The Fear Factor

I'm an attorney. To be more precise, I'm a civil litigator ... the kind of lawyer who fights to win disputes, in court and out, between my client and others. In the movie Clueless, the character Cher put it well when she said, "Daddy's a litigator. Those are the scariest kind of lawyer."

This past week was a big one for this litigator. I was able to settle a major class action lawsuit for a fraction of the very large demand for money that was made by my adversary. I had been working hard on this case for well over a year, chipping away at my adversary's claims, positioning the case for the best possible outcome for my client. It had kept me up nights. It had been the source of much worry for me in my waking hours.  And now, it was over ... done ... finished. I could relax.

But I couldn't relax. Within a day or two of reaching this great settlement, worries crept in: What about my other cases that received less than my full attention while this big one was going on? What time-bombs might be ticking in those neglected files? Somehow, a week for celebration became just another week of worries. How did I manage to do that to myself? If I'm the scariest kind of lawyer, why am I running scared?

Munch's The Scream

I'm not alone as a worrier. I know that my father battled anxieties. He wrote at least six sermons I've found in the barrel talking about worry. My dad described my past week to a T when he wrote, "[I]f we don't have big things to worry about, we find little things to worry about. If there is nothing at all, then we usually find ourselves being anxious over what might happen. This all goes to prove that anxiety is a basic human condition. On the surface, it shows itself in many ways, attaches itself to many concerns -- whether they be large or small or nonexistent -- but underneath it is a condition of spiritual insufficiency that wells up within us, finding its expression within us in these many ways. ... [I]f we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that we are not just afraid of this or that, but that we are simply afraid, period. We are by nature fearful."

Why are we, by nature, so fearful? There is "a condition of sin that infests every one of us ... a basic defiant spirit in us that causes us to misuse our God-given freedom and to think that we are self-reliant and independent ... a persistent drive that tells us that life will be better if we assume total responsibility for ourselves. That is sin; that is rebellion against God. [I]t results in fear and anxiety because, try as we may, we can't take care of ourselves. Time and again we flub, or we get tired of holding up the front of self-sufficiency, and anxiety creeps in. We discover that by our own choice we are out there all alone, and we're just not equal to it." 

Jesus had something to say to us as we struggle with our anxieties. My father paraphrased Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount this way:

• Of course if things you value are perishable, you're always going to be in a quandary over them. Why not value imperishable spiritual values which can never be taken away from you?
• And, of course, you're going to be up tight if you try to serve two competing loyalties. Then you can't be true to either one. Make up your mind. Will it be God or money?
• How ridiculous it is to worry about food and drink and clothing and houses and cars and the rest. Tend to the important things first, and God will give you what you really need. Would he have created you without providing the means for your care?
• And don't be anxious about tomorrow.  Just do your best to plan for it; tackle it with all you've got, and then step back and leave the results up to God. With all the worrying everybody ever did, when has it ever done them any good? 

"How do you find this simple faith that lets you be at peace? ... This is what it takes: No more struggle and work on your part. Just a simple realization that God is always there, all the time, supporting your very existence. Your beauty and security as a person -- the full flowering of your humanity -- is found in the simple acceptance of your total dependence upon God. [It is found] in recognizing the fact that you are God's child, and then just being it -- just as a bird is a bird and a lily is a lily -- with no thought of trying to be more. This is faith."

From: "Crippled By Anxiety"

Scripture: Matthew 6:19-34

The Peaceable Kingdom

When I moved recently to Newtown, Pennsylvania, I was pleasantly surprised to learn of this little borough's rich history. Among other things, Newtown was the home of Edward Hicks, a Quaker preacher and sign-painter who became a well-known American primitive artist. To be more accurate, I should say Hicks is well-known to some. Not so much to my dad. In a sermon I found in his barrel, Dad wrote, "Last month on vacation I observed some paintings by an early American artist -- Hunter or Harris, I don't remember his name -- whose favorite theme was what he called 'The Peaceable Kingdom,' taken from the great peace text in Isaiah 11:6-8 about the lion and the lamb lying down together. He painted many variations of this theme" -- more than sixty by some counts.  Here's an example from a museum I visited last year, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco:

The Peaceable Kingdom - Edward Hicks

While my dad forgot Mr. Hicks' name, the people of Newtown never did. In fact, they erected a statue in his honor at a local playground, giving three dimensions to Hicks' famously flat depiction of the lion lying down with the lamb:

  

My father was drawn to Hicks' Peaceable Kingdom for a reason that isn't evident in the Newtown statue his paintings inspired. Hicks painted many varied images of this prophetic scene that many Christians associate with the end of time, "but always somewhere on the picture was a minute scene of William Penn signing a treaty with the Indians. Why? Because the artist was absolutely convinced that Penn's Treaty with the Indians marked the beginning of God's reign of peace on earth. ... [P]eople have been making incorrect identifications of [historic] events with Biblical predictions for centuries. ... This kind of [end times] speculation is still going on today, and it is just as spurious. It may seem harmless enough in itself, and it may be an interesting pastime, but the danger in it is the do-nothing attitude it creates as we sit and wait for God to do his thing. This approach [to the notion of peace on earth] has consciously or unconsciously rubbed off on many of us. It claims to be Biblical, but it is not."

"From beginning to end, the Bible sees the people of God as working strenuously to bring reconciliation and peace to the relationships between persons and God, between individual persons, and between groups of persons. In fact, there is a sense in which reconciliation of man to God and man to man is the whole mission and message of the Church. There is no reason for any of us to stand by looking at the terror and destruction in our world with a pious, smug attitude that this is the way it must be. The Bible never counsels this."

"In the Bible, peace, like the Kingdom of God in which it flourishes, is both a present reality and a future hope. When Jesus spoke about the Kingdom, he described it as if it were the early minutes of a beautiful sunrise. The first rays, perhaps even a hint of the sun itself, is clearly visible, but the viewer knows that soon the whole brilliant fiery ball itself will be above the horizon. And so peace is something for the here and now as well as for there and then. We have it here and now within our hearts through knowing God, and we also see it around us in significant islands and pockets, wherever love is being shown person to person."

"With all the hate and degradation there is in the world today, it is truly amazing how much good will and mercy we can see all around us if we are really looking for the Kingdom of God. Look at the lives that are being changed; look at all the many movements there are today promoting freedom and development and human[ dignity.] These are the first rays of the sunrise; the first fruits of the Kingdom. We know not when or how [peace] will finally come in all its glory, but we do know that for now, at least, God chooses to make it happen through us. Whether God continues to use us in this great work will depend on how faithful we will be. We can never rest or withdraw. The People of God, spurred by the first rays of the sun, are committed to action and involved in peacemaking because we believe peace is possible. Yes, even more, we know peace is coming. We know this because we follow the Prince of Peace."  

From "Is Peace Possible?"
Texts: Micah 4:1-4, Isaiah 11:6-8
Preached at Grace UMC, Millersville, PA

A Labor Day Chat With Bill

I dug through the barrel this weekend to see what my dad had to say about Labor Day. It turns out he had preached no less than six sermons on the subject of work. These sermons had a common theme -- that work done right is an act of worship. Dad put it this way: "Work done in the best possible way, with the best possible attitude, is a vital part of our worship of God." 

2014 Newtown UM Church Youth Mission Team
Hard At Work! 

To flesh this out further, here's my interview of Bill Newcomer on the subject of work. The questions are mine. The answers are his (from his sermons of course). 

Q. Bill, I mean Dad, when you say that work is a vital part of our worship, what does that mean? 

A. "[We must begin by examining our] definition of worship. ... Worship is, first and foremost, coming into the awesome presence of Almighty God and offering to Him all the praise and honor and glory we can muster. [We've] thought of worship as a theraputic counseling session where problems are solved ... [or] as a time of spiritual refueling for another week ahead ... [or as] a way to atone for sins[.] ... But none of these is the primary meaning of worship. Worship is not directed to ourselves for our own benefit. Rather, it is a spontaneous outpouring of praise and gratitude toward God. ... It is in this sense of the word 'worship' -- praise directed toward God -- that our daily work can become part of our worship."

Q. But isn't worship something we do on the Sabbath, when we rest from our work?

A. "Here's where the fallacy of this way of thinking lies. God is not the creator and sustainer of the religious realm only but also of the secular life; Indeed, [it is a fallacy] to speak of two different realms such as the religious and the secular. ... God created everything -- secular and sacred -- and He pronounced it good. God is as interested in the man swinging a hammer or adding a column of figures as God is in the man singing a hymn or repeating a prayer. What's more, the religious acts of praise we express in our church worship services are meaningless and hypocritical unless they are accompanied by our daily works of praise. ... [W]e must come to the place where we see that no vocation is really performed well unless it is performed in the knowledge that it is a service to God, that it is meant to glorify Him, that it is an act of worship."

Q. There are days, more than I care to admit, when my work feels less like an act of praise to God and more like a burden, or a series of frustrations, or even drudgery. Why is work like this?

A. "Even the most highly dedicated individual cannot get away at times from feeling like his or her vocation is a hardship or a drudgery. But you see, this is where sin enters the picture. Sin is the thing that infects and perverts our attitude towards work. ... When in his sin, man chose to ignore God and  be a god unto himself, his work took on a new, frantic tone. Before the Fall, work was man's way of thanking God; now, without God, it is his way of self-preservation, self-salvation, actually. Man had to build his own security, so he worked harder and harder, longer and longer. Work became a defiant act of independence, where before it had been a loving act of dependence. And this drained away the joy. Work became a curse."

Q. Well, that's depressing. What hope is there of re-capturing a sense of worship in my work when work has become our curse?

A. "Thank God, this [curse] is not the end of the story. For God did not leave us in our sin. He prepared a way of salvation in his son, Jesus. He is the Redeemer who sets us free from the clutches of sin. By his cross and his resurrection, he sets life right again. Both gradually and instantaneously, we begin to experience life as it was meant to be lived under his Lordship. Every area of our life can be changed. This means our work life can be changed too."

Q. How does our work life change? How does Jesus redeem our work life?

A. "[Our] gratitude to God for the undeserved gift of salvation constrains us to offer up our daily work as a holy and acceptable sacrifice and to direct it in accordance with God's will in the service of one another. Work then is no loner an idolatrous end-in-itself, and it no longer involves us in the vanity of seeking to gratify our own selfish ambitions because it is directed to the service of God and is an expression of gratitude to God. ... [Work is redeemed] simply by doing your task competently for the good of humanity as a fellow worker with God in the preservation and development of God's creation. ... [Then,] when we enter the church door on Sunday morning, and we bring with us the accomplishments and experiences that have been ours over the past week, it is as though they are all spread out before God along with our prayers and hymns and sermons and anthems. It is as if we are laying our lives on the table, saying, 'Here, Lord, is my 24-hour-a-day life. All of it. It is the greatest gift -- the greatest act of praise I can render to Thee. It is what I spend most of my time and talent and energy doing. It is my highest worship.'"   

-from "Worshipful Work" & "Work in God's Plan"
Scripture Lesson: Genesis 1:24-2:3   

True or False

It's back-to-school time. This week, Dorry and I twice made the round-trip trek across Pennsylvania, from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and back, to take our two kids to the University of Pittsburgh for the upcoming school year. Wes is in his third year but, thanks to a lot of hard work, is registered as a senior. For Wes, graduation is just two more busy semesters away. Adrienne is at the other end of the undergraduate process. She's just beginning her studies at Pitt as a freshman. It's hard to believe that I'll have two kids in college when classes begin on Monday morning.

As we moved the kids in, you could feel the energy just coursing through the Pitt campus. The place is a beehive of activity, and no matter where you are, you have a view of the iconic, 43-story Cathedral of Learning - the tallest academic building in the western hemisphere.

Cathedral of Learning
University of Pittsburgh

College is a time of exposure to a slew of new ideas. Even at the small and somewhat insular Christian college where I earned my bachelor's degree, I was taught by an existentialist, a libertarian, a predestinarian, a constitutional originalist, and an Austrian economist, among others. How does someone sort all this out? How do we determine what's true and what's false? And does this whirlwind of worldviews threaten to blow down our faith in God? Once, a fellow church member asked my dad, who was then attending Lebanon Valley College, what he was majoring in at college.  "Philosophy," my father replied.  "But isn't that dangerous?" the well-meaning churchman asked, concerned that the study of philosophy might shake my dad's Christian faith. 

My father loved learning. He would have loved that his grand-kids are studying at a school with a Cathedral of Learning. Dad viewed faith and learning as going hand-in-hand. He never thought that Christians should be the least bit afraid of new ideas, theories, and discoveries. In a sermon that he preached in Millersville, PA -- itself a college town -- Dad reminded his parishioners that "[a]ll truth is fair game, because it is God's truth. Many a young man or woman's faith has been shaken, not because they discovered new truth, but because parents or teachers or pastors didn't show them how to fit new truths and old truths together into a whole."  My dad told his congregation, "Don't be afraid to learn something new. If it is true, and if what you already accept and live and operate by is true, the new thing will fit -- God made it that way. If it doesn't fit, maybe it's false, or maybe you are living your whole life on assumptions you thought were true but are false. This requires careful examination. ... This is the painful process of growing in knowledge of the truth. It means you have to be constantly opening yourself to re-evaluation."

"The question that bugs us when we get down to the nitty-gritty is just how we decide what is truth. ... [T]here are so many positions to choose from and so many persuasive advocates of these positions. Obviously, they can't all be right all the time. We must learn to discriminate. It is here that the Christian faith has so much to offer us. It gives us a standard; it gives us a rule of thumb to use as we decide what we will accept as true."

"Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life.' ... Jesus Christ [is] the ultimate truth by which we judge all alleged truths. What does this mean? It means that, in Jesus Christ, God showed us that love is at the heart of [God's] creation. The final truth that all else hangs upon is that love is the only enduring reality. God created for love; he redeems his creation for love. God is love, and on that truth all other truths hang. If they don't, they are lies."

"Where do you stand politically, on the right or on the left? How do you feel about the latest finds in genetic engineering? What about the legalization of marijuana or abortion? The Christian doesn't have to be bewildered or choose off the top of his or her head. The Christian decides where to stand, and what to accept as true, by placing it beside Jesus Christ and seeing whether they attract or repel each other. The test of truth is the love of God found in Jesus Christ." 

Wesley and Adrienne never got the chance to meet their grandfather, but I know that he would have shared the same words with his grandchildren at Pitt that he had for his congregation in Millersville: "[E]ducation never ends until we die; it is a vital area of our Christian discipleship. ... [T]here [must be] room, even in a secular education, to let Christ, the Truth, be at the top and let him draw all of your learning and experience into a meaningful whole. [Then,] 'You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'"  

"Education in the Christian Perspective"

-John 8:31-43

Preached at Grace UMC, Millersville, PA

Being Freed To Be Ourselves

There's a fascinating story in the Old Testament where God directs the prophet Samuel to meet the eight sons of Jesse and anoint one of them as the next king of Israel. Samuel meets Jesse's oldest son, and Samuel thinks that he surely is standing before the future king. The son, Eliab, is a tall, strapping young man with the looks of a leader. Then the Lord surprises Samuel, saying: "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV). Jesse parades six more sons past Samuel, but none is the future king. Finally, when Samuel asks Jesse if he has any other sons, Jesse sends for David, his eighth and youngest son, who was such an after-thought in the selection process that Jesse had left him in the fields to tend the family's sheep. Surely, little David isn't king material. But when David finally arrives, Samuel anoints him as the next king after God says, "This is the one." 1 Sam. 16:12 (NIV). In a sermon entitled "The Lord Looks on the Heart," my father wrote that where Jesse "could only see [David's] youth and inexperience, the Lord saw the potential that was to become the greatest king Israel ever would have. God would call David from protecting sheep to protecting a Chosen People."

Samuel Anointing David by Mattia Preti

While we may be unnerved at first by the thought of an all-knowing God who can "x-ray us spiritually", this same God has the "power to free us from all the man-made roles and prejudices and restraints that tie us down and keep us from being all that we can be. When the world is trying to force you into a mold that doesn't fit, when other people's expectations are chipping away and disfiguring the real you, then it is time to bask in the assurance that 'man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.' When the folks around you -- even your wife or husband, your parents or children -- see you and treat you as they want you to be, God knows and treats you as you really are. There is no substitute for the Lord's friendship. With [God] there is no pretending; we are stripped naked and total honesty prevails. Yet, no matter what [God] sees, [God] loves us. The chaff of our lives is winnowed away and burned, and the pure grain is harvested with great rejoicing." 

"How much we long for this honest, affirming relationship -- with anyone, and our search among the people around us seems fruitless. Where is there someone who will recognize my gifts as a person and encourage and help me to develop them, rather than treating me just as a minister, as a Black, as a Jew, as a Puerto Rican, as a woman, as a man, as a teenager, as a truck driver, as a secretary? 'Man looks on the outward appearance.' The world's way is to stereotype us, to put us in a pigeon-hole and thus suppress the many varied gifts God has given us."

My dad gave examples from married life "to illustrate the damage done to people, the violence committed against their person, the violation of the holy creation of God that occurs by treating others only in broad categories rather than as unique individuals, by looking at them as man does, on the outward appearance."  He noted that "[t]he woman who is treated fondly by her husband as though she were a 'Suzy Homemaker Doll' -- while she may be adored and have lovely children and every earthly [possession] she could possibly want -- will find her hostility building and the marriage relationship deteriorating because her husband has made her a prisoner of a stereotype and has not recognized and encouraged and affirmed the wide diversity of gifts God has given her." On the other hand, "the husband who is treated by his wife and children only as a bread-winner and protector -- the strong one who will handle all crises and keep his little family supplied and safe from all storms of the outside world -- this man finds himself with mixed feelings about his family. He loves them, but they also seem to use him and make him into something he cannot be all the time. Subtly, they refuse him permission to indulge in any of the more tender and vulnerable qualities he may possess. His son would be eager to tell his friends that his dad hunts or runs marathons, but not so proud that his dad scrubs the toilets on Saturdays or likes to read novels in his spare time."

Instead of "fall[ing] for the temptation to type-cast people," my dad urged that "we completely surrender ourselves to the Lord so that we start seeing into each other's hearts rather than judging and treating each other by appearances only." He went on: "There is such great joy and blessing in being God's instrument in releasing others to burst into full flower and to use all the gifts and talents God has given to them. One of our greatest ministries as Christians is to look into the inmost being of others and nurture and tease out the wonderful qualities God has planted there -- qualities that for too long have been suppressed because of the superficial expectations we've imposed on such persons."

"Let's begin today to do God's work in letting each other break free from the prison of outward appearance to the full expression of who we really are in our hearts, who we really are in Christ Jesus."  

From "The Lord Looks on the Heart"   

1 Samuel 16:1-18

Take Time Now

When I first read my father's sermon, "Take Time," there was a part of it that made me wince. I immediately decided I would just as soon not write about it. But as I thought about it today, I decided that I needed to address the troublesome passage.

When it came to enjoying leisure time, my dad was the first to admit that he knew the topic all too well because of his failures, not because of his successes: "When I told my wife that I was going to preach a sermon on the Christian theology of leisure and the importance of taking time off, she just looked at me rather strangely, chuckled a bit and turned away. But this didn't discourage me because over 20 years of preaching, I have learned that a minister has to accept himself as a sinner and must realize that when he speaks he is not speaking for himself, but for God." My dad was confident that his own difficulties with leisure time would help make what he had to say about the issue meaningful for his congregation. 

Dad went on: "A number of years ago I gave my father a poster to hang in his fishing cabin on the Susquehanna River. It was a picture of a misty morning on a calm lake. In a little skiff were a father and his son looking at the two corks floating at the ends of their fishing lines. The sun was tipping its hat over the mountains in the distance. Stretching across the scene was peace, refreshment, easy-going small talk. Two wistful words beneath the border appropriately released the message: TAKE TIME."

"I was thinking the other day that maybe I really bought that poster for myself. My father, always a hard worker, was also always good at taking leisure time. He had a number of hobbies and interests that served him well before and since his retirement. Not so me, and I'm not proud of that."

Then came the words that made me cringe: "If the Lord lets me live a normal lifespan I am now probably about mid-point in my career. I've done a lot of reflecting on that recently, and there are some things I want to do a little differently during the second half of my working life. They can be summed up in the phrase, 'Take Time.' Take time to reflect on the meaning of my life. Take time to reflect on the meaning of my work. Take time to give relationships priority over accomplishments. Take time to remember that in God's sight my basic worth is already established and does not depend on how full my calendar is, how many meetings I attend, or how many names I add to the church rolls."

Dad was not at the mid-point of his career. He was nearing its end. Just twenty-one months later, he passed away.

Sometimes a sermon is preached with words. Sometimes, it's by example ... good or bad. If my father had it to do all over again, I'm sure he wouldn't have waited twenty years to decide that it's important to take time. There's a reason why the Sabbath comes every week without fail.  We need it that often. We shouldn't put off the opportunity to take time.

From: "Take Time"
Ephesians 2:4-10
Preached 8/2/1987 at Paoli UMC

Taking Time

Whenever I go on vacation, it takes me a couple days to truly relax. I may stop working when vacation begins, but my mind is still racing. I'm questioning whether I did everything I needed to do before I left the office. I'm worrying about things that could go wrong while I'm away. I'm thinking of things I should do as soon as I return. Then, eventually, all that noise in my head comes to a merciful stop. Usually, what stops the noise is seeing the work of someone else's hands ... the work of our Creator. Earlier today, that moment came as I saw this sunset over Shelter Cove on Hilton Head Island, SC.

Sunset over Shelter Cove

My father struggled mightily to find a balance between work and leisure. He admitted as much in a sermon he preached entitled "Take Time." Here's what he had to say:

"I first confronted this issue within myself when I realized that whenever I wasn't working I literally didn't know what else to do. It is scary to realize that there is nothing more to you than your work. It was then that I realized that I needed a conversion. ...

"I find it interesting to remember that the God in whom I place my trust is a God who took a day off, the seventh day, the Sabbath. The Sabbath has always been at the center of the Jewish religious experience, and for very good reason. It is the weekly reminder to the Jew of the grace of God. There is one day when all human labor and striving and worry can cease. We can sit idle and see firsthand that life goes on without our effort. God does it all.  We exist by God's grace. Then, when the Sabbath is over and we return to work, we see it in a new light -- not as life insurance, but as an expression of faith that God will provide. We Christians have exchanged the Sabbath for Sunday, but the meaning is still the same. And a more faithful observance of this day -- using it to take time -- would be a conversion experience for many of us.

"The conversion we need is a conversion from egotism, a new recognition that God is God and we are human. It is a recognition that the universe, even the immediate universe, does not swirl around me and is not dependent upon me. It means embracing the kind of humility Paul described when he warned 'not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.'" Romans 12:3 (NRSV).

My dad also pointed out that Paul had written that "it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith -- and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV). "In other words," Dad said, "we are given value and worth as human beings, not by what we have accomplished, not by how busy we are, not by how hard we work. We are saved, we are valued, we are given worth by the sheer unmitigated grace of God. Paul discovered what we need to discover: we are saved, we are valuable, we are given worth because we are loved by God unconditionally; 'not because of works,' Paul writes, 'lest any man should boast.'"

If I continue struggling to relax on this vacation, I'm going to try not to take myself too seriously. The world isn't going to stop spinning because I'm not answering the phone or checking my email. This is my Sabbath, my chance to rest, my chance to remember once again that it is God's grace, not my effort, that carries me and my family from day to day. Thanks be to God!

From: "Take Time"
Ephesians 2:4-10
Preached 8/2/1987 at Paoli UMC