Sweet Words from Maine

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.

Authentic

Happy Spring, Male Cardinal, Sullivan Maine

Although generally shy, male cardinals are unable to hide their brilliant color which marks their identity. However, who we are as humans is more about our core character than physical appearance or titles. Traits of honesty, reliability, caring, and compassion vouch for one’s genuineness, and sincerity is necessary for intimate relationships. Warren Buffet is quoted as saying that although confidence and initiative are important for success, the most important characteristic is integrity.

The Psalmist raised the importance of integrity in matters of faith when he asked an important question: “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” He immediately framed an answer: “He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change…” (Psalm 15:1-5) He repeats a similar question and answer in Psalm 24 verses 3 to 5.

Hypocrisy is devastating. It empties faith of meaning. Christ has shown us what genuine faith looks like. One cannot think of him without acknowledging his remarkable integrity. He lived and died sacrificially, held no self centered ulterior motives, and was unwaveringly persistent in trusting and obeying his Heavenly Father. When he faced adversity, he endured and did not despair. His anger was righteous. Tempted, he did not fall but remained steady in confidence and purpose. He was powerful and performed the miraculous but remained humble and rejected status seeking. He was intelligent and logical but not deceitful or manipulative. He was uncompromising, loyal, and protective but not judgmental. His motives were pure. He was merciful, forgiving, and not vengeful. He spoke truth frankly but with a loving heart and good purpose. His love was deep and radical. He was bruised, cursed, and humiliated for us but accused no one. He personified divine truth and grace.

Christ is the real deal. His integrity is impeccable. Nobody measures up to his perfection. We all live with broken, fallible natures unable to self generate anything close to his perfect living and love. Realizing that fact is freeing because it moves us away from the futility of legalistic attempts at self righteousness, forces us to recognize our universal need for redemptive grace, and points us to the perfection and righteousness of Christ who is God’s perfect solution for our dilemma. He is the righteous one who showed us righteousness and died to give us righteousness. There is no other path to salvation. There is no human power, intellect, ideology or self effort that can forgive, redeem or reconcile us with God apart from trusting Christ, who is the authentic manifestation of God and His saving love.

If we are to be authentic God images, we must believe and walk as Christ did – in God’s grace and with His love and mercy.

Beauty Within the Seeds…

Monhegan Island Poppies

These beautiful poppies delight us. Fortunately, the wonderful ability to replicate their beauty is tightly wrapped inside them. However, if those tiny seeds are inappropriately used, there is potential for harm, addiction, destruction, and death lurking within them. With that in mind, the poppy seed becomes an example of what is so disordered with creation and its creatures.

Within human nature lie the seeds for godliness, goodness, grace, mercy, and love. However, disordered thinking and corrupted spirits have released the hidden dangers of envy, jealousy, greed, malice, pride, character weaknesses, and capitulation to unhealthy temptations. Jesus said that evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, lying and slander come from the heart.

Such attitudes and behaviors are lethal. They result in emptiness, anxiety, depression, anger, guilt, shame, broken relationships, and spiritual death. Yet, those actions, emotions, and consequences also prompt a desire for personal change, improvement, and redemption. However, our imperfections and motives are too impure to lift us beyond our brokenness. Our endeavors at self-righteousness obviously miss the mark. Isaiah, who was a plain talking prophet, flatly stated that “all our righteousness is like filthy rags” in light of God’s holiness!

Happily, there is a solution for our unrighteousness. However, spiritual wholeness must originate from outside ourselves: “It is not by righteousness we have done but by God’s mercy” we are saved. Jesus died to take the guilt and shame generated by our sins so that we can experience complete forgiveness and a repentant life motivated by gratitude and love for God and His great mercy.

Knowledge of God and His Gospel can grow into believing faith and eventually blossom into beautiful righteousness: a life of humility, peace, forgiveness, integrity, and love.

the wings of healing…

“The day is coming!”

That pronouncement draws our attention! Predictions intrigue and sometimes unsettle us whether they are speculations about the stock market, actuarial tables, prognostications associated with diseases, habits and medical treatments, or discussions about political outcomes, Some of us even resort to tarot cards and fortune tellers to garner what might be coming down the pike.

The prophet Malachi introduced a futuristic view of God’s promised justice, deliverance, wholeness, and joy with the phrase “For behold, the day is coming.” The follow up special prophecy is a beautiful word picture of the hope of all God-believers: “For you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. (Malachi 4:1-3)

That truth had been tested and proven on many occasions when God brought redemption and joyful reconciliation to Israel after they had erred but then had repented of their sinful ways. The principle that redemption follows repentance is the overarching Gospel which flows throughout the Old Testament and New Testament.

Malachi’s vision of a magnificent bird with widespread wings soaring over the land spreading healing is an awesome image which also foreshadows Christ, the “Great Physician,”who healed bodies and souls everywhere he went.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah foretold that Jesus would have a healing ministry at the cross: “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).

Healing and wholeness are the essence of Jesus’ wonderful promise: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” He told those whom he physically healed that they were made “whole” by their faith and restored others with spiritual healing and forgiveness of sins (John 5:6) (Luke 17:19)(Mark 2:1-12).

The Apostle Paul reminded the Colossian Church that their sin had alienated them from God, but through faith they were reconciled to God by Jesus’ death so they could be presented “holy and blameless and above reproach before Him” (Colossians 1:21-22). He told the Thessalonians that God is the one who makes spirits whole. (1Thessalonians 5:23-24).

That is the Gospel. God through Christ brings new spiritual life with forgiveness, righteousness, joy, and reconciliation to all who repent of sins and trust in his atonement for humanity’s sins.

Of course, Malachi’s prophecy also refers to a future time when the Son of righteousness will arise with powerful healing for all His people, a day when justice will prevail, wrongs will be righted, evil will be banished, tears will be wiped away, death will be no more, and God’s creation will be completely restored to its intended, glorious purpose. Jesus made this coming day possible as he offered the world forgiveness, peace, healing, and eternal hope.

“For behold, the day is coming” is a prediction worthy of consideration.

Burdened but Beautiful

Winter in Sullivan, Maine

The way these trees and chairs have successfully held up under a heavy snowfall remind us that courage and strength withstanding the whims, burdens, and trials that life tosses at us are “beautiful”.

Difficulties (whether self-inflicted, other-inflicted, or the complications of a broken universe) are the crucibles which reveal our core character. They refine us, mature us, and help us clarify what is important. Scripture clearly teaches that there is meaning in all of life even if we don’t understand the why’s of our situations, that God is always near and responds to those who reach out to Him, that He can make everything beautiful in His time, and that all things will work for good when one is relying upon and desiring Him (Ecclesiastes 3:1) (Romans 8:28-29). Jesus’ brother James, who knew all about the struggles of poverty and loss and the horrors of persecution, testified that perseverance must finish its work so that we become mature and “complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4).”

These teachings are not always easy to accept. Our responses to suffering and adversity are a choice and may or may not be “beautiful.” When we are vulnerable, we may react with bitterness, or anger or be paralyzed by anxiety and depression. Or we may respond to challenging situations with thoughtful problem solving, strength, determination, patience, and joy-filled belief in God’s goodness in spite of the circumstances.

C.S.Lewis said that God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Our weaknesses declare our need for God. Life beyond our control proves how fragile our little worlds are and points us to how dependent we are upon the sovereignty and providence of God, who alone knows the reasons and holds the purposes of our situations and has the power to bring good out of evil just as he brought grace, mercy and salvation out of Jesus’ merciless, cruel crucifixion.

Understanding and trusting that God is unchangingly good, that He desires to redeem us and our circumstances, and that faith will be challenged and purified by “fiery trials” make it possible for believers to see the beauty and rejoice even though they may weep!

Above the Mountains

A View of the Mountains of Mt Desert from Sullivan Harbor, Maine

J. Greshem Mechen, a Presbyterian theologian and founder of Westminster theological Seminary, was an avid mountain climber. His love for majestic peaks and beautiful vistas included hiking the peaks of Maine mountains.

In a 1934 article for Christianity Today, he wrote: “There is far above any earthly mountain peak of vision a God high and lifted up who, though he is infintely exalted, yet cares for his children among men.”

Accepting that exulted view of God as one who cares about creation and its creatures should bring us to the conclusion that we live within His sovereignty and providence. Viewed only from the standpoint of God’s holy nature and perfection that is scary because we stand as broken and undeserving to be in His presence. Yet, He views wayward, struggling creation with such amazing grace, passionate love, and divine patience that His ultimate goal is restoring our distortions and disorder with meaning and truth, bringing righteousness and justice, renewing our material world, ending all evil and suffering, and bringing us into His kingdom.

His “care for his children among men” was fully expressed in the humble, sacrificial life of Christ. The Apostle John told his readers: “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.” (1 John 4:10) Because of that sacrifice, we can set out upon the path to full restoration by our faith (2Corinthians 5:18).

Christ is the reason for our confidence that there is a day coming when all wrongs will be “righted.”