What Now?

There is one thing we can all agree on despite our polarized political leanings: America right now is not BORING!  With all the contentious political statements being made, the millions of acres burning from wildfires in the western US, hurricanes battering our southern shores, relentless unrest in our cities, and the interminable struggle with COVID-19, our times are exciting but unfortunately in a disturbing way.

 We often quote a Bible passage in times like these.  It is found in Micah 6:8 and reads, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  These are wonderful and challenging words. They always seem to fit whatever painful trial we are going through.  They are words that can pull us out of a chasm of chaos onto an island of serenity.   

With profound passages like this, however, often we don’t know, or we forget the context of the writing.  When we understand the context, the passage comes alive with color and nuances that give it a lasting and transformative power in our lives.

The man who wrote this passage was named Micah.  He was an Old Testament Jewish prophet who lived during the reigns of three kings in the 8^th century BC.  He saw the defeat and deportation of the northern kingdom of Israel to Assyria in 722 BC.  The southern kingdom came close to that in 701 BC.  He looked on these foreign and pagan nations of Assyria and Babylon (that later deported the southern kingdom) as instruments of divine judgement on God’s people.  The Hebrews became prosperous but forgot God who had blessed them.  Their leaders were selfish and ungodly who oppressed the poor through injustice.  Judges and lawmakers became involved in conspiracy and bribery resulting in much corruption.  Hard working farmers found themselves at the mercy of a greedy government-sponsored wealthy merchant class.  Moreover, the citizenry had become content with going through religious motions with little spiritual devotion resulting in the worship of other gods.  It sounds a lot like America today. 

 Our country from its inception was comprised of pilgrims fleeing religious persecution and corrupt government.  They desired a nation where religious freedom, and the pursuit of happiness was available to all.  Our government was designed to be a representative form modeled after Great Britain’s House of Lords (our Senate) and the House of Commons (our House of Representatives.)  It was to be made up of a wide cross section of Americans.  They designed a system discouraging a ruling class through career politicians.  Now, however, it seems these ideals have been abandoned.  Unfortunately, we have a ruling class of career politicians at the state and national levels that care mostly for their own interests, not those of their constituencies.  We see it in both political parties.  That tells me politics is not the answer.  God’s people are.

 What are God’s people to do?  In contrast to the insincere expressions of worship and societal corruption, his people were to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.  He wanted to see these more than anything else in his people.  Let’s look at them one at a time.

 First, they were called to act justly.  They were to behave in accord with God’s just nature as revealed in the Bible.  God’s nature is what is right. And when his people act in righteous ways, it pleases him and changes the world.  Montrose is a community known for taking care of those who are less fortunate.  We have the faith-based organizations of Haven House, the Lighthouse, Shepherds Hand, Sharing Ministries, 180 Ministries, the Association of Montrose Churches, Life Choices Family Resource Center and Kid’s Aid.  Each provide essential services allowing those helped to pursue righteousness and happiness.  A year ago, I was traveling through Woodland Park and stopped at a coffee shop.  Inside the shop was former governor John Hickenlooper.  They were holding a political event for his presidential campaign that he eventually abandoned.  A lady asked me where I was from and I told her Montrose.  She said, “I’m aware of all the good your wonderful community has done for the homeless.”  I told her that Montrose engaged in the one congregation, one family idea that Hickenlooper presented to the faith-based community when he was governor.    

 God also desires for his people to love mercy.  The word mercy is God’s lovingkindness toward his people. It is his covenant loyalty that he gives to those who are undeserving of his love and grace.  And his people are called to render the same loving expressions of mercy to the community.  The above faith-based organizations supported by most of our churches do just that.  They provide opportunities to love mercy.  Mercy is showing kindness to those who are in need simply because they are in need. 

Finally, we learn God’s people are to walk humbly.  This is the only place the Hebrew word for humbly occurs in the Old Testament.  But its occurrence is significant.  It conveys honesty and humility in ones walk of life.  That is the opposite of what we are seeing on a national level today with the hubris of the political candidates.  The churches and faith-based organizations of Montrose, in contrast, are consistently displaying humility in helping the needy that become tangible expressions of God, who loves who cares for everyone 

 When we look at the news and the events of the day, I know it is discouraging.  But when we choose to look for organizations that are just, merciful and humble, it changes our perspective as we see much good being accomplished.   Where do you fit in?  There is a place for you.

 
Remember it was a tumultuous time in Israel’s history that God spoke these poignant words through the prophet Micah.  Since our country right now is not much different, those words certainly apply.  Where do you see justice, mercy and humility in your life?  If not, begin to practice them and they will change your life.

 

Spiritual Serotiny

 

Seems like a strange title, does it not?  Hopefully, I will be able to explain what I mean by that title.  Wildfires are devastating the western US once again.  As of this writing, August 24, 2020, there are close to 1 million acres burning in California and nearly 200,000 acres currently burning in Colorado.   We have endured the smoke from these fires for two weeks now.  Even though they have produced some striking sunrises and sunsets, the fact is hundreds of thousands of acres are burning.  It is terrible indeed.

 

But it’s not all bad.  Foresters tell us that fire cleanses the forest and diversifies the habitat.  That is great for wildlife but heartbreaking for a landowner who had lost everything or for the old-growth redwoods in California that have been in existence for over 1000 years.  Also, fire releases nutrients into the soil to help with germination and growth of a new forest.  Interestingly, though, serotiny happens as well.  Trees with serotinous cones, like our own lodgepole pine, hold the seeds tightly in the cone with a resin until temperatures reach 122-150 degrees Fahrenheit.  At that temperature, the resin melts and the seeds are released. Typically, this happens during a wildfire.  If you go to where lodgepole pine exists after a recent wildfire, you will see thousands of seedlings growing.  Fire was instrumental in releasing the seeds so they could germinate and regenerate a new forest.  I believe serotiny is God’s plan to regenerate the forest after a catastrophic wildfire. 

 

Serotiny, therefore, serves as a metaphor for our spiritual lives.  Often when we experience the heartbreak of life, we wonder, “Why did this happen to me?”  We cannot explain it and question what God is doing in our lives.  We feel like Job in the Bible who lost his sons and livelihood and his health in a short period of time.  He did not know he was part of a spiritual gambit between God and Satan.  Job responded to his wife’s criticism in Job 2:10, “Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?”  When we think of the wildfires, I believe we need to think of them in this way.  God has a plan that we may not be able to see.  Likewise, it is the same for us when we experience the wildfire of heartbreak.  God is up to something even though we may not see it. 

 

Perhaps he is allowing you to have a serotinous experience. He wants to release in you something good that you may have never considered.  This good is released whenever we go through the fires of pain and tragedy.  Be like Job looking to God and accept the trouble as well as the good knowing God has a purpose in it.   

 

I believe it is the same for our culture.  God is allowing actual wildfires to devastate our land as well as the figurative wildfires of destructive protests in many of our cities and civil unrest across our land.  The contentious political process has only added fuel to these fires.  God is up to something.  He has a plan. 

 

I believe his plan is for us to return to him.  The word return is used over 1000 times in the Hebrew Old Testament.  In the book of Amos, five times in chapter 4, he told the Hebrews they had not returned to God after experiencing empty stomachs (verse 6), a lack of rain causing crop failure (verse 8), mildew and locusts (verse 9), plagues and the destruction from war (verse 10) and being overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah (verse 11).  What a bleak picture and yet God promised to restore the Hebrews to their land in Amos 9:15, “I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. Scholars debate whether or not this has already taken place.  The truth here is God will bless those who exercise faith and return to him. 

 

For our country, therefore, after experiencing devastating wildfires, Covid-19, civil unrest, and destruction of our cities, will we return to him?  Will these “wildfires” result in our national repentance?  The same holds for us personally.  Will the wildfires God allows result in personal repentance from sin as we return to him and his ways?  God wants all of us to experience spiritual serotiny.  He provided the way for that in his son Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for sin on the cross so that you and I could have a relationship with God as we return to him through repentance.  My friend have you done that?  Have you done that in your season of pain? Have you done that in your season of delight?  My prayer for myself, our community, our country and our world is to return to God in repentance and open our hearts to the good he wants to release in us.

 

On Saturday, September 26, 2020 from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm at several churches including my church, Church on the Hill, there will be a simulcast event called “The Return” calling us to national and individual repentance as we return to God.  Place it on your calendars and look for more information in the coming weeks.  May the blessing of spiritual serotiny be yours in abundance.

 

Winsome Words

What do #MeToo, prochoice, prolife, pro-Trump, anti-Trump, climate-change enthusiasts and climate-change deniers all have in common?  All have the potential for tremendous good or unspeakable evil, because we flawed humans are behind each of them.  For me the rhetoric I have been hearing especially the past year has left me nauseous and disgusted.  What is particularly loathsome is when I hear it . . . well . . . should I admit this? . . . in myself.  Now we could point our fingers of blame to the government or media; but, as I look at it, we all share some guilt in the deterioration of public discourse.  So, the problem is us. 

What can we collectively do about it?  I suppose we could all take a class in political correctness but tomorrow what we learned will likely be declared obsolete by new forms of “acceptable speech.” I guess what is acceptable, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder (or listener).  Or we could withdraw completely from society freeing ourselves of media and internet saturation but, like most monastic societies that have existed throughout history, you can remove yourself from exterior evil, but interior evil is still present.  We learned that from the great reformer Martin Luther.  Yes, he agreed with Jesus – sin starts in the heart.  So, what can work?

One Bible passage I have found helpful is Ephesians 4:29 NIV that reads, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  Unwholesome talk is not just profanity, but any wording used to tear down others.  That would include gossip and slander and back-handed compliments.   Our words, then, should build others up for their needs and benefit.  These “winsome words” focus on the other person.  Eugene Peterson in his paraphrase the Message renders it this way, “Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.”  I so much wish our demoralizing political rhetoric would begin to follow this prescription.  It would bring great healing to the issues of the day because open and honest communication would be taking place. 

Another positive outcome of winsome words is it opens us to contrasting viewpoints we may not have considered.  We hear the other side’s “arguments” from a fresh perspective.  That has the potential of bringing our minds together offering real and transforming solutions to the problem we are addressing. 

Also, and perhaps this is the most important outcome, winsome words humanize those with whom we disagree.  We begin to see them as real people not just part of a group or organization we dislike.  Years ago, when I pastored in Denver, I had the dubious experience of performing a funeral service for a young man who had been murdered.  He was the son of a US District Court judge and had worked as a bartender at “Shotgun Willies” a Denver strip club.  He had a big heart, however, and would often take patrons home with him for a place to spend the night.  One night Dougie, as they called him, took home a young couple who proceeded to murder him throughout the night.  I remember they poured bleach down his throat and did a host of other grisly atrocities before he died later that morning.  No one deserves that kind of treatment.  Knowing he had made a habit of helping others made doing his funeral a little easier for I could find something winsome to say about him.  Before his funeral, however, I looked down on folks like Dougie.  Then at the graveyard service several of the women he knew from the club, who were exotic dancers, came up to the microphone telling their stories of how Dougie helped them by paying their tuition for college or vocational school or paying their rent.  For the first time, I saw these women, and Dougie too, as real human beings with goals and aspirations just like me.    

Well my friends, winsome words are not just for politicians or the media but for all of us.  We can give this same gift to one another as we discuss the perplexing issues of the day with respect and concern for the other person. By one person at a time, therefore, we can raise the bar on standards for public dialogue simply through using winsome words.  Maybe the media and politicians will take notice. If we don’t do it, nothing will change.  Whom can you bless today with winsome words?