God, Judgment, and Covid 19

One of the questions raised in Christian circles (and probably other religions as well) is whether or not Covid 19 is the judgment of God upon our world.  I can hear now the coming rants from the pulpits of fundamentalist Christians (chosen because they love to preach on judgment) once we all return to church that this virus is God’s judgment upon us for our sin and our toleration of the sins of others.  (Here you get to pick the favorite sin that others do.  Or, your minister will pick three for you.)

Most of the more liberal pulpits will not say a word about judgment, since as a rule they do not believe that God judges anyone — at least not their God of total love and grace.  H. Richard Niebuhr’s statement re liberal protestantism fits nicely here: “A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” (The Kingdom of God in America.)  After all, if God is pure love/a doting grandparent then we dare not believe that God would ever say a harsh word about anything we do or believe, much less punish or judge us.

For those of us caught in-between these two cultures of Christianity, this is a challenging time to be sure.  (As far as that goes, being in-between two monoliths is always challenging at best.)  To even suggest that God brings judgment upon our world is to be perceived as ignorant or harboring hatred toward others.  Yet, Holy Scripture — which provides the theological & ethical basis for most Christians — speak of God’s judgment against evil. I know, we just read by those passages and act like they don’t exist.  Yet, they remain ever before us, sprinkled liberally throughout the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.  (Check an online concordance if you need a refresher course.)  A Bible without judgment passages would be significantly thinner.

The challenge is that most of the references to judgment refer to a “Day of Judgment” the at first Jewish and then adopted Christian idea that one day we each and all will stand before God to be judged according to our thoughts and deeds.  Coming out particularly bad in this process are unbelievers, pagans and those with whom I disagree.  I’ve heard more than once from people going through difficult situations brought about by the actions of others: “One day God’s going to hold them accountable — and that keeps me going.”  Hmm…I’m not sure my vengeance is God’s design, but I understand their emotion.

At this stage in my theological/spiritual journey my understanding of divine judgment has evolved from singular event status to one of an ongoing reality.  Judgment does not just happen once; judgment occurs every single day in our world.  God has so structured this world that it operates on principles of justice.  Judgment is inherent in that justice.  Violate the justice of God and we bring upon ourselves the judgment of God…pure and simple.  A quick perusal of a couple of passages from prophetic literature ought to prove to be both illuminating and quite sufficient.  

• Micah 6: 1-8: The judgment of God comes upon Judah for her abandonment of the Yahweh’s justice in exchange for superficial worship as her sign of faith.  In  Micah notes that God requires justice, not sacrifice, of God’s worshippers. 
• Amos 5: 18-24: Probably the first prophetic book (8^th center BCE), Amos speaks loud and clearly not only to Israel, but also to the nations around her.  All are judged for their injustice and called to repentance, i.e., to “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everlasting stream.”  

An interesting take on God’s judgment of nations as found in the Hebrew Scriptures is that these texts share a profound commonality: false pride, i.e., self-righteousness.  The opposite of such self-righteousness is obvious, humility.  When any nation believes operates from an elevated sense of pride rather than a deep sense of humility, forces are set in motion which result in downfall and ultimate destruction.    

Did Covid 19 come from God?  That was my original question so I guess I ought to take a stab at it.  In a nutshell — YES and NO.  I’ll begin with the negative.  

NO:  Covid 19 is not the judgment of God in that it was not sent by God upon the earth to inflict death and suffering upon millions.  At the very least, the God I know through Jesus Christ did not send this. God does not reside outside our universe, just waiting to strike us with virulence and pestilence. God does not amuse God’s self by inflicting pain and suffering upon God’s incredible creation: vegetative, animal and human alike.  God did not send AIDS, Ebola, H1N1, Zika or any other virus as a means of punishment upon any living creature upon this planet, particularly humans whom we understand to be created imago dei.  The God of Jesus Christ is the God who walks with the suffering and dying; God does not stand over against us, but rather God is with us in incredible love and solidarity.

YES:  Covid 19 is the judgment of God in that it is the result of human action and failure.  Newton’s Third Law says that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  My first law of God’s judgment says that “for every human action which harms or violates the “laws/principles” of creation/nature/justice, there is a reaction, i.e., a consequence, which is far beyond what we ever imagine.”  

Judgment can be spelled another way:  c-o-n-s-e-q-u-e-n-c-e-s.  Yes, that is correct — judgment = consequences.  When we violate the basic laws of nature and justice, we create environments in which consequences take place.  Did we really think life could exist otherwise?  Regardless of what we believe about Darwin’s theory of evolution, we must know that embedded in his work is the reality that all of life is inter-connected.  There is no such entity as an isolated act.  Every action has a result and in today’s world we see those results magnified across our planet.  Whereas in earlier centuries plagues were thought to be the result of the demonic (or even God’s judgment), today we know that there were biological reasons for the the 20+ plagues of which we are aware in human history. Covid 19 is just the latest version — there will be more.

As more and more information regarding Covid 19 has come to light, we are seeing a disproportionate number of cases among those toward and at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. The racial disparity noted by the data is really economic inequity.  Persons at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid  tend to either be homeless or living in multi-generational family units in very dense conditions.  What could be a better atmosphere for Covid 19 to flourish than this?  Could part of God’s judgment be that our disregard and even dismissal of the basic principles of social justice has produced conditions in which Covid 19 thrived and spread so quickly?

These judgment/consequences conditions inherent in our world have communal, not just individual, results.  Regardless of the source Covid 19 did not merely infect the person/persons who mishandled it, but went “viral” as there are no immunities present in our human population.  Like the boa constrictors taking over parts of the Everglades, a new virus runs free until it either exhausts the source of victims or a vaccine is developed.  Whether we personally did anything to be infected with this virus is a moot point; viral infection falls upon the innocent and guilty alike.  In any pandemic there are far more of the former than the latter. The drive to discover a source and lay guilt is often far more about our human desire for innocence than it is to prevent a future outbreak. Judgment is inherent in our world; we see it every day, if we have the eyes to look.

Actually, the question before us is not whether Covid 19 is the judgment of God. The question now relates to how we respond to this pandemic which has shattered our world, our economy, our stability and countless lives?  Will we only consider that which benefits us personally as well as our cultural tribe?  Or, will we consider what is most beneficial for all of us going forward, i.e., the long-lost “common good?”  Are we capable of discovering God’s actions in the present?  Can we unite to proleptically anticipate God’s action in our actions?  How ought I/we to act (as followers of Jesus Christ) so as to bring God’s peace and presence — the Kingdom of God — one step closer to reality?  

In Luke 13: 1-5 Jesus is questioned concerning a mass murder of worshipping Galileans by Pilate, as to whether or not this act indicated that they were worse sinners, i.e., was it the judgment of God? He adds to this act a reference to the 18 persons in Siloam killed when a tower fell upon them, says “no” to both regarding them as judgment — but then gives an odd warning: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

What is Jesus doing?  Is Jesus pronouncing judgment upon all of us?  Here he  almost sounds like our caricature of the fundamentalist preacher! Quite simply, this whole matter turns on one word: repent. In Greek it is metanoia — to turn around and go in the opposite direction.  Repentance is not remorse; it is not regret.  These may be emotions associated with repentance, but they are not repentance.  Repentance is an action, not a feeling.  Repentance is not only learning from what has transpired; repentance is literally going/living in a radically different direction with my life.  Jesus is merely stating the obvious: if you keep engaging in war and violence, you will all die.  You are playing a game you cannot win — no matter who keeps score.

For most our lives have changed during these days, some more dramatically than others.  Going forward I have deep and fervent hopes for the church and even, just maybe, our country and our world:  

• I would hope that we would take a step back and evaluate how we are living now versus how we lived them — and see that there was a lot of activity/stuff that we need to let go and live without. 
• I would hope that we have learned that when we ignore the values and principles of life and the Kingdom of God, that we will bring suffering/judgment upon our world.
• I would hope that we even have decided to repent and re-orient our lives by the values of the coming Kingdom.   
• I would hope that we have seen that relationships are more important than stuff; that time to relax, to reflect, and to remember is as important as the time of activity and engagement.  
• I would hope that we have allowed the Spirit to open our ears, our hearts, our arms and our minds to the presence of our Lord in, among, and through us.  
• I would hope…

A Humpty Dumpty Gospel

The Sea Island Pulpit

“A Humpty-Dumpty Gospel for a Covid 19 World”

II Corinthians 5: 16-21

Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall,

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men,

Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Do we have any idea concerning either the source or subject of this, one of the most commonly known nursery rhymes of all time?  Humpty-Dumpty is not an egg as we commonly think, nor is this a simple nursery rhyme.  Humpty Dumpty is the name given to a powerful cannon during the English Civil War (1642-49), mounted on top of the St Mary’s at the Wall Church in Colchester, defending the city against siege in the summer of 1648.  Colchester, a Parliamentarian stronghold, had been captured and held by the Royalists for 11 weeks. The top of the church tower was blown off by a shot from a Parliamentarian cannon, sending “Humpty” tumbling to the ground. The King’s men tried to put “Humpty” back on top of another wall, but failed. 

This poem has a life of its own, both as a seemingly innocuous nursery rhyme and ever more so as descriptive of our human condition in times of despair.  As humans we know what it is like to sit on the wall in relative security, feeling as if we are impenetrable. Then, wham, a mortar shell of evil comes in and knocks us off the wall.  For most of us life was moving along smoothly in January and February of this year, when we heard about a virus, the Corona virus…was that a beer…and our world was shattered beyond belief. 

What will we do after Covid 19 has diminished in its power and vengeance?  Will we be able to look at the shattered pieces of our lives. pick them up and start anew? Rudyard Kipling put it this way:

(If you can…) watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

Starting anew is rarely easy. To see the life one built destroyed by others or worse, by our own mistakes, is demoralizing and devastating.  How can we start anew when we lose all that we ever desired?  Can we turn ourselves around and start over?

Paul knew the struggle of having to start a new life.  A rabbi passionate about God and life, Saul (pre-calling name) was blindsided on the road to Damascus by our Lord.  For the next three years he studied scripture, reflecting upon the truth that God had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  His fervent belief that Jesus was an “imposter” and his followers “heretics” lay in shambles.  Now Paul must  reassemble his entire life/belief structure in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The key verse of our Corinthian text is verse 17: “So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.”  The central tenet of the gospel — and the center of its powerful impact is found in this verse.  The old person, with all their faults, sins, hatreds, prejudices and imperfections, in Christ this person is being transformed.

The person before Christ, as Paul understood the gospel, lived by their own intelligence, their own beliefs, their personal perspective and values. This person is not always an abject failure in the world; often they are an unmitigated success in the ways the world keeps score. This person can be quite intelligent and captivating in mind and personality.  However, if this old person does not die, does not pass away, the new person that is in Christ cannot come to life.  We must “say yes” to the person God wishes to make of us as we “say no” to the person we have been. This personal “death and resurrection” is incredibly difficult. 

The key concept for Paul is found in the words “in Christ.” This phrase appears repeatedly in Paul’s epistles , framing his understanding of a person post-Christ.  Pre-Christ we are “in ourselves;” our identity, desires and lifestyle is the singularly our concern.  Post-Christ we are “in Christ” and our sole concern is no longer our desires, but that of Christ.  

Being “in Christ” is much harder to accomplish than we often believe when first coming to Christ.  After all, we’re “pretty good people” — we do not need a complete makeover — just a little touch up here and there will do; just a little color in the hair, a new wardrobe or accessories and voila, the new me right before my very eyes.  

If we are to come to Christ and be transformed by Christ, then it is imperative that  we envision ourselves in a different light.  We must see ourselves not as needing just a simple touch up, but as needing as entire makeover.  We must see ourselves as Humpty-Dumpty — crashed, lying beside the wall in need of someone putting us back together.  We must admit that we have fallen and cannot fix ourselves.

For we who have been trying to follow Christ for a long time, the greatest danger is that we forget what our life was like pre-Christ.  We develop spiritual amnesia, i.e., forgetting how self-centered and self-consumed we were in our pre-Christ existence, how driven we were to dominate and have our own way.  “In Christ” those drives and desires are hopefully moved to the rear and no longer dominate.  The reality is that we must be ever diligent as to our focus…we can think we are “in Christ” but in reality be “in-self” more than we dream.

Why is Paul so dramatic in his statement that in Christ we are a “new creation?”  To use the other metaphor of this passage, Paul sees us, apart from Christ, not as friends but as enemies of God.  As natural human beings we perceive ourselves to be on God’s side; however, scripture affirms that apart from Christ we are estranged, i.e., separated from God, i.e., in opposition to God.

How can we know if we are living in opposition to God?  The answer to a simple question provides a clue: Who is guiding my life, my values, my desires and my actions?  Am I — or is God?  How do we know?  What evidence is there in our lives that God is leading and we are following?

In Christ we enter into a union of ourselves and God, a union in which God plays the dominant role.  Paul introduces us to “reconciliation” — a key concept representing God’s accomplishment in Christ Jesus.  Richard Hays, professor of New Testament at Duke University, says “…that the interesting thing about the word "reconciliation" in ordinary Greek usage is that it is not typically a religious term…it is a word drawn from the sphere of politics; it refers to dispute resolution. 

How does this image sit with us this morning?  Do we really think of ourselves as at opposite ends with God and in need of reconciliation?  Could it be that the deep unease of our souls is not just the angst of Covid 19 and the disruption of our world, but the angst of separation from God?  Could it be that what we desperately need more than anything else is not just a truce, but a full reconciliation with God through Christ Jesus?

The reality is that, no matter how hard we may try, we cannot reconcile ourselves to God.  We are incapable of overcoming the chasm between us and God. What we can do is to accept the reconciliation that God has offered in Christ Jesus, knowing that as we do the God’s grace flows to us and through us. In this reconciliation we begin that journey of transformation — “the new life in Christ” — which results in us being “in Christ.”  

Seeing ourselves as “ministers of reconciliation” means that not only are we as followers of Christ reconciled to God, but we are to be enabling others to be reconciled to God as well.  Too often we see someone, fairly successful, seemingly happy in their family and home life, active in their larger community — and we mistakenly believe that they are not in need of God;  nothing could be further from the truth.  If one is not “in Christ,”  then that one is estranged from God — and therefore from themselves in the depths of our souls.  I fervently believe that only in and through Christ Jesus are we fully reconciled to God — and therefore enjoy God’s peace living in us.  

Our soul/personal unity depends upon our union with God through Christ.  We may search for God’s peace in religion, rites or ritual.  We can engage in counseling (not a bad thing at times in our lives) of one type or another.  As a general rule counseling is a really good way to deal with the challenges and issues of life.  However, the best counseling, in order to be truly effective and life-changing, must be enable us to either experience a deeper relationship with God, or to grow in that direction.  My experience has been that we say must continually yes to the God we meet “in Christ” in order to experience reconciliation all the way down and all the way through our lives.  Another put it well: “I am redeemed, but there are unredeemed parts of me. There are parts of my person that have never heard the gospel.”  Only as these parts hear and surrender do I move closer to full unity with God in Christ. 

Quite honestly, often I find persons who, even as believers, remain in an adversarial relationship with God — usually due to some aspect or experience of their lives.  Their deepest fears — which surface when “Humpty takes a great fall,” — belie their surface demeanor. I have known person after person, who, while claiming belief in Jesus Christ, harbors anger and bitterness toward God over some event in their life history.  Only in opening up our soul — fully and without reservation — to God, are we “put back together again.”  When we are willing to accept the love and grace of Christ, when we are willing to allow the peace of Christ’s Spirit to flow in and through us, then we will know the wholeness which comes only from Christ Jesus.  

So, on one level the nursery rhyme is correct: we cannot put Humpty back together again.  But, on another level we see that Christ can and does, time and again, in response to our surrender.  And while that is all that matters, it is also incredibly challenging.  

“So if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.”

Amen.

Robert U. Ferguson, Jr., Ph.d.

The Sea Island Chapel

173 Marshland Road

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina 27262

April 26^th, 2020

Dining with Jesus

The Sea Island Pulpit

Dining with Jesus

Luke 24:13-35

This would be a day that not only would Cleopas and friend remember the rest of their lives, this day would irretrievably alter the direction and path of those lives.  To be sure, this day did not start out that way.  No, when these companions began the journey home to Emmaus nothing in their lives gave the impression of this being a great day.  Seven miles they had to walk; seven miles they had to trod with heads down and hearts broken, limping home while recounting the horror of the crucifixion.  No, this day was not promising to be a banner day; yet, few days start out expecting a crucified Jesus to show up.  

Luke is the sole recorder of this saga – and are we ever grateful!  We can identify with Cleopas and his friend, can we not?  We know what life feels like to be down and defeated.  All their hopes, all their dreams, all their wishes for Israel had just gone down the tubes in that death of all deaths, the death of Jesus.  Now it was Sunday, the required time for mourning was over; now was the time to go home and rebuild what was left of their lives.  

As they walk a stranger joins them on the road, one they seemed to know but yet could not place.  He appeared oddly ignorant of all that had happened in Jerusalem this weekend past.  Was he the only person in Jerusalem unaware of Jesus?  Was he the only one who had not heard what had happened to the one so many thought was the Messiah?  To make matters worse, they had to tell him of the reports that the body was gone – that some women had gone to the tomb and returned with visions of angels and witnesses that Jesus was alive.  

Of course, all that resurrection talk was just rubbish to Cleopas and friend.  They knew better than to believe a story that was nothing more than the wishful thinking and hallucinations of deeply grieving women.  No, once Jesus died so did their dreams and there was no way they would take them back again.  No, their lives were to be lived under the Roman boot and there was not one thing they could do to change that fact.  Might as well get used to it and get beyond it – Jesus was dead and dead men do not come back.

The stranger listened and then he began to talk.  Yes, Jesus was dead, but had they not read the Hebrew scriptures?  Had they not read the prophets where they spoke that the Messiah must suffer and die?  Did they really think that the Messiah would come and conquer without pain or suffering?  Did they really believe that the way to glory avoided pain and agony, even death?  This stranger was so knowledgeable about the scripture that they hung on his every word.

As this trio arrived in Emmaus Cleopas and friend pleaded with the stranger to stay with them and spend the night.  The stranger accepted their hospitable invitation and then it happened.  While the stranger was breaking the bread suddenly they recognized him – this was no stranger, this was Jesus!  Then, just as suddenly, Jesus was gone, vanishing into the night air leaving but the deep and vivid memory of an incredible encounter.  

Immediately they looked at each other, mouths agape with an incredulous disbelief.  Jesus had been walking with them and teaching them and they had not known it until the end.  As they talked they realized that each of them had felt the something stirring in their souls  as Jesus had taught them.  That fire that had flickered and died on Friday now had sprung back to life out of ashen embers thought to be cold and beyond rekindling.  Jesus was alive – nothing else mattered.  Jesus was alive – there was still hope.  Jesus was alive –  they had recognized him in the breaking of bread.  Jesus was alive — this world would never be the same, regardless of whose government was in control.

What are we to make of this narrative?  Here we have all the ingredients of a classic encounter with Jesus.  At the risk of seeming to be formulaic – and we cannot for no one determines when and where our Lord will show up – let us review this narrative that we might be aware of how and when Jesus might walk into our lives.

1

Jesus comes when we least expect him, but when we are in deepest need of him.  These two had their souls shattered, their dreams destroyed, and their hopes hurled down into that tomb with Jesus.  There was nothing left to do but go home and make the most of a sorry situation.  Then Jesus came and what seemed like utter defeat became the moment of victory.  

Can we recall those moments when we felt like all of life had been shattered for us?  Can we remember those times when all our hopes and dreams had been erased from the slate of life by forces we could only call evil?  Hopeless, helpless, and hapless, in dire need of shelter and security, we stumble toward home when the Spirit of the Risen Lord suddenly meets us.  To be sure the Spirit uses different modes: a word, a song, a friend, a moment, a glimpse – the mode does not matter for our Lord can use whatever he desires.  What matters is that we sense the presence of the Spirit and our lives are dynamically changed.  

I’ll never forget those times when Jesus showed up in my life.  I was a young pastor struggling with a growing but difficult church when in the midst of what seemed like agonizing defeat Jesus showed up.  Or, that moment when I thought, I’ll just chuck all this ministry “stuff” and go sell life insurance; then Jesus showed up in an encouraging word, with a calming presence and a renewal that returned the fire to the soul.  As Alex Haley’s grandmother told him, “God may not come when you want him to; but do not worry, he’ll be on time.”

Why does Jesus show up in times of deepest need?  Does Jesus wait until we are desperate?  Or is the issue not Jesus but us?  Could it be that Jesus wants to show up more and more,  but we refuse to look for him? When life is smooth and seemingly under control — an illusion at best — too often we act as if we can keep Jesus quarantined from our lives, visiting him only occasionally just to make sure he’s there.  More often that not, when we try this we go to that room only to discover that he has escaped.  Jesus will not stay put; he will not answer our beck and call.  Jesus is not a deity we store away and pull out only when needed. Christ is Lord and Christ will show up when Christ desires.  Jesus is not our cosmic butler, waiting to attend to our every need.  Christ Jesus is our Lord, a living and loving presence, who comes and goes when and where he will.  I certainly believe Christ would show up more often if we will be open to his presence.

2

This is a Lord whose presence is often anonymous in the beginning but in the aftermath sets our souls ablaze.  Often, in the moment of despair we do not recognize Jesus, but that is inconsequential.  Jesus recognizes us and when the right moment comes he reveals his presence to us.  Notice that two crucial aspects mark the presence of Jesus: a new understanding and a rekindling of faith.  

Jesus taught Cleopas and his friend a new way of looking at their situation.  What seemed like defeat, i.e., suffering and crucifixion, was the means through which victory, i.e., resurrection, would become a reality.  What had looked like total defeat was in reality the means of God’s incredible victory over evil and death.  The Spirit does not just enflame our soul, the Spirit enlightens our mind.  Faith is not blind – faith can see even if only partially and dimly.  When Jesus shows up he always helps us to understand our lives and situations from a different perspective and in so doing transforms our understanding both of our lives and of God -- and gives us a faith to live by.

There are two idols to avoid in faith: blind acceptance and supra-rationality.  Faith is not mere blind belief.  Faith is neither stupidity nor ignorance as some propose.  Faith can and does have a logical and rational base.  However, we can err by making reason a god above God.  It is my experience that most of what I understand about God and faith is rational and logical.  To me that is the way in which I have experienced God most often and most deeply.  However, there is a portion of my faith and experience which is above or beyond rationality and logic.  It just does not make sense – but I believe it anyway because I have experienced in and through the moments the presence of God.  

Cleopas and his friend were touched both in their minds and their hearts by the presence of Jesus Christ.  A living faith holds both elements in congruence within one’s soul.  Without the mind, without reason, then one can conjure up all manner of beliefs and propositions as to God and God’s will.  Without the heart, without a faith that burns at the depths of one’s soul in an experience that eludes words and escapes definition one’s faith will be cold, calculating, and worthless.  Either extreme is to be avoided because either extreme will destroy our life and faith.  The only person worse than a shivering cynic is a flaming fanatic.  The cynic usually only infects and destroys himself or herself.  The fanatic can and does often destroy others as well.  A living, vibrant faith, which holds both heart and head in unison, brings life to its owner as well as to those with whom it lives.

3

Jesus comes when we least expect him; Jesus touches us in both head and heart; and Jesus reveals himself most deeply in simple relationship, in the breaking of bread and sharing of a meal.  The symbolism is too powerful to be ignored: these had seen Jesus at the Last Supper break the bread and share the cup.  Now, once more Jesus breaks the bread, and their eyes are opened, and they see Jesus for who he really is – the Living Lord.  This bread is a powerful symbol of the sacrifice and love of our Lord.  In this bread and in this cup we are reminded anew that our faith comes at a deep price, the life of our Lord.  In this bread and in this cup we remember afresh that the love of God indeed has no bounds, no limits.  

Sharing a meal is such a simple thing – but it is so precious to remember.  There is something about sharing meal with a family, a friend, that goes beyond the bounds of the food and moves into the area of the spiritual.  Table fellowship can and does become spiritual fellowship when Jesus shows up.  As a minister I was invited time and again into the homes of parishioners; in those homes that they became more than friends.  Over the table relationships are developed, stories shared, and lives intertwined in such a way that they are bonded for eternity.  Our family’s deepest friends from each of our churches are those with whom we shared table fellowship.  Restaurants are fine – but they do not touch what transpires in a home around the family table.  In the meal with a family it is the presence of the family in their home inviting one to their table that makes that meal a sacred event.

As we deal with the quarantine required by Covid 19 I thought: Are we now taking note of the joy of family meals?  Do we realize what an opportunity these meals can be to share the love of Christ with our family?  

Such “communion” is at the heart of the table of our Lord.  The table of “Holy Communion, the Eucharist, or The Lord’s Supper” — this is our Lord’s table – and then it is ours.  This is our Lord’s Supper – and then it becomes our supper.  This is our Lord’s Agape Feast, i.e., Love Feast – and then it is ours.  We come to it only because our Lord has invited us and it is his presence that makes this moment and these elements sacred.  It is in his presence that all of life becomes sacred – and it is his presence that transforms our lives into the sacred as well.  I deeply and fully believe that Christ wishes to grace our lives with his presence day in and day out, but we are so busy and other-focused that Christ can scarcely find a way in save that of tragedy.  Could it be that the greatest benefit from Covid 19 will be a rediscovery of the real and living presence of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Have we experienced that presence in our lives?  Have we opened our lives to the Spirit of the Risen Christ, this Jesus of Nazareth?  Have we shared our failures and our shattered dreams that we might experience his transforming grace in both head and heart?  Too often we restrict our experience of Christ to a conversion or call event.  Have no doubt…I do believe that we need to be born again or from above!  However, I believe that we need to be born from above again and again and again.  We need a continual experience of the Risen Christ in order to fully know Christ’s love and strength, calling and purpose in our lives.

In the Revelation of St. John our Lord gives this word to the church at Laodicea. “Behold I stand at the door and knock.  If any hears my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me.”  This message is not directed toward non-believers, but to a congregation of those who claim Jesus as Lord.  However, their hearts have grown cold and their faith has become weak.  They need to open the door of their heart that they might once again experience his love and grace.  

Will we open the door of our heart to the Jesus and eat with him?  Our lives will never be the same.

Robert U. Ferguson, Jr., Ph.D.

Sea Island Chapel

173 Marshland Road

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

April 19, 2020a

Easter for Less...

Sea Island Chapel

“Easter for Less…”

Mark 16: 1- 8;

Robert U. Ferguson, Jr., Ph.d.

If there is any aspect of Christianity that is exceedingly difficult to get our arms around, it is Easter and the proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Carlyle Marney once spoke on the campus of Duke University. When a student asked Dr. Marney to speak about the resurrection of the dead he replied:  "I will not discuss that with people like you."

"Why not?" the student asked.

"I don't discuss such matters with anyone under thirty," Dr. Marney replied.  "Look at you, in the prime of life, potent – never had you known honest to God failure, heart-burn, impotency, solid defeat, brick walls, mortality.  So what can you know of a dark world which only makes sense if Christ is raised?" 1

Resurrection is, if we are honest, a bit hard for us moderns to swallow. Of course, it is not just we of the first decades of the 21st century who have problems with the resurrection.  People have had problems with the resurrection ever since Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome walked away from the tomb dazed and confused.  You heard the succinct story Mark tells: these went to the tomb to anoint the body with spices – and instead found themselves leaving in terror and fear.  Other gospels fill in the blanks – reports quickly surfaced that the body of Jesus had been stolen – the church countered with reports of appearances – and our 2,000 year debate was off and running.  

The belief that the body of Jesus was stolen, not resurrected, has persisted, resurrecting itself every decade or so.  Skeptics alike have attacked the doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus as either a fairy tale, a wish projection of the followers of Jesus, or an outright lie fabricated to perpetuate the teachings of this Palestinian peasant.

How ought we to respond to those who doubt?  Are they instruments of evil who seek to destroy faith by casting doubt on the resurrection of Jesus?  Possibly, but I think not.  Resurrection does not easily fit into our human understanding – for it is outside our normative experience and categories.  “The deceased just do not get up and walk out of a graveyard” is the reality we know.

These who deny the reality of the resurrection tend to do so because they have run up against all the incongruities in the resurrection stories.  After all – honesty compels us to admit there are discrepancies in the gospel accounts:

• Luke has Mary Magdalene accompanied by some women and immediately encountering two angels.
• Mark has these women accompanied by one other – Salome -- encountering just one angel who is inside the tomb.  No men go to the tomb in Mark’s account. 
• Matthew has the same basic account as Mark but adds that the women meet Jesus on their way back to tell the disciples.  In this meeting with Jesus they clasp his feet and worship him.
• Did Mary Magdalene go alone to the tomb as John states?  Did she, after retrieving Simon Peter and John, stand outside the tomb weeping only to be met by Jesus whom she takes to be a gardener? 

What does all this mean?  Is the resurrection a lie?  Is Christianity built upon something that never happened?  The reality is that we do not have witnesses to the actual resurrection; what we have are accounts of the events of that first Easter albeit from different persons and perspectives:  Simon Peter remembered this part – and John this – and the women another.  The differing accounts are actually proof that we do not have a concocted story, for if this were such then the details would have much more agreement than they do.  That the early church did not try to coerce these accounts into agreement is a wonderful witness to their veracity.

Doubt itself is not necessarily a prelude to disbelief, but is more often the prelude to honest, authentic faith and belief.  These first doubters became the first believers. Their doubt was echoed 25 years later by some first century Christians in Corinth who decided that the resurrection was not such a sure thing after all. (I Corinthians 15: 12-19).  Believing in the resurrection was as difficult for the first Christians – being fairly intelligent human beings who knew death much more personally than do we – as it is for us. 

So, how do we respond to the doubts that the resurrection happened?  Do we just wink, nod and go on, all the while ignoring the difficulties of such a central event in Christianity?  Do we set the resurrection aside, acting as if it did not matter?

As persons of intelligence and integrity, not to mention followers of Jesus Christ, it is impossible for us to live with such ambiguity in our faith.  After all, we are talking about the focal belief of Christianity – not just about next lunch next Tuesday or who will be running for president. We humans have a propensity to try and make all the ends come together, to have everything fit nice and neat.  However, life is much different. Life is about loose ends, unexplained mysteries, and a faith that goes beyond our abilities to understand. When all the evidence has been assembled belief is what the 19^th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard called it: a leap into the darkness, a step from the edge of our knowledge into the unknown. If we would believe in the resurrection then there will be some loose ends; there always are. 

Belief in the resurrection is not as much a matter of physical or logical proof as it is of personal & corporate experience. These first disciples who believed in the resurrection did not do so because of an empty tomb – and some did not believe just because someone else claimed to have seen Jesus (Thomas.)   These first doubters who became believers did so because they experienced the presence of the Risen Christ – either in his person or in his Spirit – in such a manner that left no room for doubt.  This experience is not just about an “event” as it is about transformation, about awakening into the presence of Christ that transforms us from the inside out.

Anger rises up within me when I hear people trying to water down the difficulty of believing in Easter.  Easter is supposed to be difficult; it is supposed to be challenging and mysterious.  Any God worth believing in must be beyond my little ability to comprehend.  The challenging part of Easter is not intellectual acceptance, as difficult as that may be; but that Easter is about my commitment, my faith, even my surrender of all that I am or ever will be to this Christ of Easter. Easter is about death – then life – both for Christ and for us.  Yes, we will die – it will happen.  Edna St. Vincent Millay put it best: “I will die, but that is all I will do for death.”   Easter is about laying down our life, my surrendering ourselves, and taking up our cross –  dying to self and rising to life in Christ long before anyone puts a body in the ground.  Easter is about trusting that in giving up our self, our desires, and our wants we will be resurrected to a life so wonderful and so full that it will never die.  

The challenge with regard to Easter in our contemporary world is that we have changed the idea of being a “follower of” Jesus to that of being a “believer in” Jesus.  There are more than enough “believers” in Jesus to populate heaven.  What Jesus needs is “followers,” i.e., those who are willing to stake their lives that following Jesus in discipleship, in life-style, in values and commitments, is the only way to live — no matter how difficult that may be.

Several years ago WalMart had a slogan that went something like this: “Easter for Less.”  Is that what we want – an Easter that costs us nothing, that asks nothing of us?  What good is an Easter like that?  What help does a cheap Easter bring when I am up at 3:00am worried about the future?  What good does a cheap Easter do for me when I stand at the grave and say good bye to a friend, a family member, a loved one?  Will an “Easter for less” do anything for me then?  What good does a cheap Easter do when I face rejection, discord and defeat?  In a world of Covid 19 and all that brings with us, we need more than “Easter for Less.”

No, the only Easter that matters at that point is the one which has been forged in the furnace of doubt and despair, which has been hammered out on the anvil of life and tempered in the fire of disappointment. The only Easter that matters is one which comes on the other side of Good Friday, which has wrestled with the crucifixion, the abandonment by God – and felt the coldness of a dark and dank tomb.  A true Easter faith is wrestled, like Jacob’s blessing, from the arms of God.  A true Easter faith comes after we have walked away confused, bewildered – and more than a little afraid – only to be met on the road to Galilee by this one who loves us no matter what.

So, we find ourselves in Easter 2020 in the midst of a pandemic.  Covid 19 has decimated families and communities, wreaking both physical death and economic hardship across this planet.  In our new lives of quarantine and isolation, we have come face to face with a reality we never dreamed existed.  We thought our biggest foes to be other nations and their armaments; we never dreamed they would be viruses and our own lifestyles.   Time and again in news broadcasts we have heard the lament of a family member who “died alone.”  In Christ that just does not happen!  In Christ we die with Christ, in Christ and through Christ.  We are loved, supported, and carried from this life to the next by the Spirit of the One whom death/evil could not conquer.

This Easter Sunday – let’s celebrate the only faith that matters – the faith which comes when we encounter the incredible surprise of Easter Sunday.  Let’s celebrate a costly faith, a tough faith, and a faith which simultaneously wears us out and invigorates us.  

Let’s celebrate and rejoice – He is Risen!  He is Risen, indeed!

 1 Paul Duke, "Transfigured Relations," The Christian Century, October 25, 1995, vol. 112, no. 30, page 985.

Sea Island Chapel

173 Marshland Road

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina 27262

Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020

Time for a Little Hope

Time for a Little Hope…

Jeremiah 32: 1-15

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul—

And sings the tune without the words—

And never stops –at all—

Emily Dickinson

To say that we are all running a little low on hope these days is to state the obvious.  Short of the attacks of 9-11-01 I cannot recall an event which has brought such devastation and despair upon our world.  To watch the news channels, to read the news online or in the newspapers (if you still do that) is to be submersed in an ever flowing torrent of negativity.  We all ask when (or if) the world as we know it will ever return to normal — and the answer is silence.  No one knows…even the experts find the question unanswerable.  We are living in a time of real despair and for many, authentic hopelessness.

As I reflected on our situation my thoughts went back to the time of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah knew what this was like… for if there was ever a time for despair it was his.  Jerusalem is surrounded by the Babylonians; devastation and exile are knocking at the door.  Jeremiah has proclaimed this to be the judgment of God upon Israel; he advocates surrender so as to avoid bloodshed.  His preaching has resulted in his arrest and confinement to the courtyard of the guards.  Viewed as a traitor by his people and a major nuisance by the King, Jeremiah knows these perceptions do not change the inevitable fate that awaits the nation of Israel.  God's judgment is sure and nothing shall stay the hand of God.  

In the middle of this national catastrophe Jeremiah commits a strange and seemingly foolish deed: he buys a field in the middle of Anathoth, a small village just northwest of Jerusalem.  Land to the Israelites was extremely important and under “the right of redemption” Israel had devised a plan whereby, in the event of poverty, death, or some extreme situation, families could keep ownership of their lands.  The nearest family member was required to purchase the land and so to keep it in the family.  Hanamel comes to Jeremiah and requests of him to purchase a field at Anathoth that he needed to sell.  

To be sure there is a lot here we do not know.  Why did Hanamel want to sell the property?  Was he old and dying or was he trying to take advantage of Jeremiah?  After all, if the Babylonians were about to conquer Israel, then any deeds would be worthless.  Was this Hanamel's way of trying to shut Jeremiah up?  Was he trying to take Jeremiah's money in exchange for a worthless deed to property that Jeremiah could not visit and in all probability never would?

Whatever the case Jeremiah saw in Hanamel’s request the word of the Lord.  This was what God wanted Jeremiah to do – and so he did it, weighing out the silver and sealing the deeds in an earthen jar to preserve them.  Jeremiah was buying more than a piece of property; Jeremiah was buying hope for his people.  Jeremiah knew that he would not be around to enjoy the field.  Jeremiah knew that he would never build a house or plant a crop on this field.  However, he knew that one day Israel would return to this land, that one day she would be restored by God to her place and land, and that one day his heirs would have this land and would remember what Jeremiah had done hundreds of years earlier.  

How could Jeremiah have such hope?  How could Jeremiah look at this situation and believe that anything good would ever come out of it?  Quite simply, his hope was neither in himself nor in his people, but in Yahweh God.  He knew and believed that the covenant promises of Yahweh God would be kept despite Israel’s failure.  Jeremiah knew and believed that God was faithful, even when Israel was not – and that one-day Israel would see joy and laughter in the land that was so dominated by grief and destruction.  

• His hope was not predicated on the goodness of the Babylonians – for they were anything but good.  
• His hope was not based on the resistance and resiliency of the Israelites, for they were a weak and impotent nation.  
• Jeremiah’s hope was based on the love and faithfulness of Yahweh God, for if God is anything God is loving and faithful.

If we would have hope today then it must be grounded in the same source, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Jeremiah, the God who reveals God’s self in Jesus Christ.  

• We dare not hope in progress, that humankind will “get better” for thousands of years of wars and brutality have revealed just the opposite: without God we get worse, not better.  
• We dare not hope in education as the answer, for with education all we have achieved is a higher level of evil.  
• At the risk of being misunderstood I must say that our hope is not in institutional religion, for by its very nature institutional religion tends to be a part of the problem rather than the solution.  Jeremiah’s biggest critics were the ministers, the priests, who counseled the King that Jeremiah did not speak for God.  These purveyors of political propaganda were nothing more than house boys for the King – and could not see the fact of their own corruption.
• Our hope is not in optimism – for hope and optimism are two very different animals.  Optimism has become a virtual religion in our country and is buoyed by the belief that with the right attitude one can achieve virtually anything.  Just keep persevering, keep believing that you can, and one day you will.  Hear me carefully: there is nothing wrong with perseverance and optimism that one can achieve.  Most people give up far too quickly.  However, optimism is too often based in the attributes of a person to overcome in a given situation.  
• Hope knows that we must use what God has given us, but also knows that there is One who is greater than our abilities.  Only in the God of Jesus Christ does our hope live and endure.  Christian hope is based solely in the God who has acted so decisively in Jesus Christ.  In his life, crucifixion and resurrection lie the basis for any and all Christian hope. Christian hope cannot be understood or experienced apart from faith in and the love of Yahweh God in Jesus Christ.

Jurgen Moltmann, the leading exponent of a theology of hope, put it well:  

The statement that "a world without God is a world without hope" is in its simplicity empirically misleading, for a world with God is empirically also a world with resignation and terror in the name of God. Hope depends on the God of Israel and of Jesus Christ, on the God of the resurrection of the coming kingdom on earth. Only this One is the "God of hope." Only this God is expected to be the "One who comes."

Quite honestly, we do not know that the future holds for any or all of us. What we do know is that Yahweh God is already forming that future for us and is out there, ahead of us, working to bring it to pass — just as Yahweh God has always been acting. Years ago as a seminary student I was required to read Reinhold Niebuhr (thank you Dave Mueller) — and in so doing was captivated by Niebuhr’s analysis of current political and international situations and his ability to bring theological principles to bear upon them.  Particularly meaningful to me are these lines which, I believe, are more true today than ever before.  May our Lord Jesus Christ work in and through all of us to engender the hope we so desperately desire:

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime; therefore, we are saved by hope.

Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; 

therefore, we are saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love.

Reinhold Niebuhr

Robert U. Ferguson, Jr., Ph.d.

The Sea Island Chapel

173 Marshland Road

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina

4/3/2020