Tuesday, March 28, 2017

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: One of the Lessons Sandy Taught Me



It took a hurricane to really test what I had learned as a youth ---- love your neighbors, look out for them, give them as much of your heart as you give to your own well-being.

We had been warned for several days in advance that the hurricane was coming.  Radio and TV news advised listeners to get a supply of things like flashlight batteries, and some listeners took it one step further and purchased generators, fully expecting the electric power to be down for days. Others made plans to leave town and stay with friends or relatives farther inland who could be expected to have heat and light.  Some people never got around to doing any of these things before the storm hit.

Here is my question:  What is my obligation to those who did not plan ahead so as to take care of themselves during and after the storm?  We had expected the high-speed, gusty winds, which uprooted big trees and broke tree limbs, which in turn came crashing down on power lines.  The next day there many roads blocked by fallen debris and live wires.  First Responders were called to pump out flooded basements and to take some neighbors with strokes and heart attacks to the local hospital, many of which were operating on back-up electricity generators.

Meanwhile, some Jersey Shore residents refused to evacuate.  They said their house had been in the family for 30 or 40 years, and had survived many past storms, so they would stay there to contain the storm damage as it occurred.  Later, some would regret that decision ---- should the First Responders save them regardless of the danger they had created for these First Responders?

Up in Morris County, away from the Shore, some people planned for the safety of themselves and their families ---- only to have a large tree come crashing unexpectedly through the roof of their house.

And then there were senior citizens living alone in retirement, apart from the rest of their family. The plan of some seniors was simply to call on their adult children if anything came along beyond their control.  However, the problem was that some of their adult children had forgotten to tank-up their cars, and some of their cars had been damaged by fallen trees.  So, some seniors then had to depend on neighbors or just hope for the best!

While some people had never made plans for their own protection, others had pretty good plans which were defeated by the forces of nature.  But, when peoples' lives are at stake, where do we draw the line between deserved assistance and undeserved assistance?

Is this situation a time for some kind of forgiveness?  After all, it might save a human life ---- it might not be merely a matter of providing extra blankets because the furnace is no longer working.

One of the problems with forgiving someone for their planning failures is the double standard: We saw the dangers coming and avoided them.  Shouldn't others pay the consequences if they were less vigilant, less organized, less focused to out-fox the hurricane?

Many times it is not that simple.  Perhaps the negligence of some person also sealed the fate of his wife and children.  Should all of them pay the consequences?  We all make mistakes ---- if I am in the position to help or save someone, perhaps I should ask no questions, and just do the necessary to the fullest extent I am able.

My mother used to tell her young son, "God helps those who help themselves."  Now, I think there is also a second sentence:  "God also helps those responding to folks who have  failed to help themselves."
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this Spring at CPC.
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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: What Draws Me To A Place Full Of Sinners?



One definition of "sin" is that it is an attitude in which we see ourselves as the ultimate authority, replacing God.   The real God and His law become secondary in our lives.  Probably we are not consistently sinful all the time, but we know that from time to time we place first our pride and well-being, even if others may sacrifice because of us,  Are any of us not sinners some times ?

My church is a place full of sinners.  Indeed in order to be a Christian a person must admit that he or she is a sinner.  It is not really a surprise that Christians sin, that there is an inconsistency between what they say and what they do.  The Bible explains again and again that people's hearts are drawn toward selfishness and pride.  The Bible says "this is how you should live if you believe this."  But it also says, "you can't and you won't," and it provides a solution to that problem --- in Jesus.  Christianity, unlike other religions or self-help programs acknowledges that it cannot be followed perfectly.  

Religion scholar R. C. Sproul writes:  "The Christian church is one of the few organizations in the world that requires a public acknowledgement of sinfulness as a condition for membership. In one sense, the church has fewer hypocrites than any other institution because by definition the church looks for sinners and is a haven for them.  If the church claimed to be an organization of perfect people, then her claim would be hypocritical.  But no such claim is made by the church. There is no slander in the charge that the church is full of sinners.  Such a statement actually gives a compliment to the church for fulfilling her divinely appointed task."   

Christianity is often equated with "obeying the rules," thereby making us think we just need to appear to be a morally superior person.  Actually, most religions operate on the principle:"If I live as I ought, I will be accepted by God."  But Christianity has a completely different operating principle ----  "I am already accepted by God  as a gift demonstrated through what Jesus did for us on the Cross.  Therefore, out of gratitude, I will try to live as I ought."  Christians are people who understand that they will always fail to live entirely as they should.  Therefore, that they need forgiveness and God's freely given grace.

The prerequisite to becoming a Christian is admitting that we have this problem, and that we need God's help.  So, continual repentance should be the mark of a Christian life.

Jesus criticized people who do "religious" things just to feel superior to others.  Jesus understood the danger from a kind of religious moralism in which a person or a community feels they have earned God's favor.  This can lead them to feeling that they deserve special deference and respect from all other folks ---- it produces an unfortunate and unwarranted ego trip.  Jesus used the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, praying side by side in the Temple, to make his point.  It was not that the Pharisee and the tax collector were not trying to obey God ---- they actually were.  However the Pharisee was doing it only self-righteously, so as to feel superior to other people.  The tax collector won Jesus' praise because his approach to God was one of repentance.  Humility was totally absent from the Pharisee's prayers.

Jesus himself sacrificed his life so that his followers could be reconciled to God, making their pride and self-interest secondary.  Christians follow someone (Jesus) who sacrificed everything (all of his pride and self-interest) to redeem and renew the world.  At the heart of the Christian faith is a man who died a victim of injustice, but who called for the forgiveness of his enemies. Jesus is the example we sinners are trying to follow.
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some spiritual growth this Spring at CPC.
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Wednesday, March 15, 2017

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Addictions Are The Enemy Of Our Free Will



Many believe that God wanted people to be free to choose good behavior.  But, being free to choose the "good," they also are free to choose bad behavior.  If God wanted true "children," rather than robots, there is always the risk that they might abuse their gift of free will, and choose bad behavior.

A great deal of the suffering in this world really should not be blamed on God.  It results from mean, cruel inhuman choices that people make.  For example, people-initiated acts of greed, social prejudice, racism or oppression, often lead to the evils of poverty and social marginalization, resulting in misery and premature deaths that could have been avoided.  Even with natural disasters like landslides and floods, much of the suffering that results could be alleviated if people helped out more in the aftermath.

However, this does not explain why God does not block the harm to others caused by our bad choices.  We do not let a child exercise his free will and run out in front of a speeding car.  Without doubt we would want to block any harm to that child!  Why doesn't God do that?  Is the need for our free will a good enough reason for all the evil that seems to come with it? 

As a Christian, I do not believe that I was born morally neutral ---- it seems that from the beginning, I was biased toward sinning.  So. I am grateful that someone named Jesus made a very great sacrifice to redeem me.  Although I do have some power of decision in my daily life, I do not always use my free will power effectively.  I sometimes do selfish or foolish things.

There are so many ways any of us can reject God in our daily lives and then try to serve as our own God.  We may seek pleasure in boosting our own ego, eating to excess certain foods (like high-calorie ice cream sundaes) or perhaps using certain chemicals which we have found to relieve our pain and the anxieties of everyday life.  In effect, we are surrendering to an outside factor, but it is not God.  Many of us do this so frequently, it becomes a habit ---- a habit which can be self-destructive.  This behavior is called an addiction.  By definition, we have little or not control over an addiction, even though it appears to be an exercise of our own free will.

Not long ago, New York City Police found the dead body of Philip Seymour Hoffman, a highly-regarded film and stage actor.  Apparently, he had struggled with heroin addiction for some time and he appeared to have died from a heroin-related overdose.  A syringe was found in his left arm.  Often an addiction begins with over-use at home of prescription drugs.  Heroin is well-known to be highly addictive, but there are many other opportunities for addiction.

The smoking of tobacco products is less lethal than heroin and "pot," but it kills 480,000 Americans a year, reports the New York Times.  Kathleen Sebelius, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, has said that each day some 3,200 children under age 18 will try a cigarette and 700 will go on to become daily smokers.  That means, she said, that 5.6 million American children alive today will die premature deaths because of diseases linked to smoking.

Alcohol consumption is another addiction for some people.  What all addictions have in common is that the victims have surrendered control of their God-given judgment and capacity to choose freely.  Sometimes, third-parties can help bring an addiction victim back into self-control, but usually it is not easy and it often takes the continued support of other family members and friends ---- and even then, it is not a sure bet.

Perhaps the best course of action is alertness to potential addictions, and then avoiding them as if our lives depended on it.  It may start as a desire or longing.  Temptation starts when we think about giving in to desire, or about fulfilling a legitimate desire in a wrong way or at the wrong time.  Temptation always starts in one's mind, not in the circumstances outside us.  One finally acts on the thought we have been toying with in our mind.  What began as an idea gets born into behavior.  Now we give in, and the next time we are tempted to take this action, it is more difficult to say "No".  This is addiction, and it is self-reinforcing.  At that moment we think we know what is best for us ---- we act as if we think we know more than God knows.

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this Spring at CPC.
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Tuesday, March 7, 2017

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Our Church Ancestry



It is said sometimes that Reformed Churches are always reforming.

Let's test that theory in the evolution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

In 1640, a Presbyterian congregation was organized at Southampton, on Long Island.  It is generally considered to be the oldest Presbyterian church in the United States.

Before that, however, in Scotland, reformer John Knox (1510 - 1572), was the primary author of the Scots Confession.  He is considered the founder of the Presbyterian Church.  But it was John Calvin (1509 - 1564) in Geneva, Switzerland, who had developed the system of Christian theology from which the Presbyterian Church evolved.

Meanwhile, in the United States, the first presbytery in the American colonies was organized in 1706 in Philadelphia by Francis Makemie.  He is sometimes referred to as "The Father American Presbyterianism."

Almost 50 years later, in 1746, William Tennant, a minister and educator, established a cabin academy, dubbed the "Log College," which evolved into the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).  John Witherspoon, president of the College of New Jersey signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.  Witherspoon was the only active minister to sign that historic document.

The first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, met in Philadelphia in 1789.  Again, in Philadelphia, the first African Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia was organized in 1807, being the first African-American Presbyterian church in the United States.

Then in 1812, back in New Jersey, a Theological Seminary at Princeton was established by the General Assembly as its first national school for ministers.

The General Assembly spoke again in 1818, pronouncing against slavery and calling for a gradual emancipation.

Soon after, the Presbyterians began to look beyond the borders of the United States.  In 1833, John B. Pinney sailed for Liberia as the first American Presbyterian missionary.  Then, in 1837, the Board of Foreign Missions was established.

Later, in 1853, the first Chinese Presbyterian Church was organized by William Speer in California.

The growing divide between the Northern and Southern states created some problems for organized Presbyterians.  In 1861, the General Assembly pledged loyalty to the Federal Government.  Southern commissioners protested and withdrew.  The Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America (renamed the Presbyterian Church U.S., in 1865) was organized in Augusta, Georgia.  This wide divide would not reunite for 122 years, in 1983, forming the Presbyterian Church (USA). 

In the intervening years, Margaret Towner became the first woman ordained, in 1956, as a minister in the PCUSA.  In 1972, a woman was first elected Moderator of the General Assembly.

Finally, in 2011 Presbyterians approved an amendment allowing for the ordination of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals called to ministry.

Do you think the PCUSA was leading the social changes in our American society over the last centuries, or were we following?  Remembering that Presbyterians deliberate on a congregation-by-congregation basis, perhaps it was a little bit of both.  Perhaps this mixed bag of social change sets a good pace --- it satisfies the "change leaders," while supporting others who are slower to accept that social change doesn't really mean abandoning our principles.  Today the PCUSA faces new challenges as membership and active participation have declined in recent decades.  But are not challenges what we should expect in a healthy church that actively engages the dynamics of the real world?
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to acquire some personal spiritual growth this year at CPC. 
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