Jury Duty

For the second time in my life I got summoned for jury duty in a supreme court trial this month. The first time I was a student in Saskatchewan and filed the paperwork to be excused and was. This time, I filed the paper work to be excused and my request was denied by the judge who obviously didn’t consider my time to be any more valuable than anyone else's.

Honestly, I would love the experience of being on a jury. I took law in high school and we got to walk up town and sit in on a trial at the same court house and I believe it would have been a very interesting and educational experience. But this trial is scheduled to take close to three weeks!

Anyway, I went in at the appointed time and we began the tedious process known as jury selection. I was sitting there wondering how a defense attorney would like to have a baptist pastor on the jury but looking around me at the large number of people that had been called and thinking it probably didn’t matter anyway as the odds were in my favor. But then, they called on all those who had medical issues, hearing loss or financial concerns and dismissed them. The ranks were thinning.

Then it happened. According to procedure, the crown attorney read the list of all the witnesses they intended to call. So, I got in line, put my hand on the Bible and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth (or something like that) and took the stand (actually sitting). The judge asked me why I thought I should be excused. I told him that I knew a certain gentlemen quite well whose name was on that list, and that was it! I was out that door quicker than you can say Matlock. I called Florence on my cell and told her I was free! (those are my exact words).

Then I started to think back on my experience. The only reason that judge said to me that I was ‘free to go’ was because I knew someone. And that is how it will be some day. We will all stand before the judge of all the earth and the only thing that will matter on that day is whether or not we know Jesus Christ personally. No other issue will matter. And if it is determined that we really know Him, or more to the point, that He knows us!, then, and only then, will we be ‘free to go’. You see, it really is WHO you know.

“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed… Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 8:36 ; 17:3

The Man In The Mirror

How do you see yourself? They say that how you view yourself will ultimately determine how you live your life. I think I believe that. I’ve been reading lately in 2Samuel. In the events recorded in 2Samuel 7, David tells the prophet Nathan that he wants to build God a house (a temple). God’s message back to David, again through Nathan, includes God’s promise to build David a ‘house’. The reference is to David’s linage which of course becomes a promise of the Messiah who was, you will recall, of the ‘house’ of David.

But in David’s prayer to God in response to this amazing announcement back from the Lord to him (2Sam 7:18-29) David refers to himself no less than 10 times in these 12 verses as ‘your servant’. By this time of course, God has taken David from following sheep to leading the nation but, even as king, David exalts in his role as God’s servant.

And David isn’t alone. Throughout the Old Testament and into the New, we see patriarchs, prophets, priests, kings, disciples and apostles all alike relishing the role of servant of God. This isn’t just a few references. Go ahead and check it out. There are hundreds.

And the same is true coming from the other direction as God seems to share in the delight of calling those He chooses to be ‘His servants’. Again, check it out … “… My servant Abraham… My servant Moses… My servant Caleb…"

God also took the phrase ‘my servant’ and by the lips of Isaiah made it into a messianic title…. “Here is my Servant, whom I uphold, my Chosen One in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on Him and He will bring justice to the nations…. See, my Servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at Him – His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness…”

To be a servant is one thing but to be God’s servant, well, that is something else. What an exalted title it is when you put God’s name with it. We are not just servants. We are called to be His servants.

Now honestly, if you take that title, really believing it to be your own, honestly, how do you see yourself? And how do you then live your life?

Water Under The Bridge

Do you know how many phrases and expressions we commonly use in our English language that actually have their origin in the Bible? I bet you don’t. I don’t either, but I know there are a whole lot of them. And every time I come across one, I am reminded again of how integral the Bible is to the fabric of our society even when we don’t realize it. The troubling part about this is that when we thoughtlessly dismiss our Christian heritage and walk away from it we have really no idea what all we are leaving behind! No idea.

Anyway, I came across this passage a while back.

“You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.” Job 11:16

Isn’t that beautiful? I immediately thought of the expression ‘water under the bridge’.

I live beside a river and when the weather is warm we sometimes have the opportunity to spend some time in and around the water. The river is mesmerizing. The way it moves can be almost hypnotic. I can remember as a kid often finding a piece of wood or something to throw into the water just to watch it pass out of sight… gone!

[Remember the fascination of that ½ hour show about the little wooden Indian in his canoe that the CBC did back in 1966 called ‘Paddle To The Sea’?]

Time is like water. It flows. It never stops. It is unstoppable. And sometimes we lament that. There is a certain melancholy sense one gets deep in your heart when you just simply stand and watch the water flow on. There is a feeling of loss just like we feel about time as it is passing … passing … passing…

But then, as this passage from Job reminds us, there is also something very good about that too. Because all of us have things in our lives that we want to see pass away.

You may have had someone say to you that when you think of your troubles you should remember ‘this too shall pass’. There is a lot of comfort in that.


This Too Shall Pass

If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be-

If I can remain calm and quiet
With all the world crashing about me,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me-

If I can but keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this will pass away, too-

Then nothing in life can defeat me
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all of the chains

That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear-
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near.

...Helen Steiner Rice

Charity

Charity is the old English word for loving kindness. We commonly use the word ‘love’ now instead but, unfortunately when we do, we normally mean something less.

I was working outside one day this past week and the radio was on. You know how sometimes you’re listening, not really paying close attention, but then something just catches you and causes you to really think. This was one of those times.

An ad came on promoting a golf tournament; an ‘all inclusive’ 4 days and 3 nights at a beautiful resort and spa complete with numerous celebrity appearances and amazing live entertainment. As I kind of listened, not thinking too much of it, they continued to sell the excellent features of this entertainment extravaganza. You know how that goes… nothing but the best of everything… And then they added, “… and you can help the underprivileged at the same time!”

Now, up to this point I was not particularly paying a whole lot of attention but that last statement suddenly struck me as odd. There’s nothing odd about golf (though it may appear so to some) and charity shouldn’t seem odd to us. But putting the two together is just … odd! I’m not much of a golfer but I think it’s called the ‘East Coast Classic’. It’s a ‘fund raising’ tournament. In fact, they call it ‘a charitable golf experience like no other’.

Call me cynical, but isn’t there something somewhat disturbing about this? I know that this type of fund raising is extremely common. So much so, that it seems to be the preferred method. Everybody is doing it. I know of a Bible College that has a golf tournament to raise funds for their school. And it seems like every time I turn around someone is selling tickets on something to raise money for some worthy cause.

Don’t get me wrong. I applaud the organizers of these events for the most part (except when it comes to lotteries and such which I have some real issues with, but that’s another story). These people, often volunteers, do a really good job of raising a real lot of money for some really good causes. But I have to wonder about the people who are being targeted for these types of events. In my mind, I can just picture someone who has more money than the average person paying out a significant amount in order to personally benefit from the enjoyment of the very best his money can buy and somehow managing at the same time to give himself a pat on the back, his conscience eased for another year.

What do you call that? Maybe it’s a really good thing, but it is hardly charity; not when you get everything you pay for. What have you really given? At the most, maybe the crumbs off of your table. What place have we come to when a good cause must be sustained almost entirely by appealing to the self-interest of the rich? I guess I am cynical.