With Strings Attached

The Scripture reading today in my daily devotional book, Our Daily Bread, is the famous love chapter, I Corinthians 13. I have been thinking lately about the verse that reads, love "does not seek its own." I was reminded of this verse after hearing a good friend this past weekend speak of the Blessings Baskets that her church gives to the poor and needy each Thanksgiving. She said that each recipient must listen to a sermon, giving the plan of salvation, before he or she receives the free basket. I began to wonder, "Are we attaching strings to our love when we make such a requirement?"

Jesus taught that we should love God and love our neighbors. It is laudable that many charitable groups give to the poor not only for Thanksgiving and Christmas but throughout the year through manna centers, shelters, and other places. Since it has been popular in recent years to ask, "What would Jesus do?" I find it difficult to believe He would put conditions on people for food, healing, or comfort.

On the other hand, I think of my father who was killed in a homicide in 1976. Since he was often homeless, hungry, and poor due to his addiction to alcohol, he often stayed at Gospel Rescue Missions throughout the South. He, like my friend's church above, was required to listen to a sermon before he received a place to stay or food to eat. When he died and my sister picked up his sparse belongings, she found a Bible that smelled just like he always did: of booze and cigarettes. Inside was an Open Windows devotional book open to Acts 16:31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved . . . ."

Perhaps the combination of sermon with food and shelter isn't so bad after all.

The "Ah S***" Moments of Life

We hear so much on the news these days about those who are battling addictions. The latest, in addition, to the ones we have seen repeatedly on television such as Britney Spears, Nicole Richie, and Lindsay Lohan, now include Marie Osmond's sixteen-year-old son. She confirmed last week to Larry King that, indeed, her son was in rehab. Addiction problems though are not just a concern of the very young people of the world.

One of my acquaintances recently shared her life story with a few of us. Since her husband had been addicted to alcohol, she had been active in Al-Anon for years. After his death, she began to drink more and more herself. After counseling with a mutual friend, she was given a booklet to read entitled "The Functioning Alcoholic." After reading it, she said, "Ah S***" and soon joined AA.

My own addiction to a prescribed medication came while I was in my mid-twenties as a young professional and mother of a toddler. I developed a back problem, went to a general practitioner, and was given Valium. The physician assured me it was the mildest of muscle relaxers and posed no health problem or possibility of addiction. When I decided to get pregnant again, I knew that I had to wean myself from this drug; though it kept me very calm and my back problem had disappeared by then, I instinctively felt the drug might cause harm to a developing fetus. I was four months into my second pregnancy before I was able to reduce the dosage day by day until I was completely off the drug. Later, medical studies showed that the drug was very addictive, and many fetuses had been harmed by it. Thankfully, mine was not among them.

I do not know what solution is available for those who battle addictions other than family suport, rehab, and God. If the Osmonds can fall, there is probably no hope for the rest of us. I am afraid that those "Ah S***" moments will continue well into the future.

Present Tense Only

This morning I walked north on my walking path. The NPR station I was listening to told me it was 59 degrees, the sky was overcast, and the fallen leaves crunched under my feet. A scent of nuts and impending rain was in the air. Since it is Thanksgiving week in America, it is hard not to think early about the truly bountiful blessings of the harvest. Every day I need to remind myself to be grateful for retirement and for the privilege of being able to live in the moment.

I have become recently aware of this concept through a couple of incidents in my life. One occurred in a telephone conversation with my two-year-old grandson Cole. I asked him a question about a recent event with his godfathers. His mother quickly replied, "Cole has no concept of the past or present, only what is happening at this moment." I have also heard an acquaintance, Ann, speak several times of being asked by her husband Sonny to live in the moment with him. He was dying of lung cancer and would often ask her to put away the busyness of her life just to lie in the bed with him and enjoy the present.

I think we often spend far too much time thinking about both the past and the future. We tend to linger over the times we made an inappropriate comment, we intentionally caused a breach in a relationship, or we agonized over other actions. We also tend to think a lot about the future, whether or not we as retirees will have enough money to live well until death and, hopefully, be able to leave a little to our children and grandchildren.

I always like the Scripture that talks about not worrying about the future. It reminds us that sparrows do not, so we should not as well. Living in present tense is the important choice for us to make as we are thankful this week for our blessings: an intensely beautiful world which we are to care for, a family that loves us, and bountiful food to eat every day.

Hope and Freedom

Our spiritual formation class this fall has been studying and discussing a video series entitled Living the Questions. The ideas are intriguing, especially when we discuss the three major theologies of the Bible: the exodus, the atonement, and the priest (or redemption) models. One of the speakers on video this past Sunday was an African-American scholar who focused on the first model: liberation theology. She has now realized that, instead of being a story focusing on God's great deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt, it is much more complex. It is complex because she is now thinking of her ancestors, who likely were those whose first-born children were slaughtered during the passover and who were drowned in the Red Sea. What was their perspective of the plagues, she wonders.

When we think of the Hebrews in slavery during their time in Egypt, it is easy to see why they needed to be free. Who would like to do hard, physical work every day for impossible-to-please taskmasters and given onions and leeks as a steady diet? Moses was to lead his people to a promised land of milk and honey. In the forty year process of being in the wilderness while trying to arrive at their destination, they were given not only the ten commandments but also a multitude of other laws that they were expected to keep. The people mumbled and grumbled and disobeyed so much that the second generation was given the privilege of living in the new land but not the older generation, not even Moses.

The Buddhists evidently believe in the idea that until one loses hope, he or she has no freedom. How can this be? Some would even say that disobedience is the true foundation of liberty; the obedient must continue to be slaves. In other words, as long as we are tethered to God's laws, we have no real liberty. It is only when we become self-actualized and empowered that we can be truly free and, therefore, bring help to others who are oppressed.

I am not able fully to wrap my mind around these new ideas, but I am intrigued and challenged to think more deeply about the exodus and the concept of liberation theology.

Restoration Babies

I have been interested lately in the topic of restoration. For example, talk show host Nancy Grace recently gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Avid watchers of her show are familiar with her life story, that she lost her fiance years ago to a violent crime. That event was instrumental in her choice to become a prosecuting attorney. She did not marry and thought she would give her life instead to the pursuit of justice for crime victims--that is, until love intervened in her life again.

Our Bible study group has also been reading about unexpected babies in the Old Testament. Many examples abound where women were barren, and God surprised them with babies. Among those are Sarah, Abraham's wife; Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife; and even Lot's daughters who tricked their dad with drink in order to lie with him and conceive.

My friend Meera also shared with me a similar surprise sent to her brother and sister-in-law. Her brother was born with a congenital eye disease and his now-wife was a widow (a very difficult situation for a woman in India). In their forties or near, they married and thought their chances of having a child were quite improbable. A doctor's x-ray revealed a wonderful surprise: an eight month fetus who would be born shortly thereafter to middle-age parents and grandparents in their old age.

On a personal level, I have to admit also that, when our daughter told us she was gay, one of my first thoughts was that she would never be a mother. I was wrong as well. In the age of fertility clinics, our baby grandson was born in the summer of 2005 and is a delight to the many people who surround him on a daily basis.

Believers, of course, attribute these unexpected babies to God's restoration. I love the idea that God can see into our souls and address our deepest needs.

Communal Differences

This week the Arkansas Baptist Convention has been meeting to review its beliefs regarding baptism and communion. Since I have been a member of the Southern Baptist denomination for over fifty years, I am always interested in the latest discussions, especially now that I have been attending an Episcopal church for the past year.

Essentially, many Southern Baptists believe in "closed" communion, that is, only members of that particular church can receive what they refer to as the Lord's Supper. In addition, they also believe that, if one wishes to move a membership from one denomination to another (Methodist to Southern Baptist, for example), he or she must be re-baptized. They refer to baptisms in other churches as "alien" baptisms.

These views differ from the ones I am now observing in the Episcopal church. Episcopalians believe in infant baptism as an indication that the child is born into the community of the church. Later, as one reaches adolescence, the church teachings are "confirmed" by the child. He or she is then received into church membership. Episcopalians also believe that young children can participate in Communion even before confirmation.

I guess I am now beginning to prefer the latter beliefs. Southern Baptist always tend to say about one another's faith this cliche: "Well, only God can know one's heart truly and if he or she is really saved." If we cannot know another's true beliefs, what do we have to lose by allowing that one to be baptized early or to take communion--to signify the love and support of the larger church community? Episcopalians also believe that God chooses the time and place for baptism. That baptism takes place in infancy for "cradle" Episcopalians, but for others, it comes as adolescents or adults. Russell Crowe, the actor, has just announced his intention to be baptized into the church when his younger son is. He indicates that his parents did not direct him into a particular faith but let him choose for himself. He has now done so.

I often wonder how God perceives all of this arguing here on earth over various interpretations of the Scripture and His will. Southern Baptists have always believed their way is the "correct" way; Episcopalians have a more modest view of their infallibility when interpreting their theology. They believe there are questions that can only be answered by God Himself, not humans.