Memorial Day 2021

Memorial Day is all American, all celebration, but we also remember the cost of the freedom we hold so dear.  There are hundreds of thousands who have given their lives in wars since Lexington and Concord in 1775 who have created those freedoms.  One has but to look at the cemeteries around the globe where lads and lassies loyal to the USA lie buried so far from home. 

There is but one race – the human race, but every ethnic group among us is represented in those graves, including many who joined the fight while ostracized or shunned by many in this country.  The exclusion and persecution you can call racism, I just call it stinking thinking – stinking, foolish, sinful, and just plain wrong since the only race is the human race, and if you recall we all have been created in God’s image and deemed by Him so highly and are one with us all and worthy for that reason alone.

Today, our flag flies (as it does 24/7) because we recognize and rejoice that this country is the very best because as has been attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville: “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.” As a veteran I want our flag to fly as a sign that America is still good as it was founded and multiple generations of us have served.

What a wonderful day as we recall that the freedom which has made us good and able to celebrate has come at a horrific cost. I suspect few families in our land today have not been deeply touched by the recent or past lost military men and women. Many families and individuals today still suffer from those losses.

But now, I think it’s time for me to enter the political fray.

Yep, I’ve been quiet long enough, and since, like you, I have opinions, I think it is time for me to share them.   I hope you’ll not turn off your mind, but ponder what I say, because as I see it you and I have to be at some point on a continuum of Liberal (on the left I presume) and Conservative (on the right).

And it would appear that there is where the major division occurs and tempers rise and kindness and peace go out the window and violence enters in.

I’d like to take you back to a story told by a well-known professor who on a different topic would share an applicable short story with his students.  He would ask them to close their eyes and ponder getting on an airplane flight to their favorite place.  He’d say to them that on this flight you will find a seat in the fuselage, and you could freely choose the side of the isle you wanted to sit on. Either side, he would tell them will get you there – at the same time and place.  He would then ask which wing is most important, the left or the right for the success of the flight? 

The ONLY correct answer is both are equally important; one is not superior to or more necessary than the other.

Do you see the parallel I’m alluding to?

Precisely!  Just as we need a left and right wing for a successful flight, we need both the liberal and conservative views to keep our ship of state afloat.  One is not more important than the other.  That’s where the nation can thrive and that’s why the two-party system is necessary and works.  

It does work better when both parties are working for a common result — getting the airplane and country to the best destination for everyone on board (and not for special selfish interests).  Pity the passengers in a plane that loses a wing; pity the country’s inhabitants, when one party shouts down and rolls over the other.

That does work best when we all want the best of the best for the country and people, even with differing ways to get there.   We are blessed in America that we can still and freely participate in electing those we think best, encourage our leaders on both sides to stop tearing the other side down, force ALL the media to action by pulling our financial support from them until they stop bashing one side or the other and report fairly without their personal slant on things. You and I both know that both sides are guilty of all this.

And lastly for most of us, pray for God’s hand to bring sanity, love, gentleness, joy, patience, peace, kindness, faithfulness, goodness and most of all perhaps self-control to our land.

God bless America,

don

Sunday Worship Revisited

I can only imagine what the first-century church worship was like – but I’d guess they were fearfully and quietly hugging one another and eager to hear from the Old Testament and any letters from wandering leaders, but not shouting and making loud music for fear of bringing Roman authorities who might bang on their locked doors to persecute them — probably it’s that way in China today. They came to be strength for one another and for teaching of holiness and right living. Since much of the OT is focused on lamenting I’d suspect that a common thread in those services was the reading of those parts of the bible calling for individual repentance.

Thanks to COVID, each Sunday we watch two services online and attend a third. Each of the three has a very strong message from the Word of God, but stark differences in worship styles, I guess suited to differing congregational ages and with vastly different purposes.

The first has a small worship team that is on stage with a minimum of what I’d call “show” leading the congregation in some old hymns mixed with perhaps a contemporary song sung with perhaps just a guitar, keyboard, and violin, giving ease to the possibility that the congregation might join in. By their very demeanor, such worship could never be taken as performance – just leading the church with honor and quiet praise to God. However, if you went to the main worship building on this church campus, you’d find lights, fog, and in my opinion, people performing as they might in Vegas. I’m prompted to ask what heavenly purpose does this feed, and how much of it is aimed at making seekers feel at home, good, and is it focused on raising the emotions or to come before our Creator and His Son?

The second service we attend online is a large church, with a massive pipe organ, choir, orchestra, and a very good message to take us deeper into our walk with God. During COVID the smaller choir stands socially distanced with books open and sings, as it seems to me – as unto God. No fog, no rotating and flashing lights, no performances by anyone involved. On youth Sunday, even the children’s choir seemed more attentive to God than in church one or three. Nearly all look joyful, as does the first church, but they also appear more worshipful with no theatrical effects.

The third service is in a smaller church that does not feature the fog but does have rotating lights and a small group who gyrate, jump, with sound often above 80 decibels that gets their congregation swaying, waving hands, and for the most part – not singing. I can’t help but notice that many stand outside the worship center until the preaching starts to avoid the assaults to their ears and their Christ-focused mood they would like to bring to the service. I am tempted to join them, but do believe that God wants me to learn to accept the new with a good attitude and join in. I’m old school but when did the sanctuary become a worship center, née performance hall? I’m not there quite yet, but I’m working on it.

In this age where society has apparently peaked, and now is in a severe decline in morals, attitude and behavior – where is the church bringing a message of lament and repentance, and why is it not doing so? Why is it that when a church does call for prayer time, that few, very few, show up? While the world is “going to hell in a hand-basket”, the church at large seems to rally with feel-good services with no focus on what God has called His children to bring to the world. I’m certainly not against the good news that is out there, but that doesn’t seem to be shared either, and certainly is not found in the media. Perhaps the age-old saying ‘heavenly minded but no earthly good” applies somewhat because the teaching is sound and fundamental but in this author’s opinion “church” as normal fails to be making a difference in day-to-day lives in godly societal influence.

Sadly, we can see the problem, but at this point, I, you, and the rest of us may just write critiques and do little else. If change does not come from the church, the decline will continue no doubt until either God intervenes by crisis or radical “saints” raise up and start a revival of repentance and Christ-focused living.