johnthebaptist15

This week has been a downer for me. I let the triumvirate of troubles get between God and me: plague, prejudice, and pride. I slothed through Bible readings, slumbered through church online, and skipped out of prayer times; taken together, a sure-fire formula for “down-in-the-mouthedness.” Besides that, the weather has been gray and rainy, not to mention the Sahara sandstorm that has painted the sky a milky – white. I presume that the “murder hornets” are not far behind, (a line from Pastor Jay Cooper’s sermon of 6/28/2020.) All in all, it would appear that we are only “one pestilence short of an apocalypse.”

This afternoon, God asked me if I were ready to leave the “pity-party.” I looked around me at the sad faces of my fellow party-goers holding plastic cups of cheap scotch and telling tales “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (Shakespeare, The Tempest) while the house band wailed a lethargic cover of “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, “I b’lieve I am.”

“OK,” He beamed in a most cheerful tone, “Let’s blow this joint.” Now, “the joint” is the driveway where I have set up a temporary office on the tailgate of the red Silverado with the two-tone upholstery. Of course, that was not the “joint” to which He referred. “The joint” we were about to “blow” was what Sherlock Holmes referred to as my “Mind-Palace.”

I leaned back on the tailgate and prayed my true feelings. I “bled” on Him a while, holding nothing back, sugar-coating nothing in a “thin candy shell” like an “M.” I confessed my sloth, slumber, and skipping, none of which surprised Him. After all, He is God.

Presently, a melody crept into the “Mind-Palace.” I don’t know how it got there, I thought I had it sealed pretty tightly. However, do know from where it came – or should I say, “from whom it came. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is with-in me, bless His ho-ly name.” I knew it was the choral arrangement of a Psalm, but I must confess that I didn’t know which Psalm, I had to look it up. Psalm 103.

Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.

Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.

Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul. Ps. 103 KJV.

In the Psalm, David invites the reader to praise God. After so, inviting, David enumerates a few of the reasons why we should do this. He has forgiven all of our sins and has healed all our diseases. He has given us good things to eat and has “executed righteousness and judgment” for all who are oppressed.

Whoa, stop the bus. That sounds great and everything, but I wondered if it were really true. In what sense has God done this? Aren’t these basically the societal ills about which I had moped around in the first place? Didn’t I hear that the virus numbers and death rates were on the rise in several states? Weren’t some people still out in the streets going about their business unhindered by masks or “social distancing” while others were out in the same streets protesting systemic injustice and inequality? Weren’t the rich still getting richer at the expense of the poor, sort of “Robin Hood in Reverse?” “Yeah,” I muttered under my breath so He wouldn’t hear, my mood darkening anew, “Where’s your Psalm now?”

About that time, my cellphone “dinged” a single melodic tone, indicating that a new Email had just dropped into my virtual mailbox. It was a news flash from the New York Times. “A Georgia grand jury has just handed down a nine-count indictment against the three white suspects held in the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery,” an unarmed 25-year-old African-American man, fatally shot near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia, while jogging.

“See,” God said. “I’ve got this, and you know what? I’ve got all the other stuff, too. You just keep on being faithful, doing what I’ve called you to do, trusting Me, and let me handle the world in My way and in My time. You’ll be a lot more productive – and joyful.”

And you guys know what? I b’lieve Him. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, “Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me. Bless His Ho-ly Name.”

So let it be written, so let it be done.

P. S. You might enjoy this little clip. https://youtu.be/d-ZVP4P4lXo

 

The world “weighted” down on me last Wednesday. My city council didn’t see the need for people to wear masks in crowded public places. The mayor fixed this within hours, but I was still angry with our city council. I read in the paper, “The virus continues to disproportionately affect African-Americans in [the state.] Blacks make up about 28% of the state population but account for 41% of reported cases and almost 46% of deaths.” 

Then, it hit me. This isn’t about public health at all, it’s about race. For some Pollyanna reason, that realization shocked me. It shouldn’t have. Why should I expect the city’s leadership to behave any differently from the way they have behaved throughout the city’s history?

I became angry and wanted to lash out – so I did. I annihilated a Styrofoam coffee cup spilling its contents on my hand. I’m not sure who won that battle. In truth, I smashed the cup alright, but in the process, the coffee inside the cup burned my hand. The minor pain in my hand will go away, but the more significant pain in my heart will not – at least, not for the foreseeable future.

I called a friend and ventilated. His words helped a little, but they did not “cure” me. As we were hanging up, I said, “I’m going to read the Bible and pray. I’m going to tell God just how ‘teed off’ I am” – except that I didn’t say, “teed off.” He responded, “Good idea, but I think He already knows.” So, I did, and so He did.

In the daily devotional, the author invited me to read Psalm 28. In verse 4, King David prays the following prayer.

Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts.

Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done and bring back on them what they deserve.

Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and never build them up again.

As the angel, Clarence, from “It’s a Wonderful Life” says, “Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Did King David just call down curses on his foes? Is it OK to pray that way? I didn’t know you could do that. So troubled and confused was I, that I started reading commentaries.

Matthew Henry, the great 18^th Century Welsh Non-Conformist minister and Bible scholar wrote of Psalm 28:4, “This is not the language of passion or revenge. It is a prophecy that there will certainly come a day when God will punish every man who persists in his evil deed.” Henry’s writing echoed that of the Antiochian scholar and Church Father, Theodoret of Cyprus from the 5^th Century. A modern commentator writes

David wants God to punish the wicked. We can learn something about how to respond to living in a nation where the sin of its citizens calls for God’s judgment. David called for the punishment of the sin of the wicked fellow-citizens. Even though we desire to see the salvation of these . . . we can still call on God to punish the unrepentant sinners of our nation. But at the same time, we also do well to beg God to not allow those [faithful ones, presumably including ourselves] to be swept away in the punishment. David achieves a balance in his prayer. . . that we can, and should, emulate.”

Thus, I considered the point settled. I concluded that if I truly were prophesying against an “evil-doer,” it was an acceptable prayer. In a follow-up, I posted that conclusion in a Facebook Group which I started named “Our C5 Prayer Group,” to which I invite you to join.

However, when my wrath cooled, I read Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I received the strong impression that I was presuming on the “prophesy” point. Bonhoeffer stresses the contrary point that we actually are all in this life together, and we should pray for one another.

It’s completely proper to agree with God on the deepest secrets of my heart, to tell Him what I wish about a subject, and to express strong emotion. Nevertheless, perhaps I am presuming on God to prophesy on His behalf. I’m “neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet.”

Perhaps, as my friend, Adam Jones points out, a better model to follow would be Jesus in Gethsemane and upon the cross. If ever anyone had reason to call down “hell-fire” on someone, it was Jesus. Yet, in Gethsemane, He prayed instead, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 33:42. From the very cross, itself, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34.

I can and should point out evil where it exists, but in prayer . . . I’ll just stick to praying for people, not against them.

In prayerfully mulling over the Covid-19 virus itself, the cause of the “masked fit,” God led me to a Psalm to which I clung when facing surgery some years ago, Psalm 91:3-6.

Surely, he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

As I was praying on these Psalms and on what Godly men had written, God whispered to me,

Don’t worry so much about those in your city and nation whom you brand as ‘sinners’ or ‘evil-doers,’ you can’t change them. Neither should you worry about yourself in these times, bad times will change to good times in My time. Rather, you concern yourself with changing your spiritual city. As C.S. Spurgeon wrote in A Treasury of David, “Seek not to dwell your spirit in the world according to its system, seek instead to dwell in the secret place of the Most High.”

So let it be written, so let it be done.

The world weighted down on me today. My city council doesn’t see the need for people to wear masks in crowded public places. However, they do recommend that masks should be worn and social distancing should be observed. After learning that news, I read an article published in the local paper dated June 16, 2020. Quoting statistics from the Department of Public Health, the paper reported the following.

The virus continues to disproportionately affect African-Americans in [the state.] Blacks make up about 28% of the state population but account for 41% of reported cases and almost 46% of deaths. 

Then, it hit me. This isn’t about public health at all, it’s about race. For some Pollyanna reason, that realization shocked me. It shouldn’t have. Why should I expect the city’s leadership to behave any differently from the way they have behaved throughout the city’s history?

I became angry and wanted to lash out – so I did. I annihilated a Styrofoam coffee cup spilling its contents on my hand. I’m not sure who won that battle. In truth, I smashed the cup alright, but in the process, the coffee inside the cup burned my hand. The minor pain in my hand will go away, but the more significant pain in my heart will not – at least, not for the foreseeable future.

What to do, what to do, what to do? I called a friend and ventilated. His words helped a little, but they did not “cure” me. As we were hanging up, or signing off, or disconnecting, or whatever you call it when you discontinue a cellphone call, I said, “I’m going to read the Bible and pray. I’m going to tell God just how ‘teed off’ I am” – except that I didn’t say, “teed off.” He responded, “Good idea, but I think He already knows.” So, I did.

In the daily devotional, the author invited me to read Psalm 28. In reading it, I came across verse 4 in which King David prays the following prayer.

Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts.

Repay them for their deeds and for their evil work;
repay them for what their hands have done and bring back on them what they deserve.

Because they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and never build them up again.

As the angel, Clarence, from “It’s a Wonderful Life” says, “Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Did King David just call down curses on his foes? Is it OK to pray that way? I didn’t know you could do that. So troubled and confused was I, that I started reading commentaries.

Matthew Henry, the great 18^th Century Welsh Non-Conformist minister and Bible scholar wrote of Psalm 28:4, “This is not the language of passion or revenge. It is a prophesy that there will certainly come a day when God will punish every man who persists in his evil deed.” Henry’s writing echoed that of the Antiochian scholar and Church Father, Theodoret of Cyprus from the 5^th Century. Thus, the point appears settled.

A modern commentator writes

David wants God to punish the wicked. We can learn something about how to respond to living in a nation where the sin of its citizens calls for God’s judgment. David called for the punishment of the sin of the wicked fellow-citizens. Even though we desire to see the salvation of these . . . we can still call on God to punish the unrepentant sinners of our nation. But at the same time, we also do well to beg God to not allow those [faithful ones, presumably including ourselves] to be swept away in the punishment. David achieves a balance in his prayer. . . that we can, and should, emulate.”

In “prayerfully” worrying over the Covid-19 virus itself, God led me to a Psalm to which I clung when facing surgery some years ago, Psalm 91:3-6.

Surely, he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

In his Treasury of David, the “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) writes these calming and reassuring words concerning Psalm 91. He writes the evil (one)

shall be foiled in the case of the man whose high and honourable condition consists in residence within the holy place of the Most High.

And from the noisome pestilence. He who is a Spirit can protect us from evil spirits, he who is mysterious can rescue us from mysterious dangers, he who is immortal can redeem [us] from mortal sickness. . .

[T]here is . . . a pestilence of disease, and even from that calamity our faith shall win immunity if it be of that high order which abides in God, walks on in calm serenity, and ventures all things for duty’s sake. Faith by cheering the heart keeps it free from the fear which, in times of pestilence, kills more than the plague itself.

It will not in all cases ward off disease and death, but where the man is such . . ., it will assuredly render him immortal where others die . . .

Such special faith is not given to all, for there are diversities in the measure of faith. It is not of all believers that the psalmist sings, but only of those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High.

As I was praying on these Psalms and on what Godly men had written, God whispered to me,

Don’t worry so much about those in your city and nation whom you brand as ‘sinners,’ you can’t change them. Neither should you worry about yourself in these times, bad times will change to good times in My time. Rather, you concern yourself with changing your spiritual city and nation. Seek not to dwell your spirit in the world according to its system, seek instead to dwell in the secret place of the Most High.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Sitting on my front bench today reading my daily devotional, I noticed a wasp sitting on the other end of the bench. Immediately, I wanted to kill him because he was different and because I perceived that he wanted to harm me. Now, that’s not the truth, generally, wasps won’t harm you unless you threaten them. You can know that if you take the time to study them a little and if you don’t just react out of habit.

In The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society, Henri J.W. Nouwen states that the leader is the one who speaks to the one. The way to do this is to study the individual as a person and to get to know him. Only in such a way can the leader learn to love the man. When the leader loves the man, he becomes a true leader. Further, Nouwen says that the leader is the one who is prepared to give all for the one, the one to whom he can speak.

Thus, I surmise, leaders do not lead masses. True leaders know, are prepared to give their all for, and then lead individuals. If I may sum it up: If we are to be leaders, we must learn to “love one another” and to be prepared to give our all for “the other.” Or, put another way, to love the “other,” we must study the other so that we can be prepared to give our all for and learn to truly love the other.

Jesus tells us in the Great Commandment that we must indeed, “love one another.” John 15:12. He repeats the Commandment in verse 17. May I submit that taken together, these two statements constitute a message that speaks to our leaders, to our society and me personally.

Pastor Alan Cross allows me to sit in on his Bible studies for his church in California. This week, Pastor told a story from 15-20 years ago when at a former pastorate, he led Sunday afternoon visits into a notorious local housing project here in Montgomery, Alabama. He talked about how, through persistence, he was able to win a hearing from the leader of the local gang and to be allowed to move freely among the members on his visits. Eventually, he was privileged by the Holy Spirit to lead the gang leader to Christ.

I remembered the story well, and hearing it again it evoked mixed feelings in me. Though his story was such a wonderful story, it was his story, not mine. He had invited me many times to go with him on those Sunday afternoon visits but, except on rare occasions, I would not go. I felt ashamed for the reason I would not go with him boiled down to my racial prejudice. You see, I didn’t go because I didn’t love black people enough. I had not studied “the other.” I had not contemplated the individual within “the other.” I only saw a group of people who, to me were, indeed, “the other.” At the end of the story, God got the glory, Pastor Alan received a wonderful experience being with God, and I missed the blessing because I would not go.

Henri Nouwen goes on to discuss the sacrifice that the one who would be a leader must make. Nouwen writes that a true leader is one who is willing to sacrifice himself or herself for a single member of the group. A leader, he says, is the one who having sacrificed, can speak to the individual, and thus, to the group.

Interestingly, Pastor Alan talked about the same sacrifice in his Bible study. The coalescence of Nouwen’s book and Pastor Alan’s teaching slapped me in the face. I had completely missed it. Rather than seeing individuals, I had seen only “the other,” a group which I would not try to understand and for which I was not prepared to sacrifice – not so much as a couple of hours on a sunny Sunday afternoon

Rather, I was seduced by the comfort of Aristotle’s categories. Pastor Alan reminded me of what he had taught me about Aristotle. Aristotle observed society and nature around him and concluded that there were natural “categories” or “pairs,” one the subservient, the other the dominator. To Aristotle, males, Greeks, and owners were the “natural” masters, and women, barbarians, and slaves were the “natural” servants.

How interesting it is that we here in the South accepted Aristotle’s 2,500-year-old philosophy because it suited our purposes. More interestingly, and sadly, I might add, Aristotle’s philosophy lives today – not just in the South, not just in the United States, but in many corners of the world.

I was praying about the “slap in the face” that I had experienced, ashamed, and convicted of what my mother would call, “pure and tee” sin. I found myself realizing my personal sin and the evil that I had tolerated and from which I had benefitted. I specifically asked God for forgiveness for my own sin, the sin that deprived me of a chance to know, learn from, and sacrifice for “the other” and thus, miss an opportunity to be with God.

In a while, forgiven, I asked God for another chance to see Him. As I was praying, something told me to ask to meet with God today. For a moment, I experienced trouble focusing, my mind clouded with all my stuff.” But presently, in my spirit, I could see myself floating into space. Carried as on eagle’s wings, I soared through the clouds and the white, blue, gray, black atmosphere until I reached a point where I could look back at the Earth. I slowed to a stop and gazed at the Earth below me. Transfixed, I heard the voice of God saying, “You don’t have to go into space to meet with me. All you have to do is to focus on Me and My sacrifice for you and then, step through the heavenly portal that I have created there on Earth for you and for those who truly desire to see me.”

In a few minutes, the sound of the FedEx truck rolling up to a stop at my curb awakened me from my reverie. In the normal course of business, the delivery man got out and walked toward me. He was a young black man with a broad nose, rather full lips, and quite a dark complexion. I thought as to how he who could well have been a kid from that housing project that I missed getting to know years ago. He was courteous and I was kind. For a moment, I felt a bond with him, perhaps, a bond that transcended time and space. But then time brought me back in. He walked away.

As he stepped back into the truck, the wasp, once again, captured my attention – except that looking at him in a different light, I could see that he was in reality a butterfly.

As the FedEx truck drove away, God said, “You just saw Me today.” And I knew that I had.

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.  Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. James 5:1-5. NIV.

On a certain day, a large raincloud gathered over the city. Inside the raincloud, the raindrops talked among themselves as to where they would like to fall. Some raindrops looked down and saw small puddles of water, puddles made up of water like themselves. They noticed how the raindrops like themselves sang as they fell towards the puddles and how the water splashed and flashed in the sun as they landed.

“That’s where we would like to land,” they murmured among themselves. We will join our brother raindrops in the small puddle, adding our water to theirs until the puddle becomes a mighty river of which all creation will take notice. And, singing a lusty song, these raindrops sailed through the cloud to the puddle splashing happily as they landed.

Except that the puddle was very shallow, and it had formed itself over a concrete driveway. Each raindrop that landed did so piercing the watery surface and painfully smacking the pavement, losing both its sensibility from the concussion and its identity in the press of its fellow raindrops.

As the puddle grew in size, the force of gravity acted upon each little raindrop until they all rolled off the driveway and into the drainage channel at the side. Stronger and stronger, gravity pulled the puddle of raindrops, gathering all manner of debris as it surged onward and downward toward its inevitable end, the storm sewer. And so, it did.

Meanwhile, in the cloud, the other raindrops looked down at the city and saw the green grass. “If we land on the green grass, we will no longer be ourselves, little raindrops,” they said, “but, perhaps we will find something that we can help to grow and, in that way, our fall will not be for naught.”

So, that’s what they did. The little raindrops resolutely and determinedly focused on the green grass in their perilous flight downward. So focused were they, that they forgot to make more than even a gentle whisper as they fell.

And the little raindrops landed on the Earth, cushioned by the blades of the green grass. They gently glided below the surface until they reached the roots of the green grass. Their moisture caused the green grass to grow. As the blades of green grass grew, they exhaled moisture back into the air until eventually, new rainclouds formed and more little raindrops appeared.

“And, what are we to take from this parable?” you ask.

The raindrops are like people. Some people always seek to make a splash, to be heard, to be noticed by all creation. Seeking to maintain themselves just as they are, to hold onto, and to perpetuate, what they have after their painful crash, they merge into a mass of like-mindedness until, the force of history, like gravity, pulls them downward en masse towards their ultimate end, the storm-sewer of antiquity, flowing out of Earth’s time-line into the sea of despair where they are lost, having never counted for anything and eventually losing all they ever had or were.

The second group of people is like the second group of raindrops. They seek not their ends but those of “the other.” They seek and find a manner in which they can nourish the other and make it grow. Their reward, after a tumultuous flight, is a soft landing, the hope that their sacrifice counted for something, and the knowledge that their “other-mindedness” ultimately found rebirth in a cycle leading back to the cloud from which they came.

***

Sometime later, the green grass persisted in its lushness nourished by the raindrops and the sunshine that arrayed itself through the clouds. So happy was the green grass that it even grew up between the cracks of the driveway.

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.  Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. James 5:1-5. NIV.

On a certain day, a large raincloud gathered over the city. Inside the raincloud, the raindrops talked among themselves as to where they would like to fall. Some raindrops looked down and saw small puddles of water, puddles made up of water like themselves. They noticed how the raindrops like themselves sang as they fell towards the puddles and how the water splashed and flashed in the sun as they landed.

“That’s where we would like to land,” they murmured among themselves. We will join our brother raindrops in the small puddle, adding our water to theirs until the puddle becomes a mighty river of which all creation will take notice. And, singing a lusty song, these raindrops sailed through the cloud to the puddle splashing happily as they landed.

Except that the puddle was very shallow, and it had formed itself over a concrete driveway. Each raindrop that landed did so piercing the watery surface and painfully smacking the pavement, losing both its sensibility from the concussion and its identity in the press of its fellow raindrops.

As the puddle grew in size, the force of gravity acted upon each little raindrop until they all rolled off the driveway and into the drainage channel at the side. Stronger and stronger, gravity pulled the puddle of raindrops, gathering all manner of debris as it surged onward and downward toward its inevitable end, the storm sewer. And so, it did.

Meanwhile, in the cloud, the other raindrops looked down at the city and saw the green grass. “If we land on the green grass, we will no longer be ourselves, little raindrops,” they said, “but, perhaps we will find something that we can help to grow and, in that way, our fall will not be for naught.”

So, that’s what they did. The little raindrops resolutely and determinedly focused on the green grass in their perilous flight downward. So focused were they, that they forgot to make more than even a gentle whisper as they fell.

And the little raindrops landed on the Earth, cushioned by the blades of the green grass. They gently glided below the surface until they reached the roots of the green grass. Their moisture caused the green grass to grow. As the blades of green grass grew, they exhaled moisture back into the air until eventually, new rainclouds formed and more little raindrops appeared.

“And, what are we to take from this parable?” you ask.

The raindrops are like people. Some people always seek to make a splash, to be heard, to be noticed by all creation. Seeking to maintain themselves just as they are, to hold onto, and to perpetuate, what they have after their painful crash, they merge into a mass of like-mindedness until, the force of history, like gravity, pulls them downward en masse towards their ultimate end, the storm-sewer of antiquity, flowing out of Earth’s time-line into the sea of despair where they are lost, having never counted for anything and eventually losing all they ever had or were.

The second group of people is like the second group of raindrops. They seek not their ends but those of “the other.” They seek and find a manner in which they can nourish the other and make it grow. Their reward, after a tumultuous flight, is a soft landing, the hope that their sacrifice counted for something, and the knowledge that their “other-mindedness” ultimately found rebirth in a cycle leading back to the cloud from which they came.

***

Sometime later, the green grass persisted in its lushness nourished by the raindrops and the sunshine that arrayed itself through the clouds. So happy was the green grass that it even grew up between the cracks of the driveway.

In praying, studying, and reading the Bible on how God reveals Himself to us, I came upon an article about the attributes of God. The first word that clung to my mind was “omnipotence.” “Omnipotence” is a theologian’s word meaning all-powerful. (But you already knew that. I define it for emphasis.)

May I submit that whether God is omnipotent is not the question. It is not necessary to cite scripture for most of the faithful to know that God is all-powerful. The question, rather, is whether we believe it and if we do believe it, “to what extent do we believe it?”

May I submit that in our heart of hearts, I and probably each of us, believes that there is at least one thing that God cannot or, at least, will not do. I had come to the erroneous conclusion that God cannot or will not change our national, maybe our world, system that seems to reward wealth and power, and their root – selfishness, and to punish poverty and minority as though they were malum in se. I confess that I had come to the conclusion that apparently, God has given up on us or for whatever reason will not bring about change in the system.

In the wake of the recent protests and the attendant violence that came with them, that being a certain amount of rioting, looting, and burning on the one hand, and excessive use of force by some police departments and, in my view, unconstitutional use of military power by our national leaders at the highest level on the other, my pessimism was reinforced to the point that I felt sick in the pit of my stomach.

However, it is a trite but true statement that God was not surprised by any of this. We’ve begun to see that God’s power has been manifested within the middle of it all. Hear my words, I am not implying that God caused evil. Evil, in my view, results from the human will to do evil or at least to permit evil. Rather, I refer to the gentle nudging of the Holy Spirit that God sent to live in the hearts of certain people whom he did want to influence people for Good. The result of his influence with these people, unknown to me, is yet to be seen. It may not be seen in my lifetime. It may not be seen for decades. But God’s spirit was there working.

In the recent violence committed by all the violent people, we find at least two common threads: confusion, and chaos. In 1 Corinthians 14:3, the Apostle Paul states that God is not the author of confusion and chaos. If not God, then who or what authors confusion and chaos? The Apostle John answering, the question in Revelation 12:9, states that the evil (one) creates chaos and confusion.

Rather, it is the case that God works within confusion and chaos to bring about perfect harmony and divine order to accomplish His will

I came upon two additional words, “Freedom” and “Eternity,” and upon a thought that was new to me: Only in God’s perfect harmony and divine order is found true freedom for mankind. Hans Küng in The Church states the argument for that proposition. In summary, his argument goes as follows.

We, humans, make ourselves slaves to our choices. God’s Holy Spirit invites us to do God’s perfect will. When a person chooses not to do as the Spirit bids, he makes himself a slave to his own will, an inherently imperfect master. Thus, the person, by his own design makes himself a slave to imperfection. Imperfection can never lead to true freedom, thus, that person has chosen not to be free.

On the contrary, when a person chooses to do as the Spirit bids, she submits herself to perfection, becoming a slave to that perfection. Since we become a slave to our choices, she becomes the slave to God’s perfection. Since God is perfectly free, she has chosen to be a slave to perfect freedom. In that sense, she has chosen to become perfectly free.

A more light-hearted example, if you will permit. As I sit on my front porch, I have noticed for several days a green lizard. Perhaps, God’s power revealed through his Holy Spirit is a bit like the lizard. The power of the Spirit is unseen at first. Like the lizard, He blends into the background. Like the lizard, He is benevolent to humans. Nevertheless, the Spirit, like the lizard can destroy evil, if one considers mosquitoes evil as we in South Alabama do. 

When the lizard is ready, and for a reason that man cannot know, the lizard engorges his pink throat in an eye-catching display of pink-hued color.

Likewise, when He is ready, and for His own reasons, the Holy Spirit “shows up and shows out,” as the old saying goes. I realize that the analogy is an absurdity and breaks down at this point, but bear with me for the sake of argument.

I am truly amazed not so much that God can and will cause his will to be done to bring about his good purposes, the triumph of the Good and the defeat of evil, I’ve seen Him do that many times. The amazing cosmic fact is that God has already done these things, the very things for which we pray today, freedom, equality, and justice.

Another one of God’s incommunicable attributes is “Eternity.” What God does, he eternally does once for all, from eternally begetting the Son to eternally creating a green lizard. 

Thus, God has already brought about his will in the past in one way of looking at it – freedom, equality, and justice. It remains for us who are neither omnipotent nor eternal to see how God’s will works itself out in our time and space. 

We can take great confidence and assurance in the fact that God not only knows what needs to be done in our specific situation, and that God does what He has determined to be done, but that He has eternally already done it. 

When I am overrun with the immensity of the issues that currently face our nation, the lack of freedom, equality, and justice, I find that last thought to be the most comforting and freeing thought I can think of.

So let it be written, so let it be done. 

Prayer: Communal, Concentrated, Concise, Coordinated, and Consistent

Please note: This writing is not my usual pious diatribe; it is a call to definite action.

“What sort of a day was it, a day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times.[1]” It was an unforgettable time, an historic time, a time that would leave its mark on the people for generations.

What Day was it, today, May 31, (AD) 2020, Pentecost, the Feast of Shavuot? No . . . and yes.

NO. It was the 15^th day of the seventh Hebrew month, Tishrei, shortly after the Feast of Shavuot. The year was about 950, BC. King Solomon was in the process of dedicating his long-awaited Temple. As recorded in 2 Chronicles 6, King Solomon lead all the assembled priests and people in a dedicatory prayer. In that prayer, Solomon pledged before God all the many godly acts that the people of Israel would do and would continue to do from that day forward.

2 Chronicles 7:1-3a recounts what happened next. 

When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground . . .

It was God’s turn to speak, and speak He did through a prophesy given to Solomon.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14. NIV.

However, . . .

However, the people, and even Solomon, himself, failed to keep their pledge. Evil befell their land.  Within a generation, the people split the Kingdom in twain. Within 200 years, conquering armies deported the Northern 76% of the Ancient Kingdom – never again to be an historical entity. In another 150 years, a different great power dragged to captivity the remainder of the Ancient Kingdom, eventually, destroying the very Temple itself.

YES.  The Day is, indeed, AD 2020, the 31^st day of May, and evil has overtaken our land threatening to devour it, and us as the he-goat devours the grass. As with the Ancient Kingdom, two conquerors march toward our gates – two viruses. The First is novelle – Covid-19, a physical virus for which we have neither vaccine nor remedy, yet of which we ignorantly evince no fear.

The Second, perhaps the more dangerous, is not novelle at all. It is a spiritual virus as old as Father Adam. It is a virus that eats away our humanity as gangrene eats away infected flesh. It is a virus that burns white-hot within us as fear of, and hatred for, the other searing sensibilities until we no longer feel. It is a virus that stabs our soul with selfishness as the evil-doer’s pike pierces the heart of his prey, draining away the very life-blood.

As those of old, we have lost our way and cannot find it. Now, we find ourselves in dire and desperate need of a Guide, a Compass, a Map, and a Rescuer, to all intents and purposes, lost and hopeless.

But, . . .

There is a way out, a street to safety, a guide to grace. It’s always been there, available to us as a gift. It is the Wisdom that not even “Solomon in all his glory” could have imagined, simple, yet requiring an act of unearthly courage.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Observe, here’s what I promise God to do, and I ask you to join me. 

God leads me to ask a group of people to engage in prayer: Communal, Concentrated, Concise, Coordinated, and Consistent 

The prayer should be a simple, brief prayer, 

• Once a day, 
• At a specific hour of your choosing, and 
• In addition to, and not intended to supplant, other prayer times, nor to substitute for church attendance in whatever manner that is presently taking place. 

 The prayer should be a supplication for 

• Ourselves,
• Our fellow citizens, and
• Our leaders at all levels of religion and government. 

The specifics of the prayer would be that we all would know the mind of God in two matters:

• Addressing the virus of Covid-19 and
• Addressing the virus of violence, division, hatred, and selfishness. 

Would you covenant to so engage at the appropriate time, and to Stop, Look, and Listen?

• Stop whatever activity in which you are engaged, 
• Look to God in prayer, and 
• Listen for what He will say, and listen to that which others are saying. 

Would you step forward and courageously take loving and affirmative action based upon God’s answer and instruction to each of us?

Would you make an appeal for such prayer to leaders and congregants of all Christian denominations and all faiths? Non-believers may join-in by agreeing to observe a time of silence and contemplation on these two matters in place of prayer. 

I submit, based upon God’s promise in 2 Chronicles, that if we pray, God will do the rest. From Heaven, He will hear our prayer, He will heal our land, and He will reveal:

• Himself, 
• His purposes, and 
• His ways. 

He will show the way forward revealing how we can partner with Him, with each other, and with all willing people of every tribe and every nation to bring about our rescue. 

So let it be written, so let it be done.

---

[1] Sign-off line, CBS Television, “You Are There,” 1953-1972, hosted by Walter Cronkite,

As I was resting (relatively) in God this week, I remembered Pastor Alan Cross’ remarks at last Tuesday night’s online prayer meeting. Pastor Alan said that as a young college student, he served a small rural church as a youth director. Once, he was teaching his students about prayer, particularly, how to wait before the Lord patiently to hear what God would say. He recounted their first prayer meeting in which they waited quietly for about 20 minutes before God spoke, But He did speak. Some people refer to this practice as “Listening Prayer.”

Listening Prayer became a practice of Pastor Alan’s and his students.’ Much later, Pastor Alan and Miss Joan taught the practice to me. Miss Joan is a grand lady in my former church who is a “Prayer-Ninja.” I practice this method on occasion. Many times, these prayers, ones into which I enter with no agenda other than to be with God, accomplish His agenda in me.

May I suggest that God speaks not only through the Bible, but also thoughts, impressions, and yes, even my own written words – occasionally as I write them. Sometimes, God gives me an impression, and I start writing. The words, oft times, fly off my keyboard onto the screen. I am anxious to see what appears. God filters the words through the lens of scripture; thus, I take these as words from God. To be clear, I make no claim to private revelation nor that my writings equate with Scripture.

Today, I read in Mark 1 about John the Baptist. I followed this with William Barclay’s commentary. After reading, I prayed a “listening” prayer as Alan and Miss Joan taught me.

Barclay points out that the common people of John the Baptist’s day listened to his message because John the Baptist lived his message in authenticity. After delivering his message in word and deed, John “decreased” much as an old-timey telephone operator who connected one party to the other went away after she completed the connection. 

I wondered to God, “Am I authentic in my preachy sort of writing?” Must I “sell all and give it to the poor” to be heard? Must I liquidate my 401- k and donate the proceeds to the Salvation Army becoming destitute, moving to the Conecuh River Swamp to eat carob beans and tree sap? Will I then have achieved “authenticity?” I sort of expected a “yes” or “no” answer from God – and I was hoping it wasn’t “yes.”

After listening a while, I heard God laugh and say simply, “I am the Lord your God.” Period, end of statement. (Actually, He said “thy” God because when He gives scripture back to me, He usually gives it in His native tongue, King James English, circa. 1600.) 

That’s all He said, “I am the Lord, thy God.” His intent, I surmised, in this truncated, cryptic, and terse, but pregnant statement was to lead me through what I am to take from that today. 

“If you are truly “my” God, I asked Him “What do You want me to do?” He said only, “Feed my sheep.”

OK, that’s out of context, but let’s run with it. Deut. 6:5 (NIV) enjoins us to love God with all our heart, soul, and strength. Jesus repeated that injunction in Matthew 22 and Mark 12.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

“Love your neighbor as yourself,” I followed on. “And who is my neighbor?” Well, we all know the answer to that question found in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Luke 10:36-37. “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man…? ‘The expert in the law [Scribe] replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.”

Next, God reminded me of Jesus almost last words to His disciples in John 14:15. “If you love me, [you will] keep my commands.” I, the erstwhile disciple, along with that particular scribe, am told to “Go [thou] and do likewise,” – keep His commands.

God brought to mind Jesus’ conversation with Peter in John, “. . . [Jesus] said to him, ‘Simon, do you love me?’ . . . [Peter] said, ‘Lord…. you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my sheep.”

“LORD, what am I to take from this and the words above?”

“I’m glad you said, ‘words,’ the LORD replied. “That’s part of the answer. Think, now, think in the Spirit. What do you think the point is?”

I let my spirit roam, searching for a connection to His Spirit. After a time, the celestial operator completed the circuit. “Who are the sheep?” the Spirit said. “The ‘sheep’ are the Church, yes, but more than the Church, all who will listen, all who will eat of that which I give.

At the wedding in Cana of Galilee, Jesus told the steward to bring water. That’s all the steward had – water. Jesus did the rest, turning the water into wine. John 2.

At the feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000, Jesus asked the disciples what they had – loaves and fishes. They brought what they had and Jesus did the rest. Matthew 16, Luke 9, and Mark 6.

When Jesus saved the Samaritan Woman at the Well, He asked her to give Him the only two things she had – a drink of water and her sin. Jesus turned that water and sin into Salvation for her and many in her village. John 4. There are many other such stories.

True, there is one place where Jesus tells the Rich Young Ruler to, “sell all and give it to the poor,” but I don’t take that as a universal command. Matthew 9:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, and Luke 18:18-30. The point is that God wants me to give Him that which I have and let Him use it.

God has blessed me with many things, but one thing that God has given me is words – lots of words – sometimes, too many words. Be that as it may, may I submit that if I bring my words to Jesus, He will use them. He will take the simple things of life – bread, water, fish – and make Salvation out of them. Perhaps, He will take my inartful words and use them to feed some sheep’s spirit.

That’s what God wanted me to take from “I am the Lord thy God,” and that’s what I shall give Him as long as he gives me breath – and words.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Having too much pride or confidence will cause one to make mistakes that lead to a setback or failure. The phrase is adapted from a verse in the Book of Proverbs [16:18] in the Bible: “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” – -Idioms.thefreedictionary.com

I had intended today’s note to chronicle an experience I had with a young man in a hoodie. In that story, while on a walk, I met a young man who appeared to be lost. He was wearing a hoodie and was otherwise significantly too warmly dressed for the heat of the day. I was going to tell how God led me to stop, to turn around, and to give him directions and the bottle of water that I happened to have with me. I was to proudly proclaim how this led me to become more aware of people that I saw standing on street corners who were asking for money. I would give them a bottle of water and a note in an envelope that said, “God bless you today.” The envelope was to include a ten-dollar bill. However…

However, it didn’t work out that way. I am impressed today to take painful note of the irony in my telling that story (to which you might have replied with a sympathetic, “Aw, wasn’t that sweet?) Such though is not the case. Instead, I must write a little about a big subject – pride, precisely – my pride.

The verse from Proverbs cited above states the case altogether. I can testify to its veracity. For several weeks, I have been sitting in on a Sunday school class via Zoom. I decided that I could help host the class technically, and I offered to do so. The class president graciously took me up on the offer.

Last week, the class meeting proceeded reasonably well from a technical standpoint, except that a couple of members were inexplicably unable to join the meeting. This week, and not to be outdone, I knew that I was better than a couple of exclusions. Nothing short of 100% admittance would be acceptable. Thus, I made technical adjustments – just a few “tweaks” to my system.

The “tweaks” grew, magically, into a PowerPoint presentation – complete with maps. Further, I schooled myself on importing chat data from MS Word to assist with the lesson. Frankly, my dear, I was rather proud of myself.

Enter Pride. (Actually, enter the consequences of pride leading to its full blossoming.) The vanity was “lurking at the door” from the very start.

Today’s Sunday school class meeting was an utter disaster. Absolutely no one was able to “Zoom-in” – not the president, not the secretary, “no not one,” nada, zilch, nippo, nairn!

Though I worked feverishly for 35 minutes trying to reset, all erstwhile participants still got the message that the system had rejected them from my class meeting, not admitted, not “qualified” – “verboten” – access denied.

Ultimately, Zoom forced to call the class president and admit defeat. I sent the president and several members of the class an email stating that I was very sorry that I had been unable to get Zoom working and that I was extremely embarrassed (which I was.) Above all, I feared (and still do) being “fired” as the zoom technician.

Do you see the problem with this story? Do you understand the inappropriateness of the pat-on-the-back “Hoodie Story?” Should we count the times the word “I” was used, we would run out of digits on both hands and both feet. The conclusion obtains that “I” have entirely missed the point, or as our British friends would say, “lost the plot.” The exercise’s whole point was to put forth a Sunday school lesson about an incident in the life of Jesus from which we could take an example. Unfortunately, and as John Belushi would say as a Saturday Night Live character, “but noooooo,” the point for me became whether I could adequately operate Zoom. So, how do you spell Pride anyway? Today I would spell it Z o o m.

After I had cooled down, having stewed through the entire online church service over which I had no control, I found the check-box that I had erroneously checked in the calm of the afternoon. It was the “little, teeny, tiny, teeny, tiny (Gilda Radner”) check-box that caused the problem. Without a doubt, we will resolve the issue this afternoon and check out the system. There probably will not be a technical problem any longer.

It remains to be seen as to whether they will fire me as Zoom technician. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, that question is of no importance to any of the class members. Still, it remains essential to me. I take it as a matter of personal pride.

While I am being “personal,” may I add my personal paraphrase of Proverbs 16:18? “Pride goeth before a fall, [and great pride doth goeth before a great fall.]” (Does anyone hear a loud “thud?”) Perhaps, even in my stewing over my prideful condition, I am displaying my prideful nature all the more.

Surely though, you have never had this problem. Have you?

As I am praying over you and your ministry tomorrow (yes, I will put this incident behind me and “find the plot”), can you spare a moment to pray for me that I will get over myself and let the important things be the essential things? Here’s a thought, someone could email me a “Get over it, man” note. I’ll reply with a “thumbs-up.”

So let it be written, so let it be done.