A River runs through the Story

“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street.” Rev. 22:1-2b)

“By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:12)

I have noticed that rivers and religion have an affinity. Herman Hesse in Siddhartha uses a river as the metaphor for the eastern idea of the oneness of all things, that is, the idea of pantheism. But both the Bible and Christian writers use images of rivers as a picture of the new life that Jesus Christ gives. Often this is connected to baptism.

I am thinking of a writer who is blatantly Christian although some who read her do not realize that she is always writing about the Incarnation. In one of Flannery O’Connor’s stories, “The River,” a small boy is fixated with his experience of being baptized in the river.

His parents, a very worldly couple, who hold the kind of parties one remembers from the fifties, are more or less indifferent to their son’s presence. But his babysitter takes him home, reads a story to him about Jesus and takes him to a healing and baptismal service by the river.

If you know anything about O’Connor’s characters you know they are eccentric, particularly the religious ones. The preacher, in his sermon, shouts, “Listen to what I got to say, you people! There ain’t but one river and that’s the River of Life, made out of Jesus’ blood. That’s the river you have to lay your pain in, in the River of Faith, in the River of Life, in the River of Love, in the rich red river of Jesus’ Blood, you people!”

The boy believes that if the preacher baptizes him he “won’t go back to the apartment then, [he’ll] go under the river.” After he comes up from the river the preacher tells him “You count now.”

In the end the little boy returns home, disappointed. He awakens in the morning to an empty apartment filled with stale cigarette smoke and empty glasses. He wonders away heading toward the river.

He makes several attempts to stay under the water but he must wait for the current to catch and hold him.

“He plunged under once and this time, the waiting current caught him like a long gentle hand and pulled him swiftly forward and down. For an instant he was overcome with surprise: then since he was moving quickly and knew that he was getting somewhere, all his fury and fear left him.”

And so O’Connor uses a tragedy as metaphor. Baptism, death, new life, we die to ourselves, we rise to new life in Christ. We leave behind our fury and our fear.

Deception & safety-utopias without Jesus Christ

Just a few years before I began working with Apologetics Resource Center a horrendous event occurred, the Jonestown massacre in the jungles of Guyana. Reverend Jim Jones, ordained in the Disciples of Christ, led nearly a thousand people to commit suicide.

For years to come that event would shape the thinking of most who ministered to those involved in cults and new religions. A kind of urgent concern about how people could be deceived and led into all kinds of tragic actions shaped our thinking about new religions.

As the years have changed some of that kind of thinking has also changed. Now, groups are rarely called cults. Nonetheless there are religious groups who sociologically treat people in ways that are cultic. I have never backed off from the realization that some leaders, even pastors who at least pretend to be Christian, are capable of manipulating people and causing a great deal of hurt. But it generally happens because of false or atheistic teaching (yes in a Christian church) combined with a supreme ego.

This all came to mind as I was reading an article in Touchstone, a Christian journal. I generally read the journal for its articles on literature as seen from a Christian perspective. But this time it was a different kind of article that caught my attention. “The Cup of the Lord: Reflections on the Difference between Martyrdom & Suicide Thirty Years after Jonestown,” by Patrick Mahaney Clark, is an excellent article.

Clark compares the leadership of Jim Jones with the leadership of St. Charles Lwanga the saint who lead the “Christian martyrs of Uganda in the nineteenth century.” He compares the differences between the suicidal deaths of Jonestown and the deaths imposed on the Uganda martyrs.

First Clark looks at Jones and his ideology referring to 1 Cor 10:21, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too: You cannot have a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons.”

Jones began his ministry as an independent and went on to join a denomination. While Jones had a passion for helping those who were racially oppressed his concerns were not connected to any Christian beliefs. He always held Marxist and atheist views. He despised Christianity and the Bible. Clark quotes Jones saying to his church members:

“Why are there hungry children if there is a god? What’s your god ever done? Two out of three babies in the world are hungry….He never heard your prayers. He never gave you food. He never gave you a bed. He never gave you a home. The only happiness you ever found was with me.”

Clark points out that Jones created the world he wanted the people to live in, and when he died he insisted it be by his own hands and that all of his followers experience his death, including over two hundred children. This was, as Clark points out, demonic.

On the other hand, as Clark puts it, the martyrs of Uganda died as friends united to Jesus Christ. They were given a choice by their ruler, who wanted to use them sexually but was prevented because of their Christianity, to either refuse Christianity or be burned to death. They were a community of friends who had already learned to give themselves up to Christ and each other.

Clark shows how Jones abandoned all Christian community as he moved his people further and further away from any hope but his own utopian endeavors.

As I began to explore this subject more memories returned. I had forgotten how Jones’ attempt’s to build utopias in California under the guise of Christianity had attracted political leaders in San Francisco and elsewhere.

They could not have known about Jones’ drug use, his separation of families, his sexual atrocities. his brutalities; those are often not revealed in the midst of tight-knit communities. But many did hear of his call for utopian communities. Many heard of his atheism, his rejection of a personal God, and even his push for communism.

National leaders as varied as Rosalynn Carter and Walter Mondale befriended him. Carter on issues connected with Cuba. California political friends included Willie Brown, George Moscone and Harvey Milk. One person, Mary R. Sawyer involved in the People’s Temple in the Bay Area, recalls a message written to Jones by Harvey Milk. “Rev Jim, It may take me many a day to come back down from the high that I reach today. I found something dear today. I found a sense of being that makes up for all the hours and energy placed in a fight. I found what you wanted me to find. I shall be back. For I can never leave.”

Even after Jones took his followers to Guyana, Milk, still disbelieving anything bad about Jones, appealed to President Carter to intervene in a case where a mother was desperately trying to get her son home to the United States. The little boy was to die with the other children in the jungles of Guyana.

The demonic happens when dreams of paradise are only connected to human enterprise and imagination, minus the redemptive purposes of Jesus Christ. We are all subject to deception and both impressive and insignificant anti-Christs move through history all the time prowling for the souls of humanity.

Drinking the cup of Christ among friends is the only safety.

Good News from Far Away

News from our friends in Thailand--

Thailand Update March 2009

Often it is said that everything that can be shaken will be shaken. We are witnessing the truth of this statement as we watch a variety of crisis unfold in the U.S. and around the world. It is good to know the countervailing truth; “God’s unfailing love for us will not be shaken” (Isa 54:10) and “We are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Heb 12:28)

Here in Thailand we are also experiencing some shaking both in the government and the economy. At the end of 2008, an effort to oust the ruling political party resulted in the closing of the international airport in Bangkok for more than a week. Many people were thwarted in their plans to travel to Thailand, and a large group of internationals was actually stuck here in Thailand for days with no way to return to their home countries. Although the crisis was resolved fairly peacefully, there continues to be underlying unrest and increasingly aggressive factions within Thai society who oppose or support different political leaders and parties.

The closing of the airport was an absolute disaster for tourism which is one of Thailand’s main industries. It will probably take years for people to begin to feel that Thailand is a safe travel destination. This economic disaster had been compounded as Asia begins to feel the effects of the current worldwide economic downturn.

We have seen however that shaking can be a good thing. It gets people thinking and tests the validity and dependability of the things which people have traditionally trusted in. With new challenges, there is an openness to new thinking and new approaches to life’s problems.

This month there will be a special focus on the needs of I.D.P.’s (Internally Displaced People) in Myanmar. These are tribal people who have been forced to leave their villages by the Burmese military. They live in hiding places in the jungle with no means of support. They have to be constantly on the move, hiding from the Burmese soldiers and traveling over terrain riddled with land mines. A mini marathon to raise money and collections of supplies to be sent across the border will take place in Chiang Mai this next week. This is in a run-up to the world day of prayer for Myanmar which is Mar. 9th. You can find more information about at http://www.prayforburma.org

The largest Thai annual Christian gathering of Karen people also takes place this month in the town on Omkoi about four hours to the south of us. Karen and Thai people come to worship God and be encouraged by testimonies of deliverance from addictions, physical healing, reconciliation of relationships and blessing on their land, crops and businesses. You find that lives are transformed when people are not limited by fear, hopelessness, superstition, sin, and habits that drain their health and resources.

We continue to be involved in the ongoing ministry with the big brother-sister program at a local AIDS orphanage, and we have also been giving respite care to foster families who care for children who are physically and mentally challenged. We are also at present hosting a Thai Christian single mom and her son in our home as they are working on housing and employment options.

Please pray that:

1) The current economic, political and social shakings in Thailand will result in positive changes.
2) Pray that Thai and tribal Christians would be salt and light in their communities and live out the testimony of a life transformed.
3) Pray for Myanmar, for I.D.P.’s and for tribal people who are victims of military brutality.
4) Pray that we would make the most the time and opportunities that God gives us.

Marriage in California

For those who did not listen to this morning's debate at the California Supreme Court here is a video from one of the news stations I watch in Sacramento.

Moderating comments

I have fixed my blog so that comments will be moderated. Looking today at past comments on past posts I see that although it seems I am getting a lot of comments, a huge amount of them are coming from those who simply want to argue with the Bible's position on homosexual sin. Or even on Jesus Christ as he is found in the Bible as God's final revelation.

I am sorry that so many want to harass on that subject, but since many do not seem to be interested in conversing on any other subject on my blog I have decided to moderate my comments. That means you may make some comments on the subject but may not go on forever with such comments.

I believe this will help me to write more while paying better attention to other important aspects of my life. Such as being a grandmother, working on CPM, teaching at Church, etc.

But such were some of you!

The California State Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control brought charges against a popular gay club in San Francisco and is in the process of taking away their liqueur license.

I know that is a strange way to start a Christian blog posting. But the article where this information is found has something to say about community values and I have been searching for a way to do a posting without offending my Christian readers.

I will not link to the article because of some rather offensive advertisement, but will write about the information and do some quoting. The article is taken from the Bay Area Reporter a gay and lesbian paper in the Bay area.

The club has been charged, among other things, with 33 instances of nude dancing and nude serving of drinks, and either actual or pretended sex including sodomy and bestiality.

After reading about the charges, charges that the owners did not deny, it was their defense that amazed me.

The reporter after hearing by e-mail from the main owner wrote this:

“In an e-mail to the B.A.R., the club's main owner, Jamie Zawinski, insisted that the ABC has taken such a hard line against him because ‘we had the audacity to appeal their denial of the conversion of our license from 21+ to all ages, and win. It's very rare for a nightclub to convert from 21+ to all ages, and ABC apparently didn't like that at all. I believe their current actions are retaliatory.’

Zawinski also wrote that based on the testimony of the ABC employees during the hearing it was obvious they do not understand San Francisco's ‘community values,’ noting that one undercover officer stated he was unsure if a performer named ‘Lola’ was a man or a woman.

'It seems to me that the ABC investigators have no understanding of gay culture or what gay clubs are like," wrote Zawinski, who opened the club in 2001. ‘It sounded to me like the guy had never seen a drag queen before. ... That sounds like a Sacramento suburbanite cop. So I suspect that the severity of the punishment they are asking for has something to do with the fact that gay activity freaks them out.’ (Emphasis mine.)”

After reading about this community’s values and their supposed culture I could only think of some ancient biblical city such as Corinth. Also the whole of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 came to mind. Paul pointing to the sin of fornication, idolatry, homosexuality, thievery, covetous, drunkenness, reviling and swindling, reminds the Christian community of where they have been and where because of Jesus Christ they now are.

“Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (11)

I also thought of the last two minute speech I made at our Presbytery meeting. It was the last speech. Yes, I was the only person to be so foolish as to try a second time to explain my reasoning for voting against amendment B.

I had written something down several days before Presbytery but knew I needed to read it to get it just right. So I said something else the first time.

But between each amendment voted on, we did a responsive reading which always started with Micah 6:8. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

And I had used that verse in my written speech. So when I sat down the first time God just kept pushing me back to the line. So here is the end of it.

“I plead with you, do justice to those broken by sexual sin, leave a standard for them to be guided by. Love kindness, include those broken by sexual sin among those who may by repentance be enfolded into the life changing grace of God. Walk humbly with your God, be obedient to his word allowing room for repentance by those who are trapped in sexual sin. Acknowledge God’s wonderful provision of change through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Vote no on amendment 08-B"

May all be delivered from the so called "community values" of San Francisco.

Pleasure in Blogging

A cluster, a gathering-
where two or three are gathered-
the Three in One is in the midst.
I saw a cluster of violets today.
Against the outside wall,
they flowered in abundance in cold February.
Their roots grow deep
beneath the wall warmed soil.
Together, I am in the midst of them.

When I first began to blog, it was accidental, really. I simply wanted to comment on several people’s blogs. So I created my identity to make it easy. Then I looked and saw how empty the page was; if people clicked on my name they would not find anything to read. So I thought I would post a couple of my poems. And wonder of wonders a friend commented suggesting two books on the Lord’s Supper.

But my reading of blogs before this gave me certain ideals I hoped for when blogging. In particular, I often read Ben Witherington’s blog. He is a professor and I am amazed at how much he interacts with those who comment on his blog postings. I saw Christian conversation about a common Lord as one of the most attractive parts of blogging.

Another side is the chance to speak of Jesus Christ to an audience that does not know him. Also writing about issues of the day from a Christian perspective is very important. But still the attraction for me is godly conversation with sisters and brothers.

How much this ideal fails can quickly be seen by reading the heavier visited postings I have written. The solution eludes me. But nonetheless having conversations with those who love Jesus Christ and desire to be under his Lordship is, for me, the pleasure of blogging.

I was thinking about this as I went to bed last night and woke up, much too early, with some favorite verses from Malachi running through my head.

“Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem his name. ‘They will be Mine,’ says the Lord of Hosts, ‘on the day that I prepare My own possession [special treasure], and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’”

And undoubtedly that is, in the end, the only solution to all problems. The context of this verse is that in the midst of trying times it seems that those who, as the text puts it, are “arrogant against” God are having the better time of it. They are also suggesting that it is futile to serve God and so, “call the arrogant blessed…” But God notes those who fear him as they affirm to each other, with words, the goodness and holiness of the Lord.

In God’s remembrance he promises, ‘but for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”

Calvin explaining this verse, among other thoughts, writes:

“The sum of the whole is briefly this — ‘Hearken ye,’ he says, ‘who fear God; for I have a different word for you, and that is, that the Sun of righteousness shall arise, which will bring healing in its wings. Let those despisers of God then perish, who, though they carry on war with him, yet seek to have him as it were bound to them; but raise ye up your heads, and patiently look for that day, and with the hope of it calmly bear your troubles.’ "

Calvin goes on to enlarge on the subject of the Sun of Righteousness pointing out that this is truly Christ.

So my thoughts are that in conversation with one another the Lord is the listener, and of course, the angels who, as Peter states, “long to look” into the redemptive acts of Christ. (1 Peter 1:10-12) And that is pleasure enough.