Category: Uncategorized

Advent Candle of Hope for 2025

by Steve Harsh, posted in Uncategorized

A new term has crept into the English language this year – existential exhaustion. It comes from a lack of hope, purpose, or alignment between your inner self and outer life. Simple rest or sleep cannot fix this kind of tiredness because it robs us of psychological and emotional energy. People of faith might call it Spiritual burn out.

But Advent is a season of renewal for Christians that offers a cure for this darkness of the soul. Whether we are feeling a time of personal grief or cultural crisis the coming birth of the Christ Child is a perpetual light no darkness can overcome. As our God has redeemed us and Israel so often from our foolish ways, we know this Holy Advent season will renew our hope and faith once more.

Long ago, in the midst of America’s darkest hour, a horrible Civil War that cost 700,000 lives, Julia Ward Howe wrote some of the most inspiring words ever: “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Doesn’t that capture the reason we light our Advent candles the next four Sundays?

No matter how weary our souls or bodies may be; no matter how short and dark December days become, we still dare to light the candle of Hope today because our eyes of faith can still see the glory of the coming of the Lord.

[Light first candle]

Please pray with me. O Creator God, as you said “Let there be light” on the first day of creation, speak your word of hope again today into the darkest recesses of our hearts. When we are bone tired deliver us from fake remedies that promise rest but do not deliver. Remind us instead of your invitation to come to you when our hearts are heavy laden for you alone can give rest for our souls. With thankful and hopeful hearts we begin this Advent pilgrimage again to a humble stable and a stable faith. Amen

Imagine No Enemies: RIP Jimmy

by Steve Harsh, posted in Uncategorized

I just finished watching the very moving funeral for Jimmy Carter and am in overwhelm over all the most emotional and inspirational moments. All of my favorite Scriptures and music were included, from Micah 6:8 to Romans 8, but the one that brought me to tears was the singing of “Imagine” by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood.

That John Lennon song never fails to touch my heart, but today, just 11 days before Donald Trump’s second inauguration when the pathos and seeming impossibility of that dream feels viscerally real it broke my heart.

But what really hit me between the eyes were words of Scripture that were implied but not uttered by Rev. Andrew Young in his remarkable homily. Rev. Young told a story about the sheriff in Carter’s home county being one of the meanest men in the world. When Young asked Carter about that racist sheriff when they first met, Carter’s response was, “yes, he’s one of my friends.”

Carter knew how to love his enemies because he didn’t see anyone as an enemy, and I am convicted of my own inability to do that by this poignant story. That was painfully clear to me today as my antipathy toward Donald Trump reared its ugly head seeing him sitting there in that cathedral. Jimmy wanted Trump there which means he was and is more of a Christian than I will ever be.

As I live in dread of what January 20 will bring for our country and the world this powerful tribute to our 39th President is a much needed reminder to me of the faith and hope that “nothing in all creation can separate us from.” And it also reminds me that “I’m not the only one; and I hope some day you will join us,” that even my MAGA sisters and brothers will join us, “And the world will be as one!”

The Demise of Empathy

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, climate change, Faith and Politics, Government Reform, Uncategorized

“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Jesus, The Beatitudes, Matthew 5:4

Of all the things I am sad about from the recent election, one of the most is my realization that a lack of empathy is largely responsible for the huge chasm dividing one half of this nation from the other.

That should have been obvious to me months, if not years, ago. A President-elect who mocks disabled Americans, who calls a decorated POW a loser, who denigrates gold star families and WWII dead, who calls insurrectionists “patriots,”and who threatens revenge on his political opponents and mass deportation to struggling immigrants is certainly no poster child for empathy.

Full disclosure, empathy or the lack thereof cuts both ways. I cannot bemoan the lack of empathy among others without confessing my own antipathy for those who voted for Trump and his fellow MAGAmaniacs.

That said, I have experienced the lack of empathy on a very personal level as I have tried to cope with my own anxiety and depression about the election outcomes. And by the way, the recent clown car arrivals at Mar-a-Lago containing new cabinet nominees has only deepened my concerns over the future of our nation and world.

To those who have mocked the grief and mourning of those like me who are genuinely fearful about the future, I would says this: Feelings are not debatable. They just are. So when I say I feel like I’m living thru a bad SNL, skit you can’t argue me out of that feeling. It is how I feel and no argument is going to change that.

Even if my Trumpian friends make some good points that we can agree on about the current state of our nation, we continue to disagree on who is to blame for the immigration, health care, economic, and a host of other problems.

While the MAGA crowd holds the government responsible for our societal problems, I argue that big business is to blame for most of our woes. not the government. And that unregulated capitalism will be a total disaster for the only planet we have.

Some justify Trump’s cabinet selection of “successful” business people makes sense because the government is one big business. I disagree strongly that our government is a business. The purpose of a business is to make profit for its owners and stakeholders. That is not the purpose of our democratic government, which is to defend and protect the rights and welfare of our citizens.

Those are two very different purposes. From our history we know that the business leaders/“robber barons” are the very folks who drove us into a worldwide depression in the 1920’s. Unregulated capitalism always favors profit over people. Those same geniuses of business also began the destruction of our planet with the greed fostered by the Industrial Revolution.

Most Titans of business lack empathy for the very people who earn their profits from them, and that same lack of empathy is on full display in the dystopian version of the GOP Trump has and is creating. We dems are so anxious and depressed because we’ve seen this movie before, and it didn’t end well.

And yes, anxiety and depression are also emotions which just are and cannot be argued away. They require empathy for as log as necessary and not argument. I’m sorry some people are frustrated with the prolonged mourning of those who lost the election by a slim popular vote margin, and I hope the MAGA crowd’s optimism about the future holds some truth.

Only time will tell, but my values in life require me to oppose and resist evil and injustice where I see it; and I see it in every policy, threat, and cabinet pick Trump has made so far.

Vote for Jesus over Leviticus

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

In a recent blog post (Oct. 9, “Why I Vote the Way I Do”) I told the story of a very satisfying, respectful political argument I had with a friend who holds very different political views than I do. That story ended happily as we agreed to respect and affirm each other’s points of views.

Fast forward to 4 days before Election Day and emotions are running high on both sides of the political spectrum because there is so much uncertainty about how the votes will come out and how supporters of either candidate will respond to the results. I used to love staying up late on election night to watch the returns come in, but I have no illusions this time that we will have a clear winner Tuesday or for several days or weeks thereafter.

Given that context I have been posting everything I think might make any difference in stopping Trump from reclaiming the White House, and my friend from October took strong objection to a post I shared about old rich white men destroying our planet by ignoring climate change to protect their fortunes. I respect her right to disagree, but then she said that I should basically shut up and stop posting because my intelligence level is very low.

I am hurt, angry and disappointed by that attack. I thought we had a better relationship than that. So a few days later I am still pondering how or if to respond. My first instinct was to respond in anger and then hide her responses on Facebook. Then this still, small voice in my head reminded of Jesus’ command in the Sermon on the Mount that we are to “love our enemies.”

That’s probably great advice in these contentious days; so I am praying about what that might look like in this situation.

Meanwhile, the Sermon on the Mount, also was on my mind a lot with regard to Trump’s most egregious threat to date, namely a detailed comment he made on a Fox News interview recently. Trump zeroed in on one of his “enemies within” and suggested former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney should face a firing squad for her opposition to his fitness for office.

The closer we get to Election Day the more paranoid and unhinged Trump becomes. But his threats against his political foes come from a logical progression of his abysmal knowledge of the Christian faith he has co-opted to gain political leverage.

I first noticed this basic theological flaw in Trump’s use of the Scripture to fit his own narcissistic values way back in the 2016 campaign. Trump was asked what his favorite Scripture is. His response was “An eye for any eye and a tooth for a tooth” from the Hebrew Bible book of Leviticus.

Had he read the New Testament where Jesus corrects and updates our notions of God, he might have noticed in the Sermon on the Mount this direct dismissal of the Hebrew commandment.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well, and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:38-42)

And if we dare to read the next verses Jesus ups the ante even more.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5 43-44)

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not for sissies. We who claim Jesus as Lord and Savior strive for a higher standard; so no matter what unfolds after next Tuesday’s election, Jesus needs to win out over Leviticus.

Lent/Holy Week Video: Anointed

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Lenten devotion, Uncategorized

Our church, Northwest UMC in Columbus, Ohio, is doing a series of worship services and sermons on the events in Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem. For each Sunday in Lent our talented music director, Brian Luke, has recorded a short video of what each event might look like through the eyes of a contemporary character in the story.

For the fourth Sunday in Lent the text was the anointing of Jesus at Bethany in the Gospel according to Matthew. I was asked to portray a witness to the anointing who is being questioned by the authorities about what had transpired. A version of this event appears in all four Gospels, and here is Matthew’s account.

“Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” Matthew 26:6-13 (NRSV)

The link below will take you to the video:

drive.google.com/file/d/1ayIosZ7iMVaeXwPipeyKjrybF1e4aa87/view

Advent 3, 2023: Joy

by Steve Harsh, posted in Uncategorized

“Joy to the world!”  It is so easy to sing those familiar words but so much harder to feel truly joyful.  Our world is so full of discord.  We live in the tension between joy and sadness.  Our emotions ricochet from merriment to melancholy in the blink of an eye depending on what thought or memory is currently playing on the screen in our minds.  We bounce from tears of joy to pangs of grief at unexpected moments. 

Yes, life is messy, but in the midst of it all we still pause to light a candle of Joy, the third candle of Advent.  In word and the magic of music we dare to proclaim a message of Hope, Peace and Joy to a weary world starving for the Good News that God is still with us. 

[Light 3rd Candle]

Please pray with me:

Dear God, remind us again that Jesus didn’t come into a Hallmark Christmas world, but a messy one where Herod killed babies and the Holy family became refugees.  Assure us again today that we can find a source of deep joy in this dark, cold season because the everlasting message of Christmas is that you are always with us, in the best of times and the worst of times, the happy and the horrible; and everything in between. 

We pray that this Advent season will prepare us for living between a promise and the coming of God’s kingdom, between corruption and justice for all; so that our tears will turn to rejoicing and our souls and our lives will magnify the Lord in all we think, say, and do.  Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, OH,

Groundhog Day in Congress

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

Those of us who live in Jim Jordan’s home district know that his only claim to fame is that he was a champion high school and college wrestler. While I admire the discipline and determination it takes to excel in wrestling, I would l like to point out that wrestling is not a team sport. Democracy, on the other hand, is the ultimate team sport. It requires an ability to collaborate and compromise, skills which Mr. Jordan did not have to learn on the wrestling mat and which are apparently not even in his vocabulary.

For the Congressional GOP to continue to waste time by voting in Groundhog Day fashion for the same unqualified candidate is not only foolish, it is very dangerous. Our adversaries in Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing are drooling in joy over the paralysis of our government. We are the laughing stock of the world and proof to other nations that democracy doesn’t work.

Are there not enough moderate members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to join forces as adults and agree on an acceptable bi-partisan candidate to lead the House in these critical times? We need some profiles in courage who will put personal power and party loyalty aside for the greater good of our nation and world. And we need it now!

Spiritual Jetlag

by Steve Harsh, posted in Uncategorized

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3rd Advent Candle, 2022, Joy

by Steve Harsh, posted in Uncategorized

We hear and sing “Joy to the World” even as we rush to finish “getting ready” for Christmas.  What does it mean to be joyful when our to-do lists seem impossible to accomplish?  How can we be joyful when there is so much bad news and suffering in our broken world?  

It feels risky to be joyful.  Moments of joy are so short-lived that we are tempted to put our trust in things that don’t last instead of waiting for real joy.  But that fleeting emotion is just happiness and not real joy.  The latest Christmas gifts wear out, break, or go out of style.  But joy that comes from knowing the eternal, unconditional love of God never goes out of style.  It’s for real and forever.  

And here’s the secret.  Dr. Brene Brown writes, “In our research we found that everyone who showed a deep capacity for joy had one thing in common: They practiced gratitude. 

A wild heart can beat with gratitude and lean in to pure joy without denying the struggle in the world.  It’s not always easy or comfortable-but what makes joy possible is a front made of love and a back built of courage.”

[light 3rd candle]

And so with God’s gift of a soft heart and strong back we boldly light the 3rd candle of Advent, the candle of Joy.

Let us pray:  O God of compassion and joy, you have blessed us with the freedom to choose and the power to shift our attention from things that threaten our hope and peace to the deep faith and assurance of the joy you alone can give.  You did not send Jesus to some idyllic beach resort but right into the heart of political oppression in Bethlehem.  Help us to embrace the joy of this season by shifting our focus from the storms raging on the surface of life to the quiet and calm below the surface in the depths of your presence.  By refreshing our spirits in the living waters of your eternal Being we will renew our faith to wait for the moments when you break into our crazy world and give the eternal gift of joy to the world.   We pray for patience to practice gratitude so we are able to see and hear the good news.  Amen

Northwest UMC, Columbus, OH

Greed: The Deadliest Sin?

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

“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24)

I have long wrestled with the realization that our U.S. economic system is based on greed, one of the seven deadly sins. Nowhere is that tension between Jesus’ values and our culture’s more obvious than this time of year where we devote one day to celebrating gratitude in the midst of the biggest season of consumerism that begins earlier every year. The struggle is symbolically portrayed in the scene above re-created by our niece from a picture she saw somewhere.

Jesus’ words above from the Sermon on the Mount can’t say it any more clearly. “You can’t serve God and money.” It’s an either/or, and yet we are still trying our best to prove him wrong. We are far more likely to follow the polar opposite maxim of Gordon Gekko, portrayed by Michael Douglas in the 1987 movie “Wall Street.” Gekko actually said, “The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right.” That line has been shortened in popular memory to it’s very essence, “Greed is Good.”

Choices about our basic human and cultural values are hard because they are so important, and in this case Jesus is a prohibitive underdog. He is up against a multibillion dollar advertising industry telling us 24/7 that we are what we wear, drive, live in, and how we look. Our consumer goods are made to be obsolete sooner rather than later so we will fill the landfills with last year’s gadgets. No one repairs things anymore; we just toss them in pursuit of the latest device, clothes, or vehicle.

Choice between God’s way and humanity’s foolish pursuits is what Joshua addresses the Hebrew people about on their long journey to the promised land: “ if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, 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).

Please know I am preaching to myself as much as to anyone else. I love my Apple gadgets and the new car I bought a year ago. I know my iPhone and Apple Watch were made by abused Chinese workers. And yes, I also know I am the keeper of those very sisters and brothers who made these toys I take for granted every day. It pains me to be reminded of that injustice, but so far not enough to do anything about it.

I don’t know if greed is the deadliest sin, but I do know it has been the root cause of most of the injustices in human history. Slavery, colonialism, genocide, nationalism, wars of conquest, systemic racism, sexism, and every economic, government or religion system that perpetuates the power of the haves over the have nots have greed for wealth, power, or control at their core. I don’t have a solution to this basic human flaw that goes clear back to Adam and Eve and their sons, but I do know the first step to addressing any injustice is to admit we are part of the problem.

I don’t agree with a lot of what Marianne Williamson says, but I thought she hit a home run with this quote that popped up on my Facebook page today: “Hate has talked so loudly for so long. Greed has talked so loudly for so long. Love has got to stop whispering.”

Jesus said the same thing this way: “Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.” (Luke 12:3).

This year may the gratitude of Thanksgiving inform the way we approach the Advent season. And as we light the Advent candles may we remember to not let the true light of the world to be hidden under a bushel. It’s time for love to stop whispering!