Month: May 2022

Worth Remembering

Several of my memories growing up in Racine, Wisconsin, were of going to a large, imposing building on the lakefront called Memorial Hall. Built in a classic Greek style in the 1920’s, it was dedicated to the remembrance of Americans who had fought, and died, in the nation’s wars up through WWI.  It was what we now call an “event center,” being used by speakers, political candidates (including Barack Obama and John McCain), service clubs, and even pro wrestling! My own experiences included receiving polio vaccines and attending an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast on the morning of my wedding. Unfortunately, due to my nervousness, all-I-could-eat consisted of not more than half of one pancake. (I later learned that Karen had no trouble eating her breakfast at her home!)

I mention Memorial Hall because I remember standing outside and reading names carved into the impressive walls. Most were new to me: Chateau Thierry, Argonne, Manila Bay. Some were more familiar: Gettysburg, Bunker Hill, Yorktown. They all held hallowed meanings as the names of battles from our history, battles where, as President Lincoln said, men gave their “last full measure of devotion” and died for our country.  It was always a little sobering to read those names and think about the sacrifices made.

It’s worth remembering what those men and women gave in those wars, and in the many wars since. We owe them all a debt of gratitude and honor. That’s why we celebrate Memorial Day today, an observance that began back on May 1, 1865, barely two weeks after the end of the Civil War. On that day, some 10,000 freed slaves and their families paraded in Charleston, South Carolina to honor the 257 Union soldiers buried in a nearby mass grave. Similar honoring events were soon held in other towns, leading to nationwide observances of Decoration Day, renamed Memorial Day.

Many have died for their country; many more have died for their faith, specifically the Christian faith. Persecuted for confessing Christ, hounded, tortured, and martyred, they gave testimony to Jesus as Lord and Savior. The world hated them, as Jesus predicted it would (Matthew 10:22 and 24:9) and would seek to stamp them out. Their lives, and their faithfulness to keep, defend, and extend the faith are also worth remembering.

Most of their names are unknown to us, lost to history by their sheer numbers, so there’s no Memorial Hall with their names inscribed on its walls. Yet the Bible does honor them. Besides the specific account of the first martyr, Stephen, in Acts  6-8, the book of Hebrews describes what many have endured before giving their “last full measure of devotion” to Christ. Chapter 11:35-38 reads,

       “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise         again to a better life.  Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even               chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned, they were sawn in two,               they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and             goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not                   worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and               caves of the earth.”

Someday, I believe, we will learn the names of those many martyrs, for their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Which means we will also get to meet them personally. We may even get to hear their stories, though there will be no boasting of themselves and their sacrifice, but boasting only in their Lord and that they were honored to die for him (2 Corinthians 10:17, Galatians 6:14).

Remember these faithful people who, in spite of terrible persecution, held to the faith and taught it to their children and others whom God called by the Gospel to believe, passing it down some 2000 years to the present, that we might also believe.

So, as we sit comfortably in our padded pews, warmed and cooled as the weather demands, singing and praying openly without fear of arrest and execution, let us offer a prayer of thanks both for those have fought to preserve our religious freedom, and for those who preserved the faith worth dying – and living – for. And to the Lord who has blessed us in every way!

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Hebrews 11; Ephesians 2:8-10; Acts 7:51-60.

 

Ball and Chain

I had a dream the other night, a nightmare of sorts. In it, someone took a heavy chain and fastened it around my left leg. Attached to the other end of the chain was a heavy iron ball, the kind you see in old prison yard movies, where the convicts are weighed down to prevent their trying to escape while breaking rocks with their sledgehammers.

I woke up in a cold sweat, screaming in horror at my bondage (actually, I just woke up and chuckled, relieved to know it had been just a dream). But then, when I went to get up, I remembered that part of the dream had been true, for my left foot was indeed shackled with a plastic tube connected to a portable vacuum device called a “wound vac,” something I had jokingly referred to as my “ball and chain.”

The device creates a mild suction on wounds, keeping them clean and stimulating a healing blood flow to them. For three months, 24/7, the device had been attached to my right foot, but now after I lost my left little toe, it was switched to that foot. Everything seems to be improving, which is the purpose of this device. Still, I can’t wait to be done with it and finally be free from my “ball and chain.”

Of course, the inconvenience I have with this healing device is nothing compared to what so many other people have suffered wearing real chains. Throughout history, and even today, people with power have used chains to control, enslave, and punish others. Just about every tribe and nation has put somebody in chains. From slavery imposed on Africans brought by force to our land, to Romans parading conquered enemies in chains in what were called “triumphs,” to Arab slavers capturing Europeans for their slave markets (our word “slave” comes from the word Slav, referring to the many slaves captured from Eastern Europe), to present-day slave markets in Libya, to convicts being transported to prison, chains have been used to bind literally millions of people.

The Bible records numerous examples of people being chained. In the Old Testament, conquerors chained the losing kings to show power over them, and to publicly humiliate them. The book of 2 Kings 25:7 tells us that the Babylonians blinded the Judean king, Zedekiah, “bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.” Likewise, in 2 Chronicles 33:10-12, the king of Assyria “captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze.” Psalm 149:5-9 prophesies that the godly will triumph in vengeance over the nations, “to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron.” 

Moving to the New Testament, we see that chains have not become obsolete. Luke 8:29 tells of a demoniac who broke the chains that had restrained him. Then, in Acts 12:6-7, we read about Peter being arrested and put in jail, bound with two chains and guarded by soldiers and sentries. (Not a problem: an angel appeared, the chains fell off, and Peter walked away, a free man.) Similarly, Paul was arrested and bound with two chains after his arrest in the Jerusalem Temple (Acts 21:33). Later, Paul wrote about his chains in several epistles, calling himself “an ambassador in chains” for the sake of the gospel (Ephesians 6:19-21). Finally, in the great “faith chapter” of Hebrews 11, the writer commends the saints who “suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment” (11:36).

So you see, chains have always been part of the human story, and God’s people have not been immune to their oppressive restraint.

While we are certainly familiar with the reality of chains, captivity, and slavery in human affairs, we must also recognize the existence of another, more dangerous kind of bondage: spiritual. The Bible calls this other form, being a “slave to sin” (John 8:34). Even though we don’t drag around iron chains (or wound vacs), we all have to contend with the bondage to sin.

In John 8, Jesus had an exchange with some of the Jews. He expanded their understanding of physical bondage to include the danger of spiritual slavery, and their need to be freed from it. He said,

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:31-36).

Of course, his audience did not take kindly to such a statement, and neither do we. We would rather go along with the popular attitude that people are basically good. Sure, we have some flaws, but look at all the good that people do. Doesn’t that count? I’m glad that much good is done, but even when intents are right, too often sin gets in the way and corrupts our efforts. Having phone connections with most of the world is great, so why are most of our calls from scammers? The internet is a real boon for information and communication, but we can’t use it without security software due to man-made malware (viruses, bots, ransom ware, etc.). Advances in medicine are wonderful, if you don’t count experiments done on unwilling or unknowing test subjects – or the creation of viruses in labs. And how much of the money given to alleviate suffering here and abroad goes to the needy, and is not siphoned off by corrupt officials?

The Apostle Paul saw the effect of sin’s bondage in his own life. In Romans 7:14-20,  he laments:

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

How often can we say the same things about ourselves? As one form of our liturgy of public confession proclaims, “We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.” We see this not only in others, but in many of our thoughts, words, and actions. Anger, insults, curses, gossip; all are evidence of our natural slavery to sin.

But the good news is that we don’t have to let sin control us. So how do we break free? What can we do? Well, nothing. Our liberation from sin’s control comes only one way: by God’s power through faith in Jesus Christ. Right after Paul lamented his sins and asked, “Who will deliver me from this body of death?”, he answered his own question, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). Or as Jesus said of himself, “So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36).

The wonderful part of the Gospel is not only that our desire to sin is lessened, but also that the sins we do commit, the sins of omission, and even our basic sinful nature, are all forgiven. By God’s promise, we can rejoice that the ball and chain of sin has been overcome. We can at last find peace and celebrate the words of Jesus in Luke 4:18,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,”

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Isaiah 61:1-3; Romans 7; Galatians 5:1