Prairie Pastoral

July 16, 2020 | 2 Comments

Practicing caution in an age of fear

When my son was very young, he developed a fascination with electrical outlets.

Yes, yes, we used the outlet covers, and, yes, yes, inevitably, he’d find the one recently used outlet where we’d forgotten to replace the cover.

It all stopped, though, the night he decided to see what would happen if he put tweezers in the bathroom outlet where I’d just been drying my hair. After a loud crack and a scream, we found him on the other side of the room in a heap, unharmed, but wiser. He never went near another outlet again with small metal objects.

By trial and error, cracks and screams, it could be said that we learn what to fear and what not to fear.

The Savior Jesus teaches again and again to fear nothing. In Luke 12 alone, he teaches on fear three times. “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more” (12:4), and again, “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life” (12:22), and again, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (v. 32).

But, my son needed to fear electrical outlets, didn’t he? Fear is good, isn’t it, if it keeps us safe?

No.

To fear something or someone is to give it power over us–at times, more power than God. Raw fear cripples us. It makes enemies of friends, and it rips neighbors apart. Raw fear makes us stupid. [Read more…]

May 28, 2020 | Leave a Comment

Talking to teens about racism: one small town perspective

Racism between and within racial ethnic groups exists everywhere. It exists in our small town of 7,000 on the plains of eastern Colorado.

What we do not experience, however, is racism in its most extreme expressions. The redlining, brutality, and systematic dehumanization we witness in some cities simply hasn’t happened here in anyone’s memory. Our Anglo and Hispanic kids grow up together. There’s some social segregation as they grow older, but friends remain friends for lifetimes. We have a very small African American community whom we know personally and love dearly.

I’m not trying to paint our community as perfect. It is not. Skin color gives advantages to some over others. Racial insult is real, and the achievement gap persists. We have work to do. Nevertheless, I lived in St. Louis for eleven years and owned a home in Ferguson–yes, THE Ferguson where Michael Brown was shot by Darren Wilson. I feel qualified to say that the reality here in our small town is simply not the same. In fact, an African American man who moved to our community several years ago told me plainly how much he appreciates living here where he can just be known for himself and not only as a stereotyped black man. [Read more…]

May 19, 2020 | 1 Comment

Fires, Locusts, and COVID-19: A Closer Look at 2 Chronicles 7

This is the transcript from a weekly v-blog posted to the Facebook page of the First Presbyterian Church of La Junta, Colorado.

“You get what you get”

My daughter was not an easy toddler. Or preschooler. Or youngster, for that matter. But let’s start at the beginning.

At her first preschool, at the age of 2, she staged what her teachers called “the great candy raid,” involving several children in the scaling of a half-wall, into a storage area of their classroom, during naptime. The teachers complimented her on her leadership and organizational skills before calling the school psychologist, whose advice to us amounted to, “Good luck with her.”

At her next preschool, she exhibited a similar lack of remorse for wrongdoing. Sent to the director’s office for some wrongdoing and told to sit against the wall, she managed to find a spare thread and began unravelling the carpet, row by row. By the time the director returned, a decent sized square of her office was down to the padding. It wasn’t pretty.

At her third and final preschool before beginning kindergarten, we registered her and then waited for the phone call. And waited. And waited. Finally, after about a month, I approached the new director. “Any problems?” She looked at her curiously. No. “Really?” No. “You haven’t had any problems with her?” No. I explained some of the problems she’d had at the other preschools. The director looked at her surprised. “No, no. She’s fine. We just tell her, ‘You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.’” The director shrugged. “That’s all it takes.”

You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit. If she behaved, she was rewarded. If she misbehaved, she was punished. Period.

It worked on my daughter, because it was clear and predictable. No negotiation. No room for response. No so-called love and logic. An eye for an eye. A tit for a tat. Period.

This is human reason at its simplest: cause and effect. But, as David Hume was quick to point out long ago, the effect we predict is not necessarily, well, necessary. Our ideas of cause and effect are formed by habit, largely, rather than real observation or experience.

I’m digressing a little bit, and you’re wondering where this is going, so let me just cut to the chase and show you what I’ve been ruminating on, several times, during this coronavirus quarantine.

Here it is, in the form of a meme I found on social media this morning, though it’s been forwarded to me several times in different media.

It’s simple cause and effect: We’ve been wicked, so God is punishing us. If we humble ourselves and pray, God will bless us. It’s “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit” taken to a cosmic level, right? But does it hold up?

Let’s dig deeper.

[Read more…]

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