On Life

Sick Day!

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person holding thermometer
Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

Those of you who regularly follow my blog will note that there was no post this morning. That’s the first time that happened since 2016 when I had foot surgery that required a hospital stay. This time it was because my body forced me to take a sick day yesterday. I had woken early for a routine doctor appointment (with my foot doc!). I felt more tired than usual but chalked it up to an early start. I made it through the morning fine. But at midday, I felt like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on me. All I could do was sleep. I was running a fever. Some acetaminophen, a good night’s rest and I was feeling drained, but better.

But sometimes health in your seventies feels like whack-a-mole. This morning, I discovered my right hand was red, swollen, and warm to the touch. I’ve had cellulitis before and recognize the signs, which the doc confirmed. He said I did good to get in so quickly. So now it’s two weeks on an antibiotic. Probably got it doing yardwork on Tuesday. The doc wanted to give me a pass on yardwork for the rest of the season!

Ah well… At any rate, the book I would have reviewed today, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, will appear tomorrow morning.

Why I’m Celebrating Dependence Day Today

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a religious man praying solemnly
Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com

I’m not celebrating Independence Day. It’s not for lack of love for the United States. It is because I love this country. My father, who fought in World War II, taught me to love this country. He was proud of his service. But were he alive today, I think he might be asking, “is this what I fought for?” As much as I miss him, I’m glad he is not living through these days.

Two old men, unfit in my judgement to serve, running for the highest office of our land (is this the best we can do?). A high court that lacks an ethical compass and will not act to remedy its flaws. A congress engaged in endless partisan squabbling that rarely comes together to tackle the substantive issues facing our country.

Sadly, these institutions are just a reflection of us. We are a violent country, leading the high income countries of the world in firearm deaths. Students from other countries fear coming here because of gun violence. Increasingly people question the idea of the rule of law. Do we realize that the only alternatives are the rule of power or chaos? We allow our political leaders to persuade us it is right to demean whole groups of people, blaming the problems of the country on “them.”

I could go on and indulge my “cranky old man.” But it’s a holiday.

Not Independence Day for me. The idea of independence has become one of untrammeled personal freedom reflecting neither an appropriate fear of God, concern for the common good, nor care for the good land we’ve been given.

For me, it is Dependence Day. But not on our politicians. Not on our technology. Not on some dream of American greatness. It can be argued that all of these have demonstrably failed us. So why do we keep putting so much trust in them? Isn’t that a definition of insanity?

If you know me, you know that I am a follower of Jesus. Jesus gets my implicit trust and allegiance. It means that in life and death, I depend utterly on Jesus to sustain me and I take my marching orders for life from him. But what troubles me is that much of the Christian “tribe” of which I’m part seems to pay only lip service to this and seems more enamored with politics than Jesus. I agree with this assessment in an NPR interview by Christianity Today editor Russell Moore that we are in trouble:

“Well, it was the result of having multiple pastors tell me essentially the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount parenthetically in their preaching – turn the other cheek – to have someone come up after and to say, where did you get those liberal talking points? And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ, the response would not be, I apologize. The response would be, yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak. And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we’re in a crisis.“

This is the day I want to renew my dependence on Jesus. Not to make America anything, as much as I long for an awakening to God in our country. I want to renew my dependence on what he taught, even if it seems weak. My father had a watchword that seems important to remember today:

Read and pray;

Trust and obey;

Live God’s way.

My father lived in the faith that come what may, God sustained those who depended on him. I want to join my father in making this day, and every day, Dependence Day.

Render Unto Caesar

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The Tribute Money - (Le denier de Cesar) - James Tissot

Brooklyn Museum – The Tribute Money – (Le denier de Cesar) – James Tissot, Public Domain via Picryl

On Sunday April 28, I gave the message at our church on the theme of “Discernment in Politics.” It’s been a crazy day and because of that, I do not have a book post prepared so I thought I would share a transcript of the talk. This is not a message about what person or party to support or even how to make those choices. It’s more about living with wisdom and peace in this fraught political season. I hope you find it helpful.

Discernment in Politics: Matthew 22: 15-22

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. (Matthew 22:15-22, NIV)

Introduction

Have you ever noticed how when you are anxious in anything that it helps to take some deep breaths, to step back, and understand what is going on. Recently, I had a physical exam, and my blood test results show a particular measure out of whack. These days, you often get this info before hearing from your doc. Of course I go on the internet and discover all the dire things this could mean. So I wrote to my doc. It turns out he ran a follow up test that was finer grained, identifying a condition, probably genetic, that was benign, and sent me an educational article. My doc’s discernment and the educational info he sent greatly reduced my anxiety and gave me a few things I could do and watch out for.

Much of our political discourse, particularly in advertising and on social media, is designed to arouse our anxiety. Part of this is to keep us clicking. It appeals to more primitive parts of our brains involved in protecting ourselves, bypassing the parts of our brain that think. There are times when we need that part of our brain. I’d like to suggest politics is not one of them and the example of Jesus in Matthew offers us a lesson in political discernment.

Some Background

A little background might help us in understanding the passage. First of all, it is part of a section from Matthew 21:23 through 22:46 where Jesus is engaging various opponents in the temple during the week before the crucifixion. After responding to a question on what authority he does things like cleanse the temple, he tells three parables about the two sons, about the wicked tenants in the vineyard, and about the wedding banquet where his opponents recognize that he is speaking about them.

So we come to this passage where the Pharisees and Herodians get together to trap him. What’s curious about all this is that they are usually political enemies. The Pharisees are the people’s party while the Herodians support the Roman establishment. The trap they come up with is ingenious. Rome levied a special poll tax on subject peoples that Roman citizens did not need to pay. It was a reminder that they were under the thumb of Rome.

The question they come up with is a “gotcha” question, at least if you just stuck to “yes” or “no.” Answer yes, and Jesus would alienate many Jews who resented the tax, including some of the Pharisees. Answer no, and Jesus could be charged with treason.

When Jesus asks for a coin, they probably gave him a denarius that had an image of Tiberius Caesar on one side. The image alone would be offensive to Jews who were told to “make no graven images” and the inscriptions were equally offensive: “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus” on one side and “pontifex maximus” or high priest on the other. Which begs the question of why they have these coins!

So what may we learn from how Jesus handles this?

Jesus discerns their intent. He recognizes they are trying to trap him. Now the intent of our politicians is not always evil, but it is good to listen to the intent behind the words. Another word for this may be interests. Around most political issues there are various interests including our own. The question is whether the interest or intent is merely personal advantage for one group or the common good of all. If a political position advantages some at the expense of others, there is evil or unjust intent.

Jesus discerns ways they are trying to manipulate him. They say some very nice things about his integrity, his teaching, and that he will not be swayed by attention-getting. This can happen through flattery, fear or false promises. There may have even been a temptation for Jesus to be an “influencer.” The invitation to be on the inside, to have influence can be intoxicating. Jesus resists it.

Jesus discerns the false and reductive binary they offer him. So much of our political polarization has to do with turning nearly everything into one of these binaries. Do you know that there was a time in the 1960’s and 1970’s when environmental measures were supported by both parties and a Republican president established the EPA? Then the environment was politicized, and you had to choose between being pro-business and pro-environment, which is like saying, you must choose between walking and chewing gum. And so we are either pro 2nd amendment or for government confiscating all our guns. We are pro-life or pro-choice. We must choose between open borders or building the wall.

The reality is that choosing one side of these binaries excludes the interests and concerns of a lot of people. They also oversimplify the world. Real solutions are often both more complex and creative.

Jesus discerns a kingdom alternative that is far richer. Jesus recognizes the reality that there will always be government. His reply is kind of matter of fact. Give Caesar what is his. Caesar made the coin. The Roman empire is just an earthly power, no less no more.

But he also speaks to what ought to be on the heart of every Jewish listener. What belongs to God? Actually, what doesn’t belong to God? He is Creator. He gives life and land, the cattle on a thousand hills are his, his eye is on the sparrow, he knows the number of hairs on our heads. Sure, let Caesar have his pocket change. And let God have all of your life! Embrace all that is God’s! No wonder people left amazed.

Rather than taking sides, might the role of Christians be to work with both sides, whether locally or nationally to find richer alternatives? One local example I think of is the service of Pastor Rich Nathan on the Columbus Civilian Police Review Board, both supporting the work of police and providing civilian accountability for how they police to restore trust between police and the community.

Jesus discerns ultimate allegiances and our only hope. Any government, nation, or political party are ”just” politics, “just” government. They don’t hold a candle to God’s everlasting global kingdom. They only have a limited function under God. They are not unimportant and we should seek the best people we can find to serve in positions of public trust. But if you are a professing Christian, you have sworn absolute allegiance to the king of kings and lord of lords and there is no part of our lives exempt from that allegiance: our money, our time, our possessions, our sexuality, our ambitions, our work, our retirement, and our politics.

He is also the one we trust absolutely for not only our salvation but for our life and health in the world. I wonder if this is so for us. I wonder if some Christians have embraced the politics of right or left with such a religious fervor because they don’t believe that God can save. They don’t believe the gospel’s power.

I suspect all of us here love our country and all of us may have concerns and anxieties about it. The question is, do we trust God implicitly with that or have we placed an inordinate trust in our politics? If I’m anxious about politics, that is a signal that it is time for some kingdom discernment. Will I trust that God really is in charge, that God will always work for the good of those who love him? Nations rise and fall, and this could even be the trajectory of the United States. I don’t like that idea, and I would work against it happening in my generation, but if it comes, I recognize that my real hope is in the everlasting kingdom of the everlasting God.

Conclusion.

  1. Discerning intent
  2. Discerning interest
  3. Discerning false and simplistic binaries
  4. Discerning the richer kingdom alternative
  5. Discerning our ultimate allegiances

These are the things that enable us to live as people of wisdom and peace in our anxious political season. But if you can’t remember all of that, remember the last and pray to always discern your ultimate allegiance. What does God want? What would Jesus do? What has God said in his Word? What does absolute allegiance to Jesus require of me today? For what am I’m anxious that I will trust him, including my anxieties in this political season?

I would suggest two practical tests to help us assess where we are tending toward:

  1. What are we taking in more? Scripture, good Christian reading or excellent writing in general, sermons and podcasts or Fox or CNN, talk radio, and political memes and posts and arguments on social media.
  2. What are we talking about more? God and God’s goodness, and the ways we can live our lives loving God and neighbor, or the latest political news, what we don’t like about a candidate or party?

What we are taking in and what we are talking about most reveals where our heart is. I wrestle with this personally. As I turned the calendar to 2024, I recognized what a fraught year is ahead. I challenged myself with regard to these questions with the simple resolution, more Jesus, less politics! Finally, my wife reminded me that one other way we express our absolute trust and know freedom from anxiety is to live joyful and grateful lives for all the good, true, and beautiful things we see and experience each day. That’s another way of saying, “Our God reigns!”

Wintering

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A wintry night around Christmas of 2022 shot from my front step. © Robert C. Trube

Wintering. I came across this word for the first time today in a book I’m reading, The Spacious Path. The author quoted another work that I think I want to read, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. In an interview with Krista Tippett, she described the book like this:

I wanted to make it really clear that, although a lot of Wintering is about my love of winter and my affection for the cold and even the dark, that wintering is a metaphor for those phases in our life when we feel frozen out or unable to make the next step, and that that can come at any time, in any season, in any weather, that it has nothing to do with the physical cold. So it was very useful from a narrative point of view to be able to start with what indeed happened, which was, on an unseasonably sunny day in September, just before my 40th birthday, when my husband fell very suddenly ill.

May describes the significance of wintering both in terms of the rhythm of the meteorological seasons and also the seasons of life. Many creatures hibernate, storing up food. Readers often store up books and find the early sunsets and long evening hours conducive to working through their To Be Read stacks. In cold climates, winter kills off some of the insect population. The processes of dormancy are crucial for both animals and plants–think of all those flowering bulbs!

There is evidence that people need some dormancy as well. Some experts suggest that rather than fight the urge to get extra sleep, we follow it–strengthening our immune systems and catching up from sleep deficits. In a variety of ways, winter can be about rest and slowing down. After cleaning out gardens, fall feedings, composting, and mulching, gardeners use the winter to sharpen and clean tools, to read their garden journals–what did well and what did not and why, and then plan for next year. There is the fun of going through seed catalogues, starting seeds under light, growing in cold frames and getting ready for the right planting time.

Winter is a reminder of our need for healthy rhythms of work and rest. In this, and so many ways, we try to circumvent those rhythms. I know many snowbirds who go south for winter. I won’t criticize that choice but I love the slower rhythms, the respite from outdoor chores (other than shoveling snow!) and watching the world around me both go into dormancy with the beautiful fall colors, and the emergence of renewed life in the riotous burst of spring.

May writes of wintering as a metaphor as well, of the dark seasons we face in life. In the quote above, she mentions the sudden illness that hit her husband, a burst appendix, that was followed by intestinal problems of her own, diagnosed as Crohn’s disease, and then severe emotional problems with her son. May describes winter in this way, as she reads from her book during the Tippett interview:

“It’s a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order. Doing these deeply unfashionable things — slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting — is a radical act now, but it’s essential. ”

The book describes how her family allowed itself to winter in these ways to heal, regroup, and get their son the help he needed. They homeschooled. She describes winter as “not the death of the lifecycle, but its crucible.”

It makes me think about “winter experiences” in our lives. There was no way to get out of them, much as we wished. No way to hop on a plane to warmer climes. Growth seemed to come as we accepted that there was no other way than to go through, to allow the season to do its work on us.

May’s book came out in February of 2020, on the eve of the “long winter” of the pandemic, and for many readers she helped them make sense of what was happening and how they might respond. I think of some of the things we learned:

  • Better self care, rest, food, exercise.
  • We learned to treasure close relationships
  • We leaned more deeply into our faith.
  • I discovered the joy of losing myself in Louise Penny’s Gamache books!
  • We gave more thought to “the nest” and deferred remodeling projects

I can’t think of any of these things I would want to stop–the winter was precious, even as it was hard. While I’m glad we have moved into a different season, I do not want to forget. Nor do I want to make light of the traumas, both physical and emotional, that the pandemic created for others. While we are eager to move on. It is important to remember those for whom it is still winter and allow them the rest and retreat they need.

I’ve grown up with winters all my life and I recognize the rhythms they bring, and the unique joys as well–the animal tracks in the snow, the bright sun after wintry greys, the crisp cold of some days that make one feel uniquely alive with the tingle of the cold on our cheeks. But perhaps it has become ho-hum and the word “wintering” makes me think afresh both of this season in the year but the “wintering” times of our lives.

And like the reader I am, I think I may get that book…

Don’t Be That Person

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Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Most of us have been online in various groups long enough that we’ve learned some basic netiquette…I think. You’ve learned not to type ALL IN CAPS because that is the equivalent of shouting. We know not to troll, spam, or cyberstalk (and if you don’t, the help you need is beyond what I can offer in this post and you probably aren’t interested anyway).

What I’m addressing are some of the more subtle aspects of social media EQ (emotional intelligence). These are some of the things that make you an interesting person to interact with rather than that person to whom no one responds or ends up in an admin’s doghouse or even blocked. Here’s a few tips from five years as a page admin on a social media platform to help you avoid being that person:

  1. Know the group rules and don’t treat them as suggestions for other people. If you don’t like the rules, leave the group and find one whose rules fit you. Don’t argue with admins. Diligent ones are screening for spam and out of line posting, and will probably just block you.
  2. Spend some time in a group before you post to see what its like, and read discussion threads before posting. Otherwise, you’ll say something that’s already been dealt with or “step in” something that you didn’t know was there and wish you could get out.
  3. Some people feel they need to comment on everything. You ask for recommendations for thrillers. There always seem to be the people who feel compelled to tell you they hate thrillers, don’t read thrillers, or are creeped out by thrillers. That’s perfectly fine. Different strokes. But this discussion wasn’t for you but for the people who either love the genre or want to get into it. You just threw a bucket of icewater on the thread.
  4. Then there are the people who like to argue and assume it is OK to engage in disagreements with another person. News flash: not every person likes to do that! Emotional intelligence explores whether others want to discuss their ideas. Ask questions that are open ended, not leading, and are seeking to understand. For example, “would you be willing to discuss how you came to hold this view?” Or if you want to take issue, you might share, “I see things differently. Would you be open to discussing those differences?” Notice how each of those examples ask permission rather than just barging in and unloading what you think.
  5. You also don’t want to hijack a discussion. If the discussion is about what makes a good indie bookstore, people will not like you for talking about your favorite online bookseller.
  6. Don’t post “canned responses” or toss offs (“that’s ‘woke’ “), or worse yet, respond with memes. These are the tools people use to shut down discussion.
  7. Maybe this is a pet peeve. It has become increasingly common to post .gifs as comments. They consume space, they are usually just giant “like” buttons, and depending on a person’s settings might not even render. (Maybe this is an admin peeve, because I monitor comments on each post.)
  8. Disagree about ideas but always affirm people. You want people to assume you have a brain in your head and put some thought into what you say? Treat others the same way.
  9. It helps to actually read what you are commenting on rather than commenting on what you think the person said. Worse yet, someone posts an article and, without reading, the person posts information that is in the article or asks a question that is in the article. For those of us who read (or wrote) the article, you just told us that you didn’t bother to read it or are just showing off your knowledge.
  10. Finally, it is considerate to interact with what others post and not just post your own stuff. Some groups are just competing monologues rather than real discussions. And definitely respond when people comment or ask questions about what you write.

All this suggests participating in an online discussion involves thought and care for others. Often we just dash off comments as we hurriedly scroll through our feeds. Actually, I’m not sure that it is altogether different from in-person conversations, although online conversations lack both verbal and non-verbal cues for which emojis are a poor substitute. I suspect working on these qualities will yield you benefits in both the online and in-person world. And hopefully, we are the same person in both worlds. That is yet another way we don’t want to be that person.

Thanksgiving in Terrible Times

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Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

The Apostle Paul tells us to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

I find myself wondering in our deeply fraught times how we do this without descending into triteness–a polyannish view of life that ignores or pretends that terrible things don’t exist.

I’m not sure I quite have this figured out but here are a few thoughts on this Thanksgiving Day of 2023.

One part is for us to remember Paul’s previous statement: pray continually. Prayer means taking the troubles we see, whether a swiftly warming planet, mass shootings, the atrocities of warfare, the propensity of our corrosive political discourse to undermine the rule of law and the structures of governance, our nation’s efforts to heal the wounds our seizure of indigenous lands and the various forms of forced subjugation of another people. Add to this our private pains and griefs. There is enough of this to keep us praying continually, for sure–perhaps crying out to God, “how long?”

But the other part of this is what I call the problem of goodness. Amid the evils of the world, goodness endures. A food pantry my church hosts fed three hundred families. I recall when seventy-five was stretch. This was overwheming, yet all were fed. Jesus still multiplies loaves and fishes, including the contributions of neighboring churches and local groceries. Evening walks overwhelmed me at times this fall with the riot of color. A myriad of dedicated caregivers, backed by medical researchers, supported by many who prayed, gave a young boy we know his life back after a rare and aggressive bone cancer. A runner, he just walked a 5K for the first time since his illness. Even the seemingly trite things of family, friends, and food are wonders–exquisitely unique human beings partaking of the fruit of the creation and of other creatures also nourished by that creation. As I write, I’m listening to vintage Simon & Garfunkel singing “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”– a song that spoke comfort and peace into another fraught time of the early 1970’s and I marvel at the good power of musical artistry.

So much goodness that endures, even in our darkest circumstances. I choose to believe that it is a harbinger of the greater goodness of God’s new creation. We pray continually. And we give thanks. It is the holding of these together that prevents thanksgiving from ever becoming trite. There is a deeper magic before the advent of evil in the creation as C.S. Lewis taught us in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. As we pray and wait, we express our faith and hope that all evils will be undone and reversed. As we give thanks, we attest that there is a Providence that evil will not defeat. Our delight in goodness is perhaps one of the most subversive things we may do against the power of evil.

As we share the goodness of our tables with others, we defy those who would give despair the last word. Every time we give thanks we proclaim that we know better.