Holy Holidays

Webster’s Dictionary tells us that the word holiday came from the two Old English words “holy” and “day”. That looks reasonable to me. Of course those two words look nothing like their Old English equivalents, but over the years we all change a little.

Consider all those “holy days” we experience between November 1 and January 1. All Saints Day doesn’t get the press it should especially if we use it to highlight the examples of those departed believers who were true saints. Veterans’ Day calls us to remember our freedom as Americans and the high price that freedom costs.

I would ask that we put on our calendars each year the second Sunday of November as we remember those who pay high prices for their faith in Christ where freedom is not so common. The month of November concludes with a reminder that we have much for which we should give thanks, Thanksgiving Day. A bounty of food is only the beginning of what most of us have here in America. Opportunity comes with perseverance and sweat. We have freedom from fear of our government, and if sometimes we doubt that, then we should remember what citizens in many other countries face every day.

For Christians late November/early December opens the Advent season. Though the 25^th is the only day of celebration on the calendar, many Americans are getting into the mood for the season even before Thanksgiving. The four Sundays of Advent, those immediately preceding Christmas Day, are noted by many. Christmas Eve brings out special celebrations both religious and secular.

Christmas Day has become a holiday for the western world celebrated by most elements of society. Leave Christ out and you take nothing from the human need to celebrate something. It comes under the title of Hanukkah, the beginning of the Twelve Days of Christmas, the beginning of Kwanzaa, or a revitalized form of Saturnalia. Perhaps some give it no more importance than the fact most of us survived the winter solstice! 

New Year’s Day caps it all off with another reason to sleep late, eat Christmas leftovers, and fall asleep watching more football games.

Do any of these “holidays” still qualify as “holy days”? That may exist only in the mind of the observer. The Apostle Paul says this about special days,

Rom 14:5  One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

Rom 14:6  The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. (English Standard Version)

If you think some days are extra special, how do you honor God through your actions on those days? Do you honor God on the other days as well? He doesn’t change from day to day. Do you?  Since God created all days, how do we declare all days deserving of special recognition?

In Judaism the last day of the week, Saturday, is the day of the Sabbath. In Christendom we have chosen to honor Sunday, the first day of the week, in remembrance of the day that Jesus was resurrected from the grave. Both groups have taught that the day should be handled differently (Blue laws, etc), which leaves us wondering how do we treat the other days of the week.

Perhaps the Apostle had it right. What you can do in good conscience and in recognition of the holy nature of God, do it with joy. Refrain from what would hurt your conscience because in doing so you would dishonor God. Whether your special day is every day, comes once a week, or only when the calendar says it has arrived, make that holiday a holy day. Remember why it is important to you. Think and act in a way that shows you are honoring the God who is Creator of all days. That should keep you and everyone around you happy for the holidays.

Stop, Feel, Be Thankful!

The first Christmas items went up for sale about one week before Halloween this year. I guess you have to forgive the craft store for the early date as they were trying to give people a chance to have homemade gifts ready before December 25, even earlier if things had to be mailed. Regardless, the displays served as a warning that the mad rush was about to begin. Get your calendars out, your notepads in hand, and your credit cards ready. The season for saving the American economy has arrived.

Before we get to December 25^th, however, we come to November 22, the date in 2012 set aside for Thanksgiving Day, Turkey Day, or Eat-Too-Much-And-Fall-Asleep-On-the-Couch-Watching-Football-or-It’s-a-Wonderful-Life Day. From the Puritan point of view this day was never to have a religious foundation, the result of a rejection of too many Catholic holidays that required church attendance. Thus in America from its earliest days this special day was kept separate from Sabbath identification. Don’t you just love Wikipedia?

That same source relates that various groups and colonies had their own days of thanksgiving on a variety of dates and for a variety of reasons. George Washington in 1789 called for the first national Day of Thanksgiving. The independent celebrations continued for another 75 years until Abraham Lincoln established the last Thursday in November as a national holiday. For some unknown reason Franklin Roosevelt felt it necessary to change the date to the fourth Thursday of that month. So we have the familiar date that all of America recognizes today.

I will celebrate it by spending the day with my wife, two sons and daughter-in-law. I will also have the blessing of spending that same time with my son’s in-laws whom I find most enjoyable. It will be a day of strengthening family ties, enjoying the bounty of a year’s hard work, and taking the time to stop the mad rush into the Christmas season, feel the blessings flow around me, and give thanks to the One who has made it all possible. I join a nice crowd in doing that (Psalms 92, 107, 136, etc & Jesus-Mark 8:6; a Samaritan-Luke 17:16; Paul-Ephesians 5:20, etc)

Somewhere there is a computer that can do more than thirty trillion calculations in less than a billionth of a second or some ridiculous number like that (actually it’s name is Sequoia and it lives at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California where its speed is in the quadrillions of calculations per second-Fox News). I can only assume that someone needs a computer that fast.

As for me I have found you can get a lot of serious reading done while waiting for your computer to pull up a large file or work through a search. Sometimes it is not a waste of time to be quiet and feel your heart beat over a period of five or ten seconds. It can be a reassurance that you are still connected to life. Upon occasion you need to stop, feel life, and whisper a word of thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving Day I intend to sit a lot, eat a lot, smile a lot, and try to remember to offer thanks a lot. I will thank my God for a wife who has put up with me for over 35 years. I will thank God for two sons who will run into my arms even when my hands are empty. I will thank God for a beautiful girl who dared to become a member of the Lamkin family. I will thank God for extended family, friends, and opportunities in a free country, still the greatest place on earth to live. I will stop, feel, and thank God for the greatest gift of all, his Son Jesus Christ, who taught me how to love without caring what someone deserves. Because I didn’t deserve his.

Is Peace What We Want?

One of the titles for Jesus we have taken from the Old Testament is “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus describes his work among men as bringing peace in a way that is radically different than anything the world can offer (John 14:27). In Matthew 10:34, however, Jesus describes his ministry as one that will bring, not peace, but a sword. To identify with him is to bring division in family and social relationships where some accept him and others reject him. There can be no peace where there is a division over the calling of Christ.

This matter of peace for Jesus that we see in his teachings and his example can give one serious discomfort. In the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:9) Jesus said that peacemakers were to receive the blessing of being called the children of God. Yet one has to wonder if Jesus hesitated long outside the Temple of Jerusalem before he went in with whip in hand to do some serious housecleaning (John 2:13-17). Jesus guided his actions with a wisdom springing from his sinless walk with his Father that we sinful humanity lack.

In my years of ministry I have come to see two types of peace in congregations. The first is the peace that comes from a strong unity among the members. They are not without stress because they are in the midst of action and change. There is, nonetheless, a peace that comes from the certainty that they are involved in the right actions. They as a church have focused on the right priorities.

The other kind of peace is what I sense as I move through the stones of a cemetery. Many congregations have that kind of peace as well. The membership is united as it travels a path to certain death. There is no conflict because nothing is moving. There is no unrest because every member is content with the status quo. There is no disagreement because all have decided no decisions are necessary except to do nothing. All is peaceful and quiet much like a cemetery.

I don’t believe this is the kind of peace Jesus had in mind for his disciples and his Church. I don’t believe that Jesus ever saw his Church at peace while it bore witness to him in this world. I don’t believe he ever thought it would be free from conflict in its efforts to make disciples of all peoples. I don’t believe he saw his Church resting comfortably upon any kind of past accomplishments. Yet he believed that all of his followers could experience peace as they focused upon him.

A recent article in our state Baptist paper (Biblical Recorder quoting Baptist Press, Nov. 7, 2012, “Calvinism team meets for second time”) offers a brief insight into the current efforts to reach some “peaceful” conclusion regarding Calvinistic doctrine and the Southern Baptist Convention. An informal discussion group is meeting to determine “a strategy whereby people of various theological persuasions can purposely work together in missions and evangelism.”

This group represents an effort by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Frank Page to address the increasing number of questions raised about Calvinism and its place in Southern Baptist doctrinal life. Perhaps some state conventions have felt the need to address this issue, but the primary conversation is taking place on the national level.

I raise these issues of peace and Calvinism in the same article because of their example of dynamics within Southern Baptist life. The recently concluded North Carolina Baptist State Convention recorded 1604 messengers and 281 guests (Biblical Recorder, Nov. 14, 2012). This rates as one of the smallest number in my memory. Recent Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings have been able to meet in smaller venues because of decreased attendance. Perhaps these numbers reflect a kind of peace.

We declared all the extreme liberals to be outside cooperating fellowship and told them they were no longer welcome. Then the moderate Baptist churches discovered their voices were no longer required at the annual meetings on the state or national level, so they stopped coming. Now we are being led to believe that a doctrinal issue based upon some form of Calvinism may lead others to see that their chair at the table of denominational fellowship might be removed. Compromise leading to unity has been a difficult goal to reach when it comes to doctrinal issues in Baptist life.

Do we really have to condemn someone and clean house to feel like we are on God’s side and on our way to peace? It just might be that God left the discussion table some time ago.

Who Needs the Truth?

I’m glad I was developing the idea for this entry before the election. I can say with all honesty that the victors in our elections did not affect the content. I felt this way before the results came in. I still feel this way.

The Greek dramatist Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC) is quoted as saying, “In war the first casualty is the truth.” Political campaigns are not what we first think of when we hear the word war, but it is a definite conflict of wills and words. They involve offense and defense. They always involve high emotions and lots of pain, mental and emotional. We hope in our free country they never involve physical violence.

Yet there are casualties, and truth is the first. I have been voting in presidential elections since 1968. Never have I witnessed such campaign rhetoric as I have heard in this one. Locally we here in North Carolina were spared the extremes in our gubernatorial race. The candidates addressed issues and not each other. They kept the campaign focused on the needs of North Carolinians and not on the personality traits of their opponent. It was a most gentlemanly contest.

This could not be said for the national elections, especially the presidency. The truth was a victim from the very beginning, and neither side had a monopoly on crude and useless language. I got tired of hearing the concluding statement in most ads, “and I approved this message”. My first thought was generally, “You ought to be ashamed of approving that message. Did you watch it before it was sent out?”

The truth is all true. That sounds weird until you hear people saying things they consider mostly true or half true or containing some truth. Such statements are not made to convey truth, but to deceive. A statement that is not all true is false. Yet how much of our conversations involve statements that we know are not all true, but we hope the listener will accept it all as truth.

That is what sent my emotions through the ceiling so often during this campaign. Half the story was told. Half the statement was used. The context was ignored so as to change the intended meaning. The campaign was a war, and truth was its first and primary casualty.

Have we reached the point in our country that not only is such rhetoric accepted, but even expected? Have we decided that in a process of deciding who will lead our country that truth is not an essential element? Have we become so amoral that anything goes when it comes to convincing the public our side is right and the other guy’s is wrong?

What is truth? Pilate asked Jesus that question (John 18). The gospel writer had prepared his reader throughout his book to see that the answer was not a philosophical statement but a Person. Jesus had said a few chapters earlier (John 14) he was “the way, the truth, and the life.” An enlightening study is to read the Gospel of John, underline every time the words "true" and "truth" are used, and ponder their context.

Truth is a Person and our use of the truth should reflect the nature of that Person. He is compassionate. The truth should not be used to hurt. He seeks the best for others. Truth should build others up. He is perfect. Truth should lead people into constant improvement. He is God Incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us. Truth should point us to God, his nature, and his will for our lives.

Truth should do these things, but only if we think the truth is of any value other than when we use it to support our agenda.