Happy Thanksgiving

Thursday 11/26/2015 4:55 AM

I saw a meteor streaking across the sky on two different occasions within the last few days, once as I ran early in the morning and the other at dusk, as I was riding my motorcycle home from school. Both were brilliant streaks of light trailing sparks like fireworks. They lasted only a second or two, and then were gone.

Tomorrow I will celebrate my sixtieth birthday. I can’t believe it. As I reflect, my life seems to have lasted about as long as the meteors I saw, just a quick flash of light. But what a wonderful life it has been.

Earlier this week a Facebook friend posted a picture in which she and her husband were sharing a passionate kiss, silhouetted against a bright, foggy background. I immediately thought of my love for Jaci and Proverbs 5:18-19 leaped into my head. “May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer – may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.” The Lord has blessed me beyond measure with the gift of her love. I am thankful for her and I am definitely inebriated by her love.

The Lord has also blessed us with three great kids who have married three wonderful spouses. Psalm 127:3-5 comes to mind, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” For whatever reason the Lord gave children to a couple of people who had no experience in raising children and then gave us the grace to raise them. The love we share is a great encouragement to me, and something for which I am grateful.

God’s faithfulness to me has been extended even further through my seven, going on eight, grandchildren. They are a source of great joy and exhibit boundless energy and enthusiasm. Psalm 71:17-18 is my hope and prayer. “Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.”

These were the thoughts coursing through my head as I ran early this Thanksgiving morning. When I got home I sat down for my time of meditation and reflection. I read the opening affirmation for the week, based on Psalm 2:12b. “All who take refuge in the Lord are truly happy!” There it was. Simply stated. It is not the circumstances of my life but, rather, my relationship with God that brings encouragement, hope, and, ultimately, happiness.

Stephen Doughty and Marjorie Thompson give sound advice in their book, The Way of Discernment. “We need to open our eyes and ears. In a culture so fixed on the superficial, the negative, the sensational, and the tawdry, we need to be a people who look for the movements of God’s grace and stand ready to follow where those movements lead.” I pray that as I grow older and my senses fade I will still be able to sense the grace of God raining on the world he loves and to follow where he leads. If I am able to do so, my life will be a happy thanksgiving, come what may.

Questions About Hope

Tuesday 11/24/2015 4:54 AM

In my journal yesterday I wrote about the anxiety that many Christians feel today regarding the future. Terrorist threats are daily fare on the news and, if conservative commentators are to be believed, there is a war on Christians and the Christian way of life. Many in the Christian community are lashing out with anger and fear, fighting to make sure our “rights” are protected and that our way of life is preserved.

In his book A Guide to Spiritual Discernment, Rueben Job portrays the history of the Christian community that stands in stark contrast to this way of thinking and acting. He writes, “Hope has always been a dominant quality in the life of the Christian community. … The source of this resolute hope was never found in the surroundings or how things were going for the Church. Rather, hope was found in God and the assurance that God was at work in the Church and in the world. The disciples felt a calm confidence that God’s work and will would ultimately be completed and fulfilled. And they were assured that every Christian was invited into a partnership with God that moved toward the fulfillment of God’s grand design for all creation. Such assurance is fertile ground in which the seeds of hope can flourish and bear the fruit of faithful living.”

Where are the church leaders that preach this message? Why does this message of hope and assurance fail to be promulgated by the church and its spokespersons? Who will speak the truth to a world that desperately needs to hear the truth that God is at work and will prevail, come hell or high water? When will the Christian community learn to listen to God’s promises in his word rather than to the talking heads of our modern society? When will we learn to walk in confidence, knowing that the all-powerful God of the universe, who loves us, is walking with us?

We need to live like we believe the words of Jesus to his disciples in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Mathematical Beauty and Praise

Monday 11/9/2015 4:23 AM

My psalm for the week is Psalm 148, a call to praise. But the call to praise is not just to humankind, it is to the whole creation. “Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. … Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creature and flying birds.”

Because I am a mathematician, when I am out in the middle of creation I see the patterns of self-similarity in the clouds and mountain ranges. I see the contour lines and gradient vectors when hiking along a mountain trail. I notice that nature operates in the most efficient ways possible and stand amazed. I love to try to point this out to others. Unfortunately too often those attempts fall short because many are not conversant in the language of mathematics, through which creation speaks to me.

Today I read an excerpt from John Mogabgab that encourages me to keep trying to communicate that mathematical beauty to others. He writes, “…early Christian writers had identified profound inner stillness as a condition of understanding the mysteries of God hidden in creation and communicating these with wisdom to others. Such understanding and communication are essential aspects of our stewardship as we seek ways of interpreting God’s design for creation to a world impaired in its ability to listen.” I pray that I will not become discouraged in pointing out the beauty.

My Brother's Keeper

Thursday 11/5/2015 4:39 AM

Today I read two portions of scripture. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 reads, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” Galatians 6:10 reads. “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”

The theme of my devotions this week is responsibility. John Mogabgab writes about the responsibility of believers in our world once they have been apprehended by the love of Christ and begin to view the world through the lens of love as expressed on the cross. “From all the fear, suspicion, anger, and terror that stalk the world, from all the empty hopes and overflowing sadness, all the sweet dreams and acid anguish, God has wrested a new creation. The human point of view – with its focus on looking out for ourselves, preoccupation with our own plans, fear of others’ scornful judgment, anxious anticipation of the future – has become an outmoded paradigm. It is not (and never was) capable of revealing what is most real and true about life. This reality and truth are wreathed in paradox. … What we glimpse is life woven together in love, all life interwoven in ways that do not smother and encumber but rather release and strengthen. Here is God’s desire and design for created life, for all brothers and sisters of the mineral, plant, animal, and human nations with whom it is good and pleasant to dwell in unity. Here too is the living matrix of responsibility. … No dimension of another’s life lies beyond the scope of the Christian’s concern and care. … Although this is certainly important within the community of faith as a compelling sign of radically rewoven relationships, the scope of Christian responsibility is as encompassing as the new creation itself. New life in Christ manifests itself in responsibility for the other.”

Too often I feel as if I, and most Christians, still live in the world as those overcome by fear, suspicion, anger, and anguish. We see ourselves as victims whose rights are being eroded away. We bemoan the fact that prayer is no longer tolerated in public, the Ten Commandments are no longer allowed in our courtrooms, and businesses whose owners are Christian are fined for standing up for what they believe. We feel threatened by groups like Black Lives Matter and insist that all lives matter. While there is truth in that statement it also minimizes the pain and frustration that minority groups often experience on a daily basis.

God’s call to me is to do good to all people. I quite naturally look out for my own interests. God calls me to look out for the interests of others with the same intensity. I need to remember that in order for humanity to live in shalom the needs of everyone need to be addressed. When one part of body of humanity suffers we all suffer and Christians should be on the front lines of alleviating the suffering, sacrificing our own rights and resources so that there can be justice and equity for all. God so loved the world that he gave. I need to do the same.

The Eyes and Heart of Mercy

Saturday 10/31/2015 7:44 AM

I am only month away from my sixtieth birthday. As I age I have a tendency to become more despondent. It seems that the world is becoming less caring and everything seems to be coming apart at the seams. Any attempt I make to stem this tide seems inconsequential at best.

I have great respect for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Their lives have been spent pouring love into the lives of those living on the periphery of society. They have sought to restore justice to those oppressed and have attempted to change the unjust systems that continue to perpetuate the wrongs perpetrated on the weak and powerless. There have been times when their efforts effected the desired change but too often the small steps gained were soon eradicated. They continue on in their retirement doing the same kind of work. I try to emulate their tenacity to the cause but my efforts pale in comparison.

I have engaged in long conversations with them regarding the issues about which they are so passionate. We have never spoken directly of this but I sometimes wonder if they become as discouraged as I do when little to no progress seems to be made toward the goal.

This morning I ran a little later than usual, so I saw a number of people out for their morning exercise. As is my habit, when I meet someone walking, running, or biking I smile and say good morning. It is a small gesture but, since I live in the greater Los Angeles area where any conversation with a stranger is unusual, most people are surprised. As I thought about all the troubling things in the world, sinking deeper into melancholy, I met someone walking. I greeted them with a friendly hello. They smiled, and returned the greeting. I was listening to my music as I ran and the song playing was I Am Not Alone, by Kari Jobe. Immediately after the person returned my greeting these words from the song came into my ears, “In the midst of deep sorrow I see your light is breaking through. The dark of night will not overtake me, I am pressing into you.” It was a reminder that even small gestures like a friendly greeting can express the love of God for a stranger. The love of God expressed in the smallest of gestures shines light into our dark world. After all, Jesus said God’s love is expressed in the offering of a cup of cold water to a stranger.

 The thoughts I had when I ran were reinforced as I sat down for my devotions today. Part of my reading included an essay by Sister Elaine M. Prevallet entitled “Living in Mercy.” She writes, “Surely in the end, after all our righteous judgments on what is wrong with ourselves, each other, and with the world; after we experience injustice intractably resistant to our most devoted efforts, leaving us with our thirst unquenched, our mouths dry and our throats sore from protest; surely in the end the gospel calls us to view the whole of creation, and each other, with the eyes of mercy, and to love it all anyway, with a mercying heart.”

My job in the kingdom of God is not to bemoan what is wrong with myself or with others with whom I have contact. It is not to become discouraged when my efforts to right the wrongs of the world seem to be for naught. My job is to view the world and its numerous inhabitants with the eye of mercy and to love it with a mercying heart.

More and more, as I age, I feel as if the Spirit of God is allowing me to view the world with the eye of mercy but the loving with a mercying heart part is still an uphill battle for me. It is hard for me to know how best to address the wrongs that are so prevalent in the world with love, expressed in concrete actions. Thank God he looks at me with the eye of mercy and loves me with his mercying heart.

May God grant me mercy and guide me, through the working of his Spirit within me, to emulate him.