Is There Anything We Can Do? Yes.

     Covid-19 cases are back on the rise.  Unemployment is still too high.  In the streets, chaos rages.  Unsightly and profane graffiti defaces public monuments, and statues of major historical figures are being removed, torn down or destroyed.  A political circus makes mockery of responsible governance, and recent high court decisions bring the possibility of severe curtailments of religious liberty.  Add to these the hardships we all experience during “normal” times, and the combination of these factors add up to a ponderous burden in the soul to carry around.  We’re bewildered, confused, and at times just about paralyzed.  We don’t know where the world is going or what to do next.  And since we were already confined to our homes for a couple of months, the stress from our physical lockdown amplifies the feeling of psychological lockdown that stalks us. 

Viewing the rancor and chaos in our cities, I’m reminded of the movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers.  During an assault on his fortress by thousands of evil beings, King Theoden cries out, “So much death.  What can men do against such reckless hate?”  He is nearly paralyzed.  His orderly world has been replaced by an apocalyptic nightmare.  Perhaps you have felt an immobilizing heaviness of the soul in these dark days.  It’s perfectly understandable.

It’s alright to retreat for awhile, to rest our souls, seek some perspective, and face the fact that the world has changed.  It has changed many times, however, and our forebears have come to terms with it and moved on.  We must do the same.  True, nothing quite like this has happened to this generation before.  We have little experience in the world upending itself so drastically. But neither did most who came before us.  We must figure out how to carry on living, and I think that our focus and attitude will play a key role in this.  For our own good, in the words of the Serenity Prayer, we need acceptance of the things we cannot change, courage to change what we can, and wisdom to know the difference.

I am reminded of a piece from my favorite poet, Robert Frost, titled “The Lesson for Today.”  It’s a look at the comparative darkness of many generations of dark times.  He warns the reader that it is not good to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by too many things beyond our control.  We cannot allow fear and self-pity to form an excuse for making a difference in the areas we can influence.  He writes:

We have today and I could call their name

Who know exactly what is out of joint

To make their verse and excuses lame.

They’ve tried to grasp with too much social fact

Too large a situation.  You and I

Would be afraid if we should comprehend

And get outside of too much bad statistics.

Our muscles never could again contract:

We never could recover human shape,

But must live lives out mentally agape,

Or die of philosophical distention.  (italics mine)

I trust you grasp what Frost was trying to express, that we must narrow our focus.  If we try to come up with solutions for “too large a situation,” we will blow our own fuses.  The events that spike the blood pressures of news addicts are far beyond their capacity to influence in any way.  That is what makes them fretful—that gives them ulcers.  In the great, sum total of the world’s catastrophes, we become frozen in place.  We are at a loss for anything meaningful to do.  We point to how badly the world is “out of joint,” and lamely excuse ourselves from taking the action we can take.  As Frost says, we have today.  But in the face of the colossal darkness of our time, what can we do with our today? Can you or I bring light to the world?

To the world, no.  An individual can’t fix everything.  But to our little patch of it, we certainly can.

Take the awful, racial unrest in America, for example.  Injustice, we are told, is systemic, transcending individual personalities and choices. And yet, though the evil resides in an impersonal system that no individual can touch, the guilt is imparted on the individual.  It is personal.  As a white person, I am, by definition, a racist.  This has become America’s “original sin.”  A nation which has abandoned God and the Gospel no longer acknowledges personal sin, but misappropriates the term and makes it sociological[i].  It is applied to oppressive classes and ethnicities, and there is no appeal.  To object, to speak at all, is to prove oneself the more inescapably guilty.  To remain silent is to be complicit.  Say something, or nothing, and you are proved guilty of this sin.  And for this sin, there is no Christ, no atonement, no release. Only penance never-ending. The problem is painted in colossal terms—what can one person do?  The fuses blow.  We stand unblinking, dazed by a crisis far beyond remedy by an individual Christian.

But the Bible rejects the premise.  First, read Ezekiel 18.  It is too long to post here, but verse 20 sums it up nicely: “The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.”   Society is trying with all its might to tell a different story, but God holds us accountable for our own lives, our own sinfulness and righteousness. To be accountable for my own actions, thoughts and words is quite enough of a concern, thank you.  On that basis alone, I am eternally condemned apart from the cross.  It is a tremendous weight taken from my soul to know that, before the throne of God, the sins of others will not be accounted in my ledger. 

On the other hand, I must be all the more vigilant to bring the things I can affect under the Lordship of Christ.  There certainly is a solemn obligation there.  But in Jesus I have an advocate, interceding for me at the right hand of the Father (1 John 2:1-2).  Even when I do fail my King or my neighbor, the blood of Christ washes me clean and transforms me so that I can more consistently do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before my God (Micah 6:8).  I can never stop growing, but I can rest in the grace of Jesus until I stand before Him, glorified.  He supplies my lack.

The Gospel also rejects the premise of this age. Jesus came to reconcile me to God, but He also came to reconcile me to my neighbor.  The hatreds and bigotries of this sick old world have no cure in human ethics or politics.  That is why injustice continues to this day; we can march in the streets, smash buildings and destroy landmarks until the last trumpet, but we will only make the damage worse.  Only in the cross can the debt be paid and the poison of resentment be expelled from our hearts.  Paul beautifully expressed, in Ephesians 2:14-16 --

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility… His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”

This promise does not deny the struggles of my neighbors who have been treated unjustly for far too long.  It does not give me leave to assume that their experiences are just the same as mine, or that their cultural distinctives are the same as mine.  It does not absolve me of speaking up and working for fair treatment when I can.  But it flatly denies that we are doomed to live in these assigned roles of perpetrator and victim, bereft of hope that we may ever live as one family, worshiping the same Father and serving one another. At the cross of Jesus, we are all on the same footing—all wretched sinners,  for whom Christ paid with His blood to wash us clean, to make us one with God and each other.  As Paul wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

Under the Gospel narrative, am I locked into helpless guilt without remedy? No—Christ paid the debt in full. Am I paralyzed in the face of a broken world, or  is there anything I can do move the needle? With Christ in me, quite a bit, as it turns out.  Instead of standing immobilized and mute at the profound darkness of this world, I can start right where I am.  I can worship the Lord and befriend my neighbor with an open and hospitable heart.  I can bridge the distance of difference and intentionally make friends with those whose stories are different than mine.  We can eat together, and I can listen to their stories, their victories and struggles.  I can grow in my knowledge and love of them to the point that I begin to understand how I can stand beside and serve them.  I can refuse to live according to the mentality of polarized camps of race and class; I can be a neighbor to everyone God places into my life, as in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  I refuse to be anyone’s enemy or oppressor; I will gladly be their friend and servant. And the biggest part of my service is that I point them to the cross, where their sin and bitterness can be washed away—where they can become reconciled to God and with each other as brothers and sisters.  That, my friends, is the spirit of the Gospel.  That’s the narrative I live by.  I invite you to join me.

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. – 1 Peter 2:12.

With Love,

Pastor Scott.

---

[i] Bottum, Joseph. An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America.  New York: Image, 2014.

Braggarts, Blowhards, and Humility

The Jones family recently took delivery of a tremendous bargain we found on eBay: the complete set of The Red Green Show/The New Red Green Show on DVD.  In case you’re unfamiliar, it’s a comedy program from Canada which aired on PBS for many years.  Set in at a ramshackle Northwoods lodge/clubhouse, the title character (a backwoods, “Tim the Tool Man Taylor”-type) and his nephew get into all kinds of awkward situations through their ineptitude.  One of the colorful characters I enjoy is Possum Lodge member Hap Shaughnessy, an outrageous liar who tries to squelch doubts through sheer bravado.  Whenever his frauds are exposed, he doubles down on them.

 I find him hilarious because he reminds me of certain departed members of my extended family.  One of them, a blowhard who had neither the education nor sense to keep himself out of danger, gathered with the rest of the family one Fourth of July several years before I was born.  According to family lore, this great-uncle of mine had gotten the hair-brained notion that you can set off a firecracker between your fingers without harm, so long as you pinch it hard enough.  Others challenged this as nonsense, so he had to prove it by demonstration.  (This was in former days when fireworks carried significantly more punch.)  The fuse was lit, he squeezed with all his might, and BAM!  His fingers were burnt black, and though they remained on his hand, those two fingernails were nowhere to be found.  When the family exclaimed with alarm, he merely grit his teeth, forced a smile and said, “I told you—it doesn’t hurt at all.”

            Braggarts and blowhards – I’m sure we all know at least one.  We might find them funny, or infuriating, depending on the level of bravado they express.  But while they are lifted up as tragic or ridiculous characters, they represent the shadow side of celebrated traits in America: confidence and assertiveness.  The “alpha dogs” are the heroes of our culture, those who charge ahead with an air of self-assurance.  Their followers are pulled in by the impression that these “alphas” know exactly where they are going.  They have everything figured out, everything under control…although they really don’t.  These are the types of people who are on debate stages during election years.  They act as if their solutions are simple and comprehensive, that all difficulties will be cleared away, if you will just trust them to follow along with the program.  You rarely see these people reflective, acknowledging the complexities of contemporary issues and admitting that their ideas will meet with only partial success.  Humility does not build momentum or win elections.  It won’t get you ahead in the business world or in prominent social circles. 

            Though it may not be an upwardly-mobile trait in today’s culture, the Lenten season reminds us that humility is absolutely essential to a right relationship with God.  Humble people admit that they are not wise, just or righteousness enough to stand in the presence of God.  They acknowledge the fundamental corruption of human nature which disqualifies them from His eternal dwelling of perfect righteousness.  They have no strength to mend and perfect themselves, let alone the wisdom to address the complex problems of mortal life with anything approaching real justice.  We are radically dependent on our Creator, the source of wisdom, holiness and justice.  This is why Solomon declared that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Pr. 9:10)  Though arrogant humanity thinks that it can reason out anything, we cannot understand anything independent of the God who IS where all true understanding resides.  Indeed, the merely human understanding will only render us utterly lost, for “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9)

            During Lent, we face the reality of our deceptive, sinful hearts.  We admit that we cannot cure ourselves.  The truth is that “There is no one righteous, no even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God, All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Rom. 3:10-12)  But by His infinite grace and love, Jesus came to rescue us from ourselves.  He took on Himself the full weight of our wickedness, canceling its curse through His death on the Cross.  His resurrection on the third day proclaims the good news that the Great Exchange worked perfectly: our sin for His righteousness; our death for His gift of eternal life.  On Easter we will sing Alleluia for this glorious victory, but during Lent we must acknowledge that we cannot gain this victory on our own.  We are utterly bankrupt and lost, and we must confess our poverty if we are to receive the riches of His grace.

            Our world is full of sinful people pretending to have it all figured out, arguing and competing with other sinful people pretending to have it all figured out.  Election years simply provide us with a microcosm, our world in miniature so that we can view just how corrupt and self-deluded we can be.  The problems we face are massive, complicated, and only worsened when we think we can solve them by ourselves.  May Lent remind us that neither we, nor any human person or party, have any solutions.  Instead, let us find hope in this promise: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (Jas. 4:10)  The secret to the mending of our world is not found in any seat of human power, but simply in the way we relate to the Lord and to our neighbors, right where we are:

“He has showed you, O man, what is good, And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV)

Take the Risk. Be a Neighbor.

     One day, as a fifth grader, I completed my long hike to school across the hard-frozen tundra (not quite, but seemed it) of northern Iowa.  It was a frigid January day, with temperatures below zero.  The wind lashed us bitterly.  Arriving at school, I was surprised to find one of the doors standing wide open.  I gratefully sprung into the building, eager to get out of the cold and wind.  I turned around and looked at the door.  No one had been holding it open for me.  Students streamed into the building, not noticing the open door at all.  Finally, after pondering the odd situation for a couple of moments, I reached out and pulled the door shut.  Within moments, one of the band teachers, Mr. Leeper, was at my side.  With a kind smile he said, "Scott, I have stood here watching that door for the past eight minutes.  I was curious to know if anyone would ever take a moment to do the thoughtful and responsive thing, and pull the door shut against the cold.  You are the only one who even noticed it.  I couldn't believe it.  But you thought of more than just yourself, and took the effort to do something helpful.  I'm proud of you."

     I certainly appreciated his encouraging words, but I also thought silently, "Why didn't you close the door, sir?"  There was a bit of irony in the teacher's test to see who would take some personal responsibility.  Still, his point was well-taken; one of the symptoms of humanity's sin-sickness is the tendency to remain disengaged when one observes a person or situation in need of help, thinking, "someone else will do it."  Some of the most disturbing examples of this have been observed in big cities.  Police have responded to many situations of violence, sexual violence, or murder, carrying out investigations which revealed that many local residents saw or heard the crime right outside their windows, but chose not to get involved.  They didn't shout, "leave that lady alone--I'm calling the police!" They didn't go out and get physically near the scene of violence, to bear witness or to help the victim.  They decided not to get involved--to let someone else do it.  They didn't want to take the risk.  These scenes are tragic, but they are not new.

     Luke 10 records Jesus' conversation with an expert in the Old Testament law.  He asked Jesus for his opinion on the definitive list of things to do so that he could gain eternal life.  The Lord asked him, first, what his view was, and the man answered with something Jesus had often taught, that there were two inseparable things.  One must love God with all one's heart, soul, strength, and mind--but one must also love one's neighbor as oneself.  Jesus affirmed the man's view completely.  The expert of the law, however, asked, "but who is my neighbor?"  It seems he was looking for the bare minimum, here.  He did not wish to put himself out for anyone who was not truly his "neighbor."  We know how Jesus answered this question; he told the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  

     A man was waylaid on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, beaten, robbed of everything he had, and left for dead.  Both a priest, and a Levite, soon came traveling down the same road, and beheld the critically-injured man.  Each chose to distance themselves from the man's need, passing along without getting involved.  The beaten man might have expected for either of these to assist him--they were spiritual leaders and fellow Israelites.  But, from the very ones he would expect to take the lead in matters of compassion, he was bitterly disappointed.  We can speculate why the priest and Levite would choose to pass on by, but I would venture that they would have wanted to avoid risk.  It was well-known that bandits would beat and rob a victim and leave him out as bait.  When someone else would happen along and kneel down to assist the victim, those same bandits would leap out of hiding and do the same to the helper.  

     The truly interesting point of Jesus' parable is who did choose to get involved: a Samaritan, who was reviled by the people whose land he traveled through.  The Samaritans were considered ethnically impure, only part Jewish, and religiously heretical.  They were treated as pariahs.  Pureblood Jews would avoid them entirely, treating them as an untouchable underclass.  The Samaritan in Christ's parable would have been well-acquainted with the prejudice and hostility he'd receive from the people of this land.  They certainly wouldn't help him if he was found beaten and left for dead.  But he saw this victimized Jewish man, and he could not turn away.  He took the risk upon himself, transported the victim to an inn, and paid for his care with his own money.  Jesus then turned the question around and posed it to the expert in the law: which of these was a neighbor to the injured man?  The expert could only reply that it was the one who had showed mercy.  Jesus came back with the incisive command, "go and do likewise."  He would not help the expert in the law to whittle down the list so that he could decide who was and wasn't his neighbor, to satisfy himself with loving only a few selected individuals.  The issue wasn't, "who is my neighbor?" It was, "you go and be a neighbor to anyone God places in your life."

     Our public debates often grapple with who deserves our help, and who doesn't.  It repeats endlessly on the news, on Capitol Hill, and in states where refugees seek to escape violence and persecution from vicious tyrants and criminals at home.  Those debates often turn on the issue of risk, as there is fear of those who come from countries that harbor terrorists and drug lords.  That the refugees are actually fleeing such evil people is an important consideration, but there is always risk in being a neighbor to those in need.   We are not residents of those border states, and we certainly have no clout when it comes to the debates on Capitol Hill.  We have one arena where our actions and decisions can truly make a difference, and that is right where we live.  We don't deal much with asylum-seeking refugees here in western Pennsylvania, but there are still plenty of people who are hurting, alone, and desperately in need of God's love incarnated through us.  Just as it has always been through history, there is risk in reaching out in compassion to those who are hurting.  But Jesus never allows us to sift through those who are our neighbors and those who aren't.  He simply reaches across time and commands us: be a neighbor to any and all who God places before you.

     So let me ask you: in your daily course of life, is there anyone you come in contact with regularly, someone who is lonely, or in need, who is in desperate need of a neighbor?  What a blessing, then, that God brought you along, because a follower of Jesus is a neighbor to all.  Others may pass by and refuse to take the risk or effort.  But you will hear the still, small voice which urges you: go over there, and be that one's neighbor.  Heed that voice, for it is the voice of He who came to you when you were as good as dead.  He took your hurt upon himself, paid the price, and redeemed you to life.

Disciplined Freedom and the Pursuit of Community

     As Americans, we are concerned about the maintenance of our rights.  With much blood shed over almost 250 years, we have secured for ourselves basic freedoms of speech, religion, the press, free assembly, and many others.  Those rights are why we, as American Christians, may meet to worship freely, share our testimony without fear of imprisonment, and speak forth our deep convictions about any number of issues.  Without these rights, it would be much more difficult to speak God's truth to power , to call out evils which threaten to destroy us, and call for justice on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves.  The current, alarming state of things in New York state is an example.  No one is more vulnerable than a baby, either in or out of the womb, and God is watching to see if His people will stand in solidarity with these little ones.  Knowing their angels constantly see the face of the Almighty, we remind our country and ourselves that we will be held to account for their treatment.  The freedom of speech gives us a constitutional right to speak for what's right, even when others do not want to hear.

     Our freedoms are precious.  That is why it is crucial that they are used responsibly; history shows us that the irresponsible use of freedoms is what leads to their loss.  Francis Schaeffer cautioned that as western nations abandon God's laws, the purpose of those freedoms is forgotten, and in the ensuing chaos, those same freedoms become the hammers which destroy once-great nations.  Unrestrained freedom brings anarchy, and anarchy always ushers in tyranny.  Thus we see that freedoms can never serve as ends to themselves.  They are always the means to achieve something greater, or they self-destruct.  America's principles have tragically eroded, however, and we pursue freedom only for freedom's sake.  This is a crisis.  

     I am reminded of the movie based on Michael Crichton's novel, Jurassic Park.  In the first act, John Hammond is giving a group of scientists a preview of the pre-historic wonders genetically resurrected by his team.  Dr. Ian Malcolm is horrified that Hammond has subverted the natural order of things and unleashed on modern Earth forces which could end human life as we know it.  He chides Hammond for his irresponsible use of genetic power, saying, "you wield it like a kid who's found his Dad's gun."  He closes with this iconic line: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." 

     So it is with our freedom.  These days, many people focus only on what they can do--what they have the right to do--without considering whether they should.  Most of the current culture war finds its root in this dangerous error.  Since there is no longer agreement about what is right and wrong (even whether those concepts exist), no one is willing to agree on a vision for common life as a society.  There remain only our "rights" -- the things we insist we can do.  Public conflicts come when one group's "rights" conflict with another's.  Those insisting on abortion will go to war over a woman's ability to do so anytime she wishes.  This week, the Senate blocked a "Born Alive" bill which would have protected a baby if it had survived its mother's attempts to kill it.  Though this is clearly infanticide, the entire focus is on what the mother can do; there is no accounting for whether she should.  Furthermore, there are those "social justice warriors" who, claiming to champion their freedom, would silence and persecute any who would speak against them.  That they do not see the irony is evidence of how far we have fallen.  They destroy the same value they claim to uphold.

     Having listed a couple of the obvious issues, I want to urge caution, lest we accidentally find ourselves on the list of those who cannot distinguish the things we can do from what we should do.  We place much stock in our freedom to say whatever we want, and that is good.  No one should be able to take away our rights to speak out, particularly because this right enables us to speak on behalf of what is right and just.  We must be responsible, however, in how we use this right.  If we make the right to speak freely an end unto itself, if we forget that all freedoms must be in the service of a greater good if they are to endure, we are sure to end up doing more harm than good.  There is a good chance that you have people in your life, perhaps co-workers or  family members, who pride themselves in saying exactly what's on their mind, whether others like it or not.  They delude themselves, thinking this is some kind of heroic virtue.  Yet, while they flaunt their courage in saying what they want, what effect do they have on your family, or workplace?  They corrode the sense of camaraderie among your team, turning a smooth-running operation into a toxic, dysfunctional shambles.  That "crazy uncle" who spouts forth whatever nonsense he wants spoils the family reunion each year.  In each case, a greater good is sabotaged by a crank who insists on giving vent to every unedited thought.  He fixates on what he can say, but tragically fails to consider whether he should.  He ends up sacrificing a greater good for a much smaller, petty good of his own.

     Our whole society is infected with the fever of irresponsible freedom.  Since it cares little for the perspectives of others, it melts away the social glue that binds communities and nation together.  Make no mistake: this social glue is of great importance.  When the Framers of the U.S. Constitution set out to "secure the Blessings of Liberty" to themselves and their Posterity, that Liberty was in pursuit of a noble vision: "in order to form a more perfect Union."  The Union of our nation, the social glue that would bring together people of all kinds of backgrounds and beliefs, was to be accomplished through each person's freedom, exercised responsibly in service to that vision, much larger than themselves.  The goal of freedom was not freedom; it was the mutual respect given to the each person, created by God to be free, and yet to use that freedom to serve Him and to serve one another in love. In other words: community, a "more perfect Union."  Through history, our country's unique ability to form a community from very different people has been a key ingredient in its success.

     Sadly, the dream of community in America has been all but abandoned in our crazed obsession with personal freedom.  Like the boy who has found his father's gun, we brandish our freedom like a toy, untempered by the disciplined training which makes it a useful tool instead of a deadly hazard.  People strut about, making a show of saying and doing as they wish, without a single consideration for the experiences and beliefs of others in their communities.  Very little progress is made from such an approach.  If a person proclaims their side of a contentious issue without respecting, listening to, and reasoning with those from the opposite viewpoint, three things happen.  Those on the same side cheer loudly, those on the opposite side become insulted and more intransigent than before, and the community becomes more divided and distrusting.  As I said before, more harm than good is done.  We cannot continue as a culture unless our generation commits to a different way.  

     The good news is that we, in the Church, know a different way.  In Christ, we are forged into a new community.  He came to be our peace, to make the two groups one by destroying the wall of hostility between us (Ephesians 2:14).  Only in the Church can the vision of community reach its highest potential on a fallen world with its sinful people.  Jesus came to reconcile us to God, and to one another.  Because Jesus has made us into a new creation, we have the opportunity to set aside anger and pride, to choose loving service to one another instead of ego.  Our example can be a light to an America which has truly lost its way.  Until our nation can remember what a spirit of community looks like, they should be able to look to us, keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  Until they learn again the difference between what they can do and what they should do, we are called by God to be a model of freedom used with focus and responsibility --  to build up our community while being faithful to God's truth.  Until they come to understand what's right and what's wrong, we are called to stand for righteousness and justice to the least of these.  Until people with deaf ears stop shouting at other people with deaf ears, accomplishing nothing but rancor, the Lord would have us be the model of how to speak with moral conviction, yet filled with the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Galatians 5).  We're called to show how to stop shouting, but rather appeal to hearts and minds.  As Christians, we understand that unless we do and say all things with love, we have absolutely nothing. (1 Corinthians 13).  We, of all people, should know that our personal freedom must be disciplined to serve a greater good--a vision of love, service, and community.  So, let us refuse to contribute to the breakdown of community through freedom gone mad.  Christ has called us be an example of His higher way.

"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love." -- Galatians 5:13

Digging for Eternal Treasure, Pt. 2

     Here we are at New Year time, or close enough to it, so it is fitting for us to think about which course our lives will take as the planet makes its next journey around the sun.  As introduced in the last article, this is a perfect time for us to commit to a regular discipline of delving into God's Word for all the riches He has in store.  It is for want of focused study of Scripture that many professed Christians experience little vitality or victory in their spiritual walk.  

     Last time, we discussed how to slow down and actually notice what we see in the Bible.  We dealt with how we might examine each scripture in light of its broadest context: by examining each book as a whole, how it is structured, the major themes treated, and the general flow of the argument, we can then examine each passage in light of that backdrop.  We approach each text with the eyes of a reporter, asking who, what, where, when, why, and how, so that we can be clear on those speaking, to whom, and the words and key concepts they are trying to emphasize--especially by repetition.  We refuse to gloss over a passage with our own preconceived ideas.  Instead, we listen to every detail of the text as if for the first time, being fully present and attentive to the author so as not to miss a word he wrote.  This is the first step of intentional study of the Scriptures--observation--and it will lead us to begin discovering and applying God's truth to our own lives.  But there are two additional steps to gleaning the precepts from Scripture; application is preceded by interpretation, and it is this step we will discuss here.

     Having paid disciplined attention to what the Scripture says, we must now move on to consider what it means, and that is the task of interpretation.  First, we may encounter words which are loaded with theological meaning.  They require unpacking.  We may encounter words like propitiation, sanctification, or holiness, or even words that we think we may understand, but we might not understand them the way Scripture means them: sin, repentance, grace, faith, fellowship, and the like.  It is an excellent idea to look up these loaded words in a Bible Dictionary.  Physical copies of them can be had inexpensively, new or used.  I've referred to Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary for years, but there are many others out there.  If you have Internet access, you can check many of them for free;  for instance, Christian Classics Ethereal Library (www.ccel.org) has Easton's, Hitchcock's, and Smith's Bible Dictionaries that you can refer to instantly.  Bible Dictionaries will not just tell you what important Bible words mean in English; they will tell you what the Bible means by them.  There are also word study dictionaries and concordances for checking the meanings from the Hebrew and Greek originals (and you don't have to know those languages--they've translated them for you), but that's beyond the scope of our discussion for now.  I can point you to some of them if you are interested.  The publishers of Bible dictionaries have checked every use of a given word through the Bible to give you the fullest understanding possible in its proper context.

     This leads us to our first important point for interpreting a passage properly: context is everything.  By context, we mean that we have to look at the passage in light of what's come before, what's after, and in the light of the book as a whole.  Except for something like a stand-alone saying from Proverbs, everything you read in the Bible is linked with everything around it.  No one verse should be lifted out of the Bible and interpreted in isolation.  Each thought in the Bible grows out of the one before it, and leads to the one right after it.  If you fail to keep a text in its proper setting, you're likely to miss the meaning entirely.  Let me give you one example: Jeremiah 29:11 is one of those feel-good promises that Christians love to quote.  It goes like this: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"  What a great promise, right?  You'll see it on millions of refrigerator magnets across America.  It is commonly taken to mean that God will always prosper and bless you--He won't let you experience harm or hardship.  Now, start with verse 1 of the chapter and read straight though.  Do you see the difference?  Verse 11 is a verse of reassurance to Israel, which will languish in exile for seventy long years before being able to return and rebuild their homeland.  The promise applies only to Israel, after God has disciplined her to the point that she is ready to leave behind her rebellious idolatry.  This is just one of hundreds of examples of how people have misinterpreted Scripture because they failed keep it in proper context.  The immediate context is important, as well as considering each passage in light of the whole book.  Every verse you read is part of the overall themes and purpose of the book.  Make sure the meaning you take away fits into that flow of reasoning.

     Closely related is the next important point for interpreting a text: consider everything the Bible says on a topic.  Referring to Acts 20:27, many refer to this as considering the "full counsel of God's Word" to understand an issue.  This is where a study Bible with a good concordance can be a useful tool.  Here you will find multiple references to many important concepts, like the nature of faith. If you don't take everything the Bible says about them into account, you will have misleading interpretations of the text.  For this example, I will refer to Ephesians 2:8-9.  This passage says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."  Many of us could recite this passage in our sleep, as we strongly believe in salvation by grace through faith alone.  The passage seems to set up two opposing concepts: faith and works.  Works would seem to be the opposite of salvation by grace through faith. Faith=good; works=bad.  Indeed, multiple passages would lead us to that understanding--that's why we hold the doctrine we do.  On the other hand, to get a proper understanding of the relationship between grace, faith, and works, we must also take passages like James 2:14-26. When this passage is weighed in the balance, we see that the picture is a bit more nuanced.  Verse 17 has a strong statement: "In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."  This seems to lead in an opposing direction, doesn't it?  It seems that a simple understanding--that faith is good, and works are bad--is incomplete.  We need the Spirit to teach us, and to think more deeply, to get the correct understanding.

     This leads me to the next ingredient for proper interpretation: God does not contradict Himself, and His Word does not contradict itself.  Biblical conundrums like the one I just mentioned come up from time to time.  A few would be: Is God One, or Three?  Is Jesus human, or divine?  Is God sovereign, or do we have free will?  Or in the case I just mentioned, is faith what matters, or works?  We can easily get confused, unless we remind ourselves that the entire Bible is a full explication of the same truth, the same message, about the same God.   What looks like a contradiction to us is usually a sign that we haven't understood completely.  We must hold tightly to the truth of this point, and wrestle with the meaning until the Lord shows us how it fits in with the unity of His truth.  For the examples above, we must understand that we have One God in Three Persons.  Our Savior is fully human, and fully divine.  God is completely sovereign, and shows how complete that is by allowing our free will, and bringing about His Divine plan nonetheless.  And when you take Ephesians 2 and James 2 together, you will understand that salvation IS by grace through faith alone.  Our works cannot save us.  But once we are born again, our new nature will blossom forth with Spirit-empowered works.  Works are not the means of our salvation, but the fruit of it.  And in the absence of the fruit, we must seriously ask whether we have been truly born again.  Remember, all truths in Scripture are self-revelations of the eternal, Three-in-One God, who according to James "does not change like the shifting shadows" (1:17).

     Although we worship an Almighty, Triune God whose ways and thoughts are vastly above our own, He has loved us enough to come among us as a human being. In the character, teachings and works of Jesus, we encounter God sharing Himself with humanity to the fullest extent we can understand. Because of this, Jesus is the ultimate key to interpreting Scripture properly.  The nature of God is that He loves to share Himself with His creatures.  This is why He created the human race, why He gave us the Bible, why He made the way for us to be reconciled to Him from our sinful state, and why He ultimately came to us as God the Son.  He does not want us to be in the dark about who He is, how He sees us, what He wants for us, and what He plans for us.  That is why He gave us His written Word, and why He came to us as the Living Word.  The two work together, revealing the same truth.  So, even when we have tried our best to understand Scripture correctly, and the meaning of a passage still eludes us, look at that passage in the light of who Jesus is, what He taught and what He did.  You will be amazed at how Scripture falls into place when you look at it through the lens of Jesus.  But again, don't cherry-pick the parts of Jesus life and teachings you like the best! You must consider the whole of what He shared with us to understand the Bible correctly.

     One last bit of advice, related to God's self-sharing nature: since God does not want us to be in the dark about Himself, we should understand that He wanted His written Word to be understood clearly.  He hasn't the least interest in filling Scripture with hidden codes, or mystical interpretations accessible to only an elite few.  The Lord loves the common person as much as the intellectual or the noble, and He designed His Word to speak directly to us in plain language.  Because of this, interpret the Scripture at face value, so long as you observe the rules of context above.

     If you keep these pointers in mind, you will be well on the way to understanding what Scripture means as the author actually intended it.  Once you have interpreted Scripture responsibly, you can move on to ask: "how does this Scripture apply to me?"  We will round out our discussion with that step next time.  Until then, you have the tools at hand to begin a New Year filled with the disciplined study of God's Word--get to it!

Digging for Eternal Treasure

     In our worship services, we have recently been discussing the paramount importance of the study of Holy Scriptures for the believer.  Under the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures are God's primary tool for the formation of Christ's followers.  His purpose is to sanctify us -- to make us holy, to set us apart for lives of Kingdom significance.  We must understand that the Bible is how He accomplishes that.  Christ's prayer for us, in John 17:17, was that God would "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."  Without our daily study of God's Word, submitting to the Holy Spirit, we simply cannot grow in Christian character and please the Lord.  As I have stated these past weeks, the spiritual lifelessness and immaturity experienced by so many professed believers is down to the fact that they do not take this seriously.

     I have also spoken about devotional literature recently.  I want to emphasize again that I believe devotional books to be beneficial--but that they are only to be a motivator to our own deep-dive into the treasures of God's Word.  Devotionals usually deal only with brief segments of Scripture, not arranged in any sort of systematic way so as to comprehend the wider context.  They are scriptural hors-d'oeuvres, accompanied by anecdotes from the author's own experiences and reflection on how that small sampling of the Bible applies to them.  All well and good--these show examples of how to go about applying God's Word to one's particular life.  These can show us how to begin the process of discovering and applying the precepts of the Bible to our own unique lives.  

     I must hasten to add, however, that even here we must be discerning.  For every good example I have seen on the responsible application of Scripture, I have seen at least one bad example.  Scatter-shot samplings of the Bible often cause one to take passages out of context, and lead to conclusions that are far from the author's intent.  More on proper context in the next article; for now, I'd like to use a simple image to illustrate the importance of studying and discovering the truths of Scripture for oneself.  Think about flowers.  My wife's grandfather was a horticulturalist, and I am told his flower gardens were a marvel to behold.  There is a beauty in well-tended flower gardens that can never be touched by an arrangement purchased from FTD.  Cut flowers are pretty, yes, but bouquets begin to lose vitality the moment they are severed from the life-giving soil, as well as the wider context of the garden around them.  In their original context, a flower garden overwhelms the soul with a sense of verdant life that words cannot capture.  One senses the signature of the Supreme Artist on His own canvas.  This experience of the sacred shows the difference between a pre-cut scriptural bouquet found in a devotional, and one's own discovery of God's Word in its proper context.

     With that in mind, I want to exhort you to your own, daily study of God's Word.  Discovering His rich truths for your own life is not the unique province of pastors, theologians, or authors of devotional books.  It is not a daunting, arcane art.  After asking the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth, it is simply a matter of slowing down, quieting your mind, silencing preconceptions, determining to pay full attention to what the author was trying to say in full context, and only then to ask how it applies to oneself.  As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said through the mouth of Sherlock Holmes, "I have trained myself to notice what I see."  This is what we must do with Scripture, though our culture has not taught us to place much value on this type of attentiveness.  It is well within our ability to do, though--we must simply establish some new habits.

     You might think that it was my time in seminary that taught me the art of digging into Scripture.  There's no question that it helped--but it's not where I learned most of it.  The most valuable tool was shared with me in a campus Christian group I found at Iowa State University, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.  Along with fellowship and support among like-minded Christian students, I would say that InterVarsity's main mission is to help students learn the thoughtful study and discovery of God's Word.  It was here that I learned the Inductive Method of Bible Study, and I would like to summarize its main features for you.  It's not that you need to call it that, or that you must do it in exactly the way described; as I said, it's just a tool for you to slow down and really notice what is in the text.  Far more detail is available in a collection of books that explain this method, but probably the most popular is Kay and David Arthur's  How to Study Your Bible: Discover the Life-Changing Approach to God's Word (Harvest House Publishers).  That volume is well-written and accessible for any reader.  The guide from which I was taught was InterVarsity Press' own publication, Transforming Bible Study: Understanding God's Word Like You've Never Read It Before by Bob Grahmann.  Either of these books, and several more, will provide all the information you could ever ask for. But really, the steps are simple, and to summarize them... 

1) Zoom out.  Do an eagle-eye scan of the book as a whole.  The longer books should just be skimmed, but the shorter ones can be read through.  But the idea here is to get just a skeleton of the book's structure.  If it's a historical account, you can write down what seem to be the major events and characters.  If it's an epistle, take note of the author of the letter, to whom it's written, and perhaps a few of the major themes that will be brought up.  Poetry, like the Psalms, or wisdom, like Proverbs, will just have to be briefly scanned for major topics.  They range through all kinds of subjects, so look for what gets brought up most.  For this, and all else that follows, you're going to need a notebook to write down what you find.

2) Zoom level 1: It's time to get more detail about how the book is structured.  If you're lucky, you have a Bible in front of you that does not include the headings for various sections.  Those were added on later as the fruit of someone else's effort to do what you're working on right now.  That's right, the subject headings are not the original text of Scripture!  Now, they're usually quite valid, but you want to discover the organization of the book for yourself.  In InterVarsity, we worked with re-typed books of the Bible, on loose leaf, with all the subject headings removed.  That way, we could mark up the text and discover the structure of the book for ourselves.   For the record, I occasionally have disagreements with the added-on subject headings.  Not often--but sometimes, I find they've chopped up a section where they shouldn't have.  So, if you have a Bible sans subject headings, that is ideal.  (Paragraphs are fine.) If not, do your best to ignore them, and work up your own outline in your notebook.  Try and get a sense of how the chapters of a book group together into major divisions.  As a freebie, the book of Genesis is split up into 1. The world's early history (creation, fall, flood and aftermath) and 2. The history of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph).  Then, pick out what seems to be the major theme of the book.  What do you think the Lord will teach you through this book, and how might it apply to your life?  Again, I encourage you to write these observations down in your notebook.  It doesn't have to be perfect--this is just for you, and no one else is going to look at it unless you share it with them!  Begin to watch prayerfully for these things as you delve deeper.

3) Zoom level 2: This gets down to the level of the chapter, or major part of it, that you will study.  Your daily time in God's Word will mostly happen at this level.  Approach each chapter like a reporter.  You've heard of the major questions a reporter asks to get the facts of a story, I'll wager.  They consist of 5 w's and an h: who, what, where, when, why, and how.  Who is speaking, and to whom?  What is happening in the chapter?  What facts can you learn about the people, events or teachings?  When do things in this chapter happen?  This gives you a sense of the order of events, the timing of God's work and promises, etc.  Where do the events in the chapter take place?  Why is this event talked about, or why does the author seem to bring up a particular issue?  Remember, he wouldn't be mentioning it if there wasn't something that prompted it. How does an event take place?  How does the character, or author, do a thing? How is a believer supposed to carry out God's command?  How does a character illustrate a truth?  Jesus' teachings in the Gospels, for example, are full of illustrations.  Once you get these reporter's inquiries answered, you'll be well on the way to understanding the chapter or passage in detail. 

     While you're on this level, you should take special note of any key words or concepts presented.  They will often be repeated; mark them and their synonyms or pronouns.  Colored pencils can be used to set these off from the rest of the text, to organize and make them stand out.  Use a different color or symbol for each key concept.  A pictorial example of what I'm talking about can be found at the Kay Arthur's Precept Ministries, Intl. website. Check it out here. Once you've done this marking, you'll be able to see that each key concept is described with several details or steps.  For each one, make a list in your notebook.  Once you've arranged each important concept with the items that describe it, you'll understand that concept more deeply than you have in the past.  Also note that key teachings are described by comparing them to something else, or contrasting (showing how they're different) from something else.  Make these a part of your lists.

     By now, you should be able to identify the theme of the chapter.  Write that theme down.  When you have done so for each chapter in a book, you'll be able to notice how those chapter themes relate to each other.  That will lead you, in turn, to refine your understanding of how the book is structured.  Update your notes accordingly.

     At this point, I can guarantee that the Lord will be teaching you some things you've never considered before.  You'll see some of the big ideas of the Bible, as well as practical points for how to grow in the Lord and progress in your life as His disciple.  However, what I have described is just the first aspect of serious Bible study.  The three parts are observation (covered here, briefly), interpretation, and application.  For this discussion, I wanted to give you a kick-start toward digging into God's Word on more than just a superficial level.  If you start incorporating these steps into your study, you will move beyond mere devotional reading.  You will discover God's power for changing your life at a fundamental level.  In the next discussion, we will cover how to interpret Scripture responsibly, so that you will arrive at conclusions that are supported by the context and the Bible as a whole.  Until then, get out your Bible, notebook, pens, and your detective's magnifying glass.  Don't just read over it--slow down and really pay attention!  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to notice what you see, and witness as God begins a new thing in your life.

Shame, Exile, and Opportunity

     I continue to be haunted and sobered by news of sexual immorality and abuse of power on the part of pastoral leaders.  You can scarcely take a breath before another horrible account reaches the news.  First, it was a collection of evangelical pastors, and a highly-visible one who capped off that list.  I wrote about him last time.  However, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was rocked, last week, by a Grand Jury report on 6 dioceses which, over the course of 70 years, miscarried their oversight of 300 priests who sexually abused 1,000 children.  The report was heavily redacted, and many others probably went unreported, so the likelihood is that the total number of victims may reach into the thousands.  Indeed, as of yesterday, more than 400 calls have been made to the clergy abuse hotline set up in the wake of the report.

     This, of course, comes hot on the heels of the June 20 removal from ministry of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.  Several credible accounts surfaced of him sexually abusing male seminaries under his teaching, and even a few minors.  On July 17, he was demoted from the office of Cardinal, and was ordered by the pope to a life of "prayer and penance in seclusion."  He is currently under a form of house arrest. It is especially ironic that Cardinal McCarrick had helped to lead a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2002, who adopted a policy entitled "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People" in response to an earlier scandal I'll mention shortly.

     These two scandals have done grievous injury to the hearts of Catholics in America, just as the recent Evangelical scandals have to Protestants.  To make matters worse, devout Catholics had considered themselves well along in healing from an earlier crisis, concerning the Archdiocese of Boston.  In early 2002, just a few months after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Boston Globe published an explosive report about approximately 70 priests who had sexually abused hundreds of children.  In the months that followed, further reports poured in, raising the number of predator priests to 249, and the abuse count to 1000.  But the true numbers are surely higher than that.

     The sheer amount of human suffering at the hands of so-called shepherds of God's flock is shattering to our consciences.  Worse still is how the reports were handled.  In the case of Evangelical abuse scandals like Willow Creek, the sheer power of celebrity pastors (a concept that may need to die) made them unaccountable and too big to fail.  Church boards initially chose to remain loyal to the pastor, making the victims feel unheard and ostracized.  In both the Boston and Pennsylvania scandals, church hierarchy dealt with documented cases of abuse, not by defrocking and turning priests over to law enforcement, but by giving them "counseling" and moving them on to other parishes, often without warning the new parishes of the priests' abuse histories. Many predator priests have gone on to perpetuate the cycle repeatedly. The Catholic Church requires that files on these proceedings be kept in the offices of the bishops, under tight seal.  That is why the Pennsylvania Attorney General is confident about his report; his evidence is largely taken from their own records.  Also preserved in black and white is the cover-up perpetrated by the bishops, including Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston (who was removed from office and "exiled" to a choice post at one of Rome's largest cathedrals), and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, formerly bishop of the Pittsburgh Diocese, but who is implicated over 140 times in the Grand Jury report.  His future as the head of the Washington Archdiocese rests on a knife's edge.

     To think that churches, claiming to speak in the name our Lord, would commit such atrocious deception and dereliction of their call is too shocking for words.  Not only that--this spiritual cancer seems to be everywhere at this time.  If it were just a few isolated tragedies, we could grieve, repent, make amends, and move on.  We don't seem to have that option now.  This sin has metastasized, and appears to be endemic throughout the system of today's church organizations.  I find myself in doubt that we can effectively address this by tending to individual manifestations of the disease--although we must continue to do that.  This has the marks of something systemic, and it seems that we are going to need work at the very heart of the Church in order to make real progress and recover our witness.

     The hopeful word is that this work is not solely ours, although we will certainly be called to repentance.  Ultimately, however, Scripture teaches us that the work is Christ's.  In Ephesians 5, husbands are commended to the example of Christ, who

loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. (vv. 25-27)

     We must remember that the Church is not a man-made institution.  It was conceived in the mind of God, ransomed from sin and death by the shed blood of Jesus, and bound together by the indwelling Holy Spirit we all share.  At the end of days, Jesus will unite Himself to a Church that has been purified of all the sorts of corruption we have seen everywhere.  It is His own power that He will bring to bear, purifying us of all our sin.  Paul lists the sorts of corruption that is on Christ's cleaning list in verses 3-5: sexual immorality, impurity, greed, obscenity, coarse joking, foolish talk, impurity, and idolatry.  Though that's just a partial list of sins, I think we can agree that the Lord has His work cut out for Him.  Those sins are rampant in the church today.  God never undertakes a work He doesn't finish, so we can bank on it, He will purify the church.  Our job is to be humble and repentant, submitting to the Holy Spirit as He sanctifies us.

     That is not to say, however, that Christ's work sanctifying the Church will always be easy and comfortable.  When God's people fall short of His call, He does not hesitate to humble and exile them.  He has an eternal view of things, so He is not scared to let His people be shamed in the eyes of the world.  He did so, repeatedly, when Israel persisted in her rebellion and apostasy.  They were destroyed by Assyria in the north, exiled to Babylon in the south, and ultimately conquered, driven out, and scattered across the earth by the Roman Empire.  As final as that seemed, after two millennia we now see a re-gathering and re-constituting of Israel in their homeland.  It has taken a long time for the Lord to work on purifying the hearts of Israel, and who knows how long it will yet be until He calls His work finished.

     The Church of Jesus Christ can expect no less, because we worship the same God, who never changes.  Indeed, Peter writes this in 1 Peter 4:17 -- "For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?"  We know that the Lord intends to reconcile all things to Himself (Col. 1:19-20), and He intends to use His Church in the ministry of reconciliation.  Before He can use us, however, He must purge the rebellion from our hearts.  Thus, as part of His work of judging and redeeming the world (those who will repent and have faith in Christ), He will first turn His loving, cleansing judgment on us.  We should perhaps not be surprised that we are in this season of exposing our corruption, letting us face the shame of the world, and finally purifying our hearts.  He needs us fully consecrated and submitted to His work in the world.

     I  do not like the negative attention that the American church is getting these days.  I think it is just, but no sane Christian would want to be exposed to the type of shame we've received.  It grieves my heart that so many seekers and believers have been spiritually abused. They have been presented with a sick, blasphemous portrayal of God, by many who have claimed to represent Him.  Several of the victims have explained why they let this abuse go on for any time; they have said, "It was like saying no to God--how could I do that?" You and I know that we are not God, but we can't escape reality: for many people, their picture of God's nature and will is mediated through us, His servants.  If they are told they must accept what has been done to them out of obedience to God--which has happened--they will often conclude that God is a monster and turn their backs on Him forever.  Oh, the dreadful accountability that many will face at Great White Throne of God!  As Jesus said, it would be better if they had never been born.  When we attempt to share the Good News about Jesus, we must accept the fact that many will distrust us.  The Gospel has been so besmirched by wolves in sheep's clothing that it will take much work to demonstrate its true nature to them.

     Once again, even that work is not completely ours; it is the Holy Spirit who will draw, convict, and bring to faith those who will turn to Him.  But more than ever, we must now dedicate ourselves fully to the mission Christ has given us--to representing Him faithfully.  Half-heartedness and double-mindedness will only get us more of what we've had, and heap dishonor on the name of our Lord.  We must further go about our witness, not with a triumphal chip on our shoulders, but with deep humility and transparency.  Many church organizations have covered up the guilt of pastors because they were afraid.  They feared that the scandals would make them vulnerable, and threaten the good works they were trying to accomplish.  As we can all see, they proved themselves to be their own worst enemies.  By adding sin to cover sin, they wrought far worse destruction on themselves than if they had humbly acknowledged each failure, opened themselves to public scrutiny, and committed themselves to represent Christ in a more faithful way.

     It is time for authenticity from the church, even when it hurts.  I don't think the public will be fooled by any more shell games.  The more desperately we scramble to prop up the facade of our superior moral fiber, the faster we will lose them.  Already, many people you meet will hear you are a Christian, roll their eyes and shut you off.  The answer to that is not more of the same approach.  I think it is time for us to humbly tell our friends and co-workers that we are followers of Jesus, but that we are far from perfect in this journey of patterning ourselves after Him.  We should tell them that so many people, calling themselves Christians, have veered far away from the heart of Jesus' ministry and teachings, that this grieves and shames us terribly, but that we are on a quest to rediscover the core of who Jesus is and who He is forming us to be. 

     What would happen if we invite them to watch our lives, ask us questions, and even challenge us when they perceive that we have strayed from the values to which we've told them we're aspiring? When we do fail to imitate Jesus faithfully, what if we owned up to it, instead of obscuring it in a smokescreen of false piety? If we thanked them for pointing out the inconsistency, and asked them to give us feedback as we worked to reflect Christ more accurately in that area, I think it would generate respect from the people watching us.  Perhaps it would endear them to us, and even make them think about joining us on our journey, if we would live such open, honest, and welcoming lives.

     We all fear shame and exile, and that's a perfectly sane impulse.  But in some sense, it's already coming upon us, as the American church falls into greater disrepute and governments turn toward measures that crack down on churches in ways that feel increasingly discriminatory.  That's the situation; we need to figure out what to do with it.  Consider the example set by prominent spiritual leaders of Israel during times of exile.  Their shame was deserved; they didn't dispute that.  Think, however, of the humble posture of men like Daniel, Shadrach, Meschach, Abednego, Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, and others.  They did not chafe against the authorities under which God had placed them.  Instead, they lived exemplary lives of hard work, respect, consistency in their values, honesty and guilelessness.  In short, they were so transparent and winsome that they won the respect of rulers like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes.  Ultimately, their integrity and God's grace won for Israel the right to return home.  It even worked a change in the land of their exile, as brutal regimes like Nebuchadnezzar's gave way to the more humane rule of men like Cyrus and Darius.  We do not wish for shame, or exile, nor should we.  But neither should we despair when they come upon us, for if they happen, they will be used in the will of Christ, to sanctify His Church for her eternal union with Him.  Times like these can strip away our destructive, false loyalties, fit us for heaven, and make us far more effective witnesses for Christ than we've been before.  There are new opportunities for witness in times of exile.  Instead of fearing them, we should use them.