"there is nothing new under the sun" - Ecclesiastes 1:9b

It wouldn't help sell newspapers or magazines, nor would it help TV news ratings if those producing the news admitted that there isn't anything new to report today.  About 3,000 years ago Solomon realized that whatever news a person might hear that it wasn't really new, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again" (Ecc 1:9a).  The reason why there never is really any "new" news is because human nature doesn't change.  We may consider ourselves to be enlightened modern human beings who are far superior to our ancient ancestors, but that's just our hubris talking.  In reality, we're not any better than they are, nor are we any worse.  Man is incapable of changing his state.  Education won't do it, training won't do it, nor can a benevolent government either laize-faire or nanny-state change us.
The only thing that can, and will, bring about real change in individuals, communities, and nations, is a relationship with God through the saving power of the sacrifice of Jesus.  Why is this?  Because God has undertaken to transform us; we couldn't do it ourselves, but he can.  This is where faith begins, the realization that nothing will ever be new under the sun until we let God make it happen.

Sermon Video: Is it right in God's sight? - Acts 4:13-22

After having been detained by the Sanhedrin following the healing of a man born lame, Peter and John as told that they may no longer preach anything about Jesus.  This decision is reached by those in authority despite the obvious miracle of the man standing before them.  In response, Peter asks if it is right to obey men or God.  The disciples cannot stop preach the Gospel, nor will they.  At this point the religious leadership lets them go despite their desire to further punish Peter and John because of the fear they have of the people (who are amazed at the miracle).  How do we know if we should disobey an unjust law or corrupt regime?  In the end, Jesus is our example, in this as in all else.

To watch the video, click on the link below:
Sermon Video

The Shame of Joe Paterno

There is no excuse.  That the family is trying to spin the Freeh report to protect his "legacy" is only adding to the shame he deserves.  Joe Paterno may have served his fellow man for decades, and he did, but what will he be remembered for?  Looking the other way to protect his buddy and his football program as children were raped by the man whose office was next door.  The legal ramifications for Penn State will be huge, and they should be, but the moral ramifications are beyond the pale.  Each of those students who gathered to protest the firing of Joe must now look themselves in the mirror and realize that they were helping to protect a man who made an inexcusable evil choice. 
Those of us who serve the public as our life's calling know that everything we have worked for could be ruined by a false accusation.  It makes us tentative, causes us to have rules about ministering alone with anyone, and plays to our fears.  It cannot be helped.  The innocent deserve our discomfort.
If any of these 4 leaders at Penn State (plus who knows how many more further down the ladder) had any sense of courage or honor, they would have gone to the police regardless of the consequences.  It is not a choice, it is an obligation.  Everything else that may be offered in their defense is meaningless.  They knew enough, they knew children were at risk, and they walked away.  Only one person needed to do the right thing to put a stop to Sandusky's predatory rapes of children; at Penn State, to their shame, there was none.
There is no excuse, only shame.

Jesus Christ is the same - Hebrews 13:8

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever."  A simple enough statement on the face of it, although I feel the need to insert a couple of commas.  What's so odd about something staying the same?  In reality, it is remarkable for anything to remain the same.  When we look at the physical world around us the one constant we see is change.  Nothing stays the say, everything is in a state of flux.  Our own lives are no different.  None of us are the same as we were ten years ago; not only have our bodies aged and changed (usually for the worse), but our relationships and our thinking as well.  Change is inevitable.
And yet, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Isn't that what Solomon meant when he wrote, "there is nothing new under the sun.  Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look!  This is something new'?  It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time." (Ecclesiastes 1:9b-10)  Things such as death, taxes, man's inhumanity to man, natural disasters, pestilence, disease, and war are certainly not new.  The 24 hour news channels may report them as if they were a brand new thing, but we know we've seen them all before.
So what makes Jesus different?  The last word of the verse is "forever".  Everything I listed that we want go end, such as death, will one day be destroyed by the victory that Jesus accomplished with the Cross and the Empty Tomb.  One day, death will be no more, a new earth will be free of defect, and those who inhabit it will be free of sin.  Solomon knew that those things had all been around, and could see no way in which the evil in our world could be destroyed.  In God's wisdom, he sent his Son to our world to solve the dilemma that lead to Solomon's melancholy.
After God's final judgment of his creation, it will be God that remained the same throughout, from beginning to end, and his creation that (thankfully) returned to what it once was.  We will change, Jesus Christ has no need to; he will remain the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Ancient Words Ever True...

I was listening to the song Ancient Words in the office today, considering the words of Peter in Acts 4, and pondering the book, The Reformation by Diarmaid MacCulloch.  Where did all of that lead me?  The Reformation (in conjunction with the Renaissance) was a difficult time for those who wished to respect ancient traditions.  If you wanted to revere all the wisdom of the ancients, you had to deny the observations of men like Copernicus and Galileo in favor of men dead for two thousand years like Aristotle and Ptolemy. 
If instead, you opened up the wisdom of the ancients to doubt, even ridicule, how could you hold the line and protect the Orthodox faith from those who would deny the Trinity (for example)?
For us, the answers seem easy: Copernicus was right and that doesn't say anything about Biblical interpretation, it's just an observation from the natural world.  It wasn't so simple at the time.  We, as supposedly enlightened modern thinkers, may scoff at the foolishness of our forefathers, and shake our heads that they ever burned "witches" at the stake; but the question should be, "Are we any better?"
Take a look around the world we live in.  It has become the accepted belief in the Modern West that a human embryo can be disposed of with not a bit of care, and even an ironic moral outrage at those who would seek to "force" a young girl to give birth to the child growing inside of her.  It has also become the accepted belief in much of the Modern West that any and all variations of sexuality, co-habitation, and separation are equally valid.  That nobody has the right to tell anyone else that their choices are wrong.
Does it really seem so funny that men in the 16th Century were troubled that Copernicus was claiming the earth revolved around the sun?  In reality, humanity hasn't "advanced" much at all over the last five centuries.  We may know more stuff, and have a lot more widgets and gizmoes to entertain ourselves, but our moral state is just as deprived as the day Luther became troubled with Paul's insistence on fallen humanity in his letter to the Romans.