What's with the Word? MMM 1-17-2011

WHAT’S WITH THE WORD?

Monday Morning Message, January 17, 2011

Tears were streaming down the faces of our nation as we mourned those who were murdered while actively involved in the governing process of our country.  It brought us all to terms with our mortality this week.  From a nine year old girl to a snow bird senior citizen, we could all project ourselves as possibly having been at the scene in Tucson.  Of course, there are politicians on both sides of the aisle who never let an event go by without making it a political moment, and this will likely go on even more if the past is prologue. 

Even though God calls us to not be “of this world”, it is hard to not be invested in all of these activities when it feels like we are fighting each other for our ideals.  In the midst of all the speeches and memorials, am I the only one to notice that this most poignant time brought out Scripture from Janet Napolitano, the Head of our Homeland Security; Eric Holder, our Attorney General; and of course our President, Mr. Obama? That’s right; the book that often gets barred from use in our public schools and from other public discourse was read openly by three of our top officials at the memorial service on Wednesday night in Tucson.  Does that surprise you that we want to ask for God’s presence in our time of grief, but avoid bringing the force of power of our Lord and Savior into our discourse during normal times?

If you want to bring the volume of our dialogue down during the period of vitriolic exchanges over our differences, perhaps starting all of our activities whether in government, business, or family matters with prayer and Biblical perspective could help.  Well, we could do that if we could find our Bibles… now where did I put that thing?  Oh, yes and where did the day go today?  I was going to spend some time in just quiet, solemn prayer in the quiet corner of my life?  Oh yea, I had to watch an extra hour of ESPN!  Let's not wait for a tragedy to bring the value and inspiration of Scripture into our lives!

Colossians 2:8 (RSV) “See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ.”