God-Spotting: Episode 2

Disclaimer: the rules of engagement are:
1) I heard the story first-hand from the person who experienced it.
2) I trust this person. I am sure they are telling the truth.
3) In fact, this person might even be me.
4) I'll respect the person and keep their identity a secret.
5) I leave it to the reader to decide if they believe in a God who...

This one is fresh. Happened just this past week.

We'll call him Jim.

Jim was sitting at his desk when he suddenly felt compelled to call an old friend. We'll call the friend Bob.

They had been in closer contact in the past, but now Jim didn't even have a phone number for this friend Bob.

They were friends on Linked-In, however, so Jim found the company. Called the main line.

Jim worked his way through the company directory. Got a number.

Called it.

"This is Bob."

"Bob? This is Jim."

Gasp.

The gasp was audible on the phone line.

Bob recovered.

"Jim, I wanted to call you last night, but I didn't. I was tired of calling you when I needed you. I was too ashamed to do it again..."

"...But I did ask God to have you call me."

God Spotting: Episode 1

Disclaimer: the rules of engagement are:
1) I heard the story first-hand from the person who experienced it.
2) I trust this person. I am sure they are telling the truth.
3) I'll respect the person and keep their identity a secret.
4) I leave it to the reader to decide if they believe in a God who...

This was many decades ago. He was a child, perhaps 5 years old, when it happened.

He was in his house playing next to the fireplace, doing whatever he was doing. No one else was near him. There was a fire going in the fireplace, and his father was in a different room... shaving in the bathroom, to be precise.

All of a sudden, his dad came rushing into the room, grabbed him and forcefully threw him away from the fireplace.

And just then it happened. The fireplace exploded.

An aerosol lying among some garbage in the fireplace had blown up.

He could have been injured. Blinded? Killed? Hard to know.

Because it didn't happen. His father threw him to safety.

Why? How did his father know? This question haunts him to this day.

It's not that he lacks an answer. It's the answer itself that haunts him.

"How did you know?" he had asked his father.

"God told me," his father replied.

I've shared this story with a few friends since hearing it, and I found myself puzzling over one detail. I went back to him with a question.

"God-spotter, why was the household garbage in the fireplace? It was in your house, right? Did you burn garbage that way back then?"

"No, Pilgrim. That wasn't our ordinary practice. My sister threw the bag of garbage into the fireplace that day. She had never done it before, and she never did it again."

"So your dad had no idea she had done that?"

"No. For all my life I cannot escape it. I know God saved me from harm that day."

The Downside Of Soccer As A Religion

Two more games. Then the curtains fall for World Cup 2014.

Once more, however I find myself reflecting on bigger themes as I watch these sometimes riveting games.

I don't think I'm breaking any fresh news as I note that Brazil got decimated yesterday. 7-1. Wow.

It's not nice to wish for someone's downfall, but frankly I was hoping for it all along. Never happier than to see a long-overdue thrashing. Watching their pathetic flopping (Neymar even flipping) with Columbia and other teams was a puke-inspiring event. Wasn't the tone properly set by that PK-winning flop in their very first game against Croatia?

But now that Brazil has gotten their come-uppance, one I don't doubt will be doubly sealed on Saturday against Netherlands...

I confess that I now feel sad for them.

Not that they didn't need this moment. I just hope they move on quickly. But. But. To what? Move on to what?

Well one avenue of thought would be an improvement in their soccer program. I heard a talking head suggest that during the aftermath.

But I'm thinking bigger than that. I've got a better idea.

I hope Brazil ditches their graven image. Their sick, sick idol.

Yes, soccer is a very sick and twisted religion in Brazil. Does anyone need to see their national anguish to realize how very much they have placed into this game? The soul of the very nation is in anguish.

Jesus had something to say about that.

Matthew 6:20-21
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

It's not hard to see where Brazil stores a hell of a lot of their treasure. They're a second-rate nation, economically speaking. But in soccer they have always fancied themselves a first-rate nation. Shoot, they thought they were God's gift to soccer.

At some point I think the devil had a hand in the matter, however, because God's not into spotted white idols that bounce.

So trouble was bound to come back to roost. Yesterday it did.

I'm reminded of a passage from the Old Testament where some pathetic soul gets his collection of stone idols stolen. Here's his lament, given to the very men who stole his rock collection.

Judges 18:24
He replied, “You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, ‘What’s the matter with you?’”

Or was that what Brazil said to Germany after yesterday's game? Perhaps I'm mixing up my sources.

No, I don't think soccer balls make for good idols.

But the USA does well to note: neither does a stellar GDP.

My treasure is in heaven, with God. It's really, really safe there.

I'll enjoy soccer. But it's just a game.

Someone needs to tell that to the folks in Brazil.

Severe Mercy

Denied the goods that would have pleased
We turn to best, though not with ease.

They weren't poor fare, which caught our eye
But these can blind and best deny.

It was a mercy that loosed our grasp
From things most prized and tightly clasped.

For when we lost all hope for them
Our eyes turned onward, and we saw Him.

The One Benefit From Knowing The Final Score

In just a week the World Cup will be over. Around that point, I might stop thinking about parallels between soccer and life.

For about 4 years. Then World Cup 2018 begins and all bets are off.

But that's a week from now, and my mind was at work today.

Yesterday I unfortunately discovered the final score on the Germany vs. France game before I had the chance to watch it.

Bummer.

I watched the game anyway, and it was well played by both sides. That said, the drama was (for me) missing. I knew who would win.

There was an upside too, though, and it got me thinking.

When you know you're going to win, there's nothing to worry about.

Duh. A tautology. That insight won't win me any prizes.

But it nevertheless reminded me of just how very often in life I worry pointlessly. It's rather pathetic, when you think about it.

The Soccer Game

A corner kick. Normally a nail-biter. I could get worried...

But I know the final score. I remain calm.

A yellow card and a free kick against my team. I could get upset...

But I know the final score. I remain calm.

Opponent blatantly flops. Referee falls for it. I could get upset...

But I know the final score. I remain calm.

Life

Something goes wrong in my day-to-day routine.

I know the final score, but I still get stressed and upset!

Someone wrongs me. Gets away with it.

I know the final score, but I still get stressed and upset!

On and on we could go. But it makes no sense. I shouldn't be worried.

But I am.

How stupid is that? But we all do it a lot.

Worst part? Jesus knew we would. That's why he repeats himself.

Matthew 6:25-34 (heavily abridged)
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry...
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes...
So do not worry...
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow..

We know how it all ends. Isn't it time we stopped worrying?

We should worry much less and risk much more. We're going to win.

The Beatitudes Revisited: Always More To See

Matthew 5:1-3
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 6:17-20 (abridged)
[Jesus] went down... and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over... who had come to hear him...
Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.

So begin the two accounts of Jesus' Sermon On The Mount. And anyone who reads them side by side carefully will notice something that has occupied commentators for centuries: they're not the same. Not the same at all. Similar? Very much so. Different? Very much so.

There are three basic solutions to these textual discrepancies. I'd like to dispose of the first two quickly.

1. The Unbeliever's Response: It's all fiction anyway.

Nope. Not gonna fight that battle here. People don't usually come to Jesus through fact-finding missions or scholarly debate, but rather because they cannot resist him or his words. I assume here that we already love Jesus and/or want to understand his words. Moving on.

2. The Inerrantist's Response: There are no discrepancies.

This solution insists that either (1) Matthew and Luke recorded two different sermons, or (2) the sermons were in perfect accord when Matthew and Luke wrote them down, but over the centuries diverged due to transcription errors. Yeah. Someone else can fight that battle. Abandoning hills nobody should have died on in the first place is one of my favorite activities these days.

3. My Response: We might have a problem here...

It never bothered me that the sermons weren't quite the same. As has been pointed out by all rational observers, if you ever find two 50-page historical accounts written by two different people about the same topic, you're not looking at history. You're looking at either plagiarism or a conspiracy.

I'm glad that Luke and Matthew are not in verbatim agreement. They're reconstructing (imperfectly) a real sermon that Jesus really did preach several decades earlier — and not inventing a new one.

No, my problem begins with the fact that the sermons were different.

Here too, if both meanings were easy... that wouldn't be a problem.

"Those who love God will care for the poor."
"Those who love God will be kind to their enemies."

These two statements differ in both word and intent... but since neither statement is controversial, it's less vital to determine which one really came from the sermon as quoted.

But Matthew and Luke give us no such luxury. For Luke, it's the poor who are blessed. For Matthew, it's the poor in spirit who are blessed.

Those are two entirely different kettles of fish, and neither claim is the sort of truism we can pass over with the wave of a hand. Why?

Because the blessing promised is heaven itself.

Ahhh... Therein lies the problem.

Christians get their underwear bunched up in a very big wad on that "Who gets into heaven?" question. To be sure, it is indeed a very important question, though I would never phrase it that way.

So now, depending upon what baggage we bring to the table, we might have an awful lot riding on which version of the beatitudes is right.

Luckily for me, and for the length of this blog, I don't. Why?

Because today I discovered something new about these beatitudes that I had not noticed before. This gem comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost Of Discipleship but no doubt has been discussed elsewhere for centuries. For me, however, it's new stuff.

The obvious part I had not notice for three or four decades is this: Jesus didn't preach the beatitudes to just anyone, but rather to his disciples. Go see for yourself! Reread the above passages carefully!

To be sure, there is a crowd nearby. But Jesus speaks the beatitudes to a much more limited audience. His disciples. And it's a truism that all of Jesus' disciples are saved.

If Jesus addressed the beatitudes specifically to his disciples...

The beatitudes are promises given to followers of Christ.

That unwinds not a few complications for me!

A true disciple of Christ can expect to experience poverty. That same disciple can also expect to experience poverty of spirit. Jesus assured his disciples that they'd endure hardships.

But neither flavor of poverty is the true source of the blessing. Nor mourning. Nor hunger. Or thirst, figuratively or otherwise.

The blessing comes to them because they belong to Jesus.

I wanted to end this blog with the above sentence, but Luke throws us a twist that demands further reflection. The woes.

Luke 6:24-26
“But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Someone playing the devil's advocate (a game I play all the time) might point out that these woes hardly make sense if also preached to the disciples directly. How does one square that problem away? That's a perfectly fair question, but notice the next verse.

Luke 6:27
“But to you who are listening I say...

Verse 27 indicates that Jesus is no longer addressing solely his disciples. He's now addressing the entire surrounding crowd, and it only makes sense that he's been addressing them ever since he began to speak about woes. It makes no sense at all for Jesus to preach damning woes to his own select disciples.

So Luke's careful wording ushers us out cleanly of that conundrum.

Thank you, Matthew, Luke, and Dietrich. I'm much obliged.

What Jesus And Tim Howard Have In Common

I heard this one from a friend...

Q: What's the difference between Tim Howard and Jesus?
A: Jesus had 11 guys he could trust…

I loved it, but felt there was another approach that could be taken.

Try this one on for size...

Q: What do Jesus and Tim Howard have in common?
A: Both worked with a team, but it ended up a solo project.

Alternative answers wait like low-hanging fruit... Such as...

A2: They were both good at saving.
A3: ...but both had to die before it was over.

And for this soccer fan, there's always the hope that resurrection will figure in the future for USA at the World Cup.

Of course, anyone who knows me knows I hate it when sports becomes a religion. So this is all very tongue-in-cheek.

But it proves I do have a sports bone in my body, after all.


[For extra credit... and this will only make sense to Monty Python fans.]

Q: What does the 2014 World Cup US Soccer team have in common with Monty Python's King Arthur?

A: Both enlisted the aid of a wizard named Tim while seeking to obtain a precious cup.

Ba-da-dum.

I made that one up all by myself!