Sweet Words from Maine

To Be or Not to be? A Lingering Question!

On the Edge, Early morning in Corea. Maine

Just as mystery hides beyond the horizon where sea meets the sky, every day dawns at the edge of a future inhabited by the unknown. Often our choices direct our future, but the consequences are not always clear. Shakespeare’s Hamlet pondered this uncertainty. Overwhelmed with personal tragedy, sadness, grief, and murderous thoughts, he wondered about the value of life and if the afterlife might be worse for him if he made a conscious decision to”shuffle off this mortal coil” himself or even to commit murder ! He contemplated “To be or not to be…”

That existential question is more than academic. It frequently arises from an agonizingly deep place and has psychological, ethical, and religious overtones as well as societal impact. It is a daily consideration acted upon by young and old alike for various reasons in our troubled, increasingly detached, chaotic society filled with suffering and injustice.

The “question in question” is basically about God’s existence and nature. Although the idea of an afterlife is fundamentally a religious concept, the perceived details vary from religion to religion. Some believe a happy afterlife is merited by moral living, doing the best one can, working hard, and keeping specific rules. Then one awaits the outcome determined by some demanding god or gods.

However, Christianity follows the teachings of Jesus and recognizes that nobody ever will be independently “good enough” or morally pure enough to earn heaven. Salvation is not merited; we are not redeemed “ by works that we have done but by God’s mercy.” Redemption is totally dependent on God’s goodness. He gifts us eternal life by His grace and our faith alone. He so deeply values and loves our souls that he has provided the path to salvation by giving us Christ, the perfect One, as our substitute to bear God’s wrath upon the cross for all our unholiness. Without that intervention, sin would separate us from God and destroy us. However, there is “no condemnation” for those with repentant, believing hearts because the righteousness of Christ has been given believers.

Although there are mysteries about the afterlife, Christ has made specific promises about preparing heaven for believers (John 14: 1-6). Before raising Lazarus from the dead, he proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in Me, even though he may die, he shall live. Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

A day will come when we will be separated from our earthly bodies, but Christ’s words give hope. He promised an eternal “to be,” an existence with him if we believe, a promise worthy of consideration.

The Right Time

Ready for Harvest (but not today), Aroostook County, Maine

Timing is everything! Whether boiling an egg or bailing hay, it may make the difference between success or failure!

My grandfather was a “dirt” farmer who grew up on a small Maine farm which he eventually owned and where my father and older brother were born in the same bed 29 years apart. There he raised crops and maintained a few farm animals to feed and support his family. Planting, caring for, and harvesting crops revolved around proper weather conditions. Frosts, temperatures, sun, and rain were always on his mind. Eventually, the right day would arrive for haying. When the crop was mature and dry, humidity was low, and no warning rain clouds were visible, it was go time!

I have memories of watching my father and grandfather scythe the field, pitch sun dried hay into a horse drawn wagon, and then refork it into the barn. There my older brother and I would jump from the rafters into mounds of fragrant, fresh hay. Fun! But not particularly wise for one with hay fever and asthma!

Scripture helps us understand the points of life and faith. Solomon wrote that “There is a time for every season and every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes). Discovering those purposes is time sensitive. Finishing life having missed its purposes would be awful!

Although created to be reflections of God’s loving goodness, to procreate, to enjoy ourselves, and to be stewards of the earth, we didn’t take long to proudly and willfully distort and disagree with those values. As a result, we became spiritually separated from God, physically broken, hopelessly disordered, and would have been completely lost if it had not been for God, who in loving patience has always accepted repentance and belief as redemptive. Yes, “ the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) But “in the fullness of time,” God sent Christ to die for us, to pay the penalty for our sins. Accepting that gift of forgiveness in belief happily restores us to God, His purposes, and His promises.

Isaiah recognized an urgency to finding and exercising faith. He instructed Israel, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6). The implications are clear! We have no promise of longevity. Our opportunity for salvation is time sensitive. Indecisiveness is tricky because over time we become less sensitive to or spiritually aware of our need and more hardened in our misguided ways.

Whether boiling an egg, bailing hay, or seeking redemption, timing is important. When Israel delayed, deliverance did not come. Jeremiah lamented, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20). Later, the Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians that “now is the day of salvation” (2Corinthians 6:2).

That wisdom deserves strong consideration. Physical beginnings and endings frame our earthly time, but God desires an eternal relationship with us that begins here in a believing, trusting faith.

Of Central Importance

There was a time when “Houses of God” occupied a central place and role in New England villages. For example, the Congregational Church in Machias is a lovely, historic building situated prominently on “Center Street.”

Today many, beautiful, old church structures still stand, but attendance testifies to their dwindling influence. Some are now defunct and have become other-use properties. Of all the states, New England holds the highest averages of non church attenders and is considered the least “religious” region of the 50 states. The reasons are speculative and most likely multifactorial: affluence, liberal education and politics, changing cultural standards, rebellion against Puritanism and legalistic theologies, and the promotion of a social gospel promoting salvation by self righteous acts.

Scripture declares that we are images of God created to exhibit His character, to honor and love Him with all our soul and strength, to honor and love each other in the way we want to be respected and loved, to lead and nurture families, and to be caretakers of creation. Unfortunately, that view and our acknowledged God-connectedness have become increasingly neglected in everyday society.

Our innate self-centeredness and willful, rebellious natures separate us from God and His divine purposes which benefit us and revere Him. If Scripture attests correctly that God is the source of all goodness, at the very core of ultimate meaning, and the purpose for our existence, then such indifference is tragic. Thankfully, God is extraordinarily generous with His grace.

Villagers may no longer listen for the call of Sunday church bells on the village green, but that callousness does not mean the need for God has been outgrown. Deep within our souls lies an uncertainty, a gnawing acknowledgment that in spite of our efforts and self-justifications we are broken and unworthy. Any denials are uneasy ones. There is a longing, a striving for redemption which is unattainable apart from God who lovingly and mercifully restores us to Himself through Christ’s redemptive work when we willingly trust Him.

God may not be at the center of our village, but He will center our lives if we turn to Him.

Wonder Bread

Maine’s beautiful Aroostook County’s rolling farm land grows many crops including hay, alfalfa, potatoes and wheat. One wonders how many slices of Wonder Bread Aroostook’s wheat fields might produce!

Bread, whether Wonder Bread, sourdough, whole grain, unleavened, or gluten free, is a worldwide food staple. But when Jesus was challenged with temptation, he pointed out that, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). He knew every man’s spirit needs more than physical nourshiment.

Although we may be encouraged and inspired by the works, words, musings, songs, and poems of others, God’s Word lays singular claim to to be divinely inspired, alive, powerfully active, discerning, and redemptive. Enduring, eternal, and unchanging, it is a moral light and a spiritual guide directing us to healthy living and wholeness of soul.

His words lead us to truth and bring His very powerful presence into our lives. The Psalmist repeatedly expressed his confidence in God’s Word even in the darkest of circumstances because it ushered him into redemption, freedom, comfort, peace, and joy.

Most importantly, Jesus claimed to do the works and speak the words his Father gave him. He said he was the “bread of life.” So as we take him into our lives, he becomes the wonder bread which changes and sustains our spiritual lives into what God meant them to be.

Peace at All Cost

Burial, Family Patriot, Arlington Cemetery

Remember the Peaceniks, a term coined in the early 60’s for pacifists who by reasons of conscience actively opposed military interventions or war? Unfortunately, after centuries of philosophical, religious, and political convictions and protestations about the evils of war, achieving peace still requires courageous action and sacrifice. It will always be costly, tentative, and often elusive. Our nation knows all too well that attaining and preserving the ability to make choices and to be free from oppression have extracted a very dear price, the precious blood of patriots.

Combating and conquering spiritual oppression was a grievious but crucial and divinely ordered event. Enslaved by sinful natures and at odds with God, we battle cosmic darkness and selfish desires but not without hope. God fought and won this costly battle for our souls at the cross upon which ironically the “Prince of Peace” gave his life for our peace. The prophet Isaiah predicted Christ’s supreme sacrifice as payment for humanity’s sins hundreds of years before Christ’s birth : “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

Christ’s healing peace was announced in angelic song on the night he was born: “ Peace on Earth, good will toward men.” God’s love for us is so deep and enduring that there was no sacrifice too great for Him to have made to secure our spiritual freedom and peace. Through Christ’s shed blood, there is grace filled, merciful atonement for all our sins. Salvation, freedom from condemnation, victory over the powerful forces of evil, and confidence of eternal life are gifts for those who accept the truth of Christ, his redemptive work on the cross for us, and his glorious resurrection. He suffered the severest of consequences so we could have peace with God.

Matt Papa and Matt Boswell, inspired by John Newton’s story of God’s amazing grace toward him, wrote a wonderful hymn. The lyrics express God’s immeasurable kindness, patience and love that bought our freedom at heaven’s expense. The initial lyrics are:

“What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient, all knowing, He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more”

(His Mercy is More)

Our moral failures are great, but God’s mercy is greater.

It is worth googling the remaining lyrics or listening to them on YouTube.

What’s in a Name?

A Rose from a Sullivan Garden, Sullivan, Maine

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet…”

(Juliet in Romeo and Juliet)

In Shakespeare’s famous play, Juliet and Romeo were descendants of two different feuding families, the Capulets and the Montagues. Their families’ hatred for each other became an insurmountable obstacle to their relationship even though family names meant nothing to the two who loved each other for who they were.

Therein lies an unshakable reality: what we look like or call ourselves is not an accurate measure of who we are. Regardless of our name, race, gender, social status, and intellect or of how much we try to change or how delusional we become by promoting ourselves to be something we are not, we all possess a morally weak human nature.

Even if we are righteous, generous, and compassionate, our natures are flawed. The greatest proof of universal, human brokenness and creation’s disorder is death, a finality from which we cannot save ourselves. Our thoughts, emotional responses, behaviors, and motives are imperfect. Our names carry no weight in the balance of holiness. Too defective to attain salvation on our own, we are in need of redemption.

However, the good news is that there is one name that is synonymous with perfect goodness and justice. It is Jesus, the Name above all names, the Name of the perfect Son of God. His name is powerful, is synonymous with Truth, reveals God’s grace, and opens the Way into God’s Kingdom. Regardless of who we are, He died to give us his righteousness when we believe. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy…” (Titus 3:5) “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) If that is true, there is no more significant or crucial name in all of history than Jesus.

Reading and listening to him in Scripture is revelatory. Hillsong Worship wrote a wonderful contemporary song titled “What a beautiful name it is” which expresses the wonder of Jesus’ name. It would be worth a few minutes of time to google the lyrics or listen to it on YouTube.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Frog Hiding in the Corea Heath Preserve, Corea, Maine

There he was, barely identifiable! I had heard a little splash, but it took a couple of minutes to spot his tiny face and bulging eyes in the murky, algae infested waters. He was hiding in plain sight.

We are pretty adept at that too. We always have been. “Covering up” is an ingrained human behavior. In our Eden beginnings, we attempted to hide our willful hearts behind fig leaves, bushes, denials, blame shifting, and self justification. Smiles, bravado, and false facades obscure our insecurities and camouflage our chaotic minds. Even when our souls are hurting, our anxiety, desperation, doubt, guilt and shame are often invisible to those that love us. We hide or deny our vulnerabilities and inabilities and disguise our moral weaknesses. Withdrawing into the shadows of self doubt and failed self expectations, we are afraid to express what we actually think or to speak the truth in love. We are people pleasers, are easily intimidated, cave to peer pressure, compromise our values, and deceive others in order to protect an image.

However, our hearts are totally exposed to God. We can’t hide from the fact that we have fallen short of the glory God has intended for us. Nothing dims our culpability- except His unwavering love for errant humanity. As with Adam and Eve, we are condemned to death because “the wages of sin is death.” But thankfully, God intervened for Adam and Eve. He didn’t condone their rebelliousness but allowed them to understand their sin and experience its terrible consequences. Rather than forsaking them and condemning them to total destruction, He provided a covering for their shame and gave them a future. His love was instructive and just. Our experiences with God mirror Adam’s and Eve’s.

We too give into temptations, are selfish, have lousy attitudes, and give little consideration to God. We constantly wrestle with unholiness despite good, kind and generous lives. Self protective manuevers won’t help us out of this mess where greed, jealousy, envy, pride, entitled attitudes, and judgmental thoughts and behaviors flourish. Camouflaging beneath good intentions and compassionate works cannot cover up our need for redemption. The Psalmist realized that when he asked, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139)

The good news is that God has never forgotten His good, creative and redemptive purposes for broken humanity. Regardless of our flaws, we need not fear condemnation because God’s “Perfect love casts out fear” (1John 4:18). That “perfect love” is found in Christ’s perfection and once for all” sacrifice which deflects God’s wrath, removes the death penalty for our sins, and protects us under Christ’s righteousness. This is “the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 2:9). God looks upon believers through the lens of grace and mercy and forgives, redeems, corrects, and restores them with a wonderful hope for the future because of Christ’s cross work on humanity’s behalf.

When we find ourselves fearful, hiding, and stuck in self-righteousness or some shameful, guilt ridden mire, God assures us that he loves us nonetheless. He tells us not to hide but trust, be honest, confess and repent. He will redeem and hold us safely in His hand forever.

Identity…A Deep Dive

Lobster pots and Buoys, Corea Maine Wharf

Soon these freshly painted lobster buoys will be floating upon the ocean’s surface where their colors will mark the position of lobster traps lying on the bottom. Although these buoys cannot tell us what is happening underneath, their markings identify their owner and inspire a hopeful expectation for something good to surface.

We know outward appearances are limited in showing our true nature. We manage a “good face,” but inadequacies and insecurities agitate beneath the surface, or we may be wrongly judged by our name, skin color, family lore, physical appearance, personality, social standing, intellect or skill set. The true measure of our identity lies deep within our natures , where we struggle with self perception, with “growing into our skin,” with acceptance of our unique combination of strengths and weaknesses, where our moral compass resides and private conflicts and inconsistencies churn about.

Although we may be kind, loving, and honest, even our generosity, compassionate acts, and caring contributions to the common good are often tainted by obligation, secondary personal gain, pride, self promotion, or leverage for some purpose! That idea is a distasteful thought. But if we consider and understand the Moral Law to mean loving God above all others and loving one’s neighbor as much as we love ourselves, and if we accept that Code as brilliantly crafted for both our personal and common good, or if we consider the “fruit” of the Spirit of God to be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, we then find ourselves in a difficult and morally deficient place. Regardless of how “good” we may “look” to friends and acquaintances, none of us has a perfect moral record. We are unholy people.

Deep diving into self evaluations need not depress or make us anxious. The Psalmist expressed this in his prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). Admitting (confessing) and changing (repenting) actually may lead one to spiritual freedom and to forgiveness from God. Although those who are marked as Christ-followers by their profession of faith bear a burden of high expectations, both personal and public, they have to humbly confess inner struggles and moral failures. Frequently very little understanding or grace is shown them for their failures. Thankfully, Christ is the mediator of God’s gracious, merciful love, forgiveness, redemption, and eternal hope.The Apostle Paul said that belief means living with faith in the Son of God because he loved and gave himself for us (Galatians2:20) Christ did that by dying on a cross as a sacrifice and payment for humanity’s sins.

The cross, a symbol of Christian belief, is sometimes worn as a piece of jewelry or an emblem on a hat or t-shirt. Just as buoys identify and traps reveal, if the cross-bearer truly identifies with Christ , grace and truth will eventually surface in a compassionate, humble, forgiving, generous spirit.

Significance and Success…

Dinghies at the Dock, Winter Harbor, Maine

These colorful, little dinghies may seem insignificant, but they play an important role for sailors and fishermen as they ferry their owners from dock to boat and back again. Much of the time they are just idly floating and waiting until they are needed. Their “insignificance” is a reminder that comparing ourselves to others and their accomplishments or ascribing degrees of importance to professional, social, and political positions may give us a sense that we are unsuccessful and undervalued even though we have significant roles in our personal and community relationships.

Thankfully, God’s measurement of success doesn’t fit into some social/economic/racial hierarchy. We are all on the same footing with Him. Created with the ability to love, to show mercy and grace, and to display God’s glory, we possess human dignity, are of equal value, and share the same basic purposes of having a relationship with God, supporting each other in intimate relationships, and being guardians of each other and all creation. The Moral Law code, which is meant as a standard for all, emphasizes reverencing and loving God above all else and loving one another sacrificially. We, of course, fail miserably at all these tasks.

So, what then does success look like? Dietrich Bonhoeffer addressed the world’s defective criteria for success with this statement: “The figure of the Crucified (Christ) invalidates all thought which takes success as its standard”( Bonhoeffer p 326). In other words, from a secular viewpoint, Jesus’ life resulted in failure. Yet, he faithfully fulfilled His Father’s redemptive mission which has eternal significance for all humanity!

As one who lived life perfectly, Jesus gave us a solution to our success predicament. His life fulfilled all those God-given success requirements. Living and dying in obedience to his Father, he spoke his Father’s words, did the works his Father desired of him, and died on the cross for all peoples as the only one qualified to redeem and successfully make us God’s spiritual children by faith. He showed us that personal “success” is found in a believing heart which aligns with God’s heart and His loving directives. It is the development of a spiritually healthy life or becoming the image of God. It means living with an awareness of God in “whatever you do” and “working heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23).

What we do is much less significant than how we view and perform what we do. Eugene Petersen’s paraphrase of Roman’s 12:1 helps us understand this: “Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (The Message)

It seems that God is interested in who we are becoming not what we do. How one faces life and its challenges is more important than the type of work one performs. What could be more significant than faith leading to an active life of love, mercy, humility, peace, joy, and eternal life? How could one be more successful than that?

Is Easter over?

Spring in Maine is a season of renewal and optimism. From the bleak cold, dark, colorless winter, the earth miraculously redresses itself in green and promises rich colors in brilliant hues. Spring’s renewal is derived from the roots and seeds of a prior season and is filled with expectations of familiar fragrances, colors, blossoms, fruit, and warmer and brighter days!

Easter is like that! It emerges with a hope after forty days of Lent, a somber time meant for contemplation on the temptations, life, and unjust sufferings of Jesus. Lent is a time for introspection, confession of sins, and realization of our need for Jesus, the one who came to show and tell us truth about ourselves and our need for redemption.

Lent draws us into the tragedy, sorrow, guilt, despair, doubt, and fear of Good Friday when Jesus was crucified to pay the death-price for all of humanity’s sins so that we could be redeemed. There at that cross we are faced with the necessity of personal crucifixion, the willingness to come to God in humility and repentance. There at the cross one experiences the “newness of life” found in Jesus.

Good Friday’s mourning and seeming defeats dissipated on a wonderful, awe-filled Easter dawn which broke over an empty tomb with the angelic announcement that ” He is risen. He is not here just as he said.” Suddenly, the tenor of Jesus’s followers’ world had changed. Jesus was alive, had conquered death, and had defeated the evil one. There was joy instead of sorrow. The proclamation of that crucial, Easter morning victory has echoed confidently and defiantly throughout the ages. It continues to blossom and fruit in vivid hues of joy, peace, love and eternal hope.

Easter is not just a day on the calendar. Easter isn’t over. The risen Christ walks every day with all who gratefully believe in him.