As this comes out, the Presidential Inauguration was yesterday. Depending on your point of view, it’s a time of hope for a new and positive beginning or despair. OR, it’s time to renew our focus as believers. Jesus’ message was a simple one:

From that time on Jesus began to proclaim his message with these words: “Keep turning away from your sins and come back to God, for heaven’s kingdom realm is now accessible.” (Matthew 4.17, TPT)

Jesus lived during a time of great oppression. There were no elections. There was no recourse for a Jew to oppose Rome. The answer? Turn from your sins and focus on God’s’ Kingdom.

This might be a word for today. Two weeks ago there was an assault on the capitol by Trump supporters. What kingdom are you supporting? If you’re a believer, are you really putting your hope in all the conspiracy stories going around? Or are you putting your hope in the new administration?

Again, our hope should be in neither. I wrote last week about Mike Metzger’s call for a Third Way – a conservative/liberal approach. I also shared Tony Dungy’s call for five practices that should characterize us in 2021, beginning with reading the Bible through.

Our pastor shared Sunday that in the middle of a very oppressive regime, Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians was that they experience the love of God. (See Ephesians 3.14 – 21. Better yet, pray it!) Our pastor included this challenge:

If we are not living out of our experience of God’s love, if we are not leading the way in bringing peace, if we are not safe to be around because we’re going to be haranguing from one political position or the other, the New Testament would describe us as immature. – Dr. David Jordan-Irwin, Monument Community Presbyterian Church, January 17, 2021.

My prayer for us all in 2021 is that we experience God’s love, share it with others, and focus on the Kingdom of God.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6.33, ESV)

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7.14, ESV)

On Monday, Martin Luther King Day, I reminded us of Dr. King’s perspective on work with a quote from his famous “Streetsweeper” sermon. It’s worth a read and a listen if you missed it.

Today I want to share a couple of quotes I found in the process of getting my office put back together with the new furniture. Both have to do with work; both have to do with baseball. The first sounds like it came from George Will’s book, Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball, which I’ve read, and if you like baseball, it’s a good read. Here’s the quote I just found:

I loved the game. I loved the competition. But I never had any fun. I never enjoyed it. All hard work. All the time. – Carl Yastrzemski, Red Sox outfielder (born, 1939)

Here’s the other quote. It’s hard to believe they’re talking about the same profession:

I ain’t never had a job. I just always played baseball. – Leroy “Satchel” Paige, pitcher, Negro leagues, and the Major Leagues (1906 – 1982). The bio says he played his last professional game (in the minor leagues) in 1966 – do the math, he would have been 60 years old!

It sounds like Satchel Paige found the enjoyment in work that “The Preacher” talked about:

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 5.18, 19, ESV)

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3.17, ESV)

As I’m reading through the Bible this year (join me!), I’m in that familiar part of Genesis – you know when we start reading the Bible, we at least get through Genesis before we quit! So I’ve read all of Genesis many times. I asked the Lord in advance to show me something I hadn’t seen before. Something I need to act on. (A good prayer for any day.) And here’s what I saw, relating to some current events I’ve been writing about:

And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him.” Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape.” (Genesis 32.6 – 8, ESV)

The messengers brought back a simple observation: Esau is coming to meet you with 400 men. Jacob ASSUMED that these were men of war and that Esau was attacking him. His response was to be “greatly afraid and distressed,” and he implements a complex plan to protect his family, his assets and appease Esau.

But Esau apparently has no ill will toward Jacob. The fear was for nothing. (You can read the whole account in Genesis 32 and 33.)

What are we afraid of? Were the events of January 6 and any (hopefully, unsuccessful) plans for this week motivated by fear? I pray that we have nothing to be afraid of. And if we are afraid, maybe we should commit our fears to God as Jacob did:

Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him… (Genesis 32.11, ESV)

Don’t be like this people,
always afraid somebody is plotting against them. 
Don’t fear what they fear. 
Don’t take on their worries.
If you’re going to worry, 
worry about The Holy. Fear GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies. (Isaiah 8.12, 13, MSG)

It’s Martin Luther King Day, and it’s a good time to reflect on what he said about work:

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michaelangelo painted pictures, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.” – Martin Luther King, Jr., New Covenant Baptist Church, Chicago, IL, April 9, 1967. (You can hear it here – just the first 30 seconds)

I’ve been reading about Joseph in Genesis chapters 39 and 40: in whatever place he found himself, even a slave and a prisoner, he did his work well. It’s worth thinking about.

The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. (Genesis 39.2 – 5, NIV)

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3.23, 24, NIV)

Can we take a break from the doom and gloom for a feel-good story?

I got June a standing desk for Christmas (actually, it’s motorized and goes up and down), and it inspired me. I’ve had the same large corner desk unit in my downstairs office since we moved in 2006. It has served well, but I suddenly visualized myself working while standing and looking out the window. Question: how to get rid of the existing desks so I would have room for my own standing desk? Answer: post it on NextDoor.com!

NextDoor is the web site that allows you to join by physical neighborhood, and in addition to the other benefits it has (like finding lost pets!), it’s great for getting rid of household items. Sometimes I just put stuff out by the street, post a picture of it on NextDoor, and it’s gone within minutes.

In this case, even though I put a low price on the desk set, I didn’t get any interest for a few days. So, I prayed about it! (Always a last resort…) I prayed that there would be someone out there who needed that desk and would enjoy it. And within minutes, someone established contact. To make a long story short, they loved the desk even though they had to take it apart and reassemble at home. She sent me pictures.

She wrote,

I can’t thank you enough! It’s beautiful. Thank you. So happy my mom van worked for transport. Take care. Happy mom over here. And the current small desk one of the boys is using we are posting for free. Paying it forward.

And in the process, another lady wrote to ask about the carpet protector (for a rolling office desk chair) in one of my pictures. I said it wasn’t for sale since I was getting a new desk. But then I decided I didn’t need it after all. This lady was a school teacher, and they had cleared all the furniture out of their school after a COVID outbreak. She came over and picked up the office chair and carpet protector. She said she was “over the moon” excited.

Sometimes there are easy ways to bless people that are win-win. I needed to get rid of some stuff. There were people who needed that stuff.

Don’t hoard treasure… (Matthew 6.19, MSG)

Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.” (Luke 6.38, MSG)

My friend Ray Bandi, former pastor and disciple-making coach in New Hampshire, reminded me of the best short version of the challenges we’re facing in the U.S. It’s right out of the Bible:

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1.19, 20, NIV)

It’s very simple: from politicians right down to the average FaceBook user, we’re not very good at “quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” We talk too much, listen too little, and get angry too quickly. And the kicker is, the anger will not bring about the righteousness that God (and most people) desire.

There’s no need for me to say anymore.

One benefit of reading and rereading the Bible is that every time we come, even to a familiar text, we are in a different time and place. Like now, for example. As I write, authorities across the country are preparing for widespread, perhaps violent, protests, over the next week from disgruntled Republicans. If people are willing to storm the Capitol building while Congress is in session, what else might they do? I know people who were at the January 6 rally although they broke off from the march to the Capitol as soon as the police showed up. I get emails from friends, fellow believers, forwarding all kinds of “calls to action.” With that sort of thing in mind, a few days ago I was reading Matthew 5, Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount. Do they apply?

³⁸ “Your ancestors have also been taught, ‘Take an eye in exchange for an eye and a tooth in exchange for a tooth.’ ³⁹ However, I say to you, don’t repay an evil act with another evil act. But whoever insults you by slapping you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well… ⁴¹ And should people in authority take advantage of you, do more than what they demand. ⁴² Learn to generously share what you have with those who ask for help, and don’t close your heart to the one who comes to borrow from you.”

⁴³ “Your ancestors have also been taught ‘Love your neighbors and hate the one who hates you.’ ⁴⁴ However, I say to you, love your enemy, bless the one who curses you, do something wonderful for the one who hates you, and respond to the very ones who persecute you by praying for them. ⁴⁵ For that will reveal your identity as children of your heavenly Father. He is kind to all by bringing the sunrise to warm and rainfall to refresh whether a person does what is good or evil. ⁴⁶ What reward do you deserve if you only love the loveable? Don’t even the tax collectors do that? ⁴⁷ How are you any different from others if you limit your kindness only to your friends? Don’t even the ungodly do that? ⁴⁸ Since you are children of a perfect Father in heaven, you are to be perfect like him.” (Matthew 5.38 – 48, ESV)

And does this apply?

Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary… (Isaiah 8.11 – 14, ESV)

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that one of the main themes is “everyone” engaged – not just Christian professionals. So I was thrilled to read an excellent editorial in a (secular) publication – The Wall Street Journal – by layman Tony Dungy, Hall of Fame professional football coach and now broadcaster. Tony’s co-author, Benjamin Watson, is director of NFL Programs for Pro Athletes Outreach. Together they host a program called “Football Sunday: A Sports Spectrum Production.”

The headline in the Wall Street Journal was a non-so-subtle:

A Call for Christian Revival in 2021: If you find your faith is strained by the pandemic, these practices can help.

Here’s the depressing opening:

Last year was one of the weariest we can remember. It brought school conducted behind screens, fewer trips to restaurants, and no escapes to the ballgame. The weekly routine of sitting in a church pew on Sunday morning is gone for many. How can we not be weary?

Having both worked in the National Football League for decades, we are creatures of routine. Our habits and the structure they create provide us with steadiness, but this went out the window in 2020. We would handle this better if we knew when the pandemic will end, but we do not know what tomorrow holds.

Our weariness goes far beyond schedule changes. The challenges drained our collective spirit: violence in American cities; a seemingly never-ending divisive election cycle; apparent helplessness in the face of the virus. Americans’ trust in government, media and even the church continued to diminish. This heightened our anger and left us searching for answers.

The racial injustice and division in this country weighs heavily on us too. We acknowledge the progress made, but we are not blind to the long road ahead. We have been buoyed by so many who have become willing to have difficult discussions, learn about this country’s past and present, and acknowledge that all of us need to listen more than we talk. From A Call for Christian Revival in 2021 by Tony Dungy and Benjamin Watson, Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2021.

They go on to list five practices, with which I whole-heartedly agree. My comments, if any, will be bracketed [ ].

• Read the entire Bible. This is a blessing—and doing it in a year takes only about 15 minutes a day. [Here is the plan I am following this year.]
• Pray. Pray for our pastors, teachers, politicians, family and friends.
• Repent. Repentance is a word American culture has lost sight of. It means to turn away from the direction one has been headed. Repentance applies not only to salvation but to everyday life. If 2020 has exposed worry, jealousy, racism, pride, greed or anger in our hearts, we must repent. [Repentance was included in my January 2 blog, under prayers for our country, and I may have more to say about that tomorrow in light of current events.]
• Return to our home churches. The relationships built in our local churches are critical for our personal growth—and the church’s growth as a whole.
• Give tithes and offerings. The Bible requires Christians to give to the church. We can debate whether tithing is Old Covenant or New Covenant, but we all know God calls us to give—and to give generously.

These (laymen!) conclude:

We don’t know what the future holds, but God called us to follow him. It’s long past time for a Christian revival in this country, and following the steps above is a call to action that will change this country in unimaginable ways. – Tony Dungy and Benjamin Watson, WSJ, January 7, 2021

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matthew 7.24, ESV)

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. (1 Timothy 2.1, 2, ESV)

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7.14, ESV)

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3.13, NIV)

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9.6, 7, NIV)

It’s fun reading through the Bible! It’s been a few years since I’ve read through the Bible in a year, and I’m enjoying renewing my friendship with the early guys: Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc., and I’m seeing two common themes, which go along with our observations of how the crowds change and how people can be restored. Here are the themes:

God chose them.
They started to mess up right away!

Think about it:

• Adam: placed in the garden and given a fabulous job and a wife in Genesis 2, and you know what happens in Genesis 3!
• Noah: three chapters on the flood, very exciting, and what happens in Genesis 9? He’s passed out drunk.
• Abraham: surely things will get better. God chooses Abraham: “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed,” Genesis 12.3. We don’t even get out of the chapter before we read this:

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” (Genesis 12.10 – 13, ESV)

There’s a role model for you! He lies and endangers his wife to save himself, not once, but twice (see Genesis 19), and, like father, like son, Isaac does the same thing in Genesis 26.

But God’s plan goes on, worked out through VERY imperfect people. I’m not advocating we mess up on purpose (see Romans 6.1, 2)! But when we do, it’s OK. We’re not the first.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2.1, ESV)

Here’s a word you can take to heart and depend on: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. I’m proof—Public Sinner Number One. (The Apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, 1 Timothy 1.15, MSG)

Speaking of repentance and redemption, our pastor told an extra-Biblical story about the Apostle John, said to have occurred late in life, after his exile on the isle of Patmos. You can read the whole story in detail in this excerpt from Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History, written in the 4th Century. The short version goes something like this:

The Apostle John had entrusted the care of a young believer that he really liked into the hands of a fellow bishop. When John returned to the area a few years later, he asked for an accounting and was told that the young man had fallen in with a bad crowd and had become head of a murdering, thieving gang.

John’s response was immediate: “Bring me a horse! And someone to take me to where he is.” John is captured by the bandit’s gang. The young man, armed, runs away, and John runs after him. (Reminds one of Luke 15.) “Why, my son, do you flee from me? I am old and unarmed. Don’t you see? There is still hope of life for you. I will give account to God for you.” The young man repents, and the account ends this way:

But John, pledging himself, and assuring him on oath that he would find forgiveness with the Saviour, besought him, fell upon his knees, kissed his right hand itself as if now purified by repentance, and led him back to the church. And making intercession for him with copious prayers, and struggling together with him in continual fastings, and subduing his mind by various utterances, he did not depart, as they say, until he had restored him to the church, furnishing a great example of true repentance and a great proof of regeneration, a trophy of a visible resurrection.” – Eusebius, quoting Clement

Our pastor used the story primarily to show that John, author of 1 John, which we are getting ready to study, was a real person. Someone who cared about people. But, of course, it’s a wonderful story that participating with the wrong crowd doesn’t have to be the last word.

And if you don’t like extra-biblical stories, what about Jesus himself going after Saul of Tarsus? (See Acts 9) And Barnabas went after John Mark who had quit the missions trip earlier.

Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. (Acts 15.37 – 39, NIV)

We don’t hear any more from Barnabas in Acts, but Barnabas had the last word. Hear a little of Paul’s last request to Timothy:

Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. (2 Timothy 4.9 – 11, NIV, emphasis mine)