Spirituality Column #747

March 9, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Fair, Safe, and Happy

By Bob Walters

In a memorable Sunday sermon, the preacher employed the literary imagery of Narnia’s lion “Aslan-as-Jesus” to counter humanity’s knee-jerk desire to feel “safe.”

The scene is in the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia classic children’s series by C.S. Lewis.  In chapter eight of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, upon learning the “king” she would soon meet was a lion, young Susan asks, “Is he safe?”

“Is he safe?” the preacher repeated loudly, departing from the book’s gentle but stern voice of Mrs. Beaver.  “Is he safe???” he echoed again. 

“NO!!! Of course he’s not safe,” the preacher fairly thundered. 

And then, quietly, the payoff line: “… but he’s good.” 

Probably nothing has been larger on humanity’s radar screen in the last year than “feeling safe.”  We all (well most of us) politely wear masks, limit gathering with each other, and try to make wise decisions about acceptable risks of everything from family celebrations to vacations to vaccinations.  There is seemingly no more currently ubiquitous or powerful human urge and herd motivation than trying to “feel safe.” 

But that is so weak and human, as opposed to being courageous and Christlike.  Nothing about Jesus’ coming to earth was safe for Him, and no idea Jesus presented about himself or His mission of salvation had any promise of earthly safety for humanity.  We cannot look at Jesus in our own temporal light of is it fair, am I safe, or am I happy?

Those are not the questions to ask Jesus.  The sheltering wings of Christ represent the long game, opening up for us the opportunity to join God in eternal glory, not to have a hedge of safety on earth where all is fair, all is safe, and happiness rules.

When we see safety hysteria en masse – and we’ve all seen a lot of it in the past year; it was a year ago this week (March 11-15, 2020) that “things shut down” – it suggests “safety” is the highest priority of human existence.  We must push past that.

I think of all things that I’d philosophically put way ahead of my own safety – God, love, faith, family, nation, integrity – and pray I’d have the courage at the moment of challenge to summon the same resolve as Jesus: to focus on mission, not safety. 

The lessons of Jesus are the lessons of courage, strength, selflessness, divine love, and obedience to God.  His purpose was not human “fairness.”  Safety? Jesus was wise about his own security until it was time to complete His mission on the Cross.

But it is silly to ask if Jesus became man so He could experience fairness, safety, and happiness.  No, no, and no; the mission of Christ – always – is God’s glory.  In this life Jesus promised us persecution, not safety.  He taught that in loving God and others we find the divine joy of relationship with God and the fellowship of believers, which is our true and highest birthright; the brightest and most shining goal of our Creation.

This isn’t about wearing a mask, distancing, or getting vaccinated; it’s about keeping our heads clear, our courage strong, and our armor engaged regarding God’s righteousness and the ultimate and eternal purpose of Jesus: glorifying God.

As most of our culture prioritizes, pursues, and idolizes the fairness, safety, and happiness – the comforts – of this life, let’s remember that the Lion of Judah is good …

… and righteous.  “Is He safe?” is the wrong question to ask.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that compassion, not control, is Christ’s way.  

Spirituality Column #746

March 2, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Modern Babel

By Bob Walters

“Now the world had one language and a common speech”– the opening of the story of the Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:1

I wonder what the Babylonians thought when their plans to build a self-glorifying city and erect a similarly prideful tower to heaven to greet God were quashed by the most epic failure to communicate on human record?  I doubt they blamed themselves. 

Did they know that it was God who destroyed their ability to talk and work together?  Did they have any idea why?  Did they figure it was Satan?  Or an undoing by some pagan god annoyed by their fixation on heaven?  At that early point in Bible history – in Genesis, the first book of the writings of Moses – had anybody yet figured out the “God is always righteous and Satan is always a liar and pagan gods are always useless” dynamic?  I’m not sure if, back then, theology had developed to that level.

In the millennia since, everybody used to know the story of the Tower of Babel, especially back when Bibles were not hidden from the global and American public view of education, politics, popular culture, and most critically across all categories: children. 

In the brief verses of Genesis 11:1-9 we learn of Babylon’s plans to build a tower, of the Babylonians’ pride, of God’s displeasure, and His creation of multiple languages to keep the Babylonians from both their plan and their location.  Rather than us get caught up in the pointless dialectic of “this appears to explain the presence of diverse languages on earth,” God’s purpose here – and He always has one – is about enforcing His righteousness and will on his favorite though most rebellious creation: humanity.

The tower story is brief and then pretty much left behind as the Bible narrative unfolds.  But Babylon itself is mentioned in the Bible hundreds of times and never in a positive light.  Babylon was known for and remains a symbol of man’s work against God’s righteousness, toward man’s pride, and in perpetuation of pagan practices.  Babylon is the corrupt, Bible opposite of the perfect Garden of Eden.

We’re studying the Tower of Babel in our Thursday morning Mustard Seed Bible study and yes, I’m aware there are countless lessons and biblical subtexts regarding all that the tower stood for, and none of them were good.  But the point is that God told Noah, and Noah told his descendants, to disperse and populate the whole earth after the flood. They got as far as Babylon (the middle of modern Iraq), and … stopped.

God fixed it.  What I’m wondering about now, specifically, and this is with an eye on current American and global cultural attitudes, is this: Are we – all of humanity – in a grave season of great, God-offending disobedience which, like the Babylonians, has cut off our ability to communicate with each other?  I suspect we are.  Why do I wonder?

Because there is no common speech in the academy, media, culture, or politics.

Those who do not know the Bible, do not know God, do not know Jesus Christ, and know only their own lust for power and security will have no idea what I’m talking about.  Those of us who do know and believe the Bible, God, Jesus, and the Spirit can discern plain as day the Godly presence of a huge human “failure to communicate.”

It is a darkness, the darkness of Babylon, and it grips the modern world.

I cannot imagine God is happy … nor what He is doing … or going to do next.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes, “Nimrod” founded Babylon.  Enough said.

Spirituality Column #745

February 23, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

The Evil ‘I,’ Part 2    

By Bob Walters

“We have met the enemy, and he is us!” – Pogo, 1970 poster / comic strip by Walt Kelly

We want to be in charge.  We really, really do.

Whether people, all humanity, philosophers, politicians, control-freaks of every stripe, even the timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat, it is implanted in our willful, human, universal being that we should have the ultimate, permanent, authoritative say regarding the world in which we live and of how things ought to be.

But … we don’t, though we encounter things all around us that are permanent.

Such as?  How about all the God stuff, the “Mother Nature” stuff?  The sun rising and setting, the stars at night, the moon going from full to dark to full, the cycles of wind systems across the earth, the perpetual evaporative cycle that pulls water up from the oceans, waters our lands, and then returns to the sea.  Our relative presence on earth is seemingly unnecessary; our earthly labors, desires, and initiatives … meaningless.

If that sounds familiar, it’s a direct lift from the Bible’s Ecclesiastes 1.  The teacher / searcher who almost everyone agrees is Solomon (we can’t even control agreement on that), is telling us that in this otherwise and, on its face, totally depressing Old Testament book, the only thing that does have meaning is that which God controls.

And God is amazingly, incredibly, and often annoyingly to us, consistent.

Why is it that we were shaped in the image of God, yet we don’t get to control that which God designed to serve our existence?  Ray Stedman wrote, “The Bible tells us that people were created to be the crown of creation.  They are the ones who are in dominion over all things.  People ought to last endlessly and nature ought to be changing, but it is the other way around.  Humans feel the protest of this in their spirit.”

And when we protest the consistency of God, that’s the door through which Satan enters our being and muddles our view – muddles the cosmic truth – of God’s ultimate, objective goodness, His love, and His absolute righteousness.

Evil lurks in this world in more than just human-generated interactions that result in jealousies, injustices, wars, and the like.  We perceive evil visited upon humanity from the natural world as well: weather disasters, diseases, earthquakes, volcanos, plagues, infestations … not to mention the death and temporal frailty of our human bodies.

Where is our strength?  Where is our freedom?  Where is our hope?  Where is our ability not to ruin ourselves and our world?  Where is our purpose that as we live in this world over which we have so little control we find the promised glory of God? 

The teacher / searcher is telling us that everything in life is meaningless: except God. We must learn through our steady faith in God – discoverable through our minds, spirits, and souls – that we have one shot at a permanent place in God’s Kingdom.

And what is that discovery that has meaning?  That does not pollute our living being and God’s creation with Satan’s wiles and misplaced angst against our Lord?

It is our discovery of Jesus Christ, of faith in Him, and the truth of God’s love.

That’s what turns the world of our Evil “I” – me – into eternal confidence in and relationship with the Good One.  Let’s strive to be in charge of sharing that discovery.

Walters (rlwcom.aol.com), speaking of pollution, notes that the Pogo quote was on an anti-pollution poster Kelly drew for the very first Earth Day, April 22, 1970.

Spirituality Column #744

February 17, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

The Evil 'I', Part 1

By Bob Walters

“The devil made me do it!” – Flip Wilson as Geraldine, 1960s comedy routine

“We have met the enemy, and he is us!” – Pogo, 1970 comic strip by Walt Kelly

That’s The Evil “I”, as in, “I” am part of the problem.”  It helps answer a question that arose recently in Sunday school: "If God created everything, why did He create evil?"

I offered a knee-jerk, defense-of-God response about human free will and its necessity to discover love.  Unless we love out of our own volition given to us by God (i.e., voluntarily), we can know only coercion, slavery, or convenience, not love.

Evil, I was trying to say, was more of a free-will, collateral damage thing, not a punishing, intentional God thing.  I’ve been thinking about that question all week, and while that’s not a terrible answer, it’s terribly incomplete.  It occurs to me that if we examine the Bible and then examine ourselves in a mirror, evil may not be so much a created, outside affliction as it is an internal, unnatural, and humanity-wide condition.

Does the devil create evil and make us do evil things?  Or do humans just habitually make miserably bad choices due to pride, fear, greed, jealousy, power, lusts – all egregious misuses of our free will.  Satan is a creation of God, yes: an angel expelled from heaven for denying God’s will and himself wanting to be God. 

But God didn’t originally create Satan to be evil, at least I don’t think so; the Bible is silent on that one.  However it happened, Satan freely grew into it.  Nor did God create humanity to be evil: Adam and Eve were pure in paradise.  Fallen Satan tempted them with two of the worst lies on record: 1. God’s word and will are not firm; and 2. obedience to God’s commands is optional.  Adam and Eve bought it, God cursed them, all humanity, and Satan; evil has been the world’s greatest problem ever since.

Why did God do that?  First, let’s look at who God is; i.e., how we typically describe Him.  God is good, just, loving, creative, trustworthy, faithful, in control, merciful, and oh yeah, don’t forget this one: God is righteous.  Oh boy, is He righteous.

Some folks would put “wrathful” on that list, but I think “wrath” is God’s reaction, not God’s nature.  Just like Satan wasn’t evil before he disobeyed, God wasn’t wrathful before His righteousness was challenged.  Throughout the Old Testament, while we see God’s wrath on full display, we also see God’s will and righteousness on full display. Sometimes it’s truly hard to imagine how humans could possibly tell the difference.

Think of all the people God protected.  Think of all the others – foe and friend alike – He destroyed.  Think of how He hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus) against freeing Israel from bondage so God could unleash His glory on full display – which to the Egyptians would have looked a whole lot like evil: signs, plagues, Pharaoh’s army drowning in the sea, and, not to mention the loss of much of the nation’s labor force.

This is not about “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”  God’s righteousness is not a matter of debate or perspective; at least, it shouldn’t be – not among humans, especially faithful humans.  God is righteous all the time; that is truth.

We blame Satan for evil in the world, but on closer inspection it is humanity’s misuse of free will and its woeful decisions to listen to Satan’s lies that reveal evil.  It is a faithless dodge to say, “The devil made me do it.”  No, we do it to ourselves.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) continues next week: God’s stunning consistency. 

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Spirituality Column #743

February 9, 2021

Jesus On Every Page

By Bob Walters

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place, and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth.” – Philippians 2:9-10

I believe you can find Jesus on every page of the Bible if your heart is intent on looking for Him.

That said, my wife Pam led worship in our E91 Traditional Service a couple weeks ago and read a wonderful passage from The Celebration Hymnal (1997, Word/Integrity Music). Remember hymnals?  This hymnal has more than just songs, and since the service many people have asked for a copy of the reading.  Here it is.

The hymnal’s page 14 has the heading “Name Above All Names” (with no author listed, regrettably, because I’d love to know who wrote it), and this intro: “God has promised He will never leave or forsake us. In Christ, God revealed His faithfulness to us from the beginning of time.”  And then Pam read the piece … it took my breath away.

“In Genesis Jesus is the Ram at Abraham’s alter.  In Exodus He’s the Passover Lamb.  In Leviticus He’s the High Priest.  In Numbers He’s the Cloud by day and Pillar of Fire by night.  In Deuteronomy He’s the City of our refuge. 

“In Joshua He’s the Scarlet Thread out Rahab’s window.  In Judges He is our Judge.  In Ruth He is our Kinsman Redeemer.  In 1^st and 2^nd Samuel He’s our Trusted Prophet and in Kings and Chronicles He’s our Reigning King. 

“In Ezra He’s our Faithful Scribe.  In Nehemiah He’s the Rebuilder of everything that is broken and in Esther He is the Mordecai sitting faithfully at the gate.  In Job He’s our Redeemer that ever-liveth. 

“In Psalms He is our Shepherd and we shall not want.  In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, He’s our Wisdom and in the Song of Solomon He’s the Beautiful Bridegroom.

“In Isaiah He’s the Suffering Servant.  In Jeremiah and Lamentations, it is Jesus who is the Weeping Prophet.  In Ezekiel He’s the Wonderful Four-Faced Man and in Daniel He is the Fourth Man in the midst of a fiery furnace.

“In Hosea He is our Love that is forever faithful.  In Joel He baptizes us with the Holy Spirit.  In Amos He’s our Burden Bearer.  In Obadiah our Savior and in Jonah He is the Great Foreign Missionary that takes the Word of God into all the world.

“In Micah He is the Messenger with beautiful feet.  In Nahum He is the Avenger.

In Habakkuk He is the Watchman that is ever praying for revival.  In Zephaniah He is the Lord, mighty to save.  In Haggai He is the Restorer of our lost heritage.  In Zechariah He is our Fountain and in Malachi he is the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings.

“In Matthew He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  In Mark He is the Miracle Worker.  In Luke He’s the Son of Man and in John He is the Door by which every one of us must enter.

“In Acts He is the Shining Light that appears to Saul on the road to Damascus.

“In Romans he is our Justifier.  In 1^st Corinthians our Resurrection.  In 2^nd Corinthians our Sin Bearer.  In Galatians He redeems us from the law.  In Ephesians He is our Unsearchable Riches.  In Philippians He supplies our every need and in Colossians He’s the Fullness of the Godhead Bodily.

“In 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians He is our Soon Coming King.  In 1^st and 2^nd Timothy He is the Mediator between God and man.  In Titus He is our Blessed Hope.  In Philemon He is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother and in Hebrews He’s the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant.

“In James it is the Lord who heals the sick.

“In 1^st and 2^nd Peter He is the Chief Shepherd.  In 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd John it is Jesus who has the tenderness of love.  In Jude He is the Lord coming with 10,000 saints.”

“And in Revelation,” with Heaven standing open, He rides a white horse

and is called Faithful and True.  With justice he judges and wages war.

His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.

"He is our King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

My friend and teacher George Bebawi, who taught so many of us so much about knowing Jesus in the Bible and, more importantly and profoundly, in our lives, passed away before dawn last Thursday.  I could think of no better way to honor him this week than by talking about Jesus through all 66 books of the Bible ... and I had this reading passage my wife found for a worship service.  Perfect.

George, in home hospice at the end, died quietly with his loving wife May at his side and two of his three sons, visiting from Texas and Germany, at home with him.

Now, George is with Jesus whom he loved and defended fiercely in life.  Restored to communion in the Coptic Church last fall, George was a lion in the service of the Lord and possess a Christian and philosophical intellect on par with any in this world.  I love George dearly and he will be missed by not just his lioness May, his family, and close friends but multitudes of Christians and especially Copts he touched wrldwide.

Rest in peace, Rabbi.  You ran the good race, fought the good fight, and finished well.  With our deepened faith in Jesus we will revere your memory always.  Thank you.

Signed, The Archbishop

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that George was buried Monday, Feb. 8, in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Fishers, Ind., USA, after a private family Coptic / Orthodox funeral.  He guesses George’s first words inside the pearly gates were, “Where is this Paul?” 

A post-Covid memorial gathering ??? is something May hopes to arrange ... tbd, obviously.

Also, regarding the reading passage above, Bob deeply cherishes the victorious and “White Horse” Jesus of Revelation 19 and so suggested Pam’s edit in the reading’s last paragraph (portion not in quote marks). We hope Word Music doesn’t mind.

And one last thing … George, before finding Christ in his late teens, grew up Jewish (in a Muslim neighborhood in Cairo, Egypt, if you can imagine).  Hence, Bob called him “Rabbi.”  Early on, George responded to that sobriquet by noting Bob’s Episcopalian upbringing and dubbed him “The Archbishop.” 

 Spirituality Column #742

February 2, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

God Already Knows

By Bob Walters

Today we are going to look at a short list of hot topics with brief Bible and Christian comments about each.  Here we go …

Purpose: “O Lord, our Lord … what is man that you are mindful of him?” – Psalm 8:4

Many folks wonder or worry about the question, “What is my purpose in life?”  Or, “Why am I here?” What if we start with “God’s purpose” instead of “my purpose?” Then, go forward with the simplest of all answers: “My purpose is to glorify God.” 

That’s why we’re here, that’s why God created us.  We want life to be about “me.”  But all life and especially humanity was created by God for His glory and delight.  

How do we accomplish that mission?  Believe Jesus is God’s son.  Then?  Seek Jesus as He seeks you.  Then? How about … be creative, love your fellow humans, be a servant to them, and develop and persevere in your talents which are gifts from God.

Don’t obsess on your own behavior or “purpose;” focus on loving others.

God sees love, because He is love.  That should be purpose enough.

Government: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities … authorities that exist have been established by God.” Romans 13:1

We are all wondering what the heck is going on with our government, with us, with our nation, who’s leading, who’s following, who’s good, who’s evil.  I have strong opinions on all that.  But I want to present just this one thought about who, exactly, are the “governing authorities” in the United States of America.  According to the U.S. Constitution, it’s “We the People,” who, according to the Declaration of Independence, “are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

I read these two lines along with Romans 13:1 and think: We the People are the God-mandated authority for this nation; not elected leaders. We are the government.  This is different from every other place on earth, and God gave it to us.  Think about it.

Lying: “The Lord detests lying lips…delights in people who are trustworthy.” Prov 12:22   

We have had some lively Sunday School discussions lately, as we study the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-6-7), about, “Is it ever OK to lie?”

The standard knee-jerk reaction is “Of course not!”  In the Ten Commandments, No. 9 (Exodus 20:16, Deuteronomy 5:20) is “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”  That’s more about loving your neighbor and honoring the good order of the community than a blanket, “Though shalt not lie.”  Are we to be “shrewd as vipers”?

Something’s out of whack.  And I know that because in Genesis there are dozens of lies and deceptions by both the wicked and the good – Satan, Cain, Abraham (more than once), Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Rebekah, Joseph’s brothers, Potiphar’s wife, even Joseph himself.  It is God who sorts out which lies He tolerates and which He punishes.

However, our joy on earth is largely dependent on who honors God, and how we honor each other.  Acting honorably in the first place, and telling the truth, helps all.

The worst part of lying may not be in the sin, but in being found out by people.

God already knows.

Judging – “Do not judge...”  Matthew 7:1 

Perhaps the most oft-quoted and most misunderstood and misapplied advice in the Bible, this verse is quoted surprisingly often by people who do not believe the Bible.

Of course humans have to judge.  We do our best to discern right from wrong, what works and what doesn’t, what and who are healthy for us and what and who are not.  Judgment is what keeps us alive. That’s part of the light God gave to humanity.

“Don’t judge” – and leaving it at that – is the same thing as saying “Don’t use your brain.”  My experience is that most people who say this mean, “Shut up and leave me alone.”  For reasons, weaknesses, or appetites of our own, we are aware when we are doing something “wrong” and resist others pointing out our flaws.  “Don’t judge.”

However, in the overall context of Matthew 7 and the instruction of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-6-7), this makes total sense for everybody if “Don’t judge” is meant to infer “Don’t compare.”  Back up a few verses to Matthew 6:5 where the showy, praying, proud Pharisee is comparing himself with the lowly, praying, humble tax collector.  The Pharisee proclaims, “Thank you, God, that I’m not him!”

If we are simply glad for others, have compassion for others, and don’t compare our situations with theirs – good or bad or just different – relationships go best when we focus on Christ-like sacrifice, service, loving, and kindness.  Envy-feeding and class-delineating judgment hurts humanity.

Use good judgment … and apply it freely.

God is in Control – “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7

Funny thing. I can’t find a single verse in the Bible that says, “God is in control.”

I know … the whole Bible is about God being in control.  But it’s not that simple.

In the beginning God created everything, and in the end, He judges everything.  Yep, God’s in control.  He is so in control, in fact, He endowed humans with freedom so that they could freely discern to have faith, or not to have faith, in Him.  Humans also have freedom to love, or not love.  How does this “freedom” square with “control?”

There is no honor or glory for God if He forces us – controls us – to love Him.  Same as if we try to coerce another person to “love” us in this lifetime; it will end up looking like slavery, not love and freedom.  If we have “free will” and therefore choose that which we love – and I believe we do – it honors God greatly when we love Him and love others on His terms but in our own free, responsible, God-gifted will.

We also must notice all the hearts in this world that are quite obviously controlled by Satan.  Yes, God’s got the big stuff.  Satan comes after Genesis 2, and Satan goes before Revelation 21, and God is in control.  But all that stuff in between?

Some folks run toward Jesus, some toward Satan; some just run, some just sit.

We have to realize … at some point, we better find Jesus and control ourselves.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) had to get some of this off his chest.  He hears beliefs and doctrines all the time that point inward rather than outward. Some of this he has written about or alluded to before.  And as far as this nation at this moment is concerned, “We the People” need to get our act together.

Spirituality Column #741

January 26, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Checkmate … or Prayer?

By Bob Walters

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! – Romans 5:10 (NIV)

Quite a scare last week.  It appeared our dear friend and Christian mentor Dr. George Bebawi was headed into home hospice. Turns out he wasn’t.

At issue, in the simplest terms, is a combination of problems (heart, kidney, etc.) where treating one exacerbates the other.  George, 82, has battled numerous serious health challenges the past several years.  He was always able to move the pieces around the board, in the tenacious care of his wife May (his “lioness”) avoiding and extending what he called Friday the looming Moment of Truth. 

This one looked like “checkmate.”

For his many friends and faithful students and those who worshiped Christ and learned about Jesus with him here in the Indianapolis area, you should know George had been on a downward health slide the past couple of months, of which I was unaware.  I hadn’t seen him since last February – pre-Covid – and spoke with him by phone as recently as early November.  I got the news about the potential “home hospice” late Thursday. 

Friday afternoon I was able to sit with George, at his bedside, along with minister Dave Faust, who – if you don’t mind a personal note – baptized me back in November 2001 not long after I had awakened to the truth of Jesus that September. 

That’s another story I’ve told many times.  But Dave, my first Bible teacher, left his post as senior minister of East 91^st Street Christian Church in June 2002 to become president of Cincinnati Christian University.  Ironically, I met George just a month earlier, oddly enough at a barbeque gathering of old high school friends. An Egyptian Bible translator and renowned early church scholar who at that time was a divinity lecturer at Cambridge University, England, George was here visiting a friend of a friend.

That friend of a friend was May, whom George married two years later

George, once a Coptic priest, retired from Cambridge in early 2004 and settled into Carmel, marrying May in April.  Former E91 pastor Russ Blowers (like Dave, also my mentor) participated in the ceremony at Northview Church.  That summer Russ and I convinced both George and E91 to begin a Wednesday evening Bible study series featuring George that ran from the fall of 2004 until December 2017.  I was the coordinator / scribe / secretary / amanuensis all 13 years of the class.  I still have all George’s class handouts and my own copious notes.

Anyway, Dave and I – masked – entered George’s bedroom Friday where he was lightly sleeping stretched out on a full body recliner while May was in the next room talking with the hospice folks and arranging for a proper hospital bed.  Dave (who became close with George after returning to E91 staff in 2014) and I were there for an appropriately short hospice visit to quite possibly say our goodbyes but mainly to offer comfort and prayer.

George stirred and was in and out of consciousness as he quietly, haltingly greeted us, and did in fact recognize Dave and me despite the masks.  Dave thanked him earnestly for his enormous contributions to the faith and the faithful.  I simply told George I loved him.  Dave asked George “How is your soul?” and George said, with an enfeebled but unmistakable lilt in his voice that so many of us know so well from listening to him speak, “I am ready to go!  This is the moment of truth.”

For those who know George, what happened next – for nearly two hours – won’t be a surprise.  Dave began to read Romans 8:36 about facing death, but George said “No, read Romans 5:10!” (today’s intro verse atop the column, about being reconciled with God through the death of Jesus).  George gently chided Dave for using an NIV Bible (George, never an NIV fan, typically teaches with his own Bible translations).

George gained some steam, then went into a determined, if halting, instruction on Jesus while phasing in an out of sleep and with slurred speech.  He spoke of Augustine and the preponderance of sin in the human will and how it relates to a weakness he perceives in modern Christian teaching.  George believes – and I have heard him say it in various ways many times – that the modern church has been oversimplified into “sin and salvation and application” (as in, “sermon applications”) without proper understanding of our total humanity, reconciliation in Christ, and relationship with God. 

Yes … deep sledding.  That’s George to the end.  Only it isn’t the end.

As Dave and I and a couple other of George’s longtime friends struggled to understand George’s low, breathy speech – which with his accent, ancient theological references, and sophisticated word choice is a challenge even on a good day – George would not let us leave or interrupt him.  He was both on his death bed and on a roll.  We were there an hour and forty-five minutes, finally convincing him to let us pray (Dave is one of those awesome prayer guys) and for George to get some rest.

I kissed George on the forehead as I left, not knowing if I would see him again.

Dave said it was unlike any other hospice visit in his long ministerial career.  When had the person he was praying for ever argued with his Bible choice?

Only it wasn’t a hospice visit, and I will always believe that’s because George still wants to talk about Christ.  For a little or long while?  Nobody knows.

Most folks here in Indianapolis probably don’t realize George has taught and influenced thousands of Orthodox and Coptic Christians around the world and has regular weekly teleconferences / Zoom sessions with Christian students (of all ages) worldwide.  Put us all together and there were an awful lot of folks praying.  And while I won’t reveal the number, George has said for many years he thought he knew how long he would live … and he’s not there yet.

After visits and calls from friends and colleagues over the weekend – and massive prayer – George perked up enough that his physician and hospice care folks reversed field.  I’ve never heard of that happening before, though I’m sure it does.

George is tenacious and brilliant in sharing Christ … and it appears his body respects the fact, for now, that the mission continues. 

I rejoice that the mission – and prayer – brought him back to us.  For now.  Praise God.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that George insists “Augustine” is properly pronounced “aw-GUS-tin,” not “AW-gus-teen.”  And the deal with the NIV?  When pressed for an acceptable English version of the Bible, George occasionally relents from saying “There isn’t one” to providing a nod to the Revised Standard Version.  But this is a guy who knows the Bible in nearly a dozen languages.  And please friends, pray for May – Walters’ “favorite Phoenician” – and for the marvelous Christian sisters she has attending to her in this inspirational but challenging season.