Between a Rock & a Hard Place

Child Prisoners -  Auschwitz-Birkenau

Are you comfortable with David's [in the Psalms] many cries for vengeance? How might a Christian pray “against” enemies?.... What injustice around you hurts enough to move you to pray against it? If nothing does, what does that say about your compassion and concern for justice for other people? (Serendipity Bible 10^th Anniversary Edition, page 784).

What if Christ's crucifixion had developed a little differently? What if Jesus's enemies had not attacked him directly, but instead had approached him with this ultimatum: “Give up your ministry forthwith or we will brutally murder your mother Mary and your brothers this very afternoon. We will not touch you personally, on the contrary, we will make sure that you live the rest of your days in the lap of ease and luxury.” I wonder what Jesus would have done given this option. The Christian's viewpoint is colored when the assumption is made that only the self will be hurt by decisions made. Clearly, this is often not the case. For example in World War II, I could have with great ease and equanimity prayed for the gentle nudging of Hitler's conscience. Forgiveness daily could have flowed from my heart and lips. Unfortunately, it was really not my place to forgive, but rather for those he tortured and murdered at Auschwitz-Birkenau. And if I had any empathy at all for the victims of hatred, it of necessity meant that some prayers would call for enforced justice as well as compassion. Forgiveness of an enemy when offered for myself by myself is highly commendable and clearly the Christian thing to do. It is a much more difficult matter when I presume to forgive in the stead of others.

We are often challenged to have empathy – to put ourselves in someone else's shoes and see things from their point of view. This, it is assumed, will result in compassion. Often the opposite is true. For example, the abolitionist during days of slavery was far more likely to be infuriated rather than filled with compassion when he tried to assume the slaveholder's viewpoint of people as chattel. There is a saying that extreme cases make for bad law. Maybe Nazis and racists are extreme cases and provide little guidance for dealing with less lurid enemies – say more in the line of “enemies” encountered in everyday competition – as when two people are vying for the same promotional opportunity. Today I was at TASCO (a City teen program) and overheard a young teenage boy say with conviction while watching a movie “I don't like mean people.” The thought immediately crossed my mind that here is a true American. I greatly like to think of my country as a place that does not like mean people. I like to think that compassion and goodwill characterize it even in times of stress and duress. But we are faced with an enigma – can compassion extend not only to the innocent but to the guilty as well – and exactly what form does such compassion take? Hatred takes on the character of obsessive mental illness – perhaps such an understanding is a prayerful place to begin.

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Certitude or Servanthood

Mother at 21

If you could ask “one thing” of the Lord, and have it granted, what would it be? Why don't you ask? (Serendipity Bible 10^th Anniversary Edition, page 776).

First off, I would try to cheat a bit and ask several favors in place of one. I would ask that he plainly show me his will and that he give me the grace to affirm and do it. I would ask this because it is not always clear to me if I am accurately sensing my Father's will instead of conveniently rationalizing that my will is his. The second part of my request acknowledges that I can have difficulty affirming and doing his will even when I am certain of it. Often, I could use less “grace” and more courage and the spunk to work hard. I need the gifts of discernment, stability, and strength. Why then don't I ask for this? Because certain knowledge of God's will would leave no wiggle room for excuses. Also, in a way, I think such certitude could be dangerous. It could be corruptive and lead to insufferable arrogance – or at least the widespread perception of it.

When my mother was a young woman she found the Lord one evening at a revival. The hymn that touched her heart that night during altar call was “Fill Me Now.” This hymn does not ask for certitude of knowledge, but the presence of the spirit. The difference represented is not subtle, and it was a difference that marked the tenor and tone of mother's entire life.

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Whatever It Takes

How do you psych yourself for a challenge? A conflict? (Serendipity Bible 10^th Anniversary Edition, page 771).

To psych myself up for a challenge or conflict I do one of two diametrically opposed things – I image the encounter as closely and concretely as possible, or conversely, I focus not on the details of the encounter but, skipping over all that, I strive to feel good about the ultimate goal expressed in abstract terms that emote highly favorable connotations and feelings and that do not envision specific images. For example, if someone tells me that they gave me as a reference and that I should expect a phone call from a prospective employer, I will do my best to envision a phone call in which I specifically have things to say in the reference interview. This is the typical practice I have when I must give a speech. I practice it as much as possible visualizing myself in front of the audience. Sometimes, however, I do not envision the means concretely, but rather I indulge in fuzzy images and strong emotions. For example, when I registered to get an advanced degree, I did not envision in grueling detail late nights of study and stressful hours of research, rather I skipped over all that and anticipated the good feelings I would have in being a student and eventually graduating. Thus, to psych myself up, I do whatever is necessary – either envisioning reality in concrete detail or else abstracting it and wrapping it up in good feelings. The important thing is that I accept the challenge willfully and eagerly. The more unpleasant the task, the more necessary it is to hide concrete imagery. Another example is when I buy a new car. This activity involves both approaches. I vividly envision myself driving the shiny, brand new car; while at the same time I obfuscate the drudgery of making monthly car payments for five years – either not picturing the writing of 60 hefty checks or else basking in the generalized feeling of responsibility and reliability accepting such an obligation gives. Again, in psyching up I do whatever it takes to move forward.

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Wrong Questions Yield Wrong Answers

Think of a time in your life when you have gotten the wrong answer because you asked the wrong question. Silly you, what happened? When did you finally wake up and fly right? (Serendipity Bible 10^th Anniversary Edition, page 748).

Without going into specifics, let me share with you some of the wrong questions that I have asked in my life. Clearly, asking the wrong questions is not only common, but has had a profound effect on personal as well as national life.

• How can I be like him? – Not, how can I be myself?
• What will bring me the most income and status (security)? – Not, what will bring me the most fulfillment?
• How can I not be embarrassed in this situation? – Not, what is the most loving, loyal thing to do?
• Why am I being humiliated? – Not, how can I show more humility and loving kindness?
• Will I be inconvenienced? – Not, how can I show compassion and helpfulness?
• What are the weaknesses of this person? – Not, what are the strengths of this person?
• What have they done for me? – Not, what have I done for them?
• How can they better show their love for me? – Not, how can I better show my love for them?
• Why am I so dumb and unsuccessful? – Not, why do I insist on asking all the wrong questions?
• How should the most powerful nation on earth act in this situation? Not, what is the right thing for our country to do?
• I would borrow a question asked in the 19^th century: how dare they oppose our keeping slaves? – Not, how does “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” apply not just to me but to all humanity?
• What is the patriotic thing to do? – Not, what is the right thing to do?
• How dare these little people oppose us? – Not, how do things look from their point of view?
• How can I just get by? – Not, how can I excel?
• What's in it for me? – Not, how can I best serve?
• Why can't they be different? Not – what qualities do they have to which I am blind? How can I be different?
• What is my will? Not – what is God's will?
• How can I advance my short-term interest? – Not, how can I advance my long-term interest?
• Why am I so weak and awkward? – Not, what are my strengths, and do I have the courage to develop them?
• How can I find total security in all things? – Not, what matters more to me than fear?
• How can I hang onto the past? Not, how can I bring the past into fulfillment and fruition?
• How can I be oblivious to my own mortality? – Not, how do I most meaningfully acknowledge my own mortality?
• How can I not change? – Not, how can I best accept change?
• How do I avoid admitting a mistake? – Not, how can I be more gracious and generous in facing facts?

Wrong questions as a rule arise from fear and resultant defensiveness. Wrong questions often come from attempting to allay our fears by framing them within a neat and manageable “reality” – that is, fiction, of our own. In this sense, wrong questions flow from an ingrained selfishness. Better questions begin to flow when we focus on God's loving will for us, and when we acquire the will and generosity to freely do it. At any age, this represents a quantum leap in maturity. The Bible speaks of this freedom from fear: There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18 NIV).

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Gifts with Strings Attached

Who owes us “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”: (a) Our Creator? (b) Our country? (c) Our community? (d) Our family? Where do you go to find these things, especially happiness? (Serendipity Bible 10^th Anniversary Edition, page 743).

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.... (The Declaration of Independence).

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are needs created in the heart of humanity by our creator. Sometimes it seems strange to think that needs are a gift. Surely some kind of surfeit must be a gift. And gifts, we think, should not have strings attached; but clearly the attainment of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is shrouded in a matrix of strings. God in his grace gives us dignity by instilling in us this need; it is up to us to seek and find how this need can be met. An accommodating government is a necessary though far from sufficient instrument in helping to fill this need. Many other institutions are also needed – the family, the church, the private sector graced by entrepreneurial creativity. The largess of government comes replete with strict limitations imposed on its citizens to ensure that needs are universally met, and not just met for a few. ”Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” inherently imply a significant degree of individual restraint. Too often we think that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are like gates opening up to the plains of full abandonment. We come to find the hard way (and too often tragically) that we need the structure of home more than we need the abandonment enticing us with the delusive urge “don't fence me in.” Too often we have a lust for liberty and not a love for it.

Thus we find that the defining needs of man are gifts of the creator. But we find these gifts have little resemblance to the new-found notion of entitlements. The story goes that as Benjamin Franklin emerged from Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a woman asked him, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”. Mr. Franklin replied, “A republic, madam – if you can keep it.” (Source)

There is a sense in which the Constitutional Convention owed the American people a republic; but the greater truth is that this gift comes with great responsibility and the need for discipline – above all the discipline of humility. In short, what the founding fathers gave us was a “honey do list” without end and without a completion date. Likewise, God's gift to humanity of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is a “honey do list” with no end in sight. It is a gift requiring tremendous effort and the tremendous grace of God.

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Positive Connotations and Possible Consequences

I have two degrees in management. The field attracted me because of its wide-ranging constellation of concepts with positive connotations. Management involves strategic and tactical planning; discipline; a shared focus on the past, present, and future; striving for efficiency and effectiveness; statistical analysis; cultivating accountability and responsibility; a blending of pragmatism and idealism; interest in, study of, and allocation of human resources; organizational and institutional structure, industrial engineering, networking and colleague development; socialization; competence; providing for motivation and related incentives; marketing; macro and micro economics; accounting principles; conceptualization and control; dynamic entrepreneurial creativity; initiative; status as reflected in organizational position held and the accoutrements of power; the ability and means to excel; the mission to face reality and make it productive; the systematic conceptual delineation of management as a field of knowledge and thoughtful study. All these facets of management have a profound attraction of me and I view them as strongly positive.

This afternoon I watched several episodes of Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State. The documentary showed how all the tools of management (except ethics) were astonishingly exercised in the service of evil. With my deep-seated predilections in favor of management and its array of positive connotations, if I had been an average bystander within the Nazi state would I have admired the Nazis whose highly credentialed officers were, after all, good (even excellent) dressers, and who resided far above reproach by a humble citizen like me.

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Sounds and Silences

At what points during the past years have you found yourself speechless? Why? (Were you awed, outwitted, fumbling for words, suffering from a sore throat, or what?) (Serendipity Bible 10^th Anniversary Edition, page 741).

Sometimes I feel talkative, and sometimes I don't. I really can't explain why except to say that at times I feel inspired (an urge to write or talk over which I seem to have little or no direct or willful control). Inhibitions to speaking also seem outside willful control. There have been times, especially over lunch, that I would have given my right arm to have the facile ability to engage in entertaining conversation with others sitting at the table. But, out of all proportion to the apparent significance of the occasion, I earnestly have felt that God did not want me to speak. It as is if my desire to speak is trumped by higher authority. Composing papers in college shared in this phenomenon. Sometimes I was inspired (again, outside willful control) and had great energy and coming ideas. At other times (outside the will) I experienced what only can be called an enforced silence. These silences are occasionally problematic as we find ourselves in command performance situations during which it is very awkward and even penalizing to remain silent. I recall in high school being on a panel aired by the local radio station in which I said not one word. This was extremely awkward and humiliating, but I honestly felt as if God desired that I remain silent. There is the saying “the devil made me do it” ejaculated when we wish to rationalize our own shortcomings. Perhaps saying that “God made me do it” is a similar and more self-righteous rationalization of my own limitations and excesses. I remember as a young man in college a professor saying that when people begin to write, they sometimes experience the urge to masturbate – a behavior that can seem more driven than willful. Perhaps something similar is going on here, but I choose to dignify the drive (or conversely its inhibition) by appealing to the throne of God.

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