Dan's Marinations

I had planned on working on my weekly sermon some yesterday afternoon, but got sucked into the news watching the train wreck unfolding in Washington.  Even this morning eighteen hours later, I find that I cannot put mental energy into a sermon without first putting together some comments about yesterday.  On January 6, congress meets to count the electoral votes in an action that is largely ceremonial.  Any idea that congress is a final arbiter of presidential elections is misguided.  Every four years they meet on January 6, count the electoral votes, and nobody even knows or notices.  That congressional proceedings from yesterday were even being shown on every cable news network is a sign that things are "going off the rails" so to speak. Technically we live in a republic rather than a democracy, meaning that  we elect people who will form a government and represent us in said government.  Our practices for how that works are spelled out partially in ...

"...With liberty and justice for all," that is how the Pledge of Allegiance ends.  We have all said it so many times that it is by rote.  Unfortunately, events of the last several months have shown that we as a society are far from that ideal.  In late February Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down in the street in Georgia by two white men.  His only crime was that he went for a run, something that I have done thousands of times.  His killers were close associates of the local district attorney, so the D.A. called it justifiable on the grounds that they were supposedly attempting a citizens arrest.  This would have stood had not a video of the event gone public.  Justice for Arbery demands that his killers be brought to trial.  Fortunately, the video did go public creating such a public outcry that charges were filed against the killers.  On the other hand it should not have taken a video going public for charges to be filed. Just over a week ago, ...

Believe it or not, Lent is almost here.  It seems as if it was just yesterday that Christians around the world had gathered in churches for Christmas Eve services.  With the beginning of Lent we begin to look toward the holiest time of the year for our faith- the events surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection.  All four Gospels devote far more attention to Jesus' road to Jerusalem and the cross.  Paul wrote that he "resolved to know nothing but Christ and him crucified."  If you're not familiar with Lent, it is the forty days leading up to Easter.  The term "Lent" is not found in the Bible, but the broader church has observed it as a practice for over 1800 years.  In the very early church, in the days when it was a persecuted faith, Easter was already the most important celebration of the church.  From the earliest days, new believers were baptized on Easter Sunday.  Those who had renounced their faith in the face of persecution, or who h...

In less than six weeks, I'll lace up the shoes for marathon #9 in Washington, DC for the Marine Corps Marathon.  I've been looking to this race now for several months, and have had decent, but not great training so far.  When I have had poor runs, it is because of weakness between my ears more so than weakness in my legs.  I write this now as much for myself as it is for the reader.  For most of my "un-illustrious" career as a runner the one thing that I had in spades was mental toughness.  Not so this time around.  Perhaps it is a lack of confidence because I haven't run one in over four years now.  Perhaps it is a factor of experience, and I can't approach it with the blissful ignorance I did many years ago.  Perhaps it is age, and the creeping reality that I'm not as fast or as strong as I used to be.  Golfers as they hit their forties are well known for getting "the yips."  The four foot putt for par that used to be routine years ear...

Today is Maundy Thursday in the Christian calendar, the day that Christians around the world remember the Last Supper that Jesus ate with his followers.  In churches world over, whether they be grand cathedrals and basilicas, house churches in closed societies, or little white churches by the side of the road we'll gather tonight and celebrate the Lord's Supper, and in some cases follow Jesus' example by having a foot-washing. There is a curiosity about this day that can be easily missed, however.  The Synoptic Gospels are clear that this last meal with the disciples is the Passover meal, what is sometimes called a Seder meal.  This was the meal described in great detail in Exodus 12.  The Passover lambs were sacrificed and their blood smeared on the doorposts of the Israelite homes so that when the "the destroyer" (Exodus 12:23) passed through the land of Egypt, they would be spared the awful last plague- the death of all first-born.  These lambs were to be r...

How do we face adversity?  Do we try to avoid it?  Do we embrace it like a challenge to be overcome?  A one-time marathoner I know has said that the best way to handle the inevitable pain that creeps in during the last 4-5 miles is to welcome it like an old friend.  "There you are (knee pain/sore hips/cramping calf muscle) I was expecting you.  I'm glad you came along for the last few miles."  I confess that in the eight marathons I've completed I never had the ability to welcome the arrival of pain like that! Isaiah's third servant song, which we find in chapter 50 refers to the servant of the Lord setting his face like flint.  It's easy to picture rock-jawed Hollywood action heroes here.  One can imagine faces like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, or Matt Damon who seem impassive in the midst of explosions all around them; who deliver a bare-knuckled beating on their opponents- whether they be boxers, aliens, or general all-purpose v...

Have you ever been there?  Have you ever felt like everything you've done was just wasted effort?  You've poured yourself into a person.  You've counseled, worried, and prayed until you're out of breath and words, but he (or she) does the same stupid things over and over.  You preach or teach every Sunday, but never seem to see the changed lives for which you long.  I want you to imagine such thoughts in the mind of Jesus.  Hold on preacher!  Jesus was/is the Son of God Almighty.  How can Jesus who was the true and living Word of God ever have such thoughts?  To put on my theologian hat for a moment, those sentiments are very true.  On the other hand, Jesus was very, very human as well.  In order to save us from our sins he had to be both divine and human. Try to imagine what is going through Jesus' mind in those tumultuous days between his "triumphal" entry into Jerusalem and his eventual crucifixion on Friday.  He's spent a...