THE LAST RIVER MILE

Thoughts near the take-out.

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GEOFF POSEGATE

Retired United Methodist pastor and leadership coach.

  • THE HYPOCRACY OF A LIVESTREAM EXECUTION

    Nidal Hasan’s crime was horrific. In 2009 he murdered thirteen soldiers at Fort Hood. Nothing can excuse this. I’m not going to get into the death penalty debate. I’ll just observe that actions have consequences.

    Having said this, why should Hasan’s firing squad execution be televised, as the Secretary of Defense plans? Does he think this will deter those who would consider similar actions? There’s virtually no evidence that the death penalty does this. (Those who are on such a dangerous edge likely won’t tune in to the death sentence broadcast anyway.) It is just some kind of a public muscle-flexing? I don’t think it’s going to convince anyone that we’re “tough”, unless it’s the Defense Secretary himself. Is it just to underscore that consequences exist for law-breaking? That just shines the light on our inconsistency. We want to watch Nidal Hasan pay for his crimes, but we’ll look the other way when innocent people die because ICE agents made a “mistake.” We want to make sure there’s justice for the Fort Hood victims, but we want to forget about the innocent school girls our military killed in Iran. We call for books to be banned for violent content, but we’ll pull up a chair and pop popcorn to watch a violent execution in realtime.

    I don’t see any reason for this to happen, but that’s not what troubles me most. Public executions rarely end up on the right side of history. Making this a public spectacular just has the uneasy odor of a lynching to me.

    In addition, I believe it is an act of weakness. In the first century, the Roman Empire built a practice of public crucifixions. Mostly this was a form of execution for those who allegedly dared to defy the power of Rome. Crucifixion was meant to be a threat and a warning to all who would oppose the Empire. The phenomenon parallels the first evidences that the Roman Empire had hit its apex and was beginning its decline. So, in a way, the practice of public crucifixions exposed the beginning decay of the Empire. Rather than being a display of strength, it was an indicator of growing weakness. I’m afraid the normalizing of public, punitive actions will indicate the same for the United States.

    The Secretary of Defense claims allegiance to Jesus the Christ. What is remotely Christ-like about this? I don’t want to hear a bunch of cherry-picked Old Testament scriptures. I mean measured by the greatest commandment to love God and love others, measured by the risen Lordship of the one who died on one of those Roman crosses, and measured by the mandate to make disciples of all peoples, how will this act embody the one who humbled himself for our salvation?

    I’ll wait…

    I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.

  • GOD IS HANGING HERE ON THIS GALLOWS

    Just yesterday I encountered what may be the central question of all humanity regarding God. A person I know was lamenting that a loved one is going through the personality destruction of Alzheimer’s disease. “Why would God allow him to go through this kind of mental destruction? What’s the point of that?” she asked. Few questions are this genuine and legitimate. It could be asked in several ways now. Why are so many people in America unhoused? Why are so many children in detention camps right now in the United States? Why are so many people the victims of violence? Why did 20,000+ children have to die in Gaza? Why hasn’t cancer been eliminated? Why are suicide rates so high? If God is love and God is powerful, why does God allow these things to happen?

    Yeah, I know…there are endless philosophical and theological explanations for this. But when the suffering and injustices are yours, do the explanations really help or matter?

    During the Holocaust, Jewish philosopher and activist Elie Wiesel was interred at the Buna subcamp of the infamous Auschwitz concentration center. Along with all camp inmates, he was forced to witness the execution by hanging of two men and one boy. The men died instantly upon being dropped. But the boy was light enough that his neck did not break, and he thrashed in agonizingly slow strangulation for a half an hour. As the camp witnessed his horrific suffering, someone near Wiesel asked in rage, “Where is God now?”

    As he recorded in his book, NIGHT, Wiesel said the only answer he could come up with was this: “Where is He? Here He is – He is hanging here on this gallows.”

    In the years since, many have debated what it meant for Wiesel to say these words. It could have been an expression of his own despair; maybe even a feeling that, given the utter horror and destruction of the Holocaust, God must be absent or even dead. Or it could have been a clinging hope, that God abides in some radical way with those who suffer. Maybe it was an expression of both. Personally, I cling to the latter. I see that as the more central impact of Jesus’ crucifixion, higher in importance than paying the price for sin. For me, that’s less explanation than a hopeful statement of location.

    How is it for you? Where is God when life is at its unjust and cruel worst? Was Elie Wiesel right? What do you think he meant when he said what he said?

    Something to think about in these days. I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.

  • THE DEATH THROES OF WHITE MALE SUPREMACY

    White male dominance in North America is nearing the end. Some of this is just demographics. By the middle of this present century white people will no longer be the numeric majority in the United States. It is also a pivotal cultural shift. Over seven decades ago I was born into a world defined largely by white men. The world in which I live now has changed.

    Impending death, whether in a creature or a collective mentality, can bring dying gasps and the last spasms. Sometimes these can be violent. A being near the end of its life experiences the fight-or-flight impulse in its most raw form. When a way of life faces mortality, violence can take many forms: verbal, legal, physical, emotional, social, economic, political, etc.

    A waning white male world struggles to find someone or something to fight. In the last decade, whoever “the enemy” is kind of depends on what week we’re in…immigrants, Islamic people, Iran, trans people, Antifa, “libtards”, communists (apparently somebody still has the McCarthy era playbook), “furry” airline pilots, Canada, socialism (whatever that means), a low-testosterone military, universities….It would be comical if it wasn’t so sad and dangerous.

    We see the highest level of desperation to protect and preserve a worldview that increasingly is exposed as the unjust entity it is. It’s not just about making sure Cornell frat boys don’t have their promising futures ruined. It’s not just about hyper-intensive efforts to make the public forget that the Epstein files have not be fully released as mandated by Congress. It’s not just about victim-shaming to keep sexual violence sufferers silent. It’s not just about “meritocracy” which is a white-washing of entrenched systemic inequities. It’s not just about US citizens of color fearing the presence of masked troops in businesses, schools, and homes. It’s not just about “legal” methods to make sure the wealthy stay wealthy and immune to accountability. It’s not just about men treating women’s bodies like property. It’s about deeply entrenched laws, practices, mores, and theologies developed to undergird all of this.

    And when the legal, practical, moral, and theological foundations shake, that’s when we find out who and what the real “god” is. People can cloak it in all the “God and country” language they want to. The real object of worship is the idol of keeping white people, especially wealthy white men in the fast lane and in control. The foundation under this idol is cracking, and no amount of spackle or tuckpointing will save it. Thus the death throes…

    The ripple effects of this will come to all of us. There already here. This can cause anxiety even in those who hope for a more just and equitable world. It’s rough now, and it may get rougher. Here’s one thing that helps me: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea…(Psalm 46:1-2.)

    God is with us. Even and especially in the midst of this.

    I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.

  • THE FIRST AUTUMN

    I’m one of those who’s a sucker for Fall. I start thinking about getting out Fall decorations and having the first pumpkin spice latte around the middle of August. And, even though it happens every year, when I first see a maple tree with leaves that are turning, I act as if it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it.

    It’s the same phenomenon that happens every year. As days shorten and temperature drops, trees stop producing chlorophyll, the thing that produces and maintains the green color. In a way, Fall exposes the actual color of the leaves. It’s a familiar, predictable process. And yet it hits me like I’ve never experienced it before.

    I could easily ignore it. I could aim my attention elsewhere, and just let Autumn be nothing more than seasonal white noise. But I choose an expectant posture toward something I’ve seen before and yet I anticipate seeing in a whole new way. The variable is me.

    Why do I do that? Is there some wiring in me that wants to experience something familiar as if it has never been experienced before? Am I designed to have that kind of hunger? Is a “just the same old same old” approach to things in fact not the norm?

    The Bible constantly witnesses to a God who makes all things new. In part this means that things we think are predictable, understood, and contained become like we’ve never known them before. Revelation 21:5 records, “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!” The Greek verb communicates on-going action; something that is continually surprising and never finished. It is a newness that is unbounded by our limitations of time, space, and human familiarity. Elsewhere God says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19.) It’s not that God isn’t doing something new all the time. The question is whether or not I am paying attention to it.

    For those who follow Jesus, what if we approached regular worship, for example, the way some of us approach Autumn? Yes, we’ve experienced it before. We know there will be songs, prayers, and proclamation. If we’re in liturgical churches, we know what the liturgy will be like. What if we saw worship not as a worship element checklist? What if we came with expectancy? What if we entered worship asking, “I wonder what new thing God is going to do this time?” How would it be different if we approached God made known in worship as if for the first time?

    I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.

  • WAIT…I AGREE WITH FOX NEWS ON SOMETHING?!?

    Consider this statement: “The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government. No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.” This sounds like something posted by one of the news agencies the president banned from the White House, doesn’t it? (CNN, Political, and MSNOW ) In fact it appears on the Fox News website of all places. It is a joint statement from all of the White House television pool members, which includes Fox, ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC.

    Or how about this one: “The Constitution protects the freedom of the press from government interference. That protection does not depend on whether the president likes a news organization’s coverage, agrees with its reporting, or approves of the questions its journalists ask.” Again, this sounds like one of the president’s many opponents, right? In fact this came from Jacqui Heinrich, current president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, and senior White House correspondent for Fox News.

    Full disclosure – I find myself disagreeing with Fox News only slightly less than I disagree with our president. (Which is a lot.) But I have to give credit where credit is due. These are acts of high integrity, fully in keeping with the spirit and the letter of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

    For a leader of any kind, the need for complete transparency and the presence of constant critique go with the territory. An old, worn-out adage says, “If you want to make everybody happy all the time, don’t be a leader. Sell ice cream.” It could be amended to say, “If you never want to be scrutinized or critiqued, don’t be a leader.” Through decades of leading churches I learned that if nobody was scrutinizing me, challenging me, or critiquing me, then I wasn’t really doing my job.

    The founders of our nation knew that the silencing of opposing viewpoints and the stifling of the press are extreme dangers to a free country. We see that proven to be true all over the globe through human history. Leaders who seek to limit or eliminate free speech either have fragile egos or insecurities about their own leadership. No amount of money, power, or influence should overshadow the core values of the First Amendment.

    Jesus-followers must realize that every human being is declared worthy of the life, death, resurrection and promised return of Jesus the Christ. That includes our president and every person with whom I might disagree. That means that every voice matters, and that the forced silencing of any voice is thin ice.

    I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.

  • FOR KEITH – THE KING OF HOSPITALITY

    Last week, the King of Hospitality received his place in the Church Triumphant.

    When we moved to the southeast Missouri community of Sikeston in 2005, one of the first persons to make us feel at home was Keith Colley. Keith had a larger-than-life welcomeness about him. His infectious smile and good humor just made you feel like you mattered; not because you earned it or deserved it, but just because you were you. Keith was genuine in every way, but most especially in his comfortable, good-natured humility. There was absolutely no vanity in him.

    To see Keith serve as a greeter at our worship services was to see someone doing the ministry for which he was born. I had the chance to work with some of the finest hospitality team members anywhere in that congregation. But Keith was the standard to which we all aspired. None of us could offer the natural, arms-wide-open, Christ-like welcome to the least, the last, the lost, and the lonely quite like Keith.

    Some of this was born of Keith’s own experience, long before I got there. Unfortunately there was an incident in which a church person assertively did not make Keith feel welcomed. However, Keith was not embittered by this, nor did it dissuade him. Instead, he became joyfully determined to be the exact opposite of that with newcomers to church, especially.

    I remember one worship unique service to which an unusually high number of first-time guests came. I was greeting at one of the main doors with Keith. A man came slowly and hesitatingly toward the door, obviously uncertain about this new place, and the unknown people within. It was a high attendance day, and it would be easy to overlook such a person as people flocked in. But this was the type of individual Keith always had on his radar. Keith broke away from familiar people and conversations, stepped out to the newcomer, and spoke in a soft but energetic and inviting tone. “Hi, I’m Keith. Thank you SO much for coming today. That really means a lot to us. Do you like coffee? (Head nod.) Come on in, and let’s get some coffee together.” And Keith became that fearful guy’s welcome wagon; explaining what the service would be like, answering any questions, listening, etc. That was Keith.

    Last Wednesday night Keith went to sleep in his bed and woke up in Glory. Whenever the great getting-up morning happens for any of us, the welcome will be supreme on the other side. The King of Hospitality is there. Go rest high up on that mountain, good friend. You were and are the best.

    I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.

  • IF IT’S FEAR, IT’S NOT FROM GOD

    It’s staggering to me how extensively fear is driving the human train right now. The price of a gallon of gas hit $4.29 where I live today. Many fear we are headed toward complete economic collapse. With extreme weather events and temperatures, many are afraid that, unless we find a dramatic way to work with the environment and not against it, catastrophe is on the horizon. Right wing people fear a blue wave at the midterm elections. Left wing people fear that democracy as they understand it is on the edge of defeat. Traditional church people fear the erosion of traditions and beliefs that have stood for centuries. Progressive religious people fear for the survival of faith if some doctrines and practices that serve only a privileged few don’t end. Many citizens fear immigrants. Immigrants fear ICE. And now we’re told that AI, which we thought would make life so much richer, may end us. And on and on it goes…

    I notice some things about myself and all of us when fear rules us:

    1. Fear paralyzes. Fear can stop us in our tracks. When we’re afraid, we don’t take chances, explore new possibilities or try new things. Extreme fear equalizes us and every other creature in the animal kingdom. The primitive survival chemistry in us tells us to to do one of two things: run or desperately fight.
    2. Fear privatizes. Fear pulls the focus on to ourselves. It leaves little space or energy for giving attention to others. We become too consumed with survival – physically, relationally, vocationally, emotionally, spiritually, or whatever.
    3. Fear polarizes. In extreme fear, our tendency is to look for someone or something to blame for our condition. We need a scapegoat. Fear creates an “us/them” mentality. In the middle of the twentieth century, one of the most cultured, enlightened nations in Europe subscribed to a philosophy and political system based entirely on fear of others. And millions and millions of people died because of it.

    This is not to say that some fears aren’t completely legitimate. That’s not the point. I’m just observing that fear seems to be a prime motivator in this era, with predictable results in human behavior.

    In some of his last words before his execution, Jesus of Nazareth said to his closest followers, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27.) Peace here is the presence of God in Christ which the world cannot give, nor can it take away. Ultimately, it is unaffected by the presence of fear. The admonition “do not be afraid” means less “don’t have fear” and more “have courage in the face of fear.” Jesus tells us to not allow fear to rule us or to be the foundation on which we operate.

    The Jesus-following leader Paul said to his protege Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity…” (II Timothy 1:7.) Here and other places in the Bible we’re reminded that when fear is our primary motivator, that did not come from God.

    For those of us who follow Jesus, it takes nothing to operate from a foundation of fear. Nothing. Everybody’s doing it. Individuals and groups are doing it. Nations are doing it. Political parties at any point on the spectrum are doing it. Governments are doing it. Leaders are doing it. Churches are doing it. It’s the mode of operation for our era. If the world sees us in the Body of Christ acting from a basis of fear, how does that make us different than anybody else? Why would we expect to have any impact in the world?

    What would it be like for an unreached, hurting world to see us going against the flow; facing the reality of fear, but not allowing fear to rule? Even when fears are real, we are still called to seek and save the lost, to stand with those on the margins of life, to heal the hurting and lonely, and to resist evil, injustice, and oppression, in whatever forms they present themselves. Fear is real, but it can’t rule. The world is in desperate need of this.

    I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.

  • 09.11.01 AND A CONVENIENCE STORE

    A quarter century ago on this very morning the world changed forever, in the experience of those who were alive when it happened. Most of us remember where we were and what we were doing when we heart that the World Trade Center buildings had been attacked via weaponized commercial airliners. The ghastly event threw our nation into immediate chaos and panic. All commercial air traffic was grounded. Government facilities everywhere went on lockdown. No one knew who had attacked us and how long the assaults would last.

    At the end of a long day navigating all of this at her work, Elaine (my wife) headed back home. Nearing our community, she realized that her car was very low on fuel. Having little choice, she pulled into a fairly good sized convenience facility in our town. Immediately she discovered that one by-product of the 09.11 attacks was a fear-driven run on gasoline. The pumps were jammed with cars, the parking area was a jumbled mess of vehicles, and lines to get to the facility went out into the streets. To her, it had all the look of a scene in which terrified mob mentality could take over.

    However, she quickly discovered that something else was taking place. Employees of this particular quick stop had fanned out into their parking and fueling area. Calmly and cordially they guided people into lines for the fuel pumps. They smiled and assured everyone that they would get the gas they needed. They helped pump gas where necessary. Elaine noticed they were even talking with people who were particularly agitated, upset, or frightened. They listen and sympathized, and just offered whatever help they could. In a sea of uncertainty and terror, they created an oasis of care, comfort, and encouragement. Elaine has never forgotten this, and she remembers every detail, twenty-five years later.

    I can guarantee you that no one trained these employees on how to deal with the public when the entire nation was under threat. They just did it; they rode the bicycle while they were building it. They dug deep within themselves for something they might not have known they had in them, and they provided light in the midst of sudden, terrifying darkness.

    Even in division, violence, toxicity, injustice, hatred, and cruelty, the imprint of God remains in us. Even against seemingly insurmountable odds, we are at root still designed to love God and love each other. Often when the worst happens, it shows up.

    In these scary, uncertain days. Look for this.

    Be it.

    I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.

  • DIVISION DISEMPOWERS MISSION

    I use a daily devotional app called Lectio 365. Last week’s contributor was a Jesus-follower named Carla Harding. In one of the sessions, she said something that rings true for all churches who aim to be obedient to the mission of The Great Commandment (Mark 12:28-31) and The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). She noted that division disempowers mission. The more we who claim Jesus are divided from one another, the less impact we have on people who have yet to meet him.

    I once arrived in a community where I had been sent to pastor a church only to discover something alarming about the churches in that place. The area had one ministerial alliance made up of white church leaders and a different organization made up of black leaders. It was discouraging to see how much this compromised the ability of churches to make new disciples for Jesus the Christ. Why would anyone believe “all are one in Christ Jesus” when the Body of Christ could not get its act together over so-called racial lines?

    Look at the myriad divisions between churches in North America from the standpoint of someone who has no affiliation or experience with faith or church. They live in a world which is hopelessly divided right now in all kinds of ways. Why would they be drawn to something that is equally as split? No one in the unchurch community cares if my church has the “right” doctrine. It makes no difference to any of them whether or not my church has the “right” biblical interpretation. No one cares if we have the “right” practices. (How much water to use for baptism, who gets to receive communion, etc., etc.) No one cares which music or worship style is “correct.” Organized Christianity acts as if people will flock to our church buildings just as soon as we prove that we alone have won the correctness battle between church communities. In the words of a late, great friend and colleague, J. Brent Mustoe, “How’s that working for us?”

    People who have yet to experience Jesus don’t need the winner of the church rightness battles. They need compelling good news that they are infinitely loved and valued as they are, and that they have a different, hopeful, unified way to live ahead of them. Shortly before his execution, Jesus prayed that those who followed him would be one, even as he and God are one. (John 17:20-23.) He prayed for unity, not for uniformity. There is a difference. The call of the original twelve apostles, radically diverse as they were, evidenced that unity would be around something other than common background, common experience, common status, common viewpoints, and all the other uniformities that have seduced human beings through all of history. The common denomination would be nothing more or less than love made known by him. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35.)

    The Holy Spirit challenges me to build and grow relations with Jesus-followers who differ from me and my church. That’s not easy, and I’m a long way from doing a good job at it. But it reminds me that I have not cornered the market on “right.” There’s something greater than the where any of us who follow Jesus are at this moment.

    Well, I’m rambling now, so I’ll quit. I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.

  • WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE – REALLY?

    Yesterday we came home from a short trip to discover a small flyer placed on our door. It was from a local church, practicing the old-school evangelizing method of door-to-door soliciting. (Have to give them credit for stepping out.) The lead question in the flyer’s content was some version of an inquiry I’ve heard all my life in Christian circles: “If you died tonight, do you know where you’d spend eternity?” I’ve always had a little trouble with that. Not to deny heaven and hell at all, but is that really the lead carrot we want to hang out there in front of people? Doesn’t that imply that the primary motivation for coming to Jesus is self-preservation; guaranteeing a spot in the good place and avoiding the bad one? Any creature can be motivated by securing reward and avoiding punishment. How does that make us any different than Pavlov’s dog? What does that have to do with knowing Jesus and becoming like him?

    Jesus himself offered a point-blank definition of eternal life. In John 17:3, he is recording as having said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” The word translated “eternal” is a form of the Greek word aionios, meaning something perpetual, ageless. It doesn’t just mean “endless” in a metric sense, like being able to count positive numbers into infinity. The word carries more of a sense of being unbounded by the constraints of time or any metric measure as limited human understanding grasps them. And it isn’t just about quantity of time. It also points to quality of an endless area. This is not something reduced to starting only when we die.

    Similarly, the word translated “know” is a form of ginosko in Greek. More than just receiving and comprehending data in our minds, this word refers to first-hand experience of someone or something. Meaning an intimate, bonded relationship, this word form indicates on-going action, not something accomplished in one moment or one act. Jesus tells us that eternal life is more of a relationship and a state of being than it is a place or a status. And, if eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus, whom God has sent, then it is something that is right now, rather than something which kicks in when we breath our last.

    I don’t want to disrespect those who believe the main thing is to get people to secure a spot in heaven and to avoid hell. They sometimes understand urgency better than the rest of us do. I just don’t think the carrot is streets of gold. I think the carrot is Jesus himself. If that relationship is alive and well, the make-up of the streets in “the great by and by” will take care of itself.

    I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.