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Beware the Ides of March

“Beware the Ides of March” is the warning that a soothsayer whispered to Caesar in Act 1 Scene 2 of the Shakespearean play “Julius Caesar.” Because of the noise of the crowd through which Caesar and his entourage were walking, Caesar didn’t understand the words. Ironically, it is Brutus who tells Caesar that the man is warning him about the Ides of March.

The word “Ides” is one of the three named days of the month of the Roman calendar. “Kalends” was the first day of the month. “Nones” was the seventh day of the month; and “Ides” was approximately the 15th or the middle of the month.

With the help of Shakespeare, the phrase “Ideas of March” gained a sense of foreboding in the European world. It carried the same connotation that “Friday the 13th” invokes in today’s world. They are superstitions, irrational and unfounded beliefs in objects or signs having magical power to control peoples’ lives.

For Christians, superstitions are akin to idolatry. It is attributing the providence of God to something else. Nothing is done outside of God’s control or permission. To believe otherwise is really a transgression against the first commandment:

“You shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3 KJV).

This concept is explicated in Isaiah 46:

“9Remember the former things of old: For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.

10Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times the things that are not yet done, Saying, My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure:

11Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” (KJV)

Living by superstitions leaves the door open for Satan to take control of the situation and us, as is described in I Peter 5:8,

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (KJV)

In Act 17:22, Paul on a missionary visit to Athens proclaimed:

“Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars of Mars Hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.” (KJV)

For several years, March has been a rough month for me. However, I do not believe that March is a bad month. In March 2007, I had a sinus infection that developed into bronchitis. In March 2009, I had the stroke-like episode with an imploding brain tumor. In March 2010, I had a bout with pneumonia. In March 2011, I had a pacemaker implant.

Several weeks ago, in March 2013, I had what appeared to be a heart-attack, but it turned out to be a gallbladder attack. I had to have my gallbladder removed. Fortunately they were able to take it out via a laperoscope. However, before they were able to get it out, my gallbladder pumped infection throughout my body. I spent more than a week in the hospital. At first they thought the infection might have affected my heart. However, a stress test showed that my heart is as strong and overall as healthy as it has been all along. The stress test technician said that my stress test result was the best that he had seen for many months. My heart is strong. The only problem is that the beat is irregular. I just don’t have rhythm. The infection did cause me some urinary bladder problems. I had to carry a bag for almost two weeks. The catheter is out but my bladder may not be emptying properly. Please pray for God’s continual healing in this matter. Catheters are a pain and bags are extremely inconvenient.

All the health problems of this March have set back my writing agenda. I have ideas piling up. I hope to be able to return to writing soon. However, the hallucinations, cross-sensory perceptions and inability to concentrate continue to plague me at times. My neurology team has tried several new medications. The only change I noticed is that I am having more vivid dreams. I almost have a sense of what Samuel Taylor Coleridge experienced. I can see Xanadu more clearly now.

I had two excellent doctors’ appointments in early April. I am free of the catheter and bag for at least three weeks as long as I’m a good boy and drink lots and LOTS of water. The urologist was amazed that my retention in a follow-up appointment was only half of what it was in the first appointment. She said that was great and very, very unusual. I told her prayer still works.

At the second appointment, the surgeon also said that I am an unusually good healer. My surgery scars are healing as well as he has ever seen. He said that I am truly a “young man” in terms of parts of my body. He said that it shows that I have taken good care of myself over the years. I told him I had some help from above. Both my cardiologist and my surgeon have given me clearance to get back on the stationary bike, so hopefully I will be back in the swing of things by this coming week. My legs are getting restless for work. Please pray with me that my brain will return to clarity so that I can return to writing.

I do not have to worry or be afraid of the Ides of March. I may not understand God’s reasoning, but I can’t question his power or mercy. He has shown his power and mercy over and over again. I have had many opportunities to meet and talk with people that I otherwise would not have contacted. I can do nothing else but praise His name and thank Him for His goodness to me.

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Let Us Be Gentle, Joseph: Part II – Nicodemus and Joseph

This is a continuation of my previous post, Let Us Be Gentle, Joseph: Part I – Nicodemus. It refers to a lesson that I wrote and delivered at our church in Michigan before we moved to Pennsylvania. The inspiritation of the lesson was a small book of poetry by John Anderson Barbour entitled Let Us Be Gentle, Joseph. I finished the first post with the idea that Barbour’s poetry provides a window into the soul of Nicodemus and a mirror which reflects an image of our souls.

After Nicodemus met with Jesus in the upper room, Nicodemus is mentioned only twice more in scriptures. In John 7, there is an account of a dispute between the Pharisees and the Temple Guards. The Pharisees had ordered the Temple Guards to bring Jesus into court before the Pharisees to stand trial for blasphemy. When the Temple Guards didn’t follow this directive, the excuse they gave was “Never spake man like this” (v 46). The Pharisees quickly responded, “Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?” (vs 47,48)  Apparently, Nicdoemus had kept quiet about his encounter with Jesus. However, he did choose at this moment to speak up. He stopped the proceedings and said, “Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” (v 51) The Pharisees tired to shut Nicodemus down by pointing out that both he and Jesus were from Galilee. Then the Pharisees asked Nicodemus if any prophet ever came from Galilee.

Nicodemus again fades from view in scriptures until he and Joseph of Arimathea come together at Calvary. John’s account of this incident in verses 38 to 42 of Chapter 19, tells us that although Joseph was a believer, he was a silent believer because he was afraid of the Jews. However, with the crucifion everything changed. Nicodemus and Joseph both came out the shadows. They claimed Christ’s body in order to give it a proper Jewish burial.

This is where Barbour’s poem (of the same name as his book) Let Us Be Gentle, Joseph picks up the story:

How gaunt he looks
with outstretched arms
and bloody hands and side.

Let us be gentle, Joseph
as we take his body down
and bathe the ugly wounds
which hate has made.
Can it be that this is he
who said that star-illumined night
“Believe in me,
and you shall have life
which has no end”?
And yet he lies here dead
beneath our hand.
Let us lay him gently in the tomb.
and wait–
for surely the day will come.

For Nicodemus, Joseph, Mary, Peter, John, and the other disciples, the first day of resurrection did come quickly. Althought, it was only three days, I’m sure those three days felt like an eternity. We know that day did come. Now it is our turn to wait for a second day. However, because the first day came, we know “surely the [second] day will come.”

While we wait for it, we have two things to do: The first is to make sure others know of the first resurrection day. The second is to watch for the second day. We stand with John as he ended his Revelation: “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

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Let Us Be Gentle, Joseph: Part I – Nicodemus

 

This posting is excerpted from the last lesson I gave in our church in MIchigan in April 2012 prior to our move to Pennsylvania. It is a very different type of message from the ones that I normally delivered before the explosion in my head. My earlier lessons were built on what I believed to be a solid Biblical foundation constructed through an analytic study of scripture, bathed in prayer. After the study and prayer, with God’s help I would raise the framework of the sermon and then clad it with pictures and metaphors, supplied by God, illustrating my main points.

This message was put together in a very different way. It did not begin with an analytic foundation. It was inspired by a book of poetry that I have no idea how I came to possess. As I was cleaning up my library and preparing to pack some books, sell some, and give the rest away, I found a very small book of poetry hiding between two of my topical study books. I almost overlooked it, but it fell to the floor when I pulled two Warren Wiersbe books off the shelf. Picking up the little book. I was fascinated by its title, which was Let Us Be Gentle, Joseph: A Devotional Journey. I didn’t recognize the name of the author, John Anderson Barbour. I began reading it and soon found that I had read all 46 pages of the book while sitting on a box of books that I had just finished packing.

Since I didn’t know the author I tried looking for more information about him and the book. According to Amazon.com, the book is out of print. They only list three used copies available in the whole U. S., priced from $14.95 to $61.95. I’ve gone to several other sources, and the only other books written by Barbour since this 1973 publication were Bible story books for children. Barbour just seemed to disappear after 1978. Even the publisher, T. S. Denison & Company, Inc. of Minneapolis, seemed to vanish in 1986.

I am reprising my last message in our Michigan church for this post. In it, I am trying to give you some pictures of the gospel story that I never saw anywhere else. These stories are not meant to replace or displace the eloquent and forceful, straight forward truth of the gospel account from scripture.

In John, chapter 3 we are introduced to a Pharisee, named Nicodemus. This very familiar story is found in John 3:1-16. Knowing the hatred that many Pharisees had toward Christ, it is not hard to imagine why Nicodemus went to see Jesus under the cover of darkness. What is hard to understand is why Nicodemus wanted to talk to Christ in the first place.

Nicodemus opens the conversation by giving Jesus an honor rarely afforded by a Pharisee to someone other than another Pharisee. Nicodemus addresses him as “Rabbi” and “a teacher come from God” (v 2). Without really coming out and saying what was on his mind, he indicates that he recognizes that Jesus must have come from God because of the things that Jesus had done. These miracles could not have been the works of a mere mortal.

Since Jesus is God, Jesus knows what’s on Nicodemus’ heart and mind, and gets right to the point. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (v 5). Without pausing, Christ continues by introducing a phrase that has characterized Christians ever since: “Ye must be born again” (v 7).

Nicodemus then asks the question that everyone who wants to come to God must consider, “How can these things be?” Christ chides Nicodemus a little by asking him, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?” (v 10) Jesus then zeros in on the problem. Nicodemus is thinking in earthly terms and Jesus was speaking spiritual and heavenly truths.

Jesus gives Nicodemus one more metaphor tying a spiritual reality to an earthly object lesson. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus would have been very familiar with the story of Moses and the serpent lifted up in the wilderness which saved any Israelite who looked toward it. Something had to die so that man could live. This was the basis of the Jewish system of sacrifices for the atonement of sins.

At this point Jesus knows that Nicodemus is ready for the new gospel message. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (v 16).

At this point Nicodemus fades away and the Biblical account follows Jesus and his disciples to Judea, where they meet up with John the Baptist, who was preaching and baptizing people, proclaiming the imminent coming of the Messiah.

We are left wondering what happened to Nicodemus. Barbour’s poem Nicodemus gives us a picture of what might have occurred next.

You understand
it would not be discreet
for a person of some prominence
to be seen with him.
Some say he claims to be God’s son;
some that Caesar’s throne
is no in jeopardy;
and there are those who talk
with starry eyes
about the happiness he brings,
of stunted limbs
and scaly flesh made whole;
and so I climbed the stairs by night.

How will I tell the Council that I know
beyond a shadow of doubt
this son of man is love personified
and that because of him
I have been born again?

Barbour’s poem is not scripture and definitely not included in the official canon, but it paints a picture that resonates with me. It provides a window into the soul of Nicodemus and other humans. It also provides me a mirror which reflects an image of my soul. I can definitely see myself in it. I find myself in his words. “How will I tell [others] that I know beyond a shadow of doubt…that because of him I have been born again?”

This post is to be continued in Let Us Be Gentle, Joseph Part II – Nicodemus and Joseph.

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Consider the Moth

Luke 12:22-30 (NIV)

22Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

27Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

In the 12th chapter of Luke, Jesus alternates between speaking to a large crowd and teaching his disciples privately in this very public setting. In verses 22 through 30, using two lessons from nature, Jesus attempts to teach his disciples the fruitlessness and folly of worry. He shares the secret to handling the paralyzing grip of worry and selfishness: All we need to do is to put our lives into the protective and comforting hands of God the Father.

In the first vignette, God cares for the birds of the field (ravens or crows depending upon which version of Scriptures you use). Ravens and crows are scavengers and generally considered nuisances and pests. However, God takes care of them. That should give all of us hope and comfort.

In the second vignette, wild flowers or lilies (depending upon the version of Scriptures you use) are favorably compared with the splendor of Solomon, his palace and its royal trappings. We all know that all flowers are very temporary. They eventually wither and die. The remains of the flowers are either left to decompose and become part of the ground for the next crop of flowers, or they are gathered up and burnt, with the ashes scattered to the winds. Finally, time erases the signs of their presence and they are remembered no more. However, God gives these temporary plants as much beauty and concern as the royal trappings with which Solomon surrounded himself. We don’t need to be overly-concerned with the way we look and dress. God will provide us with our basic needs. [Note: I believe the key word in the preceding sentence is “overly-concerned.” We do need to dress modestly and appropriately for the occasion. Other people may judge us by the way we look, but God judges us for what is in our hearts.]

In these two vignettes and in other scripture passages Christ, during his earthly ministry, used examples from nature to teach us practical lessons. Some of these include the parable of the sower, the lesson of the mustard seed, and the lesson of the size of the harvest. God, speaking through writers of Job and the Psalms, used examples from nature to teach us practical lessons.

In Christian higher education, we have often used the phrase “All truth is God’s truth.” Arthur Holmes, in his book by this same title, uses the creation or cultural mandate given to Adam as license to search for truth wherever we might find it. We do not need to be afraid of truth. However, we do need to circumspectly make judgments between God’s truth and Satan’s imitations of that truth.

In that vein, I want to thank Tom Bartlett, senior writer for The Chronicle of Higher Education. He wrote an article that appeared in the August 17, 2012 edition of The Chronicle Review. Interestingly the article was labeled Salvaging God on the cover of the magazine section. Does God need salvaging? Do we think we can salvage him? When you get to the article inside the section, it is entitled, Dusting off God; Does Religion Really Poison Everything?

Bartlett begins this article with a parable about moths that Richard Dawkins, an outspoken atheist, introduced in his book, The God Delusion. Moths and bats are two nocturnal fliers. However, their evening flights are made possible because of two very different natural senses. Bats use the sense of sound. They use natural sonar to navigate around obstacles. Moths, on the other hand, use their very sensitive eyes and the light from the moon or stars to see the obstacles and navigate around them.

The fact that moths use light by which to navigate actually explains why they are susceptible to bug zappers. They are not attracted to the light of campfires, light bulbs or bug zappers. They are confused by that light.

Physics tell us that light is a chameleon in the physical world. Sometimes it behaves like waves of energy, and other times like particles with mass. Some physicists attempt to describe this aspect of light by saying that the particles resemble individual packets of matter that are pure energy. This seems to be a key to the complicated relationship between matter and energy. Recall Einstein’s formula, E = mc2.

Light radiates from a source in waves of ever expanding circles. Our eyes and other light sensors don’t “read” the wave. They are focusing on the individual packets of light. By the time light reaches the earth from the moon or stars, the waves of light are so large in diameter that the light sensors in our eyes are “reading” the light as if it was coming into our eyes as a series of parallel, straight lines.

If we look at a light bulb from a distance of three feet, the diameter of the light waves reaching our eyes is not very large. The light sensors in our eyes pick up multiple light packets, and not a straight, steady stream of packets. This can even make the light bulb seem to flicker. If you look at the light bulb through a very narrow slit, the flickering will be greatly reduced.

The great distances between the earth and the sun, moon and stars, fixes the position of these bodies in relationship to the earth. We and moths can then use those fixed positions to navigate successfully objects on the earth.

Since our eyes and sight receptors are so much larger than those in moths, the introduction of a much closer source of light such as a campfire, porch light or bug zapper doesn’t attract moths. It is actually confusing them. Therefore, they can’t navigate properly and tend to begin a death spiral into the source of the light. Self-immolation is not built into their instincts or DNA. It is the result of confusion. Dawkins explains that moths didn’t evolve to commit suicide. He claims that this is just “an unfortunate byproduct” of the evolutionary process.

Richard Dawkins suggests that religion is like a bug zapper for humans. It introduces another source of information that confuses people, distracting their attention from scientific truth. They behave like moths and seek patterns in religious texts. This begins people on a death spiral into the black hole of ignorance.

This is a very convenient and useful explanation for the confirmed atheist. It removes God from the equation. It eradicates any burden of personal obligation or responsibility for our choices. It then squarely places the blame for all of our problems on religion. Although the seemingly innate search for truth through religion and religious experiences appears to be a universal feature built into the soul of every human, it is nothing but “an unfortunate byproduct” of evolution.

Of course we could offer another explanation. However, this explanation is predicated on the existence of an omnipotent and just God who created the universe and everything in it. This God demands obedience and personal responsibility. However, this God is also a loving God. Through the sacrifice of Christ, this God has offered all people the opportunity for eternal salvation. Yet this scenario is unacceptable to many because man is no longer the center of the universe.

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Life Verse

Psalm 147:10 (NIV) “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;”

 

It’s been 50 years since I have seriously considered the concept of a life verse. As a teenager growing up in what many would have called a fundamentalist church, we regularly heard in our Sunday school classes, youth group programs and from the pulpit, the importance of having a life verse. Two events within the past month brought this concept to the front of my mind. The first was seeing an advertisement for “The One Year Life Verse Devotional” by Jay K. Payleitner. The front cover of the book claims it contains 365 stories of remarkable people and the Scripture that changed their lives. In Payleitner’s Introduction, he defines a life verse as “a piece of scripture that God used to inspire, challenge or rescue you at a turning point in your life.” My concern as a teenager with picking out a life verse was that I knew there were would be many challenges and questions in front of me. However, I had no idea what they might be. How could I be sure that one verse would answer all my questions?  In high school, I was fairly confident that God was calling me to teach mathematics in a college setting. I couldn’t find any verse that specifically talked about teaching mathematics at the college level. So I never sat down and picked a life verse.

The second event of the past month that brought me face to face with the concept of a life verse was my reading of the verse Psalm 147:10.  I know I had seen it many times before. However, this time it hit me between the eyes. I read it and I said, “That’s me. That’s my life verse.”

What in the world am I talking about? How would the fact that God did not find pleasure in the strength of a horse nor delight in the legs of a warrior have anything to do with me? Why this verse struck me at this time has to deal with two items. The first is my given name Bayard. I will admit that “Bayard” is not the most common given name. I was aware of a few other individuals with the given name Bayard. Growing up in Delaware, I was also aware of a much larger number of people with the family name of Bayard.

As I researched the name Bayard, I found that there were 3 places where the name arose. The first was Danish mythology. Bayard was the name of a horse with magical powers. The second was from old English and French contractions of “bay of the yard” or roan colored farm horse. The third was from a gallant French knight who was named Sir Bayard, because of his bravery and his chestnut colored hair.

So here in one verse, the Psalmist speaks of strong horses and brave warriors. He is using my name.

But it goes even deeper. For 50 years I ran. I wasn’t running from God, but I was trying to outrun age. I played an hour of basketball each day for at least five days every week. I strengthened my legs. On my 50th birthday, I played in a Gus Macher 3-on-3 basketball tournament. My team made it to the semi-finals. Even at age 60, for pick-up games, I was the first one on the court and the last one to leave. I had the nick name of “Old Iron Legs.” But that was soon going to change. Due to all the pounding on the hard wood, my knees finally gave out and I couldn’t find a surgeon who would fix them. I had to switch to a stationary recumbent bike to get my exercise. In 2008, I pedaled at least 30 miles a day, at least 200 miles each week, and more than 10,000 miles for the year without moving an inch. My knees might have been shot, but my legs were strong. They looked like the legs of a young athlete, with huge, solid thighs and hard, firm well-defined calves.

Then in March 2009, all that changed. I had a blood vessel in a brain tumor burst. It technically wasn’t a stroke since no blood was cut off to the brain proper, but I had all the after effects of a stroke. It was several months of therapy before I could walk a hundred feet without wobbling. Since that event, I have had two other events that showed me that my legs were not my strength. In December 2009, I had 4 tonic-clonic seizures that left me unconscious in a hospital for 3 days. I was now battling epilepsy. In December 2010, I was diagnosed with the early stages of Parkinson’s. It was back to therapy. In March 2011, I had a pacemaker implanted to try to help control an atrial-fibrillation condition that was starting to get out of control.

Four times in my lifetime, doctors have said that they have no medical or scientific reason that they can give me as to why I am still alive. They said my physical conditioning was a big help, but it couldn’t explain everything. Several of the doctors went so far as to say, I was a walking miracle. All I could say to that was: “Amen, I know it.”

My cardiologist has given me permission to get back on the bike as long as I monitor my heart while exercising. I am only doing six or seven miles a day on the bike, but now I know for sure that my strength comes from the Lord and not from my legs. It is not our bravery or the strength in our legs that pleases God. Psalm 147:11 tells us that:”the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. .” (NIV) Our bravery and our legs will fail us, but God’s love will not.

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After hundreds of years of debate, we finally have a defintion of a religious institution of higher education

What is a religious institution of higher education? After centuries of arguments and debates, finally, we have a definition. It comes to us from an impeccable source. An Acting Regional DIrector, of Region 2, (NYC, NY) of the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB was forced to define a religious institution because of a suit brought against Manhattan College by it Adjunct Faculty Union, supported by the New York State United Teachers, AFT?NEA/AFL-CIO.

The core of the matter was that the adjunct faculty of Manhattan College sought to unionize, but Manhattan College argued that because they were a  Catholic institution, they did not have to recognize an employee union.

After listening to the arguments from both sides and reading hundreds of pages of material published by Manhattan College, the NLRB ruled that Manhattan College was really not a Catholic institution. Manhattan for its entire existence has claimed to be a Catholic institution in the Lasalian order.

However, the NLRB based its ruling on evidence provided by Manhattan that attempted to described it religious ties in wording so vague that most secular institutions could use to describe their missions. Manhattan described the Lasalian philosophy as a belief in “excellence in teaching, respect for individual dignity, and commitment to social justice.”

The Regional NLRB continued by stating that  the primary hallmarks of an authentic Catholic college or university are exclusionary hiring, a proselytizing atmosphere, and dogmatic inflexibility in the curriculum. If this ruling stands, these could become the guidelines for judging whether an institution is a religious institution or not.

Why do I believe that this is not the final word on this issue?