Got Mittens?

Got Mittens?
(a brief Lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)

D-Day was mere days behind them. Dad and his crew continued to operate their British 40MM Bofors gun, so they had little opportunity to fire their rifles. He and his crew had one of six the U. S. Army had borrowed from the Brits for the D-Day Invasion. The gun had originally been intended as an anti-aircraft weapon, and was still used that way by the British. The U.S. Army, however, had decided it made a very nice anti-tank weapon.

They engaged the enemy daily, sometimes in multiple battles. And since they were part of the infantry, they were always in the thick of the fighting. It was in these early battles that Dad heard something strange.

The voices were, of course, heavily accented; but Dad could think of no other phrase that made any sense. And even that made no sense. But there was no mistaking what he was hearing. For some reason, as they charged Dad’s position, the German soldiers were shouting “Got Mittens!” Over and over Dad heard them shout “Got Mittens!”; so many of them shouting it that the nearly continuous rattle and thump-thump-thump of gunfire did not drown it out.

But, strange as he thought that was, it didn’t even come CLOSE to how strange Dad thought it was when he learned what they were REALLY shouting.

Dad couldn’t say exactly when he came into possession of the belt buckle; but it was after one of those early battles. He found it just lying on the battlefield, a ragged piece of webbed belt still clinging to one side of it. He picked it up, turning it over and over in his hand. Even without close scrutiny he knew it wasn’t one of theirs; it had to be German. And when he saw the swastika gripped in the Eagle’s talons, he knew for certain. Then, he saw something else. At first, he didn’t realize he was looking at words; he thought them just symbols embossed as part of the design. But then he really saw them. There, stamped into the thin metal of the buckle, in a tight circle around the Eagle and Swastika, were the words, “GOTT MIT UNS.”

Dad stared at the words. It took a little bit; but slowly his mind worked it out. And before he could actually think the words, Dad felt his skin begin to crawl; some part of his brain already realizing. There on the belt buckle were the words he had been hearing as wave upon wave of Germans assailed their positions all throughout those early battles. “Gott Mit Uns! Gott Mit Uns! Gott Mit Uns!”

God with us.

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While it was a shocking moment for my Dad, it wasn’t a new thing in World War II for armies to claim God was on “their” side in the conflict. Even the armies of the late Roman Empire used “God with us!” as their battle cry. But at what point does it become wrong to use God’s name? In Exodus 20:7, we are all warned, “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses His name.” At what point do we cross the line?

There is certainly no scripture that says a soldier should not believe God is with him or her when he or she is in battle. In fact, that seems to be one of those times you would REALLY want God to be with you; would want to CALL on God to be with you. And yet … one must wonder about an army of soldiers on whose belt buckles are embossed “God with us.” It is one thing to send soldiers into battle to serve their country. It is quite another to tell them to do so in the name of God.

To “make wrongful use” of God’s name must include, at a minimum, the use of God’s name to convince others to act wrongly. Lest you think this is a diatribe against war, let me assure you, I am not writing about war. I am writing about whether, whatever the topic, we honor God with the things we do in His name and with those actions we convince others to take in His name. We risk our very souls if we do otherwise.

LECTIONARY READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 22 (27) (October 2, 2011)
o Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
o Psalm 19
o Isaiah 5:1-7
o Psalm 80:7-15
o Philippians 3:4b-14
o Matthew 21:33-46

If you are in Waco Friday morning, join us. Maybe we'll talk about whether we must still follow the 10 Commandments, or, perhaps the difference between “looking” and “lusting.” The only way to know for sure is to come. We'll be at Cafe Cappuccino (8:00 a.m., downtown on 6th Street, near the Courthouse) for breakfast and a great time kicking around this week's Lectionary passages. We would love to have you drop in.

Enjoy!

Mighty Waters, Mighty Love

MIGHTY WATERS, MIGHTY LOVE

By Steve Orr

Scripture is full of stories and references to “Mighty Waters.” There are the obvious ones, like the crossing of the Red Sea in during the Exodus from Egypt, Jonah being tossed into the sea before being swallowed by a great fish, and Jesus coming to the disciples during the terrible storm on the Sea of Galilee. And, of course, the granddaddy of them all, THE FLOOD that God used to wipe out all but those sealed in Noah’s ark.

With events like the Genesis flood firmly planted in the histories of almost all peoples, and the record of the Red Sea drowning Pharaoh’s army, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that later Biblical writers came to use phrases like “mighty waters,” “many waters,” “great waters,” and “deep waters” as a kind of metaphor for serious trouble. We see them using that phrase in the Psalms and the prophecies on a regular basis; even in the Song of Solomon. And it always refers to big trouble, overwhelming trouble, the kind of trouble you really can’t get out of by yourself, the kind of trouble that just might be the end of you. Mighty waters.

But there is a countering force to mighty waters. In the song, “Mighty Love,” a great, thumping, toe-tapping piece of music, Todd Rundgren and his group contrast lesser love (in this case, what the Greeks referred to as “Eros”; romantic love) with a lasting, mighty love. The song recounts how the lesser love does not last, even though deeply sworn and strongly intended, because, as the song says, “that’s the way love goes.”

Now, as some of you are old enough to recall, Todd Rundgren is not known as a “Christian” singer; you won’t find his music listed on any of the “Christian top 40.” But, as with other “secular” performers like The Pretenders in “I’ll Stand By You,” Anne Murray in “You Needed Me,” Josh Grogan in “You Raise Me Up,” and Carole King in “Way Over Yonder,” he sometimes strays into deeply spiritual territory … if only we have the “ears to hear.” And I think we can put on our spiritual ears and hear that Todd Rundgren’s “mighty love” is actually what the Greeks called “Agape,” an unconditional love, one that always acts in our best interest, one that lasts; or, as one of my professors put it: “love, in spite of.”

Still, the mere existence of such a “mighty love” is not really enough, is it? There must be someone on the other side of that equation, someone who not only cares about us, but who has the power to act on our behalf in even the direst circumstances; not just love, but a mighty love. And, praise God, there is such a rescuer; there is a deliverer, someone to save us from being overcome by the overwhelming. In Psalms 32:6, David says about God, “Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” Now that is a clear picture of Godly protection and deliverance; an example of God’s mighty love in action.

But a caution here; I’m not saying you won’t ever get wet. Remember the language of the parable Jesus told about building your house; “when the storm comes” you want to be sure your spiritual house is on solid ground, not shifting sands. There is a storm coming in each of our lives; perhaps even multiple storms, but there is also deliverance if we are willing to recognize it and accept it. In 2 Samuel 22:17-19a, David praises God saying, “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out to a spacious place…” Not just protection, but also rescue. Whether we blindly led ourselves into such danger, or are being tested and tried, God can, like in the story of Jonah, exercise His mighty love to bring us through the experience and back to the place where we can choose to do his will in relative safety.

As it says in the book of James, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” No, being near to God is not a safe place in the same way we usually want to think of safety, because we don’t worship a “safe” God. He is powerful beyond our ability to understand, and he is jealous in his strong love for us. It is not “safe” in the sense that there will be no challenges, no trials; rather it is the kind of safety that comes with being next to the most powerful being there is. Do you have “ears to hear” this? No other power or force can overcome God’s mighty love for us. As it says in the Song of Solomon, “Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.”

I think the take-away points are these: God’s “mighty love” cannot be successfully assaulted by “mighty waters.” Scripture says “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” He has told us he loves us, and his servants have written of how he draws us out of “deep waters” because of that love. So, when all appears to be lost, when you can see no way out, when things are at their darkest, don’t waste time and energy with other responses; call upon God to exercise His mighty love and rescue you. There is only one truly good place to be; as near to God as possible.