Heroes, Sinners, and Ordinary Folk

"Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other." Carl Jung

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:7-8 (ESV)

I consider myself (somewhat often) to be the average Christian, treading that fine line of in the world not of it, although occasionally a foot may slip off the side, or an arm, or a leg. And then of course, those times I go leaping head first over the side! (As Mr. Jimmy Buffet says "It's a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning!")

Without God's continued grace (and apparently...unending patience) I would be nowhere. None of us would. Without His forgiveness of all, all would be lost. But even if we don't accept His forgiveness, He continues to love us, continues to call us to Himself, to shower us with blessing beyond imagining.

Now here's the kicker. We are told to forgive, as God has forgiven us. (Colossians 3:13) To love others, as God loves us. (John 13:34) Otherwise, God is not in us, and we do not know Him. I don't know about you, but I have been known to hold a grudge or two. And it's wrong. And I say that's just not possible. No one can be that good. And then...

Louis Zamperini. Olympic Runner, POW in Japan during WWII, his story told in the book and movie "Unbroken". Beaten, starved, humiliated. Yet he not only was able to forgive his captors, after a time, he went back to Japan to reach out personally with forgiveness and love.

Betsie Ten Boom. Sister of Corrie Ten Boom, author of "The Hiding Place". She and Corrie were in the same prison, same work camps, same concentration camps. She was beaten, starved, humiliated, forced to sleep on soiled straw filled with fleas, eventually became sick and died without ever seeing freedom. Yet she prayed for her captors, not for their punishment, but that they could be released from darkness to experience the Joy that is Jesus. Her last words were for Carrie to care for them.

And I am ashamed. How can such love exist? I feel completely incapable of such love. Guess what? So did Lewis. So did Betsie. When there was no forgiveness in them, they asked God to forgive THROUGH them. When there was no love to give, they asked God to love THROUGH them. Rather than think others unlovable, let God love them through you. Rather than withhold forgiveness, let God forgive through you. The darkness they put you through is little compared to the darkness that enslaves them, tears at them, drains their hope, and leaves them empty, hopeless, alone.

When opportunity presents itself (and I speak to myself as well), let God forgive when you cannot. Let God love when you hate. Then God can also heal your hurt, turn your heart, and make you both whole.

By the way, I highly recommend both "Unbroken" and "The Hiding Place" as excellent reading. Love and Peace.

Patrick of Ireland

Many years ago, a young British lad of 16, Maewyn Succot, was abducted from his home by Pirates, and treated as a slave for 6 years. Then, receiving a vision from God he was to go home, he escaped. He traveled for miles to finally get to a port, found a ship sailing for Brittan, and came home. His life had changed, however, and he became a Christian, then a priest. Another vision call him back to his captors isle, however, and he returned to share Christ with the people there, using the new name he had taken, Patrick, and eventually becoming Bishop there. While others had already been spreading the Good News, it is his influence that is most often recognized. Patron Saint of Ireland, today is the day remembering his death, March 17th, although the exact date cannot be verified.

The following hymn, in prayer form, is attributed to St. Patrick. I've posted it here before, but it bears repeating. His strength in humility, his peace in total submission to the Triune God he loved and served so well.


St. Patrick's Breastplate

I arise today, Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity
Through belief in the Threeness
Through confession in the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension
Through the strength of his decent for the judgment of doom

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim
In obedience of angels
In service of archangels
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward
In prayers of patriarchs
In predictions of prophets
In preaching of apostles
In faith of confessors
In innocence of Holy Virgins
In deeds of righteous men

I arise today
Through the strength of Heaven
Light of sun; radiance of moon'
Splendor of fire; depth of sea;
Stability of Earth; firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me
God's might to uphold me
God's wisdom to guide me
God's eye to look before me
God's ear to hear me
God's word to speak for me
God's hand to guide me
God's way to lie before me
God's shield to protect me
God's host to save me
From snares of devils; from temptations of vices
From everyone who shall wish me ill
Afar and anear; alone and in multitude

I summon today all these powers between me and those evils
Against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and soul
Against incantations of false prophets
Against black laws of pagandom
Against false laws of heretics
Against craft of idolatry
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards
Against every knowledge that corrupts men's body and soul

Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding
So that there may come to me abundance of reward
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me
Christ in every eye that sees me
Christ in every ear that hears me

I arise today, Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity
Through belief in the Threeness
Through confession in the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

Always

"Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20 (ESV)

People, at some point in their lives, will face some disappointment. It's just the way things are. That first broken heart. (and the second, the third, the fourth...) The first experience of defeat instead of victory. The desertion of all willpower when confronted with a Krispy Kreame donut. Even the disappointment to ourselves, as time moves on, and our own bodies conspire against us. (If the scales of justice were mine to use, they would be equally balanced between Imodium and Metamucil - my colon cancer buddies will recognize this one!)

Maybe those last two are more mine :), but it's still the same feeling - disappointment. And when disappointment hits, it is almost always accompanied by its old friend - isolation. We retreat with our wounds, and try to close off anything that could hurt. But what really happens is we dwell on the disappointment even more, and use it as the stick to beat ourselves with. The prophet Elijah went through it (1 Kings 19), David went through it (Psalm 22), Jacob went through it (Genesis 32). All men experience that. They feel it is just them against the world. But that is an illusion. We think that because we hurt, God is no longer there. In truth, He is closest when we are hurting, so that He can give peace in our trial. While the wounds may not disappear, He is there to be with us through the suffering.

Reach out to Him. Accept His Love. Accept His peace that comes, even when there seems to be nothing to be peaceful about. It is in this, His greatest healing occurs. In this, His strength comes through in our weakness. Because He is with us, always.

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

"By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Genesis 3:19 ESV

"When God says, 'I know you are dust. I made you'. That's when God says, 'I share my grace, my love and my mercy, because I know how frail and fragile you are, and I know that you cannot do it alone.'" Rev. Mark Bryan, senior pastor Glen Leven Presbyterian Church (as quoted in the Tennessean, 3/2/17)

"All we are is dust in the wind." - Kansas

The party of Fat Tuesday has past. Ash Wednesday has come, from the ashes of the celebration of last year's Palm Sunday. Now we enter the season of Lent, a time of waiting and preparing, like Advent. Unlike Advent, however, instead of a birth, we prepare for a death.

We are reminded of our own mortality almost daily. To think that God would come down and subject Himself to that mortality, for the single purpose of a horrible, sacrificial death, seems beyond comprehension. Yet He did, because only in His sacrifice, could we come back to a true relationship with Him. Only by sinless sacrifice, could sin be washed away; removed as far as the East is from the West. Forgiven.

Jesus knew that sacrifice would require His death. But the idea of our reunion with Him and the Father was so wonderful to Him that He willingly suffered and gave life itself to achieve it, because He also knew what was on the other side of that sacrifice. Life everlasting together.

So for Lent we wait, we sacrifice, but knowing that in the end, we rejoice. For He who bore our sins, lives and reigns and loves us beyond our wildest dreams. Amen.

" He knew me then, He knows me now, and He loves me still somehow."
- Dallas Holm