God's gift of time
Commentary
Object:
Every January 1 there is a sense of freshness. It is the first day of the first month in the new year. The eve before, and perhaps the entire previous week, people have tried to set the past behind, forget the regrets, celebrate the triumphs, and anticipate a clean slate to fill with New Year's Resolutions. Time stands before the reveler like an open door. To walk through invites one onto new stages of life. Of course, once over the threshold, it does not take long to realize that the year gets old rather quickly. Much of what we thought we left behind in the old year is still packed in the baggage we carry into the new. One of the blessings that can come from a New Year's Day worship experience, however, is a deeper understanding of God's gift of time -- how to receive it, how to value it, how to use it.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Imagine the son of an exiled Hebrew, born at the close of the sixth century BC, listening to the tales of his father and grandfather about times of war and times of exile and times from before that when there was plenty in the homeland and then poverty. A desire mounts to write down intuitions and observations about all the stories. Yet, to recount the history of God's people is like riding a roller coaster. There are ups and downs, horizontal curves and vertical curves, slow climbs to the summit and fast falls to the bottom. Reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of this history would take a supple mind and a clever pen. Consider the range that had to be taken into account. There were good kings, like Jehoash and Hezekiah; there were bad kings, like Ahaz and Menasseh. There were times of blessing; there were times of judgment. There were times of planting and times of plucking. Weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing tumbled over one another, creating a love/hate relationship to the heritage from which one emerges. Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities could have been written about one and the same Jerusalem: "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." As the heart searches for faith and the mind for understanding in all this jumbled story, it is no wonder that expressions from the writer of Ecclesiastes are rather fragmented and disjointed, a collection of thoughts and observations held together only by the soul's probing desire to grasp a meaning in it all.
The opening line in chapter three has caught the imagination of many, whether it be for interpreting the topsy-turvy world created by the '60s through folk rock music ("For everything turn turn turn; there is a season turn turn turn; and a time for every purpose under heaven") or picking out a funeral text. The wisdom of this literature is that it simply identifies the reality that there will be a mix of opposite forces that vie for their time in the spotlight. No matter what we may try to do to shape our world or control its movements, we will be the ones caught up in the seasons of birth and death, killing and healing, breaking down and building up. This is true for personal lives as well as community growth/decay cycles.
The reader should be cautioned that the litany of opposites set up with their respective "times," is not a nod to Eastern philosophy. Lao-tzu writes in the Tao Te Ching, "Once it began, the universe had two parts..." (for example: day and night, calm and fright, blindness and sight, loose and tight) "... these two parts make up the Way of Nature. It is the blending of these parts that gives the universe its breath. It is the ending of these parts that creates violence and death." To recognize this and then to live in harmony with this is the enlightened goal of the student of life. Heaven and earth are really one dynamic, interactive whole and it is the human purpose to discover the "dance of Shiva." Fritjof Capra, in his work The Tao of Physics, explains how this is reflected in the concept of God: "The Eastern image of the Divine is not that of a ruler who directs the world from above, but of a principle that controls everything from within."
Yet, for the preacher, the seasons run their cycles "under heaven." There is a great distinction between the author of life and time and the created order and the human creature. "Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth..." (5:2). Time is God's valuable gift in which the mix of life happens. This mix is not the divine in its dynamic unity of opposites. It is in and through the mix in time that the human creature is to find relationship with God, who is in heaven. "God has made it so, in order that men should fear before him" (3:14). God has put eternity into the human consciousness (3:11), but not to the extent that the creature can become "one" with the Creator. There will always be what Kierkegaard said, an "infinite qualitative difference" between God and the man and woman. Yet, apart from God, life is experienced as a "vanity of vanities." Therefore, it behooves the creature to understand the times, especially in the context of the relationship with God, who ultimately desires the crown of creation to "eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil" (3:13).
Revelation 21:1-6a
Four times in these few verses the adjective kainoz (new) is used. God's touch with newness reaches heaven and earth, Jerusalem and all things. With God, life does not remain the same. It is not just that with the passing of time, like the turning of the calendar to January 1, everything will change for the better, as if there were some magic, anticipatory longing to make it so. It is clear in this passage that God is the actor, shaping the script of newness for heaven and earth, Jerusalem and all things, according to his inscrutable will. "Behold, I make all things new" (21:5). The placement of kainoz right after the interrogative at the beginning of the sentence emphasizes the new reality that comes from the hand of God.
What is new is that the reconciliation between God and humanity will be complete. The image of God living with humanity evokes the tenting of God with the nomadic tribes of Israel before they became a settled kingdom in Palestine and also the incarnation of God in Jesus. The Greek word skhnh (tent, booth) makes this perfectly clear (see John 1:14). The separation between God, who is in heaven, and humanity on earth is no more. The marriage bond is secured and cohabitation with the harlot has resumed for eternity. The prophet Hosea would be pleased (Hosea 14:7), as well as Malachi (Malachi 2:16).
Also what is new is that death is finally overcome. The mortal blow to death was inflicted from the cross but not until the consummation will death itself be dead. When Ernest (in the comic strip Frank and Ernest) is asked by Frank what he would like his epitaph to say, he responds, "To be continued." The good news in this text is that God will see to it. The anguish of God's people will be a former thing, now passing away, because God is doing a new thing, which is God's prerogative to do, since God is the beginning and end of all things. Old and new are in God's hand to discard and shape at will. It is God's will to be about new things that will be a blessing for the beloved of God in Christ Jesus. Eternal life is the heritage promised (21:7). What a pastoral word of encouragement and hope for a people suffering persecution then (first century anno domini) or any oppression now (twenty-first century anno domini)!
Paul makes bold comment on this, proclaiming that this newness is already happening to us as we live in Christ by faith now (2 Corinthians 5:17). The reality of the eschaton bubbles like a fountain from the future into the present providing a satiating drink for those parched by the deathly dryness of the old. "These words are trustworthy and true," Revelation says. Therefore, seize these words in faith and be seized by the promised future from God, so that now you may know the wholeness of life through all the various seasons and times.
"The New is in the Old contained; the Old is by the New explained." This little rhyme can be applied to these verses from Revelation that are part of the lectionary for today. Like with Matthew and Hebrews, Revelation relies on and takes so much from the Old Testament to make a new point. Isaiah 65:17f is the ground on which the seer of Revelation stands to catch the vision of a new heaven and a new earth, a new Jerusalem and all things new. Out of the cycles of judgment, the prophet Isaiah perceives God spinning a future full of goodness for his people, characterized as the Messianic age. So, when the Messiah indeed comes, it is only natural that this text is picked up and spun afresh in light of what Jesus accomplished upon the cross and through the resurrection.
Matthew 25:31-46
If the nature of religious language is metaphor, this story of judgment is a superb example. As Lakoff and Johnson explain in their book Metaphors We Live By, "The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another." It is difficult to conceive of Judgment Day and imagine what it must be like to stand on the threshold of eternity. Yet, imagination is one of God's gifts to probe understanding that is beyond understanding, to speak of those things that are so difficult to render into words.
Jesus takes a familiar image of a king and a shepherd and blends them into the judge who will determine the fate of the nations. The king has authority to do what he wills. The shepherd understands the difference between the sheep and the goats. This shepherd king, who is judge, brings to mind none other than David, the shepherd boy made king, who was "a man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14). The eternal covenant made with him (and before with Abraham, his ancestor) will come to fruition through Jesus, the descendent of Abraham and David, Son of Man, who will come again in glory to judge the world he came to save (see John 3:16-21).
By stretching our understanding of metaphor, we can get deeper into the text and see how it relates to the other texts, specifically in regards to time. Again, Lakoff and Johnson make the argument respective to philosophy and linguistics that "most of our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature... and we act according to the way we conceive of things." Using this as a springboard to catapult us deeper into the pool of understanding, let us consider the metaphorical concepts Time is a Limited Resource and Time is a Valuable Commodity. Lakoff and Johnson identify the following expressions as representative of these metaphorical concepts:
I don't have enough time to spare for that.
You're running out of time.
You don't use your time profitably.
Thank you for your time.
The righteous ask Jesus, "When did we see thee hungry...?" They are asking the question of time. Because time is a limited resource, it becomes a valuable resource. Therefore, how that time is spent becomes a matter of value. This is precisely the point the king makes. Compassion characterizes the actions of feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and those in prison. The Christ-like quality of compassion is what the king notices. Concomitant with that is the recognition that true compassion is extended to "the least of these." Jesus sharpens the servant nature of compassion when he says elsewhere (Luke 6:27-36) that one should act not expecting anything in return. This would be the case when relating to one's enemies and "the least of these." Jesus demonstrated what he meant when he reprimanded his follower for lopping off the ear of the high priest's slave during the Garden fiasco. Unfortunately, we are left wondering if Jesus may have healed the man. Or, perhaps Jesus seized the moment as exemplary of the preacher's seasons: a time for war and a time for peace, a time to hate and a time to love. In a split second, Jesus changed the seasons through the power of his person and commitment to establish the time of God's kingdom. Rather than being an all-too-familiar killing time, he would usher in the new healing time, which will be a gift to all people. This gift would inspire the gifted to share themselves and their time, limited and valuable as they are, in ways that will please the one who ultimately rules the cosmos.
In the aftermath of the rebellion of 66-70 AD, when Titus led the legions of Rome through the bloodied streets of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, this metaphor of judgment challenges the followers of Jesus to keep asking the right question of themselves. The king, who commands his army of the faithful, will not ask, "Did you fight for me?" He will ask instead, "Did you live for me? Did you serve me?" The litmus test for this will be the way we act in our daily life relationships.
Application
Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs reminds us that issues of food, clothing, and safety are fundamental. When these are adequately met, a person has the freedom and focus to develop upward into fuller humanity: belongingness/love, esteem, and finally self-actualization. Christians have been, are, and will continue to be involved in the nitty-gritty needs of people who are simply struggling to survive. This is as it should be; this is how it must be. As Jesus said, "The poor you always have with you" (Matthew 26:11). The inspiration for rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty with "the least of these" is the hope that this is exactly what the shepherd king wants us to do. He will reward us with the eternal life that has already been birthed in our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:1-5), issuing the offspring of faith, hope, and love.
Hope is a powerful force. It has been said that there is no such thing as a hopeless situation unless we become hopeless people. We need hope! Not just the bland, superficial pop-optimism that says, "This is going to be the best year ever. I know I am going to do everything in my power to make it so. If we all were positive and contributed to the common good, there is no telling what we could accomplish together." We need a hope that can look into the darkest storm approaching and still have the confidence that "in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). If Strauss and Howe are correct in their historical analysis of the American cycles and we are heading into "the fourth turning," a cycle of crisis (as were the years of Revolutionary War, Civil War, Depression, and World War II), we need to prepare our congregations with a grounding in biblical hope.
Time will ultimately give way to eternity but, in the meantime, to assure heavenly goals assume earthly responsibilities. This is not to say one earns entrance into heaven by what is done on earth in terms of good deeds. Rather, it is to say that good deeds take on the character of the heavenly goals themselves. As we want to be with Jesus in heaven, live like him on earth. Be a "little Christ" to the neighbor. Jesus will recognize his own by the way their behavior imitates his. He did command his disciples to "love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). As we so identify our lives with his, the power of his promises will be manifested in the present, empowering the believer to live confidently in the hope of new things to come from the hand of God, meliorating even the worst that evil can conjure up against us.
As we begin the new year, it is good to be reminded that this new time is a gift from God to be used wisely, invested prudently, in ways that enhance our relationship with God. Soon enough there will be enough things happening to tempt us away from experiencing the holy in life. Our relationship with God will continue to be tarnished. But, the new cannot be constrained by the wiles of the serpent. What was said in the garden is reverberating down through history since the cross of Christ: "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15b). The head of the serpent is being bruised already and will effectively be dealt the final mortal blow when the Son of Man returns. In the meantime, hope on, act on for "It is done!" What God says will be, will be. In fact, it is already beginning. Enter into the new day, the new year to "eat and drink and take pleasure in all your toil, which needs to include compassion."
Preaching the Psalm
Schuyler Rhodes
Psalm 8
Someone reading the newspaper recently shook his head and said, "The fact that we're still here is proof that God loves us." Indeed, if we survey the human reality the question must somehow arise in much the same way that it did for this psalmist. What is it about us that God would even notice us, much less love us? It sure doesn't have anything to do with our sweet nature. And it isn't about the way we live selfless lives. In fact, except for a few notable exceptions, it could be safely said that human beings are stinkers.
Why does God love us?
Perhaps it's because we are God's children. After all, parents love their children no matter how rotten they act. Is it a parental thing, then? Maybe it's because God created us. How could the Creator not love the created? Is it a Pinocchio thing, then? We view God as king. Could this love be the love of a Lord for (his) subjects? Is it a royalty loyalty thing?
It occurs that it could be all the above and more! It further occurs that scripture could be quoted, prayers uttered, and pastors consulted but in the end we don't know why. We only know that, incredibly, God does love us. Through the haze of our own craziness, God loves us. In the middle of our wanton selfishness, God loves us. Wound up in wars and domination, God loves us.
Is God happy with us? Often not. Are there consequences for our actions? Certainly. Yet through it all, the love of this God surrounds and beckons us to wholeness. In our most extreme brokenness, this God wills our healing.
So, why does God notice us? And why does God care? Who knows? But if we have even a scintilla of God's love within us, we'll spend eternity praising and thanking God for this unearned, unmerited love. Thanks be to God for this divine grace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Imagine the son of an exiled Hebrew, born at the close of the sixth century BC, listening to the tales of his father and grandfather about times of war and times of exile and times from before that when there was plenty in the homeland and then poverty. A desire mounts to write down intuitions and observations about all the stories. Yet, to recount the history of God's people is like riding a roller coaster. There are ups and downs, horizontal curves and vertical curves, slow climbs to the summit and fast falls to the bottom. Reflecting on the positive and negative aspects of this history would take a supple mind and a clever pen. Consider the range that had to be taken into account. There were good kings, like Jehoash and Hezekiah; there were bad kings, like Ahaz and Menasseh. There were times of blessing; there were times of judgment. There were times of planting and times of plucking. Weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing tumbled over one another, creating a love/hate relationship to the heritage from which one emerges. Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities could have been written about one and the same Jerusalem: "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." As the heart searches for faith and the mind for understanding in all this jumbled story, it is no wonder that expressions from the writer of Ecclesiastes are rather fragmented and disjointed, a collection of thoughts and observations held together only by the soul's probing desire to grasp a meaning in it all.
The opening line in chapter three has caught the imagination of many, whether it be for interpreting the topsy-turvy world created by the '60s through folk rock music ("For everything turn turn turn; there is a season turn turn turn; and a time for every purpose under heaven") or picking out a funeral text. The wisdom of this literature is that it simply identifies the reality that there will be a mix of opposite forces that vie for their time in the spotlight. No matter what we may try to do to shape our world or control its movements, we will be the ones caught up in the seasons of birth and death, killing and healing, breaking down and building up. This is true for personal lives as well as community growth/decay cycles.
The reader should be cautioned that the litany of opposites set up with their respective "times," is not a nod to Eastern philosophy. Lao-tzu writes in the Tao Te Ching, "Once it began, the universe had two parts..." (for example: day and night, calm and fright, blindness and sight, loose and tight) "... these two parts make up the Way of Nature. It is the blending of these parts that gives the universe its breath. It is the ending of these parts that creates violence and death." To recognize this and then to live in harmony with this is the enlightened goal of the student of life. Heaven and earth are really one dynamic, interactive whole and it is the human purpose to discover the "dance of Shiva." Fritjof Capra, in his work The Tao of Physics, explains how this is reflected in the concept of God: "The Eastern image of the Divine is not that of a ruler who directs the world from above, but of a principle that controls everything from within."
Yet, for the preacher, the seasons run their cycles "under heaven." There is a great distinction between the author of life and time and the created order and the human creature. "Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth..." (5:2). Time is God's valuable gift in which the mix of life happens. This mix is not the divine in its dynamic unity of opposites. It is in and through the mix in time that the human creature is to find relationship with God, who is in heaven. "God has made it so, in order that men should fear before him" (3:14). God has put eternity into the human consciousness (3:11), but not to the extent that the creature can become "one" with the Creator. There will always be what Kierkegaard said, an "infinite qualitative difference" between God and the man and woman. Yet, apart from God, life is experienced as a "vanity of vanities." Therefore, it behooves the creature to understand the times, especially in the context of the relationship with God, who ultimately desires the crown of creation to "eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil" (3:13).
Revelation 21:1-6a
Four times in these few verses the adjective kainoz (new) is used. God's touch with newness reaches heaven and earth, Jerusalem and all things. With God, life does not remain the same. It is not just that with the passing of time, like the turning of the calendar to January 1, everything will change for the better, as if there were some magic, anticipatory longing to make it so. It is clear in this passage that God is the actor, shaping the script of newness for heaven and earth, Jerusalem and all things, according to his inscrutable will. "Behold, I make all things new" (21:5). The placement of kainoz right after the interrogative at the beginning of the sentence emphasizes the new reality that comes from the hand of God.
What is new is that the reconciliation between God and humanity will be complete. The image of God living with humanity evokes the tenting of God with the nomadic tribes of Israel before they became a settled kingdom in Palestine and also the incarnation of God in Jesus. The Greek word skhnh (tent, booth) makes this perfectly clear (see John 1:14). The separation between God, who is in heaven, and humanity on earth is no more. The marriage bond is secured and cohabitation with the harlot has resumed for eternity. The prophet Hosea would be pleased (Hosea 14:7), as well as Malachi (Malachi 2:16).
Also what is new is that death is finally overcome. The mortal blow to death was inflicted from the cross but not until the consummation will death itself be dead. When Ernest (in the comic strip Frank and Ernest) is asked by Frank what he would like his epitaph to say, he responds, "To be continued." The good news in this text is that God will see to it. The anguish of God's people will be a former thing, now passing away, because God is doing a new thing, which is God's prerogative to do, since God is the beginning and end of all things. Old and new are in God's hand to discard and shape at will. It is God's will to be about new things that will be a blessing for the beloved of God in Christ Jesus. Eternal life is the heritage promised (21:7). What a pastoral word of encouragement and hope for a people suffering persecution then (first century anno domini) or any oppression now (twenty-first century anno domini)!
Paul makes bold comment on this, proclaiming that this newness is already happening to us as we live in Christ by faith now (2 Corinthians 5:17). The reality of the eschaton bubbles like a fountain from the future into the present providing a satiating drink for those parched by the deathly dryness of the old. "These words are trustworthy and true," Revelation says. Therefore, seize these words in faith and be seized by the promised future from God, so that now you may know the wholeness of life through all the various seasons and times.
"The New is in the Old contained; the Old is by the New explained." This little rhyme can be applied to these verses from Revelation that are part of the lectionary for today. Like with Matthew and Hebrews, Revelation relies on and takes so much from the Old Testament to make a new point. Isaiah 65:17f is the ground on which the seer of Revelation stands to catch the vision of a new heaven and a new earth, a new Jerusalem and all things new. Out of the cycles of judgment, the prophet Isaiah perceives God spinning a future full of goodness for his people, characterized as the Messianic age. So, when the Messiah indeed comes, it is only natural that this text is picked up and spun afresh in light of what Jesus accomplished upon the cross and through the resurrection.
Matthew 25:31-46
If the nature of religious language is metaphor, this story of judgment is a superb example. As Lakoff and Johnson explain in their book Metaphors We Live By, "The essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another." It is difficult to conceive of Judgment Day and imagine what it must be like to stand on the threshold of eternity. Yet, imagination is one of God's gifts to probe understanding that is beyond understanding, to speak of those things that are so difficult to render into words.
Jesus takes a familiar image of a king and a shepherd and blends them into the judge who will determine the fate of the nations. The king has authority to do what he wills. The shepherd understands the difference between the sheep and the goats. This shepherd king, who is judge, brings to mind none other than David, the shepherd boy made king, who was "a man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14). The eternal covenant made with him (and before with Abraham, his ancestor) will come to fruition through Jesus, the descendent of Abraham and David, Son of Man, who will come again in glory to judge the world he came to save (see John 3:16-21).
By stretching our understanding of metaphor, we can get deeper into the text and see how it relates to the other texts, specifically in regards to time. Again, Lakoff and Johnson make the argument respective to philosophy and linguistics that "most of our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature... and we act according to the way we conceive of things." Using this as a springboard to catapult us deeper into the pool of understanding, let us consider the metaphorical concepts Time is a Limited Resource and Time is a Valuable Commodity. Lakoff and Johnson identify the following expressions as representative of these metaphorical concepts:
I don't have enough time to spare for that.
You're running out of time.
You don't use your time profitably.
Thank you for your time.
The righteous ask Jesus, "When did we see thee hungry...?" They are asking the question of time. Because time is a limited resource, it becomes a valuable resource. Therefore, how that time is spent becomes a matter of value. This is precisely the point the king makes. Compassion characterizes the actions of feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and those in prison. The Christ-like quality of compassion is what the king notices. Concomitant with that is the recognition that true compassion is extended to "the least of these." Jesus sharpens the servant nature of compassion when he says elsewhere (Luke 6:27-36) that one should act not expecting anything in return. This would be the case when relating to one's enemies and "the least of these." Jesus demonstrated what he meant when he reprimanded his follower for lopping off the ear of the high priest's slave during the Garden fiasco. Unfortunately, we are left wondering if Jesus may have healed the man. Or, perhaps Jesus seized the moment as exemplary of the preacher's seasons: a time for war and a time for peace, a time to hate and a time to love. In a split second, Jesus changed the seasons through the power of his person and commitment to establish the time of God's kingdom. Rather than being an all-too-familiar killing time, he would usher in the new healing time, which will be a gift to all people. This gift would inspire the gifted to share themselves and their time, limited and valuable as they are, in ways that will please the one who ultimately rules the cosmos.
In the aftermath of the rebellion of 66-70 AD, when Titus led the legions of Rome through the bloodied streets of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, this metaphor of judgment challenges the followers of Jesus to keep asking the right question of themselves. The king, who commands his army of the faithful, will not ask, "Did you fight for me?" He will ask instead, "Did you live for me? Did you serve me?" The litmus test for this will be the way we act in our daily life relationships.
Application
Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs reminds us that issues of food, clothing, and safety are fundamental. When these are adequately met, a person has the freedom and focus to develop upward into fuller humanity: belongingness/love, esteem, and finally self-actualization. Christians have been, are, and will continue to be involved in the nitty-gritty needs of people who are simply struggling to survive. This is as it should be; this is how it must be. As Jesus said, "The poor you always have with you" (Matthew 26:11). The inspiration for rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty with "the least of these" is the hope that this is exactly what the shepherd king wants us to do. He will reward us with the eternal life that has already been birthed in our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:1-5), issuing the offspring of faith, hope, and love.
Hope is a powerful force. It has been said that there is no such thing as a hopeless situation unless we become hopeless people. We need hope! Not just the bland, superficial pop-optimism that says, "This is going to be the best year ever. I know I am going to do everything in my power to make it so. If we all were positive and contributed to the common good, there is no telling what we could accomplish together." We need a hope that can look into the darkest storm approaching and still have the confidence that "in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). If Strauss and Howe are correct in their historical analysis of the American cycles and we are heading into "the fourth turning," a cycle of crisis (as were the years of Revolutionary War, Civil War, Depression, and World War II), we need to prepare our congregations with a grounding in biblical hope.
Time will ultimately give way to eternity but, in the meantime, to assure heavenly goals assume earthly responsibilities. This is not to say one earns entrance into heaven by what is done on earth in terms of good deeds. Rather, it is to say that good deeds take on the character of the heavenly goals themselves. As we want to be with Jesus in heaven, live like him on earth. Be a "little Christ" to the neighbor. Jesus will recognize his own by the way their behavior imitates his. He did command his disciples to "love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12). As we so identify our lives with his, the power of his promises will be manifested in the present, empowering the believer to live confidently in the hope of new things to come from the hand of God, meliorating even the worst that evil can conjure up against us.
As we begin the new year, it is good to be reminded that this new time is a gift from God to be used wisely, invested prudently, in ways that enhance our relationship with God. Soon enough there will be enough things happening to tempt us away from experiencing the holy in life. Our relationship with God will continue to be tarnished. But, the new cannot be constrained by the wiles of the serpent. What was said in the garden is reverberating down through history since the cross of Christ: "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15b). The head of the serpent is being bruised already and will effectively be dealt the final mortal blow when the Son of Man returns. In the meantime, hope on, act on for "It is done!" What God says will be, will be. In fact, it is already beginning. Enter into the new day, the new year to "eat and drink and take pleasure in all your toil, which needs to include compassion."
Preaching the Psalm
Schuyler Rhodes
Psalm 8
Someone reading the newspaper recently shook his head and said, "The fact that we're still here is proof that God loves us." Indeed, if we survey the human reality the question must somehow arise in much the same way that it did for this psalmist. What is it about us that God would even notice us, much less love us? It sure doesn't have anything to do with our sweet nature. And it isn't about the way we live selfless lives. In fact, except for a few notable exceptions, it could be safely said that human beings are stinkers.
Why does God love us?
Perhaps it's because we are God's children. After all, parents love their children no matter how rotten they act. Is it a parental thing, then? Maybe it's because God created us. How could the Creator not love the created? Is it a Pinocchio thing, then? We view God as king. Could this love be the love of a Lord for (his) subjects? Is it a royalty loyalty thing?
It occurs that it could be all the above and more! It further occurs that scripture could be quoted, prayers uttered, and pastors consulted but in the end we don't know why. We only know that, incredibly, God does love us. Through the haze of our own craziness, God loves us. In the middle of our wanton selfishness, God loves us. Wound up in wars and domination, God loves us.
Is God happy with us? Often not. Are there consequences for our actions? Certainly. Yet through it all, the love of this God surrounds and beckons us to wholeness. In our most extreme brokenness, this God wills our healing.
So, why does God notice us? And why does God care? Who knows? But if we have even a scintilla of God's love within us, we'll spend eternity praising and thanking God for this unearned, unmerited love. Thanks be to God for this divine grace.
