Greed is Not Good

by Steve Harsh, posted in Uncategorized

“The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21)

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins for a reason. The Greatest greed today and most dangerous, blind, and stupid is destroying our planet to fatten portfolios. Stock market crashes repeatedly have mocked the rich fools of our days, but now as we the people’s money has been spent to pay renewable energy companies to stop producing safe energy in the midst of an energy crisis we must ask, where are the rich fossil fuel fools going to spend their ill-gotten gains when’d the planet that is our only home can no longer sustain human life?

When long-preserved parks and wilderness areas are turned over to greedy corporations who rape and pillage those sacred lands our connection to our roots and creation/creator are destroyed along with endangered species and our hope for future generations. Long before Moses received the Ten Commandments Genesis records a command for humans to be stewards and caretakers of creation. “And the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” (Genesis 2:15). Because of our greed we are failing to do that basic job humanity was entrusted with, and if we fail that task nothing else matters.

The creation story itself, at least the second one in Genesis, shows how human greed for knowledge and power doomed our relationship with God and creation from the very beginning. And that sad saga just keeps on unfolding throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Cain kills his brother because of greed and jealousy. Jacob steals his brother’s birthright for greed of status and privilege. The Hebrew people steal the homeland of other people because they feel privileged and entitled to do so.

David steals the wife of one of his own brave and honorable generals because of lust and greed. He only recognizes his own sin when the prophet Nathan reveals it to him in a parable ending with the unforgettable words “You are the man.” (2 Samuel 12:7)

And no matter what we have been led to believe, the United States is far from exempt from the human frailty of greed. Greed is what justified human slavery and the willingness of our founders to tolerate it in spite of also affirming a document that proclaimed “all men are created equal.” Greed is what motivated that same government to break at least 374 treaties with the Native American peoples who according to archeologists had occupied this land for 20,000-30,000 years before white illegal immigrants began to arrive and lay claim to their land.

Jesus himself uses the parable above to show us all the foolishness of greed in his own story of a rich fool who builds bigger barns to store a bountiful harvest only to die before being able to enjoy any of his profits. And today our leadership is building bigger barns of exorbitant wealth while destroying our planet and ignoring the existential needs of the poor and marginalized. They are doing exactly what Amos accused Israel’s leaders doing 2750 years ago – “selling the poor for a pair of shoes.” (Amos 2:6 and 8:6)

Taking President Trump as one example of the how the foolishness of greed is so apparent to anyone who is not blinded by their own greed or so deep in denial as to be unreachable by logic or reason. Donald Trump has increased his personal wealth, in total disregard for constitutional prohibitions, by a staggering total of $4.2 Billion in just the last 18. months. The man is 80 years old and in very poor health. What will he ever be able to do with all that greed-gotten wealth? He is obviously to objective observers a very miserable and lonely man. He is desperately trying to memorialize himself with arches, airports, and other structures that will bear his name, but they are as hollow and unstable as the tower of Babble because of his personal and political history of corruption and injustice and failure even in deploying our powerful military into a foolish, expensive, and disastrous war.

Greed is a dangerous and powerful part of human nature, and that is exactly why constant vigilance of ourselves and of our own leaders and government structures is necessary for it is existentially important for the survival of our planet and the human race. We white, especially male, Americans must be especially self-aware and self-critical. Our privileged status for so long has made us blind to its injustice and marginalization of everyone else that makes our comfortable status possible. Our economic system is based on a win-lose paradigm.

The popular board game Monopoly is an excellent metaphor for the inherent flaw in a capitalistic system if it is not regulated to limit the damage greed can cause. In Monopoly the whole point of the game is to accumulate so much wealth that everyone else playing the game is driven into bankruptcy. Monopoly was invented in 1903 by a progressive feminist named Lizzie Magie as The Landlord’s Game. Ironically, she created it to critique unfettered capitalism and demonstrate the negative effects of land monopolies. As one who played the game for many hours as a kid I can attest I missed the intended point of the game.

Only much later as an adult did I understand the intended purpose, and I also recognized a basic flaw in the rules of the game. In Monopoly every player starts out on an even playing field with the same amount of cash. Promoting that myth is perhaps the most dangerous lesson the game taught those of us who played it. In real life we all should know that those trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty are at a tremendous advantage when playing the real game of life with those who have inherited wealth or educational advantage.

Perhaps the best way to end this post is to let Jesus have the last words:

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:21)

Exiles Who Dare to Dream

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, peacemaking, prayer, spiritual discipline

I have been in an increasingly deep funk lately.  It has progressed the closer we get to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4.  I grew up a super patriotic kid, proud of my dad’s service in WWII, Eagle Scout, recipient of Scouting’s “God and Country” award, etc. 

When I was in fourth grade we had to write one of those “what do you want to be when you grow up” essays, and mine was one of several printed in the local newspaper on a very slow news day.  I had written that I wanted to be a Marine.  I’m sure my teacher and others reading that had to stifle a laugh that this runt of the litter had such delusions of grandeur. 

For the sake of brevity let’s just say that the war in Viet Nam, Kent State, my study of U.S. and world history, and our multiple misadventures in the Middle East have removed the rose-colored glasses I wore during my naïve childhood and adolescence.  And the last ten years have pushed me to the edge of cynicism and despair more times than I care to remember. 

This morning as I was reading “Braving the Truth” (a collection of essays by the late Rachel Held Evans and others) it hit me.  The words of Psalm 137 popped into my head, and I understood what I’m feeling. 

“By the rivers of Babylon—
    there we sat down, and there we wept
    when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
    we hung up our harps.
3 For there our captors
    asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How could we sing the Lord’s song
    in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand wither!”

I haven’t been taken captive and dragged off to a foreign land.  I’m still living a privileged, comfortable life right here in Ohio.  So I am not a physical exile, but my heart and soul resonate with those Israelite exiles in Babylon 2600 years ago.  The corruption, greed, injustice, and total disregard for the law and constitution we are witnessing is not from an oppressive foreign conqueror of our nation.  Those evils are being perpetrated by our own President and the wealthy elite supporters who refuse to stop him because they share his greed for power and wealth. 

Those of us who try to follow Jesus know God favors the meek, the poor, the peacemakers, and those who mourn.  We know Mary’s magnificent warning that God

“ Has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.”  (Luke 1:52-53)

We are exiles for now, and if we forget Jesus as our true ruler much more than our right hands will wither.  As people of the Book we know the rest of the story.  Those exiles in Babylon were liberated, ironically by Cyrus of Persia (modern day Iran).  The exiles and their descendants who had kept the faith returned and rebuilt Jerusalem. And their faithfulness gives us hope and strength to endure our own exile. 

So my prayer for this 250th anniversary is that of the psalmist.  Don’t let me forget the good, the ideals, and the soaring vision of Jefferson’s words.  The Declaration of Independence was never descriptive of what was in 1776 or what has been since.  The Declaration was and is aspirational, an idealistic picture of what we hope to become. We were then and are still fallible human beings continually striving to create a beloved community where all people are created equal and treated accordingly.

Inside me still is that little fourth grader who every morning repeated the dream of a nation where “liberty and justice for all” is more than a rote recitation.  It’s a goal worth striving for still, and it’s the hope this exile will remember and celebrate July 4th in the spirit of the great hymn, “Lead On O King Eternal” by Ernest Warburton Shurtleff :

“For not with swords loud clashing,
Nor roll of stirring drums;
With deeds of love and mercy,
The heavenly kingdom comes.”

EARS TO HEAR THE MEMORIES OF D-DAY

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, Government Reform

The commemoration of June 6 as D-Day always feels important to me because of its historical significance and the fact that my father fought against Fascism in World War II. My dad wasn’t part of the Normandy Invasion. He was a young enlistee in the war and by the time he went through flight training and officer candidate school the war in Europe was winding down. He did fly a few missions over Germany as a B-17 pilot before VE Day, but his most harrowing experience ironically came after the war. The B-17 he was flying back to the States lost both engines and had to ditch in the North Atlantic. He was one of only four of the 17 on board who survived.

So I take fascists and dictators very seriously, and what is going on in our government today makes me furious. All those brave men and women who risked and thousands who lost their lives will have sacrificed in vain if the MAGA devotees of Donald Trump are allowed to finish destroying our democracy.

In all my years of studying evil governments from Pharaoh to Putin did I ever dream it could happen here. I’m not naive. I am painfully aware of the ugly chapters in our own history, but in all those episodes the leadership has emerged to return our nation to a course based on the critical values of equality and justice our democracy depends on. In the last 18 months under the dictatorial rule of the Trump administration such leadership has not risen up in numbers significant enough to stop the chaos and corruption.

We need examine our current situation through the famous warning that comes from an 1887 letter Lord Acton wrote to Bishop Creighton regarding the moral standards used to judge historical leaders. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

My fear now is that those with nearly absolute power in the U.S. are so determined to keep it and protect themselves from prosecution for their crimes that they will do anything and everything to rig or cancel the midterm elections. If that happens our experiment with government of the people, by the people, and for the people will be dead for at least a generation. What evil that can happen with absolute power fills volumes of human history, and the last 18 months have shown we are not immune from the dark side of human nature.

And that brings me to a nightmare on this D-Day that I cannot get out of my head. I hope and pray with all my being I am being too pessimistic, but for the first time in my life I can imagine a time when an allied group of nations like those who defeated fascism in 1945 might be necessary to invade the USA and liberate us from our own captivity.

Another famous quote we need to dust off and live into is the one that says “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” While frequently misattributed to Thomas Jefferson, the true origin and evolution of the sentiment are fascinating: The sentiment originated with Irish statesman and orator John Philpot Curran, who stated in an 1790 speech: “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.

The shorter version is much easier to pay lip service to, but Curran’s warning about the servitude that we risk if we fail to be very vigilant and act on it packs a much more powerful punch.

This whole situation reminds me of Jesus’ words which are so important they are repeated six times in the Gospels: “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”                                        

June 6, 2026

The Great American Cancer

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Government Reform, hope

There is very little in our polarized society that most of us can agree on. One exception to that is cancer. I don’t know anyone who is in favor of cancer. My extended family is definitely on opposite sides of the political divide, but we have all come together multiple times in common grief as people in four generations of our family have died from glioblastoma brain cancer.

Our saga began with my 86 year-old grandmother, then my mother at age 70, then a second cousin in his early 30’s, and what we hope is the last was that cousin’s 9 year-old daughter. The little girl’s memorial service was so large (over 300 people) they had to hold it in a big building at the county fairgrounds.

And I know our story is not unique; it’s just the one I’ve lived through most intimately. It’s a tragic story for anyone who travels that road. That brain cancer is still very deadly, but the good news is that medical science has made great strides in treating many other kinds of cancer.

What we haven’t found is a cure for is the cancer of racism that has threatened our American democracy from its very inception. As we near the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence it seems like a good time to reflect on that part of our story many would like to erase from our history books and our consciousness. But as with physical cancer, the longer we deny the malignancy is present the more deadly it becomes.

Contrary to the sanitized version of out history that the current administration is promoting, the fact is that 41 of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence actually owned other human beings. That’s 73% of those who signed this document proclaiming that “all men are created equal” and said “For the support of this Declaration… we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor” did so while enslaving other human beings! And that practice had been going on in this country at that point for 157 years, and it took almost 90 more years and 600,000 lives lost in a Civil War before those black persons were emancipated. Do the math – people were enslaved in this country from 1619 to 1863, or nearly 250 years. We cannot celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday without acknowledging those two and a half centuries as well.

To be fair to the signers of the Declaration some of them repented and freed their enslaved persons later, but that token number pales in comparison to the total numbers of those in captivity. According to the 1860 U.S. Census, there were exactly 3,953,760 enslaved people in the United States, about 12.6% of the total U.S. population.

But according to the simple history I was taught in my public schools that problem was all rectified by the Emancipation Proclamation, Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution. End of story. My history text books omitted any reference to Andrew Johnson’s destruction of Lincoln’s plans for Reconstruction, Jim Crow, thousands of lynchings, and destructions of black communities all over the country. I am pretty well read, and I didn’t know anything about the infamous destruction of Tulsa’s wealthy Black Wall Street community until we commemorated its 100th anniversary in 2021.

I review all that uncomfortable truth because there has been the temptation throughout our history to think the cancer of racism has been cured or put into remission only to have it metastasize and erupt in new and worse forms later. In my generation we fell into that trap at least twice. In the 1960’s more blood was shed in Selma, Birmingham, Memphis, and Mississippi, along with other cities across the country, but the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Brown vs. Board, and other victories for justice seemed to justify the terrible sacrifices made.

But then came the backlash in Nixon’s Southern Strategy, Ronald Regan, and the conversion of the Party of Lincoln to the very things the Republican Party was organized to oppose in 1860. And then the pendulum swung again and Barack Obama was elected as the first Black President of the United States. The once impossible became reality, and we dared hope that the malignancy of racism might be excised from the American culture for good.

Again, we were wrong. The cancer went back into remission for 8 years. It was not gone, but merely dormant until its smoldering embers were fanned into a roaring blaze by the son of a racist New York slumlord. When Donald Trump came down the escalator in Trump Tower in 2015 he announced a campaign for President that appealed to the most basic fears and insecurities of white Americans who are threatened by a multicultural and diverse racial society. For 8 years of the Obama administration the fear and anger among whites who felt their privileged status threatened by any thought of equality with other races festered and metastasized into a resurgence of the systemic racism present in our history for 400 years.

What Trump and his oligarch buddies have done to our democracy in the last 10 years is almost beyond comprehension. We are living in a bad combination of 1984 and Project 2025. The billionaires are running and ruining our country just like the Southern Plantation Owners of the 19th Century and the Robber Barons of the 20th. One of those eras ended in Civil War and the other in the Great Depression. It remains to be seen how deadly this outbreak of American Racism will be, but we stand a much better chance of surviving this one if we celebrate our true history and not just the parts that make us white folks look good.

Confession – Good for the Soul

by Steve Harsh, posted in Aging to Sageing, memoir, self-care

“Confession is good for the soul” according to an old (mid-19th century) Scottish proverb. Those exact words are not in the Bible but are certainly compatible with several verses that are:

1 John 1:9 (NKJV): “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.
James 5:16 (NIV): “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective”.
Proverbs 28:13 (NIV): “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy”.
Psalm 32:3-5 (NIV): David describes the physical/emotional weight of keeping silent, stating, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you… and you forgave the guilt of my sin”.

I have been thinking about all that since yesterday because I did something stupid yesterday and am hoping confessing it will be good for my soul. My wife, Diana, and I were out to eat last evening with some family members at a local Rusty Bucket restaurant. Before we ordered our food I bumped my elbow on an empty chair beside me. I didn’t think about it again until I got up to go to the restroom and my niece noticed that my elbow was bleeding a little where I bumped it. (Thanks to blood thinner I’m on.)

I guess I was preoccupied with how I was going to get a band aid as I headed to the restroom, at least that’s my lame excuse, and once there I remembered that I had band aids in a small pouch I carry with me with medications I might need. As I was getting the band aid out I was surprised to hear my wife’s voice say, “Steve, do you know you are in the women’s restroom?” Thankful that she was the only one in there with me I beat a hasty retreat to the men’s room and finished bandaging my cut.

Obviously a lack of paying attention to the signs on the restrooms was the primary cause of my faux pas, but it got me wondering if I am less focused on what I’m doing because of my age, the chronic back pain that occupies way too much of my thought processes, or just a lack of mindfulness in general to my being in the world?

While I’d like to blame my forgetfulness and wandering attention on age or pain or other distractions, I must also confess that this is not a recent problem for me. I don’t know how my mind went from absent-mindedly walking into the wrong restroom to golf, but it did; so bear with me. In particular my memories went to times that I’ve been hit with a golf ball while on the course. There have actually only been two incidents where I’ve been hit in 50 plus years of playing golf, which I think is pretty good considering the possibilities.

But here’s the interesting thing about both of those times I was hit by a golf ball – they were both my fault. Why? Because in both cases I was not paying attention and was somewhere I should not have been. And both of these happened 8-15 years ago; so it wasn’t my age. In one incident my ball was 100 yards to the right of my playing partners and should have been well out of his line of fire.

But – my ball was also closer to the green than his, which meant that I should not be in front of his lie while he hit the ball. It looked safe, but weird things happen on golf courses when amateurs are playing and he shanked his shot right toward me. Second mistake – I was thinking about my upcoming shot and not watching his shot which is bad golf etiquette and dangerous. His wayward shot bounced before hitting my head which kept it from doing any damage, but it was still a little unnerving.

The second time a few years later proved I hadn’t fully learned my lesson. I reached a particularly troublesome green in regulation – a rare occurrence for me, and was so excited about being on that green that I failed to pay attention to the other three golfers in our group. One should never go on the green until every golfer in the group is on the putting surface. Well guess who broke that rule? Again I failed to notice (a recurring theme here) that one member of our foursome was about to chip his ball onto the green. Again I took one in the head, but since it was an easy chip it did no physical damage; but it was most embarrassing.

So my lack of mindfulness and focus on what I’m doing is not a new phenomenon. That’s not big news to me or my poor wife. The question is now that I have these reminders will I actually do anything to change my behavior? Stay tuned.

Prophet Pope Vs Profit President

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, Faith Development, Government Reform, peacemaking

The recent war of words between the Trump administration and Pope Leo both infuriates me and makes me very sad. I am astounded that the President and his Roman Catholic Vice-President have so little knowledge and respect for the 2500 year-old tradition of prophetic voices from the faith community speaking as the moral conscience to powerful political leaders. Trump and Vance act as if Pope Leo’s admonitions against war and violence are something new and radical when they are as old as the Moses, Nathan, Micah, Amos, and Jesus himself.

My sadness comes from my own failure as a pastor and preacher and that of the church itself to do a better job of educating our congregations about this age-old tradition of speaking truth to power. I can only speak for myself, but I know that throughout my ministry I have treaded very lightly on the prophetic aspects of my call; and I regret that deeply. My personal journals and conversations with colleagues often reflect my grief that I “sold my soul for a pension and a parsonage.” By that I mean that I avoided controversy and conflict in my congregations to have a “successful” ministry, i.e. keep my job and not create problems for my church superiors.

Far too often that meant going along with or avoiding political views I disagreed with to keep peace with the church members who paid my salary and supported the church’s budget. That is not at all the example set by prophets in the Bible. But before we go on let’s clarify what a biblical prophet is and isn’t. Popular usage of the word “prophet” often equates to one who predicts the future. Biblical prophets do that in a sense because they often warn people what will happen if they refuse to repent and follow God’s will.

But that definition of a biblical prophet is too limited. In the fullest sense the prophets of the Bible are those who are spokespersons for God. And that role often means confronting the powerful rulers of society who are more concerned with profits than prophets. Examples include Moses in the book of Exodus demanding that Pharaoh release the Hebrew people from the slavery which was essential to Egypt’s economic system. Or one of my favorites is Nathan bravely exposing King David’s sinful behavior directly to the King himself. (2 Samuel 12)

Later prophets like Micah and Amos try unsuccessfully to warn the leaders of Israel and Judah that their greed and selfishness will lead to their downfall.  Nowhere is what faithfulness to God spelled out more clearly than in Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O mortal, 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?” No objective observer of our current political leadership in the United States can deny that we are failing on all three of those measurements for obedience to God.  And to his credit Pope Leo as a contemporary prophet is pointing those failures out.   

President Trump and his acolytes have particularly taken offense at the Pope’s criticism of the war the President and Benjamin Netanyahu are waging against Iran.  They are demanding that the Pope and other religious leaders support the war, failing completely to understand the biblical mandate all of us as Jews and Christians have to be advocates for peace.  The Hebrew prophets Micah and Isaiah both make this clear:

“For out of Zion shall go forth instruction
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations
    and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation;
    neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:3-4, also found in Micah 4:3)

I cannot escape the irony that these verses describe these instructions for peace are to come from Jerusalem.  Israel today doesn’t even live up to the limitations for just revenge set down in the Pentateuch.  Even AI on my computer knows more about the Scriptures than Trump, Vance, Hegseth, and Netanyahu.  Here’s what AI says:

“An eye for an eye” appears in the Old Testament as a legal principle of proportional justice (Lex Talionis), ensuring punishment fits the crime (Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21). Jesus references this in Matthew 5:38-39 to instruct followers against personal retaliation, teaching them to “turn the other cheek” instead.”

One of the best lines I’ve heard this week came from comedian Jimmy Kimmel.  He said, “Maybe Trump should read the Bible instead of selling them.” And I’d recommend he start with the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 where we can get as close as we can to what Jesus’ philosophy about the faithful life.  The heart of those teachings are the Beatitudes which we all need to be reminded of regularly especially in these dangerous times.  So I’m going to give Jesus the last word here from Matthew 5:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falselyon my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Good Friday Reflections, Mark 14:66-72

by Steve Harsh, posted in Lenten devotion, prayer, Sermon

There are several things I don’t like about going to the gym to work out – the effort it takes to get there, the slim and trim young men who make me look bad, and the swimmers in the pool who do laps twice as fast and twice as many as I can. But the number one objection I have to the gym are the mirrors everywhere. They keep showing me this old man looking back at me!!  I think he’s stalking me!

Lent and Good Friday do the same thing if we are brave enough to look in the mirror. 40 days ago many of us got a smudge of ashes on our foreheads and heard those ultimate words of reality “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” And now the Good Friday narrative holds poor old bumbling, human Peter up to us as a mirror of ourselves. Peter is the ultimate fallible human being. He is the poster child for St. Paul’s confession in Romans 7:15 where he says, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

Denise Gorden shared this picture with the Coffee Talk group a few weeks ago.  This is artist James Tissot’s depiction of what Jesus’ view from the cross on that dark Friday might have looked like.  Last Sunday Rev. Wayne Nicholson reminded us that we often read the Bible to find ourselves in there.  Well this picture is a great example of that.  Who’s there around the cross?  According to John’s Gospel the most faithful and brave ones are up close and personal – three Marys: Jesus’ mother Mary, Mary of Clopas (Mary’s sister-in-law), Mary Magdalene, and John, described as “the beloved disciple.”

Others are there who had cheered Jesus entry into Jerusalem just 5 days earlier – some who have turned against him, maybe out of fear of the Romans, and cried out for Jesus to be crucified instead of the criminal Barabbas.  Others who are rubber-neckers who just want to see what’s going on, and some who are ambivalent and curious who just want to see if Jesus is the real deal and might be rescued by a host of heavenly angels. 

But it’s also important to notice who’s not there – Peter, and most of the other disciples, unless they’re hiding in the back where the Romans or the religious leaders won’t see them.

Do you see yourself there?  What would have brought you to Calvary on that dark Friday?  As the choir just asked us, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”            

But regardless who is there at the cross, there’s one thing we know for sure about everyone, they are all fallible human beings.  St. Paul says it plainly in Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All means all; no exceptions.  We are all guilty as charged of being fallible human beings, and Peter and the other disciples are the mirrors that remind us, like it or not, that we are among the fallible. We don’t like that role – we want to be heroines or heroes, not examples of fallibility or weakness!

That idea struck me a couple of weeks ago at a meeting of our men’s group called “Men Under Construction,” another way of saying we’re all fallible and God isn’t finished with us yet.  Pastor Roger Gorden, who leads that group, described it this way.  He said, “Peter gets in the way of Jesus.”  Peter gets in the way of Jesus!  Isn’t that what we do when Jesus asks more of us than we can or want to live up to? When Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me” or “If you love your family more than me you aren’t worthy of me,” those aren’t great recruiting slogans.

At one point earlier in the Gospel story Peter literally gets in Jesus’ way. When Jesus tries to explain to the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and be crucified, Peter says, “No way, Lord. We can’t let you do that!” And Jesus has to reprimand Peter and tell him, “Get behind me Satan.” That sounds awful, but it’s not if we remember that Jesus doesn’t need or want fair weather friends, he wants brave followers, and in order to follow someone you have to get – that’s right, behind them.

It’s hard to follow someone if we think we know a short cut or easier way to go, and especially hard when carrying a cross.

“Are Ye Able, said the Master, to be crucified with me?  Yea, the sturdy dreamers answer, to the death we follow Thee.”  All of the Gospels contain the dialogue between Jesus and Peter at the Last Supper where Jesus predicts Peter will deny him, and Peter responds emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you. And all the disciples said the same.” But when push comes to shove 90% of them aren’t there for Jesus, and Peter says, “No way – not me, I never met the guy.” Not once, but 3 times!

But here’s the deal.  We’re not here to judge or blame Peter and the other disciples for what they did or didn’t do 2000 years ago.  That’s ancient history.  Remember the disciples are in the Gospel narratives as reflections of you and me.  They are there to invite us to ask the really hard questions.  How do we, you and I, deny we even know Jesus today?  When we look in the mirror on the wall what do we see that we try to hide from other people and even from God.  Good luck with that one, by the way!  What sins of omission and commission gnaw at our consciences when we can’t sleep at night?  As Jesus reminds us, we can’t focus on the speck in Peter’s eye when we’ve still got a big old two-by-four in our own.

I identify with Peter because I hate conflict.  I will take a five-mile detour to avoid an argument or awkward situation.  That’s why Jonah is one of my favorite biblical characters.  I can relate.  When God tells Jonah to go preach behind enemy lines in Nineveh Jonah hops the first boat going in the exact opposite direction.  That would be like one of us getting called to go witness to the people in Tehran today!  I’d probably say, “Sorry, God, you’ve got a wrong number.”

OK, let’s consider some more practical, everyday choices we might have to make.  One person standing up for someone who is being bullied may stop the cruelty, and even if it doesn’t both the victim and the protector feel the priceless solidarity of friendship. One or two men refusing to laugh at a sexiest or racist joke, or a woman saying no to an unethical business practice can empower others to do the same.

Doing what is right but unpopular is one of the hardest things to do because it puts at risk our own comfort and safety. But what each one of us chooses to do or not do does make a difference.

The familiar quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing” sums up much of what I’m trying to say. As we all know it takes courage to do the right thing when it is so much easier to go along with the crowd. My favorite quote to describe that is from the play about the famous Scopes monkey trial, “Inherit the Wind”: Defense attorney Henry  Drummond says to Bert Cates who is on trial for teaching evolution: “It’s the loneliest feeling in the world to find yourself standing up when everybody else is sitting down.”  [repeat]

And to make matters worse, it’s not just individual actions that matter.  The mirror here is facing you as a congregation because our collective sins are even more important than individual ones.  What’s done in the name of the church, or our government, or any other group we belong to-we bear responsibility for that group’s actions and are called to stand up for what’s right and just and true.  

But – we need to shift gears here.  Lent and Holy Week are times for soul searching, facing the reality of who we see in the mirror.  But the crucifixion and betrayal and denial are not the end of the story and we dare not forget that or we will be overcome with our own guilt and denial. It’s Friday – but Easter’s coming.

Peter denies Jesus 3 times!!! That would be very hard for any of us to forgive!  It’s bad enough if a friend, a best friend, like Peter was, betrays us once, but 3 times?  How could anyone forgive that!  But Jesus isn’t just anyone.  When this same disciple, Peter, asks Jesus earlier in Matthew’s Gospel how many times he should forgive someone who sins against him, as many as 7?  Jesus says no, 70 times 7.  

And of course Jesus practices what he preaches.  He not only forgives those who nailed him to the cross; he also forgives poor old Peter.  I don’t want to steal the thunder of any Easter sermons, but you already know this; so I don’t think it’s a spoiler alert. Remember it is Peter who is the one Jesus designates as the Rock upon which he will build his church! Peter, the denier, the stumbling block – Peter who is the stand in for us in the Good Friday story, the reflection of our own faithlessness.  Yes, that Peter is ultimately the redeemed and forgiven one – just like you and me

Do you remember the line from Snow White – “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”  The wicked queen keeps asking the mirror the same question because she never likes the answer she gets. The mirror keeps telling her the fairest is Snow White.  Likewise we often don’t like what we see when we honestly examine our lives in a spiritual mirror. 

Mirrors don’t lie.  So Peter’s multiple failures on Good Friday can be an important time of growth on our faith journey if we are brave enough to really see ourselves reflected in Peter.  And here’s the good news –we can look in the mirror and see only our faults and shortcomings, our fallibility, our mortality – OR we can look deeper and also see the very one Jesus is counting on to build the kingdom. 

Why does God choose the likes of us to build the kingdom? Because fallible human beings are all Jesus has to work with.  So tonight and tomorrow we mourn our own guilt and responsibility for denying Jesus, but on Sunday we will rise with him to begin anew the absolutely critical work of following Jesus to the cross.   We can do that because when we get behind and follow a risen Savior our faith is stronger than our fear. 

Please pray with me:

Dear Creator and Sustainer of all that is good, just, and true, we are living in very sad times. The foolishness of war is robbing your neediest children of food and health care here at home and raining terror and destruction on the Middle East. You have called us to love our neighbors and our enemies. You have taught us that a few courageous people can make a difference. Give us courage to stand up when no one else can or will. Renew a right spirit within us. Show us how we can most faithfully be among those who refuse to deny you. Keep us near the cross and the one who died there for the Peter in all of us. Amen

Northwest United Methodist Church, April 3, 2026

You Can Make a Difference

by Steve Harsh, posted in brokenness, Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith Development, hope

Genesis 18:22-33: So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”  And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to my lord, I who am but dust and ashes.  Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”  Again he spoke to him, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.”  Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”  He said, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to my lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.”

In these days when it feels so hopeless to to make a difference this story about the threatened destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah speaks to us about the power of each good life. Abraham bravely negotiates with God to try and spare whatever righteous people there may be in these two cities.

Disclaimer: I do not believe the God of grace I know punishes evil by inflicting destruction on individuals or whole cities, although there are times I wish it were so (as long I’m not the guilty party, of course). But that doesn’t mean there isn’t some deeper truth in the story.

For example, what if there were a few brave people had stood up to President George W. Bush in 2003 and demanded proof of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before committing our troops to a long deadly war? Or what if a handful of founding fathers had stood firm against slavery in 1787 instead of kicking the can down the road to the deadliest war in our history 75 years later?

One child siding with another who is being bullied can stop the cruelty, and even if not both the victim and the protector feel the priceless solidarity of friendship. One or two men refusing to laugh at a sexiest or racist joke, or go along with an unethical business practice can empower others to do the same.

Those who have read Genesis know the unfortunate fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. Apparently Abraham couldn’t find even 10 righteous men, and the two cities were destroyed.

As an aside, I can’t pass on from this story about Sodom and Gomorrah without pointing out a serious misuse of this text which in some circles is used as a condemnation of homosexuality. That charge is not justified by the text and is clarified later in Ezekiel 16:49 where we find: “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease but did not aid the poor and needy.” That makes so much more sense because it is consistent with the constant emphasis in all the Scriptures to care for the widows and orphans, to love one’s neighbors as oneself, and Jesus’ stark admonition in Matthew 25 that “just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it me.”

How often are those same weaknesses in Sodom and Gomorrah the source of our failure to do the right thing, even when we know clearly what we should do. Excess of food and prosperous ease are symbols of comfort and privilege that we Americans should pay careful attention to. Doing what is right but unpopular is one of the hardest things to do because it puts at risk our own comfort and safety. But what we choose to do or not do does make a difference.

The familiar quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” sums up much of what I’m trying to say. (My research says this quote is often attributed to Edmund Burke but may actually be a paraphrase of similar words from John Stuart Mill.

As we all know it takes courage to do the right thing when it is so much easier to go along with the crowd. My favorite quote to describe that is from “Inherit the Wind” by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee:

Attorney Drummond says to Bert Cates who is on trial for teaching evolution: “It’s the loneliest feeling in the world-to find yourself standing up when everybody else is sitting down. To have everybody look at you and say, ‘What’s the matter with him?’ I know. I know what it feels like. Walking down an empty street, listening to the sound of your own footsteps. Shutters closed, blinds drawn, doors locked against you. And you aren’t sure whether you’re walking toward something, or if you’re just walking away.”

But those acts of courage make a huge difference, just as they might have in Sodom and Gomorrah. But that is ancient history. What matters now are the moments today when we are asked to take a stand for righteousness and justice when everyone else is sitting down.

There are so many injustices it feels overwhelming to even try to pick one to address; I know it certainly does to me. But that cannot be our excuse to sit on the sidelines. For me there is also a very real fear of incurring the wrath of those in power if I speak up against them. I wrote a paper in grad school entitled “They Shoot Prophets, Don’t They?,” and the recent murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis have done nothing to lessen that fear.

I have never liked conflict of any kind; so speaking truth to power is way out of my comfort zone. But my despair over what’s happening to our democracy is stronger than my fear. I am reminded of the closing scene of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” where the bodies of all the main characters are strewn across the stage and Edgar alone is left to bring down the curtain. He says, “The weight of these sad times we must obey; say what we feel, not what we ought to say.”

Dear Creator and Sustainer of all that is good, just, and true, we are living in very sad times. Unjustified, unconstitutional war is robbing your neediest children of food and health care here at home and raining terror and destruction in the Middle East. You have called us to love our neighbors and our enemies. You have taught us that a few righteous, courageous people do make a difference. Give us courage to stand up when no one else can or will, to speak what we feel and not what the powerful tell us we ought to say. You have put a right spirit within us. Show us how we can most faithfully let that holy light shine into the darkness of this season of our lives until others join us and together our lights expose the evil around us and within us and drive it from our midst in a blaze of resurrection. Amen

Temptation: Fall or Faith?

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith Development, Gratitude, Lectionary Texts, Lenten devotion

The lectionary texts for the first Sunday in Lent this year include Genesis 3:1-7 (“The Fall”) and Matthew 4:1-11(the Temptation of Christ). What a perfect contrast these two Scriptures give us of human frailty and divine strength. In the former Eve and Adam fall like a ton of bricks for a couple of lies from a talking snake! And in the latter the New Testament version of the serpent promises Jesus food (after a 40-day fast!), divine glory and protection (for bungee jumping off the temple without a bungee), and worldly power (over all the kingdoms of the world, including Greenland and Venezuela).

And Jesus, with impeccable theology, politely tells Satan to go fly a kite all three times. And, of course, Peter reprises human frailty again at the end of this drama by denying Jesus three times. Adam, Eve, and Peter all are marked with the Ash Wednesday reminder that we are all dust, and to dust we will return. But Jesus is the Way, Truth, and Life.

These stories remind me of my need again this Lent to examine and resist by own human weaknesses; to be a little less fearful and self-centered, and more faithful to the sacred burden I carry as one created in the image of God. “I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24)

Nadia Bolz-Weber has shared in her Substack that she is going to observe Lent this year by looking for and recording 40 days of good “stuff,” which if you know Nadia you know she describes that exercise more graphically! As a glass-half-empty kind of person I need all the help with gratitude I can get, especially in these days of doom-scrolling doldrums. So I have decided to launch my own discipline of being aware of at least one good or beautiful thing each day of Lent.

My good stuff for today was seeing a beautiful red headed woodpecker at our bird feeder. The big red head is a gorgeous bird, and I feel especially blessed that we see one fairly regularly at our house. The habitat for the big woodpeckers is being destroyed by urban sprawl, but at least for now we still have enough wooded land around us that the developers haven’t snarfed up that we get to enjoy this one I call Woody. The bad news is he/she doesn’t stay at our feeder very long; so I wasn’t able to get a picture today.

I googled the Red Headed Woodpecker today just for fun and was rewarded with some great Lenten news. What I found is that for some indigenous people the RHW represents the spiritual values of determination, strength, and perseverance. Those seem like exactly the values lacking in the Genesis 3 story which are on full display in Jesus’ replies to Satan in the wilderness.

Humans in paradise still aren’t satisfied with all the blessings they have and are greedy for more. But the Son of God, starving in the wilderness, knows that faith alone is enough to get us through any and all trials and tribulations life throws at us.

Transfiguration: Surrender, Let It Go

by Steve Harsh, posted in Aging to Sageing, Christian Discipleship, Faith Development, Lectionary Texts, Lenten devotion, purpose, self-care, Transfiguration

As church tradition dictates our excellent sermon today by Pastor Mebane McMahon on this last Sunday before Lent was based on the Transfiguration story in Luke 9.  My takeaway today after hearing this text from one of the synoptic Gospels annually for at least 57 years was the need to surrender my great desire to cling to glory and homestead on the mountaintop. 

We all need special moments of spiritual inspiration more than ever these days, but Jesus followers can’t stay on the mountain top.  Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem, straight back into the valley of the shadow of death, and yes, he says, “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me!”

Of all the hard things I wish Jesus hadn’t said, that’s one of the toughest for sure.  For me right now as I prepare to enter my 80th season of Lent, one of the hardest things for me to surrender is my overwhelming desire to go back – back to a time when I could carry a bundle of shingles up a ladder onto a roof.  Or back to a time when I could run 5 miles in under 40 minutes, or even just walk out to my mailbox without pain.  Every time I see a recent picture of myself unable to stand up straight I want to give up all photo ops for Lent.

I’ve never been a great athlete, but I have enjoyed participating in a good variety of sports over the years. I know it can’t happen, but I would sure love to soak in the view one more time before skiing down from the top of Peak 9 at Breckenridge in Colorado, or enjoy the fellowship of playing one more game with my old church softball team, or a rousing game of basketball with my son. Those memories are wonderful, but they will never replace actually being there. So I don’t want to accept those days are no more.

Diana and I had the pleasure of attending a wonderful high school performance of the Broadway musical version of “Frozen” yesterday in which our great niece Ava Tobin starred as Elsa. The whole performance was amazing, but Ava’s powerful rendition of the song “Let It Go” moved me the most. And it tied in beautifully with the Transfiguration story’s message to let go of the glory of the mountain top and follow Jesus into the valley of Lent.

One of the lines in “Let It Go” says “the past is past,” and that is part of surrendering for me. I’m not the 40 year-old runner or skier or softball player I was 40 years ago. That past is past, and I need to let it go so I can live fully in the present reality of my 79 year-old body.

There’s a breath prayer I learned a few months ago that I’ve been wrestling with ever since. It says, “Show me who to be, and what is mine to do.” I keep meditating on that, but what I’ve heard so far as I pray that prayer is this: I am to be the best Jesus follower I can be, and what that looks like changes with the seasons of life.

I can’t preach much anymore or teach classes. I don’t have the stamina to do that. I can’t go to protests and marches because I can’t stand or walk for any length of time. But I can still read and learn and share my ideas and insights through my writing.

When I get depressed about all the things I can’t do anymore I have no energy to do the things I can still do; so I need to let the past be past and let it go.

I am reluctant to share this as I don’t want to boast, but I got a notification recently from Word Press, the site that hosts my blog, that since I launched this blog in 2011 there have been 100,000 views of my posts. I am humbled by that number and by the fact that those views have come from dozens of countries on 6 continents. 

I have no idea how those 100K readers have responded to anything I’ve written except for few comments I’ve gotten over the years.  My hope is that it’s like the parable of the sower. We scatter our seeds and never know where or how the seeds grow.

That’s true of teaching, preaching, ministry, and just life. We don’t know what influence our words and actions have on others. All we can do is speak and live our truth to the best of our ability because it is right thing to do and trust God to do the rest. That’s surrender!!! 

Let it go! The past is past.  Forgive recklessly, including oneself.  Love foolishly, including oneself, and walk humbly seeking no glory or riches – just integrity.