Do you want to get well?

For the better part of this past year, I’ve had increasing discomfort and restricted mobility in my left shoulder.   My primary physician kiddingly called it a “65-year-old shoulder,” meaning bursitis, arthritis, some kind of “itis,” maybe even a slight tear in the rotator cuff – whatever!  I tried to grin and bear it as long as I could, but a few months ago I saw another doctor in the same practice who specializes in sports medicine.  He gave me a shot of cortisone.   What welcome relief, almost instantly. 

It didn’t last, however.  A few weeks ago I noticed my right shoulder was going sour and the left was getting worse again.   Last week I went to see the sports doc again (fantasizing that I was some kind of athlete).  I expected he’d give me another shot, but he said he wouldn’t give me two, one in each shoulder.  Instead, he prescribed an oral medication AND physical therapy, three times a week for six weeks.  “You don’t have to do the therapy if you don’t want,” he said.  “But I want to do what you think is best for me,” I replied.

Several years ago I had a prescription for physical therapy to deal with a herniated disc in my lower back.   My positive experience leads me to anticipate a positive outcome once again.  After only three therapy sessions I’m finding relief, hopefully the kind that will last.  As I was doing some of the exercises this morning that I have learned from the therapist, it struck me as to how interactive physical therapy is – the patient participates with the medical team in the healing process.   It takes work and effort on my part, but I believe it will bear good fruit.

So often when people are sick and infirm, they are totally passive and sit around waiting for some doctor or some pill to fix them.   One day the Great Physician came upon a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  (Read John 5:1-9)  Hundreds of people beat the man to the punch and were already in the therapeutic waters of Bethesda’s pool.  Jesus’ questioned the man, “Do you want to get well?”  That may seem insensitive, but it points to a most important ingredient in our health – we have to want to get well enough to do something about it.   

Whatever happened to common sense?

News today (though it was hinted at weeks ago) is that General Motors will stop making Pontiacs.  Here are the GM sales figures for 2008:

Chevrolet - 1,801,131

GMAC - 376,696

Pontiac - 267,348

Saturn - 188,004

Cadillac - 161,159

Buick - 137,197

Humer - 27,485

Saab - 21,368

My question is -- why would you discontinue the line that is 3rd in sales out of 8 product lines? I'm sure there is some intricate thinking of which I am unaware that leads to such a decision.  But to the common person on the street, it just doesn't make sense.   

Perhaps the current difficulties in the world are due to complicated and convoluted reasoning rather than common sense.   We like to complicate everything -- economics, international relationships, domestic politics and even the Gospel.  Look at what the church has done over the past 2,000 years with the very simple, and "common sensical" commandment to "love God with heart, soul, mind and strength and one's neighbor as one's self."  UGH!

Is Christianity growing faster in Russia than the U.S.?

The cover story of the April 13, 2009 issue of Newsweek was “The Decline and Fall of Christian America.”   The leading indicator is found in a survey showing those who claim no religion have almost doubled since 1990.

Numbers are a funny thing.  It has been said that you can prove anything with statistics!  Personally, I don’t know what “Christian America” means.  No doubt the Founding Fathers drew on religious principles – though not necessarily Christian – in the drafting of the Constitution, but by definition, we are not and never have been a nation with an “official” religion.   Were our values as a nation more “Christian” 50 years ago than they are today?  Maybe so, maybe not.  It depends on where you find your values.

Coincidentally, the April issue of National Geographic reports on the resurgence of the Orthodox Church in Russia.   Does that mean Christianity is growing in Russia while it is declining in the United States?  If you look only at numbers, perhaps.  But remember, numbers are a funny thing.  They reveal nothing about the soul of all those souls who are counted.

The Geographic article implies that the growth may be more an expression of nationalism than Christian discipleship.  “The Russian Orthodox Church was rising everywhere from the ashes of the Soviet era, and millions of Russians were rushing to be baptized.  Most were only dimly aware of the religious significance of the sacrament but eager to reclaim a past and an identity that the communists had for 75 years worked to erase … Would the Orthodox Church become a potent force for reform, speaking truth to the Kremlin’s power?  Or would it resume the role it had played over centuries of tsarist rule and again become an ornament and tool of an authoritarian state.”

The numbers don’t answer those questions.  Neither do these, but they put into perspective the talk about Christianity growing in Russia:  “About 60 percent of Russians today identify themselves as Orthodox – they may be baptized, married, and buried in the church – but less than one percent actually enter a church at least once a month.  [Some] sources put the figure close to 10 percent.  One reason for the sparse attendance may be that the Orthodox Church is not entirely friendly to people who are casual or clueless about its hallowed traditions.”

I’m in no position to comment on the religious scene in Russia, but I’m not the least bit concerned about the declining numbers in the United States.  My observation and gut feelings are that if our numbers are down, spiritual depth among the people of God is growing.  Those who participate regularly in a church community do so because they are moved to do so, not because it is the “thing to do.”  It is no longer important to your neighbor, your employer, your teacher whether or not you attend a church.  They could care less!  Yipee!  Participation in the life of the church is much more a movement of the Spirit than it was when I first started ministry.  There is much more integrity among those who sit in pews on a Sunday morning.  To my way of thinking, that’s much better than being an ornament in the American way of life.

 

 

We pray ESPECIALLY for...

During worship at the church we attend, when it's time for the Prayers of the People, the liturgist will often say something like this:  "We pray for those who are ill, especially those with cancer."  Those who are undergoing cancer treatment are also highlighted in the prayer list in the bulletin.  Why is cancer the darling of diseases that gets all the attention?  Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, yet I've never heard anyone pray, "especially for those with heart disease."

This puzzles me, even irritates me.  Maybe it's because I've had surgery to remove a malignant tumor, along with the follow up radiation and chemotherapy.  So far, I'm surviving cancer.  Maybe I don't like to be reminded every week.  But honestly, when I was going through all that stuff, I never once thought that I should be singled out for special attention.   I was showered with cards and gifts and flowers and all sorts of well-wishes.  However, I'm sure that's because I was the pastor of a congregation (and pastors always get more attention than they deserve!), not because I had cancer.   There were always many others in the congregation who faced more difficult battles than the one I did.

All this is a lead-in to an article in the April 21, 2009 issue of the Christian Century that made a lot of sense to me.  William H. Willimon is the United Methodist bishop in North Alabama and was well known before that appointment when he served as the Dean of the Chapel at Duke University.  He always writes and preaches with an acerbic wit.  He tells about an unpleasant accident he had with a chainsaw a few months ago.  Lifting out a few sentences does a gross injustice to his article (Accidental Lessons), but with his forgiveness (for which I did not ask) I want to share some of them with you, hoping that you'll seek out the article and read it for yourself.

When people asked him if his accident caused him to do a lot of praying, he'd answer,  "Not really.  I did a fair amount of cursing my stupidity during my nights in hell, but I offered few petitions to heaven.  It's not that I lack faith in God's ability to heal ... so why was I, cast into extremis by a chainsaw, reluctant to pray?

"For one thing, I hoped that God would be busy with the mess in the Middle East and wouldn't find out about the mess I had made of myself with a chainsaw...."

He then talks about the long list of ills that are often shared before the congregation's prayers -- a dreadful occurrence that I encountered more Sundays than I care to remember.  It's not that people's ills are unimportant, but why do we pray especially for those who are sick?  Too often, especially has come to mean only.  I led worship services for over 40 years and I seldom heard individuals express concern for God's world and especially lacking were prayers of thanksgiving.

Willimon continues:  "This is not prayer as Jesus practiced and taught it.  Bread and debts are mentioned in the Lord's Prayer, but infection and discomfort are not.  Prayer in Jesus' name is noted for his demand that we pray for our enemies, not our illnesses.  I've recently heard prayers about radical mastectomies, testicular tumors and sprained index fingers but can't tell you when I've heard a really good intercession for Osama bin Laden.

"We've given ourselves over completely to obsession with physical health.  People who otherwise never see their pastors do see them when they're sick.  Sickness has become the most interesting thing that happens to us, that which gives our lives significance -- and prayer is a remedy of last resort when other methods of treatment have failed. God, though lacking credentials, is reduced to being a member of the health-care-delivery team...

"Health is always temporary.  Some get better, some get worse; none is fixed.  The Creator has decreed that no one gets out of this alive.  So before you pray, consider the sort of God whom you address and the possible cost of asking this God, 'How then shall I live, now that I'm sick?'"

That is a pertinent question for each one of us for who among us is not sick?  All have sinned and fall short of God's glory!  (Romans 3:23)  Just two more sentences from Willimon and then you can take on the rest of your day:

"There was a day when health didn't mean just freedom from pain and physical soundness -- it also meant wholeness, even holiness.  For Christians, healing, as a gift of God, is always subservient to the gifts of fidelity and discipleship."

Stop the world, I want to get off

Today's headline announced the bankruptcy of General Growth Properties.  I understand that some of the upscale shopping malls are included in those properties.  It is said to be the largest real-estate failure in U. S. history.  How many times in recent times have we heard about "the largest bankruptcy" in this or that area of business?  One does get the feeling (at least this one does) that things are spinning out of control.  I really don't think the government, or the economists, really know what to do.  John McCain must be counting his lucky stars that he was not elected!

Obviously I'm no economist and probably not much better at biblical knowledge (I'm getting very good at retirement, however), but I've been thinking about the Year of Jubilee in the Hebrew tradition.  (It's too long and complicated to describe here, but read Leviticus 25 to get a better sense of what it's all about.)   As I understand it, after a period of 49 years (seven periods of seven years), the 50th year was to be a kind of Sabbath for the land and the economy, a Jubilee.  Wikipedia says that "slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest."   Also, any land that had been sold would revert to its original owner, so no Israelite could permanently lose an inheritance.

What if we turned back the calendar some 49 years and and cancelled all debts?  That would take us to 1960.  I graduated from high school that year.  What little I remember, it was a pretty good time in our history.  Let's start over again and go forward from 1960!  I think I remember a seminary professor saying that the Jubilee was in the tradition, but it was never practiced.  If that is true, the reason was probably because it was considered too impractical, if not too simple an idea.  "You just can't do things like that; sort of like loving your enemies -- how impractical is that!?"  

Indeed, most of what Jesus taught is impractical. That's why discipleship is so difficult and leads toward a cross.  So as G. K. Chesterton would conclude,  "It's not that Christianity was tried and found wanting, but that Christianity was found difficult, and left untried."

Don't judge a book by its cover

Just in case you haven't heard about it, there's a touching story out of Britain regarding Susan Boyle.  She recently sang on Britain's Got Talent and brought the house down.  What's the big deal about that?  She is not among what today's culture would call "pretty people."  Susan is 47 years old, rather dowdy (my prejudice is showing), is reported to have never kissed a man and she lives at home in Blackburn, West Lothian, with her cat.  When she walked out on stage, laughter filled the room -- laughter at her, not with her.  When she started to sing, "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miseerables, everything changed.  Better than my talking about it, go to this link and watch for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnmbJzH93NU

One who the world would otherwise reject became an inspiration.  "The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes" (and in our ears).  (Psalm 118:22-23) This is, in part, what Easter is all about.  "[Jesus] died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.  From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view (not even the Susan Boyles of the world) even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way." (2 Corinthians 5:15-16)

Authority and Obedience

Conservative columnist, Charles Krauthammer, takes the President to task in today's column (published April 11 in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune).  The headline reads, Obama celebrates U.S. decline.  As I read him, and other critics, it seems that any effort on the part of an American President to seek cooperation and mutuality among the nations of the world is regarded as weakness.  "It is passing strange for a world leader to celebrate his own country's decline."  Does he seriously think Mr. Obama did that during his recent European tour?

Coincidentally (providentially?) the reading for April 11 in Henri Nouwen's Bread for the Journey reads:  "Authority and obedience can never be divided, with some people having all the authority while others have only to obey.  This separation causes authoritarian behavior on the one side and doormat behaviors on the other.  It perverts authority as well as obedience.  A person with great authority who has nobody to be obedient to is in great spiritual danger.  A very obedient person who has no authority over anyone is equally in danger."

Nouwen is obviously not talking about international politics, but neither is it irrelevant.   The days when the nations of the world would bow before America and cry "uncle" are over.  Those days have not served the cause of peace in the world.   Empires don't last forever.   What is the change we can believe in?  I would not claim to know the details, but the changes we often fear the most just might be the changes that save us.

Why did God become a human being?

I recently joined a book club made up of retired Presbyterian clergy.  The first book I read with them was BLUE LIKE JAZZ by Donald Miller.   It's basically a slam against the institutional church and Christianity as a religion.  The author finds life outside the church in Christian spirituality.

The question, "why did God become human?" has been asked since day one.  Many theories have been offered in response -- most having to do with the idea of providing a substitute sacrifice to pay the penalty and satisfy God's anger over human sin.  Such theories, particularly the idea that God is bloodthirsty, have always left me cold.  (A quick read of history would reveal that it's humans who are bloodthirsty, but that's another "sermon".)  Miller tells a story (parable?) that resonates with my spirit.  The story was told by a folk singer whose friend was a Navy SEAL.  (page 33ff)

"The folksinger said his friend was performing a covert operation, freeing hostages from a building in some dark part of the world.  [The] team flew in by helicopter, made their way to the compound and stormed into the room where the hostages had been imprisoned for months.  The room ... was filthy and dark.  The hostages were curled up in a corner, terrified.  When the SEALs entered the room, they heard the gasps of the hostages.  They stood at the door and called to the prisoners, telling them they were Americans.  The SEALs asked the hostages to follow them, but the hostages wouldn't.  They sat there on the floor and hid their eyes in fear.  They were not of healthy mind and didn't believe their rescuers were really Americans.

The SEALs stood there, not knowing what to do.  They couldn't possibly carry everybody out. One of the SEALs got an idea.  He put down his weapon, took off his helmet, and curled up tightly next to the other hostages, getting so close his body was touching some of theirs.  He softened the look on his face and put his arms around them.  He was trying to show them he was one of them.  None of the prison guards would have done this.  He stayed there for a little while until some of the hostages started to look at him, finally meeting his eyes.  The Navy SEAL whispered that they were Americans and were there to rescue them.  Will you follow us? he said.  The hero stood to his feet and one of the hostages did the same, then another, until all of them were willing to go.  The story ends with all the hostages safe on an American aircraft carrier."

Religion, with all its rules and regulations, can suck the life out of people, the very life Jesus wants to give.  The story echoes a thought I once quoted in a sermon:  "God comes to us in Jesus who is the way.  We are like people who have fallen into a pit and in that fall have been injured.  Our legs and our arms are broken.  For anyone to lower a ladder into the pit and say, 'This is the only way out, climb it,' only adds to our desperation.  But if the ladder is lowered not for us to climb out, but for one to climb down and life our broken body into his arms, carrying us upwards and to safety -- that is good news indeed."

Is the story of the Navy SEAL just that, a story, or is it a reporting of an actual event?  Who knows?  Either way it's a great parable and points to a great truth.  As Jesus might say, "Let those who have ears, hear!"

The word of the day

It's fun to learn a word you never heard of before.  I was recently driven to the dictionary when I saw the word besotted in the following quote from Marcus Borg in The Character of God:

"For just a moment think of the difference in your life if you knew that at the deepest level of you being that God is besotted with you, that God yearns for you, yearns that you turn and be in relationship with God as the beloved of God."

Of course you can guess the meaning from the context, but the dictionary defines besotted as "strongly infatuated."  An archaic meaning is "intoxicated; drunkenness."  That's strange language to describe God's desire for us.  Maybe not.  Consider the words of a hymn attributed to Paul Gerhardt, 1653:

Love caused Your incarnation,

Love brought You down to me;

Your thirst for my salvation

Procured my liberty.

If God is really thirsty for us, the question of the day is:  how can we assuage God's thirst?

Getting started

For several years I sent an occasional devotional or commentary via e-mail to members of the congregation and friends who asked to receive it.  It was called MOUSE CALL (a variation of pastors making "house calls" -- an idea I got from one of Leonard Sweet's books).  I ran out of gas about a year before I retired from the pastorate.   Now that I am retired, my "tank" is pretty full.  After all, I have no more captive audiences to listen to me.  I've even sent two letters to the editor of the local newspaper which were promptly ignored.  I preached this past Sunday at the church my wife and I attend and I commented that by not preaching every week, I had more material than there was time to share it.  

I've not paid much attention to blogging, but since everyone else is clogging up cyberspace, I thought I'd add to the space junk.  This will be an outlet for my heretical views or whatever else comes to mind.  I don't know how often it will happen, but those who learn about this can check from time to time.

Now that I'm not on any church's payroll, I can venture into areas I never would have touched before.  Such as ... President Obama has been criticized quite a bit for his handling of the economy.  Some say he has absolutely no executive / administrative experience.   All that may be true, but this week's journey to Europe makes me proud that he is our President and makes me once again proud to be an American.  Newt Gingrich blasted him for showing weakness regarding North Korea and not asserting America's position of leadership in the world.  He said Obama was living in fantasyland.  But there's more than one way to lead.  You don't have to do it with arrogance or by beating others over the head.   Maybe once again the world will discover that the United States is their friend and, more often than not, is a force for good.  That's my hope.

Enough for now!