Fear not: there's a reason to take heart

An often-used phrase in the Bible is "Fear not!" On various occasions it is spoken by God or by one of his messengers. Reading the Nativity accounts in the Gospel of Luke, I see "Fear not" used several times. It is never used as a raw command; there is always a reason given assure the hearer and to renew confidence. 

As Luke records the events surrounding Jesus' birth, he records three times when the angels announcement begins, "Fear not": 

• To Zechariah: "Fear not, Zechariah: for your prayer has been heard." (Luke 1:13)
  The angel continues to announce that he and his wife will have a son, John. 
  
  
• To Mary: "Fear not, Mary, for you have found favor with God." (Luke 1:30)
  The angel continues to announce that she will have a son. 
  
  
• To the shepherds: "Fear not, for I bring you good news of great joy, which shall be for all people. For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)

Today I am thinking mainly of Zechariah's encounter with the angel. 

Zechariah's news would be near and dear to anyone who has offered prayers and waited on the Lord: "Your prayer has been heard." When Zechariah heard the angel's message -- of which I've only included the very start -- Zechariah's answer was in the same neighborhood as "Took you long enough" or "Aren't you a little late, considering our ages?" It is easy to feel frustrated or even cynical when a prayer's answer is delayed, and seems to have been ignored or denied. Still, regardless of outward appearances, God had heard, had loved him, had listened to him -- and even considered it right to grant the request. Why had God waited to fulfill Zechariah's prayer? Was He waiting for Mary to grow up so that John and Jesus would be close in age? Was He waiting for the years of the prophet Daniel to be fulfilled? Was He waiting for Zechariah's priestly division to take its turn at the Temple, so that Zechariah could learn of God's gift as Zechariah offered the incense? We do not know the answer, and this side of heaven we have no way to know the answer. But looking back, it is easier to give God the benefit of the doubt that the timing was right, despite how hopeless things must have looked to Zechariah during the long years he may have waited. That's a thing I would do well to remember when I consider unanswered prayers. It may be that the timing matters for reasons I cannot yet see. 

Best of the Blogroll 2022

I like to welcome the New Year on this blog by a grateful recognition of the posts from the prior year which most enlightened, edified, or uplifted me, from my blog friends and neighbors. Here are the best-loved posts of 2022: 

• Common Denominator - Ken Schenck posts on the cultural, spiritual, and intellectual context for understanding "The Word became flesh". 
• Douglas Groothuis - posted some shrewd and timeless principles for Christian public ministry. 
• Dr Claude Mariottini - the retired professor has several outstanding posts this year. He posts an in-depth discussion of Job's suffering from a different perspective, and leaves me wondering whether God in some ways protected Job. He also writes on the theology of remembrance and story-telling when reflecting on passages that tell us to teach our children, and they in turn their own. For Father's Day, he also draws some unexpected, insightful parenting tips from (of all places) the genealogical lists of fathers and sons in the Scriptures. 
• Forward Progress - Michael Kelley gives practical suggestions on The Dirty Little Secret of Parenting (that none of us knows what we are doing). He also writes about the empathy of God in Jesus Wept. He also re-posts a previous Thanksgiving post, a timeless reminder that the foundation of Christian Thanksgiving is the character of God, which also made "best of the blogroll" last year. 
• Glory To God For All Things - Fr. Freeman is one of the more prolific Christian bloggers that I read. He posts, with a brief introduction, a sermon from Gregory of Nyssa from the 4th century roundly and thoroughly condemning slavery based on the character of God and the image of God in humanity. It is not often that I am inspired or edified by topics which have been sullied by polemics; this calls back to an earlier age when a simple and clear argument could make its case. As Fr Freeman says, "There is truth. It abides. There is sin. It obscures." He also posts on the world-blessing nature of Abraham's prayers -- and ours. He further posts on our human tendency to shape ourselves by imitating, for good or ill, and how to turn it for our good. My single most-loved post on his blog this year is on living the Scriptures. As he says, "If we do not “become the Scriptures,” then reading them will have been in vain."
• Hyperekperissou - Phil Snider often provides book reviews of worthy reads. I was intrigued by the questions around Thomas Merton in his review of a recent Merton biography.  
• Meta's Blog - Joe Hinman is something of a posting powerhouse, so his section may take a moment. (Visitors please do not be put off by his dyslexic spelling; it is not evidence of lack of thoughtfulness on his part!) He posts a research-based approach to understanding mystical experience; Joe is hands-down the most knowledgeable blogger I know on the intersection between mystical experience and empirical evidence. In another of his strong suits (philosophical warrant for belief in God), he produces his internet-tested Argument from the Laws of Nature. Though my favorite post of his this year is in another much-neglected area: the goodness of God. He formulates 2 beautiful and powerful philosophical arguments for God's goodness, and follows up in a later post with evidence for the infinite loving God. Always a deeply original thinker, here he is at some of his most edifying and profound. 
• The Pocket Scroll - Matthew Hoskin reflects on the power of the Word of God, per se, in Anglican Tradition and the Bible. I also enjoyed his Resurrection-themed repost of "Death, Be Not Proud" by John Donne. 
• Reading Acts - Phillip Long often posts reviews of academic books on Biblical studies. One recent entry of note is the review of The Pastoral Epistles by Osvaldo Padilla. 
• Roger Pearse - a translator and specialist in ancient languages whose work I enjoy and follow, Roger traces the true origin (and true translation) of an oft-(mis)quoted saying of John Chrysostom. He also tracks down an excellent historical resource, collecting the rulings of various church councils up to the 1500's. 
• Sun and Shield - Martin LaBar continues to make his corner of the Internet a brighter place by posting excerpts from a book on prayer; he shares some insightful thoughts on Bible study, hearing God, and fellowship with God. 
• Theology Pathfinder - Derek DeMars enters the seemingly-tired conversation over whether a person needs religion to be moral, and takes it in some new directions. 
• Thinking Christian - Tom Gilson writes a thought-provoking piece (and linked podcast) on the direction of the connection between finding our authentic selves and finding an authentic view of God. 
• Undivided Looking - Aron Wall's blog has been relatively quiet this year; always hoping for more conversation from this worthy soul. His Followup on the Moral Argument for Theism is worth reading and some careful thinking. 
• Weedon's Blog - Pastor Weedon has for years faithfully performed a service to the Internet by regularly posting thoughtful patristic and reformation-era quotes. One of my favorite patristic quotes found its way into the rotation this year, a train of thought which had also informed C.S. Lewis' Christian essays. 

My heartfelt gratitude to all the Christian bloggers who bring much-needed kindness, understanding, wisdom, and mercy to the online community. Here's to 2023! 

Blessed Christmas to all!

Blessed Christmas to all! 

Advent: What does God look forward to?

While he (Joseph) considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)

This week we read what happened when Joseph learned of Mary's pregnancy. We know of Joseph's thoughts from Matthew, and of Mary's from Luke. Here we also see the Lord's thoughts through the voice of the angel: the point of all this is to save God's people from their sins. 

When I hear about saving "his people from their sins", the plural makes it easy for me to think of someone else's sins. That's human nature -- or self-preservation, if you'd rather. If we acknowledge our own faults at all, it is still easy to believe they are caused by someone else's faults. (Say what you will about Genesis 3:12's historicity, it has realism about peoples' reactions.) But what if the problem isn't your sins *or* my sins. What if it's both, and our tendency to blame each other, and the whole web of sinfulness that undermines all our human interactions? What if it's everything that keeps the world tense and fearful, hostile and distrustful? 

God's plan is to save us from all that. And whether I'm ready to acknowledge it or not, I need it deeply. 

Lord, come quickly in our day!

Advent: Looking forward to Restoration

Looking forward to the Day of the Lord, the prophets described how all things would be restored. All things, not just the things we usually consider. Deserts would blossom. Arthritic hands and old knees would be restored. The fearful would be encouraged. Disabilities would be healed. Danger and captivity would become things of the past. All this would be brought about because of the Lord's arrival.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,

the desert shall rejoice and blossom;

like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,

and rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,

the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord,

the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,

and make firm the feeble knees.

Say to those who are of a fearful heart,

“Be strong, do not fear!

Here is your God.

He will come with vengeance,

with terrible recompense.

He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

then the lame shall leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert;

the burning sand shall become a pool,

and the thirsty ground springs of water;

the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,

the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there,

and it shall be called the Holy Way;

the unclean shall not travel on it,

but it shall be for God’s people;

no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.

No lion shall be there,

nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;

they shall not be found there,

but the redeemed shall walk there.

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain joy and gladness,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

 

Lord, come speedily in our day!

Advent: Looking forward to safety and security

Advent is a time to focus on what is coming. It is easy to focus on problems in the world, or plans of our own. In today's lectionary reading from the prophets, Isaiah describes the days of the Lord by focusing on the ruler who is to come: 

The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

In him, justice spreads over the world. Righteousness will be the undoing of the wicked. The poor and oppressed will receive their relief. 

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

In that day, the natural order will have a complete safety even for the young: 

The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

As much as this prophecy is full of hope, it did not start out with worldly power. Time and again, God starts out gentler than we would expect: 

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

This happens when the ruler comes with the spirit of the Lord. 

May it come speedily in our day!

Advent: Looking forward to peace

Focus. Advent is about looking forward, calling us to focus on God's promises. So many things compete for our attention that it takes an effort to clear out the clamor and focus on what God has said. Life can have too much noise, too much distraction, for us to hear the words of God clearly unless we mute our worries for a time and listen. 

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
   and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,
   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
   and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more.

(From Isaiah 2)

I consider what these words would mean today: "They shall not learn war anymore." No more boot camps. No more recruiting and training soldiers. No more seething hostility and debate about who stole whose homeland. No more shockingly large military budgets. No more disturbing loss of life. The nations' disputes shall be settled by an arbiter who knows how to deliver justice: "He shall judge between the nations, arbitrate for many peoples." 

And all the resources that had been dedicated to destruction and hostility will become resources of growth and prosperity: even the weapons will be scrapped and turned to other uses. "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks." In our days, the money channeled to war could bring food to the hungry and warmth to the cold. We are told that the threat of nuclear war is closer than it has been in many years -- yet even those weapons could be repurposed or dismantled one day. 

Before we lay down our weapons, the hearts of the world would have to change. I expect that nothing short of God's presence will do that. 

And so here at the beginning of advent, we look forward to God's presence.