Strength for Our Turbulent Lives

After our evening game and pre-bedtime chores, Candy reads some daily devotionals aloud (I read the associated Scripture texts). The prayer at the end of last night's reading from "Moravian Daily Texts" seemed to be just what I needed, so I am sharing it here.

God, our refuge, you are the anchor that holds firm . When troubles of this world disturb our calm, remind us of your abiding strength in our turbulent lives. Amen.

Struggling Not to Fear as the World Changes

The passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg dramatically amplifies the intensity of the months just ahead of us. The incentive to vote has magnified exponentially regardless of political or theological perspectives on the events and issues of 2020. When I saw this news last evening I was immediately immersed in the imagery of Psalm 46. However, still this morning I confess I am struggling to relinquish fear into the refuge of God’s strength and to be still enough to know and exalt in the Lord of hosts who is with us.

 

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.

The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

 

Contemplative Reflections on September 11, 2020

Sien with Child on Her Lap

Vincent VanGogh

I sang "For All the Saints" as my lauds hymn this morning. It just came up in my usual rotation but seemed poignantly appropriate on this September 11. If you are not familiar with it, I suggest looking it up on line or even in a hymnal.

Judging from my Facebook and today's news feeds, people are well remembering the horror of 9-11-01. Those who think it may be fading need not fear. Of course, the fresh, raw emotions of 19 years ago have taken melancholy root in our hearts and minds. And for today's college students who were preschoolers at the time and for today's high school students and younger who were not even born yet, this is a significant landmark in history but not a personal experience.

As we who aspire to follow Jesus remember, I trust we will do so in keeping with his clear teaching to love not just our neighbors (yes, our Muslim neighbors) but even our enemies. Matthew 5:43-48 In this way, we reflect the light of Jesus into our world in this time of considerable darkness.

This morning I began my Psalm prayers with Psalm 11. Though I don't recall seeing it recently, for years I have seen and heard people rip verse 3 out of context to bemoan their feeling of helpless desperation at social, cultural, and political changes they find threatening. "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

Nevertheless, I see and hear plenty of that in the emotional reactions in our current contentious environment. It is increasingly invoked in the political noise warning that if the side I disagree with wins, it will be the demise of democracy in the US. I do believe this is a critically important election and that the outcome will make a significant difference in the trajectory for the country (and even the world). I do have my own convictions of which many of you are probably aware, but I am not including them here in hopes of prompting thoughtful, hopeful prayer rather than distracting arguing.

The entirety of the Psalm is not a woeful lament about the irreparable loss of foundations which even the righteous cannot rescue. Rather, it is a resounding affirmation of trusting that God is alive and at work from God's holy temple. It calls out the faithlessness of those who are mired in verses 1-3. It is both an appeal to trust God when our limited perspectives leave us feeling hopeless and it invokes God's justice and the promise of seeing God's face.

My Psalm prayers ended with Psalm 131 with an assurance I definitely needed today. When events and the fear-filled clamber draw my heart into trembling, I can. as it were, climb up on God's lap and quiet my soul like a young child with its mother.

Love 'Em All

 

Just how radical were Moses, Jesus, Paul, and James? Summary: love God, love neighbors, love enemies. I guess that means that regardless of my present political preferences, if I am faithful I am to love my MAGA neighbors and love my BLM neighbors. I must confess I am still figuring out how to do this beyond being polite and respectful, especially for those who seem so angry from a distance. If loving someone you view as an enemy, or who you think views you as an enemy, bothers you, check out this inventory from Hebrew Scripture, Epistles, and especially Gospels.

Leviticus 19:18

Matthew 5:43-44; 19:19; 22:37-39

Mark 12:31

Romans 12:14,20

Galatians 5:14

James 2:8

No Gloating

Jerry Falwell, Jr. and I are different theological and political brands, but I take no joy in his current embarrassment, rather I lament. Nor do I chock it up to “conservative” hypocrisy any more than I blame “liberal” license for the misconduct of others. I must guard my own vulnerabilities. I do not know (and probably do not want to know) the whole story behind the picture that cost him his position of leadership. Perhaps poor judgment to post a picture of some silliness that was wrongly presumed to be innocent. Perhaps the proverbial tip of the iceberg of much deeper issues. I personally carry scars from the wounds of sexual, financial, and power misconduct of some I have respected and trusted, even clergy colleagues and friends. These sorts of things damage the credibility of all who are known to claim to follow Jesus and all who are entrusted with public leadership. A dramatic, tearful confession (reminiscent of Jimmy Swaggart) will not suffice - only fruit worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8; Luke 3:8). I just can’t resist adding as an aside that is what I expect but have not observed from how Bill Clinton and Donald Trump handled their sexual misconduct/marital infidelity. Yes, these sorts of things prompt the cynical question: how can we know who can be trusted? Perhaps more to the point: how can I cultivate being a trustworthy person? I dare not gloat nor strut any posture of moral superiority.

Why Beauty?

This is my journal entry from July 31, 2020.

Following my afternoon walks, I am sitting on the porch sipping tea and crunching a couple of cookies, just enjoying sun and clouds with a gentle breeze at 77 degrees, I’ve been watching the sparrows come and go at the feeder, remembering the sapphire blue hummingbird at that feeder from Wednesday. I’ve gotten to identify three individual sparrowns: Neck with no feathers on the back of her skinny neck, Tail who has a prominent tail feather about an inch below most of her tail, and Wing who has a feather sticking out below the shoulder of his right wing. Knowing that birds molt, I don’t know how long I will be able to recognize these distinctives. 

Also noticing lots of brightly colored flowers and very green grass and tree leaves against the blue sky in our well kept neighborhood.

All of this reverie has me pondering a question that has flitted through my mind over the years. Why is there beauty?

I know philosophers and a wide variety of theologians (not just from Judeo-Christians traditions) have explored things like beauty, truth, and love. I have neither the intention nor the ability for chasing down those rabbit holes. Nor do I think I have anything to add. I am just following the whims of my reflections on a pleasant mid-summer afternoon.

My recollection of my reflections on this question in years past is that beauty is a sign of some sorts of intelligent design - a God who enjoys beauty and creating beauty. When I say intelligent design I am not at all thinking about young earth proponents or evolution opponents in some Christian circles. In fact, I find those perspectives mar the wonder of beauty.

Yes, culture and context contribute to the defining and understanding of what is beautiful. And those constructs change with time even in a single culture. 

Male appreciation of female beauty (not wanting to get into LBGTQ issues here, so just take this as an older, hetrosexual male in middle class US in the late 20th and early 21st centuries). I just want to explore a bit of the impact of culture on understanding beauty. Well proportioned women with prominent but not excessively large breasts, round hips, tapering to round but not protruding belly, soft (long?) hair, smooth skin, high cheekbones. And so something from the context in which I came of age. I do have memories of the bullet bras of the 40s that have given way to more natural curves. The super skinny of the 20s flappers (and some models yet) have given way to a more healthy “real” proportions. Drawing on other cultures and times, rounded bellies were signs of fecundity that were considered desirable. The Song of Solomon uses some imagery that amuse us today, but I don’t think they were funny to them.

Another example in a different direction is how forests were viewed by the early settlers from Europe in the “new world.” We see them  as places of  exquisite beauty and wonder, but those early European settlers saw the forests as threatening in terms of both wild animals and native populations, and even spiritual menace (witness, for example, the Jersey Devil and other similar legends).

In the Mosaic Law, the cities were considered safe because people were around to come to your aid if needed, while rural roads were dangerous where thieves might attack (for example, in Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan). But we tend to see rural  areas and small towns as safer than cities and urban neighborhoods. 

In my previous reflections on beauty, I posited that color is not essential to the functioning of the universe or this earth, nor are the myriads of shapes of living things. We could have had a functional black and white world and universe with shades of gray and everything in simple, functional geometric shapes. But of course, we don’t, so colors mean much more than their functions. Somehow delight radiates. As Genesis says, God saw that it was good - meaning, I believe, much more than “it works.”

So I am speculating that something about God loves and enjoys beauty, both creating it and beholding it. I don’t intend to be anthropomorphic but only to suggest that beauty is somehow intrinsic to the nature or character of God. Alongside love, which seems even more essential both biblically and from a wide range of contemplative traditions.

Do any of the creatures other than humans recognize and appreciate beauty? I am not suggesting I have any insight into that, but some animals certainly seem to enjoy play. We see that in our pets: dogs and cats. Otters and seals seem to frolic as do sea mammals - whales and porpoises. I’ve heard that horses enjoy running. Is having fun and enjoying play the same as or akin to beauty? Thus, conjecturing that the nature of God is expressed in the beauty of creation (the whole universe, not just our human observation of our earth, sea, and sky.)

Yet clearly we humans consider the observation and appreciation (even artistry and creation of) beauty as essential to our human identity and experience, even though we vary in how we understand and identify beauty from time to time and culture to culture. Theologically, is this an expression of being made in the image of God? Is not beauty a link for humans to the divine, to God?

An Anguished Heart Yearns to Fly Away

I am certainly not the only one who has noted that we are on the cusp of the most vicious US presidential election of our lifetime and anticipate that whatever the outcome, the validity of the election will be challenged and even dismissed. With my priority being on caring for my wife Candy with her Alzheimer’s and her 93 year old Dad, I have intentionally tried to avoid being drawn into the fray. Even though we watch no TV news and do not take a newspaper, I do try to stay informed by accessing a selected balance of news sources on line (please don’t try to vet my selections, I do even sample those well-known for “fake news” to understand their perspectives), I am acutely aware of the multiple tangled threads of turmoil in our country. I am also acutely aware of not just differences of opinions among family, friends, colleagues – people I know, love, trusted, whose faith in Jesus is unquestionable – that go way beyond political disagreements to radically contradictory perceptions of reality. In my prayer Psalms this morning, I resonated with these lines from Psalm 55:4-8, 12-14 and found they gave me a way to articulate to God the present anguish of my heart.

My heart is in anguish within me, the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. And I say, “O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; truly, I would flee far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; I would hurry to find a shelter for myself from the raging wind and tempest.”

It is not enemies who taunt me— I could bear that; it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me— I could hide from them. But it is you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend, with whom I kept pleasant company; we walked in the house of God with the throng.