Requiem Aeternum: Thoughts of Eternity

[God] hath made everything beautiful in its time: also he hath set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

A dear friend and former member of my church choir has quietly passed away after a long and painful illness. Blessed as one who has "died in the Lord," she now "rests from her labors."

Bryant and I paid a visit to "Laura" on Easter Sunday, and impressively, she recognized us and remained alert to converse with us for about five minutes before fading back into merciful slumber. I am so grateful we made the effort.

Nearly 4,000 years ago, King Solomon of Israel—styling himself "The Preacher"—offered the most profound thoughts on life, death and eternity the world has ever seen (yes, thoroughly eclipsing Socrates). His major philosophical work, Ecclesiastes, is categorized by biblical scholars as Wisdom Literature. The writing uses stunning metaphors and elegant, sophisticated poetic expression, making it a pleasure to read for one who loves language.

"The Preacher's" keyword is "vanity," (something that seems to have substance but disappoints) and he liberally applies this concept to all earthly values. Rather depressingly, he tramples into the dust our commonly-held ideas of what is important in life—reputation, possessions, family heritage, accomplishments, power, pleasure, mirth and joy—by pointing to the fact that these things ultimately perish, and there's nothing we can do about it. These are all good things with which to concern ourselves, but we need to view them in perspective and recognize where they belong in the grand scheme. Work as hard as you like to obtain possessions, says the king, but when you die, you permanently cease to enjoy the benefit of possessions. You don't even know who will inherit them. By the end of the book, we realize that this life is not about this life, but about the eternity beyond it.

So, does that mean we should "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die?" Does it follow that we simply live for our own pleasure? No, because the decisions we make in our earthly life affect our eternity. I quote from Ecclesiastes 8:

Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and prolong his days, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, that fear before him: but it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

According to Solomon, the important things in life are walking with God, living righteously in the fear of God, and preparing to live eternity in the presence of God. He intends to remind us that our fleeting earthly life only takes on meaning in the light of Eternity. These are Solomon's concluding thoughts:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil (Ecc. 12:13-14).

Wanted: Traditional Worship

This hard-hitting post blasting contemporary evangelical worship from Ingrid Schlueter on Slice of Laodicea makes me smile, but I have to nod in agreement with many of the points she makes. I find myself growing very tired of the collective irreverence for the Divine and the sacred in modern American culture, and long for a return to serious worship. The element that so attracts me to traditional, high-church-style liturgy is its treatment of God as holy, righteous and powerful. It inspires a fear of God and puts everything in a Scriptural perspective. May we as a people repent of going our own way and turn back to the God Who loves us and sent His Son to die in our stead.

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est

Why do churchgoers rush out the door after church? (Duties discharged—I'm on my way.) Why don't we stay and talk to one another? Are we so caught up in our personal universes that we can only spare a meager hour for God and His people? What makes us so uncomfortable in the House of the Lord?

In the culture today, finding a sense of community and belonging can be very difficult, and the majority of Americans somehow don't expect to find it in church. I find the widespread lack of sympathy disturbing. Does anyone else?

Make no mistake: the primary purpose of a church is to worship and serve the Living God. However, an indispensible component of serving God is treating our fellow human beings well. In the words of Christ: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." As believers, we are the body of Christ, made of disparate parts, but designed to function harmoniously. God has no patience with elitism and what James calls the "respect of persons." The value of a person cannot be based on his financial or social standing. The local church ought to be a place where anyone can find sympathy, compassion, and life-giving counsel based on the Word of God.

Sometimes Christians are shy and afraid to reach out, and then they blame other Christians for "being cold" toward them. Proverbs offers some excellent advice. "He that hath friends must show himself friendly." Selfishly, we often seek not so much to understand as to be understood. As humans, we feel our own need for sympathy so deeply, but others' rather slightly. Loving others means being aware of the needs of people around us, and attempting to serve those needs whether we feel like it or not. It means being a giver and not a taker—characteristics of a mature individual. Are we up to the challenge?

Do you think strangers likely feel welcomed at your church? Within the circle of believers, there should be time set aside to consider how to offer hospitality and fellowship not only to one another, but to strangers in our midst. Hebrews 4 reminds us, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for some have entertained angels unaware." In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the Bible says that "God added daily to the church such as should be saved." God brings people to church through various means, and we become part of God's work when we reach out in love to those who seek Him.

On a slightly deviant, yet related point, I think church leaders should be aware that age segregation has succeeded in depriving us of some of the richest expressions of human culture. We miss so much when we avoid the cross-pollination of age groups: the seasoned perspective and unique wisdom of seniors, the brightness and enthusiasm of youth. Successfully integrating people of all ages greatly enhances the socialization experience for everyone.

Certainly, the future of the Christian church depends on our ability to reach out in love, both to fellow Christians (our brothers and sisters) and to strangers and seekers. We not only represent Christ to the world, we are called to be Christ's Body and function as His hands, His arms, His feet. We, therefore, must love as He loved.

UBI caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

Future of the Christian Church

Contemporary American society does not value motherhood precisely because it has overlooked the value of children. Children are seen as an optional life-enhancer, status symbol, or as an expendable resource.

Unborn children, under the current federal laws in 2007, incredulously have no rights, even the right to life. They are regularly and legally murdered without protest. Newly born children are seen as a burden to their parents and promptly "outsourced" to a daycare agency, which cannot possibly meet their needs. Children in modern American society are considered an obstacle to the development of their parents' career and financial plans and are therefore deemed undesirable. The society that fails to recognize the long-term consequences of radical individualism it has adopted will certainly suffer from its lack of foresight.

Children are the true wealth of the family, and consequently of society at large, because children are literally the future incarnate. Previous generations have been careful to recognize this and to make elaborate provision for their posterity. Today, investment in the lives of children is seen as inferior to the pursuit of other, more personal goals, such as the acquisition of material wealth or the advancement of the mother's career. Those parents who sacrifice their children's future for those short-term goals will pay a heavy price in the larger perspective as they lose the love and attachment of children who are the hope of their old age.

Today's parents, even Christian parents, seem largely unaware that they are losing valuable time to influence their children and direct them in the way they should go. Young children and teens are nothing if not impressionable, and they carry those early influences with them the rest of their lives. If parents wonder why their children do not hold the same values they do, perhaps it's because they failed to teach those values while the children were young. On the other hand, the haters of God are happy to pick up the slack; to use our own weapons against us, in a manner of speaking. Christian parents who bewail the state of our society ought to seize upon the opportunity to send their children forth "as arrows in the hand of a mighty man." Forming straight arrows takes time and care, and the parents who bother are well rewarded for their efforts.

Various studies have shown to our satisfaction the devastating effects of the demise of family life. A quick glance at a current newspaper shows alarming spikes in violence, plunging test scores in public schools, and a host of social ills we find ourselves helpless to stem. This widespread failure of the family unit imposes a great burden on the entire society which must then provide taxpayer-funded services to close the gap between the needs of youth and the inability of parents to meet them. Sometimes this takes the form of welfare, sometimes rehabilitation in a house of correction, and even years of tax-funded meals in the penitentiary, not to mention the drain on law enforcement resources. That's just the beginning.

What happens to a society that throws away one-third of its future? It perishes and is never seen again. The future, men and women, belongs to those who have children—but even more to those who influence them.

10-18-07