Leave Him Alone

Much was made of the fact that newly elected Pope Francis fetching his own luggage and personally settling accounts at the hotel where he had stayed during the conclave to select a new Pope.  Here is the lead from one article:  "Pope Francis put his humility on display during his first day as pontiff Thursday, stopping by his hotel to pick up his luggage and pay the bill himself in a decidedly different style for the papacy usually ensconced inside the frescoed halls of the Vatican."  (NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press 4:24 A.M.MARCH 14, 2013)

I don't accept the authority of the Pope, but my article today is not so much critical as sympathetic.  I wish reporters would leave the guy alone.  Acts of humility, and religious activities, like praying--the Pope's prayer at church right after the hotel visit was also widely publicized--ought to be private.  Listen to what the Lord Jesus had to say on this.  Any righteous deed done for the purpose of display is not a righteous deed at all.  As perverse as it is, one can be proud of his humility.  Such is the depth of depravity.  

So, if Francis errand to fetch his stuff and pay his bill--in a regular car, no less--was a sincere act of humility, he wouldn't want it spread worldwide.  If it was not sincere it shouldn't be publicized.  

Meanwhile back in Covington VA, I pray that the Lord will help me to "not to think more highly" of myself than I ought.  A sober assessment would lead to the truth that if I have anything worthy of note it is from God.  (Romans 12:3)

 

It's STTA. 

 

You Can Conclave, But You Can't Hide.

I heard there was pink smoke over Vatican City.  I hope it doesn't block folk's view of Dennis Rodman who says he's going to ride in the "pope-mobile."  I wonder if Kim Jung Un will be riding shotgun.

I read that the whole smoke thing came from a time--notthat long ago, historically speaking--when the Vatican felt that it was surrounded and imprisoned by Italy.  By 1915 the black smoke, white smoke signal was in place.  I'm not sure if it's a joke, but I hear that the chimney has a twitter account.  

The pink smoke?  That came from a group of women who want the Roman Catholic Church to ordain women to the priesthood.

A couple of months ago four women lobbying for gay couple adoption drew attention to themselves by stripping from the waist up in Vatican square as Pope Benedict spoke from a balcony.

I have heard it reported a number of times that none of the Cardinals really wants to be Pope.  I doubt that, but it is clear that the next Pope will have all kinds of troubles with which to deal.  A friend recently reminded me of something I said a while back.  "People are messy."  The more people one deals with, the more mess.

While time to ones self is valuable, it is not the Lord's intention that those who minister in the church do so in isolation.  Jesus was a "man of sorrows, acquainted with grief."  He was accused by His enemies of being a "Friend of sinners."  Though the enemies didn't understand why, they were in fact right.  He was so busy with people, that at one time it was observed that He and His disciples didn't have time to eat.  Jesus hung out with hotheads like James and John, those like Peter who are subject to emotional outbursts, melancholy sorts, like Thomas, and those who, like Simon,  hold extreme political views.  That was just the beginning of messes.  Take time surveying the book of Acts and read 1 Corinthians and it is clear that our Lord intends that Christianity impact the real world.

Where so many of the protester-types go wrong is how they think the church should interface with the world.  They think that the church should change and adapt to the ideas of the world.  Yes, we should be aware, and we should know how to communicate (listen to Paul on Mars Hill for a model, of this), but we in the church address the world because we have the message they need to hear and heed.  Not the other way around.

 

In the church where I minister, smoke means a burned out amplifier or something burning in the kitchen.  Or, metaphorically, the smoke comes from the heat of the battle.  The needs are great.  The battle may be hot.  Those of us who claim to be faithful to the Word of God, need to run to the smoke, not shrink from it.

 

It's STTA. 

 

To the Barricades--Fighting the Idiocy:

I really hate to do this, but some folk who don't know me might read this, so I need to put a preamble on today's STTA.  If you do know me, you can skip to the black font if you want.

• This is the fourth in a four-part series.  You need to see the other three posts for this one to make sense.  (Scroll down to the March 5 post and start there.)
• I'm a long way from being a political activist.  In fact I try to keep the church out of anything associated with partisan politics.  
• I am a supporter of public education.  While I am also a supporter of home, and private education, I realize that without a strong public system many (most) of our youngsters will grow up uneducated.

I want to make a couple of observations and suggestions.  I hope that parents will responsibly and creatively put them to use.

Bureaucracy produced, zero-tolerance rules make zero sense.  We should quit acting as if they do.  

The Prophet Micah gave us one of the great ethical statements of all time:  

Do justice, to love kindness, 

And to walk humbly with your God.

(Micah 6:8)

 

Unlike the various zero-tolerance policies there is an inherent tension in Micah's words.  Is this a time when my emphasis ought to be justice, or should kindness (mercy) be shown?  And wrap all of that in humility--rather than the incredible bureaucratic hubris that says "I've got every possible scenario covered with my one simple rule."  

No, you don't!

In Jesus day the Pharisees were the zero-tolerance guys.  In Jesus grace and truth are found.  Let's not be on the wrong side.  (See here for an example of the conflict.)

 

We create zero-tolerance policies to remove unfairness, and to make an absolute statement against something our system decides is intolerable.

• We correctly identify that drugs are a problem among young people, so we create a zero-tolerance policy that will suspend a seventeen year old, who we trust to operate an automobile and cook our supper at the local burger-joint, for having an aspirin in his backpack.
• We conclude that students in school need to get along, so we write a zero-tolerance rule that causes a young man who saves his classmate's life to be suspended for three days. 
• We conclude that guns are bad (a debatable concept, to say the least) and so we throw kids out of class for chewing pop-tarts into the shape of a gun.

As parents we should have zero-tolerance for such idiocy.

More and more school systems act as if children belong to them.  

It's not that long ago.  My son, a good student, wanted to go deer hunting in the mornings of deer season.  To do so he would miss a class at High School.  "Son, as long as your grades are ok, I don't care."  

Several days later:

"ring-ring"

"This is Mr. Smith, Chad's absolutely essential class teacher.  Do you know that Chad hasn't been in class for the past five days?"

"Yes."

(Surprise on the other end.)

"How are his grades?"  

"He's doing OK."

"Let me know when he isn't."

That is a truncated version of the conversation, but the gist is there.  This is my son, and forgive me Mr. Teacher, butI need to decide how he should best send his November mornings.  He has shown himself responsible enough to make this choice.  He has earned the right, and besides that I like venison and don't hunt myself.

"But," the educational bureaucracy objects, "If we allow that, some kids just won't come to school at all.  Yes, and I'm willing to work with you to address that.  What I am not prepared to do is to zero-tolerate responsible students and parents into a corner that makes zero sense.

OK, if this were were a sermon it would be 12:15.  I need to quit.  A couple of suggestions:

To the parents of Arundel County Maryland.  Bake every cookie for every party, back sale, and reception in the shape of a revolver.  Use jelly-beans for bullets.  Make sure every P,B&J sandwich is in the shape of gun.  Force the zero-tolerance enforcers to reduce the head count in every class to zero.

To the parents in Florida:  Tell the system that you have zero-tolerance for a system that is so intolerant of good sense that it cannot tell the difference between a kid who is starting a fight and one who is saving a life.  In honor of the gun-snatcher's heroism declare a three-day holiday.  When the zero-tolerant types say the three days have to be made up, declare another one.  Let the bureaucracy know that you have zero-tolerance for a system that punishes good behavior.

To parents everywhere:  Stop tolerating a system that lays claim to our children.  The schools exist to help us educate our children.  Let the system know that we have zero tolerance for a bureaucracy that doesn't understand that.

 

It's STTA. 

Something's Wrong--Doing Something About It:

I'm a long way from being a political activist.  In fact I try to keep the church out of anything associated with partisan politics.  I am, however, a promoter of Biblical activism.  God's people should be looking for opportunities to do good, resist evil, and whenever possible make our world a better place as a result of our passing through.

Over the past couple of days (here and here) STTA has been about some things that are wrong in our world.  Thefirst article referred to the erosion of respect for life seen in the story about the 911 call from a nurse who refused to do CPR on a dying woman because it is against policy.  The second is about the idiocy of suspending an elementary school student for chewing a pop-tart into the shape of a gun, and suspending a high-school student for rescuing a classmate from being shot.  These incidents make clear that when a real ethical system is taken away, the vacuum will be filled with zero-tolerance idiocy.  Way too often what is "zero-tolerated" is good sense.

So, what do we do about it?

When we see culture pushing in the wrong direction--andthese incidents are clear examples of that wrong direction--we need to push back.  God's people have a long history of pushing back.  We pushed back against the culturally accepted practice of letting unwanted children die from exposure.  We led the fight against the evils of slavery.  We oppose modern examples of human-trafficking.  

All around us are examples of the cheapening of human life.  When "quality of life" considerations totally dominate "sanctity of life" considerations we need to push back.  When the our culture acts as if the unbridgeable gulf between animal life and human life isn't really there, we need to push back.  When others ask as if the value of life is determined by how much other people want that life, rather than the value given to that life by our creator, we need to push back.   When others treat suicide as if it is an acceptable way of dealing with life's difficulties, we need to push back.  When bureaucratic, self-serving policies are given precedence over attempting to save a life.  We need to push back.

One Godly lady commenting on the refusal of the nurse to perform CPR, said, "I think I would have just put my job on the line and performed the CPR."  If I have a heart attack, I sure hope somebody like this woman--willing to push back against the trends of our culture--is there to help.  I ask myself, "Am I willing to buck the trends of my culture and do what is right?"

I'll comment on the second incident tomorrow, but for now, 

 

It's STTA. 

 

Something's Wrong, #2

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT

Reducing child-rearing to its simplest terms, one could describe it as, encouraging good behavior and discouraging bad.  "Don't hit your sister!"  "Share your toy with Johnny."  Recent news gives evidence that our culture is doing the opposite.  Yesterday's STTA tells of a "policy" that reflects our society's growing unwillingness to take a chance in order to save a life.  Other news idicates that it is even worse than that.  In our absurd focus on eliminating and controlling things that some people use to do wicked things, we actually end up punishing innocent or even heroic activity.   We can all take comfort in knowing that our schools are being kept safe from deadly weapons, like the one pictured to the left.  I only hope that Al-Qaeda doesn't figure out how to gnaw bread into atomic weapons!  I likewise hope that Arundel County, Maryland, officials are conducting sufficient investigation to find out whether this pastry-based killing machine has a high capacity magazine.  We have to put a stop to such things. Well maybe not. While it is important to take a stand against pastry guns--I mean, after all, these things are invisible to metal detectors--we can't leave disarming bad guys to mere mortals.  Such work must be left to professionals--people with the keen eye and steely nerves that enable them to tell the difference between breakfast and terrorist threats.  In Florida a young man observed a classmate pointing a 22 revolver--non-pastry version--at another student.  The report is that rather than threatening to eat the revolver the young man was threatening to shoot his fellow bus-rider.  Not realizing that gun-removal, pastry or steel, must be left to professionals, the young man stepped in and wrestled the gun away from the would-be shooter.  Fortunately no people were harmed or toaster-pastries chewed.  In order to discourage amateurs--you know, the kind of folk who can't spot a deadly pastry-gun in plain daylight--from saving the lives of others, the young man received a three-day suspension.  One can only hope that the young man is kept out of school permanently.  We have to protect our children; they are our most precious asset. Enough.  It's not funny! I know many educators who are terribly bothered about these examples of common-sense, being replaced by senseless bureaucratic rules.  We need to pray for these points-of-light.  Systems that reward heroism with suspensions are not friendly to teachers and administrators who show courageous Godliness and good sense.  Pray for them. These two examples are just two of the more notable examples of parents being replaced by the education machine.  Mom, Dad, resist this tendency.   I'm so dumb that I think that the only danger posed by pop-tarts is tooth-decay and obesity.  Me, I would have given the Florida lad a medal.  Obviously, I don't know anything about educating children, but if you want to listen to someone foolish enough to believe that parents, not bureaucracies ought to raise children, tune in tomorrow.  In the mean time pray. It's STTA.

Something Is Wrong!

Take a moment and look at that picture.  Look again.  Look yet again, and be reminded that Lorraine Bayless is a real person.  We know from news stories that she had a daughter.  Did she sew, play cards, listen to music, maybe she was a baseball fan?  Tracey Halvorson , the dispatcher who handled the call that came in requesting help for Lorraine, identified her as a "human."  

By now the 

Video: Woman's Refusal to Administer CPR Sparks Controversy

is probably familiar.  Lorraine collapsed.  It looked like a heart attack.  The nurse at the independent living home where Lorraine lived called 911.  The dispatcher tried to get the nurse to do CPR.  When she said it was against policy, Tracey begged for the nurse to get somebody else who was willing to help her.  The non-nursing nurse said she couldn't do that.  It is against policy.

Look at that picture once again.  We aren't discussing a policy, here.  Lorraine Bayless is a human being, one who bears the image of God.  To paraphrase John Donne,

"Ask not for whom the 911 call is made.  

It is made for thee."

 

Maybe I'm making too much of this, but I just watched a BCC documentary series on Auschwitz.  The policyargument sounds remarkably familiar.  When policies discourage people from helping, or trying to help, others something is wrong with policy and the culture that produced those policies.  When potential Good Samaritans consult the manual before they consult their hearts something is wrong.  When our hearts allow us to glibly quote policy while someone is dying, something is wrong.  

"Are we going to let this lady die?"  ". . . is there anybody that's willing to help this lady and not let her die?"  Tracey, the dispatcher, asked with obvious concern.  

"Not at this time." was the sad reply.

 

Something is wrong, and  

 

 It's STTA. 

 

Swallowed by Life:

People have been fascinated by the story of Jeff Bush.  He went to bed in his Florida home, just like people do all around the world.  There was the sound of things crashing and breaking, then Jeff's brother, Jeremy, heard his brother yell.  He rushed in to investigate. 

"Everything was gone. My brother's bed, my brother's dresser, my brother's TV. My brother was gone."

A huge sinkhole had opened up under Jeff's bedroom.  It sounds a lot like the story of Korah, Dathan and Abiram in Numbers  16, here.  At least in the Biblical account we can clearly see God's hand.  He did this because. . . . The story from Florida has that maddening randomness that has troubled people from Solomon to Howard.

Yesterday heavy equipment came and finished demolishing the house.  Jeff Bush's body hasn't been, and probably won't be found.  While this story has captured the attention of millions, his story is not really unique.  Everyday life opens its ugly maw and swallows someone,sometimes many someones in one fell swoop.  The fact is, unless we take steps to resit to it, this life, this world, will swallow us all.  As one wag said, "This life's a mess.  None of are going to get out alive."  If we are trying to figure out how to make life down here under the sun make sense, sooner or later we are going to come up frustrated.  God doesn't say that this life will make

Another sink hole in Guatamala City

sense, not even for His followers.  Rather He has promised to be with us, and to take us to be with Him, when a sinkhole, or a car-wreck, or a lucky microbe, or an old, worn-out body takes us out of this world.  See here, and here, for examples.  

The kind of relationship with God described in the Bible does not describe a life with a no-sink-hole guarantee.  It does point us to a Savior Who overcame life and does and will rescue us.

 It's STTA.
 

 There is lot's of information about this rescue here.