Now and then events occur that destroy any familiar schedule
or the usual thought processes.
In the middle of January I had a heart attack and a quintuple
bypass. I am doing very well but it was my coming home that bothered me—for one
thing I did not want my great grandchildren to see me. They would have been
traumatized. With both legs and one arm black from bruising, as well as the
other arm with a long gash I didn’t think they should see me. And that says
nothing about my neck and chest. But my condition did start my thinking
processes. I was reminded of a book, How
Does A Poem Mean? by John Ciardi and Miller Williams. The book covers all
of the ways, reasons and meanings of poetry. One need not be misled. So how
does a bruise mean?
My body looked like I had met an uncaring thug in a dark ally,
but in reality I had encountered some very caring surgeons, doctors and nurses
who saved my life. The bruising did not occur because of evil but because of
good. The bruising meant life not death, and this led me to thinking about the
Church in the Western world, the Church that too often seems like the dying
Church.
There is a sickness in the Western Church. There are many
reasons, but undoubtedly the most basic is a lack of love for the Lord Jesus
Christ which entails a denial of his authority and word. We may think that the
Lord of the Church stands aloof from this sickness but no, like the surgeons
and other medical personal he applies his own will to his Church. Listen to his
words to the Church of Thyatira:
But I
have this against you that you tolerate the women Jezebel, who calls herself a
prophetess and teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they commit
acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. Behold I will throw her
on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great
tribulation unless they repent of her deeds.
In Thyatira’s case Christ brings sickness that he might see
wholeness in his Church. Repentance is his goal. We may think that the
institutions we are watching move away from their biblical moorings will simply
redo themselves and continue on. But no, the Lord of the Church has promised to
either turn them back to himself or bring them to nothing. This is the Lord of
the whole creation we are kicking against—the Lord whose word so many have
chosen to ignore.
Jesus is aware that there are still some in Thyatira who have
not agreed to the immorality. He promises them no other burdens. But simply
hold onto the things that belong to Christ.
Hold on—he wounds to heal and anchors the faithful in himself.
