Reflection on Advent and Mass Murder of children in Connecticut

We live in a world broken by sin.  We laugh together that I continually point to Genesis 3 for explanations but it does go back to that one little thing, that little sin of disobedience in the garden.  Over the years you have surely heard marijuana referred to as a "gateway drug", that it is non-addictive but the pleasure derived from it leads to seeking other pleasures in other places.  Whether that is true or not is debatable but it applies to sin and nowhere is it clearer than in Genesis.  After the sin of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we didn't get wisdom.  We may have known good and evil but we didn't get the wisdom and will to choose the good.

God asked two simple questions of Adam, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  Adam's response was to shift blame first to the woman and then, quickly, to God Himself, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”  Eve did somewhat better in her moment in the box, at least she didn't blame God: Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Why didn't God intervene to stop them? 

It seems such a small thing but it brought sin and disobedience and death into the world.  No longer would we know anything that was truly good until Jesus came into the world and we proved that after millennia of searching and even being given revelation of God by God we had no idea what good looks like and we destroyed it by mutilating Him and putting Him on a cross. 

Only one chapter later in Genesis we have the first murder, Cain killed Abel because he was jealous that God had regard for Abel's sacrifice but Cain's was not regarded.  Cain sought to do away with the competition by killing his brother but we know that God saw this heinous act and confronted Cain.  Why didn't God stop it?  Why allow Cain to live once He knew that this was conceived in his heart? 

Why didn't God intervene?  That is the question that is always asked in such situations, it is the question the world is asking today, the day after the murder of those innocent children in Connecticut.  They were simply at school, counting the days until Christmas, singing songs, playing and learning so that when they grew up they could take their place in society when a young man entered their school and ended all the hopes and dreams their parents had for them, killing 20 of those who are precious in His sight. 

We become like Adam, blaming God when in reality it is sin that is to blame, sin that entered the world through the serpent in the garden.  The Bible is brutally honest about who is to blame, we are, we allowed our desire to be like God to triumph over humility and dependence on Him.  The serpent merely offered us the way to independence and we took it.  We take it all the time, we can't blame Adam.

In this season of Advent we are reminded that the Lord desires a people who are different from the world, who are striving through their own effort and the power of the Holy Spirit working within them against desire and against the drive to be independent, who know they are radically dependent on Him if they are to be true image-bearers.  The world is living in darkness and under the power of satan who thought the kingdoms of the world were his to offer Jesus.  Sin reigns.  The first of God's creations was light, John tells us that Jesus is the true light and that His life is the light of men and that " The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." 

In this dark hour we are to be the light of Christ to the world.  We are to be those who bring hope and life in the midst of despair and death. 

Nearly fifty years ago an Episcopal organist named Kathleen Thomerson wrote a song called, I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light.  There has never been a more appropriate moment to truly sing this song and mean it with all our hearts, the world needs a people who are dedicated to becoming children of the light.

I want to walk as a child of the Light I want to follow Jesus.  God set the stars To give light to the world The Star of my life is Jesus.

In Him there is no darkness at all. The night and the day are both alike. The lamb is the Light of the city of God.  Shine in my heart Lord Jesus.

I want to see the Brightness of God. I want to look at Jesus.  Clear Son of righteousness shine on my path And show me the way to the Father.

I’m looking for the coming of Christ.  I want to be with Jesus.  When we have run, with patience, the race We shall know the joy of Jesus.

The purpose and intent of Marriage and Sex

Adam couldn't receive, much less fulfill, the command to be fruitful and multiply prior to the creation of Eve.  All the rest of creation could procreate but Adam could not do so on his own.  Creation requires a way to procreate in order for  a life form to persevere and so it is in Eve that God's creation is perfected and the future of the image bearers secure.  The relationship between humans, however, is not the same as the other animals, it is deeper in every way and intended to last.

For the two to become one flesh expresses the relationship of the Godhead, God in three persons who are One.  (See the Creed of Athanasius)  In theology we use the term perichoresis when we speak of the relationships of the Trinity.

Perichoresis is a Greek term used to describe the triune relationship between each person of the Godhead. It can be defined as co-indwelling, co-inhering, and mutual interpenetration. Alister McGrath writes that it "allows the individuality of the persons to be maintained, while insisting that each person shares in the life of the other two. An image often used to express this idea is that of a 'community of being,' in which each person, while maintaining its distinctive identity, penetrates the others and is penetrated by them." (Source - Theopedia)

The two image bearers are to have the same relationship as the persons of the Trinity.  In the high priestly prayer of John 17, Jesus prays for his followers that they would be one as He and the Father are one.  Marriage is the ultimate fulfillment of the unity of persons and sex becomes sacrament rather than simply the fulfillment of lust. 

Within marriage lust is not wrong, but if sex within marriage is nothing more than satisfaction of lust, it loses the deeper significance we should see in it.  We should take seriously the reality that in sex we become truly one flesh in a unique and God-ordered way, it is the highest expression of love and our appreciation for the created order that allows sex to be both for pleasure and reproduction.

Marriage is intended for many reasons, not the least of which is reproduction of new image bearers that God might never lack a representative on earth.  That shouldn't be reduced to a slogan that belittles other forms of relationships, it should, rather, emphasize the sacred in sexual reproduction.  Our union has a higher purpose than that of other animals and we have cheapened it through the sexualization of all things.  The first place to reclaim marriage as a Christian concept is at this point, reclaiming the primacy of marriage as the domain within which sex is to be confined, like the old illustration of the fire which is good in the home if confined to the fireplace but bad if it is found elsewhere.

Betrayal

When God showed up they had already hidden from one another and now they hid from the Lord. Their new knowledge had seemingly only brought the knowledge of "evil", that which was not good.  The Lord had already told them that what "is" was good so what benefit was there in the knowledge of that which was evil?  Evil was their disobedience and the opening of their eyes, not their nakedness.  As the southern comedian Lewis Grizzard once said, "Southerners can use the same word and create new meanings by pronunciation.  There is "naked" which means you ain't got no clothes on and then there is "nekkid" which means you ain't got no clothes on and you are up to something."  They were now nekkid so they knew shame and hid themselves from God, a futile activity.

When God questions Adam where he got the knowledge that he was naked, responds, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”  He threw her under the bus, blamed her even though it was he who was given the commandment by God.  In fact, he also blames God who had given him the woman.  The woman gave him the fruit and God gave him the woman.  Sure, he ate the fruit, but surely it was okay since the woman gave it to him and God had given her to him, perhaps there had been a misunderstanding, but if not it really wasn't his fault.  After Adam blamed Eve for his sin it is amazing that they ever got together to be fruitful and multiply.  Now he needed forgiveness from her as well.

Eve's excuse was that the serpent tricked her but he hadn't deceived her at all had he?  We are told she saw it was good for food, a delight to the eyes and desirable to make one wise, all on her own, not because of the serpent.  At least she didn't blame Adam but that would be an outright lie, not a little fudging of truth because there is a difference between the two isn't there?  No.  

Now, sin has entered the world and has to be dealt with but they do not in fact surely die, but they will, and now an animal loses its life to cover their sin, a pattern for what will come in the covenant sacrificial system.  God gives grace to them both but now things will be more difficult for them, there is a price to pay for sin.

We don't hear the conversation between the humans so we don't know how they sorted out their issues, but the fulfillment of the command to be fruitful and multiply is now a part of the curse, the pain of childbirth is multiplied and also, their relationship is different, her desire will be for her husband but he will rule over her, their partnership is more alienated, the man will seek to have dominion over her as he does the rest of creation.  She will be less in his eyes than originally, no longer an equal.   

Eden and disaster

So it started out wonderfully, Adam was appropriately joyous and thankful for God's provision of a companion and helper.  He recognized immediately that this was God's gift to him and rejoiced over her.  Eve surely received this song of joy with gladness and she knew her mate's pleasure in her over all else in creation.

Then, we get to chapter 3, that fateful day in the garden where everything was ruined forever.  She spoke with the serpent, over whom humans were to have dominion, and she trusted it.  Apparently she was not surprised that the serpent could talk and believed it might have some wisdom, it might know something about the fruit and about God.  He was, after all, here before she was, so perhaps he knew things she didn't.  Adam had been told not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and if he did they would surely die.  The serpent seems to have other information.

We don't know if Eve had experience of God but the serpent questions whether God is truly good and whether He is truly great.  If He were truly good He wouldn't be so insecure about Himself, He wouldn't prohibit something that was so good as this knowledge, knowledge the serpent says will make them like God.  Is all that separates us from God this knowledge?  Surely there is more between us and the one who created all things that a bit of knowledge.  Second, the serpent questions God's greatness, "you will not surely die."  God either lacks the power to bring about their demise or He lacks the will to do so. 

Eve's temptations are creaturely temptations, the fruit was good for food, a delight to the eyes and desirable to make one wise.  She has been created in the image of God, unlike the serpent, she has the power to rise above creaturely temptations and say no but she chooses to live below her birthright.  Adam, seeing she didn't die from eating the fruit, takes and eats.  He, who was given the command directly by God, who has spent time with the Lord, has no excuse for his actions other than, she didn't die so what the heck, I will eat also, I don't want to be left out. 

The only evidence that they gained knowledge of good and evil is their reaction to God's presence.  They had decided that naked wasn't good now that they had eaten of the fruit, so they hid from themselves.  They knew evil because they had been disobedient so they hid from him.  Estrangement was the new rule of the day.

Marriage and Eden

As the king said in Alice in Wonderland, "Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end, then stop."  Marriage in the Bible begins at the beginning of creation and ends at the wedding feast of the Lamb in eternity in Revelation, so let us begin at the beginning and see where it goes.

In Genesis 2 we are told of the creation of man and the Lord placing him in the garden the Lord had planted to work and keep it.  In verse 18 of that chapter we see some surprising words, "Then the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone...'"  In Genesis 1 there is a pattern of creation and God seeing that what He had done was good so now God sees Adam alone and determines that is not good.  (Good is an incredibly important concept in those first three chapters and then right through to the end, including what we know as Good Friday but which certainly wasn't good to anyone other than God the Father at the time.)  


The Lord's plan for remedying that "not good" is to "make him a helper fit for him.” What happens next though isn't the creation of woman, but rather the parade of animals whom Adam is to name.  The naming of a thing was considered to be an act of dominion.  In the same way, we name our domestic animals and therefore have dominion over them, they won't respond the same way to being called something other than their names and our children are also under our dominion in the same way.


At the end of the day, there was no helper among the animals "fit" for man.  Adam now saw too that it was not good for him to be alone in the world without a helper, a companion or complement.  The word is used of God in the Old Testament, for instance, in Psalm 46.1 the Psalmist wrote, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble."  If God is our helper then the word certainly doesn't mean an inferior or subordinate.  Adam simply had no one like him to share his life and his labor.  The animals most certainly were breeding pairs, just as Noah took breeding pairs into the ark so that the new creation, after the flood, would be self-sustaining and renewed in full.


Adam sleeps and the Lord takes a rib from him to form Eve.  Adam is formed of the dust of the ground but Eve is not, she is like Adam in every way and Adam's song of joy and celebration expresses that reality, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”  


Right there in Genesis 2 we get the first reference to marriage, " Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."  The idea of one flesh is that in the sex act and in life together they are in perfect union.  Adam and Eve were literally one flesh from the beginning, she was formed from his flesh.


Joy is found in God's seeing that the situation of "alone" was not good even when Adam could have had no concept of companionship other than seeing the animals together.  He couldn't possibly have imagined woman.  The Lord, however, provided Adam with a delight beyond his imagination and his song proves that he agreed wholeheartedly that things were now very good indeed. 

Marriage - Part Deux

After my son's wedding this year a retired Baptist minister told me that I had tied a very tight knot.  I believe that is the point of the wedding these days, to make sure that everyone, including but not limited to the bride and groom, know that this is a lifelong commitment.  If we are going to reclaim marriage as important we will do so not at the ballot box but in the church.  I believe that is possible but only if we recover the Christian understanding of marriage, only if we tie tight knots. 

In our tradition we speak of the covenant of marriage and I believe it is indeed a covenant.  The ceremony itself has all the earmarks of a covenant, vows, symbols (rings), terms of agreement, third party witnesses and an official who ratifies the covenant, and finally a meal at the conclusion of the covenant ceremony. 

Covenants in the Bible are everlasting, they have no expiration date and they are irrevocable, they depend on God's faithfulness not man's.  The Israelites broke covenant immediately and then constantly thereafter by transgressing against the terms of the covenant and failing to perform the required sacrifices to re-instate the covenant but that didn't end the covenant relationship.

Through multiple prophets the Lord accused Israel of prostitution and infidelity.  The covenant relationship between God and His people was likened to a marriage between a man and a woman.  The intimacy of the relationship is similar to a marriage and the sense of betrayal of the marriage bed is God's chosen way of expressing His side of things.  What emotions are embedded in that idea of a spouse who has been betrayed in a most intimate way?  That is how God feels about His people breaking covenant with Him.

The prophet Hosea had to act out the relationship between God and His people by first marrying a prostitute, then having her stray from the marriage via sexual infidelity.  His life became a sign to Israel concerning their relationship with God.  Hosea was to love and forgive all the sins of his wife and to be willing to reconcile and restore the marriage relationship no matter how hurt and angry he might be, no matter how horribly she treated him.  He was to be faithful to her and his love was not to wane.  All because Godly covenants are everlasting and only dependent on the faithfulness and love of one party.

We are to be like Him in every way.  Marriage is an incredibly important covenant because it is the only intra-human covenant God instituted and it is to be a sign and symbol of the covenant between God and His people.  Our understanding of marriage and our keeping of that covenant is to show the world what it means to be in covenant with God.  If the church fails to uphold the covenant of marriage, we lose a significant witness to the relationship with Him. 

Let's spend some time looking at our marriage ceremony together and see how tight the knot is to be tied and how to maintain it.

Marriage

This year, it seems, is the year I have to think a lot about marriage.  My oldest son got married in January and I performed the wedding.  His wife's brother got married in April and I did the wedding.  Our state, North Carolina, just voted on a marriage amendment to the state constitution that caused much consternation locally and across the nation.  Suzanne and I just attended a wedding of the son of some of our best friends last weekend.  I have friends who are struggling with divorce, either their own recent divorces or their friends and family. 

I didn't spend much time thinking about the marriage amendment, I believe that the word marriage is the problem.  If they want to have civil unions recognized by the state that allows for all legal protection and rights then anyone should be able to enter such an arrangement with another human being.  The line can be drawn there because the "state" recognizes something different and important about personhood that doesn't extend to non-humans.  Human beings are the only animals who can write and can therefore enter legally binding contractual arrangements or be sued for a breach of such a contract or who pay taxes for instance.  The governmental authorities have made no move to extend such rights or responsibilities to other animals.  A dog or other kept animal is the responsibility of its owner, if the dog commits a crime the owner is held liable for the damages.

Marriage, however, is something that greatly interests me and concerns me.  I have done weddings in several states and only one, Virginia, has required me to register with the state in order to perform the wedding.  I am clear with potential brides and grooms that when I perform the wedding I am not acting as an agent of the state, I perform such ceremonies under the authority vested in me by God and that means also under the responsibility to explain marriage under God and to only agree to perform such a service when we have a common understanding of marriage.  Virginia troubles me a bit because I am acting also as a licensed representative of the state and what the state gives, the state can also take away if it can determine the confines and definitions of marriage.

Marriage is between a man and a woman in my world.  I get to control the definition under the guidance of the Word of God and nowhere there do we see any other definition of marriage.  I don't have the authority or license to change the definition of marriage and perform such ceremonies or declare God's blessing on a union of anything other than a union of a man and a woman.

Now that the definition, its basis and my thoughts on civil unions are on the table, I have some other things to say in reflecting on marriage and what it means and signifies and our responsibility as Christian leaders and Christians generally.  Sit back and reflect with me, this is going to take a while.