The Biblical Story

What is the Bible?  How did it come to be?  A little tribe, many years ago, called the Habiru,  were suffering from a famine in their own land and migrated into Egypt.  They lived there for generations and as their population grew they became a threat and a fear to that great military empire.  The threat and the fear resulted in the enslavement of the Habiru.  They were “put down” and cruelly treated, forced to “making bricks without straw.”  Then, one of their number, got it in his head that he was being “called” to the impossible hope of leading this ragged company out of slavery and into a new land.  And somehow it came true!

After years of wandering the desert, they came to a little piece of land which as a primitive people with a crude religion, they called “promised land”—a “land of milk and honey.”  Their “promised land” was swept out from under them, however, by tremendous international movements.  Their little “promised land” was broken, their capitol city ruined,  their little nation swept away, all their hopes demolished.  They were again enslaved as exiles in strange lands.  All the hopes and dreams had failed.  Not so!  Here and there among those exiles there were those who got it in their heads to tell these people in this dark time that there was still hope.  (These were the prophets). There were singers of songs encouraging this impossible hope.  (These were the Psalmists).   A few did make it back to their “land of milk and honey” and there barely survived,  They were an object of ridicule and derision for their devotion to One God—most people back then had many! They eventually developed an official religion of this One God which held them together and has held them together through thick and thin for several thousand years.

Costa Rica

Then years later another Habiru got it in his head that all that impossible hope of years gone by, all that struggle of a people meant something.  God was Love. He entered on a quixotic adventure, but that quickly flickered out and came to nothing within three short years.  Though there were a few crazy people, including a little fellow with a stammering tongue named Saul, later Paul, who went all over the world with some weird story of a dead man, whom they said was not dead but  alive.  

The Bible is a story of dreamers and fools and yet that story has left indelible marks on all humanity, the world over, in our laws, our character, and our faith.  Dreamers of hopeless dreams and fools that believed that impossible dreams come true wrote the story.  This is the story the Bible tells—and that story goes on still, through those who get it in their heads to dream hopeless dreams  and be foolish enough to believe that impossible dreams will come true.

Love

Sometimes we are sure that God is Love and Love is at the heart of all things.  Sometimes we are sure that the very spirit of God resides in each human being, that we are made in God’s image, that there is a divine seed in each of us.  Then some Iraq, Charleston,  Baton Rouge, or Dallas comes along, or some grim fact of life (you name your’s) comes knocking at our door, and our faith wilts and withers like a wild flower cut from its roots.  Clouds blanket our bewildered and frightened minds and we can’t think, or feel, or see any love anywhere.  We become immersed in life’s perplexities and in our frustration we scapegoat this “Love at the heart of all things” as the culprit for this broken, messed up world.  If there is a God, if Love is there, how can this stuff happen in our world and in our lives?

In our hurt, sadness, and utter frustration we rail against these ills of life, and against God’s apparent mismanagement of things.  We sometimes even suggest that all this silliness about Love should be abandoned as a wasteful quest and that God (if there is one) should step aside.  After all, we say, we can make “America Great Again.”  We know what needs to be done.  We have the answers to solve every perplexity.  We can do it on our own and in a more efficient way than spending our time waiting around for Love to love.

Such an attitude prompts the question:  “Haven’t we done it our way for ages?”  We speak of ourselves, erroneously, as a Christian nation, a Christian people.  We stamp on our coins, “In God We Trust,” but we really don’t trust God, we trust and seek the coin.  I would suggest that Chesterton’s words ring true in this land and in all others:  “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”  

"When you pass through deep waters,
I am with you..." (Isa 43:2ff, NEB)

Love does not coerce. Love does not bully.  Love does not control.  Love loves irrespective of merit.  If God is the Love at the heart of all things, and Love is God, then we have painted an erroneous image of God as One who steps in to remove evil, who takes away hurt and suffering, who forces us to become what God wills us to be. That’s dictatorship, that’s domination, that takes away our freedom—and I just don’t believe that is Love.  

Love does not abandon us or remain aloof in our anguish and perplexities.  Love sits with us and feels what we feel.  Love wraps us in an embrace and holds us and weeps and hurts with us.  Love shares everything with us and calls us to love like that too!

Our Stubborn Resistance

There is, and always has been, within all of us, a terrible resistance to the inner Voice that calls to us.  That inner Voice is a deep and penetrating irritation in our lives, disturbing our status quo, and it causes us great aggravation.  That Voice cries out to us in our conscious and unconscious moments, in our bright days and our dark days, in our dreams and in our hearts.  It never ceases to call to us.  We resist hearing that inner Voice because it seems to always want to intrude, overturn, direct and/or upset our way of doing, thinking, and living.  Thus, we silence it by our busyness, we squelch it by our stubborn selfishness, and over time, we crowd it out with all the other noises and “selves” within us and around us.  We create all the “earthquake, wind and fire” we can muster to stifle the “still, small voice.”  We resist the Voice of Love at the heart of all things!

Have I always paid attention to this inner Voice and been faithful to it?  To my great regret and deepest sorrow I have not listened.  I’ve ignored the promptings so many times!   I’ve resisted that Voice every day of my life!  We all do!  I’ve known the gnawing of conscience for ignoring it.  I’ve failed miserably to keep my commitment to listen to it. I’ve misheard the Voice on many occasions.  I have blundered and missed the path given me, and wasted precious time in groping my way back to hear what I didn’t hear clearly the first time.  I understand this inner Voice to be that of Jesus, others may see it as the voice of the “inner man” (woman) but whatever the case, it sounds within us all and we resist it!

What is religion?  It is hearing that inner Voice and answering with a loyalty that cannot be broken; it is the stubborn courage that lives through disappointment, betrayal, and delay; it is an obstinate dream that whether it succeeds or seems to fail, holds on!  Those who listen to the Voice and respond to it become instruments of hope, peace, love, and forgiveness.  They are given the strength and encouragement, as Shelly says so well,

“To suffer woes that hope thinks infinite,

Capitol Reef National Park

To forgive wrongs darker than death or night!

To love and bear:  to hope till hope creates

From its own wreck the things it contemplates,

Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent.”

No wonder we have such a terrible resistance to that inner Voice.  Why, if we were to hear and respond, that Voice would turn our private little worlds—and the whole world—upside down!  

An Important Anniversary

Fifty-six years ago today, at 17 years old and a month and a half after graduating from high school, I boarded a plane (for the first time) with a group of other young fellows, who like me, had enlisted in the Air Force.  We had no idea what we were getting into!  Some, like me, wanted to go on to college, but for various reasons were unable to do so.   Some had already tried college and had to bail out for one reason or another.  Still others who didn’t know what else to do with themselves after high school decided to get their military obligation out of the way.  At that time, the “draft” was in effect and those who were not in college or on a farm would be called to military duty at age 18.  I remember trying to find a job to finance my plan to enter college that fall, but was told everywhere that I should get my military obligation out of the way first.  Most of us joined the Air Force because we didn’t want to be drafted and end up in the Army.

We had little or no awareness of what was about to happen to us.  We soon discovered that it wasn’t anything like we thought it would be.  Upon our arrival in Texas we were transported by bus to Lackland Air Force Base.  There we were immediately stripped of our clothes, our shoes, our hair, and our personhood.  We became automatons.  We were told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.  We were told what to say and when and how to say it, how to fold our clothes and how to dress, when to awake and when to go to bed.  Our former lifestyles were taken from us and we became what the Air Force expected of us.  Looking back, I can see the value in this disciplined life, but at the time I resented and despised it!  When those ten weeks of basic training came to an end, we breathed a sigh of relief, but we also knew that we had been changed and would never be what we were before.

Air Force Academy Chapel

The Air Force decided what we were qualified to do and assigned us to certain “technical schools” for training.  We were given various details (like picking up cigarette butts and cleaning latrines and other such menial tasks) while we waited for our schools to begin.  I didn’t want to do what the Air Force wanted me to do and considered me qualified to do.  It was a time of great frustration.  One evening it came to me, clear as a bell, that I could have some “say” in the matter, that I was meant to do something other than what was being forced on me to do.  This experience was so “real” and so “powerful” that the very next day I began the process to change my situation.  Fortunately, with the help of others, things changed (a long story).   I became a “Chaplain Assistant,” a work that I enjoyed immensely during my four year enlistment. Later, after college and seminary, I became an Air Force Chaplain in the Reserve and served for thirty years in that ministry.  So you see, today really is an important anniversary for me.  I went where I did not want to go, I did what I did not want do, until, like the Prodigal of old,  I came to my senses and chose to go home— chose to pay attention to the inner Voice.

The Rumor Faintly Heard

One of my “Star Persons” and spiritual mentors once wrote me, “Thanks, Hal, for keeping the rumor alive.”  What rumor? And what is a rumor?  When used as a noun it means a “currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.”  (The synonyms for “rumor” include words like, “gossip, speculation, and hearsay).  When the word “rumor” is used as a verb it implies the circulation of an unverified account as in “It is rumored that he recently moved to another state.”  There are certainly a lot of rumors being spread around these days—statements and stories of uncertain truth, rumors of unverified happenings and circumstances.

What was the rumor my friend wanted me to keep alive?  It was and is, the rumor that in this broken and ailing world, there is at the heart of it all, a God, who, while indefinable, has been made more clearly known by a person who lived over two thousand years ago and who some claim, lives still!  Rumor has it that if we want to know what God is like, we can look at this man, Jesus, and get some really good clues.  That’s the rumor faintly heard these days, but it is the rumor that I mean to keep alive.

Since we in our day are so gullible as to believe almost anything spoken or written by anybody, I see no good reason not to continue to keep this particular rumor alive.  Here I am doing so on social media where all kinds of rumors abound.  Why not spread this one around too?

Rumors abound!

Rumor has it that Jesus went around doing good, that he taught great truths, that he healed, that he cared, and that he cast no one aside.  Rumor even has it that we can actually possess his mind, his very spirit, in our own lives.  Rumor has it that he loved and still loves, that he is available to us at all times, in our trouble and distress and in our joy and laughter.  Rumor has it that he is “afflicted in our afflictions,” and that his Voice sounds within us all, calling us to be transformed into his likeness.  Rumor has it that many have believed this rumor through the centuries, men and women such as Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, George Fox, John Wesley, Catherine of Siena, Albert Schweitzer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and so many more.  Rumor has it that they made a tremendous difference in our world following in the footsteps of this Man of Galilee, whom they called “Master.”  This is the rumor that has been circulated and echoed through the centuries and yet is still faintly heard.  It is this rumor that I mean, and without apology, to keep alive.

The Rumor Faintly Heard

One of my “Star Persons” and spiritual mentors once wrote me, “Thanks, Hal, for keeping the rumor alive.”  What rumor? And what is a rumor?  When used as a noun it means a “currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.”  (The synonyms for “rumor” include words like, “gossip, speculation, and hearsay).  When the word “rumor” is used as a verb it implies the circulation of an unverified account as in “It is rumored that he recently moved to another state.”  There are certainly a lot of rumors being spread around these days—statements and stories of uncertain truth, rumors of unverified happenings and circumstances.

What was the rumor my friend wanted me to keep alive?  It was and is, the rumor that in this broken and ailing world, there is at the heart of it all, a God, who, while indefinable, has been made more clearly known by a person who lived over two thousand years and who some claim, lives still!  Rumor has it that if we want to know what God is like, we can look at this man, Jesus, and get some really good clues.  That’s the rumor faintly heard these days, but it is the rumor that I mean to keep alive.

Since we in our day are so gullible as to believe almost anything spoken or written by anybody, I see no good reason not to continue to keep this particular rumor alive.  Here I am doing so on social media where all kinds of rumors abound.  Why not spread this one around too?

Rumors abound!

Rumor has it that Jesus went around doing good, that he taught great truths, that he healed, that he cared, and that he cast no one aside.  Rumor even has it that we can actually possess his mind, his very spirit, in our own lives.  Rumor has it that he loved and still loves, that he is available to us at all times, in our trouble and distress and in our joy and laughter.  Rumor has it that he is “afflicted in our afflictions,” and that his Voice sounds within us all, calling us to be transformed into his likeness.  Rumor has it that many have believed this rumor through the centuries, men and women such as Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, George Fox, John Wesley, Catherine of Siena, Albert Schweitzer, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and so many more.  Rumor has it that they made a tremendous difference in our world following in the footsteps of this Man of Galilee, whom they called “Master.”  This is the rumor that has been circulated and echoed through the centuries and yet is still faintly heard.  It is this rumor that I mean, and without apology, to keep alive.

Our Tendency to Fall

Dante saw in his vision of heaven that the law of things is naturally to ascend, but our spirits here on earth seem subject to the law of gravity and tend to fall.  That law of gravity, the descent to the lowest common denominator of human behavior, from New Orleans and Minnesota to Dallas has done its work this week and held our attention and broken our hearts.  There is not a day goes by, however, that this descent, this law of gravity in human nature, this tendency to fall, is not operative and present—in homes, in the streets of our cities, in our relationships, our economics, our politics, in the chaos of the middle East, everywhere.  The “descent” of this past week makes one wonder if this is really the norm, that perhaps it is only the “law of gravity,” this tendency to fall to the lowest common denominator of human behavior, that we can expect in this society, this world, this planet.

It is illogical and unrealistic to assume that this tendency to descend, to fall to the lowest common denominator of human behavior, is only seen and found in a few others and not in ourselves.    We are not immune.  The law of gravity within our own natures is present and operative all the time.  How often have I chosen to descend rather than ascend?  How about you?  We have said despicable things about our brothers and sisters.  Our bigotry, our racial undertones, our dismissive attitudes toward others, our narcissistic preoccupations, cause us to rummage in the garbage of human depravity too!  Don’t  even think about throwing the stone!  We are all human beings subject to this law of gravity and we have all fallen and we all have the tendency to do so again!

We may laugh and disparage the myths of the past, those found in ancient texts, about the “Fall of Humankind,” but we are very foolish to do so.  Just a brief scanning of our history confirms its reality. 

The Yucca knows
 how to ascend

This story of the Fall, this law of gravity, our tendency to descend, does not have the last word!  There is another dimension.  In those same ancient texts this other story is told.  It  proclaims that there is a higher law which says we can ascend, that we can be more than we normally are, that we have within us a spark of divinity (that of God in us) that can be fanned and kindled, which, in turn, can produce the vision Dante saw in heaven, where we ascend above our lower natures and become better than we are.