Author: jgarrison

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“Joy to the World” A History of a Carol

I wrote this article for in 2019, on the 300th anniversary of the hymn, for The Skinnie, a magazine for Skidaway Island. I have slightly altered the text for this blog post.

Issac Watt’s Role

This year, with a young puppy in the house, the tree is locked up

A little over three hundred years ago, in 1719, English hymn-writer Isaac Watts published the words we know today as “Joy to the World.” Today it’s one of the most popular Christmas carols in America, with its hopeful and joyful message. However, “Joy to the World” was not written as a Christmas carol. It would take nearly 120 years before the carol we know was first sung. 

Isaac Watts is perhaps the greatest author of hymns ever. Supposedly, when he was a boy, he complained to his father about church music. Like a good parent, his father suggested that instead of complaining, he should work to make it better. From this challenge Watts, set out to write hymns, a relatively new style of music for Protestant Churches in the early 17th Century. At this time, especially in the English world, the Psalms served as the main source of lyrics for music sung in churches. As a pastor in a dissenting English Church, Watts began writing hymns. While he often drew from the Psalms, upon which he would modernize the language and Christianize the content, he also wrote hymns that reflected a trust in an Almighty God and in a Savior who was willing to die for humanity. Churches in Britain and America quickly adopted Watts’ hymns. These hymns include “I Sing the Mighty Power of God,” “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “From All that Dwell Below the Skies,” and of course, “Joy to the World.” 

Influence of Psalm 96

“Joy to the World” was based on Psalm 96, a royal Psalm of God’s enthronement as King. King David sings this Psalm, we learn in 1st Chronicles, as he moves the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. At a time in history, nearly a millennia before Christ, most nations had their own gods. Psalm 94 proclaims the God of the Hebrews, the God of Abraham, as reigning not just over the Hebrew people, or just in Jerusalem, but over the world. The God of the Psalmist is supreme throughout the world. God will rule fairly. God will administer justice with equity. God’s deeds are such that all will stand in awe and, along with all that is in heaven and on earth, will sing out in joy. 

Watts took Psalm 96 and tweaked it in a manner that reflects Christ’s second coming. In addition to the three traditional stanzas of the Psalm, which he modified, he added a fourth (which he inserted between the second and third stanzas).

No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found, 
Far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.

This stanza reflects Watt’s eschatological hope based on Christ’s return. God reverses the curse of Eden. It was a wonderful poem of the Second Coming. Watt’s titled his piece, “The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom.”

The words for the carol were written three hundred years ago. However, it required more creativity for this poem to became the beloved Christmas Carol we now know.

The Role of George Frederick Handel

The composer for the music who he combined with Watt’s poem was George Frederick Handel of Germany. Handel and Watts were contemporaries and were both living in England at the same time, but the two of them did not work on this carol. The music comes from Handel’s “Messiah,” a popular piece often sung by choirs and in concerts during the Christmas season.  But this adaptation of the two works did not occur for another century and on another continent, long after the deaths of Watts and Handel. 

The Role of Lowell Mason

 Lowell Mason was born in 1792, into a musically talented family in Medfield, Massachusetts. As a child and young man, he learned to play the clarinet, violin, cello, flute, piano and organ and became a choir director in his home town at the age of 17. A few years later, he moved to Savannah, where he worked in a dry-goods store and later in a bank. During this time, he studied under a Frederick Abel, a music teacher from Germany and began to serve as the choir director and organist at Independent Presbyterian Church. Mason helped create the first African-American Sunday School at Savannah’s First Bryan Baptist Church. This was at a time when the education of slaves was condemned throughout the South. 

After returning north, he later served as music director for the well-known abolitionist preacher Lyman Beecher. While working in Savannah, Mason became interested in musical composition and had to travel to Boston in 1922 to have his first collection of arrangements published as there were no publishers in the South with the capacity to print musical fonts. 

         Mason moved to Boston in 1827, where he served as organist and choirmaster for several prominent churches. He worked for a time as music director for the well-known abolitionist preacher, Lyman Beecher. During this era, he became an American proponent for European-styled music. At the time, adherents of the traditional American “shape-note” tradition satirized the European-style as the “Better Music Boys.” However, because of Lowell and others insisted on music education in schools, America eventually adopted the European styled music. 

         Mason was an important figure in music in early America who wrote, arranged, or composed music for hundreds of hymns including “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” He also wrote secular music including the popular nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”  

         Mason’s most popular tune, however, is “Joy to the World, in which he arranged the words of Isaac Watts’ poem with tunes of Handel to create the popular Christmas carol. “Joy to the World” is considered the most loved carol in America.  Almost every congregation will sing it during the Christmas season and just about every artist who has recorded Christmas Carols have included this hymn in their repertoire. The song is uplifting, as it reflects the Christian hope of a new and peaceful world in which Christ will reign as King.  

         This year, as you hear this song sung on the radio or perhaps in a Candlelight service on Christmas Eve, may you experience joy. 

         For Christmas Eve services along the Blue Ridge, Bluemont will hold its service at 4 PM and Mayberry at 6 PM. Both churches will be celebrating communion and invite you all to attend. 

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The Preaching of John the Baptist

Jeff Garrison
Bluemont and Mayberry Presbyterian Church
December 12, 2021
Third Sunday of Advent
Luke 3:7-20

Sermon recorded at Bluemont Church on Friday, December 10, 2021

At the beginning of worship

We’re at the third week of Advent. Christmas is coming. Have you’ve been naughty or nice? Of course, that sounds like I’m emphasizing works. We often think the only thing that matters is a belief in Jesus. And while believing in Jesus is important, so is how we live our lives. Because of the love we’ve experienced in Jesus Christ, we are to share such love with others. 

This week on Twitter, a seminary student witnessing an online debate over what’s the correct belief, responded: “Some of y’all need to stop studying apologetics (that’s the defense of our faith) and start studying apologies.”[1] She has a point. Jesus would probably agree.

I’ve been reading Makoto Fujimura new book, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making. The author challenges us at our “bottom line”.[2]What are we doing with our lives? How are we using the gifts God has given us to make this world a better place? Not only do we need to believe and love Jesus, but we must also shape our lives using him as a model. 

Before the Gospel Reading

Again, this week, we’re dealing with John the Baptist. The man preaches a harsh sermon. God’s judgment is at hand! John’s message when added to Zephaniah’s (whom we heard in our Old Testament reading) blend into the sweet and sour of God’s word. Like sweet and sour sauce, the richness of tastes comes by combining both flavors. God’s ways are good for salvation, yet they are linked to judgment. Listen to what John says. Once he gets your attention, I think you’ll then be surprised at what he says.  

READ LUKE 3:8-18

After the Reading of the Gospel

The Hound of Heaven

Francis Thompson depicted Jesus as the Hound of Heaven in his epic poem by the same name… We, of course, are the ones portrayed in the poem as being chased by the hound. Out of fear, we run as fast as we can. 

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him…

But the hound pursues. He doesn’t give up the chase. When he finally overtakes us, we find it’s the not the deranged dog we’ve feared.[3]Jesus is a loving hound, who chases us down because he cares about us. The Hound of Heaven is the type of dog that would jump all over us and lick us. 

At the risk of blasphemy, the hound of heaven is like my dog, Mia. As those of you who have met her knows, she barks and barks, but if you get to know her, she’s loving. She’ll roll over and let you rub her belly. 

The Junkyard Dog 

But if Jesus is the loving hound of heaven, John the Baptist is the junkyard dog.[4] Wild and furious, John stands in our way. Interestingly, in all four gospels, before we get to the life of Jesus, we go through John. We endure John’s preaching and hear about the vipers, wrath, and unquenchable fire. 

We want to get to the stable, where we feel safe and can see baby Jesus lying in a manger. We want to bring gifts for the child, to sit at the feet of a gentle Savior and draw in his words. But before we arrive, we must deal with this wild lunatic. The junkyard dog snaps at our heels, shouting repent, repent, for judgment is at hand.

John wasn’t a preacher who spoke gently. He had no golden tongue or mild-manner ways. When the crowds came, he shouted at them, “You brood of vipers.” That’s not a line church growth consultants suggest we preachers use. Yet, they came. People came from all around. Somehow the word got out and people were intrigued, and they made their way to where John was holding his camp meeting. Why, what drew them?  Perhaps they needed an honest assessment of themselves. Or, more likely, they knew what John said was true, that deep down they were lost and to find the way to salvation, they had to be honest to themselves and to God.  

The Need to Confront Our Sin

Consider this: If we think things are okay, we have no need for a Savior. But when things aren’t looking quite right, when we’re in over our heads, we need a Savior. John prepares these folks for Jesus’ arrival, getting them to understanding that just being children of Abraham isn’t enough, they need something more. It’s no longer the “good old boy system” where you get special treatment because your daddy or uncle is so and so.

The Grace in John’s Message

Although John has some rather unusual tactics and he preaches judgment as harsh as any fire and brimstone Puritan, his message really isn’t that tough. He gets the crowd’s attention by harshly pointing out their sin and teaching that they couldn’t depend on the faith of their ancestors. Once he’s got their attention, John demands they behave in a particular way. By then, they know they have not been living up to God standards for John doesn’t command anything that’s not set out in the law.  

What Should We Do

What John does is to get his audience’s attention, convict them of their sins, and lead them to the point that they ask, “What should we do?” This question forms the centerpiece of this passage about John’s ministry. What should we do? It’s asked three times in these few verses!

First the crowd asks the question. “What should we do?” And John says, “Be generous.” Share what you have.

Next, tax collectors come and ask what to do. Did you catch Luke’s irony? In the New Revised Standard version, the phrase reads, “even tax collectors came.” No one expects them, but they came and asked what they should do. John tells them to only collect what they are supposed to collect. 

Luke sets the stage here for an event that will come later. In the 19thchapter, he’ll tells us the story of Zacchaeus, the wee-little tax-collector who meets Jesus and doesn’t have to ask what to do.[5] Instead, he gives half his possessions away and promises to give to those he defrauded four times what he’d taken. Had Zacchaeus heard John’s sermon? 

Perhaps more surprisingly than the tax collectors are the soldiers who make their way to John’s revival meeting. These soldiers would not have been welcomed by the Jews of the day, for they were serving Imperial Rome.[6]

Remain Moral in Compromising Occupations

Surprisingly, John doesn’t say the tax collectors or soldiers should find a more suitable occupation. Tax collectors can still collect taxes and soldiers can still do their duty. However, they are encouraged to be generous, honest, good, and content. In other words, they’re to be nice. John’s teaching assumes that even in potentially compromising situations, people can still be moral.[7]

Nothing Radical About John, Mostly Mundane

There’s nothing radical about what’s John calls people to do! As one scholar on this passage wrote, “Much of what it means to follow Christ into better ways of living seems so mundane.” He goes on to note that mundane comes from the Latin word for world, and suggests that John 3:16 could also be translated as “God loves the mundane that sent his Son.”[8] Being a disciple isn’t about making a being on a grandstand, it’s what we do in the mundane encounters of life.

John comes to prepare the way and because of his message people expect something great to happen. The greater the demands, the greater the expectation. As the church, we need to remember that. The people of Israel now expect great things; after John, they are ready for Jesus. But are we?  Ponder that question…

Those Not Wanting to Hear John

Of course, there are those who don’t want to hear John’s message. There are always those who don’t want to play nice. One is Herod, the puppet ruler for Rome, who is one of history’s rotten characters. Herod can’t stand the truth. In a classic example of shooting the messenger, he has John jailed and later beheaded. But it was too late, John has already spoken, the Savior is on his way, and soon Herod will only exist as a footnote in history.

John Challenges the Chosen

It’s interesting to me that John can pull off his message. After all he preaches to the chosen people, those who feel God’s hand-picked them to be special. He’s telling those who feel secure because they have a covenant with God to shape up. Some of us may feel this way. Yet, we should know God expects more of those who have been given more.[9]

Will Rogers, America’s John the Baptist

Will Rogers may be the closest thing we’ve had in America to John the Baptist. Rogers didn’t pull any punches when attacking “sacred cows.” Like John, Rogers challenged society to live up the values they espouse and to change oneself before changing others. Pointing out the inconsistency in this nation of Christians, he once asked:

            What degree of egotism is it that makes a nation, or a religious organization think theirs is the very thing for the Chinese or the Zulus?  Why, we can’t even Christianize our legislators!

On another occasion he said that we have “the missionary business turned around. We’re the ones that need converting.”[10]

We Need to be Converted

Rogers has a point. We need to be converted, and now is the time. Before we head off to Bethlehem, we need to realize our need for a Savior. Before we enter the stable, we need to get our act together so we can anticipate what our God can do for us as opposed to what it is we can do for ourselves. We need to be shaken out of our comfort zones, to be confronted by John’s wrath, so that we too will seek out and clean up those places in our lives that are inconsistent with the gospel.

As harsh as we might think John came across, his preaching wasn’t void of good news. Yes, John points to the ax at the tree not bearing fruit and he talks about the fire burning the chaff. But trees that have been pruned bear more fruit and though the chaff is burned, the kernels of wheat are saved. John’s message encourages the Israelites (and us) to bare more fruit. And to be fruitful, we must put away those obstacles, those sins, which keep us from having a healthy relationship with God.  

Conclusion

Before rushing off to the manger to worship the Christ Child, pause long enough to hear John’s warning. His bark may sound mean, but it’s a loving warning. Repent and prepare a place in your hearts to receive the Messiah. Live so that your faith in a loving Savior is shown in a gentle life that is lived honestly and filled with kindness. Amen

[1]Laura Klenda, on Twitter, 9 December 2021

[2]Makoto Fujimura, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making (New Haven, CT: Yale, 2021), 62.

[3] Francis Thompson, The Hound of Heaven (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, nd).

[4] Idea from a sermon titled “A Cure for Despair” where John was portrayed as a Doberman pinscher.  See Barbara Brown Taylor, God in Pain: Sermons on Suffering (Nashville: Abingdon, 1998), 22ff.

[5] Luke 19:1-10

[6]James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015), 112.  

[7] Edwards, 113.

[8] Scott Hoezee, “Remembering the Future” in Reformed Worship #57 (September 2000), 9. 

[9] Luke 12:48.

      [10] The Best of Will Rogers, Bryan Sterling, editor (New York: MJF Books, 1979), 194.

Whitefish Point Lighthouse Ornament from my Christmas Tree. In a way, John the Baptist was like this lighthouse, that also boasted large fog horns that warned passing ships of the shoals around the point.

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Four Books: Memories, Poetry, and a Novel

John Hassell Yeatts, A Long and Winding Road 
(1989), 120 pages. 

The long and winding road referred to in the title is the Blue Ridge Parkway which divided the little community of Mayberry in the mid-1930s. This was at the time when the author was becoming a man. He began working at the Dan River dam project below Mayberry and his life’s work continues as he worked on dams around the country. He later attends college and goes on to work as a reporter and writer, as well as working with agencies such as the March of Dimes and American Cancer Association. In his later years, Yeatts came back to the Mayberry of his youth for the summers. He also published several books about the community. 

These are wonderful memories. The author grew up at a time when chestnut trees dominated the Appalachian Mountains, when most people travelled by horse or buggy, and when life was hard. He was present in the old Mayberry School, when Bob Childress called for the building of a church (now Mayberry Presbyterian Church). His father delivered mail for 35 years, mostly using horses. Later in his career, he’d use a Model T. In the days before UPS, his father had to have extra packhorses for the mail order packages from Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Wards. Yeatts remembers a car salesman from Mount Airy introduce Ford’s Model T to the community and he travels to Stuart to meet those coming back from the First World War. There, for the first time in his life, he sees a locomotive, as the iron horse pulls the train into Stuart from the main line in Martinsville. He also remembers the lumbering of the chestnut and watching the trees hauled away as the blight killed the forest that dominated these parts. In these stories, we learn about old mills where farmers ground grain, and about his tee-totalling mother, who would have joined Carrie Nation if she had the opportunity. This book is filled with good stories, that take the reader back into a simple but difficult time to make a living on the mountains.

This book, along with the books of Aaron McAlexander, provide a colorful history of Mayberry. The difference in the two books is that Yeatts (who I’m sure is related to McAlexander), is a couple decades older and so his memories extend further back, to a time before the automobile, tractors, and tourists. In both books, the Mayberry store (which has gone by many names) is prominent. 

Gregory Orr, River Inside the River: Poems
(New York: Norton, 2013), 124 pages.

Last summer, when on study leave, I found myself engrossed in A Primer for Poets and Readers of Poetry by Gregory Orr. Having not read any of his poetry selections of the University of Virginia professor, I picked up this collection. This book has three major sections. The first, “Eden and After” looks at our first parents in the garden and its aftermath. In the second, “The City of Poetry,” I have a sense that Orr was describing the city of refuge in Genesis 4, where Cain fled upon the death of Able. As a child, Orr had killed his brother in a hunting accident. The final section is titled after the book’s title, “River Inside the River” While Orr explores new themes, he also continues building on themes already introduced.  Overall, I enjoyed the collection. I like his use of words and metaphors. My only complaint was his use of the “F” word. It certainly got my attention and was only used a few times. It was just a shock to read it in such a work, especially since he uses it to describe that which Adam and Eve did in the garden. But that word is just too harsh. Of course, Orr uses this word less than other books I’ve read. In Matterhorn, which is reviewed below, the word is used a lot but in a combat situation it seems more appropriate.

Philip Conners, A Song for a River, 
(Audible, 2018) 6 hours and 44 minutes.

This book was in my to-be-read pile for some time. When it showed up as a freebee for Audible subscribers, I jumped on it and enjoyed the book. Conners spent thirteen years as a fire lookout in the Gila Wilderness area in Southern New Mexico. I didn’t even know that there were still fire lookouts into the 21st century! This book weaves together several tragedies: his own brother’s suicide, his divorce, the death of his friend John who was also a fire lookout, and the death of three students from Silver City who were killed in a plane crash, along with his own medical issues. Weaving into these deaths and his divorce are stories of fire in the oldest wilderness area in the United States (As a young forester, Aldo Leopold, author of A Sand County Almanac, had been instrumental in saving this land).  

Conner also experiences danger as a lookout. One fire sweep through the high country. Conner is saved by a helicopter sent in to rescue him. Throughout the book, we learn of larger and larger fires, that burn hotter and at higher altitudes from global warming. In addition to the danger of fire, Conner talks about risky river trips he makes in this part of the world. Toward the end of the book, we learn that Conner remarries.  While I enjoyed the book, I felt it was a bit disjointed. That said, I do plan to read his other books.

Karl Marlantes, Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War (Audible, 2010), 21 hours and 11 minutes.

Marlantes was a Marine officer in Vietnam, and this is his first novel. The story takes place in late 1968 and early 1969, as the narrator begins his deployment as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corp. Assigned to a company that’s securing a firebase close to the DMZ, the firebase is named Matterhorn. The young officer dreams of rising rapidly as he serves in combat, in the hopes he can return to law school and become a politician. But as he is thrown in with men who long to survive, he learns important lessons. The story centers around a decision by the top brass to abandon the base, only to then require the Marines to retake it, after the North Vietnamese have repurposed the base for their own purposes. This was nearly suicidal mission, but the mission is ultimately successful. Along the way, we learn of the men in his company, especially the issues around race. There is even a divide among the “black brothers,” between some who are sending back weapons to America to help in the fight against racism and others who just want to survive or to get high. We also learn about the problems that come from above, from officers trying to please politicians and making decisions that are almost impossible to carry out in the field. While this is a long story, it is well told and shows the horror of the war. 

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Advent 2: Preparation

Jeff Garrison
Bluemont and Mayberry Presbyterian Churches
Luke 3:1-6
December 5, 2021

Sermon recorded at Mayberry Church on Friday, December 3, 2021

At the beginning of worship


Christ has come, and Christ will come again. This truth of the Christian faith is why on our Advent journey. As we recall what happened and will happen again, (Christ’s coming), we find we must deal with a crazy man out in the wilderness. 

We’re going to spend two weeks with John the Baptist, today and next Sunday. John kind of reminds me John Brown, the fiery abolitionist, for neither of the two minced words. John called it as they saw it, yet people were drawn to him. It’s an interesting phenomenon that we still see—one who makes outrageous demands yet is still able to draw a crowd. What’s that all about? 

Perhaps the appeal of John the Baptist has to do with us knowing that, deep down, that is something rotten in us and we need to change. John tells us to be ready, for one is coming who can help us make such changes. Today, our topic is preparation. How are we preparing to meet Jesus?

Before the reading of scripture:

Our reading today begins, not in the land by the Jordan in which John ministered, but in the halls of power as Luke tells us who was in charge in Rome and the various providences around Palestine and at the temple. The halls of power stand in contrast to the voice crying in the wilderness, far from where people live and work. 

Read Luke 3:1-6  

After the reading of scripture

Las Vegas as a metaphor

Some of you, I’m sure have been to Las Vegas. It’s a city that never sleeps. If you are up at 2 AM, which you might be if you have just arrived due to the 3-hour time change, you find the casinos still bright with the bells of slot machines ringing. Deserts are usually dry, dark, and sparsely populated places. But Las Vegas defies the desert. You’ll find magnificent fountains splashing water. 

When I lived in Southern Utah, a mere two-and-a-half-hour drive to Vegas, I often made the drive at night. Or, sometimes, I drove in the predawn early morning hours to catch a flight. I travelled down Interstate 15, through the darkness with bright stars overhead. Then, when I crested a ridge about twenty miles outside of Vegas, the entire valley before me lighted up. It appeared like Christmas, regardless of the season. 

And the crowds. Even in the darkness of early in the morning, Interstate 15 would be crowded.

In contrast to Vegas, deserts are quiet places, with the only sound being the wind blowing through a barren canyon or rattling dry yucca pods. In Vegas the sound of a carnival fills the air, especially downtown and along the strip. If you get out of Vegas, just twenty or so miles, you’re in a different world. 

The wilderness around Vegas

One of my favorite places to hike, on the times I was there in the winter, were the canyons that dissect the Black Canyon of the Colorado River. This area lies south of Hoover Dam. You never wanted to hike such canyons in the summer as the temperature will rise over 120 degrees. 

These dry waterways are dotted with an occasional hot sulfur spring. Because of danger of flash floods, you’d best stay out of the canyon when rain is forecasted. Deep inside one, you’d be more likely to come upon a desert bighorn sheep or a rattlesnake than another person. For those like me, who sometimes need a break for the commotion of a place like Vegas, these canyons provide opportunities for solitude. It’s hard to believe, when you are in such an isolated place that hundreds of thousands of folks are rushing around life just a dozen miles or so away, by the way the crow flies.    

From the busy world to the wilderness

Luke, in our reading today, provides us with a similar contrast, as he shifts our focus from the busy places of politics to the wilderness. This gospel writer is a stickler the details. We’re provided a historical setting, a who’s who of both the political and religious world.  

If I was to write the history of my ministry, using Luke’s model, I might tell the story of my ordination in Ellicottville New York in this manner: George H. W. Bush was in the White House, Mario Cuomo was the governor of New York, Price H. Gwynn III was the moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly, and the Reverend Eunice Poethig was executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Western New York.  

By beginning with all the bigwigs of Rome and Jerusalem, which Luke inserts here as he also does in chapter two with the birth of Jesus,[1]we’re surprised to learn that God’s word doesn’t come to the city or to those in power. Instead, it comes through a strange fire-breathing prophet living out in the Jordan River wilderness. Those in power have no idea of John, but the changes he forecasts will change the world in which they live.

Ancient ties to John’s message

John’s message is one of expectation, as he draws upon the ancient prophet Isaiah, emphasizing God’s on-going work of salvation.[2] I like how Eugene Peterson translates John’s preaching in The Message:

Thunder in the desert!
Prepare God’s arrival!
Make the road smooth and straight!
Every ditch will be filled in, 
every bump smoothed out
the detours straightened out
all the ruts paved over.  
Everyone will be there to see
The parade of God’s salvation

There are some that think this passage draws from an ancient practice of clearing a path for a royal procession. If a king traveled through his territories, there would be those who went ahead to smooth out the road so that the king could travel comfortably and speedily.[3]

Admitting our needs

It’s interesting to contemplate this passage considering the never-ending political season in which we now live. A friend, commenting on how Luke throws in the politics of the era into our text, wrote: “In the rarified circles of society where the Caesars dwell, folks don’t like to admit they have problems. Politics is about solving other people’s problems, not about admitting to your own.” To such people, who “live on the mountaintop, such a call to repent is frightening,” for they are to be made low. But to those “living in the low-lying margins of life, this great equalization, the mountains lowered as the valleys rise, is good news.”[4]

In a way, this appears to be just another example of that hard-to-comprehend truth found throughout Jesus’ teachings that the last will be first.[5]

We must always remember that God’s ways are not our ways! God loves the world and is looking out for everyone, especially those often overlooked.

God is coming

John’s message is that God, through Jesus Christ, is coming. People better get ready! To the Jewish listener of John in the first century, the thought of encountering God face-to-face was terrifying. They knew their own sinfulness, and that when compared to God’s holiness, it would lead to their demise. So, it’s imperative that people prepare themselves by confessing their sins, just as we do early in nearly every worship service. 

Confession and repentance are necessary if we want to stand before God without fear.

Preparing for the holidays

We all get that Advent is a season of preparation. Many of us have begun decorating our homes with trees and lights. The Garrisons may get around to it this afternoon. The smells of sweets baking, and cider mulling fill our homes. Donna made gingerbread cookies this week. Our homes seem warmer and brighter this season even as the weather can be cooler (although, that hasn’t been the case this year). At least the nights longer. 

Getting ready for Christmas, in this way, runs counter to the season. We prepare with optimism, reminding ourselves of a change that’s coming, as the days will be getting longer after Christmas. But our preparations, the ones that are really needed, have nothing to do with us creating a home that could be featured in Southern Living. We need to prepare our souls…

Preparation by self-examination

The preparation for Christ’s coming, whether it was his first coming, his second coming at the end of history, or just preparing to celebrate Christmas, must involve self-examinations. Are our paths straight? Are their bumps on the roads of our lives? Are their mountains that we face or valleys we must cross? 

John wants us to do is to examine ourselves so that we might see what keeps us from being in full communion with God. John’s role, by being out in the wilderness, draws our attention away from the busyness of life and refocuses us on what’s important.[6] What crooked ways do we need to straighten, what obstacles do we need to remove?

Now obviously, by ourselves, we can’t move mountains. But God can. If there’s something like a metaphorical mountain blocking us from God, we need to confess and call out for help. We do this trusting God will hear our cries and respond with compassion. 

We need to enter the wilderness

This Advent season, take some time to go into the wilderness, at least metaphorically. Explore the rough places in your lives and see what might need to be done to make room for the coming of God, the coming of a Savior. Are there dark places in your heart which needs to be brought to light and confessed to God in repentance? Are their obstacles that keep you from accepting the gentle loving ways of Christ that need to be removed so that you can be filled with joy? 

Baptism is the symbol of our sins being washed away in Christ. Do you need to be baptized? Or maybe, we all need to rededicate ourselves to the baptism we experienced years ago.

An evening ritual

You know, before falling asleep at night, I try to think of the things for which I’m thankful and include them in my prayers. But there is another side to prayer. Before falling asleep at night, take time to examine your life using Jesus as an example and confess those sins that you realize you’ve committed. And, in in the spirit of the season, if you find you have wronged someone, make a point the next day to apologize. And finally, repent too of those sins you may not uncover and need God’s help in weeding out from your heart. If we truly open ourselves up to Christ, there will be things we may be surprised of our need for repentance. 

Conclusion 

Prepare, for not only has Christ come, but he is also coming again. Are we ready to meet him? Amen.

[1] Luke 2:1-2.

[2] Fred B. Craddock, Luke: Interpretation, A Bible-Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: JKP, 1990), 47.

[3] “To You Is the Song: The 2015 Advent Devotional” published by The Fellowship Community (Louisville, KY), 12.

[4] Scott Hoezee, “Remembering the Future,” Reformed Worship Vo. 57 (September 2000), 7.  

[5] See Matthew 19:30, 20:8, 20:16; Mark 9:35, 10:31; Luke 13:30. 

[6] Norval Geldenhuys, The Gospel of Luke: The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983), 137.

Sunrise in the woods on December 3, 2021

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Meadows of Dan Christmas Parade

Floyd High School Band

Small communities tend to do the best with Christmas parades, and the Meadows of Dan Christmas parade was no exception. The line was long and involved so many people that you would think there wouldn’t be anyone watching. But the street was filled with folks, especially kids with bags as the parade is like Mardi Gras, with people throwing candy (I didn’t see any beads). 

Roger pulls the float into town for the parade
Richard not only helped built the float, he was also the Parade Marshall

Cedar City UT Christmas Parade 1996 (some of those kids now have children as old as they were then)

This year, the good folks at Mayberry Presbyterian Church decided to create a church float. This was a community effort, which I suggested based on something we’d done when I was a pastor in Utah. Shep purchased the 2x4s, most of which he and Richard split into 2x2s. Fred loaned us the trailer. A frame was built with the help of Joey, Mike and Linda, Richard, and Henri. Then Richard and I ran down to a place near Martinsburg, where we were able to obtain the MDF board at $7 a sheet. These we brought back and cut out the windows and doors. A team the consisted of Mike and Linda , Angie and Shep, Richard and Ann painted the rocks and the roof to match the church. Sharon fed us with hot dogs from Jane’s Country Cafe. 

The frame on Fred’s trailer

Painting rocks
Panels drying (notice the real church in the background)

After the panels were try, we screwed the walls and roof to the frame. We taped plastic over the windows, put up a tree inside the church, and taped battery-operated candles onto the windows. 

Steeple Jacks Mona and Norris in front of the float after the parade

At the same time, Norris and Mona were constructing the steeple. If he gets tired of being a financial planner, Norris could have a career as a steeple jack!  We installed the steeple while waiting for the parade to begin, feeling it might be a bit dangerous to drive it the 3 ½ miles to where the parade lined up. We were not sure if the steeple (held on with a few screws) could survived a 45 mile an hour wind.  

For the parade, Roger drove Mike N’s truck, pulling the float. In front of the church, sitting on hay bales, were Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus laying the manger.  Madison and Kegon Played Mary and Joseph with Jesus being played by a Mattel doll. Standing in the seat of the truck, head poked out of the sunroof, was Happy. Dressed as an angel, she harked the coming of the season. She also threw out candy canes with information about our Christmas Eve services and one of the many “legends” of

the candy cane on the back.

Lining up for the parade

The parade was probably two miles long (for a business district that is about two blocks long). Not to be overly proud, but we took first-place. Thanks everyone for your hard work!  (I hope I didn’t forget anyone). 

This year’s Christmas Eve services for the Rock Churches: Bluemont at 4 PM and Mayberry at 6 PM.  There will also be a Christmas Eve program available on our YouTube Channel after 5 PM. If you’re not in our area, please check out the program! Also, if you like it, please like, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.    

Santa waiting to bring up the rear

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Advent 1: The End is Near, But Don’t Worry

Jeff Garrison
Bluemont and Mayberry Presbyterian Church  
Luke 21:25-36
November 28, 2021

Sermon recorded on Friday, November 26, 2021, at Bluemont Church

At the Beginning of Worship

Today we begin our Advent journey: four weeks of preparation for Christ’s coming. Advent is about waiting. During this season we recall the centuries the Israelites longed for a Messiah. It’s also a season in which we are reminded that we, too, wait the return of the Messiah at the end of history. We wait in hope for what is to be. We wait because we know the future will be wonderful, kind of like a kid knowing that Christmas will be incredible when whatever present is the big one that year is found sitting under the tree. 

But there is a trap in such thinking. Yes, it’ll be wonderful to be united for eternity with our Savior, but Jesus wants us to enjoy life, here and now. We’re not to just sit and wait for his return. Let me explain… 

If you haven’t read Marshall Goldsmith, I recommend him. He is one of the world’s leading business gurus and advises leaders of multi-national companies. In one of his books, Goldsmith describes himself as a cultural Buddhist. This means he appreciates Buddhist philosophy but doesn’t practice the religion. He describes what he gains from Buddhism as an antidote to what he labels our “Great Western Disease.” We often think, “I’ll be happy when…” I’ll be happy when I have a million dollars, or a new house, or sports car, or a boat, or a spouse… We’re like me as a boy waiting on Christmas, “I’ll be happy when I find that Daisy BB gun under the tree.” 

Don’t put your happiness into the future

The idea of achieving a goal to bring about happiness puts everything off into the future. Such thinking is very Western. We fixate “on the future at the expense of the present.”[1]

Interestingly, Jesus says similar things about making the most of today and not worrying about the future, especially in his “Sermon on the Mount.”[2] But then, Jesus’ way of thinking wasn’t very Western. As we’ll see in our morning text, Jesus reminds us that the near future may not even be all that nice. But we should have faith and not worry.  

Before Reading the Scripture

We’re exploring a passage from Luke’s gospel today, from the 21stchapter. During this Advent season, I will draw upon the scriptures from the lectionary. 

Let me give you some context. Jesus is finishing up his earthly ministry in Jerusalem. Our passage is the last of Jesus’ public addresses recalled by Luke in his gospel.[3] The setting is the week between what we call Palm Sunday, when Jesus entered Jerusalem, and Good Friday, when he was crucified.  

Jesus and the disciples are on the temple grounds. The chapter opens with Jesus pointing out to the disciples the “widow” giving her mite to the temple treasury. Then he begins to speak about the temple’s forthcoming destruction. This shocked everyone. That structure was strong. I just learned recently that the temple foundation stones Herod used were 40 cubits in length, approximately 60 feet. Can you image moving such rock without modern equipment?[4]

 Yet, approximately 30 years after Jesus spoke these words, when Rome puts down the Jewish Rebellion, the Empire destroys both Jerusalem and the temple. Our passage is an example of eschatological literature. But Jesus uses a near event (the destruction of the temple) to foreshadow a distant event of which we still wait. 

Read Luke 21:20-36.

After the Reading of Scripture


I looked back in my files and found the last time I preach on this text was in December 2012. I’d made a note on this sermon. Five days earlier, I had a surgery to remove and biopsy a cyst from my forehead. The blood for the surgery drained down around my eyes and my cheeks. My right eye was almost swelled shut. I looked like I had gone twelve rounds with George Foreman. I provided the congregation a visual image of what one might look like dealing with the chaos Jesus’ describes. I may not be the best thing to look at in the pulpit, but I look a lot better today than I did that day!  

Worrying about “The End”

“Nothing lasts forever; even the earth and sky will pass away,” Jesus tells us. Only his words will survive. Or, to put it another way, only God is eternal. Of course, we want to know when such things will happen. We’re no different that the disciples. 

Are the things Jesus speaks of in this chapter happening, now? Some will say yes, but that’s nothing new. And yet, Jesus, in other places, is adamant that we’re not to worry about the tomorrow.[5] Furthermore, Jesus teaches that only the Father in Heaven knows when the world will end.[6] What’s going on here? Is Jesus giving us a clue? I don’t think so.

Whenever things start to go bad, people begin predicting the world’s demise. But so far, the world muddles along. Barry McGuire sang about “The Eve of Destruction” in 1965 and with minor tweaks to the lyrics, the song would be just as relevant in 2021 as it was then. Prophets come and go, plagues come and gone, wars and come and go, but so far, the world remains. This doesn’t mean the world we know won’t end, it will; but as for when, we have no idea. And we’re not to worry. 

Avoid those who suggest the end is at hand

Jesus doesn’t want us to worry whether today will be the day. After all, earlier in the chapter, Jesus warns the disciples not to run after those prophets who claim that the time is near.[7] Instead, I think this passage is more pastoral, about how we are to live our lives in the middle of chaos. As disciples, we’re not exempt from suffering the tragedies mentioned. But instead, as Jesus’ said earlier in this chapter, during all this trouble, we are to be Christ’s witnesses.[8]

Know you’re in God’s hands

Jesus begins with the cosmos (the heavens and the earth), then moves to the changing of the seasons, and concludes with words that speak to our hearts. We’re to live knowing that things are in God’s hands and are under control. So, it doesn’t matter if the world ends today or a thousand years from today. God matters, and God has a lot more power and compassion than us. We’re not left to fend for ourselves, but to take hope in the power of a loving God.

Mayor Bob

One of the first individuals I met in Hastings, Michigan, as I was discerning the call to the Presbyterian Church there, was Bob. He was the mayor, and a good man but had never joined a church. We became friends. I think it took Bob five years before he attended a church service, even though we often talked about faith. Slowly, he began attending church and made a profession of faith. Around the same time, he was diagnosed with cancer. 

And then the strangest thing happened. In the months before he died, Mayor Bob ministered to me many times. It was like a role-reversal. I’d visit with Bob, sometimes in the hospital. I tried to help him make sense of things and to remind him of God’s presence despite evidence to the contrary. But Bob accepted what was probably going to happen. He would tell me that he desperately wanted to live. He had things he wanted to do in the city and community. But he also said that it doesn’t matter what happens. It’s going to be okay. If he was given another reprieve from cancer, great! And if not, fine. He’d be in Jesus’ hands. 

What an incredible testimony. It’s one thing to make such a testimony when things go well. But as Jesus reminds us in this passage, things won’t always go well. Bob had the kind of faith Jesus encourages. Do not worry about these things. At some point, in our lives all of us will have such signs. But instead of worrying, we’re to live in the hope that such signs mean our redemption is near. Only someone assured of his or her faith can have that kind of trust.

Don’t try to predict “The End”

People have often tried to interpret when the end will be based on Jesus’ words, but that’s a misinterpretation of what our Savior taught. Jesus taught us to not to worry about tomorrow, not to fear the end, but to live for today.

The danger of fear

Yet people misuse these texts to incite fear. That’s not their purpose. Jesus doesn’t want us to run around afraid. Jesus wants us to be assured when things look bad that God is with us. The 23rd Psalm reminds us that the Lord is with us when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Jesus is not trying to scare us but to assure us when things look bad. 

I had a professor in seminary who spoke about hell-fire sermons. I think the same warning should be made about fearful preaching on these kinds of texts. He said that if we dangle the souls of our congregation over the fires of hell, we may cause more fear than salvation. In this case, our listeners may wind up hating evil more than loving the good. Such teachings result in disciples who don’t necessarily follow Jesus. Instead, they become good haters who miss the whole point of Jesus’ message. Sadly, we see this a lot!

Jesus tells us in this passage that when we see things happen which we can’t explain, we should raise our heads because our redemption is drawing near. We are not to be afraid. Jesus doesn’t say when this will happen, but that it’s getting closer! Time marches on.

The near and distant future

In this passage, Jesus speaks of something that is soon, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Such events were only a three or four decades in the future. They foreshadow the end of history when Jesus returns. So, we live in the in-between season, waiting for our Savior’s return. As one Biblical scholar writes, “The end cannot be prepared for by anticipating and forecasting, but by watchfulness and faithfulness in the present.”[9]

Know by the seasons

We’re now entering the winter season. We’ve had several hard freezes; on Friday morning, the winter wind howled. But we all know that come March there will begin to be signs of springs. In the swamps, even if there is still snow on the ground, skunk cabbage will appear. It’s a unique plant that creates its own heat and can melt enough snow to poke its head above the muck. In other areas, shoots of ramps will appear. Then buds on trees will start popping open and in places the ground will be covered with trillium and mayflowers.

We’ll know then that winter is on its way out and summer is approaching. Jesus says it’s going to be the same way with his coming. So, we “guard our hearts” and avoid trying to ignore the signs by over-indulging ourselves or getting drunk, yet we’re not to worry. Yes, we remain on guard and alert but don’t be frightened. We have hope in the one in control.

Conclusion 

By being alert, but not being overly concerned, our hearts won’t be weighed down. We accept today as a gift from God and rejoice in it, but we also realize that tomorrow will be a gift of God, whether the earth continues, or dissolves. But we’re not to worry, we’re to be concerned for today and that we’re doing what we can to bring God glory.  

Let me end with a question. If God comes back today, what do you want to be doing? The work of a disciple? Or living in fear of what might happen? Amen.  

[1] Marshall Goldsmith, Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It (New York: Hyperion, 2009), 79-80. 

[2] Matthew 6:25ff. 

[3] James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Luke (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 592

[4] Edwards, 593. Josephus gives the measurement of stones of 40 cubits. 

[5] Matthew 6:31-36

[6] Mark 13:32

[7] Luke 21:8

[8] Luke 21:12-19. See Fred B. Craddock, Luke: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990), 244-245. 

[9] Edwards, 610.

Mayberry Church’s float (which took first place in the Meadows of Dan Christmas parade)

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Thanksgiving Day, Mid-1960s

Coffee can in a field behind my grandmother’s house, 2007

I lived in Petersburg, Virginia, during the first three years I was in elementary school. But only one year do I remember having thanksgiving there, with a turkey my father shot while deer hunting on the Nottingway River. The other two years, we headed back to Moore County, North Carolina for Thanksgiving. The song, “Over the hills and through the woods, to grandma’s house we’d go,” played in my head as we drove through the night. We’d leave Wednesday afternoon, after school and after my dad finished work. This way, we were in Pinehurst for Thanksgiving morning and would drive home on Sunday. On one occasion, all the men of Culdee Presbyterian gathered for breakfast and a brief worship service. Perhaps this was designed to keep the men from interfering with things in the kitchen. It may have been the same trip, that all the men at my grandparents’ home went out hunting in the afternoon. My grandfather knew better than to get into my grandmother’s way in the kitchen. 

We gathered in my grandparents’ front yard and crossed Juniper Lake Road, heading back to a field by the foundations of a house long gone. I’d been here many times. Once my uncle took my brother and me to a graveyard out behind where the house once stood. He told us of the folks buried there. Each grave was marked with a metal plaque welded to a metal post and stuck in the ground. I’d seen such markers before, on freshly dug graves in the cemetery by the church. These types of markers would stand until replaced with a tombstone. Larry concocted a story about these folks being too poor to buy any permanent tombstone. It just didn’t right to hunt in a graveyard and I expressed my concern and quickly learned that we’d been duped. There had been no cemetery. My uncle and his friends had collected the grave markers from the trash from the cemetery by the church and created a make-believe graveyard. 

This may have been my Uncle Larry’s first hunt. He was probably twelve or thirteen. I was six or seven. My brother and I were too young to have a gun. There by the old foundation, Dad and my grandfather consulted. Larry would go out point, with his youth model shot gun. My dad with his 12-gauge pump, followed by my brother, skirted the south side of the field, through the sumac. I was glad that I wasn’t going with Dad for I never liked the look of sumac, especially in the fall as the dried black berries drooped down, creating an image for me that would give Freud a field day. I stayed with my grandfather, and we worked the north edge of the field. Granddaddy held his Browning double-barrel with both hands, the gun crossing his chest. I walked in his steps a few feet behind. We skirted along the edge of the sand hill, where the land dropped toward Nick’s Creek. 

Time moved slowly as we crossed the field in anticipation. Rabbits might be hiding in the broomsedge. Quail often concealed themselves under clumps of wire grass. I had flushed out coveys before, when not hunting, and the sudden beating of the birds’ wings as they took to flight made my heart stop. But this time, we were ready, knowing if a covey flushed, it’d be over in a second. Sadly, we found no birds, nor did we see any rabbits. After this field, we headed through woods, under longleaf pines and by blackjack oaks. Like before, we crossed through a few older fields grown up in broomsedge before heading home empty handed. No one had even fired a shot. 

It was late afternoon as we stepped into the house. There, grandma, and mom had just finished preparing our Thanksgiving feast. We finally saw the only bird that mattered that day, a big one, already clean, basted, roasted, and browned. It sat tall in the in the center of the table, surrounded by all kinds of goodies. By the time we were done was just a carcass awaiting the soup pot. 

I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.

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Sin as Idolatry

Jeff Garrison
Bluemont and Mayberry Presbyterian Churches
Deuteronomy 5:1-11
November 21, 2021

Sermon recorded at Mayberry Church on Friday, November 19, 2021. This may be slightly different from the text below.

At the beginning of Worship

Today, as I’ve been doing for the past three weeks, we’re exploring key beliefs of what makes us a part of the Presbyterian and Reformed family. Taking sin seriously is one of these tenets. I am sorry to disappoint you, but when it comes to sin, we’re all guilty. 

Sin as Idolatry

Sin finds its root in idolatry-the substituting of something for God. Sometimes we place ourselves in the position of God, as if we know enough to disregard God’s teachings. Other times, our idols can be our spouse, our parents, our children, our jobs, our politics, our country, or even the institutional church. As good as these other things may be, and they can be very good, they are not an acceptable substitute for God. 

Ulrich Zwingli

As I have done so far in this series, I am linking our topic to a theologian. Today, we’ve prayed prayers written by Ulrich Zwingli, who was the first to reform the churches in Zurich. Zwingli was probably the most radical of the major first-generation reformers.[1] He strove to remove anything that which might be construed an idol. Thisled to a purging of the churches of any artwork. In this manner, the pendulum swung too far. Thankfully, not all art has been lost. 

Zwingli also had strong beliefs concerning the Lord’s Supper, which separates him from both Luther and Calvin. Yet, he was a brilliant theologian who died early. With a short life, he did not have the time to produce the massive volumes of written material as did Calvin and Luther. 

Our text today will be from Deuteronomy 5:1-11

After the reading of Scripture

A salty old sailor sat through a sermon at the Seaman’s mission on the Ten Commandments. Afterwards, he was visibly shaken. “What’s the matter,” another asked. “Well,” he said pondering, “at least I ain’t made no graven images.”

Such is the attitude of many of us today. In these modern times, we often overlook the first couple commandments. The days of manufacturing idols of out metals, wood or clay are all gone, or so we suppose. We’re more sophisticated, or so we think. We don’t believe God resides within an idol and therefore think we are safe from breaking this commandment, but are we? We would do best to realize what Calvin taught. Our hearts can be a factory for idols.[2] An idol isn’t just something made to represent a make-believe deity. 

Three Reasons: #1. Commandment from God

In this passage from the beginning of the Ten Commandments, we’re provided three reasons we’re to have no other gods before the One True God.  First, it’s the Lord who gives this commandment. “I am the Lord,” the sixth verse begins.  As Americans, we don’t tend to like titles like Lord. But understand what is being said here. In ancient times a Lord controlled his lands and those who lived on it. What’s implied here is that God, as Creator, rightful holds the title for the earth. “The world and they who dwell therein” belong to God, the Psalmist proclaims.[3]   

Who is God?

Who is this God? The Confessions of the Presbyterian Church bring together many of the attributes of God found in Scripture. We speak of God as “a Spirit, infinite in being, glory, blessedness and perfection.” God is “all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, all present, almighty, all knowing, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth.”[4]  

When we think about God, it is easy for us to be overwhelmed. As mere creatures, God is beyond our imaginations; therefore, God had to come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. It’s easy when contemplating God to give up and resign ourselves never to be able to fully understand God and therefore drop our quest to know God. 

OUR God

But God, as he lays out his commandments, encourages us. We’re reminded that not only is he Lord, he’s also our God. “I am the Lord, your God,” he says in verse seven.  Not only is God the all-powerful creator, who rightfully claims ownership of Creation, he is also “our God.” God takes the initiative to come to us, to enter into a relationship with us, to be personally involved with us.

Three reasons: #2. Freedom from slavery

The second reason given to us to encourage our compliance with the first commandments is that God led our ancestors out of Egypt. Our Great God, the Creator of all, heard the cries of the Hebrew people as they labored, building pyramids and other sorts of monuments to the rulers of Egypt. 

Today we marvel over their work. We shouldn’t forget that the construction of these ancient wonders was done by the backbreaking labor of an enslaved people. Sadly, the same can be said for our capitol or the White House.[5] But God heard the Hebrew prayers. Over the sound of cracking whips, God listened to their cries, just as he listens to us. Through the leadership of Moses and a host of special effects, God rescued his people. God is not a distant Creator, uninterested in what goes on in the world. Our God listens and answers prayers.

Three Reasons: #3. Out of Bondage

The third reason given for our obeying this commandment is that we were brought out of the house of slavery. The Hebrews were in the wilderness, but Moses reminds them they’re now from Egyptian Slavery. They (and their ancestors) had spent 400 years in bondage. But this isn’t just for them. God can free us all.

Let’s take a bit of liberty with its original meaning and see if we can come up with a meaning for us today. Think of the Exodus event as a model of how God rescues his people. It’s an archetype. With this understanding, we can make this third reason to obey the commandment apply to us personally. We obey because we’ve experienced release from bondage, whatever the form of slavery it might have been. 

Has God helped you kick the smoking habit, beat drugs, get control over alcohol abuse, recover from an accident, a job loss, or a divorce, or regain self-esteem? Regardless of what the issue, if God helps us regain control, we owe him enough not to break this commandment.  

Let God be God and accept the life he offers

Having no other gods mean we let God be God and we trust and depend upon him. God is the giver of life. We need to remember this for whenever we put something between God, and us, we find our lifeline compromised. If you have difficulty breathing and are on oxygen, you want to be careful not to stand on the tubing between you and the oxygen tank. Otherwise, you won’t get the air you need. You might pass out or even die. It’s the same way when we block our access to God through idols.

You may remember the scene in the old comedy, “Airplane,” where a nun on the plane offers to cheer up a girl who is being transported for a life-giving surgery. The nun has a guitar and begins to sing. She really gets into the groove, singing away with the rest of the plane, while she stands on the girl’s oxygen cord. Everyone is having a great time, but the girl struggles to breathe.[6] We’re like that. Sometimes even when trying to do good, we create idols that block us from God. 

God’s will for us is that we draw our life from him and to live abundantly. We don’t want to cut off our supply of his life-giving breath, but we do this anytime we place something between God and us.  

The Second Commandment

The first commandment excludes all other gods. The second commandment forbids any physical representation of either another god or the one true God. At the time the commandments were given, this was a radical departure from the norm. In the Near East, the use of art to depict deities was ubiquitous. Everyone did it. Everyone was into idols. Israel stood alone and offered a new way of looking at God. God is holy and therefore not to be depicted in artwork. 

This doesn’t mean that art is bad. Instead of knowing God through art, God is to be known through our experiences with him. Therefore, the Exodus event becomes so important for the Hebrew people. Through this deliverance, they encountered the living God, whose reality can be described, and then only partially, with language.[7]  

God, in the Second Commandment, goes to great lengths to stress the importance of not having idols: God insists that idols cannot be in any form, whether it comes from the heavens, the earth or the waters. Birds, animals, and fish are all off limits. God is the creator, not the creature. God is the artist, not the subject of art. God doesn’t want to be objectified, for if we can objectify God, we will think we can handle him. Ours is a God that’s too hot to handle. 

God and Idols

Why does God get so upset over idols? I certainly don’t think God is threatened by our misguided actions. God has power over all other make-believe gods, as shown by Elijah with the priests of Baal.[8]There is no danger of God losing his position to one of our idols. Instead of God taking this personally and being upset, God is concerned for our well-being. As a component of our created being, there is a restlessness, a longing, an emptiness within us which we try to fill. God created us this way so that we might see the need to have him fill our restless desire to worship something beyond ourselves. But God wants us to come freely, which means that we will also be tempted to create our own substitute for God. All of us have this desire for fulfillment; idolatry is when we try to satisfy it with something that is less than God.[9]   

Idols are impotent; they are without power, and they provide us nothing except empty promises. Idols rob us of the power we have within ourselves and from God through the Holy Spirit.[10] Our idolatry has gotten more sophisticated; we’ve long given up on the golden calf and little miniature statues of Artemis so dear to the Ephesians.[11] But are we putting our trust in God, or in something else?  

The Incarnation

Surely this commandment means that we are not to depict God in any creaturely way. But as Christians, we acknowledge that 1400 years after the commandments were given, God came to us as a man. We need to understand these commandments in the light of the incarnation. In other words, God himself chose to relate to us in a way we can understand. 

Yet, it’s interesting that we’re not given a physical description of Jesus in the New Testament. The mystery of what God looks like continues! Instead, we’re told that we will meet him when we reach out to someone in need and that we’ll feel his presence when two or more are gathered in his name.[12] God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ means we should not worship a picture, even if we had one of Jesus. 

However, the incarnation gives us a better understanding of the nature of the God we worship and adore. Through Christ, we can have a more personal relationship with God, which is what God wants and we need. Think of it this way, you can’t have a relationship with a piece of art; you can only have such a relationship with the living God. Worship the Lord with all your heart and mind, body and soul. Keep God in the forefront of your lives. And honor God by not using his name in vain. Amen. 

[1] Certainly, Zwingli was more radical than Luther and others within the Reformed Tradition. But other minor reformers, such as Thomas Muntzer, a leading figure in the Peasant Revolt and a major figure within the early Anabaptist movement, would have been even more radical. 

[2] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Faith 

[3] Psalm 98:7, KJV.

[4] Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 7.

[5] In the case of these, the government didn’t own slaves, but the contractors who built the buildings did. See https://www.whitehousehistory.org/did-slaves-build-the-white-house

[6] Airplane,

produced by Paramount Pictures and released in 1980.

[7] Duane L. Christensen, Deuteronomy 1:1-21:9, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 114.

[8] 1 Kings 18:20-40

[9] cf, Ronald Rolheiser, The Holy Longing: The Search for A Christian Spirituality (NY: Doubleday, 1999), 3-5.

[10] Joy Davidman, Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments in terms of today (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1963), 38-39.

[11] Acts 19:23ff.

[12] See Matthew 18:20, 25:40.

Worship on the Isle of Iona, Scotland

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The Death of Politics, A Review

Over the past few years, I have been concerned on the lack of civility in our public lives. We see it in politics, in grocery stores, and on the highways. Before COVID, I was activity attempting to foster conversation about civility. It’s needed in our world. Because of my interest, a parishioner in one of my churches gave me this book.

Peter Wehner, The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump (New York: HarperCollins, 2019), 264 pages including notes.

The death of politics sounds like a good idea. But is it? Politics is how we work out our differences without resorting to violence. If politics dies, so does our democratic society. 

Peter Wehner is a life-long Republican and a conservative who served in Reagan’s and both Bush’s Presidential administrations. He’s concerned over the current state of our political discourse, believing that we are on a dangerous road. We look with contempt at those with whom we disagree. We despite politics when we don’t get our way. We’re angry. Many people have lost hope in the political process to help guide us peacefully out of this situation. In this book, Wehner begins discussing how we’ve gotten into such a position as a society. While he was concerned over Donald Trump, Wehner acknowledges this slip has been going on in America at least since Vietnam. What gave Trump his power was his ability to harness such negative energy. 

This is not really a book about Trump. Wehner’s concerns are much deeper. He begins with a discussion on how politics is a noble calling. Then he delves into how we found ourselves into a position where we hold politics in disdain. Before offering suggestions on how to make things better, Wehner provides a civil lesson in how politics should work. He draws on the political insights of Aristotle, John Locke, and Abraham Lincoln. As a conservative, he also pulls ideas from the British statesman, Edmund Burke, along with many Americans conservatives, especially Reagan and William Buckley. 

My favorite part of the book are the middle chapters (4 and 5), titled “Politics and Faith” and “Words Matter.” While Separation of Church and State is enshrined in the Constitution, America is fundamentally a religious country. The founders of our nation, while wanting to keep the church and state separate, “argued that religion was essential in providing a moral basis for a free society” (66).  Wehner builds upon the Biblical foundation that we’re all created in God’s image. Recalling the words of Martin Luther King, Jr, he reminds that church that it is not the master nor the servant of the state, “but the conscience of the state” (88). He is very critical of many within the evangelical circles and of Trump. He suggests that Trump’s morality is more Nietzschean than Christian and that many evangelicals are “doing more damage to the Christian witness than the so-called ‘New Atheists’ ever could” (80-81). 

Wehner ends the chapter with four suggestions for Christians in today’s political climate: 1. Begin with Jesus, with what he taught and the example he modeled. 2. Articulate a coherent vision of politics, informed by a “Christian moral vision of justice and the common good.” 3. Model “moving from anger to understanding, from revenge toward reconciliation, from grievance toward gratitude, and from fear toward trust and love.” And finally, 4., “treat all people as ‘neighbors they are to love (86ff).’”  Interestingly, in his acknowledgements, he thanked Philip Yancey (whose memoir I reviewed a few weeks ago) for helping him with this chapter. 

Chapter five, on words, he begins recalling many of John Kennedy’s speeches. As a student of politics, even though a Republican, he noted the eloquence of Kennedy’s style that launch a decade in which America made great gains ending up on the moon. It is interesting, too, how Presidents tend to be remembered by their words more than their policies, of which he provides examples across political spectrum and ages. Drawing from David Reynold’s book, Mightier than the Sword, which looked at the impact of Harriett Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin on changing the discourse over slavery in America, Wehner makes the case that words can help move a society in a more noble manner.

Wehner also shows how words and rhetoric can be misused. Here, he primarily focuses on how words can help foster racial biases toward others. He also notes our tendency toward “confirmation bias,” where we tend to listen and read only that which confirms our own prejudices. He is critical with how words are used as weapons, and how truth no longer matters as long “our side” wins. Wehner suggests as an antidote to our bias, that we read widely. He ends this chapter drawing from the English author, “George Orwell, especially his essay “Politics and the English Language.” He suggests that reclaiming language is necessary for us to reclaim politics (139). 

In chapter 6, Wehner turns to the topic of moderation, compromise, and civility. Here he begins to offer more suggestions with how we might live together peacefully despite our differences. The goal of society is not to have everyone think the same, but to allow people coexistence. Drawing upon the ideas of James Madison, he recalls how the founders of our constitution understood humanity as flawed but also capable of virtue and self-government. Sadly, he sees our current situation as pushing us in the opposite direction, toward alienation from one another. To reverse direction, we need the constitution’s system of checks and balances to work. He makes a case for moderation to temper the populist anger that judges others to be “evil and irredeemable” (151). Moderation understands the complexity of our world and “distrusts utopian visions and simple solutions” (153). When we are moderate in our ideas, we are willing to compromise (which isn’t a bad word, but how we settle differences). Finally, we need to be civil toward one another. Here, Wehner draws from his faith, quoting the Apostle Paul advice to the Colossians, “Let your conversations be always full of grace…” and from his “fruits of the Spirit” which he encouraged the Galatians to demonstrate in their lives (163). 

While Wehner encourages citizens to support candidates for office who model moderation, compromise, and civility, he also realizes that the anger within society has often been fueled by outside sources. He calls for a blockage of foreign web bot sites that spreads false information and encourage civil unrest. Organizations like “Better Angels” and “Speak Your Peace”, as well as columnists like David Brooks and Yuval Levin are offered as good examples that will lead us to a more civil society.  

In his final chapter, Wehner makes the case for hope. He reminds Americans of the social regression between 1960 and 1990, which saw a 500% increase in violent crimes, 400% increase in out of wedlock births, increase in children on welfare, teenage suicide, and divorce. But then, things started to improve, with a decrease in these areas. But we’ve forgotten how things should work.  He chides conservatives for focusing only on the cost of government and not on its effectiveness. Wehner also acknowledges his own failures within George W Bush’s administration in relation to Iraq, admitting that they were wrong in their assumptions. He also admits that its easier for him to be a “Monday morning quarterback” and to critique from the outside than the inside. Finally, he encourages us to care enough to act and to move beyond our current “bread and circus” style of government. 

One of the keys in being civil, which Wehner recognizes, is that it must come internally. Civility won’t be achieved with conservatives demanding it of liberals, or liberals demanding it from conservatives. Instead, we all must realize that more is at stake. The soul of our nation is in danger. What can we do as individuals to help change the tenor of the political conversation? Those of us who are followers of Jesus should be at the forefront in displaying civility. I encourage others to read this book.  

My review of other books of similar interest:

P. M. Forni, The Civility Solution: What To Do When People are Rude

Ben Sasse, Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal

W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking, LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

Arthur Brooks, Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America

John Kasich, It’s Up to Us: Ten Little Ways We Can Bring About Big Change

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Romans 8: Election and Augustine

Jeff Garrison
Bluemont and Mayberry Churches
November 14, 2021
Romans 8:18-30

Recorded at Bluemont Church on Friday, November 12, 2021

At the beginning of worship

I am continuing to review the theology that makes us Presbyterian and a part of that body within Christ’s church known as Reformed. Today, the topic is election. No, I am not talking about what we did a two Tuesdays ago. I’m talking about the only election that manners in eternity: God voting for us. 

Election

Election is another name for predestination—a belief that God is in control and knows how things are going. As one theologian writes, “In prosperity and in adversity, God is for us, in us, and with us. This conviction is… a mystery to be experienced by the faithful.”[1] Election is a mystery and a source of our comfort. We hear an echo of this when Jesus says: “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”[2]

Augustine of Hippo

As I have done with this series, I am attaching a theologian to this doctrine. Augustine is today’s mystery theologian.[3] He lived in North Africa in the late fourth and early fifth century. He’s considered the most influential theologian from the early church; therefore, it’s important we know something about him. His father was pagan and his mother a Christian. A scholar early in life, he lusted after women and enjoyed parties. Much to his mother’s dismay, he kept a mistress. During his first thirty years, he certainly didn’t appear to be on the road to sainthood. But that changed!

A mother’s prayer

Augustine had a mother who continually prayed for him. Any of you who mothers wonder if your prayers for your children do any good? Draw inspiration from Augustine. Thanks to his mom’s prayers, along with the work of a theologian named Ambrose, and more importantly the work of the Holy Spirit, Augustine discovered Christ. At the age of thirty, he put aside his wild ways and focused his attention on the church.

Encounter with Pelagius

During Augustine’s ministry, the Roman world collapsed. The church found itself attacked by left-over pagans, who blamed this chaos on Rome abandoning the gods of old. The church also found itself attacked internally. Many Romans flooded to North Africa as refugees. Among these refugees was the English theologian Pelagius. His writings have not survived so his teachings can only be reconstructed by the response of his opponents. It appears he questioned the doctrine of Original Sin and held that people could, by our God-given will, accept Christ, make the necessary changes, and be saved. So, Augustine had two battles—one with those outside the church and one with a sect within the church. In his answer to Pelagius, he expands the doctrine of election (or predestination), a doctrine from which he borrows heavily from the Apostle Paul.  

Today’s sermon will be taken from the eighth chapter of Romans. This is a comforting passage. Ultimately, for Augustine and Calvin and Paul, election or predestination is a doctrine of comfort. 

Read Romans 8:18-30                                  

After Scripture Reading

Election and Fate

Two of my favorite theologians are Frank and Ernest (from the comic strips). Ernest asks Frank if he believed in fate. “Sure,” Frank says, “I’d hate to think I turned out like this because of something I had control over!”

In the last 200 years, predestination has taken a bad rap. Some equate predestination to fate, but that misses the point. Predestination is a part of Christian Theology which says that God is all powerful and is in control of the world and because of this, God knows what will happen and is working to bring out good in all things. 

Mortal danger of freedom

Of course, this type of thought doesn’t seem to allow much room for “free will.” And we, especially us Americans, like to think of ourselves as free… We only need to look from a Biblical perspective to see what freedom does for us. (I can take a bit of that apple[4]) It draws us deeper into sin. So, if we are to have any chance at salvation, God must be in control… God, not us, is the author of salvation. The only safe kind of freedom we find comes from us willingly becoming a servant of Christ.

An analogy

One analogy that attempts to explain this imagines the world as one giant supermarket—think of one of the larger stores in Mt. Airy or Christiansburg. We’re all inside shopping and are freed to pick the items that we can reach and place them into our carts. Some of these items are good for us like spinach and celery. We are also able to pick up things that aren’t so good like highly processed foods loaded with sugars and fats. But God is with us and guides us and, when we’re not looking, adds things to our cart from up on the top shelves, where we can’t reach, like salvation. We think we’re in control, but are we really?[5]

We Presbyterians have often been characterized as believing in an elitist form of predestination. I believe this is generally because most people perceive this doctrine on the same level as Frank in the comic strip. They see predestination as fate, as a crutch. If I am predestined to be saved, I don’t have to worry about anything and if I am not predestined, then I cannot do anything to change my fate anyway… This maybe how the average person understands this doctrine, but it’s not totally correct.

Our call to share God’s word of comfort to everyone

Our Confessions challenge such thinking as foolish. We are to teach everyone God’s word in the hope that they might repent.[6] This is part of our calling as a Christian. The doctrine of predestination is a doctrine of comfort for those who are saved, yet still suffer. It is not a doctrine designed to lead people to Christ. To perceive predestination only within salvation is to misunderstand it.

Predestination in Scripture

Before I go too far, I would like to clear up one basic misunderstanding concerning predestination. This is not only a “Presbyterian” doctrine, regardless of what the followers of Wesley might say. The concept was clearly presented by Augustine in the early church. His writings influenced both Calvin and Luther, but all three were deeply inspired by Scripture. Paul writes that we have been “chosen before the foundations of the world”, and that “from the beginning, God has chosen us to be saved.”[7] In the Old Testament, the Lord tells Jeremiah God knew him in his mother’s womb.[8]

Mystery

I do not believe we can have a theology which takes sin and the power and providence of God seriously without having a doctrine of election. However, this is a part of the counsel of God. We will never fully understand it. As with much with God, it’s a mystery.[9] But it’s also a hopeful concept firmly grounded in our belief that God works in the world to bring things around for the best.  

A simplified view of salvation

At the risk of over simplifying, I will summarize our theology into four basic parts: First, we are sinners. Paul makes an extended effort in Romans to emphasize this.[10] Second, God still loves us as shown in the life of Jesus. Third, God’s Spirit gives us the power to respond to this love and frees us from our bondage to sin. And finally, we respond to God’s love with praise and worship, as we dedicate our lives to God.

If you followed this, you see that our salvation is God’s doing. Once we accept God’s love, once we accept Jesus as Lord, we then respond by working to bring God further glory within our lives. For a Christian, our work and ethics grows out of our response to God. They are not an attempt to earn God’s favor, for God has already freely loved us. Predestination then, is not something terrible. Instead, it is a comforting mystery. We know God is working things out for the best.  

What do we make of our suffering?

Paul ties predestination with human suffering and misery. Paul does not diminish the suffering which Christians and all humanity experience in life. We suffer from illness and accidents, from broken hearts and back-stabbing friends, and from other people prejudices and our own missed opportunities. Life can be painful, and Paul does not deny it. Instead, he points out that all of creation is longing for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Creation, which was cursed along with Adam, Eve and the snake, longs for the new day when decay will be no more.[11]

Our hope

All creation and humanity share in the hope. We share together in their quest for a better world, one we cannot conceive but trust that the pain known here will be removed.[12] But we are in a transition period in which sin and hurt still prevail… To comfort us in the interim, God’s Spirit is present. Paul even writes that we cannot pray properly, so the Spirit intercedes on our behalf. Think of this: God even helps us pray, which is kind of like God dropping goodies into our grocery basket!

When you think of predestination, don’t be concerned with loss of freedom. Instead, focus on God’s kingdom and how we glorify God in our lives.[13] We must understand what God has done in our lives; knowing that even when things seem messed up, God is there beside us; and that the future belongs to God, and it will be glorious.

Comfort and Assurance

There are two basic things which come out of our theology. First is a comfort God’s providence. We know that God is in control, and we trust in God’s judgment. We do not have to worry and work ourselves to death trying to prove to God, and to others, that we are good… And once we understand that our salvation is grounded in God as revealed in Jesus Christ, we are freed to praise and worship God out of gratitude rather than fear. And we can reach out and love and serve others, not because we need the extra brownie points to get into heaven, but because God loved us first and has given us the capacity to love others.

Romans 8 teaches us to trust God

What can we take from this passage? If we are in God’s hands, we’re going to be okay, regardless. God has the future under control. Don’t worry about it; instead, accept this gift of grace and strive to live a life pleasing to God, knowing that the Almighty has got your backside covered.  Yes, there will still be suffering, but that, too, one day, will come to an end. Until then, glorify and enjoy God and that which God has given. 

Conclusion

Yes, predestination is a Presbyterian doctrine. But it is not the cornerstone of our beliefs. Instead, our theology is built upon a belief in an all-powerful and loving God who is in control of the world and of our future. God created us and through Jesus Christ, promises us new life. Only such a God can save us. To God be the glory!  Amen.  

Mia on a walk (isn’t that a happy face)

[1] Andrew Purves and Charles Partee, Encountering God: Christian Faith in Turbulent Time (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 2000), 

[2] John 15:16.

[3] For a biography of Augustine, see Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967).  Much of the information about Augustine’s life I refreshed my memory with his entry in The Westminster Dictionary of Church History, Jerald C. Brauer, editor (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1971), 72-74.

[4] Tradition holds that fruit that Eve ate in Genesis 3:6 is an apple. The Scriptures doesn’t identity the type of fruit.

[5] Partee and Purvis, 110.

[6] See Presbyterian Church USA, Book of Confession, Second Helvetic Confession, 5.057.

[7] Ephesians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13

[8] Jeremiah 1:5

[9] Presbyterian Church USA, Book of Confessions, Westminster Confession of Faith, 6.021.

[10] Paul uses the first five chapters in Romans to build the case of our sinfulness.

[11] Genesis 3:14–19

[12] Revelation 21:1-4.

[13] Presbyterian Church USA, Book of Confession, Westminster Shorter Catechism, 7.001.