Eastertide: Anna #28.

There is nothing new

    under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9) 

Dear Anna,

I did my non-biblical devotions this morning from The Portable Renaissance Reader. It’s a collection of short reads from various Renaissance writers and troubadours. So, this morning’s short read came from Niccolô Machiavelli written in 1517—couldn’t help but think of you. It’s called “The Circle of Governments.” Let me send it your way. Maybe we can discuss around the morning fire when you get home, okay?

Machiavelli describes three possible forms of government (I suppose you know all this):

1.     Monarchical         becomes                      tyranny

2.     Aristocratic           degenerates into          oligarchy

3.     Democratic           lapses into                   licentiousness.

Then Machiavelli concludes: “I say, then, that all kinds of governments are defective; those three which we have qualified as good because they are too short-lived, and the three bad ones because of their inherent viciousness. Thus sagacious legislators, knowing the vices of each of these systems of government by themselves, have chosen one that should partake of all of them, judging that to be the most stable and solid. In fact, when there is combined under the same constitution a prince, a nobility, and the power of the people, then these three powers will watch and keep each other reciprocally in check.”

So that’s where we got our notion of checks and balances—written some 270 years before our nation’s Constitution. Now I’m finding out that Machiavelli was merely commenting on Aristotle’s Politics some 2,200 years before our Constitution. Maybe there really isn’t anything new under the sun, as Ecclesiastes keeps telling us. Our nation’s founders must have been classicists like you.

Love you, Papa

Eastertide: Anna #27

 

The Lord has

    made himself known. (Psalm 9:16)

Dear Anna,

Our next big Sunday is Pentecost—seven Sundays from Easter Sunday. Between Easter Sunday and Pentecost, our resurrected Lord, “showed himself alive”.  It is not as if Mary caught him walking down Main Street. It came at God’s choosing: “God raised him up on the third day and allowed him to appear…to us who were chosen by God as witnesses…” (Ac 10:40-41). Mary was the first “chosen by God as a witness.”

Between now and then, Jesus “showed himself alive” to Mary Magdalene first, then to the other women, then sporting with that couple walking home to Emmaus, then a few different times to his disciples while in Jerusalem, then later along the shore of Galilee where he fixed breakfast.  Maybe last, before he ascended, to his doubting brother James (1Cor 15:7). As our resurrected Lord ascends, the Holy Spirit descends making Jesus present for us though he can no longer be seen going before us. That is Pentecost—when the Holy Spirit descends making Jesus known to us.

Our knowing Jesus always comes from God’s side. It is not something we figured out; but rather, something given to us—the gift of faith.

Love,

PAPA

 

 

Eastertide: Anna #26

He appeared first to

   Mary Magdalene. (Mark 16:9)

Dear Anna,

Jesus chose Mary Magdalene to make his first resurrection appearance. Not only that, but the first to proclaim the Gospel—Mary, the first evangelist. Jesus’ second resurrection appearance will be something of the same when he chooses to make himself known to the other women—those who followed Jesus all the way from Galilee to the Cross, to the Tomb. They too, are commissioned by our Risen Savior to proclaim the good news: “Go and tell…” (Mt 28:10).

Pastor Heath Hardisty chose this Mary Magdalene story for his Easter message. He lingered on the part about how Mary saw Him, but thought he was the gardener, caring for the garden tomb of Jesus. Then pastor Heath mused about another garden, the Garden of Eden; from which we had been cast out onto the cursed ground; and, how our resurrected Lord takes us back, or maybe better said, “forward,” to a new Eden. It was a beautiful message. Wish you could have been with us.

Love, PAPA

Easter: Anna #25

 They saw that the stone

   had been rolled away. (Mark 16:4)

Dear Anna,

It happened early in the morning following Sabbath. A very ordinary day, when the women scurried to Jesus’ tomb, with their spices, to freshen things up; like we might bring flowers to the grave of a loved one. But when they arrived at the tomb, surprise! “The stone had been rolled away.” From that moment on, that ordinary day became “The Lord’s Day” (Rv 1:10).

“Easter Sunday” would come later. For the women with their spices, it was just an ordinary back to workday. It became a special day when the reality of our Risen Savior dawned on them. “Easter Sunday” is our invention. The Roman Church set the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, according to the West’s Gregorian calendar, as Easter Sunday. That’s why Easter jumps around. Our Pilgrim forbearers would have none of it. For them, Easter was too pagan—with its goddess name and strange calculations around the vernal equinox. They didn’t like Christmas either. For them, Sunday, “the Lord’s Day,” was enough.

It is okay for some to follow traditional days and others not: “Do not let anyone condemn you,” writes the Apostle Paul to the Colossian church, “in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. These are only a shadow, …but the reality is found in Christ” (Col 2:16–17). Our Christian faith does not require of us any dietary laws, or observance of special days or festivals. The Puritans were right about that. Nevertheless, I enjoy our Christian traditions of Christmas and Easter. We can’t have Winter without Christmas; and, we can’t have Spring without Easter; can we?

Easter reminds us that, every Sunday is a little Easter when the church gathers because “Jesus has risen” (Lk 24:6). That means that what happened on the Cross was God’s doing. On the Cross God was dealing with us and maybe even Himself. Easter Morning vindicates Good Friday.

Just musing, Papa

Good Friday: Anna #24

The sign was written in

   Aramaic, Latin and Greek. (John 19:20)

Dear Anna,

I woke up strangely spiritual this morning—desiring to go to church and participate in the Stations of the Cross. So, around the fire pit I read again the accounts of Good Friday. Strange name for the Day Christ was Crucified. What is so “good” about the Crucifixion of Christ?  It is what happened three days later, on Sunday morning, that makes Good Friday, good. Easter will be God’s big “Yes” to Calvary and to you and me—to humanity. Easter morning makes the Cross good news—Gospel.

Pilate fastened a notice to the Cross stating “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” He had it “written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek” (Jn 18:19-20). I can’t read “Latin and Greek” without thinking of you. Does it not speak of the Cross as an event meant for all people?

The sign sparks protest: “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of Jews” (Jn 19:21). The political turmoil has to do with who is our king. The Jews cried out to Pilate: “We have no king of Caesar!” (Jn 18:15) When we opt for other kings than Jesus, we end up subservient to Caesar. When, in faith, we accept the kingly rule of Christ in our life, we remain free from the Caesars of our world.

Just musing, PAPA

 

Lent: Anna #23

 It is appointed for us

   once to die;

and after that,

   comes judgment.

   (Hebrews 9:27)

Dear Anna,

No one’s favorite verse: “…once to die and then comes judgment.” I bring it up because the parable of the ring ends with each one “appearing before the judgment-seat—the greater one.” Between now and then, the penultimate “modest judge,” encourages each religion: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, to live according to “the virtue of his ring; with gentleness, benevolence, and forbearance.” It is good advice. As the Apostle puts it: “Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart” (1Cor 4:5).

All three Abrahamic monotheistic religions share a common belief in a final judgment. It is the thing that bothers people the most about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They all believe that the One God, created the heavens and the earth when there was no heaven or earth; and that some day, heaven and earth will be no more, and God will make his judgments. Creation has a beginning and an end. Science has come up with a similar cosmology: the universe has a beginning (big bang) and will have an end (fissiles out). Only, we believe creation will not just wind down as science has it but will be wound up redeemed and renewed: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev 21:1).

The good news about the Gospel, is that final judgment has been given to God the Son: “The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son” (Jn 5:22). Our Judge is our Savior. That’s Gospel—good news. Remember how Lewis depicts this judgement of our Lord in the last Narniad?

The creatures came rushing on, their eyes brighter and brighter as they drew nearer and nearer to the standing Stars. But as they came right up to Aslan one or other of two things happened to each of them. They all looked in his face. I don’t think they had any choice about that. And when some looked, the expression on their faces changed terribly—it was fear and hatred. …And all the creatures who looked at Aslan in that way swerved to their right, his left, and disappeared into his huge black shadow. …the children never saw them again. I don’t know what became of them. But others looked in the face of Aslan and loved him, though some of them were very frightened at the same time. And all these came in at the Door, in on Aslan’s right.

Then comes Aslan’s eternal romp “further up and further in.”

Love, Papa

Lent: Anna #22

 

 Without faith,

   it is impossible to please God.

   (Hebrews 11:6)

Dear Anna,

We enter the season of Lent that leads us to Calvary and Easter Morning. You can’t skip and just land on Easter morning. We are asked to participate in Christ’s sufferings. Even his Gethsemane struggles, when Jesus cried out, “Take this cup from me!” True faith cannot help but wonder, “Is it really true?” In faith, and with the unseen help of the Holy Spirit, we say, “Yes, it is really so!”

The tale of the ring reminds us that, chances are, we find ourselves born into a particular Faith: Christian or Jewish or Islam. What if I had been born a Jew? Or, what if I had been born a Muslim? In short, what if I had been born and raised in another Faith than my own? It is a fair question—the kind of questioning a mature faith requires.

Our Faith has its reasons—reasons enough to say, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” For starters, only our Faith has Lent with Good Friday followed by Easter Morning. And, of course, before that, Christmas Morning. It is also interesting what our Faith does not have: no fast days, no dietary law, no circumcision, no required pilgrimages, no ethnic qualifications. Just you as you and Jesus as Jesus. That is enough.

In the midst of all other options, like Peter, we too confess, “Where else are we going to go? Only you Jesus speak words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). To ask for more would be to eliminate faith itself; for, as the Bible tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hb 11:6).

 Love, Papa