16 Jul THE Question
Happy Tuesday y’all!
It’s great to be back in the regular ebb & flow of life. Our anniversary weekend away was magnificent!
Thank you one and all to everyone who helped make that achievable by covering Sunday morning & various other details while we were away.
There’s more of that sort of thing in the works between now & the end of the year…so keep our Steering Team and one another in your prayers. We’ve got mission to tend on Jesus’ behalf here and it’s not finished until he calls “time,” and…his mission is an “all hands on deck” thing. 😉
I also understand we’ve got a stack of birthdays happening over these couple of weeks…so Happy Birthday to you!
What else is out there? Well…
- Zoom Bible Study Catch-up (Jeremiah 2…from last Sunday)
Friday – 19th July 2024 @ 1:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83006349720 — Meeting ID: 830 0634 9720 - Ladies’ Fellowship is this Thursday, 18th July. Psalm 90 & 91. Should be pretty awesome!
- Saturday 20th July @7:00 p.m. – John Drama @ South Wagga Anglican Church (Turvey Park) There’s been a request for Living Water to provide lunch for the cast & crew on Saturday afternoon. It would be a hot chook, cold salads & maybe bread rolls for something like 25 people. If you get a phone call this week from the Steering Team…see what you can do. It may already be in hand & I just haven’t heard the details, but be ready if your phone rings. Thank you in advance.
- This coming Sunday, 21st July, is a Morning Tea Sunday…so…come, share & enjoy the goodies!
- NSW School Term 3 starts on Monday the 22nd…so be careful in the school zones & please do keep the students & teachers in your prayers as they get back in the wonderful business of passing on wisdom and knowledge from generation to generation. Be especially praying for the year 11 & 12 students…things start getting serious in those last two years right about now.
I got asked THE question at a time & from someone I was not expecting…
Immediately following worship Sunday evening in Sydney, Leonie & I were chatting with some folks & waiting for the signal to line up for the shared post-worship meal when the pastor made a beeline to me & introduced himself asking, “How are you doing in all this…the attempted assassination of Former President Trump?” I really didn’t expect that question in that setting, but there it was…What to say? How would you have answered?
I normally follow the “72-hour rule.” That is I try not to comment on anything from the news for about 3 days. It gives time for the dust to settle, the truth to start filtering to the surface above the “talk & rumour,” and for me to figure out what the various sources “want” me to believe. Then I try to piece together my thoughts.
But since he asked…I said, “Well if you call someone ‘literally Hitler’ for 8 years, & if you call the 75 or so million people who voted for President Trump in 2020 ‘extremists’ & describe President Trump (like the sitting President did on 28 June 2024) as ‘a genuine threat to this nation…a threat to our freedom…a threat to our democracy…literally a threat to everything America stands for,’ then you shouldn’t be surprised if someone takes you seriously & tries to eliminate this ‘threat.’ And you therefore shouldn’t be surprised if those you’ve demonized suddenly demand satisfaction & justice…or even vengeance…as wrong as that would be.”
He was, I suspect, not surprised by my answer. He’s a very capable pastor in a challenging parish. He’s quite bright and very theologically gifted. I respect him & his ministry greatly. I wasn’t surprised by my answer either. I’ve just listened to 2 very faithful pastors talk at length on Romans 13 & Daniel 4 & 5. Let’s look at those for a minute:
Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. – Romans 13:1-2
Your Majesty, the Most High God gave sovereignty, majesty, glory, and honour to your predecessor, (your father) Nebuchadnezzar…the Most High God rules over the kingdoms of the world and appoints anyone he desires to rule over them. – Daniel 5:18 & 20b
It seems strange to our ears…we who vote for our leaders at every level & select them from a range of choices…to hear the Bible say that it is God who places our leaders in their roles. Which of course raises the question, “Even the scoundrels, despots & tyrants?” So it would seem. Why? Because God wants them to administer justice, righteousness & good for all…and some reject that part of their role & act purely for self-interest or from an ideological perspective that denies those good things to the many under their rule. God only has sinners to choose from & some live from their sinful nature & do great harm. We could name a number like that from history or the current world stage, but even in their case, God calls us to be subject to God’s sovereign selection of them even as they are, even unknowingly, subject to God for their leadership & rule. Those who lead selfishly or cruelly will answer to God for their cruelty & selfishness. Until they ask us to violate our faith in Jesus…we are to acknowledge God’s rule over the rulers & us & do what we can to foster justice, righteousness & goodness…truth & beauty…as best we can even under the rule of wicked leaders.
It also means as Paul says to Timothy, “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, & give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings & all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful & quiet lives marked by godliness & dignity.” – 1 Tim 2:1-2 So I pray for leaders I think are great & for those I’m not fond of or whom I find unfit for office because God has established their “rule” & I recognize God’s hand leading all nations toward his ultimate Kingdom. The scoundrels, despots & tyrants will one day answer to the Final Authority, the King of All Kings, as surely as I & the leaders who cause the good, beautiful, & true to flourish will. I pray especially for leaders who demonize their opponents or speak in such a way that denigrates their humanity or demeans those who support them. It is simply wrong to describe one’s political opposition as “literally Hitler” or a “threat to everything we stand for.”
And for you history buffs…calling your opposition “Hitler” isn’t something new. Harry Truman referred to his opponent Thomas Dewey as Hitler & a “tool of fascists” in the New York Times on the 26th October 1948. So our leaders have a history of being horrible to one another, even in our great republics and democratic nations.
But we know, as followers of Christ, we are called to be different, because Christ set a different way for us to walk. We understand Caesar’s limits under the overarching sovereignty of the Father. We understand that we are called to love our neighbour AND our enemy. We understand we need to obey the command to pray for & be subject to those whom the Father has tasked to “rule.” We also understand that our best witness to a world that goes out of its way to demean, denigrate, or destroy those whom it sees as “enemies or threats,” is to hold ourselves & our leaders to the highest standards of justice, righteousness, truth, & good. We can call on our leaders to treat their opponents like humans & not like the devil…then we can show them how to do it.
I’m sure to see you somewhere throughout the course of the week…and we can talk more. If I don’t see you before Sunday…I’ll see you then. Jeremiah 3:11-15 & 7:1-15…we’re engaging in repentance…seems fitting if you ask me.
Peace
John
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.