April 12, 2010 A New National Pastime

“If we had no faults of our own, we should not take so much
pleasure in noticing those in others.” Francois de La Rochefoucauld

“Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,” while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” Jesus

Reality television has been around awhile, its roots in such shows as “Candid Camera” and game shows, increasing with writers’ strikes in 1988 and 1997. Whatever its origins, however, it shows all signs of being here to stay. What started with “Big Brother” has mushroomed into everything from “Trading Spouses” to “Intervention.” From the comfort of our couches or bedrooms we peer into the lives of those hoping to become the next celebrity dancer or vocalist, hoping to survive, hoping to win the race. We look at the nitty gritty details of the world’s dirtiest and most dangerous jobs. We go with scientists on expedition, doctors into surgery, ride with police officers arresting an endless parade of bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do…

Our taste for so-called “reality” appears to know no bounds. Why, exactly, are we entertained by “Hoarders”? Each program introduces viewers to individuals or families currently burying themselves in their own squalor. They may be facing eviction, divorce, losing children to Social Services, or other crises because of their accumulation of…stuff.

We came across “Hoarders” not too long ago and have watched it a few times since. The first time, though, it was immediately clear what the draw is. None of us lives in a perfectly kept household (at least no one I know). One of my favorite magnets is the one that says “Dull women have immaculate houses”—and I’ve never been accused of being dull! When we see examples of extreme untidiness, larger than life (literally) piles of debris that confound even the professionals called in to help, it reaffirms what we knew all along: I’m not THAT bad.

Judging and comparing ourselves to others has become, with reality television, a national pastime. During “American Idol” auditions, we cringe at the poor unfortunates who think they’re on their way to stardom but who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. When they show up, buckets run the other way. “I’m not Idol material,” we think, “but at least I know it. And I sing a lot better than he/she does.”

We…yes, all of us…have dysfunctional families to some degree or another, but we “objectively” watch drama unfold with nannies and spouses and unfaithfulness and rebellious kids and we breathe a sigh a relief. Yes, we’ve got our share of drama on the home front, but at least it’s not like theirs.

The danger is obvious, in light of the quotes above. If we were perfect, we would be more tolerant of those who are not. If we followed Jesus as we should, we would take care of our own problems before “helping” others with theirs. Our focus should begin in our own hearts, with our own sins and failures. “Let him who is without sin, cast the first stone,” Jesus told the crowd who wanted to punish the woman caught in adultery (see John 8), an interesting and immediate way to thin out the would-be accusers. No one, in fact, threw a single pebble. Each person felt the conviction in his words; each thought of a secret sin he or she would not want publicly aired.

With reality television such as “Hoarders” we see people at their most vulnerable. Their “secret” sin is anything but, splashed across our widescreens in high definition. To reach that point, they must be desperate indeed. Not only do they realize they must get help, but they suffer our participation in the painful recovery process as they come to grips with why they feel it necessary to hang on to a gazillion rotting stuffed animals…or worse, rotting food with all the accompanying vermin associated. Professional counselors and organizers try…sometimes successfully, sometimes not…to bring lasting solutions.

Some believe that where John 8 mentions Jesus writing in the sand, he was writing the individual sins of the woman’s accusers for everyone to see. Today, the sins of the crowd become our “entertainment.”

Just keep that camera turned the other way, please.

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ellenofgillette1@aol.com

March 29, 2010 The "S" Word

Years ago, our family was invited to vacation with owners of a home on Scotland Cay in the Bahamas. Snorkeling in the crystal clear ocean was incredible—everything so colorful and vibrant. Obviously in the open sea, there is always the potential for danger as well; so that the younger ones didn’t get frightened, it was suggested that we refer to shark sightings as spotting an “S” fish.

Although it’s a cultural taboo—people in other parts of the world where it’s not considered a “bad” word use it routinely—you’ve probably instructed your children not to use a certain “S” word. Why? Because you don’t want your child’s teacher or other parents knowing that (1) you use the word yourself in times of frustration or pain, or (2) allow your children to watch television where it pops up frequently. Kids don’t usually say things they never hear!

And not even horrendous side-effects and possible arrest dissuades amateur and professional athletes from taking “Vitamin S” (steroids) to enhance their look or performance.

There is another S word that carries negative connotations even among Christians, although it comes straight off the pages of the Bible and straight from the heart of God: Submission. Because the idea of submission to authority has been used to manipulate and control others, it’s no wonder some people roll their eyes at the mere mention.

For example, Paul’s directive in Ephesians 5, and Peter’s in 1 Peter 2 are two of the verses historically pulled out whenever there is conflict within a marriage:

22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything (Ephesians 5, NIV).

1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any [of them] are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives, 2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior…
6 Thus Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear (1 Peter 3, NIV).

The implication is sometimes that if a woman will submit, everything will be hunky-dory. Wrong…husbands have instructions as well - to love their wives as Christ loved the Church (in my opinion, a much more difficult concept).

However, the Bible doesn’t make one party’s obedience to God conditional on the other party’s. It doesn’t say, “Husbands, love your wives when they are submissive” or “Wives, submit to your husbands if they are loving.” Each one has a specific command from God, and we are to submit to him first.

Early in our marriage I remember asking my husband to pray about whether or not I should help with the youth group at our church. “Pray about it yourself,” he said. “You can hear from God.” This was important because as a teenager I was part of a church that walked through a very strong submission teaching—strong in a worldly, carnal way, not a spiritual one. A group of people who sincerely wanted to submit to God and honor him was led down a path of error. Trust was abused to an alarming degree, yet God protected his people because of their hearts; I would venture to guess that the majority of that congregation is still serving God today.

My husband knew instinctively that I might have a tendency to blindly revere his authority, even as I had been taught to blindly follow church leadership. He made it clear that although he took his role as my husband seriously, he would not become a substitute for God himself.

Submission is God’s idea, and his ideas are always loving, and best. Just because Satan is constantly trying to twist God’s ideas and use them for harm doesn’t mean that the idea itself is anything but pure and holy.

Submission is about more than marriage, obviously. And there will always be challenges—our government is not perfect. Our church leaders are not perfect. Our husbands are not perfect. Our parents are not perfect. The world systems which we must obey (or suffer the consequences) on a daily basis are not perfect. God, however, is perfect. His ways are higher than our ways, we see in Isaiah 55. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He uses his government to teach things like humility, honor, respect, love, compassion…

Not a bad word in the bunch.




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Ellenofgillette1@aol.com

March 15, 2010 Less is More

Maybe we’re going about it wrong.

By “we” I mean the Church. By “it” I mean the programs geared toward growth.

In Judges 6 we find the nation of Israel in trouble. Because of their sin, the Lord has handed them over to the Midianites for a period of punishment living in poverty and fear. It’s a familiar pattern in the Old Testament (as in our own lives)—sin, refusal to repent, consequences, repentance, deliverance and blessing, sin, refusal to repent, etc.

Gideon is confronted by an angel who appears as a man, as he works in hiding. Instead of pointing out the obvious (that he’s afraid and living in defeat), the angel calls him a “mighty warrior” and says that God is with him. Not only that, he commissions him to deliver the entire nation. This would impress most of us, but Gideon is so down-trodden by his circumstances that he has trouble believing it. His clan is small. He’s the youngest in his family. But when he asks for a sign, the angel is very convincing. His faith restored, Gideon obeys in a relatively small act of defiance—he pulls down an altar of Baal.

Before he’ll take on the entire nation of Midian, however, he needs to be really, really sure God will have his back. He lays out a sheep fleece and asks God to make it wet in the midst of dry ground. Done. Just to make sure, he lays it out again and asks God to make the fleece dry and the ground wet. Done. (God is so patient with us, isn’t he?)

Filled with confidence and faith, Gideon musters 32,000 men to fight with him. It’s not as many as he would like, but it will have to do. Wrong—God tells him to send home anyone who is afraid. Gideon’s probably thinking, Who wouldn’t be?! Amazingly, he still ends up with 10,000. Still too many. God engineers a test whereby the number drops to 300. That’s not even a tithe of the original group. It’s a tithe of the tithe! Despite this, God uses Gideon and his army of 300 to rout 120,000, and the eventually successful revolt against Midian is on.

Why such a little army? Judges 7:2 says, “The Lord said to Gideon, ‘The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’”

We’ve been called to evangelize the world. Tell sinners to repent. Pray for more laborers for the harvest. God desires that all men will be saved. Etc. Etc. But maybe…just maybe…sometimes less is more. Maybe our attempts to get bigger and bigger building programs and more numbers and fill the seats and pack the house have been, at least in one respect, counter-productive. Maybe we have watered down the gospel to make it more palatable so much so that it fails to quench the real thirsts in peoples’ lives. Maybe we’ve lost focus on the task of building God’s kingdom and are tempted to think that our “own hand” has been responsible for building our own kingdoms.

Maybe we don’t need more soldiers in God’s army, but better soldiers. Maybe we don’t need to make Christianity so socially pleasing and acceptable, but use the same tactics as Jesus, who said things like:

· “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Matthew 5:30).
· “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you” (Matthew 7:6).
· “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).
· “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Luke 12:51)!
· “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).
· “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53).

Jesus sometimes seems to have gone out of his way to deliver a hard word, a statement few would understand, a command that no one in his right mind would rush to obey. He chose to make it difficult to come to him. “For the gate is narrow and road is hard that leads to life; and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14).

Following Jesus…being a true Christian…is simple, but it perhaps it shouldn’t be as easy as the Church in 2010 sometimes makes it out to be, at least in the United States. Fellow believers around the world (a relatively smaller number than in attendance at mega-churches of the West) who face persecution and hardship, even death, on a daily basis, might find little in common with our level of complacency and comfort every Sunday morning, but I have a gut feeling that those beleaguered “300” are accomplishing far more.

Of course, it’s not really about the numbers at all, is it? It’s what’s in the hearts of those who come to the battle.

Permission to use with acknowledgement of source. Quotations from New Revised Standard Version of the Bible

March 1, 2010 Led into the Wilderness

According to Wikipedia, “Lent, in Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, penitance, almsgiving, and self-denial— for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the death and resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events linked to the passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

Conventionally Lent is described as being forty days long, although Sundays are not counted (songs and focus are more somber and reflective during Lent in many churches, but each Sunday throughout the year is considered a smaller-scaled Easter, commemorating the resurrection). The forty days represent the time that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent in the wilderness before the beginning of his public ministry where he tempted by Satan.

I’ve been thinking about being in the wilderness lately, probably because I’m going to a James McDonald Bible study (“Lord, Change My Attitude”) that deals with “wilderness” attitudes and focuses primarily on the 40 year wanderings of the children of Israel. Recently, we looked at the attitude of doubt, which can disguise itself in different ways. One of these is withdrawal—from loved ones, from church, from the Word, from God.

Because doubt can be so deadly—just a hop, skip, and jump away from turning into despair, McDonald points out—we need to be around people of faith. Withdrawal helps keep doubt alive; being among those who will consistently and persistently speak words of encouragement and faith into our lives soon drives doubt out of the darkness and into the light that will dispel it completely.

When a person withdraws, then, it is easy to make assumptions about their spiritual maturity or present walk with God. I submit to you that this is a dangerous assumption (as most are, in the final analysis).

The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness because of their disobedience and unbelief, but what about Jesus? Scripture tells us that he was “led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry” (Luke 4:1-2, NIV).

Did you get that? The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. He wasn’t there by accident, or by Satan’s invitation. He wasn’t there because he was in a snit or had gotten mad at the disciples. He hadn’t disobeyed, choosing to run from conviction. The Holy Spirit led him into a dry, rocky place where he was alone. He led him there to do without normal interaction with others and normal sustenance from food. Jesus, fully God and fully man, experienced weakness in the flesh—he was hungry. His strength was sapped.

At his lowest point, Satan arrived, hoping to trip the Son of God up—which just shows you how ridiculous he can be. With every temptation, Jesus countered with the Word of God (since he IS the Word, this is understandable…what boggles the mind is that Satan thought he had a chance!).

There is encouragement for us in this account on so many levels, but what it speaks to me at this particular moment, fresh on the heels of hearing someone talk of another person’s “devastating” withdrawal is that we should be very careful not to judge another person’s wilderness experience.

A good friend of mine was in and out of the wilderness for some time, but was, throughout the experience, able to focus on, worship, and trust in God. Certainly it was a trying “dark night of the soul” for this individual, loving friends, a caring family…and yet, God spoke throughout the darkness, teaching new lessons there than couldn’t, apparently, be learned in the light. There had been a rather stubborn dependence on others, rather than depending solely on God. Things—good things, even—had drained spiritual energy a jealous Father wanted spent in other directions.

Humans have a tendency to equate perkiness with blessing, but scripture clearly reveals that even those with the deepest relationships with God—David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul…Jesus himself…went through their own wildernesses at God’s bidding.

Lord, help us not to judge others when they withdraw or seem lost in the desert, knowing that if you lead us there one day, we will also respond better to a cup of cold water than to harsh opinions. Let us be faithful to pray for them that they will learn quickly all that you have to teach them. And let us be mindful of attitudes and actions that might force us into the desert…may the only wildernesses we wander in be those led by the Holy Spirit, for your purposes and your glory.

Permission to use with acknowledgement of source.

ellenofgillette1@aol.com.

Feb. 15, 2010 Happy Valentine’s Day

Since this will post the day after Valentine’s Day, it seemed a no-brainer to write something on the subject of the day’s history or at least come up with a few of the standard scriptures about love. Doing a little research, I came upon a bit of news that sent me in a different direction.

Our family spent almost all of 1987 in India with Youth with a Mission. One day in February, a woman on the staff mentioned that we had received quite a lot of mail. “Oh,” I said happily, “it’s a red-letter day.” I meant that it was a day of significance, because getting mail when you’re far from home is such a wonderful thing. The woman looked at me oddly, however. “How did you know?” She was amazed, because our mail contained several Valentine’s Day cards—thus our mail was literally filled with “red letters.”

Apparently there has been a growing animosity toward Valentine’s Day in recent years among Hindu fundamentalists who consider its celebration an example of the widespread “cultural pollution of the west.” According to Wikipedia, “those who violate (laws against Valentine’s Day) are dealt with harshly by baton-holding brigands … who lurk in public places especially parks, chasing young people holding hands and others suspected to be lovers. In many parts of south India couples who are found in parks and other public places are immediately forced to marry on the spot.”

Talk about your arranged marriages…”How did you and Daddy get married?” “We were holding hands on February 14 one year and the police made us get hitched.” Not the most romantic courtship story, but since the day is named for multiple Christian martyrs, perhaps not so far out in left field as the traditional cupids, hearts, flowers, and chocolates.

Valentine’s Day may well have its origin in the pagan festival Lupercalia (Feb. 15), in which shepherds ran through villages naked, striking people as they passed in the belief that it would help with fertility and childbirth. When Christianity came on the scene, a “nicer” holiday was introduced, just as with All Saint’s Day at Halloween or Christmas at the Winter Solstice.

None of which has much of anything to do with the kind of love we each desire…the unfailing love we will only find perfectly in the person of God. The most loving human will inevitably disappoint and fail us, as we will fail others, but God’s love is never-ending. Romans 8:38-39 tells us that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (NRSV).

NOTHING has the power to separate us from the love of God.

Sin has the power, however, to separate us from the God of love.

I challenge you, at this particular “Hallmark holiday” season, to do a heart audit, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal any unrepented-of sin. The traditional season of Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday, continuing through Easter. The very best thing to “give up” for Lent is all that would separate us from our true hearts’ desire…God.

Permission to use with acknowledgement of source.

ellenofgillette1@aol.com

February 1, 2010 Words of Life

16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV

Years ago, missionaries from Kenya, East Africa, retired in the city of Fort Pierce, Florida, where I also lived; it was my privilege to get to know them fairly well, attend church with them, and sit under their teaching over the next few decades. John and Sophia Kitts had served some forty years overseas—John had worked with pygmy tribes (short in stature, he said it was the only time he was a giant among men); Sophie was a beloved radio personality. At the end of his career John worked as a prison chaplain, offering comfort and wisdom to inmates on Death Row. Sophia died in 1987; John, who had been blessed with a second wife, passed away in 2002.

John reported that all of the prisoners he spoke with were open to hearing about God’s love and forgiveness, which makes perfect sense. If you’re about to stand before a judge, it is good to know your lawyer is prepared. 1 John 2:1 tells us that we have an advocate, or legal counsel…someone to speak on our behalf… in Jesus himself. “Yes, Father,” he may say, “this one has sinned many times and deserves eternal death as you have judged righteously. But may I remind the court that I already served his penalty? My blood has already covered his sins, his past, his mistakes, his failures.”

I thought of this aspect of John’s work with prisoners facing death last week as I read from the Psalms by the bed of a man at the local hospice. Although the common perception of hospice is that of providing end-of-life care exclusively, people also come to the facility for symptom management or short-term respite care (for example, a family caretaker is ill or has to be away). Hospice patients may stabilize and return home or be placed in nursing homes. For many, of course, their stay at hospice is a launching pad into eternity. Visits from family members, friends, staff, and volunteers take on added significance as each moment may be their last.

As the verses above say, all scripture is beneficial. The words spoken to those who are either in the midst of great trials or at the ends of their life journeys—by John Kitts in the prisons of Kenya, by countless chaplains at battlefield hospitals, by loved ones and others at final bedsides—can bring so much comfort and encouragement, because they are the very words of life. And if those who are dying need to hear something other than judgment and condemnation, don’t those within our own households? Don’t those with whom we have contact every day?

Perhaps we would do better showing others the love of God if we didn’t focus so often on the things they are doing wrong, putting more emphasis on the fact that they have already been forgiven. We may have the privilege of being the one to tell them for the first time…or the last.

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ellenofgillette1@aol.com

January 18, 2010 "What to do about Pat" Isn't Even the Real Question

My initial column on this page included an intention to avoid politics, but sometimes, even the best of intentions must be laid aside.

Televangelist Pat Robertson is currently getting buried under heavy criticism regarding his speculation last week that the January 12 earthquake in Haiti was directly related to that nation’s long-ago pact with Satan. It’s not the first time Robertson has gotten into hot water by opening his mouth, but it will probably be the most-remembered, seeming so incredibly insensitive during a time of national loss and grief. At last count over 100,000 souls swept away…not a good time to be pointing fingers.

Having no great affection for televangelists in general, I nevertheless sense a hesitation in my spirit to jump on the anti-Pat bandwagon. Maybe it’s because both Old and New Testament scripture backs up the idea that God does judge sin on a national scale. Prophets, angels, even Balaam’s donkey (see Numbers 22), have brought harsh words and appeared harsh themselves, even a little on the crazy side.

(Not that Pat Robertson is a prophet—as my husband wisely pointed out, a prophet would have predicted the earthquake before it happened, not talk about the reasons for it after the fact. And it’s always struck me that when YOU go through a tough time, it must be God dealing with you, but when I’M the one in hot water, it’s an attack from the enemy!)

Robertson’s much-maligned comment was taken out of context, as such things usually are—he went on to talk about compassion, helping, etc. But did Haitian leaders make a pact with the devil? According to Wikipedia, there was a significant Vodou (voodoo) ceremony in 1791 in which the slaves gathered for the express purpose of getting help overthrowing French rule. During the ceremony, a demon-possessed priestess cut a pig’s throat and distributed the blood to those gathered. The ceremony marked the beginning of the Haitian revolution, part of their history.

Did a ceremony in 1791 cause an earthquake over 300 years later? No, shifting tectonic plates did that. Were spiritual forces at work in the shifting? That’s a deeper question.

We could compare Haiti and the Dominican Republican—both nations share the same island of Hispaniola, but they differ greatly. For example, Haiti ranks 135th on one Gross Domestic Product chart, while the Dominican Republic is one of, if not the, wealthiest Central American and Caribbean nations. Half of all Haitians practice vodou, regardless of other religious affiliation. Over 95% in the DR claim to be Christian. Haiti has had a string of corrupt leaders; the DR, apparently not. Has one enjoyed God’s blessing while the other has incurred his wrath? It does give one pause—especially as we see our own nation moving further and further away from its Christian heritage.

Robertson’s comments weren’t politically correct, but then, Jesus was rarely PC. Jewish patriarchs, kings, prophets, Christian disciples, apostles, ministers, missionaries—a multitude of people who, with the perspective of history, are credited with wonderful examples of obedience to God—have often been criticized at the time of their obedience. Was Robertson speaking from God’s perspective, or his own? If he was giving his personal opinion, was there any truth in it?

Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that he was wrong—poor timing, personal agenda, prejudice and arrogance, whatever the reason. What then, is to be our response? Robertson is a Christian, certainly one with faults and weaknesses as the rest of us, but he and his many ministries do lift up the name of Jesus (and do a tremendous amount of good—Operation Blessing alone has spent over a billion dollars helping those in need). His insensitivity hasn’t made any friends for evangelicals or the Church, but perhaps we would do best to view this as a cautionary tale rather than heating up the tar and gathering feathers for one of our own. Like the relative we’re a little uncomfortable around because of the constant drama, he still gets invited to the reunion.

As for our response to the far greater question…Haiti itself…that one’s easy. We pray – for help to reach those in need, for lives and souls to be saved, for workers to be protected, for finances to be released. Beyond prayer, some of us will be asked to give. Some of us will be asked to go.

Of one thing, I’m certain: not one of us will be asked to make Pat Robertson’s remarks or Haiti’s history an excuse for apathy.


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ellenofgillette1@aol.com