Photo by Laurentiu Iordache on Unsplash
This Memorial Day is full of mixed feelings in my heart. As a veteran, I first and foremost remember the ultimate sacrifices of those sent into battle for our nation. Some responded when called to duty, while others volunteered: both are missed today. Everyone had their reasons for serving in a cause larger than themselves: an America they believed in. Today, U.S. military all-volunteer recruitment is struggling to meet its recruiting goals due to several factors, including a competitive job market and declining confidence in the U.S. military.
Secondly, I remember and mourn Morgan Valley Christian Church, where I pastored. This community church closed at the end of October 2022 after thirty-eight years of Protestant ministry in conservative Morgan County, Utah. Gradually, the church community lost its energy for outreach over the years. Our presence diminished within the community, and we became mysterious outsiders as our core members retired and aged. Several factors led to its closing, but the main contributors were our slow transition from a community church to a commuter church and declining confidence in organized religion nationwide.
Thirdly, I mourn all the “Nones” who have abandoned organized religion. Exhausted and wounded by political wedge issues dividing congregations, they have voted with their feet. The faith they inherited or adopted gradually became unrecognizable and an energy-draining battle to survive in a 24/7 digital world competing for every second of our attention. I get it. Something must give; thus, jettisoning the church is a way of recuperating peace in their lives. Every combatant in battle will grow weary, and the cause more significant than themselves becomes an illusion.
Everyone has their reasons for abandoning organized religion. I left it and became agnostic at age twelve when my mother died of cancer. But the process started earlier when I became aware of hypocritical people in my church not following their faith. I saw someone I was taught to revere smoking, drinking, and betting on horse races at our local fair one day, which were taboo in the faith I inherited: it forever changed my perspective. I stayed away from religion for almost forty years before addiction recovery taught me to trust the still, small voice inside me.
Today I am mourning our general lack of causes in America more significant than ourselves that we can trust, including organized religion. Depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions are on the rise due to social isolation, and not having faith communities is part of that. Sadly, we couple our lack of confidence in organized religion with a lack of belief in God. One must take a journey to learn that God’s mercy and wise counsel cannot be contained by the interpretations of organized religion.
Today I remember all those who lost hope in God, family, friends, and country on the battlefield of life. I offer this newsletter, my story, and my relationship with God as a lighthouse to everyone being swept away by the swift waters of uncertainty. I offer my allegorical Bible interpretation, the Fred translation, and experiences of how God is alive and active in the world today so that you can find hope that your life does matter.
Mark 5:1-20 tells the story of Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee to a Gentile village and being immediately greeted by a demon-possessed man. The town had given up trying to contain or help him, “This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.” He was in agony with no help in sight, “Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.”
Long story short, one or more people in the village lost a herd of valuable pigs when they plunged into the water with the demons inside them. You would think the town would be celebrating that the troublesome man was free of the legion of demons within him that had plagued them too. But instead, fear gripped them because they didn’t know what Jesus would destroy next in the name of his God, “Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.”
Now we get to the crux of the calling for every disciple that believes in Jesus and has been transformed by the grace bestowed upon you and me. Mark 5:18-20 reads, “As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.”
Just as we remember and ensure the stories of those called to sacrifice their lives for us, we also remember and tell the story of the one called to restore all of us through his sacrifice. This is the universal cause more significant than us that we can always trust. Whether we belong to an organized community of believers, a “None,” or a spiritual seeker, we can allow God to transform us and testify to what the Lord has done for us to those seeking purpose in their lives.
Brennan Manning wrote in Abba’s Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging, “In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.”
The true-life story of Desmond Daws, portrayed in the movie “Hacksaw Ridge,” is a story of endurance both spiritually and physically in the brutality of World War II. The compassionate strength of his unwavering belief through adversity saved and changed lives. His story inspires you and me to ask God to help us “save one more.” Yes, your story, whatever it may be, is part of the power of God’s kingdom to rescue people from the battlefield of life.
Finally, I leave you with one of my favorite songs, “Rescue Story” by Zack Williams. Zach’s life and marriage were nearly in ruins when Big Daddy Weave’s song “Redeemed” came on the radio while touring with his band on a bus in Spain. His parents had raised him to follow God, but his relationship with Christ suffered, and he fell prey to addiction. So, he prayed for God to help him and asked for a sign. He knew that song was the sign, and he immediately canceled his tour and flew home. Now his life is dedicated to award-winning contemporary Christian music.
You and I have something valuable to offer this world that glorifies the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t have to be dramatic or flashy. It needs to be the authentic you. God plans to strengthen you to survive whatever you are going through now and compassionately use that story to support others to find freedom from what they are enduring. It can be the act of helping just one more find hope in their lives.
This is the way.