Dear Trekker,
A few days ago we were all startled once again by a devastating school massacre. One pauses to ponder…how do we stop this senseless killing of our children? A broadcaster recently reminded us…“The next killer is out there now, has bought the gun (or guns), and is planning the next massacre.” Sad, so sad, but likely true. And the question remains…can and how do we stop it?
The question is complex, and so is the answer. Solution sound bites of all varieties from legitimate leaders and wanna-be-leaders are not the answer. And anyone (including this writer) who says, “I have the answer,” should be suspect. It likely will be short sighted, partial and difficult to implement effectively. Why…well, we reap what we sow and we have sown a whirlwind in our culture today. The parable of the sower (or the “soils” as I prefer) is still true. Our soil (read culture) is beaten down, rocky, thorny, thistley and does not receive common truths well. A few days ago I mused…“You know, in our country we need to practice the serenity prayer!” Though I am not writing on prayer as such this month, the so-called “serenity prayer” is a starting point.
The prayer is attributed to American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971). Niebuhr was quite a noted player on the theological/philosophical landscape of the last century. I became acquainted with him while a student at Wheaton College. My reflection on that period of my life is not flattering of Niebuhr. I was taught, in essence, that he was too liberal, socially and theologically, for a blue-blood evangelical liberal arts college like Wheaton. Looking back now over the last 60 plus years, I see a different Niebuhr. I think he was a link, tied unquestionably to the conservative part of our culture, but anxious intellectually to bring us into a more developed age of science, reason and theology without “throwing out the baby (Jesus) with the bathwater,” so to speak. He was a neo-orthodox theologian (as I now reflect) of the advanced order, still clinging to Truth before “post Christianity” fully had arrived.
His “serenity prayer” reflects his grounding. In its short form, the prayer we remember and so often quote, goes like this: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” (Italics mine.) As I have meditated on the prayer in recent days, it is remarkable what it suggests about life, hope, man’s nature, and for lack of a better term, “gut wisdom.”
First, when Niebuhr prays for serenity (change in himself) “to accept the things I cannot change,” he is shouting out loud and clear an objective order of life which is, whether one believes it or not, can prove it or not, likes it or not, etc. It simply is! I call it “the created order.” It is as it is because God made it so. This is extremely relevant today when everything is relative, and nothing is fixed, non-debatable or incontrovertible. The Scripture says, right out of the box, “In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1). The crying need of our culture today is for standards which flow from such immutable facts. If all is relative, accepted principles are impossible to agree upon, let alone recognize or follow. Laws then are arbitrary. If there is no objective standard, one opinion must be as good as another (logically). If some things cannot be changed, there must be a created order in the universe, and likely for every aspect of it, physical and spiritual. For example, gravity simply is. You defy it at your own peril. You don’t change it.
Second, when Niebuhr prays for courage (fortitude and empowerment) “to change the things I can,” he’s affirming man’s capability and responsibility to change the created order when and wherever possible and necessary. Man has the ability to choose his actions; he is not a robot. Life has order to be sure, but a certain randomness unfolds as man makes choices…good or bad, bane or blessing, right or wrong, life or death, etc. This power of choice is the key that unlocks change. (I prefer choice rather than free will since at this point in our thinking, i.e. without God’s intervention, man is anything but free.) He can only “sin;” he is not able not to sin until redemption sets in.
Thirdly, wisdom is the correct choice of the appropriate action to effect the desired change. Wisdom diagnoses correctly the problem and produces the desired antidote. For example, what is the problem with a school shooting? Guns in the hands of the wrong people for sure! But not guns alone! Guns, period, is to address only part of the problem. Broken marriages, lost family foundations, inability to trust and limit mentally handicapped people…the problem is complex. Man’s sinful outcomes are complex to solve. We need help.
But history says help is on the way. God’s plan of redemption is everlasting. Man can change and change in our world is always around the corner if we will humble ourselves and tap into His resources. If any of us lack wisdom, we simply may ask God for it, who gives it to us generously without blaming us that we don’t have it, (James 1:5). Wisdom comes from God. No God, no wisdom. Leave God out of the picture of solving man’s problems and we founder miserably in the wake of life’s dilemmas and tragedies.
The Bible teems with this human challenge of the serenity prayer…1) accept God’s order in all of life, 2) courageously change back into correct order what man has messed up in his supposed freedom, and 3) ask God for help and guidance and the blue print for getting it back in order!
Just a few days ago, this threefold pattern leaped off the pages of Scripture to me. In Mark, Chapter 2 and 3 there are instances in Jesus’ ministry when the practice of the Sabbath was in question. The basic principle of the created order was (and is) man needs a rest now and then. So, Jesus’ disciples can break off heads of grain and eat them on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-27). Jesus can heal on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-5). You get the picture… created order, courage to follow divine principles, the need for wisdom in doing it!
Serenity comes when we know the created order and follow it! When the created order gets messed up by our own doing, we need the courage to change it. And only with God’s help will we ever obtain the wisdom to know the difference and be empowered to “make it happen” for the benefit of all. We are not doing “the serenity prayer” that well these days. Collectively, our culture needs to implement it in every aspect of life.
Your friend,
Jim Meredith
