Late Saturday Musings

July 18, 2020

 

Psalm 18 is part of my readings today. I have long loved David’s words to God, “Thy gentleness has made me great.” Have we come to know our Father in this way? Can others say this about us? About our churches? About professing Christians in general?

 

I admit that I often cringe when I hear the words “Christian” and “Evangelical”. Until I hear the context, I don’t know what they mean.

 

---------------------------------------------

 

Can someone explain why, if tragedy or upheaval happens in central Africa or in the Amazon, that no one in the United States writes a book about the “End Times”? Cannot we see how self-centered we are? Everything revolves around us in the States.

 

Can we not see how shallow our thinking is?

 

----------------------------------------------

 

An African – American woman who loves Gaelic dancing has been accused of “cultural appropriation”. Don’t we see that we have so much more in common than we realize? We love music. We love dancing. We love food.

 

Does this mean that Joe’s Diner at the corner of Park and High streets can no longer serve tacos, hot and sour soup, and pizza unless Joe has authentic ethnic cooks?

 

I’ve always, and I do mean always, loved getting to know folks from other cultures – why even from New England and the Deep South – imagine that!

 

What are we doing to ourselves? Too each other?

 

Well lassie, I’ve got a good bit of Scot in me and I say, “Dance, dance, and then dance some more!” Maybe I’ll give a sword dance a try myself.

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

God says that He will shake all things, things in the heavens and on the earth, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Jesus tells us a story about two men, one built his house on the sand, the other dug down and laid his foundation on a rock. Until the storm came with the storm surge, both houses looked the same from the outside.

 

How often do you visit a friend in his house who says, “Let me tell you about the great foundation my home is built upon”?

 

What is the foundation of your life built upon? Humanism? Agnosticism? Atheism? Cheapo cultural “Christian” religion that has a Cracker Jack – ‘n – the Box Jesus with prizes for everyone and your very own flavor of cotton – candy?

 

Those who follow Christ are not from Blue states or Red states, they have a citizenship that transcends the chaos of poisoned humanity, they know there is no hope in the things of this world – but they will live their lives for the blessing of the people of this world, indeed, for the benefit of all of God’s creation.

 

Jesus Christ came and died and rose again so that He could cross the greatest aisle of the universe, the great divide, the immense chasm – so that He might plumb the deepest abyss imaginable – the gulf between God and man – so that God might draw us, in Christ, back to Himself into a loving eternal union as His sons and His daughters in Jesus Christ.

 

We who call Jesus "Lord" now have the incredible honor of following Him and His Cross, loving all, giving to all, making peace with all in Christ – being God’s light in Christ in a confused and dark and toxic world. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When Christ calls a man [or woman], He bids him [or her], ‘Come and die.’”

 

Mark 8:27 – 38; Galatians 2:20; 6:14