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Category: Humanity

Good Friday

Published by mhelbert on April 10, 2020

Today people who follow Jesus remember His death.
Arrested the night before and subjected to a sham trial, Jesus was turned over to the Roman authorities and charged with sedition.
The Romans accepted the charge and proceeded to mete out Roman justice.
Jesus was stripped, beaten, mocked, spit upon, and ultimately crucified.

Israel’s Messiah.

Crucified.

Scandalous!

Soon after these events, and Jesus’ subsequent resurrection and glorification, people needed to understand what had happened.
They thought and studied and prayed.
They discussed and reasoned and argued.

They were all certain that something significant had taken place.
But, were unsure of exactly what that was.

It wasn’t long before the early followers of Jesus saw in His death a parallel to an event that had taken place more than a millennium earlier. Jesus, they deduced, was God’s own Passover Lamb offered so that Sin and Death might no longer have a hold on the Creation. It was through Jesus’ own blood that God was proven faithful to the covenant that God made with Abraham. That covenant was that God, through Abraham’s lineage, would bless the whole Cosmos. God would, in effect, reverse the curse that had hung over humanity from the very beginning.

I know that I’m not giving the best or most concise view of what took place on that hill 2,000 years ago.
That’s mostly because I simply don’t understand it myself.

Why did Jesus need to die?

Was it because of MY sins?
Was it because of some personified thing called Sin?
The writer of Genesis stated that when God confronted Cain about his anger God told Cain that Sin was crouching outside his door. But, that Cain could overcome that.
If Cain could overcome Sin, then why did Jesus need to die?

If people who don’t know Jesus or Israel’s God can live upright and moral lives apart from God, why did Jesus need to die?

If Indigenous cultures contain no concept of Sin and live quite happily, why did Jesus need to die?

I know that common theological understandings say something like the blood of Jesus cleanses us. That it makes us whole. That, somehow, the blood makes peace between God and the Cosmos.

Ok. How?
Why was that necessary?
What actually took place?

The answers that I have heard don’t ring true to me.

Yeah, some folks say I ask too many questions.
I should just shut up and accept what people way smarter than I am have to say.

Uh, no. That’s never gonna happen.
I will continue to ask.
I will continue to seek.
I will continue to knock on the door.

Maybe, just maybe, one day a light will flash in my brain and I’ll finally get it.
Maybe not.

But, that’s ok.
Because whatever actually took place in the Cosmos on that day that we remember today, I will still follow Jesus.
I will…

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There’s Madness in My Method…Or Something Like That

Published by mhelbert on April 9, 2020

Some of you may be wondering why I have suddenly gone off on some weird theological tangent.
“Why is he getting so worked up over something like this? It doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on in the real world right now!”

I get that.
It does appear that I’m taking something that is not relevant pretty damned seriously.
Especially, something that I don’t really have any control over.
I mean, who am I to presume that my tiny brain and even tinier voice could have any impact on something as deeply entrenched as Western Christianity.


And, you would be right!

My voice is like a whisper in a hurricane.

That doesn’t give me a pass, though.
For, at this particular moment in time the Voice in my heart speaks loud enough.
That Voice compels me to speak.
If only to one other person.

So, back to the question I asked.
Why does this call for a new Reformation get me worked up?
Why should I, or anyone, care?

I’m glad that you asked that question!

I believe with all of my heart that the Faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah and the trust that Paul, Peter, and all the rest of the nascent Way of Jesus was misunderstood by those who followed them. Particularly, those who, I’m sure in good faith, tried to reconcile a specifically Jewish narrative with the prevailing Hellenistic world.
The introduction of the philosophies of Greece, particularly Aristotle and Plato, in effect
co-opted Israel’s story and planted it firmly in soil that was unable to sustain the growth that Jesus, Paul, et al had begun.

Ok. So what?

In the Greek mind, as I wrote yesterday, the rich tapestry that was Israel’s story was reduced to binaries.
Good/Bad; Black/White; Us/Them.
Paul’s theology was likewise reduced to fit this worldview.
What had been a beautiful Gospel of hope in the God of Abraham to reconcile the Cosmos was turned into a Frankenstein’s monster of Greek pieces with Biblical language used to justify the creation of such an aberration.

The result?

A dualism that allowed theologians to find in the Scriptures a way for humans to gain entry into some Ideal, Spiritual realm called “Heaven”. While at the same time creating a necessary antithesis to this called “Hell.”

The Gospel, and the Church at Large, became a means by which humans could receive salvation for their Immortal Souls.
From there it was a very short step to compelling people to assent to some Church prescribed proposition that would somehow, (magically?), insure that they would one day walk with God in heavenly places while avoiding the Inferno that awaited Everyone Else.

Today, that’s pretty much the same false gospel that churches foist on unsuspecting people.

What? You want proof?

Look around!
So called ‘evangelists’ standing with bullhorns on college campuses yelling at people to Repent or Burn!
Evangelical groups standing at the entrance to clinics that offer Women’s Health care abusing women who may be at the most vulnerable time of their lives.
People carrying signs outside of funeral homes that carry the message, “Death to Fags!”
Scamvangelists like Paula White who is a counselor to donald trump.
Hate mongers like Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham who speak of God’s love out one side of their mouths while proclaiming eternal hellfire for anyone who doesn’t buy into their particular form of religious belief.
Bircher and false prophey Tim LaHaye.
Pseudo-Historian and christian nationalist David Barton.
The dangerous heresy of the Seven Mountains.
The damnable blasphemy that states the God. Hates. Your. Guts.
Indigenous Genocide.
Manifest Destiny.
The wholesale destruction of our environment by people who believe, (Falsely), that God has mandated that humans subdue and use, (re. ‘Exploit’), the environment.
The fact that I cannot walk into any Evangelical church without anxiety rearing up in my chest and mind.
How about that thousands and thousands of people who have been abused by those who preach such a hateful message?

Need I continue?
I surely can.

All of this…ALL OF THIS…is the result of humans who were deceived into believing a false gospel.

So, I write and I speak.

Do I claim to have all the answers to these issues?

Oh, hell no!

But, I do know a fake when I see it.
And, the Western Church, by and large, supports and acclaims a false gospel.
The true Gospel is one that reveals God’s love, not only for humans, but for the entire Cosmos.
The true Gospel has the power to reconcile, not divide.
Paul wrote that in Messiah Jesus there are no walls to separate.
There is neither Jew nor Greek; Free nor Slave; Female nor Male.
We can extrapolate this to say that there is neither Black nor White; Gay nor Straight; Republican nor Democrat.

The bastardization of the Gospel cannot say any of those things.
It sole purpose is to divide.
There is Saved and Damned; Believer and Pagan; Us and Them.

May that Gospel be damned!

So, yeah.
I’m worked up about this.
It’s of paramount importance to me to speak against these abuses and Blasphemies.
Yeah. I said it. The “B” word.
That’s what that false gospel truly is.

So, there it is.
And, I will continue to speak out.
At least as long as I must.
If that bothers you, well ok.
But, not sorry.
If you have similar thoughts and feelings, please share this.
Perhaps our collective voices may amplify these abuses until people begin to notice.

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Palm Sunday…Virtually

Published by mhelbert on April 5, 2020

Today is Palm Sunday. This day marks the beginning of the holiest week in the Christian calendar. Today commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Less than a week later, we will remember His betrayal and crucifixion.
What began on such an exciting day in which Jesus was hailed as the King of the Jews, that signaled to the people living in occupied Palestine that all of the promises of God about their deliverance were finally going to be answered, fell so far off the rails in a matter of days.

It seems that the old saying about, ‘the best laid plans…’ is all too accurate.

But, as the story continues, all is not lost. God will get the final Word and Jesus will be exalted above every other.

As I reflect on the events of this week as we remember all that happened way back when, my thoughts wander to the final result of all of this.
The Exalted Messiah Jesus was the fruition of God’s plan for humanity from the very beginning. God had commissioned humankind to partner with the Divine purpose to be stewards and care takers of the world in which we live. God declared this arrangement to be ‘Very Good.’
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection was the final proof that God’s plan was finally enacted.
And, through Jesus, humanity can both know God and be known by God.
We have been given the means to become a community of people who are empowered by God to be light in darkness and to give hope to the hopeless.
It’s our job description as God’s eikons; God’s image-bearers to follow in Jesus’ footsteps in order to fulfill God’s purpose here and now.

The reason this all came to mind today is because we appear to be fractured at this moment in time. Our collective reaction to the current health crisis has forced us to remain separate from one another. From outward appearances it would seem that our task has suddenly become exponentially more difficult, if not impossible.

But, (you know there’s always a ‘but’), this morning I logged into the Facebook live feed of a service from the church that I attend.
There was no congregation present to process waving palm fronds. We had no sharing of the Eucharist or even a friendly glance from others. We were all in our own shelters weathering this storm.
Yet, we shared in a few moments of prayer and reading. We used the same words and the same texts. We were, in effect, together while apart.
Yeah, that seems contradictory and paradoxical. Well, it is, actually.
One of the things about following Jesus is that our lives are mostly spent IN the paradox.
In the “Now,” but “Not Yet.”
In the Completion of the story, yet still on page one.

So, together we shared in the Communion of Saints as we, unified in purpose and spirit, worshiped our God and gave thanks for all that God accomplished during that most important week so many years ago.

May you all experience the unity that is in God.
And, may we all realize that, even though we may be separated by ‘social distancing,’ we are still truly inseparable in our shared humanity.

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Breaking Out To Become Light

Published by mhelbert on February 25, 2020

I’ve written before about the use of the word “Metamorphosis” in the Gospels and Paul’s Epistle to the Church at Rome. How it’s translated as “transformed,” or “transfigured.” I’ve also written that those words really seem to lack in nuance. Compare the image of transformed, like water when heated transforms into steam, with the image of Metamorphosis, a beautiful butterfly breaking free from its previous form.

This past Sunday the lectionary selections were from the Gospel according to Matthew and 2nd Peter. Both shared the story of Jesus’ transfiguration.
In that story we see Jesus going to the top of a mountain with his three buds, Peter, John, and James. While on the mountain Jesus was transfigured. His face shone brightly and his clothes became radiant. The Light that Is God filled Jesus and He shone as a source of light, not a reflection of it.
Stop here and think about that.
Visualize it in your mind’s eye.
What did that look like?
I’m just thinking, Wow!

As I listened to our parish priest talk about this, suddenly gears began falling into place.
I saw something beyond the exegesis that I shared at our Bible study that morning.
Our priest alluded to what I began to think.
That the Church, AKA the Body of Christ, may be the only Light that many people see. He went on to encourage us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Helping the poor, the outcast, the Other, and leaning into humanity just as God did in Jesus.

I get that.
That’s how we who follow Jesus should not just act, but should BE to the world around us.

I saw something else, though, in these texts.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus told his followers, “You are the light of the world.”
Ok, cool. How do we do that? How do we become that Light that Jesus talked about?

Paul wrote to the Church at Rome and told them, “Hey, folks…don’t follow the ways of this world. Don’t let your life be formed in that mold. But, rather, allow your mind to be renewed so that you may Metamorphosize.”

I think that if we who follow Jesus truly desire to walk that path, we too, must experience that Transfiguration that Jesus experienced.
Somehow, our minds are capable of renewal and we are capable of experiencing transformation that will, in fact, make the Church a source of Light in this world.
A beacon of love and hope where all are welcome.

Unlike many who claim to be christian, who choose to remain in larval or pupate form, who eat and eat and eat, and take and take and take, we are asked to grow beyond that narrow life. We are asked to look to a Big God Whose Light may course through us a shine from deep within.

Let us seek God’s renewal.
Let us BE transformed.
Let us BE LIGHT!!!

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There’s Nothing Sweet About the Sorrow of Parting

Published by mhelbert on February 22, 2020

Juliet said to Romeo, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
Little did she know at the time what a great tragedy was in store for them both.

That phrase is still used today to convey hope that there will be a future return.
Those parted will one day find their paths converging in a joyful reunion.
Such is the hope, anyway.

I am finding no sweetness in the partings that lie before me.
I will be officially retiring from active employment at the end of March.
However, with cancer surgery looming large on the near horizon and at least a month of recovery time, I will be leaving my current workplace at the end of next week.

Five more workdays.
Two of those will be taken by tests for the upcoming surgery.
So, three days.

Three days to pack in almost 30 years of shared experience.

Yeah, it’s true that there are some that I work with who I will be glad to show my heels.
Not everyone gets along in any family. Right?

There are those who you know on sight, but need to check their shirt in order to remember their name.
“Hey! How ya doin’ uh, Mark?”
These are good folks, but nothing more than fellow grunts in the trenches.

The others, though.
The ones that you have laughed with over the years.
You shared in the joys of marriages and the birth of children.
They’re the ones that you would gladly take dinner to when they have need.
Friends with whom you shared their most deep and painful loss.
How do you say goodbye to these?
People who each own a piece of your heart?

I suppose that there are people who can go through their entire career and not forge bonds like these. For them, when it’s time to move on to the next phase of life they simply wave and they’re gone.

I’m not like that.
These are folks that I have spent the better share of 30 years with.
Folks that I have spent more waking hours with than my own family.
People who I love and care about deeply.

Sure, my company has graciously agreed to let me work from home for the few weeks between surgery and retirement. I am more than grateful to them for this.
So, in a way, these who are beloved will still be present with me.
But, what about their faces?
The laughter shared over a joke. Or, the eyes that suddenly open and shine with sudden understanding at the solution to a problem.
These things will be missing.
Then, when April showers come along, I will be gone.

Yeah, I know. There are ways to stay in touch. I can always go back for a visit.
Maybe, I’m just being overly emotional about this.

Sorry. I can’t help that right now.
I’m emotionally invested in these people.
Heartstrings are being pulled and stretched to the breaking point.

I hope that I can adequately thank these, my dearest friends and comrades, over the next few days.
I’m not sure that such gratitude can be expressed.
But, I’ll try.

I love you, guys.

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The Flesh Ain’t So Bad After All

Published by mhelbert on February 21, 2020

Chains come in many shapes and sizes. When I think of chains that bind my mind conjures an image of Jacob Marley confronting his old partner Ebenezer Scrooge. I’m sure that you remember that. Marley trudges up the stairs of Scrooge’s house. We here the Thump of his footfalls. There is the sound of metal dragging and clunking up the wooden steps. Marley enters the room completely bound in iron links with locks and iron boxes attached along the length of the chain.

The purpose of this blog is to look at the chains that we willing allow ourselves to be caught up in, and to get out the keys and the bolt cutters so that we can be freed from this burden.

So, I ask questions.
Most of the time I have no answers to those questions.
Just asking may be enough to remove a link or five.

One thing that I’ve questioned over many years is, “What is the flesh”?
For those of us who have our spiritual roots in the World of Evangelicalism, the answer is pretty clear.
The flesh in the New Testament refers to the sinful nature of all humans as a result of Adam and Eve disobeying God.
It is something that we are born with.
It is something that must be overcome and defeated.

In short, it is an evil stain on our humanity that is wholly corrupt.

As a result, there is nothing that humans can possibly do that will please God.
Only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ can we have any hope at all of putting our Flesh to death and becoming people pleasing to God.

Pretty cool, huh?

Now, there are some philosophical underpinnings to this idea. A thing called Neo-Platonism influenced theologians. In that philosophy the entire physical cosmos is corrupt. It doesn’t live up to some Ultimate Ideal that exists in some other reality.
(Don’t worry. I’m not gonna chase that rabbit.)

My question, though, is “Are they correct”?
Is the Flesh evil, or at least, contrary to God?

I want to say, No, it’s not.

In fact, I want to stand in direct opposition to that entire notion.

For those who want a pithy quote to hang on to,

“The Flesh Ain’t So Bad After All.”

What?!?!
I can hear all of my evangelical friends crying out, “Heretic! Fuel the Bonfire!”

Not so fast, my friends.
There may be more to this story than your leaders have figured out.

Perhaps the most important thing that I learned in seminary was that the Bible was NOT written to us. When those ancient people, living in ancient cultures, spoke and wrote those ancient words, they were not thinking, “Gee, I think I need to write something to those folks living in America 2,000 years from now.”
The trouble is, many people believe that they did.
They think that the words in Scripture can be cut from their original context and pasted into ours.
Wrong.
They can’t.

The current thoughts in evangelicalism about the language of “Flesh” is an example of that.

The Apostle Paul is the authority that most of these folks turn to. After all, he wrote more about the Flesh than any other New Testament writer.
They cite texts about how that works of the flesh produce death. The list of the so-called works of the flesh is given in a negative context to the so-called works of the spirit.
By the end of the day we are presented with a dichotomy or warring people parts.
Flesh Bad/Spirit Good!

The problem with this lies in our Western concept of humanity. The Ancient Greeks influenced not only our philosophy, but our theology as well.
They fired their best shot at understanding the relationship of Spirit and Flesh.
And, they missed the target entirely.

When Paul wrote about the flesh he was writing about one thing, and one thing only.
This skin tent that we all live in.

That’s it.
Period.

I don’t know about you. But, I don’t see anything moral or immoral about that.
It’s necessary for us.
Can’t live without it.
It holds our bones together and keeps our innards from spilling out on the floor.

So, why all the Bad Flesh language today?

The ancient Semitic view of a person was one in which we are all a complete and unified Soul. Body, spirit, the whole shebang is a singular and inseparable unit.

There is a difference between the parts. But, all are necessary for a person to be Whole.

I want to suggest that the difference lies, not in the Flesh alone, but in the appetites that we have and how we live with those.

I think that there is a sort of asceticism that Paul and the other writers encouraged. They seemed to desire that people learn how to discipline themselves, to control their appetites, in such a way that appetites did not control them.
In their view the flesh is not evil, but can get unruly. We can become enslaved to the instincts and desires of our physical body. These may then push us beyond our needs and into the realm of doing real harm to ourselves and others.

The early Church decided in their Councils that physical things are not evil. After all, God looked at creation and said that it was “Very Good.”
Jesus, the Son of God throughout all eternity, put on a “Tent of Flesh” and became human.
Just like you and me.

No, the whole idea that our flesh is somehow an evil that must be defeated is Wrong!
It is Deadly!
It needs to go away to the Pit where it belongs.

We are Human.
We are Worthy.

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More Letters To Julia – 2/20/2020

Published by mhelbert on February 20, 2020

Good Morning, Julia!
How are you doing? I hope all is well in sunny New Mexico!
It’s been pretty sunny here recently. But, bloody cold!

Anyway, I was debating whether or not to share this with you. It’s kinda dark. And, you know how we humans hate airing our own dirty laundry in public!
(But, we really like getting other folks’ nasty BVDs out there!)

This is especially difficult for me because I have a public image that may cause folks to think I’m some squeaky-clean holy guy who has his shit all together.
Yeah, really! Who? Me?

The truth is that I don’t.
I never have.
I’m as flawed as anyone else.
Probably more than most.

For a lot of years I hung out with someone who I thought was a good friend.
He used lots of different names.
“Jack,” “Tullamore Dew,” and my favorite, “Jameson.”

Of course, these are all whiskeys.
Whiskey…the Water of the Gods…they say.

And, I jumped right into that with both feet.
I think that I spent the better part of a decade, maybe more, doing my best to drown my head; my heart; my liver.
I didn’t worry too much about it, though.
I wasn’t what you’d call a ‘Mean Drunk.’
In fact, my mother once told me that I was more fun to be around when I’d had a few.

And, I probably was. I don’t know. I really don’t remember too much about that.

People say that drinking causes people to become different. That they change under the influence.
We really don’t.
What alcohol does is release the beasties that already live within.
They get to run around and play and cause all sorts of havoc.
But, they are what’s in our heart.
I did a lot of really, really stupid stuff when I drank.
Because, when allowed to run free, those things that live within are really, really stupid and self-destructive.
When people told me that I had a drinking problem I would tell them, “Not really. I drink. I get drunk. I fall asleep. See? No problem!”

But, it was a problem.
I’m very fortunate that I didn’t kill anyone when I got in my car to drive to the store for more.
I’m fortunate that I didn’t kill myself when I fell down stairs or passed out on the floor.
I’m really fortunate that I didn’t destroy every important relationship that I had.
That there were still people who, although stressed to the max, still stood with me during that time.

To them, “Sorry” doesn’t say enough.

But, I’ve been alcohol free for well over two years.
I have to thank my doc for helping me treat my Alcohol Use Disorder.
(Yeah, it’s a thing.)
It took a long time to Break those Chains that had me bound and sinking into the abyss.

I shared this, I think, because I’m becoming more and more convinced that we can Break the Chains that Bind.
Addictions are big, heavy links that are forged over time. Links are added every day that we live with them.
We don’t need to stay imprisoned, though.
Freedom is just one step away.

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It’s Grace…All The Way Down

Published by mhelbert on February 19, 2020

The name of this blog is “Breaking the Chains That Bind.”
I chose that name for a reason.
Many folks are bound up in all sorts of chains.
Chains of tradition, patriarchy, theology, and expectations are just a few.
I try to talk about these from time to time in order to, perhaps, open a small crack of hope for those people. Maybe, I can hand them a key that will unlock the chains.
Other times I pull out a blade that can cut through the chains as if they were made of silk thread.

Today I want to look at something that I find all too often.
It derives from an insidious lie that has been poured into people’s hearts and minds for way too long.

Here’s how it usually presents itself.

Person 1: Hey! How’s everything?
Person 2: Not bad. You?
Person 1: I’m good. Although, I wish that I could find time to pray.
Person 2: Yeah, I hear ya. “Read your Bible, Pray everyday and you’ll Grow, Grow, Grow.”
Person 1: I know! I’ve been really convicted about this ever since Pastor brought that message about Paul writing, “Pray without ceasing.” I mean, who really does that?
Person 2: I know that I can’t. I guess that I just don’t have enough faith or something.
Person 1: Me too. I feel like a complete failure in the Christian life thing. I can’t even manage 10 minutes a day consistently.

I could go on. But, I think that you get the idea.
We are told time after time after time that unless we do certain things, like pray, in a specific manner we are something “Less Than.”
Less than committed.
Less than faithful.
Less than a true believer.

We are told that we are weak.
We are told that we are a failure.
We are told that if we don’t do everything that we are told by fallible people then God will be ever-so-pissed at us.
Shame on you!!!

The reason that I’m writing this today is to share a little secret with you.
Shhh!!!


God doesn’t care.

Whoa! What?!?
What do you mean God doesn’t care?

C’mon! Do you really think that God sits around with a scorecard to keep track of your prayer life?

God does care about you, though.
God cares that you have an abundant life.
God cares that you love your neighbor as yourself.
God cares that you care for the “least of these.” Your sisters and brothers.

And, yes, God cares when we spend time in God’s Presence.

But, keeping track of minutes and seconds?
No, not on God’s radar.
God knows that we have difficulty with this.
God did become one of us, remember?
So, God gets it.
That’s why God has provided grace for us.
Grace to desire God’s Presence.
Grace to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
And, yes, even grace to pray.

God is faithful in this.
I know because there are days when for one reason or another I can’t find my way to that quiet place where I sit with God and we share our hearts and minds with one another.
And, God is gracious.
God is not pissed.
God’s desire is not to coerce us nor punish us because we don’t live up to the expectations of some preacher or writer or whatever.
God’s desire is simply to “Be” with us.
And, through God’s grace, we can also find a desire to “Be” with God.

So, be nice to yourself!
Don’t concern yourself with living up to someone else’s idea of spirituality.
Let God’s own Good Grace draw you gently into God’s Presence.

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But, What If?

Published by mhelbert on February 18, 2020

Folks who know me understand that I have no qualms about asking questions.
Tough questions.
Of anyone.
For any reason.

Most of the time I ask questions in order to evoke reflection.
I’m not really challenging anyone.
I want them to think deeply about what they are saying or doing.
And, questions open up the possibility of discussions.
Discussion is always good.

Especially, for someone like me.

You see, many times I have no idea what I think about something until I actually say it out loud. (Or, write about it. Like now.)
So, in forming and stating questions I am more able to process the internal thoughts that roam free upon the ranges of my mind.

I take this same approach when I speak to, and about, God.
Hey! I heard that collective gasp out there!
“What?!? You question God?”

Sure. Why not?
Do you really think that God is afraid of my questions?
Perhaps I might catch God off guard with something?
One time I said to a pastor of the church I was attending that God is OK with our questions.
His response?
“Well, maybe. But, I wouldn’t push it.”

Push God?

How exactly does a person “Push God”?

Anyway, that said, I want to get to the real reason for this post.
(The mark of a true writer is to be able to write a whole bunch of words before making a point. It boosts word count.)

Most of you know that I’m currently dealing with colon cancer.
It’s like going to a party and receiving a White Elephant gift.
“Ok, now what am I supposed to do with this purple Bobbing Bird?”
Many people have expressed their concern and have said that they will keep me in their thoughts and prayers.
I appreciate this sentiment. It reveals our common concern for others. We’ve all suffered through one thing or another. So, we try to empathize with those who are currently suffering.
So, to all of you, a heartfelt, “Thank You”!

But, what if……

There are a lot of people out there who think that all they need to do is garner enough faith and pray. They think that God will then miraculously heal them.
If they follow the correct procedure, according to their unique reading of Holy Scripture, God is almost obligated to heal them.
“But, God said if I have faith like a mustard seed I can tell this mountain to throw itself into the sea! And, it will! Hallelujah!”
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen a lot of heavenly landscaping recently.
These same people have built million dollar industries on the fear of people.
Folks get sick. The diagnosis is dire.
Benny Hinn says, “God will heal you!” as he puts his hands on your head.
The emotions of the moment are overwhelming.
You find yourself being helped to the floor by attendants who work for the scamvangelist.
People in the room and around the world see this and happily reach into their undernourished bank accounts to send money so that “God’s work can continue.”

But, what if……

God doesn’t work that way?

But, what if……

God’s only real promise to us is that,
“I will never leave you nor forsake you”?

But, what if……

God never intended for us to avoid all of the stuff, good and bad, that makes us human?

But, what if……

God understands our suffering and sorrows and will walk with us as we move forward?

I know that some folks will take issue with these thoughts.
Some may even question my faith.

But, what if……

God is not afraid of the questions?

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Words Are Important

Published by mhelbert on February 11, 2020

I’ve written about this before.
In the movie, “Brother Sun; Sister Moon,” there is a line spoken by the character of St. Francis that goes something like, “Words. I used to believe in words.” The implied meaning being that words no longer have meaning to him.
While, in the context of that story I can see what that screenwriter was trying to do, elevate action above mere talk, I find that I can’t necessarily agree with the sentiment.

Words are important.
They convey meaning from speaker to hearer.
Words can start and end wars.
They can also sooth and calm those who are distressed.

So, I place a great deal of importance on words.
As a wannabe Wordsmith, I try to choose the appropriate words and fashion them in such a way that the idea I am trying to communicate is done with clarity and meaning.

I know that it’s hard in this day of Instant Messaging and e-mail to put much stock in clear communication. We want to hit that ‘Send’ button as quickly as possible. It’s our texting version of trying to get a word in “edge-wise.” We want to make sure that ours is the last word spoken. After all, our own opinion is the best and most important.

It concerns me, then, how those to whom we look for information and enlightenment are so bad at using Words. (Yeah, I’m looking at you @BetsyKling! “Nother” is NOT a word!)
We have become a semi-literate culture that emasculates the language. Then, we wonder why we are misunderstood.

I admit that I don’t always get words right. I may choose one that is not clear in meaning. I may string together sentences that don’t make sense.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t see the importance of clear communication.

That brings me to the actual topic of this post.
(Yeah, I know, you are all waiting for me to make a real point. Here it comes.)

Yesterday, I received the preliminary results of a CT Scan that I had done last week.
The docs wanted to see if the cancer in my colon had spread, or metastasized, to any other part of my body.
The report reads, ” NO DEFINITE METASTATIC DISEASE IN THE ABDOMEN OR PELVIS.”

At first blush, this is a beautiful statement. The cancer is still contained in the original location. Cool! Let’s go in there and pull that sucker out!
Let’s do it NOW!!!

But, our language is strange sometimes.
Look closely at the above statement from the report.

What, exactly, does “DEFINITE” mean?
To me, that’s a qualifier.
It tells me that there may, in fact, BE some kind of spreading that they simply are not able confirm definitively.

See how words work?

I really wish that they would have written, “No Metastatic Disease Present.”
Or, even, Yes, there is evidence of it.

Now, my mind is thrust back into the land of Not Knowing.

Maybe this is normal for people who are diagnosed with a disease like cancer.
Our minds may simply kick into gear and continually ask, “But, what if?”

I guess we’ll find out for sure soon.
I meet with a surgeon later this week to determine what next steps must be taken.

Until then, I guess there’s no definite resolution to this.

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