Leaning Forward

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

It's a scenario right out of the movies! There's a mid-term vacancy in the United States Senate. The Governor of the state in which the vacancy has occurred is responsible, at least constitutionally, to appoint a replacement till the next popular election. While all the special interests line up behind their candidates, the Governor selects a youth leader with no political experience to fill the post. It's an amazing story. The media elites hated it in 1939 when the Frank Capra film was released, as did the politicians. But, the American public loved it enough to make it among the highest grossing films of a film rich year. If you want to weigh the competition in 1939, go here. You see, the public votes with their feet and pocket book.

The allure of this fantasy isn't so mysterious. Even in 1939 Americans were skeptical, many cynical, about government. Special interests and party machines dominated the hallways of congress and the United States Senate was viewed as an exclusive club of up-and-in movers with custom crafted keys to the executive toilet. Of course, the Capra film perhaps exaggerated the graft and covered the political mess with a thin veneer of comic relief, an effort to soften the critical message underneath the plot. That the essential truth registered with the public in those confusing times seems to underscore the cynicism with which the public views established government.

So, fast-forward to 2012 for a similar setting. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has resigned from the United States Senate to assume leadership of the Heritage Foundation in the New Year. Who can blame Him? Beating your head against the wall day after day in the Senate must come with a unique set of frustrations. Nevertheless, Governor Nikki Haley must now select someone to fill the Senate vacancy for two years, until the next election.

So, line up the special interests, haul out the usual suspects, and lets review the list of Republicans worthy of such an appointment. Let's not. First, if they're not serving somewhere at the time, it's probably because they got defeated in a race. Putting someone overlooked by the electorate into that spot may be thumbing your nose at the voters of SC. Second, the Republican establishment isn't all that attractive these days, having blown the 2012 election through fence-straddling and mask-wearing hypocrisy. Appointing another good old boy will just further alienate voters.

So, let's send Mr. Smith to Washington. There's been a grass-roots movement to impress our governor with the credentials of Bob Menges as a bona-fide candidate for this senatorial position. I'm for it. Here's why. One, Bob is passionate about the United States and government in general. He understands the United States Constitution better than most constitutional lawyers and has studied governement at a very deep level for many years. Two, Governor Haley has committed to appoint someone with strong conservative values. Bob Menges is solidly conservative at every point of political examination. He does not go with the flow or reflect the mood of the people around him. Third, having never served elective office, he is not indebted to political machines or office-holders. This would be odd in government today, a politician with no special interests other than to represent the people of his constitutency and the tenets of his conscience. Fourth, he is man of character. Nothing greater can be said of any human, that their character stands for something important.

So, the Governor will appoint someone to occupy the United States Senate seat held by Senator Jim DeMint. I'm standing with Bob Menges.

It's an appointment that makes a lot of sense.

Him 2

Life accelerates during the holidays. Most of us live at the speed of thought today and It's hard to imagine greater velocity for a month at the end of the year. But, it is what it is, and this is the time of rush and hurry. The pace quickens.

We'll rationalize the blur with our own additions to Scripture, pretending to visualize first century Bethlehem as a swirling mass of humanity, the house of David gathering to register. It's the "no room in the inn" thing, a way for us to feel better about the whizz of December. Shoot, even Mary and Joseph were on the run. Like being crazy busy is a spiritual virtue or something. Maybe it was so.

Scripture mentions the fullness of time too. Galatians 4:4 affirms, "But when the completion of time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons". So, there may have been crowds in town for the census, and things may have assumed a sense of urgency because of them. But, the birth of Jesus wasn't a last minute gift from God, a Plan B occasioned when the legal system failed to produce righteousness. No, the manger was the birth of the Lamb slain at the foundation of the world.

The prologue to John's Gospel reminds us of the pre-existent creator Christ. John declared, "He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created" (John 1:3). In an instant the words "Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness" (Genesis 1:25), make sense. What Paul wrote to the Colossians, "...because by Him everything was created, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities---all things have been created through Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). Suddenly, the Christology of the Incarnation moves us from a simple manger to the foundations of the earth in eternity past.

The rush of the season is calmed by the eternal plan of God, implemented by Him at just the right time in human history. While we huff and puff through the mechanics of our festive month, the Incarnation announces His deliberate, sovereign care of all things through the entire human epoch. As we try to cover all the bases, hurry to this place and that, or like me, wish the whole thing would be over tomorrow, there is Jesus, the eternal, God's answer before the world was even in place.

The personal note for me in the question of "due time". I'm praying and waiting on the promise of 1 Peter 4:6, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time". We know He will eventually guide and lift us from the grief and loss that seems to mark this season with more gravitas than last. According to the promise, it will happen in "due time", what I construe to mean, in His time. So, here'e the connection! Jesus, the eternal Messiah, became a man when the time was just right. It happened. The promise is fulfilled. It is real. And, I know His promise to us is real too.

So, we'll slow it down a bit, seek to worship and celebrate Him during the season that bears His name, and trust God to do what he promises, in "due time".

Him

A very thin veneer of good cheer and well-wishes covers the holidays. Spiritual schizophrenia has us celebrating the Christ child, the winter solstice, the spirit of giving, Rudolph. and a long list of other ethnic and regional observances. The facts of a troubled economy and general uncertainty are over-laid with the sight and sounds of a happy season. Ho ho ho, Merry something!

All the brightness and noise make the dark shadows of grief all the more evident. For some people there will be empty settings at the table or the other intimate places where loss is most felt. The lights and sounds of merriment cannot illuminate those moments. They are but a covering under which any of us can hide for a while. At the end of the day, when the tree and door wreaths are unplugged and the iPod is finally disconnected, the dark shadows loom larger.

For believers the season isn't about colors and sights and sounds anyway! Lest, we forget, Christmas is the celebration of Him. So, okay, the historians poke a few holes in the dating of His birth and we get to debate the issues of the incarnation and the seeming myths that have surrounded the miracle. There's no evidence of three wise men or any hint that they visited baby Jesus in the manger. But, still, Christmas is the celebration of His birth, the recognition that "...the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14, KJV, the way I memorized it as a child).

Yes, it's early yet. Call me a throw back but I usually won't listen to Christmas music until December 1 each year (today, not that I'm a legalist or anything). So, the spirit of the season isn't oozing through my pores at this point. All the Black Friday and Cyber Monday and post-Thanksgiving, and pre-Christmas glitz have just made the dark shadows of my personal grief more obvious. The holly-jolly Christmas has been kind of distant so far.

Until I remember Him. Yesterday, like many days before, a Bible verse exploded off the page. John wrote, "...that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness" (John 1:4-5). It is the most comforting thought, a profound reminder, that the glitter and shine of seasonal lights cannot brighten this dark place. But, He shines in the darkness. He can illumine even a dark heart! It's the miracle of the season for me, the promise of Him shining in the inner chambers of the heart, a light that guides us through the darkness, an eternal breaking through the temporary. It is totally Him.

A favorite passage for years has been 2 Corinthians 4: 7-18, the one about having this treasure in clay jars, earthen vessels. It's a recital of what eventually happens to this human body. It declares, "...though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:16). It concludes, "So, we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (4:18). The visible, obvious symbols of the season are but fragile, temporary props to encourage and brighten for a season. He is the light that gives us eternal, permanent promise.

Jesus said, "I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me would not remain in darkness" (John 12:46). I love the words "not remain" in this verse. The shadows of loss and grief are only momentarily lifted by the glitter of the times. But, there is a light that will guide us safely through the journey.

It is Him. I'm reading Colossians 1: 15-23 everyday till Christmas so I can be reminded of Him. It is His season and only He can give us light in it.