Did You Know? - Violence in Judea after Herod's Death

Herod the Great (born ~74 BCE, died ~4 BCE) was the "king" of Judea at the time of Jesus' birth and his influence would have been felt during Jesus' life.  He was not actually a "king," but was a client ruler of the Roman Empire.  Although he was described as a madman who killed many rabbis and murdered many people in his own family, there were reasons he was called Herod the Great.  He is best known for expanding the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, often referred to as Herod's Temple, but he also undertook many building projects in Jerusalem (eg. aqueducts, theater, amphitheater) and within the area he ruled (eg. the port of Caesarea Maritima and the city of Samara).   

Herod ruled Judea with an iron fist and he repressed any dissension to the point that Rome did not need to intervene in Judea during his reign.  Unfortunately, his death left a large power vacuum and Judea erupted in chaos when he died.  Why the power vacuum?  Because one of Herod's son would have been designated to assume his rule after his death, but he had killed most of the competent members of his family.  His oldest son was killed by his guards just days before his own death.  He also confused matters by having three wills, the last of which he revoked at the last moment.  

In the absence of an approved heir, the financial aid of the emperor based in Syria, named Sabinus, went to Judea to take charge of Herod's property.  However, because of Herod's extensive property holdings, it was difficult for Sabinus to distinguish between public and private property and he found himself in the middle of the violence that was erupting in Jerusalem during the pilgrim Festival of Tabernacles, while various Jewish factions tried to exert control over the region.  Sabinus thought he could quell the violence with the use of a legion stationed in Jerusalem along and some of his own armed slaves.  The result was intense fighting during the Feast of Tabernacles, and Sabinus' men set fire to the Temple.  The Romans got possession of the Temple treasury and much of it was stolen by the soldiers.  Sabinus appropriated 400 talents for himself.

Fighting broke out all over the country because of the lack of a governing authority as well as anger over the desecration of the Temple.  Soldiers who had been loyal to Herod could not decide whether to side with the Romans or the Jews, and two thousand veterans living in Judea joined the fighting either because of personal gain or because they hated the Jews. 

Judas, the son of a rebel that had been killed by Herod in the 40s BCE, arose in Galilee and captured the royal palace in Sepphoris (a city within about 5 miles of where Jesus spent his youth), taking all the weapons stored there.  Another group burned down one of Herod's palaces across the Jordon river.  Another group followed Simon, a slave of Herod, and plundered the palace in Jericho. Plundering and looting continued all over the country.  Anyone could try to make themselves king and many individuals formed rebel bands who then destroyed their communities, causing huge losses of material and Jewish lives.  All the fighting caused little harm to the Roman inhabitants of the area.

To restore order, the governor of Syria, Publius Quinctilius Varus, brought troops south from Antioch.  He recaptured Sepphoris, sold its inhabitants into slavery and burned down the city.  Josephus tells of thousands of Jews hung on crosses along the road for miles (certainly an event that would have been remembered and talked about in Jesus' time in Galilee). He destroyed Emmaus in revenge.  Jews that were fighting Sabinus in Jerusalem fled upon Varus' approach.  The inhabitants of Jerusalem who had not fled claimed they had been on the side of the Romans all along, and blamed the Jews who had come to Jerusalem for the Festival of Tabernacles for the fighting.

Both Varus and the Emperor understood the complex internal power struggles of the region and that most of the fighting had not been due to hostility toward Rome.  The great majority of the people guilty of revolting were pardoned, but the leaders were sent to Caesar.  Although Caesar also let most of the leaders go, he punished members of Herod's family who participated in the fighting because they treated justice in a contemptible manner when they chose to fight against their own side.

Eventually, Herod's kingdom was divided among three of this sons by the Emperor Caesar Augustus.  Archilaus became ethnarch of the tetrarchy of Judea, Herod Antipas became tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, and Philip became tetrarch of the land east of the Jordan. 

Despite some disruptions, the time from the death of Herod until the Jewish uprising in 66 CE is considered to be a time of relative peace in Judea, with no major wars or Roman "invasions" to resume control of the region.  The Jews lived within the governmental framework of the Roman Empire and do not seem to have harbored too much animosity for the Romans.  So, while Jesus lived, he was able to perform his ministry while the population was fairly free of military intervention or major internal strife.  

References:
Goodman, Martin.  Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations. New York: Vintage Books, 2007.
Wikipedia.  "Herod the Great." 17 July 2012.  30 July 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great.

Theodicy and Aurora, Colorado

Where was God during the shooting in Aurora, Colorado?  It's simply a questions I've heard asked.  Of course, we could change the question to anywhere at anytime, like where was God during 9-11, where was God during the holocaust, where was God when the Titanic sank, or during WWI...the list goes on.  If God is good, why is there evil in the world?  Is there a good response to this question about theodicy, or should we just sweep it under the rug like we do so many questions concerning our faith?

There are a lot of answers to this question.  Some might be that God never existed, God is dead, God doesn't interfere in the world, God is standing back to give Satan the opportunity to rule until the Second Coming, or that God gives us choices and we must live with them.  We could talk about original sin, or lack of faith, or our just desserts.  Nothing, really, seems to satisfy.  We could even say that God was in that theater in Aurora, Colorado, boldly saving some people, but that isn't very comforting to the families of those who God didn't help and therefore died.  Some would say it was God's will, but I personally refuse to believe that God wants someone to wield weapons and use innocent human beings for target practice.  Let's admit it, when something like this happens, perhaps there is no wonderful, comforting answer.  So instead of wrestling with the disturbing questions, we chalk it up as one of God's mysteries, but that is also unsatisfying.

If God is good then why is there evil?  Perhaps we are wrong in our understanding of God.  The question of theodicy sometimes seems like a circle, where you make a statement but the answers you have lead you right back to the same questions, in a never-ending circle, ad infinitum.  Kind of like, what came first, the chicken or the egg?  Except the question of theodicy and the answers we have can affect the very basis of our faith. 

As Christians, we believe our God is all-knowing (omnipotent), present everywhere at all times (omni-present), possessing the ability to change anything according to his will (all-powerful).  So why doesn't he?  If God is benevolent and loves us, why would God want us to suffer, to die early, to die violently, or to die at all?   Why doesn't God at least save the little ones who have barely had a chance to live?  If we say we would gladly give our lives in exchange for a young child who died or is dying, why doesn't God feel the same way?  Why doesn't God simply cure those children instead of standing by and watching them die?  Perhaps our theodicy is wrong.  Maybe God is all-powerful but not omnipotent, and things happen that he doesn't know about.  Perhaps God is omnipotent but not all-powerful, and he can't change things.  Perhaps God is omnipotent, all-powerful, but not omni-present; maybe God can't be everywhere at all times.  Perhaps on a more simple level, there is evil in the world because God isn't all good like we say God is.  How you respond to the question of theodicy affects what you believe God's nature to be.    

As United Methodists, we believe that God is very good, but we desperately want to know why God does not intervene in the face of evil.  We profess that God made humankind in God's image.  One aspect of God's being that we embody is the ability to use our minds and respond to the world, in other words, to make choices.  And in this world where billions of people make trillions upon trillions of choices every day, we realize that we do not make those choices in a vacuum.  Everyone's choices effect everyone else in unplanned and unexpected ways.  Choices can be good or bad and can affect one person, a few people, or the whole planet.  Yet we believe that God's gift of this ability to gather information, use our brains, make decisions and follow through on those decisions is so precious to God that God does not interfere.  Why?  Because if God interferes and fixes things, or makes us do things or stops us from doing things, we become nothing more than puppets in the big cosmic play which, incidentally, would have no purpose at all except to entertain God who supposedly knows how it is all going to turn out anyway.  So, really, what would be the point?

Yes, we profess God is good.  Evil is in the world by our own doing as a result of our freedom to make choices, because we don't always make the right ones.  We love our freedom yet when things go wrong, we still want God to step in and fix things.  I'm not so sure that scripture says God will swoop down to save us every time we need saving.  Although Jesus and the disciples healed many people as a witness to God's power and presence, there are many that were never healed simply because we know that the poor and infirmed are everywhere, and Jesus and his band were not.  Jesus healed the blind man at the pool, but the Bible doesn't say anything about healing the rest of the people that were sitting around the pool, waiting for the waters to stir.  We are told in scripture that if we ask for anything in the name of Jesus, it will be granted.  We know that doesn't happen either.  We do know that scripture is rife with contradictions because the books of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament were written by different people at different times for different audiences with different understandings of nature and the world and of God.  Though inspired by God, they still constitute an author's best guess or best understanding of God, which the author may not have gotten totally correct.   

But there are some things in scripture that we can be sure of because if the books are taken as a whole, there are messages that are repeated over and over again.  One of those is that scripture provides us with everything we need to know to be saved.  Another is that God is love.  Thirdly, we know that God is with us, that God abides.  There are, of course, others.  But with these we know where God was during the shooting in Aurora, Colorado.  God was there.  God was with everyone in that place, guiding, talking, comforting, making his presence known, and for some, welcoming them to another place, because another thing we know from scripture is that Jesus has prepared a place for us when we die, a place that is better than this one.  Some could hear God above the din because they have a relationship that keeps them bound to God; some didn't know God but found him there; some didn't know God but because they had turned away from him, could never hear him.  God was with the shooter, but the shooter dismissed him and the shooter never heard.  God's voice is that still, small one that we have to want to hear.  Did God perform miracles?  Maybe, maybe not.  That is for everyone to decide on their own.  Some see them everywhere, others see them not at all.  Coincidence and luck may in fact be miracles.  I suppose it depends on how you define God's action in the world. 

Some may not find all of this very comforting, but I disagree.  I am extremely comforted by the fact that my God is with me.  No matter what I suffer, whether it be from by own decisions of the decisions of others, I know my God is with me.  God experiences my life, my ups and down, my happiness and my despair.  I know that even if I feel there is no one else in the world who knows what I am going through, my God does.  God's presence is with me whether I feel it or not, and that, for me, is enough.  Though I wish God would interfere at times, especially when loved ones are ill or dying, I submit to the mystery (even if that, too, is unsatisfying on some level) of a God who is so much above me that I cannot understand God's ways.  But I can understand his promise: I am with you, even to the end of the age.  

Did You Know? - Roman Funeral Masks

Heritage, or ancestry, was important in the ancient world to both Romans and Jews because there were simply some aspects of life where ancestry offered opportunity.  But there is one very interesting practice that the Romans had that some of us are unaware of -  the use of funeral masks.  The following is a section from the writings of Polybius:

"Whenever someone from the ranks of the illustrious dies, as a part of his funeral procession out of the city he is carried into the forum to the co-called rostra.  Usually his body is conspicuous in an upright pose; more rarely, he is lying down.  When all the people are standing round, a grown-up son, if the deceased has left one and if he happens to be present, or, if not, some other relative mounts the rostra and speaks about the virtues and lifetime achievements of the deceased...After they have buried him and performed the customary rites, a wax image of the deceased is placed in a very conspicuous spot in the house, in a wooden shrine.  This image is a mask made strikingly similar to the facial features and expression of the deceased.  The family puts these images on display on the occasion of public sacrifices, decorating them with great care.  When any illustrious family member dies, the family takes them to the funeral, putting them on men who seem to be most similar in height and size to the original...When the speaker who delivers the oration for the man to be buried has finished his speech about him, he then mentions the achievements and accomplishments of each of those other men whose masks are present, beginning with the most ancient."

Using the Big Picture

I live in Pennsylvania.  Unless you live in a hole somewhere or have no access to TV, radio, a newspaper or magazine, or the internet (in which case you would not be reading this), you have heard what is going on at Penn State.  Now I'm not a Penn State alumni, however, I was raised to be a Penn State Fan.  My father is a graduate of Penn State, my sister worked for Penn State, my brother-in-law received his degree in Medicine from Penn State, and I worked for both the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center as well as The Penn State University College of Medicine.  I was raised rooting for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team.  Some of my most "comforting" family memories are of watching a Penn State game on TV with the rest of the family,  curled up in my favorite chair in a comfy warm home on chilly autumn days.

Joe Paterno was someone I always respected.  I still do, although he failed horribly in regards to Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno did a lot of good for a lot of people during his life. However, there is absolutely no excuse for not following through with the knowledge he had, but blame, in my opinion, falls even more harshly on the president of the University and those who were directly under him.  No one can gauge how damaging their non-action has been to many young boys, now young men.  What Sandusky did to these boys is not something they will ever get over.  It will follow them all of their days.  Sandusky is where he needs to be but he should have been there years ago. 

However, I don't want to talk specifically about Joe Paterno, Spanier, Curley, Schultz or anyone else involved in this scandal in regards to their failure to take direct action in protecting young children who could not protect themselves - the most vulnerable of our society.  There are other lessons here besides the obvious;  we need to look at how our inability to consider the long-range consequences of our actions affect us and others.

As an Air Force Officer on the Airborne Warning and Control System, known as AWACS, I and others like me controlled military aircraft.  With our airborne radar, we were able to see about 250 miles around the aircraft, and that gave us the "big picture" of the air environment all around us.  A fighter jet also has a radar that can detect multiple targets but it can only see out in front of the jet, not all the way around it.  Once the pilot locks his radar onto a single target he cannot see any other targets.  In a way, a fighter that has radar locked on a target automatically becomes tunnel visioned.  Aircraft that are working with AWACS in a high threat environment depend on the AWACS to relay the "big picture" to them, especially when they are in a positions where they can no longer discern where all the bandits (bad guys) are.

For some reason humans do not seem to be able to see the big picture anymore.  When Native Americans considered actions of the tribe, they were taught to imagine the future and consider how the many generations that would follow would be affected by the decisions made that day.  They were not to simply consider themselves and those with whom they lived, but to also consider those who did not yet exist.  They understood that their actions would not impact them alone.  Basically, they considered the big picture.

When people, societies or nations act, it is imperative that we all consider the big picture.  When trying to acquire the big picture, all outcomes must be considered and examined.  The big picture, which includes endpoints of all possible permutations of the equation, requires a group effort that speculates, whether based on scientific data, logic, education or wisdom, about all possible outcomes.  It requires that everyone involved thinks outside the box and most of us are not very good at that.  The big picture takes time, insight, and creative thinking to develop, and there is no room for fear when discussing the worst case scenarios; considering unpleasant outcomes is a necessity.  In fact, the worst outcomes may be the most important ones to address.  The big picture is not just about how a a single person or nation will be affected, but about how the whole human race, or even all life on the planet could be affected, not just now, but in the future as well. 
If we look at the current Penn State scandal it is obvious that the power players only considered the short term consequences.  Protecting the University took precedence over everything else, including the safety of children, and they decided that the best way to protect the University was to "hide" what Sandusky was doing.  Perhaps they believed that handling the situation in-house was the best way to protect the institution, that talking to Sandusky would be enough to scare him into proper behavior, and if the public found out there would be repercussions that would cast a pall over the football team and the University.  They obviously didn't consider the big picture - the repercussions that would occur if, after years of hiding Sandusky's actions, the truth finally came out. 

In considering possible consequences, Spanier, Curley, Schultz and Paterno might have discovered that if the problem was addressed promptly with integrity to the proper authorities they would save children and Penn State could have been lauded for choosing to reveal that one of it's own was a predator.  In being short-sighted, four people's actions have forever damaged an unknown number of children, the legacy of a respected coach, and the integrity of a beloved University.  They had tunnel vision and were locked  into one solution for the problem.  Their inability to see the bigger picture has resulted in horrible consequences.

If we would take our own blinders off we would be stunned by how often lack of a big picture infiltrates almost every problem we hear about.  Here are just a few examples:

The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
The Space Shuttle Columbia is struck by a large piece of foam from the external tank on the leading edge of its left wing during lift off on January 16, 2003.  It is known that the thermal  tiles of the shuttle are brittle and easily damaged and if too many tiles or key tiles are damaged, the shuttle could be destroyed on re-entry.  The loss of foam from the external tank and damage to the shuttle's tiles has been a problem since the first launch.  However, up to this point in the program, every shuttle has survived re-entry despite foam striking the orbiter on lift-off.  After the foam hit is observed on Columbia, there is much discussion concerning possible damage to the leading edge of the left wing.  Engineers in NASA talk about using a telescope to view the shuttle or using the robotic arm to view the wing, but NASA officials believe everything will be alright despite not following through with visual confirmation, and decide to continue the flight as normal.  The crew is told of the strike but that NASA is not worried about damage.  The crew is unconcerned because of the information that is relayed to them.  As occurred prior with the Challenger disaster, the NASA hierarchy decides to continue the flight and re-entry as normal, despite warnings from its engineers.  At approximately 9 a.m. on February 1, 2003, just 16 minutes to landing, the shuttle broke apart during re-entry, killing all 7 astronauts.  It was a disaster that could have been prevented if the engineers, who seem to have had the "big picture," were taken seriously. 

The Fukushima Daiichi Reactor
Nuclear plants are built in the highly earthquake prone nation of Japan because of its lack of natural resources.  Historically, because of its location along the Ring of Fire, Japan has been subject to large earthquakes as well as massive tsunamis.  Records exist from as recent as the late 1800's portraying waves over 100 ft high.  The Tokyo Electric Power Company builds nuclear reactors along Japan's coastline to utilize sea water for cooling its reactors.  For protection against the sea, TEPCO erects a 19 foot sea wall around their Fukushima Daiichi reactor.  On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake occurs off the coast of Japan that produces a tsunami that is at least 46 feet high.  A lack of the big picture from within the government of Japan allows TEPCO, who is more concerned about the bottom dollar over the safety of Japan's citizens, to build a seawall that would not protect the plant, resulting in the contamination of land around the plant, forcing people off the land, perhaps for generations.  Common sense informs that a 19-foot sea wall could not possibly protect the plant, or the people, from a large tsunami. 

Operation Iraqi Freedom

Ex-President George W. Bush decides to invade Iraq, a nation that was not involved in the terrorist attacks on the United States, although this argument is used as one foundational reason for the invasion.  The Middle Eastern culture is a culture that is unlike that of the United States.  Scholars of the Middle East, as well as advisers and consultants tell Bush that his desire to establish a democracy in Iraqi will be far more difficult than he believes, if it is even achievable.  America's allies warn against the action and the UN observers tell Bush to allow their team to continue to look for weapons of mass destruction because none had yet been found.  Bush develops no exit strategy because he believes the Iraqi people will embrace the Americans as liberators instead of occupiers.  Despite all voices to the contrary, Bush chooses a course of action that displays his inability to see and comprehend the big picture, resulting in the death of over 4,400 American servicemen and servicewomen, the death of an estimated 100,000 to 700,000 civilian deaths, brings Iraq to the brink of civil war, and plunges the United States into a record deficit environment.     

Species Invasion
If you watch Animal, Planet, no doubt you have seen programs that address the python and boa constrictor invasion in the Florida Everglades.  Although the exact method of introduction is unknown, it is most likely that these snakes were introduced to the wild by pet owners who could not destroy their pets when they became too large, or from the destruction of a reptile research facility due to a hurricane.  Either way, the non-indigenous snakes are taking over Southern Florida, killing native species and posing a threat to humans and their pets.  This type of invasion is only one instance of many, including non-native fish, reptiles, mammals, plants and insects.  Although people or institutions who utilize these species, either as pets or for research, may believe that all safeguards have been taken to prevent their escape, it does appear to happen over and over again.  Obtaining "the big picture" and seriously considering and acting upon the various possible outcomes of species could decrease the release of these animals and plants considerably, perhaps by not allowing them in the country in the first place.

If you open a paper or listen to the news today, it is obvious that not assessing the big picture continues to be an issue.  We can see how trade agreements destroy third world infrastructures, how low cost mortgages result in default, how printing more money undermines world confidence in our monetary system, how drilling in shale contaminates land and groundwater, how transferring jobs overseas negatively impacts our economy, and how our continued creation of greenhouse gases is changing the world's environment.  It boggles the mind how many instances there are of people, institutions or nations making decisions and taking action without an understanding of possible outcomes.

Our inability to find and consider a larger picture has and will continue to damage this world and its people until we figure out how to act in a way that considers all outcomes and all people.  Before we act we must think and consider.  We must also learn not to put the outcome we desire first, disregarding those outcomes we wish to ignore because they are damaging or difficult.  Using the big picture must come before our own selfish concerns.  If we, our representatives, senators, and congressmen at all levels of government, institutions, and nations cannot get over their tiny worldview that only includes themselves, we are dooming future generations to a world that will be difficult to put back together again.  Hopefully, it isn't already too late.

Kim Lehn - "To Act in the Living Present"

Today is June 30, 2012.  Kim Lehn died today, therefore, today was not a day of defeat but a day of victory.  Today was not a day for mourning but a day of triumph.

Kim Lehn fought cancer for over seven years - that's more than 2.555 days that she defeated death and embraced life.  She never gave up and she never surrendered.  With the heart of a lion and the faith of an apostle, she knew life was a precious miracle and she refused to willingly give in to the darkness.  Kim always reminded me of the poem by Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into that good night...rage against the dying of the light."  She was a fighter not a quitter, a winner not a loser, a believer not a doubter.


We all knew that Kim's death was inevitible, because in reality, it is for all of us.  At some time in our lives each one of us will succumb to death when our bodies can no longer perform all the chemical processes they need to perform to support our bodily functions.  For Kim, we knew that point was close because for Kim, staying active, working, walking, sending out her weekly e-mails was so important to her.  We watched as cancer slowly ate away at those things she loved to do.  Yet for those who watched a bit from afar, who were not part of her family or close intimate circle, what we continued to witness was a courageous woman who refused to relax and let her illness take its course.  What we saw was her noble and unrelenting fight to stay in the game of life, her desire to eake every bit of the joy and beauty of life out of life, and her deep desire and love not only for her family, but for everyone else who was fighting his or her own life's battles.  She never wrote an e-mail that did not share a list of those to pray for, nor did she ever neglect to include an encouraging poem to share.

Kim had a lot of people who cared about her and who tried to fight her fight along with her.  But in the end, we all must admit that the fight really was her's alone.  That's why her battle with cancer was so amazing.  She is the one who suffered, not that other's didn't, but she alone bore the physical pain of the disease and the knowledge of early death.  And still, even at the end, she kept fighting. 

What we need to keep in mind though, is not that Kim kept beating back death, because that makes death the focus.  What Kim did was embrace life.  For Kim, it was all about life and the beauty of life, the witnessing of growth, the maturing of her children, the simple joy of giving a haircut and conversing with her customers, the enjoyment of a walk, the blooming of flowers after a long winter, or the feeling of a cool drink of water on a hot summer's day.  It was these simple joys of life that Kim sought and wanted to keep experiencing, because she saw that miracles happened every day.  I don't know if Kim had a true sense of the miracle of everyday life before her illness or not, but I'm sure she honed her appreciation of it over her years of cancer treatments.  That, I think, is the message I take from Kim's life.  And that, I think, would be what Kim would want us all to take away from her struggle.  Life is real, life is precious.  Act today, enjoy, care and love.

Below is one of my very favorite poems, and I offer it to you in honor of Kim Lehn's life of courage, determination, and her appreciation of how wonderful life is.  I don't know if she ever read it, but I bet she would have liked it. 

A Psalm of Life

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, - act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solenm main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

Thank you, Kim, for your lessons to us as you struggled bravely for life. May you now experience true life, in the presence of the Living God, in that place that is more wonderful than we could ever imagine. It won't be long till we see you again. But until then, we'll give thanks for every day that we can smell the fresh air, drink that cool glass of refreshing water, and experience God's glorious world!

Joyce Anderson - "Not At My Church"

I learned, just a few hours ago, about the death of a friend.  Joyce Mounds Anderson, after a short bout with cancer, passed away this morning.  I attended seminary with Joyce.  She was younger than I, from Harrisburg, and was assigned to a church in the eastern part of the conference, around Philadelphia somewhere.  She had just completed her Doctorate in Ministry in May, which for me, was pretty cool because she just graduated from Lancaster Theological Seminary in 2009.  Joyce was a kind and gentle soul, soft spoken yet filled with the joy of the Lord.  She had that kind of twinkle in her eye that, when you looked at her, made you aware that her mind was working, and that she was, perhaps, several steps ahead of you. 

At one point when we were in seminary, I tried to convince Joyce to apply for a position at Gravel Hill.  At that time we were looking for a youth minister and I thought Joyce would be a perfect person for the job - younger, smart, a people person, and someone who was liked by children as well as adults.  I talked to her about it and she seemed interested.  But she finally asked a key question that let me know there could be a problem that I never thought of.  I suppose sometimes I can be a bit naive. 

You see, Joyce had a bit of a "handicap."  Not that most of us or most of the world would see it as such, but there are still some who would call it that.  In fact, many, many people of the world are just like Joyce, and proud of it.  But in our neck of the woods in Palmyra, it made her stand out as different.  For others, it would have been something to hold against her.  For some in our community and our church, it would have been used to judge her negatively, without even getting to know her.  

She declined to apply for the position at Gravel Hill, but told me she was very flattered that I had thought of her.  I knew that Gravel Hill would eventually find someone who would be a great youth leader, but was sorry that Joyce wouldn't even apply.  She would have been a tremendous addition to our congregation and staff.

What did Joyce ask me?  She asked what kind of congregation Gravel Hill was.  She didn't want to know if we were an inwardly or outwardly focused, or whether we were mostly young or old - knowing that our church is in Palmyra, she wanted to know if we were an all white congregation.  For the most part, we were and still are.  Joyce's "problem," or that thing that we would have used to judge her, was that she was African-American.  She said she didn't think working at Gravel Hill would be good for her because she did not want to be the only African-American in the congregation.  She knew a lot more about how blacks are treated in all white congregations, as well as the world at large.  Though she was a United Methodist she knew that being a Christian or being members of the same denomination alone did not bind us together as a people.  And it's true.  And unfortunate.  And she is right.  I'm sure she would have been judged negatively by some people at Gravel Hill - its called prejudice, and it is still here in our midst.  It may not be overt, and there may be only a few who still harbour it somewhat openly, but it is still lives and breathes in our house of worship. 

In honor of Joyce's life, her life's work, and her love of God I want to say that prejudice has no place in our church, in our denomination, in Christianity, or in the Kingdom of God.  The amount of melanin in our skin does not define who we are as individuals.  Jesus said it is what is in the heart that matters to God.  It doesn't matter if we are white, black, yellow or red.  It doesn't matter if people of a race different than our own sits next to us in a pew, sings in the choir, teaches adult education classes, adopts a child from another race, or marries someone of a different race. It should not matter to us because it does not matter to God.  If you hold on to prejudice you hold onto what is not holy and what is not of God.  Prejudice is not born of love and love is that God-like quality in ourselves that will be used when we ourselves come to be judged.  God is love, and that is what we are called to do, no matter whom it concerns.

Over 10 years ago I worked for two weeks down in San Antonio, Texas, at Brooks Army Medical Center.  I was sent there as a Flight Nurse to get some experience in the care of burn patients.  I assisted in the admission of one African-American gentleman who's girlfriend had poured boiling water on him while he slept.  Even though it had been only an hour or two, all the skin on his right shoulder and arm, as well as portions of his back and chest, was gone.  This area was now a "Caucasian-looking" pink color.  Although he was in pain and the extent of his burn was not known (it can take 48-72 hours to know how deep a burn actually is), he was worried about the color of his wound.  Would the natural color come back?  Was it going to look like his skin was white or black when it healed? 

I didn't have an answer for him because I didn't know.  What I wanted to say to him was it didn't matter - he was alive.  The color in our skin is only in the tiniest layer of our outer skin.  But it mattered to him.  He was a black man and he wanted to stay that way.  For me it was the best evidence I'd ever seen that color is only skin deep. That lesson has stayed with me all these years.  Color really is only skin deep.  It simply doesn't matter what color someone is.  What matters is the heart. 

The Reverend Joyce Anderson, a loving, caring, talented, gifted, beautiful woman would not apply to Gravel Hill because of her color.  I can reverse that and say I probably would not prefer to be assigned as the pastor of an all-black church either, because in our imperfect world, race still matters.  In God's kingdom, it does not. As Christians, isn't it time that we put aside our hatred and prejudice?  Isn't it time that we speak out against it?  Isn't it time that we hold each other accountable for acting as our faith requires?  Isn't it time that we stop talking about being in the world but not of it, and start living like that is our reality?  Isn't it time we put away the hatred of the world and start acting out of the love that God shares with us?  Isn't it time to start asking ourselves every time we act or think, "Is God's love the source?"  Because love really is what it's all about.  "Love one another."

Rev. Dr. Joyce Anderson

In honor of you, my friend.  May the beauty of your soul, your love for others, and your desire to live a life of service and obedience to God, live on in those who knew you.  You will be missed.

Gone From My Sight

For those who mourn...

Gone From My Sight 

I am standing by the seashore.

A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze

and starts for the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength,

and I stand and watch

until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud

just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other.

Then someone at my side says, ‘There she goes!

Gone where? Gone from my sight – that is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull and spar

as she was when she left my side

and just as able to bear her load of living freight

to the places of destination.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,

‘There she goes! ‘ ,

there are other eyes watching her coming,

and other voices ready to take up the glad shout :

‘Here she comes!’

by Henry Van Dyke