Good Mourning, Lord.

“They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.”

In Luke 8, we read the story of Jesus raising a dead girl to life. Because she was dead, her home was surrounded by mourners – professional mourners, doing their culturally-dictated job of weeping and wailing in a public fashion to give a corporate voice to the community’s sadness.

But their hypocrisy was uncovered when Jesus said, “She is not dead, but asleep.” How quickly these veneer-thick mourners went from lament to laughter.Their mourning, perhaps conceived with good intentions, was pretense, not pity.

Yesterday, a shooting rampage in a gay Florida night club left over 50 people dead … in the name of the attackers’ version of their Islamic faith. For the past 24 hours, I have watched and read the litany of mournful statements and posts. We are all incredibly sad that such a thing could happen right here, on American soil. I know the sorrow is very real for some (though I suspect that some of the “mourning” has been a veiled attempt at theo-political correctness – some pretense rather than pity).

But, it got me to thinking. In Christ, there is “neither Jew nor Greek”. As a follower of Jesus, I am an alien and stranger here on earth. I know many from the U.S. will balk at this, but I’m convinced that I should be WAY more committed to the Kingdom of God than the country of my geography and ethnicity. And my heart should bleed as much for the nations as for any isolated locale. I don’t at all begrudge people for mourning the Orlando shootings. But I don’t think Jesus is sadder about our national tragedy than He is about similar things happening all over the world. If we truly have a heart like the Savior’s … then why don’t we mourn for the nations?

It got me to thinking, which got me to doing a bit of searching … and I’m afraid I ran into some extraordinarily depressing news. Do you realize how many tragedies like the Orlando shooting have happened in 2016 alone? Over 130! … I’ve made a list of terrorist acts with double-digit death counts (there are more than twice as many of these where less than 10 were killed). I’ve posted them below … and I offer these thoughts:

1. I think the Homeland Security leadership has done an admirable job in this country – that we don’t show up on this list until June 11. This is especially true considering how much we are loathed by the most violent of terrorist groups.
2. Do we look at the numbers next to countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, and figure that, well, that’s just part and parcel of the situation, and is to be expected? Or do we mourn for those losses as well?
3. Why do we pray so little? These attacks show no sign of stopping. I think we all know that prayer matters, makes a difference, etc. In light of the incredibly awful situation we find ourselves in these days, how can we ever get through a day without crying out to God for His mercy?(My biggest question.)
4. How do we mourn for all of these people? So much unspeakable tragedy … so much anguish. Is it easier to just rent a movie and numb our minds to these realities? Or do we believe Jesus enough to emotionally and prayerfully enter into the brokenness, and help carry these international burdens?

 

“It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart” (Eccl. 7:2). Lord, teach us to love our neighbors, and mourn with those who mourn. Really.

– EO

3-Jan	Iraq	15
7-Jan	Libya	60
1-Jan	Iraq	12
11-Jan	Iraq	20
11-Jan	Iraq	100
12-Jan	Turkey	12
13-Jan	Pakistan	15
13-Jan	Cameroon	12
15-Jan	Somalia	63
16-Jan	Burkina Faso	30
16-Jan	Syria	300
17-Jan	Afghanistan	14
17-Jan	Yemen	10
19-Jan	Pakistan	10
20-Jan	Pakistan	20
22-Jan	Somalia	20
25-Jan	Scameroon	28
25-Jan	Syria	23
26-Jan	Syria	29
26-Jan	Afghanistan	10
27-Jan	Iraq	55
30-Jan	Nigeria	86
1-Feb	Afghanistan	20
3-Feb	Syria	15
8-Feb	Iraq	300
9-Feb	Nigeria	60
13-Feb	Nigeria	22
17-Feb	Yemen	13
17-Feb	Turkey	28
19-Feb	Cameroon	24
21-Feb	Syria	57
21-Feb	Syria	134
22-Feb	Afghanistan	14
25-Feb	Iraq	15
26-Feb	Somalia	14
27-Feb	Afghanistan	13
28-Feb	Iraq	78
28-Feb	Somaila	30
29-Feb	Iraq	40
29-Feb	DRC	13
2-Mar	Syria	18
4-Mar	Yemen	15
6-Mar	Iraq	61
6-Mar	Syria	14
7-Mar	Pakistan	10
7-Mar	Tunisia	17
13-Mar	Ivory Coast	19
13-Mar	Turkey	37
16-Mar	Pakistan	15
16-Mar	Nigeria	22
18-Mar	Syria	11
19-Mar	Egypt	13
20-Mar	Iraq	24
22-Mar	Belgium	32
25-Mar	Iraq	41
25-Mar	Yemen	26
26-Mar	Iraq	18
27-Mar	Pakistan	72
4-Apr	Iraq	14
7-Apr	Syria	23
8-Apr	Syria	175
9-Apr	Yemen	17
9-Apr	Philippines	18
11-Apr	Afghanistan	12
19-Apr	Afghanistan	64
21-Apr	Iraq	250
23-Apr	Iraq	45
24-Apr	Nigeria	30
25-Apr	Syria	16
29-Apr	Iraq	14
30-Apr	Iraq	38
1-May	Somaila	22
1-May	Iraq	33
2-May	Iraq	18
2-May	Iraq	17
3-May	DRC	38
4-May	Syria	15
5-May	Syria	12
5-May	Iraq	25
9-May	Iraq	16
10-May	Afghanistan	11
11-May	Iraq	17
11-May	Iraq	64
11-May	Iraq	13
11-May	Yemen	13
11-May	Syria	45
12-May	Yemen	15
12-May	Syria	49
13-May	Iraq	16
13-May	Iraq	11
14-May	Syria	20
15-May	Iraq	14
15-May	Iraq	15
15-May	Yemen	47
16-May	Iraq	21
17-May	Iraq	101
18-May	Iraq	25
20-May	Afghanistan	11
22-May	Syria	12
23-May	Yemen	45
23-May	Syria	184
25-May	Afghanistan	11
29-May	Iraq	25
29-May	Iraq	12
31-May	Afghanistan	17
1-Jun	Somalia	16
1-Jun	Iraq	13
3-Jun	Yemen	18
3-Jun	Iraq	18
4-Jun	Syria	40
4-Jun	Nigeria	32
6-Jun	Kazakhstan	10
5-Jun	Syria	38
5-Jun	Iraq	13
5-Jun	Iraq	400
6-Jun	Iraq	11
7-Jun	Iraq	65
7-Jun	Turkey	11
7-Jun	Iraq	10
7-Jun	Syria	20
8-Jun	Afghanistan	16
9-Jun	Iraq	12
9-Jun	Iraq	12
9-Jun	Iraq	19
9-Jun	Syria	54
10-Jun	Libya	32
10-Jun	Iraq	30
11-Jun	Iraq	10
11-Jun	Afghanistan	14
11-Jun	Syria	20
11-Jun	Syria	49
12-Jun	USA	50

 

Wrestling with Fred: “Ministers”

Frederick Beuchner is one of my favorite authors. His insights into the spiritual life, with Christ at its center, have been very formative to me. I recently signed up for a daily Buechner quote – great!

Wrestling with today’s quote from Fred …

“Ministers have their heads in the clouds, which is just where you should have your head when your mind is on higher things … Ministers are as anachronistic as alchemists or chimney sweeps … The perspective of ministers is so hopelessly distorted and biased that there is no point in listening to them unless you happen to share it.”

Hmmm…

1 Corinthians 2:13-15 comes to mind. Here, Paul says “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” 

So, to the world, we believers are perceived as “hopelessly distorted and biased” fools. It should come as no shock that people without the Spirit will not listen. Because the cannot listen. In Jesus’ terms, they don’t have “ears to hear”.

The simple, Biblical truth is that Spirit must precede the embrace of truth. We can’t make Spirit happen – only God can. But, we are promised that “the gospel … is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). Gospel -> Spirit -> Truth. Any alteration or deletion from this process will prove impotent.

I’ve been a minister for decades. Sometimes I fall into the trap of believing that I’m some kind of  divinely appointed DA for the Lord, guiding testimonies in the court of public opinion. If I do my job right, I’ll be able to lead the “jury” to my appointed conclusions. That’s why I’ve been lured into my share of (what I have found to be counter-productive) social media rants, thinking that my clear delineation of spiritual realities through Spirit-taught (Biblical) words will win the day.

Oops. Fred reminds me to embrace the spiritual, Spirit-taught realities: Don’t be surprised or angry when (not if) the Biblical truth you share is misunderstood and rejected. It will be – it’s written in stone.

Before we all resign our pulpits, let’s remember Paul’s other words in the same chapter: “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began” (1 Cor. 2:6-7). To this end we preach … head fixed in the clouds, rejoicing with the faithful, and experiencing the collective sanctification that will shape us into a community that first lives and then proclaims the gospel … through which the number of anachronistic fools will swell. 

– EO