Holiday Celebrations

 Good morning and thanks for listening to this Thursday Thought, which is being sent out on Wednesday, as tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.

 These holidays always are a tug of emotions for me.  As an adult, I never really went overboard in celebrating any holiday, and still don’t.  However, these days always bring back an ocean of memories of holidays past as a child and teen, along with a certain melancholy feeling that refuses to go away.  Maybe that’s the reason I don’t go “all in,” so to speak in celebrating these days.

 Those past memories are always pleasant.  We never had family quarrels or other such issues during the holidays; many times it was quite the opposite.  As a child, I was able to reconnect with both sides of the family…aunts, uncles, cousins, and so on.  There was plenty of conversation, plenty of food, games and just general togetherness.  I enjoyed listening to the adults in their conversations catching up on what was happening in their lives, and I enjoyed hanging out with cousins.

 As for that melancholy feeling, well, I suppose it has to do with those pleasant memories and the truth that those times with those people will never come around again.  Oh, I know we continue to gather together as family during these holiday times, and it is truly a joy to be with siblings, nieces, nephews, and grands.  But there was something about those times long ago…those times when families would pile into a 1960 Chevy and drive a thousand miles over two-lane roads to be with their loved ones for a few days.  Or maybe they would catch the train from Oregon and someone in the Kansas family would pick them up at the station.  We’d find accommodations for them in one of our homes and the next several days would be days of re-connection, good food, good conversation, and pleasant dreams.

 As a young single adult, I worked at a job which required me to pull shifts on most holidays.  Those days quickly became just another day at work, and I lost much of the, shall we say “magic” of the holidays.  I think that experience has carried over many decades later in my not being especially excited about any of the holidays.  Yes, I participate.  Yes, I am happy to be with loved ones.  Yes, I think about the meaning of the holidays.  But in all seriousness, most holidays could come and go and just let me go on with my day.

I’m reminded of what Paul the apostle said about holidays.  In Romans 14, Paul is talking about passing judgment on others for what they may or may not do.  One of those things is the celebration of certain “days,” or holidays.  These days were many times connected to a religious practice or faith.  He said this to those who were reading this letter:  “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.  Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Not all of us are in a giddy frame of mind, excited for the coming of the holiday season.  Some of us celebrate the days, but do so in more of a contemplative way.  Some of us have to work those days and can’t celebrate in any meaningful way.  Others of us really enjoy the days, and go “all in” to celebrate.  We make special plans to be with family and friends.

However it is that you think of and celebrate the holidays, know that it’s OK.  You are unique.  You have a unique personality, a unique world view; a unique outlook on life and living.  How you choose to celebrate the holidays…or not…is a choice that should be yours to make.  I would urge you, however, to take part in the upcoming holiday season in some way that is meaningful to you and provides you with pleasant thoughts and activities.  The world is in such a state that humans of good will need times to consider the good, the right, and the lovely.

As my best childhood friend Karl Detweiler said during this holiday season several years ago as he battled stage four cancer,  “Don’t forget the One to whom we all are to be thankful.  If we have a warm place to sleep, live in a part of the world without war, and have clean drinking water, we are among the very top of the richest people in the world.  May we all live with gratitude for what we have been given.”

 Blessings,

Down & Dirty

 Good morning, and welcome!

Some time ago, my friend, writer Kendra Broekhuis, started a monthly email publication called “Present Tense.”  In it she speaks of various aspects of life and living as a sort of tension…the tension between right and wrong.  Saying something and not saying something.  Doing this or doing that.  Going here or going there.  You get the idea.

In one of those emails some months ago, Kendra, who lives with her husband and family across the street from the school where Collin, her husband, teaches, told about an encounter with a neighbor.  Kendra and her family live in a part of the city where many would prefer to NOT be living.  They purposely are living there, not only because of the proximity to Collin’s work, but in order to live out lives of faith in a community desperately longing for hope and promise.

I will be quoting her as she tells the story.

A man was staying in the vacant home next door to us that his father owns, trying to detox from the hard drugs he’s addicted to.

One thing I learned during his stay was that while many ministries in the city offer rehab support for people trying to get sober, many also require you to be completely detoxed from all substances—even ones meant to keep you off other drugs—before they can get support.  I read more about detoxing and was humbled to discover just how brutal it is.  

Whatever pleasurable effect a drug has on the body, quitting that drug has the reverse effect.  For example, heroin offers a high mood, decreased anxiety, and insensitivity to pain.  While someone is detoxing from heroin, their withdraw symptoms will give them a low mood, extreme pain and anxiety.

To put it lightly, this was horrific for our neighbor.  It seemed like he was either out of his mind from the drugs or out of his mind from the pain of being off the drugs, and the sound effects went on next door for weeks and weeks, at all hours.

In the middle of one night, he was outside making a lot of disruptive noise and other erratic behaviors.  We tried to coax him back inside, asking him to let us take him to a detox facility where he could get more help through the process.  He wasn’t hearing us on multiple levels, but before he wandered away, he looked at my husband and said:

“Tell me you love me, Collin.”

I looked at my husband with wide eyes, shocked by our neighbor’s request. Did this man know what he was asking for?  More importantly, who he was asking it from?  My husband—who’s forever loyal to his commitments—still shrinks away from I love yous and hugs that aren’t from his wife and kids.

Collin tried dodging the request twice; the reasons could be many. But then he looked back at our neighbor and said, “I love you.”

The next day, our neighbor’s dad took him to a detox center.

This is Jay again.  I told you Kendra’s story to ask you what you would have done in that situation?  First, would you have placed yourself and your family in a neighborhood such as that?  Second, would you have tried to help your neighbor in the situation he was in, outside in the middle of the night disrupting the neighborhood?

And finally, if you would have answered “Yes,” to the above questions, how would you have responded to your neighbor wanting you to say that you loved him?

You know, it’s relatively easy to say, “I love you,” to our spouses, children, and even relatives and close friends.  And it’s relatively easy to provide some kind of help if called upon.   It’s quite another to truly love, provide help that makes one get into the dirt and mud along with the other person, and say as well as demonstrate that you love someone in the throes of incredible difficulty, sinful living, poor decision-making, and a checkered history. 

Life is messy.  Sometimes, in order to truly help…in order to truly be the salt and light that Jesus asked his followers to be, you have to step into that mess with someone.  You have to get dirty, into the gritty part of that person’s life, in order to help with the clean-up. 

May you not be hesitant to get into someone else's "mess" in order to demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ as you continue to discover what it means to "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Blessings

 

 

 

Your Response to the Election

 Good morning, and welcome!

Today is bright and sunny outside, a Good morning change from the past several days of clouds and rain.  Welcome clouds and rain, I might say.  We’ve been dry for quite some time in this neck of the woods, and the days of rain, thunder, drizzle, and clouds was very welcome.  And, as I understand it, we can look forward to more of the same in the coming days.

The election is over.  Races have been won and lost.  People are ecstatic and people are depressed.  Some are welcoming in a new golden age.  Others are prophesying the end of the world as we know it.  But many are neither ecstatic or depressed.  For many of us, it’s just another event in history…a temporary blip on the screen.

You may wonder why, if you’re one of the ecstatic or depressed people, anyone could look at the results of the election, whether on the national or local level, and consider it to be just a blip on the screen.  Is it because we don’t care?  Is it because we’re ignorant of the issues of the day?  Is it because we are hermits, out of touch with society?

The answer to all of those questions is, “No.”  We do care.  We are certainly aware of world and local events of the day.  And, we have no desire to isolate ourselves from the greater society.  We are, however, aware of something much greater than the election results or the world situation.  We know who is in charge of things.  We know who it is who orchestrates human events.  We know what the ultimate end of things will be.

As Christians, we are keenly aware of several things said in the holy writings about governments and who is indeed in charge of things.  Listen to what Paul the great apostle said about government and the authorities.  And remember, Paul was living under the Roman occupation when he wrote this.  This comes from the letter called Romans, chapter 13.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God.  For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good.  But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason.  They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.  Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

Another apostle, Peter, says this in I Peter chapter 2.  Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.  For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.  Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

And finally, let’s look at some Old Testament passages…some of which occurred during the time Israel was being held captive by Babylon.

In this passage in Proverbs, God calls himself Wisdom and says this:  I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence;  I possess knowledge and discretion.  Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power.  By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just; by me princes govern, and nobles—all who rule on earth.

Daniel, when he was interpreting the King’s dream, said this about God:  Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his.  He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.

When Jesus was before Pilate before his crucifixion, a conversation ensued between him and Pilate.  Here is part of that conversation:

Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

One difficulty in fully believing these verses regarding God’s role in establishing governments and authority is that we don’t understand why God would place this particular person in authority or why God would institute this particular government.  And because we don’t understand why, we have a difficult time believing that God would do such a thing.

Why would God allow Joseph Stalin to seize power in Russia in the 1900’s?  Why would God allow Adolph Hitler to come to power?  Why would God establish the North Korean government that presently exists?  Why would God place Mr. Biden or Mr. Trump or Mr. Obama or Mr. Bush into the presidency?  And we can go on and on with our questions which for us have no answer.  We don’t get it.  We don’t understand it.  We can’t bring ourselves around to admit that what the Bible says about God establishing governments is real and truth.

Well, I have no answers either.  But I do have this:  From Isaiah chapter 55…this is God speaking here:  My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

So, believing this and having an understanding that we will not know the why…and resting on the truth that God really knows what he’s doing, what is our job?  What is our responsibility as Christians?  In sum, I think it is this:

Paul says in the Ephesian letter, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

At least one of our responsibilities as Christians is to settle down and do those good works God has prepared for us.  It is NOT to obsess over the election results.  It is NOT to broadcast the end of the world as we know it.  It is to quietly and without fanfare live our daily lives, expanding the kingdom, relieving suffering, raising families, and worshipping the only God.   May God bless you as you seek to do His will.

Continue On

 As I write this, it’s Tuesday afternoon.  The wind has been howling since yesterday morning.  Forty, fifty, and even sixty mile an hour winds are coming through the Wichita, Kansas area.  Even for one who works and lives inside, it’s enough to make one tired.  And for those who have to work outside in the wind, or worse, live outside, these kinds of days are exhausting.  The constant fighting against the wind, the constant trouble of having to keep things from blowing away, and the constant attack of dust and pollen on one’s sinuses make for, at the very least, a very unpleasant day.

Thursday, the day this should air on YouTube, should be pleasant, they say.  We should have had some rain by then, and the wind will have died down considerably to a gentle five to ten miles an hour out of the North.  More of a traditional fall day will be in the air, hopefully, on Thursday when this airs.

These days are an inconvenience for those of us fortunate enough to have a place to live and work inside.  I see, though several of our “outdoor friends” as we like to call them at RiverWalk Church, trying to navigate the sidewalk while keeping their things gathered.  I can’t imagine having to walk against the wind for more than just a block or so, but many of these people have no choice.  They have to walk everywhere they go.

I confess I don’t know what to do, if anything, regarding the homeless situation.  Wichita and the United States aren’t the only places where the homeless live.  This is a world-wide issue that has defied solutions for decade upon decade and century upon century.  Although difficult to quantify, most estimates of homelessness worldwide hover in the 150 million range, with as many as one out of every six people living in some kind of what is generally called “inadequate shelter.”  Of course, the definition of “inadequate shelter” can vary depending on the societal and geographical settings where one is.

And, of course, in situations such as the war in Gaza, many tens of thousands of people who once had adequate shelter now have no place to live or go due to the war having decimated their housing and communities.  Refugees and displaced persons appear in many places around the world…some as a result of some kind of conflict or natural disaster that happened years ago.  There just hasn’t been the available resources to resupply adequate housing, and probably won’t be in the foreseeable future.

Of course, the prevalence of homelessness world wide shouldn’t be an excuse for us here in Wichita America to just ignore homelessness and inadequate shelter.  We can’t say, “Well, it’s been an issue for hundreds of years, and it’s endemic the world over, so we know we won’t be able to fix it on our own, so…we won’t even try.”  That would be like saying that people get cancer the world over, and have for centuries…we know we won’t be able to fix it on our own, so we won’t even try.”  Of course we continue the cancer research.  We continue the studies.  We continue to try new methods of treatment.

It's the same with the homeless issue and other societal issues.  Just because we can’t come up with a cure within a short time doesn’t mean we just throw up our hands and quit.  We continue to gather information.  We continue to develop ways of approaching the issue.  We continue to try new methods of helping.  We keep at it, not becoming weary…not giving up.

The Apostle Paul told the Galatian Christians this in his letter to them:  Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.

Our work as Christians is to “keep on keeping on,” as the old saying goes.  We continue to do the good works that God has prepared for us to do, regardless of whether or not a “cure” or “fix” comes along.  We continue the work.  We continue doing good to everyone.  And that includes those who have no place to call home.

Blessings,