Rachel Weeping for Her Children: Lamentations during Yuletide

A time of weeping. Who would have thought that during the time of Jesus’ birth that Herod, the furious king who had been outwitted, would have all of the boys (2 years old and under) around the vicinity of Bethlehem killed?

                A time of weeping. Who would have thought in a Connecticut  elementary school a week before Christmas that a troubled and disturbed young man would kill 20 six and seven year olds in their classroom?

                Yes, a time of weeping. A time of weeping for the parents, for the relatives, for the friends, for the adults, for the teachers, for the community, for the state, for the nation.

                A time of weeping because evil is present. Sometimes evil is present in proportions that our human mind can hardly fathom. It is at those moments that it seems nothing can really console, nothing can really soothe the pain, there is no balm for the soul.

                A time of weeping, a time of lament. When Herod did the unthinkable, he also created the un-consolable. Listen to how Matthew in his gospel records this…

                “A voice is heard in Ramah,

                                Weeping and great mourning,

                Rachel weeping for her children

                                And refusing to be comforted,

                Because they are no more” (Matthew 2:18).

The human condition of unconscionable acts perpetrated upon innocent people could not have been painted any more poignantly. “Because they are no more.” A vacancy left. A hole in the heart. A vacuum of presence.

                Two huge things make a difference for the Christian in this painful moment: God suffers with the children and parents, and evil will not prevail. Only God can provide the kind of comfort that such a bruised heart needs. Since He is the God of all comfort, He alone can walk with us in the mourning of our lamentations and accept the meaning of our groans. Let us collectively pray for the “Rachels” who are weeping for their children and refuse to be comforted because they are no more.

In Christian love, Curtis

What is the Gospel? (1)

First of all, it is an English word  which comes from Middle English, from the Old English word godspel. This compound word is made up of god which means “good,” and spel which means “tale.” It is used to translate the Late Latin word evangelium which means “good news.” This comes from the Greek word εύαγγελιον which means “good news.”

So, what is the gospel, the good-tale, the good news all about? How is it portrayed in the New Testament?

First, we must look into the Old Testament and Greco-Roman usage to get the power of this word and why it was chosen to express a central concept of New Testament theology.

The verb “to speak the good news” is first used in 1 Samuel 31:9. After a battle in which the Philistines fought with Israel, Saul and his sons die in battle. After the battle is over the Philistine army strips the armor off of Saul and sends it back home, “sending round glad tidings (good news) to their idols and to the people. “ A public display is made of Saul’s dead body, and they exhibit his battle armor in the temple of Astarte.

This interesting use of the word “good news” comes out of the context of a victor in battle. The Philistines rejoice and sound out the good news that their arch enemy and leader has been vanquished in combat.

Theologically and metaphorically this idea stays inherent within the word itself. Satan and his army has been vanquished by the resurrection of Jesus. The good news of victory is inherent in the New Testament usage of this word.

In 2 Samuel 1:20 we find the next usage of this word. After the battle mentioned above, David laments over Saul and over Jonathan his son. David gives an order to share his lament with the sons of Judah, and even to have it written down for posterity in the book of Jasher. Part of this lament cautions, “Do not tell it in Geth, and do not tell it as glad tidings (“good news”) in the streets of Ascalon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice…”

Another inherent concept within the gospel, “good news,” is that the good news is bad news for someone. In this case, it was Judah and David. In the case of the Christian, it is Satan and his world. The good news of Jesus is bad news for Satan and his kingdom. Satan has already lost the war. He is losing enlistments daily. He is losing battles daily.

Continuing the story, in 2 Samuel 4:10 someone reports to David that Saul was dead, and assumes that David is going to take it as good news. David is so upset that he kills the messenger! This gives us another insight into “good news.” Often it is not appreciated and the herald or messenger is persecuted, punished or killed. Reminds us of Jesus, doesn’t it!

The gospel, the good news…celebration of victory, the enemy has been overcome, but the message not always appreciated!

What is the good news of Jesus in your life?

In Christian love, Curtis

NO LEFTOVER CAKE AFTER THANKSGIVING!

The first reference in the Bible to thankfulness is with reference to a thanksgiving cake! Both the recipe and when to eat it is mentioned! In my wife’s recipes for Thanksgiving Dinner, and even the recipes I remember seeing in my mother’s kitchen, none of them contained an expiration date or when to eat what was baked!

                Israel’s first instructions regarding an offering or expression of thankfulness connected with their “fellowship offering.” Traditionally this was known as a “peace offering.” Perhaps it is not a coincidence that an offering of thankfulness came out of fellowship and peace!

                Though today we do not think of a  thanksgiving cake, I suppose our substitute would be the Thanksgiving turkey.   Just as recipe stipulations were made in the preparation of Israel’s offering of a thanksgiving cake, so too, we all have family special recipes that determine how we fix and prepare and cook the turkey. Also, it seems that a dinner is not complete without rolls! We have Thanksgiving rolls, and what an aroma out of the kitchen when they are ready to serve!

                Another odd stipulation was that all of the thanksgiving cake must be eaten of the day it was baked; a person “must leave none it until the morning”(Leviticus 7:15). This does away with the necessity of creative leftovers. I was thinking about this command, and I suppose it is rooted in the idea of thankfulness being experienced in the here and the now. After all, the more leftovers hang around the less thankful we become!

                No leftover cake. No leftover turkey. No leftover fixin’s.

                In Leviticus these regulations for the “fellowship offering of thanksgiving” are in a large section where more regulations are given for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, and the ordination offering. These guidelines were given Moses on Mt. Sinai by God, and taken into their practice of offerings when they sojourned in the Desert of Sinai.

                Bottom line:   Every offering is connected with the covenant care and love of God to remind His people of how much He cared for them.

                This year in our participation of the Thanksgiving Holiday, let us focus on God’s love and care. Let us offer thanksgiving to God out of fellowship and peace with others.  This helps us keep this holiday centered, grounded in relationships, and thankful for life itself. The material blessings are just a serendipity!

In Christian love, Curtis

Struggling in Prayer Together

Every church I have ever been a part of has a prayer line or prayer request opportunity. So many misconceptions surround the practice of prayer. Additionally, many unknown dimensions of prayer remain unknown in actual practice. The one I want to focus on is what I call “Mutual Agonizing Prayer.”

            Sean was a young man who asked me to visit him. His world had caved in because of unsuccessful surgeries that left him virtually incapacitated and unable to eat normally. The pain, the misery and the depression were quite acute. On this particular day I entered his apartment and all he could do was listen and pet his dog. It was the first time in my life that I made the following statement: “Sean, I will help take on your painful struggle and pray in your presence right now, trying to say what you are feeling.” Taking on the pain of another introduces empathy into our own lives at a whole new level.

            The apostle Paul understood this mutually, deep experience of prayer. On one occasion he requests that his Christian brothers and sisters in Rome “agonize together with me in prayer” (Romans 15:30). He was asking to be delivered from mistreatment and other difficult obstacles in his life. He felt he could only face these trying circumstances by asking others on board his ship of life. No such thing as sailing solo for Paul during a storm!

            To the church at Colossae Paul reminds them of their friend, Epaphras, who also “agonized in prayer on their behalf”(Colossians 4:12). He specifically prayed for their spiritual maturity and an assurance that they were committing their lives properly to the will of God.

            Think with me, now, about this mutual, deep experience of prayer. Here is what we can struggle together about…

·         Health concerns that overwhelm

·         Proper way to respond to mistreatment

·         Spiritual maturity

·         Right decision-making

·         Support in the midst of emotional pain

·         Right direction in a person’s life

I know that we all can add to this list. When we go through the fires of pain, and life throws one obstacle after another in our path, we understand in the Christian world-view that we do not have to make that journey alone! “Struggling together in prayer” is a mutual blessing that is embraced by Christians who care for one another.

In Christian love, Curtis

BENT FIGURE OF A WOMAN: Meditation on Vincent Van Gogh’s Picture

There seems to be an unspoken weariness expressed by her posture. It mimics and mirrors the weariness of our own souls. Perhaps the day’s chores have been completed, leaving an inner “depleted-ness.” Her head is resting on her left hand as if it has no energy of its own. Even the most simple of tasks, holding the head up, is unthinkable at this moment.

          The right hand is lifelessly drooped over her knee as if it too needs support and help. Having worked and fulfilled the day’s pressing demands, it now rests in exhaustion.

          For some reason the word “resignation” seems appropriate to depict her entire demeanor. What is she resigned to? Has a loved one left her? Has her heart been broken? Are the pressing responsibilities more than she can bear? Does the future seem hopeless with no hint of change?

          The eyes looking downward and over to the side are telling indeed. They seem to ask the question, “Why are you bothering me with your empty promises? Things are not going to get better. Why should I care anymore?” These burning questions are responses to the false hopes uttered by one who has stepped out of her view. Those false hopes ring so hollow, echoes of emptiness reverberating in the chambers of her lonely heart.

          Purpose and motivation have been crushed by the weight of obligations never letting up. Something about her bent figure seated in a chair echoes the contours of our own inner life. Too often our own unspoken weariness comes from a loss of vision within. The boss had piled on another deadline. The children have been sick one too many times. My spouse has misunderstood me and hurt my feelings again. Another unexpected bill has arrived in the mail. Facebook has de-friended me from another friend.

          How can we go on in the face of such “depleted-ness?” Somehow the energy to go on can no longer be mustered. Her own fatigue has forced her heart to create space for God. This woman may very well be engaged in “weary prayer.” Such a prayer would be the inner groanings escaping from a wearied soul. These type of prayers know the fullness of empty words. They are prayed out of truthfulness in the heart when the mind is too numb to function any more.

          If I were to draw a graphic with my own bent figure in the chair, what would it look like? What clothes would I be wearing? How would my head be resting? Where would I be casting my gaze? What would my hands be doing, if anything?

          Often at the end of a long, exhausting day a couch or lounge chair provides the perfect respite for the depleted soul. How do I recoup and regroup from the day’s demands? Limitations of my personhood create caverns in the psyche where self-doubt, fear and rejection take up residence and spread quietly like a deadly cancer.

Do I allow God to embrace my soul and refresh me? My own “weary prayers” are the lifeline to a caring God. God sees the weariness and personal exhaustion. God accepts the failures, provides clarity of vision and defines purpose for my life.

My own “bent-ness” is noticed by a loving and compassionate God.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV).

“Stay a Little While, O Wanderer”

                 This past week I had the opportunity to visit an exact replica of the ancient catacombs found outside Rome. It was to scale, along with the type of rock excavated and the art and graphics on the rock walls. The frescoes are copies of the originals.

                There were a couple of authentic items, one being the actual body of an 8 year old boy martyred in Rome. His body was wrapped in fine clothes and a stately outfit, but you could see his mummified hands and feet with the bones showing. It was humbling and eerie to be actually looking at the body of young man from a Christian family almost 2,000 years old. He is known as St. Innocent.

                There were nearly 900 miles of underground passageways dug out by early Christians in the pumice-like rock. The purpose was to have a place to bury their dead, and to have special services in honor of their dead. This was all necessary because Roman authorities would not permit Christians to be buried in regular cemeteries.

                As I walked through the dimly lit, narrow passages, I could see various fading artwork and graffiti. The words that captured my attention the most were, “Sta, viator.” This can be roughly translated as, “Stay a little while, O Wanderer.” Or, another possible translation that our guide suggested was, “Pause, and consider your own fate.”

                Something deeply stirred within me as I witnessed what it must have been like for Christians in the early centuries to remember their dead. It was important for me to pause and stay a little while, giving  homage in my own heart to those who have gone before. History has not recorded for us all of those brave Christians who died and were buried in the Roman catacombs. They are a long forgotten witness of the faithful who have gone on before.

                The first three centuries of the church were difficult years. Depending on where one lived in the Roman Empire, different levels of persecution were experienced. Some stories of amazing faith in the face of cruel martyrdom have emerged from this time period.

                Yes, I want to stay a little while precisely because I am a wanderer! I am in exile, a foreigner, and a stranger that has a heritage of faith blazing the trail for my own witness in the world. May I always be true to Jesus who died for me.  May I always take time to remember the faithful who have gone before.

^“They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground "(Hebrews 11:37-38).

In Christian love, Curtis

What does it mean to be “religious?”

James 1:26-27

The word that James uses for “religious” (threskos) comes from the idea of religion being ritualistic worship activities or even a religious system that one embraces.

There is a reference in Jewish practice centuries before James was on the scene of the idea of “religious” being tied to the skill of a craftsman.  This person  made images of children and kings that provided avenues of reverence but also added to a whole world of superstition and misguided reverence that should have been directed toward God (Wisdom of Solomon XIV.18).

                So, for centuries people have attached wrong ideas to the notion of being religious. Questions abound: is it performing certain rituals correctly? Is it living a perfect life? Is it proving that I am morally better than others? Is it a type of moral purity I achieve because I do more things for the poor and needy? Does it mean that I am living a cramped lifestyle, and I cannot do the other “fun” things that my friends at work get to do over the weekend? Just what does it mean to be “religious?”

                In an astounding move, James takes the idea of “religious/religion” and,  instead of emphasizing ritualistic perfection and moral perfection, he points out that it is a matter of the heart.

                Because religion is a matter of the heart, three things will be evident:

1.       I will be able to bridle my tongue and bless others instead of cursing them.

2.       To care for orphans and widows need, troubles and pressures.

3.       Embrace a different set of values that focuses on God’s will, and not run rampant after values of the world that destroy one’s character and reputation.

Of course, this short list was never intended by James to be the entire picture. But notice that it covers three important things: my words, my reaching out to others, and my value system. If this is religion, then it covers a lot in my life!

Throughout the Bible God demonstrates concern that his covenant people control their tongues. Who would have thought that religions is concerned with what I say to you!

Throughout the Bible God demonstrates His care for the widows and orphans through his covenant people. Who would have thought that religion is concerned with that!

Throughout the Bible God demonstrates concern that His covenant people embrace the right values. Who would have thought that religion is concerned about the values I embrace down deep in my heart, and guide what I do every day!

Even though “religious” and “religion” have received a bad rap for a long time, perhaps the only answer is to live the Christian life in such a way that my tongue, my care, and my values give these two words a whole new meaning from the context of my faithful life to my loving Heavenly Father!

In Christian love, Curtis