Surprised By Gold

As I returned from my morning walk today I spied a strange, beautiful and fascinating bird at the end of my driveway. I took a few photos with my iPhone, but they are of poor quality. So I went to the internet to discover that what I saw is a Golden Pheasant or "Chinese Pheasant", a game bird of the order Galliformes (gallinaceous birds) and the family Phasianidae. It is native to forests in mountainous areas of western China, certainly not to Texas where I live. The adult male is 90-105 cm in length, its tail accounting for two-thirds of the total length. It is unmistakable with its golden crest and rump and bright red body. The deep orange "cape" can be spread in display, appearing as an alternating black and orange fan that covers all of the face except its bright yellow eye, with a pinpoint black pupil. You might say I was surprised by gold! I have no idea to whom this little beauty belongs. I could only watch as he wandered into the woods surrounding my property.

This is the kind of experience that Nicodemus, teacher of Israel, had when he came by night to interview Jesus. When Jesus told him that he must be reborn to enter God's kingdom he caught Nicodemus totally by surprise. His words were completely unexpected. Indeed that's how God works. This wonder of new birth happens by the uncontrollable activity of the Spirit. as Jesus aptly points out.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." - Jhn 3:5-8 ESV

 The words for wind and Spirit are the same word in the Greek original, pneuma. The wind, the pneuma, as we all know, is not under our control. For instance, a fierce wind whipped across our part of town last week, leaving broken branches and toppled trees all over the place. We were without electricity for the entire night and deep into the next day. To be sure, we heard the sound of that wind, but at the time we couldn't tell you where it came from, with all the accompanying thunder, lightning and rain, or where it would go next. It was not under our control. 

So it is with the Spirit, the Pneuma of God. All through the Bible we read about the uncontrollable, surprising, creative and powerful activity of the Spirit. At the beginning of all things the Spirit of God hovers over the chaos to bring all things into being (Genesis 1:1-4). The Spirit grants visions and wisdom to Joseph and many like him. The Spirit gives Bezalel of the tribe of Judah skill, intelligence and knowledge to do every sort of artistic work done by engravers, craftsmen and weavers. Again and again the Spirit fills men and turns them into prophets who speak God's Word to men. And when Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan river, John sees the Spirit of God descend upon Jesus like a dove and rest on him (John 1:31-34).

Why then, Nicodemus, are you so surprised? asks Jesus. Why do you ask how these things can be? You are a teacher. You have studied the Scriptures. How can you say you don't understand these things? That same Spirit dwells in me. We know about the truth of these matters. We speak of what we have seen. The fact, Nicodemus, is that you and those you represent don't want to listen.

What's more, these are but earthly things that I am telling you. There is so much, much more. You don't believe earthly things. How then will you ever believe if I tell you heavenly things? So much, so very much more awaits. Heaven with all its glory, wonder, surprises and beauty is quite beyond your grasp, Nicodemus. But that is why I came. This is why I descended from heaven to earth (John 3:12-13).

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Who knows what strange wonders await any one of us here on this earth? Who knows whom or what the wind will blow our way today? All we can do is give thanks that the Wind of God has breathed upon us new life and wait for the wonders yet to be revealed in the Kingdom of God.

The Blessing Of Children

When the Lord God brought Eve to Adam He commanded the two of them to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth . . ." (Gen.1:28). This was no mere command. It was a delightful blessing, for He was inviting them to share in the wonder of creating a new human person. 


Recently my wife and I welcomed our first great-grandson into our four generational family. His name is Byron and he is indeed a real, honest to goodness wonder. Not only are his parents filled with pride and joy, all of us in Byron's family dote over him—especially Byron's grandparents. He is the newest member of our family. He is Byron! Once again we have all witnessed our Lord's awesome blessings. Byron's parents were privileged to participate in the Lord's creation of yet another human. Here's a recent photo.

 Byron

Together we acknowledge this truth of Holy Scripture:

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. 

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127:3-5)

The Creator has revealed His blessings upon His creation by creating a new child. Byron's parents have been privileged to participate in that creative work. The very mystery of their union has been revealed in Byron's birth. Their union is not only for themselves. Together they now have a new work, the task of raising Byron to become a mature and responsible member of the larger human family. And they are joyfully about that work as they feed, bathe, clothe and protect him. 

One of the first things Byron's parents also did was to bring him to the waters of Holy Baptism. In Christ's name I was privileged to speak His Word as I poured water over Byron's head. In that simple act Jesus took Byron with Him into death and out of death into life. In that One Baptism, Jesus' own Baptism, Byron was joined to Jesus for all eternity (Romans 6:3-11). Now all of us gladly join his parents to raise him up to know and love the Lord Jesus who has already given him new life and made him a member of the Father's eternal family. 

My heart goes out to the couples who are not privileged to share in this wonder. They have a sadness and pain that will not go away. When they married they expected to give birth, but discovered that this was not to be. My wife knows about this in great detail since she spent her life as a social worker specializing in adoptions. She also knows the great joy such couples have as they welcome an orphaned child into their home. 

Both my wife and I have great admiration for couples who adopt or become foster parents. The self-giving love of such couples is almost impossible to describe with words. Again and again we have also watched couples become parents of children with multiple physical, mental and emotional problems and do this work with great joy. I stand in awe of them and the love they demonstrate with their lives. Their love is a paradigm of selfless love for us all to follow. 

Having said that, I mean not to suggest that adoption is a must for every childless couple. They may indeed find other ways to share their lives in service to others. Never should anyone suggest that their marriage is incomplete. To say that would be to take back everything the Bible says about their one-flesh union. Marriage is never to be seen merely as a means of reproducing babies. For such couples there are other creative and fruitful ways to share their lives. 

All this brings up the question of contraception. I'll look at that issue in more detail in my next post. 

The Blessings of Leisure and Wonder

These comments come out of my meditation upon the events of Transfiguration Sunday and the 40 days of Lent before us. As the days begin to lengthen (hence the name Lent), we urge one another to claim extra time to ponder the meaning of Christ's sacrifice in our lives. These hours are times to retire from the frenetic pace of our 21st century lives and come away to some 'mountain' be with Jesus in prayer (Luke 9:28-36).

It also strikes me that I, who am retired from the busy-ness of overseeing a parish congregation, can give thanks, not only for Lenten times, but for the nearly ten years I've had to be at leisure to study, write and share whatever the Lord Jesus puts into my heart and mind, be it in this blog or in other creative writing.

I love the following quote from a blog by Father James, a young Orthodox pastor. It is from a commencement address by James Carrey. I was not able to find a direct link to Carrey's address. He is not the actor. Nevertheless, here's the quote, based upon Josef Pieper's Leisure: The Basis of Culture. I've ordered Pieper's book for myself. 

“Joseph Pieper shows that the contemporary tendency to identify leisure with idleness, or sloth, is a perversion of an earlier way of looking at things. Leisure is the free time, literally the free time, in which we are not enslaved by practical concerns that keep us from cultivating our higher powers of discernment. Leisure is the condition under which intellectual virtues can be acquired. 

Sloth, on the other hand, is a vice. It is the vice that abuses leisure by filling up the precious free time we have with entertainments and trivialities that make time fly and keep us from reflecting in any kind of sustained fashion on the really important questions human beings can raise. Sloth distracts from the passage of time by making it pass more quickly. Sloth forestalls wonder, which the ancients thought was the beginning of philosophy, and in place of wonder it substitutes curiosity, two more concepts that should be carefully distinguished, but in our times are typically used as synonyms. 

Wonder and curiosity are similar in that both are states of mind characterized by interest and inquisitiveness. But they differ regarding the character of their objects.”

I can only say thanks to our Lord for the past nearly ten years of my 'retirement' from the life of overseeing a growing suburban congregation. These have been precious years years indeed, filled with time to pray, meditate, study, write and share. I've had time to write six books, both published and unpublished, attend lectures and seminars, write in my blogs, correspond and be with friends and family and travel. What a joy and what a privilege, especially to learn that my leisure activities are blessing many and will continue to do so, even when I move on to heaven.