How to Shush A Dragon

EXCERPT FROM THE ARMOR OF THE GREAT KING

“Let’s see now,” she continued. “I remember reading once that dragons live for a very long time. That one looks big enough to have been around when the Great King was here. And that means the Great King probably chased him away before.”

“Hey!” said Joshua, his mind beginning to fall in step with Angela’s. “I’ll bet we could go up to that dragon and tell him to get off the sword. We have the Great King’s armor and that should convince the dragon that we mean business.”

“Let’s try it!” said Angela.

The two children walked back towards the dragon and his horrible noise. Joshua was in front, holding the shield in front of them both. The dragon saw them coming, put both front feet on the sword and began screeching louder than ever.

Angela walked up to within about ten feet of the dragon, planted her feet and defiantly put her fists on her hips.

She yelled above the din: “In the name of the Great King, I command you to let go of the sword.”

The dragon roared louder.

“In the name of the Great King, I command you to get off the sword,” she repeated.

The dragon stopped screeching for a moment and cocked his head, looking warily out of one eye. Then he started screeching, roaring and belching all at once.

Angela took a deep breath, looked the dragon in the eye, and said, “In the name of the Great King, I command you to be quiet!”

The dragon looked stunned and stopped in mid-screech. An expression of fear began to come over his face, and he shifted his hind feet nervously.

“Now get off the sword!” Angela commanded firmly.

The dragon twitched his tail and gnashed his teeth. He began to back up slowly, first lifting one paw off the sword and then the other. Joshua advanced with the shield towards the retreating dragon. The three of them moved in unison slowly, the dragon backward and the children forward until Angela was standing over the sword. She reached down and picked up the scabbard and drew out the sword.

“Now get out of here!” she shouted.

The dragon tucked its tail between its legs and took off across the plain.

These Three Remain

I Corinthians 11:2 – 14:40 is a brilliant section about what a Christian community/church/assembly should look like.  Two minor sections distort understanding of Paul’s core message, namely those on women in the church — 11:2-16 and 14:34-35 — as well as a brief rant about prophets in 14:36:38, all of which which seem out of place and inconsistent with the rest of this section.  Read around these sections and you find an amazing passage about the Eucharist, the gifts of the Spirit, love, and the use of tongues.
At the heart of this is Paul’s description of what the Christian life looks like, namely his summary of practical Christian love.  Love is essential to all we do.  But contrary to the Romanticism that dominates our culture, Christian love is not an emotional feeling but a set of behaviors or actions that need to be cultivated and developed.  These attitudes/behaviors guide all aspects of Christian living.
Moreover, or perhaps more importantly, there is a progression in the three qualities of Christian living (v. 13), from faith to hope to love.  These are not on the same level, and love emerges out of hope and hope out of faith.
Faith enables us to see what lies ahead, the glory that is ours in Christ Jesus.  We see the love of God expressed in the giving of his Son in a sacrifice of redemption.  And this gives us HOPE, which empowers us to love others.
We are always empowered by hope, by the vision of heaven and of seeing God ‘face to face.’ This hope removes the fear of death and provides absolute security about our future.  This enables us to walk away from things that are focused on our interests, on becoming rich or famous, and on our ‘legacy’ on earth.  God has chosen us and will richly reward us for all our service and sacrifice for him, especially the sacrifice of our own mortal bodies (i.e., as martyrs).
Christian love is not sentimental or the primary truth/experience of the Christian life.  Love emerges out of a great hope, a living hope, a secure destiny when we die.  Hope is about what happens after we die.  Is all lost?  Is the memory of who we are and what we have done confined to our physical presence, our family or the memorials we can build for ourselves?  Or do we have a secure and glorious hope in heaven, a life in the presence of God?
Hope is what conquered the Roman world.  As the Empire declined, the hopes of the elite vanished, having been built on the glory of the Empire which could be added to and shared by the elite, especially the emperors or generals who expanded it.  Ordinary people never had such hope so the Gospel was amazingly good news, coupled with personal transformation by the Spirit — the faith, hope and love that comes from the Spirit.
So don’t try to conjure up love directly.  That’s Romanticism.  Rather, by faith and the power of the Spirit, let your hope increase and thereby your love.
Is this the key to witness in the 21st century?  As the Western culture loses its connection with the Christian tradition and becomes hostile to the Christian faith, how should Christians respond?  Withdraw?  Become politically active?  Or walk the path of ‘martyrdom’, becoming so full of hope and love that they shine like stars in the midst of a corrupt and depraved world?
NB.  This is not holiness per se, but faith, hope and love together.  Holiness flows naturally, not as a legal requirement or a deceptive notion of what witness is.  Holiness is a way of living that has hope and faith at its core, not external behavior according to rules/laws.  It is much easier to preach a legalistic holiness because the standard is external behavior and appearance rather than what is in the heart and what motivates holy behavior.
NB.  Hope is all that the poor have in this world.  The rich (which includes most of the American population) can feel secure in the abundance of things and technology to protect and preserve.  Riches are thus deceitful, not morally, but in giving false hope or hope only for this life.  We naturally seek security and when we don’t have it we are anxious and fearful.  Such a society is also full of envy, so it descends into self-seeking behavior, dislike of others, etc.  Such hope for ‘the good life’ or ‘the American dream’ is fragile and easily threatened.  And therefore people are easily manipulated towards anger, hatred and greed.
NB.  Hope is the great positive that enables a just and generous society.  But without hope, life becomes ‘nasty, brutal and short’. (Hobbes)
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-7‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:13‬ ‭NIV‬‬
“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-7‬ ‭NABRE‬‬
“Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:8‬ ‭NABRE‬‬
“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:13‬ ‭NABRE‬‬
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:4-7‬ ‭ESV‬‬
“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:8‬ ‭ESV‬‬
“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:13‬ ‭ESV‬‬
FN.  Hobbes summary of ‘the state of nature’:
“Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man, the same consequent to the time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” [Leviathan, Ch. VI]
Hobbes focus was on the need for government rather than pure individualism.  Without government, mankind lives in a state of war, contending for scarce resources.  Cf. Romans 13 and the Christian emphasis on churchandstate, not just one or the other.  And thus democracy depends on a virtuous people.  Without virtue, the state of war will tend to increase leading to tyranny.  Note that bad government can still make the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.

A Psalm for All Seasons

“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.”  ‭Psalm‬ ‭51:3‬ ‭NIV‬‬
To know one’s transgressions is a great gift.  That is, to understand them, acknowledge them, see how pervasive they are and the reasons for them.  I transgress in many ways, for many reasons.  The Law makes clear just how pervasive my transgressions are.
But even without the Law, I transgress the will and purpose of God.  I fail to acknowledge my dependence on Him and fail regularly in the gratitude department.  I tune Him out, listen episodically and go my own way, in the delusions and imaginations of my own heart.  I am full of self-righteousness and pride, neither of which honor Him or are appropriate behavior for me, a perpetual sinner.
To have half a chance of living well, I need to wake up, to see the world as it is, to see myself in all my imperfections, to get a glimpse of the GRACE of God that keeps me alive and gives me a future HOPE.
To know my transgressions is to wake up.  It’s a discomforting thing to do, especially as I realize that ‘my sin is always before me’, spread out on the ground beneath my feet like a vast and ugly picnic!
The progression(s) in Psalm 51 are noteworthy.  Verses 3-6 are the awakening to sin and progressive acknowledgement of its offensiveness to the Lord.  Verses 7-12 are the progression back to usefulness through repentance and restoration.  Verses 13-17 are the commitments to a renewed way of living, summed up in a broken and contrite spirit.
Judging by my conscience and wandering accusations of the heart/devil, my transgressions include lots of foolish mistakes made out of pride, greed and the like.  Cf. the root of David’s transgression with Bathsheba, namely lust and coveting another man’s wife.  It’s not enough to know and repent, one also needs a renewal to be free of the accusing voices.  I am all too aware of the consequences of my mistakes and failures stemming from greed, pride and a haughty spirit.  I call them mistakes, but it’s probably better to call them sins if only to make the appeal to God’s mercy more meaningful.  The prayer to blot out, wash away and cleanse is necessary for everything from the past that troubles me, whether I see them as mistakes or as transgressions against the Law.
This opens a line of reasoning that sees all ‘mistakes’ and failures as transgressions.  In a perfect world, my life would have turned out differently.  I would not have made the career and personal financial mistakes that I did, and in that sense these are ‘sins’ as much as a willful violation of one of the Ten Commandments.  Thus, His mercy can lead to a heart purified of the painful memory and regret for past mistakes, to a renewal of a steadfast, willing spirit by which to live in the present and future, and to a restored joy in His salvation.
Whenever your heart (or the devil) accuses you, remember his mercy and unfailing love and great compassion.  Yes, I know my transgressions all too well, and I never seem to be free of them.  But this Psalm 51 promises freedom.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭51:1-17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Longer Journey

 

Our worldview, to use a somewhat technical term, helps us organize our life.  It is the lens through which we view our experience and make sense of the world around us.  I think of worldviews in two broad categories: materialist and non-materialist.  The first is what most people associate with the modern world, namely a scientific approach to analyzing the world around us and our place in it.  Some prefer to call this secularism to distinguish it from a religious approach to knowledge.

Changing worldview is a journey.  Going from religion to science or spirituality to materialism is in my experience quite easy.  Going the other way is harder, less likely and takes longer.