An Appropriate Candidate for President

Someone asked me on Sunday: “Are any of the people running for President candidates that we as Methodists could support?”  I think I know what he meant but I’m not sure.  To be honest, nobody ever asks my political opinion about anything, at least to the point of what candidate for anything that I support.  And, if they did I would certainly have to give a non-answer.  It’s just easier not to take sides in an election.

 

However, just yesterday I got a personal call from someone in Greenville inviting me to a pastor’s brunch for one of the candidates.  He is a Christian and wants the support of the clergy, as if somehow that will ensure the support of the churches.  I was flattered, I guess, to be invited to anybody’s brunch.  My wife says that I have probably already seen him as close as I would get to him at the brunch.

 

This particular candidate was in SC for the last debate in Spartanburg, and we happened to be out the same night that he and his entourage came to eat.  I got a good look at him, but he spoke to no one and went right to his book where he was pushed to the inside by his people.  We could see him, but we couldn’t get close to him.  So, my wife thought that was as close as we could get, even at a pastor’s brunch.

 

Politics is an interesting thing in this country.  I am old enough to remember when John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon had the first debates on TV.  My mother certainly had an opinion about which way to vote, but things have changed since then.  We don’t just get debates but we get 24 hour coverage of these people and their families.  Every word that’s spoken by them or anybody connected to them is recorded and played over and over.  And, you ever made a mistake, well, it will be mentioned.

 

On top of all this is the length of the political presidential campaign.  Not to mention, the money that is spent is incredible.

 

It’s not that I don’t have an opinion; it’s just that any opinion will upset someone.  People seem to care more about protecting their particular political candidate than almost anything.  And, after all everybody has an opinion about everything these days.

 

In spite of all this, our system is still the most open system in the world.  I would say that we ought always to be concerned and informed as followers of Jesus Christ, and we ought always to vote.  Voting is a privilege that we should never take for granted.

 

I would say that there is good in all of them, and that no one of them is all evil.  Sometimes I do think that they have forgotten that they are working for the good of all people and not just for a particular PAC.  That said, followers of Jesus Christ know something about humanity that everyone seems to forget.  We are all sinners.

 

Leslie Whitehead used to say that we get all worked up to vote in one group and throw another group out of office.  He said we must remember that we are just throwing out one group of sinners and putting in another.

Whoever our President is, whoever our leaders are, we, as followers of Jesus Christ believe that no one is the Messiah except Jesus Christ.  So, we pray for them all- that God will give them the wisdom to make right decisions for the good of all.  We pray that God’s will might be done.

 

So, think it over, learn as much as you can, pray, and then vote.

 

Blessings!

Dave Nichols

Mother of God

Next Sunday the Gospel takes us to Nazareth where the angel Gabriel is giving Mary a message of utmost important.  Whenever you see angels in scripture, something big is about to take place.  God is on the move and he sends out heavenly messengers. 

 

We Protestants have never known quite what to do with Mary.  We are leery about giving attention to anybody but God or Jesus.  We wonder about the adoration of Mary.  Oh, we’ll worship a car, mind you, but we can’t allow ourselves to be drawn into the exaltation of Mary.  We’ll worship political or athletic figures, but Mary?

 

Mary and I were sitting in a restaurant with friends recently.  It was the night before the big Republican presidential nominee debate in Spartanburg.  We were eating away when all of a sudden in comes a large entourage of people.  They were moving someone along in a hurry.  It was Rick Perry.  They shuffled him over to a booth in the back where no one could get to him.  Mary and I commented how strange it was that he didn’t speak to a person in the restaurant.  It was interesting to note our interest in this public figure.  He’s not even the front-runner and we were looking to see what we could see.  We do that with celebrities all the time.

 

This led to a conversation about the times when we had seen famous people.  Once, when Mary, my wife, worked in a newspaper office in Moncks Corner, SC, Fritz Hollings, the Senator was up for re-election.  He walked in to their office and shook hands.  Mary was surprised at how big and good looking he was.  She still tells that with her mouth gaping open. 

 

Back when I was in college, we went to Columbia Airport to see Richard Nixon ride by in a convertible.  He was a small man with a great tan.  This was before Watergate had broken loose.

 

You see my point.  We Protestants are so scared we will worship the wrong thing when it comes to God, but we readily turn our worship to celebs and others, not thinking that we are elevating them to godlike status.

 

I wouldn’t say that we should worship Mary but we should honor her.  She is, after all, the “mother of God”.  It’s hard to imagine that she was a virgin.  In our modern culture, we don’t know what that is anymore.  It’s even more difficult to imagine that she was only about fourteen years of age.  You had to grow up fast in those days.

 

Bright-eyed, fourteen, she is a woman of faith.  The long history and heritage of Jewish hope and expectation are in her body, mind and spirit.  Soon, in her body will be a miracle of miracles.  She will bring forth for the world the one who is Savior.  And, how does she respond to the angel’s message.  She says: “Let it be…”  Let it be to me as you have said.  Let the will of God come to me and through me.  Let my life be a sacrifice to God’s purposes and ways.

 

This Sunday, in the grand parade of Christmas characters, Mary passes.  Look at how young she looks.  See how beautiful she is.  Notice that, in spite of what is going on in the world, in spite of the Romans, in spite of the fact that she has every reason not to hope, she hopes and is faithful.  Can you hear?  She is telling God: “Let it be…”  Let the great move that you are doing come to me.  Honor her as one of the most faithful people ever to live.  I can understand a bit if you want to talk to her.

 

Blessings!

Dave Nichols

 

 

The End is Near

I have often said to you that the Gospel often gets lost in our culture.  Even among Christians, we often think of the Gospel as the minimum that we have to do to get to heaven- when the truth is that the Gospel is about getting you to heaven before you die.

 

Last Sunday, we started that slow and steady journey toward joy.  The first candle on the Advent Wreath was lighted; the Chrismon tree already shines it light.  A new Church/Christian year begins.  Purple adorns the altar to remind us to get ready.

 

The First Sunday in Advent, the Gospel is always about what we call the “second coming”.  This year, Mark (in the lectionary) gets to tell the story.  Mark 13 is called by scholars the “little apocalypse”.  That chapter is a mixture of stuff about the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple that everyone said would never happen.  It also has images from Old Testament apocalyptic literature.  When it’s all done here on earth, the sun will grow dark.  The stars will fall from the sky.  The whole universe will celebrate as Jesus Messiah comes on the clouds. 

 

The Bible teaches us about beginnings and endings.  Everything has a beginning and an ending.  It all gets caught up in God’s great purposes for his world.  There will be an end- to us- to the world.

 

When?  Now, that’s the question, isn’t it?  Some talk a lot about that.  Announce that you’re doing a study on the Book of Revelation; a crowd will gather.  But, as soon as they see that you aren’t getting caught up in a literal kind of interpretation and predicting the future, they fall away.

 

Remember poor Harold Camping who predicted the end in the spring of 2011?  Then, when that didn’t happen, he set another date.  Oh well, what are you going to do?

 

Mr. Camping read every verse of Holy Scripture but the one that says: “No one knows the day or the hour, not the son, not the angels, only God knows.”

 

No one knows.  And yet, there’s something about the end that captivates us.  The Psalmist says: “Lord, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom…”  As if, knowing that we end, that time runs out sooner or later, makes us wiser.

 

So, on the first Sunday in Advent, the church has us look at the great backdrop of God’s drama.  One day, sooner or later, the end will come- mine or the world’s.  So, be ready.  Be on your guard.  Watch!

 

If you need forgiveness, don’t wait; get it now.  If you need to forgive someone, don’t wait; do it now.  If you need to get your life straightened out, do it now.  If you need to get back on track, do it now.  You do not know the day or the hour; so, get ready.  Get prepared.  No one knows what tomorrow holds.

 

Advent begins with this pause on the journey.  It is a time to reflect on the truth that all our times are in God’s hands.  It’s a time to get our priorities right.  So, we pray, and worship.  We give extra to the church and to the needy.  We open our hearts a little more because we know that one day it will be…over.

 

One day, God’s kingdom will finally come.  God will overcome evil; love will overcome hatred.  Someday.  In God’s good time.

 

Blessings!

Dave Nichols