Friday, September 29, 2006
An Itty Bitty Kitty Dies -- We Reflect on Death
A baby kitten died tonight of unknown causes. It was unexpected. It was sad. A tiny black cat of about 8 weeks old was left on our doorstep and for the last two days we lavished him with love and caring and tried to nurse it to health. It seemed quite thin and undernourished, but we tried to provide him with the means to survive. Our children, especially our 11-year-old boy, really took to the cause of caring for the kitty. The tiny cat seemed to like us, too, meowing with a unique, duck-like sound, and purring like a small, contented symphony.
But there must have been some fatal flaw in its fragile body, or some sickness we could not see. For Mr. Quackers, the itty bitty kitty, is no longer with us. He died in the night in his cage. My 10-year-old daughter noticed he was breathing funny and not moving much. I found him non-responsive, and before I could take him to the veternarian's office, he was gone.
I will bury the kitty in the morning in a special place near the back door. But his memory will live on. For in those two short days we saw a lot of life in that little cat, and he evoked a lot of love from my kids -- and my wife and I. Life is fragile -- and when you love anything, animals or people, there is a risk involved. But love is always worth it. These are lessons we hope our children learn. Anyone who has ever buried a pet knows the pain of saying goodbye to a little friend. My children are feeling that pain today.
Death always seems to come unexpectedly. Even when you expect it. Even when we are talking about people, not pets. Even when you know someone is better off to be in a better place, to be in the arms of God. As a pastor I have had the privilige to spend last days and moments with a number of people. It is always a sobering experience, sometimes joyful, usually sad at the same time, and often filled with a sense of the holy and the sacred.
But when it comes to the death of a Christian, I always take heart to what the Bible says about life after death through the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus allows His story to become our story. As he rose from the dead, so shall we. That is Good News for any day. Even for a day when the little kitty cat died and my children cried. No matter what happens -- even in tragedies far greater than the loss of a baby pet -- we take solace in the fact that our God is on His throne.
But there must have been some fatal flaw in its fragile body, or some sickness we could not see. For Mr. Quackers, the itty bitty kitty, is no longer with us. He died in the night in his cage. My 10-year-old daughter noticed he was breathing funny and not moving much. I found him non-responsive, and before I could take him to the veternarian's office, he was gone.
I will bury the kitty in the morning in a special place near the back door. But his memory will live on. For in those two short days we saw a lot of life in that little cat, and he evoked a lot of love from my kids -- and my wife and I. Life is fragile -- and when you love anything, animals or people, there is a risk involved. But love is always worth it. These are lessons we hope our children learn. Anyone who has ever buried a pet knows the pain of saying goodbye to a little friend. My children are feeling that pain today.
Death always seems to come unexpectedly. Even when you expect it. Even when we are talking about people, not pets. Even when you know someone is better off to be in a better place, to be in the arms of God. As a pastor I have had the privilige to spend last days and moments with a number of people. It is always a sobering experience, sometimes joyful, usually sad at the same time, and often filled with a sense of the holy and the sacred.
But when it comes to the death of a Christian, I always take heart to what the Bible says about life after death through the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus allows His story to become our story. As he rose from the dead, so shall we. That is Good News for any day. Even for a day when the little kitty cat died and my children cried. No matter what happens -- even in tragedies far greater than the loss of a baby pet -- we take solace in the fact that our God is on His throne.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Harvest Time and the Parable of the Sower
It is getting near to harvest time in the great American Midwest. The heart of the country is bulging with corn and soybeans and wheat and other life-giving grains. As I drove today in Northwest Iowa, I saw field after field of corn that was near harvesting. The soybeans are also near their coming home time, and soon the combines will be criss-crossing the countryside. The fields are full of agricultural expectations. It is an exciting time of the year in farm country.
Farming has historically been a faith driven business, and it still is. Though large farms have forced many family farms out of business, the people running those big farms are still farmers, and many of them would be living on a smaller family farm if they could. So let us say a prayer for the farmers and their families. Harvest can be a dangerous time, as the machinery now required for the job to be done is often big and cumbersome and sometimes deadly. But it is a job that is necessary to our national security -- American farmers help feed our nation and a large part of the world. In some ways they are just as important to our national well being as the armed services or our diplomatic corps, for the American farmer produces the food that is crucial not only to us, but to many other nations.
Jesus honored farmers in one of his amazing parables, the story of the sower. He uses farming to tell a powerful spiritual truth. In Mark 4: 3-8 he said: "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."
He went on to comment on the story, saying, in Mark 4:13-20: "The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop-thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
May we all be good spiritual farmers, nurturing the seed sown in our hearts and lives, and, in turn, sowing the Word into the lives of others.
Farming has historically been a faith driven business, and it still is. Though large farms have forced many family farms out of business, the people running those big farms are still farmers, and many of them would be living on a smaller family farm if they could. So let us say a prayer for the farmers and their families. Harvest can be a dangerous time, as the machinery now required for the job to be done is often big and cumbersome and sometimes deadly. But it is a job that is necessary to our national security -- American farmers help feed our nation and a large part of the world. In some ways they are just as important to our national well being as the armed services or our diplomatic corps, for the American farmer produces the food that is crucial not only to us, but to many other nations.
Jesus honored farmers in one of his amazing parables, the story of the sower. He uses farming to tell a powerful spiritual truth. In Mark 4: 3-8 he said: "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."
He went on to comment on the story, saying, in Mark 4:13-20: "The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop-thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
May we all be good spiritual farmers, nurturing the seed sown in our hearts and lives, and, in turn, sowing the Word into the lives of others.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Unleash Your Imagination for the Glory of God!
The imagination is a wonderful gift that we have been given that connects us with the mind of God. The Spirit speaks to us in our imaginations. Children seem to naturally have active imaginations. As we grow older and become more "educated", we tend to use our imaginations less and less. Such a natural observation brings possible new meaning to Jesus’ proclamation, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Everyone has used their imagination negatively by worrying. But Jesus clearly declares in the Sermon on the Mount that we should not worry, but rather cast our cares upon God. Many people use their imaginations wrongly by fantasizing about physical pleasures, sometimes in adulterous ways. We must repent of the misuse of imagination, and instead do good with it! The Bible shows us that we should use the same process in a positive way, based on God's Word. Seeing something by the "eye of faith" is akin to imagining it. Paul asserts in 2 Corinthians 5:7: “We walk by faith, not by sight,” or, as Peterson paraphrases it, “It is the things that we do not see that keep us going.” He had hit on the theme earlier, in 2 Corinthians 4:18: “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen eternal.
How can we look at things which are not seen? By using our imagination for God’s glory! Time and again, throughout the Bible, we see people who use their imagination; and they “see" what was not visible to others. Chapter eleven of Hebrews, the great Hall of Faith chapter, is filled with such stories of heroes of the faith. Faith is linked with imagination, and the accomplishment of God’s mission is dependent upon this combination again and again.
The Bible helps us, enables us, to understand, to re-appropriate, to celebrate the role of the imagination as part of our redeemed, renewed, image-bearing humanness. We need imagination to live in God's world. We need to encourage the good and right use of imagination. Like all things God gives us, it should be used for good, but it can be used for bad. Often imagination runs riot in the wrong direction, and folks start imagining the wrong things. But for every instance of imagination that has become inherently ugly, there are instances of the right use of our imaginations for God. It is a joyful thing to see the imagination unleashed for God’s glory!
Everyone has used their imagination negatively by worrying. But Jesus clearly declares in the Sermon on the Mount that we should not worry, but rather cast our cares upon God. Many people use their imaginations wrongly by fantasizing about physical pleasures, sometimes in adulterous ways. We must repent of the misuse of imagination, and instead do good with it! The Bible shows us that we should use the same process in a positive way, based on God's Word. Seeing something by the "eye of faith" is akin to imagining it. Paul asserts in 2 Corinthians 5:7: “We walk by faith, not by sight,” or, as Peterson paraphrases it, “It is the things that we do not see that keep us going.” He had hit on the theme earlier, in 2 Corinthians 4:18: “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen eternal.
How can we look at things which are not seen? By using our imagination for God’s glory! Time and again, throughout the Bible, we see people who use their imagination; and they “see" what was not visible to others. Chapter eleven of Hebrews, the great Hall of Faith chapter, is filled with such stories of heroes of the faith. Faith is linked with imagination, and the accomplishment of God’s mission is dependent upon this combination again and again.
The Bible helps us, enables us, to understand, to re-appropriate, to celebrate the role of the imagination as part of our redeemed, renewed, image-bearing humanness. We need imagination to live in God's world. We need to encourage the good and right use of imagination. Like all things God gives us, it should be used for good, but it can be used for bad. Often imagination runs riot in the wrong direction, and folks start imagining the wrong things. But for every instance of imagination that has become inherently ugly, there are instances of the right use of our imaginations for God. It is a joyful thing to see the imagination unleashed for God’s glory!
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