Category: Faith and Values

Time to Stand Up and Be Counted

by Steve Harsh, posted in brokenness, Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, Government Reform, spiritual discipline

Twice in my ministry that I know of I had parishioners complain to church superiors about political issues I took a stand on. I’m embarrassed by that, not about those two incidents, but ashamed there weren’t a lot more of them.

When people argue that pastors shouldn’t express political opinions that usually means they disagree with said opinions. 

It also means they don’t understand how political Jesus and the biblical prophets were. Not to mention that pastors are citizens too with equal rights to their own opinions.

Some would add those opinions must be expressed outside their role as pastor. But the problem with that approach is that clergy are really never able to step outside their ordination vows and be just a normal citizen. Clergy as spokespersons for God are constantly in the crucible where secular and sacred clash.

I say that now because the United States is at a very critical crossroads in our history. We are on the verge of civil war because of the brutal and unjust occupation of Minneapolis by thugs posing as federal law enforcement agents. No one operating outside the bounds of federal law and Constitutional safeguards can claim law enforcement authority. 

Today another American citizen, a VA nurse no less, was gunned down while simply trying to hold these vigilantes accountable by taking pictures of their activities. If ICE is operating within the law why would they object to photographic evidence of what they are doing? Or why do they hide their identity behind masks? 

The ICE occupation of Minneapolis is just one symptom of Donald Trump’s Emperor Complex. His appetite for raw power is insatiable – from Venezuela to Gaza to Greenland he is trying to assert his faux power at the cost of destabilizing the world’s balance of power.

He enjoys destroying things like NATO, the East Wing, and the Constitution just to prove he can.
The biblical scene this dangerous farce calls to mind is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry. In particular Satan’s third temptation reminds me of Trump’s and any dictator’s moment of truth.

Matthew’s Gospel tells it this way: “Again, the devil took him (Jesus) to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.” (4:8-11)

We know what Jesus did in that moment of testing. Without hesitation he sent Satan packing with a clear statement of his core beliefs. By contrast I think we all know what kind of transactional deal Donald Trump would make given that offer of world domination. Never mind that the one offering the deal is as phony as a three dollar bill.

More importantly however is this question: what would I do if tempted like that? Will I go along with cruelty and injustice so I can keep my privileged and comfortable life? Or will I speak up for God’s ways of truth, justice and mercy in whatever way I can? Will I keep contacting my cowardly congressional reps or give up because they have been accomplices with injustice so far? Will I keep hope alive for the salvation of our democratic way of life or throw up my hands in surrender?

There’s a great line in the play “Inherit the Wind” where Henry Drummond tells Bert Cates “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?'” But that is exactly what Jesus calls us to do when he says, “Take up your cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24 and Luke 9:23). 

And that choice is not new with Jesus or Bert Cates or you and me today. Way back in the history of the Hebrew people there is such a moment where the refugees from Egypt are about to enter the Promised Land, and their leader Joshua challenges them with these words, just as God challenges us today:

“Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

That’s not an idle or ancient question. It’s as current and urgent as the blood stains in the snow of Minneapolis. Whom will we choose to serve?

Be Still and Know

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, Faith Development, Sermon, spiritual discipline

I haven’t written anything yet in 2026 because I’ve been too depressed and angry about what’s going on in our country and world to muster enough energy to think, let alone write. I knew I am not alone in those feelings, but it felt strangely comforting when I read these words this morning from one of my heroines in the faith, Nadia Bolz-Weber. Nadia wrote, “I woke up wanting to write something that might be of help right now and I’m all tapped out. I got nothing.” She shared instead some modern Beatitudes she had written 10 years ago which were helpful and worth hearing again.

Fortunately for me I agreed weeks ago to preach this Sunday at a local retirement community, and that commitment forced me to wrestle with my faith and my doubts, and here’s what the Spirit has led me to prepare for that worship service.

When I told a friend I was preaching here at 3 pm he said, “Isn’t that nap time for old folks?”  If it is for you we’ll wake you when we’re done!  And then ironically shortly thereafter I saw an interesting article about something many of us remember from childhood.  How many of you remember pulling out your rug or blanket and lying down in kindergarten while soothing music played on the record player? 

The article is called “When We Taught Children How To Rest – And Then Forgot It Mattered.”  I don’t know the author,but he or she makes some important points I want to share with you. 

“For millions of children growing up in the 1950s, ’60s, and early ’70s, this ritual was as essential to kindergarten as finger paint and the alphabet. It wasn’t filler. It wasn’t babysitting.

It was the lesson. Stillness Was Once Part of the Curriculum

Educators believed something we’ve slowly forgotten: young children need quiet.

Not just sleep—but stillness.

A pause where feelings could settle. A space where overstimulated minds could wander safely.

The science agreed. Children’s brains and nervous systems were still under construction. Rest wasn’t a reward. It wasn’t optional. It was developmental maintenance.

Then We Decided to Hurry.  By the 1970s and ’80s, something shifted.

Kindergarten stopped being about socialization and curiosity and started being about readiness.

Pre-reading. Early math. Staying on track. Getting ahead.

Schedules tightened. Testing crept younger. Parents worried about falling behind before childhood had even properly begun.  Naptime began to feel inefficient.  Unproductive.

A luxury we could no longer afford.

And we act surprised when childhood anxiety soars.  Naptime wasn’t just about sleep. It taught us that rest has value, that quiet has purpose, that you don’t have to be productive every minute to be worthy……  We once dimmed the lights, put on a record, and gave twenty small people permission to just be.  Maybe it’s time we remembered how.”

A few weeks ago when we had that lovely warm October God reminded me of that wisdom.  After worship I spent some time praying in the beautiful outdoor chapel that we have at Northwest UMC, and the words that came to me were “Be still and know that I am God.” I have meditated on those words many times in the days and weeks since, seeking the balm they offer in the chaotic world we inhabit just now.

I am embarrassed to admit that I didn’t remember where those words come from in Scripture until I googled them. They are of course in verse 10 of the Psalm we just read, and the opening verses set the scene powerfully for having faith to be still when life is literally crumbling around us.

The psalm begins with these words:

“1 God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
    though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea,”

Scholars believe those words were written as the armies of Assyria were besieging the city of Jerusalem in 701 BCE.  Many of us can relate today.  We feel under siege from bodies that are feeling the slings and arrows of the aging process.  Or that the very values we thought our country was founded on are under attack, and we feel helpless to do anything about it.

How can we not wonder if God really is our help and refuge? Where is God’s help in this all too real time of trouble?  As I typed those words originally for a blog I write, and I’m not making this up, a notification popped up on the top of my iPad screen that said “Don’t Stop Believein’!” “Don’t Stop Believin’!”  I literally looked around to see if Big Brother or someone was reading over my shoulder!  It was spooky, but even more real than the message I heard that day in the chapel that said to be still and know I’m God.

As it turns out that message was a notification on my iPad advertising that the rock band Journey who sing “Don’t Stop Believin’” is coming to do a concert in Columbus next summer, but the timing of that message seemed way too relevant to be just a coincidence.

And that is what the psalmist is saying to the besieged, hopeless folks in Jerusalem surrounded by the mighty armies of King Sennacherib of Assyria.  Don’t stop believing!

God says, be still and know I am God, which implies the rest of that sentence – I’m God and you’re not.  So trust me.  I got you out of Egypt and through the wilderness, and I’ll get you out of this mess too.  But like us the people of Israel don’t always get it.  In my imagination I can picture God, like any frustrated parent, wanting to say, “Shut up and Listen!”

Every age has its moments of siege.  “A Mighty Fortress” that we sang earlier was written based on this Psalm by Martin Luther in about 1527-29 when he was under terrible persecution from the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire.

After Luther refused to retract his writings, Pope Leo X issued a papal bull excommunicating him in 1521. 

Luther was summoned before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the imperial assembly, where he famously refused to recant his views, leading to his condemnation. 

The Edict of Worms (also in 1521)declared Luther an outlaw, banned his writings, and made it a crime to harbor him, with punishment for heresy being burning at the stake. 

To protect him, Prince Frederick the Wise of Saxony arranged for Luther to be “kidnapped” and taken to Wartburg Castle for his safety, where he translated the New Testament into German.

Even as Luther was protected, his supporters faced severe repercussions, including loss of jobs, imprisonment, and execution, as persecution against Lutherans intensified across the Holy Roman Empire. And through all of this people sang “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” which became known as the Battle Hymn of the Reformation.

The most powerful words in that hymn for me are, “The body they may kill, God’s truth abideth still.”  That was true in 1528; it’s true today; and it will never change.  That is what it means to be still and know that God is God.  God’s in charge and will prevail in God’s good time – not ours.  And because of that we can still pull out our blankets,   put on some soothing music and sleep in the heavenly peace of innocent five-year-olds. 

Benediction:

Because of God’s ultimate rule of the whole universe, no matter how bad things seem at this or any moment, personal or in history, we can“Be still, and know that I am God!    I am exalted among the nations;    I am exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our refuge.”  Today, tomorrow, and Forever.  Amen

The Original Christmas Carol: Mary’s Magnificat

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Christmas, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.    

Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their throne and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:46-53)

Those famous words we call The Magnificat are some of the most profound and radical part of the Christmas story. They are often ignored because of the discomfort they cause for us privileged people if we take them seriously. They are uttered by a poor pregnant peasant girl as she begins to grasp the power and mystery surrounding the birth of the baby in her womb.

Her words, of course, are a total rejection of the blasphemous Prosperity Gospel and Christian Nationalism so prevalent in our culture today. Mary’s words remind me of the disconnect between the Christmas Gospel and American materialism, namely the class divide between the working class and the investor class.  That division exists because of some missing links in the American Dream success story.  Not everyone has the same resources or knowledge about how to play the capitalistic financial game.

I grew up in a one-income blue collar family. I didn’t understand it as a child, but in hindsight I realize we lived pay check to pay check. When my dad lost his job because a union buster bought the newspaper he worked for my parents had to sell our home and move into a rental property.

There was no extra income in families like mine to be risked in playing the market. We had Christmas Club accounts at the bank to save up a little for next year’s Christmas. Families like mine had no need to learn how to invest because there was no money to do that with.

My other insight about our capitalistic system as I ponder Mary’s words is that the very people who still today can’t afford to invest are the ones working for low wages and poor benefits so the Fortune 500’s can make big profits and pay good returns to their stockholders.

Those same companies don’t promote fiscal education but feed the frenzy of consumerism. So those low wage earners run up 20% interest credit card bills and mortgages they can’t afford which keep them in perpetual debt and unable to benefit from the advantages of the unearned income of the investor class, of which I am now a part because that’s where my pension funds were directed. That income is, of course, earned – just not by the investors, but by the hard-working, pay-check-to-pay-check labor force.

It’s a vicious cycle older than Scrooge and Bob Cratchit, and young expectant Mary is the Holy Trinity of Christmas ghosts past, present, and future continuing to proclaim the true values of the Kingdom Jesus came to bring.  

Fourth Sunday of Advent 2025 – Candle of Love

by Steve Harsh, posted in Advent, Christian Discipleship, Christmas, Faith and Values, spiritual discipline

In the beginning, God fell in love with creation, and pronounced it very good.  Like romantic adoration, God’s eternal love is blind to human betrayal, rebellion, and stupidity.  When God’s children ignore the prophets and break every covenant offered to us, God continues to love us like a star-struck lover.

We celebrate Advent and Christmas every year to remind us that God still so loves the whole world that He comes to share the risks and sacrifices of being a vulnerable human being. 

In the dark days of December, when wars and senseless violence dominate the news, God’s love simply grows brighter and stronger.  The Advent candles remind us that we are all created in the image of God, and the essence of our God is unbounded, unconditional love. 

So on this final Sunday of Advent, the circle of the wreath is completed.  We relight the candles of Hope, Peace, and Joy.  And today we light the Candle of Love, because the greatest of these is Love. 

[Light all four candles]

Please join me in the prayer on the screen:

O dear God, lover of our souls, we are undeserving and unworthy of your radical love.  Our souls our willing, but our flesh is weak.  Please sweep us off our feet again in your loving embrace.  Help us to share in your wild and crazy romance with this broken world.  Let these candles rekindle in us the dream of your beloved community, so we can throw open the gates of love to all of your weary, hopeless children.  Remind us once more that the Babe of Bethlehem still calls us to love one another, in the same reckless, unconditional way that you love us.  Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, Ohio

October 13: A Clash of Cultures

by Steve Harsh, posted in Economics, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values

On this second Monday of October we Americans have a controversial federal holiday about the founding of our nation. With that in mind Father Richard Rohr had some interesting thoughts to share last week in one of his daily meditations.

“After touring Indian Territory in 1887, Senator Henry Dawes described the Cherokees in this way:  

The head chief told us that there was not a family in the whole nation that had not a home of its own. There is not a pauper in that nation, and the nation does not owe a dollar. It built its own capitol … and built its schools and hospitals. Yet the defect of the system was apparent. They have got as far as they can go, because they hold their land in common…. There is no selfishness, which is at the bottom of civilization. Till these people will consent to give up their lands, and divide them among their citizens so that each can own the land he cultivates, they will not make much progress.”

“Progress,” according to Senator Dawes, meant individualism, materialism, and even selfishness. None of these ideals are Cherokee values, nor do they represent the values of other Native Americans….”

Compare and contrast those values of “individualism, materialism, and even selfishness” with these from Jesus and Christian Scripture:

Jesus tells a rich young man, “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)

Luke 6:20, Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

Jesus’ mother Mary offers her prayer known as the Magnificat immediately after the birth of Jesus: “

“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
    and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things
    and sent the rich away empty.” (Luke 1:52-53)

And then in the Book of Acts we have this description of the early church: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:42-43)

There is no sign of any “individualism, materialism, or selfishness” in any of these descriptions of God’s kingdom. The Christian view of a beloved community sounds a whole lot more like the societies of the indigenous people who lived in the Americas for thousands of years before 1492 than the consumer culture that destroyed who and what was here before the Europeans arrived.

Let’s pray on these things today no matter what we choose to call the second Monday in October.

Peacemakers or Warriors?

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, peacemaking, spiritual discipline

If I could address a room full of top U.S. generals and admirals it wouldn’t take me two hours to remind them of where the ultimate allegiance of people of faith should lie. Even back in the more militaristic Hebrew Scriptures some prophets knew. Psalm 20:7 says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God”. Those are not the empty and dangerous words of a “warrior” culture, and I’m pretty sure most of the men in those days were “beardos.”

And speaking of bearded men, how about one Jesus of Nazareth who says among other things in his short and succinct Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), “Blessed are the Peacemakers,” “Love your enemies,” and “Turn the other cheek.” He came not as one whose calling was to “kill and break things” but as the Prince of Peace.

And then to conclude, rather than a challenge to either serve the warrior culture or abandon decades of hard work, experience, and service, I would offer these words from Joshua at a critical decision point in the history of Israel: “Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

Ramah and Herod: America’s Dual Role in Gun Violence Tragedies

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, gun violence

“When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. Then what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’” (Matthew 2:16-18)

From Columbine, Uvalde, Sandy Hook, Annunciation Catholic Church, and so many more we can’t even remember we are all in Ramah with Rachel weeping for our children, inconsolable because they are no more. 

But for us Americans it is so much more complicated.  We are parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, cousins, neighbors, and total strangers who mourn yet more senseless violence, death, and trauma.  But we are also Herod.  There is blood on all of our hands because we have not done enough to end America’s love affair with guns.  We are the only nation in the western world where mass shootings are a regular occurrence, where young children and teachers have to go through the trauma of active shooter drills.  We now have a new generation of shooters who went through active shooter drills as children.  I wonder what impact those drills had on them. And yet our “leaders” refuse to restore assault weapons bans or institute reasonable gun control laws.

We claim to be the “land of the free and the home of the brave” when we are neither.  Our Second Amendment worshippers are so afraid of someone disagreeing with them that they need weapons of war to feel secure.  Our President is such a coward he needs tanks in the streets to prove how tough he is.  And none of us, not even young children praying in a sanctuary, a place defined as the ultimate place of safety, are free from random acts of cold blooded murder.

Yes, this is certainly a mental health problem on so many levels, starting with the fear and paranoia played upon for blood money by the NRA and the gun manufacturers.  It is their ill-gotten gains that bribe legislators to oppose gun control when those Senators and Congress people know fully well that the vast majority of us they supposedly represent support those controls.

And of course the shooters themselves need mental health help, but those same legislators who hide behind that excuse refuse to fund adequate mental health services.  Or worse they try to convince us that immigrants are the problem when we all see with our own eyes on TV that most of these shooters are angry, troubled, young white males. 

I am reminded of the great lament from Bob Dylan:

“Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take ’til he knows
That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.”

Tonight that wind is blowing through empty bedrooms in Minneapolis, through hospital rooms where helpless parents pray beside young wounded bodies, and through every Ramah across the country where inconsolable Rachels weep for their children.

I only pray that wind is also blowing through the hearts of our country’s leaders till they realize we are all Herod too. 

No Forgiveness Unless We Confess and Face the Truth

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Faith and Values, spiritual discipline

“ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his word is not in us.” I John 1:8-10

The Bible is very consistently on the side of honesty and truth. That doesn’t mean everyone in the Bible is honest and truthful, far from it. From Adam and Eve’s deceit about the forbidden fruit, to Abraham lying that Sarah was his sister to save his own skin, to Peter’s denying that he even knew Jesus three times, and so many more incidents humanity’s fallible nature shows up in nearly every chapter of the biblical narrative.

That doesn’t mean the standards and values set forward for us in the Scriptures are not high. The 8th commandment is “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor,” and John 8: 32 tells us that it’s truth, not lies, that sets us free.

God knows we are not going to live up to those high ideals because She made us with free will and knew we would abuse that gift regularly. And knowing that, God built into the system grace and mercy and forgiveness.

But as I John points out, there’s a catch. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” But there’s good news because that verse goes on to say “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

That’s pretty straightforward. We screw up, but if confess our shortcomings and failures instead of trying to hide them from, others, ourselves, or from God, which is a fool’s errand for sure, there is redemption.

I bring that up just now because we Americans are experiencing a real shortage of honesty, truth, and confession right now. Yes, I know that’s always been the case, but just now truth is being exiled and threatened at the highest echelons of American society. Our president is so insecure and ignorant of American and World history, let alone the Christian Gospel, that he is terrified by truth.

He is purging exhibits from the Smithsonian because they make slavery look bad! For God’s sake how can anything make chattel slavery, lynching other human beings for the color of their skin, and 400 years of systemic racism look anything but bad? The truth is that The United States was founded on racism and enslavement of African people and on genocide against Native Americans who were here for centuries before white immigrants arrived.

That’s a hard truth to swallow, I know, but trying to bury it with lies, book burnings, and threats to historians only makes the crime worse. As I John tells us, the only road to forgiveness is through the pain of confession, and confession requires a cold hard look at Truth, no matter how awful it is.

Out of sight may be out mind, but it doesn’t change the truth. Rounding up and imprisoning people experiencing homelessness may make some people more comfortable who don’t have to witness that problem, but it doesn’t change the truth that the wealthiest nation in the world refuses to address the grave social issues of poverty, hunger, health care, and adequate shelter that should be basic human rights

We cannot solve problems we refuse to admit we have. That’s the essence of confession. Climate change is the biggest current disaster caused by denial of its existence. Had we confessed as a nation that we were poisoning our planet decades ago we would not be in the mess we are in today.

The truth can set us free, but only if we have the humility and courage to face it. Until then, “If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and God’s truth is not in us.”

Compassionless Leadership: Destruction of 500 Tons of Food

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values

I am one who is certainly grateful that Jesus and the New Testament teach us that our God is merciful and gracious. I John 4:8 plainly states that “God is Love.” I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

And Jesus taught and practiced forgiveness right up till the very end. He taught his disciples to forgive not seven times but seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:22). And Jesus practiced what he preached. In the throes of a most painful and gruesome execution he forgave one of the thieves crucified with him ( Luke 23:43), and even asks God to forgive the very men who nailed him to that cross (Luke 23:34).

But you know who he didn’t forgive? A bunch of goats! Now, before you call the SPCA on Jesus go read Matthew 25:31-46, and if it makes you feel uncomfortable, read it again slowly. And if it doesn’t make you uncomfortable read it two more times with an open mind and heart. This parable is, of course, not about four-legged goats and sheep, but about humans and how we treat those who by the world’s standards are “the least.” The goats in this parable are those who lack basic human compassion and concern for their fellow human beings.

Here’s what Jesus has to say about those people: “Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41-46)

What made me think about that parable this week is a story in the news that has gotten much less attention than it deserves. Buried under all the coverage generated by the Jeffery Epstein saga, which is important, is a horrific report that makes me furious. Because of the deep cuts in USAID, which provided humanitarian relief to starving people in some of the world’s poorest countries, 500 tons of food already bought and paid for by American taxpayers to feed thousands of the “least” of our brothers and sisters will be destroyed. Yes, 1,000,000 pounds of food being destroyed while millions of children and adults starve to death.

That is simply criminal, immoral, and inexcusable! As I said at the beginning of this post, I am grateful for a merciful God. Because of that I do not believe in hell as a place of eternal punishment, but I am starting to rethink that. Forgive me for playing God, but I think there has to be a special form of punishment somewhere for those who cruelly withhold food from starving people.

In the parable of the sheep and goats the goats are accused of a passive failing to care for the marginalized people, but the MAGA cuts to USAID and the destruction of 1,000,000 pounds of food are an intentional act of cruel and inhumane treatment, and the Scriptures tell us that is the same as starving Christ himself. And to those Jesus says, “You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

I’m not sure what this all means; so let me end with this frequent biblical admonition: “If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” (Mark 4:23 and several other verses). 

Where Oh Where is God?

by Steve Harsh, posted in climate change, Faith and Values, hope

As I have been shaken by the Texas flood tragedy this week my mind has wandered back to all the times I was responsible for a group of young people at camp or on mission trips. I keep wondering if I would have had the courage, composure, and strength to help save those children and youth entrusted to me by their parents if I awoke in a horror movie of rushing flood water filling our cabin?

I hear people asking as I do where is God in tragedies like this? Why did God let this happen? Why does God let cancer, war, and gun violence destroy innocent lives? Of course, I really don’t know any definitive answers to those age-old questions scholars categorize as theodicy, i.e. how do we explain how an all-powerful, loving God allows evil and suffering to exist in the world.

My answer for this week is that God is not a helicopter parent who swoops in to protect and prevent anything bad from happening to us, God’s children. There comes a point in every parent’s life where you have to let your children make their own mistakes and suffer the consequences. No amount of advice or warning or sharing our own past failures will stop a grown child from blazing their own path.

God has gifted us mortals with free will. Oh how many times I have wished I could return that gift which has allowed me to screw up so many times by pursuing my own pleasure, desires, and goals instead of a higher path.

I’m sure there were many times God wished people would not house innocent young girls in cabins on a flood plain. I’m sure God would have wanted and may have urged people in positions of authority to better prepare for floods like those on the Guadalupe River last week. I’m sure God shook her head in dismay when arguments prevailed that sirens and warning systems were too expensive.

I heard on the news tonight that some people who regularly camped in RV’s along the Guadalupe ignored warnings of potential flooding last week saying, “It floods here all the time.” Basing present precautions on past experience can be dangerous. We don’t live in pre-climate change times, and those of us who trust science know that we are living in a new normal where extreme weather events are more frequent and much more severe.

There will be finger pointing and blaming and many law suits filed because of this tragedy. None of those things will bring back any of the victims or ease the trauma of the survivors. The only redeeming quality of this disaster is that our free will enables us to learn from our past experiences. We can ask what would have helped make this tragedy less horrific? What needs to be in place to prevent or limit future flooding occurrences and to improve rescue and recovery operations?

Where is God in all this? Not zooming in like a master puppeteer to prevent the consequences of poor free will choices; not picking and choosing who will survive and who will not. No, God is there comforting those who mourn, weeping with those who sob uncontrollably, and giving strength to the brave first responders and volunteers who are doing the horrible/wonderful work of searching for those who are still missing.

God is there offering hope to the hopeless, absorbing the hate and pain of the angry, and sitting peacefully and patiently with those for whom there simply are no words – at least not yet.

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18