I Dreamed A Dream

Most of us know the song because of Susan Boyle’s appearance on Britain’s Got Talent.  April 11, 2009, Susan stood on the stage in her frumpy dress and outdated hairdo. The audience and judges snickered and laughed during her interview, enjoying the misery of this out-of-touch want-a-be in an out-of-place position. But, when she opened her mouth and began to sing, everyone sat stunned. In a clear voice that was perfectly on pitch, she sang. “I dreamed a dream of time gone by, when hope was high and life worth living. I dreamed that love would never die. I dreamed that God would be forgiving. Then I was young and unafraid, and dreams were made, and used and wasted …”

It seemed that Susan Boyle was singing her own song, a dream of youth faded and gone. After a moment of stunned silence, the crowd leaped to their feet in a standing ovation for this obscure Scottish woman who lived alone with her cat. In November of 2009 she released her first album. It immediately became the number one best selling album in the world.

The song Susan chose to sing that night comes from the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel, Les Miserables. It is the song sung by Fantine, an unwed mother ostracized in nineteenth century France for her “moral failure” and forced into prostitution in order to support her child. Anne Hathaway was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Golden Globe for her performance of the song in the recent movie version of the musical.

In 1862, commenting on Fantine, the character in his novel, Victor Hugo wrote, “What is this history of Fantine? It is society purchasing a slave. From whom? From misery. From hunger, cold, isolation, destitution. A dolorous bargain. A soul for a morsel of bread. Misery offers; society accepts. The sacred law of Jesus Christ governs our civilization, but it does not yet permeate it; it is said that slavery has disappeared from European civilization. This is a mistake. It still exists; but it weights only upon the woman, and it is called prostitution.”

Most of us think that slavery ended with the Civil War but, according to International Justice Mission, “More children, women and men are held in slavery right now than over the course of the entire trans-Atlantic slave trade…. Trafficking in humans generates profits in excess of 32 billion dollars a year for those who, by force and deception, sell human lives into slavery and sexual bondage.” According to the U.S. Department of State, “There are approximately 600,000 to 800,000 childen, women and men trafficked across international borders annually.” 80% of these are women and girls. Up to 50% are minors.

International Justice Mission (IJM) was founded in 1997 by Gary Haugen after an international study disclosed widespread global abuse of the poor. Today IJM has over 500 lawyers, investigators, social workers and other staff working in Asia, Africa and South America to confront abuse and rescue victims. More than 95% are nationals in the countries where they serve. (for more information visit http://www.ijm.org)

God gives every generation the responsibility to help others experience dignity, freedom, respect, opportunity and faith. What am I doing today to help others dream their dream?

Faith That Can Change the World

My wife and I finally made it to the new production of Les Miserables with Hugh Jackmon, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway, a cinematic version of the longest running musical on Broadway. In 1998 Liam Neeson starred as Jean Valjean in a dramatic movie version. Having read Victor Hugo’s book, written in 1862, I have long believed it is one of the greatest stories ever written.

If you’re not familiar with the story, here’s the gist. Jean Valjean, recently released from a French prison after serving nineteen years for stealing bread, is a hardened, bitter and desperate convict. But, his life is transformed when a priest gives him the silver he has stolen from him. This act of kindness sets his feet on a path of grace and mercy with a heart devoted to God. Valjean changes his identity, invests the silver and becomes a wealthy factory owner who transforms his village with fairness and generosity. He is eventually elected mayor. But, he is hunted by the law and his past catches up with him. Fleeing as a fugitive, he rescues the orphan child of a prostitute whom he has previously saved from the streets.

The story reveals the power of living out Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount: “I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. ... Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:39-42,44).

When I turned fifty, I set two goals that I wanted to pursue for the rest of the life. The first was to encourage the younger generation to do greater things than I ever dreamed or imagined. Many of them are doing that. The second was to memorize the Sermon on the Mount and live it out. Memorizing it is not that difficult, though I keep forgetting. But living it out is a life-long challenge and I continue to fall far short.

But I am in good company. Victor Hugo brought to life the characters of Jean Valjean, Javert, Fontine, Cosette and Marius to help us see what living out Jesus’ teaching could look like during the French Revolution. Leo Tolstoy, after writing Anna Karenina and War and Peace committed himself to a literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount and wrote The Kingdom of God is Within You, a work that strongly influenced Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The reason many in our day believe Christianity and Christian churches are impotent and irrelevant is simple. Most professing Christians have never seriously sought to live by the instructions that Jesus gave us. Living out the Sermon on the Mount is a story any of us, and every one of us, can write every day by the choices we make.

Image and First Impressions

In his day, he was called an “ape.” He was considered ugly by most and his voice had a Midwestern nasal twang. He only had one year of formal education. Edwin Stanton first met Abraham Lincoln in Cincinnati, where Lincoln had been invited to assist in an important civil case. Stanton described him as a “tall, rawly boned, ungainly back woodsman, with coarse, ill-fitting clothing, his trousers hardly reaching his ankles, holding in his hands a blue cotton umbrella with a ball on the end.” After Lincoln introduced himself and suggested, “Let’s go up in a gang,” Stanton decided to have nothing to do with him. He even refused to invite Lincoln to dine at his table. Stanton would later serve in Lincoln’s cabinet as Secretary of War.

Lincoln was elected president in 1860 with less than 40% of the popular vote. When he delivered the Gettysburg Address few listened. The Chicago Times panned it stating, "The cheeks of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dishwatery utterances."

He is now regarded as perhaps our greatest president. Every year millions visit his Memorial that overlooks the mall in Washington DC. And the speech that the Chicago Times called "silly and flat” is memorized by most students of American history.

By contrast, in an open and free election on March 29, 1936, Adolf Hitler received 98.8% of the German popular vote. His spellbinding oratory inspired and mesmerized an entire generation. He was proclaimed the German messiah and savior of Germany. But beneath those appearances lurked a sinister hatred that would exterminate approximately 20 million people including Jews, the mentally ill, the infirm and the elderly. Today, Hitler’s name is synonymous with evil. References to him have been virtually erased in Germany, except for the Document Center in Nuremberg, preserved as a reminder of the nation’s darkest days.

Describing Christ eight hundred years before He was born, Isaiah wrote, “he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:2-4).

Image and first impressions are often deceiving. What truly matters is that which resides within the heart. The Bible says, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Whether in the media or on the street, we must learn to look beyond the manipulated image and the first impression to discern the hearts of others. At the same time, we must cultivate what is within our own soul. Jesus made this point plain: “You clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. … first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.” (Matthew 23:25-26).

Replenishing the Earth

For the past two weeks, the smog alert in Beijing, China has been off the charts. Visibility dropped as pollution blocked out the sun. Tops of buildings disappeared in the murky haze that settled over the city. The air smelled of coal dust and car fumes. Most stayed indoors and ran air purifiers to escape the toxic conditions. Those who ventured out greeted one another behind white masks.

Pollution is measured in PM2.5 particles. These particles, when breathed, penetrate deep inside the lungs causing respiratory problems and increased susceptibility to illness. Safe levels should not exceed 25 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter. At 100 micrograms, children and the elderly are urged to remain indoors. The index in Beijing, according to some reports, exceeded 800 micrograms per cubic meter.

Twenty years ago we took our children on one of those vacations-of-a-lifetime to Disneyland in Los Angeles. We bought a van for the summer and coaxed it across the desert to the west coast. When we took the kids to the beach we were unable to see the surf on the horizon because of the greenish-yellow haze trapped against the coast.

At some point TV weather forecasters in Dallas added reports on the day’s pollution index to the routine reports on temperature, rain and humidity. For years I often commuted to work listening to reporters who issued orange and red alerts for air quality.

The first photos of earth sent back by the Apollo crews in the 1970s dramatically impressed us that our tiny blue planet rotating in space is precious and fragile. The thin layer of air that surrounds us not only contains the oxygen essential to life, but protects us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays and regulates earth’s temperature. Three-fourths of the atmosphere lies within 6.5 miles of the earth’s surface. Outer space is considered to exist 62 miles up. We are dependent on an amazingly thin film of atmospheric gases to sustain life on our planet.

I guess I should not be surprised. The Bible clearly predicts that the earth will “wax old like a garment.” Our finite earth will wear out. Of course, I also know that one day I will wear out. We are all mortal. None of us lives forever. But my own mortality doesn’t mean I should start smoking, drinking, indulging in high fat foods and refusing to exercise. Instead, I am motivated to discipline my body so that I can experience greater health and longevity. In the same way, we must learn to discipline ourselves regarding the creation that God has entrusted to our care. In the very first chapter of the Bible, with His very first words to mankind, God instructs us to “be fruitful and multiple and replenish the earth.” (Genesis 1:22).

I doubt that pollution will become intolerable in my life time, though it seems to already be so in Beijing (at least until the wind kicks up and blows it our way).  But I wonder about the world we are bequeathing to our children and grandchildren.  Will they continue to enjoy a pristine world with all its life-giving beauty and majesty?

Post Christendom Jesus Followers

Anne Rice, the popular author of the Vampire Chronicles that sold some 100 million copies, shocked the secular world when, in 2002, she announced she was done with vampires. After thirty-eight years as a professed atheist, she said she had found faith in Christ and returned to the Catholic Church. Eight years later, she rocked the Christian world by proclaiming she was renouncing Christianity. She stated, "For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to “belong” to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group.” She went on to say, “My faith in Christ is central to my life. My conversion from a pessimistic atheist lost in a world I didn't understand, to an optimistic believer in a universe created and sustained by a loving God is crucial to me." Her novel, “Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt,” is scheduled to be released as a movie this year (2013).

Of course, I think Anne Rice is selling “Christianity” short. While churches are often quarrelsome, sometimes even hostile, I would hate to live in a world without churches. I visited Russia at the end of the Soviet Union and saw what that looked like. Churches do far more good and create much more charity than otherwise. But, she does have a point.

Interestingly, Anne Rice is not alone. George Barna, the leading researcher on faith in America reported in 2008 that “a majority of adults now believe that there are various biblically legitimate alternatives to participation in a conventional church.” It appears that there is a growing number of people who claim faith in Jesus but want little or nothing to do with the institutional church.

For some, this may sound alarming or confusing. The fact of the matter is, we are living in a post-Christendom world. Christendom was defined by the dominance of the institutional church, both Catholic and Protestant, that shaped and influenced the western world. At its height, Christendom dominated governments and communities. This is no longer the case.

For those of us who are serious followers of Jesus, we can take heart by reminding ourselves that the most fruitful period of faith occured in pre-Christendom, the first three centuries following the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Here is the paradox. Worldwide, we are witnessing the largest growth in the number of Jesus followers in history. In China more than 30,000 new believers are baptized every day. The number of believers in Africa grew from 9 million to 360 million in the last century, most in the last decade. More Muslims have come to faith in Christ in the last two decades than at any other time in history. Interestingly, the rapidly reproducing churches in these nations look little like our western Christianity. They resemble the churches of the first century that met in homes as close-knit communities that produce transformed people who act like Jesus.

At their core, churches are communities of believers who exhort and encourage one another to become like Christ. Churches are the wine-skins provided to contain the new wine of faith in Christ. Over time, each generation’s “wine skins” grow brittle, inflexible and institutional so that succeeding generations must discover new “wine skins” that serve their new found faith in Christ.

New Beginnings

As with every other New Year, this is a week of celebration, in spite of a dysfunctional congress and the "fiscal cliff."  Many will make the trek to New York to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Most of us will gather with family and friends to welcome 2013 and the beginning of a new year.

New beginnings are exciting: weddings with candles and flowers, beautiful bridesmaids, handsome groomsmen, laughter, toasts and dancing with the bride; the birth of a baby wrapped in blankets, showered with gifts; graduations with speeches about dreams and possibilities followed by posed photos that will hang on living room walls; a new job; a new home. Starting anew stirs our juices.

New beginnings are filled with excitement, optimism, and hope as well as fear, doubt and worry. Weddings are fun, but making a marriage can be hard work. Babies are cute, but raising a child can be difficult. Graduation marks a significant achievement, but, finding a job and advancing in a chosen career can be daunting.

We cannot predict our future. Not all newlyweds who leave the marriage altar showered with rice, petals and birdseed will experience a life-long relationship of love and fulfillment. Not all babies will grow to maturity surviving the pitfalls of drugs and violence. Not all graduates find career positions that fulfill their dreams. But, we are all called to something new, something significant.

God always calls us forward into new beginnings. He is always starting something new. He beckons us to leave the old and familiar to follow Him on a journey of discovery into places we have never been. He encourages us to calm our fears and exchange our doubts for faith. He challenges us to trust in Him for a better future and a better day.

When God called Abraham, He called him from his familiar home to follow Him into a strange land. God promised, “I will bless you … and you shall be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2). Abraham’s step of faith to follow God into a new beginning changed history.

To Isaiah, God said, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isa. 43:18-19). Paul wrote, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone. The new has come.” 2 Cor. 5:17).

If our minds are open to new things, and our hearts are open to faith, 2013 can be the start of something special.

Sunrise Seasonthe

I sat in the pre-dawn dark, watched the gathering glow in the east and heard the first bird break the stillness with song. Soon others joined in the gathering light until they filled the air with a chorus celebrating the break of day. It was as if the birds had waited through the long hours of darkness wondering if the sun would return, and, once it did, they were delirious with joy.

We sometimes feel that way, when the darkness closes in on us, as it has this Christmas season with the slaughter of innocent children in Connecticut. We sometimes wonder, as the birds seem to do, if the dawn of light and goodness will ever again dispel the darkness of violence and pain.

I have watched the sun rise over the snow-covered hills of Minnesota, painting the landscape with crimson and gold, its light sparking like diamonds on ice covered limbs. I have watched the sun stain the eastern horizon with purple and gray before penetrating the breaking clouds with shafts of gold. I have watched the day dawn over the mountains of Montana and Switzerland. I have seen it transform the sea into pink and purple waves. I watched the sunrise on the first day of the new millennium, bursting above the horizon as a brilliant ball of light in a clear blue sky.

The sunrise is the perfect symbol for God’s intervention into our world.

When Jesus’ cousin, John, was born, his father, Zechariah understood the importance of his son’s birth. For nine months he had reflected on the angel’s announcement to him in the temple that he would have a son in his old age. He had been mute throughout Elizabeth’s pregnancy. But when John was born, his tongue was loosed and he burst into praise. He said, “And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:76-79).

In every generation, those who have faith have seen the sunrise of God. Darkness cannot conquer it. Corrie Ten Boom and Dietrich Bonhoffer saw it during the dark days of Hitler’s holocaust. Louis Zamparini discovered it after surviving the Japanese POW camps. Rachel Scott and Cassie Bernall bore witness to it during the massacre at Columbine. The Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania gave testimony to it after their daughters were gunned down in a one-room school. And thousands have borne witness this week in Connecticut to that light that refuses to be extinguished.

This is what John meant when he wrote, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. … The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:4-14).