visible and invisible

It's Halloween season.

The time when people think of and imagine invisible things like ghosts and ghouls and goblins.

What do you think of when you think of invisible things?

Rich Mullins was a singer, songwriter, and poet of my generation. Here is what he thought of -

"There are invisible things. Like the light behind the earth that casts a shadow that we call night, like the sap that runs with life in the veins of trees that we think are dead, like the silence behind all the noise.

Like the great beyond, too great to be fit into the lenses of our high-powered telescopes. Like the atmosphere for birds, the ocean for fish, too present to be discovered, which we are a part of, and apart from which we cannot have life. Invisible things.

Things cut off from our senses - like Eden barred from our first ancestors - guarded, hedged in, kept away. The Spirit, the angels, the hidden realm, the secret kingdom, God's hidden work and his mysterious ways. The things we dream of and imagine we remember, things we yearn for and curse and deny and yet hope for in spite of ourselves. As if a part of our true selves belonged to a real world and not the one our lesser selves have settled for and surrendered to ... or would surrender to if not for the persistence of those invisible things.

The things the visible world points to and grasps at, but cannot quite reach, cannot quite escape. And just when our smug, agnostic selves settle into some comfortable, manageable despair, something goes bump in the night, something hums in our hearts and sweeps us up out of the numbness and into a great longing, the unquenchable hope that we would just as well live without, if only life was possible without invisible things."  (Release Magazine, 1994)

In the creed we confess, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.” In this secular world of naturalism and materialism, many people think that the only things that are real are the things that you can see and hear and touch. There are no spiritual or supernatural powers at work, only natural, only what you can see and experience around you. This leads to some bad ideas and even worse consequences. Like the idea that you've only got one crack at this thing, only one go-around, so you better look out for #1 and go for the gusto and get yours while the gettin' is good. So what if you have to knock off a few people along the way, you know, crack a few eggs to make the omelet. Hey, that's life, because you only live once, right? 

But if we are only living in a natural material world where we're just fighting to survive, there is no concept of God and what it means to live in God's good creation, let alone the new creation that is to come. There is so much more to this life than just what we can see, taste, and touch - what we can collect, earn, accumulate, and put in our bank account. We need a better idea, a better image.

Paul says in Colossians 1 that "the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created - things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."

The image of the invisible God. The original icon, the eternal logos, the creator of the cosmos, the one who came from beyond the great beyond. The Incarnate One, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and in whom all things hold together. All things. That includes invisible things, like goodness, truth, beauty, and love. In him we see what love really is and where it comes from - the very heart of God. For God so loved the world, that he sent his one and only Son, for you, for me, for all. 

Rich Mullins could have had it all. He was on his way to being the #1 recording artist in Christian music. But the invisible things of God kept gnawing away at him. So he left his status and celebrity and went back to school for a music degree, and then on to New Mexico to live on a reservation so he could teach music to children and share God's love with them. 

Some say Christians are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good. But the opposite is actually worse - to be so earthly minded that you are no heavenly good. 

"Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.'  (Col. 3)

We thank God for all that we see - all the visible things our senses can perceive. But we thank God most of all for His Son, without whom we would be deaf, dumb, and blind to the invisible things of this world and the world to come. For God, who said, 'let light shine out of darkness,'has made his light to shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

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stone table

 

Stone Table, Merton College, Oxford

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Dead Sea Scrolls at 75

 

"They won't let me cross the border. Ibrahim will have to lead you. See you in a few days."

Those were the words of our tour guide as we prepared to leave Israel and spend the weekend in the country of Jordan. We were on a tour of the Holy Land a few years back with Pastor Nabil Nour, originally from Israel but also an American citizen. Though he did have his US passport, he had forgotten to bring his Israeli passport, and so was denied entry into Jordan. After no small amount of sweating, negotiating, and hand wringing, it was finally decided. One of the local guides named Ibrahim would be the one to lead us. 

After the initial confusion at the border, we settled into our usual travel routine and everything went pretty smoothly. That evening at our hotel the Dead Sea Scrolls came up in conversation for some reason, and Ibrahim made an off handed comment about being there at the time they were discovered. My antennae immediately went up, and I determined to find out more about what he knew. So the next morning en route to Petra, I made sure to sit right next to him on the bus. I'm so glad I did. 

He told me about how one of the local Bedouin boys had been tending goats near the Dead Sea. After one of the goats had strayed, he looked up to see a cave that he hadn't noticed before. He threw a stone into the cave and heard a strange sound, so he and a friend climbed up to investigate. Inside they found a number of clay jars which had scrolls inside. They weren't sure what they had found, but knew it might be worth something, so they brought the scrolls along with them to the black market in Bethlehem. 

One of Ibrahim's relatives was the dealer that the boys brought the scrolls to in Bethlehem. Like Ibrahim, he was Syriac, and thought that the writing might be ancient Syriac. It definitely was not Arabic. So he had someone he knew from a local monastery take a look. He determined that it was indeed Hebrew writing, and after some bartering and back and forth, bought the first few scrolls for around fifty pounds. Fifth pounds! And the rest, as they say, is history.

One of the many interesting and intriguing things about all of this is that it's happening in the year 1947, when the nation state of Israel is just being established and the war of independence is about to begin. There is so much going on politically, socially, and culturally, that it is difficult to believe that one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time happening at this moment is mere coincidence.

Later in our trip we went to Qumran, the desert community of the Essenes, where most of the scrolls were probably written and placed in clay jars for safe keeping. And then on to Jerusalem and the Museum of the Book, where many of the scrolls are displayed, along with the piece de resistance, the Great Isaiah Scroll, all 66 chapters of it. 

In this 75th anniversary year of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, my hope is that every believer and non-believer alike has the opportunity to enter into that sacred space and make the slow walk around the great scroll. But even if that opportunity never arises, you have something far better awaiting you in the next room or in the palm of your hand. For as you pick up the Holy Bible, God's Word to you and for you in Christ, the words of the prophet Isaiah echo in your ears, "The Word of the Lord Endures Forever."

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Mere Christianity at 70

 

During the NCAA Basketball Tournament several years ago, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship held a competition entitled, “The Best Christian Book of All Time.” Sixty-Four first class competitors went head to head round by round in this epic literary contest. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis was a #1 seed, and easily made the Elite Eight where it handily defeated Augustine’s City of God. In the Final Four it beat out Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship, only to be edged out in the finals by Augustine’s Confessions.

These results ring true for me. And while I would have liked to see Martin Luther make it to the semi-finals, it is indeed difficult to name a book with such great influence and lasting impact than Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. 

This year marks the 70th anniversary of its publication in 1952, but it actually didn't start out as a book. The genesis of this Christian classic was a series of radio talks given by Lewis which were broadcast by the BBC. The director of religious broadcasting had read his book, The Problem of Pain, and asked him if he would be interested in taking part in a radio program. England was knee-deep in the trials and travails of World War 2 at the time, and these talks by Lewis from 1941 to 1944 were quite popular and comforting to the British people. It has been said that the voice of C.S. Lewis became as recognizable as that of Winston Churchill during this time. 

From our vantage point, we might say that the voice of C.S. Lewis was one of the most recognizable in the 20th century. Personally, I began to recognize his voice when I went off to college. Sure, I had read the Chronicles of Narnia as a child and enjoyed them, but like most did not understand the full weight and scope of these "children's" books until later in life. It wasn't until I was in a basic Christian Doctrine class at Christ College Irvine taught by Rod Rosenbladt that Lewis really began to speak to me. Rod not only quoted Lewis often in that class, he actually embodied him in such a way that made me want to read everything I could get my hands on. In short order I had read The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, Surprised By Joy, and of course, Mere Christianity.  

Armed with great analogies, airtight logic, and razor sharp wit, Lewis keeps you spellbound from one chapter to another as you find yourself going further up and further in. Beginning the book with a bang in Right and Wrong as a Clue To the Meaning of the Universe, he goes on to describe What Christians Believe and to detail Christian Behavior, before finishing off with Beyond Personality (First Steps in the Doctrine of the Trinity.) 

One of the more famous passages of the book comes in the What Christians Believe section, affectionately known as the "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord" passage. 

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." 

There are too many great quotes and passages from Lewis to mention, but here is one more which comes at the end of the book.

"The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."

In the years after Lewis' death in 1963 (on the same day as JFK and Aldous Huxley), many thought his continued impact would be minimal. When Dr. Peter Kreeft considered writing a book about him in the late 1960's, he was told that no one would be reading Lewis twenty years from now. Well, let's just say that the reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated. 70 years later, Mere Christianity continues to be one of the most impactful and influential Christian books of all time.

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Sacred Spaces and Holy Places

The God of Israel must really love rocks. One of the first things I noticed when I traveled to the Holy Land a few years ago is that there are rocks everywhere. The geology of the region is mostly limestone, which erodes easily and causes caves to form and rocks to break apart. It's quite similar to where I live in the Ozarks of Missouri, where we have lots of limestone, caves, and rocks as well. 

When I returned home from my trip to Israel in 2014, I began thinking of the world in a whole new way. I had seen people from every nation, tribe, and language gather together in places like Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Galilee, and the Jordan River. Although we didn't look the same and didn't speak the same language, we shared a common bond between us. There was a new appreciation of sacred spaces and holy places, and the realization that we would never be the same again.    

So when I took a road trip out west with my brother in 2018, I was dumbstruck when we began our descent into Death Valley. It looked eerily similar to the region of the Dead Sea. Death Valley is the lowest point in the United States at 282 ft. below sea level, while the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth at 1,400 ft. below sea level. Both areas were formed the same way, both surrounded by mountains that keep storm systems from moving across, as the dryness of the region is intensified by the depth of the valley. Both places brought about a strange sense of fear, wonder, and awe - and the realization that the only way to survive a place like this is a total and complete trust in God. 

They say that the land of Israel encompasses every type of topography on earth within a very small geographic area. It's not called the Promised Land for nothing. The God of Israel sent his Messiah to redeem all nations and all peoples, but he also did so in a way and in a place that would sanctify all lands and places. 

So at Christmas we say we are in Bethlehem when we make a manger scene in the snow. On Palm Sunday we are in Jerusalem waving our palm branches and singing hosannas to the King. We are in the upper room with Jesus every time we share a meal together in his name. We stand at the foot of the cross every time we confess our sins and receive his forgiveness. And we stand breathless before the empty tomb every time we confess, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”   

Herb Brokering was a Lutheran teacher and musician who wrote many books and hymns. He once said he thought it strange that some people go to Israel and bring back bottles of water from the Jordan River to use for baptisms back home. They do it because they want to use the same water Jesus was baptized with. 

But that's not really how it works. How it works is that water from a river evaporates and is pulled up into a cloud, which moves on to another place, and when the cloud is filled with enough moisture, it rains. That cycle happens again and again and again, so over the course of 2,000 years, some of the water in the Jordan eventually makes it to America where we can be baptized as well.

The water of the Jordan from the days of Jesus is now in the heart of the USA. God raises up rocks in Missouri to sing his praise just as he did in Israel long ago. Sometimes it’s important for us to go far away to learn about sacred spaces and holy places back home. 

Saints and children we have gathered here to hear the sacred story

And I'm glad to bring it to you with my best rhyming and rhythm

Cause I know the thirsty listen and down to the waters come

And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America

And if you listen to my songs I hope you hear the water falling

I hope you feel the oceans crashing on the coast of north New England

I wish I could be there just to see them, two summers past I was

And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America

And if I were a painter I do not know which I'd paint

The calling of the ancient stars or assembling of the saints

There's so much beauty around us for just two eyes to see

But everywhere I go, I'm looking

And once I went to Appalachia for my father he was born there

And I saw the mountains waking with the innocence of children

And my soul is still there with them wrapped in the songs they brought

And the Holy King of Israel loves me here in America

 - Rich Mullins,  Here in America

No Going Back

 

There was no going back. Flying high above the ocean in the middle of the night, we were hurtling inescapably to some far-off place halfway around the world. Fear, anxiety, dread, and despair engulfed me like the crashing waves thousands of feet below. I closed my eyes, tried not to cry, and prayed for dear life. Finally, it was over. I opened my eyes to see a new day dawning. The sun was shining, I was still breathing, and friendly faces were welcoming. There was no going back, but somehow I knew it was going to be okay.

That's the defining moment of my childhood in 100 words or less. The day when we moved to Germany and everything changed forever. A different country, a foreign language, a new school, no money, few friends. It wasn't easy. Sometimes it was downright painful. If not for a gracious God and generous German relatives, we wouldn't have made it. In the end, it turned out to be a good experience for me and my family. But that doesn't mean it wasn't difficult to go through at the time.

I went to a retreat in Kansas back in the '90s that was about dealing with grief. I remember the speaker saying that every loss in this life is like a little death. Whether it be losing a pet, having a bike stolen, going through a divorce, enduring a pandemic, or moving halfway around the world, experiences like these are all little deaths that we must grieve and mourn. If we don't take the time to do so, we won't be able to move on with our lives. Not that we ever fully get past these experiences, but somehow, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can rise above them.

This is not an easy process. It demands an open and honest look at our lives in order to reveal who we are and what our world is really like. As Paul David Tripp puts it ...

"We are all theologians, building some kind of belief system.

We are all preachers, proclaiming some type of message.

We are all philosophers, discussing meaning and purpose, and identity.

We are all archaeologists, digging through mounds of relationships and experiences, trying to make sense of our lives."

As we undertake this excavation process, we must choose our tools carefully. The Book of Hebrews helps us out in this endeavor. "The word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating and dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, as it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (Heb. 4:12)

The sword of the spirit in Holy Scripture does indeed show us our sin, but thanks be to God, it also shows us our Savior. It does this through the scalpel of the law and the soothing salve of the gospel. The law comes to convict us and kill us, while the gospel comes to calm and comfort us and make us alive again, gracing us with the love and forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ. As Keith Getty puts it, "there is a sword that makes the wounded whole."

This can be a painful process to be sure, but like the bronze serpent in the wilderness, the curse is part of the cure. The antidote is a person who has survived the poison. Jesus came to take on the power of the enemy, to actually become sin for us. He was accursed, forsaken, and abandoned by his Father for us on the tree of Calvary. He took the sting of sin with the full power of the Law’s venom. He took it with him to the cross and to the grave, and on the third day he rose victorious and triumphant over sin. death, and the devil.

The victory has been won, but there are still some battles left to fight before the war is finally over. We press on toward the goal, following our Captain who goes on before us. We know where we've been and where we are going, but in the meantime, we also realize there are some things that won't be resolved, some wounds that won't fully heal until we arrive on the other side. But in the end, everything is going to be okay.

"Alas, there are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured," said Gandalf. "I fear it may be so with mine," said Frodo. "There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?”

“Then the ship went out into the high sea and passed on into the west, until at last on a night of rain he smelled a sweet fragrance in the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And it seemed to him a dream, as the grey rain-curtain turned to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.” - Tolkien, Return of the King

“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matt. 11:28-29)

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The Song Of Creation

“Not only is there music in heaven, there is also heaven in music.” - Peter Kreeft

God’s story of salvation begins and ends with singing. The singing of the angels at creation to the singing of God’s people in the new creation. The song of creation began when “all the morning stars sang together and all the angels sang for joy” (Job 38). 

The song continued as people praised God, called upon his name, and offered sacrifices to him: from Noah to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob, and to Moses. In the exodus, we find the first recorded song in the Bible, the Song of the Sea, sung after the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt across the Red Sea and on to dry land.

“I will sing unto the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously, the horse and rider are thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, for he has become my salvation” (Exodus 15).

The song continued with David and Solomon, through the Psalms, Proverbs, and Song of Solomon. The Servant Songs in the book of Isaiah speak of a future deliverance for Israel and a coming Savior for God’s people. There are songs of praise and thanksgiving after the return from exile in Babylon.

After the time of the prophets, however, there were 400 years of no word from the Lord and no song to sing. And then, on a silent night in Judah’s hills, a cry was heard. Glory sang the angel chorus! Glory echoed back the night! Love has come to walk among us, Christ the Lord is born this night! “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth!” (Luke 2).

The song continued through Zechariah’s Benedictus, Mary’s Magnificat, and Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis. On to Palm Sunday when the crowd sang, “Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And then came the first Christian confession, “Christ is Risen!” on Easter Sunday morning, followed soon after by “Jesus is Lord!’

In the Epistles, the Apostle Paul breaks forth into song at times. At the end of Romans Chapter 11, he comes to the end of human knowledge as he peers into the mystery of God’s wisdom. And in Philippians 2, he shares the beautiful Carmen Christi, the Hymn to Christ, the Lord.

The church’s song goes on and on, singing and ringing down to us today. In our hymns, in our liturgy, and in the lives of God’s people in every nation, tribe, culture, and language, we hear the proclamation of the gospel of Christ Jesus. The song goes on – not only at the Christmas season – but to the end of days into eternity, when we will together with all God’s people sing, “Praise and glory and honor and wisdom and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen!”

All creation sing His praises 

                                                      Earth and heaven praise His name                                                              All who live come join the chorus 

Find the words His love proclaim

(Michael W Smith, Anthem For Christmas)

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