Elijah Cummings (1951-2019)

~ Originally Published October 24, 2019.

"Elijah Taken Up To Heaven"

Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up & struck the water with it. The water divided to the right & to the left & the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you, before I am taken from you?"

"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit." Elisha replied.

"You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "Yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours. Otherwise, not."

As they were walking along & talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire & horses of fire appeared & separated the two of them & Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

Elisha saw this & cried, "My father! My father! The chariot & horsemen of Israel!"

And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes & tore them apart.

He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah & went back & stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak & struck the water with it. "Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the left & to the right, & he crossed over. 

The company of prophets from Jericho were watching & said, "The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha."

~ 2 Kings 2: 8-15 (NIV)

Elijah might be my favourite of the OT Prophets. His stories strike a deep chord, they entice my imagination like few others. The way he spoke truth to a wicked king & queen, ran for his life, battled depression & depended entirely on God for his survival is nothing short of heroic.

I've been thinking about him a lot since Rep. Elijah Cummings died. It is hard to lose such an inspirational leader, especially in dark times when there will be hard battles ahead. I think it's important to remember that in America, our "leaders" are really our representatives. In a government "of the people", no one can have power unless it's given to them.

Rep. Cummings did great work & should be honored for that but he was also continuing what was started by others before him. And like Elisha inheriting a double-portion of Elijah's spirit to continue his ministry, we are all responsible for carrying on the good works that Rep. Cummings dedicated himself to.

Elijah Cummings is gone but his spirit is still with us. Just as Elisha took up Elijah's cloak & continued his ministry so must we all pick up where Elijah Cummings left off & continue representing America.

The Word of God was with Elijah, & when Elijah's cloak struck the water, it divided to the left & to the right. Likewise, when Elijah Cummings spoke truth to power, Americans divided to the left & to the right. May we also cross over, on dry ground, safely.

Elisha took Elijah's cloak & asked, "Where is God?" & the answer is, God was with Elisha. Scripture tells us that God will live among the people. The Spirit of God is with everyone who does God's will.

Work for justice. Love mercy. Be humble. Love God. Love people.

Selah.

75th Anniversary of D-Day

~ Originally published June 5, 2019.

Early in 1941, a full 9 months before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, forcing the U.S. to formally enter World War II, a small group of comic book writers & artists did what their government & most of their fellow citizens were not yet ready to do. They declared their own war. They created a fictional character who epitomized the best parts of American idealism & had him lead the charge against the evil of fascism. And if that wasn't enough, on the very first cover, they showed us Captain America punching Hitler right in the face. Is this too literal to be a parable?

I don't know but, man, they were telling truth to anyone with ears to hear & eyes to see.

It wasn't long before those artists would put up so they'd never have to shut up. Much like the fictional Steve Rogers, they volunteered to go join the fight. And even though they saw their share of hell, people like Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Stan Lee, et al, learned their lessons from history well & they would continue to carry that same idealism with them throughout the rest of their lives.

On this night in 1944 over 350,000 men were preparing for the D-Day invasion. Americans, Australians, Brits, Canadians, French, Norwegians & Poles came together for a single purpose. It is chilling to think back & imagine all those boys, contemplating what might happen the next day.

The anxiety & dread had to be palpable, if not overwhelming.

No serum-induced superpowers. No Vibranium shields. Just what needed to be done.

The first day would be a disaster but ultimately the course of history changed, for the better.

This day is sacred. So, it is appalling that our country is now represented by a rank amateur.

He stands beside Queen Elizabeth II, a woman of privilege who did not let that stop her from doing the right thing. King George VI was slow of speech but he was also clear-eyed. Most of the aristocracy was content to keep on doing the Charleston while Hitler steamrolled over their neighbors, but not the King. He encouraged his people with "Keep Calm & Carry On", "Freedom Is In Peril - Defend It With All Your Might", etc.. He kept hope alive. His daughter learned to drive a jeep & be a grease-monkey. By contrast, Fred Trump was a racist, war-profiteering, slumlord.

Donald Trump is an unmitigated, self-centered jack-ass. He has no concept, no appreciation of service or sacrifice. He does not even understand the difference between good & evil.

Those boys who willingly went to war, the ones whose corpses littered the French countryside & the ones who were lucky enough to come back... dear God, do they deserve so much better.

We should all be ashamed of ourselves for letting this happen. 'Nuff said!

PS ~ I am not trying to glorify war here, something that should never be done. Even in the very few cases where the cause is just, war is still always evil. Nationalism is evil too. So is the military-industrial complex.  As a Christian, my first & most important loyalty is to Jesus. Because I believe in Jesus, I am a devoted pacifist. But when we are faced with existential crises, like the Nazis, what should we do? Nazis only have one purpose: to murder anyone who isn't a Nazi. While I cannot tell anyone else what God would call them to do, I can safely say that my faith demands that I would never stand by & allow innocent people to suffer, especially at the hands of sheer hatred. I could be wrong but in my opinion, "turning the other cheek" only applies when it's my own face being hit. If it's my brother or sister being hit, than God help me if I don't stand between them & the oppressor. That's why I have nothing but respect for all of the Allied service men & women of World War II, & especially for those who risked everything on D-day.

A Meditation for Lent: Jesus, Thomas & Martha.

Scripture Reading: The Gospel According to St. John, 1:1-27 (NIV)

The Death of Lazarus

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair). So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Then Thomas said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.   But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Reflection:

I was 19 years old & had only been on campus for a few days when an elderly professor gave me this warning:

"Be careful. A Christian college is the easiest place to lose your faith."

I did not know what he meant but I nodded my head & smiled, pretending to understand. My journey of faith has been quite complicated over a period of about 40 years. I was raised by a clergy family and grew up in the church. I was always encouraged to read Bible stories & frequently attended the various churches that my friends belonged to. At the age of 16 I was "Born Again", as they say. Even though I was in high school, I made it a point to stand out & expressed my faith with enthusiasm.

But the truth is that belief never did come easy for me. When it was time to look at colleges, I convinced my parents to consider private Christian schools instead of state universities or community colleges. At the time, a Christian college just seemed like the safer bet.

Sure enough, I was soon confused by conflicting theologies and when I struggled with my own belief, I was stunned by the lack of empathy that was given to me by fellow students & so-called friends.

That professor was right. After a few semesters, like poor Lazarus, my faith was stone-cold dead.

So I can understand that the disciples are confused about what's going on here. There is a lot of conflicting information flying around. Is Lazarus sick? Is he dying? Is he going to get better? Is he dead already? Or is he just sleeping? And on top of all that, the idea of physical resurrection was a controversial topic. The Pharisees & Sadducees - united in their opposition to Jesus - strongly disagreed on this theological issue. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection. The Sadducees did not. [Dad joke & feel free to skip this part: "The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, so they were sad, you see?" ~ Stolen from Keith Drury, ca. 1996]

What IS clear is that Jesus is going to Bethany. His disciples immediately attempt an intervention: a few months ago they went to Jerusalem to celebrate Hanukkah & some very literal-minded people tried to stone Jesus for blasphemy (Lev. 24:16, John 10: 33). Because Bethany is less than two miles from Jerusalem those same people will surely find out if Jesus comes back, so the disciples know full well that Jesus is risking his life. And Jesus knows that raising a person from the dead will put him one step closer to Golgotha but he is going, no matter what. His friends continue to protest but Christ is firm: there is work to be done and he is going to do it.

Thomas is the only one who steps up and says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” This is quite a difference from the story we usually hear about Thomas around Easter time (John 20: 24-29). Our pop-culture caricature of "Doubting Thomas" conveys the message that doubt is bad. It also leaves out the part about how loyal Thomas could really be. Was Thomas being fatalistic? Did he mean, "Jesus is going to die, so we might as well die too."... or did he mean, "They may try to kill our friend but they'll have to go through me first."? I like to think he meant the latter.

And then there is Martha, the sister of Lazarus. She is at home mourning her late brother but when she hears that Jesus is on his way, she runs out of the house to meet him. This is very interesting. Of the two sisters, Martha is the practical one & Mary is the free-spirit. It would be more characteristic for Martha to stay indoors, taking care of the friends & family who have come to call on the grieving sisters. It would be more characteristic for Mary to drop whatever she was doing & run to the comfort of her Lord. So Martha is not the task-master that the Gospel of Luke makes her out to be. She also has a spontaneous side. She's not always angry, she can also be quite loving. When she meets Jesus on the road, she makes 5 statements of belief: 

1. Jesus is the miracle-worker who could have healed Lazarus & prevented his death

2. Jesus should have come five days ago, when she sent a message asking for his help

3. God will give Jesus whatever he asks for

4. She believes in the teaching that a physical resurrection will happen some day in the future

5. She already believes that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God*. 

*Martha believes this even before she sees Jesus bring her brother back to life.

[tangent & feel free to skip this part: Compare Saint John's story to Mary & Martha's earlier appearance in The Gospel According to Saint Luke (Luke 10: 38-41). John describes Mary as being more somber. After Lazarus has been resurrected, it is Mary alone who understands the consequences of what Christ has done (John 11: 1- 11). The news spreads fast. It was bad enough when people tried to stone Jesus for blasphemy but now everyone who witnessed Lazarus come forth will proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah. Mary instinctively knows that Jesus has passed the point of no return. The Pharisees, Sadducees, & especially Romans will not allow him to continue. They don't understand his Gospel but they do understand oppression. They are afraid that Jesus will inspire a revolution & they know the majority of people are ready to fight. Mary has been saving all her money to buy a small jar of perfume, because she has known for a long time that Jesus will be executed & she wants to anoint his body in preparation for his burial.]

On Maundy Thursday Thomas is going to chicken out & abandon Jesus. And it will take 7 Days of Easter before Thomas believes that "The Lord has risen indeed. Alleluia!" Thomas is going to epic-fail & struggle but right now, on the way to Bethany, Thomas is Christ's faithful servant.

Martha is devastated by the loss of her brother. And she is very disappointed with Jesus's bad timing. Even when she confesses her faith, she can't help but be a little snarky about the fact that Jesus could have come much sooner, if he wanted. But right now, running out of the house, completely undignified, even through all her misery & anger, Martha still believes that Jesus is the Messiah, The Only Begotten Son of God, let him do as he sees fit.

And let's not forget: between rebuking his disciples & revealing the glory of God, even Christ Jesus wept over the death of his friend.

Doubt does not equal disbelief. Sorrow does not equal sin. Faith is both what we believe and what we do. Christ goes where the work needs done. Thomas follows. Martha runs to meet him.

What about us? What do we do? Twenty years ago, in a Christian college, I was ashamed of my doubt & would constantly beat myself up for it. Back then, I took some comfort (but not enough) in the words of Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living." So I questioned my faith in God. I'm happy to say that at some point, the questions & uncertainty became less scary. Our Creator is not impressed by unthinking minds. Our Creator will always welcome a willing soul.

Now I have learned to trust that Our Creator can handle all of our hesitations.

"...continue to work out your salvation with fear & trembling..." ~ Philippians 2: 12.

The universal church has survived for 2000 years because countless people like Saint Martha and Saint Thomas did not give up.

Prayer: 

Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! Prepare me to do good works to the glory of your name. Amen.

~ Originally submitted in condensed form & published in the "2019 Blairsville Area Community Lenten Devotional", by the Blairsville Area Ministerium (Blairsville, Pennsylvania).

A Collect for Gun Violence.

image by Chris Pretska

~ Originally Published October 28, 2018

A Collect for Gun Violence

O God, Our Heavenly Parent
who in your Holy Word
has commanded us
to put down all weapons,
to stop preparing for war,
& to reject a life of violence:

We confess that, as a nation,
we have made for ourselves
a false idol of guns,
& that by doing so we all
have blood-stained hands.

Have mercy, O God, have mercy

for many of us are penitent.

Have mercy, O God have mercy

for we are overwhelmed by grief
& terror.

Listen to our cries for help,
let your face shine upon us
Draw the broken-hearted close
to you
& save those who are crushed
in spirit.

For those murdered, give eternal rest.

For those injured, healing.

For those who mourn, comfort.

For those who have harmed others,
forgiveness
because they are also victims.

Bless us with Sister Wisdom
& guide us to always walk in the way of The Prince of Peace.

Bless us with bold leadership & never-ending commitment to do what is right, even when it is hard.

Give us strength & courage
to rise up against the evil forces
of hate, apathy, greed, corruption, corporate money, nationalism, domestic violence, intolerance, self-centeredness & fear.

Help us to finally live as one family,
in true safety & love.

And that by doing so, may we worthily magnify & glorify
your precious name,
Our Creator & Redeemer.

Amen.

Thoughts & Prayers.

~ Originally published November 6, 2017

"When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look at you. Although you offer me many prayers, I will not listen to you. Your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims." ~ Isaiah 1:15

As a Christian, of course I don't really believe that praying is ever useless but when politicians & other people of influence react to a mass murder by "sending thoughts & prayers", it is an empty & meaningless gesture. They do this as if it absolves them of responsibility. By showing the minimum amount of sympathy they are, in effect, asking the injured to forgive them for their failure to provide real protection. That makes "thoughts & prayers" more obscene than any swear words I unleash in a moment of anger (confession: I can really let the expletives fly).

Maybe there is a God who will listen to their thoughts & prayers... but I don't think so.

Prayer is many things but it is much more than just asking God to do something magical. Prayer is not wish fulfillment. Prayer is not a vending machine. Prayer is not a quick fix.

One aspect of prayer is that it is an attempt by the supplicant to align themselves with the will of God. And that requires action. When Peter asked Christ to send the hungry crowd away so they could all go buy their lunch, Christ said "No, Peter, I want YOU to feed all these people. Then they will know that you love them like I love them." Pope Francis says, "First you pray for the hungry then you feed the hungry, that's how prayer works."

This applies to everything we pray for. If I want God to forgive my sins, I must also be willing to forgive any person who sins against me. And the reason I know that's the way it works is because Christ stuck it right in the middle of the Lord's prayer. And on top of that, he made up a whole parable about it called "the wicked servant".

At the end of our church service, the priest always tells us "Go forth to love & serve the Lord." As a native midwesterner, I interpret this to mean, "When you leave this building don't forget who you are. Don't waste the next 6 days. Make yourself useful."

Listen. The point I'm trying to make is this: if you want to pray for the victims of gun violence then you are creating a moral obligation for yourself. You have to do something practical to help the victims. You have to do something practical to prevent other people from becoming victims. The only way to do this is to finally pass & enforce some laws that, to most people, seem like they should just be common sense.

So if you want to do that, then I think that's great. But if you want to "send your thoughts & prayers" & move on with your life, then I think you should just shut your mouth. You're not helping, so don't even pretend like you care. Consider the words of Saint James, brother of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ:

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds."

~ Epistle of James, 2:14-18.

Selah.
Selah.
Selah.

Resurrection Question.

~ Originally published April 21, 2016

Question: Why are the Gospels so inconsistent with the Resurrection story?

Mark.

Probably the first written & most accurate says that Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James & someone named Salome went to the tomb. On arrival, they saw that the stone had already been rolled away. Looking inside, they saw one man dressed in white. They were afraid and ran from the tomb. (I won't even count the following verses which were added later & not reliable).

Matthew.

Says Mary Magdalene & "the other Mary" were the only ones who went to the tomb. This account claims that a great earthquake caused the stone to roll away*. The angel told them to go tell the apostles, and they were filled with joy and ran to tell them. On the way they both saw Jesus whom they recognize instantly & grabbed his feet & worshipped him.

* In the previous chapter Matthew says an earthquake happened at the crucifixion too, and that the bodies of holy men were resurrected which many people witnessed in Jerusalem. It's strange that the other Gospels do not share this story. Since Matthew's primary audience was Jewish, & the goal of the gospel was to show that Jesus was the Messiah of OT Prophecy, then there must have been a special signifigence to this detail that's lost on modern Christians.

Luke

 Luke, who was a gentile doctor reporting to a governor, probably spent the most time researching his gospel. He most likely used Mark & maybe even Matthew as source material. But he still does not mention the women by name. He says there are two men dressed in white in the tomb. They do not command the women to tell the apostles anything, they only say that Christ is risen & remind them that he said he would do this in accordance with the prophets. The women go directly to the Apostles & Peter runs to the tomb by himself. Then, later on in the same story, the women's names are listed but they are now: Mary Magdelene, Mary mother of James, someone named Joanna & "the others that were with them".

John.

Apparently was written last & often seems contentious towards the other three Gospel writers. In this version Mary Magdelene went alone, discovered the empty tomb, saw no angel, went to Peter & the other disciple (debatable but, let's assume John) & says, "Someone took Jesus's body & we don't know where they put it.". Peter & John run to the tomb. They believe right away & leave. Mary is left alone, crying. Jesus appears to her & she repeats to him that someone took her Lord's body & she doesn't know where they put it. When she finally recognizes Jesus, he forbids her from touching him. He does tell her to give a message to the apostles but it is not the same message which Mark & Matthew write (that he will meet them in Galilee), instead he wants Mary to tell them he is ascending to the father in heaven.

...

One could easily argue that the resurrection is the most important story in the Bible so it is bizarre that all four Gospels disagree on even the most basic details. Why so much inconsistency?

I'll be honest, I cannot answer this question.

Some thoughts:

It would be easy to be cynical & say, "These don't match so it can't be true.". However, we know that the Bible was significantly edited over the centuries & millennia, & what we consider complete books were often added to & edited later on. Or written separately than compiled. Some examples are Jeremiah & the Psalms. This would have continued at least til the Council of Nicea in the 4th century & maybe even til the Vulgate Bible was written in the 7th century. So, in my amateur opinion, all these loose ends could have simply been tied up through editing. To me, the Resurrection story is actually more believable because of the inconsistencies, although that sounds counterintuitive. If the story had been a conspiracy as some believe it to be, they could have crafted a much more solid story.

My Unbelief (a meditation on Maundy Thursday).

~ Originally Published March 24, 2016

Maundy Thursday.

Driving past a church, I noticed the message on their sign: God is about to do something good.

Experience has proven this to be true. So why is it so hard to believe when things get rough?

Saint Peter had the guts to jump out of a boat, had first-hand experience of walking on water and, most importantly, had Jesus standing right in front of him. So why in the world would he lose his faith and just focus on the wind and waves below, which only caused him to sink?

And why do so many Christians keep doing the exact same thing almost 2,000 years later?

It’s because our faith is always imperfect and never complete.

The older I get, the more frequently I find myself repeating a father’s short prayer from Mark 9:24.

It is a paradox, mysterious and contradictory…and yet on an instinctive level, I know exactly what it means.

Jesus said to him, “All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief!”

On Sunday morning, God IS going to do something great but before that you have to go through Thursday, Friday and Saturday... and it's going to feel like hell.

"Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief!"