Calibration

 He who calibrates the universe,

Gives order to my days,

Fine tuning each element,

In His omniscient ways.

 

He carefully combines,

The balance to maintain,

Each joy and sorrow,

The pleasure and the pain.

 

A plan I cannot see

Is clear to His mind.

He lovingly directs to

A path I’d never find.

 

In the puzzle of life,

As I struggle with decision.

I trust in Him who rules the world,

With insight and precision.

Invalid Baptism?

There is something terribly wrong with the notion that changing one word in a ceremony can invalidate it.  I get that the “ceremony” is a “sacrament” in the Catholic Church, but seriously, there is nothing magical in words.  The important element is the intent of the heart.

Personally, I do not believe in infant baptism, if one is relying on it for salvation.  The infant has no ability to understand what is happening.  The child is not old enough to really be a participant in the meaning of the event.  It can in truth be nothing more that the parents expressing their desire to bring the child up in a way that causes them to seek a relationship with God.  That being the case, the change of one word is pretty meaningless.

Yes, I have read that changing “I” to “we” is viewed as saying that the community is doing the baptizing rather than Christ doing it. However, as far as we know, Christ did not practice infant baptism when he lived here on earth.  He did put his stamp of approval on adult baptism, having been baptized himself by John.

Christ sees into our hearts.  He knows the intent of the parent in the case of infant baptism.  He knows if it is just for the sake of tradition, or if it is heartfelt.  He knows that a few drops of water and some spoken words do not assure the child’s salvation. When a parent commits to raising his/her child with a knowledge of God, he/she should realize there are no guarantees. A child who has been baptized as an infant and goes through First Communion can still make a choice as an adult to reject everything he has been taught about God and the Church.

Christ also knows whether an adult is genuinely making a public profession of faith through adult baptism.  He is privy to our thoughts and intents.  We cannot fool him with pasted on piety or the repetition of specific words.

The real issue is whether we, at some point in our lives, acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior, and that Jesus Christ is that Savior.

I have read that for those who were baptized incorrectly, further sacraments…such as marriage…may also be invalidated.  Now that is ridiculous.

The Full Measure of Sin

…sin… has not yet reached its full measure.  Genesis 15:16

When God made his covenant with Abraham and promised to give his descendants the land of Canaan, he explained why he was not doing it immediately in Genesis 15.  God told Abraham that he would become a great nation, that his descendants would be enslaved for many years, but would come out of that situation with great possessions and be given a large area of land currently inhabited by the Amorites.  That time was four generations in the future. 

This passage answers two questions for me.

Why did God wipe out the inhabitants of Canaan and give the land to the descendants of Abraham?  

Those who look on this as a terribly unfair act on God’s part ask that question.  God gives the answer in this passage in advance of the question.  Abraham was a righteous man who followed God’s leading.  Although his descendants were not perfect, there was always at least a remnant who followed God also.  Meanwhile the inhabitants of the land Abraham would inherit were becoming increasingly wicked.  They were doing things totally abhorrent to God.  Child sacrifice being one particularly egregious act.  God, who is both just and merciful, was withholding his wrath, giving these people a chance to change their behavior, since their sin had not yet reached its full measure.

We can certainly see that this is how God behaves in the story of Jonah.  God had pronounced judgment on the city of Nineveh, but when they repented, He changed course.  The people of Canaan were also being given adequate time to repent…. four generations of time according to these verses.  

When it comes time for judgment to fall, God saves those who trust in him.  A few chapters later in Genesis, God’s judgment falls on Sodom and Gomorrah, but Lot and some of his family are saved.  When Canaan is taken over by the descendants of Abraham, Rahab is saved.  God is always both just and merciful.

Why does God not act now when there is so much evil in the world?

I am regularly grieved by things I see happening.  I am abhorred by man’s cruelty to his fellow man.  I am especially distraught over the horrible things that happen to children.  I ask God why he is allowing these terrible things to continue.  I think that question is also answered here.  “Sin has not yet reached its full measure.”  As bad as things are, as much suffering as we see in our world, the full extent of sin has not yet been reached.  There is a point, known only to God himself, when he will say “ENOUGH!”  Additionally, I believe he alone knows when everyone who is willing to accept him will have done so, and he can act in both justice and mercy.

How many generations will we be given?  How close are we to the time God has had quite enough of our ability as a nation to flaunt our disrespect for him and his laws?  Is there still time to repent like Nineveh?  When will our sin as a society have reached its full measure?

The Little Green Shoe

I have sitting on my dresser a little green ceramic shoe shaped like a Dutch wooden shoe.  It is tiny and has a chip and a crack at the top edge.  It is painted delicately and has a symbol and “Germany” on the bottom.  I have no idea how old it is.  It belonged to my grandmother who was born in 1890.  I have had it since I was about 13 years old, and I remember exactly how I acquired it.

 

My mother’s parents died in 1957 and 1958.  Grandpa passed first, followed by Grandma a year later.  She said her heart was broken when she lost him, and she spent that last year in a steady decline. One of my uncles who did not live locally came for her funeral and stayed afterward.  He went through the family home and sorted, organized, and discarded.  After this huge effort on his part, the family gathered and, with no arguments, items were divided among the 4 siblings.

 

I sat at the kitchen table with my mother and her sisters-in-law.  Before us were spread out all the knickknacks from the house.  One by one the items on the table were chosen by the ladies.  I was overwhelmed with sadness as I watched.  I felt as if my grandparents’ home, which held so many happy memories for me, was disintegrating before my eyes.  Just as the little green shoe was held up for selection, one of my aunts noticed my facial expression.  She declared, “Ruthie wants that!”  The truth was that I had no desire for it or anything else on the table.  What good was any of it without my grandparents?  But, everyone agreed that I must want it and should have it.

 

So for nearly sixty-four years, the little ceramic shoe has been on my dresser as I moved from place to place.  I am glad that I have it, not because it is a handy place to keep safety pins or a stick of lip balm, but for the memory of my grandmother who read to me and sang to me and called me a pet name not used by anyone else.

 

Someday my knickknacks will be dispersed.  I hope no one thinks the little chipped and cracked ceramic shoe is worthless.

Breathing Common Air

Rolling over, our faces nearly touch.

I feel the motion of his breath.

He exhales as I inhale.

We breathe common air.

 

Our conversation flows.

His words stimulate my thoughts

My replies impact his ideas.

We come to a joint decision.

 

We sit in a chilly room.

I push up against him.

He puts his arm around me.

We share the warmth between us.

 

He can’t read the fine print.

I stumble on the stairs.

We make up for the other’s weakness,

Taking the painful edge from aging.

 

We breathe together,

We think together,

We share warmth,

We bear one another’s burdens.

 

When one of us must leave,

Will the other stumble in the cold?

Will the one left behind be able to think?

Will it even be possible to breathe?

Bad Theology on Young Sheldon

Admittedly The Big Bang Theory and spinoff Young Sheldon are not great places to acquire a knowledge of Christian doctrine, but the episode this past week was especially unsettling.  It can be expected that Sheldon himself will promote atheistic ideas, but it is unfortunate that the “youth pastor” was the source of poor theology this time.

Sheldon’s mother Mary Cooper and the youth pastor carried on a bit of flirtation and ended up smoking cigarettes together in the parking lot when they were supposed to be supervising the youth group on an overnight “lock-in.”  They began this unfortunate event by discussing their past temptation to smoke, and the comment was made that the fortunate thing about being a Christian is that if you sin, you can be forgiven.  If this was an attempt to mock such thinking, it was not made clear.

It is true that forgiveness is always available.  However, deciding in advance that one can go ahead and sin and then acquire forgiveness is not scriptural.  The apostle Paul specifically discusses this bit of skewed thinking in the 5^th and 6^th chapters of Romans.  Apparently neither the youth pastor nor Mary Cooper are familiar with this passage.

(Phillips’ translation)…Yet, though sin is shown to be wide and deep, thank God his grace is wider and deeper still!...Now what is our response to be?  Shall we sin to our heart’s content and see how far we can exploit the grace of God?  What a ghastly thought!  We, who have died to sin…how could we live in sin a moment longer…..Do not, then, allow sin to establish any power over your mortal bodies in making you give way to your lusts….But, like men rescued from certain death, put yourselves in God’s hands as weapons of good for his own purposes.  For sin is not meant to be your master---you are no longer living under the Law, but under grace.  Now, what shall we do?  Shall we go on sinning because we have no Law to condemn us any more, but are living under grace?  Never!  Just think what it would mean.  You belong to the power which you choose to obey.

Paul makes it abundantly clear that thinking, “because I am a Christian I can do whatever I please, and then God will forgive me” is faulty logic.  If you are choosing to sin knowingly and willfully, your Christian commitment is in question.  “You belong to the power which you choose to obey.” God knows your heart and your motivation.  He is not interested in playing games with you.

It would be extremely sad if anyone bought into Christianity with the intent of sinning as much as he/she pleased and expected God’s immense grace to apply to purposeful sin.

La Cucaracha

When I was a child taking piano lessons and was first aware of the song La Cucaracha, I had no idea to what it was referring.  It was just a peppy song with an interesting rhythm.  I did not know that translated into English, it was The Cockroach.  I also did not know what a cockroach was.  Growing up in the north, I had never seen a cockroach.  In that cold climate, I later learned that only people who did not keep a clean home had cockroaches.  They like garbage, and they seek out damp areas.

Decades later, I learned that a sweet elderly lady in our church had a cockroach infestation.  Her apartment was immaculate, but the apartment of someone in her building was not.  Cockroaches invaded her home from an adjacent too dirty apartment.  One of the ladies in the church took her out for an extended lunch time, while a group of us went into her apartment, spraying and vacuuming up dead cockroach bodies and droppings.  We hoped this would bring her at least temporary relief.

Later still, an acquaintance was planning to buy a used appliance and was concerned there might be cockroaches in it from the prior owner.  I talked with an appliance repairman, who told me the solution was quite simple.  Since it was winter and we were experiencing a spell of near zero Fahrenheit temperatures, the appliance should just be left outdoors in the garage or on a front porch for a few days.  The roaches would not survive, and it would then be safe to move the appliance indoors.

When one of my daughters moved to Texas, she called me one evening horrified, because there was a large cockroach in her apartment.  I could hear the sounds of her trying to squash it by hitting it with a running shoe.

Well…. now I live in Florida.  I know these nasty critters are endemic here. Earlier this week, I saw one about an inch long running across my kitchen countertop.  My husband came to the rescue and dispatched it.  He did this with a tissue.  I was looking for a book to hit it with.  I couldn’t bear the idea of the crunch I knew it would make.

I have checked around the cupboards and under the sink.  I have found no droppings or eggs, but I am now skittish.  I am hoping that cockroach was just a random fellow wandering through.

But, I have looked around the kitchen twice this morning, because I thought I heard the sound of something chewing, and La Cucaracha is playing in my head.