Monthly Archives: January 2017

Thoughts on Wisdom and on Jesus- Wisdom’s Fulfiller

I’m starting to think wisdom is a mathematical equation.

All education is pattern because the Pattern Maker makes it so. Is it really that much of a stretch to understand He made a pattern of Life that fulfills the Fall of man?

He set forth and showed us an equation that fulfills wisdom itself.

Wisdom was given to man to show us how the equation worked. Jesus came to fulfill the equation beyond wisdom’s power.

I’m seeing the book of Proverbs as a math book. If we’re left with its limits, then the Old Covenant stands. It was what was put in place to help man of his own efforts of sacrifice and blood.

With Wisdom, God created all that is. Jesus was there. Hebrews says Jesus is the Heir of all things and “through whom He made the universe”. How else does wisdom stand?

Faithfulness and righteousness were the fulfillment of those who dwell with wisdom. Jesus was/is/ever will be the Righteous One.

We knew of the answer we hoped for: the salvation of man. I know of those who hate the equation, who see the fact that there is one as proof of God’s cruelty. If He knew, then why the charade of the Garden? But I would say that though He knew it would come to this, there were plans for greater things. I wonder of the comparison of God’s questioning of Adam in the Garden with the plea of Jesus while also in one.

Two discussions with God in gardens that held the fate of mankind in their wake. One for our condemnation, the other ultimately for our salvation. Both tests, one failed, the other fulfilled.

There are voices in Scripture that wish we could have made it work, from the Garden to the Temple, but they spoke of ever less than the fulfillment to come in Jesus.

If anything the equation of wisdom shows us our need for more, but no one knew what He had in store.

Numbers get fulfilled with concepts. In Proverbs, it would be: The undiscerning + listening to a gossip = folly. And Hebrews chapter 4: Hearing the Gospel + Faith = Rest.

I know it’s a bit elementary, but it makes sense to me with the plethora of proverbs that each give little bits of info to paint a bigger picture of wisdom in a fallen world. Then when we think of Jesus, we see firsthand how He flips it on its head and fulfills it.

Downpour

Is faith a construct of community?

Does it not get affirmed and encouraged by the leadership of the board or corrected and disciplined by the elders if in error?

What if all you’ve seen is abuse of power from a crying wife of a leader in the faith to Scriptural misinterpretations for personal gain? Entire seminaries that dance to the liberal tune of the government to gain financial favor, meanwhile training up students to lead churches that thankfully don’t exist or if they do they are far from home?

What room is there for someone who sees the holes? The only stories that ring with a flare of familiarity belong to the prophets of old. They stood in a place between God and man, such a terrifying place, but what if it’s the only place that feels like home, the only place that is trustable and reliable? Authority becomes an excuse for selfishness and is merely something to avoid.

I think of the story of the Protestant faith, the whole reason for its existence is because of abuse of power. If the Catholic church had been more humble in its use, I wonder… Instead, they pointed to themselves and declared immunity to all wrongs by their divine right. People won’t stand for it; it was always only a matter of time. Churches still split and wives are still oppressed over the same issues.

The victims turn on themselves because of fear with the knowledge that majority wins, majority has all the stuff after all. There is no solid ground here which verifies its falseness to the oppressors. The weak betray what they desperately needed, what they could have known, but the isolation terrifies them. All of their stuff becomes held in hostage till they capitulate.

What is there for those who feel at home with Him but far from the machine? Do we create a place for ourselves out on the rocks far from civilization? What of the hope for more for the children? So many have made it through ok, maybe they’ll be fine. We train them up to withstand that which we couldn’t. Maybe if I had grown up with ‘greener grass’, but you are lying to yourself. Turns out the grass is an illusion, a poison if God is who you seek.

There is an understanding of faith, of church, of God’s Will that constricts life by those who would use it. Does the statement, “People discover their own faith” carry any accuracy, any truth at all? Is faith not determined by the majority? Can one really wash their hands of their own creations? God have mercy on us all. What if the faith they discover leaves them without house and home, and is far from doctrinal integrity? Who determines the definition?

Some have found a place. Some can not shut their mouths because they search and seek for that which is the cause of their discontent. In the end, God will use people like Martin Luther who will break the machine because they caught a glimpse of Him and found it is far from where and what they were told.

If only people could see that God is here and God is now. The Bible gives definitions that help to reprove and correct, but when that source becomes polluted with politics, again God help us. Whether it be Latin or interpretation by tradition and doctrine or use of supposedly neutral tools like literary criticisms, we will find having a relationship with a living God is a bit more uncontainable than that.

He lives and moves beyond us and within us, terrifyingly close and mind-blowingly far. It is more fun to follow St. Ephrem the Syrian when it comes to describing Him. “The Great One who became small” is a fitting description. “The far One who became near” brings Jeremiah 23:23-24 and Psalm 8 within reach. The omniscience and omnipresence of God fulfilled in intimacy are beyond our abilities to comprehend no matter what words we create to describe it. He defies the ways that surround us, ways we have known since birth.

Looking to Him gives life, even thinking about Him provides breath, a breath that breathes deeper and more completely than the ways of man. Beyond the stars and beneath the blades of grass, He is.

How do we respond? How can we ever hope to measure up? We always strive to earn and achieve, but what hope is there for us to One who has time and space in His hands? It is easier for some to embrace the madness of fools and deny His existence, or to say because of the machine that no one can know anything for sure.

But Jesus came so that we would know one thing for sure: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Maybe it would help us to realize all our theology is an umbrella made of tissue paper and we are in the midst of the downpour of His love.

Ceremony For The Aborted

January 7, 2017

We performed the ceremony for the aborted babies last night. It was a holy night whose meaning was even more poignant being so close to our celebration of Jesus’ birth. Its nearness to the New Year was also purposeful as the children never got to live even for a moment let alone experience a new year.

I began the time with prayer. How can anyone conceive of such a number as 60 million? If a person would say 1 of their names per second it would take almost 2 years to say them all, but they weren’t given names. Praying for all the people I won’t get to know and love or be loved by made me rely on His power, grace, and mercy to even utter anything more than “I’m sorry.”

We then sang Christmas carols for the little ones: Silent Night, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing, both of which hit me profoundly. It was a silent night for them but for different reasons, and the heralding of angels in the face of a pursuing king to prevent such a threat resounded hallowedly and mournfully at the same time.

We read Psalm 142 to honor the plight of those millions. We’ve come to know it as the Psalm for the Aborted. Verse 4 stood out to me as the number of deaths overwhelmed and prevented me from establishing a more personal connection of compassion. I didn’t know them.

After the Scripture reading, we let the kids read the letters they wrote to the babies. They were full of sorrow and joy as they reflected on their death and on the life they now get to have with God in Heaven.

I then read a poem I was given by the author to use during our ceremony. It fulfilled our time, our reflection, our response to all of the loss.

As we prepared to light the tissue paper to commemorate their brief life, my wife opened the trash can which resembled the only casket they were allowed and lit the paper I held in my hand. It burned up so quickly. I held it too long and felt a moment of pain before letting it go. We all watched as the paper fell.

Following this was a moment of silence where we invited everyone to think about the night. I looked closely at the arrangement of beautiful flowers my wife had prepared. The babies would never smell them. Their lives were not taken by an accident, nor was it by a storm or a flood. Tragedies beyond number, only the Lord knows them all.

We then read Psalm 23 to lead our thoughts in giving the children to God. Verse 6 stood out to me as it spoke of the hope we have for them. We then lit a candle to represent this hope, their eternal life with Him.

We closed by singing Joy To The World, and listened to an impromptu song made by my daughter for all the aborted. We then each laid our hands on the trash lid as a farewell and said Hebrews 11:38 together: “The world was not worthy of them.”

I then finished the ceremony in prayer.

The Order of the Ceremony for the Aborted:

-Opening Prayer
-Worship, 2-3 songs
-Reading of Psalm 142
-Time of Confessing and Declaring their life mattered
-Reading of poem: “We Belong To You”, by Megan Engstrom-Bussert
-Lighting of the kleenex tissue- commemorating their brief life
-Time of silence
-Time of Dedication: Reading of Psalm 23- turning the babies over to God
-Lighting of a candle- commemorating their eternal life with Him
-Worship, 1-2 songs
-Closing Scripture- Reading of Hebrews 11:38
“The world was not worthy of them”
-Closing Prayer

In The Thick Of It

It’s all about how you host His presence, the presence of God. It ignites the gifts of the Holy Spirit or leaves them dormant. It is sort of like a stem cell treatment. When those things get activated healing comes, but they lie dormant in our fat. There is a lot to compare with the spiritual life here. The point? We can either let life be dormant in fear, but don’t expect His presence there, or we can live it to host Him and be surrounded by His reality, “perfect love drives out fear” 1 John 4:18.

I want to be in the thick of it with Him. In the thick of His action, His presence, His reality, that’s where I want to be. All the rest of life is fading.