“Christ Carrying the Cross” by Giovanni Tiepolo (c. 1737), Location Sant-Alvise Church, Venice, Italy, Source Web Gallery of Art http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/t/tiepolo/gianbatt/2_1730s/11alvise.html (PD-Art, PD-Age-100)
Ours is a culture geared toward self-actualization. Self-denial (except in the pursuit of physical perfection) is looked on as pathologic. We worship at the altar of the individual – a futile attempt to achieve inner peace by an emphasis on the carnal.
The Christian worldview is diametrically opposed to this. Christ invites us to suffer with Him. That is not an invitation to masochism. It is a profound response to the reality of suffering.
“ ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me’ ” (Mark 8: 34).
Lord Jesus, we turn our eyes to You when the trials and frustrations of life wear away at our resolve.
Keep us from bitterness and resentment, Lord, for in You there is hope everlasting. Teach us how to deny ourselves, yet live with joy.
Each of us has a cross to bear and a road to travel. But You, Lord, are with us, sharing our load. Carry us forward, when that load seems unbearable. Catch us when we fall, Lord, and help us to rise again, so we may follow You faithfully.
Amen
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Sinner at the Bar of Justice, Illustration from Book III of “Emblems Divine and Moral” by Francis Quarles (published 1777) (PD)
“Justice: Lord, shall I strike the blow?
Jesus: Hold, Justice. Sinner, speak on. What hast thou more to say?
Sinner: Vile as I am, and of myself abhorred, I am thy handiwork, they creature, Lord, stamped with thy glorious image, and, at first, most like to thee, though now a poor accursed, convicted… and degenerate creature, here trembling at thy bar.
Justice: Thy faults the Lord knows well. Shall I strike the blow?
Jesus: Speak, sinner. Hast thou nothing else to say?
Sinner: Nothing but mercy, mercy, Lord. Judge not my faults, miserably poor and desperate as I am. I quite renounce myself, the world, and flee, Lord, to Jesus and from thyself to thee.
Justice: Cease thy vain hopes. My angry God has abused [exhausted] mercy [and] must have blood for blood. Shall I strike the blow?
Jesus: Stay, Justice, hold…my fainting blood grows cold to view the trembling wretch; methinks, I spy my Father’s image in the prisoner’s eye.
Justice: I cannot hold…
Jesus: Then turn thy thirsty [blade] into my sides, let there the wound be made. Cheer up, dear soul; redeem thy life with mine. My soul shall smart; my heart shall bleed for thine.
Sinner: O groundless [bottomless] deeps [mysteries]! O love beyond degree! Th’ offended dies to set th’ offender free.”
– Excerpt from Book III of “Emblems Divine and Moral” by Francis Quarles
We are once again in the Lenten season, that six week period during the liturgical year when Christians repent their sins and do penance, in preparation for the Easter celebration.
The Puritan minister, Jonathan Edwards, was famed for his fiery sermons on repentance, among them “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” At the time the sermon was given in 1741, worshipers were so terrified that some collapsed in the aisles. The sermon is now studied as literature in schools, and ridiculed for its “exaggerated” language and images.
These days, if we concede the existence of a god at all, we prefer to view him as an understanding and forgiving sort of guy — someone either too distant to be concerned about our few foibles or willing to give us the benefit of the doubt. Read more…
1920 map showing races of the world classified by skin color. White populations shown in red. Black populations shown in grey. Mixed black and white populations shown in purple. Native American populations shown in orange.
Though genetics, linguistics, anthropology, and archaeology do not always agree, it is possible with modern advances to trace human ancestry back thousands of years.
Adam and Eve…Sort of
The most recent common ancestor from whom all people living today are thought to have descended, along the paternal line, bears the formal moniker Y-MRCA but is known to friends as “Y-chromosomal Adam”. The comparable female ancestor mt-MRCA was traced through the mitochondrial DNA passed maternally. She is, therefore, called “Mitochondrial Eve”.
Scientists do not view Y-chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve as the biblical couple. They may not even have been contemporaries. But they did pass down their genes to us.
Race
Thirteen markers on the Y-chromosome distinguish the various populations across the globe.
Mutation, migration, and sexual reproduction, itself, all contribute toward genetic variation. Add to the complexity epigenetics, which involves heritable changes in appearance and gene expression not resulting from changes in the DNA sequence.
Variation is actually a strength. It increases the chances that some in the population will be able to survive a new threat.
The statistical differences in susceptibility to some diseases, among the various populations on earth, illustrate this. Since genes can change over time, these differences are thought to have developed in response to local diseases. Sickle cell anemia may, for example, provide genetic resistance to malaria.
Blood Brothers
Whether any of such factors can be used to define race is disputed. There are no genes for race per se. But the frequency with which certain genes occur in a given population can be used to apply a label to that population.
This may have more sociological than genetic significance. For purposes of a blood transfusion, it is essential to identify blood type…not skin color or point of geographic origin. You might say that makes us blood brothers.
What Christians know – over and apart from all this – is that we were all fashioned by the same Creator, and all saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Happy Valentine’s Day
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Seabees Recruiting Poster c. 1942
“…Lord, stand beside the men who build
And give them courage, strength and skill
O grant them peace of heart and mind
And comfort loved ones left behind
Lord, hear our prayer for all Seabees
Where e’re they be on land or sea.”– Prayer on Memorial to the Navy Construction Battalion a/k/a Seabees, Arlington National Cemetery
Over 325,000 men during WW II served in the Seabees, as the Navy Construction Battalion (“CB”) was called. This prayer honors their memory at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Lord’s assurances of His continuing presence and protection can be found throughout Scripture. These require little comment, but provide great comfort in the difficult times in which we live.
Here are just a few:
“ ‘Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid…for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you’ ” (Deut. 31: 6).
“ ‘I will not leave you nor forsake you’ ” (Joshua 1: 5).
“ ‘…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ ” (Matt. 28: 20).
“For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Heb. 13: 5-6).
Father, we thank You for Your continuing presence, in history and in our lives.
You are far greater than any man. Yet we find ourselves, at times, afraid of what the world can do to us. Despite our knowledge of Your power, we fear for our lives, for our children, and for our financial well-being.
You have not given us a spirit of fear, Father, but of power and love. Make us worthy of those gifts.
Extend Your hand of protection to us. Help us to experience Your presence afresh each morning. Help us to trust in You on our darkest nights, though we cannot feel You by our side.
We ask these things in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
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Heinrich Himmler, SS commander who established and controlled Nazi concentration camps, at direction of Adolf Hitler, Source German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R99621) (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria last year accused ISIS of crimes against humanity [1]. After conducting more than 300 refugee interviews, the commission concluded that ISIS rules by terror with mass killings, public beheadings, stonings, amputations, and sexual enslavement commonly used tactics.
The atrocities ISIS has adopted as its own bring back all too sharply memories of another self-styled empire and so called “master race”. Though the rhetoric by ISIS may differ from that by the Nazis (and the numbers of dead are not yet on a par), the two are alike under the skin:
- ISIS is motivated by hate, just as the Nazis were.
- ISIS claims moral superiority over all others, just as the Nazis did.
- ISIS perverts religion to achieve and retain power, just as the Nazis did.
- ISIS uses fear, violence, and religious persecution to further its ends, just as the Nazis did.
- ISIS is willing – even anxious – to commit genocide, just as the Nazis were.
There exists no religion more directly opposed to such tactics and beliefs than Christianity. As Christians, we know that we are sinners (Rom. 3: 23), morally superior to no one, and saved by grace alone (Eph. 2: 8). We are to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5: 43-44).
What then are we to do, in the face of crimes against humanity? What course are we to pursue, when the blood of our persecuted brothers and sisters cries out to us – not seeking vengeance, but pleading that we rescue those we yet can?
“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the body also” (Heb. 13: 3).
Lord Jesus, ours is a lost world. Those of us who know You are few; those who can worship and remain faithful to You without fear of reprisal, fewer still.
Remember our persecuted brothers and sisters, even when we do not. Help us to know what You would have us do for them, and for all those subjected to such horrors.
Protect them from harm, comfort them in grief, carry them home at the appointed hour in Your loving arms.
Amen
—
[1] Arabiya.net, “Isis Accused of Crimes Against Humanity”, 11/14/15, http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/14/ISIS-commits-crimes-against-humanity-in-Syria.html.
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Official Pennsylvania Lottery Logo with Tagline (PD)
State legislation in 2004 authorized gambling in Pennsylvania. During the first three months after Pennsylvania casinos opened, gamblers bet $1.06 billion. They lost 90.6% of that.
Legalized gambling is often put forward as a valid strategy for economic development [1]. During hearings in 1994 before the US House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, however, experts testified that casino-style gambling impacts negatively on the criminal justice system, social welfare system, small businesses, and overall economy of a region.
Though the gaming industry routinely promises painless tax revenue [2], for every tax dollar contributed across the nation by legalized gambling, at least three dollars of taxpayer support are required by way of infrastructure and regulatory costs. Philadelphia projected its own increased policing costs at $11-$16 million.
Gambling, also, acts as a regressive tax on the poor. In the forlorn hope of a jackpot that will change their lives, the disadvantaged tend to gamble proportionately greater amounts of their income than their well-off neighbors – particularly on state lotteries. This translates to less money for rent and groceries.
The poor see no viable alternatives, all the while falling further behind. Read more…
New York City skyline before 9/11, Photo by Dhaval Jani, Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/95709708@N00/3918427292 (CC Attribution 2.0 Generic)
The term “New York values” was tossed out like a hand grenade at this week’s Republican Party debate. The city will no doubt survive the insult. It has survived worse.
But in the context of the current presidential campaign – a campaign in which immigrants, POWs, the disabled, Muslims, African Americans, and women have been among those targeted – it is worth examining what New York’s true values are. And what the values may be of those content with such rhetoric.
In the minds of many, New York City is not only associated with wealth, power, and sophistication. They consider the city a symbol for rudeness, arrogance, and immorality. Yet if the Midwest is America’s backbone, then New York City is the nation’s beating heart.
New York has rightly been called the city that never sleeps.
New Yorkers love that about the city – its vitality, its hustle, its sheer energy. They appreciate the cultural aspects of the city – its museums, theaters, ballet and opera companies – as much as its circuses and parades.
New Yorkers complain about the city’s crowded subways, pot-holed streets, and traffic clogged highways.
But they thrive on the pace. For them, New York City is a race run everyday. Read more…
“Job and His Family Restored to Prosperity” by William Blake (1805), Location Morgan Library (PD-Art, Age-old-100)
“Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’
So Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘…You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!’
And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power…’ ” (Job 1: 8-12).
The Book of Job reveals a good deal to us about spiritual attack. One essential lesson has to do with glorifying God.
Loss and an Absent God
Everything Job, a righteous man, had valued was taken from him. Job lost his property and his children. He lost his health, his standing in the community, his good name, and his friends. His marriage faltered.
Above all, Job lost His communion with God. Job felt God had turned His face away, just when Job needed Him most.
Job’s sense of rejection should come as no surprise to us. Those regularly in communication with God and sensitive to His presence feel His “absence” keenly. But the very thought that God would abandon us is a lie perpetrated by the adversary. We must not fall prey to it.
In His Presence
We live at every moment in God’s presence. That can be an uncomfortable truth or a great consolation.
“ ‘Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord,“And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?’ says the Lord; ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth’ says the Lord” (Jer. 23: 23-24).
God is, in other words, as aware of our suffering as He is of our sins.
“O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways” (Ps. 139: 1-3).
If we do not know God’s character well, that may seem like cold comfort. But we have His assurance that the very hairs of our head are numbered (Luke 12: 7). And we have the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross for our Salvation.
Distorted Lens
Sin – whether by or against us – distorts the lens through which we see God. It is not the only reason, however, that God may seem distant on occasion.
Job’s so called friends were certain he had sinned in some way to prompt such suffering. Under the guise of good advice, they urged him to repent. Job denied any wrongdoing on his part, and maintained that God would vindicate him. Read more…
Federal Court Reports, Author Raysonho (CC0 1.0 Universal PD Dedication)
Attorneys are regularly called upon to elicit testimony; draft stipulations; and defend (or dispute) statutes, judgments, and decrees. At times, these tasks can become routine. Politics can make us equally jaded.
Walk through the student union at any university, by contrast. You will find young people on every side engaged in impassioned discussions about law and politics, philosophy and theology. Why does the world operate as it does? Can one person possibly make a difference? What is the point of it all?
The Bible – which which offers answers to these questions – urges us to consider God’s law with the same degree of fervor. We are instructed:
“ ‘And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up…When your son asks you…saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand…’ ” (Deut. 6: 6-7, 20-21).
This is not an argument in favor of legalism. Rather, it is an invitation to know God better, that we may obey Him out of love, with a willing heart.
The apparent discrepancy is explained this way:
“So the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3: 24).
We were in bondage to sin, condemned by the law, but set free by Jesus Christ. That should be grounds enough for excitement. May it be our byword for the New Year.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
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“An Old Woman Reading, Probably the Prophetess Hannah” by Rembrandt (1631), Location Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Source http://www.art-spb.ru (PD-Art, PD-Age-100)
“Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess…and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2: 36-38).
The prophetess, Anna, is described in the Bible as a godly woman who frequented the temple for many years after her husband’s death. It would have been more common for a widow to live with her children in old age, so likely Anna had none.
Despite the early loss of her husband and the absence of children, Anna does not seem to have grown bitter. Though she could easily have viewed herself as forgotten by Almighty God, Anna remained devout – decade in and decade out – finding her comfort in Him. And it was to Anna that the privilege was given of recognizing the child Jesus as the promised Redeemer, when Mary and Joseph first brought Him to the temple to be presented [1].
Not many of us are prophets by profession. God speaks to (and through) each of us differently.
Perhaps you are the spoon lifting soup to the lips of a dying woman, or the hammer driving home a point in court, so that justice might be done. You may be the plow, opening fresh fields to the word of God, or simply raising the wheat needed to feed a hungry world. If not that, perhaps you are blessed to be the wallet enriching others.
Do not underestimate your value in God’s eyes. He designed you for this moment. You bear His handprint. You can think and feel because He willed it. You can choose between right and wrong because He engineered it.
You are the channel through which His love can flow where it has never gone before. And you are redeemed by that love, Incarnate in the Person of Jesus Christ.
—
[1] The other individual privileged to recognize Jesus as the Messiah at the time of His presentation in the temple was Simeon (Luke 2: 25-35).
Have a Happy New Year!
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
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