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Making
things happen - with integrity. A weekly CyberMemo designed to keep you on task. Monday December 2, 2002 Volume IV Number 48 |
FOCUS - Holiday Riddles
One of the best benefits of family gatherings on holidays like Thanksgiving is the opportunity for extended conversation.
I guess it’s possible, even on Thanksgiving, for such interaction to be thwarted. The children are demanding. The television set blaring. Certain of the family dominate, effectively blocking out others in the quest to be heard, or even noticed for that matter. So, in some cases, many families gather for a few hours of noisy bantering and then everyone packs up and heads home.
We try to make it more than that. Somewhere we got the notion that holidays such as this should be occasions for catching up. Deepening the bond. Sharing some of the details of the journey. Broadening the scope of understanding. So for a couple of days at our place, there is plenty of feasting, but best of all, long talks and comparing notes and reviewing books and movies and dabbling some in the forbidden territory of politics and religion.
One young family that frequents our annual Thanksgiving gathering came for a visit again this year. The young Mom brought her two pre-school boys, but Dad was unable to attend. Bryan is preparing to ship out to the Middle East with the Navy in this time of crisis, and will in all likelihood be called into action should the United States launch a predicted operation over Iraq. He’ll serve on a medical ship, part of a search and rescue team. Alicia is preparing to carry on her duties as Mom to those two beautiful boys apart from Dad. She expects it will be many months, perhaps a year or more, that they will be separated. It made this national event more than a news report for us this year, knowing that there are many who are willing to sacrifice much to serve our nation’s interests; to line up and be counted and be there to protect and serve us who stay back home, even if it means entering into harm’s way.
We’ve got some college kids who are facing graduation day in the near future. Not that long ago, we were wondering which college. Now we are wondering what comes after the day that degree is earned. Life after college is nearly as daunting as life in college. Maybe more so. Another one of our gang (a high school senior) found an available computer and wrote an essay which will be attached to one of several college applications. Yet another called in a wedding date for the summer. And then there was the whole pack of younger kids with stories of exploits on the soccer field and a few played piano; memorized recital pieces that kept us all entertained.
Every year, it seems, there is an issue that triggers lively discussion, the animated kind that energizes a little debate and controversy. We are all traveling along parallel paths, aging together, raising children, active in our communities, developing friendships, responsible at one level or another during the work week. When we come together, we have differing perspectives, differing personalities, and there is always some issue, some cosmic riddle, that keeps us in lively dialog.
I suppose some would say our family is a religious family. They are right. I might add a little clarification there and say we are a spiritual family; spirituality matters to us. It is a spirituality rooted in the traditions of the Bible, with a strong sense of the active presence of the God who created us, a deep appreciation for his Son who redeemed us, an openness to the Spirit who energizes and directs us and an intentional fellowship with like-minded believers sharing a life and a mission in a crazy, confused world.
When we gather, we pray together. We worship together. Thanksgiving, for us, is more than a national holiday. More than a long weekend. We take the idea of expressing thanks seriously, I guess.
That said, our ever expanding group is experiencing God in a wide variety of contexts. Our commitments are not limited to a single denomination or church. In fact, our family’s involvement includes a broad spectrum of traditions and a wide range of ecclesiastical institutions.
That’s what makes Thanksgiving interesting.
This year’s discussion centered around the mysterious Sovereignty of God.
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Our church forefathers had a problem with human institutions. Their particular beef was with the State Church.
At some point in history, political leaders found religion a convenient way to insure the loyalty of their subjects. It became a popular tool in the hands of Royalty. They embraced the notion that their position of authority and power was granted by God Himself and their Kingdom divine and the people of the Kingdom owed their allegiance to the Throne as ordained from the beginning of time and that pretty well eliminated the possibility of dissent. Rebellion was treason not only against the State, but against God himself. The church, and the ministers of the church, were merely tools of the government to maintain control, and the State in all its manifestations and all its policies baptized with holy water.
Our forefathers believed differently. They considered it the height of presumption to equate Church and State. They believed that the Kingdom of God transcended the kingdoms of this world. They believed that God’s work in the world is always a dynamic exchange between an individual and his/her God. People are not subjects. They are each one created with a unique purpose. Our believing forefathers challenged the notion of the divine right of kings. They believed that every person has equal standing before his/her creator God. They believed that God did not give priority to the powerful. He did not necessarily approve of their every whim.
This doctrine spilled over to religious institutions as well. Churches and denominations can become like little kingdoms. As they grow in influence and membership and assets, they can lose sight of their purpose. They become an end in themselves. Our forefathers had little interest in maintaining dead institutions, or institutions that simply serve the oversized ego needs of any self-proclaimed potentate.
So, in our tradition, there is lots of room for individuality.
We are not so much concerned with the maintenance of traditions and styles as we are with the evidence of life. We are on the lookout for a warm and genuine sense of the reality of God’s presence. We want our children to find that unique purpose, that God-sized vision of what they can become. We know that this awareness doesn’t just happen overnight. We also know that it will emerge in a wide variety of forms and styles. We’re not so much concerned that it be associated with any particular religious group or denomination.
We are concerned that it be real. Personal. Authentic.
And when it is, there’s nothing else quite like it.
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One of the most puzzling riddles in our world of theology swirls around the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. The basic idea is that God is sovereign in the sense that he is ruler over all. There isn’t anything in the universe he doesn’t control. If something else controlled him, then he couldn’t be God. He is ever-present, everywhere present. He knows everything. He is the master-designer. It comes with the territory. He is God.
Enter the notion of free will. If God is sovereign, is it possible for humankind to be free? It’s a tough one to put together. If we are free, and if we are held accountable for our choices, how can God be sovereign? While each, in itself, makes perfect sense, put together, we have an irreconcilable difference. It cannot be both at the same time. So it seems.
An impossible conundrum. But that doesn’t keep many of us from trying.
It’s a riddle that has kept theologs and philosophers and novelists and poets busy for centuries. Some get so confused they give up on theology all together.
Those who have attempted to solve the riddle generally land on one side of the Sovereignty/Freedom spectrum or the other. In our family, we have some in the Sovereignty over Freedom camp. Some in the Freedom over Sovereignty camp. Some who don’t really care; there are dishes to do and bills to pay and children to nurture.
In our lively dialog and in our quest to find some scriptural direction, in our re-counting of experiences and issues, the richness of the debate spills over into real life. And we develop a deeper understanding of each other, and the God who made us.
And ultimately, we deepen our appreciation for those forefathers who cultivated the notion that the Bible was right, we’ve all got to work it out on our own – together.
What is light – a packet of energy or a wave? What is gravity? Is the universe expanding or contracting? What is love? Are we really trapped in this moment of time?
Lots of questions.
But in the searching, we find. In the knocking, the door opens. In the asking, it shall be given.
Even on Thanksgiving day.
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It’s Monday morning. You are a leader.
The Christmas trees are up. The lights are twinkling. Thanksgiving has given way to the Christmas season.
The stars have been bright under a crisp night sky. We’ve expressed our thanks. We’ve renewed family bonds. The children have grown that much more since our last visit. They need us as much today as ever.
And the brightest star of all announces the birth of a child. This one, a special child. Emmanuel, God with us.
As we close out the year in this twelfth month, let’s celebrate our family ties. Let’s be deliberate in our giving, thoughtful in our preparations, and generous with our praise.
Let’s enjoy life’s riddles. Curious, open, probing.
Celebrating mystery. Affirming what is certain.
Maintaining the tie that binds.
Posted in Valley Center, California
© Copyright Kenneth E. Kemp 2002
Special Thanks to my good friend David Belcher, owner of Rhino Media Group and creator of WisdomGram
LeaderFOCUS is a service of Good Stewardship Associates
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