In New Orleans, last week, the day-time temperatures were in the 90s, a trauma for this NorthEast guy. A few minutes out of our air conditioned hotel, we could have been in a sauna. We looked carefully at each street, in order to walk on the shady side. Evening in the French Quarter brought LOTS of “shady side” opportunities… All of which is to say that it’s nice to go places, even nicer to come home to daily routine and chilly nights! I guess Summer is now officially over.
Why not listen to what Jeremiah the Prophet says: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved”? (8:20) Perhaps he was listening to the 6 o’clock news when he wrote, “My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick….For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.” (8:18-21) Yet another shooting, this time in Washington…and more unreported in LA, Chicago, the Bronx. Pre-teen boys skateboarding on N’awlins sidewalks at 11 PM. Hurting young adults hiding behind head-bangin’ “music” and drunken yelling… Is there no balm in Gilead?
Paul has the right idea about intervening in this wasteland: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone.” (I Timothy 2:1) He goes on to focus on “kings and all who are in high positions so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” Prayer is good. It quiets me down, when I pray, and gives a feeling that I’m not alone. Telling someone else that you’re praying for them can melt the hardest of exteriors — and bend the hearts as well. Change the World! twenty minutes each day.
Jesus told a rather puzzling parable which you can read in Luke 16:1-9, “the dishonest manager”. He seems to condone shady practices, so that when we go to Hell we’ll have company! Read farther. Please. Down to verse 13, “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Or selfishness. Or hedonism, alcohol, drugs or sex.
Knowing that I’m not a mover & shaker causes me to cower in my cozy study and despair. Alas, what can I do to ease this wide-spread bedlam? An impish voice says, “Nothing! Hide!” Yet Paul’s encouragement to pray for individuals and The System gives some substance to my soul! Help me, Lord, not to abandon the Kingdom, even though the summer has ended and many of us know not that we HAVE been saved.
God Bless Us, Every One. H B King
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