Lessons from dead heroes

There is a lot to be learned from dead heroes. Historically the Pilgrims were a group of Christ followers who did not agree with the accepted way their culture viewed faith and holiness. Their willingness to do whatever it took to be free to follow Christ according to the dictates of their conscience as informed by the Word of God, finally resulted in the fatefull decision to make the hazardous voyage to the new world.

A few generations latter it was their decendants, the New England  Puritans, who were persecuting the Baptists, in ways that were very similar to the way their forefathers were treated by the church of England.

Dead heroes are often followed in such a way as to forget that God is ultimately in charge. Instead of being thankfull for a place where they could fellowship in peace, and share their bread, even with the non-believing native people, we were carving out settlements based on religious bias, Puritans here, Catholics there, Presbyterians over there, and the hated Quakers in their own little parcel.

They didn't trust each other, and they certainly didn't like each other.

In America today, religion has taken a back seat to political ideologies. And we are not realy devided by theology as much as we are by the apparent separation of skin color and cultural heritage. We think of these divisions as un-natural and wrong on some level.  Equality under the law is so much a part of our cultural heritage we think that is how God says it  works, and no matter who you side with in contemporary debates, we all want to get equal or better treatment than our perceived enemies.

Here is the thing, there are a bunch of dead heroes in Genesis 6. Men of renown, and they are collectively called "the dead guys" (a loose translation of the term "Nefilim"). God judged them all, and the summary of their greatness is eclipsed by their deadness.

God judged the entire lot of them, and he played favorites. It says that Noah found favor, that he was a God fearing man, and that God decided he was going to get preferential treatment.

The pilgrims made it to what we affectionately call, the first Thanksgiving, and praised God not just for the material preferential treatment. The few who were left alive, were most thankfull for having been given His favor.

All too often we consider ourselves blessed because we have what amounts to relative blessing, or preferential teatment. We are thankfull we have food, or clothing, or education or family, in contrast to those who don't. "We are blessed (of God)" we say.

But the dead heroes of Noah's day could have said the same thing. They did mighty acts married pretty women and were better than others in some way, and they all died in their sin, drowned in the outpouring of God's wrath.

Real blessings and their matching thanksgivings, are not measured well by comparison. God sends the rain on the just and the unjust, and one will face God's wrath while the other will not. It is the thoughts and intentions of wicked hearts that make us in our generation about the same as those of Noah's day, and God's judgement will come again, as in Noah's day with no warning, and the rich and poor, the have's and the have not's the oppressors and the victims will all together be swept away.

The pilgrims seems to have known this, they were thankfull not because they were better than their companions, as shown by preferential treatment or even equal standing under the law, but because of God's favor. Their decendants soon forgot that it was not their merit, but the character of the giver that we are to be thankful for.

We are not blessed because we live in a place were we can eat to excess, shop for frivolities, and live in comfort. We are not Gods favored because we have short term preferential or equal treatment. We are blessed if we can honestly recognize that God has shown favor for us, whatever our lot in life, he looks on us with favor.

And that is a small lesson from dead heroes. We cannot compare our merit by percieved preferential  treatment on some human scale. And we are not treated equally in God's justice system, It is not your lot in life you are to be thankful for, but the favor of God. It seems the Pilgrims got it, while the heroes of Genesis 6 didn't. Do we?

A taxonomy of Ranchitis

Ranchitis: noun, a condition typical of ranchers to have protracted conversations. Also known as diorea of the mouth.

A friend of mine coned the term "Ranchitis." There are some people you try to avoid if you don't have an extra half hour because they do not know how to have short conversations.  His theory is that like ranchers, people who don't get enough human interaction will try to milk conversations for all they are worth. Like ranchers on the highway who will actually stop on the highway roll down their windows and have 20 minute conversations.

I have several people who can have 20 to 30 minute monologues at me. And I have noticed that they tend to fit into different categories:

Lonely,  these can be widows or others who spend the majority of their time alone.  The conversations tend to be about their lives and experiences in the last few days, and seem to be reaching out for human contact.

Distressed, while some people who are having trouble don't want to talk about it, there are some who will share the details either because they feel better, or because they are looking for help. Some times people Are using their crisis as a way to get attention or sympathy, legitimate or otherwise.

Want to be sage, these characters have some well worn pearls of advice they want to unload on anyone who will listen.  It can vary from health to finances, to the farmers almanac. It is often repetitive and not realy interested in any input or suggestions from the audience.

Politicians, and I don't mean those running for office, but those who know that they actually could fix the problems with healthcare, education and the national debt. Often mostly complaining about their latest pet peave. 

Misguided evangelists, these are often pious sounding but extreamly insensitive people who will try to convince everyone they are headed to Hell if they have not "been saved" according to their understanding. 

The thing is that "being patient with all" is a Biblical command. And however people come across, we are called to minister the gospel.

 Even when we can't get a word in edgewise.

Mourning with those who mourn, and rejoicing with those who rejoice, often means that we need to spend a lot of time listening.

The ubiquitous Poor

Jesus said that the poor would always be with us. While he walked the earth, there were oportunities to do things directly for him, worship could be direct. But even then the majority of the time his emphasis was on helping us understand that our treatment of others is a good litmus test for our understanding of God.

In First John we are told that if you don't love the person you can see, there is no way you can love the God you haven't. 

The thing is that the poor are ubiquitous. Every place has them. Most religions make mention of them. All societies have to find a place for them. As often as not that means that like birds and grass and trees we stop seeing God's Creations and start assuming that people created to bear God's image are just part of the land scape.

I have made it a practice to try to be friendly and great the people around me here in these new surroundings. Some are surrley, one asked how I could be the pastor since I was too friendly to fit with this crowd, others are polite, some even friendly. But at that level it is still hard to see the individual human beings.

But this week I happened to ask how someone was doing, they walk through my yard every day, and admire my boys, but I finally had someone respond. I learned about loosing a job, and then a home and how the ratty shoes she wore were the only pair she had. 

I can't help "the poor." There are not enough resources to do that, "they" are everywhere. But my neighbor who needs new shoes I can help. I cannot get her a job, I cannot buy her a house, I cannot solve the myriad pains and heartaches. But I found a nice pair of hiking boots on sale, in her size and the look on her face when she put them on was priceless.

All too often people like her will not be back in church. It is rare that a life in that much turmoil simply finds God's grace through a visit to a church where they are out of place. But hopefully every step she takes for the next year will remind her that to at least one person she was not part of the scenery.  And Lord willing she will be in church, here or anywhere, a testimony to the grace of God for the ultimate poverty.

 Because we are everywhere, and God does not loose us amidst the scenery. And that is why our neighbors who are in some way poor in this life are so good for each of us. Because until we see individuals, and listen and care for them, we do not understand how God cares for us. And until Christ once again walks this earth, it is in sharing his riches with a needy world that we demonstrate, and prove our understanding of the Gospel.