Show Commentary Trusting God means path of From the r j did you ever get toand play a game called gether It is usually played by evenly dividing teams drawing a line on the ground then each group pulling in the opposite diAs children and the world continues "tug-of-war- rection The goal is to pull the opposing team’ across the line It was a lot of fun when we were children Some of us still play that game we just call it by other names We sometimes call it “RightWrong” In this game each person assumes he is right and goes about doing things to pull the other person to his point of view Another game much like this one is “You Kill My Dog I Kill Your Cat!” In this game the goal is to get even Sometimes this one can be used as in the Bible reference Usually the person does not remember the part that says: “Vengeance is mine” said the Lord If we look at each game we can still see the rope and two teams pulling against the other In one the kids finish the game and cheerfully move to something else In the other two adults smolder and scheme as to how to win the game There is no time limit Science states1 that whenever there is a force in motion there will always be an equal opposing force In Matt 27:12-1- 4 when Jesus e” Pulpit Jones Shirley Pastor Church) ot Religious Science Ogden was taken before Pilate and said nothing he illustrated a power in Why do we ignore his example? What are we resisting? Most of us resist the new the present time because we choose to live in the past We think about how life used to be how people used to be how we used to be and attempt to recreate the past in today Our constant locking back puts up a resistence to moving forward because the energy we place in looking back is needed to go forward Looking back crystallizes us in the past for the time we put our energy there One of the challenges we must overcome in order to practice the is to keep art of our thought in the present Another challenge to practicing is our need to be in control We like to think that we control our lives and do our best to control the lives of others In actuality how much do we really control? Our body is pretty much automatic in 24 hours we spend from 5 to 12 hours sleeping non-resistan- ce Our control is based in the choices we make An example of these choices can be seen in our cars The motor runs by itself however we through the key and gears give direction to the motor If we give directions to the car without putting fuel oil etc the car shows us who is really in charge Most of us say we want God to control our life but we spend most of our prayer time telling God what we want when we want it and how to use it True prayer is really knowing that our needs are met in the perfect time by a God whose will for us is good and who gives that good willingly so we can say with ease “Thy will in my life” In orwe must der to be is in control that God and accept can be trusted in our behalf We resist the unfamiliar because we have learned to react in non-resista- nt fear My granddaughter and grandson and I went to Lagoon when my grandson was 6 My granddaughter liked the colossal roller coaster My grandson was afraid of it We looked around the park until we found a small roller coaster for children his age I asked him if he wanted to ride it He wasn’t sure so we watched for awhile He finally decided to trust it He got on the ride and it took off slowly Most of us resist the new the present time because we choose to live in the past When it went down quickly I could tell he was surprised The whole thing was unexpected When he got off he looked like he was in shock He walked toward me and looked to me for my reaction I said “Wasn’t that fun?” He halfway agreed and got more excited as I talked about how much fun it was He had done something he had never done before therefore he had no frame of reference Should I be upset or was it fun? Knowing he had no frame of reference I called it “fun” and he accepted it We have learned in our lives to expect unfamiliar things to be dangerous and fearful so we face them that way In our fear we offer resistence That resistence is returned and our fears are verified Dr Norman Vincent Peale offers a p formula for six-ste- 1 Don’t fight a problem Ask questions of it “What is God asking me to learn?” 2 Be glad you have problems that proves you are alive 3 Believe that a problem is not Synod demonstrates cruelty in More than a million people have been displaced by the brutal war in El Salvador that has dragged on now for more than a decade Tens of thousands of people the political' spectrum In one y gory period last month 800 people were killed and twice that number were woundfive-da- ed And the violence is absolutely shocking: tongues cut out eyes gouged bodies mutilated women and children tortured and raped It’s difficult to imagine how bravery survives such a cli- mate of fear But a case in point is Medar-d- o Ernesto Gomez the bishop of the Clark Morphew Knight-Ridd- have been killed by death squads from both the left and right of Salvadoran Lutheran Church long recognized as one of the most courageous church leaders in the Central American nation Just recently Gomez was spirited out of the country and safely reunited with his family Dec 9 1989 Synod But as tensions escalated in El Salvador Gomez began to change the focus of his ministry and the Missouri Synod became concerned He began working with other denominations to build a Christian wall of resistance to the violence and injustice There were occasions when Gomez appeared in public worship with pastors from other Lutheran denominations and in the past few years he has openly worked with missionaries from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Those cooperative gestures Church-Missou- Newspapers But the Lutheran mission in San Salvador which provided food shelter and education to refugees and the poor is now virtually destroyed All the international Lutheran missionaries have been deported to their homelands by Salvador- an government order The buildings belonging to the mission have been bombed twice One pastor who ran a church’ refugee camp was fatally shot in the head in 1984 After receiving persistent death threats and hearing from reporters and church workers of “a standing order to capture him” Gomez finally decided to flee For more than 20 years the Salvadoran Lutheran Church was affiliated with the Lutheran ri were frowned on by the Missouri Synod Above all else the 26 million-membdenomination seems determined to keep its theology pure And working with other Christians even other Lutherans has long been a serious infraction of synod law But Gomez was in a tough bishop in spot as a El Salvador He welcomed the er high-profi- le El 5 Approach every problem with a formula think-pray-bclie- Go forward on the amaiifg closed dooropen door technique I have learned that when things are not working out it usually means (1)1 want my will my way not God’s (2) I am using my timetable and not God's and somewhere ego is at stake and I have a need to prove something to myself or somebody Jesus needed to offer no resistance because he knew that God and he were one and there was no other power Since there was no 6 other power he had no fear: there was no time other than God's time there is no other w ill other than God’s will As we each learn to accept that today is the perfect day not tomorrow or yesterday we see what is the good in this day and look diligently until we find it When we look at the door that is open rather than the one that is shut when we give praise for the present moment and the good we have in it as we see God in our- selves and the wonderful way he is expressing through us alone we will have no need for resistance — for God will paint the masterpiece we see in each other for us to admire Salvador poor into his refugee camps reof their political stances or religious beliefs He fed the hungry protected the innocent and stood with those who wanted justice and peace The Rev Sam Nafzger director of the Missouri Synod’s Commission on Theology said it was not only the cooperation with other churches but his liberal attitude toward women in ministry that concerned the denomination “It’s true that the Missouri Synod had some questions about practices in El Salvador There were some questions about ordaining women Then later we learned that two women were ordained at the level of deacon But what does that mean?” Nafzger said the Missouri Synod and the Lutheran Church in El Salvador agreed in April to sever their relationship "I would prefer to put it on the level of principle” Nafzger said “We are aware of the deli gardless inherently bad but good 4 See buried in every problem an amazing value for you cate situation he (Gomez) lives in And we did not want to endanger him But by the same n to-ke- the Lutheran Synod has its understanding of church fellowship and ordination of women We try to take our theology seriously We want to deal with El Salvador with both theological integrity and compassion” So the Missouri Synod withdrew about $30000 of its support from the church headed by Gomez but will continue to fund projects it deems compatible with the denomination’s theology and practice You may consider this attitude and action by the Missouri Synod shortsighted and perhaps downright cruel I am left wondering why this powerful denomination spends so much time scrapping with faithful people over peripheral issues when the heart of the gospel is so desperately needed all around the globe Church-Missou- Standard-Examin- ri er Church News 5 |