Light

July 7, 2020

Psalm 36:9–“In your light we see light.” People look for enlightenment in many a dark place. The drug culture today is mostly a way of tuning out, getting high as a way of escaping the pain of life. Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, psychedelic drugs were touted as a path to enlightenment. Of course, it wasn’t, but plenty of people stared into the darkness in search of a light that wasn’t there. 

Today, we still grope in the darkness for enlightenment. An endless stream of politicians and academics cite equally endless studies to support their conflicting opinions, all in an effort to convince, convert, and control the less enlightened. I shouldn’t leave out the religious hucksters, who are quick to tout their personal revelations and messages from God. 

No one can find light looking into the darkness, yet the darkness is where so many of us spend our time and focus our attention. Darkness must be engaged, but if we attempt to do so without first making sure we have light within us, at best, we get lost, and at worst, we become part of the darkness itself. Jesus himself said it: “If the light within you is darkness, how great that darkness is!” (Matthew 6:23). MLK understood as many today do not, that meeting violence with violence only serves to deepen the violence as it engulfs the soul of the perpetrator. Wars may be necessary to avoid or avert a greater evil, but they never seem to solve anything. WWII was a direct result of the unresolved issues stemming from WWI.

Too many of us live in a state of perpetual grievance which needs only a small spark to burst into flame. We’ve seen the tragic consequences of this grievance on the news every night, and even in Christian circles, conversations easily turn to whatever it is we are unhappy or upset about. There is much in this world about which to be aggrieved, but it is deadly to allow grievance inhabit our souls. The only remedy for darkness is to look to the light...Look to the light! Stare at, gaze upon, focus on the Light! Only if the light of Christ shines within us are we able ourselves to be lights in the darkness. The light of Christ only shines in us if we are looking towards the greater light of Christ. We are at best mirrors, and can only reflect that to which we are pointed. I choose...I MUST choose daily to look to the Light, for it is only “in your light that we see light.” I am thankful tonight that “The light (Jesus Christ) shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” —John 1:5 

Don’t Quit!

July 6, 2020

“Pray without ceasing,” Paul commands the Christians in Thessalonika. I’ve read that sentence countless times and wondered how that would even be possible. There’s no way anyone can pray all the time, every moment of every waking hour. Everyone has work to do, business to attend to, things that must be done. Our minds inevitably must dwell on countless matters that require complete attention, rendering ceaseless prayer impossible.

I recently heard a sermon by a well-known pastor teaching on this very statement. He uses the Lord’s Prayer as a model for continual prayer throughout the day. Following the medieval practice of the Hours, he uses a different phrase from the Lord’s Prayer as a launchpad for hourly moments of prayer. It was a good sermon, with many helpful tips, but I still came away feeling like something was missing. Tonight I found it.

At the tail end off our men’s prayer group this evening, brother Dan suggested that what Paul meant was, “Don’t give up.” When we’ve repeatedly prayed for something and nothing seems to happen, after awhile, we quit. “Pray without ceasing;” don’t stop short of the goal. If we cease our prayers before the answer comes, that cessation could very well be the reason our prayer fails. Pray without ceasing! Don’t let discouragement set in. You aren’t devoting every waking hour to prayer, but neither are you quitting before the answer comes. THAT makes great sense to me, and tonight I am thankful for Dan for his statement. It was like groping in the dark and suddenly finding the light switch. Don’t quit! That’s a good word for today.

Back to Bees

July 5, 2020

“I went out like a light! I was flat on my back; I could see the sky and clouds, but couldn’t move or speak. After awhile, I started coming around, got up, and finished the work.” Roy had kept bees since he was a boy; he was in his seventies when he related the story to me. A bee had stung him right between the eyes, but it was a later incident that ended his beekeeping hobby for good. It happened again, but this time his wife happened to be there. She made him hang up his veil for good.

It was more than thirty years ago that Roy got me started in beekeeping. The little critters fascinated me, and when I said as much, Roy almost immediately gave me a colony to get started. I caught swarms, and harvested honey by the gallon from a measly two hives. Then one April when I checked on them, both colonies had died. A mere three weeks earlier, they were strong and active. I never did learn what killed them, but it was the beginning of what is now called Colony Collapse Disorder. Life got, as they say, busy as a bee, and the hive bodies remained stacked in the loft of our barn and then behind our garage for nearly twenty years. The fascination however, didn’t die with those colonies, and I recently decided it was time to begin again. 

Friday, a local beekeeper friend brought over two nucs (short for nucleus) consisting of five frames of bees, pollen, larvae, and honey. This evening, I transferred them to full-sized hives, which means I am back in business. It feels good, except of course, for where I got stung. Friday, I got nailed in my left hand, and tonight, one got under my veil and stung me in the Adam’s Apple. It itches more than it hurts, and by tomorrow morning I’m guessing I’ll look like I have a goiter. 

Keep bees, and you’re going to get stung. Speak boldly about Jesus Christ, and you’re likely to get stung again. We live in a culture that values safety and security above almost everything else, which to me, is unhealthy, a dangerous place to be. I am not by nature a risk-taker, but I have learned that nothing worth doing can be accomplished without risk. It took me awhile to understand this; seminary training and denominational ethos valued pastors who took good care of the people and the system. Entrepreneurs were discouraged. I was fortunate enough to have at one time a District Superintendent (read “boss”) who encouraged out of the box thinking, which kept me from going nuts or quitting. My ministry model came to be based on Jesus’ story of the Talents in Matthew 25. The only servant condemned by Jesus was the one who played it safe. I decided then and there, I would not be that kind of servant. 

So, occasionally I got stung. It hurt at the time, but I got over it, and eventually was able to enjoy the sweet harvest of handing over a healthy congregation to my successor. He would make a good beekeeper; he’s not afraid to take even more of a risk than I would, brushing off the stings like a pro. As for me, I’m thankful to let him keep the congregational hive humming; I’m content with my little buzzing friends. Thank you, Roy.

Freedom

July 4, 2020

Many a year we spent the Fourth of July on vacation in Canada. McMillan’s cottages were host to mostly Americans who came for the quiet, the relaxation, the fishing, and the excellent food and fellowship. Some of those who came had been coming yearly for decades, and each year it was like a family reunion with people from all across the eastern part of the US. 

July 1 is Canada Day, and at suppertime the kitchen staff and servers would file into the dining room, hand out lyrics, and lead us in the singing of “O Canada!” At dusk, we would drive to nearby Killaloe, a tiny village about ten miles west of the campground, where we gathered at the local schoolyard to watch fireworks. I wonder if they had them this year. The border is closed to tourists, so we didn’t get to go.

On the Fourth, the staff again paraded into the dining hall to lead us in the “Star Spangled Benner.” The only fireworks were whatever Americans had brought with them, but there never seemed to be a shortage. I miss all that tonight. Locally, most of the firework displays have been cancelled; sad sign of the times where COVID has isolated us, and race divided us. I never imagined I would see the day when there would be calls from a major political party advocating the destruction of the Mount Rushmore monument, but it’s been happening. 

Tomorrow, I’m preaching again, from Galatians 5:1—“For freedom, Christ has set us free.” Freedom is a fragile thing, and must be carried in the heart before it can be delivered to a nation. If we allow it to grow dim within us, it is not long before it weakens in society. Jesus Christ set us free from sin so we would have the blessing of living free of guilt and shame, but if  we fail to shake off the shackles he has unlocked, we become easy prey for anyone who would enslave us again. I am grateful tonight that Christ set me free, and keep daily watch lest I slip back into bondage. I am sad that there is so little celebration tonight, but am thankful to be among those whom Christ has set free.

Pleasant Places

July 3, 2020

It finally happened! Ever since we nearly got arrested in Cuba for driving a Russian sidecar motorcycle the wrong way on a one-way street, Linda has refused to ride with me. She says the sidecar looks “dorky,” but I think it brings back memories she’d rather forget. Did I mention the bike had no brakes and that if I got stopped, my host claimed he would say he didn’t know me? Which would mean I was also driving a stolen motorcycle. She had visions of nobody ever hearing from us again.

Today, she said, “I’ll ride with you, but not in the sidecar. I get it; at our age, it’s hard to get in and out of. We fastened flags to the luggage rack, and off we went, Grand Marshalls in a renegade Fourth of July tractor parade. As we started down the road, Linda leaned forward. “You have often wondered what might have been had you been assigned a city church. You’d never have gotten to lead a Fourth of July tractor parade through town.” No, I guess not. 

I wouldn’t have been able to keep bees, either. After a hiatus of twenty years, I’m back in the bee business! I doubt we’ll enjoy any honey this year; it’s more important that the colony builds up strength for the winter. The old beekeeper’s ditty is truth: 

“Swarm in May, Worth a load of hay.

Swarm in June, Worth a silver spoon.

Swarm in July, Ain’t worth a fly.”

My colonies didn’t come from swarms, but from nucs, short for nucleus, five frames of bees, brood, and honey, along with a queen—standard method of starting a new colony. It’s good to be back.

The parade over, Linda got to spend time with one of her best friends who is battling cancer, then was introduced to some alpacas owned by a young woman from our church. The psalm says it well: “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.” Yes, they have, and we are thankful.

Raging Nations

July 3, 2020

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed...”

We are witnessing a lot of raging lately. It’s not as bad as in the ‘40s when the entire world was engulfed in a conflagration that destroyed millions upon millions of people, but we hear a constant barrage of angry words from people raging and plotting against the very hand that feeds them. “Why,” the psalmist asks, “do they rage?”

Many reasons can be given, but one I think is often overlooked is rooted in the “spiritual forces of wickedness” (as our baptismal vows puts it) that are behind all national structures. The Bible is pretty clear, especially in Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation, that the national and international powers we see have behind them spiritual entities as real as they are unseen and unnoticed. What we see in the political, economic, educational, and scientific world is not neutral. These fields are where the “principalities, authorities, the rulers of this world in heavenly places,” as Paul puts it in Ephesians, engage in very real battle for the loyalty and souls of mankind.

Why do they rage? The answer is given later in the psalm:

I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.””

—Psalm 2:1-2, 7-9 ESV

The nations rage for the same reason the devil raged in Revelation 12:12—“Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!””

Here is tonight’s Good News: The raging of the nations, the violence of the mobs, the antagonism to Christian faith and worldview doesn’t appear likely to go away anytime soon, but on the other hand, it may be soon, for the more raging we see, the more we know the devil’s time is getting shorter. So take heart, O my soul! Rejoice and give thanks, for Jesus the Son rejected the devil’s temptation to receive the nations on temptation’s terms, but has been given them by the Father who will break them and usher in the eternal Kingdom of God.

Ordinary Day

July 1, 2020

Sometimes when I look back on the day, nothing really stands out as worthy of writing. It’s pretty ordinary stuff. I got up before 6, read a bit, grabbed a quick breakfast before heading to Dunkirk for our pastors’ prayer time and worship preparation. A quick stop at Home Depot for an electrical box, then to the credit union to withdraw our month’s money. I helped my son install a pair of electrical outlets, was asked to officiate at a friend’s wedding, then watered the lawn to try to fix the mess I made of it the other day. Working on Sunday’s sermon came next, along with a running conversation with a pastor friend and a call from another friend going through some deep waters. Linda and I had dinner, I worked some more on the sermon before going to the village board meeting tonight. 

Here’s what is amazing about all that: I have the freedom to do it all. We don’t have bars on our windows, we can walk the streets at night, we have 2 1/2 acres of peace and (usually) quiet. We don’t live in fear or want, our children and grandchildren are following Christ. I believe the day is coming when all this could vanish, as has happened numerous times in history. I would be sad to see it go, but am learning more each day what it means to pin my hopes on Christ.

Psalm 30 launched our prayer time this morning. Verses 6-7 read, “No in my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.” Lord, by your favor you have made my mountain stand strong. You hid your face, and I was troubled.” It’s easy when things are going well to imagine we will never be moved, but all it takes is for God to hide his face for but a moment, and we experience what is always possible, and are troubled. I know full well how quickly and easily things can change. Monday evening, I was going through some old papers and came across letters from the dark time in our lives of 2004. When the year opened, all seemed well; by March, our world was collapsing. It took nearly ten years for me to work through it all, and I learned—it’s only by the favor of God that we stand strong; another word for favor is grace. I am thankful tonight for that grace that surrounds me, not only when things are going well, but at all times. It’s been an ordinary day, and that is extraordinary!