A WORD FOR TODAY, May 11, 2022
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, May 11, 2022
My children are long grown and independent; my daughter even bought her first house recently. It doesn’t stop me from worrying about them, of course, since I am a mother, but I don’t have to devote my time to their care as I did when they were young. It makes it easy for me to get away on retreat as I did last week. My husband misses me, but he’s able to take care of himself. I sometimes wonder when I go to these retreats from what I am getting away, but really those retreats have become a chance to get away to something for my well-being.
I have some friends that attend those retreats who are still in the phase of life when children are their major focus. Two women who attended the craft retreat are preparing for high school graduations. They are so busy with all the end of year activities that they weren’t even sure they could get away. They did and used their time to make a book of pictures for their girls who have been friends since they were born. They were glad to have the time and freedom to work on the project, but they were also glad to get away from the hustle and bustle their life has become.
I have reminded them that this will pass. The day will come when they will be free like me, but I also cautioned them not to rush it. I enjoy my life, but I miss my kids. I’m not sure that my kids realize even now how much a part of my life they were. I confess that there were times when I looked forward to them becoming adults. We think it will get easier as they grow, but they needed me as much as teenagers as they did when they were younger. They even need me now, in different ways. Jesus said, “A woman, when she gives birth, has sorrow because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she doesn’t remember the anguish any more, for the joy that a human being is born into the world.” I think we go through the same sorrow and joy as we deal with the anguish and contentment of each phase of our children’s lives.
When we are young, we rarely see what our mothers really do to make our lives better. Too often we notice only those moments when she makes us clean our rooms or eat our brussels sprouts. We remember when she said that we could not have the brand-new toy or the clothes that were in fashion. We did not notice that she never bought a new outfit for herself because the money went to school supplies and after school activities. We forget the hundreds of miles a week she drove and the hours she watched our sports events. We missed the look of pride on her face when we received an award at school or when we accomplished our goals.
It is often said that mothers sacrifice a great deal to raise a family, especially her sense of self. I once had the opportunity to have several conversations with mothers of young children. Those mothers enjoyed these conversations not only because they were able to communicate with adults about adult things, but they also enjoyed knowing that the day will come when they will be able to have a life again. I suppose that is why some women do not want to have children. They do not want to have to sacrifice so much for another person. Yet, even though a mother’s love is often seen as sacrificial, the reality is that the best mothers are those who continue to retain their sense of self through those years.
Sacrificial love does not mean giving up ourselves. After all, we are created by God with individual gifts and personalities. We are who God made us to be, and if we give that up totally for another, we lose what God intends for our lives. Jesus had a sacrificial love for us, willingly doing what was necessary for our faith and salvation. We think we have to give up everything of ourselves to be like Jesus who died for our sake, but that was His purpose. It was by His death God was glorified because Jesus was obedient to God’s will. It is odd for us to see glory in death, and yet that is exactly where the glory of God can be found: in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus told His disciples that they could not follow Him where He was going, though many were martyred in His name. Still, each one remained an individual with his own unique personality and gifts.
They could not go with Him at that moment, for Jesus had to complete the work of the cross before they could go on to do the work of the kingdom in this world. He left them with one thing: each other. It seems odd that He would call loving one another something new, since God always intended His people to love. Yet, this new love is something different. It is not an emotional love; it is an active love. It is a love which glorifies God by being visibly manifest in the lives of His people. It is like a mother’s love, a love that does not sacrifice self for the sake of others but in keeping a sense of self has something very special to offer to her children and the world.
It isn’t easy. We struggle with every obstacle we faced with our children. But that’s life, isn’t it? That’s certainly the Christian life; we are constantly overcoming obstacles. It began at the cross where Jesus overcame sin and death, our greatest obstacles. Jesus also teaches us about overcoming other obstacles we face like fear, biases, hatred, doubt, hunger, loneliness, imprisonment, thirst, and despair. Many Christian writings, both canonical and the writings of Christians throughout the ages, focus on overcoming our difficulties.
Things were not much different in John’s day; the gods the people worshipped were different from ours. We have “work”, “money”, “leisure.” Though the Hellenistic culture in which John lived was in many ways similar to our own, they had a list of gods which they honored with temples, pilgrimages and religious rituals. The Christians had to overcome people’s reliance on those gods while drawing them into the heart of the One true and living God. In the story of Paul in Athens, we see how Paul used their superstitious beliefs to introduce them to Jesus. They had an altar which had no name but was meant to cover any god they may have forgotten. Paul described the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who was incarnated as Jesus Christ and told them that this God they did not know was the only God they needed.
The Jews had what we might consider an irrational fear of the sea. That fear might have come from the ancient creation stories in which the gods were brought forth out of the sea. Tiamat was like a dragon but was the goddess of chaos and salt water. She was the mother of all the Babylonian gods and dragons. It is no wonder, then, that the Jewish readers of John’s Revelation would find comfort in the end of the sea. To the Jews and early Christians, the disappearance of the sea represented the disappearance of all those other gods who were such a large obstacle for them to overcome. Since religious devotion was often directly connected to all aspects of society, living in a world worshipping One God verses the many gods, brought about persecution. Without the sea, without the chaos, without those gods, the world would be a much better place for the Christians. It seems insignificant to us, even unwarranted since the sea is such an important part of our world. But to them, the sea represented the worst of their problems and when everything is made new by God’s grace, then there would be nothing left to fear.
We have nothing to fear, but we do fear things in our world anyway. The threats of war, violence, disease, and loss constantly hang over our heads; similar threats have affected people of every generation. Sometimes it seems like we have overcome those things, but then a new generation comes along and returns to the old ways. Reading through the Old Testament is like watching reruns. Over and over again an era began with a good king, but his son and his son’s son turned away from the Lord until finally there was a king that was so bad that God lost patience. The reign of that king ended with a new king who had a heart for God. As the teacher in Ecclesiastes says, “There is nothing new under the sun.”
Racism, sadly, is one of those things that seems to rear its ugly head over and over again. There have been moments of hope, but then moments when society seems to turn back to the old ways. One of those moments of hope happened fifteen years ago in Ashburn, Georgia. A group of high school seniors fought to do something new. The tradition at their school for as long as anyone could remember was to have segregated proms. The students never saw this as a racial issue, it was simply that separate parties were planned by the parents for the black students and the white students. The senior class president had a dream, so the students planned their own prom, with the blessing of school officials. The students were given permission to use the school for their prom. It was controversial and some did not participate. For those who did, it was a step in the right direction.
Unfortunately, fifteen years later it seems some people want to revert back to segregated communities.
This prom was not about integration, after all the schools in Ashburn have been integrated for a long time. The school was equally divided between black and white students who went to class and participated in other activities together. The prom was about table fellowship, having a social experience together rather than gathering separately. If only we could all find the grace to gather with those who are different than us as they did.
The Jewish community of Jesus’ time had strict rules about their socialization. The apostles lived according to those rules, even refusing to fellowship with those who were not circumcised. One day Peter had a vision from God. In the chapter before today’s lesson from Acts, Peter rejected an invitation from a man named Cornelius until God showed him a better way. As the three men from Caesarea approached, Peter was on his roof praying. He became hungry and he fell into a trance while the meal was being prepared. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” Peter was upset by this command, because the food before him was unclean according to the Law. God said, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.” This vision happened repeatedly, to ensure that what Peter heard was the truth. When the vision ended, the men from Caesarea arrived and asked Peter to go with them.
Peter did not hesitate. He told Cornelius it was against his law for him to be there but asked why he had been called. Cornelius shared the story of the angel and Peter understood that the vision was not only about food but also about people. So, Peter stayed with Cornelius and shared the Good News with his whole household. They believed and the Holy Spirit came upon them. The circumcised Jews who had come with Peter were amazed that God would pour out His Spirit on gentiles, but they heard them praising God in other tongues, a Pentecost for God’s new people.
After this visit, Peter returned to Jerusalem to tell them about God’s grace to the Gentiles. Unfortunately, they did not believe that the Gentiles should be accepted into their community without change. The Gentiles were, for a time, expected to convert to Judaism before they could become Christian. Peter realized that that God’s grace was not dependent on human expectations. God could bless anyone. Those who have been saved by the Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit are part of the same fellowship and are welcome at the table based on God’s grace.
In these stories from Acts, God overcame the biggest obstacles for His people in that age. He continues to work with us, encouraging us by His Word to set aside our own fear, biases, hatred, doubt, hunger, loneliness, imprisonment, thirst, and despair to dwell in harmony with all those who have been saved by His grace, whoever they are.
Science Fiction fans are familiar with the concept of time travel. I have been reading a series of books about a world much like ours but different where time travel is possible. There is an organization called St. Mary’s that uses time travel to better understand history. They don’t call it time travel, however; they insist that they “conduct investigations of major historical events in contemporary time.”
There are certain rules they have to follow because bouncing around the timeline can cause all sorts of problems. Every little change in the past can affect the future. Time Police exist to keep things moving in the right direction, and they are constantly chasing after St. Mary’s, whose assignments never quite go according to plan. In the end they manage to make everything right, but not without some exciting adventures along the way.
Time travel is important in movies like “Back to the Future” and books like the “Outlanders” series. The method of time travel is different for each, sometimes it is a state of mind, sometimes it is a strange machine and sometimes it is a glitch in the fabric of the earth. Time travel is always a two way street in the stories. Science is constantly changing, and scientists have made some discoveries about time and travel. It is complicated, but as far as I know, time travel is not really possible. That’s why it is the subject of Sci-Fi movies and books. As we’ve seen with many of the impossible things in science fiction, however, perhaps one day time travel will be real.
Clifford Pickover wrote, “Most cultures have a grammar with past and future tenses, and also demarcations like seconds and minutes, and yesterday and tomorrow. Yet we cannot say exactly what time is. Although the study of time became scientific during the time of Galileo and Newton, a comprehensive explanation was given only in this century by Einstein, who declared, in effect, time is simply what a clock reads. The clock can be the rotation of a planet, sand falling in an hourglass, a heartbeat, or vibrations of a cesium atom. A typical grandfather clock follows the simple Newtonian law that states that the velocity of a body not subject to external forces remains constant. This means that clock hands travel equal distances in equal times. While this kind of clock is useful for everyday life, modern science finds that time can be warped in various ways, like clay in the hands of a cosmic sculptor.
“The line between science and mysticism sometimes grows thin. Today physicists would agree that time is one of the strangest properties of our universe. In fact, there is a story circulating among scientists of an immigrant to America who lost his watch. He walked up to a man on a New York street and asked, ‘Please, Sir, what is time?’ The scientist replied, ‘I'm sorry, you’ll have to ask a philosopher. I’m just a physicist.’” Scientists like Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan spent much of their careers seeking to better understand time. It was much simpler when we could keep the concept of time locked in a box, or a watch, or a clock.
We try to keep God locked in a box. As we look back to the beginning of creation, we see that what God created He called good. The earth, the heavens, the plant and animal life, the man and the woman are spoken into life by God, and He said, “It is good.” When sin entered the world, everything became corrupt and perishable, ravished by time. In his sin, mankind tried to confine God to make Him suit their needs with idols, locking God behind the doors of their hearts and their temples so that He could not disrupt their plans.
But God can’t be locked in a box. He is not limited by time or space because He is outside time and space. He is bigger than anything we can create. God is not hidden behind a curtain or held by our ideology and biases. That’s what Peter learned in the vision and encounter with Cornelius. He learned that God’s grace is available to all those who hear, not just for those who exist in a specific period, place, or culture. He took that news to Jerusalem and opened for them a whole new world: God’s love extended to people from all nations. This new world is made visible in the love of Christians for one another, the love which Jesus Christ commanded for His disciples. It is in that love - not a feeling but an active love between brothers and sisters = that God is glorified in this world, and He is manifest for all to see.
The question of time is not the only one asked by science fiction writers. Human beings have long asked, “Is there life out there?” We have wondered whether or not there are any planets anywhere else in the universe that might have some form of created beings. As our scientific technology advances, we’ve been able to make strides in finding information about the worlds far from earth. They have even found evidence of water on Mars. This was an amazing discovery, and many have suggested that this means that Mars has the potential to sustain life. An even more incredible discovery occurred when a European research group in LaSalla, Chili found what is believed to be the most earthlike planet. Though there are differences, there are also many similarities. This discovery has been deemed one of the most important findings in modern science because it shows that there just might be life somewhere besides earth.
From a Christian point of view, we know there is life “out there” although our understanding of “somewhere else” is much different than science. It might be exciting to think that UFOs are real and that there are beings trying to reach out in fellowship with us. However, we do not need any evidence of alien life to know that we are part of something bigger. When we sing the songs of thanksgiving and praise, like the one in today’s Psalm, we can see that there is something greater. We aren’t meant to be alone, but part of the whole, whatever that whole might include.
There are many people who enjoy a life of faith in God but prefer to do it alone. They argue that the Church is not a building; church is individual believers in personal relationships with God. They claim that He can be found anywhere, in the quietness of the fields and under the shade of a tree. While this is true, we are called to gather together in fellowship with Christians of every time and place, including the here and now. Our praises, sung together in the presence of God is far more beautiful to His ears than those we sing alone.
We are called and gathered by the Holy Spirit to join with the entire creation to sing praises to God our Father. He hears our praise wherever we are because everything He has made sings along with us. Yet, there is something very special when Christians raise their voices together to glorify God. When you consider the entire creation - the heavens that reach far beyond our imagination, the planets in the universe that might possibly sustain other life forms, the microscopic organisms that could destroy a population of humans, the redwood trees that reach so high we can’t see the top, the depths of the sea that are too deep for our technology - it is easy to see the greatness of God. He has created mankind to be the crown of His creation; our purpose is to glorify Him with our voices raise in praise together. He has given us the heavens and the earth. He has given us the sun and the wind and the rain. He has made the animals, birds, plants and trees for us. And He has given the care and love of one another, an active sacrificial love even as we remain true to who we have been created to be.
God cares about all His creation: every bug, fish, bird, animal and even every human being. Human beings might be the only creature that creates buildings in which to worship God, but we are just a small part of the creation. The sun, the moon and the stars all praise God. The heavens and the raindrops glorify God; the earth and all that lives on land and in sea sing His praises. The elements, the mountains, the hills and all the trees praise God. Wild and domesticated animals, clean and unclean and birds of the sky all join in the worship. No man is greater than all this, whether ruler or servant, young or old, male or female. All creation was made by God and all creation sings His praise.
Unfortunately, not every human being has benefitted from the saving grace of Jesus Christ; not all our neighbors have faith in our God. However, we are reminded by our scriptures for today that we cannot judge our neighbors’ faith by our expectations. That neighbor you want to reject might just be the very person God is sending you to share the Gospel of Christ. The atheist that is unwavering in their lack of faith could be the next one upon whom God’s Spirit will fall. We might just be surprised; we might just realize that there just as God is not limited by time or space, there are no limits to God’s grace.
God has done something new, but it isn’t really all that new. It is as He always intended. The psalmist shows us that the entire creation sings His praise. In Revelation we see all God’s people, no matter who they are, joining in the eternal worship of the One who did it all. Death and tears may have entered the world, but God has overcome death and will wipe away all our tears. One day we will join in the praise of the whole creation and all the Church for eternity, dwelling once again with the God who created us, loves us, and saves those who hear His voice and believe in Jesus Christ our Lord.
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