I just have a question: how long should Michael Vick continue to pay his debt to society? If he was tried, found guilty, sentenced, and did his time, how much more should we require of him? So when is time served…time served? And once a man serves his time, should he be allowed to work at his livelihood again? What does restitution and penitence look like if a person is not allowed to re-enter into society? How is change measured for an outcast?
My beloved pet is a pit-bull. It sickens me to think of her sweet nature and eagerness to please being manipulated and coaxed into vicious ferocity. The drive to live beating out the tendency towards gentleness. The bloody, messy things people watch for sport and entertainment just boggle my mind.
But the bloodsport didn’t end the day Michael Vick’s dog-fighting ring shut down. The media has carved up Michael Vick’s identity (and all the complexity that comes with being a human being) and left the lopped-off remains: Criminal. Convict. Unforgiven.
What surprises me, though, is the vigorous condemnation after Vick served his time, from people whom I call brothers and sisters in Christ; people who judge any team or organization who would hire this hateful dog-murderer.
The irony, thick as molasses, sits heavy in my heart; people value the dogs more than the man. People who represent a Man who was murdered for folks just like Michael Vick, sound more like Pharisees. People who cheapen the word “justice” (because he did his time) and completely draw a blank on “grace.” The logic escapes me that in order to keep a man from harming dogs, society should bar him from gainful employment and his primary talent.
I, for one, was waiting with baited breath to see who would touch him, take a chance on him, hire him. Because the only difference between him and me is that my dirty laundry doesn’t get aired, because my Savior has covered me, cleanses me, and commissions me to do and be who He uniquely created me to be. He sets me up for second chances. He is the person who sees the philandering tax collector and says, “follow me.” He gives refreshment and life to a Samaritan woman who’s looked in all the wrong places for satisfaction. He turns a murderous zealot into an international witness, coach and church-planter. He’s no stranger to the Michael Vicks of this world.
We are all looking for redemption and a second chance when (not if) we fail. And through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be set free; time served, no probation.
And if this is our unearned inheritance of grace, we should be willing to share.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Praying Through The Pain: Hannah's Example
I owe a debt of gratitude to the author (and of course, the Author) of 1 Samuel 1. Thanks for keeping it real, Hannah. This chapter takes us through what must have been an excruciating personal journey in infertility and relational chaos. Hannah is barren and surrounded by fertility (can anyone else identify with this?).
Though most of us cannot relate to an irritating co-wife as Hannah did with Penninah, we may coexist with other women who sharpen their blessings and hurl them to cut us and extract envy. Constantly. For example, I have had the pleasure of hearing many baby announcements lately. And I am SUPER-excited for those dear friends. But there have been one or two acquaintances who’ve shared the good news, followed by a peaked brow and the question (that’s really a statement), “when are you going to have a baby? You’ve been married for, what, almost three years now?”
(I have found that if one waits long enough, a woman’s body will give a huge clue as to whether she in fact is pregnant.)
You almost have to pity the Penninahs of the world; their identity rests on acquisitions (children, husbands, money, position, stuff). Getting more stuff helps them to avoid the vacuous hole that they would otherwise face. For Penninah, this hole might have been a marriage to a man whom she could not satisfy.
Hannah had a husband, Elkanah, who adored her. However, he set the tense tone between Hannah and Penninah by playing favorites. Never a good idea under one roof. Added to this dysfunction was Elkanah’s minimizing of Hannah’s pain when he says, “aren’t I better to you than 10 sons?” Well, no. Not in a day when children were the only nursing-home care that a woman could hope to receive in her old age. Don’t you hate it when in the middle of your legitimate pain, someone tries to quell it and stroke their own ego at the same time?
What was Hannah’s response to the chaos? This is what I so appreciate about God’s Word; it’s honest. She weeps bitterly. She doesn’t eat. These seem to be symptoms of depression.
But one day, in the midst of the ritual of worship, Hannah gets up, gets something to eat, and heads to the temple, bleary-eyed, to pour out her prayer and tears to YHWH. Eli observes her there, lips trembling and flushed from sobbing. Even he doesn’t get Hannah. His spiritual eyes dimly make out a drunk (in 1 Samuel 2, we see that the real criminals are his own sons, and physical blindness overtakes Eli in 1 Samuel 3).
This part saddens me because we are prone to misjudging the people we are called to minister to because they passionately and emotionally respond to their situations as they seek God’s face. It’s okay to ask for healing of the body against disease or against cancer. It’s okay to plead with God to mend a crushed heart or an abused soul. There is no set time limit on grieving the death of a loved one. Praise God that these people take their petitions and griefs to God – He can handle them. I have been rebuked and have heard others rebuked for not "getting over" a hurt in an acceptable amount of time. More often than not, it would better serve folks to pray for them first, listen second, and then be quiet.
Hannah prays with reference to the law (see Numbers 6 for details on the Nazirite vow) as well as her emotions. She’s such a great example of honesty, informed faith, and vulnerable hope in prayer.
Her words are powerful. They move Eli from rebuking her to blessing her! See her triumph song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10? Mary takes cues from Hannah’s lyrics when she sings in Luke 1:46-55. When Messiah's mom quotes you, you are definitely a theological prayer warrior! When she promises that her son would be set apart from birth to YHWH, she keeps her word.
God remembered Hannah. Hannah's first son, Samuel is born, and serves as a light of prophecy and truth to the nation of Israel, and he anoints Israel’s first God-chosen king, David. God heard Hannah and answered exceeding abundantly.
Thanks so much, Hannah, for keeping it real with your life. Thank you Lord, for including her story in the canon to bring hope to Your children as they pray-and cry-even now.
Though most of us cannot relate to an irritating co-wife as Hannah did with Penninah, we may coexist with other women who sharpen their blessings and hurl them to cut us and extract envy. Constantly. For example, I have had the pleasure of hearing many baby announcements lately. And I am SUPER-excited for those dear friends. But there have been one or two acquaintances who’ve shared the good news, followed by a peaked brow and the question (that’s really a statement), “when are you going to have a baby? You’ve been married for, what, almost three years now?”
(I have found that if one waits long enough, a woman’s body will give a huge clue as to whether she in fact is pregnant.)
You almost have to pity the Penninahs of the world; their identity rests on acquisitions (children, husbands, money, position, stuff). Getting more stuff helps them to avoid the vacuous hole that they would otherwise face. For Penninah, this hole might have been a marriage to a man whom she could not satisfy.
Hannah had a husband, Elkanah, who adored her. However, he set the tense tone between Hannah and Penninah by playing favorites. Never a good idea under one roof. Added to this dysfunction was Elkanah’s minimizing of Hannah’s pain when he says, “aren’t I better to you than 10 sons?” Well, no. Not in a day when children were the only nursing-home care that a woman could hope to receive in her old age. Don’t you hate it when in the middle of your legitimate pain, someone tries to quell it and stroke their own ego at the same time?
What was Hannah’s response to the chaos? This is what I so appreciate about God’s Word; it’s honest. She weeps bitterly. She doesn’t eat. These seem to be symptoms of depression.
But one day, in the midst of the ritual of worship, Hannah gets up, gets something to eat, and heads to the temple, bleary-eyed, to pour out her prayer and tears to YHWH. Eli observes her there, lips trembling and flushed from sobbing. Even he doesn’t get Hannah. His spiritual eyes dimly make out a drunk (in 1 Samuel 2, we see that the real criminals are his own sons, and physical blindness overtakes Eli in 1 Samuel 3).
This part saddens me because we are prone to misjudging the people we are called to minister to because they passionately and emotionally respond to their situations as they seek God’s face. It’s okay to ask for healing of the body against disease or against cancer. It’s okay to plead with God to mend a crushed heart or an abused soul. There is no set time limit on grieving the death of a loved one. Praise God that these people take their petitions and griefs to God – He can handle them. I have been rebuked and have heard others rebuked for not "getting over" a hurt in an acceptable amount of time. More often than not, it would better serve folks to pray for them first, listen second, and then be quiet.
Hannah prays with reference to the law (see Numbers 6 for details on the Nazirite vow) as well as her emotions. She’s such a great example of honesty, informed faith, and vulnerable hope in prayer.
Her words are powerful. They move Eli from rebuking her to blessing her! See her triumph song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10? Mary takes cues from Hannah’s lyrics when she sings in Luke 1:46-55. When Messiah's mom quotes you, you are definitely a theological prayer warrior! When she promises that her son would be set apart from birth to YHWH, she keeps her word.
God remembered Hannah. Hannah's first son, Samuel is born, and serves as a light of prophecy and truth to the nation of Israel, and he anoints Israel’s first God-chosen king, David. God heard Hannah and answered exceeding abundantly.
Thanks so much, Hannah, for keeping it real with your life. Thank you Lord, for including her story in the canon to bring hope to Your children as they pray-and cry-even now.
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