Dignity IV

“Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” -Pro. 14:34

Gilbert Meilander has written a recent book on the subject of the dignity of man entitled Neither Beast Nor God.* I just naturally liked it already because of the title. We are not in the same category as any beast of the field which is a distinction no longer assumed in the public sphere. Our friends at P.E.T.A. regularly remind us of that and accuse us of “specie snobbery” or some such thing. Without the Bible, it is hard to explain why humans should have their way in this world just because they happen to be on the top of the food chain.

Meilander book-ends the topic with the reminder that we are not gods either no matter how much some of us might wistfully imagine in fractured moments of self-delusion.. It is Satan’s oldest trick to tease us into some grasp at equality with God as happened in the garden or at the tower of Babel. Our Mormon friends find this not so repulsive or unobtainable as one might think.

In the book, the author talks about human dignity as that common distinction afforded the human race as opposed to animal or vegetable life. He characterizes it, however, as a somewhat slippery term that invites comparisons among us as when certain people show themselves notoriously inhuman in their personal conduct or merely as not having as much worth as another. Meilander points to the necessity of grounding everything in the concept of personal dignity, an idea that finds its roots squarely in Scripture.

“A society can acknowledge and reward differences in accomplishment and achievement, it can recognize the sadness and tragedy of disability and fading capacities, and it can appreciate the worth of particular loves and special bonds of association—it can, that is, honor and affirm the dignity of the human condition, of this creature who is neither beast nor god. But it can safely do this only when its first and last commitment is to respect the equal dignity of persons, each of whom is made for community with God.”

I recently read the tawdry story of a young woman who had driven her husband to the hospital early one morning. She was drunk, and he was suffering a gunshot wound to the abdomen as a result their argument. They both sounded absolutely pathetic. Not the kind of folks I would choose as neighbors or sitting as a jury of my peers. Yet, both retain a sense of personal dignity that requires me to treat them as people for whom Christ died and still seeks to save. Our secular society finds our compassion in this regard as helplessly “religious” in nature and therefore irrelevant to the public sphere. They would even criticize us for interjecting religion into matters of state. Yet, Meilander finds that it is the unbelievers “who find themselves mute when asked to give an account of our shared public commitment [to equal respect for every human being].” Their silence in this regard is both enlightening and frightful.

It is instructive to witness the great outpouring of love and concern for the people of Haiti coming from a) Christians and b) countries sharing a traditional Christian heritage. They recognize the personal dignity that resides in each poor, helpless, and struggling Haitian man, woman, and child in spite of language, culture, tradition, or even religion. We go because Christ went. We weep because Christ wept. We have compassion because Christ had compassion. And in doing these things for the least of those, we do it unto Him. When enough of us continue this great commission and tradition, we can actually exalt a nation.

*2009, Encounter Books, New York, NY.

Significance

“Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” - Psalms 56:8

Just how special are you? A clue comes from modern pathology science which has discovered the unique, special mark that each person carries within their DNA. A recent crime story took this simple fact one step further as investigators solved an abduction and murder case involving a 5 year old girl by analyzing the tear stains on the passenger side of her killer’s car. There, within those stains, was found the unmistakable proof of the little girl’s DNA identity. How poignant that this little girl’s tears solved her own murder case. How incredibly powerful is the knowledge that our tears are uniquely laced with our own one-of-a-kind personhood.

In ancient times, we are told that mourners at funerals would collect their tears in little bottles and place them with the body upon burial. Evidence of this has been found in tombs in Rome and Palestine sometimes in great profusion. From this we can flesh out the picture of Psalm 56:8 where God is said to collect our tears in His bottle; or as the indelible stains upon the pages of our record. Our tears are uniquely our own, and our God knows them all.

Two lessons come clear to me upon reflection on this truth. One, each one of us is completely different from all other persons who have ever walked on the earth or will take breath in this world. When the Scriptures talk about a victim’s blood crying out from the ground for justice, we know now that every drop of our blood has our name on it. We are imprinted from birth with a mark that sets us apart from all others. When lost in a large crowd of thousands or imagine ourselves swallowed up amidst the millions of China, we need never lose track of our own unique significance in the eyes of God. And, in fact, He has numbered the very hairs of our head. He sees the sparrow fall but proclaims we are of far greater worth. Such knowledge is too high for me. I cannot attain to it. Yet it is sweetly comforting.

Secondly, God has ordained that we live such lives where tears are inevitable. Sorrow and grief follow in our steps as surely as death follows life. Ever since our expulsion from the garden, pain and suffering are an endemic part of our lives. At one time, my immature thoughts considered pain as either the result of my own poor thought processes or someone else’s. If we were just smart enough, pain could be avoided altogether. Either that or pain was just a result of some bad luck which, like lightning, strikes without cause or warning: a twist of cruel but random fate. I see pain and suffering now as more a constant part of the fabric of our lives: as destined for us as earning our bread by the sweat of our brow.

Yet God, Himself, stepped into our world and took on the limitations and pain of man. Dorothy Sayers wrote, “For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is – limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death – He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine… He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.”* We, too, can walk this vale of tears and find it all worthwhile. Especially as we know we are uniquely significant. Not only that, but we are hovered over by the lover of our souls, one who has experienced all the limitations of the flesh, who keeps a record of all our tears until the day when all sorrow shall cease; no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying when He will wipe away every tear.

*Dorothy Sayers, Creed or Chaos? (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1949), 4.

holy ground

"And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” 2 Kings 6:16

The servant of Elisha scaled the wall of Jerusalem to look out upon the armies surrounding them and was afraid. He saw everything that you and I would have seen that day: an opposing and powerful foe with a lock on the situation. Elisha prayed that this servant would get a glimpse into the spiritual world that we do not normally see. That prayer was answered, and he saw still another army encircling the first that filled the mountains round about with horses and chariots of fire. Fear of the enemy turned to pity for the enemy who unknowingly stood in the grip of the God of the universe.

We have traveled through another school year together. Together, we have experienced joys and sorrows, triumph and travail, laughter and some tears. The joy is not to be overlooked but celebrated, cherished, as one who finds a polished stone or a lost coin. It is a rejoicing that we share together as one person’s joy should lift all our hearts. The pain that some of you bear and have borne is also something that we must equally share as we sojourn along in common paths. It is my distinct honor to have known some of the suffering that many families have experienced this year. I have felt the load you carry, seen the worry in your eyes, and heard the strain in your voice. And yet, you go on in faith and confidence that this is the right course and that there is a God in heaven who knows and sees and has you in His view.

I have scaled the walls of our limited vision with you, and as we look out, there is cause for uncertainty and even fear. But even though there are many obstacles ringed about us, we must press through with eyes of faith to see the bigger picture. “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” is the heartbeat of our God toward us. He is there in the midst of all our besieging problems with spiritual forces that out weigh and out number anything our enemy is able to throw against us. And not just with token sentiments or wishful thinking. We are talking “chariots of fire” stuff here. He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” His power is unlimited. How easily we forget that.

We still walk through valleys, however, experience pain, and suffer loss. It is our lot. But even in this, we somehow walk away the winners. I was struck by a phrase used to describe Franklin Roosevelt’s political comeback after several very dark years where he fought the crippling effects of polio with everything he had. It is said he returned to the political scene “cleansed, purified, and illumined” by the pain he had experienced. He re-emerged into the world of politics with a depth to his character that was not there before. I pray that all of us can embrace our trials as something that will cleanse our souls from the stains of this world’s tripe that would otherwise rock us so gently to sleep in ease and comfort. We, too, can rise stronger and lift up a life message that will honor our God with a banner of wisdom and truth and light the way for others to follow.

It has been my privilege to experience the reality of God’s presence as I have seen it through your lives this year. Thank you. I admit, it is a bit of an unusual postscript to write – “thanks for sharing your pain.” Yet it is the memory which burns clearest as we call this year to a close. I trust we will all be faithful to lift up one another’s arms as we go through times of spiritual warfare together. And may we receive occasional glimpses into the realm of the spiritual to see the other reality swirling around us everyday. We have walked and do continue to walk … on holy ground.

Suffering

To every thing there is a season, ...A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; Ecc. 3:1-4

It is part of my job to keep in touch with the families in our Co-op. As such, I partake in your joys and sorrows. Right now, the tide is washing up a good deal of sorrow on our shores. Though it would be folly to hope to treat the subject of suffering fully in one page or less, nevertheless, your experiences of the present and past month have occasioned more than a little reflection on the issue on my part. That, coupled with a reading of some of the work of Mother Theresa among the miserable warrens of Calcutta, makes me ponder the whole problem of pain and suffering in God’s creation.

Ultimately, suffering is the price we pay for dwelling outside the Garden where we must live by our wits and the sweat of our brow, all at the mercy of the elements. It was a choice we made, and in so doing, we took all creation with us. The dark of the night brings with it a thousand fears of what can happen, a place where beast devours beast and man does his worst. But suffering is endemic to all creation even apart from the evil deeds of men. Cancers devour, defects cripple, and accidents maim the innocent and guilty alike. Rational creatures that we are, we would love to see some rhyme or reason to it all. C.S. Lewis wrote that pain was “God’s megaphone.” Yet, this seems heartless in watching the young and the innocent die who don’t even have language of the heart to hear or understand. The poet William Blake offers another view:

Joy and woe are woven fine,

A clothing for the soul divine;

Under every grief and pine

Runs a joy with silken twine.

It is right it should be so;

Man was made for joy and woe;

And when this we rightly know,

Through the world we safely go.

Is it true that man was made for sorrow and woe, mixed also with joy? It seems so when we consider that we are able to experience joy because of being made in the very image of God, and equally so with sorrow when we consider the far reaching effects of the fall upon man and all creation. Fallen-ness and the image of God, all wrapped up in one frail creature. What a recipe for ‘angst’, that dark turmoil of the soul.

Many demand that suffering just should not be so and spend much of their lives trying to insulate themselves against it in any form; some with money and others with distance. Others blame and rail against God, turning their hearts to stone. Or there is always the ploy of flight, to run from it whenever it appears. But in fleeing from the pain, we invariably multiply the damage like some wounded bull run amok. Marriages are shattered, children discarded, and promises broken all to renounce the reality of the pain. I rather like what Malcom Muggeridge has said and must quote directly: “One can dimly see and humbly say that suffering is an integral and essential part of our human drama. That it falls upon one and all in differing degrees and forms whose comparison lies beyond our competence. That it belongs to God’s purpose for us here on earth, so that, in the end, all the experience of living has to teach us is to say: Thy will be done.” That is a tall order for any of us. Yet God himself identifies with our suffering through His own Son. At the cross, “God suffered in the person of a man but brought redemption for man in the person of God.” In this, we see “the greatest sorrow and the greatest joy co-existing on Golgotha.”*

I take great comfort knowing that God knows our frame, that we are but dust, and that Jesus was a man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief. I also take comfort in knowing that when one of us suffers, it brings out the best in those who are willing to share in that pain and help bear the burden. This dance of suffering and joy literally defines what it is to be human. May we embrace our humanity with courage and resolve.

*Something Beautiful for God, Malcom Muggeridge, p. 106