Be Not Afraid

1930 Steel Worker

  

The LORD himself goes before you 

and will be with you; 

he will never leave you nor forsake you. 

Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Deuteronomy 31:8

Here  is one place you would never find me. 

My Swanton, MYF wanted to go to an observation tower in Montreal,the Observatoire Place Ville Marie. We rode up the elevator, the doors opened and I found the tower was glass from ceiling to floor. The youth went dashing to windows looking down on Montreal. Terrified, I leaned against the wall looking straight out. The youth wanted to linger and I wanted to leave... quickly. "Do not be afraid.?" Fine on paper, not in the tower. I was more than ready for the Lord to go with me to the elevator.

In Deuteronomy 31:8 God reassures the Israelites that all will be well. God was removing Moses giving him an eternal rest. This was a monumental change since they relied on Moses for so long. God then appoints Joshua as Moses’ successor to lead them as God had led with Moses.

Right now our society is experiencing monumental changes that can leave us feeling out on a limb, afraid. There is the terrifying fear of a deadly pandemic spiking and getting much worse. There is the fear of a deepening recession causing us loss of income. There is the fear of violence as we reckon with racism.

This may certainly be a discouraging moment. People tell us "We'll get through this. We've been through worse". That isn't helpful. 

What's helpful is God's word. God's word tells us there is more than feeling out on a limb and discouraged. Instead, God's word tells us to go forward on the strength of a divine promise: "The Lord will be with you and never forsake you". No matter how fearful we are or discouraged we become in our monumentally changing society or our own overwhelming  fears and anxieties, God's intention is for us to walk in peace.  It's to know in our hearts that God is a loving, saving God going before us, never leaving or forsaking us. That's God's Promise and God keeps promises.

Pandemic Planning

 I am moving ahead with my pandemic planning. I am fascinated by steam trains. I have ridden the Strasburg RR to Paradise in Strasburg, PA.;the CSRR in Conway, N. H.; the Scranton Limited based in Steamtown, PA.; and the D&S RR in CO running along a canyon river and then its steep side.

Naturally, I'm making plans to visit 5 different steam train rides near Portland ME as well as the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME.

Pandemic Planning says, "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1) In other words, don't go steaming along with your plans because they may go off the rails.

Ecclesiastes' author is a sage grown weary of life’s uncertainties. Therefore, he says, recognize your own mortality in the face of God’s eternity and be appropriately humble: “I know that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it."(Ecclesiastes 3:14). There is a reliable order to God's creation: a time and a season for everything. 

Like the author of Ecclesiastes, I have grown weary of the unrest, chaos and pandemic conditions around me. I have grown weary of the causes creating them and events perpetuating them. Our society tells me to live the good life. Go steaming along with your plans. So what if you are in a high risk group. Wear a mask, wash your hands, do what you want. Risk going off the rails.

The unrest, chaos, and pandemic conditions are not part of God's created order. God's created order is hope, peace, and healing. There is a season of God's hope as someone recovered from Covid-19 leaves a hospital; peace in experiencing worship as best as we can; and healing in the research for a vaccine. 

How have you found hope, peace, and healing in our time of uncertainty?

Trees of the Field

 For you shall go out in joy, 

and be led back in peace; 

the mountains and the hills 

before you shall burst into song,

 and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Isaiah 55:12

Trees of The Field is one of my favorite songs. I like the tempo especially as it increases with each verse. I enjoy the rhythm and clapping hands as we sing. I can almost hear the mountains and hills bursting into song. And I really love the imagery of trees clapping their hands. For me its not just the spirit and imagery of the song, its the hope within it. The song and text are saying that signs of hope can be seen as God does the impossible with creation.

Isaiah is speaking to folks in desperate need of a word of hope. The trauma living through the Babylonian Exile was too much to bear. Some Israelites are questioning their beliefs in the God of their ancestors. Isaiah presents the doubters with a word of hope from a Lord who transforms broken lives. The prophet describes a world of thorn trees and briers transformed into green myrtles and cypresses. This radical transformation symbolizes a new life laying ahead after the devastation of the Babylonian exile. Isaiah contrasts two worlds: an exile world; a world of possibilities where all of creation is mended and restored and the exiles can live in peace.

Centuries later this is still valid. It seems to me that we are in desperate need of a word of hope as we make our way through the current wrenching times. Experiencing fear of Covid-19, social unrest and violence is deeply distressing.That's why a God of love  gives us a picture of a radically transformed and peaceful, world mended and restored.  God intends this to be a world of hope. 

One in Christ

"There is no longer Jew or Greek, 

there is no longer slave or free, 

there is no longer male and female;

for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."

Galatians 3:28

Shortly after Pastor Sungduk Kim moved in to the parsonage and got settled, I met with him and asked how he was getting along. Had he found a doctor, a grocery store, and the like. I then asked a question that revealed my ignorance, "Had he experienced any racism?" Of course he has.

Webster's Dictionary says racism is a belief that racial differences produce a built-in superiority of a particular race. It is also a political or social system founded on race. 

The Bible in Leviticus says: "When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."

Jesus says: "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in." "‘Love your neighbor as yourself." 

Peter says in Acts: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who worships God and does what is right is acceptable to God."

For me, my baptism is walking down the path of resisting evil, injustice, and oppression as Jesus called me to do. In doing so, I am affirming Paul's words in Galatians 3:28.

I firmly believe that when I take my baptism vows seriously, I am working towards the goal of equality for all God's children.

However, as informative as the dictionary and Bible are, the real issue is in recognizing my own racism (or bias or prejudice) so I can work towards that goal. 

What are your thoughts about racism?