Just Wondering

My cousin, Guy, sent me this interesting little download about the history of Arabic numerals. (Click here to view.) (This is not working for everyone, so I've added the two relevant slides as pictures) I was suspicious about it because the 7 and 9 seemed a bit contrived, so I did a little research. It appears that, just as I suspected, the line through 7 is a recent innovation, and the little curlicue on the bottom of the 9, though it does add angles, doesn't show up in any historical examples I've been able to find.

The download is interesting, however. The fact that someone would take the trouble to put this little theory together in a power point, and then send it out to everyone in general and no one in particular, says something about our need to make logical sense of the world, and then to communicate what we've discovered, even if it doesn't quite fit all the facts. And I have a modest example of my own.

I've always wondered how it happened that the names of the continents all begin with A: Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica, and the two Americas. – It’s true that Europe doesn't fit the pattern, but then it's really a political/cultural division of Asia rather than a true geographical continent. – Is this a fascinating mystery or just some meaningless

coincidence?

My research seems to indicate that it's a meaningless coincidence, and a lifetime of experience suggests that our lives are filled with meaningless coincidences. Which leads, of course, to the mother of all questions; CAN ALL THESE MEANINGLESS COINCIDENCES BE JUST A COINCIDENCE?

Still workin' on it.

MY ANNUAL TRIBUTE OF AMBIVALENCE

Tomorrow, November 11^th, we will all be remembering the soldiers of today and days gone by. Being a pacifist, this is an ambivalent exercise for me. Though I have no faith in the sword, and believe that the demands of war are utterly incompatible with the demands of Christ, I do have an appreciation for the brave men and women who risk so much to do what they believe is right. Tomorrow the horrors of war will be gilded with silver and bronze, the roar of bombs and mortar-fire muffled by solitary bugle calls, and the cries of shattered victims drown in one minute silences, time zone by time zone round the world.

But, if glitz and glitter and calls and silences conceal the horror, they also hide real gold. Every fallen soldier and civilian is somebody’s child, sibling, friend. Courage, strength, self-sacrifice are precious wherever they are found. And surely we remember it was Jesus who first used the military metaphor in reference to the church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18 And Paul reminded us to put on the full armour of God. Ephesians 6:11-17

So whatever else might be said about the military endeavour, it is a shining illustration of devotion at the expense of comfort, safety, and even life itself. And if ordinary people are able to accept such sacrifice for king and country, surely we can do the same in the service of the Prince of Peace. ...whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. Mark 8:35

We are soldiers of the cross, lest we forget.

IT’S A FUNNY WAY TO HAVE FUN

In the Christian calendar November 1^st is All Saints or All Hallows Day, so the evening of October 31^st is All Hallows Eve or E’en. This is the origin of the word “Halloween”, and so we see that even this most nonsensical of modern celebrations makes a little bit of sense. But there’s more.

At about this time of year, as light gave way to darkness, our pagan ancestors, particularly the Celts, believed that the border between the living and the dead, became thin. They imagined that the spirits of the dead, both friendly and unfriendly, could pass into our world and visit acts of benevolence or mischief upon us. So it stands to reason that they left out goodies to honour and encourage the friendly spirits, and wore masks to fool the others. But what a hassle!

Of course we now know that it’s cultural imperialism, if not a crime against humanity, for Christian missionaries to mess with the way people “choose” to live their lives. – Today this work is reserved for multinational corporations, the UN, Green Peace, and countless other non-Christian missionary organizations. – But I suspect that our ancestors were, nonetheless, relieved when Saint Patrick and his friends showed up and taught them about a loving God who takes care of all that “spirit” stuff, so the dead can get on with being dead, and we with living.

Next Sunday, All Saints Day, Christians will gather with all the saints, both those on earth (the Church Militant), and those in heaven (the Church Triumphant), to worship the living God. And we will celebrate the peace that comes from knowing that we need not fear the living or the dead while we are his.

So, lets all go out next Saturday night and make ghouls of ourselves, remembering that Halloween is actually a gift from our pagan ancestors, and St Paddy and his friends. The former came up with this funny idea, but it was the latter who made it fun.

SOME THINGS I’VE LEARNED IN 30 YEARS OF PASTORING:

#3 – It’s not how often you get knocked down, but how long it takes you to learn to stay down.

When our first child left home to go to UBC, some time back at the end of the last century, he found a church that he really enjoyed. So, when he came home for Christmas, or perhaps summer vacation, I asked him what he loved about it. He told me that he loved the worship. In fact, he said he felt like he had never really worshipped before.

Now, he had been raised in the churches I pastored, so I was, predictably, a bit startled to hear this. But I bit my tongue and listened while he explained the difference between what they did in his new church and what we had been doing all these years in ours. And, again predictably, I didn’t get it.

Some time later, however, Suzanne and I found ourselves in Vancouver on a Sunday morning and decided to visit his church and just check this thing out. The scene was more casual than our church, but otherwise not so different. The lights were a little dimmer, and it seemed a bit less churchy I suppose. The worship team began as the people gathered, and the people began to sing and sway with the music. Some got up and moved around. The children moved and sang with the adults. And, after about ten minutes, Suzanne and I were caught up in the wonder of just knowing a God who was big enough to create this amazing universe, and small enough to dwell in you and me; strong enough to set a galaxy in space, and gentle enough to assemble an embryo in an egg or womb; immense enough to call into being the very stars of heaven, and intimate enough to speak to a little child, and call her by her name. WE GOT IT.

And, over the years as I’ve reflected on this, I have come to see how right Nathan really was. Not that we never worshipped in our churches, but it certainly isn’t what we did. For the most part we gathered on a Sunday morning to pray, sing, study the Bible, be with our friends, and, above all, listen to a sermon. As a preacher I can affirm all these things, especially sermons, but they are not worship.

Worship the LORD in the splendour of his holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth. Psalm 96:9

Worship is about bowing before God, submitting to him, and acknowledging that he alone is great and glorious and good. Not that there is no greatness, glory or goodness in other things, but that all greatness, glory and goodness comes from him. As James tells us: Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:16-17

So, what was happening, and what has changed?

The church of the 20^th century was the child of the Reformation and the Enlightenment, so it’s focus was theology and teaching. The hymns and prayers prepared our hearts and minds for the sermon, and the sermon filled our hearts and minds with sound theology and the knowledge of God. This was never right or good, but we got away with it because this was the age of Christendom.

In Christendom (that world where “Christian” was a synonym for “well mannered” and “well behaved”, and cultural assumptions were largely built on vague and garbled memories of biblical texts), we Christians were the only show in town. There were a few strangers among us, it’s true; a few Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and an atheist or two. But, as was often said, “Some of them are even better Christians than some of us”. My goodness, we were an arrogant breed!

But God has knocked his people down a peg or two since then, and we are learning, as we’ve done before, how to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land. God has thrown us into Babylon once more, where we are the strangers. He is humbling us so that we can, once again, be salt and light; salt for the food, not for the shaker; light for the world, not for the lamp.

When we are strangers in a foreign land we learn to bow again. We learn to not be in control, in charge. We learn humility, and begin to understand, once more, that God has called us for the sake of others. And how does he teach us these old truths again? He turns our hearts to worship, the wellspring of humility, compassion, grace.

Knowledge puffs up , but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God. 1 Corinthians 8:1-3

The antidote for the arrogance that so often comes with knowing about God is the humility that comes with loving God, and being known by him. And this comes through worship.

So, Come, let us bow down in worship,... Psalm 95:6. And stay down.