The law as good news and bad news

In case you haven't heard, the law cuts both ways - it can be good news or bad news. On Sunday, January 11th, the above Dallas Cowboy player, Dez Bryant, in a crucial fourth down play during the 4th quarter of the NFL Divisional playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, made a brilliant catch only to have it ruled later as an incomplete pass.  The ruling at first was "a catch." First down at the Green Bay one yard line for the Dallas Cowboys.  Only minutes later after a challenge by the Green Bay coach, Mike McCarthy, the ruling was changed to "no catch." Green Bay's ball.  In commenting on the play the TV rules expert said, "Common sense will tell you that he made the catch, but by the letter of the law it was an incomplete pass."  I thought that was the crucial statement.  The letter of the law was good news to the Green Bay Packers and really bad news to the Dallas Cowboys.

It occurs to me that that is often the way God's word works: the same word cuts both ways for us.  "I will watch over you continually," is a word that sounds quite different to the thief in the midst of stealing and the immigrant family first stepping foot in a new land.   Words of law and gospel, it turns out, can be the same words.  It is us who makes them words of hope or words of judgment.

Let there be light!

For a guy who is always on the alert for law and gospel sightings in the world, how about this one?  Yesterday, in the annual ritual of untangling the strings of outdoor lights and attempting to drape them over the shrubbery before my hands and feet freeze, an amazing thing happened:  ALL the strings of lights worked!  I'm quite sure this has never happened before.  There actually was one rogue half string of lights that didn't work for a time, but seeing all of their buddies cooperating this year, they too decided to work after all.  I'm quite sure this event does not arise to gospel status, that is to say, it is not an appearance of the Christ amongst us, but just look how they repel the darkness!

Sunrise through the broken glass

We were in NYC recently visiting our daughters.  We had plans to leave our daughter's apartment in the early morning and drive to a family wedding together.  When we went out to the car that morning we were greeted with a reminder that we live in a broken world - literally! Someone had decided to through a brick through our windshield as we slept.  What is that about? I ask myself.  What goes on inside the head of the person who does this?  Were they drunk?  High?  Enraged?  Acting on a dare? And what of my part in this crazy event?  Am I, in some way, responsible for producing or at least allowing a society where some people feel compelled to destroy the property of others?  So many questions.  And yet, through the broken windshield you can see the sunrise.  God is still at work in this broken world.  For that I am thankful.

For every thing there is a season

I was standing across the street from this demolition site the other day and I thought how much the giant mouth on that machine looks like a hungry monster.  I also thought how easily we tear down homes that have stood for generations.  Think about all the stories, all the people, all the lives, all the little feet that ran in through those doorways and up those stairs. Think about the laughter and tears, the struggles and joys, the hugs and the hurts that inhabited those walls.  Death and life, it's all so much a part of everything.  "For everything there is a season," says the wisdom writer.  So it is.

Sunday morning sunrise

Last Sunday I was walking to church to get ready for morning worship and I stopped on my way to marvel at the beautiful scene overhead.  The clouds and sun and the stillness of the morning all helped me realize what a gift it is to get up and view such a creation and to follow that up with a morning of worship.  It makes me wonder why so many people find the idea of worshipping God so odd.  To me it doesn't seem odd at all; it seems like the most natural thing in the world.  It seems to me that the creation itself cries out for us to praise the Creator.  And besides all that it gives me joy.

nature on display

Out on a walk in the Hormel Nature Center yesterday, Ruth and I came upon a group of monarchs clustered on the flower in the lower photo.  (You can see them if you look closely.) Small and fragile as they are, it's hard to believe that they will soon begin their thousand-mile journey to Mexico where they will winter, breed and die.  When we view nature it becomes immediately apparent how much death is a part of life.  Somehow, we humans have a hard time coming to terms with that.

Graffiti Gospel

My wife, Ruth, and I were out for a bike ride this afternoon when we came around the corner at Mill Pond in Austin, Minnesota where we live and here was this colorful graffiti.  It was done this summer by some kids in our church.  I had heard about it, but only now saw it for the first time.  OSLC, by the way, is for Our Savior's Lutheran Church and the kids who painted this obviously have a love for God and for music.  Pretty cool.

What isn't obvious is that this mural was painted over something else.  If I remember correctly there was some gang graffiti here prior to this and so not only did the group eliminate that, they proclaimed the Gospel as well.  Way to go!

Our world is filled with violence.  Perhaps it is part of our call as followers of Jesus to bring an alternative world view - that there is a promise that is greater than the violence.  It is the promise of God's love, which is alive in God's people.  Sing on!