Saturday, May 24, 2014

"Unintimidated" - May 25, 2014

I Peter 3:13-18


“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.”

Thus opens the poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae, a doctor who served in the Canadian army in northern France in World War I.  He had survived a battle that was fifteen days long without a break, day or night.  It was the first battle in which chemical weapons were used, in this case chlorine gas.  Dr. McCrae was involved with the burial of the dead when there was finally a lull, and he noticed how poppies were blooming all around and over the graves.  It turns out that the artillery bombardment had broken up the limestone bedrock of the area and mixed it into the soil, so that conditions favored poppies over other plants.  The same phenomenon had been noticed around there after the Napoleonic Wars.  Either way, the poppy became a reminder of the war dead, and remains so to this day.  It should also be a reminder to us not to be intimidated when we do right, because even if it means that even if you come under fire at times, God makes something beautiful come out of the troubles.

We don’t know a lot about the people that the First Letter of Peter was addressed to, but when you read it through, there are several references to believers facing difficulties as a consequence of their faith.  It doesn’t seem like they face full-blown persecution, but that their faith has led them to reject aspects of the society they lived in, and that they face social rejection in return.  It says,

“You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry.  They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme.”  [I Peter 4:3-4]

It’s a lot like when someone with a gambling addiction has to say to their friends that they won’t be going to the casino with them anymore or when someone who has realized she needs to steer away from alcohol turns down an invitation to go out with friends after work on a Friday night.  “Is something wrong?” may be the friends’ first reaction, but it can easily become “What’s wrong with you?” or even, “Hey, who do you think you are?” 

Depending on what is asked of you, it can be a major factor in everything.  Alan Paton was born in South Africa and grew up with all the privileges that attended a white man living under the apartheid system and became a teacher at an all-white boys’ school.  Then at the age of 32, he became director of a reformatory school and suddenly could see into the heart of the injustice of the system that had produced it.  He saw the raw violence that was needed to maintain it.  He could not square that with his faith, and resigned from his secure job to become a writer who shared his insights with the world.  In his novel Cry, the Beloved Country, his characters said things like:

“The truth is, our civilization is not Christian; it is a tragic compound of great ideal and fearful practice, of loving charity and fearful clutching of possessions.” 

and that

“there is only one thing that has power completely, and this is love. Because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore he has power.” 

He was effective enough that for ten years the South African government confiscated his passport so that he couldn’t accept speaking engagements in Europe or North America and watched him very, very closely at home. 

“Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.” [I Peter 3:16-17]

Mind you, just because you encounter opposition does not mean that you are doing the right thing, but if you are doing the right thing, sooner or later you will meet opposition.

            It’s amazing how even the simplest acts of discipleship can sometimes stir up trouble.  There’s a group that’s active in Delaware County called the Interfaith Hospitality Network.  They work with homeless families to help them get back on their feet.  Various churches and synagogues open their buildings on a rotating basis for the families to stay there as guests for a week, and the hosts provide meals and general hospitality.  That allows the families to save up enough money in a few weeks to put a deposit on an apartment and avoid some of the problems that come with shelters.  Three years ago, however, someone in Drexel Hill got upset about it.  They were afraid of people they didn’t even know, that figure of the shiftless poor who would bring down the neighborhood just by being there for a few days.  The church argued that Jesus tells us to open our doors to the needy, and that its actions were a religious act, and so they saw things differently.

“Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.”  [I Peter 3:14]

It was ugly.  They called in the County to close the program down, using the argument that the building didn’t meet all the code requirements for a residential usage.  Out of it all, however, came a moment of witness when people in that area came to see that the church was caring and that their faith was living and active.  The shell lobbed at them cultivated the soil for some flowers to bloom.

            Sooner or later, something similar on a large scale or small scale will happen to every follower of Jesus.  When it does, don’t let it get to you.  Don’t be intimidated by anyone or anything.

“Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” [I Peter 3:15-16]

You just might find that flowers grow up right there on the field of battle.



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