"This I Know": Remembering...Pastor Phil Strong

9-11-11

● As I rehearsed the words that I offered on that first Sunday after the 9-11 tragedy, I was reminded of the gravity of that day and the desperation of a people who were looking for something to which they could cling.

● In my own struggle, I remember contacting those that I respected and inquiring, “What is God saying to you through this?” I was looking for some unifying word to the church, but found as many perspectives as there were interviewees.

            I was somewhat puzzled that God seemed less anxious to defend himself than I was. To me, it seemed the perfect opportunity to set the “God-record” straight. Instead, what I experienced most often were times of prolonged and awkward silence.

● I wondered how the human soul could possibly process and sift through all of the disturbing images and interpretations? Some of suggested that “it’s too much”.

            ■ Watching the horrific images of commercial jets flying into buildings with the awful realization that those images had not been computer-generated, but were recording the fates of “real people”; people in the last moments of their lives.

            ■ Watching these monuments to human creativity and success, costing billions of dollars and months of energy--- reduced to rubble in seconds.

            ■ Watching the puzzling and disturbing videos of peoples from areas of the Middle East as they gloated over and celebrated the disastrous loss of thousands of human lives.

            ■ Listening to the stories and threats of retaliation, arbitrarily targeted at almost anyone who appeared of Arabic decent.

■ I remember hearing stories of prayers being offered in stairwells and God’s miraculous intervention, and wondering if anyone who perished had been praying too.

■ I remember being chastised for not taking a

stronger position on the “Just War Theory” and assuring the people that God was giving us the “all clear” for counter-attack: I wasn’t “patriotic” enough.

            But, I’ve discovered that my life is best viewed not just through the lens of my U.S. citizenship, but another citizenship (“of the heavens” Phil.3:20) and my role, my function is to live under that rule, those values; to bring his Kingdom to bear.

Historically, God has used crisis to awaken us; to get our attention… to challenge us to reconsider our lives and the views and values which set them on a specific course.

            But, in and of itself, crisis does not have the capacity to sustain the kind of devotion and heart response to God which might possibly linger past our initial fear and uneasiness. Crisis either draws us toward God in dependence or repels us from him in resentment.

There’s no such thing as a “safe place”.

Safety is a not a place, but the reality created only by being with one who transcends the conditions.

Safety is, at times, an illusion (e.g. you can feel safe, but actually be in imminent danger). Security is relational and is actually enhanced in threatening circumstances.

Psalm 27:1-3

“The LORD is my light and my salvation -- so why should I be afraid? The LORD protects me from danger -- so why should I tremble? When evil people come to destroy me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will know no fear. Even if they attack me, I remain confident.”

Circumstantial evidence is a poor way to attempt to interpret a sovereign God.

            Sometimes, life works out the way we had hoped and so we are led to believe that our faith really does ‘work’. Sometimes, life ‘goes sideways’ on us and we are left inspecting our faith for defects; trying to discover what went wrong and attempting to make the necessary adjustments.

● When we encounter such inevitable tragedy, we usually start with the immediate and work back toward the transcendent (start with our circumstances and try to fit God into them).

Every time you ground your faith in “conditions”, your faith becomes circumstantial and you diminish your capacity for belief. Or, to put it another way: what we see happening often prevents us from seeing what’s happening!

“God is in heaven and you are here on earth…” (Ecclesiastes 5) If you don’t live with an eternal perspective, with a practical response to the “other” (God), life will simply be reduced to the sum of all of the senseless and random stuff that happens to you.

So, the question of God’s goodness may be best addressed in sovereignty and sovereignty is essentially about “trust” not “explanations”.

Sometimes, I think we are too often “surprised” by evil.

Why? Because our theology (story: way we explain God and life) often doesn’t allow for it, therefore, we have no means of coping with it. And, because we have no means of coping with it, denial appears to be our best option (and that has not proven effective).

 “Our kids are beginning to think that we live in an evil world…” (CNN Commentator)

● Evil is more than just the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into; it’s the frustration that God feels over the disruption and distortion of all of his good creation and the pain that he feels with us as we experience the inevitable consequences of such disorder.

I’m not sure we think seriously enough about human freedom.

It means that we must be willing to admit that there are evidences in the story that indicate that humanity has made decisions which have taken creation in a different direction than he had planned; that human beings have the capacity for inflicting unspeakable pain upon each other.

What this means is that we are actually capable of distorting or frustrating God’s plans (it’s why we can ‘grieve’ the Holy Spirit [Ephesians 4:30]-- to make sorrowful; to affect with sadness, offend; to make one uneasy). Or, we can “quench” (suppress) the Spirit [1 Thess.5:19]. Even that language is indicative of the way in which God chooses to interact with us.

Sometimes it’s hard to hear God say, “Everything is going to be okay… but not anytime soon”.

What we experience, along with all of creation, is the gnawing sense that things are ‘not as they ought to be’ (evil). That’s why our anger is aroused at injustice and we become so frustrated with the prevalence of evil; it’s why we are so totally perplexed with such things as senseless tragedy and death… we were not made for it.

            I remember, vividly, my initial response and even how that was indicative of my need for continued wholeness and restoration. My heart did not yet beat in rhythm with God’s.

When I suffer, God suffers with me. How else would you explain the ‘incarnation’?

I’ve decided that I don’t want to live in a world where everyone gets what they deserve. That can’t end well.

It’s not that I don’t want to be held responsible for my actions, but that I don’t want to be forever restricted by them!

“… he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities…” Psalm 103:10

● I would rather live in God’s world where there is the potential to experience what none of us deserves… “grace”.

When you are unwilling to abandon God in the midst of some pretty painful and confusing life-circumstances, that’s trust; the result of trust is hope.

Hope is our response to longing. Hope is indicative of the not-so-favorable conditions of our present reality. Hope is always based on promises made and the reliability of the one making the promise. It’s why the children of Israel continued to rehearse the stories of God’s faithfulness.