Overcome Evil

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. romans 12:21 

I thought about using a “selfie” as the picture for this blog, but it made me too uncomfortable. A straight on selfie makes my face look bloated.  A picture taken from the top looking down highlights my thinning hair.  The opposite angle, bottom looking up, shows the fat under my chin.  Plus, I’ve learned from experience, I look better the farther I am from the camera.

Instead, I decided to post pictures of my wife and my daughter - two of the most beautiful people in my life. (The only reason Peter is not included, I couldn’t find a picture of him to fit with these two images.) Their smiles radiate joy. When I look at these pictures it brings me an overwhelming sense of calm.  I feel blessed to have such beautiful people in my life.

They would never give me permission to post these pictures.  So I did it without their knowledge.   If I had asked for permission they would only have tried to convince me these images show their flaws.  They would go into great detail about flaws so small the average eye cannot perceive them.  I cannot see the flaws through the radiance of their smiles.

Eventually, they would bring me down.  I could never be convinced they were anything less than beautiful.  But I would be depressed by their inability to see their own beauty and the joy it brings me.  

You may be thinking to yourself, how is this different from the reasons I gave for not posting a “selfie”?  Welcome to the pool of hypocrisy I force my family to swim in.  There is no difference, it is just easier to see it in them than myself.

We all have difficultly seeing our own beauty and no problem identifying our long list of flaws. To me, there is something inherently evil about this trait.  Not only does it defy the will of God who declared our creation very good (Gen. 1:31).  It makes us vulnerable to those who try to control us by manipulating our weaknesses.  

Our own words carry no weight when we try to convince ourselves we are beautiful. We need the words of others to remind us God was right, we are very good and beautiful.  Good words to others do more than stroke egos. They proclaim the greatness of God.  It makes me think of the old hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful.

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

He gave us eyes to see them,

And lips that we might tell,

How great is God Almighty,

Who has made all things well.

Each day we are presented with the option to either be overcome by evil, or overcome evil with good.  Will we allow weaknesses to be magnified or beauty to be proclaimed?  More often than not, the words we share with others dictate this for us.  This Thanksgiving overcome evil with good by telling someone that you are thankful for their beauty.

While I Kept Silence

While I kept silence, my body wasted away... For day and night your hand was heavy on me... Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not hide my iniquity...and you forgave the guilt of my sin...You are a hiding place for me...you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.

Psalm 32: 3 - 7

It defies reason that a person would keep silent when in desperate need.  Especially in life or death situations. Yet, I remember a particular accident where a student drowned in the middle of a swimming class.  Friends swam nearby.  An instructor stood on watch.  There was no indication of neglect.  Still, the student drowned and no one saw it.  

Shortly after the accident, I spoke with a YMCA executive who had years of experience teaching swimming.  He said, “Most people don’t understand, drowning is a silent event.”  We tend to think of the movie version of drownings.  On the big screen, people scream and flail their arms.  When, in fact, fear paralyzes the swimmer and they just disappear without a sound into the water.  It is a scary thought, especially for lifeguards.

It is hard for us to think that someone would not ask us for help.  It hurts us deeply when a person close to us remains silent.  But, how often, when burdened with a problem, do we ourselves actually call out for help?  We don’t want to be seen as weak, vulnerable or a failure.  So we remain in our silence and allow our bodies to waste away as the psalmist says in Psalm 32.

Emotional burdens are some of the most oppressive baggage to carry around.  They not only effect our minds, they literally can destroy our bodies.  The mind and body then work over the soul leaving us paralyzed.  Still, too often, we would rather drown in the baggage of our failures then call out for help.  

As I was reading this psalm, it reminded me that my wife had asked me to talk to someone last year.  She was concerned that the burdens I was carrying around were harming me.  At first, I wasn’t sure who I wanted to help me.  Then pushing aside the problem became a comfortable way of life.  Yet, while I kept silence my body, mind and spirit were wasting away.

Ultimately, I discovered the one I most needed to talk to was God.  All other voices came off as Job’s friends trying to rationalize a predicament.  So I poured out all of my silent thoughts in prayer.  I opened my heart for God to see what was inside. Silly exercise, since God was looking into my heart all along.  But looking in is not the same as being invited in.  

All of these thoughts were with me as I walked down a quiet trail in northern Wisconsin this week.  The leaves had fallen from the trees. The few that remained were dead, brittle and barely holding on.  The barren trees exposed the intimate details of the forest.  It hit me, once again, even the forest understands that the old life needs to die for new life to take hold.  

The psalmist is speaking to me.  Freedom comes from calling out and laying bear our inner soul.  It is a dangerous activity.  We don’t like revealing our inner self.  But in our weakness, God gives us strength.  My iniquities, your iniquities, do not bring judgement, but forgiveness and new life.  No wonder the psalmist hears glad cries of deliverance.  I know I did.

Look at the Cedar Waxwing

Look at the birds in the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Mt 6: 25-27 

On a recent hike, Peggy and I watched a group of Cedar Waxwings dancing through the trees.  Peggy loves Cedar Waxwings.  I never really appreciated them until I got a closer look.  Now I share her appreciation of their beautiful and subtle soft coloring. I captured this one as it rested on a branch and watched its friends play.

I wanted this picture to decorate our house.  But, I discovered as I studied the image of the bird, my attention was shifting away from its decorative qualities to a powerful lesson, “Look at the birds in the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”  All of a sudden, I realized how much I have been worrying about my new job, the new house, a new community, new staff and all that comes with starting over.  

If I put the picture up in my living room, what will I see the next time I look at it?   Will I be able to see the freedom of a bird playing in the Father’s kingdom and remind myself not to worry?  Or, will I look at that bird and say, “he doesn’t have a mortgage, college loans, car payments, insurance deductibles, grocery bills and all the other costs of life and family.”  I like to think I will see the freedom from worry.  But, it will take more than a picture to escape the worries of financial demands.

Who is Jesus kidding?  Even birds need to worry.  In a time of drought fruit trees do not produce a harvest.  If the Cedar Waxwings do not search for a new source of food, they will perish.  Birds and humans are all vulnerable to extreme conditions.  Worrying about the basic necessities of life, in many ways, keeps us alive. We all need to worry a bit.  The danger we face is allowing worry to consume us.  Then it becomes difficult to see the joy of playing in the Father’s kingdom.

The point of the lesson is that we cannot add a single hour to our day by worrying, but we can waste a lot of time doing it.  I have decided to keep my focus on the Cedar Waxwing when I look at this picture.  For this bird reminded me there is a time to worry and a time to dance in the trees.  Maybe, I’ll post this picture in my office, as well as my home.

I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine 

Psalm 50: 11

Come Follow Me

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.  Mk 1: 16-18

Labor Day was a difficult day for my family.  We needed some quiet time to walk through the woods, to listen to the sounds of birds and to be with each other.  The slow walk through the meadow and woodlands of Afton eventually led us to the shores of the St. Croix River.

Taking off their shoes, my wife, Peg, and daughter, Britta, waded in the water.  The setting sun cast long shadows on the shore, but still sent enough warmth to comfort us.  It was peaceful, but in the background of our thoughts - pressing but never spoken - was the question, where are we going from here?

I looked at their shoes sitting on the shore and thought of Simon and Andrew.  They, too, were wading in the water when Jesus met them by the lakeshore.  However, Simon and Andrew were not relaxing but working. I doubt they were thinking about what tomorrow would bring. Pulling heavy nets in and out of the water required muscle, not thought.  

Still, in the middle of all that was ordinary a stranger approached and said, “Come, follow me.”

We don’t know what they were thinking when Jesus called to them.  All we know is Simon and Andrew dropped what they were doing and followed.  

The invitation was to fish for people.  But I’m confident the most transformational experience for Simon and Andrew was what happened within themselves.  They would see new lands, meet new people, and witness miracles.  Their lives would swing between inexpressible joy and total sadness and back again. Through it all they would discover new meaning to life.  One that moved them beyond a limited view of the immediate day and cast their eyes deep into heaven and the presence of God with and within them.

I look at this picture.  I remember the difficulty of the day and pray.  Not just for my own family, but for all who are wounded or lost.  Take off your shoes, wade in the water and listen to the still voice of God say, “Come, follow me.”

Many will hear that invitation and think of it as a call to mission and service.  A call to work.  But I think of it as a call to peace.  To follow Jesus is to look deep into heaven and see the presence of God with and within us.  It is an invitation to set aside the burdens that beat up our bodies and minds and to follow a new way.  A way where peace flows through the soul like cool water soothing bare feet on a warm summer afternoon.  This kind of peace makes even the most difficult day a blessing.  And, this day was a blessing for all of us.

Hands

Last year I had a great idea to take pictures of every family member’s hands spelling out the words peace, hope and love. The final project still sits on my desk waiting to be completed.  Looking at the pictures reminds me just how much our hands reveal about who we are, our life, and our family.  Hands are something we take for granted.  When was the last time you noticed another person’s hands?  Or, your own hands, for that matter?

The first time I ever took notice of hands was during my internship year in seminary.  It happened while I greeted people as they left the sanctuary.  It was a farming community and I was surprised by how many people - male and female - were missing fingers. The hands came in all kinds of sizes and textures. One person commented how soft my hands were and I was embarrassed.  It felt like an intimate detail of my life had been exposed.  

  

Hands often reveal a person’s “true” age, their occupation, gender, race, and hygiene practices.  My son’s hands reveal poor parenting.  His ring finger is permanently bent from a brake he sustained playing basketball.  It could have been mended, but his father told him it was only jammed.  He likes to remind me of this all the time.

I discovered, while putting together the collage, how hands reflect the human family.  It was a good thing that I labeled each image because I couldn’t tell the difference between family members once they were on my computer. I’ve started to think that hands reveal more of the intimate details of our life than our faces.  One could say our hands magnify our souls.

As human beings we are connected and our hands remind us of this fact.  Our lives are filled with aspects that classify us as different from each other - language, interests, talents, opinions, religion and cultural traditions.  Yet, hands have a common practice.  Fine motor skills do not depend on language or religion.  How hands work do not change because of the color of your skin or political opinion.  Hands remind us we are mechanically connected to each other into one unique human family.

Last week a friend posted a brief clip of a TIME magazine interview with Astrophysicist, Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Facebook.  Dr. DeGrasse Tyson was asked to share the most astounding fact about the universe. I am including the link because it is worth watching.

 http://www.trueactivist.com/gab_gallery/the-most-astounding-fact

His most astounding fact was the knowledge that all the atoms that make up the human body have their origins in ancient stars.  These stars cooked elements under extreme temperatures and pressure until they became unstable and exploded. The explosions shot clouds of all the elements necessary for life - carbon, nitrogen, oxygen - out into the galaxy.  These elements not only make up human life, but stars, solar systems and all that we know to exist in the universe.  To him, it is not amazing that we came from stars, but that we are physically connected to everything in the universe.

Some Christians will complain about this astounding fact.  They will argue that we are made in God’s image and not of stars.  I will not make this argument because I have never seen God.  All I know and believe is that God is the creator of all life, seen and unseen.  To me, Dr. DeGrasse Tyson has not revealed a competing truth, but has proven something I believed all along.  That all of us are connected to each other, to the universe and to the Creator from which it all comes.  It is a fact I find reflected in my hands.

These scientists, who spend their life studying the universe, have also revealed what I consider a second astounding fact.  The deeper we are able to see into our own galaxy and others, the more we come to realize the life we share on this planet is one of the most rare and precious treasures in the universe.  While the elements and atoms that form life float richly throughout space, intelligent life is extremely rare.  This would remain true even if we discovered a million other planets exactly like ours.   

We are connected, we are unique and the one thing that holds us together is love.  While this love comes to a particular expression in the birth of a child, it is not confined to a time and place.  Christ's love continues to fill the universe with hope, bringing comfort to our suffering souls and joy to our celebrations.  It's a truth I need to be reminded of after a difficult week filled with fear, anxiety and pain.

Fruit Worthy of Repentance

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Luke 3: 7ff

You were not with me when I took this picture, but I bet you can feel the chill and dampness of a grey winter day just by looking at it.  It is easy to take a picture that captures the cold isolation of winter.  Anyone living in the northern hemisphere has experienced it and our minds are programmed to identify it.

Winter is one of my favorite times to walk in the woods.  In the deep woods and river bluffs of Camp Shalom, the leafless trees allow me to see the contours of the land.  Winter reveals the intimate details of nature not visible during the summer months.  Look at the intermingled pattern of the branches.  They communicate the struggle each branch has to reach the light that will allow it to grow.

Deciduous trees drop their leaves to conserve energy.  It is a natural reaction to the changes in the surrounding environment.  We cannot see it, but thousands of insects are hiding somewhere deep in the bark of this tree.  They too are going dormant to conserve energy and endure the winter season.  When the energy of spring returns the leaves and bugs will burst forth into life.

This tree reminds me of the parts of my faith life I do not want you to see.  Those times when my soul feels lifeless and dormant.  In my head I try to rationalize it by saying I am shutting down to conserve energy.  But this is not completely true.  I’m not conserving energy as much as I’m being apathetic.  I know what I need to do, it’s just that I don’t feel like doing it.  Someone needs to come and wake me from this spiritual slumber.

John the Baptist will attempt to wake me this weekend.  From deep within scripture and time, he will yell at me, call me names and tell me to bear fruit worthy of repentance.  I learned long ago how to handle being yelled at and to endure being called names. But, bearing a fruit worthy of repentance? I’m not sure I even know what this means.  

I think John is calling us to do loving acts that equal the depth of our transgressions.  To bear good fruit equal to our bad fruit. Fruits worthy of repentance require one to sacrifice for the benefit of another. Ultimately, John the Baptist is asking us, how are you living out your love for your neighbor? 

Like a picture that resonates with our experience of the world, my confession will resonate with many of you.  You will understand what it is like to be spiritually dormant because many of you have gone through the same thing.  The only difference is people often expect more of a pastor.   We want our pastors to be more holy than ourselves.

I’ve got my own problems, but here is the problem for you.  John doesn’t put a religious leader higher than a soldier, a tax collector, or someone who is wealthy.  He wants us all to live more ethically.  And to live more ethically in the place we are at right now.  This is done by living out our love for our neighbor.

The other day while I was sitting in my car waiting to get coffee in a drive-thru lane, a woman behind me started waving her arms and yelling at me.  When I got out of my car to see what she wanted, she told me that I had left keys in the back door lock.  Embarrassed, I thanked her, got the keys and returned to my car.   When it came time to pay, I decided to pick-up her $1.90 bill.  It made me feel good. I’m sure she felt good and it made the two drive-thru workers feel good.  It cost $1.90 to make four people feel happy.

It takes a lot of energy to maintain our anger, even more to cover it up with pretty leaves.  On the other hand, loving our neighbor costs so little and produces so much.  Perhaps we should be deciduous people, periodically shedding our leaves of hatred and opening ourselves up to love. It takes so little energy.

This Advent Sunday instead of lighting a candle in a closed room, I invite you to prepare your hearts by doing some random act of love for a neighbor.  Then let that light shine for all to see.  It will feel so good.

Limitations

Look at the textures, the shadows, the century old brick and the painted writing on the walls. Everything was just right for a great photo. The perfect image was there, but I just couldn’t bring it to life. 

My wife waited patiently in the car as I walked up and down the street looking for that great shot. I changed angles, camera settings and lens. But nothing I did produced the result I desired.  Finally, I realized the only thing standing in the way of a great photo was my own limitations as a photographer.  I’m just not talented enough to turn a concept in my head into a great image on a camera. 

Thankfully, my older self is so much better at handling disappointment than the person of my youth.  Somewhere along the way I gave up the endless pursuit of being great and focused instead on doing what I enjoyed.  It has been freedom to my soul.

This freedom is grounded in acknowledging my own limitations. My limitations remind me that I don’t take pictures because I am good at it.  I just enjoy it.  If I aspired to be a great photographer I might have spent hours in this place trying to get the ultimate shot. It would have ruined the beautiful evening I ended up spending with my wife. 

To say that joy and freedom might be found in our inabilities is really a counter-cultural approach to life.  Or, is it?  Advertisers try to convince us that with the right tool or instrument we can do anything.  Based on sales alone one might think we believe it.  But look at the world around you.  People wear Green Bay Packer jerseys that have no reasonable expectation of playing professional football.  Women wear mini-skirts who cannot possess any illusion they will some day be on a fashion show runway.  Most of these people have one thing in common, they are happy wearing what they are wearing.  Regardless of what anyone thinks about it.

There is a life people try to sell us and then there is reality.  Most of us, while being dreamers, are grounded in reality.  A reality that will take more than a slick commercial to override.  

As a pastor people will come to me with their problems. I have learned very few people believe me when I try to convince them they have done nothing wrong. It’s like a commercial telling a single mother that Kraft macaroni and cheese will make her children behave and love her endlessly. It takes more than positive reinforcement to override reality.  

At the same time, people are not looking for me to identify their sins for them.  They just want me to listen. Does a person going through a divorce really need someone like me telling them the cause of their pain?  When a child is arrested is this the time to tell parents what they could have done better?  Listening is always more productive than blaming.

The only thing I have not figured out yet is how to convince people they are forgiven.  Honestly, I have a hard enough time convincing myself.  Seminary taught me how to proclaim it, but no one taught me how to get people to believe it. I think people are better at condemning themselves than any judgment God could produce. They will go through the motions, but in the end they cannot believe someone else will forgive them for something they cannot forgive themselves.   

What can I do to convince you Christ came to forgive you your sins? How do I teach you the forgiveness offered in worship is real?  What can I do to show you that freedom comes from acknowledging our sins and not hiding from them.  Faith is not about acting the one right way.  Faith is trusting that Christ’s forgiveness is real.  In the Church we call this hope.  

The posted picture is a perfect Advent season image. You cannot see it, but construction workers were working late gutting out this old factory.  I assume to convert it into apartments.  Regardless, they were bringing new life to this old building.  The new life could not come until the old corroded material was removed.  This Sunday I invite you to journey into the wilderness of your sins, to invite Christ in to remove your corroded parts and bring you to new and everlasting life.