Love Unleashed

DateLine (3/29/06 – Ponce, Puerto Rico)

From the web site exploratorium.com comes the following statement: “The Big Bang was like no explosion you might witness on earth today. For instance, a hydrogen bomb explosion, whose center registers approximately 100 million degrees Celsius, moves through the air at about 300 meters per second. In contrast, cosmologists believe the Big Bang flung energy in all directions at the speed of light (300,000,000 meters per second, a hundred thousand times faster than the H-bomb) and estimate that the temperature of the entire universe was 1000 trillion degrees Celsius at just a tiny fraction of a second after the explosion.” Now I’m not here to promote the Big Bang theory as God’s mechanism for creating the universe but I am drawn to the recognition by scientists that tremendous energy was present at the beginning – hundreds of thousands more intense than the detonation of a hydrogen bomb.

Now follow me because I want to build a case for a radical Easter thought. The Genesis 1 account tells us that God “spoke” the universe that we know into creation. John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” This same, “Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” (John 1:14) as the incarnate Christ. Therefore the creative power of the universe was embodied in Jesus Christ while He walked upon the earth.

Fast forward to the final week of Jesus’ life. He was betrayed by a friend. He was accused of crimes not supported by evidence. He suffered the indignity of being stripped naked, beaten, mocked, spit upon and paraded before the public. He suffered one of the most extreme forms of execution that a depraved human mind has ever devised. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (John 3:16). The acts leading up to the first Easter demonstrate the very nature of God.

Now consider an alternative scenario (not biblical - but a dramatic concoction to make a point.) The first solder to pick up a “cat of nine tails” reaches far behind his back to generate maximum velocity as he swings forward with all his might toward the exposed back of Jesus. As the grisly instrument digs into the flesh of the Christ, the force of 100,000 atomic bombs vaporizes all of creation. In this scenario the creation provokes the creator into a vengeful rage. What kept God from revenging the abuse and torture of His only Son? His nature!

The abusive soldiers were not striking pent up rage, they were striking pent up love. If they had any idea that they were striking God’s very son they would have died on the spot from fear. They didn’t realize it then and we have trouble fathoming it now. It’s no wonder that Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (John 19:11).

The only thing that was unleashed during the crucifixion was love; a love that continues to explode through the corridors of time enveloping all who stumble toward its white hot core.

The Fear of Easter

The Fear of Easter

DateLine (3/22/06 – Ponce, Puerto Rico)

What really terrifies you? A few weeks ago I saw one of those “CSI” programs on TV where one of the main characters was kidnapped and buried alive in a box, while his investigator buddies were left to decipher clues to his location left by the abductor who had committed suicide immediately after burying their friend. Such a scenario is the stuff that my worst nightmares are made up. Yelp, I’m claustrophobic. I haven’t always been. As a child I can remember crawling deep into culverts under roadways without giving it a second thought. Immediately after my college graduation I took a temporary job in home construction which required that I work under houses in the Charleston area. I routinely went into crawl spaces on my back dragging my tools and material as I went because when I got where I was going there wasn’t enough space to turn over. Somewhere along the course of my life, this phobia developed.

During our vacation last summer I made up my mind that I would face this fear of claustrophobia. The main square (or piazza) of every major city that we visited in our trip to Northern Italy had a city hall or majestic cathedral with a soaring bell tower. It was obvious that the best view of the gorgeous surrounding Italian countryside and the city would be from the observation post at the top of these towers. Most are open to the public for a small entrance fee.

My first challenge, the Campanile di San Marco, or Belltower of St. Mark's cathedral in Venice had an elevator. Home free I thought until Harriett, Kyle and I were pressed into a 4’ x 4’ elevator with about 15 other people; imagine a sardine can. I survived and the view was worth the 30 seconds that I was holding my breath on the way up and the way down.

The second opportunity to face my fear was the The Torre del Mangia, (the bell tower of Il Campo) in Siena Italy. We got in line and began inching toward the entrance. I soon noticed the warning signs; caution “300 steps to the top”, “not for the faint of heart”, “confining spaces”, blah, blah, blah. As we approached the entrance I turned to Harriett and muttered something about view probably wouldn’t be that great, not enough time – you get the picture. Fear won.

My final opportunity to overcome the irrational was Giotto's Belltower of the Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. I was determined that I would not succumb. We found the entrance, paid the fee, and entered the staircase. Long story short, it was bad. Imagine a steep winding staircase of stone maybe 3’ wide lined with a constant stream of people – some going up and some going down at the same time. The journey was taxing, the view was worth it.

While it’s a controversial thought, all evidence suggests that Jesus felt fear as His human journey neared an end. The prayer in the garden the night before His arrest and the cry on the cross as His life ebbed away suggest a unique God man struggling with the same range of human emotion and challenge that we struggle with. The amazing thing recorded in the biblical record is a Christ who unswervingly marched toward the fear.

I love Easter. It is my favorite holiday of the year because it is the most unadulterated Christian centric holiday (notwithstanding the Easter bunny.) I love the Easter cantatas with the majestic celebrations of the resurrection. Let us never ever forget the love that propelled the Christ down the narrow road of fear leading to that resurrection.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Phil. 2:5-8.

Refreshing Water

When I was about 9 years old our family moved from the big city of Woodruff to the Green Pond countryside. As children we lived outdoors as long as the weather permitted and the sun was up. As I grew older childhood games morphed into farm and yard work which during the Southern summers had a way of producing bone tired thirst and weariness, not to mention skin caked with sweat and dirt.

On the property where we moved was a hand dug rock-lined well which according to hearsay had been in use for many years. There is no doubt that initially a hand-cranked windlass served to hoist the cool water to the surface but by the time we made it our home, the well had been covered by a pump-house and an electric pump brought running water to the house. A spigot was placed on the outside of the pump-house, a nail was sunk into the wood gable above the spigot and a metal dipper was hung on the nail.

It did not take long to discover that a stop at the pump-house spigot served as a first pass clean-up; at least sufficient to allow one to be admitted into the house for a more thorough clean-up which was a prerequisite for supper. The pump-house stopover also served another purpose. After the water had been allowed to run for a minute or two, it turned noticeably cooler. The routine then consisted of filling the metal dipper with cool water, swishing it around a couple of times before discarding the first filling (this is called dipper sanitation), refilling the dipper with more water and then taking a big long drink of the most refreshing drink of well water imaginable.

Now you just couldn’t stop with one drink. It normally took a belly full before the routine was complete. When finished you wiped your hands on your pants and headed to the house. Oh and normally you let the water run just a little longer to fill the pet water dish directly below the spigot so the pets could benefit from the same refreshment. At one point during a drought in the 80s the old rock lined well went partially dry. My dad had to have someone come out and bore a new well about 40’ down the hill. The old well was abandoned but the original pump house is intact and the spigot still provides welcome relief. To this day, some 40 years later, if I am at my parent’s house I can’t pass by the pump-house spigot without taking a drink, even in the winter time.

Do you ever become tired and weary in your efforts in the Christian lifestyle? Do you sometimes feel the heat of ridicule or mockery because of your faith in God? Do you feel the grime of sin cover your body and you just can’t shake off the filth. Good news – God has a “pump house” which gushes cool, cleansing, thirst quenching, and soul refreshing water. Now to be honest, while we’re still living here on earth we need to get under God’s stream of water often. One of the best “spigots” that I know is the local church. Don’t forget to stop by to clean up and take a drink and get cleaned up for “supper.”

“…they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water.” Rev. 7:15-17.

Glen of Cross Roads

DateLine (3/08/06 – Naas, County Kildare, Ireland)

I’ve discovered that Irish television has the equivalent of the History Channel. Actually it’s BBC, British TV, where I happened to catch a segment on Irish glens; specifically the Glens of Antrim (see www.antrimhistory.net). Seems as if glen comes from the old Irish word connotating a narrow secluded valley (in the mountains) and the TV special was giving visibility to a lost way of life that at one time was quite common in the Irish countryside.

People were bound together from necessity because of the hardships of a pre-modern lifestyle. By pre-modern I mean no electricity, no running water, and no grocery stores. These were small self-sufficient communities who found it easier to work together for survival. If one family fell on hard times the other families would share from their overflow until the family got back on its feet. Although it was not explicitly stated in the documentary I imagine that the interconnection was as much social as it was physical.

The TV special communicated a slight sadness over these lost communities, many of the homes having lapsed into decay and their memory’s maintained by fading oral tradition and a few yellow photographs. What once were vibrant idyllic gatherings of mankind are now historical relics. As I contemplated the past and present status of the glens my thoughts turned to similarities between them and churches.

The church is a community bound together by the common bond of faith in Christ. Church members are compelled to shoulder each other’s burdens, many times acting as a physical, spiritual or emotional safety net for each other. The environment outside of the church can be quiet hostile; members must exert effort to survive. A healthy church is an island of heavenly bliss in the midst of the hostility.

I’m sure that an inhabitant of an Irish glen of 150 years ago could never imagine the utter disappearance of their communities and lifestyles just as we could never imagine the demise of our church. No doubt over time the lure of an easier life in the modern cities took their toll on these communities. I can’t imagine that anyone consciously decided to end the glen lifestyle; it just faded away.

Where’s the challenge for us? Abandonment of the faith for the “easy” life has the potential of impacting more than the single individual. The fabric of community consists of interwoven threads. The character of the fabric is enhanced by the collective contributions of each thread. One loose filament starts the unraveling of the whole. Unimaginable as it might seem to us, a church can become a historic relic. May historians never have the opportunity to explore the artifacts of the “Glen of Cross Roads.”

Investment for Life

DateLine (3/01/06 – Ponce, Puerto Rico)

I get a lot of my news from the internet these days. Being on the road a lot I’m not able to read the local newspapers so I resort to the internet. WYFF.com and WSPA.com both have good web sites that allow me stay in touch from 1000s of miles away and CNN.com and foxnews.com allow me to keep in touch at the national level. As I surfed past CNN.com one of the headlines from the business section caught my attention: “Are you ready to retire? Most aren’t.” Now I’m not old enough to retire but I am old enough to understand that I should be well into the execution of my retirement strategy, so I bit and clicked.

The crux of the article was summarized in one paragraph: “According to research from Fidelity Investments, Baby Boomers only have enough in savings and other income sources to replace 59 percent of their pre-retirement income. Of those with 401(k) accounts, the average account balance is just $80,000, and many typically save just $2,750 a year toward retirement.”

Conventional retirement investment wisdom suggests that one should start early, have a sound strategy, exercise patience and let your money work for you. If the article was on the money (pun intended) then Baby Boomers have not heeded conventional wisdom. A lot of people are headed toward an unhappy sunset. Baby Boomers have been identified as the wealthiest generation of Americans ever. If it’s not in the bank safety tucked away to cushion the blow of age and loss of salary then where is it? One can only deduce that it’s been squandered in “living for the moment.” According to the commercial “You only go around once, so grab for all the gusto you can get.” Somebody has been grabbing a lot of “gusto;” soon we’ll be hearing a collective “uh oh.”

God has an investment strategy. As I lingered on the words that I had just read it dawned on me that it share’s similarities to retirement planning. God’s strategy is start early, invest sacrificially, be patient, and let the Holy Spirit work for you. The currency is different, the stakes are higher, and the returns are better. God’s currency is your life, misstep and you lose it, persevere and your investment will pay dividends forever. In our area He has several local branch offices, they’re called churches. Deposits are welcome anytime, preferably in increments of time. If you don’t have the time – send money.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2