Dead, Being Alone

James 2:17-18

Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Here, in these writings, I try to explore the deepest mysteries of life, seeking answers to the everlasting questions rising up from the human heart.  Nothing that I write here is disingenuous.  I love truth too much to write about anything other than what I honestly believe.  Here, in words that I have chosen, I lay out my faith, inviting others to share with me what God has given.  If there is deep and eternal truth expressed through any my words, it is the truth that comes from eternity, from the Source of all Being and the Source of all Grace.  Being human, I am but a reflection of that truth.  Created in God's image, I reflect.

 

If the faith about which I write is true faith, honestly my own faith, than I will not only reflect upon the truth in my mind and heart with words, but I will also reflect the truth out into the world with my whole self.  Actions speak in ways that mere words cannot.  My deepest desire is to love Truth Itself, Beauty Itself, Love Itself, and so, to love God – to love God with all my heart and with all my soul, with all my mind and with all my strength.  Christ pleads with me from the Cross, begs me to be like unto him, to love as he loves – utterly and completely.  What am I willing to give, what am I willing to do, for the sake of love, for the sake of my beloved?  I should be willing to thirst… to be fatigued, to even be in agony if that’s what it takes in order to truly love.[i]

 

How do I love?  The poor are among us, all around us: the blind who need help in order to see, the deaf who need help in order to hear, the immobile who need help in order to move.[ii]  There are strangers to be welcomed and outcasts to be forgiven; there are wounded to be healed and sick to be cared for; there are hungry to feed and homeless to shelter; and there are those who find themselves imprisoned – by crimes of their own doing, by addictions, mental illnesses, or by loneliness – who need to be visited.  Do I take the time and effort to go out of my own way to help my fellow human beings in need?  Too often, I’m afraid, my answer is no.  Many times I won’t even go out of my own way to be of assistance to my loved ones who are struggling right next to me, because I think that they deserve to suffer a little for some offense that I’m holding against them.  In those times, am I not seeing splinters in the eyes of others while being oblivious to the beam in my own?[iii] 

 

And if I won’t get out of my own way in order to take action and help someone in need, then I will never put myself in Christ’s way.  I will never find myself on the road upon which he walks, so that I may ask for what he wills and receive his blessing -- and thank him.[iv]  When I pass from this life and hope to step into the next, I might call out to Christ and say, “Lord, Lord!”  But he may say to me in response, “I never knew you[v]… For I was hungry and you didn’t feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink, I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, a stranger and you didn’t welcome me, sick and you didn’t care for me, in prison and you didn’t visit me.”[vi]  And, oh, the deep, painful sorrow I will feel cutting into my heart... for then I will suddenly recognize all the opportunities that I had in my earthly life to meet Christ face-to-face, to be with him and to love him tenderly, generously, selflessly, with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength... and I did nothing.

 

Forgive me, my Lord, for all the times that I have forsaken you!  For all those lazy, callous and spiteful moments in my life when I took no action to help you in your struggles.  I, personally, am not physically strong, like Simon of Cyrene[vii], to be able to hold you up bodily – but I do have enough ability, like a Veronica, to wipe your eyes and provide a moment’s soothing.  I can go out of my own way and find you on the road that you travel – on my street, in my community, in my own home – and hold you gently, lovingly, with all that I have and all that I am.  Help me, Lord, so that my faith is not dead and alone, but living truly and fully with you – for you, everywhere that you are.

 

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[i] John 19:28, John 4:6, Luke 22:44

[ii] Mark 14:7, Matthew 9:35

[iii] Mat 7:3

[iv] Mat 8:2-3, Luke 17: 11-16

[v] Mat 7:22, Luke 6:46

[vi] Mat 25:34-46

[vii] Luke 23:26

Setteth Him On a Pinnacle

Matthew 4:5-7

5.    Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

6.    And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

7.    Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

How tempting is it to ask for a sign?  “Lord, if you are really all-powerful, and if you truly love me, then please protect me from harm.”  And when harm comes upon us, we may wonder what we did wrong or why we bother believing in miracles, which we start thinking of as fairy tales. We may doubt the very existence of a loving, omnipotent God.  It’s not like we asked for a large sum of cash or something likewise self-indulgent.  We simply asked that God keep us, His beloved ones, safe.  Isn’t that what a loving father would do and isn’t God supposed to be our Loving Father?

 

I remember when I started the first grade of school.  Because I was wheelchair-bound, I was different than the other kids and more dependent.  I was used to my family members being close by my side and now I would have to spend the whole day without them.  My father was able to take some time from work to ease me into the change.  He came with me the first couple of days of school – there, but not too nearby.  Then, it came time for him to leave me.  It was very difficult for me, I remember being with him and the principal in her office and crying and crying.  I didn’t want him to leave.  I didn’t want to be there all day without anyone that I loved.  I was scared and suffering… But he didn’t stay.  My father left me there.

 

And, of course, he should have.  My father did exactly the right thing, what was truly best for me.  It didn’t take me too long to make friends and, soon, I felt very much at ease in school and liked being there.  Being a child, I had felt that harm had come upon me, something too difficult for me to bear.  But, being more mature than I, my dad was willing to let me suffer because, ultimately, that suffering would lead to something really good for me, something that I would truly enjoy and for which I would be grateful.  He saw something that I, at the time, couldn’t see.  Although I wept for the situation to change, and he had the power, he did not grant me the change – precisely because he loved me.

 

If there is such a difference between what a child sees and what an adult sees, imagine the difference between what a limited human being sees and what infinite, omniscient God sees.  Although the illness that we are suffering may seem too difficult to bear and we weep and beg for it to change, God may not grant the change but, rather, allow the illness and the suffering that goes with it, knowing that, through this situation, we will be able to receive something good, something truly wonderful that we will enjoy and for which we will be grateful.  I know that, for me, this can be extremely hard to fathom sometimes.    As God Godself lies beyond the grasp of my physical senses, I may become overwhelmed by my sensations of pain and grief and doubt whether God even exists.  For my mind might think, surely, if God was real and really loved me, He would relieve my suffering now and get me out of this terrible situation.  Doubt and fear will beset me in the midst of my woe.  This has happened to me before… And, when the physical suffering is passed, I can see more clearly what I have gained by going through it.  Inner strength, compassion for others, calm in the midst of chaos, patience and gentleness are just some of the gifts hidden inside sorrowful and pain inflicting situations.  We can’t always see the truly good things – but God can, and wants the best for us.

 

It is ungrateful to think that God will always protect me from harm.  One day, of course, I will die – and even this suffering is a passage, a way to something else.  I should not, however, look for harm on my own, for this would be like testing God’s promise to bring something beautiful out of something ugly.  In the Bible, it is said that there will be signs that follow believers – like safely handling serpents.  But, is it not ungrateful to think that God will always protect me from poisonous venom and to prove it by handling venomous snakes needlessly?  To live my life in love is my reason for being.  And, yes, sometimes love hurts.  I am willing to suffer if it will truly benefit someone I love, this is part of life, the reality of love.  God knows.  Sometimes, my suffering even benefits me.  And I trust that God will see us through what comes our way when we surrender in love and gratitude – not when we test and look for signs, for then we do not truly love.

Christina Chase

Will Multiply

Hebrews 6:14

Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

 

In doing genealogical research for my family through ancestry.com, I see how one married couple can have tens of thousands of descendents in less than 10 generations.  Perhaps one married couple had several children, but only one survived to adulthood.  Yet, even that one child yields forth countless more in the family.  I am only one person, yet, over 4000 people have directly contributed to my DNA, to my existence, in less than 400 years of time.  My 10^th great-grandfather, Rev. John Cotton, had no thought of my ever existing – would certainly not have fathomed having a devoutly practicing Roman Catholic granddaughter, no matter how many generations into the future.  And yet, I truly belong to him biologically – without him I, as I am an earthly creature, would not have been born.

This is how reproduction works and it can be scientifically seen and studied.  However, this is not the only way that our actions yield a multiplication of results.  As certainly as one small inheritance, well invested, can secure a dozen more inheritances down the road, as surely as fire started in one corner of a dry forest can spread through the forest entire, so undoubtedly can one worthy thought, lovingly shared, change the thinking of a society.  With care and patience, greatness can be born from something seemingly insignificant.  One man’s writings while sitting in a jail cell of a small New England town can affect the warring politics of India as well as influence, 100 years after being written, the dismantling of the unjust laws of persecution in the southern states of America.  …  And one of countless poor men killed in disgrace by the Roman government, in one tiny corner of the globe, can save the world entire.

There is a saying that a butterfly beats its wings and causes a typhoon to blow on the other side of the world.  How accurate this literal butterfly effect is doesn’t matter for my writing here, but what’s important is that such butterfly effects are not guarantees.  There is no guarantee that one person’s good idea will inspire greatness down the road.  There isn’t even a guarantee that one act of kindness will open countless hearts to love.  It is truly grace, a blessing, for such multiplication to occur.  In the Bible, God promises Abraham that He will multiply his descendents so that they will be at countless as the stars in the sky.  Though Abraham knew he would never see the greatness of Israel, the promise of this future was enough for him.  For he trusted God to keep His promise and he himself did not need to enjoy basking in the fruit – the seed was enough for him.

Biologically speaking, we know that this multiplication of descendents can happen.  But what God promises, as is true with what God gives, is more than mere mechanics.  God’s promise to Abraham reaches out beyond the exponential math of reproduction to include the entirety of humankind gathered into one family in Christ.  And as Christians, we are vehicles for this multiplication when, in, with, and through grace, we heal the wounded and free the enslaved.  Our acts of healing and saving are not necessarily big and obvious – and they are never mere singular events in one finite space of time.  They are the continuation of Christ’s loving, healing and saving act, flowing through us into the future.  Like a fire that burns hot and bright here but low and dim there, it is kept alive by small embers, and it continues to burn and spread.  Although it may jump and fizzle, burn out and rekindle, the consumption will be complete – if God wills.

 Christina Chase

 

 

Behold

Matthew 9:32-33

As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.

And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.

 

Touch my lips to the burning ember,

Heal me Lord, that I may remember

How good it is to be with you.

In the flow of love, all thoughts divine,

Speak your words of truth, us two entwine,

That I may be one with you.

Silent no longer, unfettered now,

Free to be yours in my ceaseless vow,

Made sacred by my love for you.

 *            *            *            *            *

The marvel of life, omnipotent Savior,

On dusty roads, in shadowed huts,

we come to you willingly, seeking your touch,

are brought to you faithfully when we don’t know ourselves –

and in the intimacy of your presence, we know  you and are healed:

eyes opened to beauty,

ears opened to truth,

nose opened to fresh purity,

hands and feet and body entire opened to love,

mouth opened to joy.

Christina Chase