Grand Canyon Moon - Darkness does not overcome light

I took this unedited smartphone image long after sunset last month.

We were standing on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, facing a brisk, chilly wind.

The joke was on us, in a way. 

 
Friends and fellow travelers had gushed about the incredible display of stars to be seen at the canyon. "You'll see the Milky Way and constellations like you've never seen them before!"

The truth is, we've enjoying star gazing in the "pitch dark" on many occasions. Camping, hiking in other national parks where there is no ambient light. Yosemite, Rocky Mountain, Tetons, Yellowstone, Badlands....as well as canoe trips in the Ontario Boundary Waters.

But my bride and I were all-in to see the Canyon's stars. Despite the gusty breeze, we meandered along the rim until we found a suitable vista point and clambered out of the car.

Except...this is what we saw! The full moon was SO bright that it actually lit up the canyon and cast shadows! It was dazzling.  Star gazing - and the Milky Way - we're not on our Grand Canyon agenda for this trip.

We also live in a dark cultural moment.

It feels oppressive to me at times. Millions of people are literally shouting down our faith in God. Others work stealthily behind the scenes and undermine rational thought about what our children should learn. "My truth," takes precedence over Jesus' Truth, ("I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." John 14:6). So many lost and unfortunate people have used darkness of night for property destruction and callous, nonchalant violence against their neighbors.

Jesus is the Light.

If the Grand Canyon were the deepest, darkest, most oppressive cultural moment before us, then Jesus is the spectacularly moonlit night. He transcends all darkness. A Light so bright that we are able to better see and understand what lurks in the shadows, what fears to face the Son of God.

John 1:5
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

John 8:12
"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The Light of life can overcome - and overwhelm with God's love - the empty, fruitless darkness.

2Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Can you shine that Light over this way please...?

What do you believe?

Same view of heaven - 13 centuries later !

It's probably happened to you, too. Somebody is so familiar with a piece of equipment or a recipe that they can walk you through it over the phone - it's almost like you're both right there, seeing it together.

Our new furnace was acting up a couple months ago. The on-call technician offered to help me trouble shoot it over the phone. He told me which panel screws to remove and where to look for an indicator light. The blinking light would give us an indication of the malfunction. At first, I didn't see any light and told him so. "Try looking a little lower on the panel," he suggested, "you have to look under the blower motor." Sure enough, just as he anticipated over the phone, I bent a knee and immediately saw the light - like we were both there.

Pretty slick use of technology for two people using the phone at the same time. But what if two people were to similarly describe the same scene, separated by centuries of time - about a place no other people had seen, where supernatural beings dwell. Now that would be...transcendent!

That's what our faith group came upon at bible study some weeks back. 

The prophet Isaiah described his revelation from God around the year 700 B.C. In part, Isaiah wrote to warn the people of Judah to expect exile to Babylon. The exile indeed came to pass 100 years later. In one of his prophetic visions, Isaiah said, Isaiah 6: 1-3

"I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.” 

The Bible is filled with prophetic visions from God. It's easy - and tempting - for me to sometimes gloss over these mysterious words and read on to more easily understood "reality."

But another person from our faith group caught a gem of detail I'd missed (this is why we need to study with the community of believers, we learn so much more together!). 

Looking ahead to the end of the first century, 800 years after Isaiah... the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation. My wife and I visited the Island of Patmos (photo) where John experienced and documented the revelation he received from God. It's a real place, right there in the Aegean Sea, not all that far from Ephesus, Turkey. John had been in the company of Jesus Christ during his ministry. In Revelation 4:2-8, John recalls:

"Im­me­di­ately I was in the Spirit; and be­hold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne....Be­fore the throne there was a sea of glass, like crys­tal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four liv­ing crea­tures full of eyes in front and in back. 

The first liv­ing crea­ture was like a lion, the sec­ond liv­ing crea­ture like a calf, the third liv­ing crea­ture had a face like a man, and the fourth liv­ing crea­ture was like a fly­ing eagle. 

The four liv­ing crea­tures, each hav­ing six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, say­ing:

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,

Who was and is and is to come!”

Both prophets saw the sovereign Lord on his throne, and both saw the company of special angels, the Seraphim; with six distinctive wings and both heard continuous streams of praise,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!

As my study friend astutely noted..It's as though both prophets were given a window to the same scene, the very dwelling of God himself. And within the limitations of human description, they both clearly discerned that the Lord was exalted and praised. This wasn't abstract art or flowery prose, they both saw what God revealed to them in real time. More like FaceTime or Zoom, then a mere telephone call with your repair technician, like....they were both there.

It's easy to wave this off as a parlor trick or purely symbolic in a way common to apocalyptic literature. And who's to say that John didn't copycat the idea from Isaiah? And why/how did John offer so much more detail about the scene than Isaiah? 

But prophets did not, and could not lie or misrepresent their intent. The penalty for that was death (Deuteronomy 18:20). Like anything in the Bible, I approach it with the faith it is due - a reliable historic and Holy Spirit-inspired account of God's intent. 

God's purpose isn't to confuse or complicate matters for us. I go with Isaiah and John on this one. I believe they glimpsed the real deal. What an amazing - and eternal - time of joyful worship is still before us.

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. Who was, and is, and is to come.

What do you believe?

It's not fair - I paid my college debt, why not you?

 This isn't really about college loans, but...as I write this, there are suddenly thousands of people from most political and religious persuasions who seemingly agree on a single, controversial topic.  

Topic for debate: People should remain responsible for repayment of their personal college loans.

The current government administration has signaled their intent to "forgive" the repayment of existing student loans. Financially, it's a staggering number. The public response has been swift and visceral. The basic gist of it, without taking a side:

1. Great! I'm happy to have my loan burden eliminated. I accept.
2. Not fair! I carefully budgeted, lived within my means and repaid my school loans in full. Why should anyone else do less?
3. Not fair! I actually "downsized" my own choice of schools to match what I could afford - I would have gladly attended a more expensive school knowing you'd cancel the debt!
4. Not fair!  I never attended college, never accrued any debt and now that "cancelled" debt will actually be "paid" by all taxpayers - including me. Maybe I would have attended college, maybe not, but I never had the luxury to consider "no-pay" loans.
5. Not fair!  There's plenty of debt besides college loans. What about mortgages and small business loans...can we "forgive' those and have taxpayers pay off my debt as well.               

Enough about that, I promised. 

Isn't it interesting though, how these "not fair" phrases and examples have suddenly come to life?   

A related term, "personal accountability" had fallen from grace in recent years. Many cultural debates berated "personal accountability" use as lacking situational empathy. Judgmental. Insensitive. Tone-deaf. 

But in truth, most people who find unilateral college loan forgiveness to be unfair, also believe the accountable parties - those persons with the loans - should pay. Persons and accountability. 

Personal accountability.

It's back, for now. At least for one subject, one news cycle.

"Personal accountability" has also been at odds with Christianity. 

Christians believe there is supernatural peace, joy, hope and love through faith in Jesus Christ. Even eternal life. But why Jesus, what was his purpose? He came with mercy, for the forgiveness of our sins - for all of us, all of our sins.  He asked one thing, that we acknowledge our sinful ways - turn from them - and then follow Him. "Repent and believe," Jesus said.  Mark 1:15

I can hear it now, though...Hold on there, tiger! That sounds a whole lot like "personal accountability." In order for me to acknowledge sin in my life, you have to presuppose that there is a definable "right and wrong." And maybe I believe "my truth" might be independent of some of what you call, "sin." So, what I intend to do is 'follow' Jesus for some of the wonderful philosophy he imparted and 'work around' the parts that would disrupt my day-to-day lifestyle. I can't be measured against things I don't believe.

But...that's not fair. 

Colossians 3:25 "For the one who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.

 

What do you believe?

Tell your little brother you're sorry!

 "Tell your brother that you're sorry!"

Two of our grandsons are rough and tumble toddlers.

No surprise when one runs over to us crying and pointing at the other.

"What happened, what did your brother do?"

Took my toy, pushed me, didn't let me take my turn, ate my cookie...you can add more.

They're toddlers, but we (and their parents) try to find learning moments in the midst of the usual brotherly tussles.

"Shouldn't you tell your brother that you're sorry?"

"I'm sorry."

The words pour right out of the guilty party, despite downcast eyes or a fidgety foot; more anxious to get back in action than to stand on circumstance,

"Not me, Grandson, you need to tell your brother!"

That does not come as easily. There is an unspoken reluctance, even at this toddler age, to acknowledge their behavior to the aggrieved party. Playtime even grinds to a halt if the apology is not forthcoming. "Tell your brother, you're sorry..." And sometimes we wait while that little toddler fidgets - no less than we do when it's our turn to admit we're wrong. 

The Grandparent in me holds back a smile, but I'm also transported back to my first job as a playground supervisor. We would step between two battling youngsters and break it up. "I don't know who's at fault here, but I want you both to shake hands. Go on, shake hands...now get back out there and play."

Amazing how that unilateral intervention could mend fences. Even if the actual facts of the fight hadn't been addressed, there was an inroad to reconciliation.

What can we learn about our fence mending with God?  Most of the sins we commit affect our relationship with God in addition to anyone we've hurt. "Lord, I am so sorry," I rightly pray, much more often than I would like to tell you.  "And...?" I sometimes sense God prompting me in His supernatural way...

And, I need to return to the scene of my sin. The friend I was rude to. The cousin I neglected. The neighbor I could have encouraged more. "I'm sorry, and I can do better." It's harder to say than it should be.  James 5:16   "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed"

It's healthy and healing to admit our transgressions (sins) against God's direct instructions. He needs to know that we know what he knows. Selfishness, pride, greed, laziness.  Some church's call it confession. The Bible speaks of it as being "reconciled" to God.  

2Corinthians chapter 5,

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation."  

That's the good news, that we will be reconciled - made right through faith in Jesus -  with God. But you still have to shake hands and look sin in the eye:

Jesus said, "Repent and believe the Good News." Mark 1;15.   Repent means: Don't just go back out and play - take a time out to tell God you're sorry, and be specific. It's more than that you believe in Him or that you have faith in Jesus. Tell Him why you're sorry for your sins - and that you understand what you are turning from. That is the "repent" part of Jesus' instructions. Repent - and believe.

We probably all have some additional reading and musing to do. "How do I know what sin is? What is a transgression against my neighbor or against God?  For what must I acknowledge that I am sorry? Why do I need reconciling to God?

God loves you!   He's provided a way to reconciliation (mercy and forgiveness) through faith in Jesus -- and he's detailed how we need best turn from things that the world believes are just fine. I encourage you to read through (and share) the Gospel's and Paul's letters of the New Testament. I'm always challenged and encouraged to do better as I read God's insights.

Now, shake hands - be reconciled -  and get back out there.   What do you believe?