Readings for today: Proverbs 11-12, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58
I will never forget where I was on September 11th, 2001. I was sitting in my car at the intersection of Canal Pointe Blvd and Alexander Road, heading into class at Princeton Theological Seminary. I had the radio on like normal when the news came out that the first tower had been hit. At first, I couldn’t believe it. Once I got to school, I rushed into the library to find a computer. I hit the “refresh” button over and over again but the news websites were crashing with all the traffic. Then the second tower was hit. Then the Pentagon. Then Flight 93 goes down in Pennsylvania. I tried to get ahold of my wife. (This was before we had cell phones.) She worked for the local school district and was frantically trying to locate the parents of all the children in her program, many of whom worked in New York City. In the wake of that day, I watched a nation come together. First responders laid down their lives heroically. Construction crews worked tirelessly on the site to rescue those buried under the rubble or identify the remains of those who had been killed. Sanctuaries were filled with people seeking solace and a safe place to process their grief in the aftermath. We cared for each other. We comforted each other. We came alongside each other.
Sadly, that spirit of unity didn’t last. Instead, we turned on each other. The demonic forces lurking inside all of us have broken the cordon around our hearts, overtaking the “better angels of our nature” that President Abraham Lincoln once put so much trust in. Once again, we are seeing the self-destruction of a nation. Once again, our passions strain the bonds of our common affection to the point of breaking. Our faith in human progress has been terribly misplaced. Our trust in an achievable social utopia has been betrayed. Evil is extending rather than reducing its limits. Humankind cannot help itself. Humanity cannot save herself. Everything we touch seemingly turns to lead. We are slowly but surely discovering the truth of Solomon’s words, “Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind…” (Proverbs 11:29)
Thankfully, God is not done. He pursues us relentlessly. He presses in on us from every side. He rattles the shutters we work so hard to close. He knocks on the door we try so hard to bar. He shows up at every window. Slips through every crack. He will not let us go. Human beings can only ultimately be understood within the frame of reference that is God. Our life simply shows too many symptoms of another Life impinging upon it. As the late Paul Scherer once wrote, “we are impossible conundrums without God, answerless riddles.” And yet, things always seem darkest before the dawn. Things always seem to get worse before they get better. We have to be driven to our knees before we will relinquish our natural pride and arrogance and let go. The Bible declares God’s mercies to be new every morning. What that means is that each day is yet another opportunity for God! Perhaps, as Scherer himself put so well, we are being driven from our ruined Edens into a new era where humanity will once again - humbly under God - rise to reclaim her rightful heritage. Not by might. Not by power. But by Christ’s Spirit! Her brave and stubborn hopes shaped by a Will that is braver and more stubborn still. Her deep and dark condition matched only by the One who holds in His scarred and steady hands the swinging movement of the years!
This is ultimately where the Apostle Paul lands. Did you catch his final words to us today? “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:57-58) If we seek to serve Christ. If we dedicate our lives to Him. If we humbly offer our lives as a living sacrifice, we will not inherit the wind but the full weight of glory God has prepared for us in His Kingdom!
Readings for tomorrow: None