Why Did God Put Us Here? With a Caveat on The Proper and Improper Use of Firearms

It is 86 degrees Fahrenheit at 8 o'clock, the hygrometer is at 75%, and the water is half way up the storm glass, indicating severe low pressure.  In a word, we are waiting for a promised summer storm of significant intensity.  Such barometric eccentricities often bring the woods and lakes to life, and tonight is no exception.  I was on the back porch reading when I heard the most horrible ruckus from the secret garden.  Upon investigation, I found that all four dogs had closed on three raccoons, and the fight was on.  Each terrier had engaged a coon directly and violently, and the hound and spaniel were holding the third at the top of a rather largish boxwood.  I left the terriers to their business and snagged Nike (Tristan would never understand or accept a stray gunshot wound or significant lacerations from a fight) and Oscar (who is not yet broken to gunshots), and hurried them into the house, where I retrieved my revolver.  By the time I returned, both coons on the ground were breathing their last and the third was treed, while the terriers were casting in search of more prey.  I dispatched all three vermin and called the dogs in to reward them for their work. 

It may seem gruesome to some, but vermin control is a necessary part of country living, as the depredations on my laying flock last week so amply illustrate.  And it is good to see a creature do what it is bred and kept to do.  The dogs all responded instinctively to the roles to which they were born, and it is a good thing to see creatures fulfill their purpose.  I have often wondered if we humans would be a bit more well intentioned toward each other if we lived in a culture or a society which encouraged us to be the creatures and to do the jobs we were created to do, that is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves; and to tend this garden that God has given us.  While I am a hopeless romantic, I am not so naive as to believe that humans in agrarian societies are any more humane or well behaved than those who live in cities.  History proves otherwise.  But it does cause me to ponder what our jobs really are, what we are born to be and to do.   I'm not so sure we have done a good job of discerning the answer to that question, and I know we have not lived into the answer as a species.

I believe that we homo-sapiens often believe we have found the answer to the above question, and our answers are generally involved with what some would call finding-one's-self, or being true to one's feelings.  I would call such nonsense selfishness of the highest order.  I recall being in a rather low grade theological discussion some years back where one of the participants suggested that since he was obviously pre-disposed to a certain type of behavior which the Bible said is sinful, that it made perfect sense to him that he could best glorify God and find fulfillment by being the best practitioner of those predispositions that God had given him.  I remember thinking at the time what self-centered nonsense that was, and wondering if he would feel the same if his activity of choice was murder or bank robbery, instead of sexual license.  He had in effect rejected the idea of eternal moral imperatives which are self-evident in nature and distilled in Sacred Scripture, in favor of justifying his own predilections in relationship to prevailing cultural norms.  The sad thing was that most of the people there agreed with him.  Better than half of them were ordained.

I suppose it is my experience with the mental constructions of my fellow humans which makes me value so highly my time with working dogs and horses.  They seldom overthink an issue.  They may be willfully disobedient, but when it comes to the rat killing or the chase, their instincts kick in and they do what they were born to do without excuse or cowardice.  I suppose even the raccoons are only doing what they were bred to do when they eat my chickens and quail.  They are worthy opponents who at the end of the day are true to their nature and fight the good fight.  O that we humans might so live and die..."facing fearful odds, for the ashes of our fathers, and the temples of our gods."  Perhaps then I would want to spend more time with people, and yearn less for the company of good dogs, faithful horses, and the thrill of field sport.  Saint Hubert pray for me, a sinner.

A Caveat: Let the Buyer Beware!

     While I was cleaning my weapon tonight, I got to thinking.  I grew up with Hoppe's #9 Gun Cleaning Solvent.  It has a sweet, and far from unpleasant odor, and it has always gotten me to think about things.  It is a sort of mental trigger to the mind of a small town Indiana boy.  Tonight it got me thinking about the kills that made the cleaning necessary.  I shot the raccoons in question with .357 Magnum caliber rounds tipped with 140 grain Barnes expander bullets.  They are self defense rounds made to stop a human, or a coyote, or even a deer.  (It may sound like a lot of gun for a raccoon, but when only a single weapon is maintained for emergencies, it must be prepared for every possible scenario, not just for raccoons.) The shots were well placed from a distance of three or four feet.  Sensation may have stopped instantaneously, but I doubt it.  I have killed a lot of game, and there is almost always a lot of thrashing around, gasping, muscle contractions, and the most horrid sounds.  It was like that tonight with both of the coons I had to dispatch with a shot.  They died clean and quickly, but not instantaneously.

I point this out specifically to dissuade any reader who thinks that killing anything or anyone with firearms or any other weapon is clean, or quick, or without emotion.  Movies and TV have made many think that you pull a trigger and the target falls lifeless and that is that.  Death is a horrible thing, and killing is a terrible responsibility never to be taken lightly.  What is usually portrayed on the screen is a lie, and I hope that anyone reading this who plans to use a firearm for any reason will seek out proper training from qualified personnel, and consider what you are doing.  I would suggest that you spend a couple of seasons hunting, so that you can experience the consequences of the thing that you do when you discharge a firearm with the intent to kill.  Hunting is a noble pursuit which puts us in closer contact with our food chain and helps us to appreciate what we consume.  Lawful defense of family and country are in my opinion the sacred responsibilities of every person.  But frivolous and unknowing use of firearms is a curse that has brought too much tragedy into the world.  Consider the consequences of your actions, and know the capabilities of the tools you use.  I write this as a lifelong hunter and fisherman, a retired soldier, and as a life member of the National Rifle Association.

Sermon for Proper 5C Revised Common Lectionary

Jesus brings us from death to life!
Luke 7:11-17

To be preached at St. John’s Lancaster on The Third Sunday After Pentecost MMXIII

I Kings 17:17-24
Psalm 30
Galatians 1:11-24
Luke 7:11-17

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

The belief that God has the power to bring the dead to life stands at the center of our Christian faith. When we say, “I believe in the resurrection of the body,” we are talking about Jesus’ return to life, but we are also talking about our own. You see, resurrection is not just some vague idea about spooks popping up into heaven or the memory of good people living on in the hearts and minds of those who knew them. Resurrection means that as all of creation is redeemed, we will take our rightful place alongside of Jesus as his brothers and sisters, adopted by the Father through the blood of Jesus, by means of the everlasting covenant, in the power of the Holy Spirit. In this redemption, we shall be like him, possessing bodies like the body he exhibited in his post-resurrection appearances to over five hundred people. They touched him and handled him. They ate with him and walked with him. And they bore witness to a definite recognizable physicality that was transformed into what our Lord called his “spiritual body.”

Today’s lessons give us insights into what our resurrection will be like. When Elijah raised the widow’s son and Jesus raised that other widow’s son, the promise is renewed to all of us that we will live forever because of the power of God. In our second lesson, when St. Paul speaks of his transformation from Saul the persecutor into Paul the apostle, we see a raising to life no less real. I find it very interesting that in all three of these instances of “resurrection,” the witnesses give glory to God for what they experienced. Of Elijah it was said, “Now I know you are a man of God and the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth itself.” Of Jesus it was said, “A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.” Paul reports on the response to his transformation, his resurrection by the people of the churches. “…the one time persecutor was now preaching the faith he had previously tried to destroy. And they gave glory to God for me.” Don’t you find it interesting that in all three instances, when God does his miracle of resurrection, the people present give him the glory?

And now, that brings us to a much more personal question. All of us gathered here today to receive the body and blood of Jesus have been washed in the waters of baptism. We have “gone down with him and been raised anew.” Our old life of sin and selfishness and negativity and suspicion and has been forgiven and washed away in the waters of baptism. We are signed with the cross and marked as Christ’s own forever. The old man has died and we are now new creatures, waiting in hope that the promise of our transformation might be made perfect at his second coming to receive us as his own. The question is this: “Is there enough of transformation showing in your life that people give glory to God for the miracle that he has done?” When Elijah stretched himself three times on the body of the lad, everyone knew that God had performed a miracle. When Jesus walked up to the funeral procession and touched the man, everyone knew that God had done a miracle. When people considered what Saul had been, and what Paul had become, everyone knew that God had done a miracle.

When people look at how you treat others, at your daily attitudes at work or at home, at the consistency of your character, at how your belief in God impacts your politics, your business practices, your relationships, your willingness to follow the ten commandments, how you spend your money, and what you do with your time; do they know beyond any shadow of doubt that God has done a miracle in your life- that he has raised you from the dead and given you new life in Jesus Christ?

Words are cheap in our culture. The prevailing philosophies of our age excuse half-truths and encourage creative redefinition and agenda driven parsing of the language. Verbal religious witness of any kind, Christian or otherwise, has been made suspicious through the antics of those who employ the language of faith to take advantage of other people and to solidify their own power over others. That leaves the witness of the miracle of God’s grace in our lives as the most reliable witness to the truth of our faith. Our attitudes and actions, if they are consistent with the attitudes and actions of Jesus, if they are consistent with the clear teachings of the Bible, set the stage for people to accept the truth of our words. And that brings us back to the question, “Is there enough of transformation showing in your life that people give glory to God for the miracle that he has done?” In all probability, our friends and neighbors and co-workers will only open their hearts to the draw of God’s love in their own lives as they see the evidence of the change from death to life in our lives. In all probability, it is only as our competitors and enemies see the evidence of the change from death to life in our lives that they will be drawn to open their hearts to God’s love in their own lives.

Let us all on this day, as we approach this Holy Communion, seriously ask ourselves if people are able to see the miracle of God’s resurrection in our individual lives. As we identify our shortcomings and consider their consequences, might we come in faith, trusting God to transform us from death to life, and committing ourselves to follow those personal disciplines which will enable other people to see that we have been transformed into the image of Jesus. This is the path of faithful obedience. This is the way of true evangelism. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Domestic Counterinsurgency- Briarwood Style

They came like the Vikings, at dusk and completely without warning.  They employed every trick in the book and showed no respect whatsoever for the customs or restraints which characterize Christian civilization.  They killed indiscriminately and without mercy nor regard to age, sex, or station.  In the last week they have cost me five of my beautiful Speckled Sussex hens.  We are used to the depredations of Raccoons and the odd Hawk, but Weasels are different.  They kill for the sheer joy of killing and leave the foulest mess.  For four nights running they have been in the area, and they show no sign of leaving voluntarily.  How I miss faithful Pat the white hound in situations like this, but he is gone, and it is time to take action if my laying flock is to survive.

As I considered how to deploy my resources to meet this latest invasion, my thoughts naturally turned to the wisdom of the past.  When I was at the Military Academy many years ago, we studied both the British response to the insurgency in Malaysia and the French and American response to the situation in Vietnam.  And then there were all of those graduate studies in early English history from the late Roman period through the Wessex monarchy under Alfred.  Could it be that finally, I had found real use for my studies?  And so I employed my vast lack of experience and my moderately undisciplined reading habits as an undergraduate and graduate student to solve the problem of what to do with my furry marauders.  I was amazed at how much applied.  We will see if the steps involved work.

1. Establish Hamlets to control your population in safe havens with a minimum of economic disruption.  There will be no more free ranging for the time being, and everyone stays in the chicken run during the day and in the secure chicken house at night.

2. Defoliate the enemy's hiding place to make him vulnerable to direct attack and to limit his ability to conceal his operations.  Defoliant (Roundup TM)has been applied to all foliage around the chicken run.

3. Force the enemy into daylight operations whenever possible.  All chickens must be in the secure chicken house by 5:30 each day.  No night-time strolls for the girls for quite a while.  No exceptions.

4. Employ the advantages of overwhelming technology with ruthless efficiency whenever possible.  That essentially translates to hav-a-hart live traps properly baited and the immediate use of firearms when possible.

5. Regular foot patrols, with dogs of course.

Fortunately, I don't have to worry about hearts and minds types of programs, politically motivated rules of engagement (except for my own self-imposed one of not using poison on animals), and the press is not a problem.  Hopefully, the offenders will be neutralized soon, and my girls and I, along with Chanticleer the rooster, will be able to order replacement chicks and return to the blessings of peace on the farm.

This is my first attempt at such an operation without Pat, so wish me luck.  We have not had Weasel problems here since they decimated a pen of Bobwhite Quail about three years ago,  But like the Vikings and the Saxons (my own ancestors) before them, they just keep coming back!

Sermon Proper 4C- Cafeteria Religion

Sermon: Proper 4C
To be preached at St. John's, Lancaster 2 Jun 2013

Elijah at Mount Carmel

I Kings18:20-40
Psalm96
Galatians 1:1-12
Luke 7:1-10

The Roman Army has always impressed me. I remember in my fifth grade history book in Mrs. Rarrick’s room, there was a picture of Roman soldiers on the Danube frontier. I thought it was really cool. As I grew older and began to amass knowledge which was very interesting, and even formative, but would never get me a job, I read more and more about these men: how they fought, how they were organized, what they thought, what motivated them, and the amazing tales of their heroism found in Livy and Tacitus and Plutarch. In a very real way, they became the men I sought to emulate. Rebecca and I passed the stories on to our children. It was said of Washington and Jefferson that they grew up with the distinct feeling that they were not far removed in time or space from the great men of Rome. It was so in our family. When he was younger, I really think Tristan believed that Scipio Africanus and Cincinnatus helped Little Grandpa and Uncle Jake defeat the combined armies and navies of Imperial Japan. After he came home a wounded warrior, Tristan told me that when he realized that he had been shot, it was a story from the legions of Republican Rome which filled his mind and dictated his actions.

And so it comes as no surprise to me that a Roman Centurion, sort of a cross between a company commander and a sergeant major, is singled out by our Lord as an example of great faith. As a seasoned warrior, he knew that if he told a soldier to complete a mission, that the soldier would do it, or die trying. It made perfect sense to him that if Jesus gave an order, it would be carried out with equal efficiency. His profession pre-disposed him to faith in the Lord. He is an easy man to like, and to respect. He really is a great example of the kind of faith we all might do well to emulate.

But inspiring stories are just that if we don’t act on them in our lives. The Centurion believed that Jesus had the authority and power of God, and he acted in accordance with that knowledge. Do you have such belief today? Is Jesus Christ your Liege Lord, your God and King, the Captain of your salvation? Or is he just another good man and a memorable teacher from whom you can hope to learn a few things and find some vague comfort in difficult times? We are taught by the Faith received from Apostles and Prophets and from our Lord Himself that the Bible is the Holy Spirit inspired and superintended account of who Jesus is and what he did. We are taught that the Bible contains all things necessary to our salvation, and that no belief is to be required unless it is clearly based on the warrant of Scripture. We are taught by the Bible itself that the accounts and teachings of the Bible are given to us that we might learn from the experiences of those who came before us. It is in the Bible that we come face to face with God and his Son Jesus.

The first lesson today speaks of a time much like our own. The faith of many had been severely watered down because many people mixed the teachings of non-Jewish faith groups with the true worship commanded by God in his dealings with Moses. A significant number of people who claimed to be good children of Israel had become what we might call “Cafeteria Believers.” After all, there was much to be learned from the emphasis on life cycles and the natural studies of the pagan followers of Baal, a local fertility deity. And if their sexual mores and their concept of family was different than that of the Jews, well, it was their culture, and they were for the most part pretty good neighbors. And to boot, many Jews had intermarried with the families of these foreigners, and being pig headed about one’s faith made for real problems at family get togethers. Better all around to just live and let live. Religion after all was such a personal thing. Enter Elijah the prophet of God, “that troubler of Israel.” Elijah said to the people, “If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, follow him.” The Bible continues, “The people did not answer him a word.” Then followed that incredible and terrible contest between the prophet of God and the prophets of Baal. As our first lesson today makes abundantly clear, God acted on that day to declare his sovereign power to all and to call his people to repentance. And then, in the portion of the text omitted by the folks who crafted the current lectionary, “Elijah said into them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.” I’ve been to that place at the north end of the valley of Armageddon and seen the statue of Elijah, flaming sword in hand, which stands before the little Franciscan Church. It is a sobering place to be. Because it still reminds believers that following God faithfully is a life and death matter. It determines how we live in this world, and where we will spend eternity in the next. There is no more allowance made for cafeteria religion today than there was in the reign of King Ahab. The faith of the Centurion, the faith of the Church, may grow weak and falter from time to time, but its object and teachings can never be willfully changed for any reason without exciting the ire of a loving and jealous God.

But how are we to know? What is right and what is wrong? Or as Pontius Pilate asked the Master, “What is truth?” St. Paul in today’s second lesson answers that question unequivocally. “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” He continues, “Even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed.” Paul states the Gospel clearly in the Bible, as does Moses, and Isaiah, and Hosea, and Peter, and John, and a host of others, including Jesus. We have no right to change it or what it teaches. The Articles of Religion are clear that neither the church nor anyone in it has the authority to proclaim any message contrary to Holy Scripture. “As Paul says in our second lesson, “If anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed.” Cafeteria religion is still a life and death matter, because it takes our eyes off of God and substitutes what we in any given culture might like to believe, what seems fair or helpful to us, for the truth that God the Father has revealed in his Son Jesus the Christ.

And so if a bishop says to you that a person who the Bible says was demon possessed was merely practicing another spiritual path, honor them for the position they fill, but reject their teaching. If a priest tells you that even though they cannot find any allowance in Scripture for the decision they have made, but that their experience convinces them that it is the right thing to do, respect the orders they bear, but reject their teaching and their example. If a spirit, or a feeling, or an angel should appear to you as you consider God’s will in your life, and suggests that you do something contrary to the clear teachings of the Bible, let that spirit be accursed. There are those today who in Paul’s words “are confusing you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ.” “God is the same yesterday, today and forever.” What he revealed to us in the Bible and in the historic teachings of our Holy Mother the Church remains unchanged. The Centurion knew this, and he trusted Jesus because his studies of the Jewish faith had led him to the conclusion that Jesus bore the authority of the Father. We know Jesus primarily as he comes to us in the Scriptures. We understand the Scriptures as we encounter them in worship, that is within the preaching and sacramental ministry of the Church.

At the end of the day, we must all realize that we are responsible to know what the Bible says as it is received by the Church, one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. No one person or denomination can run ahead of the entire church and proclaim private revelations as truth. We are not given that authority. Rather we are called to proclaim the faith received, not a different gospel. And so today, let us resist the seductive call of “cafeteria religion.” It is as deadly today as it was nearly three thousand years ago. We can not make things up as we go, or we will one day find ourselves among those who are accursed. Rather let us follow that righteous Roman Centurion of whom it was said, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.” It was he of whom Jesus said “Not even in Israel have I found such faith.” None of us will ever understand everything about the Bible, and my experience has been that at every reading God shows me some new thing and calls me to act upon it in my life. But there is a huge difference between that person who honestly seeks to know the will of God as revealed in the Bible, which is that Gospel of which Paul speaks, and that person who makes their religion up as they go based on their own notions of culture and their own feelings. There is such a thing as objective truth, and to say that “One truth is as true or as good as another” is contrary to the faith of Jesus Christ.

St Paul said, “If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” We cannot have it both ways. There is freedom of religion in our country, and that is a good thing. But I cannot make up my own religion and call it Christianity. God does not give us that option. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy ghost. AMEN.