Jeff Adams

This evening Cheryl and I engaged in one of our favorite “date nights,” by going to dinner and a symphony concert. Tonight the symphony gave us the world premier of a concerto for flute by Luka Lombardi with soloist Emmanuel Pahud, principal flautist of the Berlin Philharmonic. Phenomenal!

Tchaikovsky

Two of the other composers heard from tonight were Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. If you know much at all of music history, you are aware that these men were tormented souls.  Among the painters, Van Gogh and Gauguin also suffered incredible personal anguish. There have been, of course, some remarkably happy and well-balanced musicians and artists down through the centuries, but it is striking how many were hugely flawed, hurt or both. Yet, God used these individuals and many others to bless us with great beauty.

I find it fascinating that hurt, pain and agony squeeze beauty and creativity out of some people and bitterness and selfishness out of others. The four talents I mention above made no pretense of having a victorious spiritual walk with God; they were not happy or satisfied people. How sad that many who profess great devotion to God, study the Bible voraciously and even engage in Christian ministry are sometimes those who are most angry and bitter. There is no beauty to behold, despite an occasional Bible study on the joy of the Lord being our strength.

The Apostle Paul said that we must through many tribulations enter into the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). He also told Timothy that all of us who would live godly in Christ Jesus would suffer persecution (2Timothy 3:12).  As I took my seat at the concert and turned my Blackberry to vibrate, I saw an urgent email forwarded from Latin American sources urging prayer for a family set to be executed this evening in a Central Asian country if they do not denounce their faith in Christ. What did they do wrong? Maybe nothing.

Despite such plain teaching, many of us never learn to embrace pain and suffering and find beauty. Instead, we tend to flee pain at all cost and wonder what we have done wrong or why God has let us down. We naturally find it hard to reconcile pain and suffering with abundant living.

I would hate to waste pain and suffering! It’s hard enough as it is. I want to be certain that I allow my hurt to drive me to God, not away from him. Suffering is not something I seek; it is something I am promised. I want to have open eyes to discover the beautiful side of hurt and pain.

The horror of Haiti continues to haunt us all. I have personally experienced major earthquakes and have seen the devastation and the consequences that can last for decades. News of major earthquakes is not something I take lightly.

In an earlier post I mentioned the difficulty of getting news reports while in Argentina the past couple of weeks. It’s funny how significant news sometimes takes on personal faces as our mind process the information. In my mind, the news of the Haitian quake wore the faces of Michelle and Danielle, two Haitian sisters in our church.

The first thing I wanted to do Sunday morning was to look for Michelle and Danielle where they normally sit and tell them I was praying for them and for Haiti. I learned that their immediate family comes from an area to the north of the affected area and is safe. Michelle’s best friend lost her husband, and they have other friends and extended family members still unaccounted for.

A sensitive young woman in our church had sent me an email Saturday night asking me to join her in prayer that other survivors would be found. I thought of her and rejoiced in answered prayer tonight as I saw on the news the rescue of a 35-year-old man who had been trapped in the rubble for two weeks.

My Bible reading Sunday morning was in Exodus and even there I saw the Haitian quake.  I was in chapter 20 as Moses ascends Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments on two tables of stone. Here is what I was reading when the last phrase caught my attention.

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:18-21)

My normal mental image of God is one of blinding light. Psalm 104:2 tells us that God has clothed himself in light. First John 1:5 says that God is light and in him is no darkness at all.

What struck me is that Moses went into the thick darkness where God was. God is not darkness and there is no darkness in him. However, as God, he is everywhere, even in the darkness.

The people of Israel were terrified by the darkness and begged Moses to mediate for them. Moses drew near and penetrated the darkness. In the darkness Moses would find God. Later we read that God even hid him in the cleft of a rock, covered him with his hand and passed by so that Moses could get a glimpse of his glory.

God was in the darkness that engulfed Sinai, and God had a purpose in the darkness. He is always in the darkness and he always has a purpose, even though we never understand it all.

Somewhere in the darkness of Haiti, God is there and is working out his purposes. My God grant us the courage of Moses to penetrate the darkness and discover glimpses of glory, not to sit back and merely tremble.

Practically, what can we do? Our church does not have a network of contacts in Haiti equipped to receive help.

• You can pray. Pray for Haitians you know, like Michelle and Danielle. Pray that families and friend will be able to make contact amidst the confusion. Pray for those who are injured to received care so that they don’t die of injuries that would not normally be life-threatening. Pray that this would be an opportunity to start fresh with some of the elements of Haitian infrastructure that weren’t working well even before the quake. Pray that agriculture would thrive, providing jobs and good nutrition for Haitians. Pray for the quake to shake down corrupt officials and pave the way for a new generation of rulers who have the well-being of Haitians in mind and not their own enrichment. Pray for the economy to recover with the many jobs necessary in the reconstruction of Haitian society. Pray that the relief efforts from foreigners will be sensitive to have a long term view and not hurt Haiti while trying to help.
• You can give. There are many reputable organizations that are on the ground and active in providing legitimate help. Be careful. I saw a report this morning of a group of doctors who arrived to help and had their equipment stolen. Some unscrupulous organizations use such disasters to enrich themselves. Give through sources you know and trust. Perhaps though work, school or social networks, you know someone that you can trust who is involved in the relief effort.
• Be sensitive to any other open doors God might open. Our normal, human reaction is to jump up and want to do something. Often, the greatest need comes a year, two or more after the disaster when the big organizations have packed up and gone home. Perhaps God would allow us to partner with some Haitian churches, or put someone in a key position in government or business that would allow a genuine contribution to the well being of Haitian society.

Maybe it is a quake in your own life that is the focus of your attention right now. All of us know what it is to have the foundations of our lives shaken from time to time. Just remember that God is also in the darkness. Don’t just stand and tremble. Penetrate the darkness in search of God’s purpose and glory. It may seem hopeless, but I promise you that God is in the darkness. Look for him there.

New Year’s Eve has come once again. I have seen many of them, and they continue to fascinate me. What is it that causes many of us to stop, reflect, meditate and make promises to do better?

Hamilton Wright Mabie (1879-1914), an American essayist and associate editor of the Christian Union magazine, wrote,

New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.

Is this true of you? Does tonight’s coming of darkness bring new thoughts? Why? What are these new thoughts.

T.S. Elliot offered,

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language

And next year’s words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

This morning I read the final chapter of John’s Gospel where Jesus lovingly restores Peter after his three denials on the night Jesus was delivered up to be crucified. Much has been written about the three times Jesus asks for the affirmation of Peter’s love and entrusts him with the mission of  feeding his sheep.

It’s right after this, and right after Jesus has told Peter he will suffer a martyr’s death, that Peter inquires what will happen to John.  Though restored, Peter clearly has some areas of immaturity left.

Jesus sharply and directly corrects Peter’s focus by asking why that should concern him. Instead, Jesus simply tells Peter to follow him.

The end of the year and the end of the Gospel – this story was a good challenge to me today to set aside areas of immaturity and imperfection to focus simply on following Jesus and all that means. That really would take care of most concerns of life, wouldn’t it? Just follow Jesus. Most everything else will fall into place according to God’s plan.

If you really want to get specific, what areas of immaturity and imperfection need to be addressed? What would it look like to do a better job of following Jesus this next year?

Benjamin Franklin said, Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.

Happy New Year!

Umberto Boccioni's Futuristic painting "The Street Enters the House," 1911

Did you know that this is the 100^th anniversary of futurism?  No? Futurism is the name of a brief movement started by an article published February 20^th, 1909 in the Parisian newspaper La Figaro by Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The article was entitled Le Futurisme and the intent was to reject the past and make culture more modern. The movement grew to include not only literature, but painting, sculpture, photography and architecture.

Today there is such a thing as retro-futurism, looking at how the future was perceived in the past. I’m thinking of this because the last week of the year is that time when the newspapers, television channels and websites roll out their top predictions for the future. It’s fun to go back and see how those predictions pan out. A few are eerily accurate, while most are far off target.

A website called 2Spare has assembled here what they consider the top 87 bad predictions about the future. One of my favorites is this quote from US President Grover Cleveland in 1905 saying, Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. Or, how about this one from Charles H. Duell (though disputed by researchers), an official at the US patent office in 1899? Everything that can be invented has been invented.

In the January 2^nd edition of 1909, the Scientific American stated, That the automobile has practically reached the limit of its development is suggested by the fact that during the past year no improvements of a radical nature have been introduced.  Before you think you’re pretty smart and expect to see fleets of electric cars on the highways in the next few years, consider this story that ran in the June 27, 1909 Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California), commenting on new battery technology. The commercial value of the gasoline motor will then disappear. Vehicles charged with the new battery will be about as noiseless as it will be practicable to make any rapidly moving thing.

Sometimes, we see things rather clearly. One hundred years ago The Summit County Journal in Logansport, Indiana did an article on what Christmas would be like in 2009. Most of the things they predicted were typically goofy and off-the-wall. The article did say that we’d do most of our shopping from home, which has very much come true. Of course, they predicted that we’d do it via telescopes and telephones. They also foresaw that we would be entertained at home instead of attending plays at local theaters. I’m sure they weren’t thinking of cable, satellite, streaming movies, DVR’s and video on demand, but at least they were headed in the right direction.

We will be hearing all the experts tick off their latest predictions for the year and years to come, but don’t get too excited. Not only are they wrong most of the time, we also should consider the things they do not see. For example, while I was growing up and being told that by this date the world would be almost uninhabitable because of the population explosion, no one seemed to see globalization coming, the Internet, AIDS, the atomic bomb or the emerging generation. All these things and more just sort of crept up on us.

What I do find amazing is a retro-futuristic view of the biblical prophets who are batting 1.000 to this point.

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)

This is one of over 300 from the Old Testament concerning the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.  Every single one was fulfilled just as the prophet saw it, spoke it and wrote it.

Charles Dickens published his ghost story, A Christmas Carol, in 1843, and created a phrase that is used in both secular and religious literature: “God bless us, every one.”

Those of us who live in Kansas City have had the opportunity to see the wonderful productions of A Christmas Carol that have been offered at the Kansas City Repertory Theater for the past 29 years. Some have made this play an annual tradition until director Eric Rosen decided to roll the dice this year with a world premier based on the cult classic movie A Christmas Story. I think the idea might be to alternate with Dickens A Christmas Carol, but the new production has been wildly successful and appears Broadway-bound.

Most of us have seen several versions of A Christmas Carol—either at the Rep, in other productions or made-for-TV movies. There is also the Disney version, the Muppet version and a Mr. Magoo version. Dickens would probably think those were true horror stories! You really owe it to yourself and your family to get a copy of the original novella or print it from the Internet, to see the brilliance of Dickens’s writing and “hear” the lines, as though for the first time, in his exact words.

As we near Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I want to remind you of the scene in which the famous Christmas phrase was first used:

After the table has been cleared, following a meager but joyful and loving Christmas dinner, Bob Cratchit and his wife gather their six children around them in front of the fireplace. (One of them is Tim–Tiny Tim–who is frail, crippled and ill with a disease that we discover in the story will take his life in a year or two if things don’t change.) Everyone has punch, some in chipped and mismatched cups, and Mrs. Cratchit asks Bob to make a toast to “sweeten the punch.” He looks around and says,

“A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God Bless us!” Which all the family re-echoed.

“God Bless us, every one!” said Tiny Tim, the last of all.

You’ll notice Tiny Tim didn’t decide to say “God Bless us every one!” on his own. He said it because his father said it, and his mother and five bothers and sisters said it. They set the example for him to follow and make even better. It was a family thing.

God Bless Us, Every One

As I think about my KCBT family, the family of believers we have around the world, I say, “A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!” I now invite you to echo back. In this day of fearful, politically-correct speech, when we are meekly greeted on the street and in the stores with “Happy Holidays,” I challenge you to boldly proclaim “Merry Christmas! God bless us!” I hope you will have a chance this Christmas to pause with your family to say, “God bless us,  every one.”

To those of you in Kansas City, I look to see you tomorrow at 4:30 for our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service.