My Sermon on 10/20/2019

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I had the privilege of delivering the worship service message at New Hempstead Presbyterian Church in New City, NY on 10/20/19. I thank the pastor, the Rev. Dr. Lori Knight-Whitehouse, for the opportunity. At the end of the text, I am posting a link to my portion of the service (the second Bible reading and my sermon, plus a great hug at the end from Pastor Lori). I chose both readings for the service: 1st Samuel 16:1-7 and Luke 11:37-44.

What Difference Does It Make?

Today’s scripture passages deal with insides and outsides of people.  In both cases, God is far more interested in the heart and mind of a person than the outer appearance.  In 1^st Samuel, God notes that it is human nature to judge based on what’s outside.  It’s a lot easier to see external features and we like to keep our complicated lives as simple as possible.  When the children of Israel ignored God’s warnings and desired a human king to rule over them, He gave them an impressive physical specimen.  But tall, studly King Saul was found wanting: not only disobedient but making excuses for it.  So the Lord lets Samuel know that with this new king, the king whose lineage would lead to Jesus, God would select based on His ability to see and judge the worthiness of the one selected.  David wasn’t perfect.  But when confronted with his sin, he owned up to it and returned to being a man after God’s own heart.

The ritual of hand washing

The passage in Luke might hit closer to home.  It is not likely that anyone here will be chosen for a royal position.  But it is very likely that all of us have either judged others or have been judged based on our appearance or based on expectations.  And who among us would not have felt foolish if the person we judged negatively turned out to be Christ?  Yet Jesus goes a step further.  In condemning the Pharisees of His day, Jesus uses very strong language.  As they used to say in the movies, “Dems fighting words!”

We have to be careful here.  In Matthew 5:22, Jesus warned about calling someone a fool.  Now He calls the Pharisees fools for their hypocritical concern with the outside while neglecting their wickedness inside.  But in the Matthew passage, the Greek word translated as “fool” is “moros”.  That word carried a connotation of being godless as well as being foolish.  In Luke 11:40, the Greek word translated as “fool” is “aphron” [af-rone].  It insults the intelligence of the Pharisees, but not their piety.

About seven years ago, a woman I knew from church who I considered a friend told me that something I was doing was “foolish and evil”.  Then she added that she would pray for me.  I suppose in her mind that was supposed to cover it.  But it was clear to me she was implying that I was doing moros type foolishness.

What’s my difference?  My message today will focus on one that is very rare.  The current estimate is six tenths of a percent or six people in a random group of a thousand.  New Hempstead is much smaller than one thousand people.  But a church is not a random sample.  It is populated by people with similar beliefs and common purpose.  Two of the beliefs that connect me to New Hempstead are Christianity and social justice.

Some of you already know about my difference.  Many of you do not know and might be surprised.  Some might even be shocked.  Hopefully none of you are dismayed.  Unfortunately, a large portion of the Christian community around the world is dismayed.  To them, I am living in sin, have a reprobate mind and most likely not even saved.  And if I am saved, in their opinion at best I am terribly backslidden and in need of prayer for deliverance.

So let me introduce myself as I sometimes do when I speak before secular groups.  First, I am Christian.  That is my eternal spiritual identity.  Second, I am female.  That is my innate gender identity.  Somewhere down on the list, I am transgender.  That is my biological anatomical reality.

Lois Simmons, author of this blog!

It is also my anatomical reality that most of my secondary sex characteristics, even prior to cross-gender hormones and without any visible surgeries, are female.  That doesn’t make me any more female or any more transgender than another trans woman.  It just makes me more fortunate in my ability to go through life without being hassled in public.

In other ways, I am pretty much the same person I was before I transitioned socially nearly seven years ago.  I am still good in math, I can still parallel park, I still have a good sense of direction, I still have the same crazy sense of humor, I still like sports and I still love the Lord.

It is the last item on that list that makes my remarks relevant to this congregation.  Otherwise, what I have to say might be an interesting YouTube video or Facebook post that you read and then move on.  But it is my heart for Christ, my heart for those who do not know Him and my heart for other transgender people, that fuels my remarks today.  A transgender ally could have presented most of this same message.  But it would be deceitful for me if I failed to disclose the truth about who I am and where I am coming from.

At this point, I am reminded of the parable of the sower. Luke’s Gospel records it in chapter 8, verses 5-8: A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.  And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.  And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold.  And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

hard soil

If you take one thing away from my message today, it is this: sharing Jesus with the transgender community is hard soil.  And not only has the body of Christ dropped the ball, many have kicked the ball away.  There are a number of denominations and independent churches who will turn away a transgender person, whether Christian or seeker; many others will accept them in the hopes that they can pray away the trans or expose the trans person to enough teaching … “in love”, of course … that the trans person will renounce their transgender identity.

There are grim consequences for both transgender people and the Christian Church as a result of these widespread and well-known attitudes.  For example, for many years I attended a support group in Bergen County that met in an open, accepting and affirming Evangelical Lutheran Church.  More often than not when someone contacted us about joining the group, when they heard that we met in a church, they would stop e-mailing us, or we could hear their interest wane, or they would flat out tell us that they would not come to a meeting at a church.  Whether because of personal experience or Christian church reputation, like the lyrics of a song by The Who, they do not want to be fooled again.

And unfortunately for churches like New Hempstead, even though we aren’t part of this mud puddle of bigotry, we get splashed with that same dirty reputation in the eyes of very many who identify as L, G, B, or T.  How many LGBT+ welcoming churches are seeing an influx of members of those groups?  How many of these churches are struggling to survive or are even closing their doors?  At the same time, how many LGBT+ identified people are closing their hearts to the saving knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Based on personal experience, the testimony of other trans people and mounting scientific evidence, I do not believe that someone who is truly born transgender can change that identity, whether through secular or spiritual intervention.  But that is a separate discussion.  For now taking that as a given, what is the right course for us in the Church of Jesus Christ?

I decided after years of resisting to join Facebook this summer.  Quickly I found a closed group of Transgender Christians, over 700 both strong and suffering alike.  It was a larger group than I expected to find.  There was a time that I couldn’t find another transgender Christian anywhere online.  That was one reason I started my own blog on the subject.

Edited and paraphrased to maintain privacy, these are the testimonies of some of our fellow believers and what they are going through because of their combination of identities.  Hear what your sisters and brothers in Christ are crying out.

I met with my parents for the first time since coming out to them a few weeks ago.  It is the first time they saw me presenting as female.  Our time together was pleasant, but transgender and my transition were never mentioned.  As we were parting, my mom handed me a book to read.  (The book is one of many books that supposedly use the Gospel lovingly to show transgender people the sin and error of our ways so we will repent.  Often their premise is that we are either not saved, don’t know the Bible, that we are rebelling against God, or some combination thereof.)

Post: God is good all the time.  I finally found a church here deep in the Bible Belt that accepts me as the trans woman that I am.  Reply: Great news.  There are accepting churches out there.  It isn’t always easy finding one.

When I was still presenting as a cisgender male, a cis male friend who was a member of a men’s church study group persuaded me to attend a presentation by a man who wrote an anti-transgender paper.  When I asked the presenter what he used for research material, he showed me a stack of pornographic magazines.  I never attended another men’s Bible study group again.

I was rejected by my previous church.  Yet I am encouraged by what someone in my current church told me: “You challenge us to live our faith.”

My transgender identity remained when I was saved in my mid-20’s.  It has been a constant battle to please my Lord and Savior at the same time as continuing to work towards becoming the woman I truly am.

I feel my faith ebbing away.  I don’t sense God being there for me.  Goodbye to the group.  (This person revealed that she had been molested in the past and that someone else tried recently.  She was feeling shame because she felt she may have caused it by dressing to look pretty.  With encouragement from others, so far she stayed in the group.)

A trans woman member of the group, who is known in her church as female and transgender, was invited to join a small group in her church.  Then she was told that they were going to address her only by her former male name because that was how God created her.  The reason given was that they would lovingly accept anyone who wanted to join their group, but they had to remain true to their understanding of God’s word.  The invitation to join the group was declined.  The leader of the group acted like she was the judged and aggrieved party.

The pastor of the church I used to attend told me that it would be better for their church if I didn’t come back after I transitioned to female. 

My pastor knows my transgender identity, but he and the church are lukewarm on transgender issues.  I attend a mega-church and the pastor has a lot of status even beyond the local community.  I want my church to take a more positive stance on transgender issues instead of ignoring their existence.  But I think my pastor is more concerned about what it will do to his reputation in the Christian community if he steps out in favor of transgender people.

I used to attend a church that claimed to be LGBT friendly.  They had members, including the pastor, who were either gay or lesbian.  But I was the only transgender person there.  Most of the people ignored me and one gay couple was downright negative towards me.  Not only did I leave that church, I am avoiding church altogether now.

I have been attending a church for a few months and things were going well in terms of acceptance as a woman.  Then I came out as transgender.  Now I’ve been told that I cannot be part of any woman’s group or do any ministry work.  (In general this points to the dilemmas all transgender people face: should we come out at all, who should we come out to and under what circumstances?)

An acquaintance told me today that I am trash for violating God’s word.  Furthermore, I and anyone transgender should be put to death if we don’t turn away from this wickedness.

One group member is currently in the closet as a pastor in a conservative denomination that does not accept transgender.  Another member in similar circumstances in the past stepped down and found a job as a chaplain so she could transition.

coming out – should I or not?

My spouse has been sacrificially supportive since I came out.  Now she feels the need to leave her church, the church I started to attend with her.  We thought we were welcome.  Now we found out that they only welcomed us hoping that we would eventually be convicted to turn away from our relationship with me being transgender.  We are continuing to attend, but no longer feel welcome and are starting to look for another church.  But that is very difficult in our area.  Also a transgender teen had been coming with her family.  Once the church’s stance became known, this family stopped coming as well. 

These are just some examples.  They confirm what I believe the Holy Spirit was laying on my heart as I was exploring transition in 2012.  The Lord laid a new ministry idea on my heart.  I call it “Born Thrice”.

In a sense, a transgender Christian who transitions is not only born again, but born three times: physical birth, spiritual birth and gender rebirth or reassignment.  To the world, in many ways I am a new person.  I have a new name and a new gender marker on my birth certificate, my passport, my driver’s license and with Social Security.  My brother for the first time has a sister.  My senior men’s honorary society at Cornell retroactively had their first female member.

Here are the aims of my proposed ministry.  Note how well they fit in with the needs expressed in a sample of unsolicited posts that were taken from the Transgender Christian Facebook Group over the past month.

• Provide support so that transgender Christians can remain steadfast in their faith. This can include helping find a new church.
• Help transgender Christians who became discouraged and turned away from Christ so that they will return to their first love; shine the light of Christ’s love to those who were raised in the church and proclaim that there is a place in the body of Christ for transgender people with many faithful churches now receiving them with gladness and without judgment.
• Proclaim to the rest of the transgender community that God loves them just as they are and that there is peace and wholeness without shame in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Educate pastors, ruling elders and congregations that there is no conflict between Christianity and transgenderism. This can be done discreetly on behalf of a transgender Christian who would like to come out in their own church but is unsure of what the reaction will be and would like the waters tested.  It can also be done to help find a new church or for any church that wants to know more about transgender.
• Talk with Christian family members of a transgender individual who has or plans to come out, helping the family respond with love and compassion rather than condemnation, while also showing compassion for the adjustment that the family members will be making.

Some of the transgender Christians I am meeting will become part of the pool of counselors.  But more groundwork needs to be laid.  It would help to have someone with the skill to take a vision and get an organization off the ground successfully.  Denominational support and endorsement will be helpful.  Once a ministry gets large enough, a good advisory board and a board of trustees is needed.  And prayer support is always necessary for a successful Christian organization.

How else can you make a difference?

As far as I know, no one else in the New Hempstead congregation is transgender.  But allies are always a blessing.  And if there are enough people interested, I would be willing to help lead a discussion group on transgender.  Key Bible verses and books on the topic are available as discussion starters.

Bee Love Slater, a transgender woman of color, was burned to death in this car on 9/4/19

Other ministry opportunities are likely to arise.  The transgender population, particularly transgender women of color, tend to be underemployed and living in poverty.  Some turn to sex work as their answer and this makes them very vulnerable to physical violence.  [But all transgender people are at a higher risk to be victims of physical violence.]  There are also times when transgender identified young people need safe places to obtain education or even refuge from their immediate family.

And I challenge you today to consider your own common interest community.  Maybe it is music or pet lovers or senior citizens or gardening or crafts.  Maybe it is your profession or the sports team you root for or centered on the activities of your children or grandchildren.  Are you shining the light of Christ in your communities?  Do people know that you are Christian?  Or would they be surprised to find out?  Maybe you’d like to share what Jesus has done in your life but you aren’t sure how.  Pastor Lori and I have ideas on that subject and would love to share them with you.

Lord, I pray that those who have heard this message will apply it to their life according to Your will.  And I pray that whether it is through Born Thrice or other instruments of Your choosing, that you will help many transgender people abide in Your grace, peace, joy and love. Amen

Non-Christians, Baby Christians, Discipleship and Moderation

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I attend two churches, one that tilts a bit to the right and one that tilts a bit to the left.  It took me a year to figure out that when one of them moves their worship service up an hour for the summer and the other one leaves it where it is, I can attend both services on the same Sunday for a few months.  The churches are only a five minute drive from each other.

And so when I thought of a scripture verse and a possible blog post to go with it, and then that general theme (if not the verse) was mentioned at some point during both services that Sunday, I took that as spiritual landing lights to move ahead with it.  So here goes.

I am concerned about the divisions in the body of Christ, the Church.  I am concerned about deep divisions in the United States of America.  Because this country was founded upon Judeo-Christian based values and ideals, augmented by commentaries of some of the best and brightest minds over the centuries, I believe that the two are connected.  I acknowledge that the U.S. has had mixed results in implementing those ideals.  Yet until now, they have been an inspiration for millions and to millions to do better, to want something better, to believe in something better.

Like the tangle of cords beneath my computer desk, it matters little how the mess began.  It might seem like a fruitful exercise to ponder whether a declining America led to a declining Christian church or did a declining Christian church lead to a declining America.  But at this point it would more likely lead to one more thing to disagree about, one more fine mess to get into.  Right now the priority is to get things untangled.

Since the topic was spiritually inspired for me, I will start from that side of it.  What I am seeing is that how the two poles of the Church get things wrong are mirror images of each other.

Let’s look at the Scripture passage that triggered this blog post: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. – Matthew 28:19-20

Now I pledged at the inception of my blog to use the KJV as my source for all Bible quotes.  But the KJV is often not the version used when I am in church or a Bible study or hearing a Christian teaching.  So certain popular verses will come to mind in an alternate translation.  And the more modern translations are consistent in rendering “teach” as “make disciples of”.  The KJV emphasizes the action to be taken.  The newer translations emphasize the desired result: for people of every nation to not only receive the Gospel message, but for it to have an eternal life changing effect on at least some people from every nation and for that change to have a practical manifestation on their lives here on earth.

It was “make disciples of” that resonated with me on Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church.  But how do you make disciples without teaching?  And how do you teach without first witnessing and getting a positive response?  And how do you get a positive response if non-Christians will not even listen to or read your message; if they stop their ears and kick you out from their presence or shame you into silence?

It wasn’t always this way during my lifetime.  I like to watch old television shows.  They are familiar, I find them more entertaining and they provide perspective.  Lately I’ve been watching old quiz and game shows like “What’s My Line?” and “Password”.  Previously I had been watching “Bonanza”, a show that mixed drama, adventure, comedy and some moralizing.

It is not the purpose of this blog post to postulate how we got from there to here in attitude.  But the difference can be startling, even to someone who lived through the gradual change.  It was taken for granted then that Christianity would be a major component of American life on these programs and it was respected.  Jewish game show panelists had no problem wishing people a Merry Christmas.  Every Friday, Allen Ludden would urge the audience members to attend worship services that weekend and show gratitude for their blessings.  Jewish actor Michael Landon not only portrayed a church-going Joe Cartwright on Bonanza, he made Christianity a major theme on “Little House on the Prairie”, and the focus of “Highway to Heaven” was clearly spiritual and Christian.  (Landon’s character is given a Gentile name, and in the very first episode alludes to Christ’s teaching to turn the other cheek, something with no direct equivalent in the Tanakh.)   Even clearer in its focus on Christianity was the Michael Landon created and produced show “Father Murphy”. While these shows continued for nearly twenty years after the end of “Bonanza” and were bucking the secularization trend in Hollywood, they were highly successful and point back to the way things had been.

There is nothing wrong with Christians wishing for a return to the respectful way that Christianity was treated two generations ago and earlier.  However, the way that many Christians try to bring this about can be counterproductive.

One of the biggest errors that some Christians (usually the more conservative ones) make is expecting non-Christians to live by Biblical standards.  If a person doesn’t acknowledge the Bible as authoritative, why would they follow its rules?  That’s like expecting me as an American citizen to live by the constitution of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel or Japan.  A similar problem is expecting non-Christians to automatically understand Christian-speak.  That might have been fairly likely over 50 years ago when the U.S. was steeped in Christian culture and even the biggest reprobate knew what they were straying from.  It’s no longer true and wishing it won’t make it so.

What are some of the biggest objections that non-Christians have to Christians and Christianity?  I was hoping for a poll, but I didn’t find one.  So I had to glean it from online articles: some written by non-Christians and some by Christians taking a hard look at themselves and their fellow believers.  Here are ones that made the list:

• Judgmental
• Hypocrites
• Unfriendly
• Shaming and sarcastic
• Unloving
• Hateful

Now if this was merely due to people living sinful, corrupt, wicked lives feeling uncomfortable, I would praise the Lord for that.  That isn’t because of what the Christians are doing.  That’s their own consciences convicting them of wrongdoing.  Comfortable people have little to no reason to change their ways.  It is only when they become uncomfortable and can find no peace that they are motivated to better themselves.

I also know that non-Christians do their fair share of hypocrisy, judging, shaming, mocking, turning away from and hating Christians.  So this is a two-way street.

But I think back to a Hebrew National commercials from years ago.  It was based on all the things that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (portrayed by Uncle Sam) allowed in hot dogs that they would not put in theirs because they were held to a higher standard by God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAXvEFqLdm8

Any group that claims to follow God automatically puts themselves in a position of being held to a higher standard by both God and man.  So I don’t mind when non-Christians hold Christians to a higher standard, unless there is some violence or tangible loss connected with it.

It is true that some people are more motivated by the carrot and some are more motivated by the stick.  There are many Christians who only use the carrot and won’t talk about sin and hell at all.  There are many Christians who only use the stick and think they can shame or force non-Christians into conversion and heaven.  Sadly there are Christians who think they are showing love when they are using the stick far too often.  And there are Christians who think they are being compassionate when they are actually hurting others with that compassion.  So it is a complicated topic.

I heard someone’s testimony today.  He found Jesus Christ while in prison.  Upon release he returned home and went to church with a family member.  The people in that church knew about his prison background.  Rather than rejoicing that he would go to church, they all looked at him with expressions of “what are you doing here?”  When it came time for people to greet their neighbor, the person sitting next to him, literally his neighbor on his street as well as in the pew, did not greet him.  No one did.

He left church that day and went back to the streets and his old friends.  Two more years of his life were wasted, all because of a coldhearted church that didn’t evidence Christ in their walk.  But the Lord didn’t give up on him, even if some people representing Christ did.

Driving without a license landed him back in jail for a short period of time.  When he was released, he felt led to walk home 7½ miles instead of calling someone for a ride.  As he walked and meditated, he felt led to start a conversation with the Lord.  He rededicated himself that night.  Praise God, this time he found a church that demonstrated the love of Christ in their walk and in their outreach to a new person.  Many years later, that man now faithfully serves the Lord.

So someone becomes a new creature in Christ and finds your church.  Now what?  Hopefully you greet these people warmly and welcome them into fellowship.  But is that all that’s required of the church?  NO!  They are baby Christians.  On the one hand, their salvation experience may have them on fire for the Lord, but they are still a toddler in their walk.  Going back to that Matthew 28 verse, salvation is only the first step.  They need to be discipled.  They need to learn some discipline, just like any other baby.

Of course it is slowly and lovingly at first.  But this new Christian is only a baby in spirit.  Mentally they are older than that.  So you won’t just be saying “No”, you will be teaching and explaining the right way according to Scriptures.

And just as conservatives are prone to err on the side of legalism with non-Christians, liberals in the body of Christ are prone to err on the side of permissiveness when it comes to baby Christians.  In the name of love, grace and compassion, they are reluctant to correct new Christians for fear of either quenching their spirit or being legalistic.  But while we may disagree on what constitutes sin, it is clear that from the Bible that if we are new creatures, we are also to put off the old sins that beset us and separated us from God.  While we are to remember that we will never achieve perfection in this life, it is the target.

I am currently serving as a mentor in a local high school in a neighboring school district that has a large minority population.  To help us, especially those of us who are white, learn how to best mentor the teenage males, we are being trained by two black men who have made a career in education and mentoring.  Part of that training is reading books they have written.  I have already finished reading “Madd Truth” by Alfonso Wyatt and I am now reading “Soar” by David Banks.  There are similarities in their approach to educating these black teens and helping them grow into young men of achievement.

Discipline isn’t the only element, but it is a key one.  But it has to be the right kind of discipline in the right environment, built upon trust and peer support.  One of the chapters in “Soar” is subtitled “Discipline to teach, not punish”.  When trust is earned, hope for success is instilled and the right kind of peer pressure has been established, teen boys will want to follow the rules, do the right thing and succeed in the tasks put before them, whether in education, athletics, other projects, appearance, or on time attendance.

Yes, they acknowledge racism in society.  But giving black children an excuse to fail in the name of compassion by giving too much weight to racism is not compassionate.  Too many black teens, especially young males, are falling through the cracks when discipline is lacking because it is too tempting to take the easy way out, the excuse that the system is stacked against them.  Just as important, Wyatt and Banks use their lives and the lives of other black mentors to show that success is possible for black men.  Once they have the trust and attention of their students and mentees, their job is to guide and be a resource to help each one find their path of success in their area of interest and talent.  That guidance is based on discipline: discipline in thinking, in choice of friends, in commitment to assignments, even in the route that one takes from school to home.

Not surprisingly, one of these authors, Alfonso Wyatt, is a Christian.  His full title is Rev. Dr. Alfonso Wyatt, an elder on the staff of The Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York in Jamaica, borough of Queens.  And just as discipline is required for a successful life, especially one when dangers are lurking, discipline is required for a victorious Christian walk.  After all, Christians face spiritual battles.  Even if it is motivated by love and compassion, an undisciplined Christian is likely to succumb in those battles.  A disciplined Christian is equipped to keep faithful to a Christian walk.

A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.  And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.  And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.  And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.  But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. – Luke 8:5-8,11-15

Many conservative churches tilt so far towards truth that they become cold, legalistic and fail to show the love of Christ.  They drive people away from Christ.  Many liberal churches tilt so far towards grace that almost anything goes.  They produce little spiritual fruit, although they are a friendly place.  New believers and those seeking God often soon find little reason to stay.  They’d do just as well joining a social club.

Moderation, balancing grace and truth, should be the aim of every Christian church.  Attending two churches on slightly opposite sides of middle ground is a way for me to keep balance and moderation.  While anything inherently sinful cannot be done lawfully in moderation or to any extent at all, moderation is required when one needs to balance two competing virtues.

Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. – Philippians 4:5

And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. – John 1:16-17

God bless,

Lois

A Christian perspective on Super Bowl XLIX

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As a professional tax preparer, I receive a few tax and accounting newsletters.  I have already seen an article looking at the Super Bowl from an accountant’s perspective.  It’s my turn to look at it from a Christian perspective.

Everyone who watched the game (and not just the commercials or halftime show) knows how the final minutes of game action developed.  With a little over two minutes remaining, Tom Brady threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game to put the New England Patriots in the lead, 28-24.  For the defending champion Seattle Seahawks, it was do or die.

In less than a minute, Russell Wilson took his team downfield to the New England five yard line with three complete passes for first downs.  So sure that they would get the ball in the end zone with 66 seconds remaining, they were actually running down the clock so that after they scored, New England would not have enough time to stage a comeback.  Giving the ball to their star running back, Marshawn Lynch, who ran the ball down to the one yard line, they took the clock down to 26 seconds remaining.  With only one timeout remaining, Seattle would be able to run the ball twice more, but probably not three times.  They were confident that they could gain that final yard in that time, but they had to get a touchdown.  A field goal would leave them one point short.

I can think of two times in the New Testament when a person is described as being close to scoring, or in this case to attaining a great spiritual achievement from a Christian perspective.  The first example comes from twelfth chapter of Mark’s gospel and the following conversation between Jesus and one of the scribes who had heard others testing Jesus with tricky questions to trap him with His answers.

And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.  And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.  And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. – Mark 12:28-34

The second instance comes from the book of Acts.  Paul is sharing the gospel with the Roman governor of the province, Festus, King Agrippa and Agrippa’s Jewish wife, Bernice.  We come in at the point where Festus interrupts Paul’s discourse.

And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.  But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.  For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner.  King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.  Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.  And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. – Acts 26:24-29

A Jewish scribe is “not far” from the goal line.  King Agrippa has “almost” reached the end zone.  Did they get in?  Only God knows for sure.  No follow up is recorded in the Bible.  Getting close is a good preliminary step.  But as Paul alludes to, almost isn’t good enough.  You have to make it in “altogether”.

On second down and one yard away from the end zone, Seattle coaches decided that instead of two running plays, they would try for three plays.  That meant that the first play had to be a pass.  It had to be either incomplete or a touchdown.  Wilson could not allow himself to get sacked.  And he would need to throw the ball where it could not be intercepted if he didn’t have a wide open receiver in position to score the winning touchdown.

Only it didn’t happen that way.  Wilson thought he had a receiver open over the middle near the goal line.  He thought a teammate had created a situation where a defender would not be able to get to the receiver or the football in time.  But he didn’t count on a little-known New England defensive back, Malcolm Butler.  Butler thought he had broken up a key pass two plays earlier.  Instead, the ball landed on the intended receiver, Jermaine Kearse, who was able to use tremendous concentration to haul in the pass while tumbling on the ground.  This time, Butler came through.  The rookie free agent read the play perfectly and was able to sidestep the traffic and intercept the ball a split second before the intended receiver, Ricardo Lockette, could catch it.  Had he merely broken up the pass, Seattle could have run two more running plays.  Instead, New England had the ball and could run off the last 20 seconds to win the Super Bowl.

The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.  And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.  And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred. – Mark 4:14-20

In the weeks following the game, there was a debate regarding what happened.  Who should take the blame?  The parable of the sower (as explained by Jesus to His disciples in the Scripture passage above) shows each of the scenarios.

The seed scattered along the wayside can be compared to poor execution by the quarterback.  He simply threw the ball in the wrong spot, too far ahead of his pass receiver, to a place where the defense could easily pick it off.  If a person is careless with the gospel message that he or she received, it is easily intercepted by Satan.  (And please understand that these parallels are not meant to make one team the personification of evil.)

The seed sown on stony ground would be akin to the idea that the reason for the result lies in a great play by New England rather than a mistake by Seattle.  A great defensive play persecuted and afflicted Seattle and caused them to stumble (an alternate translation for being offended).  Had Butler not read the play correctly, the pass very likely would have been caught for a touchdown.  The lack of root in Seattle was not from a lack of trying on their part.  Although they got very close, at the end of the day, New England was simply too hard for them to penetrate.

The seed sown among the thorns reminds me of the arguments that poor strategy was to blame:

• The cares of the world lead to fearfulness. Instead of remaining faithful to what brought them to this position, their best option, they overthought the situation and made themselves even more vulnerable.
• The riches of their status as defending champions and the speed with which they progressed downfield deceived the coaches and quarterback into thinking that they could do anything. Not only did they call the extra pass play, they called for a route that brought the intended receiver into the middle of the field instead of toward the sidelines where the quarterback could have more easily thrown the ball out of danger with an incomplete pass.  And they ran the play out of a shotgun formation with the only running back quickly going out for a pass, so that New England could concentrate on pass defense.  There are some activities which are too tempting for people and before they even realize it, they are walking in the flesh, not in the Spirit.  It can be a matter of life and death, eternally speaking.
• Finally there is a matter of lust. Greed is a form of lust.  It could be said that the quarterback became greedy, trying to force a throw into traffic when he had good pass protection and had time to see if there was another receiver with fewer defenders near him.  (In fact, because Wilson was only looking right, the defensive back on the far left side allowed the running back, Lynch, to get behind him.)

I have two more comparisons to make.  Seattle pass receiver, Jermaine Kearse, reminds me of the nameless scribe.  Seven years earlier, in Super Bowl XLII (also against New England), David Tyree of the New York Giants made a miraculous catch now known as “The Helmet Catch”.  It did not win the game, but it allowed the Giants’ drive towards the game-winning touchdown to continue.  Kearse’s catch may have been even more miraculous, it covered one more yard than the pass to Tyree, and having brought the ball to within five yards of the end zone, also appeared to have set up a game-winning touchdown for Seattle.  As things turned out, instead of the same fame as accorded Tyree, Kearse will be a mere footnote in the history of the Super Bowl.

(Note: I also refer to David Tyree’s conversion testimony in an earlier blog post.  In my post of 12/15/2013, “Playing God”, he appears in the same video as Jim Munroe, the first of two videos that I provide a link to.  According to his testimony, instead of being nameless, Tyree’s name is forever written in heaven.)

Russell Wilson and the Seattle coaches who called that pass play on the one yard line remind me of King Agrippa and those who were with him to hear Paul’s gospel message.  They were so close to victory.  But they dropped the ball.  They failed to make it from “close” to “altogether” in the end zone.

What yard line are you on today?  Have you reached the end zone?  Or are you close?  Whether you are close or far away, what will you do with this message?  Your response could make an eternal difference.

God bless,

Lois

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