The Downfall of Sauron

Today, March 25th is the day in Tolkien's Middle Earth mythology that Sauron fell due to the destruction of the Ring. It is the great, world changing eucatastrophe in the Lord of the Rings that brings light, victory, joy, freedom, and peace from the dark enslavement after war that seemed immanent. I bring this up as we are currently living through the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic is the real thing, not a story, the story can help us think through our real life enemy. Both are forces that seem beyond mortals to deal with, both may lead to suffering and death, the influence of both seems to spread without check, and both lead to much fear.

What ideals does Tolkien hold up in his characters in facing such an enemy? Courage certainly. But not blind courage - courage tempered by wisdom. Gandalf, Aragorn, Frodo, and the others choose as best they can to go on fighting, but using the wisdom they have. In our day, we must listen to the wisdom of our medical professionals - wash hands, distance as we can, don't gather in large groups, etc. Doing even small things that are good has an effect.

But more important to me is to remember that evil has an end. The suffering due to COVID-19, though it brings death for many, will pass. And even more, for those of us who are in Christ, we know the end of evil and the curse on our world. To summarize the book of Revelation in two words: Jesus wins. He wins over the forces of Satan. He wins over our own rebellious, sinful hearts, he undoes the curse on our world, and brings in the new heavens and new earth. In the darkness of all sin, pain, toil, and death, even through the death of Christ on the cross, victory, grace, and peace come through in the end. His resurrection from the dead is the great eucatastrophe; victory in the face of sure defeat.

To my fellow Christians I say, be of good courage, but exercise wisdom. We need not fear, but we also need not be foolish. Even if suffering and death take us due to this, we know they must come on us sometime in our life. Our final end is still life, rest, joy, and peace. Look forward in joy and comfort, and do the good to your neighbor that you can.

To those who are not Christians, I hold out hope to you. No one is free from suffering in this life or from death. And no one is free from guilt for sin, our own moral failures. I can hold out freedom from guilt, the love of God who made you and has provided for you, and strength for your soul to walk through this life. I can hold out life after death, and rescue from the judgement to come that we all deserve. Feel free to ask, I would like to talk about nothing more than this with you.

Longing for Home

I am writing this post from Manizales, Colombia. More specifically, from the Juan Valdez outdoor cafe near my hotel.

Maybe you are a happy traveler, ready for the next adventure wherever, whenever. I am not. I am much more of a hobbit. I like regularity, home, second breakfast, and no adventures. Yet here I am, a non-Spanish speaker very far from home. I have no idea how many people I’ve offended; hopefully not as many as I fear.

Some things are the same as in the USA, yet strange even in their sameness. American music from the 80’s and 90’s is played everywhere. Ordering coffee and checking in to the hotel follow the same pattern, so I can guess when we’re talking about size of drink (grande!) or the WiFi password. The Subway restaurant smells exactly like a Subway in the USA, though I can't read the menu. I found a non-Catholic church near-ish my hotel and showed up. They did their very best to welcome me. They played a song that had the same tune as “Bless the Lord, Oh my soul” and I think was a translation.

But things are still so different. The architecture and streets are...different. The food is different. At the church service, the interpretive dancers came out at some point and then there was (I think) a prayer I couldn’t follow at all. I decided to give it up and slip out as it was simply unintelligible to me.

The people here in Manizales are home, have all the implicit knowledge of how to operate, and probably see Manizales as how things are. But I do not. In Sylva I am home in my own house and family. Someone from Manizales who was dropped in Sylva would no doubt feel the same sense of being out of place.

There are a lot of things I can take away from this experience, but the one that comes to mind on this Lord’s Day is my longing for my eternal home. That is, the place that I ultimately long for, and where I really belong. Even in Sylva, we have conflict, trouble communicating (just between my wife and me, never mind anyone else!), and so many things that are not as they should be. We have sickness, sorrow, pain, and death as a result of our sin and God’s just judgment. While this is our lived experience, we who are in Christ and trust him to forgive our sins and adopt us into the family of God, have hope for better. The book of Revelation gives us a vision of God making all things new.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” - Revelation 21:1-4

To paraphrase Samwise Gamgee, my fellow hobbit, all the sad things will be made untrue.

It is my hope that this includes these barriers that divide us such as language, place, and culture, so we can worship and live together well in the new heavens and new earth, apparently in the one city of New Jerusalem. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Wrestling with God's Steadfast Love

I'm working on a read through the Bible plan and have come to Psalm 136. If you follow that link, you'll see it is like a responsive reading, where a phrase is stated, followed by a refrain of "for his steadfast love endures forever."

For the first several verses, the refrain follows naturally after each phrase. We give thanks to God because of who he is (v. 1-3), then because of his awesome work of creation (v. 4-9). In both these things, we can know and trust that God's steadfast love endures forever.

However, we then get into the exodus and settling in Canaan. Verse 10a may be jarring to us: "to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt." This is followed again by the refrain "for his steadfast love endures forever." How are death and the plagues on Egypt connected to his steadfast love? One may experience a similar dissonance with verses 17-20, speaking of the destruction of kings and their people in settling Israel in the land of Canaan. Again, how does this connect to God's steadfast love that endures forever?

Let me point you to Romans 9. Go read it and come back. 

As we see here, God will have mercy on whom he chooses. He has set his love on his people. These are the people who he called to himself, to whom he gave his law, and who he redeemed out of Egypt. It is also who he has called out of darkness to light, out of sin and guilt to be free of our sins, who he has clothed in righteousness not our own. It is the people that Jesus suffered and died for, taking on our penalty. 

This love is not for the world. All people are justly condemned for their sin. We all deserve death of body and soul, including pharaoh and all the firstborn of Egypt, and the kings of Canaan, and you and me. 

But, God's love is indeed for those who trust in Christ's work alone to be saved from our sins. We are forgiven. And, our God will fight for his people against this remaining wickedness in the world, whether in Egypt, Canaan, or Sylva, NC, on behalf of his people.

And that is indeed a love that is steadfast, and endures forever.

Lies

I've been thinking recently about lies. Perhaps we don't think about it, but they are an everyday occurrence in our American culture. Have you looked at any kind of advertising lately? Claims by some local business to be the "best in the world" or other such statement are almost always false.  A department store recently had their "best sale ever." I doubt they had fact checkers look back through all records of all previous sales the store had run to make sure they could say that with accuracy.

There are also the more malicious ones. I get calls from "Microsoft Technical Support" about bad "viruses" on my computer. Somewhat related to those is robocalling and caller ID spoofing. That's where a computer calls but appears to call from a local number in your area to get you to pick up. Lying about your location doesn't encourage me to do business with you.

The problem is, these are the easy ones to see. What about the harder ones? Those are our own.

What about the time you said you would do something, with no intention of follow through? Or shaded the truth to frame a situation so you were in the best light? How about making excuses that may not be a full explanation of what happened? Blameshifting? I'm sure we can think of other ways we have lied and various lies we have told.

I encourage you to not be deceived by lies, but also to not deceive yourself. Don't think you are free of the temptation to lie. Jesus said that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Like him, we must pursue truth, even if it seems to cause us harm. Integrity and sanctification are worth it. That's one part of the temptation to lie; thinking the immediate benefit of the lie outweighs maintaining integrity. Beware, as integrity is hard to gain but quick to lose.

The Good Work

In my role as an elder in the church, there are some things I get to do and some things I have to do. Both happened recently.

A few weeks ago, my nephew was baptized and my sister asked if I would serve as the "assisting elder." The job isn't extensive. Basically, I lift the lid that covers the bowl of water; once the baptism is over, I lead a prayer for the child, family, and church. Baptism itself is a weighty thing, as the family vows to raise the child to love and serve God in order that he would come to faith in Christ. The church then vows to come alongside the family and help them in this. I'm honored my sister and brother-in-law asked me to be a part of this with their family.