Yesterday during our all important Sunday afternoon nap I was shaken out of my slumbering bliss by the rude sound of our doorbell going off- and not just once, but three, four times. It was the trademark inquiry of my little nephew Steven who lives down the street.
I am thinking to myself as I rush toward the front door, "I'm gonna have to teach little Steven about the Sunday afternoon 'no doorbell' rule".
I throw the door open and sure enough there he is in his 7 year old glory, toe-headed and toothy grin flanked by a few of his best neighborhood buddies. They stand there staring at me, rip sticks in hand.
"Hello Boys", I say
"Hello Steven."
Before I can get my prepared speech out of my mouth, Steven says
"Hey Uncle Rick, I brought a few of my friends over so that you could tell them the story of how Jesus came into my life at VBS and how Jesus can come into their life too."
Funny how your perspective changes in a time like that. Sunday afternoon naps will come and go- but this is a moment for the ages.
Later in the day Teri asked me about the doorbell rings during the sacred Sunday afternoon "no fly zone". I told her, "Wait till you here the story..."
"Oh man!" She said- "That's definitely worthy of nap interruption!"
Steven and his entourage swept past me as the erstwhile neighborhood evangelist led them up the stairs to the family room like a mother goose shews her goslings to the grain seed. Once upstairs, he directs them to all sit on the couch -
"Guys- sit here- sit by me- Uncle Rick is going to tell you the story!".
So, there I was, fresh out of my nap, preaching my third sermon of the day- but this to an audience of 7 years old boys who had been redirected from their usual Sunday afternoon neighborhood romp by the missionary to Carlton Lakes.
It was a short sermon to be sure- a story really- a story of how Steven had taken his first precious steps toward Christ a few days earlier made possible by His grace because of the joy and excitement and the beauty of Christian community packed into an event filled week that we call Vacation Bible School.
I'm thanking God today for VBS- and for all those who worked so hard to make it happen.
I'm thanking God for the glorious opportunity to share in Steven's first missionary journey.
I'm thanking Him for interruptions.
And I'm saving that speech for another day.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
the high moral ground of right to life
I just finished listening to the speech that President Obama gave at Cairo University. While I do not agree with some of what our president said, for the most part I was impressed with his delivery and content. I am especially pleased that in his discussion of the plight of the Palestinian people, he included Palestinian Christians as a group that has suffered in recent years as a result of the turmoil in the Middle East. So often, this group is completely left out of the discussion, although the population of Palestinian Christians in Israel especially has dramatically decreased and because they are caught in the middle of the conflict, have suffered the most in terms of percentage loss.
I also would have liked to hear stronger language when it comes to religious freedom in Islamic majority countries. One of the reasons I believe that radical Islamic terrorism takes hold in so many of these countries in the Middle East is because there is an official intoleration to other faith expressions.
I couldn't help but think that in a setting such as this, it was good for the president to claim the moral high ground when it comes to human rights. But moral high ground can only be claimed if one has a moral authority higher than himself to stake the ground. Of course, President Obama has frequently pointed to his own Christian faith and to scripture to make this point and indeed he pointed to his own Christianity in this speech.
As Christians, we respect human life and dignity because these things have been "endowed" by our creator and He has called them "good" and sacred because we were created in His image. Life is sacred and holy because it was given to us by God.
Obama's use of Koranic versus to claim that ground was obviously well received in that context there in Cairo. It was necessary for him to point to the spiritual authority of the audience he was trying to convince. But the theology of the Koran is not the same as the theology of Christianity, and therefore it is not exactly correct to say that we are all "children of Abraham". The same Koran that says "when you kill an innocent person you kill all humanity" also says "Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you." (Koran 9:123) The moral high ground there is pretty shaky.
As Christians we can see that the seed of Abraham was Christ and that the blessing to the nations prophesied in the Abrahamic covenant was that Christ would come, born as a Jew in the city of David from the tribe of Benjamin, and that He would lay down His life as a sheep before His shearers as a ransom and atonement for our sinful condition, becoming the covenant curse so that we could become the covenant blessing. He was torn to pieces in fulfillment of the covenant so that we wouldn't have to be. That is the only way that any of us are truly "children of Abraham".
I also could not help but think that if our president wishes to claim this moral high ground that can only be given to us by a higher authority, then he must be consistent. This was the statement the president issued on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 23:
“On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters."
Last year over 1 million babies were killed in abortions in the United States. That's the equivalent of 350 world trade center bombings every single year.
I cannot say it better than John Piper in this video:
If the president will say out of one side of his mouth that we cannot stand for the murder of innocent men women and children in acts of terrorism and then out of his other side say "we should not intrude on our most private family matters" even if that lack of intrusion involves the murder of innocent babies in the womb, he has forfeited the high moral ground that is so important to the thesis of his argument so masterfully articulated in Cairo today.
I also would have liked to hear stronger language when it comes to religious freedom in Islamic majority countries. One of the reasons I believe that radical Islamic terrorism takes hold in so many of these countries in the Middle East is because there is an official intoleration to other faith expressions.
I couldn't help but think that in a setting such as this, it was good for the president to claim the moral high ground when it comes to human rights. But moral high ground can only be claimed if one has a moral authority higher than himself to stake the ground. Of course, President Obama has frequently pointed to his own Christian faith and to scripture to make this point and indeed he pointed to his own Christianity in this speech.
As Christians, we respect human life and dignity because these things have been "endowed" by our creator and He has called them "good" and sacred because we were created in His image. Life is sacred and holy because it was given to us by God.
Obama's use of Koranic versus to claim that ground was obviously well received in that context there in Cairo. It was necessary for him to point to the spiritual authority of the audience he was trying to convince. But the theology of the Koran is not the same as the theology of Christianity, and therefore it is not exactly correct to say that we are all "children of Abraham". The same Koran that says "when you kill an innocent person you kill all humanity" also says "Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you." (Koran 9:123) The moral high ground there is pretty shaky.
As Christians we can see that the seed of Abraham was Christ and that the blessing to the nations prophesied in the Abrahamic covenant was that Christ would come, born as a Jew in the city of David from the tribe of Benjamin, and that He would lay down His life as a sheep before His shearers as a ransom and atonement for our sinful condition, becoming the covenant curse so that we could become the covenant blessing. He was torn to pieces in fulfillment of the covenant so that we wouldn't have to be. That is the only way that any of us are truly "children of Abraham".
I also could not help but think that if our president wishes to claim this moral high ground that can only be given to us by a higher authority, then he must be consistent. This was the statement the president issued on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 23:
“On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters."
Last year over 1 million babies were killed in abortions in the United States. That's the equivalent of 350 world trade center bombings every single year.
I cannot say it better than John Piper in this video:
If the president will say out of one side of his mouth that we cannot stand for the murder of innocent men women and children in acts of terrorism and then out of his other side say "we should not intrude on our most private family matters" even if that lack of intrusion involves the murder of innocent babies in the womb, he has forfeited the high moral ground that is so important to the thesis of his argument so masterfully articulated in Cairo today.
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