For God, King and Country

 The Kingdom of Israel, through the divided kingdom and down to the conquering of each by Assyria and Babylon respectively, Israel had a separation of Church and State.  The High Priest handled the one side, the King the other.  The King never presumed to speak for God but continually is shown going to the Priest or the Prophet(s) to determine what God’s Will was.  

If the English did not begin the expression “For God, King and Country”, they certainly perfected it.  With an Empire that spanned the globe and covered a quarter of the world’s people at its height, when Henry VIII became head of the Church of England, this was the first fusing of spiritual and temporal power into one person in Judeo-Christian history.  

James I is credited with being the first monarch in any country to assert Divine Right of Kings. He became King of Great Britain in 1603.  His son Charles I lost his head over it, but his grandson, Charles II reasserted it.  If it is not obvious, DROK means that God anointed this person to rule us all by His Authority, and whatever the King says is the Will of God.

DROK fell out of favor when it became apparent that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts, absolutely” (Lord Acton 1887).  This was as true for King Saul and the rest as it was for European kings 2500 years later.  The pendulum swung from DROK to Democracy (“the worst form of government, except for all the others” - Winston Churchill) and then to Socialism and Fascism, which, as practiced by the Germans, Soviets and China, looks a lot like DROK but without pretending that God was directing national policy. These fear-based governments say that some of us have the right temperament to free us from the dangers of “those other people” (Communists, Fascists, dog-eaters, as the case may be).  

Today, we believe that a Democratic nation can find the right path, if we all know the issues, vote, and care about the future of our children.  A careful reading of American history shows that has been…elusive.  But more on that in another post.

One of the great struggles I have today is watching criminals get away with so much in the name of Freedom and Democracy.  I used to believe that most people long for Justice.  Unfortunately, it is human nature to want to control others.  How do I know?  Because somewhere in the dark recesses of my soul, I hope I can convince you I am right.  To be fair, I hope I can convince you that God is right.  But that’s where it gets tricky.  As Matthew 4:6 shows, even Satan can quote the Bible, so how do I know I’m reading it right?  

I am convinced that we must take what the Bible says about itself seriously.  Matthew 22:37-40 says the Greatest Commandment is, essentially: Love God and love your neighbor.  On these two commandments rests the entire Bible.  If you are reading any passage that leads you to treat others in a way that is unloving, you are reading it wrong.  

Our duty as Christians, as I read it in the Bible, is to obey the government, provided that the government does not command something contrary to God’s Law.  This applies whether we live in a democracy or totalitarian government.  “Seek Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).”  Justice and Mercy should be opposite sides of the same coin.  Justice without Mercy is too hard.  Mercy without Justice is too soft.  The problem, as CS Lewis noted, is that we all want Justice for others and Mercy for ourselves.  That is where “walking humbly with our God” comes in.  “Do unto others…” “Take the log out of your own eye first.”  See Matthew 22:37-40 for further color. 

Forgiveness (the sequel)

 After last week’s post, a few people mentioned the problem of forgiveness.  CS Lewis put it this way: “Everyone thinks forgiveness is wonderful, until they have something to forgive.”  What do you do when someone hurts you so deeply that you find you cannot forgive them?  Or what do you do if you are the one who has hurt someone who simply will not forgive you?

First, I believe there is a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation.  Reconciliation requires both parties to want to put the past hurts behind them and heal the relationship.  Forgiveness sometimes needs to be one-way. It means to let go of the bitterness and decide not to seek revenge.

Reconciliation, in the Greek, is a boating term used to describe eliminating dangerous leaks between two ribs of the boat, making the ship water-tight.  It requires confession and apology, atonement and repentance.  That is, one must make a costly payment out of one’s own wealth (spiritual, physical or financial) to atone for the damage done.  And then we must change our behavior, go back to the Right Path, so that the other person knows we will not hurt them again.  It is the atonement that is the tricky part.  How do we pay someone back for murder, adultery, betrayal?  How can you make a payment on something that is beyond price?

Corrie Ten Boom described meeting a Nazi guard who had tortured her and her sister at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp.  Her sister died in the camp.  Corrie was released through an “accidental” clerical error (read: “miraculous” - this should never have happened).  Years later, she was speaking on the power of forgiveness and after her talk, the guard approached her and said he had become a Christian.  He believed he had God’s forgiveness and asked if she could forgive him.  She wrote afterward that she did not have any desire to.  This was a man who had been so cruel and vicious.  But in the moment between him asking and her responding, she prayed to God for help and found she was able to raise her arms, and the moment she touched him, forgiveness flowed through and overwhelmed them both.  

What about when the other person is not sorry for what they did?  We must still love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  Note, Jesus does not command us to treat everyone as a friend.  This command does not give people license to hurt us.  It is giving up the hatred and bitterness, the desire for revenge.  It is remembering the grace and mercy we have been offered knowing we don’t deserve it.  Jesus, God in human form, became our atoning sacrifice so that we might be forgiven.  Thus, we forgive, but we are not told to forget.  God will forget our sins (I think that is figurative, not literal), but we can continue to be wary that this person we are commanded to love may not love us back.

Here is the amazing part.  If you let go of that hatred and forgive, even if the other person is not sorry, you will release the poison that has been coursing through your veins.  

If you cannot forgive someone, ask God to help you forgive.  Sometimes, as Lewis wrote, we must forgive someone 490 times for the same thing.  Be patient with yourself, and keep asking God for help.  And if you cannot get someone to forgive you, be persistent with your kindness, gentleness, humility and love.  

Forgiveness

 Forgiveness and reconciliation - In theory, this is the one thing I think the Catholic Church does better than any other denomination.  The priest takes confession and, ideally, encourages the penitent person to seek out the offended party and make amends.  In the Episcopal Church, where every week, we say a general confession of sin, a truly lovely 400-year-old prayer, followed by a general and total absolution from the minister.  We may or may not think about the words.  Personally, I can say I rarely consider a specific sin I need to confess to someone.  We are careful to ask for forgiveness before receiving communion, as is proper. But are we really asking for forgiveness?

That is the problem with the Book of Common Prayer in the Episcopal Church, or with any prayer that is written down.  It is possible to believe that by saying the printed prayer and receiving the general absolution, you have been forgiven your sins.  But you have not confessed to the person you offended, not offered an apology, not atoned for your mistake and made no change to your behavior (repented).  The BCP is a wonderful tool, if it is used correctly.

Just after the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says, IF we forgive others, God will forgive us, but if we do not, God will NOT forgive us (Matt 6:14-15).  This makes our salvation seem conditional on works.  But Salvation by God’s Grace alone, through Faith.  I reconcile the two in that our willingness to forgive shows whether we appreciate the Grace that God has given.  To understand the price that Jesus paid on the Cross to pay the penalty that I owe and be unmoved by that is evidence that we do not know Him, and that He will say to us on Judgment Day, “Away from me, evildoer, I never knew you.”  

Do I make it a practice to go and find the person you’ve hurt and ask for forgiveness?  If someone hurts you, do I harbor resentment?  Seek revenge?  Or offer forgiveness?  The fourth option, letting it go, often is really harboring resentment.  Eventually resentment builds to where someone gets an outsized response to a minor infraction.  

In Luke 7, Jesus offered forgiveness to Simon the Leper even though Simon had not only shown no sign of remorse, but had continued to offend Him.  When the soldiers were nailing Him to the Cross, he begged God to forgive them.  If we claim to follow Jesus, this is the example he set.

Forgiveness, letting go of the anger and hurt in our own heart, can be one-sided.  Should the other party hold onto their bitterness, we owe them love, but not friendship.  That is, we must be aware of the fact that they may seek revenge on us.  Justice is good.  Revenge is bad, and it can be tempting to slip from one to the other.  But if we owe a debt, allowing someone to batter us repeatedly can easily go too far.  Jesus said to love our enemies, not to treat everyone like they are friends.  God will "forgive and forget". We only need to forgive.

My point is that many churches, including my own, talk about forgiveness but seem to brush over its practice, when it should be at the very heart of Faith.  I love the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.  I have been forgiven a debt that I cannot possibly repay in a thousand lifetimes of servitude.  My debt has been completely wiped clean.  If I cannot turn around and offer a little grace to someone who has offended me, then this is what I can expect to hear (Matthew 18:21-45 is the whole parable):  “‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Behold the Nail

 A brief interlude from my 95 Theses.  I came across this video earlier this week.  You're not going to believe THIS! (Neither did I until I looked it up!)

Here is the summary of that video.  Letters in Hebrew also are words.  The letters that form the word for the name of God, YHWH, are these:  Yod, Heh, Vav, Heh.  

Yod (י) is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, symbolizing a hand, divine presence, humility, and the spark of creation.

Heh has three meanings: The first is “here is,” as in the verse, “Here is seed for you” (heh lachem zera).  The next is “to be disturbed,” as it states in Daniel, “And I Daniel was disturbed....(nih’yeisi).” And the third is “behold” as in “Behold, this is our G‑d...,” (hinei Elokeinu...) which refers to beholding a revelation. 

Vav, a "peg" on which the curtains of the tabernacle were hung.

Thus, YHWH in English letters, is “Behold the hand; Behold the tent stake”.

Of course, the word YHWH means “I AM”.  I stand by CS Lewis’ picture that God is both inside and outside of time, creating time itself in Genesis 1:1.  This does not change that.  But it does suggest rather strongly that God always intended to die on the Cross.  This was not Plan B or a response to things God didn’t see coming.  

Another way to look at this is to consider the Star of Bethlehem.  This video is a brief summary of what Rick Larson discovered when he searched for that.  Star of Bethlehem "8 Minute Star Vision Video"  In 30 words or less, Larson found that several constellations and planets did a “heavenly dance” that matches pretty precisely the rather extensive clues the Gospel of Matthew provides on what the Star was.  Whether or not Jesus was actually born when all that happened, we can state definitively that those stars “danced” just like Larson shows.  I suggest it would be strange if that did NOT announce the birth of Jesus.  

So not only did God make the stars announce his birth, he set them in motion to look that way from the moment of the Big Bang.  The picture that paints of the power and majesty of God staggers my imagination.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

A Man For All Seasons

 Let’s move on to the establishment of the Church of England, with my most sincere apologies to all my Episcopalian and Anglican friends reading this.  While it is never easy to have someone criticize something you love, hopefully you’ll hear the heart of love that is intended.  

Whatever follows, I must say that there has been much good done by the Church of England: putting the Bible into and having services in English so that we could pray from our hearts, providing us with an eloquent and Biblically based prayer book (which will be its own post soon enough), the writing of some of the greatest music in the history of the world, and perhaps its greatest triumph, seeing slavery abolished in every country and territory in the Empire, a feat that was then replicated by nearly every civilized nation in the world.  England has produced some of the greatest theologians in history, from Thomas Cranmer to Nicky Gumbel.  

The Church of England began so King Henry VIII could get a divorce.  Henry had been declared the Defender of the Faith on October 11, 1521 by Pope Leo X.  The title was conferred in recognition of Henry's book Defense of the Seven Sacraments, which defended the sacramental nature of marriage and the supremacy of the pope. This was also known as the "Henrician Affirmation" and was seen as an important opposition to the early stages of the Protestant Reformation, especially the ideas of Martin Luther (isn’t it ironic?  Don’t you think?).  

The Oscar-winning film, A Man For All Seasons, is an excellent portrayal of the founding of the Church of England.  As Henry broke from the Catholic Church (1530), Sir Thomas More resigned as Lord Chancellor rather than compromise his integrity.  More refused to take an oath recognizing the King as head of the Church leading to his arrest, imprisonment and interrogation.  More was convicted and executed only when a former acquaintance perjured himself.

The Church of England is so very close in liturgy and practice that it inherited many of the same weaknesses the Catholic Church has: the grand buildings that need to be kept up, the politics of its priests, bishops and its king, the corruption and scandal that so often come at the expense of the laity.

But more than perhaps any other nation, England has used “For God, King and Country” as an inspiration to countless wars and to the foundation of its Empire that encompassed one quarter of the earth.  And while England led the crusade against slavery, it is also responsible for the second-most Africans sold into slavery.  African slaves taken by each nation 1501-1866| Statista.  These two errors, I believe are what Revelation 13:10 may be referring to:  

“‘If anyone is to go into captivity,

    into captivity they will go.

If anyone kills with the sword,

    with the sword they will be killed.’ 

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.”

The result of this bad foundation: as of 2024, only 12% of people in England attend church regularly (however that is up from 8% in 2018 Faith Survey | Christianity in the UK).  This survey from 2015 predicted that church attendance in 2025 would be 4%, so I might suggest that the Truth is winning out.  It seems that a large percentage of this regrowth may be from “Messy Church”, a movement that started in 2004 with one church and now has over 2800.  It is difficult to find statistics on how many attend Messy Church.  Numbers range from 40 to 400 per church.  One article indicated over half of attendees were previously not attending church.  If you make some reasonable estimates, that could mean over 100,000 people each week, just in England.  The average attendance in the Church of England each week is about 700,000.  

However, it is difficult for any institution, nation or organization to build on a faulty foundation.  With 52% of its population identifying “none” as their religion, maybe Messy Church is actually moving the foundation entirely - away from politics, corruption and scandal, keeping all the best of English faith - the theology, the inspirational music and worshipping from the heart, in community, but returning to the type of church found in the Acts of the Apostles, only now with crayons.