The Meyer Minute

The Meyer Minute for November 19, 2013

Today  marks the 150^th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.  What a profound speech that was!  Apropos, Gary Wills wrote a book, "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America."

The Gettysburg address has only 272 words.  When the disciples asked Jesus to teach us to pray, He gave us the Lord’s Prayer.  The Lord’s Prayer translated into English has several versions, but the most common version has only 70 words.  In our complicated and confusing times, those 70 words give guidance and offer profound impact. 

It's the same with commandments.  Ancient rabbis identified 613 commandments in the Bible which they ultimately boiled down to three: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the  Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8).

Lincoln's brevity reminds us that living comes down to simple truths but oh, how we paralyze ourselves by constant analysis!   How often do we disobey because we philosophize over this or that?  A life is not enough to understand the simple truths that God teaches us for living.  

The Meyer Minute for November 18, 2013

It was interesting when I first read it, theoretical stuff for theological application.  “In February, 2011, an earthquake severely damaged George Gilbert Scott’s 1904 Neo-Gothic cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Now, a soaring cardboard structure imagined by Tokyo-based architect Shigeru Ban will stand in its place—for the next half-century, at least. (Ban designed it to last just 50 years).”  (Wall Street Journal Magazine, November, 2013; 40)  Yup, cardboard!

Nothing theoretical about yesterday.  Monstrous winds and tornadoes swept through the Midwest.  St. John’s Lutheran Church in New Minden, Illinois, not far from St. Louis, had its steeple ripped off.  Far worse was the loss of life and the destruction of countless homes.  To us still safe in our homes: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

A cardboard cathedral, deadly dangers of living, and again the call not to pass by on the other side (Luke 10:31, 32).  It’s all so sadly real.

The Meyer Minute Rerun for November 15

Diane had to be out of town last week.  So Dale, Speaker the dog and Amos the rabbit had the place all to ourselves. 

 

After the first day, the kitchen counter had a pile of dirty dishes, an open bag of potato chips, an empty dog food can and chicken bones from supper…and newspapers.  The family room had books and mail strewn around my easy chair...and newspapers.  The living room was OK, except for newspapers there too.  No newspapers in the bedroom but you should have seen the bed.  On second thought, no you shouldn’t. 

I’m positive my wife, my daughters, and my mother are aghast that I’m writing this.  Not to worry, on day two it got so bad that we started to clean it up.  Started.

Religious people like to say they’ve done nothing; it was all God’s doing.  Well, I did nothing and I’m glad you didn’t see the mess.  Faith doesn’t eliminate the need for our initiative and our work.  To live truly useful lives, God enables us “to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

“Drudgery is the touchstone of character,” wrote Oswald Chambers (My Utmost for His Highest, June 15).  The rabbit’s still waiting for me to clean his cage.

 

The Meyer Minute for November 13, 2013

I fondly remember evening meals when I was growing up near Chicago.  Every meal started with grace and then we dug into whatever Mom had prepared.  We also dug into conversation.  Most of the table talk was mundane, quickly forgotten.  But you know, that’s when God did – and still does – some of His best for a family.  When you’re gathered around a meal, talking about everyday things, there’s always an opportunity to share a good word with one another from God.

Today many families seldom eat together because of the press of busy schedules.  We’ve justified it with a false distinction between quality and quantity time.  You need both.  Recommitting to the old habit of family meals gives quantity time from which quality moments spring.  You’ll find it one of the most effective tools for good parenting and better marriages.  Awaiting you is more than the grace of the mealtime prayers.  The greatest grace awaiting you in family meals is that in the midst of everyday talk you can share with one another God’s words of help and hope.

“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let Thy gifts to us be blest.”

 

 

The Meyer Minute for November 12, 2013

Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Really, Jesus?  About the typhoon from yesterday's New York Times: "The living told stories of the dead or dying - the people swept away in a torrent of seawater, the corpses strewn haphazardly among the wreckage.  Photos from the hard hit city of Tacloban showed vast stretches of land swept clean of homes, and reports emerged of people who were desperate for food and water raiding aid convoys and stripping the stores that were left standing."

Can't reconcile terrible things with Jesus' good promises?  The Bible's advice: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  For who hopes for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:22-25)

The Meyer Minute for November 11, 2013

Amy Blumenshine led me into deep thinking.  She wrote about what some psychologists call “moral injury.”  She defined it this way: “The concept is that lasting personal harm can occur as a result of doing something, not doing something, or even witnessing something that violates deeply held core beliefs or principles.  Some experience an unraveling of character.”  If I understand correctly, many of us grew up learning right from wrong but when you get into military service, especially combat, you see your deeply held values violated.  Ms. Blumenshine: “One former Marine jokes that he learned to wrestle his conscience to the floor in 30 seconds.  A military chaplain blurted out in anguish, ‘What we are asking service members to do is hurting them and hurting them deeply.’” (Metro Lutheran, November, 5)

From another newspaper: “An estimated 18 to 22 veterans commit suicide each day.  Perhaps even higher.  More service members are dying at home than at war.” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 10, A8)

Our home sits across the street from the American Legion Post.  I put out the flag for this Veteran’s Day but what’s that?  There’s more that must be done…    

The Meyer Minute for November 8, 2013

“Euonymus alatus compactus” the botanists call it.   For us commoners it’s the “burning bush” and here on campus it’s providing a spectacular display of fall color.  True to its name, its leaves have turned a brilliant red.  The popular name comes from Exodus 3: “The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush.  God said, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’”

How many people, I fear, are missing the awe of creation?  How many more obsessed with the screen on their smart phone?  With our own problems?  “Earth’s crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God.  And only he who sees takes off his shoes.  The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.”  (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

Be a child again, a child of God, and take a long look.  Marvel.  Old “euonymus alatus compactus” has square branches, not round.  So many opportunities to marvel at God’s creation, but what do we do?  Rush on to the next meeting, click the next link, pluck our Blackberries or iPhones or Droids, or what have you.

The Meyer Minute for November 7, 2013

These last days I finished “To Change the World” by James Davison Hunter.  Hunter is the Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory at the University of Virginia and his book was published by Oxford University Press in 2010.

Despite the fact that Christians are the most populous religious group in the United States, American culture has become increasingly secular, sometimes stridently anti-Christian.  Various Christian reactions have often been controversial and divisive.  Hunter:  “The proclivity toward domination and toward the politicization of everything leads Christianity today to bizarre turns; turns that, in my view, transform much of the Christian public witness into the very opposite of the witness Christianity is supposed to offer.”  He sees no return to a “Christian” America, if ever there was such a thing.  What does he propose?

“It may be that the healthiest course of action for Christians…is to be silent for a season and learn how to enact their faith in public through acts of shalom rather than to try again to represent it publicly through law, policy, and political mobilization.”  (280-281)    I’ll put it this way: If your church disappeared, would your community lament the loss?