Why You Shouldn't Look Back

 

“Don’t look back.” They warned her, the angels did, as they led her by the hand away from the coming destruction. “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Genesis 19:26)

 Why didn’t them tell her why she shouldn’t look back?  Maybe the angels figured that she had lived long enough to learn: looking back, when it is motivated by regret, is a dangerous game to play.  I have played that game and lost every time.  I did not become a pillar of salt, but I was frozen in time.  The temptation for human beings is to look back, not to simply record what happened, but to re-live that which wasn’t meant for us, whether it is relationships, occupations, education or investments.  There is a good reason to look back: to learn lessons that will teach you ‘I should not make that mistake again.’ But, if your looking back fills you with regret, you will be unable to move toward the freedom God intends for you to enjoy. So, don’t look back, because the time you invest looking back in regret is the time you could invest looking at the present in joy.

Red Fox

If, at the breakfast table,
I had not looked up just
as the red fox, burnished
coat glinting, trotted past,
white-tipped tail carried
like a flag, I would have
missed him. I would have
missed him if I’d slept late,
sneezed, or even blinked
which makes me think how
much I’ve missed because
of chance—if chance is what
it is—the life I might have
lived if I’d turned left instead
of right, responded no instead
of yes, walked through one
door, not the other. I’m not
complaining: I wouldn’t have
it otherwise given all I would
have missed; this life, this love,
this fox outside the window,
trotting.

(Red Fox, by Sarah Rossiter, December 30, 2020, https://www.christiancentury.org/article/poetry/red-fox)

 

Sing Along With Garth

 

Lady Gaga belting out the National Anthem was a highlight.  It was, for me, the best rendition since Whitney Houston knocked the collective socks off the world at the Super Bowl. But in an Inauguration full of soaring music, soul-stirring poetry and reality-check speeches, there was a different highlight I will most remember.

I know that there is a wide and deep divide, even, or maybe especially, among God’s people over what to make of President Biden’s and Vice-President Harris’ Inauguration. Many people prayed that it would not be so, and when it came to be, they offered up prayers of lament because God did not intervene and change the outcome. Many other people prayed prayers of praise and thanksgiving for God bringing the Inauguration into existence against efforts to defeat it. 

It seems like one of the thorniest of theological problems.  Did God’s will fail? Did God’s will prevail?  Here’s what I know. God was not surprised. God wasn’t surprised on Inauguration Day 2017 nor Inauguration Day 2021. God didn’t fall asleep at the switch on Election Day 2016 nor Election Day 2020.  I am not saying that God votes, because God doesn’t get a vote.  But God wasn’t surprised.

God is still in control. Jesus is still King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  What should unite all Christians under all Presidents are those things we hold in common. Our common mission: preach Good News: repent, believe, love, serve.  Our common prayer: bathe us in grace.

I didn't really anticipate ever singing Amazing Grace with Garth Brooks, but his invitation for people at home and work to join him was heartfelt; and so sing I did, joining my voice with tens of millions of people who love God and this nation. Praise God for Amazing Grace that will, in God's way and time, unite America.

I believe that we are going to overcome our divisions, perhaps just enough and just long enough, but enough, to live under the cover of God's Amazing Grace for a season.  So in this season, as in the one which preceded it, the people of God still praise God and seek God’s blessings. 

God bless America, President Biden, Vice-President Harris, the Congress and the Supreme Court. Amen.

 

Oh Say Do You See?

 On April 3, 1968, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached this sermon:

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation….

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the coming the glory of the coming of the Lord. (American Sermons (1999), Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. New York, N.Y.)Video: https://youtu.be/Oehry1JC9Rk “Mountaintop” begins at 1:19)

On April 4, 1968, at age 39, the Rev. Dr. King died from an assassin’s bullet.

The vision which the Rev. Dr. King received from God is one which God still places before the eyes of all people of true faith. In light of that vision, can we, God’s people, summon up the courage to denounce hate and violence in all forms and to instead announce love to all people, regardless of their race or religion or politics?

Over the next five days, a fringe of haters, motivated by lies, loss and anger, threaten to rip apart the fabric of a nation which it has taken nearly 250 year to sew. We, God’s people, motivated by the vision of the ‘promised land’ defend against their hate with God’s love, for it remains true for all peace-loving people that, “We (still) have an opportunity to make America a better nation.”

Oh say do you see that vision, placed right before our very eyes?