We focus our worship today on
drawing closer to our Lord in order to find a greater
measure of wholeness and healing in areas of our lives
that bring heartache and pain, frustration, distrust,
anger or despair. To be certain there is much in our
world that we cannot understand. Why - after thousands
of years do people continue to kill one another in wars,
terror, abuse, and emotional cruelty? Why after
generations of scientists and billions of dollars poured
into research can we not heal the body of its rapid
decline toward death? And, after all the romance novels,
soap operas and movies about love stories can we not
avoid heartache? Because we are what we are…finite
beings that are incapable of genetically passing down
wisdom to our newly arrived successors. Each one of us
must struggle to find our own way back to God - the God
who completes us.
I think it is extremely
appropriate that we enter into this time of reflection
and prayer with heartfelt enthusiasm since in just a few
days we will go to the polls and vote for people who
will shoulder the responsibility of making decisions
that directly impact each one of us and the future of
the world. I implore you to pray because our political
process has changed just enough over the years since its
original design that it has become a mechanism that
deeply divides our people instead of rallying them
together towards common goals and unifying our efforts
for peace. The campaigns of our two prime candidates
take advantage of our worst fears and defame one
another's character and history instead of lifting up
whatever might be good and working to redeem a very bad
situation.
At the same time, I receive
forwarded e-mails from well-intentioned Christians that
relate touching stories about one or the other
candidate's depth of faith and their interaction with
the humblest of common citizens. Yet their platform is
always aimed at decisive military action to encounter
the enemy and stop him before…before…our worst
nightmares become reality. And, according to all the
latest military intelligence and media coverage it would
seem that it is indeed an appropriate recourse.
Something about all this
troubles me at a deep level. Something about our
situation reminds me of the nation of Israel in the
years of Jeremiah's prophetic career. In 626 BC, King
Josiah of Judah discovered one of the books of the Torah
when his workmen were doing repairs on the Temple. For
Israel it was a rediscovery of the core of their
covenant faith with God. King Josiah initiated a great
reform movement that removed the false gods from all the
lower shrines and centralized the worship of the people
in the temple of Jerusalem.
The turning back toward their
heritage and the promises their ancestors had made in
covenant with God strengthened Israel as a nation during
those years, but it also infected them with a huge case
of "nationalism." They proudly believed that God was on
their side and that no evil could befall them. Most of
the court prophets preached messages of returning to the
good old days of national glory under God and everyone
cheered them on. They indulged themselves in blindly
believing they were powerful and had a decisive role to
play in the political scene of their day. But their
cheering for what they wanted to hear drowned out the
message that they needed to hear, that God was about to
allow their pride to be crushed, and, their people to be
carried off into exile so that he could remold them into
his people.
Why? What was missing? Afterall,
had they not returned to the faith that Moses had
established and abandoned the Assyrian and Phoenecian
gods? They themselves had read in the scrolls that God
had called them out to be his chosen people.
Well, perhaps their professed
faith was only a shell and lacked true substance.
Perhaps it was merely a front in the hopes of changing
their destiny, their future. Their problem was they
relied on the strength of their nation instead of
relying on what gave their nation strength.
It is a critical distinction to
make and balancing is like walking on the blade of a
knife. Jeremiah understood it. His many lamentations in
the wake of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem
declared his recognition of the true source of their
previous glory. And, he turned to God in the anguished
prayer that we heard today. How fully he knew the
iniquities, the apostasies and the sins of the people of
Israel, but he also knew that nothing they could do
would return them to the life they once had - only God
could do that. He said, "Can any idols of the nations
bring rain? NO it is you O Lord our God who do all
this!" Can these men and women we elect really bring
lasting peace? Not on their own. Only through the
constant and earnest prayers of everyone in the nation
lifting up their dependence and reliance upon God to
guide them.
This is the critical distinction
we need to make in all aspects of our lives. Who or what
is the source of our breath, our ability to think, to
move, to make decisions, to learn? Look in the yellow
pages of our phone book. I know what I hold in my hands
is not the newest edition, but it is still revealing. I
counted 180 entries for physicians, 153 entries for
lawyers and 239 religious organizations. Statistically
this is a very good balance, right? But how many of them
team up together to accomplish their goals? How many
doctor or attorney's offices have chaplains on staff?
How many churches have parish nurses or attorney's
available to aid the Christian in his daily walk? When I
worked in the 7th Day Adventist Hospital in Ft. Worth
Texas, they kept a team of 7 chaplains on duty during
the waking hours. One assigned to every floor, one to
hospice, one to ER and one to intensive care. They
understood the power of prayer that aided the doctors in
their care plan.
In the seminary that I attended
in Texas, they encouraged many of us to consider
corporate chaplaincy. Large companies have begun to
recognize that employees work harder and more
efficiently and employee relations are better when there
is someone available to meet the spiritual and emotional
crisis that occur on a daily basis especially in the
"all business atmosphere of huge corporations." Few
people are able to leave their personal or internal
problems at the door when they enter school or work. No
matter how we may be encouraged to "get over it,"
problems remain a force that brews beneath the surface
until it erupts in unintended ways. We are seeing it
daily in violent outbursts and the amazing numbers of
our teens that are involved in self-inflicted pain as a
means of dealing with things they cannot get a handle
on.
To help us understand the
important connection between our spiritual health and
our physical, I'd like to tell the tale of Greg
Anderson, author of The 22 Non-Negotiable Laws of
Wellness. Greg had undergone surgery to remove a
cancerous lung. Four months later, the doctors informed
him that the cancer had spread into his lymph system and
they gave him about 30 days to live. Desperate, he
sought out all kinds of organizations all over the
country trying to find those who had managed to live
through similar situations to seek the right course of
action. The one constant message he received was
"forgive." Puzzled he reflected on his life. He began to
realize he had been a very critical person unable to
extend grace. In fact, three months before his original
cancer diagnosis, he and a new controller at work began
a series of escalating attacks and recriminations on
each other. He discovered that thirty days after his own
diagnosis, his enemy was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
He began to wonder if there was a link between his toxic
behavior and the onset of his illness.
He sat down and started writing
out a list of those he needed to forgive and those from
whom he would seek forgiveness. He spent many days in
this task and finally went to see his adversary from
work. "I have come to say I am sorry. I deeply regret
the hurt I have caused you." The other man replied,
"Greg, I am the one who needs to say I'm sorry. I'm old
enough to be your father. Yet I treated you like the
outcast son. Please forgive me." Greg today is a
wellness crusader and successful author. He identifies
these days of hard emotional work as the "absolute
turning point" in his physical healing. One of his
famous quotes is, "Only one thing has to change for us
to know happiness in our lives: where we focus our
attention."
While atheists may be pushing
harder and harder to force our faith life into the
privacy of our homes and our church buildings, we must
not be dismayed. Public demonstrations of our faith can
be but a shell. It happened to Israel very quickly after
a period of time that was originally a sincere revival.
Our prayers can go up to God with the blink of an eye,
with each and every breath, or every beat of our hearts.
It is simply a matter of focusing our attention toward
God every minute and not putting our whole faith into
our human leaders. Implore God to walk beside you as
Jeremiah did and pray diligently for our every need.