Dear Fellow Trekker,
Greetings again this month! Having returned from Europe and recovering from an exhaustive five-week trip in six countries, I see with you that the passing of Pope John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict XVI have filled the news, alongside the ongoing saga of political parties in the United States jockeying for power. (And our political strife in Washington is all about power, my friends.)
Where is Jesus in all of this? I recall the answer of a wise brother when asked, “Where was God when my son died?” My friend responded, “The same place He was when His son, a perfectly innocent man, hung on the cross.” Wise comment indeed. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe has seen many leaders of the Catholic church come and go through the centuries. This Pope was a good Pope in my judgment. His encyclicals were insightful and as descriptive a defense of the Christian faith as anything else in my lifetime. Though of the Protestant tradition, his declaration, Dominus Iesus, issued in the year 2000, comes readily to mind. The dominant theme was Jesus, and was an exhortation to the Church to understand the dangers of pluralism and syncretism, the watering down of the faith for the sake of unity through compromise and accommodation. Jesus alone must be lifted up, always, and He will build His church down through the ages, and in so doing, draw all men to Himself! When He is lifted up by all, brothers receive the unity of the Spirit, and need not strive to attain it – an impossible task for sure.
What does Jesus want for us? He has a ruthless determination to make us like Himself, no matter the cost. The desire to make us like Himself, I believe, is the divine prism through which we should assess all His activities on earth. He didn’t ‘save’ us so we wouldn’t go to hell; no, His purposes when on earth and now in Heaven are much more noble and far-reaching. He desires to fashion us ‘like Himself’, and He will accomplish His purpose now and throughout eternity. We were ‘saved’ and ‘are being saved’ to spend eternity with Jesus.
Recently I was drawn to Malachi 3:3 which says, “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” Don’t you love the metaphors of Scripture? (Another MEN newsletter one day!) While in Greece, I watched some refiners of silver. Silversmiths speak of holding the silver in the fire when the flames are hottest in order to burn away impurities. So the silversmith must be attentive. Left a moment too long in the fire, the silver would be destroyed. How does the silversmith know when the silver is completely refined? The silversmith will answer, “Oh, that’s easy. When I see my image in it.” And so it is true…He desires to make us just like Himself, and reflect His image and His glory. Nothing more, nothing less! Malachi knew this, and we must know it too.
Surely the role of the church leader today is to reflect the light of Christ to the world, so that He might be represented faithfully and authentically, as He draws all men to Himself. I like Pope Benedict’s recent statement to youth, in affirming his attendance at World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany this coming August, also at which will be many of our Club Beyond military youth, “With you, dear young people, I will continue to maintain a dialogue, listening to your expectations in an attempt to help you meet ever more profoundly the living, ever young Christ.” I say amen to that! Sounds a bit like my oft-repeated phrase, “we just want our teens to fall in love with Jesus.”
Understanding the need for dialogue and listening to expectations, I jump back to the political morass of the day. It seems some of our elected leaders desire neither dialogue nor listening to expectations, and one must wonder if our political leaders truly have our interests at heart. Why do we have, must have government here on earth? Surely government exists to maintain some acceptable form of cultural (social, political, economic, and yes, spiritual) equilibrium and to provide a framework for societal order. But we must never forget… it cannot make its citizens good or happy. Only God makes us good through regeneration by and in Christ, and happiness in this fallen world (‘getting everything we want’) is always just beyond our and our government’s grasp. Man, left to his own desires, has over and over again throughout history, enslaved himself, proving his fallen nature and ability to self-destruct. Freedom is not the natural state. It must be bought and paid for. . . as in the supreme example of Calvary. And so must government and its citizens pay for their freedom, and as we are engaged today, help those less fortunate to do likewise.
How ‘caught up’ should a Christian be in the politics of the day? As ‘caught up’ as one is called to be! We work and pray for the Kingdom to come on earth, but “my Kingdom is not of the world”, the Master said. We are citizens of two worlds, and we must be mindful of where they intersect and when they divide. If passionately we are ‘caught up’ in proclaiming Christ as the foundation and backdrop of all we do, reflecting His love, forgiveness, and empowerment, we will be a counter balance to the danger of secularism and relativism of the age. As Christian men, we are called to be ‘salt and light’ in a world that will never satisfy or be satisfied. “May we let our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.” As we do, we all will be “passing the baton.”
Your fellow trekker on the trail of life,
Jim Meredith
PS I appreciate dialogue with you and want to listen to your expectations, too.