Hearing the Music

Don't Despise Winter

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful! A shorts and t-shirt day on the 10th of November does not happen a lot in Michigan. But now? Yes, the weather is turning sharply towards winter. Snow is in the forecast and the eight day projections have nothing out of the 30's for high temps. Last week, in our journey through Ephesians, we touched on Paul in chains for Christ Jesus (cf. Eph. 3:1). His interest was to remind the Ephesians that suffering for the Christian does not intimate that Jesus is not Lord over all, but rather is an indication that God is working in ways that we cannot see. Much like what happens during winter in the life of the vine.

Ugo Bassi, a novitiate in the Order of St. Barnabas, was preaching to a full hospital ward in Rome in the early 1800’s. He used this image of the vine to encourage those going through suffering to not despise their suffering; God was still at work. Here are some excerpts from that sermon that cast a light on the various seasons of life: 

“The life of the vine is not of pleasure nor of ease. Almost before the flower fades the fruit begins to grow, but instead of being allowed to grow where it will it is tied immediately to a stake, forced to draw out of the hard hillside its nourishment. When the fair shoots begin to wind and wave in the blue air and feel how sweet it is, along comes the gardener with pruning tools and shears and strips it bare of all its innocent pride .. and cuts deep and sure, unsparing for its tenderness and joy.”

Bassi goes on to describe the vintage, “when the vine bends low with the weight of the grapes, wrought out of the long striving of its heart. But ah! the hands are ready to tear down the treasures of the grapes; the feet are there to tread the in the wine-press until red rivers of the wine run over and the land is full of joy. But the the vine standeth stripped and desolate, having given all the comfort and the glory of its gift. Winter comes and the vine is cut back to the very stem despoiled , disfigured, left a leafless stock, alone through all the dark days that shall come.

While the vine undergoes this death, the wine it has produced is gladdening the heart of man. … We need the paradigm of the vine, which is not bitter for the torment undergone, not barren for the fullness yielded up … the vine from every living limb bleeds wine. Is it the poorer for that spirit shed?” 

Bassi concludes, "measure thy life by loss instead of gain; not by the wine drunk but by the wine poured forth; for love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice. And whoso suffer most hath most to give."

Winter is hard; hard on vines, hard on humans. But were it not for the long strivings of winter there would not be the harvest that produces the red rivers of wine to gladden our hearts. So too the life of those in union with Christ; they yield their fruit in season and their leaf does not wither (cf. Ps. 1:3). Through Christ our suffering has meaning. Don't despise winter.

 Photo by Karsten Würth on Unsplash

Abundant Life

I came that  they might have life and have it abundantly. 

Jesus, John 10:10

In the marketplace of ideas, I can't think of any religion or philosophy more life affirming than Christianity, both qualitatively and as a rule. As a rule, followers of Jesus are prohibited from taking the life of a fellow human for any reason, excepting just war and the possible carrying out of state sanctioned justice. But the Biblical record goes beyond prohibition to promotion of life for ourselves and others. As the framers of the Westminster Larger Catechism put in in Q & A 135, followers of Jesus are to promote "all careful studies, and lawful endeavors, to preserve the life of ourselves and others ... comforting and succoring the distressed, and protecting and defending the innocent." It is this ethic that stands behind so much of what we value about America, our justice system, our historic welcoming of displaced people, large efforts of philanthropy, etc...  

Qualitatively, when Jesus speaks of abundant life, he speaks of a life that thrives because it matches the purpose for which it was created. When humans are in step with Jesus both the example he set for us and the commands he gives, we find that all benefit. This past Wednesday, we noted in our conversations on God's plan for sexuality how author Glynn Harrison put it in his book, A Better Story: God, Sex and Human Flourishing: "It’s time to recover our confidence that the Christian vision for sex, marriage and family also conveys social and relational goods that can bring blessing and flourishing to all. We need to be ready to share what we ourselves have found to be true for the sake of children in need, because a culture of strong marriages brings stability to their emotional and psychological development, alleviates poverty and enhances educational outcomes, and to do so for the sake of the poor more generally too, because it is they who bear the brunt of the collapse of marriage. We do it for the sake of women, because the Christian vision of men who love their wives as Christ loves the church condemns outright the abuses of psychological control and aggression, and for the sake of young men, because in the Christian vision their days of being Peter Pan are numbered. And we need to share what we have found, for the sake of all whose lives have been hollowed out by pornography, promiscuity, trafficking, and by the fruitless pursuit of self-fulfilment. We have been given life for the world and we cannot keep it to ourselves."  Life for the world! I couldn't have said it better.

I share these thoughts this week as we seek to live out our callings as Christians in society.  Each of us, wherever life leads: our schools, neighborhoods, families, sports leagues, and this coming week at the polls; each of us always has the opportunity and responsibility to promote this abundant life. The good news is that Sunday as we return to Ephesians 3:1-13, we will listen in as Paul speaks very pastorally about what it means to not lose heart as we carry out this high calling.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Reformation Lament

This Lord's Day brings together two streams of worship that have been formative for Christ Church over the last number of years.

The first is our celebration of Reformation Day. It was All Hallows Eve, 1517, that Martin Luther, a pastor/scholar in the Catholic church, tacked his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Chapel inviting others to discuss some points of faith that he had been wrestling with. Like Mrs. O’Leary’s cow in the great Chicago fire, this act by Luther ignited a firestorm in the church; a firestorm that continues to shape our experience of our life in Christ today. For Luther, capturing the heart of Paul in places like Ephesians, he recognized that it is not the external rites and rituals which determine whether we are Christians, but rather the righteousness that comes from God and is applied to the hearts of the elect. It is the work of God that rescues sinners, invites repentance, and builds his church on earth. We commemorate these truths not from a spirit of pride, that we who stand in the shadow of folks like Luther, Calvin and Knox have somehow gotten things right that others have missed, but rather we remember these truths with hearts filled with humility and thankfulness for what God has brought about. What better place to celebrate these truths but by continuing our look through Ephesians, particularly 2:17-22, and Paul's highlighting of the church that is built through Christ?

The second stream of our life together that we step into this Sunday is our service of Lament. Since 2015, we have been setting aside a 5th Sunday evening in an autumn month to come together for the purpose of Lament. As we have learned, much of the scriptures reflect the form of lament. Through lament we acknowledge the brokenness of the world, give voice to human emotions, honestly reflect confusion that exists in our relationship with God, express our union with Christ, and ultimately surrender to our hope in a sovereign God. This is our opportunity to sit with the Lord and with each other, both to cry and to cry out.   

We will be marking our service by reading through portions of the book of Lamentations. Historically, Lamentations is set around 587 B.C. and describes the fall of Jerusalem. It traditionally has been attributed to Jeremiah the prophet. Pastorally, Lamentations is a good place to look as we seek to make sense of life that seems to have moved away from God as the center with increasing rapidity. Author and scholar Christopher Wright says this about the book, “Lamentations is a book for today. In a world where the tide of human suffering threatens to overwhelm whatever dykes we put in place to contain it, is there any book of the bible more relevant than this book that gives voice to the most awful pain imaginable?” (The Message of Lamentations.) As we open up these scriptures and pour out our hearts over broken relationships, broken down bodies, lost loved ones, lost jobs, sin within, sin without, injustice, persecution, etc… our expectation is that God will fill our moments with his presence and our faith will be strengthened.

Photo by Samuel Martins on Unsplash