“Cracked Pots”

In the ancient world the most durable containers were carved out of stone. That’s where royalty would safeguard their treasures. A rich family might keep an especially prized possession in an alabaster box. Ordinary families, however, had to resort to clay jars. And clay jars were a dime a dozen.

In a Jewish home, if a ceremonially unclean animal such as a lizard scrambled across one of your clay pots, you knew what you had to do. That vessel was now ceremonially unclean. Anyone who touched it would become unclean. Therefore it had to be broken-never to be used again. It was unthinkable that a clay jar should ever become the container of anything worth keeping. That’s the background of one of the Apostle Paul’s most startling statements.

“We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7) What’s the treasure? Paul is describing the Holy Spirit-God’s indwelling power to transform human lives. And who or what are the jars of clay? In other words that would be us.

God has put His most important Message, His must-not-fail Ministry and His world changing Mission-God’s greatest treasures, in other words-into the most fragile of containers.

That fact ought to amaze us every time we look in the mirror. It’s not that we are staring at a perfect person. All of God’s servants-from the most eloquent high church official, to the grandmother who loves all the children in the neighborhood as if they were her children, to the teenager who wonders if she can make it through another day-are breakable.

We should never be surprised when those who try to love and serve the Lord suddenly spring leaks. And become discouraged. And let down their guard. And sometimes come to the end of the day feeling as if they have been run over by a truck.

Why would God risk putting his best stuff into such unreliable containers? Paul puts it out there: “God deposits his treasure into fragile vessels of our hearts and minds so we’ll never be tempted to believe that this is all about us. That we ourselves are somehow amazing.”

God is amazing. And every day, if you’re one of God’s adopted children you have some choices to make. Am I going on my own strength or in the strength that God provides? Am I going to worry for today or am I going to pray? Are my attempts to love and serve others all about my power or about the power that God uniquely provides?

Scripture goes out of its way to remind us that we’re all, in the end, cracked pots. But take heart. The cracks, after all, are what allows the Light to shine through.

And you just happen to be one of God’s cracked pots.

Faithfully,
Ron Naylor, Chaplain

“What We Can Actually Control”

From time to time Author and Humorist Mark Twain was asked, “Of all your accomplishments, which one makes you the most proud?” He always gave the same answer: “I’m most proud that I was born on November 30th.”

Say What?

Twain was born on November 30, 1835 at 11:10 pm. Hurtling across the sky that night was Halley’s Comet. The comet which is fixed in a long orbit around the sun, becomes visible every 75 to 76 years. Twain thought it noteworthy he was born during such an appearance. Furthermore: “I came into the world with Halley’s Comet, I’m going out of the world with Halley’s Comet.” Twain was predicting that he would die within a two week period in the Spring of 1910. He actually succeeded. The most famous American writer of his generation didn’t take his own life, but died of natural causes on April 21st, when the comet was at its nearest.

Most of us presume we’re in control of a great many things. But it’s easy to demonstrate that’s largely an illusion despite Twain’s experience. We can’t control the circumstances of our birth. Or who brought us into the world. Or our nationality, ethnicity, or generation. You can’t control the weather. Or the stock market. Or how your favorite team performs. Despite all appearances to the contrary, it doesn’t really matter whether you turn off your TV, leave the room, or wear the same socks during every game. Since nothing I did seemed to help my BSU Cardinals this past basketball season.

We can’t control what others say or do or what they feel. Nor can we control what others think about us. You can’t control the traffic or gas prices. You can’t control whether it will be cloudy during next Monday’s solar eclipse.

Then again, here are a few things that are very much in our control. We can control what we are learning. And what we are paying attention to. And what we are trusting for our ultimate security.

Victor Frankl, a Jewish Psychiatrist, was forcibly taken from his home in Vienna to a Nazi detention camp. His captors took everything from him: his freedom, his job, his possessions, the manuscript that he thought would make him famous, and his family. The Nazis tried to rob him of everything associated with his identity. But as he recounts in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, it gradually dawned on him there was one thing no one could ever take from him–not even torturers who held the power of life and death.

No one could ever rob Victor Frankl of his freedom to respond to whatever was happening to him.

A great many things will happen today that are totally out of your control. But you can choose to respond with humility, gratitude, perseverance and hope. As the Apostle Paul reminds us, “If it is possible as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone…Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:18,221).

Comets will come and go, but our character–as it is formed by how we choose to respond hour by hour and day by day is what really matters on planet earth.

Faithfully,
Ron Naylor, Chaplain

“Touch Matters”

Some of you may have wondered where your “Chaplain’s Corner” has been the past six weeks. Well, the reason you have missed them is because I have been recovering from a total knee operation. It has been quite an experience from beginning until now. But what has been so meaningful to me are your prayers and the many cards and notes reminding me of my many friendships here at Westminster Village. Knowing someone cares is a healing factor in and of itself. That kind of “touch” is what I want to focus on today.

Laura Guerrero, co-author of Close Encounters: Communication in Relationships, cites recent studies that even a seemingly insignificant touch from a restaurant server often yields a bigger tip. People shop longer and make more purchases if they are touched by a store greeter. She notes that human beings are incurably social. “Lots of times in these studies people don’t even remember being touched. They just feel that they like that person more.”

Whenever we’ve plunged into grief or distress, physical contact is more than just comforting. It helps provide deep healing for our souls. But the most compelling confirmation of the power of touch is what happens when physical contact is taken away. During Bible Times, one category of individuals in particular was forced to live without the blessing of touch. That was the leper. Leprosy (or Hansen’s Disease), as it is commonly known today) cast its victims into a living hell. Progressive neurological damage slowly rendered one’s extremities, then limbs, and finally major organs non-functional. A leper might linger for as long as 30 years after diagnosis. But in the Biblical Community lepers were cast outs. Lepers were considered cursed by God. They were spiritually unclean.

Scottish Bible Scholar William Barclay notes they were required to stay at least six feet away from other people but if the wind was blowing from behind them, that distance had to be 150 feet. If a leper put his head inside a house, the entire house became unclean. It was illegal even to offer a word of greeting to a leprous man or woman. For all intents and purposes, lepers were already dead.

Imagine what it was like to be the leper Jesus encounters in Matthew 8:1-4. In verse two, the leper kneels before Jesus, “Lord, if you are willing you can make me clean.” Note, he calls Jesus “Lord.” Second, there is respect: “If you are willing.” There are no demands of entitlement. Faith does not honestly know if the Lord in every case intends to heal. And third, there is confidence in Jesus’ competence: “You can make me clean.” What will Jesus do?

Jesus steps forward and breeches the societal walls that have been erected to keep lepers in their place–a place beyond human touch. When he touches the leper his ulcerations vanish. He is restored. Cleansing, healing, and hope are flowing from Jesus to the leper. The curse has been removed. His life can begin again.

Maybe you’ve concluded that you’re infected with an incurable spiritual disease. Because of the affair. Or the divorce. Or the discovery of some shame that is keeping you from being the person you know you ought to be.

But perhaps you can imagine going to Jesus. You are not beyond his touch. The one who broke all the rules in order to bring wholeness to lepers is still in the business of touching the untouchable. EVEN YOU AND ME.

Faithfully,

Ron Naylor, Chaplain

“When Tragedy Turns to Triumph”

What swept the dinosaurs from the face of the earth?  That question has puzzled
paleontologists for a very long time. At least 700 species of dinosaurs have been identified.
The geological record suggests that these extraordinary creatures dominated our planet for as
long as 175 million years.  Then about 66 million years ago, they suddenly vanished.  What
happened?  Perhaps dinosaurs ate all the available food.   Or they succumbed to disease.
Perhaps small mammals developed a fondness for dinosaur eggs.  One British geologist,
Charles Lyell believed that virtually everything that had ever happened in natural history had
happened slowly.  Lyell had no time for “catastrophism,” the idea that sudden dramatic events
could change everything.

Then in 1980, a startling discovery changed the conversation.

A geological research team led by Nobel Prize-winner Luis Alvarez proposed the earth had
been struck by a gigantic cosmic object.  In short, this event was a dinosaur apocalypse.

Almost overnight, the uniformitarians were out of business.

It’s all too common to imagine the average American life as a predictable series of events. Our
worlds are almost certainly will be rocked by catastrophes that no one will see coming.  The
drunk driver.  The heart-stopping CT-scan.  The special needs child.  The addiction.  The
“reduction in force” at work.  The divorce. The tsunamis of anger, loneliness, and depression.
The accident that changes everything.  One day, seemingly out of a clear blue sky, their worlds
will implode.  And they will wonder if they can ever go on.

It’s often in such moments, however, that we discover the true source of our hope.  The next
most interesting thing that will happen to us spiritually turns out not to be when we die–when
we finally see Jesus face to face–but when we discover that God actually keeps his promises
to us right here and now.  Sometimes the good disaster, the life-threatening moment is what
gives us life instead.  The health crisis brings us to our knees.  The job loss opens unexpected
doors.  The special child teaches us to love in ways we never could have imagined.

In the Old Testament, the worst thing that ever happened to Joseph became the best thing that
could ever have happened to the rest of the family.  In the New Testament the worst thing that
happened to Jesus became the best thing that could ever have happened to the rest of the
world.  Tragedy turns to triumph.  Weakness becomes strength.  Unimaginable loss becomes
unexpected gain.

Through it all we are never alone.  Jesus assures us:  “Surely I am with you always, to the end
of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

God is always with us, and is always at work.  Which means that whatever might seem like the
end of your world in 2024 may turn out to be one of God’s most surprising gifts.

Faithfully,
Ron Naylor, Chaplain

“Jingle Bells”

If you can believe it, “Jingle Bells” used to be considered too racy to be connected to Christmas. James Lord Pierpont, the Savannah, Ga. Church choir director who composed it in 1857, seems to have had Thanksgiving in mind. He originally named it “One Horse Open Sleigh.” But after Mrs. Otis Waterman, one of his friends, declared that it was a “merry little jingle” the modern name got traction. It quickly became a drinking song, with partygoers jingling their ice in their glasses while singing.

What really raised eyebrows, however, was the very notion of a young man and young woman taking off together in a sleigh. The concept of dating didn’t arrive on the scene until the 1920’s, when single people were increasingly leaving their homes to seek work in large cities. Before that time, a young man would “court” a young woman by seeking permission to drop by her home. Family members would chaperone such callings.

A one-horse open sleigh was a different matter altogether. Beckoning a young lady to hop into a two seater sleigh was the 19th century equivalent of a hot guy pulling up to his girlfriend’s house in a Corvette. Chaperones are nowhere in sight.

Those associations are now long gone. “Jingle Bells” has become a seasonal favorite.

So how did couples date during the time of Mary and Joseph? The great majority of marriages in the ancient world happened by arrangement. When the potential spouses were still children, two families would come to an understanding about their respective futures. To modern Americans, this sounds like a nightmare. The last thing many of us are willing to surrender is our freedom-especially the freedom to choose a life partner. But for centuries, arranged marriages have had a consistently positive track record. In Western cultures, partners begin by falling in love and then get married. As many as half those marriages fail. In cultures where marriages are orchestrated for reasons other than love, partners begin by choosing to be committed to each other. Then they endeavor to fall in love.

Mary and Joseph would presumably have had a chance to ratify their parent’s decision. Engagements during the time of Jesus involved an important public ceremony. During that year, the engaged couple might live together, in close proximity to family sharing everything but the same bed. It was during this probationary period, however, that Mary began trying on maternity clothes. Joseph was no doubt devastated.

The story that God had supernaturally created a growing child in the womb of a peasant girl is still hard to fathom. “If you have never stood and looked at the Gospel and found it ridiculous, impossible, inconceivable,” writes author Tim Keller, “I don’t think you have really understood it.” The courage of an unmarried teenage peasant girl is why we will celebrate Christmas this week.

And it’s why “merry little jingle bells” have become associated with a joy that’s impossible to put into words.

Faithfully,
Ron Naylor, Chaplain