Tag: breakdown

In the Valley of the Shadow of Death – Part 2

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me.

St. Paul writes of our present age as evil. And that is how we experience it. At times, it seems that this evil age has convulsions and things get worse. We experience greater breakdown of the social fabric, breakdown in leadership, greater divisions. And we feel overwhelmed.

We are often then tempted to give way too much attention to what overwhelms us, way too much attention to the power of evil. With that excessive attention, anxiety and fear deepen, and we are tempted to lose heart, to lose our trust in God and to lose our way.

Of course, it is appropriate to give attention to what is happening in our society and the world, but not in such a manner that we become intimidated and fearful and despairing, as if God were not present and lovingly active in our lives. As if the Good Shepherd were not present to lead us.

Frederick Douglass, speaking at a gathering of abolitionists, bemoaned the setbacks in the movement and the intransigence of the institution of slavery. There were sounds of despair in his voice as he went on and on in this vein. At one point, Sojourner Truth simply stood up and called out, “Frederick, did God die?”

Sometimes we need someone like Sojourner Truth to speak similar words to us when we start to despair. Or, we need to be that person for someone else. All of us, at times, need reminding that God is present, that God is watching over us and making a way for us. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil for our Good Shepherd is present to guide us.

Whatever the times we live in, whatever we face in our world, God has a way for us to walk in, and God sends the Holy Spirit to lead us in ever changing situations. Therefore, Paul can say, “We are more than conquerors through God who strengthens us.”

What Paul said about his approach to the time in which he lived, helps us in the time in which we live. Paul said, “One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

That is a word for us in our present evil age. We are to keep it simple. Do one thing: “Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” We are to keep our eyes on the prize. Keep our focus on God’s call. Seek God’s will in order to do it.

Every one of us has a calling (or callings) from God. Every one of us has work to do that God gives us to do. Every one of us has gifts and abilities, spiritual gifts for living out our callings, for serving others and being light in the world.

We do not all have the same gifts and callings, but each of us has a calling and a work that fits our gifts. When we are living out that calling in our homes and neighborhoods and workplaces and among people we meet and people we are sent to and in public witness, we are affecting our world. We are being the light Jesus said we were.

While we all have our individual callings, there are some things we know are God’s will for all of us:

It is God’s will that we meet together, that we be in community. That we pray and encourage one another. That we seek God’s direction not only as individuals but as communities of faith. That we exercise our gifts and God-given abilities in ministry within our faith communities which prepares us for our work in the world. That we do so empowered by the Spirit. And that we cast our anxieties on the Lord, knowing that God is our Good Shepherd whose rod and staff comfort and guide us.

Filed under: Discernment, Evil, Faith, Fear, Spirit, WitnessTagged with: , , ,

The Coming Collapse

Hanns Lilje, a Lutheran pastor in Nazi Germany, in his book, The Valley of the Shadow (1950), shares his experience with arrest, interrogation and a trial that ended with his being sentenced to death. (Before the sentence could be carried out, however, communication broke down and the Allies gained control of Germany.) One of his observations in this book was that the Nazi regime was collapsing from within. He sees the collapse in the faces, features, and actions of guards, interrogators, and judge.

He views young men whose lives were “empty,” who “were forced to be brutal” which “caused them to crumble inwardly.” He describes the judge’s face, at his trial, in this way: It “had originally been a good one, almost noble, with clear-cut and intellectual features, but it had decayed (as it were) from within, and all his features bore signs of a terrible inner decline.”

Of tyrants, like Hitler, Lilje writes: “God allows the tyrant to follow his way blindly, to the end, until nothing remains.” Evil sown reaps the decline and fall of the evil-doer.

We are reminded of Paul’s words: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.” (Galatians 6:7)

Evil sown carries its own demise within it. Sin is like a parasite. It eats away at truth, compassion, justice, mercy, and faithfulness until it has nothing left to feed upon. St. Augustine says, “Sin is nothing and human beings become nothing when they sin.” Sin always robs us of reality. The “nothing” that is sin produces no love; it undoes love. It shows no compassion, no mercy. Where justice is required, it is unjust. And it is untruthful: It takes away from and distorts the truth.

We experience this undoing personally, and we see it taking place all around us. None of us are without sin, and we all experience the breakdown sin causes in our lives and relationships, whether from our own sins or the sins of others against us. We see this corruption on a social and global scale. We see the loss of compassion daily in the mistreatment of human beings at our border, in our warring ways, in the gangsterism on our streets and in corporate boardrooms, in sexual assault and harassment, and in all forms of inhumanity towards others: the injustices in our criminal justice system, discrimination in housing, health care and educational resources, and in the neglect and hurt of the most vulnerable among us.

We see the disintegration of truth and compassion among those who are placed in positions of leadership. We currently have a man in the office of the presidency who has lied or made misstatements, according to fact-checking, more than 11,000 times in his presidency. Many have become numb to this situation. We have leaders who disparage and demean various ethnic groups and religions among us and leaders who show little regard for future generations as they refuse to address the issues of climate change, seeing such actions as disadvantages to their wealth and power.

But what we are seeing is not only the great hurt being perpetrated on others but the steady breakdown and destruction of the perpetrators themselves. They are unwittingly sowing the seeds of their own demise. Their corruption is eating away at branch and root. It is not surprising that our present government has had a steady flow of those who have had to leave their positions.

The New Testament book of James says, “Not many of you should become teachers…for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” Not many should become leaders. Judgment awaits. What has been sown will be reaped. If we have sown to destruction (the destruction of compassion and justice and mercy), we will reap destruction. We will reap our own inhumanity with its consequences in the hollowing out of our lives and our eventual collapse. Yes, we will leave carnage in our wake, but we will also lose our own souls.

We see this debilitation in the leadership of our government. It is a sickness unto death. That does not mean that we can simply sit, watch and wait for it all to fall apart and then attempt to pick up the pieces. That would mean more affliction on the most vulnerable, and it would mean our own disintegration. People of faith know that they are called to be witnesses. We are to witness from the grace, compassion, and justice we have experienced. As we learn to live from the Source of love, we know that we are under a call to speak to the corruption by witnessing to God’s compassion and justice. We are to join with others to call for compassion, justice, and mercy and do so by addressing the specific injustices of our time, working to make right what is wrong. We are to do justice. We are to be channels of the kind of love that effects actual change.

To those who continue down the road of destruction, who have committed themselves to that road, we will be viewed as subversives. To those who hold onto power for themselves (and “their people”) over against others, we will be called radicals. But then love, care for the truth, and doing justice are radical; they go to the root (radix) of being the humans God calls us to be.

Filed under: Evil, Humanity, Justice, Society, Spirituality, WitnessTagged with: , , ,