Pastor Paul's Federated Flash Newsletter Article

I've been thinking of violence, shooting, U2, Don Henley, Greg Abbot, Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Jesus lately. Yes, my mind is a messy, messy place. God bless my dear friends. Here's this week's newsletter article for the Federated Flash.

Dear Friends in Christ,

There are so many days lately when I want to hang my head and cry. On Sunday at about 11:00 I prayed for First Responders. I prayed “for police and military. For those who stand in harm’s way and say ‘not on my watch.’” I said this not knowing that a half hour earlier, just as I asked us to remember our baptism, police in Baton Rouge were being met with a hail of bullets. How many times must we pray for victims of violence? Pray for police who are victims of people who deem the police their enemies? Pray for civilians who are victims of police run amok?

Friends, most of the people in our society are good law abiding people, police and civilians alike. Nearly all really. But the people on the fringe are getting the attention for the evil they wrought. My father was a photographer for the newspaper in Columbia, Missouri when I was born, even in the early Sixty’s it was true, “If it bleeds, it leads.” People love dirty laundry, especially other people’s.

Where it must start for us is the beginning. Texas governor Greg Abbot said last week that we need to revere the police. I say nay, nay. The first Commandment says clearly, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” To revere anything else, especially anything else is idolatry. To revere anybody or anything, to treat them like a god is to indulge them like a god and invite them becoming gods in their own eyes. Gods whose own importance is placed above all things.

Instead, let us pray one of the oldest prayers of humanity. Called the Schema, it goes like this, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Schema is the Hebrew word for “hear.” What follows this at Deuteronomy 6:5 is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” If we do this, we cannot go wrong. Jesus has even told us there is no law against this.

This is the beginning. This is where we must start.

See you in Church, Paul