The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for May 31, 2011

However you chose to spend it, I hope that you had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.  Holidays often let us put problems in the background but the day after…ah, the day those problems can come back with a vengeance.

 

Friday I quoted General Douglas MacArthur from May 12, 1962.  What the aged general said almost 50 years ago sounds very here-and-now.  “Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government: whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as firm and complete as they should be.” 

 

All that and more will shout at us as we get back to our workaday lives.  “Nothing new under the sun.”  Here’s the real question each of us must decide. What’s my attitude as I get back at it?  In Matthew 22 Jesus says the two great commandments are to love God totally and to love your neighbor as yourself. If you go at your challenges reminded that He loves you and through you loves others, holiday peace can continue.

The Meyer Minute for May 27, 2011

General Douglas MacArthur was 82-years-old when he spoke to cadets at West Point May 12, 1962.  The following excerpt humbles us for this Memorial Day.

 

“As I listened to those songs in memory’s eye, I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs on many a weary march, from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle deep through mire of shell-pocked roads; to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of God.  I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death.

 

“Always for them, duty, honor, country.  And twenty years after, on the other side of the globe, against the filth of dirty foxholes, the stench of ghostly trenches, the slime of dripping dugouts, those boiling suns of relentless heat, those torrential rains of devastating storms, the loneliness and utter desolation of jungle trails, the bitterness of long separation of those they loved and cherished, the deadly pestilence of tropic disease, the horror of stricken areas of war.”

 

Near the end of his speech, General MacArthur said, “The soldier above all other people prays for peace.”  May we join the prayers this weekend.

 

The Meyer Minute for May 26, 2011

 

“Nemo me impune lacessit.”  That Latin sentence is inscribed on medallions that honor police officers killed in the line of duty.  Last night I attended a banquet of Peace Officers Ministries, an organization that supports chaplains to police departments.  The banquet speaker was Mrs. Stephanie Abernethy.  Her husband, Houston police officer Timothy S. Abernethy, was killed in the line of duty on December 7, 2008. “Nemo me impune lacessit” means, “No one provokes me with impunity.”

 

God instituted government for our protection and so an attack on an officer is an attack on all our safety.  Because Officer Abernethy had followed procedures and methodically recorded relevant information before he encountered the suspect, that suspect has been convicted and is on death row.  “No one provokes me without impunity.”

 

Mrs. Abernethy said, “My tragedy has already become a beautiful thing.”  Not only was earthly justice done for sin, but injustice provokes God to come down with His Word, His Word that is sharper than any two-edged sword.  Through that Word God judges, forgives, helps, and gives the hope of Christ.  With the help of Peace Officer Ministries, Mrs. Abernethy has distributed some 2,500 Bibles to Houston police officers and many of those Bibles have changed lives.  “Nemo me lacessit.”  God’s Word does not return empty.  (Hebrews 4:12; Isaiah 55:11)

 

 

The Meyer Minute for May 25, 2011

This story is hypothetical.  "Diane, I'm going to drive to Joplin to help." You can fill in the name of any place closer to your home that's been struck by tragedy.  So when I get close to Joplin, the police stop me and turn me back.  "Thank you, sir, for your willingness but it's not helpful to have people coming in right now." Since this is a hypothetical scenario, let's say the police let me pass.  I  arrive and tell some official, "I'm here to help." The official is busy and a bit bothered by me.  "Go to the Red Cross." I do but they tell me they really don't need my presence but can use a cash donation.  What's the end result of this imagined Good Samaritan trip?  I didn't do much to help.

 

The police...  the Red Cross.  Those are institutions, just like the church, businesses, military, hospitals and the like.  We live in a time when people distrust institutions but at the end of the day, in times of overwhelming crisis, we need institutions to do what we can't do individually and alone.  So what can I do short of driving to Joplin or you to someplace that needs help?  Let's build institutions that are strong and trustworthy and offer our help through them.

The Meyer Minute for May 24, 2011

A hospital in Joplin, Missouri...and the Almighty lets a tornado pummel it?  Over a hundred killed and the devastated people of Joplin are planning funerals, Christians among them.  With all the recent... what do insurance people call them?...acts of God, why keep trusting God?

 

When Job complained about God's ways, he was shut down.  "Brace yourself like a man.  Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?  Do you have an arm like God's, and can your voice thunder like His?" (Job 40:7-8)  That's true but "sit down and shut up" isn't the whole of the Bible's picture of God.

 

Jesus says His Father, "causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."  (Matthew 5:45). Being a sincere Christian doesn't exempt us from the tragedies we know too well.  So what gives?  Paul says He "comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." (2 Corinthians 1:4). Pounded, we feel our need for a deliverer, a Savior...and now His help and hope for us is also for us to share with other sufferers.  That's the real "act of God" in the tragedies that lay us low.

 

The Meyer Minute for May 23, 2011

When our nephew Brad graduated, the commencement speaker mouthed things older people like to say, "Think outside of the box," "Don't be afraid to fail," and the like.  But Brad was graduating from St. Louis College of Pharmacy.  Do you really want your prescription filled by someone who was told to be a free spirit and it's OK to fail?  I trust the graduates will heed their professors more than the speaker.

 

More appropriate advice was given to graduates of West Point by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Admiral Mike Mullen said they were going to be officers in a world torn by war and suffering.  "You're going to be expected to support and to encourage and to lead that team almost from day one. That's a tall order."

 

Commencement Day at Concordia Seminary featured two speakers.  Dr. Tim Saleska counseled graduates not to let the respect pastors receive go to their heads, lest they think they're less serious sinners than other people, less in need of forgiveness. Noting the stresses of ministry, Dr. John Eckrich urged graduates to nurture their total being in family, community and in Jesus Christ and His Word.

 

Want to get through to a younger person?  Hold up goodness and service...and by all means, be real!

 

 

The Meyer Minute for May 20, 2011

The Mississippi River has been overflowing its banks.  Sandbags, shelters...you see those pictures on the news.  I suggest adding the picture of stilts.

Think of floods in the Bible and the great flood of Noah comes immediately to mind (Genesis 6-9).  Start concenetrating on whether it really happened or not, finding the ark and the like, and we're off track.  Good questions, but off track.

The chaos of a flood is more important, the chaos that overwhelms the order we must have to live.  Biblical religion teaches that God at creation restrained the chaos: "You set a boundary that they may not pass" (Psalm 104:9).  For several reasons the waters are passings those boundaries now, and one sure reason is that the world, nature included, shows evidence of rebellion against God's good order.

So sandbags, boats...and stilts.  It's common in river country to see some homes and cabins built on stilts.  When the floods come, as they must, the house on stilts offers safety and a different perspective.  So it can be with faith.  "The Lord sits enthroned over the flood" (Psalm 29:10).  Faith gives a higher perspective to our momentary problems and for those now struggling, I pray, will provide the hope of order to be restored.

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The Meyer Minute for May 19, 2011

Congratulations to this year's graduates!  I wonder who really graduates, the student...or the parents?  Obviously the student, on to high school, on to college, on to a career, on to a changing world.  But mom and dad graduate as well...to ever less control, to a nest that can be empty save for memories.

I recall checking in electronically at the Portland airport.  Swiped my card and before I knew what was happening, a helpful agent was punching the screen for me.  Too helpful.  I put my hand on her shoulder and said, "Mom, I can do it myself."  She replied, "Oh, I'm sorry.  I raised 5 kids."  I felt like the 6th.

Here's to the parents of the graduates who now face the herculean task of letting go.  My daughter once asked me if I wanted to live her life for her.  "Well, yes I do," I answered but I couldn't, I can't, and, for better or worse, she has to punch her own check-in screens and whatever else life brings her.

Experts say that graduation causes a kind of grief.  Something's being lost.  Here's to the parents who have to deal with it.  "Here we have no lasting city."  (Hebrews 13:14)

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The Meyer Minute for May 18, 2011

"In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world."  (John 16:33)

Hide that in the inner chamber of your heart and you'll get throughthe day.  Jesus' sayings are sometimes hard to understand, so when he promised to speak openly about the Father, it was a high religious moment for the disciples.  "Now you are speaking clearly...Now we can see that You know all things..."  We do have those great "now" moments, times when christian faith seems so clear, so applicable, so relevant.

Tempering the moment, Jesus said, "I am leaving the world; I am going back to the Father."  Offsetting those high religious moments, we have troubled times when Jesus doesn't seem near, when the "now" of religious insight gives way to doubt about His presence for our good.  Name the situation where God seems absent in your life.  The "now" of insight into the ways of God becomes the "back then", before faith bumped up against the real world.  It's in those times when Jesus seems distant but the world so oppressively near that His Spirit can form in you more mature faith.  Then hear the words hidden deep in your heart!  "In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world."

 

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The Meyer Minute for May 17, 2011

Today is the 57^th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education in which the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public schools.  Long before 1954, the importance of education was being demonstrated by African-Americans.  In the 19^th century Mary Jane Patterson was the first northern black woman to receive a bachelor’s degree.  In the south Virginia Broughton was the first.  In the 20^th century Mary McCleod Bethune founded Bethune-Cookman College in Florida.  Among the motivations for these women was religious faith.

Christianity believes that God reveals Himself to us through the biblical word.  That’s an inheritance from Judaism.  “These words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).  How can you read the Bible if you don’t know how to read?  How can you understand theological concepts without knowing such non-religious things like grammar and syntax?

The consequence of an inquisitive religious faith is a vital interest in education.  “Vital,” by the way, comes from the Latin word for life.  Christian education is a matter of eternal life.  Is Christian education vital in your life?  Jesus prayed for us, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth,” (John 17:17).

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