Church Requel Blog - Writings of Mark Pierce

Prayer For Those With Hatred To Boston Bomber

I wrote this last Wednesday, two days after the bombing at the Boston Marathon, for publication in this past Saturday's News Journal.

I am mad. Angry beyond reason. The evil and cowardly bombing of the Boston Marathon chews my guts inside out. The photo of the smiling eight-year-old victim, Martin Richard, reminds me eerily of my own eight-year-old grandson. Martin was described by his school as a “kind, caring, and loving young boy who had great excitement for learning.” He stood at the finish line of the Boston Marathon to celebrate the achievement of others. And now, because of the despicable act of another, Martin is dead while his mother and sister fight for their lives.

I am mad. Angry beyond reason. The tragedy in Boston is the latest in a long string of senseless, murderous acts of terror, which now includes the innocent victims of children. How should a pastor, believing in a loving and merciful God, respond to such senseless evil? 

I am mad. Angry beyond reason. How should we pray when our own honest emotions of grief and outrage collide with our Christian values of love and mercy? Would you like to hear my prayer for those who are responsible for spilling the blood of our innocent children? “I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.” Before you condemn me for hate speech, consider that this is actually a model prayer found in Psalm 139:22.

Christians may erroneously think that their faith takes hatred off the table. Nothing could be further from the truth. The psalms of David in the Bible, particularly, provide us a roadmap when we are mad and angry beyond reason. “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?” (Psalm 139:21) Another psalm actually commands those who love God to hate evil: “O you who love the LORD, hate evil!” (Psalm 97:10) 

It’s ok to hate evil and evildoers in life. In fact, the Apostle Paul explains to us how to handle this hatred. “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9) The kind of love that ignores evil isn’t sincere. It’s fake. You want to be the worst kind of hypocrite? Pretend like you don’t hate the bomber who murdered Martin Richard. I can hear some of you arguing that we shouldn’t hate the person, just the evil act. Poppycock! Sincere love hates what is evil and nothing could be more evil than the person who fills a pressure cooker with nails and ball bearings and sets it to explode in the midst of a crowd of innocents.

Christianity is not about nice. It’s not about polite. Are you mad? Angry beyond reason? Admit it to God and to one another. Let our love be sincere. Let’s hate what is evil. But let’s not stay here. Let’s not allow our own honest hatred to become our own cesspool of revenge. We have to take the Apostle Paul’s next step: “Cling to what is good.” 

God is good. He made us to be good. He made us to change the world for good. At times like this it’s hard. Next to impossible. That’s why Paul uses the verb, “Cling.” Hold tightly.  Your hands may be cramping with the hatred welling up inside you, but you grip tightly to the good! Don’t let go!

How do we hang on to the good in the midst of such devastating evil? Not on our own. Not without God’s help. This is why David’s prayer of hatred for his enemies in Psalm 139 takes a sudden and unexpected turn at the end. Many of you know this verse, but not as the way it should be known - as the conclusion of the hate prayer. 

“Search me, O God, and know my heart... see if there is any offensive way in me.”

I am mad. Angry beyond reason. Help me Lord to hate evil as perfectly as You do. Help me to see the evil even within me. Take my imperfect hatred and replace it with Your perfect love.

Our Response to Presidential Election

The Mansfield News Journal has asked me to submit a pastor's Viewpoint article for this coming Saturday's paper.  I thought readers of this blog would enjoy an advance reading.

If I claim to be a Christ-follower, what should be my response to the presidential election? Romans 13 provides some important directives: submission and personal responsibility combined with respect and honor toward whichever candidate wins.

Submitting to the results of this year’s presidential election will no doubt be easier for some of my Christian friends than others. As I pen these words two days before the election, the polls tell us that this election is a tossup.  Either side could win.  Some of my friends are convinced that government should be more involved in caring for those among us who are less fortunate. Others point out the need for greater personal freedom and protection for the unborn. All of my Christian friends can quote Biblical chapter and verse to support their voting decisions. 

Whichever way this election turns out, though, Paul’s letter to the church citizens in Rome tell us that we should submit to the winner. The reason given for this is a stunner! It won’t be because one side is more right than the other. Rather, our response of submission to the victor comes because “all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God” (Romans 13:1). 

In other words our response - our submission - is not a Republican or Democratic response, but a godly response. We should see our response not as to Mr. Obama or  to Mr. Romney, but to the Lord God Himself.

Given all the vitriol and acrimony that exists leading up to Tuesday’s election, this command for submission will be no small challenge for many of my friends. Those who have been the most vocal in their support for and belief in their candidate could be downright fearful of losing this election.  

Even here, God’s Word has instruction for us. “Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you” (Romans 13.3). Here’s my way of understanding this. When the election dust settles, let’s not worry so much about what the winning candidate will do or not do. Let us concern ourselves more about what we will do. Let us do what is right. Let us influence our neighbors and our leaders with our own good actions. Let our own activities of Christian love overcome the fear that wells up within us from the uncertainty of our future.

Our response as Christian citizens goes beyond submission and personal responsibility.  It’s not even enough just to pay our taxes and debts to the government. Romans 13:7 tells us to “give respect and honor to those who are in authority.” That’s a personal, from the gut, can’t fake it kind of response. 

This may not be as impossible as we might imagine. I’ve searched Romans 13 thoroughly and have found no place where we are instructed to agree with all the positions of our newly elected president. We are, however, to give him the respect and honor of his office. 

We should respect and honor him not just because he will be our president. We give him respect and honor because he is God’s appointed authority. We give him respect and honor because God’s Word instructs us to do so. We give him respect and honor because that is the correct Christian response toward those who lead us.

4 Spiritual Questions From Olympic Games

The Olympic Games begin in just two days. Like many of you I will be watching and enjoying this quadrennial sporting event.  We’ll be glued to the tube, not only because there are few other good TV options, but also because there is something about the Olympic spirit that also touches our spirits.  Watching the world’s top athletes at the top of their form encourages each one of us to be “the best me I can be.”  This year, instead of just dreaming about your physical potential, consider these 4 spiritual questions as well.

How is my team participation?  My favorite Olympic events are the ones that are played together. No matter how great the individual effort, the team depends on the ability of the individuals to play well together. God did not intend for us to live individual spiritual lives either.  He gave us the church not only so that we might worship together, but also that we might do life together!  The Bible describes the church as a body: “Together you form the body of Christ and each one of you is a necessary part of it.”  Ask yourself: “Am I living my spiritual life as part of God’s team - with others?”

How is my spiritual discipline?  The one wholly remarkable aspect about every Olympic athlete is how completely disciplined each one is about their event.  No aspect of their training - exercise, diet, attitude - is too small to consider.  These people are disciplined. Seriously! Did you know that God has that same intention for us spiritually?  In fact God’s Word even puts our spiritual journey into Olympic terms: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”  Ask yourself: “When it comes to my spiritual life, am I just out wandering around? Or am I running to win the prize?”

Mad Men TV: Falling, Gravity and God

This past weekend I wrote the Viewpoint article for the Mansfield News Journal.  I've reproduced it here for my Church Requel blog readers.  Enjoy!

The opening title sequence to the wildly popular Mad Men television drama shows a silhouetted businessman falling from the heights of the 1960s New York City skyscrapers.  The man free falls for twenty seconds while the iconic, half-century old advertisements and slogans display behind him. The viewer never sees the man crash onto the sidewalk. Rather one senses a fall that never ends.  In the midst of success and wealth all around him, the man has nothing to keep him from sinking lower and still lower.

The Mad Men fan would know the silhouetted businessman as the show’s protagonist, Donald Draper. He is the creative director responsible for many of the ad campaigns that define 1960s America.  The newcomer to this drama would be excused for believing this television show to be about the highs and lows of Madison Avenue.  The advertising world of New York’s past, however, is only the canvas upon which Producer Matthew Weiner tells his stories of the ever-falling Draper.

The opening sequence of the falling man, according to TV Guide, is ranked 9th ALL TIME for television show openers. What is it about this Vertigo-like falling man that so captures the imaginations of millions of viewers?  Perhaps this theme of uncertainty and moral failure in the midst of success and accomplishment speaks to each one of us at the deeper level of the soul.

Empty Chair This Thanksgiving

The Pierce and Hawk households are experiencing a sad Thanksgiving week.  This past Sunday, my wife's mom, Marilyn, passed on and we have been mourning her loss.  The funeral will be Saturday.  In the midst of this grief, my turn for the News Journal Viewpoint came up.  Each Saturday a local pastor writes a column about the Christian faith, and this just happened to be my week. Coincidence?  Or God's timing? Tuesday morning I wrote and submitted what follows.  It will appear in Saturday's paper.

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The old white house, once so full of life and laughter, now sits empty.  The grandkids would be putting up the Christmas tree this weekend over in that corner. The kitchen table now sits with stacks of unopened mail, where stews and stuffing would be steaming.  The rug by the door, once overrun with shoes, now only holds empty oxygen tanks.  The air in our house is stuffy, filled with this “life goes on” staleness. For our family, though, life has stopped.

This Thanksgiving week we lost our mom.  After 80 full years Marilyn died leaving behind this large family without its center.  Like her house, our family today experiences only emptiness. That is, in our better moments, when we’re not overwhelmed with grief and tears.  Yet Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time of fullness, a time of celebration.  

I’m the brother who is the pastor.  Where is our celebration?  Where is our fullness?  Where is our thanksgiving?  What does the pastor brother say on a day like today?

Like many other families during the holidays, there will be an empty chair at our table.  Especially this year, celebration and fullness may be elusive.  But not thanksgiving.  And not hope.  These we will have in abundance.

Marilyn taught her children the love of Christ.  She taught them how to pray.  She filled them with faith and hope.  She never doubted.  She lived out her faith on the streets of real life, where we could watch and learn.  This Thanksgiving Day, in the place of celebration and fullness, we find comfort and hope.

In the first century there was another brother, Paul, sitting with his family of soul-mates, possibly also during a holiday week.  They wondered about their own loved ones who had passed from this life.  Here’s what Paul told them: 

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.”

Paul did not pen these hopeful words for some family whose names are lost in antiquity.  These are words written today for my brothers and sisters: Gene, Dan, John, Mary Kay, Rick, Patty, and Mike.  These are words written for me.  These are words written for you.

The Christian always has reason for comfort and hope and thanksgiving, regardless of the season.  Regardless of the circumstances.  This is Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving all rolled into one.

There will come a day - and that day could be this day - when Christ will return.  Some people view this day of the Lord’s return as a day of foreboding.  Not this family.  This will be our day of reunion.  The day when we see our Savior.  The day when we are reunited with our mom.

On this Saturday morning, while you are reading this, I will be sitting in a church with my family saying goodbye.  There will be tears aplenty.  Mom’s favorite flower was bittersweet, because she knew that God gave us life filled with both the bitter and the sweet.  Marilyn and Paul were of like mind. Paul did not say we do not grieve. Paul wrote that we do not grieve like others who have no hope.  We shall grieve with all of our hearts.  Hearts filled with loss.  Hearts filled with love.  Hearts filled with hope.  Hearts filled with thanksgiving.

News Journal Viewpoint: From Despair to Hope

My first submission to the Mansfield News Journal was published this morning.  This link should be available for a few weeks, but I'm also publishing it here on ChurchRequel.com.

Welcome to the day between two of the biggest days on the Christian calendar.  Yesterday was Good Friday.  Tomorrow will be Easter.  We know about the tragedy of Good Friday and the miracle of Easter Sunday.  What about the Saturday-in-between?  Are there lessons from that first Saturday-in-between that could benefit us today?

For just a moment, can you freeze frame that first Saturday-in-between?  Those closest to Jesus surely had lost their hope when he died on the cross.  He had been their greatest teacher, their servant leader, and their connection to God Himself.  His followers had all vowed to defend Jesus or to die with him.  When the testing moment came, they all ran. 

Now, on this Saturday-in-between, they knew their leader had died.  And with him, their hopes died as well.  No new faith.  No freedom from Rome. No more lessons from Heaven.  No more miracles on Earth.  And yet... hadn’t Jesus also said something about the third day?  Was there still the possibility of finding hope in the midst of hopelessness?

Are you living in the Saturday-in-between?  Have you heard a death sentence?  “I’m sorry... there’s nothing we could do...”  “I’m leaving you...”  “We regret to inform you...”  “Time to call Hospice.”   Those Saturdays-in-between of your life when all hope has been lost.  Is there still the possibility of finding hope in the midst of hopelessness?

There is little written about that first Saturday-in-between.  What little we know provides us three lessons of how those first Christ-followers navigated from the hopelessness of Friday to the hope of Sunday.  No false hope here.  No miracles.  Just some hopeful advice.