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Alone. Together.

You’ve likely heard the line, “We are all in this together.” But we aren’t. We’ve been distanced from community. We’ve been isolated and shut down. We are alone. Maybe together we are all alone, but that is just word trickery.

No one I know is doing ok. Everyone is struggling. For different reasons, yes, but we are all experiencing trauma. I used to wonder what it was like for my Grandmother, at home with her kids while the war raged across the channel. It has filled my imagination for years.

While I wouldn’t presume to understand her exact feeling, I do feel closer to her now than ever. All we can do is wait and survive.

What we do need is courage. The courage to sit in the sun. The courage to sing. The courage to make a nice meal. The courage to love. The courage to love people, even if they aren’t loving in return.

Claim the freedom to love.

2 Timothy 1: 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power,
of love and of self-discipline.

The noise deafens

Turn it all off. Turn off the noise, the tv, the voices that invade our minds. How is anyone expected to stay sane with all this noise?

Christ lived in a time so foreign to our own. We have great challenges that Christians have never faced before. The distractions and ever present media. It is almost impossible to navigate and move forward. I can turn off the noise, but if no one else does how does that help?

I am looking down the barrel of some pretty ugly days. People have allowed the voices to fill them with fear and anger. I watch as our society is covered by a cloak of virtue but the fruit is hate and distrust.

I have no confidence in mankind today. NONE.

We have to find a path back to God. We have to learn to love others, even if they are wrong, even if they do us harm, even if they wield power, even if they are the underdog, even if they protest what we value. All of us! Not one of us is free of sin. We all hang in the balance.

I honestly don’t even have the words to pray any more. I just pray that God will know and do what is best. I have no ideas, no thoughts.

I am completely empty and I have to put myself fully in his hands.

Do I need to have faith in humanity to be a Christian? Can I be cynical and dejected and still follow him? Is there a different way?

What is forgiveness? What does it look like?

Maybe it looks like a man beaten, bleeding, dying on a cross asking the God of Heaven to forgive the people who put him there. That is a high bar.

Luke 23: 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what
they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

Lessons from life

I got a call last week from someone, I haven’t seen or talked to in years. She was ‘concerned’ about my political stance. Not sure how she knows what it is, as she never actually asked me about it. She just knew. The worst part was a subtle disapproval of me as a Christian. My politics are different, therefore I wasn’t understanding Jesus, and I am not really a Christian.

This was upsetting to say the least. I know many people with whom I have different politics, but I have never done anyone the disservice of presuming they are not a member of His kingdom.

Then I started to think of my Grandmother. She befriended the people no one else valued. She stayed connected to the woman whose extramarital affair broke up more than her own family. She stayed friends with the person who let alcohol drag her from the centre of polite society. She loved the unlovable. She may not have approved of their life choices, but she loved them anyhow.

Why? That wasn’t her job. Just as it isn’t my job to rank others on the ‘Christian’ scale. It is not my job to condemn others over disagreements in policy. Or to judge people who make different life choices.

Let us not let our fervor for God or what we think as the ‘right’ way tempt us. We have no right to assume the position of judge. When we do so, we are claiming the position of God – something that even Jesus was unwilling to do.

James 4: 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

One of two commandments

I was looking for something to listen to and I cranked up the YouTube to see if I could find a speaker or video about this topic. I began to type – Love… lots of love songs pop up. Love your… yourself lots of self-love. Love your n… oddly enough love nature came next. Love your neighb… finally love your neighbour.

That took a lot of letters.

It says something about our society though.

Jesus said, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” Note we don’t need to be instructed in how to love ourselves. Contrary to public opinion we do that a lot. Are we always loving ourselves in a productive and useful way, that is another story. But we are naturally absorbed in our own world and point of view. That is inevitable and we all do it. No we are told to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Are we told to love them when they agree with us or do the things we want them to do? No.

Are we told to love them when they are nice and worthy of our love and respect? No.

Love is work. People are messy. Loving people can be hard to do. But don’t pat yourself on the back and think, well I’ve done my best, I’ve tried, they are just unlovable. No. Jesus didn’t say ‘do this if you can, if it works out for you.’ It is one of two commandments he gives.

Love God with your whole self is the first, love your neighbor as yourself is the second.

As I listen to friends who are struggling with hurt and misunderstanding and anger even in their own families, I wonder: Are we getting this wrong? Do we know how to do this?

As I searched this morning I found this video on YouTube. It’s long, but listen to it. There is nothing I could say that he doesn’t say better. It is old – like 150 years old. Maybe Solomon was right – maybe there is really nothing new under the sun.

Matthew 22: 37-40 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Comedy vs Tragedy

My oldest daughter has a keen interested in literature and books and authors and all things writing. And I love this! She often asks my opinion about authors or their books. We get into the most interesting discussions (for us, not the rest of the family – they hate it).

Last night I was describing the difference between a comedy and tragedy, in their classic usage. As I struggled to described it, I finally came up with a very simple explanation. All kinds of problems and complications happen in life. In a comedy these complications have a humorous spin and culminate in a marriage – they lived happily ever after. When reading or watching a tragedy, complications happen and they have devastating results and then people die. We were laughing at the over simplicity of my explanation.

Life is neither a comedy or a tragedy – it is both. We have moments of devastating events, we have lighter funny complications, we may live happily and we all die in the end.

Maybe we need to accept the end of our life, the inevitability of death, in order to live full productive and meaningful lives? In this way we can make the most of the moments now. We can care more, give more, love more, forgive more…

Luke 12: 25-26 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 
Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

The time is now

I have been watching the developments in our world for the last few years. Our politics is nastier, our culture more extreme, our values nebulous and ever-changing. It is hard to get a sense of our footing.

But as all this madness around us swirls I am more convinced than ever that God is the answer. What we are seeing is a world with no stability, nothing to cling to.

What can we do? Can we change the direction of the world? No. Can we affect great change? No. But we can believe in something meaningful. We can set an example. We can have a small influence in the world right around us.

Now is the time. Now we need to step forward. Now we claim the territory. Now we say, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” Do it now. Don’t wait. The world needs people of faith. Desperately.

Ephesians 6: 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day
of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Tap has run dry

I’m hoping it’s temporary, but I have had nothing to write the last few days. A bit frightening as I usually have lots of thoughts swirling in my head. I still do, but none of them have solidified into something concrete enough to write about.

I’ve perused my Bible, looking for ideas to jump off the page. That too has failed. Again lots jumped out but nothing I understood enough to write about. Like the bit in Genesis about Melchizedek. Who is he? Where did he come from? If he was a priest of God, why don’t we know more about him?

So many questions!! Maybe you have answers. Comment if you do.

Genesis 14: 18-20 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him a tithe of all.

Turning a page

I am fifty today. I’m half way to one hundred. I always intended to have a big party today to celebrate this great achievement. But, frankly it doesn’t feel any different than any other day and I actually have no interest in celebrating. Why? Oh who knows. These days are so strange that, well, it’s hard to think of celebrating over something so arbitrary as a date!

It has caused me to reflect on my life. I’m shocked at how little I have accomplished. I’m dismayed by the mistakes I have made and the people I’ve hurt. My list of sins is pretty long.

Why do we remember the negative things so clearly?

Maybe it’s because the “good” things we do are often cumulative. We get up every day and slog out the house and provide for our families. We work every moment to teach and help our children to grow and learn. There is nothing glamorous in this. And yet, when taken at a distance it can be truly heroic. The bad stuff tends to happen in capsules, moments of time that we can quickly pull out and remember.

So today, I’m determined to continue to show my husband respect. I will continue to try give my children wise council. I hope to find a way to love my neighbour. And most of all I will remember whom I serve.

Colossians 3: 23-24  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working
for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Look to God

These are strange days. You know it. I know it. Something has gone wrong and everything that was chugging along nicely, now seems disconnected and broken. Relationships that used to be easy are now strained. Ideas that used to be commonly held are now questioned. Beliefs that were once respected are now considered immoral.

No matter where you come from the world is out of step. We no longer stand on firm ground. This uncertainty is making people angry and frustrated. We want to force our view on others, we want to fix the problems as we see them. This urge is visible everywhere.

As God’s people, what do we do?

First, we remember who is the great foundation of our life. We look to the rock on which we built our house. Focus on God.

Second, we emulate God. We “walk in the way of love.” By doing this we serve those around us, but we can also create a sense of stability. In the same way a flotation device offers safety to a drowning man. We can be that ‘something’ that people hang onto.

Third, we look to God for strength. We are not strong enough to tackle this world and its trials, but God is. Lean on him. Lean into His love and His salvation.

None of these actions are easy. It will take firmness of character.

What I am suggesting is radical. Stop listening to the world and its directions. Focus on God.

Ephesians 5: 15-16 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.