House Divided II

I will be like the dew to Israel;  he shall blossom like the lily... they shall blossom like the vine,  their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

 - From Hosea 14

There's a little sequence of beautiful illustrations nestled in the middle of Hosea 14, framed by the lines quoted above. It compares Israel to a lily, to a growing vine with roots that spread out, and shoots that become full and fragrant. 

Hosea 14 is a chapter of great encouragement. God says He will even heal Israel's disloyalty.

"Disloyalty" is portrayed as a sickness, a disease that must be healed. And, that it is. It's one thing to be disloyal to someone that has not earned your trust or disloyalty. But far different it is, to be disloyal to your Creator, your Protector, your Guide and Master. 

God wants our individuality. He longs for us to put forth our branches and become something unique and special. He is the only Being that wants us to be who we really are . . . but who He made us to be; not the person we think we are, or think we want to be. 

We want to be different because we just want to be different. But God wants us to be different because that's how He made us. Unique, and distinct.

He deals with us all individually. He meets with us one-on-one. He walks with us in His garden. He loves to commune, to be present; to laugh and listen. And then as our individuality emerges, we look and see that we have actually grown into something much bigger than ourselves. We become part of a greater Body: we see that we are actually part of a family; or nation; or Church. 

And in that regard our uniqueness must become connected to the others. We are greater than the sum of our parts. He look around and see that, if we are a leaf, that we are surrounded by countless other leaves, or by branches that connect us together; or to a trunk. Some of us give forth a fragrance. Some of us flower in the spring. But we are all part of the same bush. 

We have to have a common purpose. Otherwise, that which makes us special will die.

And the world loses the chance to enjoy me, and you.

The passage in Hosea begins with God describing the wonderful things He will do for "him," for Israel. He will be like dew "to him."

But by the end of the passage, God is talking about "them." They shall blossom. 

The narrative has gone from the one, to the many.

And the many are connected. There are many eaves, many branches. But only one bush. 

So that, you can be who you really are. But if you get too far out there, you can no longer connect to the rest of the bush. You lose your lifeline. You wither and die. 

No person is an island.

God built a great nation. He makes beautiful families. And He built His Church.

But we must be united. For better or worse . . . we must cling to one another.

Even when it gets awkward, or hard.

God made families, and nations, and churches . . . so that we could practice unconditional love. 

We might as well get good at it. We'll be doing it, forever. 

House Divided I

Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house.

 - From Luke 11

I can condense the wisdom that I have internalized, in my life, into about a dozen or so precepts. These are sayings, or books, or concepts, that were so impactful upon me, that I will never forget them. They define the parameters of my values and worldview.

My own proclivities are probably "conservative", although I would gladly lock arms with Liberals in some areas, if they weren't so wont to insult good people.

The most defining value of my life (that is, one that sets me apart from most others) is the concept of unity. My friend, Steve Jones, in the late 1980s, prevailed upon me to give up the idea of denominationalism in Christianity. This is a principle that I now hold passionately. It amazes me how few others see the importance of unity in the Body of Christ. They cling to their local Church, and denomination, as though their lives depended on it. 

On the night that Christ was betrayed, he prayed that His Church would be unified. He was so passionate about this, that He was physically affected by it. Blood came forth, instead of sweat. Christ obviously knew how important it was, He knew how unlikely it was, and He knew how dangerous it would be, for His people to be divided. 

When the Lord prays with tears, and begs the Father for something . . . it should become our priority. 

It isn't.

Today, we have Christians taking sides with a political party, against their brethren in the Church. 

This is wrong. It's more than wrong . . . but I am not ready to call it what it is. Not yet. 

Billy Graham spent his declining years in prayer for a spiritual awakening in America. Nice thought, that.

It won't happen, as along as people define themselves as Democrat or Republican, before defining themselves as Christian.

Oh, they have their excuses:

"If a Church person has evil views, then I am not on their side."

"I go with the Party that does what Jesus would do."

Blah, blah.

When you stand publicly, against a fellow believer, over politics . . . then you have committed a grave wrong. You mock the Church in the eyes of a world that hates the Church. You have made spiritual awakening less likely. You have even hurt your own political cause, by marginalizing your party's opponent, thus empowering and giving life to him.

I start a new ten-part theme now:

"House Divided."

Thoughts and Prayers X

That the generations to come might know, and the children yet unborn;  that they in their turn might tell it to their children;

 - From Psalm 78

In our times, we have reaped what happens when we don't teach our children. It's the result of being disengaged from the schools, the teachers, and the kids.

An ancient philosopher, I think Socrates, said "The questions are: Who is teaching the children, and what are they teaching them?"

I think its a valid question: Does God answer prayer? And then, all of it's corollaries - How does God answer prayer? What should we pray for? Should we pray for victims? Survivors? Shooters? Teachers? Law Enforcement? Safety? Healing? Justice? Vengeance?

Parents? Extended families? Churches?

Politicians? Celebrities? The NRA?

Others? You? Me? 

For Christ to hurry up and return?

I think people miss the point of prayer. The fact is . . . we want people thinking and praying. And if all they do is just talk about doing it, but don't actually think and pray . . . then we still want them talking about it. It's a good thing. 

A tragedy refocuses us on the important things. And even it it is only for a moment, at least in that, we get a moment of positive energy and of empathy. What doesn't do any good, is criticizing anybody's response to tragedy or grief. How does that help, really? 

So: think and pray.

These negative reactions are coming from people with heavy influence over our kids.

Teachers. Pop singers. Professional athletes. Celebrities. 

The Thoughts and Prayers Deniers have the advantage. They are on their toes. They're organized and motivated. And they are making kids feel like the superstars of our generation. Where's the counter-force? Where's The Other Viewpoint? Doesn't creativity flourish where minds are open and ideas are uninhibited?

Our "Bully Culture", and it's sibling, our "Gang Culture" have conspired to knock out the one thing we really need:

Thoughts and Prayers.

Stop. Reflect. Listen. Speak quietly. Listen some more. Reflect some more. Meditate. Create. Think. Listen.

Pray.

And get your kids in on it.

 . . . . . .

This is the last in my series on "Thoughts and Prayers." It is the middle of Lent.

The next time someone says "Thoughts and Prayers don't work," then I urge you: Stop what you're doing.

Go think.

And pray.

Thoughts and Prayers IX

For we, O Lord, have become fewer than any other nation . . . 

- From the apocryphal "Song of the Three Young Men"

One of the reasons that people that think and pray about others are mocked, is because of the sense that their numbers are thinning. 

I don't know whether immature humans gang up on others because it's fun, or fulfilling to do so; or if they gang up on others because they are afraid of being placed in with the victims, if they choose the wrong side.

The fact is, that, once a gang starts forming, it tends to grow and lose its sense of self-control and purpose, until a counter-force comes along, that can vanquish it. And then fence-sitters can choose the new overwhelming gang, either because it's fun, or better for one's own safety.

Whether or not the people that think and pray are actually decreasing in number, there is a sense of inevitability in their decline. It seems like they are losing influence, becoming a minority. And this just empowers those that have any reason at all to resent them. 

Joining up with an emerging gang is no better than being the neighborhood bully. Yet smart people do it all the time, in 2018.

Take the popular teacher that can't wait to publicly proclaim her judgment upon those that are losing their status in society: #thoughtsandprayersdontwork. Yet, 25% . . . 30% . . . . 45% of her students believe in "thoughts and prayers." Is this kind? Loving? Is it even ethical? How dare teachers use their authority to marginalize any students in their charge?

But it's the same anywhere. Right now, it's popular, or at least, safe, to attack people that "think and pray." 

The three young men in the furnace: Shadrach, Mesech and Abednego" were "Thoughts and Prayers" guys. They were part of a very small minority, in an occupying nation. They were hauled off to the nation's capital, away from their home, to serve the conquering race. And they refused to give up their thoughts about God, and their prayers for the safety of God's people.

How did they get in such a subservient and pathetic state? Did "Thoughts and Prayers" work for them? Where was their God, when their homes were being sacked, families separated, and their national identity violently ripped from them? I'm sure the Assyrians, and then the Persians had a lot of fun scorning the thoughts and prayers of the Hebrews.

But still they thought. And still they prayed. And in the end . . . the very end . . . it saved them.

Are people mocking your thoughts and prayers? Good. You're in good company.

Thoughts and Prayers VIII

Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb . . . 

 - From Luke 4

Jesus got snarky.

He walked into a synagogue in Nazareth, and saw the Scribes and Pharisees, and said: "So now you'll start quoting Scripture to Me . . . "

The Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day are history's prototypes of hypocrisy. They weren't just hypocritical from time to time (like all of us): they were hypocrites. They weren't believers . . . . This needs to be repeated - they were not believers. They might as well have been agnostics, or even atheists. But they were learned, and they knew Hebrew scripture. They used it to try to trip up the Master. 

The Thoughts-and-Prayers-Don't-Work People are the educated ones. The smirk on their face (you can almost see it in their social media comments) is the accompaniment to their predicable hashtag #thoughtsandprayersdontwork. They're like the Edward G. Robinson character in The Ten Commandments: "Where's your messiah now?"

The Scribes and Pharisees used Scripture to try to trap Jesus into proving Himself a hypocrite. They tried to use His own words against Him. But He turned it on them and illuminated their own projection of hypocrisy.

1) They knew Scripture; 2) They were highly educated; 3) They looked down on others that were not as sophisticated as they; 4) They used Scripture against believers; 5) They loved calling other people "hypocrites." 

Is it any wonder why Jesus made hypocrisy the theme of every sermon targeted at the Scribes and Pharisees?

It is tempting to side-up with the smart and popular people that, without much creativity, proclaim "Thoughts and Prayers don't work." It's predictable. It's mean-spirited. It seems designed more to draw attention to the speaker (or writer) than to any real wrong-doing anywhere. 

"Where's you Messiah now?"

"Thoughts and Prayers don't work!"

"I know what you're going to say."

Thoughts and Prayers VII

Who can tell how often he offends?

 - From Psalm 19

The 19th Psalm is about as deep as a Psalm can get. It also is one of the more poetic. It addresses the human condition with humility and candor, while affirming all that we hold dear, and everything we hope for. 

It talks about the secret thoughts of sinners, meaning us. It suggests that there are things wrong with us, things that happen in our minds and hearts, that we don't even know about. 

In 2018, "offensive" is a big word. Nobody wants to be offended, and you'd better not offend me, or you will pay. 

But the 19th Psalm says "I offend people all the time, and don't even know it. Lord, clean up my thoughts."

If I offer my "thoughts and prayers" to others that are hurting, let my prayer include the desire that I be fixed. "My prayer for you, is that I will be a better person."

Ahhh . . . that's good. And if you want to turn things around on the scoffers, make this your petition to the Lord. They think they're making fun of you . . . but you're actually praying that you acknowledge the very thing they say is wrong with you, and that God remove it. 

Serves them right. 

Thoughts and Prayers VI

...he delights in showing clemency.

 - From Micah 7

So what do they expect, anyway, these people that love to deride the idea of "thoughts and prayers"? How much time do they allow, before a prayer should be answered, that they don't believe is going to be answered, anyway? How exactly do they expect prayers to  be answered?

When a believer says "You have my thoughts and prayers," to a survivor of an attack, what do the scoffers think it means? For it to "work," what would that look like? Does that mean that the survivors will feel a sense of not being alone? That the edge of pain and grief will be softened somewhat, but the gentle hand of God? When a person is undergoing unspeakable tragedy and grief, should not think of them? Should we not pray for them? Yes, we can visit them . . . but what if we don't known them, and we live across the country?

Perhaps the scoffer thinks the "thoughts and prayers" or for the victims? Those injured or worse of all, those that lost their lives? Should the injured be sped up in their recovery? Do they have to recover fully? Or perhaps we should not think or pray for them at all . . . if that's all we have for them?

What if we offered prayers for the criminals in these horrible acts of rage and terror? After they have completed their monstrous task? Should we pray that the criminal be dealt justice? How about the emotional, spiritual, and mental healing of the criminal? Or maybe we shouldn't pray at all, for the person that, had God intervened . . . may have been hindered in completing the job. But in that case, we have to pray before the fact, that God stops them cold. 

Or maybe we should pray for society. But here is when prayers for society do not work, at all: When scoffers see to it that they don't work, by refusing to communicate, collaborate, and listen, to those of us with an attentive ear and eye to the spiritual forces at play. Is the problem not serious enough for that? The scoffers first refuse to offer positive focus with other Americans with a different perspective. This prevents creative forces from coming into play . . . and prayer seems not to have worked. 

God does not require a lot. He loves to give us clemency. There is nothing in the last generation or two, that would put us into special favor with God . . . that is . . . as a nation. When you go out of balance with the fulcrum of the universe, expect bad things to happen. We know to respect other laws of nature, like not to pick up a glowing log in a fire; and not to jump off tall buildings. Perhaps we should observe all laws of nature!

But even so . . . we do not have to do everything that the scoffer requires. Just have faith. God wants to make it right for us.