Really wish I (and we) would do this better

I have not originated or shared a political post on Facebook or other media in over four years, maybe longer. I may be mistaken, but that is what I recall. For me it just isn’t worth it, and it isn’t what drives my life. 

Unfortunately, I do find it difficult to resist the temptation to comment in disagreement from time-to-time on some political posts made by others. That is a temptation I really need to avoid. Not that my comments are only on one side of the political spectrum; I’ve commented my disagreement on posts from both the right and the left. But here are the reasons why it is a temptation that I must carefully watch:

1.  It seems that many don’t want to hear disagreement, only an echo of agreement. What I have to watch in myself is am I disagreeing just to rock the boat, or is there something I can contribute that can really lead to a better understanding for both us. I need to work on recognizing posts and other comments designed to engage, and recognizing posts made out of passion. The former really do want discussion; the latter do not. Both have their place, but avoiding any comments seems safer. I don’t always succeed in this.

2.  I can be just as passionate in my comments as what my friends are posting about. Then it becomes my passion vs someone else’s. No one wins or persuades in those cases. 

3. Emotions seem to often outflank (and outweigh) facts or other points-of-view, and choosing to reply can lead to unfortunate results. Sadly, my replies to four people led to their blocking me. I thought I was replying courteously, but in one case I partially agreed but offered up additional information from the source being discussed. I was blocked without explanation. In three others, I offered another point of view without really dismissing the original opinion. Blocked again. I am saddened by this, not just for being blocked but because I made a choice that led to the blocking, and two of the four were the adult children of friends I’ve known since they were born. 

4. Some are easier to engage with than others. Some of my long-time friends appreciate differing points of view, and others are miffed at me with even the suspicion of disagreement. I’ve learned that the hard way from experience. But the learning process has been painful. I wish I had discerned the difference better.

5. Wait. In some cases, wait a long while before replying. One of the best conservations I had with someone was over a scripture I had posted. They had been offended by the scripture and commented so. I started to reply, then almost deleted the comment. But finally decided to do nothing. Until several hours later, it came to me what may have been the best thing to say. I didn’t disagree with my friend, instead put into context the scripture I had shared. I wish waiting would be my first choice more often.

All that being said, I love my friends. I remind myself that I don’t love them because we agree politically - in nearly every case, we became friends long before we knew anything about each other’s political ideology. We love because of a lifetime of shared memories, we love because we’re family, we love because of our love for our mutual friends or mutual interests, we love because we serve the same Lord and Savior, and we love because He first loved us.

Stooping to See

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem has long been believed to sit over the tomb of Jesus. Its foundations rest over the remains of a first century quarry, garden, and cemetery of rock-hewn tombs.  On any given day, believers from all over the world come to see the empty tomb, singing, chanting, praying, and giving glory to God in the languages of Europe, the Americas, Asia, and everywhere in between. 

We visited the church and tomb a few years ago. To enter the tomb, we had to stoop low to enter the first room and see a portion of the stone that is believed to have sealed the tomb, the stone the angel once moved and sat upon. Then we stooped down once again to see and to touch the now empty slab that once held Jesus’ crucified body.

Stooping down is how the Gospels described the posture of the first visitors to the empty tomb.  

“Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. Stooping, he peered in and saw the empty linen wrappings; then he went home again, wondering what had happened.”

“Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in.”

“Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in.”

Each stooped to see into the tomb. They all stooped down to see that the tomb was empty.

Stooping, bending down was that first step to see, the first step to believe in the risen Savior.

The tomb they saw was empty. They didn’t expect it to be empty. But it was and still is.

“You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.”

The Day After - Isolation

The day after the crucifixion. The day after dreams were dashed, and hope was killed and buried.  The day of staying home, required by the law but driven by uncertainty for the future.

The Bible tells us little about this day. But it is a day we might can relate to now.  It is a day that perhaps more than any other time in our recent history, we can connect with the followers of Jesus. 

We stay at home, away from those we love who are also staying at home. Unless we are one in of the select jobs, we don’t travel to work. 

If someone we love is sick or dies, we can’t go to visit. We can’t go to the graveside. 

The streets are quiet.

How long?  We hope for not long, but we do not know for certain how long things will stay this way.

It is the day we look back on the way things were, trying to grasp how they so quickly changed.  We try to imagine the way things will be when the days of staying at home are over.

But it is also a day of being prepared and waiting. The Gospel tells us, “Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” (Luke 23:56)

The women that followed Jesus made plans for the next day. They stayed home, but they prepared for what they thought would come next.

And because they had prepared, they were ready for what the next day would bring.

God, in my time alone I pray I am doing what I need to be ready for whatever the next day brings.

Good Friday - Pierced

It is not just a nail.  It is a very big and long nail. Six inches long.

During the years I traveled for business, I liked to pick up handicrafts that were unique to the city or country that was my temporary home. One trip to the Middle East, we had dinner at a restaurant built like an ancient ship. This nail was given to each of us, a replica of the nails used to hold together the seafaring ships of many centuries ago. 

A nail with a size that might have been useful for more than just ships.

Our Lord Jesus died by Roman crucifixion. The execution using nails, nails very much like the one I now have, to affix the condemned to a wooden support that was lifted just above the ground.  The prisoner, in order to breath, was forced to use their pierced hands and feet to lift themselves up. At some point pain and exhaustion prevailed.

A few years ago a movie, The Passion of the Christ, sought to show us the horror of execution by crucifixion. It was a very effective visual reminder of what Jesus went through on that Friday centuries ago.

The Gospels tell us the story of the crucifixion of Jesus, his words during those final hours, and the actions of his enemies, friends, family, and bystanders.  But what may be the best description of what happened to Jesus and what it means to us was written by the prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before that Friday.

“He was despised and rejected—

a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.

We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.

He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;

it was our sorrows that weighed him down.

And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,

a punishment for his own sins!

But he was pierced for our rebellion,

crushed for our sins.

He was beaten so we could be whole.

He was whipped so we could be healed.” (Isaiah 53:3-5)

Oh, God. Never let me forget how Jesus was pierced so that I could be whole.

Holy Week Thursday - Gathered Together

I love bread. It is maybe the most favorite type of food I enjoy when I have a chance to travel.  Every country, every region has a type of bread that is unique. I love the varieties of shapes, taste, texture.

Bread features significantly on this day in the life of Jesus. He has asked two of his followers to prepare the Passover meal for all of them. They will have found the room and the elements of the meal itself, including the lamb, the herbs, the wine, and the bread.

Jerusalem must have been bustling that day as many households prepared the meal. We were able to catch a glimpse of what these preparations might make looked like a few years ago. We were in Jerusalem during Ramadan in 2017. Because the Muslim population fasts during the daylight hours of these holy days, bread is prepared and sold during the afternoon for the meals after sunset. As we passed by the markets, table after table were filled with stacks of bread, prepared for the evening feast.

Bread took a significant place during Jesus’ meal with his disciples that Passover evening.  During the meal, Jesus broke a piece of the bread and gave it to his disciples, telling them that the bread was like his body which would be given to them. Jesus also used a piece of the bread to indicate which disciple would betray him.

The symbol the bread took on that night has carried on throughout the history of the followers of Jesus.  

Paul, one of Jesus’ later followers and leaders, wrote to the church in Corinth, “when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body.”

The bread came to represent not just the body of Jesus, but all of His many followers who are described as the body of Jesus.

A later writing on Christian practices takes this thought even more deeply. The Didache, written around 100 AD, describes the bread this way.  “Over the broken bread say: ‘we give you thanks, Father, for the life and the knowledge which you have revealed to us through Jesus your servant. To you be glory for ever. As this broken bread scattered on the mountains was gathered and became one, so too, may your Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom.’”

Just as the bread we love has come from grain scattered from all over the land, we as the followers of Jesus, scattered as we are over all the earth, are brought together as one loaf, one body, the body of Jesus.

We are physically scattered today in ways that are difficult for us. But because of Jesus, the bread of life, we are one bread, the body of our Lord.

Holy Week Wednesday-Hope than stands out, love that acts

A few years ago, my wife and I traveled to the Great Plains states. With the miles and miles to drive between destinations in this part of the country, we tried to stop often to enjoy the scenery, historical locations, and just to get out of the car and stretch.

At many stops, we saw wildflowers blooming among the parks, grasslands, and rolling hills. These were the sweet “icing on the cake” of the beauty around us.

One day we drove through the Badlands in South Dakota. The rocky terrain there is colorful, but not much grows here. Mostly just grass, enough to sustain the big horn sheep that live among the canyons. But on one short walk on a path through the barren landscape, we caught sight of something that looked very out-of-place. A single sunflower blooming alone in among the dirt and rocks.  

A wondrous sight, completely unexpected but very welcome.

During the Passion Week in Jerusalem, a teacher of the law approached Jesus and asked him, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

All my heart. All my soul. All my mind. In both the abundant pastures and fertile times, and in the barrenness of what may surround me. 

Love my neighbor as myself. Both when loving them is easy, and when loving them might go against what I feel like doing. 

Remembering Jesus’ reply on the first and greatest commandment, and on the commandment equal to it means to me that there may be times the love I give may need to be different from how I am used to giving it. And the hope I offer may need to be more than the blooms among blooms, but the bloom that stands above the barrenness of fear.

Holy Week Tuesday - Something Different

Nothing seems quite right these days. There are a lot less cars to compete with at the intersections during my morning walk. But I am seeing far more other walkers than I normally do. So, to practice the physical distancing guidelines, I am veering off the sidewalk onto the grass a lot more often than walks in the past.

The stores are nearly empty of people, but the many of the shelves are empty, too.

My 91 year old Dad needs me to help him, so I go to help,  but we can’t hug. I miss seeing and playing with my granddaughters. I visit with my family and spiritual family via technology, but can’t hug or hold them. I don’t like the forced physical distance.

What has this to do with Easter Week? Did that week seem normal to Jesus? To his disciples? To his enemies? 

A simple phrase appears frequently in the Gospel story of Holy Week.

“He returned to Bethany” in Matthew and Mark, and “each evening he returned to spend the night on the Mount of Olives” in Luke.

Jesus and his followers are in Jerusalem during the busiest week of the year. They spend nearly the entire daylight hours there, mainly it seems in or near the Temple. But each evening they leave the hustle and bustle for the hills. Some days it may have been with their friends in Bethany, other days it seems to be in the quiet of the olive groves on the slopes on the mount between Jerusalem and Bethany.

Jesus sought quiet. For himself and his friends. 

These days for us have been different. Maybe more quiet or maybe more activities at home.  But it has been something different.  

But different may be just what we need at the moment. Time away from the usual busy-ness of our lives. More time with the people that matter most. More appreciation for those we are not with that we long to be with. More time to pray by name for each one I love.

God, let me be always grateful for the moments you have given me.

Monday of Holy Week - Unexpected changes

When I used to travel on business, I might be away from home for over a month. Some trips were nearly two months long away from home.  As the business trips neared their end and the time to come home drew closer, I would look around at the sights, at the steps I was taking, at the things I was doing each moment and think, “This is the last time I will see this. Next week, I’ll be home”

Today was to be the first day of a new experience for my wife and I. This afternoon was to be the day we boarded a ship to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. We had been planning this trip for months. As recently as 25 days ago, we were still expecting to sail across the ocean with sights like this for several days in a row.

But as we all know, the world today isn’t the same world we lived in 25 days ago. Our plans had to change. Instead of ocean, we see the same rooms we see each day. Nice rooms and a nice house, but not the voyage we had planned for.

I wonder back to the Holy Week many years ago and the thoughts the disciples of Jesus had as they planned for the Holy Days coming at the end of the week, and their time with Jesus after that. We have an idea of their mindset during that week while they were in the Temple with Jesus.  

“As Jesus was leaving the Temple that day, one of his disciples said, ‘Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls.’”

And after Jesus told them, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another” the disciples asked, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will show us that these things are about to be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:1-4)

These events Jesus told them were still years in the future, and he had already warned them about what was coming by the end of the week. But the unexpected changes coming weren’t on their minds. I doubt they could imagine the reality of, “This time this weekend.”

Father, when changes come I don’t understand (or even like), let my plans always be in your hands. And I will trust you when the unexpected comes.

Palm Sunday - The Lord Needs It

In June of 2017 we visited the Mount of Olives opposite Jerusalem.  While looking over the valley between the hill and the city, I saw this donkey tied up along the road.

It reminded me of the day Jesus entered the Holy City on the back of a young donkey, probably very much like this one. We were very near the route Jesus likely took into Jerusalem, and less than a 1/2 mile from the village where Jesus told his disciples to look for the donkey.

I have always been intrigued by Jesus’ instructions to the disciples:  “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’”  

And even more intrigued by the response of the owners of the donkey to the disciples:  “As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, ‘What are you doing, untying that colt?’ They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it.”

Had Jesus prearranged this transaction?  Were the owners already acquainted with Jesus and his disciples?  

Or, and I think this is more likely, did they live in a society where the name of the Lord was held in such high regard, that those who asked for something in the Lord’s name were trusted to use it as asked, and trusted to return it as promised.  No collateral, just the promise and then the trust that the Lord needed the donkey.

When we promise in the name of the Lord, can we be trusted?  When asked for something in the name of the Lord, can we trust? 

What do I have that the Lord needs?  How will I respond to what the Lord needs?  Will I be part of the Lord’s plans, or will Jesus find someone else’s donkey to ride to the shouts of “Hosanna”, “God save us”?

“Rejoice, O people of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!

Look, your king is coming to you.

He is righteous and victorious,

yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—

riding on a donkey’s colt.” (Zechariah 9:9)