Category: Blog

For to us a Child is born, a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

 

A King for America

 

“A King! A King!” the people shouted. “We need a king to rule over us!” 

Anyone who has spent a semester in a high school American History class realizes that the time following the American Revolution was full of dissatisfaction and upheaval. After the peace treaties had been signed with the British in 1783 and the Thirteen Colonies were free of British rule, a rumor began to circulate: make George Washington, brave leader of the Revolution, the King of America. Washington, who had given his all to his country, had no desire to be king. 

He refused the Kingship.

It’s a nice story, but none of it is true. It began as a myth when Lewis Nicola proposed the formation of a new country–with a king–in the western part of the continent. It IS true that Nathaniel Gorham, President of the Continental Congress, wrote a letter to Prince Henry of Prussia in 1786, offering him the Kingship of America. The government Gorham had in mind was to be closely modeled after the monarchy in England that the fledgling country of America had fought so hard to escape. 

Wisely, Prince Henry refused and sent this message across the ocean: “The Americans have shown so much determination against their old king that they would not easily submit to a new one.” With this refusal, the delegates rallied themselves, drafted the Constitution of the United States of America, and begged George Washington to take the office of President.

But old habits die hard or, as my grandmother used to say, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.” Alexander Hamilton—yes, THAT Hamilton–argued that the office of President should be for a lifetime. John Adams suggested that the President be referred to as “your Majesty.” Washington, longing to retire to Mount Vernon and almost blind, had no desire for absolute power but was concerned that his fellow countrymen could so easily desire a monarch. He set the precedent for a two-term President. 

Because, as Lord Acton of England once said, “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

 

A King for Israel

“A King! A King!” the people shouted. “We need a king to rule over us!”

Israel, with their sovereign God, still wanted to be like all the other countries and have a King to lead them. They demanded that Samuel, the aged prophet, find a King. Samuel took this request to God, who told Samuel, “Listen to all the people are saying. It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their King. As they have done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods” (I Samuel 8:7-8).

God further told Samuel to “warn the people that a king will rule over them and claim his rights” (1 Samuel 8:9). He went on to list all the demands a king would make on the people, demands that would cost them their sons, their women, their crops, their grain, and their freedom.

So Saul–yes, THAT Sault–became the first King of Israel. He repeatedly disobeyed God and let his jealousy of the young David drive him into madness.

So much for earthly kings.

 

A King for All

But not the King, the Prince of Peace, that was promised in Isaiah and born as Jesus. Unlike Presidents and Kings who do not listen to God’s commands but allow their absolute power to corrupt, Jesus is the perfect King, fulfilling all the promises given by the prophets and, not by coincidence, all the characteristics set forth in the Constitution of the United States of America.

1. To form a more perfect union.

Jesus makes no distinctions for race, ethnicities, class, or gender. Our Everlasting Father  is for all people, for all time, giving us all equal access to God and loving all His children (Colossians 3:28).

• To establish justice and domestic tranquility. 

The sacrifice of Jesus covers all of our sins and prevents us from seeking revenge on those who have wronged us (Romans 12:19). We can trust Jesus, Wonderful Counselor, to implement justice when needed.

1. To promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our prosterity. 

Our Constitution provides us with the promise of “the common good”, the right to make our own choices but to do so in a way that benefits all.  Jesus, our Mighty God, has the power to not only give us what we need for an earthly existence, but work all things together for His glory (Romans 8:28).

1. To provide for the common defense.

The Prince of Peace is authority over all forces, physical and spiritual (Matthew 28:18). Even His enemies are used to accomplish His purposes (Revelation 17:17). 

The Founding Fathers envisioned a new country, free of tyrannical rule and discrimination, a country where everyone was able to live at peace and prosper. We may have fallen short of the ideal they upheld, but true freedom comes from Jesus as we live in His kingdom (Colossians 1:13).

 

Let Freedom Ring!

 

References: 

Jesus the Perfect King | Desiring God Community Church (desiringgodchurch.org)

Lessons of the Time America’s Founders Tried to Draft a King | Time

Why Did Israel Want an Earthly King When They Had God? (christianity.com)

“Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.  If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me.” I Corinthians 14:1-12

 

A NEW LANGUAGE

Angela stood at the doorway to my small classroom, her face hidden by her long hair. “I…come here now?” she asked softly, holding up her schedule.

I looked up from the students who had gathered at the round table to review chemistry vocabulary. “Why, yes. Welcome, Angela. We’re happy you’ve joined our school and our class!”

Shyly, Angela walked into the room. Rather than sit with  the six other English as a Second Language  students at the table, she chose a seat as far away as possible and busied herself with reading a textbook  I was sure she could not understand. I’d read Angela’s transfer scripts yesterday; she and her mother had been in the United States only two months and she’d had no English instruction.

Once the group at the table were busy with their vocabulary cards, I walked over to Angela and sat next to her. 

“¿Cómo estás hoy, Ángela? ¿Qué estás leyendo?” I was by no means fluent in Spanish, but it always helped new students if I made an effort to speak their home language. Otherwise, my words would mean nothing to them. I asked Angela what she was working on and our tutoring session began.

MANY GIFTS

I often think of the changes Pentecost brought to the lives of the early believers, when the Holy Spirit descended upon them and distributed His gifts. Before Jesus returned to Heaven, He told his followers to remain in Jerusalem to wait for “the Comforter.” Some believers were given the ability to speak a foreign language, previously unknown to them, so that others could hear the salvation message in their home tongue. Imagine how amazed those foreign born people must have been to hear familiar vocal sounds! Because many people passed along the five roads that led into Jerusalem, it was not uncommon for visitors from other lands to be within its borders. 

Most Israelites were, in fact, able to speak more than one language. While  Biblical scholars believe Jesus and His disciples spoke primarily in Aramaic, they probably also spoke Hebrew and Greek. 

There is no doubt, the gift of tongues is impressive. Often, when the students in my room are chattering away in Spanish, French, Loma, or Chinese, I sorely wish I knew more than just a few basic sentences! I need to remind myself that my gift is one of teaching. I need to make my message clear to them.

In I Corinthians 14:5, Paul says, “ I would like every one of you to speak in tongues,  but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues,  unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.” 1 Corinthians 13:1 makes it clear that we should be more concerned with loving those we are with than impressing them with our lofty words! 

A CLEAR MESSAGE

In my work with Angela, whose education in Honduras had provided her with only a few of the academic subjects she required  to graduate high school in the United States, I needed to make sure she understood my instruction. Wiith my halting Spanish, Google translate, and other Spanish-speaking students in the classroom, Angela soon became accustomed to working with the group. 

 I struggled along in Spanish, saying, “Ángela, trabajemos en la tarea de sociología. Está previsto para el jueves.”

She responded in halting English, “No, Senora Linda. Sociology is not on Thursday, but Monday.”

By the second year Angela took English as a Second Language, she stopped hiding behind her long, dark hair and joined the other girls in giggling and laughing. She needed to depend on her Google translate app less and less. 

She could understand the message.

This past June, Angela graduated high school with a scholarship to the Busca  program at LaSalle University.I clapped loudly and couldn’t wait to greet her and her mother after the ceremony.

“Tú eres la que mi hija entendió, “said Mrs.Perez. 

I gave Angela a hug. “I think Angela and I came to understand each other,” I said.

The Holy Spirit imparts His gifts to each of us.Some may speak in tongues, others may evangelize, or serve, or teach. The important thing is not the gift itself, but the clarity of the message we bring.

Deja claro el mensaje. Make the message clear. 

Neither height nor depth nor anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)

 

FISHING POLES

“Get up!” Dad said and gently touched my shoulder. “Let’s go wet a line!”

I groaned and pulled my pillow over my head. “We never catch any fish,” I muttered. “We just stand there on the shore and the waves take our bait. “ I yawned.

“Catching fish is really not the point,” said my father. “Come on, your brother’s already loading the fishing poles.”

“That’s another thing, “ I said. “I don’t even have my own fishing pole. Harvey has one and I should have one, too. It isn’t fair that I have to just watch!”

“Harvey is older than you,” Dad said. “But there’s a pole in the shed you can use. Come on. Get dressed and I’ll get you your own pole.”

Reluctantly, I pushed myself up and out of bed, grabbing the shorts and shirt I’d worn yesterday. Hastily, I pulled on my clothing and  ran a brush through my long hair, tying  it back into a ponytail. I tiptoed past my parent’s room, where Mom was still sleeping.

“Lucky her,” I thought as I joined my father and my brother outside. The sky was still dark at this early hour. When Dad pulled up to the ocean a few minutes later, we were the only ones on the beach. We carried our poles and buckets and beach chairs down to the water’s edge. Harvey and Dad both had long, blue fiberglass fishing poles with spinning  reels designed for the ocean.

Mine was a short wooden rod with chipped red paint and a rusted reel. No way would my seven year old arms be able to cast the line past the breakers and into the ocean with that!

I’d never catch a fish.

It was unfair, I thought as I baited my hook. Just because I was the youngest!

TWO BROTHERS

The Gospel of Luke tells the story of another set of siblings, two brothers who lived with their father on a large estate. The older son did his father’s bidding without hesitation, confident that according to the Mosaic law of the time, he would receive two-thirds of his dad’s possessions as his inheritance. The younger son, however, no matter how hard he worked, would only ever receive one-third. It was the way things were. There was nothing he could do about it. He would always have the short fishing pole.

The parable of Jesus doesn’t tell us what prompted the younger son to defy tradition and express his displeasure  blatantly, but as someone who has spent a lifetime as the younger sibling, I can imagine always feeling bested by the first-born. Let’s face it, even if I got all A’s on my report card, chances were my brother had already done the same thing.

Luke 15:12 tells us that the younger son went to his father and demanded his share of what he would inherit. We don’t know why the father agreed, but we do know that in effect the youngest son was showing tremendous disrespect for his father. In modern terms, he was saying, “I wish you were dead!” Then he took off for foreign lands, recklessly spent all the money (which is what made him a prodigal), and found himself in a terrible situation with no food and no coins. He hung his head in shame and went back home, begging to be a servant in his father’s house. We might again be astounded at the reaction of the father, who not only ran out to meet the returning son–a most unseemly act for a man of his position!–but welcomed him back not as a servant, but as his son.

WHICH SON ARE YOU?

The story could end there. Most of us have, at one time or another, been the youngest son, letting our sin nature and our fleshly desires tell us to do what we wanted, not what we were told. Trust me on this: I’ve lived through three teenagers. But the parable continues to tell us the reactions of the older son.

Maybe for the first time in his life, the older son wasn’t the obedient soul he’d always been. He complained loudly to his father, saying, “Look, I’ve been slaving away for you all these years, doing everything you say, and you never even let me have a party with my friends! Now the kid comes back and all’s forgiven! It’s not fair!”

Let’s face it, we’ve been the older son as well, feeling short-changed for our efforts. We think our obedience will gain us reward, but we’ve got it wrong. The oldest son is, like many of us, looking for our obedience to gain us acceptance.

But that’s a transaction; that’s not love.

NOT ABOUT THE FISH

I stood on the beach with my short fishing pole, letting the surf surround my feet and sink them into the soft sand.  I still grumbled a bit, but when I saw my older brother use all his might to cast the line from his wonderful blue fiberglass fishing pole into the ocean and still have it return on the next wave, I realized I would not have been ready for the longer pole. 

I contented myself with catching a few sand crabs and occasionally held onto my dad’s pole with his hands guiding me. None of us caught anything.

But that’s alright. As my father had said, it wasn’t really about catching fish. It was about standing there at the ocean’s edge with the two guys I loved the most, watching the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean and knowing that even if I didn’t get all A’s on my report card and would always be the youngest child, my father’s love did not depend on any transaction.

And neither does God the Father’s.

Sometimes I feel no one’s ever been in this place before

This is hard, and I’m not sure I can do this anymore.

I know someday I’ll look back and all this won’t seem real,

But Lord, right now I need you to know just how I feel.

(Jeff and Sheri Easter, “Hear My Heart”)

I could not pray; I could not think; even breathing was a challenge. Just a few hours ago, I had arrived home from a visit to my father to find that my dear husband, Ron, had fallen asleep in his easy chair. And passed into Glory.

Amid the chaos of paramedics arriving, adult children crying, my autistic son sitting solemnly in a wooden chair next to Ron’s empty bed, and making phone calls to family, I  functioned on automatic. I said and did the right things for the paramedics, Ron’s mother, my father, my children, and the medical examiner.  

But as I lay alone in bed after Ron’s poor, sick earthly body was taken away, I could not form the words to talk to God. I was too broken to think in terms of coherent sentences, my sorrow too deep to utter.  

I needed the Holy Spirit to hear my heart. 

When there are no words to say

And no prayer that I can pray, hear my heart.

When I don’t have strength to try

And I’ve cried all I can cry, hear my heart.

 Long before the Holy Spirit indwelled the believers on the day of Pentecost, he was at work. As one of three identities of the Trinity, many consider the Holy Spirit to be unfathomable, but in truth he is very present and has been since the beginning. Genesis 1:12 says that at the moment of Creation,  “The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” You can’t go back any further than that!

There is much evidence in the Old Testament of the workings of the Holy Spirit. Joshua is described as “a man in the Spirit” (Numbers 27:18) and Othniel, Caleb’s younger brother, had “the Spirit of the Lord upon him” (Judges 3:9-11). 1 Samuel 16:12-13 says that when the prophet anointed him, “The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.”

Cause you know every fear and every doubt I cannot speak.

You know all the ways I need you and all the ways I’m weak, so I’ll be quiet

So you can hear my heart.

I was exhausted the night my husband died. The long years of being his caregiver had been physically draining. His sudden death depleted my emotions. After my adult children and best friend Chris left and my autistic son went to bed, I was left alone with my sorrow.

But I was not really alone. Over the next few weeks, I was comforted by the Holy Spirit in several ways.

1.   He prays for us in a power we do not have. “The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness” (Roman 8:26). My own strength was spent; I had none left. But the Holy Spirit is an inexhaustible fount of strength and energy.
2.   He prays for us with wisdom we lack. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26). I lost all words at that difficult time. The Holy Spirit heard my groanings and understood.
3. He prays for us in mercy we cannot understand. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). My husband died as a believer. I knew he was in Heaven. The Spirit helped me to focus on this and not blame God for Ron’s death.
4. He prays for us with a connection we do not possess. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8:35) As part of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit was able to bring me closer to God, even as I mourned my beloved.
5. He prays for us with God’s will in mind. “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:27).  My life had been intertwined with Ron’s for so many years, it was difficult to imagine moving on without him. But God knew that there was another path for me, and the Holy Spirit showed me a writing ministry I had never planned on having.

Each of us suffers losses. Each of us comes to a point in our lives when we feel abandoned, uncertain, and in need of comfort. What better comfort can we have than that from the Holy Spirit, who knows us in ways no human can, who sees into our hearts? 

Now, three years later, there are still mornings when I wake up, startled to find Ron’s side of the bed empty. I do not need to find words at that moment. I just need to be quiet, and let the Spirit hear my heart. 

 

Hear my heart

 

READY?

My room looks forlorn this time of year. My students and I have taken down posters, vocabulary cards, anchor charts, sentence strips, and the world map that have dominated my walls since September. As they dissemble the room, they chatter in their native tongues: Spanish, French, Chinese, Portuguese, Mondo. Somehow, they understand each other. We add to the bulletin board the names and pictures of the eight English as a Second Language seniors who will graduate this week, moving from my little corner room of an urban high school and–gulp–into the world.

Each year, I pray that I have given these foreign-born or first-generation students what they will need to succeed. After four years of high school, are they ready?

Acts 2:1-20 tells the story or another group of students sent out into the world. For three years, they had studied under Rabbi Yeshua, the Son of God. They soaked in His parables and lessons, wondered at His miracles, and tried to dream the dream of the Kingdom of God. 

They were probably as nervous about the whole “go out into all the world” commandment from Matthew 28:19 as my senior students.

WAITING FOR THE HARVEST

It is noteworthy that in the Jewish tradition, Pentecost is the celebration of the early wheat harvest, taking place from May to June, after the Passover (Ephesians 34:22). Until the priest had blessed the offerings and given them to God, the faithful could not enjoy the fruits of their labor. They needed to wait.

And wait the disciples did, gathering in the upper room for the arrival of the Holy Spirit, not really understanding his form or function, just believing in the instructions Jesus had given them that they should “not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father has promised” (Acts 1:4). What would the gift be? Would they recognize the Comforter? How would he help them in disciplining the world?

A MYSTERY

The coming of the Holy Spirit was not quiet: it was noisy and sudden and caught the attention of all who were within hearing. The filling by the Holy Spirit changed forever the twelve men who had traveled with Jesus on His earthly journey. It led them to leave the shores of Galilee, to minister to all who would listen. Unfathomable, unexplainable by human standards, the Spirit has always been and always will be.  It is a great mystery.

What happens in my ESL room is, on a smaller scale, also a mystery. How do these students from different countries, speaking different languages, form a community in Room 108, a place where they can help and encourage each other, where they can dream their dreams and seek their visions, ready to “go out into the world” ? I say good-bye to them with both tears and joy. I know that I will see, someday, the promise fulfilled in each of them even as I bid them farewell.  

We, however,  never have to bid farewell to the Holy Spirit. He is a gift from the Father. He teaches us and reminds us of God’s word, he convicts of us our sins, he is a source of wisdom, he gives us gifts to forward the Kingdom of God. He helps us dream our dreams, seek our visions, and even write our blogs.

INTO THE WORLD 

I sit at my desk, feeling a little sad and dejected at the emptiness of my classroom, the coming good-bye to my seniors. Natalia, a student from the Dominican Republic, comes up and gives me a hug. “We will leave,” she says, “and there will be new students who need you. But we are ready. You have given us what we needed.” 

I pray each of them out into the world, into their dreams. 

And are you ready? The Holy Spirit has given us all we need to go out into all the world. Isn’t it time you followed your own dreams?

 

We stand in the darkness of a thousand midnights
Troubled, perplexed, persecuted, cast down

For a time, the murderers and the tyrants and the shooters may overwhelm us
Seeming invincible as they steal the light.
And we stand in the darkness of a thousand midnights. 

But the night is far from spent.
The way of truth and life has always won.

When evil men plot, good men must plan.
When evil men burn, good men must build.
When evil men shout the words of evil, good men must pray the words of love.

Because we do not stand alone.
We stand as brothers
Death may work in us, but life works in Christ. 

We stand with the same faith that raised the Lord from His grave
The same grace that covers our own sins
And renews us day by day. 

Troubled, perplexed, persecuted, cast down
But not distressed, despaired, forsaken or destroyed.

There have always been tyrants, and murderers
And darkness as a thousand midnights.

They seem, for a moment, invincible.
Right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

Always. 

God will win.
Always.

 

I Corinthians 4:8-18
Mahatma Ghandi
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Romans 13: 12

The voice of the Lord is over the water; the God of glory thunders; the Lord is over many waters. (Psalm 29:3)

Despite my umbrella and raincoat, I am soaked to the knees before I reach the subway station, my cute shoes with the striped bows ruined. The streets run with rivers of water, reminding me of childhood play when my brother and I would sail paper boats down the swollen culverts at our beach house.

The water feels tepid as I splash through it. My feet are already soaked, I reason, so rather than sidestep the rushing streams at the street corner, I jump into puddle after puddle, laughing as I make my way home.

At the end of a long week, the gift of playful water has renewed me.

Water itself has no magical properties. It is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. But it is also a vital part of our earthly existence; it surrounds us in the womb, maintains our body temperature, and helps every cell in our bodies to function.

God has also ordained water to renew us in the Sacrament of Baptism. The Introduction to the Sacrament of Holy Baptism says, “We are initiated into Christ’s holy church, incorporated into God’s mighty acts of salvation, and given new birth through water and the Holy Spirit.” In the rite of baptism, the members of the church vow to surround the baptized with love, prayer, and forgiveness, much as water surrounds and provides for us from the time of our conception. 

Jesus provided us with the example of baptism when John immersed Him in the waters of the Jordan (Matthew 3:13-17). He instructed His disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:18-20).

The waters of baptism have no special powers; it is plain and simple water, but it is a symbol of entrance into the Christian family. While many churches do not practice infant baptism, the Church of the Atonement of Claymont welcomes anyone of any age to the family of believers through baptism. Peter provides the background for the baptism of children in Acts 2:35-41 during the Day of Pentecost when he told the people, “Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

On Sunday, May 22, 2022, God called Lucas Alexander Knutson to join the family of Christ here at Atonement. Only seven months old, he does not yet understand all that it means to be a member of God’s family. His mother Paula, his grandmother Cathy, his godmother Xyla, and his babysitter Theresa will do their part in teaching him what family is. But we who stood up in church last Sunday also bear responsibility for serving as examples of God’s care to Lucas and surrounding him with love.

No matter how many puddles he splashes in and how much mud he tracks across  the floors. 

And as he grows, may we remember our own childhoods, sailing boats down the rivers made by the rain, splashing happily in puddles with no thought to our shoes, and drinking in with wonder all God has provided.

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY, LUCAS!

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” – John 3:1-3

 

A SECRET VISIT

No one could find out, he thought as he slunk through the deserted streets of Jerusalem. As a member of the Sanhedrin, he knew his fellow Pharisees would ridicule him for thinking to associate with the lowly fishermen and the leader they followed.

But Nicodemus longed for the truth, a thirst for it deeper than any he had ever known. His sleep had been disturbed for too long by questions to which he had no answers. Was the Galilean really able to work miracles?  Or were they just tricks to trap the simple peasants who trod after him?

He could not risk being seen. His reputation was at stake. Knowing he could be exposed as a fool at any moment, he still could not resist the lure to learn the truth:

Was Jesus, the carpenter, really the Son of God?

A RAINY EVENING

I was fourteen that July, working my first real job at a Five and Ten store in a seaside town, spending my days off sunning on the beach. But there was a restlessness about me. Even the books that provided most of my summer entertainment gave me no answers to the questions that roiled in my mind.

I lay on my cot in the upstairs loft of our summer cottage, listening to the rain beat a tattoo on the roof. Stealthily so I did not awaken my brother on the other side of the loft, I clicked on my bedside lamp and reached into the pocket of the shorts I’d flung onto the floor. My fingers felt the folded envelope my grandmother had brought in from the mailbox this afternoon. I’d read the note from Pam already, but I pulled it out again.

“God has no grandchildren,” she had written in her beautiful and flowing cursive. “I know your church and your religion are important to you, Linda. But only Jesus, not rules, will give you eternal life.”

I considered her words again. For four years, Pam had been my middle school music teacher, but once I graduated middle school, she told me to call her by her first name and invited me to an after-school Bible study. She showed me John 3:16 and invited me on more than one occasion to give my life to Jesus. 

My heart longed to, but the rules of my mother’s religion were ingrained in me. How was it possible that such a gift–eternal life in Heaven–came with no need for penance or dogma?

A HOPEFUL PRAYER

The only prayers I knew were the ones in the missile my mother had given me on my First Communion. But Pam had  told me that I did not need scripted prayers; I could just talk to God. So I did, slipping out of bed and kneeling onto the bare wooden floor. I clutched Pam’s letter in my hand.

I didn’t want to be God’s grandchild. My own grandparents were wonderful and special to me, but I only saw them in the summer months and odd weekends.

 I didn’t want my relationship with God to be part-time. 

I didn’t know what the sinner’s prayer was. I didn’t have any experience at all with Roman’s Road. I barely knew John 3:16.

But as I knelt on that wooden floor in our summer college, listening to the rain beat on the roof, my heart cried out to God.

He heard me. I was born again. 

A CHANGED LIFE

I am certain that Nicodemus faced challenges from his fellow Pharisees after his night with Jesus, yet there was a lasting effect. In John 7:50, he reminded the Sanhedrin that no person should be judged without a trial. His colleagues mocked him, asking if he, too, was from Galilee. After Jesus’ crucifixion, Nicodemus supplied the needed spices for the proper burial of the body and assisted Joseph of Arimathea in transporting Jesus to the tomb (John 19:39-42). 

And me? My mother wasn’t too happy when I declared my intention to leave the church she loved, so I continued to attend with her each Sunday until I left for college. I also know that she realized my faith was solid and strong. During the many years my husband suffered with multiple illnesses, she would often say to me, “Only someone with your faith could see this through.”

It wasn’t me, I’d tell her. It was Jesus. 

The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. (Psalm 19:1)

A VAST UNIVERSE

Allen adjusts the lens of his new telescope. “Heaven must be up there somewhere,” he tells me as I lay back on our front lawn and look up at the night sky. “If we can see it, we’ll know where Dad is!” Since his father’s death seven weeks ago, much of my adult autistic son’s energy has been spent in attempting to locate Ron’s whereabouts.

My heart aches for my son, who cannot yet accept the finality of his dad’s passing. Like many on the autism spectrum, the world is a vastly confusing place to Allen, full of noises and sights and things that overload and confuse his neuro-atypical brain. He is most comfortable in a concrete world with things he can control. If he can see it, he reasons,  he can exercise control over it. The vastness of the universe overwhelms him.

THE COMFORT OF STARS

King David, too, found himself overwhelmed by God’s creation. He describes the glory of God displayed in the blue sky of morning and the dark expanse of night, the careful placement of the planets and the stars and the clouds as a declaration of “the Glory of God ” (Psalm 19:1). The creation speaks to our senses; in the Hebrew text, the image is of a gushing spring pouring forth sweet water.

The psalmist poetically describes the heavens as a tabernacle for the sun which God has placed to provide both light and heat for his created beings. The stars, too, provide comfort in the night. Without the stars, David Guznik states in his commentary on Psalm 19, the blackness of the night would close in around us and we would see the blank sky empty, evidence of our aloneness in the great expanse of space.

I recall the words of C.S. Lewis as I survey the bright diamonds God has spread across the velvet night: “The Psalm reflects, more than any other, the beauty and splendor of the Hebrew poetry found in the Psalter.” It is beauty; it is perfection; it is love.

LOOKING FOR DAD

But to my son, still adjusting the lens and repositioning his telescope, it is staggering. In the billions of miles of all creation, where is his father? How can he find him?

“Do you think Heaven is in just one spot?” Allen asks me. “I read somewhere that scientists think there is this great big empty space near the North Star.”

I rise up from the lawn and join him at his telescope, peering into the lens in the direction he’s indicated. “I don’t know,” I tell him. “God has made an infinite universe because He’s an infinite God. But I know God has made a place for Dad.”

Allen’s shoulders slump. I give him a quick hug. “I just wish I could see where Dad is. So I can know for sure that he’s okay. That he’s happy.”

“We can know it,” I tell him. I reach my arms out towards the heavens. “The God who made all of this so carefully and perfectly would also take great care with Dad. As much as we love Dad, God loves him even more.”

“I guess,” Allen says. He continues to scan the skies, looking for concrete evidence of Heaven’s existence and his father’s residency. He sighs. “Well, at least there’s a lot of space if some people in Heaven want to play baseball. I think Dad would like it if he could play baseball again. He missed playing when he got sick.” He grins. “Like that movie he liked, Field Of Dreams.”

“I think he’d like that, too,” I say. “Let’s just stand here for a moment and think about Dad rounding the bases up in Heaven.”

We stand under the night sky, my arm around Allen. My son’s acceptance of his father’s death and his promotion to Heaven grows slowly. But God is not only capable of infinite creation, but of infinite patience.

He’ll wait until Allen is ready.

 

This event was part of the grief process of an autistic adult. To read more about the faith journey Dr. Linda Cobourn took with her son, Allen, after the death of her husband, visit her blog: Quirky: Because we’re all a little different at lindaca1.substack.com.

 

One by one, Jesse’s sons, stood before the prophet
Their father knew a king would soon be found.
Each one passed, except the last,
No one thought to call him,
For surely he would never wear a crown.
(“Shepherd Boy” by Ray Boltz)

 

FEARSOME GOLIATH

The kids in our Wednesday night Bible Club sat on the floor, facing a sheet strung between folding chairs, our make-shift puppet stage. Pam led the children in “Jesus Loves Me,” while Chris signed the words in American Sign Language. Two of my children, Dennis and Bonnie, operated sock puppets, their bodies hidden by the sheet.

In the hallway outside the classroom, I strapped a plastic Roman’s soldier helmet onto my husband’s head and fixed a red cape around his shoulders. “Try and look fierce!” I told him. “Goliath is fearsome!” We both laughed because even at 6 foot 4 inches, Ron was anything but fierce. The kids loved him, calling him the Gentle Giant. 

We were telling the story of David and Goliath but, as usual, we needed to make do with what we had. Our program had no official budget, and we were used to scrounging around to find costumes and props.

We used the ordinary things we had.

On Sunday, Pastor Amy spoke about the “David and Goliath” presentation at Knollwood and the impression it made on the children. It got me thinking about how we, as Christians, can use the very ordinary things in our lives to spread the gospel of Jesus.

ORDINARY THINGS

One by one,
Problems come,
And dreams get shattered.
Sometimes it’s hard to understand.
Cause things like chance and circumstance
They don’t really matter
Our Father has tomorrow in his hands. 

 

David, the shepherd boy who became King, is a prime example of “using the ordinary.” No one expected much of the youngest of Jesse’s sons. Left to care for the sheep while his older and bigger brothers went off to find the Giant Goliath, David used his slingshot to protect the herds, killing lions and bears who attacked. It soon became clear to David, who had merely been bringing lunch to his brothers on the battlefield, that God needed him, an ordinary shepherd boy, to kill the Philistine. Despite the disparaging words of his older brothers (I Samuel 17:28), David remained steadfast.

Here’s where it gets really interesting. King Saul tried to outfit David as a proper soldier, putting a helmet on his head and garbing him in armor (I Samuel 17: 38) But these were not the ordinary things–the sling and the stones–that David was accustomed to. He shrugged off the armature and approached the giant armed with the things he knew about: his slingshot and five little stones. 

USE WHAT YOU HAVE

Well it wasn’t the oldest
And it wasn’t the strongest
Chosen on that day.
Yet the giant fell
And the nations trembled
When they stood in his way.

 

For the Bible lesson long ago, we used what we had: props taken from the Christmas pageant, a sheet from my linen closet, and mateless socks with sewn-on button eyes. Ron roared into the classroom, brandishing his plastic sword, and was soon felled by the puppet David. The kids on the floor laughed and clapped and talked for weeks about the power of God to use ordinary people and ordinary things to conquer giants.

As I sat in church this past Sunday, I wondered at the ordinary things God had given me to use in spreading his word: I wasn’t rich or famous. I wasn’t a king and I didn’t have a million  followers on Instagram. But I had words and stories to share, my own “ordinary things.”

How about you? What are the ordinary things God has given to you that can help you spread His word? Do you have an extra coat to give to someone in need? A frozen lasagne that could feed a hungry family? A pen to write a note of encouragement? A pair of hands to lift in prayer?

Ordinary things. But powerful when used for God. 

When others see a shepherd boy
God may see a king
Even though your life seems filled
With ordinary things.
In just a moment, He can touch you
And everything will change.
Where others see a shepherd boy,
God may see a King!