Just Married

The other day as Pam and I were making our way to an undisclosed destination (undisclosed because I don’t remember) from the passenger’s side of the car I spotted a vehicle with the windshield marked with the familiar words, “Just Married.” I was anxious to pull up along side the happy couple because my curiosity was sparked by the appearance of their joyful message. “Just Married” had been painted on in brown. Now, I don’t know about you but such blissful announcements seem to mandate cheerful colors or wedding white but not dirt clod brown. Viewing the happy couple as we pulled along side of them didn’t seem to add any explanation… so a very dangerous thing happened… my imagination took the driver’s wheel and spun off into possibilities. Maybe this couple had been married for awhile and the letters weren’t brown but rather covered in dirt? Or could it be that this was a prank and that somebody had discovered white paint that gradually turned brown? Or what if these were really bad terrorist who hadn’t done their homework and they were on their way to blow up a church? No… that’s too sinister but maybe they are farmers or green peace nuts who are celebrating both marriage and the good earth? -you see why I said it was dangerous!

Now, I have had practice with this take the ball and run with it stream of consciousness. I’ve often been on my way to an undisclosed destination as I’ve read through Scripture only to find something that just didn’t seem right to me. I’d get stuck on the color of it all and miss the message. I would shake my head at Paul or humph at Moses and the prophets thoroughly unsatisfied with their obtuse, incomplete or inconsistent renderings. I wanted black or white and they were giving brown… or any other color than what I thought was the right shade! Somewhere along the journey though I decided to be still and know that God wanted me to hear the whisper not the thunder… to delight in the message not the package it came in. So, maybe it’s okay to have “Just Married” in brown because it’s the message that counts –not the color.

All of this is to say… we live in an imperfect world with imperfect knowledge to make sense out of the nonsense we struggle with. Should we seek truth and pursue it? Well, of course we should, but only if we resolve that the way, the truth and the life are not determined by externals like color, shape or form but in Jesus the living Word of God! I love that God continues to challenge us with the puzzling, humble us with the unknowable and enable us with undeserved love that invites us to the wedding feast to become His Son's bride! -DAN

You Must Be Out Celebrating?

For a moment, if you will, please lay aside your political views and partisanship. I want you to see some gospel from thousands of miles away on the southern tip of the African continent. Dr. Dottie Leveque is Pam’s sister-in-law who made most of the arrangements that made it possible for a group of us last year to travel to Cape town, South Africa to build a home through Habitat’s program and to visit and support a local congregation, a struggling school and an AID’s orphanage. She did most of this with the help of her good friends Trevor and Jo Tyers. The Tyers are no ordinary couple they both are ordained priests in the Anglican church of South Africa. They both were advocates against apartheid with Trevor serving alongside of Desmond Tutu and Jo boldly standing in South African streets protesting with the Black Sash a women’s group that was greatly harangued by apartheid supporters. These are brave souls who risked their lives in the name of Christ to rid their country of racism and unconscionable hate crimes against fellow human beings. As a group we were privileged to be in their company and to hear their stories.

Recently, Dottie was in town and we met for breakfast. During breakfast a warm grin spread across Dottie’s face and with a glint in her eyes she said, “I’ve got something you’ve just got to hear!” She retrieved a cell phone message and one by one let each of us listen to it. The message was from Jo and Trevor who wanted to share their enthusiasm over the election of Barak Obama the first African American president. They spoke of not only the joy of hearing the good news but were confident that they were unable to reach Dottie because she must be out celebrating! The pure joy in their voices echoed the feeling of victory they had felt when the walls of apartheid finally came tumbling down. They were veterans of the battle who shared the hopes a world undivided by racial or economic boundaries.

Such is the kingdom of God… such is the efficacy of the cross that breaks down the “dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:16).” Such is to be celebrated! This is beyond political prudence or party platforms. This is history that resonates with the gospel clarity of the old spiritual “He’s got the whole world in His hands!” None of us is outside His love and grace but are invited to become “one in Christ (Galatians 3:28).” Now, that IS good news! God bless America and God bless our new president elect. -DAN

Do You Speak English?

On our way to church last Sunday as we approached an intersection an obviously distressed and anxious woman waving her arms at us approached our car straining to see our faces and asking us, “Do you speak English?” Now, keep in mind that we live in the very culturally diverse South area and such questioning only underscores the frustration this woman was feeling. We found out she was trying to get to her mother’s home where her elderly mother had fallen in the shower. We drove her to assist her mother but be assured in the midst of our Good Samaritan trip we wondered if we were helping, enabling or God forbid, being set up to be victims. How much we helped… well, only God knows but I’m glad we spoke English.

Well, of course you speak English… you’re Americans. It’s the universal travel language and hey, the Bible is written in English! At least we sometimes act as if that were true. We seem aggravated by those living within our borders who don’t know how to speak English especially if we’re trying to purchase a pack of gum at the 7/11 or decipher a telemarketer’s pitch. Speak the language…we insist in patriotic tones! I sometimes wonder if we would have insisted that Jesus stop the Aramaic chit chat and stick with Greek or at least Latin. We seem to want the Spirit’s enabling on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13) to mean that when everybody heard in their own language it was probably English and they just thought they heard it in their own dialect. Which brings me to what I really wanted to say…

Our desperate woman who posed the question, “Do you speak English?” Was really asking the question, “Can we communicate?” Now, that’s what Acts two is about and that’s the most important task of the church. Can we speak the name of Jesus and model his presence in the world so that he can be understood and therefore, be believed upon? Can we keep the message of God relevant? Can we articulate the faith of our fathers in a way that is true to our heritage and God while also being user friendly to the world we live in? The answer is a resounding, “YES!” And I believe that the key to making it happen is for us to speak in the only true universal language… the language of love! When we stop loving the lost… when our focus becomes so internal that we are deaf to the voices beyond our four walls, then I’m not sure we are communicating! May God enable us all to speak so that we can be heard (check that… so He can be heard). -DAN