The Long Gray Line...Of Faith

This week is the Army-Navy game, the football rivalry between the Cadets of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.  As a graduate of West Point, this game brings back a lot of fond memories.  There is an intense pride for those who have attended a service academy that spans generations.  At Army-Navy tailgates you will find a comradery that spans generations.  At such events you may find cadets still in their late teens, just entering manhood, and at the same event you may find grizzled former graduates using walkers and canes, veterans of our foreign wars, and everything in-between. 

The thing that binds these men and women is the tradition of having been part of the Long Gray Line, the name we give to those who have been formed by the tradition and discipline that has permeated the West Point culture for over two hundred years.  We take pride in the fact that despite over two centuries of history, we still wear the charcoal gray uniforms that distinguish the West Point cadet.  On entering, we still go through the West Point version of basic training known as “Beast Barracks” and endure rigorous military training each summer when other college students are home on vacation.  We are still taught using the Thayer Method, instituted by the school’s first Superintendent, Sylvanus Thayer.  We share the experience of 19-20 hour days trying to balance the rigorous academics and athletics required of all cadets with our military training and duties.  Walking through a Company formation in one of the quads, you will still find the freshman cadets, known as “PIebes” reciting pieces of Cadet knowledge such as the Alma Mater, Schofield’s Definition of Discipline, and The Corps to the exacting eyes and ears of the Upper Class Cadets.  We are formed in these ways in order to instill an ethos that is enshrined in the school motto, “Duty, Honor, Country.”  We take pride that from class to class, and generation to generation, West Point Cadets have been formed in the same way spanning all the way back to our founding.  This is the Long Gray Line. 

The essence of the Long Gray Line is a sense of history that is best summed up in a motto held by the History Department.  Much of the history we teach was made by the people we taught.  There is much truth to this.  It is this formation and shared experience that can be credited for producing men such as Winfield Scott, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, BlackJack John Pershing, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, George S. Patton, Douglas MacArthur, Norman Schwartzkopf, and others.  It is also the legacy of men that most of you may never know, men such as Steve Frank, Leif Nott, and Joe Lusk who gave their lives for their country.  But we remember, because we are of the Long Gray Line and we draw our strength from this ethos and those who lived and died by it before us.  It would be unthinkable in that community to bring shame upon the name of our Alma Mater and the men who went before us. 

Meditating on this reminded me of a passage in Hebrews that brings to light a similar aspect about the nature of Christianity. 

The epistle to the Hebrews is a passionate plea to Jewish believers who were considering leaving the faith to return to the Second Temple Judaism.  Rather than worship Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, they were returning to the system of animal sacrifices which the Jewish community still thought made them righteous before God. 

The author of Hebrews takes great pain to remind his audience of the great promises made to the Hebrew nation in the past.  He reminds them that God promised to lead them into a place of rest.  He reminds them that because they were sinful, God instituted a holy priesthood after the line of Aaron to stand before God and intercede on behalf of them to make them righteous.  However, he demonstrates that this promise was not fully complete, and that this priesthood could not bring the perfect righteousness required to allow them to stand in God’s presence. 

However, in the fullness of time, God the Father sent his Son to be born as a man so that he might live among them, and suffer with them, and to die for them.  This Son, Jesus the Christ, would offer his own life as the perfect sacrifice to atone for sin, once for all time.  Through this sacrifice Jesus became our great high priest, the perfect fulfillment of the priesthood to intercede on our behalf for all time before God the Father, so that we might enter His rest and be with Him. 

After laying this all out, the author of Hebrews appeals to all the great men and women of faith from the past, to whom God gave these great promises.  Men such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David, and the prophets.  He appeals to the unnamed who faced hardship and suffering, torture and death, because they believed that God would bring to completion what He had promised, and that He would do so through His Son.  Though they did not see the fulfillment of these promises with their own eyes, they believed that God would bring them to completion.

The author then comes to this passage: 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run the race with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.” – Hebrews 12:1-2

We too come from a long line of faithful men and women that span from generation to generation.  Our community is built on Christ, the author of our salvation.  Our community is built on the knowledge of the fulfillment of the promises that God gave to our Fathers in Jesus.  It is this faith that was passed to the great Church fathers of the past such as Peter, Clement, Ignatius, Athenasius, and Augustine.  It is the faith that sustained men such as Aquinas, Francis, and Benedict.  It is the faith that our own tradition handed down to us in Luther, Chemnitz, Walther, and Bonhoeffer.  It is the faith handed down by people who may never have their names written in a book such as my grandparents and my own mother and father.  It is this faith that has become our own treasured possession spanning back generations upon generations. 

Today though, I look at the numbers of Churches that are shuttering their doors, and I ask just as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews did, are we being faithful to those who came before us?  Are we faithfully holding on to the promises that were fulfilled in Christ?  And are we passing them down to our children and proclaiming it to a world that needs redemption?  Do we meet as the body of Christ so that we might hear these promises proclaimed to the benefit of us and our neighbor, and partake of the body and blood of Christ?  It is unthinkable that we might bring shame to them who went before us by neglecting the gospel that has been handed down to us. 

Let us rejoice, just as the author of Hebrews did.  “Let us draw near [to God] with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Let us not only rejoice in these promises privately, but do so in the community of faith, the community which came before us and will come after us.  Let us teach this gospel to our children and proclaim it to the world in need of Christ.  Let us be a part of the long line of the faithful who went before us, and to prove ourselves faithful to those destined to come after us so that there is no break in the great line. 

May God give us joy in the fulfillment of His promises in His Son, Jesus Christ.  May the Holy Spirit work in us, giving us faith and making us faithful and steadfast to continue living in the promises. 

One last thing:  Go Army, Beat Navy!

“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Calling His Shot

One of the most legendary moments in all of sports history occurred during the 1932 World Series when Babe Ruth is said to have called his shot. 

It was Game 3 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.  There was no love lost between the two teams.  The Yankees had played in six World Series with the Babe, winning three.  At points during his career, Babe Ruth had more homeruns than entire teams combined.  The upstart Cubs wanted to take down the heavily favored Yankees. 

At the top of the fifth inning, the Babe entered the batter’s box with the score tied at 4 to 4.  The crowd at Wrigley Field began heckling the aging athlete, as the Cubs bench began insulting him.  Charlie Root, the pitcher for the Cubs, sent the first pitch sailing across home plate.  Strike one!  As the fans and bench continued to hurl insults at Babe, Charlie Root sent another pitch.  Ruth swung and missed again.  Strike two!  Incensed by the heckling from the crowd and insults from the bench, Babe Ruth turned to the bench and pointed with two fingers toward center field and screamed, “It only takes one!”  On the next pitch, Ruth took a massive swing.  CRACK!!!  As the ball sailed over the center field scoreboard, even the hostile crowd went wild at this spectacle.  Ruth scored two on his home run to thunderous applause.  The Yankees would go on to win the game 7 to 5. 

Legend would grow over this gesture of Ruth pointing toward centerfield.  Though most sports historians would deny that Ruth actually called his shot, the myth will always loom large in the imaginations of sports fans. 

I bring up Babe Ruth because it reminds me of called shots all throughout the Bible.  Promises made to us that God has or will fulfill through his Son. 

It reminds me of the Fall, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and plunged the world into sin.  And though all humanity would suffer through sin and death because of our disobedience, God spoke this promise to Satan, “I will put enmity between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”  In time, a son of Adam would come.  And though all died through the trespass of Adam, many would receive grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

It reminds me of Abraham the Patriarch and the covenant that God made with him.  God promised, “in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”  This too would come to pass when Christ died for our sin, was resurrected, and poured out the Holy Spirit upon the Church at Pentecost.  Through the Great Commission his disciples would proclaim the gospel to all nations, even to the ends of the earth. 

It reminds me of the words of Moses in Deuteronomy proclaiming God’s promise.  “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.  And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”  This was ultimately fulfilled in Christ, who would come in his Father’s authority and obediently speak only what was given him by his Father.  His words would bring life to those to whom they were given.  It is the word that is still spoken from him to us from the pulpits of the Church all over the world. 

It reminds me of King David and the covenant that God made when David announced his plans to build a temple for the Lord.  “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom…And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.  Your throne shall be established forever.”  He would establish it by sending his only Son, Jesus.  He would come to us as a servant and lay down his life for us, yet be raised from death, imperishable and established on his Father’s throne forever.  To Him, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 

It reminds me of the promise made through Isaiah, that a suffering servant would come to Israel.  “But he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed.  All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.”  This would be fulfilled when Christ willingly went to the cross.  He endured the ignominious death of a criminal, hanging humiliated, beaten, and naked upon a cross.  He endured the death that we owe as the wages of our sin. 

And yet, he also promised through David, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.”  And again through Isaiah, “When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”  This promise would be realized on Easter morning, when death and the grave could not hold Jesus.  He rose, the victor over sin and death, so that we too might be the heirs of eternal life in Christ. 

It reminds me of the promise made through Ezekiel to the people of Israel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my ordinances.”  Through our baptism, we were baptized into Christ’s death, and raised with Christ into a new life.  In baptism we receive the deposit of the Holy Spirit who gives us faith, and nurtures, instructs, guides, and sanctifies us. 

And now, today, Jesus stands in the batter’s box, digging in his heels, and is ready to deliver the final promise.  Though we and the creation were subjected to sin and death, John delivers the word of Christ to us saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away…Behold, I am making all things new.”

Jesus is calling his shot, and the crowd is going to go wild.  May we persevere in the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, knowing that he is able to fulfill his promises. 

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:37-39

To Live Is Christ And To Die Is Gain

My wife has been a registered nurse with a faith-based hospice provider since July.  We frequently discuss her experiences and impressions of being a caregiver that is ministering to the sick and dying.  My wife is a compassionate woman, and I am proud that she has the opportunity to provide comfort and aid to patients who are coming to the end of their lives, and to the patients’ families who are experiencing the significant event of losing a loved one. 

Naturally, because of these conversations, the subject of life and death has been on my mind lately.   

Within the last few years, my kids have begun to experience death.  Through the loss of a few long-time pets, and an aunt whom they loved, they recognize death as the alien intrusion into life that it is.  Unfortunately, they have developed a fear of death that I am not sure is entirely healthy. 

I am also a little uneasy about death, although for a different reason. 

It is not that I am afraid of death.  I have had plenty of experience with it.  As a kid I lost my grandfather at an early age to cancer.  As a teenager, I experienced the earth-shattering loss of a close cousin who was taken from us.  In the army, I experienced the loss of friends and comrades in combat.  I have knocked on the doors of soldiers’ spouses to notify them of the loss or severe injury of their beloved soldiers.  I have experienced the feeling of being shot at and knowing that death can come suddenly.  It isn’t that I fear the coming of death.  It is more the apprehension that I want mine to mean something.  If death will be the legacy that I ultimately leave to my wife and children, then I want to die well. 

Then I read Paul’s epistle to the Philippians, and things clicked into place.  Paul’s epistle to the Philippians is one of his prison letters.  Paul is in jail, probably awaiting trial before Caesar.  Trial before Caesar usually doesn’t end very well.  In his letter, Paul doesn’t seem to be very certain what his fate will be.  Parts of the letter indicate he might be released, but others indicate he has just as much expectation that he might be executed.  Yet in his uncertainty, Paul pens the following passage:

“With full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:20b-21

He then continues by exhorting the Philippians:  “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents…For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” – Philippians 1:27-28a, 29-30

For Paul, it doesn’t matter whether he lives or dies.  Christ will be glorified either way. 

Paul believed that all men are sinners, in rebellion against God because of our sinful nature.  But God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sin so that we might be reconciled to Him through Christ.  We have been made alive together in Christ, raised up with Christ, and seated at his side in Christ.  Through God’s grace, we are saved through faith in His Son. 

To Paul, we have communion with God and with one another in the community of faith in Christ.  The most important thing to Christians is communion with Jesus Christ.  Death and suffering are not what scares us, because we have fellowship with the one who will destroy sin and death.  Therefore, we can say that everything about our life and even our death becomes a witness for him.

We first come into communion with Christ in our baptism.  Here we are buried with Christ in His death and raised to new life with Him.  In our daily lives we work for the good of the body of Christ.  We work in our vocations and demonstrate Christ by following him.  We try to demonstrate Christ in our marriages as we try to be imitators of him as husbands or wives.  We try to be dutiful children, honoring our parents as we would our Heavenly Father.  We raise our children instructing them in the ways of the Lord.  When we sin, we repent and take comfort in experiencing the knowledge of forgiveness of sins that were delivered to us when Jesus died on the cross.  When we take communion, we rejoice in the promise of salvation which is guaranteed by Jesus body and blood.  We proclaim Christ crucified in every aspect of our lives to everyone around us. 

Even in the hour of our death we have the opportunity to be witnesses to our loved ones.  We can rest peacefully, knowing that because we have been called by Christ into fellowship with Him, we have peace with God.  We rejoice at being united with the body of believers who are at His side to await the resurrection of our bodies and eternity with Him.  This is the witness I hope to provide to my wife and children. 

God help me to live well and help me to die well.  Let me live and die in Christ, secure in the peace which surpasses all human understanding.  Amen.

“Where shall I go from your spirit?  Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!  If I take the wings of morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me become night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day for darkness is as light with you.” – Psalm 139:7-12

The Two Trees - Lenten Thoughts

With Lent coming around I began to focus my personal Bible study readings again on the creation and fall narratives in Genesis.  They are staple texts for the Lenten season as we are reminded of the need for repentance before coming to the celebration of Easter.  As I read these passages I could not help but be moved by the ties and symmetry provided within the Bible by this image of two trees.  Allow me to explain…

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…”  So begins story of creation and the beginning of the most compelling and most circulated compilation of books of all time, the Bible.  In the creation account, we are told that in six days, God, through his word fashioned and ordered all of creation.  At each step of the creation God surveys his workmanship and declares this creation to be good.  

At the height of the creation, God forms man out of the dust of the earth, and breathes life into his nostrils, and makes a helper fit for him.  We are told that God created the first of mankind, Adam and Eve, in his own image, and that they were very good.  

We are further told, that God placed Adam and Eve in a garden that he created named Eden.  And within this garden he made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, for their use.  And that in the middle of this garden flowed a river that watered the garden, and that in the middle of this garden, God placed two trees.  God placed the Tree of Life, and near it he placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Remember that image, because God isn’t finished with it. 

God spoke to Adam and commanded him thus, “You may eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  We all know the end of that particular story.  The serpent tempts Adam and Eve, and the two of them disobey God and eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Rather than trust the Lord as their God, Adam and Eve chose to act in His place.  And as a result, Adam and Eve are banished from the garden, and death enters the world.  Death enters, not just for them, but for all the world with them.  

As a result, we live in a world that isn’t quite what it was designed to be.  It isn’t “very good” as God originally declared it to be.  We see this decay and degradation of all things due to man’s sin throughout scripture.  We see that nature itself is out of harmony with Adam, causing him to exert great toil just to survive.  We see brother kill brother with Cain and Abel.  We see that when Seth is born, he isn’t created in God’s own image as Adam was, but he is created in the likeness of Adam.  We see the decreasing lifespan of mankind.  We see the increasing wickedness of men, culminating with the cataclysmic flood, graciously survived by Noah and his family.  Once again, we see a world that isn’t quite what it was intended to be.  

And yet in all this disappointment and heartbreak, God initiates a plan to reclaim all of creation from the sin and death that was imposed upon the world during the Fall.  After the Fall, even in the midst of delivering a curse for our sin, God also provides a promise.  God says to the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  

From Eve’s offspring, a man named Abraham was chosen to be the Father of a great nation, and through Abraham all the nations would be blessed.  We see that God has a plan to reverse the curse, not only for us, but for all of creation.  

The weight of history carries on as Moses delivers the offspring of Abraham from Egypt, this nation of Israel enters into covenant with God at Mount Sinai.  We see Israel carve out a nation in the land promised by God to Israel.  We see a kingdom created under a man named Saul, and later passed to David.  We see God make a promise to David that He will set up an everlasting kingdom, and that a member of David’s line will always sit on the throne of this kingdom that will never end.  Yet during this time we see a faithless people fail to keep covenant with God, and are routinely disciplined for their disobedience.  We see a nation that is nearly destroyed, the earthly kingdom is ended, and the people are yet again left waiting for the fulfillment of the promises delivered to them.  

And then, finally, the time comes when the promise is about to be fulfilled.  An angel of God visits a man named Joseph, a carpenter descended from David’s line.  He is told that the Holy Spirit will cause the woman betrothed to him to bear the Son of God.  He is told that his name will be Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.  

It is this Jesus, the Son of God, innocent yet wrongfully arrested and executed, who dies for our sins.  As the scripture says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  

And then, after paying for our sins, Jesus was raised from the grave after three days, victorious over sin and death.  He then ascended into heaven where he takes his place as the king over all of creation, just as was promised to David.  

Upon this resurrection, God sent his Holy Spirit that the good news of Jesus Christ might be preached to all nations so that all who believe might be saved, just as was promised to Abraham.

And now, we have the new promise that through faith, we too will be raised with him.  As the scripture says, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life.”  We are told that Christ will return and all things will be renewed.  

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved.”  

Right now, we see a glimpse of the glory that is to come.  We have seen Jesus on the cross, and we have seen the empty tomb he left behind.  The promise is guaranteed.  History moves unceasingly toward that moment when he will return and all of creation will be redeemed and set back once again.  And as we see in the Revelation of John, at the end of all of history, Jesus will return, we will be raised from the dead with him, sin and death will be destroyed.  Satan, the ancient serpent, also will be destroyed, just as was promised during the Fall.  

There will be a new heaven and a new earth.  Those whose names are written in the book of Life will be revealed.  And at the end of it we will see, once again, a river and a tree.  

“Then the angel showed me the river of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.  The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  And night will be no more.  They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”  

This image of the two trees has helped me to realize that all of creation is in the process of being redeemed and set aright.  This is the promise that we have, and this is the hope that I bear.  Jesus, the Lamb of God, is faithful and will carry it out to completion.  Amen, let it be so.