New Wine in Old Wineskins

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:22

This week has seen the Republican Convention start and end, and next week will be the Democratic Convention. Both of these already know the persons who will be nominated to run for President of the United States. Rather than anything different, we seem to be given the same old, same old, party down the line rhetoric. Even that is more from the speech writers than the candidates or their chosen "character references". You would get more honest opinion on an episode of "Nashville" than what both parties are giving to the American People.

In this year, as I've watched the election process unfold, I've been reminded over and over of the George Orwell novel, Animal Farm. Those who promote freedom and change simply turning back to the old ways and making matters worse. All are equal, but some more equal than others.

This is not the America I studied in Civics class. We are not a country that is "of the party, by the party, and for the party". Only when we begin to behave and act as Americans, and not parties, will real change occur. I'm not knocking the party system. It serves a purpose and is relevant. But when the party becomes more relevant that the country, there is a problem. We've seen it over and again in stalemates in Congress, neither side moving because of "Party Lines", and true communication is lost. As is true resolution.

So once again we've put new candidates into the same old party structure. We elect a party, not a person, and refuse to listen to the other party regardless of what they may have to say. The old wineskin of this party parity is about to burst, and Americans will be the ones to suffer for it.

Be sure that when you cast your vote, you think not just of yourself, but of those who may be in a different situation than you. Think of the needs of ALL Americans, as this coming President is the president of ALL Americans, not Republicans or Democrats. This is the thinking that will reform the party system, by putting it in its proper place. This is the thinking that will create serious debate to find serious solutions. Party loyalty has created a nation of sheep led by sound bytes on television with no notion of the full context. Break the mold. Study, learn, listen, question. Then vote. Not for a party, but an Idea. An idea that Lincoln was correct when he said this was a nation "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Soap box rant over.

A Thread of Love

It's been a week of funerals, and I'm pretty worn out myself. My uncle Laney, my mom's older brother, passed away on Sunday, just one month shy of his 96th birthday. (Or as he would have said, 69th birthday.) Then the father of a dear friend passed away mid-week, and I'm glad to say I was able to be there to pay my respects, and help where I could, and just be there when I couldn't do more.

This has also been a week of celebration, leading the opening worship service for Annual Conference of the Southern Methodist Church. Getting together with friends and family, even in sad times, and laughing at ourselves. A sadness in our joy, and a joy in our sadness. And so goes life.

The unifying thread in all this is God. God's presence in those funerals, not to diminish the sorrow, and make it disingenuous, but to allow it, support it, and more so, to share in it. God's presence in worship, as men and women gather for the serious task of determining how the church shall proceed in the coming year, and finding God not a task master, but a shepherd. In His love given to us, and us to Him, and multiplied by sharing with each other.

And so (should) go life. Spend time loving God, and letting Him love you. Spend time loving others, and letting others love you. Me, I'm going to spend time in a nap in the not too distant future. Faith. Hope. Love.

The Problem with Hate

"We have so many battles going on in America today that we should be a people of prayer. Our leaders need prayer. Our schools need prayer. Our youth need our prayers. Our families need our prayers." - Billy Graham (in a Facebook post from Franklin Graham.)

My heart is extremely heavy this morning. I awoke to the news that at the end of what had been a peaceful demonstration, police officers were attacked in a vicious, organized military-like assault, creating a further divide in an already tense society. And it all stems from hate. Whether it is from distrust, fear or ignorance, it is still hate. This hate will not go away. It is a part of this world, and has been since Adam's fall. It was here before us, and will be here after us, unless Jesus returns to save us from ourselves.

There are those today who are blaming the media, saying its constant reporting is only making things worse. There are those on both sides of the gun control issue, each using this a "proof" of their position. There are even those using this as a political Republican/Democrat battle. I'll not go into the relevance of any of these issues, because they do not actually address the problem. The media is not the issue. Gun control is not the issue. Politics is not the issue. HATE is the issue. HATE is the target we should focus on. HATE is what we must fight.

I've long believed that right and just causes, when fueled by hate, are still wrong and unjust. If God is love as 1 John 4 states, then if follows (vs. 19-21) that anything fueled by hate is not of God. The beginning of this chapter states very clearly that the spirits are to be tested, because not everything is of God. Trouble is, there seems to be more rash judgments than testing of spirits going on.

Then how are we to battle the hate that is consuming our world at a more rapid and rabid pace that ever before. 1 John 4 contains a key to this as well.

"Greater is He in you that he that is in the world" (vs.4)

 

But we cannot use God as our own personal weapon of destruction, releasing a barrage on our enemies, raining fire from above. So then, what? Verse 7 contains that answer.

 

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God"

 

The only way the world will see anything but hate, is to show love, even to those undeserving. (Matthew 5: 43-48) Especially to those undeserving, because they need it most. Jesus cannot operate fully through His church unless His church operates through His love. Without love, all of our "good intentions" and "righteous causes" are no better than a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. (1 Corinthians 13)

 

So in response to the world today, I suggest first, we pray. Then, we reach out to all who are hurting, whose passion and fear and hate drive them on, and show them something revolutionary...love. God's unfailing love. In the fight against hate, this is the only weapon we truly have. The only weapon we need.