Why? (just three letters)

Why?

Poetry by Mark Pillsbury (2020)

At the center, there's me, just one letter: "i"
The cruelest two letters I know: N - O,
Right now, I can say, though;
The letters more puzzling than No,
To me, there's three...

The question posed, "Why?"
He looks to the sky and asks of the "i"
Just three tiny letters: w - h - y.

Should I care about why?
I did nothing to mold it.
What right does the potter have over clay?
The lump can ponder, or even behold it.
Yet, all we have under control is today.

The learned ask, what video is playing?
I should turn off the projector.
They don't understand what I'm saying:
"It's not a narrative, there are questions I want to ask her."

The puzzle is a why.
Not a labyrinth, but a maze.
A labyrinth helps you to "center"
"Why" is cloudy like fog, drifting into haze.

I have to live with myself, so.
I want to be fit for myself to know.

As days go by, looking myself in the eye;
I have to deal with the penetrating "Why?"

Days set with the sun, 
Still I question, things that I have done.

Why stays mute.
Hunched over, homeless, forlorn.
Unwelcome just blocks from home.

Why suffers dementia.
Bright-eyed, empty, lost.
Unnoticed, a spark, occasionally known.

Wasting time - why stops the clock.
Circling back, turning left then right,
Not knowing when to stop.

Is it wondering, dreaming, or thought?
Turning down why's cul-de-sac;
Investing so much, but it comes to naught.

Dying from thirst, we take a cup of why.
The ignorance like heat parches, dries.
Compulsively gulping, gasping, failing to know,
That which is understood, may not do any good.

Even with exercise, why is a heavy weight:
Innerness pushing outerness
Not competitive or violent
Engaging not withdrawing
Separate yet connected
Lifting "why" takes strength, whether it's worth it,
Is up for debate.

One generation tells the other his problem,
"I can't shake these three-letters."
Nodding, but he doesn't have them;
It's probably all for the better.

Mi amigo likes to think, he also likes to drink;
But that's another story to tell.
He's stubborn, straight-forward, and ornery as hell.

Likes perpendicular, 
Sees a lot of black & white,
Practical as an engineer,
He argues there's a root cause to everything here.

Nothing sublime, inscrutable, or hazy.
To wonder "why?" is a cop-out, intellectually lazy.

Pull back the layers, sin is what you'll find,
Meet my expectations! Foremost in the mind.

Future retrospection, is how he'd visualize;
Choose expectations, or a goal.
He'll not accept the tyranny of why;
This is something we all know:
The mystery of the unknowable, surrendering control,
None of this is necessary, he'd propose,
And if you let it, it will take its toll.

Why do some of us need an explanation?
The circle spins around again.
As if I could make it clear,
What we do: motives, causation, and sin.

Patience. Better than pride.
What purpose is served asking "why?"

Wait on the Lord, He's on your side.
All we can do is faithfully try.

Reaching up, the drowning man, yearning;
Seeking truth, her desperate quest, learning;
Asking why into the void, ears burning.

To be a citizen of a nation
Where only Gods and Kings tread,
To live in a state where answers
Don't linger in your head?

A place where wisdom's flag
Flutters in the wind,
And the assurance of faith
Defeats doubt once again.

At attention stand soldiers of mercy,
Dressed for battle, erectly stout.
Ready to vanquish an ancient foe,
An army against doubt.

But lurking like commandos, hiding in the fog of war,
An evil foe, still in battle, but willing to die;
The terrible question, yet powerful,
Three shots, short staccato bursts: w - h - y ?

It can spark an idea, change a plan;
causing conflagration.
But it will make you stumble, lose your way;
inducing stagnation.
Used lightly, much like seasoning;
tasting better, with celebration!

"Why" is found in the chasm between who you are 
And what you become. It isn't a map, more like a signpost.
Its backward focus will cause you to stop,
The rope you are pulling tangled in knots.
Instead of asking why?
Try asking: why not.

Today's decisions bounce off a "why-trampoline"
Sometimes one cannot control trajectory.
Often, why gets the best of me!

Tuning out "why" deciding to simplify;
Making a healthy choice, often one discovers their "voice".

I've got plenty of why, the timing is now;
Turn down the noise, think about the how.

Putting why into context is the right thing to do;
Taking off the thinking cap, and focusing on the who.

Fires, rain, hail, hurricanes, snow; why is there variable weather?
Looking to the heavens, how can one know; the mystery of "why" altogether.

I'm just a regular guy, breaking a habit, you see?
I like to ask "why?" An important word, with letters of three.

#PoetryaboutWhy

Copyright: Houston TX

©Mark H. Pillsbury/2020

Justice: why don't we talk about justice in church?

Why don’t we talk about justice in church?

Gary A. Haugen, Attorney, and president/founder of International Justice Mission, suggests (3) three reasons why the church is reluctant to preach justice:

  

1.   Pastors are reluctant to preach justice because it’s perceived to bring politics into the pulpit. Partisan politics has no place in the pulpit.

The central focus of preaching should be the gospel not the voting booth. There are many churches that get involved with electoral politics, pursuing candidates from their neighborhood to make changes in oppressive, unjust political systems. However, the purpose of a sermon is to exposit the biblical truth of Jesus and his resurrection, not that Justice and Jesus are exclusive of each other. It takes a pastor who can weave into biblical exegesis Jesus’ desire that humans would be free from the guilt, sadness, anger, confusion, and harm resulting from their sin; instead turning from things like injustice and following him to the cross. 

Jesus had to take for form of a sacrificial lamb in order for true justice to be wrought on humanity through him. Jesus embodies justice and mercy together; his blood paid the ransom for our sin, and makes peace with everyone possible, including God. This amazing mercy was the antithesis to justice although it does not lessen the severity of the justice required to conquer sin. Pastors who talk about social justice in the present day sometimes miss this point about biblical justice in the person of Jesus Christ. The trouble with bringing politics into a sermon is that Christians of both political parties are trying to do the right thing. Maybe the first thing we should do with any candidate is ask them to define their vision of “justice,” and to see that they act wisely in practical matters.

2.   Justice is not always connected to the felt needs of those in the pew. For largely middle-class congregations of North America, injustice is a subject read about in the news, not lived daily.

Big churches like one I can think of in Houston, deal with self-improvement from the pulpit as much as they do anything like “justice.” The pastor I’m thinking of acts as encourager-in-chief not the head of missions. Focusing on the outside world takes commitment, organization, passionate volunteers, and a network of global organizations. Thinking about justice, and acting upon it even in the smallest neighborhood way is more gritty and granular than discussing self-worth, and positive mental attitude. Supporting just causes requires a level of interaction that some churches abhor. They would rather do things within their own congregation than actually have to fellowship with Christians or non-Christians that don’t believe how they do. It gets messy!

Comfortable, middle-class Americans don’t spend much time thinking about justice until it affects them! The idolatry of “comfort” is pervasive in the modern church, so this disconnect is not surprising. For the conversation to turn to justice, our hearts must change. Christians must be so struck with the injustice in their own hearts and what Jesus did to change them that they want to help those who are the victims of injustice, or to right those maladies in the world that are unjust. Progress will come from the inside out, beginning with an awareness of severe problems in the world on more than a conceptual level.

"Here is one choice that our Father wants us to understand as Christians – and I believe it is the choice of our age:  Do we want to be brave or safe? Gently, lovingly – our heavenly Father wants us to know that we simply can’t be both."  — Gary A. Haugen

  

3.   Talking about justice opens the door to despair in our world. The overwhelming quantity and depth of world problems leaves us feeling fatigue and/or paralyzed.

I tend to bounce off that perspective, not because it is incorrect but the larger view is that there is injustice because of the nature of the fall (Genesis). Even though I think Mr. Haugen is accurate, I would argue from a larger idea that injustice is rooted at the foundation of brokenness between each human and God. It is spiritual poverty that causes the relationships in our lives not to work. This is something the North American church is not comfortable admitting! One of the biggest problems in the promotion of justice is that the people who don’t think about justice are actually working through a God-complex. These poor souls are perfectly fine with the concept of justice as long as they are not mistreated themselves; and further that any contribution to injustice begins with looking outside their own hearts for the culprit.

Many Christians tend to think that justice is a problem for someone else, that alleviating injustice (or poverty for that matter) is not an exclusive task of the church. That begs the question, however; who will take up the cause? The government?

If God’s two greatest commandments are to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds; in other words, our whole being. And secondly, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (see, Matthew 23 for this restatement of Old Testament commandments). Surely the great commission flows out of this kind of revolutionary love: demonstrated through acts of kindness, compassion, and justice. The mission of God to love his people through us certainly requires that we seek justice in all facets of our life.

The spread of the kingdom of God is to be carried out on earth by His Church, as they have been commanded in the Bible. Through the power of the Holy Spirit within us, having sincere hearts dedicated to justice; Jesus’ followers are to take up the task. Even though it takes work, we are not to sit by idly and give up. The people of God are to reclaim and redeem the world for Christ. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (Jesus’ command in John 20:21)

©Mark H. Pillsbury

What does Christmas mean?

Photo credit: ACTA

What does Christmas mean?

In a world where weakness is pitied, morality is what works, materialism grabs our attention, and the motive power for many is gaining just enough happiness to feel good; the story of Jesus Christ astounds with unlikely messages. For believers, it turns “strength” upside down, and causes assessment of modern thinking.

God himself steps off the multi-universe throne to inhabit a virgin’s womb, borne in a middle-eastern cow stall, with only a few witnesses; quickly travelling a great distance with his poor parents to avoid doom? The eternal Son of God took on humanity — two natures, one person; such an outrageous tale seems poorly written if it were merely a story.

The Lord Jesus Christ appears as a helpless baby; his final destination is destruction on a cross? Not a powerful metaphor for a coming King, but essential in the context and purpose of his life. He lived a perfect life of obedience because we cannot; he died as a ransom for our sins. I know it is presumptuous of me to characterize the Christmas story this way, but in the minds of many this season, passing by without concern, there is no need of absolution. The national Christmas tree at the Capitol has no ornaments about Jesus or Christmas; in some circles, He is not relevant.

Nevertheless, the baby’s birth in the tiny city of Bethlehem changed the course of world history. His life of service, humility, and righteousness was a glorious example of sacrificial love. Dismissing it as myth or impossible, is to lack the fidelity to Jesus necessary for belief in the whole Bible. Christians must face the fact that a denial of the virgin birth is a denial of Jesus as the Christ.

John Sartelle says, “In the incarnation, the creating Son came to redeem and restore His creation. His miracles were designed to prove His divine identity. With each miracle He was declaring, “So that you may know I am the eternal Son.” He made the blind to see, the paralyzed to walk, and the dead to live. His miracles also demonstrated His purpose to redeem and restore His creation. Everywhere the creator Son saw the effects of the fall on His creation, and He repaired the wounds and injuries, and pushed back the darkness.”

His entry is unconventional? His life not regal? Death at the hands of Romans tragic and untimely? Jesus came as the pure Lamb of God in order to be the sacrifice prophesied in the Old Testament, in a blatantly supernatural way. Indeed, the Christmas story is at the beginning of a long theological journey through the New Testament, leading to the passion of the cross. As unlikely as it seems, what starts on Christmas leads to Easter!

Immanuel, meaning God is one of us, was the real son of a real mother. The virgin birth is the starting point of the gospel. During this time of year, when so much of Christmas is shiny, glossy, new, liberal and modern; why not take some time to look back to historic Bethlehem, to an obscure little family ordered to return home for the census?

Incarnation is a big word, but it means that God decided to become one of his enemies, salvation coming through menial condescension; in other words, God decided to lower himself and enter into the lives of sinners, posers, liars, and the fallen human race. It seems bizarre?!

A little baby, born to walk a life of obedience toward the calling set out before him; agreeing with his Father that amazing grace would take an astounding work on the cross. Christmas is the beginning. It ends on hill with a crucifixion. That is the real meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown.

As with every birth, every gift of life, there is hope! We don’t have to rely on our own works; Jesus did the work required to stand in our place. Why must a perfect man be convicted of sin he did not commit? Why Jesus makes the exchange for our sin, becoming man in an act of love and understanding? These are mysteries as perplexing as the virgin birth in Bethlehem. These are things to ponder as you look out into the dark winter sky.

©Mark H. Pillsbury

The Reason for God - Timothy Keller - Google Books

The Reason for God - Timothy Keller - Google Books:

'via Blog this'

(from page 168-169) Tim Keller points out what Jonathan Edwards wrote in The Nature of True Virtue, where Edwards argues how sin destroys the social fabric. He argues that human society is deeply fragmented when anything but God is our highest love:

If our highest goal in life is the good of our family, then Edwards says, we will tend to care less for other families.

If our highest goal is the good of our nation, tribe, or race, then we will tend to be racist or nationalistic.

If our ultimate goal in life is our own individual happiness, then we will put our own economic and power interests ahead of those of others.

Edwards concludes that only if God is our summum bonum, our ultimate good and life center, will we find our heart drawn out not only to people of all families, races and classes, but to the whole world in general.

It is hard to find a self-identity that doesn't lead to exclusion. The real culture war is taking place inside our own disordered hearts, wracked by inordinate desires for things that control us, that lead us to feel superior and exclude those without them, and fail to satisfy us even when we get them!

The Reason for God: belief in the age of skepticism
©Tim Keller 2008
Published by Dutton

Galatians 5 AMP - IN this freedom Christ has made us free - Bible Gateway

Galatians 5 AMP - IN this freedom Christ has made us free - Bible Gateway

Using Eugene H. Peterson's The Message (NavPress), I am working through another way to look at Galatians 5: 22-26 in order to answer the question in my own way (see above link, to read what Paul says about this?):

Q: What happens when we live God's way?

A: God brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—in this case, fruit is shown in things like: affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. At the same time He also uses trials to refine us with a refiner’s fire, to bring us up as a father trains up a child so when he is older and tested, he will not depart from it.

We develop a willingness and an ability to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. I believe we learn to love justice for all human beings, because every person we deal with was created by our God in his image. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way into life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. This is a gift.

Note: Legalism (and living by works) is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities, living for ourselves, is killed off for good—crucified with Jesus on the cross. Therefore, because of Christ’s work on the cross, we are no longer struggling to be free, fighting to survive. Indeed, we are free to struggle against sin, sometimes falling victim to the devil but ultimately preserved in victory.

This life we have chosen, the new life of the Spirit or living God's way, has to be lived out on Monday through Saturday, with a practical effect on our daily lives. Our authentic walk is more than a veneer put on for Sunday at church. More than a dedication to be a “good person,” made once but not lived out.

We must be sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads, or a sentiment in our hearts; but instead work out its implications in every detail of our lives. We cannot hide anything from a sovereign God. And we must give the same grace and mercy in the context of our mistakes, as we have been given by God in the forgiveness of our sins.

As we mature as Christians, no longer can we compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original, and significant in a unique way to live the destiny that God ordained for us to live, which should give ultimate glory to the creator.
©Mark H. Pillsbury