Conquering the Darkness

Many of us love C. S. Lewis’ children’s stories, The Chronicles of Narnia. The first book in the series, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, tells the story of four children from wartime England who magically pass through a wardrobe into a country of talking animals. An evil queen, the “White Witch,” casts a spell of perpetual winter that does not allow the celebration of Christmas. But with the coming of Aslan, the great lion, the Son of the Emperor across the Sea, the grip of darkness is broken. Father Christmas appears bearing gifts, and denizens of the kingdom are set free.

It’s true that these are anxious times, as news headlines, dark-themed movies, and violent video games remind us. Our culture challenges our values and diminishes human life. And that’s only the start—we must contend with failures in our own families and in ourselves. Those troubling realities don’t seem to fit with the promise of Christmas.

Yet the truth of the season is that God breaks into our weary world with bright hope. That hope is Jesus, the radiance of God, the light that darkness cannot overcome. He shows the way to eternal life, and overcomes our fears and sorrows. And from the darkest day of the year on December 21, the growing light reminds us of John the Baptist’s words about Jesus, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” The coming of the Savior, the Lion of Judah, changes everything.

What a reason for joy! What a reason to celebrate.

Why Werewolves?

For my family, Halloween was traditionally a time when our girls would go trick-or-treating, then come back home to count their bags of saccharine booty in front of a fire. Then, we’d eat pizza in front of a classic horror movie like The Bride of Frankenstein or The Wolfman. Part of the appeal of the creepy fun was the knowledge that since Jesus came into the world to conquer the darkness, the evil represented by spooks and goblins is nothing we need to fear.

Sometimes, however, Christians have forgotten the assurance of God's presence and protection. I ran across an interesting chapter in Kathryn A. Edwards’ book Werewolves, Witches, and Wandering Spirits: Traditional Belief and Folklore in Early Modern Europe. The chapter is titled, “Such an Impure, Cruel, and Savage Beast: Images of the Werewolf in Demonological Works." I was intrigued at the author’s suggestion that werewolves are a creation of political anxiety. In other words, they express public fears in times of uncertainty and disorder.

"A figure of disorder, of trouble which must absolutely be warded off, the lycanthrope [werewolf] also tells something about politics. Witchcraft often appears in the texts already mentioned as a representation of social or political degeneration .” (191)

That is, it is suggested that tales of werewolves arise especially in times of social disruption like civil war. Such legends seemed more widespread during cataclysms like the wars of religion in the 16th and 17th centuries. The author continues,

“In Plato's Republic it is the king's metamorphosis into a tyrant that gives birth to the emergence of the werewolf figure. In certain traditions, still alive in fourteenth-century Normandy, for example, the varouage designates a nighttime journey that an excommunicated individual accomplished on generally set dates, from Christmas to Candlemas or during Advent, and for a set length of time, most often four or seven years."

One similar story wasn’t the stuff of fantasy, but of history. The Bible tells of Nebuchadnezzar, who "was driven from men and ate grass like an ox; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws" for "seven times seven." (Daniel 4:34) The king descended into an animal-like state simply for spiritual reasons—the king’s pride caused him to fall under God’s judgment.

Why werewolves? Because beyond their spooky ability to fascinate us, the monsters we invent help make sense of our world.

Not Unto Death

Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." (John 11:4)

On occasion, unexpected meanings emerge from familiar Bible verses. This morning my eyes fell upon John 11 and the story of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus. There, a family calls for Jesus in their time of need. Verse 3 says, “So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick.’”

But Jesus determined not to come when he was asked. Verse 6 says, “Therefore when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.” In making that decision, he was letting his friend Lazarus die. Jesus’ sense of what is needed often conflicts with our own. If Jesus had gone to his friend, he could have kept him from dying. Instead, he chose to wait until Lazarus died.

Apparently, this decision does not contradict, but corresponds with love. Verse 5 reads,
“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” Then verse 6, therefore (or “so”) he stayed before going to them. In other words, he delayed not in spite of his care for Martha and her sister and Lazarus, he delayed because he loved them. In his love, Jesus had a greater plan for his friends’ good than they could possibly understand. Sometimes Jesus doesn’t answer our prayers or come to us in the way we asked, but he does it because he loves us, and sees what we cannot anticipate.

In verse 4 Jesus says, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." In other words, to show God’s glory is a greater act of love than keeping Lazarus from dying would have been. Jesus didn’t come in the way they asked because he loved them. That means he’s doing a greater good, a bigger thing than we can even ask or imagine.

God’s default is to give us what we ask for. In fact, he will always say yes to our prayers unless saying yes would do us harm. That means our pain is not in vain. God’s glory is seen through it, and we will see that glory in ways we can’t yet envision.

That is why Jesus brought Lazarus back to life. When he did that, he demonstrated God’s power over death, and he showed his glory. He revealed his love in a wholly unexpected way. It gives us hope for life’s losses. It gives resilient hope even for the churches of Jesus Christ, so bruised and wounded in our time. Urgently needing healing, renewal, and reformation, nevertheless “this sickness will not end in death.” We have resurrection in sight.

Impressions on a Local Fair

This morning my Chicago brother’s family and I packed ourselves into the car and drove fifteen miles to the Geauga County Fair. Since the county was founded 200 years ago, it doesn’t surprise that its venerable fair has been around since 1823. At that time the nation was not yet fifty years old, and Northeast Ohio was a daunting wilderness, with tough pioneers beginning to carve farms out of ancient hardwood forests.

Fairs being what they are, we expected to see livestock and diligent youth fussing over 4-H displays. I asked one adolescent in the swine barn which pig was hers, and she beamed as she pointed out a massive, sleeping sow. We saw llamas, alpacas, rabbits and cows, and spent more time that I had hoped in the chicken coops since we were accompanied by a five-year-old who was fascinated with desperate-looking hens that fetched $85 to over $300 from corporate sponsors. But the competitions impressed me with their diversity—miniature horses to draft horses, races, and wagon-pulls.

The people ranged from tattooed behemoths to meek Midwestern middle-aged parents. Most noticeable to me was the ethnic make-up: to scan the crowd, it appeared that 99 per cent was white. A large portion of that group wore Ohio State University paraphernalia. At a state fair in the Far West, a very large percentage would be Hispanic, African-American, and other races. Geauga Country remains overwhelmingly Caucasian (including a large number of Amish, some of whose buggies we saw parked on the grass fields outside the fair.)

We made our way to the carnival section of the fair, past the midway. It looked like a carnival you could find in many parts of the world: rides made to look like giant clowns, dragons, or teddy bears, in garish pink and gaudy green, along with hawkers exhorting passers-by to try their luck in the shooting galleries and penny arcades. My brother and I speculated on how many outstanding warrants one would find among the crusty barkers running the rides. Dim collective memories of distant medieval fairs seemed preserved in the faux-medieval castles and freak shows. All of it fun as far as it goes, but I can only take so much of the cacophony and clutter.

Just as my nerves began to fray, a rainstorm dumped, sending hordes running for the barns and covered pavilions, and us to the car. It’s not easy keeping a cell phone dry when you’re sans umbrella and soaked to the bone. All in all, not a bad way to spend half a day for $7 entrance. Still, I’m glad Cleveland has an art museum.

Do Pastoral Candidates Need Theology?

It’s interesting to see people’s take on preparation for ministry. What are the core competencies needed, and how do we as a denomination insure their presence in our future leaders? I was a part of an electronic exchange recently that went like this (with names changed.) In particular, we were talking about the “ords,” the ordination exams required as a part of the process of becoming a pastor (that is, a “Minister of Word and Sacrament”) in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Joe: Good luck to all those who are taking Ordination Exams.

ME: You mean "luck" in a theological sense?!

Rick: Luck has nothing to do with it! It's a totally modernist way of approaching call. When will we let it go and replace it with a more communal process of discernment? Aaaarrrrrgh. I've read the exams in the past. Fortunately they are only one indicator and not the whole process.

Steve: As a lay person, I wonder what the purpose of the exams really is? Is it just to show that you know a lot of theological concepts and can regurgitate them back on command? Do they test your spirit, your heart, your compassion, your faith, or your administrative abilities? Or are they just like most school tests that test your ability to fit into a defined system of questions and predefined responses?

Joe: I'm not sure of the stated purpose but it gives us the feel of having a professional exam like the bar for lawyers. Creativity or theological flexibility do not seem to be encouraged in any portion of the call/ordination process including the ordination exams.

ME: Wait a minute, Bob--written exams alone can't adequately test for missional competency and spiritual maturity. But they do have a role in assessing theological and biblical preparedness, which are crucial for leadership in ministry. I think it would be possible to assess those values differently, say, through a mentoring process culminating in an oral exam. But let's not dismiss the importance of theological concepts. They are the basis of our confession.

As an artist and a student of culture, I advocate innovative approaches to ministry. But I don’t believe the major challenge of preparing candidates is to insure, as Joe suggests, creativity or “theological flexibility.” Candidates take not only written exams, but follow a process, in addition to theological education, that includes ministerial internships, accountability to a supervisor, and often a clinical pastoral (chaplaincy) internship as well. Even in these practical, mentor-oriented aspects of preparation, the teaching of the tradition undergirds praxis.

At the very least, new tactics and solutions in pastoral preparation have to be held in balance by faithfulness to classical Reformed and evangelical Christianity. Certainly we should not overlook that balance even as we adapt to changing times and as we insist learning must go beyond the rote. Candidates for ordination must do more than simply “regurgitate” doctrines, but ignorance of the teachings of our tradition is solution is no recipe for reform.

A Scriptural Blessing

God has given us such much, from provision for our physical needs, to the freedoms we enjoy, to the friendship and support in Christ’s body, the family of faith. In fact, from the beginning of time until the end, all of God’s work is a blessing.

The Bible records many words of blessing. The book of Numbers relates one such instance:

May the LORD bless you, and keep you;
May the LORD make his face shine to upon you, and be gracious to you;
May the LORD turn his countenance to you and grant you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

The passage recounts God’s instruction to Moses that the Aaronic priests were to “put God’s name” on the Israelites, representing God’s gracious claim upon them, and his intention to bless them.

One of God’s best blessings is the way he speaks to us in his word. The Bible tells us the story of God’s redeeming love, a love so sacrificial that God came to us as a Servant and laid down his life for us rather than lose us.

In light of that great story, the following blessing expresses my prayer for you this season. It is a slightly modified version of a blessing written by the Reverend Darrell Johnson, one of my significant mentors, to a Doctor of Ministry seminar (Darrell is currently Professor of Preaching at Regent College in Vancouver, and soon-to-be installed as Pastor and Head of Staff at First Baptist Church there):

Whenever you open the Bible, may you do so asking of the text, “have you seen him whom my soul loves?”, and may you experience the text leading you beyond the words to the Word himself.

May Jesus meet you and give his life to you, causing you to live out “the obedience of faith” to which the text calls you.

Like Jacob who became Israel, may you wrestle with not only the text, but with the God of the text.

As you read the Bible, may you be filled with the discipline of Matthew, with the spontaneous enthusiasm of Mark, with the prayerful compassion of Luke, and with the intimacy and adoring wonder of John—so that you too can only call yourself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

May you live out the practical wisdom of James, because you, too, are a doer of the word and not just a hearer.

May your experience of Jesus be as wide and long and high and deep as that of the apostle Paul (“to me, the least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ.”)

May you live in the power of the Holy Spirit, and may you always have the confidence that when you read God’s word, he speaks to you, and that when God speaks, something always happens.

And in that something, may you be surprised by joy!

God's blessings to all his people!

Growth of Islam in Europe is a God-Given Opportunity

In his new book “Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West," Christopher Caldwell insists that Muslims immigrants are supplanting European culture; a blurb on the cover describes it as “patiently conquering Europe’s cities, street by street.”

The Muslim population of Europe today is the unintended result of bringing thousands of Turks, Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians, and Pakistanis to fill worker shortages from the 1960s to 1970s. These guest workers were supposed to leave, as Omer Taspinar points out on the Brookings Institute web site, but instead were allowed to settle permanently and to bring into their country of residence their extended families from home.

Most measures point to a far more advanced state of Islamic influence in Europe than in the U.S., according to such commentators as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bruce Bawer, Bat Yeor, Daniel Pipes, and of course Caldwell. The latter maintains that Europe had almost no Muslim residents in the 1950s, and today they have from 15 to 17 million. Birth rates among most European countries cannot sustain their current populations, while Muslim birth rates accelerate. Taspinar writes,

More [Muslims] are on the way. Today, the Muslim birth rate in Europe is three times higher than the non-Muslim one. If current trends continue, the Muslim population of Europe will nearly double by 2015, while the non-Muslim population will shrink by 3.5 percent.

Sections of London, Brussels, Paris, and Malmo, for instance, operate under de facto Sharia. The Turkish Muslim presence in Germany is influencing that country’s support for Turkish membership in the European Community. The presence of 5 to 7 million Muslims in France, far outnumbering the Jewish population of some 700,000, is seen as contributing to a rise of anti-Semitism. The Muslim population in Europe is largely unassimilated, maintaining its identity as a minority community rather than as citizens of Germany, France, or Britain.

In contrast, the largest group of immigrants in the United States over the last generation was overwhelmingly Hispanic and Catholic, not Muslim. Conservative Christianity has a much more visible presence in America, in spite of the hegemony of liberal/progressives in academia, journalism, and government.

What should concern us is not the question of whether South Asians or others change the racial composition of Europe. Rather, the issue is the erosion of the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman foundations for Western civilization. But this moment presents us with an opportunity to re-evangelize the continent, and not simply in order to revitalize the spiritual life of secular Europeans. With Muslims immigrating to the West, they are accessible as potential brothers and sisters in Christ. Believers have the opportunity to share the Gospel with Muslims in Europe and America as they cannot freely do in the Muslim world, and new Muslim background believers can in turn bring the gospel to their cultures of origin with cultural understanding unlikely for those raised as members of mainstream culture in the West.