We Are Not Alone

The Christmas season is upon us. It starts here in Texas immediately after Thanksgiving Day, but that's the same all over the U.S. now. The merchants push hard to sell whatever and we'll all be wondering how we're going to get everything done before Christmas Day. Like so many others, Sylvia and I have yet to complete our Christmas shopping and the annual Christmas letter to friends and relatives. Not so for everyone. I received one letter by email yesterday, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

All this reminds me of that terribly busy first Christmas when Caesar Augustus had ordered a census throughout the Roman Empire. Interesting guy, that Augustus. He was born with the given name Gaius Octavius on September 23, 63 B.C. He took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian) in 44 B.C. after the murder of his great uncle, Julius Caesar. In his will Caesar had adopted Octavian and made him his heir. The rest, as they say, is history.

By the time Jesus was born this first Roman Emperor had been in power for over 20 years and the great Pax Romana was in place. It was a time of peace. You could travel most of the empire in relative safety. So it was possible for the unknown peasants, Mary and Joseph, to travel a hundred miles south to Bethlehem where Jesus was born.

If you're concerned about this census business and the extra-Biblical allusions to it, you might refer to any number of explanations. One that I found useful is by Dr. Richard Bucher. The main point he makes is that according to the best available records, it really did happen as Luke wrote in his Gospel.

In our country this is also a time of change. President Bush is stepping down to be replaced by President Obama, a most historical time. These days you can be certain that tons of records will be available by for future generations, taking apart a multitude of thoughts and comments about the presidency of the first black man in U.S. history.

It is also a time of severe financial testing, both here and throughout the world. That's another reason why the Christmas season is being pushed by the retail merchants. However, no one expects to make much money this year.

But in all of this I am comforted to know that the words of Psalm 31 remain true:

But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, "You are my God."

My times are in your hands;
deliver me from my enemies
and from those who pursue me.

Let your face shine on your servant;
save me in your unfailing love.

The Christmas story reminds us so powerfully that our Lord did not leave us alone to be tossed this way and that by the changes of history, the power plays of politicians, the hatred between religious groups, the prejudices between races and troubles with finances. Greed, hatred, lust for power and all the other sins of mankind remain with us, but we are not alone. He is with us. Our Lord Jesus came to take up our infirmities and carry our sorrows. Before us stands a wonderfully strange future.

So in the midst of this busy, busy season of change, kneel again with the shepherds at the manger where lies the Prince of Peace and let the song of the angels re-echo in your heart: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests." We are not alone. He is with us.

You Did It For Me

It is a bit uncommon for me to fill a pulpit on any given Sunday morning. That is my own choice, I suppose. Some classmates and friends are interim or vacancy pastors, still preaching every Sunday morning. Be that as it is, I am privileged to preach this Sunday, the final in the traditional church year. My sermon to the small congregation in Livingston, TX. is based upon the Gospel lesson from Matthew 25:31-46, the final separation of the righteous from the unrighteous. What struck me again about that lesson is the vision our LORD has for Christian community. Upon commending the righteous for their lives, He says,

"I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

They protest, indicating they didn't see Him. But He responds, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

All of their deeds of kindness, care and concern were in reality done to Him. In other words, the believer's entire life is one of response to the love we receive from Him. We love Him because He first loved us. "If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen" (1 John 4:18-20).

Note that the word 'brother' is used both by Jesus and by the Apostle John. John says that the brother in need is visible enough, even though God remains physically invisible. So if I love God who first loved me in Christ, the immediate way to love God is to love my brother. Earlier in the same chapter of his letter John writes, "if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."

This points to that strange mystery about the church, the mystical body of Christ in the world. We are His body, hands, feet, eyes and ears. His Spirit lives in us. It is through us that He continues to teach, heal, serve and care. Consequently it is quite unthinkable that we do not love one another.

The word 'love' is, of course, the tricky word here. English speakers are bound to use the word love in all directions, whereas the Greeks of Jesus' day had four words available: agape, or spiritual love; storge, or familial love; philia, the love between friends; and the familiar eros, sexual love.

C.S. Lewis took all this apart in his well known work, The Four Loves, published by Harcourt in 1971. In it he points to the many ways by which familial, 'philial' and sexual love can be twisted from the purposes for which they were created. Yet all this changes when the 'agapic' love of Christ takes hold of one's life. Then you begin to love as you have been loved and in those very acts you are changed. As John wrote, "His love is made complete in us."

As we approach a national day of Thanks Giving, I give thanks that I have been called into this love of God so clearly seen in Christ Jesus. Consequently I have been and continue to be loved by my brothers and sisters in the great family of God. In turn I have family members all around who need and welcome my love. What a wonder. What a reason to give thanks indeed.

Seek The Peace Of The City

My grandson Patrick stopped by for an overnight visit this weekend, joined by his brother Shawn, Shawn's wife Marian, accompanied by Shawn and Patrick's parents, my daughter Cheryl Lee and husband Derrick. Sylvia and I joined them for a steak at Salt Grass Steakhouse to celebrate an important milestone: Patrick received his senior ring at Texas A&M University this weekend. He has only the spring semester left before graduation. We're all quite proud of him. He's quite aware of national events, but voices a deep distrust of all elected politicians.

Of course, his upcoming graduation brings back memories of my own, now nearly 54 years ago! And that takes me back to the world of the fifties, the hopes, plans and dreams of my generation. Any thoughts of the lives of my grandchildren back then were vague at the very best. Yet, from what I recall, we were positive and hopeful about our nation's future.

I paid relatively little attention to the 1954 national elections of representatives and senators. General Eisenhower, a Republican party war hero, had already been elected two years before during a time when Cold War tension between our nation and the Soviet Union was escalating. Eisenhower's election ended twenty years of the Democratic party's control of the White House. There was much concern about the stalemated Korean War and Senator Joseph McCarthy was finding communists hiding in closets everywhere. Yet with all those momentous events going on, I focused primarily upon my studies and my personal life. I was preparing for a lifetime vocation as a clergyman.

From what I hear, young voters broke voting turnout records this year. They doubled and in some cases tripled their presence in caucuses like Iowa, energized by the heated contest to decide whether, for the first time, a black candidate was to become the Democratic nominee and later president. They responded to intensive youth outreach from Republican and Democratic campaigns by volunteering, and used social networks to amplify their own opinions.

Perhaps that says something about the media making our youth more conscious of what's going on around them or perhaps they're feeling more pressured than many of my classmates and I did in the fifties. Each generation, it seems, brings its own uniqueness to the national scene. Yet each generation of believers must heed to what I did not give much attention in my youthful zeal for the kingdom of God. It is summarized in the words of the prophet Jeremiah (29:7).

"And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace."

The Israelite nation had lost its land to the marauding Babylonian empire over 600 years before the birth of Christ. For seventy years they remained slaves, their homes destroyed, relatives, parents and children slaughtered. And yet the LORD commanded them to seek the peace of the city and pray for it.

That word 'peace' is Shalom in Hebrew. It is an all-encompassing word, referring to safety, soundness (in body), welfare, health, prosperity, peace, quiet, tranquility, contentment, friendship, peace (from war) and above all, a peaceful relationship with God. And note that in the peace of the city or town where you live "you also shall have peace." In other words, when we Christians are prayerfully involved in the affairs of our towns and cities, the blessings abound for all.

Many are the issues facing our nation: poverty, immigration, financial crises, care for the elderly, education, the end of a most hated war and on and on. My prayer is that all of us in my generation, my children's generation and my grandchildren's generation take very seriously the guidance of the LORD and, according to our various callings, seek the welfare, health, prosperity and peace of this wonderful land in which we live. And, above all, let us seek to share that peace that surpasses all others, the peace offered by our heavenly Father through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Of Specs and Planks

In the realm of politics I am a Reagan conservative (formerly known as Republican). I mention this, not because this Blog is about politics, but because of the confusion of terms that floats around in things religious as well as political. The tags we attach to ourselves and others are not at all clear, especially since we are all overwhelmed by so much information and misinformation. I suppose, therefore, that anything I may write here will only contribute to the same. But I press on.

Here are some of the terms that are all mixed up in the realm of Christianity (even that term is ambiguous):

+Evangelical
+Protestant
+Lutheran
+Conservative
+Confessional
+Charismatic
+Biblical
+Inspired
+Grace
+Faith

The list is seemingly endless.

If I were to define what I mean by any of the above I stand a very good chance of disagreeing with many of my good friends, at least on some points. So what is my point? It's quite simple. The first task I have is not to condemn and fault those around me. My first task is to prayerfully examine my own heart and what my own understanding is. Our Lord put it this way in His sermon:

"For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:2-4)

Mind you, if you've ever had a speck of sawdust in your eye you know from personal experience how painful that is. Unattended, it can lead to serious consequences for one's eye. So my attempts to remove the speck from my brother's eye may be very well attended. I only want to help.

Or do I? That leads me to consider planks, a word sometimes also translated as beams. I do it in the light of the ancient story of Samson and Delilah (Judges 16). Samson certainly had some deep faults and they led him frequently into sin. The man was gifted with almost unbelievable strength, but uncontrolled libido at the same time. So he ended up in bed with the Philistine. She ultimately led him to forsake his Naziritic vow by permitting his hair to be cut off.

The purpose of the Nazirite vow was to express a desire to draw close to the LORD and to separate from the comforts and pleasures of the unbelieving world. The word Nazirite is a transliteration of the Hebrew verb Nazir, meaning "set apart" or "consecrate." The process is outlined in Numbers 6:1-8:

"The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the LORD as a Nazirite, he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or from other fermented drink. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins. prostitute Delilah.

" 'During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the LORD is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long. Throughout the period of his separation to the LORD he must not go near a dead body. Even if his own father or mother or brother or sister dies, he must not make himself ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of his separation to God is on his head. Throughout the period of his separation he is consecrated to the LORD."

Notice all the musts to accomplish: no alcohol, no barbers, not even a funeral in your own family. Who could do it? Samson thought he could. He was strong, but this very strength, together with his uncontrolled passion was the ignored plank in his eye and it became his downfall.

Those of us who claim to be evangelical, conservative, confessional, Lutheran, Biblical, etc. do well to examine our own hearts and what we truly believe before we attempt to remove specks of sawdust from our brothers' eyes.