We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
The Nicene Creed

The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. (ESV) Luke 16:22–23

To be sure, the Gospel concerns itself with eternity among other things.  It tells the truth about life being something not limited to what we live in this vale of flesh.  We look forward to the life of the word to come, we say in the creed. But Scripture also makes it clear that the life to come is decidedly more pleasant for some than for others.  As in the story of Poor Man Lazarus, some will spend eternity at the side of Father Abraham , while for others, like the rich man, the world to come will be a place of torment.

The elect and the reprobate. The saved and the lost. Those who receive salvation by grace – God’s unmerited favor – through faith, and those who receive the punishment due us all. The modern mind is often at a loss when it comes to life in the world to come, but even when it accepts the proposition, it prefers to see all humanity as part of the “some” like Poor Man Lazarus or to simply cancel the idea of eternal torment. Reprobation does not exist but as a temporary state while things work themselves out to a happy ending. Continue reading →

It’s been a month now, and I’m not in jail.  You can hear the message by clicking on the video link above (really, it’s worth a listen), or I can tell you what it said:

Attention! This call is from the legal department of the Social Security Administration. Your Social Security number has been suspended, and we have filed a case under your name. So, before this matter goes to federal claims courthouse for you to get arrested, kindly press 1, because FBI also involved in your case.  So, I repeat, press 1 to know about your legal case.

I did not press 1, but I find myself checking the rearview mirror for unmarked Crown Victorias following too closely or men in black with earpieces and talking into their wrists. Maybe the federal claims courthouse has a backlog of cases or is processing the cases of those who pressed 1.  In any event, I remain a free person.

The call came from the Solomon Islands, phone number 677-75.  Maybe I should have wondered why the legal department of the Social Security Administration calls from the Solomon Islands.  I Googled “federal claims courthouse,” and the closest I could find is the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., but there is nothing on their website about suspended Social Security numbers.

I don’t want to let my guard down, but the call may have been spam.  I might not have avoided jail by pressing 1. Continue reading →

I have moderated my fair share of meetings, session meetings and presbytery meetings in church polity speak.  There’s something satisfying about coming to the end of debate, hopefully friendly conversation, and to the vote.  “All those in favor say, ‘Aye.’” Then, “Opposed, ‘Nay.’”  Usually, not always, I would pronounce, “The ayes have it. Motion carries.”  It’s how we do things, and it mostly works.

It seems, though, that we are more and more living in a world where the nays have it, and it isn’t working well.

There’s a good chance that no matter which presidential candidate garners the most votes, popular or electoral, on November 3, the nays will have it.  Pew Research has probed our voters’ minds and we seem to be more against than for.  Should former Vice President Biden win the election, a vote against President Trump will have propelled him to the White House, and, barring an unexpected landslide, should President Trump be re-elected, his margin of victory will come from those voting against Joe Biden.

It looks like the nays are going to have it. Continue reading →

Planting the lawn was the last big project at the new house, though we have a thousand little projects yet to complete. The seed was sown, actually sprayed, last week.  Now we’re babysitting what we hope will be a lush carpet of green by next spring.  They say not too much and not too little water.  Gentle autumn rains have fallen two days since the seed was sown, and we join the just and the unjust in giving thanks.  Now the forecast is for dry and warmer weather. The seeds will like the warmth, but the drier weather means hauling hoses and sprinklers around the yard for the better part of the day.

But mostly we wait. Every time I go outside, I peer intently at the well-groomed and properly moist soil hoping to see the first blades of grass. We should see the early shoots any day now.  The hydroseed people have already warned us, though; some of those verdant sprouts will not be the grass we are waiting to welcome but the weeds we dread.  Okay, it’s the wrong time of year, but did you know that a single dandelion plant is capable of producing 15,000 dandelion seeds?  Not to worry, they tell us, we’ll take care of the weeds in due time.  In the meantime, the weeds will grow, and we’re not to pull them, in any other way molest them, or allow ourselves to become overly anxious.  Let them be. Continue reading →