Again, “Thank you, Celine, this time for ‘Nature Boy’ “

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Celine Dion, Christianity and love, love and be loved, music pointing the way, nature boy, pointers, the Apostle Paul, there is forgiveness

Previously I have referred to Celine Dion’s music, especially concentrating on the lyrics, or a part of the lyrics.  Such is the case with “She may be unaware”, “God or Baby, or Both – Celine sings for us” (both listed in the Music Related Category)

In this post, I return to Celine’s music, focusing on her rendition of “Nature Boy.”  It is a hauntingly beautiful piece.  As you listen (click here – www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaF_cLXKTW8),  you can follow along with the lyrics:

There was a boy… a very strange enchanted boy.
They say he wandered very far, very far over land and sea.
A little shy and sad of eye but very wise was he.

And then one day, one magic day he passed my way.
And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings,
This he said to me, “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return.”

And then one day, one magic day he passed my way.
And while we spoke of many things, fools and kings,
This he said to me, “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return.”

Not knowing the composer, I am not certain about the final expression, The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. It does, however, seem to me that “nature boy” is laying out a simple recipe for living well – love and be loved.  Again, as in other posts, we have the case of a song being both a statement in and of itself, as well as a pointer to something even beyond. . .

Does it make sense to think that the opposite of love (hate) is the key to good living?  No.  Who could affirm, without experiencing cognitive dissonance, that there is a higher morality than one built on, or that flows out of  love?  No one.

There is a reason Christianity, in spite of all the failings of its adherents (individually and corporately), is known as a religion of love.  It is true that the John 3.16 verse (God so loved the world . . . ) frequently seen at football games, is mocked by those who think it is out of place, is naïve, or is simply not true.   Nonetheless, the primary written source for Christianity is replete with its citations of the preeminence of love among the virtues.  For example, and these are just a very few . .

— Now abides faith, hope, and love.  The greatest of these is love. (the apostle Paul)

— ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  (Jesus)

— Let us love in deed and truth with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. (the apostle John)

— There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear (the apostle John)

— A friend loves at all times. (Solomon)

— Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (Jesus)

Just because our source book lauds the virtue of love, it doesn’t guarantee that all who categorize themselves as Christians are paragons of love.  Likewise, it would be foolish to pretend that only Christians know what love is.  For centuries, human experience has corroborated the place of love among the virtues.  And this brings me back to Celine’s music.  It is “nature boy” who says that “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”

There is the pointer – that we look for, and long for, the scenario when loving and being loved is natural. To the degree that love becomes the natural modus operandi, life on this planet will be more satisfying, more harmonious, less stressful, more productive, more caring, more honesty.   And when we fall short of perfect love, there is forgiveness, and there is finally heaven.

Keep singing, Celine.  .

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It doesn’t always have to be a miracle

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A foggy day in London town, David Bowie, George Gershwin, God's goodness, going beyond the miraculous, Jesus and the Gospels course, miracles, thankfulness, the age of miracles

In my courses “Jesus and the Gospels” for Crown College, at one point I ask the students to review a list of about 15 incidents and identify which of them, in their view, are miracles.  One thing doesn’t change from one class to another – there is never a unanimous verdict among the 15-25 students.  Some will identify 3 of them are miracles, others will think 10 might be miracles, and some of them think that none of the list is miraculous.

It becomes obvious to them, even if they didn’t already know, that the students bring different definitions of “miracle” to the table.  Of course, when doing a study of Jesus’ life, definitions are important.  As a result, I propose a definition that I work with in that particular segment of the course; that at least keeps us on the same semantic page.

But, my purpose in this little article is not to describe what I do concerning the nature and role of miracles in Jesus’ life.  Nor do I intend to define a miracle and defend that definition.   Rather, I want to point to the fact that commonly the students do what the rest of us do – once they identify an incident as a miracle, they and we tend to attribute special value to the event as a cause of being thankful to God.  For example, we think it natural and normative that the leper that Jesus healed had more reason to be thankful to God for his restored health than did the person who had never suffered leprosy.  It appears that it commonly takes a miracle for us to sense that standing behind an event is God, in His goodness and love.

George Gershwin, decades ago, wrote a song entitled “A Foggy Day in London Town”.  These are the lyrics, and I am particularly interested in the last five lines for the purpose of this article.  (if you want to listen to one version (David Bowie’s) of the piece, click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dunP8rsep6o )

I was a stranger in the city
Out of town were the people I knew
I had that feeling of self-pity
What to do? What to do? What to do?
The outlook was decidedly blue
But as I walked through the foggy streets alone
It turned out to be the luckiest day I’ve known

A foggy day in London Town
Had me low and had me down
I viewed the morning with alarm
The British Museum had lost its charm
How long, I wondered, could this thing last?
But the age of miracles hadn’t passed,
For, suddenly, I saw you there
And through foggy London Town
The sun was shining everywhere.

Gershwin refers to “the age of miracles” as evidenced by “suddenly I saw you there.”  Most likely most of us have had a comparable event when the unexpected, but completely joyful thing, happened.  Maybe we would call it a serendipity which precipitates great thankfulness, and which we could easily put into the miracle category.  An example from for me would be the afternoon I met Joyce Sykes, who would eventually become my wife and the love of my life.  I am in no position to say it was, or wasn’t, a miracle when using a strict definition of the work.  BUT, I do know that it was an event that I didn’t deserve, an event that began, in my case, almost 47 years of being blessed to be her husband.

I really don’t need to know if meeting Joyce was a miracle.  What I do know is that it was a gift from God, miracle or not, and that is the point.

I would be dishonest if I pretended that I have always been as grateful for God’s many non-miraculous gifts to me.  I do know, however, that I want my gratitude to God for His using non miraculous means to bless me to increase more and more.

To say it differently, although I do pray for miraculous interventions by God in my life and in the life of others, I also want to be equally thankful for when He doesn’t do a miracle.  It doesn’t always have to be a miracle for me to be thankful to God.  It may sound somewhat strange, but God’s goodness goes beyond the miraculous.

 

You are invited to use the comment box to express your views

When saying NO is an affirmation

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"fruit of the Spirit of God", a sense of God pleasing joy, baseball game, fast balls and strikes, some reasons for saying NO, uplifting affirmation, wasting time and energy, why live with guilt?

Saying NO to someone may be a capricious prohibition, an assertion of “I am in power here”, an expression of habitual negativism, or a reflection of needless anger.  On the other hand, are there not some circumstances and times when saying NO is none of those things at all?

Allow me to give some context for my question.  Several days ago, I was at a baseball game in which my two youngest grandsons were playing.  Both did well.  One of them got two RBI’s and the other one struck out two batters in his inning of pitching.

After the game, when congratulating the guys for their game, I mentioned to the one who pitched that although striking out two batters is good, walking six others isn’t so good.  Of course he knew that.  But, the question was, “how can we eliminate all those walks which resulted in two runs scored by the opposing team?  What do we need to say NO to in order to say YES to something else?”

That was when the NO concept inevitably had to come into play, even if expressed in as positive a fashion as possible!  The fact is that my grandson thoroughly enjoys pitching fast balls, as fast as his left arm can fling them toward home plate.  I say, “toward home plate”, because that ends up being the approximate direction they go, but usually they aren’t in the strike zone!!  So, my NO was the short version of “concentrate on slowing down the pitch, getting it across the plate, and then once you are in that groove, start increasing the heat.”  A fast ball only proves you have a strong arm.  Strikes prove you have more than a strong arm; you also have discipline, and a reason for the coach to put you on the mound again.”  So, no fast balls until he can control them!!

My conversation with my grandson has big time parallels.  Living with self imposed NOs deserves our consideration. We don’t do it because we want to be some kind of masochists (although I know that some people get a kind of sick pleasure from self-inflicted pain).  Rather, we say NO to some behaviors or actions because we have figured out that we don’t have to be unproductive nor counterproductive.  There is a better way to live.  For example, if I premeditatively do things that cause me to feel guilty, I have wasted time and energy, something like throwing blazing fast balls that are never in the strike zone.  In cases like that saying NO to some tendency or impulse is not negative, but productive.

Among the nine behaviors and values that the apostle Paul lists in his letter to the Galatians (in the New Testament) and that he categorizes as “fruit of the Spirit” (evidences of God’s presence in our lives), one of them is self-control.  He means that we are to live beyond just irrationally reacting to our likes and dislikes, our wants and hates, our fears and desires.  We can say YES or NO according to their godly productivity, according to their contribution to our spiritual well being, and according to their bringing a sense of guilt or a sense of God pleasing joy.  Saying NO can be an uplifting affirmation!!!

Leopards and Spots, part 1 – Philemon

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an escaped slave - a mail carrier, boxes and categories, Jeremiah, leopards' spots, my wife-my sister in Christ, Onesimus, Philemon, some dangers of generalizations, the Apostle Paul

Over 2500 years ago, a fellow named Jeremiah, in the Old Testament book bearing his name,  included the expression “can a leopard change his spots?”   (you will find it in Jeremiah 13.23)  The implied answer is, “No, leopards don’t change their spots; how could they?”   Admittedly, I was surprised by one person who recently commented that leopards could change their spots if they jumped into a pool of bleach!!

In reality, most of us have spots in our character and behavior that we wish weren’t there.  They are our leopard spots.  Can they be changed?  For one kind of an answer, we can look at a fellow who received a small letter from the Apostle Paul in the New Testament.  His name was Philemon and he serves as an example of a leopard who was not condemned to the same old spots!!

[to provide background for the comments that follow, you are invited to read the original letter. It’s at the end of this little article]

To begin, let’s try to put ourselves in Philemon’s situation.  First,  the letter implies that a fellow named Onesimus, who had been a slave of Philemon until he somehow escaped,  had stolen something of value from Philemon’s (money or goods) or, that in some other way or another by running away Onesimus had caused Philemon financial loss.   Such a situation meant that there was troubled water there in Philemon’s mind.  Second, Philemon had social status, wealth, and prestige, items which Onesimus didn’t have.  These kind of items would have led Philemon to look at Onesimus from “above”, socially speaking.

Saying it a little differently, Philemon would have done to Onesimus the same thing we do – Put people into a mental boxes or mental categories.    In Philemon’s mind, Onesimus was in various “boxes”: the runaway slave box, the thief box, the law-breaker box, the betray-your-master box, the he-deserves-punishment box.  You get the idea, I am sure.

The fact is that generalizations (using mental boxes) do have some legitimate functions.  They help us think in categories, make judgments, and communicate.  Generalizations free us from having to only talk about specifics and particulars.  Using generalizations permit us to make a statement about a crowd without having to make a statement about 200 specific individuals.  We can make statements about children, not only about Jimmy, Susie, Ann, David, Justin, Abigail, Aaron, etc.  We can make statements about  in-laws, about politicians, and about professional athletes.  The list goes on and on. . .

BUT, while generalizations (the boxes) may be helpful at the right time and place, they can also create great harm.  They can easily keep us from recognizing the exceptions and differences among those folk we have put into the boxes we so easily employ.  Furthermore, the “boxes” encourage us to follow pre-calculated, but mistaken, responses to individual situations.  This is where Philemon was in relation to Onesimus. Onesimus was in the slave box, the thief box.  And, the behavior of people in those boxes had a prescribed response as established by society.

All of a sudden, one day Onesimus shows up, and hands Philemon a letter.  It’s from the apostle Paul, one of Philemon’s friends.  The letter puts Philemon in an awkward position, since runaway slaves just don’t one day show up as a mail carrier!  Furthermore, as Philemon reads Paul’s letter, he notices that Paul includes some things that culturally just don’t fit.  The biggest one is captured by a word that jumps out several times in the letter: “adelphos” “hermano” “brother”

Paul has identified Onesimus with a completely different “box”  or category.  Philemon has a new brother.  Not only a slave, but a brother, “our” brother!!!  Paul was affirming that in Christ we are all kin folk.  Onesimus was a brother, in Christ, and that superseded all other relationships implicit in the “boxes” Philemon normally used when thinking about Onesimus!!!

Allow me to conclude with a personal comment.  Joyce my wife, fit into many boxes that we use in society.  As her husband, I also fit into many of our society’s boxes.  But, there was one box that superseded all the others – she was my sister in Christ and I was her brothers in Christ.  But, it goes further.  My three daughters fit many boxes.  But above them all is the fact that they are all my sisters in Christ.  My three sons-in-law fit many boxes, but above all of them they are my brothers in Christ.   I have grand children who are more than grand children – they are brothers and sisters in Christ.  So, where does God’s word instruct me concerning my family relationships?  Wherever it refers to brothers and sisters in Christ!!

Can a leopard change his spots?  Can God change us?  Of course, He can and He does.

********************************************

Paul’s letter to Philemon 

1 From Paul, a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy— To our friend and fellow worker Philemon, 2 and the church that meets in your house, and our sister Apphia, and our fellow soldier Archippus:  3 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

4 Brother Philemon, every time I pray, I mention you and give thanks to my God. 5 For I hear of your love for all of God’s people and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus. 6 My prayer is that our fellowship with you as believers will bring about a deeper understanding of every blessing which we have in our life in union with Christ. 7 Your love, dear brother, has brought me great joy and much encouragement! You have cheered the hearts of all of God’s people.

8 For this reason I could be bold enough, as your brother in Christ, to order you to do what should be done. 9 But because I love you, I make a request instead. I do this even though I am Paul, the ambassador of Christ Jesus, and at present also a prisoner for his sake. 10 So I make a request to you on behalf of Onesimus, who is my own son in Christ; for while in prison I have become his spiritual father. 11 At one time he was of no use to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me.

12 I am sending him back to you now, and with him goes my heart. 13 I would like to keep him here with me, while I am in prison for the gospel’s sake, so that he could help me in your place. 14 However, I do not want to force you to help me; rather, I would like for you to do it of your own free will. So I will not do anything unless you agree.

15 It may be that Onesimus was away from you for a short time so that you might have him back for all time. 16 And now he is not just a slave, but much more than a slave: he is a dear brother in Christ. How much he means to me! And how much more he will mean to you, both as a slave and as a brother in the Lord! 17 So, if you think of me as your partner, welcome him back just as you would welcome me. 18 If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to my account. 19 Here, I will write this with my own hand: I, Paul, will pay you back (I should not have to remind you, of course, that you owe your very self to me.) 20 So, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord’s sake; as a brother in Christ, cheer me up!

21 I am sure, as I write this, that you will do what I ask—in fact I know that you will do even more. 22 At the same time, get a room ready for me, because I hope that God will answer the prayers of all of you and give me back to you.

23 Epaphras, who is in prison with me for the sake of Christ Jesus, sends you his greetings, 24 and so do my co-workers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke.  25 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.