Modern people of faith think of the Crusades as a time of great religious conflict, characterized by innumerable battles, massacres, and other atrocities. All of this is true, and overall the Crusades were a catastrophe whose tendrils reach down all the way to the present. One positive thing to emerge from the Crusades, however, was the hospital and its offshoot, the hospice. The Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem grew out of efforts during the First Crusade to provide care for sick and dying pilgrims, as well as a safe place for healthy travelers to stay. The Hospitallers were a Christian military order, so they also provided armed escorts for pilgrims, and they eventually developed their own army as well. The military aspects of the order disappeared with the failure of the Crusades, but the provision of care continued. The modern hospice movement began in seventeenth century France, spreading from there to the UK, the US, and other countries. The goal of those involved in the hospice movement is to provide palliative care for those who are dying, and support for their friends and families. Hospice care involves the recognition that death is an inevitable part of life and that at a certain point, it makes sense to focus on comforting the dying rather than trying to heal them. Today's reading from 2 Kings tells the story of a man whose life was quickly drawing to a close and the faithful servant who refused to leave his side. Elijah had a date with a fiery chariot rather than with the Grim Reaper, but his doom was just as certain as if he had been terminally ill. As his servant Elisha accompanied him on his final journey, Elijah tried to convince Elisha to stay behind, but Elisha replied, "As the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." Along the way, well-meaning people, the sons of the prophets, similarly tried to convince Elisha to let Elijah go to meet God on his own. "Yes I know," Elisha replied. "Shut up!" And so Elisha stayed with Elijah as he crossed the Jordan River. He witnessed Elijah's final moments on earth, as he was taken into the fiery chariot that ascended to heaven. And he returned to his home alone. Despite the narrative's portrayal of both Elijah and Elisha as prophets and men of great faith, the story suggests that both men benefited from their journey together. Elijah had someone to converse with as he faced the unknown, and Elisha was permitted to witness Elijah's translation from one sphere of existence to another. It is a privilege to accompany another person on his or her final journey, and it is often an ordeal, particularly if the comforter has known the dying patient for any length of time. Some very special people have the inner qualities necessary to provide service to the dying on a regular basis, but most of us will only have such an experience a few times in life, if at all. Many more of us, however, will find ourselves playing the role of Elijah, moving toward a certain fate without knowing the details of what lies ahead. When we do, may God grant us the grace of an Elisha to go with us down the road.
Psalm 50:1-6 (first published 26 February 2006)
A group of people, presumably Sunni Muslims, committed a terrible crime
this week when they planted a bomb inside a Shiite mosque and seriously
damaged one of Shia Islam's most sacred sites, the burial place of two
revered Shiite imams, descendants of the prophet Muhammad. In response,
groups of outraged Shiites burned several Sunni mosques to the ground and
killed several Sunni imams. Sunnis retaliated, and to date more than a
hundred people have been killed. Many think that civil war is imminent,
or has already started, in Iraq. In a world where people see no hope for
justice, they often seek their own vengeance, and violence spirals out of
control. This is a story that has repeated itself in recent years in
Afghanistan, Rwanda, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Chechnya, and elsewhere across
the planet. All of the major world religions have been around for
hundreds or thousands of years, yet still injustice is rampant, and people
react to violence with even greater violence. In such a world, is there
hope for the future? The psalmist speaks of God as a God of justice, one
who calls heaven and earth to witness against evildoers. Those who
instigate violence often think that they can escape God's justice or, even
worse, that they are instruments of God's justice. This psalm reminds us,
however, that God's standards of justice are very high, for they are based
on God's own standard of righteousness. Because God is not in the
business of killing the innocent, all those who do so--even if they claim
they are doing it either in self-defense or in God's name--are liable
before God for their atrocities. The Bible teaches very clearly that God
sides with the poor and the oppressed, so rich wannabe defenders of
justice have nowhere to hide, whether in caves in Afghanistan or the
villages of Iraq or the halls of the White House. God sees all, and God
calls the rest of the earth, particularly those who have suffered, to bear
witness to God's justice. It is important to note, however, that God does
not call on us to dispense justice on our own, for attempts to do so are
often no more than simple acts of revenge and do nothing to forward
justice in the world. God wants people of faith to take a stand against
violence and to promote justice on the planet. I have been encouraged to
read over the past couple of days calls from Sunni and Shiite leaders
alike for people to calm down and stop making the situation worse.
Killing one person won't bring another back from the dead, and though it
may make the killer feel better for a moment, the act only perpetuates
suffering and increases the likelihood of even more violence. Although
individual people cannot dispense justice, we are called on to set up
human institutions that will punish the guilty and create environments in
which justice can flourish. Iraq, like many other parts of the world, is
far from a just society, but with the goodwill of leading figures from the
Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish, and Christian communities in Iraq, as well as the
support from people of goodwill from around the world, hope remains alive.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6 (first published 26 February 2006)
From at least the time of Constantine, and perhaps before in certain
locales, some people have seen Christianity as a power trip, a chance to
gain influence over others and exercise authority. To be sure this hasn't
been the predominant view of Christianity, but over the centuries many
Christians have accepted without question their leaders' claims to power.
The situation continues unabated today. Ordinary, intelligent people who
wouldn't for a minute allow a king or dictator to tell them what to
believe or how to live surrender themselves to often self-appointed rulers
in the church. Sometimes these autocrats of the mind and conscience
operate at the level of the local church, priests or pastors who enjoy
their position of authority more than they should. At other times these
rulers lord it over larger numbers of people, over whom they hold sway
either by means of a hierarchical church structure or through persuasive
rhetoric. Of course, the phenomenon is not limited to the Christian
church, for it applies to other faiths as well. I would like to think
that the number of modern religious leaders who are on this divine power
trip is relatively small, but I'm not so sure about that. I still
remember the seminary student who told me several years ago that he
wouldn't allow the people of his church to read a particular book. "What
kind of a leader are you," I wondered, "who exercises power over his
congregation's reading habits?" On another occasion, I had a young lady
who was about to get married tell me that her pastor wouldn't allow her to
have a particular love song played in her wedding, because he didn't
approve of it. Here was a young couple that was old enough to take on the
responsibility of marriage, but they couldn't be trusted to choose
appropriate wedding music? Then there are those who exercise their power
over the minds of others by threatening them with hellfire if they adopt
the wrong set of beliefs. How much more effective the church would be if
all Christian leaders would follow the example of Paul, who said, "We do
not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as
your slaves for Jesus' sake." Note that Paul did not say that he was
merely Jesus' slave (he makes this claim on many other occasions); he said
that he was also the voluntary slave of the Corinthian church. In other
words, he saw it as his duty to the church to serve them in whatever way
he could. What a refreshing view of ministry! Christians need to get
away from the perspective that pastors are there to rule over them and
tell them what to believe. Pastors who abuse their authority by
exercising it in arbitrary ways need to repent, but so do Christian
laypeople who are too lazy to exert their own God-given right to use their
brains. God calls us all to be servants, and if we find ourselves in
positions of authority, that too is an opportunity to serve other people
in the name of Christ.
Mark 9:2-9 (first published 26 February 2006)
Have you ever wondered why it was that Jesus chose to take only Peter, James, and John with him when he climbed the Mount of Transfiguration? Maybe if he had chosen to be transfigured before all the disciples, Judas Iscariot would never have betrayed him. Maybe if he had been transfigured before not only the disciples but also the many other people who traveled with him, the message that he was the unique Son of God would have spread more rapidly. Maybe if he had picked the temple in Jerusalem as the place to be transfigured, a mass conversion of the Jewish leadership to his cause would have transpired, and he would have been acclaimed as Messiah not only by his followers but by his former opponents as well. Why did Jesus choose only Peter, James, and John? I don't know the answer for sure, but I suspect it's similar to the reason why God chose to be revealed to Elijah in a gentle breeze (or a still, small voice, or perhaps even silence) rather than in a windstorm, a blazing fire, or an earthquake. God doesn't proclaim the divine will on billboards along the highway, nor does God take out an ad in the New York Times when God wants to do something. God only reveals God's own person and will to people who are ready to listen and, after they've heard, are willing to act. The good news is that God, like the Marines, is always looking for a few good women and men, people who are listening intently to hear God's voice, people who have the courage to act on what they understand God wants them to do. Are we the kind of people that Jesus would choose to invite to climb a mountain with him so that we could witness the glory of God being revealed?