creation | Russellings of the Spirit

Posts Tagged ‘creation

Feb

Straining Forward

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: awe, blessing, creation, Dogs, God, granted, Jesus Christ, Lamentations 3, miracle, open, Patrick, reminders, Rosie, splendor, wonder

Look at these dogs. It is safe to say – with absolutely zero bias whatsoever – that you are looking at a picture of The Best Dogs in the World.

This picture shows Rosie (on the left, with the red leash) and Patrick, the Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers.

I took this picture as we were headed out on our Saturday walk through the neighborhood.

As fond as I am of these lovable furballs, what I most hope you notice about this picture is not them, but rather their LEASHES. Do you see how tightly pulled they are? Do you get a sense of the way I am nearly being pulled off my feet as they are straining forward, eager to take the next step on this magical journey?

By the looks of it, you might think they had just landed in some new, exotic location, full of heretofore unseen sights, unsmelled smells, and pristine adventures, all eagerly waiting to be trod upon by their eight excited paws.

But no. If you thought that, you would be mistaken.

This is just our normal, daily walking route through the neighborhood. On a sidewalk, past trees and bushes and houses they have seen hundreds of times before.

And yet, despite the utterly quotidian nature of this jaunt, can you see how they are bursting with enthusiasm?

I think Rosie and Patrick are trying to teach me something here. Something, that is, besides the importance of keeping a firm grip on their leashes.

I think they are trying to teach me that life is meant to be an adventure.

I think they are trying to teach me that regardless of how familiar I am with any place or person, that there is always more to be discovered.

I think they are trying to teach – and remind me – of the gravity of the sin of taking any moment for granted… assuming that I have nothing new to discover.

I think they want to teach me to be humble in the face of the ever-unfolding wonder of God’s creative genius and to try and train myself to live life on tiptoe, anticipating awe around every corner.

I think they want me to remember this verse from the book of Lamentations where we are reminded: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are newevery morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23, NRSVU).

So many important lessons to be learned from these furry theologians.

Either that or they just saw a bunny hop across the street.

Abundant blessings;

Oct

Scratching the Choir Itch

By revruss1220 5 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: art, community, creation, God, harmony, Jesus Christ, joy, SING

There is something magical about singing. Especially when that singing is done in harmony with other people.

I am not musically intelligent enough to know how it all works, but when those people over there sing one note, the folks behind them sing another, my buddies and I add a third, and then a completely different group of people come flying in over the top with yet a FOURTH different, resonant note, I attest to you (as truthfully as I can) that I feel myself start to levitate a little.

And THEN… when you add some profoundly poetic lyrics to that tune, I can’t help it. My eyes begin to leak a little.

I was reminded of the enchanted quality of choral music yesterday when my granddaughter sent me a video clip of her freshman girls’ choir singing O Sacrum Convivium, or The Sacred Banquet. It was absolutely transcendent. They blended and harmonized. They hit their all their notes. They nailed the cut-offs. They rose and sank and soared, all in perfect synchronization.

Did I mention this choir is comprised of high school freshman girls?

One reason I love choral music so much is because in it I find community. A shared mission. Mutual sustenance and encouragement. Choir members have one another’s backs, even when one of them (usually me) struggles to land the tone accurately. The vibration of a carefully cultivated harmony excites us as we imagine the joy it will bring unseen future audiences.

There is WORK in choral music. First, in understanding the composer’s vision. Next in faithfully fulfilling its finest nuances. Hours and hours and hours of sweat and strain are needed to help a choir avoid a public faceplant.

There is ART in choral music. True, singers are only re-presenting the creative genius of the composer. But music – by its very nature – is ephemeral… here in this moment, then gone forever. A painting or sculpture or novel is fixed in time and space exactly as it left the hand of the artist. In contrast, the beauty of any piece of music depends both on the creator AND the performer(s). In that sense, composers and singers become artistic co-creators.

And so, for those reasons and many others, I also find God in choral music. I will take that a step further and suggest that those who listen to a finely composed, artfully presented choral work also find God… whether they realize it or not.

Now before you get all excited and label me a heretic, consider this; King David was a musician extraordinaire. He regularly rocked out on the lyre, and we know he composed AT LEAST 150 different little ditties designed to praise, question, lament, and glorify his Creator. They are collected there in a book you might know as Psalms. I’m not sure how many of those tunes are meant to be sung by choirs vs. individuals, but I’ll bet the group approach works for a whole bunch of them.

He was such a big fan of singing, in fact, that he wrote one entire psalm – Psalm 100 to be precise – specifically to sing the praises of SINGING THE PRAISES. When David said, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing,” (Psalm 100:1-2, NRSVU) I think he really meant it.

Singing with a group of people is one of the things I miss most about our new life in Fort Collins, Colorado. The church we attend only has a choir during Lent and Advent. Besides that, there is no nearby equivalent to Kansas City’s Heartland Men’s Chorus, and I flunked my audition with the Larimer County Chorale (“You’ve got a nice voice, Russell, but you really suck at reading music,” were their exact words, I believe).

So, until I find a way to scratch my choir itch, please say a little prayer for Joan. She has to listen to me sing in the shower, sing while I mow the lawn, and break out into song at random moments for entirely random reasons.

I suppose it could be worse.

I suppose I could be a frustrated bagpipe player.

Abundant blessings;

Feb

My Saturday Self

By revruss1220 5 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: beloved, creation, flawed, God, intricate, personality, Saturday, truth

I have a question: Which of your many “selves” is your truest self?

To clarify, I am not suggesting that you necessarily suffer from Multiple Personality Disorder. But if you do, God bless you.

I’m just saying that most of us have different “faces” we choose to wear in different settings.

Back in the WD (Working Days, that is), there was definitely a “home Russell” and a “work Russell.” Yes, certainly, those two shared a lot of traits in common, but they were seismically and humungously different. For starters, Home Russell was a lot more laid back, jovial, and fun to be around than Work Russell.

But if you were to plop Home Russell down in the workplace, he would not have accomplished much at all. He’d be napping, checking sports scores (or events), or snacking. That is, when he wasn’t tidying something up or wasting time on social media.

Similarly, Work Russell wouldn’t have been much fun around the home on evenings and weekends.

I also noticed that different days of the week also seemed to give birth to different selves. Monday me was a very different character from Friday me. The former was not someone you’d want to spend a lot of time with, whereas the Friday version was a pretty happy-go-lucky dude.

[That is, unless there was a project with a Friday deadline that wasn’t quite finished yet. In which case, it was “Katie bar the door,” if anyone actually says that anymore.]

After sorting through all these personas one day, I concluded that my Saturday Self was the truest, most honest, most authentic expression of the human being God created me to be. Saturday me didn’t have any performance anxiety. Saturday me wasn’t under any particular gun. He was free to organize his day and come and go as he pleased.

I mean, sure, there were lawns to be mowed, weeds to be pulled, soccer games to be watched, and Home Depot trips to be made. But all of that happened in a relaxed, fluid, stressless way that made Saturday Russella joy to be around…

… unless, of course, there was a plumbing project to be done.

But now, here in Retiredsville, I have discovered that EVERY day is Saturday. Kicking back and relaxing isn’t nearly as much fun when it is something I can do every single moment of every single day. Didn’t finish painting the trim in the guest bathroom today? No problem! You can always do it tomorrow!

Theoretically then, since every day is now Saturday, I should be my best and truest self all day EVERY day here in the land of retirement. Right?

As Joan can verify from first-hand experience, sadly, that is not the case. There are still ups and downs through the week. There are still some Russells that are much more enjoyable to be around than other Russells. There are some that are really sharp, “on the ball,” raring to go, and others that struggle to tie their shoes correctly.

Sometimes, however, in the midst of my attempts to sort through the mysteries of the human psyche and its infinite manifestations, I am abruptly stopped.

Something somehow reminds me of what a blessing it is to remember that there is only ONE me. That something also reminds me that this ME was created in its infinite complexity, and weirdness by a loving, compassionate God. And further, that the One who created all those strange nooks and crannies of personality sees beneath every mask and persona to my very CORE.

Here is how the Psalmist says it: “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:15-16, NRSV).

And then, here is the totally amazing part; even seeing EXACTLY what is there, that One still declares it beautiful and beloved.

And the Good News is the same One who sees ME in that light also sees YOU just as clearly and describes YOU exactly the same way.

Is that bizarre, or what?

Abundant blessings;

Aug

How Urgent?

By revruss1220 3 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: appreciate, beauty, creation, drink, eat, fast, God, important, James, Jesus Christ, Psalm 103, slow, urgent

If you know me, you know that I walk fast.

That is, I used to walk fast. That was before I became “The Brokeback Guy” in early May.

You will also know that I drive fast. If you doubt my word, just ask Joan. She will set you straight.

I also write fast.

I drink fast, I eat fast, and sometimes I even talk fast.

As I was out walking the other day, I had to slow my roll considerably because of my aching back. As I slowed from a gallop to a leisurely canter, I thought to myself, “Hey! This slower, more relaxed pace isn’t so bad after all. I can actually see and appreciate my surroundings. Oh look… there’s a hummingbird!!”

I was also prompted to wonder what the rush was in the first place.

This all prompted me to think back to a conversation I once had with a guy who did a lot of hiring for a Kansas City-based advertising agency. He told me that for him, the quality that drew him most readily to a candidate was – in his words – “a sense of urgency.”

He really liked the idea of hiring someone who he felt was eager and passionate about the work… who could not wait to dive into a project and ardently see it through to completion.

And I have to say, for most of my working life, that was a great description of the way I approached my daily doings.

While I appreciate the value of living with a sense of urgency, I am also reminded of just how easy it is to bestow the “urgent” status on just about anything. I’d love to develop the discipline of asking:

Is it really urgent that I answer that email?

Is it really urgent that I make that green light?

Is it really, truly urgent that I put the toaster back where it came from?

Etc., etc.

Steven Covey tried to teach me and 25 million other people to discern between the URGENT and the IMPORTANT matters in life in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. It is a profound insight and one that can radically reshape the way we work and live. I tried to apply it as a working person, and now find it is just as important a lesson in my life as a retired guy.

But as a person of faith, I also need to know what God has to say on the matter. What might the Good Book have to say on the topic of The Proper Pace for Living?

Let’s see… there is Proverbs 20:21 that says, “An estate quickly acquired in the beginning will not be blessed in the end.”

There is this advice from James, the brother of Jesus, who advised, “You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger…” (James 1:19, NRSV).

If we look in David’s collection of 150 unique Psalms, we find countless reminders of the need to slow down and savor each moment of our fleeting time here on earth. Psalm 103, for example, tells us, “As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.” (Psalm 103:15-16, NRSV).

Reading these and others begins to give me the impression that God is much more interested in steering me toward life’s QUALITY rather than QUANTITY.

I mean, yes, I might proudly hold up a long, completed “TO DO” list at the end of the day. But if I achieved that by buzzing through and ignoring the majesty of Creation spread out all around me, what good is it?

Well, I really need to get on with the day and tend to a bunch of other stuff. But – with God’s help – I will try to slow down and smell the coffee along the way.

Abundant blessings;

Jul

Particles of Wonder

By revruss1220 4 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: awe, blessings, creation, God, grace, grandeur, Jesus Christ, joy, love, miracle, peace, wonder

Last weekend Joan and I went to the mountains.

It was glorious. It was majestic. It was beautiful. It was awe-inspiring.

It was a breath-taking reminder of the splendor of God’s creation. It drove me to my knees in a grateful prayer of thanksgiving and humility, reminding me of my smallness and God’s greatness.

Then this weekend we went to the Oregon coast.

It was glorious. It was majestic. It was beautiful. It was awe-inspiring.

It was a breath-taking reminder of the splendor of God’s creation. It drove me to my knees in a grateful prayer of thanksgiving and humility, reminding me of my smallness and God’s greatness.

Earlier this month, American billionaires went into space.

When they got back, they said the experience was glorious… majestic… beautiful… awe-inspiring. I suspect the experience also provided them with a vivid reminder of God’s creative genius and majesty and the smallness of human beings, though I did not hear that sentiment spoken out loud.

And of course, all of that is true. God’s creation reveals awe, majesty, splendor, and wonder. Paul makes this exact point in his letter to the Romans when he says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…” (Romans 1:20, NRSV).

The Psalmist somehow finds the right words to say the same thing in the 8^th Psalm: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:3-4, NRSV).

As true as all of that might be, all that praise and palaver misses a central, glaring truth. And that truth is this: we don’t need to go to the mountains, or to the ocean, or to the limits of space to find grandeur or reminders of God’s creative genius.

All of that resides right there in the eyes of the person sitting across the table from you.

Awe is there too, coursing through the veins of that Starbucks barista, that bus driver, that TSA worker, that preschool teacher, that landscaper, and that barber you visit every fourth week.

I would venture to say that there is just as much mystery, splendor, majesty, and sheer amazingness inside the skin of your brother or sister as you can see at the rim of the Grand Canyon.

Easily.

And so, with that in mind, I offer this prayer: “Lord, today I pray that you would remind me of the on-going miracle of the universe you have created. Help me never gloss over the grandeur that can be found in every single particle of your Creation… especially the people-shaped particles.”

AMEN

Abundant blessings;

May

News to Me

By revruss1220 Leave a Comment

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: context, creation, disease, diversity, exposure, God, news, perspective, richness, tragedy, understanding, variety, war

In the morning it is usually NPR’s Morning Edition, followed by 1A, and then – time permitting, of course – a smidgen or two of The Takeaway with Tanzina Vega.

NBC Nightly News and Dateline anchor Lester Holt poses for photos on the Nightly News set, at NBC headquarters, in New York, Wednesday, July 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In the evening we rarely miss a date with Lester Holt and the NBC Nightly News, even if it means catching him on the DVR. Rounding out the day is usually the local TV news at 10.

Each of these programs helps put Joan and me in touch with the news of the world. Each delivers the news in its own unique way, shedding light, insight, and perspective on the events and issues of the day.

There have been a few times during the past year, however, when we have turned, looked at each other, and said – in unison – “Why bother!?” Every newscast seemed to be a carbon copy of the night before; here are today’s COVID stats… here is how COVID is affecting the economy… here are the political fights around dealing with COVID… here is how other countries are handling COVID… and just to mix things up a little bit, let’s throw in a mass shooting somewhere in the U.S. once a week or so.

And there for a while we did shut it off… electing instead for double episodes of JEOPARDY!

But as election season ended and COVID began to abate, we returned to our nightly newsviewing practice. Most of the time, I’ll admit, tuning in to the news is an act of pure habit. And yes, a whole lot of the time it is just more of the S.O.S. (Same Old Stuff, of course).

Lately though, I’ve thought about it and concluded that I really WANT the news of the world in my life.

I want to be reminded that there are other people and other stories besides mine out there.
I want… no NEED… to be reminded that the realities of tragedy, heartbreak, war, disease, and despair exist even if they have not come home to roost on my doorstep at the moment.
I need to see faces that don’t look like mine, beliefs that don’t square with mine, experiences and art and landscapes and foods and clothing and lives that remind me of the unimaginable blessing of living in such a rich, textured world as this.

So far, the news has been that vehicle – whether delivered by my radio or my TV set – that has consistently put me in touch with the people, events, and realities that keep taking me outside my cozy little comfort zone.

And besides… if the news gets too crass, dull, or grotesque, there is always JEOPARDY!

[“I’ll take Potent Potables for $400, please!”]

Abundant blessings;

Dec

Oddball World

By revruss1220 7 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: creation, divesity, flavor, God, richness, variety

“They are SO ODD!”

“I mean, look at that guy over there! What is up with that jacket he’s wearing? The sleeves are WAAAAYY too short and it’s not even zipped up all the way. Makes you want to shout, ‘DUDE! It’s 25 freaking degrees out! Bundle UP, for crying out loud!’”

“And what about THAT couple? I THINK they are together, but he is walking at least three steps in front of her. I’m tempted to wonder if it is a cultural thing, but they don’t look foreign. I mean, why even bother if you’re not even going to stay close enough to have a conversation with each other?”

“Good Lord look out. Here they come. It’s that young family with their two ‘cute’ kids in tow. Except for the fact that their kids are shouting at each other, falling down in the grass and just generally running amok. Don’t they care that some of us are out here trying to have a peaceful walk in the park? Folks… can’t you just control them for half a minute? Is it really necessary to visit this chaos on everyone around you?”

These days it seems that everywhere I turn I run into oddballs… you know, people who don’t LOOK like me, ACT like me, BELIEVE like me, or even SMELL like me.

I mean, they’re EVERYWHERE! They seem to have gathered together (no doubt in some clandestine location somewhere) and brainstormed all the possible things they could do to unsettle and confound me.

“OK, you, Bill; why don’t you hit him with that goofy walk of yours. You know, the one where you kind of drag your right leg behind you every three steps?”
“And Sylvia; your assignment is to post something on social media that is going to just send him up the WALL! You know the hot buttons pretty well, don’t you? Good!”
“Which brings us to you, Wally. I want you to try to get in front of him there on the freeway, drive in the far left lane, BELOW the posted speed limit, and just STAY THERE! Think you can handle that?”
“Are we good? OK… BREAK!”

Of course, I exaggerate… but only a little.

On way too many occasions I awake to discover that I have once again contorted my stereotypically human desire for peace and order into a less-than-godly antipathy for DIFFERENCE and DIVERSITY.

I cast my eyes skyward and beseech my Creator, “Please, God! Things have to FIT! They have to MAKE SENSE! Why do you keep throwing me all of these CURVE BALLS? Why are there so many ODDBALLS around? Surely you know how much they UNSETTLE me?”

And God, smiling that perfectly serene (though occasionally annoying) smile, looks down and replies, “Oh my poor, confused child. You are so adorable sometimes in your misguidedness. This world you gaze upon with such disdain is EXACTLY the world I intended. It’s not a mistake.”

God then continued and said, “I made reds, and blues, and greens, and yellows. I also made aquamarine, and chartreuse, and puce, and tamarind…

“… ON PURPOSE!”

“I made short people, tall people, fat people, and skinny people. I made white folks, dark folks, Asian folks, and mingled-color folks. I made Christians, and Jews, and Muslims… Hindus, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, and atheists…”

“… also ON PURPOSE.”

“I made Republicans, I made Democrats. I made fans of the Labor Party, the Communist Party, the Torries, and the Bharatiya Janata Party in India. I made people who are members of the Polish Solidarity Party, and – just because I have a sense of humor – members of the Polish Beer Lovers Party*…”

“… ALL of that, totally on purpose.”

“Somewhere along the way, you seem to have forgotten that I am the God of VARIETY! I paint with a wild palette and bold strokes. I never wanted a monotone world, filled only with people who look and act and talk and speak like YOU.”

“In case you are not tracking with me here, Russell, ALL of this ‘oddness,’ as you call it, is absolutely according to my plan. Yes, it does frustrate me a lot when people like you forget that central truth and gripe and complain about the rich variety of my world.”

“You call yourself a student of my Word, but you seem to have forgotten the part in the very beginning – in the book of Genesis, in fact – where it says that I finished my act of CREATION, stood back, looked at it, and called it, “…VERY GOOD.” (Genesis 1:31, NRSV).

I bowed my head, chastened and humbled. “Of course,” I whispered. Of course God created a world of rich variety, texture, color, and depth. OF COURSE God intended us each to find our own place in the midst of this awesome tapestry and still appreciate the differences surrounding us.

“Thank you, God, for explaining all that to me. But God,” I whispered softly. “There is one thing I still don’t understand…”

“Diversity notwithstanding, how is it that people can still root for the RAIDERS??”

Abundant blessings;

* A real thing, by the way

Oct

A Tangled History

By revruss1220 Leave a Comment

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: connection, conservative, creation, faith, God, guidance, Jesus Christ, law, liberal, politics, revelation

Yesterday I wrote about the way politics and faith seem to live on polar opposite ends of the known universe. (a post which you can read in its entirety here.)

As we check the historical record, however, it seems they have not always been such oppositional bedfellows.

In the earliest pages of Hebrew literature, we see that guidance about how to live life was actually a pretty simple process; God spoke. People listened… or didn’t. Consequences followed. God spoke again, and the process repeated itself.

Among ancient civilizations, Israel was not alone in claiming some kind of divine authority as a guidestar. However, Israel was unique in clinging to the notion that Yahweh sought an on-going relationship with all the world’s inhabitants… beginning with them.

In the early stages of that relationship, there was no intermediary. God spoke directly to Adam and Eve… directly to Noah… directly to Abraham… and to Isaac and others.

As the people became more numerous, we came the time of the Judges. These were not judges in the sense of today’s legal system. They were actually the first intermediaries God used to communicate God’s eternal words of guidance. (One of the earliest, and most respected judges of that time was a woman named Deborah. You can find her story in the Bible in the book of Judges, chapters 4 and 5). But the basic idea was the same… God spoke to the judges… the judges passed God’s words along to the people… the people either complied or didn’t. Consequences followed, and the cycle repeated itself.

But it wasn’t until the early Israelites stopped and looked around them that the real trouble started. When they looked to the north, south, and east, they saw the nations on every side were ruled by mighty kings from splendid palaces. They sat down on the floor – very much in the manner of a stubborn child – and said, “If they can have kings, so can WE!”

God tried to talk them out of it, warning of the lurking dangers, to no avail. Israel held its breath until it turned blue and passed out. And so, God threw up God’s hands in frustration, relented and said, “Fine. Suit yourself. Have all the kings you want. You’ll be sorry!” Or words to that effect. (1 Samuel 8:19-22, NRSV).

And thus began history’s long, painful saga of the numerous attempts to answer the question, “Who will lead this nation?”

Some of those attempts have leaned on the leadership skillsets of extraordinarily talented people… and then on their somewhat less-talented offspring. Others have attempted to re-establish the idea that God is really in charge, working through a humanly engineered theocracy (from the Greek theokratia meaning “rule of God”). Most of the time we saw that those were theocracies in name only. People were still calling all the shots, merely invoking God’s imprimatur as they did.

In the 17^th and 18^th centuries, the Age of Enlightenment ushered in the consensus that it was a dangerous, unseemly thing to mingle the realms of the ethereal and the ephemeral. And as that consensus grew and took root, great thinkers of the day (such as Sir Francis Bacon), believed they had finally severed any of the dodgy connections that remained between faith and politics.

But just like the south’s legendary kudzu plant, those connections simply would not die. We see remnants of them today in evangelical Christian groups like the Religious Right, Liberty University, and organizations such as Ed McAteer’s Religious Roundtable, Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition, Tim LaHaye’s Council for National Policy, and many others.

Those connections also thrive at the other end of the ideological spectrum. The so-called progressive Christians have been known to mix a strong dose of political agenda in with their theology as well. As a result, some of their churches tend to look more like social service agencies than places of worship.

The examples of excess we see on both the right and left leave us all wondering: is there even such a thing as a BALANCED, or MODERATE mixture of faith and politics? Or are these two things that should simply be forever separated…

… like matches and gasoline?

Hmmm… where might we look for an answer to that question?

Hey! What are the chances that maybe the Bible has something to say on the topic?

Tune in next time.

Abundant blessings;

Aug

Like a bridge…

By revruss1220 4 Comments

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: 1969, Bridge Over Troubled Water, compassion, conflict, creation, give, God, gospel, Jesus Christ, love, mercy, MLK, others, political, racial, riots, sacrifice, Simon and Garfunkel, unconditional, unrest, Viet Nam, weary

When you’re weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all,
I’m on your side, oh, when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a song that never fails to stir my soul…

… Every single time I hear it.

The lyrics are an eloquent testimony to sacrificial human compassion. The melody journeys from tender salve to triumphant orchestral climax, all in the span of four minutes.

It is the closest thing to a secular gospel song that we have in the American catalog.

Paul Simon wrote this anthem in the spring of 1969. For those old enough to remember, this was a time when the waters of this country were terribly troubled. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy had been assassinated the previous year. Racial unrest was boiling over in several large American cities. The endless quagmire of the Vietnam War raged on.

It was a time when we were in desperate need of a bridge over those troubled waters…

… sort of like we are today.

In looking back 51 years to the creation of this song, I find it fascinating that despite the fact that neither Paul Simon nor Art Garfunkel were professing Christians at the time, their remedy for our national maelstrom was – essentially – the cross of Christ.

I mean, how else would you translate the lyric, “I will lay me down” other than as an offer to give up one’s own life for the sake of others? Didn’t Jesus lay himself down so that you and I and everyone who calls on his name might live?

As a testament to its universal appeal, this song has been translated into many languages and has been covered by hundreds of artists, including Johnny Cash, Annie Lennox and Bonnie Tyler. It received its most recent revival by Jennifer Hudson as a tribute to the life and work of civil-rights pioneer, John Lewis… a man who laid his own body down for the sake of others on Selma’s Edmund Pettis Bridge in 1963.

Self-sacrificial love seems like a quaint, historical anachronism here in 2020 America. We are elbow-deep in the culture of selfies, “look out for #1,” “my way or the highway,” and “me first.” In this context, the idea of sublimating my needs to yours seems at best, old-fashioned, and at worst, just plain goofy.

And yet, that very self-sacrificial love is the force that created the universe. It is the force that divided history into “B.C.” and “A.D.” It is the force that rolled an impossible stone away from a tomb and raised a dead man to life.

It is the force that redeemed my life.

It is also the force – the ONLY force, I might add – capable of calming the troubled waters that surround us today.

I’ll take your part, oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

Abundant blessings;

Jun

Order out of Chaos

By revruss1220 Leave a Comment

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: abundant, blessing, chaos, community, creation, creativity, enforcement, faith, God, Jesus Christ, justice, law, love, neighbor, new, order, police, world

Extension cords Look at this.

Isn’t it amazing?

My organizational genius of a wife took our laundry basket full of a mishmash of all sizes and styles of extension cords and – armed with only her labelmaker and a few plastic containers – turned it into this miracle of peace and harmony.

Ahhhh! Satisfaction.

So inspired was I by her de-cluttering, systematizing prowess that I immediately turned my attention to the task of taming the long-ignored Garage Beast!

Mission accomplished!

Satisfaction AGAIN!

In spite of the fact that I occasionally seem to be content to wallow around in an untidy environment, there remains something deeply satisfying about bringing order out of chaos.

It seems almost as if this ordering drive might be hard-wired into our humanness, doesn’t it?

Some theologians, in fact, have argued that the Genesis creation story begins, not with God creating SOMETHING out of NOTHING, but rather with God creating ORDER out of CHAOS. Indeed, we read in Genesis 1:2, “… the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep.” (Gen. 1:2, NRSV).

But I wonder… if it is true that the impulse to ORDER our world is an essential, defining quality of the human experience… can we ever go overboard with this impulse? In other words, can there be such a thing as TOO MUCH order… and not enough CHAOS?

Lately we have certainly seen a whole lot of chaos in the streets of our major cities. Violent protests have erupted in the wake of murders by armed police officers. Chaos erupts. Order is imposed. MORE chaos erupts. And even more order is imposed.

But then sometimes… somehow… something new gets born out of that chaos. Ask anyone who has ever been present at the moment a brand-new baby is delivered into the world; it is a moment with more chaos and mess and disorder happening all at once than you will likely EVER see anywhere else!

And lest we forget…

From the chaos of 40 years of wandering in the desert, the new people Israel was born.
From the chaos of the American Revolution, this country was born.
From the chaos of riots and unrest in the early 60s, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was born.

There is no doubt that this moment is calling forth the need for something new to be born in the way our governments go about the work of ensuring public safety. The day when we need heavily armed, militarily trained phalanxes of police officers to keep the peace is gone… if indeed it ever existed in the first place.

Yes, we need order. Yes, we need peace. But not at the price of our freedom. And not if it means whole segments of our population end up living in daily fear of the very institutions appointed to ensure their safety.

You see, God has been trying to teach us this lesson from Day One… first through Abraham, then Moses, through the judges, the prophets, the kings, and through his only begotten Son, Jesus. God desperately wants us to understand that the only sure path to both peace and freedom is by following the Big Two… 1.) Loving God, and 2.) Loving Neighbor.

Loving our neighbors… WHO they are, AS they are… can be a little chaotic at times. Because let’s face it, some of them are just not that lovable.

But it is also an essential part of the people we are each made to be.

Abundant blessings;

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