A Call for the Return of Jesus

I'm not a great fan of San Francisco. I had been there twice in the 1990's and figured that was enough for one lifetime. But my niece had moved there with her husband, whom I'd never met, and she was also a new mom, so we braved the the streets that never seem to end up going the same direction they started. After dropping of my wife and brother at my niece's house I drove around...

...and around...

...and around... (you get the point)

...until I found a parking spot.

At least by that point, the rain had let up so I didn't get too wet walking to the apartment, which is located in the shadows of UCSF where my nephew is attending medical school.

My niece found us a hotel for the night that wasn't too far away with a Groupon that included parking—a $35 value just for that latter part. The hotel was in Berkley, a place I had perhaps driven through once in my life. I had not realized that Berkley went all the way to San Francisco Bay. The hotel was beautifully situated adjacent to the marina.

The next morning we went out looking for some affordable breakfast, a challenge in Berkley, but possible with the help of coupons and fast foot restaurants. Driving back to the hotel, we stopped at a small park that had a handful of parking spots and a short path along a spit reaching into the bay that afforded views of San Franciso, the Golden Gate Bridge, and other places I don't know the names of. There were a couple of park benches, the condition of which said that they had only been recently installed. But even more recent was the editorials scibbled in permanent marker. The message on the left side was in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. The message on the right side I interpreted as a prayer for the return of the Messiah...

Park Bench in Berkley

"FREE ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE" the writer exclaimed on the bench. The co-location of the message with the one mentioned earlier suggests that it implied that the Palestinians in Gaza were among them.

When I read these words, I immediately thought of Jesus words when He announced his public ministry. Jesus had gone into the synagogue on the Sabbath, as was his custom. On this occasion, he was invited to be the guest speaker. He was given a scroll to read, which just so happened to be some words from the prophet Isaiah, who was writing about the Messiah to come.

     “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
  because he has anointed me
  to proclaim good news to the poor.
     He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
  and recovering of sight to the blind,
  to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Luke 4:18, 19 (ESV) quoting Isaiah 61:1, 2

Jesus then inferred that these verses applied to Him. Jesus will begin proclaiming good news to the poor. Jesus will proclaim liberty to the captives. Jesus will give sight to the blind. Jesus will set at liberty those who are oppressed. These things are the marks of the Kingdom of God. But Jesus did not finish these things before He went to heaven. But He said that He will return and then He will finish establishing His Kingdom.

In the meantime, he charged those people who follow Him to continue to bring the Kingdom of God to the earth. We are to continue to proclaim good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives, bring sight to the blind and set at liberty those who are oppressed. We won't finish the task, but we should keep at it until such time as Jesus returns to do so.

So this bench in Berkley is a reminder that the church still has work to do as long as there are still oppressed people. It is also a prayer for Jesus to come back and finish what He started.

Maranatha.

Come, Lord Jesus!

In-dependence Day

Celebrating freedom.


People all over the world celebrate freedom.  This is the time of year when the skies all across North America light up in celebration of freedom from being ruled by other nations.  Being from a Canadian-America marriage, we find it convenient that Canada Day and the US Independence day are close together.

The founding fathers of America put it this way: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

From when we are children we seek freedom.  Freedom from having to clean up our room—or mow the lawn—or whatever.  And on it goes throughout our lives.

People die for freedom because they believe being dead is better than being a live slave.

In my home country, being independent is a value of high importance for many people.

Yet no one is truly independent.  Well, there may be one or two odd exceptions of people who live completely independent from the rest  of society, but even may of the people who want to “live off the land,” so to speak, end up using tools and things made by others.  God did not make us to be independent, but interdependent--interdependent on each other.

But God also made us to be dependent.  Dependent upon Him.

If we are not dependent upon God, we become slaves to something else.  One of those things is money.  Jesus put it this way:

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matthew 6:24 (ESV)

The Apostle Paul mentioned that we have a choice of being a slave to sin or a slave to obedience to God:

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? Romans 6:16 (ESV)

It seems, then, quite appropriate to have a Declaration of Dependence:

God, I can’t make it to heaven without your help.  I can’t even make it through a day without sinning without the help of your Spirit.  I can’t love others unconditionally unless You give me the ability.  I can’t forgive seven times, let alone 7x70 times, unless Your Spirit empowers me.  Only because of Your work on my behalf through Jesus Christ do I have any hope of any kind at all.  I depend on You.

A declaration of interdependence would be good as well—to remind ourselves that we share our lives and our planet with many others.  So I hereby declare my interdependence with:

• my wife
• my family
• my church
• my friends and neighbors
• all the other co-inhabitors of my planet

Thanks everyone—I can’t do it alone.