Eulogy - "A Physician's Faith" - Luke 10:25-37

“A Physician’s Faith: A Witness to the Life

of the Late Deacon Calvin L. Calhoun, Sr., M. D.”

Luke 10:25-37

Deacon Calvin Lee Calhoun, Sr. was a very proud physician, scientist, teacher and community activist.  Dr. Calhoun also took great pride in the accuracy of his golf game and his rising score in bowling.  His innumerable academic, professional and civic accomplishments have been detailed in the foregoing tributes to his life.  Yet, he was most confident in his roles as a husband of fifty-eight years, a father and a grandfather.  He talked often about how much he owed Mrs. Evelyn Calhoun for her steadfast love, faithful devotion and tireless duty.  The accomplishments, activities and future goals of Dr. Calvin L. Calhoun, Jr. and Calvin III stayed on his mind.  Notwithstanding his medical, professorial and personal achievements, Dr. Calvin Lee Calhoun, Sr. prioritized his marriage and his family.

Dr. Calhoun was a fun person to be around.  In the summer of 2000, while I commuted between Brooklyn, NY and Nashville, TN, Deacon Calhoun drove during several visitation trips sick and shut-in members of First Baptist Church Capitol Hill.  Ever the teacher, Deacon Calhoun volunteered to drive during those visits to relay the message to me of how important he found visitation of our senior members.  In the course of those various visits, we talked about many different things, some of which I will recall shortly.  I came to appreciate his zest for life.  He told me of his love of golf.  I quickly understood that he and Mrs. Calhoun were not to be disturbed on Monday mornings unless a “real” emergency had occurred.  Actually, I loved riding in his Porsche which he thoroughly enjoyed driving.  Once while approaching a sharp curve on Clarkesville Highway, he said, “Reverend, I can get from zero to sixty in less than five seconds.”  I thought at the time, “But you don’t have to do that now!”  Additionally, we chided each other about our different choices in fraternities.  Deacon Calhoun said, “Reverend, everyone is entitled to at least one mistake in life.”  Yet, we shared many other laughs and fun times not only during those visits  but also over the course of the next five years.

Again, Deacon Calhoun was a teacher within his innermost being.  One could hardly be around him for more than a few minutes without learning something new.  He valued knowledge and took seriously the privilege and necessity of lifelong learning.  During my visits to the Calhoun residence, we would discuss his latest reading.  Once, he shared his thoughts about a  book on higher biblical criticism.  This, undoubtedly, led to an energetic and engaging conversation.  In that conversation, Deacon Calhoun told me of his skepticism about some matters relating to the Christian faith.  Like most people, Deacon Calhoun was befuddled by the inability and unwillingness of so many professing Christians to live by the grand moral, ethical and justice principles of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.  This dilemma was both individual and collective for him.  How did a nation that characterized itself as a “Christian nation” reconcile its treatment of marginalized people?  Deacon Calhoun spent his life attempting to resolve this predicament.  His personal and persistent study, his service as a Deacon at First Baptist and his faithful activism, particularly as a member of the NAACP equaled his practical methods of redressing his skepticism.

Theologically and ideologically, Deacon Calhoun adhered strictly to the “Morehouse School of Religion.”  In addition to being an actual degree granting institution, the “Morehouse School of Religion” reconciles the previously defined by theological dilemma by insisting that authentic and worthwhile religion demands that its adherents care for the least in society.  A classmate of The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at Morehouse College, Deacon Calhoun participated in many of the dining hall, coffee shops and dormitory discussions that eventuated in liberation and Black theology.  In fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-3 and Luke 4:18, these theological systems posit that the gospel of Jesus Christ frees everyone to actualize his God given talents and abilities to the fullest extent of his natural endowments and personal application.  Furthermore, liberation and Black theologians within the “Morehouse School of Religion” insist that any systemic barriers to the poor and marginalized realizing their potential must be removed.  Good and pure religion fights these obstacles to the average person recognizing his worth as a child of God.

As a physician and scientist, Deacon Calhoun would not settle for simplistic responses to difficult questions.  He employed the scientific method and its reliance upon repetitive verifiability to matters of faith.  He posited that the truth and genuineness of the Christian faith depended upon the consistent struggle of believers to live according to the principles of Christ.  The veracity of the teachings of Christ necessitates the daily  redundant practice of the Church, individually and collectively.

Soon after Deacon Calhoun’s transition to eternal life, we found one of his many Bibles near his nightstand.  This passage of “The Parable of the Good Samaritan” was clearly marked in his favorite Bible.  This immortal story summarizes the final lesson from this teacher and physician whose life we commemorate today.  This parable captures the essence of “A Physician’s Religion.”  Written by a physician, the gospel of Luke was Deacon Calhoun’s favorite gospel.  Perhaps, this story was his most favored one.  Yet, it encompasses the theological complexity that Deacon Calhoun spent his life resolving in thought, word and deed.

A lawyer asks Jesus about the necessary actions to ensure eternal life.  The Lord refers the inquisitive teacher of the law to the actual Law.  In turn, the lawyer quotes the two greatest commandments.  Love God with all of your being and love your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus, in response, congratulates the lawyer on answering correctly and instructs him to live accordingly in order to inherit eternal life. 

Most people stop there, while they deem that they are ahead.  Loving God with casual consideration of one’s neighbor suffices to create a warm fuzzy feeling in most people’s hearts.  Unfortunately, that misdirected private religion is adequate for most contemporary believers.  They fall for the fallacy of “God and I are doing just fine together.”  They fail to ask the lawyer’s next question, “Who is my neighbor?”  In asking the question, one additionally inquires about one’s responsibility to one’s neighbor.

Deacon Calhoun asked these important questions.  In so doing, he found answers in “The Parable of the Good Samaritan.”  The unnamed man who falls into the hands of robbers along the road between Jericho and Jerusalem represents humankind.  The circumstances of life often batter and beat people and leave them for dead.  Many systemic causes (poverty, inadequate housing, substandard education, crime, poor healthcare, etc.) prevent people from actualizing their God given talents and abilities to the fullest extent of their natural endowments and personal application.  The victim’s wounds represent the depth of these societal problems.  Countless citizens lie on the Jericho rod of life hoping that someone will care enough to assist them.  As a physician, Deacon Calhoun saw these victims of life’s dilemmas as his neighbors.  Whereas he may never have resolved his theological quandaries to his personal satisfaction, he determined that an authentic and worthwhile faith necessitated that we see our neighbors along the road of life. 

The text tells us that two ministers saw this forsaken man and  both of them ignored him by crossing over to the other side of the road.  Perhaps, the first priest had been given an opportunity to preach at his equivalent of Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s Cathedral.  Actually, the privilege of celebrating and officiating at the main ritual in the Temple in Jerusalem would have occurred in the life of the average priest only once if even then.  Yet, that does not excuse his indifference to the pain  and suffering of this victimized man.  The second priest, specifically characterized as a Levite, similarly ignores this suffering man.  Like his fellow priest, he is distracted with his ministry, however he defines it.  These clergymen symbolize a contemporary Church whose attention is diverted toward the grandeur of monumental buildings, glorious worship and rising numbers in church attendance. 

Deacon Calhoun had great difficulty in accepting the indifference and thus incivility of these two priests.  As a scientist, he adhered to the method of obtaining truth via repetitive verifiability.  The truth of any hypothesis or discovery should be able to be replicated independently and objectively by others.  He applied similar standards to the Christian faith.  Adherents would know the authenticity of Christian principles and doctrine through the repetitive practice of spiritual disciplines to the faith.  Just as scientific experiments produced results, Christianity must yield the practice of Christ’s teachings with the product of transformation in order to justify its faith statements and truth claims.

In “The Parable of the Good Samaritan,” Deacon Calhoun found an enduring, pragmatic and intellectually respectable answer to his lifelong theological dilemma.  In contradistinction to the indifference of the priest, a Good Samaritan appears on the scene.  He runs to the victim and rescues him from the jaws of death.  The Good Samaritan is  Gentile who presumably is unacquainted with the Law of God and the religion of Israel.  Nevertheless, this Samaritan had pity on the victimized man by wiping and bandaging his wounds.  He bore the expense of oil, wine, time and financial resources to care for this wounded individual.  He put the victim on his won donkey; took him to an inn, and paid for his stay.  The Samaritan agreed to reimburse the innkeeper for any expenditure that would accumulate during his absence.  I posit that Deacon Calhoun suspected that the Samaritan was a physician.  Interestingly, the author of the gospel of Luke was a Gentile physician.  Maybe, Dr. Luke cloaked a personal experience of his within the garments of this provocative and immortal story.  Nonetheless, the love of the Good Samaritan challenges us to equate our profession of the Christian faith with our daily practice. 

The physician whose life we celebrate and commemorate today leaves us with a final lesson, “Go and do likewise.”  Dr. Calvin Lee Calhoun, Sr. resolved his skepticism about the Christian faith through a tri-fold method.  He maintained the discipline of lifelong study.  Second, he answered many of his questions through his service in the Diaconate of First Baptist Church Capitol Hill.  Third, he emulated the practice of the Good Samaritan in his social justice activism.  Those three pillars comprised the major tenets of “A Physician’s Faith.”

Eulogy - "God's Mystical and Mysterious Use of Teachers" - Acts 18:18-28

With Praise and Thanksgiving to Almighty God

for the Life, Love and Legacy

of the late

Mary W. Wickware

17 April 1917 - 22 December 2007

“God’s Mystical and Mysterious Use of Teachers – Acts 18:18-28”

Most regrettably, we have a saying in American society, “Those who can do, do.  Those who can’t do, teach.” This irrational yet enduring maxim overlooks the obvious point that “those who do” had to be taught at some point.  No one is born with innate ability to do anything.  Regardless of how talented a person may be, someone instructed him or her in the beginning.  Not surprisingly, I detest that saying because it denigrates one of the most vital callings in the Church and one of the most significant professions in any society, particularly a developed democracy.  Teaching the language, history, culture, religion, and literature is the foundation of any country.

Teaching extends to as many informal and necessary subjects as its does the foregoing formal subjects.  Our parents are our first teachers.  They instruct us about the love of God and the importance of self-acceptance.  Additionally, they teach us the intangible and invaluable tools of discipline, hard work, faithfulness, perseverance and genuine spirituality.  The life of every successful person reveals the influence of a teacher, whether professional or not, who took the time and demonstrated the care to show that person the way toward the fulfillment of his or her dreams and goals.

Almighty God mysteriously and mystically uses teachers to further the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and  build the kingdom of God on the earth.  More specifically, God uses mothers in this fundamental role.  We know the incredible influence of Susanna Wesley in the lives of her sons, John Wesley, who became the founder of Methodism, and Charles Wesley, who wrote many hymns.  I imagine that the late Mrs. Niebuhr, the mother of Reinhold Niebuhr and H. Richard Niebuhr, two outstanding American theologians.  Martin Luther King Jr. credited his maternal grandmother with inculcating the foundation of the Christian faith in him.  Contemporarily, we know of the musical teaching of “Mom and Pops” Winans whose children have enjoyed illustrious and award-winning careers.  Whether in preaching, evangelism, music, social justice activism or myriad other forms of ministry, faithful and obedient mothers serve as the Lord’s primary instructors for His next generation of servant leaders.

Circumstantially, some parents are unable to fulfill this divinely ordained role.  Mysteriously, school teachers fortunately fill in these gaps.  In some instances, they supplement the training and instruction that students receive at home.  Regardless of the function, teachers perform the vital purpose of leading people out of the darkness of ignorance, immaturity and imagination into the light of knowledge, discipline, focus, and excellence.  Again, many of us in today’s audience can point to the determining significance that a teacher played in our lives.  As we celebrate, with praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God, the life, love and legacy of the late Mary W. Wickware, we favorably recall her forty-two years of service as a teacher. 

This passage in the book of Acts reminds us of the crucial role that teachers play in all matters.  On a previous trip to Athens, the apostle Paul encounters Aquila, a Jew and native of Pontus, and his wife, Priscilla.  They join the missionary journey, having been expelled from Rome by Claudius.  Currently, we find them enroute to Syria as they begin the third missionary journey which would further the spreading of the gospel to the ends of the then known world.  However, Paul incidentally leaves this couple of disciples in Ephesus as he journeys onward to Antioch and elsewhere.  While in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila hear the formidable preaching of a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria.  “A learned man with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures,” Apollos gained the reputation of a passionate and persuasive preacher.  Although he had been previously taught “the way of the Lord and spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately,” he only knew about the baptism of repentance which John  the Baptist taught.  Essentially, Apollos’ courageous teaching was overshadowed by his ignorance of the saving baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ.  His teaching, however, straightforward and awesome, was lacking.  In response to hearing Apollos’ teaching, Aquila and Priscilla, invite Apollos to their home.  There, these tentmakers by professions actually fulfill their calling as teachers.  Aquila and Priscilla “explain to [Apollos] the way of God more accurately.”  They offer the gift of a greater revelation of Christ as the long-awaited Messiah and Son of God.

Through the prism of the biblical character of Priscilla, I see the person of Ms. Mary W. Wickware.  I celebrate her calling as a teacher who for four decades diligently taught mathematics to lead her students towards their dreams and goals.  One of her former students, in paying tribute to Ms. Wickware, offers one of the highest compliments that can be given to a teacher.  Reputedly, Ms. Wickware was stern and hard.  This meant that she was a tough teacher who would not allow her students to skate in her class.  As a very strict teacher who did not tolerate nonsense, Ms. Wickware demanded the very best from her students.  As we reflect upon the teachers who have had an enduring influence upon us, we readily recall the ones who were the toughest and most demanding.  These teachers taught us to be demanding of ourselves because they required so much of themselves.  They continued to learn and grow.  As a result, they passed along their new discoveries of knowledge, internal and external.  Willingly, they shared their insights with their students with the hope that the recipients would exceed greatly the achievements of the teachers. 

Accordingly, Priscilla in this text graciously shares her spiritual, scriptural, personal and experiential revelations with Apollos.  Arguably, we can deduce that these tentmakers did not possess the formal training of this learned man from Alexandria who might have had access to the great library of that ancient city.  Parenthetically, the library in Alexandria rivaled that of any other in the Ancient Near East.  It contained more than five hundred thousand (500,000) scrolls, manuscripts and records.  Nevertheless, Aquila and Priscilla, through their relational and experiential knowledge with the apostle Paul, obtained a greater revelation of the incarnation, ministry, teaching, crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Although they are not professional teachers, they instruct Apollos about these significance matters of faith. 

This story reassures us that we can teach wherever we may work.  Everyone can learn from someone.  Aquila and Priscilla demonstrate God’s mystical and majestic use of teachers, professional and personal, to equip people to actualize their destiny in life.  Upon departing from their house, Apollos travels to Achaia, a province of Greece, where the Lord mightily uses Apollos to spread the gospel in an area where the message of Christ had to complete against many different philosophies.  Yet, because of Aquila and Priscilla’s conscientious and compassionate teaching, Apollos arrives with the spiritual tools and knowledge to “vigorously refute the Jews in public debate, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.”

I imagine that many of Ms. Wickware’s former students have gone on to utilize the gift of mathematics to the honor and glory of Almighty God.  Perhaps, they have invented an instrument needed to assist a physically challenged person.  Maybe, they have used the logical reasoning embedded in math to help someone in a legal proceeding.  Then, there is the chance that they have used math as a healthcare professional.  Consider the necessity of math in everyday life.  Even minimal acquisition and facility in this discipline substantially increases your chances for success in whatever you do.  From parenthood to being the head of a household to managing a company to directing a not-for-profit organization, these diverse tasks require math.  In her calling as a math teacher, Ms. Wickware fulfilled God’s calling in her life as she empowered countless thousands of students to succeed at their chosen profession.

Eulogy - "A Silent Sermon - Seek the Face of Almighty God" - Psalm 80

“A Silent Sermon – Seek the Face of Almighty God” (Psalm 80)

The Revised and Edited Eulogy of

The Reverend Robert Thomas, Sr.

On Saturday, 14 May 2005

Shortly after arriving at First Baptist Church Capitol Hill, I asked the late Rev. Robert Thomas if he would like to be in the monthly preaching rotation.  He responded, “Reverend, I really don’t preach.  I‘d rather sit, listen and worship.”  Not surprisingly, I found his comment and its attendant humility rather odd.  I do not know many clergypersons who pass up opportunities to preach.  Nevertheless, over the last five years, I came to appreciate Rev. Thomas’ method of silent preaching.  He did indeed preach but he did so silently.  He proclaimed the gospel through his life.

As we celebrate his life today, we recall the silent sermon of Rev. Thomas’ faithfulness to Almighty God and the members of our church family.  He leaves a legacy of “A Silent Sermon.”  Through his countless cards celebrating birthdays and anniversaries and expressing condolences, Rev. Thomas fulfilled the scriptural requirement of “rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep.”  He consistently visited with members who were hospitalized.  In times of bereavement, he devotedly practiced the ministry of presence.  I do not recall a funeral in the last five years that he missed. 

In his witness to Christ, Rev. Thomas prioritized obedience to the will and Word of God.  As long as his health permitted, he came to Sunday worship without fail.  He strove for integrity in all that he did. The coherence of thought and action is integrity, practically speaking.  His many trips to the church office to ascertain the location of a hospitalized member were part and parcel of his faithfulness to Christ.  His understanding of the Lord’s love compelled him toward the service that he offered to the honor and glory of Christ and the benevolence that he showed to others.

Referring to his favorite passage of scripture, Psalm 80, I entitle the silent sermon of Rev. Thomas’ life, “Seek the Face of Almighty God.”  Three times in this psalm, David appeals to Almighty God for restoration.  Further, the psalmist asks that the face of God shine upon the people of Israel so that they would be saved.   Despite the various trials and tribulations of the people, they can seek the favor of God.  In his meek and formidable manner, Rev. Thomas taught us to emulate the behavior of the psalmist.  During the twists and turns of his illness, Rev. Thomas never complained.  Constantly, he gave thanks and praise to Almighty God for His all-sufficient grace.  Although he underwent surgery and a couple of subsequent setbacks, Rev. Thomas loyally pleaded “make Your face shine upon [me], that [I] may saved.”  His life was a silent sermon, which encouraged those who observed Rev. Thomas to “Seek the Face of Almighty God.”

The second verse of Psalm 80 concludes with a petition, “Awake your might and come and save us.”  This prayer is actually a request for enlightenment.  The psalmist hopes that God’s presence will remind the people of His saving power, which works within them as they rightly, relate themselves to Almighty God.  Difficult times necessitate that we flee to the shelter of God’s presence, which automatically includes His ability to protect and nurture us.  Rev. Thomas’ example consistently taught us to imitate the psalmist’s prayer life.

In the fourth through the sixth verses, the psalmist describes a rather dire situation.  He questions the length of God’s “smoldering anger” and inquires about its inhibition of the people’s prayers.  Then, he depicts a very graphic image of feeding on “bread of tears” and drinking a “bowlful of tears.”  Elsewhere, David speaks of tears being his food by night and sustenance in the day.  An extended and multifaceted illness is a time of countless tears.  Next, the psalmist considers that he and his kinsfolk have become the butts of their neighbors’ joke.  He imagines that they wonder anyone would serve that “God,” since He leaves them in desperation for such a long time.  Yet, like the psalter, Rev. Thomas constantly leaned on then Lord.  He genuinely relied upon God by asking for restoration and the good favor of God’s face.

I imagine that Rev. Thomas periodically implored God about the circumstances in which he found himself.  I find such an inquiry to be perfectly natural.  Considering Rev. Thomas’ obedience to the call of God on his life and his willingness to pursue the ministry with integrity, he probably wondered how such a brilliant dawn could give way to such a dreary dusk.  Similarly, the psalmist reminds God that He providentially “brought a vine [Israel] out of Egypt.”  Moreover, He planted it in the Promised Land; it grew to the lengths and height of shading mountains and the “mighty cedars” of the land.  The wild boars of the forests and beasts of the field eventually trampled the vine, although it extended to the sea.  Still, the psalmist, in the fourteenth and fifteenth verses, begs for God to turn His eyes toward the vine,  “Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted.”  Undoubtedly, in episodes of pain and frustration, Rev. Thomas called for God’s remembrance of His original and sovereign plan for his life.  Whereas those petitions did not remove the unfortunate circumstances, they were enough to remind Rev. Thomas of God’s favor.

The final verse of Psalm 80 reiterates, for the third time, the psalmist’s steadfast desire to “Seek the Face of Almighty God” no what the surrounding conditions may be.  The presence of God includes restoration and salvation, which is a synonym for inner healing and wholeness.  In his shy, quiet, humble and forceful way, Rev. Thomas taught us this important spiritual lesson.  In so doing, he preached a marvelously silent yet powerful sermon!

Eulogy - "I Get to See Daddy as He Really Is" - 1 John 3:1-3

“I Get to See Daddy as He Really Is” – 1 John 3:1-3

A Meditation on the Life of 

The Late Katherine Elang Hammonds

February 8, 1924 – August 9, 2007

The following is the revised and extended eulogy which Pastor Singletary gave at the graveside service held on Saturday, 25 August 2007, at Greenwood Cemetery in Nashville, TN.

With thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, we assemble in worship to celebrate the life, love and service of our dearly departed sister, the late Katherine Elang Hammonds.  We are grateful to God for the gift of her life and the unique way in which He shared Himself through the particular expression of her life.  We commend her spirit to our Creator from whom she came.  We pray that she will find any joy and fulfillment that may have evaded her as she dwelt amongst.  We commit her body to the earth in the confident hope of the resurrection of the dead in Christ.  We beseech Almighty God on Katherine’s behalf.  O’ Lord grant her rest and let thy gracious light perpetually shine upon her.

The stories of our lives comprise four major components: a setting, a conflict, a resolution and a celebration.  The setting usually includes the origins of our lives and the beginnings of our life’s journey.  Simply stated, it is the primary situation in which we find ourselves.  Out of that situation, problems arise.  How we handle these challenges determines the quality of life we enjoy.  Our childhood years are the foundation for a joyous and fulfilling life for some people.  For others, this same period of time causes existential paralysis.  Some people remain forever plagued by some of the shortcomings, inadequacies, incapacities and injuries of these years.  Yet, other people find the blessings in the burdens and become stronger and happier people than the odds might have projected.  Regardless of the response to our early years, all of us seek a resolution to them that enable us to live freely, joyously and bountifully.  You recall the ending of most childhood stories.  “They lived happily ever after.”  Quite simply, most people earnestly desire to live happily ever after.  That is the celebration that we want in the fourth chapter of our story.

Sister Hammonds’ life began in Huntsville, Alabama where she and her parents enjoyed her first years together.  Most regrettably, at an early age, her mother died.  She and her father, the late Deacon William Henry Hammonds, moved to Nashville as a means of resolving the great loss of her mother.  One imagines the most grievous hurt and disappointment the death Sister Hammonds caused her.  Deacon Hammonds’ decision to change the setting of their story greatly aided them in finding God’s gracious healing.  It emerged in the incredible love that Sister Hammonds and he would share as daughter and father.  Indeed, the love between a father and daughter is most special and singular.  My daughter is my biggest defender; she will not entertain any criticisms of her father.  However, my son will give you an audience on any given day depending upon our latest squabble.  Deacon Hammonds and Sister Katherine Hammonds shared this distinctive love.  She infinitely loved and especially admired him.  In this divine bond, they found healing for the loss of her mother and a lasting solution to the problem of grief in their lives.

As we celebrate the life, love and service of Sister Katherine Elang Hammonds, we rejoice in the ultimate celebration of her life’s story.  We believe that she enjoys the presence of her beloved father.  We affirm the enduring doctrine of the communion of saints, the assembly of the heavenly hosts and the goodly fellowship of the eternally redeemed.  We utilize our spiritual imaginations to view celestially a grand reunion in which Sister Hammonds was reunited with Deacon Hammonds.  We consider the joy that filled her heart as she stood at the threshold of eternity.  “I get to see Daddy as he really is!”  The apostle Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 15 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the eternal realms of Almighty God.  Accordingly, our perishable and mortal bodies must give way to the creation of a new body which will be imperishable and immortal.  Sister Hammonds, as she lingered briefly with a terminal illness, was an ideal candidate for this mysterious and mystical process of transliteration.  Not only did she receive God’s gracious gift of eternal life, she generously obtained her heart’s deepest desire.  She saw her father’s face and heard his voice again.  She rejoiced in the reality of her longstanding wish.  “I get to see Daddy as he really is!”

Yet, the great apostle of love, John, offers encouraging words to us who remain with anticipation of sharing in Sister Hammonds’ eternal bliss.  He reminds us of the immeasurable love of God.  “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”  I suspect that Deacon Hammonds love for his daughter, our sister Katherine, consisted of the bounty of time, treasure, talent and temperament.  His earthly example illustrates the divine reality that Almighty God cares for each one of us with an especial and unique.  We know that we are children of the Most High God.  Because of that fact, we rest confidently in our identities as the recipients of His unfailing and infinite love.  We feel joy, awe, security and happy because of it.  Sister Hammonds allowed his earthly father’s love to sustain her as food for the soul.  In addition to her reunion with her, she received the eternal reward of union with her Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  As equal children of God, we await this indescribable bliss.

What shall it be like?  We cannot possibly know with any reasonable or minimal certainty.  Yet, the apostle assures us that we shall be like Him “for we shall see Him as He is.”  What a wonderful and grand promise that we shall be just like the Lord Jesus Christ when He appears!  Our Sister Katherine Hammonds enjoys this eternal bliss.  Yes, she gets to see her earthly father, the late Deacon Hammonds, as he is in his new resurrected body and eternal essence.  Moreover, she sees the Lord of all as He is.  She is able to see our Heavenly Father, the Creator of all of us and the Maker of all that is seen and unseen, as He really is.  She is no longer limited by the frailties and incapacities of human imagination and existence.  Hers is the eternal reward of the dead in Christ, the ability to see Him as He is.

Most assuredly, we can say “They live happily ever after.”  It is a sheer joy to think about the marvelous reunion that occurred upon Sister Hammonds’ transition to eternal life.  What joy must have overwhelmed her upon the sight of her beloved father!  Can you hear the joy that they exchanged upon seeing each other again after an interlude of many historical years but probably a brief period eternally?  Their greater happiness arose when they realized that they would never be apart again.  After catching up and a minimal tour of the magnificent city that John the Revelator describes in Revelation 22, perhaps they shared a cup of tea from the Tree of Life which has leaves for the healing of all nations.  Afterwards, I see in my mind’s eye that Deacon Hammonds says to Sister Katherine Hammonds, “Katherine, you still have not yet fully glimpsed the main attraction of this City.  Look at Him and see Him as He really is.”  Truly, “they lived happily ever after.”

Love Within the Community - 1 John 2:7-17 Part III

Love Within the Community 

1 John 2:7-17 Part III

The Necessity of Forsaking a Love of the World

I greatly lament the disappearing distinctions between the Church and the dominant culture.  Is there any longer a clear and discernible difference between the priorities, allocation of resources, principles and personal behavior of the average church attendee and that of someone who does not espouse any Christian beliefs?  The Church possesses a particular prerogative to transform society into the kingdom of God in which grand aims of the Hebrew prophets concerning truth, justice, mercy, and integrity become a reality.  The Church ought to resist prominent and prevalent tendencies to emulate the felicities of bourgeois culture and its concomitant bohemianism.

The tendency of church attendees to assimilate popular culture and secular, humanistic society creates great impediments to Christian spirituality.  Accommodations to cable television, Hollywood and Madison Avenue advertising greatly undermine the Church’s ability to transform society into the kingdom of God.  The removal of all political, economic and social systemic barriers is a prerequisite to the emergence of the kingdom.  Acknowledging the Lord’s words that the poor will remain always, the kingdom of God fulfills the grand visions of Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18 and Matthew 25.  “The least of these” receive particular care to preserve their human dignity and sanctity as children of God.  As others unrelentingly pursue their goals and dreams, the Church has a particular prerogative to ensure society distributes its resources fairly and care for the poor in the process.  Nonetheless, when church attendees have greater clarity about their political affiliations than their biblical and theological beliefs, they remain ignorant of “The Great Commandment” (Matthew 22:34-40) and “The Great Commission” (Matthew 28:16-20).  Regrettably, many church attendees listen more attentively to the clarion calls of the lobbying firms of “Avenue K” in Washington DC than they do local pastors who offer the prophetic vision of the kingdom of God.

The inability to distinguish clearly between the principles and actions of the Church and those of secular society depicts one of the Church’s greatest spiritual needs today.  Debatably, there is no discernible difference between the behavior of believers and the average citizen.  More regrettably, the Church mimics the world rather than being the “called out community” (ecclesia) whose existence is fundamentally grounded in the will and service of our Lord Jesus Christ.  To resolve this intractable dilemma, the Church must return to its basic purpose as a biblically based New Testament church operating according to the teachings of our Lord. 

Reaffirming the Bible as the rule of faith and practice resolves a number of attendant problems for the local church.  The moral and ethical laxity in the pews arises from protracted biblical illiteracy.  Plainly speaking, most congregants do not know the Bible well enough to follow it.  They are not acquainted with the commands of Christ.  They cannot explain adequately the reasons why obeying our Lord supersedes the moral relativism and ethical aimlessness of the dominant culture. 

The primary purpose of the Church contemporarily, as it has been historically, is developing a fellowship of believers who mature into genuine disciples, adhering unconditionally to The Great Commandment and achieving The Great Commission by evangelizing the entire world.  The Church meets these biblical mandates by prioritizing people.  More practically, the Church has a stewardship obligation to utilize her resources to assist each disciple in actualizing his God given talents to the fullest extent of his natural endowments and personal application.  More especially, the Church has the prophetic and social justice prerogative to demand a just and equitable society.  Whether the local homeless, the rising national prison population, or the instability in the global economy and international geopolitical relations, the Church must fulfill unflinchingly her divine charge to care for “least of these” through serving direct needs and prophetic advocacy. 

Concluding Reflections

The world needs a greater supply of love rather than oil. Seemingly, there is so little love in the world that people should secure it wherever and however they find it.  Their pursuit and obtainment of love may cross traditional boundaries and conventional relationships.  Many people fight to share loving relationships with another person and other people.  As a pastor, I constantly counsel people who are victims of unrequited love, even persons in marriages.  Broken relationships are a norm for most adults.  However, the great apostle of love reminds us that the Church, in total obedience to Christ, must be a community of love.  Christ’s sacrificial and supreme love is the foundation for relationships in the Church.  In appreciation of His perfect example, disciples emulate His love in contrast to the values of the world.

Three Personal Objectives

• To compare Christ’s sacrificial and faithful love with the emotional and romantic notions of the world.
• To understand how the apostle of love defines love and hatred.
• To help learners ascertain whether they are obeying the new law of love.

Prayer

Our loving Father and Lord, help us to better understand Your love.  Arrest us with a greater appreciation for the sacrifice of Your life on the cross.  Give us grateful hearts that empower us to share willingly with others.  You are love.  Teach us to live daily in Your love and presence.  In Your name and for Your cause, we pray.  Amen.

Bible Study Notes - Love Within the Community 1 John 2:7-17 Part II

Love Within the Community – 1 John 2:7-17 Part II

The Necessity of Wholeheartedly Loving God

John reminds his fellow believers this command is not new.  Often, he reiterates this teaching in his gospel and elsewhere.  Perhaps, he repeatedly tells them about the foot washing episode during “The Last Supper” to demonstrate Christ’s love as a servant to His disciples and humankind. 

Throughout his writings, John maintains a duality between light and darkness, love and hate and life and death.  Often, we think we live in the first halves of these couplets if we are financially prosperous, physically well, morally correct and ethically righteous.  We reason we live in the second halves when we experience moral lapses and the consequences of personal sin.  However, the great apostle of love exhorts us to consider we live in darkness, hatred and death when we fail to love our brothers and sisters.  Fundamentally, obedience to the law of love is a requirement to living in the light. 

“God is love.”  That verse is one of the clearest statements of the character and nature of Almighty God.  Love is the primary means by which God draws humankind to Him.  Therefore, it is inconceivable a person can affirmatively claim to know God and possess the love of God if he hates anyone.  Additionally, he shows he no longer dwells in the darkness of self-centered fear and self-seeking motives by forsaking his personal desires and interests by selflessly loving others.  Living in the light emerges as one proactively demonstrates love.  It is not a matter of resisting emotions of anger, resentment, bitterness and hatred.  The love of which John speaks is not a feeling.  Rather, it is a commitment to a way of life.  Living in the light in this passage equates with “abiding” in the “True Vine,” the Lord Himself.  In the gospel, John records Jesus’ exhortation to His disciples about the necessity of dwelling with Him in heart, mind, soul and strength as they adhere faithfully and lovingly to His commands.  This is not burdensome for anyone who commits wholeheartedly.

John concludes today’s passage with a warning to resist any temptation to love the world and anything it offers.  The wizards of Madison Avenue, the lobbyists of Avenue K, the moguls of Hollywood, and the tycoons of multimedia, all, lure believers back into the world with their colorful depictions and artistic imagination.  Slick and glossy advertisements tempt you to believe happiness is found in clothing, perfume, shoes and other material possessions.  Political lobbyists in Washington DC manufacture impressions of power as the only means of security.  Daily, shiny images of movie and entertainment celebrities through whom many people live vicariously bombard us.  Beneath the surface of these glitzy façades is the hopelessness in which many of these people live.  They actually desire the stability of average loving and spiritually committed people.  Still, countless disciples split their hearts by continuing to pursue these temporal things to the detriment of loving their brothers and sisters as they share the Lord’s blessings with them.

Forcefully, John extends his use of duality to affirm the spiritual principle that love of God cannot dwell simultaneously in the heart of someone who loves the world.  He additionally submits unequivocally love of the world does not come from the Father.  It contradicts the love of God which seeks healing and wholeness of each child of God.  Remarkably, John considers the love of the world and its pursuit of selfish and material aims as hatred of one’s brother.  He undercuts the prevailing notion that one loves everyone if one has a warm fuzzy feeling in one’s heart.

The Necessity of Wholeheartedly Loving Your Brother

The evangelist parallels love and hatred with light and darkness.  As God is love, we walk in the light of His love as we demonstrate it freely and unconditionally to our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. Conversely, should we choose to hate people, we stumble in darkness of anger, bitterness and vengeance.  John draws this contrast to eliminate the false notion of “Lone Ranger” Christians who strengthen their personal relationships with the Lord while ignoring and despising other people.  He alludes to the physical fact that light and darkness can occupy the same space simultaneously.  Likewise, a human heart filled with hatred for other children of God cannot channel the pure love of God.  Christ’s agape cannot co-exist with human hatred.

It is necessary to distinguish between loving and liking someone.  Whereas the Lord commands us to love everybody, it does not stand to reason that we will like everyone.  Particularly, in the Church, people say and do things that are not the least bit likeable.  As a consequence, we tend to avoid such people.  Assuredly, we do not socialize with them.  However, we ask the Holy Spirit to assist us in preventing our dislike from materializing into hatred.  This transition occurs more frequently than we may imagine.  A daily reminder of the biblical command to love everyone serves as an effective antidote to this disease. 

How do love people who do really unlovable and unlikable things?  Even in the Church, there are people who cannot tell the truth if it were seared indelibly upon their tongues.  Incredulously, many lifelong church goers lack integrity and courage to stand for righteousness in the midst of unjust, unfair, unprincipled and unsubstantiated accusations.  What about an abundance of “two-faced” people in the Church who grovel to be liked to the point of relinquishing all personal confidence and self-respect?  Though I could continue with countless examples, it suffices to simply ask how one sincerely obeys God by loving these difficult people.

A significant part of loving people, generally, and tough personalities, specifically, is forgiving their incapacities.  No one is perfect.  If we look for perfect people to love, we look in vain.  God loves us as we are with the perfect intention of transforming us with His love into the character of Christ.  As He demonstrates His love by overlooking our limitations, He models for us the way to love complex people whose words and deeds often contradict each other.  In sum, God in the gift of the sacrificial love of Christ shows us how to love wholeheartedly our brothers and sisters as we love Him.

Bible Study Notes - Love Withn the Community - 1 John 2:7-17

Love Within the Community – 1 John 2:7-17

The “Culture of Narcissism”

The late Professor Christopher Lasch, a prominent social critic at the time of his death, wrote a lasting book by the title of this section. In The Culture of Narcissism, Lasch excoriated the American media for glamorizing selfishness and hedonism.  He cautioned the public for turning inward excessively and ignoring the needs of others.  At the time of publication, the book was a response to glorified narcissism on many college and university campuses in which few students aspired to graduate school or professions of service.  Many wanted to pursue legal, business and medical careers with the aspirations of making lots of money and buying many material things.  The prevalence of this thinking erodes volunteerism and community service. Its most unfortunate outcome was the fanciful idea positing the poor are responsible for their poverty.  Their failure to apply themselves and work hard yields their destitute lot in life.  Allowing the truth of that proposition for a percentage of the poor, it nevertheless ignores the predominant systemic causes of impoverishment for many citizens.  Lasch’s polemic warns about an approaching America that celebrates a self-centered approach to life that permits indifference to the pain and suffering of other people.  More disturbing than Lasch’s clarion call for reform is the reality that this thinking infiltrates the Church.  Many believers spiritualize “the American dream” and biblically sanction “rugged individualism.” 

Jesus establishes a new law of love which calls disciples to a standard of caring for the poor and others that surpasses black letter law.  In John 13:32-35, the Lord says the world will know we are His disciples by the love we show to each other.  Love for people to whom we are not related biologically is a distinction for the family of God.  It does not matter what a person’s legacy, pedigree or genealogy are.  We love him because he is a child of God and for no other reason.  We love because the Lord first loved us.  We love in gratitude for the love we receive.  We love without expecting anything in return.  We love without wanting to receive recognition for our deeds, words and sharing.  We love, finally, in obedience to the command of our Lord.  Today’s lesson affords us an opportunity to assess how well we are obeying the Lord’s command to love.  Assuredly, the Lord is not directing us to love with words only.  We demonstrate our love by sharing the resources of our time, talent, tithe and temperament.  In essence, rhetoric and reality must fit like a hand in a tailored glove.

Nonetheless, the question remains whether the Church practically and commendably follows this command of the Lord.  Does the larger society look at the Church, worldwide or local, and marvel at our selfless sharing of our resources to the honor and glory of Christ?  Are we the first ones to respond to natural disasters with food, clothing, shelter, and programs for long term recovery and restoration?  Do we sit idly by and wait for the governments of the world to handle the needs of God’s children?  As a member of your local church, do you feel the unconditional love of Christ from your fellow brothers and sisters?  Can someone reliably characterize your church as a place of love for all persons who enter?

Biblical Background

The gospel and epistles of John emerge within the “Beloved Community.”  This gathering of disciples, as biblical tradition holds, centered on the Apostle John, the youngest of the original eleven apostles and the Beloved Disciple.  Geographically, they were located in the region that included the city of Ephesus.  However, it is not thought that they comprised the church at Ephesus to whom the Apostle Paul writes the New Testament canonical letter.  A vibrant metropolitan area at the time with major commerce, diverse people because of the trade routes and plurality of religion, philosophy and ideology not to mention myriad cultural customs, this region presented a formidable challenge to the believers there.  How would they handle the inherent clashes between Christ and culture?  How would they follow the dictates to love unconditionally and selflessly given the predominant selfishness of the surrounding society?

These are not rhetorical questions.  They were major challenges for members of the Beloved Community some of whom struggled with fidelity to the teachings of Christ.  The Apostle John writes the epistle from which today’s text comes to clarify this issue for young disciples of Christ who benefit from John’s direct experience with the Lord.  Regrettably, he addresses the occurrence of persons who left the Beloved Community because they did not subscribe wholeheartedly to Christ’s commands to love.  He says they leave because in their hearts they did not really belong.  Their first century dilemma mirrors a pressing challenge for the contemporary American church.