Thanksgiving

The American Civil War is by far the bloodiest military conflict in US history. The loss of life due to combat death and war-related disease numbers somewhere between five and seven hundred thousand, around 3% of our national population at the time. (Today, a three percent loss would equate to roughly nine million deaths, about the population of New York City or the state of North Carolina.) Still, during this unspeakable tragedy, Abraham Lincoln issued the proclamation that set the precedent for a national day of Thanksgiving.

I don’t know the circumstances of your life on this Thanksgiving Day, but I do know that giving thanks to God is important in times of great joy and in times of great sorrow and concern. In good times it reminds us that our circumstances are not always of our own making. In times of sorrow we are reminded that there is hope. Perhaps the words of the proclamation will be good food for thought.

Washington, D.C.
October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

Woodstock

I’m watching a Woodstock documentary. I am filled with sadness. I’ve been trying to put into words why, but I can’t find them. It has something to do with how deeply people hurt and desperately long for something better, yet they look to behaviors and philosophies that ultimately enslave them instead of free them.  With that in mind, it also has something to do with my failure and the church’s failure, by and large, to authentically live in and accurately portray the life and love of Jesus.  When I look at some of the things that have been done in the name of Christ, things he himself would not do or approve of, I am not surprised that the people who experienced or witnessed those things reject him rather than embrace him.  Even so, God continues to woo people to himself, and people continue to embrace the life he offers them.  This is only possible because, among other things, God is merciful, kind, loving, forgiving and patient.

The temptation is to say we need to do better.  We need to find better ways to communicate who Jesus really is to our culture.  We need to live better lives.  We need to try harder.  While I would agree the quality of what we do and how we do needs to  improve, to focus on improving it is to fall into a performance trap. 

I think the answer is to draw nearer.  The only way our lives will ever authentically reflect the beauty and majesty of Jesus, is for us to nurture his life within us.  Our behavior will never be perfect, for we are infected with a tendency to reject God and his ways.  Still, when we nurture the life of Christ in us, that life will show up in the way we live.

Image Is Everything

Our image of God determines everything. Think about it. What we believe to be true about anyone determines how we relate to them. It is no less true for what we believe about God. In fact, people who study different cultures tell us a culture is defined by the people’s understanding, or rejection, of God. This is one of the reasons why worship is so important. Worship helps us grow in our understanding and appreciation of who God is.

Years ago, actually decades ago, I saw a short movie by a Christian comedian sketching out different views of God. He portrayed God as a mean traffic cop that lived for the opportunity to catch people violating the rules; as a sleepy old man in a rocking chair on a huge porch that only woke up to take his medicine and wasn’t really aware of what was going on in his creation; as a plump cherub who just wanted everyone to luuuuvvvv everyone else. When our view of God is limited to any one of these three understandings, or even some combination of all three or some other dwarfed understanding of who God is, we will have difficulty in our relationship with God. We will not experience or reflect the majestic, transformational power of his love.

So what is God really like? There is not room to answer that question in this article, even if I felt I could. When we read the Bible, it is obvious God wants to be known by us. It is also obvious there are aspects about God that are mysterious to us. We don’t fully comprehend him. Why would we? He is eternal. We are not. He is all powerful. We are not. He is perfect in every way. We are not. He knows everything. We do not. He is creator. We are created. The list could go on about the differences between God and us that would explain why we cannot fully understand nor appreciate the full wonder of who he is. Yet, he makes himself known to us in ways we can understand! Even that tells us something about who he is. The one who does not need us and is so far above us we cannot possibly comprehend him desires to be known and loved by us.

This is why we worship God. There are so many reasons to value him above all other things. At the same time, when we worship God it grounds us in what is truly real and important. In one sense we know as much about God as we need to know. In another sense, our understanding of who he is and what that means will be the pursuit of our lives, a pursuit we cannot engage without taking time to passionately worship him.