After the Supreme Court Ruling: The Biggest Danger to the Church

Last week’s Supreme Court decision on homosexual marriage has sent shock waves through the American Church. Many people of faith are afraid of the consequences of this decision. They predict the church will lose its tax exempt status, will be subject to crippling lawsuits, and that clergy who decline to perform homosexual weddings will be heavily penalized.

I confess fearing these things, too. But I think the greatest danger for the church is that it will become “the church.” Here's what I mean:

Abigshag and Hume Lake Volleyball

Sam Talbert is our church’s resident Bible scholar and Pastor Emeritus. After retiring from the pastorate, he has continued to serve in a variety of roles, including on our elder board. Sam shared this devotional at an elder meeting recently, and I thought it was too good not to pass on.   

Throughout the Scriptures are passages that have caused me to scratch my head. One of these is II Kings 1. As you remember king David is old and near death and cannot generate enough body heat.  So, a young maiden named Abishag is hired to minister to him, even to share his bed to keep him warm.

The Race

I believe I hear a distant roar

A stadium full of witnesses

Not spectators but finishers

I hope they’re cheering for me

Because I can’t even see the tape

Maybe it’s yet a mile or ten

I’ve given up on any prize

I’m not even sure I can finish

I have to loosen the straps

And shrug off this pack of distractions

Slowing me down

It’s time to strip off

This stinking tangling robe

Tripping me up

But I hear the roar

And suddenly I know

It’s for another Runner, the only real Finisher

Who carried my weight and didn’t fall

Now I quit looking for a tape

Just let me see His face

And the joy He won

And so I run

I think He’s watching for me

I pick up the pace

Poor Fluffy

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have a soft heart (insert your own joke here) towards pets, especially man’s best friend. I know by experience that the death of a pet brings genuine grief. My recent post about our dog’s demise will back me up on this.

I also know that some of us in the Pet Lover’s Fraternity may go a little overboard in the way we treat these furry creatures. And this is especially evident for people who are not pet people. They think we’re really weird and cannot imagine why we even put up with our animals in our home, let alone grieve for them when they're gone.

I get this perspective.

Divine Passives and Under-inflated Footballs

First let me get through the grammar, which I admit nobody cares about. But if you’ll be patient for a few sentences, I do have something better to say.

Active voice vs. passive voice...remember that? "Tom threw the ball." The verb "threw" is active voice, because "Tom" acted - did the throwing. "The ball was thrown." Now the verb is passive voice, since the subject of the sentence, the ball,  was acted upon (it was thrown, poor thing).

Anyhow, anyone who has ever taken a short course on creative writing knows we’re supposed to use active verbs! Don’t say "the balls were under-inflated." Say, "Tom under-inflated the balls." Don’t say, "the game was won by cheating." Say, "Tom won the game by cheating."

One-on-One with Magic

Years ago I watched a sport-channel special on Magic Johnson. A neighborhood kid, probably about 13, came by Magic’s house and challenged him to play a little one-on-one. Magic agreed.

But it wasn’t exactly a Hallmark moment. Magic didn’t play blindfolded, or with both arms tied behind his back. He didn’t give the kid a break at all. He played him straight up, and it went like you’d imagine. Like an NBA superstar effortlessly smoking a seventh grader from the neighborhood.

Do you ever think what it was like when Jesus’ enemies tried to take Him down on points of the Law? Or when they tried to embarrass Him publicly? It was like Magic playing a toddler. Like Roger Federer serving against a scarecrow.  

What if I Had Never Been Born?

Everybody knows, and most people love, the 1946 Frank Capra film It’s a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart plays George Bailey, a young family man who owns a Building and Loan Company in his small town of Bedford Falls. Bailey is an admirable guy, but circumstances in his life begin to implode. He reaches a point of despair and cries out that he wishes he had never been born.

The movie shows exactly what life would have been like without him. The ripple effects of his life, no longer touching so many others for good, are played out in stark detail. At the end of the film George prays to have his life back because he now knows it is a wonderful life.

So the movie asks and answers the question, what if I had never been born?

The other day in prayer I thought of George Bailey and started meditating on a slight variation of that question: what if I had never been born again?