Friday, August 25, 2017

There Goes The Sun...

August 21, 2017. Sitting on my back porch, looking up into the sky, at least as much as those black out glasses would allow. Then from out of nowhere, it seemed, a small, curved sliver of the sun disappeared. Then more. Then more again. The moon gradually eating away at the sun. Then only a quarter left. Then less. Then still less. Then the sun makes one last gasp and...the world around me stops. I'm looking up slack jawed, staring at the hole in the sky that used to hold the sun, leaving only this little ringlet of flames. A quiet darkness all around me for the next 2 minutes and 40 seconds. It is dark, and it feels as if I'm holding my breath. Then a feeling of rebirth as the sun light bursts through like a diamond on the right side, and the process is reversed, from dark to light. I remember to breathe again. What a beautiful world.

YouTube entertainers and reality stars are suffering burn out and depression on a much larger scale than their counterparts in the entertainment industry, according to an NPR news report earlier this week. It seems by having to be "on" 24/7, there is so much pressure to always be accepted and liked, it just builds up. These people are responsible for their own writing, directing, filming, acting, editing and even marketing for shows at least twice a week, often more. One agent (yes, they have agents!) said when he sees a client nearing that edge, he'll tell them to take a break for a day. Shut off all social media. Get away. Stop being a brand for a while, and just be yourself.

I'm sure at this point some of you think I've just swallowed the red pill and followed Alice down the rabbit hole. But bear with me. We live in a society that bombards us with news and entertainment non-stop. We work more, and vacation less. Even when we do vacation, it is planned to the last minute, lest we should miss something. Our phones, which are now so much more, can never leave our sides, and our thumbs cramp up from use.

I had a friend that used to say, "Sometimes you just need sit and stare into a corner, and watch the cobwebs grow." Even God took a day off. And he told man to do the same thing. Take a Sabbath. Rest. Recharge. Connect again with yourself and the God who made you. During the eclipse, the thing that kept going through my mind was Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God." On August 21st, millions of people did just that. They stood, they sat, and all gasped collectively with awe and humility at the majesty of God's creation. Hate, politics, prejudice, greed, all shrank to the background in the collective stillness and childlike wonder.

When you feel you've lost your joy, when life is never ending pressure, then allow yourself a break. Watch a sunset, watch an eclipse, watch the cobwebs grow. "Be still and know that I am God" means more than recognizing His Lordship. It means that we can rest because He is in control. He keeps us safe. He says "Take my yoke...for my yoke is easy and my burden is light" Matthew 11:29-30.

Be still, and know that I am God.
Be still, and know that I am.
Be still, and know.
Be still.


Thursday, August 17, 2017

Take a stand

This blog is a little tough to write. It will cause disruption at the least, hate quite possible, and the loss of friends a possibility. I need however to speak my mind on something that is rooted in evil itself, spans our history, and has come again to prominence.

Groups such as the Neo-Nazis, Skinheads, KKK, and White Nationalists, like a multi-headed serpent, have again come to a very vocal and violent presence in our country and world. Even though they should be shouted down from every voice from every corner of our nation, we have some who would claim these hate mongers as "Good people". Hear me clearly, those who would advocate hate are not "Good". They are not "Christian", they are not "good citizens of America", they are not anything but purveyors of hate. My father was severely wounded, and almost lost his life (But for the strategic placement of a Gideon's Bible taking the shrapnel) in fighting against these very low level dredges of society.

Yet here they are, coming again and again, spilling their vile, poisonous venom, amplifying it with violence and murder. As a strong believer in the First Amendment to free speech, they have the right to speak, however wrong they may be. But it is then up to us, as citizens, as Christians, as humans, to counter that speech until it is driven out, and no more assails and sickens us.

If you think my denunciation of these scum as too harsh, then I would refer you to a higher source.

Leviticus 19:17-18
 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. 
Amos 5:15
 Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate;
Romans 12:9
 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

Galatians 5:22-23
 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
 
 
1 John 2:11
 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 4:20-21
 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

And maybe my favorite:

1 John 4:7-12
 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.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
 
That is pretty specific. Someone whose beliefs include a hatred or bigotry of another person or group because of race, religion, or even just being different, falls into that category. "If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar". And Jesus was even more specific than that.
 
Matthew 5:21-22
 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, "You fool!" will be liable to the hell of fire."

So why speak out? Because without speaking out, the voices, the hatred, the violence only continues and grows; growing ever more bold, ever more confident, ever more evil. If we do not speak out, we are complicit in all that follows.

One last word on this, from pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He knew this evil quite intimately, and gave his life to stand against it in Nazi occupied Germany, even when he could have escaped with his life. He said,

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."
 
Will you stay silent? Or will you take a stand?