Like most people, I try to keep a general awareness of what’s going on in the world. While there are many news sources available, I find myself using three main websites to keep up to date with happenings around the world. Those three websites are CNN, Facebook, and Twitter. I use CNN mostly out of habit and to keep some level of predictability to the kind of reporting that I’m taking in. I use Facebook and Twitter mostly as sources of reading. I generally post on Facebook about once a day, but very rarely do anything on Twitter. For me, Twitter is the place to follow the interesting personalities of Christianity and have an endless supply of shared blog articles. Among these three sources, I’m seeing a somewhat disturbing trend of violence, death, and celebration of things that run contrary to what is often called “the Christian ethic.” Quite frankly, reading the news can get depressing. There are many things about politics I don’t understand but probably the greatest of these is the whole situation in the Middle East with ISIS. My heart is filled with questions that I hear no credible answers for. Another day passes and another article makes headlines. Today the article told of three hundred men tortured and murdered by ISIS.
Moving away from the political front, there has been quite a bit of press recently about a woman who chose to end her life, rather than suffer to the end with terminal cancer. Beyond that, the situation with Ebola has come here to the city. Dr. Craig Spencer is being treated for Ebola in the Bellevue Hospital here in Manhattan.
The kinds of things I’ve described here are just the tip of the iceberg for all that is wrong or broken in this world. These and countless other news stories have led me to the observation: “We love to worry” and “we love conflict.” We have whole websites devoted to debunking lies that are passed around the internet. We have whole websites devoted to writing satirical news that is often mistaken for truth. It can honestly be very difficult to know what the truth is sometimes, and even more difficult to know how to respond to it.
I have had the famous question from the Heidelberg catechism stuck in my head recently:
“What is your only comfort in life and death?”
That I am not my own, 1
but belong with body and soul,
both in life and in death, 2
to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 3
He has fully paid for all my sins
with his precious blood, 4
and has set me free
from all the power of the devil. 5
He also preserves me in such a way 6
that without the will of my heavenly Father
not a hair can fall from my head; 7
indeed, all things must work together
for my salvation. 8
Therefore, by his Holy Spirit
he also assures me
of eternal life 9
and makes me heartily willing and ready
from now on to live for him. 10
- http://www.heidelberg-catechism.com/en/lords-days/1.html#sthash.zFvJMJGZ.dpuf
The thing which I cherish most about the kind of answer given here is the settled embrace of the sovereignty of God. The great anchor in my life is that though the wrong seems “oft” so strong, God IS the ruler yet. This means that when the terrorists are chopping people’s heads off, or people sin against me - even over this, God is sovereign, not as a passive observer, or clock-winder-“god” but as sovereign king. I am comforted that God makes no apology for being God.
By way of answer to the question at the top, NO, the sky is not falling. It’s wrong and sinful of us to challenge God’s character as God by going into a frenzy over what we see in the news. There is certainly a level of prudence that must be observed, but I’m going to continue to shake the hands of every person who receives food at our outreach service after I preach on Tuesdays. I’m not moving out of this city just because terrorists have threatened to blow it up. Christ is king, not ISIS and not Ebola. When God wants to call me home, He is going to do so, whether I am hiding under the bed in the “safety” of the Bible Belt, or living and working in the heart of what some call a modern day “Sodom and Gomorrah.”
When we consider questions of safety or comfort, the thing I keep coming back around to is this question: “Why are you alive?” What is the big idea that consumes everything you do?
The way you answer that question will drive everything you do. What is the prize you’re running after?
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This last week things were pretty “normal” with attendance in the outreach services. We had about 115 on Tuesday, 120 on Thursday between the Chinese and English services, and around 90 on Saturday. The Sunday service ended up being a little bigger than normal, with 45 people there, though several of our regulars were out of town.
Of those that are out of town, Mrs. Jones went to spend some time with her parents, and Galen went to Wisconsin to speak in some churches and try to recruit some interns at Maranatha, his Alma Mater.
We would appreciate your prayerful consideration of supporting our ministry financially. We are operating at about 50% of what is necessary to keep the ministry running. The savings are drying up and renovations have stopped until more support comes in.
If everyone that reads this post was willing to set aside the money that is the equivalent of two cups of Starbucks coffee, each month, we would be fully funded. Renovations would be able to be resumed, we could get oil to run the heat this winter, and we would be able to pay the bills.
Donations can be made online by scrolling to the top of the page and hitting the "donate" button. I made my $10 donation. Will you?
Lord willing, I'll begin preaching 1 Peter chapter five tomorrow. I'm excited to continue explaining ecclesiology to our group of attendees.
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11/11/14 10:30 AM
