Monday, August 26, 2019

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Is God Really Present In Our Lives?


          I understand that no one has actually seen the face of God.  But, many of us believe that at one time there must have been some kind of god-like being which established the Earth, the many forms of life on the Earth, and then organized physical forces of great complexity, which today generally give predictable results in their actions.  There seems to be some order in our universe.
         
       So, wouldn't the benefactor who did this want to protect that investment ----- not declare the work done and simply walk away?  However, despite such thinking, sometimes the people of this creation today DO contract a deadly disease, DIE in a natural disaster, or are KILLED arbitrarily in an automobile accident where the other driver was at fault.  Does God just let this happen?
         
       A complete understanding of how God works certainly is beyond our mortal abilities.  But, over the centuries much thought has attempted to explain the mystery of whether and how God is present in our lives.  The result has been the development of a number of alternative theological theories, which take us into the realm of religious faith.

         Many Christians point to the earthly presence of Jesus two thousand years ago, as convincing evidence that God does care about us and is present in our lives, even today.  In addition, the Bible is seen as confirming that God is with us today by the many quotes from Jesus about God.  In addition, the Bible is thought to evidence God's presence for us by what it calls the Holy Spirit, which it says dwells in each of us Believers.  But we must remember that none of this has scientific proof ------ it is a beautiful expression of faith.

          Recently, I was teaching a Sunday School class of teenagers.  It happened shortly after one of the tragic mass shootings in America.  One of my students raised his hand and asked, "Where was God when this killing of innocent people occurred?"  I had been asking myself the same question!  Does our Creator no longer care about us?
          I told the class that some people, whom we call "agnostics", do want absolute proof that there is a real God who remains active in our lives.  They are not prepared to accept God as a reality based on their faith, nor can they simply trust that He is out there somewhere for us.  In the overall spectrum of belief in a God currently active in our lives, this position is the most challenging.

          Well, could it be, I asked the class, that things could happen to people for no reason ------ that God has lost touch with the world, and nobody is in the driver's seat?  If God is not in charge of all things, then who is?  Worse yet, could it be that God does not care what happens to us?  Bad things do happen to good people in this world, but it may not be God who wills it.  For example, could it be that God does not decide which families will give birth to a handicapped child.  Perhaps God would like people to get what they deserve in life, but He cannot always arrange it.  Are we forced to choose between a good God who is not totally powerful, or a powerful God who is not totally good?  The Bible repeatedly speaks of God as the special protector of the poor, the widow and the orphan, without raising the question of how it happened that they became poor, widowed or orphaned in the first place.

         The opposite extreme would be that God not only is strongly present in our lives, but that our lives are not independently lived ----- that God is totally in charge.  That, although we may believe we think for ourselves, we actually have no independent discretion.  Therefore, in times of human tragedy or hardship, it is totally God's doing and we have done nothing to prompt it.

          For many folks, this wide range of uncertainty about God's possible plans for us is a huge worry, so theology has developed a number of intermediate theories, which are thought to be at work alone or jointly in any given situation. .  Some people believe that much of God's work is actually done through human beings, which gives us some power to modify or even thwart what God wants.  So, our personal relationships with God may determine what God actually does with humankind.  Here are some of the many alternative theories about God's presence in our lives:
          Theory #1:   Sometimes victims of misfortune try to console themselves with the idea that God has His reasons for making this happen to them, reasoning that they are in no position to judge God.  They believe there is some purpose in this suffering, but that it is beyond our ability to understand that purpose.  Furthermore, if God has initiated the tragedy or hardship on us, how can we now, in our prayers, ask God to help us?
          Theory #2  Tragedy in our lives is for our own good.  It teaches us to be strong.  Perhaps God does painful things to us as His way of helping us ----- like a drill sergeant in the Marine Corps.  Can't suffering be educational?  Perhaps it can cure us of some of our faults and make us better people, just as a parent must sometimes punish a misbehaving child.?                  Theory #3:   In troubled times, we are not compelled to feel that God has judged and condemned us.  We can be angry at what has happened, but without feeling that we are angry at God.  Furthermore, we can see that our anger at some of life's unfairness is coming from God, in our instinctive compassion upon seeing how other people suffer.  He teaches us to be angry at injustice, and to feel compassion for the afflicted.  We can feel that our indignation is God's anger at unfairness, working through us.
          Theory #4:   God may not even be doing this to us.  He is a God of justice and not of power.  Thus, He can still be on our side when bad things happen to us.  He can know that we are good and honest people who deserve better.  Our misfortunes are none of His doing, and we can turn to Him for help.  Regardless of how our tragedies are caused, God stands ready to help us cope with the situation, if we can just get beyond the feelings of guilt and anger that separate us from Him.  Could it be that, "How could God do this to me?" is the wrong question to ask.  We should ask, "God, see what is happening to me?  Can you help me?"  We will turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted.
          Theory #5:    Assume that God is the cause of our suffering.  But, our God is a God of justice and righteousness.  Our God is all powerful and causes everything that happens in the world.  Nothing happens without His will.  Our God stands up for people getting what they deserve, so that the good prosper and the wicked are punished.  He gives people exactly what they deserve.
           Friends and family of victims sometimes think the victim should be blamed so that evil doesn't seem quite so irrational and threatening to themselves.  They believe that because God punishes people for their sins, it is one's misdeeds that have caused their misfortunes.  But, what if one does not know what that causal misdeed was.  Some will ask whether pointless suffering for some unspecified sin is really a contribution to humankind?  Blaming the victim helps fortunate people believe that their good fortune is deserved, rather than being a matter of chance.  Finally, why does there appear to be such an unfair distribution of suffering in the world?  Does God really give everyone just what they deserve and need?  Why do totally unselfish people suffer, people who never do anything wrong?
            Theory #6 When all else fails, some people try to explain suffering by believing that it comes to liberate us from a world of pain, and in the case of death, leads to a better place.  Death takes us out of this world of sin and pain.  The victim is now in a happier land where there is no pain, nor grief.
             Sometimes when our souls yearn for justice, because we so desperately want to believe that God will be fair to us, we fasten our hope on the idea that life in this world is not the only reality.  Somewhere beyond this life is another world where "the last shall be first" and those whose lives are cut short here on earth will be reunited with those they loved, and will spend eternity with them.  No living person can know anything about the reality of that hope.  The non-physical "body" leaves us when we die, what we call our "soul".  Belief in a world to come where innocent souls are compensated for their suffering on earth, can help us endure the unfairness of life in this world, without losing faith.  But it can also be an excuse for not being troubled or outraged by injustices around us, and not using our God-given intelligence to do something about it.
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These thoughts are brought to you by the CPC Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage your spiritual growth this summer.
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Monday, August 19, 2019

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Our Life-Time Successes ----- On Whose Shoulders Did We Really Stand?


           I spend some time each week as one of the supervisors of a soup kitchen in Summit.  This is a not-for-profit operation sponsored by S.H.I.P.  ("Summit Helps It's People"), and we serve cooked and nourishing meals seven days a week.

          Our clientele are local folks who are at or near homelessness, and for whatever reason are living at or below the government-designated poverty level.

          We try to be welcoming, so we engage our guests in conversation during their time with us.  Out of these conversations, I have begun to change my view of the people we are serving.

          People are not born with equal opportunities.  But, can we help people to create opportunities for themselves that engage their particular personal gifts, and then cause them to make the necessary effort to effectively employ those gifts?

          One thing I have learned is that shame is a major part of the brokenness that low-income people experience in their relationship with themselves.  Instead of seeing themselves as being created in the image of God, low-income people often feel deeply that they are inferior to others.  This can paralyze the poor, preventing them from taking initiative and from seizing opportunities to improve their situation, thereby locking them into permanent material poverty.

          At the same time, because I can afford to be a regular soup kitchen volunteer, and live comfortably in Summit, I realize that I also suffer from a deficiency.  Specifically, I am a candidate to have a kind of "god-complex," a subtle and unconscious sense of superiority in which I believe that I have achieved my "wealth" completely through my own efforts and that I have been anointed to decide what is best for low-income people, whom I might view as inferior to myself.

           Few of us may be conscious of having a "god-complex," but that may be part of the problem.  Are we often deceived by one of our own sinful natures?  For example, consider why do we want to help the poor?  Really think about it.  What truly motivates you?  Do you really love poor people so much, and eagerly want to serve them?  Or, do you have additional motives?

          I confess that part of what motivates me to help the poor is my felt need to accomplish something worthwhile in my life, to be a person of significance, to feel I have pursued a noble cause, perhaps to be a bit like God.  It makes me feel good to use my resources to "save" poor people.  And in the process, I guess I sometimes unintentionally reduce poor people to objects that I can use to fulfill my own need to accomplish something.  It is an ugly truth, and it pains me to admit it, but when I want to "do" good, the evil of feeding my ego is right there with me!

          Perhaps we have been lucky.  Perhaps we have worked hard and been well-focused in our lives.  But how much of our reward was truly earned by us, and how much has come to us by the grace of God ----- and thus should be shared?

          Are the opportunities any of us are born into, some gift of God?  I was fortunate in being born into a college-educated family, and then I was admitted to a challenging college, where I could discover my gifts and develop early, marketable skills.  Sure, I could have wasted these opportunities, but that would have been in conflict with the culture of my family and those I socialized with.  I was blessed with opportunities.

          What if others in my personal culture had not laid out for me this path of growth and personal development?  I would be a very different person today, and perhaps struggling.  Indeed, I did work hard and I did apply myself, but others provided me with some great opportunities.

            I must remember that for many of the poor it is their lack of opportunities ----- the lack of the "shoulders" I was able to stand on, which doomed them to be poor.  Yes, some of them may have lacked ambition and determination to better themselves economically.  But, others who did have ambition and determination lacked an important thing ------ opportunities.  They may have felt shame in their poverty, but perhaps the real source of their poverty was outside them.  Perhaps it was just the absence of "shoulders" to stand on.  If I really want to help the poor, maybe I need to focus on nurturing their opportunities.

           Do you ever wonder whom you should thank for your opportunities and particular privileges in life?  Perhaps God was there, working through the "direct" providers to you, each of whom did something, contributed a little piece of the "big picture", that became today's YOU.  Now the question is whether you can be one of those "direct" providers for someone else?  If you are one of those "direct" providers, mindful of the many unearned privileges in our own lives, it could lead us to greater generosity toward others.   For ourselves, it could lead to a more profound humility and greater conviction that we are at our best when we are acting as part of a community, helping each other.

          Let's think of helping others beyond their mere survival.  How can we engineer opportunities for personal development that prior generations of struggling populations were not even aware were possible?  Perhaps this is the next chapter in the ongoing story of our help to others.
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you personally in some spiritual growth this summer at CPC.
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Tuesday, August 13, 2019

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Are You Comfortable With Non-Conforming Strangers?


One summer, my family and I rented a vacation house at the Jersey Shore.  Several nights a week we would eat out, so during the day, on our wanderings through town, we would keep our eyes open for interesting restaurants.  One in particular was recommended to us, but it had a window sign reading "NO tank tops for ladies, NO shorts for men."

The window sign was quite clear ----- you knew where you stood.  Most of society is not that candid.  As Pastor Lillian Daniel has written, "Groups of people have these signs in their heads, but outsiders never see them.  You just perceive that there are rules and an order to things that some people seem to know and others do not."

I remember my first days at a new High School.  I entered the school cafeteria and froze.  Where should I sit?  Will I be welcomed?  Will I be ignored?  I was the outsider, with no welcoming place to sit.

Perhaps the desire to eat at a table with others has been hard-wired into human beings.  But there is an element of social status to this as well.  It is not just that we do not want to eat alone.  We do not want to be seen as eating alone.  From our earliest nursery school memories of snack time, to the seating chart at the retirement dinner, we know that these eating arrangements, formal and informal, mean something about whom we are and where we are placed socially.

If Jesus had been a student at my High School, he probably would have been actively discouraged from eating with the tax collectors and sinners.  But, Jesus did eat with tax collectors and sinners, breaking rules that were more rigid than those at my High School.

In Jesus' day, whom you ate with really mattered.  Where you sat was not a casual affair.  You were associated with the people you ate with.  If they were good, upstanding people and they invited you to eat at their table, you were by association, good and upstanding, too.

But, if the people were sinners and known to the community as such, you definitely didn't want to eat with them.  The only people who ate with sinners were other sinners, the people who had to share that table because no other table would have them.

At first, when I would sit down at any of those cafeteria social enclaves, I was stared at as if I had made a mistake.  But gradually, I got to know different people, made different friends, and realized that the cliques were not as homogeneous as I had led myself to believe.  There were smart students at the "pretty" table, "jocks" at the orchestra table, and interesting stories everywhere.

"NO tank tops for ladies, NO shorts for men."  Most of the world just isn't that direct.  But it is the unspoken and unwritten rules which often cause the most pain, and block us from trying to develop friendly relationships with strangers.

Jesus turned the tables on that by sitting at the wrong table.  What makes it the "wrong" table?  The "wrong" people are sitting there.  Who are the "wrong" people?  The ones who are not like us.

At Central Church we house the homeless during four different weeks of the year.  We call it our gift to the Family Promise Program.  Many Central Church volunteers come together to make this work, even spending over-nights with them.  Briefly, we create a "community."

Meanwhile, there once were grumblings about a homeless man who had been encamped at the edge of the church parking lot for many months, with all his possessions gathered in large plastic bags.  Sometimes he had homeless visitors.  By camping so permanently where he did, one could say that this long-term camper did not respect the "assigned seating arrangements" in our affluent town of Summit.

It was as if, in affluent Summit, there was an unspoken sign saying, "If you pay a considerable amount of money for your home, you should not have to walk next to a homeless person ------ you should not even have to see one.  And this attitude is not unique to Summit ------ it pervades much of our privileged American culture.

To which, Jesus would have had a very clear answer, that would not have satisfied some people.  Jesus' answer might have been this:  "In the world, there may be assigned seating, but in the Kingdom of Heaven there is not."  If you and I believe this, we ought to act on it, and practice it here on earth.  For Jesus and his disciples there were no assigned seats at his table.  All were welcome, particularly in their brokenness.  Indeed, the church was born on the damaged consciences and rotten reputations of tax collectors, sinners and people in need.

We will always be told that social barriers are there for a reason ----- that the rules are there to keep order, and that if we will keep to our own lunch tables, we will be better off.  But, the myth of that story is to think we can keep all the sinners at their own table.  Of course, this is wrong and profoundly self-deceiving.  Because there are sinners at every table.  There is definitely a sinner at every table where I sit, because it is me.

Perhaps we should try reading this story as if we were the tax collector.  We are looking over the tables, wondering where to sit down, and who will have us.  We want a way out of our past mistakes and sins.  We want to be a better person.

Is this too big a job for us to tackle by ourselves?  Suppose we were to sit down at a table with an unfamiliar group.  By trusting that the Holy Spirit will work through all of us, are we going to grow more accepting, like Jesus?   Isn't this how true community begins?  Isn't our church a fertile garden for planting and nourishing "community"?  Everyone is welcomed.  This is because our church is actually a school for sinners ----- not a club for saints.
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These thoughts are brought to you by the CPC Adult Spiritual Development Team, seeking some spiritual growth for you this summer.
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Tuesday, August 6, 2019

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: It's YOUR Choice ----- Anger or Forgiveness


Is there someone with whom you need to rebuild a broken relationship?  Is there someone who caused you pain in the recent past?

So, how do we forgive?  What does it mean to reconcile with your "enemy"?  Can we learn to forgive those who have hurt us so deeply that the pain does not seem to go away?

Forgiveness is not a weak substitute for revenge, just because forgiveness is soft and gentle.  Actually, it is the best alternative because it is the only creative route to less unfairness.  Hard as forgiveness seems at the time, forgiveness has creative power to move us away from a past moment of pain, block us from an endless chain of pain-giving responses, and to create a new situation in which both the wrongdoer and the wronged can begin in a new way.  There is no guarantee, but forgiving is the only door open to the possibilities of renewal.

Forgiveness, of course, is not an easy practice to master.  Sometimes hurts seem too great, betrayals too treacherous, to be forgiven.  Sometimes forgiveness can be mistaken for weakness and vulnerability, especially by those who consider offering to forgive.

The need to forgive sometimes arises when another person has, in effect, attacked some aspect of our own self-esteem.  But, forgiveness is about being able to accept our human situation with all the ambiguity and messiness it entails.  It's about accepting the fact that people inevitably do disappoint one another.  Because we are limited in time, in talent and in the ability to understand everything about one another, we often miss the mark.

Forgiveness means accepting others ----- and ourselves ----- as being human, not divine.  Forgiveness means resisting a defensive response when we are hurt ----- a response that cuts off the other person.  But as much as we might like forgiveness to be a "forgive and forget" moment, our lives do not work that way.  Often, forgiving is an extended process, with moments of retreat for us to overcome.  Importantly, to forgive one must believe that in our forgiveness we somehow love the sinner, while saying clearly that the sin is unacceptable.

In the summer of 2004, my wife and I spent a week  living on a Blackfoot Indian reservation in western Montana.  We were members of a volunteer project sponsored by a national organization that gives a helping hand to needy communities.  It  was a little like CPC's high school mission trips, except ours was not church-sponsored.

We spent time with some very friendly Blackfoot Indian families, and were invited to their community meetings.  One night, a tribal elder shared a lesson I still remember.  That lesson was as relevant to my wife and me as it was to the Blackfoot Indian audience.

                "An old Indian grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him
                 with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, . . . .  'Let me
                 tell you a story.' "

                "I, too, at times, have felt a great hate for those who have taken too
                 much, with no sorrow for what they do.  But hate wears you down,
                 and does not hurt your enemy.  It is like you taking poison and wishing
                 your enemy would die.  I have struggled with these feelings many times."

                 He continued . . .   "It is as if there were two wolves inside me.  One is
                 good and does no harm.  He lives in harmony with all around him, and
                 he does not take offense when no offense was intended.  He will fight
                 only when it is right to do so, and in the right way.  He saves all his
                 energy for the right fight."

                "But the other wolf, ahhh.  He is full of anger.  The littlest thing will set
                 him into a fit of temper.  He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason.
                 He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great.  It is hopeless
                 anger for his anger will change nothing."

               "Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of
                them try to dominate my spirit."

                The boy looked intently into his grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which one
                wins, Grandfather?"

                The grandfather smiled and quietly said . . . .   "The one I feed."
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping you
will pursue some personal spiritual growth this summer. 
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