Walking Out Loud

Go and Learn

By Galen Harrill / November 16, 2024 November 16, 2024

In Matthew 9:13, Jesus states, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ quoting Hosea 6:6. He is speaking to the Pharisees who are questioning why Jesus is associating and eating with tax-collectors and “sinners.” He quotes Hosea again when His disciples pick grain on the Sabbath in Matthew 12:7, inferring they are innocent of any wrong doing, despite the Pharisees’ protestations. But I want to focus on the Matthew passage very briefly. Jesus says, “Go and learn.” Think about that for a minute. “Go and learn” is far different than “Sit and ponder.” The active nature of the gospel and the life of faith is so evident in all the language of scripture. (James 2:17 is simply the 2×4 to the head to make sure we don’t miss the point by exclaiming “Faith without works is dead.”) Why were they to go and learn? Because in the going they would have to interact with people on the journey. They couldn’t sit and home and shut the doors to those who needed God’s grace. They would see people in need and, with Hosea’s words rattling around in their brains coupled with Jesus’ actions, they stood a chance of actually learning something. And the learning and the doing would become one.

Justice and Lord of the Sabbath

By Galen Harrill / November 15, 2024 November 15, 2024

Justice and Lord of the Sabbath

In Mark 3, Jesus is confronted with two issues. He had just entered a synagogue and saw a man with a shriveled hand. Obvious work for Jesus. The other issue is the synagogue has some people who look like they set up this entire situation, who see this handicapped man as an opportunity to play “Gotcha” with Jesus. Jesus has the man stand up among them all and asks what is lawful – to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil? No one answered. Jesus becomes indignant. “Okay, you want to play that game, I’ll just show you.” He heals the man.

A couple of things are noteworthy – I don’t know if they were setting Jesus up. If so, they had worked evil into the day in clear violation of the Sabbath. But maybe it was just a situation where they all got there, saw the handicapped man and said, “Oh boy, oh boy, this is gonna be great! We couldn’t have set this up better if we had wanted to! We’ll finally get something on Jesus!”

In that case, which I think is more likely, Jesus’ brother’s words come to mind in James 4:17 – “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (ESV). Jesus here in this synagogue and situation is equating inaction with evil – even on the Sabbath.

This is not a one-off situation where the exception proves the rule. Rather, it is at the heart of who God is – He is at His heart “just” as He has revealed that in His word. To be clear, when we hear the word “justice,” if we have in mind the guys in the white hats finishing off the guys in the black hats, we’ve gotten it wrong. Rather, those who have been given much have much responsibility to look after those who are weaker. Justice is wrapped up in Jubilee and taking care of widows, orphans, and foreigners. A man with a shriveled hand is an opportunity to work justice, to do the right* thing by him. A sandwich. A cup of water. Clothing. The taking in of strangers. Helping the sick. Visiting prisoners. Sound familiar? Matthew 25.

We, as the people of God, have the responsibility to do God’s work. This is primarily accomplished in the church but spills over into all our interactions with all people. Please be careful with what I am about to say – if a law or the practice of that law is unjust and we are capable of bringing justice to a situation in contradiction of that law, we carry that responsibility. This is Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. stuff. But more importantly, it is the stuff of God.

*Justice and righteousness are the same word in NT Greek.

A Life of Gratitude – Dad’s Service

By Galen Harrill / November 14, 2024 November 16, 2024

A Life of Gratitude – Dad’s service – November 2, 2024

It’s very easy to have a legend as a father when the legend cares nothing for his reputation but everything about his own character. It’s very easy to have a teacher for a father when the teacher demands nothing from you that he does not demand from himself. It’s very easy to share a father’s love with a community that loves him when that father’s love draws from the bottomless well of God’s love. Simply put, it was easy to be my dad’s son. Dad spent years planting seeds within me that still find their times to sprout even decades after I left the house – things I did not understand at the time that needed their proper season. I am sure some of those seeds are still waiting. All of us know Dad had a sense of humor – humor that ran to his core. Just as strong was a deep wisdom that was so unpretentious you could almost miss it. He was willing to take the long view, inviting you to see things from a different angle, yet patiently. Dad never, and I mean this – never yelled at us. I’ll digress a bit – not all of you can say that. I had the privilege of working with Dad as I subbed in his school in the mid-90s. One day I was in the classroom next to his with a shared door between us. A minute or two before the bell rang, I heard Dad raise the roof. I didn’t even know he was capable of it. I cracked the door open after the bell and said, “Man, Dad, what was that all about?” He shook his head and said, “I tell you what…” Now when he said, “I tell you what,” he rarely told you what. It simply indicated the height of his exasperation. End of digression. He never yelled at us…. Digression two – it didn’t mean he didn’t get mad. Oh, you could tell when you crossed the line. He’d get real quiet and the bottom would fall out of the barometric pressure in the room. A kid will notice that. And dad was not against spanking either – what in the world do you think that Texas flyswatter was for anyway? But I want to be clear – we didn’t obey dad out of any kind of fear. We obeyed out of love. Because we never doubted that. You can tell when someone has the long view in mind and Dad had the long view – he was interested in our character – and when we let him down on that score, it was palpable – but he never withheld his love. And so those seeds still sprout because they were planted in love.

People found it easy to love our dad. Generous with his time, always interested in how you were doing, remembering things about you years after he first met you. But what made him tick?

Dad never knew his dad. He wasn’t even a year old when his own dad died leaving his mom with nine children she could hardly afford to feed. Dad ran barefooted after his brothers and sisters through the East Texas town of Quinlan to the windows of those who left food out for them on the windowsills. That’s how they survived. When Dad was three, the mailman convinced his mother to put the youngest three kids in the local orphanage, Boles Home, still an extraordinary place that at the time was also a working farm where, among other things according to age, the children picked cotton, milked cows, and slopped pigs. They prayed for supper with their eyes open so no one got a jump start on the biscuits before the “Amen” sounded the call to commence digging in. That would become Dad’s life after the scared little three-year old who spent his first night in the orphanage dorm pacing the floors looking for his mother settled in.

What I am about to tell you everyone here knows is true. What made him tick? You never heard Dad complain or talk about the rotten hand he was delt. It never occurred to him that he had it tough. What you heard rather from his recounting of all his experiences in life was gratitude. He was saturated in gratitude and when you are saturated in it, what you get is the beautiful man we all knew and loved. What you get is Gerald Lee Harrill. He readily told you stories of “the home” as he called Boles Home, stories of breaking open and eating whole watermelons right in the field as they ripened in the hot Texas heat or of raiding the freezer and downing half-gallons of ice-cream in one sitting; of meeting giants in the faith like Tillet S. Teddlie who wrote one of the songs we just sang; of singing across the state of Texas with the Bel Canto Singers; of the shenanigans they all got into and how painful a scorpion sting is – boy howdy they hurt! I wouldn’t know but when I was younger I thought “I wish I had been stung by a scorpion,” – not that I wanted to get stung by a scorpion, but I wanted it to have happened sometime in my past. I’m really quite over it now. He spoke of the excitement when a whole truckload of hightops came in and they all scrambled in to find their size. Through working his way through Abilene Christian College flipping burgers at Templeton’s Pharmacy, meeting mom, getting married, getting a teaching job at Tabernacle, having kids, living life, he lived gratitude. A few years back, after he had grandkids, he said to me, “My dad never got to see his grandkids. The Lord has been very good to me.” The Lord has been very good to me – it was a phrase he used generously throughout his life.

There were, in fact, few things in life that bothered Dad more than ingratitude. If we kids demonstrated anything like what I guess folks now call entitlement or began to dip our feet in the waters of discontent, Dad nipped that in the bud quickly. He didn’t mince words but called things for what they were, saying things like, “Your attitude makes you ugly.” The truth hurts sometimes. He didn’t have time for grudges, you were never out of his good graces, but he told it like it was.

The other thing he would not tolerate, at least for my part, was disrespect toward my mother. It went to the heart of his sense of fairness and justice because he took servant leadership as a deadly serious charge and believed the stronger should always serve the weaker. It’s the kind of justice you find in the Bible, not in the world. He adored my mother. Mom told me a story just a few days ago of their early married life right here among members of this very church. They were sitting apart from one another across the room and Dad winked at mom. One of mom’s friends caught it and said to her, “That man can’t keep his eyes off of you.” Roger Hladky once told dad he was making all the other husbands look bad because wherever Mom wanted to go and whenever she wanted to go there, Dad dropped whatever he was doing and went with her. I guess the women in the church noticed. Only one time in my life do I recall disrespecting my mother. Actually, I don’t remember the details. I do remember the consequences. Having said something in some way, Dad came out to me in the yard and in that quiet voice that meant business said, “Respect your mother.” That’s all he had to say and he only had to say it once because I knew where it came from. Don’t lord anything over anyone who is weaker than you. You have a charge to keep. It reigns first in the family relationships and spreads to all others. He understood personally the terms “widow, orphan,” and “foreigner” – after all, he was a Texan living in New Jersey. He served us all, and by that I mean everyone he came into contact with, remembering no servant is greater than his Master.

There is a lot of talk these days about legacy and it all just rings hollow to me. It sounds short-sighted and self-serving, something very un-Gerald-like. Dad had one desire – that all the descendants after him would remain faithful to the Lord. He didn’t care about legacy. He did care about the punch in Micah 6:8 – “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” We have 66 books of the Bible that take it from there. Someday, we’re going to follow Dad and all those who have gone before. And what advice would Dad give? Simply this – make sure you are in Christ. And when the time comes, be a frayed… knot. I love you Dad. I’ll see you soon….

Treasure and Pearls

By Galen Harrill / February 18, 2024 February 18, 2024

Treasure and Pearls

Consider John and Mary, owners of land out in the Sierra Nevada range of California. For years, they had noticed what I would have called a piece of trash in the shape of a metal can barely breaking the surface of the earth out in a section of their property. They thought it may have been placed there to hold flowers on a grave and had simply been buried with the passage of time. Curiosity finally got to them when they considered it might actually be some kind of marker. So, they decided to dig it up. What they found were eight cans containing gold coins minted between 1847 to 1894 with an estimated value of ten million dollars.

Are any of us truly immune to that kind of story? It fires the imagination even from a young age. Growing up, I was always told that the woods around me surely had to have some arrow heads hiding just below the surface from bygone Lenni-Lenape settlements. I dug around several promising sites in the woods around our house to no avail while friends a couple of miles away even found a stone tomahawk. A few years ago, there was a big story about a guy walking in the mountains of California and finding a six-pound gold nugget on public lands. These are the kinds of stories that drive our imaginations wild – in fact, I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to get your attention back – but hopefully, Jesus can.

Because He tells a similar story in Matthew 13:44-46. A man discovers a treasure hidden in a field. Not an unusual thing before the advent of federally insured banks, and certainly not unusual in ancient times. Somebody put it there like someone did out on that property in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The only problem is, well, the guy who found it? He didn’t own the property. No matter, he’s going to buy it because he is all about that treasure. He knows the value and so he sold absolutely everything he had faster than a fire-sale. And then he bought that field.

Now. If we knew for a fact everything we owned paled in comparative value to the treasure on the property we were going to buy (that there were eight cans of gold coins buried on it, for example), we’d do it too. But we’d have to know for sure it was worth it. The guy sold everything. Let that sink in… because our most valued possessions are usually not the most expensive. They are the heirlooms. The pocketknife from my grandpa. The quilt my grandma made specifically for me. What have you got? What would it take for you to give it up? It would need to be a treasure indeed.

So, this is where the gears of our minds start grinding. He sold everything but he’ll be richer than he has ever been and can replace or maybe even buy back the things he sold to begin with. Win/win. But the next parable puts a wrench in that. You see, we get the impression the guy bought the field from someone who didn’t know the part about the treasure. But the guy selling pearls? I’ll guess the seller knows a thing or two about quality when it comes to pearls. Same buyer situation though, our merchant wants that pearl and sells everything to get it. He pays market value. He now possesses the best pearl he’s ever laid his eyes on and he’s… not… letting… go…. He’s pearl-rich and cash poor and now out of business.

“No, no, no, you must have that wrong – this pearl is just a pearly steppingstone to greater things! He’ll make a profit and move on to the bigger and better!”

Where does Jesus say that? He never tells us this treasure or this pearl is leverage. It’s not. The treasure is the point. The pearl is the point. And if we’re of the sort who are willing to hear, something Jesus has said is statistically unlikely, we’ll realize the Kingdom is the point. We don’t get the Kingdom to move on to something else. We get the Kingdom because there is nothing else.

That’s what we are supposed to hear.

Are we ready to give up everything for this Kingdom? That pocket-knife, that quilt? How about rich family traditions running counter to the Kingdom? How about our reputations? How about a hobby or career standing in the way of true discipleship? How about our pride in our own understanding? If the answer is “no,” then we don’t have ears to hear and really don’t understand the true value of the Kingdom….

New Under the Sun

By Galen Harrill / January 22, 2024 January 22, 2024

Ecclesiastes 1:9 states, “There is nothing new under the sun.” I’ve often heard that in church discussions concerning the state of the world, sin, troubles, and temptations. It’s often meant to encourage us to understand we can withstand anything Satan throws at us. The logic is simple; people have endured the same things for centuries, we can too. I’ve no doubt about the enduring part – but with the Spirit living within us, it goes way beyond enduring – we thrive when we put ourselves firmly in God’s camp.

It’s the “nothing new under the sun” part I take issue with. You see, this is Solomon speaking, and while Ecclesiastes is God-breathed scripture, God Himself often overturns the understanding of His own authors in the inspiration to bring them to a greater understanding of who He is. Job’s friends made seemingly astute observations in the book of Job, for example, but that doesn’t mean they were right.

Solomon is right in this – human nature remains the same. We all have the capacity for really messing things up for ourselves and others. True wickedness exists, and it is exhausting to think about and experience in the myriad forms of oppression, injustice, and unholiness we have around us. “Wearisome” is the word Solomon uses. Point taken.

But there are other points. How many times do I sing Jeremiah’s words in Lamentations 3:23? “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end… they are new every morning!” Okay. So, where Solomon finds the sun’s rising and setting wearisome, Jeremiah recognizes new grace in every new day!

Consider this – if human nature is what it is, then the cure is the same for all – namely, Jesus, who broke into this world in an entirely new way to bring salvation! “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law…” okay, you see that “but now” don’t you? Then was then. This is now. New! Something that was not and now is! And yet it reaches back into all time to answer the very question Solomon was asking centuries before.

But I also need to explore the darker side of this “nothing new” question – because while I believe Solomon is right in terms of our sinfulness, I believe there is something very new under the sun in terms of how our enemy attacks. It is a full court press, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, designed to keep the bulk of God’s children on injured reserve and those outside of His grace so distracted they don’t even know there is another team.

What do I mean? Just this – Solomon was wearied by the rising and setting of a tiresome sun under which he saw people act unjustly every day. Now? We are inundated with injustices from around the world at a pace and volume that’s debilitating. So, while it is totally legitimate for me to be very concerned about those dying in wars halfway around the world, Satan would fill me with such despair from what I see going on there that I don’t even know that my neighbor is fighting for her life against cancer. He would have me be the cave-dwelling Gideon before God got ahold of him and made him see it didn’t matter he was the least in his family in the smallest clan of his tribe. He would have me bewildered and impotent. Satan’s new tool is pace and overload.

There is a solution to this spiritual ADHD, and it has everything to do with focus. Peter sank when he took his eyes off Jesus; the point is to keep them on Him. Our Hebrews author confirms this need in chapter 12, while Peter, perhaps recalling his Galilean swim, speaks of the need to add goodness to faith, knowledge to goodness, self-control to knowledge, etc., with the benefit of becoming effective and productive. What does he contrast this with? Nearsightedness and blindness. Simply put, we can improve our spiritual vision. How?

First, get in the word. Get really in the word. Read your Bible and chew on it every day. If research is correct, for all the bad news we fill ourselves with, we should counteract with three times the amount of good news. Last time I checked, “gospel” means good news. Spend more time there than anywhere else. Ask questions of what you are reading and let the last question be, “What am I supposed to do about this?”

Second, pray continually as Paul encourages in I Thessalonians 5:17. Realize you are in the presence of God Almighty in every moment of your day and know He wants to hear from you. Include Him in your family conversations when you are at the dinner table laughing over something and thank Him for the laughter. Cry with Him, drive with Him, run with Him, change the oil in the car with Him, you get the picture.

Third, open your eyes and see more of Jesus in everything around you. Tell yourself every day that in Him we live, move, and have our very being. Look at a sunrise or your children and see the beauty God has placed in all His creation and be thankful.

Fourth, talk about your walk with God with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Make it a focus to be an encouragement to others to live this life of faith. Ask them how they are doing and seek advice how to be more Christlike and less world-like. And yes, the place where God intended for you to do this is in that collection of believers called the church. It’s also a great place to learn how to get along with people!

Finally, when the Spirit says, “Right there in front of you I have a way for you to be the hands and feet of Jesus,” don’t hesitate – be His hands and feet. Look after the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner living in your midst. Be the Samaritan and love your neighbor.

In the end, we might find there is one more new thing under the sun – ourselves….

Bible Reading Plans

By Galen Harrill / December 31, 2023 January 21, 2024

Bible Reading Plans

One of the things I don’t get to do much of is spend time with others who are involved in ministry. However, I do work in keeping up with some folks, and Mark Finn of Collingswood, NJ is one of them. He and his wife put together two Bible reading plans that I can highly recommend. The New Testament reading plan breaks things up between the four gospels, the letters, Acts, and Revelation, so you are not in any one genre for too long. The Old Testament plan is not a plan for the entire Old Testament. It leaves out sections of Leviticus (and other books), for example, which is honestly pretty difficult slog for most people. Anyway, the plans are linked below in PDF, Mark gave me permission to publish them. Why not make it a resolution to spend some time working through the Bible using one or both of these plans this year?

New Testament in 6 months reading plan

Old Testament in 6 months reading plan

A New Sword

By Galen Harrill / December 29, 2023 December 29, 2023

A New Sword

For Christmas, my wife got me a Bible. Not just any Bible, but a leather-bound NIV 1978 edition. It’s the edition I grew up with, the one I preach and teach from, the one I read from. It’s in perfect shape with no cracking on the leather, no wear on the gilding, no writing inside anywhere. My Bible of 43 years is showing its age. I’m not concerned about the years of page handling showing on the margins nor the gilding that is wearing off. But the leather on the spine is finally cracking through in places and that worries me. I can’t retire it – it’s been too good of a friend. But its travelling days may be over.

Many people ask me, “What version of the Bible should I get?” I obviously have opinions, but not of the kind you may think. You see, I could get a 1984 NIV edition, or a 2011, but they are different from the 1978. That’s my main problem. In my head, I’ve got 1978. When I read from the 1984 or the 2011, I trip up. Think of it this way – the word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword, something we are to take up and use. I’m simply going to use one I’m used to more effectively than one I’m not used to. Now. I “train” with other swords that have also honed me – NLT, ESV, KJV, etc., but that’s not my point. The Bible you should get is the Bible you’re going to use. It’s the one that trains you, the faithful friend you can grow old with and draws you closer to the author. It’s the one you breath with.

Which brings me back to this “new” NIV; it’s never been read. I’ve thought a lot about that since receiving it and I see two possibilities – either someone had no interest in what God has to say and ignored it or they had another sword they couldn’t put down because it was just too good of a friend. I’m hoping the latter.

I’d love to hear about what you are using and why. As for me, I’m breathing in every word of my “new” 1978….

A World Gone Crazy

By Galen Harrill / October 19, 2023 December 29, 2023

A World Gone Crazy

The world’s gone crazy. Really, this is my recurring thought over the past couple of weeks. We as Christians should naturally (or, more properly, supernaturally as the Spirit moves within us) understand we live in a fallen world where a lot of life will not make sense. We understand the father of lies weaves chaos into his warped plans while giving them a whitewash of logic that disintegrates in the light of God’s word. But this is only clear to God’s children or those honestly looking for truth.

What do we see in scripture? Common people along with even the tax collectors who come to see God’s way as right in Luke 7:29. Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ in Mark 8:29. Thomas, in John 20:28, after so much doubt, placing his fingers in Jesus’ wounds and declaring, “My Lord and my God!” More compelling, however, are those who have experienced the indiscriminate chaos of Satan’s ways more closely and come to Jesus. The man born blind in John 9, who, through his argumentation with the most educated of society, moves from belief to worship. The bleeding woman who touches the hem of Jesus’ garment and is healed is drawn into a deeper faith as she meets Jesus in Luke 8:43-48. And we cannot forget those Jesus came to rescue from their own personal hells of demon possession, such as the one from whom the legions are driven from and into the herd of pigs (Luke 8:26-39).

But those truly seeking seem like such a small minority. My wife and I were talking the other night about how out of place we feel most of the time. I found myself thinking of Madeleine L’Engle. In her book, A Wrinkle in Time, Meg needs to travel through time and space to save her father. She is led by cherubic creatures who make the mistake of almost taking Meg to a two-dimensional world. It almost kills her as her breath is squeezed out of her and her heart and brain fail to function properly. In a spiritual sense, I think this is a good metaphor for all of us in Christ. Never mind that God has set eternity into the hearts of all – we simply don’t fit in this world anymore because we are not of it (John 17:16). To be totally clear, it is not because the world is too big or great to comprehend. Rather, it’s because it’s too small for us. We are infused with the eternal, which is not a “something” but rather a someone, Jesus Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form and in whom we have been given fullness (Colossians 2:9-10). He is infinitely larger and greater than the world we live in; we simply can’t fit anymore.

As the world groans as in the pains of childbirth (Romans 8:22), some things become crystal clear to us as we see the principalities and powers rage (futilely) against the Lord’s anointed. We then are the children Jesus praises the Father for in Matthew 11:25 after excoriating those in power, stating that to us are revealed God’s ways.

And so, when we see a former president set up a social network called “Truth,” using it as a forum to spout off the most outrageous lies, we recognize it as blasphemous; only Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (I don’t intend to tie Trump specifically to the beast in Revelation 13:5 – I think many throughout history have played that part… but if the shoe fits…).

When we hear of wars and rumors of war as Jesus warned us we would in Matthew 24:6-8 and then see the megalomaniac of Moscow overrun a sovereign Ukraine, kidnapping the children and farming them out to willing Russian accomplices while purposefully bombing innocent cities… or when Hamas breaches the border of Israel, indiscriminately killing women, children, and the elderly, and then retreats to hide behind their own children, knowing all along they are signing the death warrant of thousands of their own people – of their own future… it is appalling but not surprising.

When we see the ego of the few shut down an entire country through their desire for the praise of men (or maybe just one) and their own self-aggrandizement….

Well… we understand all of these as the death throes of a power that is willing to take anything and everything down with it. But we are commissioned to do more than just understand. Jesus didn’t just understand. He moved….

“The people living in darkness have seen a great light!” (Matthew 4:16). This is Jesus as he moves among the people preaching repentance and salvation. He moved…. Stick with me….

Isaiah 59 is fascinating as it holds out the truth that sin and its consequences are real (explaining just about all of what we see in so much of today’s world), repentance is necessary, and God is the one who saves – He moves…. But the 17^th verse of Isaiah 59 kicks me square into Ephesians 6 and my responsibility as I myself am charged to put on the whole armor of God. In the jolt that comes from the living and active word of God, we are commissioned and animated as vigorous participants who, in the power of God, blast the whitewash right off Satan’s lies. Isaiah, in powerfully speaking the word of God, is that kind of participant. All the prophets were. They called the world out for what it was. That is part of the calling. We must not hesitate, worrying if we will offend (we will, even as we strive to be as gentle as doves, speaking the truth in love – Matthew 10:16, Ephesians 4:15) or that some or most may not listen (they won’t – Matthew 7:14). Many will because many know something is not right, resonating deep in their hearts. Again, part of the calling – because that only takes folks so far and it’s not far enough into the direction God moves. The other part is to do that other thing God does – call people to salvation – be Christ’s ambassadors – to shine like stars in this crooked and depraved generation, to let people see the light of the world Jesus is, in contrast to the great darkness the world is steeped in. And God saves, one soul at a time, from a world gone crazy.

Laughing With You or Laughing At You

By Galen Harrill / March 8, 2023 March 8, 2023

Laughing with you or laughing at you?

I’m not sure anyone gets through the public school system without getting bullied. Growing up, it was a fact of life for me and just about anyone I knew, perpetrated by those who, in retrospect, had some difficult home lives. I developed an allergy to folks laughing at me. So, when as a fairly young boy I dropped a hose with one of those trigger nozzles on the ground only to get a generous face full of water in the presence of my grandpa and dad, I didn’t react well to them laughing. They tried to explain and apologize, but while I accepted the apology, understanding came much later. The distinguishing characteristics between laughing with someone and laughing at someone are subtle.

Part of dealing with this, for sure, is learning how to take ourselves less seriously than we do. Getting laughed at hurts our pride. In the movie “The Mission,” Mendoza’s (Robert De Niro) prized possession was his pride – and when Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) openly admitted to laughing at him because of the pathetic position his pride had put him in, it was the start of Mendoza’s healing and redemption. And you know what? Laughing in the Bible is often of this sort. We see that in Psalm 2:4 or 59:8, where the Lord laughs at those who set themselves against Him. It is ridiculous for anyone to think they could thwart God – laughable. It is also a warning in places like Ezekiel 22:4 to turn to God and see Him fully. If that’s what it takes for repentance, then even this kind of laughter is good.

But then there is the other kind of laughter. It’s the laughing with. That’s the kind of laughing my dad and grandpa were really engaged in when I got that face full of water. Sure, it was funny, but it’s deeper than that because as family our experiences are shared. We all have skin in the game so to speak. Healthy families don’t laugh at each other, they laugh with each other, drawing from wells of belonging. That’s what happens in God’s family too. It happens in Psalm 126:2 when God calls all His children together in restoration and their joy is complete in His blessings. Jesus echoes that sentiment in Luke 6:21, where mourning will turn to laughter. He further makes clear the source of our rejoicing (which also draws from a shared reality) – that our names written in heaven (Luke 10:20). Together.

I’ve been reflecting on this as I contemplate the joy I have in being with my brothers and sisters in Christ, who have a like-mindedness springing from a Christlike attitude, and share in a same love, dedicated to being one in spirit and purpose (see Philippians 2). I shouldn’t be surprised at this joy, but sometimes it is overwhelming, especially when I compare it with so many of my other interactions. Let the world laugh at us – we’re laughing with each other.

Come Walk with Us!

Fly Eagles Fly

By Galen Harrill / February 15, 2023 March 8, 2023

Fly Eagles Fly

I think it will be immediately clear I’m not getting too deep today. Church on Sunday was a sea of green: Eagle’s green. I’ve never seen a sports jacket worn over a football team tee, but it worked. Now, not everyone was in green. I wasn’t. It just never crossed my mind. And we do have two KC fans who came resplendent in red. We had a few more sports allusions throughout worship than usual (hey, if Paul can do it, we can too!), and afterwards we had a fellowship meal where everyone spoke to everyone else, in keeping with our allegiance to the Prince of Peace. We joked about it but of course it goes much deeper than that – we have sincere love for one another, heart to heart. Over goulash, spaghetti, poppyseed chicken, pineapple upside down cake, peanut butter pie etc., there were a lot of conversations about who was going to win and why, along with a lot of conversations trying their best steer clear of the topic, mainly in vain. In the end, the Eagles lost.

“Well, this doesn’t have much to do with my spiritual life.” No, it doesn’t – unless you see every moment as a blessing and every interaction with our brothers and sisters in Christ as a gift from God. We share our incandescent joys and those that just make us chuckle. We cry with one another, sometimes from deep pain, and sometimes because we’re just tired that week. We grapple with great spiritual truths and conundrums. We plan for quarterly classes and discuss how to grow the church. And we talk about car trouble, sprained ankles, the price of eggs, and sports. But none of those things are our binding agents. Rather, it is God working who knits us together from all our sometimes wildly disparate threads to make us one….

As for the birds, there’s always next year….

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