Monday Morning Music Ministry

4-7-25

There is a Bible verse about rain falling on the just and the unjust alike (Matthew 5:5). King Solomon said that time and chance happeneth to all. Jesus says that the sun rises on evil people and the righteous alike, and rain – or misfortune – pours down on everyone. These are reality-checks, not notes of resignation. We are to be aware that not everything in life is specific to individuals, rewards or punishments on this side of Eternity, but rather that we must rise above our circumstances (yes, even look beyond blessings). And, importantly, that hope and redemption always are available to all.

Ultimately, these factors are all components of faith. When we are among the people who love God, accept Christ, and endeavor to do good, yet suffer misfortune, we affirm our humanity when we wonder, even for brief moments, why bad things visit us. Why? Why?

The hard answer is that there is sin in the world, a condition that transcends our righteous efforts, no matter how sanctified some folks might be. It is a world that God created, but that human nature has corrupted. Our charge is to resist evil, to be overcomers. As we travel life’s paths, we realize that God does not tempt us… but He does test us. This is not to play with us or our emotions; but it is to enrich our spiritual maturity, to strengthen our faith.

Some applications of faith come supernaturally. It is Biblical to not only exercise faith but to pray for faith, for an “increase of faith,” and to realize that the Holy Spirit was sent partly and specifically to gird our faith. God requires much of us. He has issued commands throughout human history. Jesus shared many lessons and “marching orders.” But faith is the virtual foundation-stone of communication with the Almighty, and receiving blessings.

This week I endured some “rain falling” in my life. Moving my household goods and a massive collection of rare books, original artwork by famous illustrators and cartoonists, complete runs of many vintage magazines and newspapers to the house I will share with my new wife Mickey, the moving van took a rainy highway exit too fast, rolled over twice, and spilled its contents. Not a stick of my furniture survived, and my archives spilled over the road and wet ground. It was a valuable archive that took a lifetime to assemble (and I am old). Friends try to reassure me – “it’s only paper”; “insurance might cover the loss” – but, signed first editions and such aside, that was my life passing before my eyes.

Yet what was catastrophic for me pales in comparison, I quickly remember, to life-altering matters I once shared. My late wife Nancy sustained health “challenges” all her life long: diabetes; celiac disease; five heart attacks; several strokes; cancer; amputations; a heart transplant; a kidney transplant; ultimately Lewy Bodies syndrome, a form of creeping dementia. “That all must have been hard on you,” friends again said, reaching for sympathy. Are they kidding? Even a spouse cannot fully comprehend such curses. In our case, everything I experienced were mere inconveniences… especially as I beheld her life of acceptance, optimism, witnessing to others. Faith.

Where does one find the kind of faith that, like peace, passes understanding?

An underlying message of all God’s instructions – the bedrock requirement of those who would be children of God – is that we have faith. Faith in God’s Word; faith in God’s promises; faith in revealed supernatural things. Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11). If you have never found these characteristics difficult, you need a check-up from the neck-up. It is why we plead for the Holy Spirit’s help in times of emotional need. Can we be so faithful on our own?

Remember, we are told that to be saved it is as simple in God’s eyes as confessing that Jesus is the Son of God and believing that God raised Him from the dead. Faith.

I wrote a message some time ago that I had the “Big C,” and many readers thought I meant Cancer. OK, I rattled some cages, but what I meant by the Big C was… Christ. Faith in Christ does not make us immune from life’s vicissitudes; but it gets us through them, and even triumph over them.

This week, these truths – the only, only sane manner by which to endure and triumph over life’s storms – were brought home to me in ways I have not felt since the crises of my family’s “challenges,” even more poignant than my archives’ recent calamity. Pastor Loren Larson, of Family Worship Center, Baton Rouge LA, returned to the pulpit after months of coping with brain cancer, cancer throughout his body, attendant disorientation and, naturally, emotional distress.

His message is remarkable, and is Must-See TV for anyone dealing with cancer, suspicious of having cancer, a relative of a cancer victim… or anyone experiencing any challenges – shaky faith, lack of faith, or difficulty in exercising faith. Brother Larson admits, freely, to “human moments” when his fervent trust and beliefs were undermined; when those still, quiet moments bring terror instead of reassurance.

As he shared with prayer partners in the message, many of the tumors are shrinking, though some remain. He retains faith in the God who heals; and trusts that prayer can move the heart of God. Still, Brother Larson cannot shake the “human moments.” He praises God – not only for the evidences of healing, but reaffirming the truth that faith can heal the soul as well as the body. What can he, and we, do but trust and obey? Faith.

Faith in God is essential in our daily walk. Having, myself, chosen it (and often pushed into the mode by the Holy Spirit!) I cannot imagine going through certain situations without it… whether the situation is a little misplaced document or an impending life-altering calamity.

Faith in God is not merely the best way to navigate life’s journey, but the only way. It is God’s provision for us to keep dry from the “rain.”

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Click: I Believe, Help Thou My Unbelief

3-10-25

“Some people are not happy unless they are unhappy.” Have you heard that saying? Do you know a grouch or nit-picker or a chronic complainer who fits that description? We all do.

This has become a sound-bite society in terms of communication. I don’t think Twitter started it; it rather responded and codified the mode. “Brevity is the soul of wit”? – it is more the domain of nit-wits, it seems to me. Popular songs, TV commercials, slogans, “headline” news… all conspire to cram us into short messages and shorter attention-spans.

We have also devolved from acronyms and crazy abbreviations, lol, to emojis. There are enough of these symbols to inspire entire dictionaries. It ought to – at least – promise new forms of communication and clarity… but the opposite is happening. This week two different websites in another corner of my activities, the political world, have censured and censored me for responding to posts with a smiley-face. (Yes, I fall prey. And by the way, Adobe by itself offers more than half a million variants of the dumb symbol!)

What had I meant to “say”? In a couple cases, I was trying to agree with what I thought were absurd posts; a couple times I wanted to register my opinion that the posts were laughable. I was rebuked, in traditional English, once by someone I thought was an old friend, for everything from violating the post’s rules (despite others’ employment of the stupid little yellow faces); to insulting me; to rudely “wasting the time” of my former friend.

In each case, obviously, I was being “canceled” for voicing an opposing opinion. Ah. Marx and Mao could have been less murderous and bloody if they had thought of smiley-faces as their dictatorships’ brands. But… some people are never happy unless they are unhappy.

Happy. I have thought of it this past week, as “good” a week as I have experienced in some time. I have a new professional connection and a major book to write. I married a wonderful Christian woman. Our ceremony and reception (in Mickey’s wonderful house) warmly was joined by old friends and new family. Am I happy? No – that is, not only happy.

There is a difference between happiness and joy, and the difference is not just a matter of grammar or philology, but of theology – that is, the nuances can hold lessons for our lives. The real distinction can, “unhappily,” be a bit frustrating to ascertain, as dictionaries these days tend to be sloppy. Too many dictionaries help us this way: “Happiness, n. The state of being happy.” And “Joy, n. The emotional result of being joyful or cheerful.” These should be moved in such dictionaries to the “D” section… for “Duh.”

Thesauruses I consulted helped when synonyms for Happiness included Satisfaction, Bliss, and Blessedness. For Joy there was the explanation, “Extreme happiness,” which holds average (?) happiness as relatively subordinate. So… the general consensus is that Joy is the superior state of emotion.

Years ago my daughter Emily had the insight that Joy (her middle name, by the way) corresponds to spiritual matters; and Happiness – no matter how extreme or elevated – is a human emotion related to our worldly, temporal, and indeed temporary, pleasure. No matter how valuable: contentment, satisfaction, gratification.

To further validate the primacy of Joy, we recall some Bible verses:

I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:7). Not mere “happiness” in Heaven; it falls short of Joy.

James 1:2-4 says, Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Here is an example of Joy being more mature, more efficacious, than mere Happiness.

And finally the most familiar Bible verse about Joy: The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). We recall, as well, the admonition to make a joyful noise unto the Lord; “happy noise” would sound very superficial!

In America’s civic life we recall that the Founders proclaimed “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as a right. Later politicians elevated “happiness” as a right, not the freedom to “pursue” happiness. A tremendous difference, since governments have taken to themselves to define the meaning of happiness. And, now, proscribing many things we ought not to be happy about.

So Happiness has become the secularists’ Holy Word. Whittaker Chambers once wrote about this attitude adjustment: “The rub is that the pursuit of happiness, as an end in itself, tends automatically, and widely, to be replaced by the pursuit of pleasure with a consequent general softening of the fibers of will, intelligence, spirit.”

The phrase “pursuit of happiness” has become a part of everyday discourse. In the same manner, many recognize the strains of Beethoven’s great “Ode to Joy” without knowing its meaning – or understanding the words, as it is Friedrich Schiller’s German poem set to music. But the words remind us that Beethoven was a profound Christian.

Here, some of “Ode to Joy” that Beethoven chose for the chorus to sing in his revolutionary Ninth Symphony (I believe Henry van Dyke’s translation). Take joy from the words, including —

All Thy works of Joy surround Thee, Flowery meadows, flashing sea; Singing birds and flowing fountains Call us to rejoice in Thee!

Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, All who live in love are Thine; Teach us how to love each other – Lift us to the Joy Divine!

I pray that you have experienced happiness. And we must all gives thanks that we live in a land where its pursuit is allowed. But… also pursue joy. Remember that the Joy of the Lord is your strength. And we need strength for the times ahead! 😇

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Click: Ode To Joy

3-3-25

This will be a short message this week. I am to be married, or will be when this is published. Since time immemorial, crazy preparations have accompanied marriage ceremonies, so I plead History. And I also want to extend mercy to my good friend and faithful Webmaster Norm Carlevato, who with his lovely wife Penelope will be attending the nuptials, all the way from eastern Tennessee to mid-Michigan. Fewer words for Norm to program…

Holy Matrimony is a “type” or picture of Christ and the Church – love, fidelity, and honor. We believe it to be an Ordinance, not a Sacrament; not affecting Salvation; but about as close to Heaven as we can be on this earth. We love our spouses as Christ loved the Church, and we submit to our spouses as we submit to Christ.

Well, enough theology, and we know the multitude of Biblical endorsements of marriage… and we know that, in the world, when societies disintegrate, it is the decline and dissolution of marriage and family life that always precedes the destruction. No truer barometer, and no exceptions to the relation.

So, the opposite is true. Healthy marriages represent a healthy culture. Happy homes make happy citizens. And heavenly love can be extended toward our spouses just as earnestly as toward the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In my case, Michelle (“Mickey”) is a special lady to whom I was first attracted by her faith. I honor (and have here, frequently) my precious wife Nancy, mother of my children, who endured many illnesses and went to be with the Lord 12 years ago. It is not inevitable, I think, that a threescore-and-10 guy like me would find another helpmeet for life. But God has ordained it.

A wife of noble character, who can find? She is far more precious than rubies (Proverbs 31:10).

So I ask for your prayers. When we sing and pray that Gospel song, “I Know Who Holds My Hand,” we might quickly think of our lover or spouse, romantically holding our hand. Certainly. But when we remember that God holds our hands, leading us on, protecting and guiding, it is a picture of clinging also to those who love us… and those we love.

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Click: I Know Who Holds Tomorrow