Monday Morning Music Ministry

6-24-19

Let’s get a couple things straight.

God is a sovereign God. He is all-powerful; omni-present; omniscient (all-knowing). He is the Creator of all things, the Great “I Am” – present in time before there was time. Regarding things we cannot understand, that’s OK. He understands. That’s part of Him being God, us being mortal, and a perspective-point of our proper relationship with Him.

God’s Word and God’s Will are immutable. That means that His nature is such that He will not, cannot, change His Word. The Bible, therefore, cannot contradict itself. His promises, ordinances – and warnings, threats – are eternal. What about mercy? Mercy never vitiates God’s standards, but rather affirms His love. And His justice. Mercy tends to lead back to the wisdom of His commands.

Examples of God’s loving-kindness, and belief – maybe sometimes a blind trust – in episodes of mercy in the Bible, can lead Christians astray. Closer reading of many acts of God’s mercy should teach us that. Nothing is in a vacuum in the life granted to us.

We can think of times when people yearn for “revival.” Consider the French Revolution vs the American Revolution. The French rebels (to grant some of their higher motives) saw 1800 years of Christianity as having led to corruption and oppression bereft of spiritual purpose; and they followed their desperate hearts.

The American Revolution, also considering its higher motives, trusted the brains and maturity of its rebels: enlightened self-interest. A nation built self-consciously on Biblical principles (also as if by blueprint, harkening to the Old Testament) trusted an educated citizenry that would always make rational choices. Human nature finally had its unfettered path to heaven on earth.

Instead, each system allowed human nature to prevail – the French to passions, the Americans to rationalism – with different results. Each generally opposed and sublimated rules and orders and arbitrary laws, but in my view each led to the worst aspects of human nature’s dark sides. The French Revolution merely arrived at that state after several short years and much misery; and then demanded an Emperor.

The United States took centuries to slide into moral decay, and has virtually demanded dictators, masquerading as crony capitalism, a corrupt political system, subversion of the educational culture, hostility to religion, a media oligarchy, and the epidemic of drugs and illegitimacy and abortion and crime and the dissolution of the family unit. Human nature, triumphant.

Christians (some Christians) more than other groups recognize this slide. They have clarity about the slippery slope down which we have slid. They recognize that God is the source of our deliverance. But too many of us, I am sorry to say, stop short of spiritual consistency and the proper Biblical responses God clearly requires of us.

Many times have I heard Christians pray, “Lord, send a revival to this land.”

In similar (micro-version) pleadings, I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, bring my [son, daughter, spouse] to faith in You.”

I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, hear our prayers for world peace.”

… and a thousand similar prayers. “Lord, hear our prayers.” I know such prayers because I occasionally have prayed them myself. And I remind you that I stipulated at the beginning that I know God is sovereign. He can do anything. But so can we do things!

Even the examples in the Bible where God spared a people, or a city, or an individual, it never came without a “lesson” for then and for us, now – punishment, banishment, exile, scars like thorns in the flesh or a lame leg, scattered diaspora, rejection by friends. Forgiven, yes; but seldom what we would call a “pass.” Should God reward our sins?

Do you want revival in this nation? Pray for it… and work for it.

Do you want a loved one come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ? Pray for it… and work for it.

Do you want world peace? Pray for it… and work for it.

Prayer is not a magic incantation. God hears what we want, but what we need is a different matter. God does not stand up straight and salute, in response to our orders. It should be rather the opposite.

There is a middle ground between Mercy and Vengeance – in humanity’s actions, not only God’s responses. That middle ground is Justice. And God’s Justice, especially in America at this time in our history, is something we should fear!

The only “pass” we can ever receive from a Just and Merciful God is the forgiveness forged at Calvary. Even that was not free – technically not a “pass” – because it was purchased at a fearful price, the death and resurrection of the Messiah. By that pattern, everything we pray for, everything, must be subject to the Will of God, not presuming to write the script for God’s response.

We play a role, after all, in the desires of our own hearts. It is a matter of Justice that we exercise that role; and we should expect Justice, never whining for a “free pass,” from the Lord in response.

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Click: To God Be the Glory: My Tribute

6-17-19

Let’s get a couple things straight.

God is a sovereign God. He is all-powerful; omni-present; omniscient (all-knowing). He is the Creator of all things, the Great “I Am” – present in time before there was time. Regarding things we cannot understand, that’s OK. He understands. That’s part of Him being God, us being mortal, and a perspective-point of our proper relationship with Him.

God’s Word and God’s Will are immutable. That means that His nature is such that He will not, cannot, change His Word. The Bible, therefore, cannot contradict itself. His promises, ordinances – and warnings, threats – are eternal. What about mercy? Mercy never vitiates God’s standards, but rather affirms His love. And His justice. Mercy tends to lead back to the wisdom of His commands.

Examples of God’s loving-kindness, and belief – maybe sometimes a blind trust – in episodes of mercy in the Bible, can lead Christians astray. Closer reading of many acts of God’s mercy should teach us that. Nothing is in a vacuum in the life grants to us.

We can think of a time when people yearned for “revival.” Consider the French Revolution vs the American Revolution. The French rebels (to grant some of their higher motives) saw 1800 years of Christianity as having led to corruption and oppression bereft of spiritual purpose; and they followed their desperate hearts.

The American Revolution, also considering its higher motives, trusted the brains and maturity of the rebels: enlightened self-interest. A nation built self-consciously on Biblical principles (also as if by blueprint, harkening to the Old Testament) trusted an educated citizenry that would always make rational choices. Human nature finally had its unfettered path to heaven on earth.

Instead, each system allowed human nature to prevail – the French to passions, the Americans to rationalism – with different results. Each generally opposed and sublimated rules and orders and arbitrary laws, but in my view each led to the worst aspects of human nature’s dark sides. The French Revolution merely arrived at that state after several short years and much misery; and then demanded an Emperor.

The United States took centuries to slide into moral decay, and has virtually demanded dictators, masquerading as crony capitalism, a corrupt political system, subversion of the educational culture, hostility to religion, a media oligarchy, and the epidemic of drugs and illegitimacy and abortion and crime and the dissolution of the family unit.

Christians (some Christians) more than other groups recognize this slide. They have clarity about the slippery slope down which we have slid. They recognize that God is the source of our deliverance. But too many of us, I am sorry to say, stop short of spiritual consistency and the proper Biblical responses God clearly requires of us.

Many times have I heard Christians pray, “Lord, send a revival to this land.”

In similar (micro-version) pleadings, I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, bring my [son, daughter, spouse] to faith in You.”

I have heard Christians pray, “Lord, hear our prayers for world peace.”

… and a thousand similar prayers. “Lord, hear our prayers.” I know such prayers because I occasionally have prayed them myself. And I remind you that I stipulated at the beginning that I know God is sovereign. He can do anything. But so can we do things!

Even the examples in the Bible where God spared a people, or a city, or an individual, it never came without a “lesson” for then and for now – punishment, banishment, exile, scars like thorns in the flesh or a lame leg, scattered diaspora, rejection by friends. Forgiven, yes; but seldom what we would call a “pass.” Should God reward our sins?

Do you want revival in this nation? Pray for it… but work for it.

Do you want a loved one come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ? Pray for it… but work for it.

Do you want world peace? Pray for it… but work for it.

Prayer is not a magic incantation. God hears what we want, but what we need is a different matter. God does not stand up straight and salute, in response to our orders. It should be rather the opposite.

There is a middle ground between Mercy and Vengeance – in humanity’s actions, not only God’s responses. It is Justice. And God’s Justice, especially in America at this time in our history, is something we should fear!

The only “pass” we can ever receive from a Just and Merciful God, is the forgiveness forged at Calvary. Even that was not free – technically not a “pass” – because it was purchased at a fearful price, the death and resurrection of the Messiah. By that pattern, everything we pray for, everything, must be subject to the Will of God, not presuming to write the script for His response.

We have a role, after all, in the desires of our own hearts. It is a matter of Justice that we exercise that role; and we should expect Justice, never whining for a “free pass,” from the Lord in response.

+ + +

Click: To God Be the Glory: My Tribute

6-25-18

We are reaching full employment in America, the experts say. I know one job category whose openings are greater than the number of workers or applicants these days: Jeremiahs. Biblical Jeremiahs: that is, not mere prophets but those who discern the times, the danger signals, the warnings; and raise the alarums.

The Old Testament’s Jeremiah was not simply a grouch, or a pessimist, or someone who got out of too many wrong sides of beds too often. And we need a similar fiery servant who can know God’s mind, analyze the crisis of the age, and deliver articulate solutions.

America has been gifted with preachers and teachers, with revivalists and reformers. But our times are different, and a different messenger is sorely needed in our land, in our time.

I once was phlegmatic about the pendulum-swings of social pathologies. But I am now convinced that challenges have turned to problems have turned to crises. Contemporary turmoil is no longer evolutionary release-and-realignment. It is the harbinger of disintegration and destruction. Of course I have a point of view about this retrogression – and I believe, humbly, that it is an informed, Biblical view – but the inevitable firestorm of opposition we receive will prove my larger point. Only a few years ago, reasonably presented opinions perhaps risked arguments and debates… but now are certain to invite savage billingsgate, and insure obloquy. Forget Thanksgiving dinner disruptions; innocent Facebook posts and overheard mall conversations routinely incite everything from heated rhetoric to hate-filled rhetoric.

America has, with shocking rapidity, become a country where good will is an endangered species. Quoting Bible verses or Rodney King (“Can’t we all just get along?”) is unlikely to have everyone waking up tomorrow morning, desirous of kissing and making up. One time that theoretically would have made people happy. Now, many people are happy to be unhappy; they love to hate.

We see it every day, every where. We see it – for instance; and I know I am tap-dancing in a mine-field – in the “debate” over today’s border problems.

People arrive who claim asylum from lands south of Mexico; but no one proposes helping those countries solve their problems, the source of social angst.

Mexico (whose own Southern border is harsher than Trump’s fantasies for our own), allows “caravans” to trek hundreds of miles… protected, not even challenged; but no one proposes treating Mexico as a virtual accessory to felonies.

Adults, often with evanescent “asylum” claims (and in spite of orderly remedies and applications where we have embassies) use children as “anchors,” because, as children are released into the maw of America, they must be too.

Well, these are the challenges, and I honestly did not want to start yet another debate over these issues. My point, however, is that goodwill in American has left the building. And this issue illustrates it. Even among Christian friends, I have seen it go this way:

They once agreed with border and immigration policies of Clinton, Bush and Obama. Trump enforced the same policies… which oddly earns him the sobriquet of “nazi.” If you object to children being separated from adults so they are spared jail-house situations, you are a nazi. If you accede and say they should be incarcerated with the adults, you are a nazi. If you look for a solution that would return them all to their home-countries, or neutral locations, even while their cases might be adjudicated, you are a nazi. If you advocate shelters built for (grateful) hurricane victims, temporary and probably superior to homes the migrants have left, you are a nazi.

Showing contempt for America’s previously normal and compassionate laws, and a larger concern for the orderly welfare of children, today has Christians judging fellow Christians as… bad Christians. And worse.

Lost in all this is concern over social burdens, costs, crimes, that accompany these radical disruptions whose details-of-compassion are rudely dictated to the rest of us. The parents of Kate Steinle are supposed to be compliant. After all (I suppose) they are nazis, too, if they object to the state of affairs and dare to miss their daughter. Twenty years ago – before this all came to a head – I had a friend who taught the second grade in a Southern California school. All but two of her (oversized) class were Mexicans – not Mexican background, but kids whose parents were not citizens, many of whom were driven across the border every day to attend school from towns south of the border. And that was 20 years; no doubt more widespread, and farther north, now. I am sorry to sound like a nazi if questioning the lunacy of such things fits your definition. No… I’m not.

I mention the immigration flash-point, and the vicious vituperation, because it clogs the headlines right now. But the same evaporation of comity and reasonable goodwill marks other, and widely separate, topics: the crusade to ban religious expression; coercion in the form of regulation and taxes; prior censorship of decorations on cakes by bakers, and sermons by pastors; mandatory sex instruction in schools but regarding parents’ opposition as “hate speech”; attempts to violate the consciences of doctors, nurses, clergy who resist being complicit in aborting babies.

Wow, how many of us nazis are there? No matter, they will try to silence us all soon.

The question of abortion provides a focal point. The radicals claim that keeping children of criminal migrants out of jails is nazi-like. But they often are fine with killing babies in the womb. Forgive me for thinking the lunatics are trying to Occupy the asylum.

Can we return this to a Biblical context? I am not especially optimistic about God’s imminent intervention in America. I might change my opinion if someone can show me an example of any time in history when God sent revival to a people when they did not pray for one as a people. He certainly may intervene through judgment, because He has done that many times throughout history. And because, frankly, America deserves it.

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Click: Dido’s Lament

2-17-14

When searching for a music video for this blog essay, I surfed through YouTube as per usual. More and more there are commercials, at least for first-time clickers of a link, lasting anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 seconds. Some must be endured, some can be clicked off. A fact of internet life. This week, intending to write about Presidents’ Day and the Christian beliefs of our presidents, as I am wont, I was struck by the common theme of the advertising pop ups.

Presidents’ Day – that is, Presidents’ Day mattress sales. The $5-bill face of Abraham Lincoln with moving lips, reminding us of Two-For-One sales. An animated George Washington saying, “I cannot tell a lie. I am CHOPPING prices this Monday!”

It is odious enough that the American culture effectively stopped honoring great men like Lincoln (whose birthday was February 12) and Washington (February 22). It is offensive enough that nonentities and shady characters who held the presidential office for a season are elevated to equal status with Lincoln and Washington by the invention of a vacuum-cleaner holiday like Presidents’ Day. It is depressing that America, at a point when we should be mature as a civic society, has descended to such base materialism.

Patriotic displays largely have withered and died in the public square. Prayers have disappeared from schools and civic events. Politicians seem more grasping than ever. There are exceptions, but these things mostly are true. People wear flags as apparel decorations, and stick them to bumpers, but how many people, even of such patriotic extroversion, can name the presidents of the United States, in order, or the Bill of Rights so frequently invoked?

I have been reading a book, “The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor,” by Rear Adm. Robert A Theobald. It details the impossible diplomatic position the United States put Japan in during the months leading to Pearl Harbor, with the intent of inviting an attack by the Japanese; the purposeful failure to alert US commanders of the imminent attack; the scapegoating of Naval and Army personnel after 3300 lives were lost; the reason for the machinations – an obsession to enter a war against Germany, Japan’s ally, and to save Great Britain. This was at a time when American public opinion was overwhelmingly against participation in any foreign war. Franklin Roosevelt unilaterally skirted Congress and committed arms, bases, ships, and diplomacy to one side of a foreign conflict. Germany didn’t take the bait; Japan did.

It matters little whether FDR was betting on the right side of history. He could have proceeded honestly and openly to persuade the American people. That he did not might cast him as a war criminal. Other presidents have lied, betrayed the trust of their people, and occasionally spent lives and fortunes unwisely.

I state these facts to say that I don’t think US presidents all deserve halos. Even the greatest have clay feet. Not all were well-intentioned.

But many had sterling intentions. In this polyglot nation of immigrants we have produced a class whose ranks are generally above any average group we can assemble. The Framers were a remarkable assembly whose faith, maturity, and foresights was extraordinary. We have been blessed. As Theodore Roosevelt said, in Abraham Lincoln we had a man whose greatness was due to his goodness. Theodore Roosevelt himself was the most accomplished, intelligent, well-prepared, visionary, and… religiously observant of our presidents.

On this last aspect we discover the major difference – perhaps the diving-line – between exceptional and ordinary presidents; between the old America and the new. We are told that Washington’s circle was comprised of Deists; yet his famous prayer, the injunctions to pray by Franklin, the language of the Declaration and Constitution, prove to us that these men knew, and feared, God.

We are told that Lincoln seldom attended church. Yet we can read in the notes of his associates, in his letters, in his speeches, an evolving awareness of God – and a reliance, a summons, a sharing of biblical principles – in the last two years of his life. His last speeches, his Second Inaugural, read like sermons.

And Theodore Roosevelt became an editor of a weekly Christian magazine when he left the White House. He titled two of his books after Bible verses. He made impromptu speeches for five nights at a prominent seminary. He wrote an article for Ladies Home Journal about why men should go to church. This irrepressible personality quietly, but largely, lived his faith.

Are these days past? Do giants still walk amongst us, in American civic life?

Most of the faces on our currency consists of presidents of the past. Since Presidents’ Day has been distorted and perverted to be a glorification of sales and commerce, it might be appropriate that the currency that is King for a Day on the third Monday of February is nicknamed “Dead Presidents.”

+ + +

I have chosen a song that goes ‘way back in the American heritage for the music video with this essay. No message, but, as we have recalled Washington, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt of an earlier, and greater, time in America, a moment of nostalgia for the time when American held promise. “Oh, Shenandoah” is an old folk tune about the pioneer’s relentless move westward, remembering the Shenandoah Valley, and determining to “cross the wide Missouri” River. This is a remarkable “virtual” duet with the legendary Tennessee Ernie Ford and Sissel Kyrkjebo, the stunning Norwegian soprano. With members of the Chieftans. Click the YouTube button if prompted.

Click: Oh, Shenandoah

2-17-14

When searching for a music video for this blog essay, I surfed through YouTube as per usual. More and more there are commercials, at least for first-time clickers of a link, lasting anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 seconds. Some must be endured, some can be clicked off. A fact of internet life. This week, intending to write about Presidents’ Day and the Christian beliefs of our presidents, as I am wont every year, I was struck by the common theme of the advertising pop ups.

Presidents’ Day – that is, Presidents’ Day mattress sales. The $5-bill face of Abraham Lincoln with moving lips, reminding us of Two-For-One sales. An animated George Washington saying, “I cannot tell a lie. I am CHOPPING prices this Monday!”

It is odious enough that the American culture effectively stopped honoring great men like Lincoln (whose birthday was February 12) and Washington (February 22). It is offensive enough that nonentities and shady characters who held the presidential office for a season are elevated to equal status with Lincoln and Washington by the invention of a vacuum-cleaner holiday like Presidents’ Day. It is depressing that America, at a point when we should be mature as a civic society, has descended to such base materialism.

Patriotic displays largely have withered and died in the public square. Prayers have disappeared from schools and civic events. Politicians seem more grasping than ever. There are exceptions, but these things mostly are true. People wear flags as apparel decorations, and stick them to bumpers, but how many people, even of such patriotic extroversion, can name the presidents of the United States, in order, or the Bill of Rights so frequently invoked?

I have been reading a book, “The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor,” by Rear Adm. Robert A Theobald. It details the impossible diplomatic position the United States put Japan in during the months leading to Pearl Harbor, with the intention to invite an attack by the Japanese; the purposeful failure to alert US commanders of the imminent attack; the scapegoating of Naval and Army personnel after 3300 lives were lost; the reason for the machinations – an obsession to enter a war against Germany, Japan’s ally, and to save Great Britain. This was at a time when American public opinion was overwhelmingly against participation in any foreign war. Franklin Roosevelt unilaterally skirted Congress and committed arms, bases, ships, and diplomacy to one side of a foreign conflict. Germany didn’t take the bait; Japan did.

It matters little whether FDR was betting on the right side of history. He could have proceeded honestly and openly to persuade the American people. That he did not might cast him as a war criminal. Other presidents have lied, betrayed the trust of their people, and occasionally spent lives and fortunes unwisely.

I state these facts to say that I don’t think US presidents all deserve halos. Even the greatest have clay feet. Not all were well-intentioned.

But many had sterling intentions. In this polyglot nation of immigrants we have produced a class of presidents whose ranks are generally above any average group we could gather. The Framers were a remarkable assembly whose faith, maturity, and foresight was extraordinary. We have been blessed. As Theodore Roosevelt said, in Abraham Lincoln we had a man whose greatness was due to his goodness. Theodore Roosevelt himself was the most accomplished, intelligent, well-prepared, visionary, and… religiously observant of our presidents.

On this last aspect we discover the major difference – perhaps the dividing-line – between exceptional and ordinary presidents; between the old America and the new. We are told that Washington’s circle was comprised of Deists; yet his famous prayer, the injunctions to pray by Franklin, the language of the Declaration and Constitution, prove to us that these men knew, and feared, God.

We are told that Lincoln seldom attended church. Yet we can read in the notes of his associates, in his letters, in his speeches, an evolving awareness of God – and a reliance, a summons, a sharing of biblical principles – in the last two years of his life. His last speeches, his Second Inaugural, read like sermons.

And Theodore Roosevelt became an editor of a weekly Christian magazine when he left the White House. He titled two of his books after Bible verses. He made impromptu speeches for five nights at a prominent seminary. He wrote an article for Ladies Home Journal about why men should go to church. This irrepressible personality quietly, but largely, lived his faith.

Are these days past? Do giants still walk amongst us, in American civic life?

Most of the faces on our currency consists of presidents of the past. Since Presidents’ Day has been distorted and perverted to be a glorification of sales and commerce, it might be appropriate that the currency that is King for a Day on the third Monday of February is nicknamed “Dead Presidents.”

+ + +

I have chosen a song that goes ‘way back in the American heritage for the music video with this essay. No message, but, as we have recalled Washington, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt of an earlier, and greater, time in America, here is a moment of nostalgia for the time when American held promise. “Oh, Shenandoah” is an old folk tune about the pioneer’s relentless move westward, remembering the Shenandoah Valley, and determining to “cross the wide Missouri” River. This is a remarkable “virtual” duet with the legendary Tennessee Ernie Ford and Sissel Kyrkjebo, the stunning Norwegian soprano. With members of the Chieftans. Click the YouTube button if prompted.

Click: Oh, Shenandoah

10-28-13

Deeds of faith are mightier – more consequential, more lasting, more essential to our living – than physical deeds are. To paraphrase Theodore Roosevelt, our souls and spirits must always squarely be in the Arena of Life, where a person’s “face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

And so with faith as well as deeds. I cannot imagine never being curious about new ideas, discovering new things, reading new (and old) books, attempting new projects, and (not to sound sappy) dreaming new dreams. I have said, and I hope we would all have this attitude, that I want my retirement party and my funeral to be on the same day. Life is more than about accumulating baubles.

But these sentiments are a cruel joke, worse than empty clichés, if not accompanied by the spiritual component. We can be “secure in our faith,” but that never means we should stop learning the Ways of God, or seeking after the Things of God, or obeying the Will of God. Just as other things in life attract us… except that the essentials of faith are more important. We can be, yes, secure in our faith, but it will be tested; in fact, over and over again. The tests are not what matters. What matters is our response to the tests.

To those people who continually seek the Truth, which I hope means all of us, there are many pitfalls and detours on the way to the destination. Read the classic book, second only to the Bible in terms of copies printed, but regrettably neglected today, “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” And to continue the metaphor of a pathway to Truth, there is an enormous gap between Belief and the next station, Faith.

It would seem a small step, but it is not. My wife used to say that all the possible “head knowledge” was nothing compared to even a portion of “heart knowledge”; that is, faith. Even Solomon, in all his wisdom, writing three books of the Bible, building the Temple, lord of a wealthy, united Israelite kingdom, ultimately displayed belief but not as much faith. He wrote well, but acted little as a man of faith… and then he failed. He became apostate, married hundreds of wives and was seduced by their diverse pagan religions, and earned the enmity of God. He died broken in spirit, and his kingdom was split irrevocably, broken into contending provinces.

“Faith without works is dead,” but works without faith is like “building a house on shifting sand.” God forbid that any of us are like Solomon, writing and speaking and appearing to be wiser than we really are.

Faith is something we can have, and we must regard it is a living thing, not a relic or prize: it must be nurtured and fed. But it is also something we can DO – in philological terms, a verb as well as a noun – in that we must exercise it. Share it. Live it. And not an abstract faith that the world has kidnapped as a term – a synonym for optimism or self-assurance or goodwill. “Have faith,” “keep the faith,” can be empty terms, baby-steps, or maybe backward-steps. Romans 10:17 says that real faith “comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” This journey of ours is sometimes hard. Where could we be without the gift of Faith?

There is an even more precise definition of that Faith which we seek across the chasm. The Bible tells us, and wants us to learn through contemplation and experience: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

This is not a riddle for intellectuals. It is not a postulate for scientific measurements. It can be difficult to understand. But it is easy to accept. It is the wisdom of God.

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We can find biblical wisdom mirrored in secular works of art. The tragic tale of Dido and Aeneas, from Virgil’s epic poem, was written for the operatic stage; libretto by Nahum Tate, author of many hymns, music by Henry Purcell (1659-1695), the greatest of all English composers. Its excruciatingly sad ending is “Dido’s Lament,” sung as the Queen of Carthage commits suicide because she thinks her lover, the Trojan hero, has abandoned her:

“Thy hand, Belinda. Darkness shades me, On thy bosom let me rest,
More I would, but Death invades me; Death is now a welcome guest.

“When I am laid, am laid in earth, May my wrongs create No trouble, no trouble in thy breast. Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate. Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.”

As with the unrelated story of Romeo and Juliet, the death was useless – tragic – because of misunderstanding. In fact Aeneas was rushing to her side even as she sang her dying words of love. But the lesson of great art, indeed the lesson of life, is not how we scheme to avoid the hard choices facing us, but how we exercise faith, and faithfulness, even to what the world calls “tragic” ends, as overcomers who will never dwell with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

Please do not cheat yourself: Watch this brief vid, sung by the incomparable Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebo; graphics by animation student Ryan Woodwart. Goodnight, Nance.

Click: Dido’s Lament

4-30-12

I had a friend in college named Danny Platnick. A brilliant but very quirky guy. He never failed to surprise us, his friends, with flashes of brilliance and quirkiness, and sometimes the most random things, which often challenged us to be more random, usually unsuccessfully.

One day we were all talking in the dorm lounge about our homes and families and backgrounds. Our college was in Washington DC; Danny came from Bluefield WV, which seemed light-years farther away than the actual few hours’ drive. We all started to exchange photos of our parents and siblings and homes. Danny pulled a picture from his wallet and passed it around. It was a plain picture of the side of a house, only two windows showing. No front door or back porch. No particularly interesting landscaping.

“Is this your parents’ house?” we asked. “No, it’s the side of my neighbor’s house,” Danny replied. Everyone who had shared photos of front lawns, and fancy cars in the driveways, and swimming pools out back, asked how that snapshot represented his house.

“That’s what I see when I look out my bedroom window,” Danny answered. “This picture reminds me of home.”

I am embarrassed to admit that it was years before I realized that this was not quirky, but wise and almost profound.

My niece Liza – Elizabeth Jane Marschall – died this week. She was born almost 27 years ago with severe birth defects, including cerebral palsy that doctors reckoned froze her at a three-month developmental level all her life. She was not expected to live past a few years, but she did, nurtured by loving care and God’s mysterious grace. She experienced pain in her time; many surgeries and braces; and constantly was connected to tubes and monitors. Medically, she was not inanimate but was termed insensate. Yet she smiled, responded to her mom and to her caregivers, and to expressions of love.

Some churches call the death of a Christian a “home-going,” and so it is. Believers will not just begin the “journey home” to be with Jesus when we die; we already are on that journey.

Liza is healed now, happy, whole, before God’s throne. Unlike some Christians who, perhaps, think too much about certain things, she never had the ability to speculate about angels and wings and harps and being reunited with pets. But now she knows what Heaven is like, and we shall experience paradise for eternity too, some day. And it will be better than anything our imagination or scholarship can suggest.

“In my Father’s house there are many mansions,” Jesus assured us. “If it were not so, I would have told you.” This is recorded in John, 14:2. “I go to prepare a place for you.” Without much effort, I can almost imagine Jesus pulling out a snapshot of “home” – Heaven – and showing me a very, very comforting scene indeed. We need frequently to remind ourselves of God’s home, even if we are not quite there yet.

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One of the most beautiful messages, and tunes, you will ever hear – and one of the most touching performances – is “Going Home,” in this clip. The unlikely pairing of a classic musical theme (the Largo movement of Antonín Dvorák’s Ninth Symphony) and Negro spiritual lyrics, this performance is by the amazing Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø. Backed by an orchestra and church choir, she performed the song in Røros, a charming Norwegian town in the middle of a UNESCO Heritage area.

Click: Going Home