Pastors' Blog

How do you steel yourself against the heart-rending refugee photographs that now wall-paper cyberspace? The lifeless body of 3 year old Alan Kurdi, lying face down in the wet sand, drowned along with his mother and brother in a desperate effort to cross the sea in a dinghy in order to flee the bloody Syrian mayhem. The emaciated Middle-eastern and North African men, women and children walking for miles and miles only to cling to a razor-edged chain-link fence hastily erected by Hungary to stem the massive overflow of fleeing refugees into their country. A nameless boy, sobbing loudly as he and his mother try to run from pursuing border guards, the only English the boy can sob, “Please, please, please.”

How do we steel ourselves from the images pouring in from Europe, chronicling this stunning unexpected humanitarian crisis? Already over 4 million people have fled the civil war in Syria. And lest we think that Europe is the major recipient of this Middle East human largess, the truth is that the tiny countries surrounding Syria are carrying the heaviest burden of these refugees. Vox.com has graphed the refugee numbers in relation to the host country’s population: Lebanon with 1.1 million new refugees is sheltering 232 refugees per 1000 people; Jordan’s 629,000 refugees means 87 refugees per 1000 citizens; Turkey’s ratio, 21 refugees per 1000. Compare these ratios with the countries of the West: Canada 4.2 refugees per 1000; Germany 2.6 per 1000; the UK 1.8 per 1000; Australia 1.5 per 1000; the US 0.8 per 1000. The authors’ intended point of the graph is obvious—Syria’s neighbors are shouldering the heaviest load and the West could do more. (You can argue the point with them at www.vox.com/2015/9/15/9331371/syrian-refugees-europe-chart.)

And where is God in the midst of this humanitarian crisis? Perhaps as Jesus dramatically reminded us, He is stands in the middle of this overspreading human sea: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the lest of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me” (Matthew 25:40).

Surely God does not blame these refugees for leaving the insanity that has become their homeland. Perhaps they respond to His ancient cry: “Come out of her, My people” (Jeremiah 51:45; Revelation 18:4).

And what shall we do, we who are not governments or the United Nations? Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is embedded in the thick of this European refugee crisis. If you would like to assist ADRA in their mission to these refugees, please click on to https://adra.org/crisis-refugees-in-europe/#.

But God’s call to “Come out of her, My people” is not only for geographical refugees—it also a call for spiritual refugees. Forty-eight hours after Pope Francis stands in the well of the United States Congress next Thursday we will ponder on Sabbath, “How to Discern the Pope’s Agenda for America.” With all due respect and courtesy we will reflect on the agenda the immensely popular pope brings to the world’s table. In the halogen light of apocalyptic prophecy that agenda becomes clear. But how then shall we as a faith community reflect both the bold compassion and the radical mission of Christ to this generation? How can the everlasting Good News still be good news in the midst of these escalating headlines? And how can we assist the God who calls these refugees “My people”?

“Come, let us reason together.”

The Journal of the American Medical Association published research this Tuesday that might be of particular interest to those of us planning on some Labor Day biking. If the report had simply stated that biking accidents are on the rise, who’d be surprised, given the increased number of bikers of all ages across the country (the result of what some are calling “the Lance Armstrong effect”). But thanks to the celebrity crashes this year of rock star Bono, 55, injured while biking in New York City, and Secretary of State John Kerry, 71, breaking his femur while enjoying a ride in France, researchers are sitting up and taking notice.

According to urologist Benjamin Breyer, lead author of this study and researcher at University of California (San Francisco), “the biggest spike [of bicycle accidents] is an increase in the proportion of injured riders over age 45”—i.e. GenXer and Boomer bicyclists (USA Today 9-2-15). And perhaps not surprisingly male riders dominate the statistics (many suffering urethral damage from their accident). Data collected by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission from 100 emergency rooms across the nation (comparing 1998-1999 with 2012-2013) indicate: bike injuries rose from 96 to 123 per 100,000 adults (28% increase); hospitalizations resulting from injuries jumped from 5.1 to 11.2 per 100,000 adults (120% increase); and the “share of injuries occurring in people older than age 45 increased from 23% to 42%” with hospitalizations of this older group increasing from 39% to 65%.

The statistical point? If you’re male and over the youthful age of 45 and you ride a bike, be careful. In fact be careful whoever you are!

How can we keep safe? “Basic safety precautions are absolutely essential, Breyer says: Wear a helmet and reflective gear, have lights for night riding, and drive defensively” (http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/02/436662737/as-more-adults-pedal-their-biking-injuries-and-deaths-are-spiking-too). Because the good news is that biking remains an exhilarating and effective outdoor exercise sport that’s hard to beat for all ages and both genders.

And by the way, if you’re a biker in Portland, Oregon, or Madison, Wisconsin, or San Francisco, or Berrien Springs, Michigan—you are blessed. Because these are among some progressive communities in this nation making provision for biking lanes and rider safety. (Kudos to our village fathers who opened the new biking/walking lanes along Kephart Avenue just a week ago here in Berrien Springs!)

Biker, walker, driver—whoever we are and whatever our means of transportation, the good news of Labor Day for me is the quiet assurance that when it comes to our salvation the Labor has already been done. The God who created us on the sixth day and then rested on the seventh day is the same God who redeemed us at Calvary on the sixth day and then rested in the tomb on the seventh day. “It is finished.” Because it really was, and it still is. The infinitely heavy lifting has been done—the divine labor completed. And we can rest—all of humanity—in the “blessed assurance” that He is ours and we are His.

So this holiday let’s give thanks to God for His blessed Labor Day. On the sixth day. Both times. So that on the seventh day we can rest in Him. Every time. He pedals. We ride. In peace. Amen.

The meteoric rise of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has flummoxed the talking heads of the news media. How could this brash entrepreneurial business tycoon be attracting such “If the election were held today I’d vote for him” kind of support? After all, politics in America isn’t a television reality show . . . is it?

But for new students at Andrews University, perhaps there are a few lessons tucked away in Trump’s quest for the Whitehouse, lessons for your own pursuit of that “impossible dream”:

1. Sometimes you have to plow ahead no matter what the critics are saying. Thank God for our families who are our biggest cheerleaders in the dreams we pursue. And if you’re blessed to have a praying parent, you’ll ride on the updraft of those prayers this new year. But you may be your own worst critic. “What am I doing taking on this huge academic challenge? Look at my grades in high school! Look at the financial investment we’re making! How can I possibly succeed with so unlikely a dream?” When those cloudy thoughts begin to take over, here’s a promise to infuse new courage into your worried heart: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Every good dream is birthed by God—which means He’s the One leading you to take on this academic challenge.  “I will be with you wherever this new year twists and turns.” With a traveling Companion and Friend like that, there’s no critic who can turn you around!
 
2. Sometimes you have to raise your voice to be heard above the din. Say what you want about Donald Trump, he’s learned to keep shouting when they’re shouting him down. Nothing will be more faith-inspiring and courage-building than raising your own voice in prayer above the din of campus life. Jesus told a story once about a little widow who was being bullied out of her inheritance. She triumphed because she kept raising her voice above her detractors, until the judge granted her petition. Jesus’ point? “You should always pray and not give up—for God will take care of those who cry out night and day to Him” (see Luke 18:1, 7). So begin every day with 15 quiet minutes in conversation with Him—and the God who watches over the sparrows will take care of you  (see Matthew 10:31).

3. Sometimes you have to talk your faith before you can prove your faith. The news media made it clear from the start nobody would ever take Donald Trump seriously. But Donald Trump does. And the more he talks up that faith (in himself), the more he’s been able to draw believers in him to his cause. I’m not suggesting you should go around campus talking up faith in yourself (you’re not a politician—for which you can be grateful). But you are a friend of the Most High God, and talking up your faith and trust in His ability to guide you to your dreams will not only make believers out of others—it’ll make a believer out of you. John Wesley—a very short man with a very great faith—early in life learned the principle: “You must talk faith until you have faith.” Politicians call it, “Fake it until you make it.” But as a friend of Jesus, you don’t have to fake a thing. Simply talk up your faith in the One “who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20), and He’ll use you to make a believer out of you and the others, too.

The point: You can trump your new year. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”(Philippians 4:13). As Taylor Bunch once put it, “You don’t know the resources of God until you’ve tried the impossible.” So go for it! We’re cheering you on.

Don’t you love to hear, “Take a number,” when you’re already in a hurry! But have you noticed—it’s as if the headlines bombarding us lately are themselves stepping out of an interminable “take a number” line. Must be why something keeps telling us we have yet to hear from the last of them.

Here are a few of the ones we’ve already heard from this spring turned summer:

·        April: Baltimore explodes over the police “homicide” (the state medical examiner’s conclusion this week) of Freddie Gray in the back of the police van, corroborating a string of “blue on black” violence headlines across this nation, including the video-taped shooting of an unarmed black man by a white officer in South Carolina

·        April: Investors are now borrowing in record numbers (margin loans) to purchase stocks—their debt an all-time high of $507.15 billion in April (a $25 billion increase in just 30 days)—“roughly” 50% higher than just before the October 2007 market peak and eventual collapse (www.mauldineconomics.com)

·        May/June: This season’s extreme weather—record rains, floods, heat, tornados, drought—becomes the new normal for this nation and world

·        June: Pope Francis, who with the stroke of his encyclical pen last week did what scientists over decades have been unable to do—galvanize world attention on global warming and human destruction of earth’s ecosystems—the same pope who offered this week a personal apology to a gathering of Italian descendants of the nearly exterminated Waldensian church: “On the part of the Catholic Church, I ask your forgiveness, I ask it for the non-Christian and even inhuman attitudes and behavior that we have shown you. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ forgive us”—(what will this winsome charismatic spiritual leader announce when he becomes the first pope to ever address a joint session of the U. S. Congress on September 24 and then the United Nations on September 25?)

·        June: A lone white male last week shoots and kills 8 parishioners and their pastor inside the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston with the intent to start a “race war” in this country

·        June: Supreme Court announces its decision regarding same sex marriage laws

“Take a number”—they have been—so the headlines keep coming. Here are two more:

·        First time in history gathering of 2000 North American Seventh-day Adventist pastors and families expected in Austin, Texas, June 28 for three day convocation CALLED 2015

·        Delegates, leaders and members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church convene in San Antonio, Texas, July 2 for ten days of world church worship and business (including whether to grant the 13 divisions of the church permission to decide the ordination of women to the gospel ministry on a division by division basis)—potentially record numbers of attendees expected

Eight random headlines—one divine call to pray. Pray for what? “Could there be a convocation of all the churches of earth, the object of their united cry should be for the Holy Spirit. When we have that, Christ our sufficiency is ever present. We shall have every want supplied. We shall have the mind of Christ” (Manuscript Releases 2:41). I.e., pray to be filled with the Spirit and the mind of Christ. For without them how will His prayer for us ever be answered: “. . . that they may be one as We are one . . .” (John 17:11, 20-23)?

So let’s “take a number” and come together to pray—this Wednesday evening (on behalf of our nation after Charleston) and this Sabbath (on behalf of our world church in San Antonio). After all, in the very gathering together to pray do we not become the very answer Christ was praying for? “. . . that they may be one . . .”