear, drowning out other voices, making it difficult to hear them. Noise is now so commonplace that when it is absent we suffer in the silence, frantically seeking the comfort of sound. Just as the quietness of solitude makes us feel guilty, so also does the sound of silence make us feel uncomfortable.

Yet both silence and solitude are keys to being able to listen to the still small voice of God when he speaks to us. Perhaps the rarity with which we hear his voice is due in part to the discordant noise that is all around us. The cacophony of white noise that Satan uses to invade our ears is designed to prevent our listening to God’s still small voice, for he knows that in many languages “to listen” and “to obey” have the same root. He fears that if we actually listen to God’s voice, we might obey it, carrying out his will.

Throughout the history of Christendom, those men and women having been considered saints and giants in the faith by their peers have found solitude and silence to be beneficial to their faith walk. Thomas à Kempis says of them that “in silence and quiet the devout soul profiteth and learneth the secrets of the scriptures”. Henri Nouwen notes that “silence is the way to make solitude a reality”. In silence and solitude men and women of faith were able to focus deeply upon their relationship with the God they adored.

Noise becomes a great distraction, prohibiting us from concentrating upon that which we desire. I remember a time when I found myself being very unproductive while writing some computer programs. Upon analysis, I discovered I was handling sixty phone calls a day. The constant distractions made it impossible to concentrate on the work at hand. Noise, music and words blaring from the radio or TV all cause us to lose our concentration upon God. They invade our reflections and thoughts. God can not get our attention long enough to get through to our souls.

Silence and solitude bring us face to face with God alone. Cornelius Plantinga Jr. in his book Engaging God’s WorldEngaging God's World (A Reformed Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living) says ”Silences may fill us with longing for goodness and listening for God. Silence lets us brood over things that make us deep.” Perhaps the reason we reach for the ipod, television or radio at such times is due to the fact that the relationship we have with God is very shallow. Since the encounter is somewhat frightening, we seek the comfort of noise. In this way we can avoid the awkwardness that silence brings – the silence that tells us that we are alone with God.

The extent to which we welcome silence and solitude may tell us much about the nature of our faith. Do we welcome them, or try to avoid them?

Crushed Violets

In his fanciful play Ivan & Adolf: The Last Man in Hell Stephen Vicchio portrays Ivan Karamazov and Adolf Hitler as the last two denizens of Hell. The play follows the dialogue between them and their maid Sophie. Sophie makes the daily journey from Heaven to Hell over the course of several millennia to wait on them. The play deals with Ivan’s anger against Hitler for his atrocities. It also deals with his hatred of God which prevents him from being able to forgive. It also looks at Hitler’s being so wrapped up in himself that he has no feeling for those whose lives he destroyed, or for anyone else. Through their interchanges, Sophie attempts to help each man deal with love, forgiveness and compassion. At one point she tells Ivan about experiencing a sweet smell all day, later to discover that it was the smell of a violet which she had stepped on that stuck to her shoe. With each step its fragrance was released. She tells him “Forgiveness happens when the violet lends sweet fragrance to the heel that crushed it.” She also tells Adolf that “Revenge is the natural, automatic reaction to being deeply hurt. Forgiveness is an entirely creative art. It comes out of nowhere. It is completely unpredictable. For most humans it is incomprehensible.” Throughout the course of the play, Ivan learns to forgive and Adolf to show compassion towards Ivan. At the end, when Adolf is to be released from Hell, he declines, deciding to wait in Hell with Ivan until he is released.

While we might not overtly seek revenge for something done against us, we might still inwardly smile with satisfaction if a person who harmed us receives retribution from another’s hand. It can be difficult for us to love and forgive when we are affected personally. And yet such forgiveness and love, in God’s eyes, are not only possible, but are expected. As Jesus hung dying on the cross, looking out at the mass of humanity in front of him, he said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The sweet smell of forgiveness that exuded from the cross that day still has the same effect today. Stephen demonstrated this when he asked that the sin of those stoning him wouldn’t be held against them. Many of those martyred for their faith have said the same during their martyrdom. In more recent times we have seen the process that Sophie talks about at work in the forgiveness shown by the Amish towards the family of the man who murdered their children in their Amish school. For many people, the compassion they showered upon this family seemed incomprehensible. How could they do such a thing? Their forgiveness was created out of their love of God, for as Sophie tells Ivan “For you to love God, Ivan, you need God to have a human face.” Jesus saw the face of God in those who surrounded him as he hung on the cross and he loved them. Stephen saw God’s face in those throwing stones at him. And the Amish saw God’s face in the suffering of the wife and children of the man who murdered their own children and welcomed them in love. They opened the sweet smell of forgiveness to the heel that had crushed them. As we look out at the faces around us, can we say the same? In whose face do we see God? Are we willing to be bruised violets, lending God’s fragrance to the world?

What is Important?

The story is told of a Native American and a friend who were visiting New York City. During lunch hour they were walking down Broadway, with its cacophony of noise from people talking, the tread of their footsteps as they rapidly walked down the street, the roar of traffic whizzing by and the horns honking. Suddenly the Native American said “Listen. I hear a cricket”. His friend replied, “How can you hear a cricket above all this noise?” Insisting that he had heard a cricket chirping, he crossed the street to a planter, looked inside and found a cricket. His friend queried him again. “How on earth could you have heard a cricket? You couldn’t have heard anything as small and insignificant as that with all this noise!” Whereupon the Native American reached into his pocket, pulled out several coins and dropped them on the sidewalk. Immediately everyone within twenty feet stopped, turned and looked. Turning to his friend he said, “It all depends on what you consider to be important.”

It all depends on what we consider to be important! As we go through life we are faced with many demands on our time, our priorities, our faith and our money. Many times we often say what we consider to be important. It is easy to say that our church, our faith or our family is of utmost importance to us, yet we may often ignore them. We may say that the Bible is important to us, but never find time to read it. We may say that our family is important to us, while spending all of our time at work and never attending our children’s events. To what extent do we live up to what we say? Many of the passersby in the story above, rushing on their way to important meetings, luncheon engagements, etc. showed what was really important when they heard the coins clinking on the sidewalk. How often do we do the same? Our actions may belie our words. We may say one thing and do another.

When we do so we become hypocrites. We are no better than the Pharisees and Scribes of Jesus’ day. Their actual practices confirmed a much different picture than did their stated beliefs. While declaring their great faith, they sought as many loopholes as possible to avoid actually practicing it. Unfortunately, we can easily find ourselves living our lives much as they did.

But the story of hearing the cricket has another point as well. It is only when we are tuned to hear that we can actually hear. A group of mothers can be talking on a playground while their children play. Suddenly one of the mothers will state “My child is crying”. None of the other mothers heard the crying. But if it was their own child, they would have heard the cry. Their ear was tuned to the voice of their child. The ear of the Native American was tuned to hear the still small voice of the cricket over the noise, while the ear of his friend was not. We live in a world which has as much spiritual cacophony as the physical cacophony experienced on the streets of New York. The roar can be quite deafening. There are constant demands to pull us away from God. The secular culture in which we live is not tuned to hear spiritual things. We will hear the things that are truly important to us. Are our ears tuned to hear the still small voice of God above the din of life? Are you listening to his voice?

Happiness

We all desire happiness. Yet we find that many people today are unhappy. Depression among baby boomers is ten times greater than among previous generations. More and more people are identifying with Winnie-the-Pooh’s friend Eyeore whose gloomy outlook is expressed in the words “If it is a good day, which I doubt”. Why is our society so unhappy? Experts suggest that it is due to our having lost a sense of purpose. We have become a narcissistic society. We seek personal satisfaction and pleasure. We live in a world where pleasure has replaced purpose. We no longer believe that our lives have an ultimate purpose.

The advertising we hear and see day in and day out constantly bombards us with a message of self gratification. We are told to seek all the gusto in life and to look out for number one. And so we go through life seeking personal pleasure. Yet we are restless. When we look deep into our souls, we find there is a hollow spot inside. Something is missing. There is an uncomfortable void waiting to be filled. It is no wonder that our society is in such a depressed state! Seeking only for self gratification will lead to the unfulfilled desire for more pleasure and happiness. We will always want something better than we have. We strive to keep up with the Jones. In our discontent we seek new spouses, new jobs, new toys, etc. But these new things never bring happiness. We find ourselves more and more unhappy because the hollowness we feel inside is never filled.

Living in a meaningless world devoid of purpose leads to despair. We have nothing to live for. As the philosopher J. P. Moreland has noted “In such a world the difference between Mother Teresa and Saddam Hussein reduces to the difference between a Big Mac and a Whopper.“ In such a world neither can be considered to be better than the other. Everything is without meaning and is purposeless. Without purpose, living for self becomes our only lifestyle choice. When this proves to be illusionary, we will find ourselves asking the questions “Is that all there is?” and “Why bother?” This will always lead us to despair.

Where do we find ultimate purpose in life? It is found in loving God and serving others. It begins with having an intimate relationship with God. It continues with developing relationships with others and serving them. In the midst of these relationships our purpose is often found. In loving God we find the motivation to serve others. In serving others we find true happiness and joy. It is in the giving of oneself that true happiness is found. I am reminded of a friend whose family had escaped the Armenian genocide at the beginning of the twentieth century. He has found real joy in going back and serving the people of that country – people he once hated.

Too often today we seek to serve ourselves, not realizing that self is a cruel taskmaster. It always demands more and more. We never have enough. It leads to perpetual dissatisfaction. But when we serve God and others we find true joy, happiness and contentment. We find that we can have a meaningful purpose to our lives. And that makes all the difference! In the midst of our hustle bustle self orienting world, it is worth from time to time stopping and asking ourselves the questions: “Who am I serving, myself or others?” “What purpose has God given me to live for?”

The Trouble with Mrs. Zebedee

The account of Mrs. Zebedee’s request that her sons, James and John, be given positions of authority in Jesus’ kingdom is an interesting story on several levels. It shows a good Jewish mother wanting to see her boys succeed. But it also illustrates the attraction that power and influence have upon us all. It shows how much we allow the desire to manipulate the outcomes of life to affect us. Mrs. Zebedee is not content to let her sons succeed on their own! She attempts to manipulate their success. The story also shows the extent that covetousness can gain a hold upon us. The rest of the disciples were upset with her request, feeling that they should have the positions and kicking themselves that they hadn’t asked first. Mrs. Zebedee’s request tells us a lot about human nature. Throughout history, people have faced the temptation of Zebedeeism – the desire for power, status and control.

We find ourselves reacting much as Mrs. Zebedee and the disciples did. We seek to have positions of power and authority, both within the church and within society. We want to have control over the events of our lives. We attempt to manipulate them so that things will turn out the way we want them to. We desire to see our children living successful lives. And who does not want to see their children succeed? But at times we may try to define success for them. We can push them into sports or a particular career path even though they may have no interest in them at all. We can try to live vicariously through our children’s success. When we do so, we allow Zebedeeism to infect our lives.

We can also personally become so enamored with power and status that we seek them at all cost. We may become bitter when others get ahead, coveting their positions. Stories are told of executives who are bent out of shape because when they measured one of their peer’s offices they found it to be a few square inches larger than theirs. This example illustrates the power that coveting can have on us. It illustrates how Zebedeeism can dominate our lives.

Due to human nature we have all been infected with Zebedeeism to some extent. We all face the danger of allowing it to dominate our lives. How do we avoid succumbing to it? Jesus gives the antidote in the story of Mrs. Zebedee. He states “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” (Mt 20:26b). Servanthood is the cure for the disease of Zebedeeism. Serving others removes our having a self-oriented focus. Jesus calls us to voluntarily become his servants – ones who are willing to give up claims to power and status. He wants us to be enamored with him, not with achieving great positions in the world. Service, given out of love, is a powerful deterrent to Zebedeeism. Mother Theresa is perhaps the one modern person who has done this more than most. With the strength of her character, she could have easily achieved positions of influence and power in the world. But she willingly gave up everything to serve the poor. She was willing to be a servant of Christ, reaching out to the downtrodden in society. God calls us to do the same. He calls us to reach out to those in need. But this requires that we let go. It requires a willingness to serve others. It begins with an examination of our lives, asking “How much does Zebedeeism affect my life?”

The Now Generation

Our society has been called the “now” generation. We want things “now”, no matter what they are. This has made us susceptible to many dangers, such as impulse buying, the desire for instant gratification, impatience with things that require time to develop. Wanting things “now” has many serious consequences. It causes the run up of hefty balances on our credit cards. It leads to dissatisfactions in marriages, many times resulting in divorce. It fuels the lotteries, with their enticement of a quickly amassed fortune. It destroys relationships that don’t develop quickly enough. “Now” can become a huge taskmaster.

The rocket scientist Wernher von Braun had an astute comment about the fallible nature of now. He once observed that "Crash programs fail because they are based on the theory that, with nine women pregnant, you can get a baby in a month.” Many things require time to develop. Just as it takes nine months for a child to be born, it takes time for relationships to develop, for nest eggs to be built, to experience the joy of working to acquire something in the future. These cannot occur overnight. To attempt otherwise leads to premature births, relationships that are constantly flitting from one to another, the temptation to compromise one’s values, etc. Living with a now mentality can cause us significant problems.

God is definitely not part of the now generation. He is described in several passages as being slow to anger. When the children of Israel turn from him time after time in the book of Judges, he often allows them to stray for decades before acting. Perhaps the greatest example of God’s not being part of the now generation is seen in the coming of Jesus. Jesus did not come immediately after the fall of Adam and Eve, but in the fullness of time. God is certainly not impulsive.

God also designs our lives to be much in the same way. In his poem The Windhover, the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins includes the line “Sheer plod makes plow down sillion shine.” The imagery is agricultural – of a horse pulling a plow. “Sillion” is a technical term, referring to the freshly turned, moist compacted earth that comes off the plow share. It often has a sheen which glistens as the sun hits it. This is what he means by “sillion shine”. It is only by the horse slowly plodding ahead, pulling the plow across the field, that we have the sillion shining and glistening in the sun.

Likewise, it is only by going through the nine months of pregnancy that we experience the joy of birth. It is only by putting a little bit away, month by month, year after year, that we accumulate our retirement nest egg. It is only by the discovery of new insights about another person and sharing ourselves with them over many years that relationships grow. It is only in our slowly becoming more like Christ in our lives that we grow in holiness. Each takes time. Each requires slowly plodding ahead.

Unfortunately we often try to short circuit the process. We look for the quick fix. We want the results without having to put in the effort. And we want them immediately! We become impatient if we don’t get them right away. When we do this we miss out on much that God has for us. We miss out on the joy of both a developing relationship with him and with others. We never see growth in Christian maturity. We have become captive to now. By the way, how much does now control your life?