Invictus

I was deeply stirred and hauntingly inspired on several levels by Clint Eastwood's movie Invictus which opened over the weekend. The historical drama depicted the true story of Nelson Mandela (magnificently portrayed by Morgan Freeman) as the first democratically elected president of South Africa, set in 1995 against World Cup rugby.

It was a fascinating study of the intermingling of political leadership and human drama. Mandela had emerged from 27 years of politically induced prison hardship to become the first president of the racially and economically divided country in the wake of apartheid, faced with enormous challenges. Many of the 43 million South African people were restlessly seething for revenge for the years of injustice they felt they had suffered, a revenge they felt sure Mandela would execute on their behalf. They were mistaken.

Instead, Mandela's clarity of vision for a "rainbow nation", a united people, "one team, one country", a nation "hungry for greatness", the chiseled sense of destiny and calling lifted him above the three decades of personal loss of freedom and family, creativity, youth, leadership and productivity that he had suffered to become a bridge of reconciliation for a nation.

Undoubtedly, it was the fire of affliction that refined Mandela's focus and resolve. To be effective as a carrier of vision to the nation, Mandela had to first overcome the challenge of his own soulishness. His inspiration, Mandela told the Captain of the rugby team whom he inspired to change and reconciliation by the personal example of his life was the poem Invictus.

Invictus
by: William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Clearly, forgiveness and reconciliation had to begin with him.

Secondarily, I was inspired by the captain of the black bodyguard who clearly understood his calling was the protection and ultimate preservation of Mandela as the vision carrier and promoter upon whom the hope of his people depended. Whether in the darkened alley of Mandela's morning walk or in the sea of swarming faces and surging excitement of the World Cup rugby match, his sole interest was the safety and preservation of his beloved "Man de ba" as they affectionately called him. This, I understand.

Thirdly, I was inspired by Clint Eastwood (producer/director) courageously taking on and handling with great sensitivity and depth the vibrancy of this true story at the ripe age of 79 in the face of a culture not all that interested in the connections between South Africa, apartheid, principled political leadership, and rugby.

Deeply stirring, incredibly inspiring story. I highly recommend it.

Christmas According to Chesterton

"It is in the old Christmas carols, hymns, and traditions--those which date from the Middle Ages--that we find not only what makes Christmas poetic and soothing and stately, but first and foremost what makes Christmas exciting. The exciting quality of Christmas rests on an ancient and admitted paradox. It rests upon the paradox that the power and center of the whole universe may be found in some seemingly small matter, that the stars in their courses may move like a moving wheel around the neglected outhouse of an inn." G.K. Chesteron

Freedom and Liberty

"There is something about freedom we have to understand. The point is not that liberty or freedom produces good results inexorably and universally, as though all those results were perfect ball bearings being manufactured in the factory of God. Freedom produces, among other things, countless screwups, mistakes, rebellions, apostasies, and more. Freedom is messy and presents a standing affront to the tidy minded." --Douglas Wilson, Five Cities That Ruled the World

"The work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it so feeble; the life of humanity is so long, that of the individual so brief, that we often see only the ebb of the advancing ways, and are thus discouraged. It is history that teaches us to hope." -- Robert E. Lee

The Prince of Peace

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." Isaiah 9:6,7


This passage from Isaiah is one of my favorite scriptures of all time. Especially in this Advent as we prepare our hearts to celebrate the meaningful coming of Christ into the world, the Prince of Peace, our only hope for true, lasting, prevailing peace.

Justified by faith we have peace with God. When Christ has brought this kind of peace to our minds, the same spiritual peace will permeate our hearts and fill our spirit with hope and joy. Then will we patiently endure every kind of adversity one might face in this life.

And adversity we will have in this fallen world. For though our peace is internal and secure, we have been born into war. Our contest is not with men but with the devil, with death, with sin.

To his disciples Jesus once explained, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But, take heart, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

In our day, the Kingdom of Christ sometimes appears as if it might perish at any moment, crushed underneath ideological, political, and violent attacks of enemies from without and faithless apostacy from within. Yet this is not so, but merely an illusion for it is contrary to the promise of God that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. The LORD God not only protects and defends it, He also extends its boundaries far and wide. By His own invincible power, He preserves it and carries it forward in uninterrupted progression to eternity.

It is, as scripture tells us, the zeal of the Lord that will perform this. So though we are called to faithfulness in the midst of battle, we can also rest in the assurance of complete and thorough victory.

Victory accomplished in the Christ child, born in a manger in Bethlehem amidst shepherds tending flocks by night, underneath the rejoicing of the heavenly hosts.

Rejoice, O heart of redeemed man, rejoice!

The Art of the Southern Country Thanksgiving Feast

"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow" (James 1:17).



Keith hails from a long line of Southern agragians, farmers, cattle ranchers and horsemen, land-owners and land-lovers, all, and modern agrarian entrepreneurs. They are a hardy and industrious folk, plenteously endowed with a healthy dose of the Puritan work ethic. They rise early to be about the day's business, checking thermometers and rain gauges, and return home in the evenings to remove muddy boots and Carhart jackets at the back door while lathering on Cornhuskers Lotion to soothe cold and wind-chapped hands.

The womenfolk of this family can cook up a sumptious meal to rival the best that Paula Dean can do any day and this family does love to eat! This year Keith's parents, Margaret and William Swift, celebrated sixty-five years of (mostly) marital bliss and faithfulness, all lived out in the small one-time milling community of Bumpus Mills, Tennessee. All of their four children, with the exception of Keith and his family, live on farms in the same vicinity. It is unlikely that they will ever understand why on earth we would ever have chosen to live "in the city." Which makes me smile sometime. I have learned that some things in some circumstances simply cannot be explained to satisfaction.

Sitting down to the table for a true country Thanksgiving feast with this family is a sensual delight on varying levels at once and a heritage to be treasured. It's not just the feast, of course, but the richness of rooted relationships, of boisterous laughter, of the shared history of belonging, of place, of people. It is just one of the many blessings for which we quietly give heart-felt thanks for this year.

Thanksgiving

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! For the LORD is good, His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations." Psalm 100:4-5

"I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox, or a bull with horns and hoofs." Psalm 69:30

My heart, O Lord, is full of the joy of your goodness and faithfulness to your people! Though I have not deserved it, you have adorned me with thanksgiving for the indescribable grace and mercy that you continually pour out upon us, the glorious Beauty that is You. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

The First Thanksgiving

Undoubtedly, Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year. I love all the stories of the Puritans and the Pilgrims and I love to trace the story of Gospel liberty all the way from the Magna Charta of 1215, through the invention of Gutenberg's printing press is 1455, through Christopher Columbus' explorations in 1492, through the reformers Martin Luther in Germany and John Calvin in Switzerland (1509-1564), through the persecution of the Hugenots in France (1523-1598), through the reign of Bloody Mary in England in 1553, through the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, through the signing of the Mayflower Compact to the very first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Doing so comforts my heart with assurance in the goodness of God's Providence at work in the lives of His covenant people to pour out His blessings upon the world.

This year I particularly relish the story of one man, a most unlikely servant in the hand of an Almighty God, an Indian named Squanto that, in the words of William Bradford, ". . .was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation." Hopefully, every school age child knows that Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn and find fish. In addition, Squanto taught them to stalk deer, plant pumpkins, find berries, and catch beaver, whose pelts proved to be their economic deliverance. Equally important for their survival in the New Land, Squanto was helpful in securing a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and surrounding Indian tribes, which lasted over fifty years.

Squanto's life story is nothing short of remarkable in showing forth the good providence of God. In 1605, Squanto, who was a member of the Patuxet Indian Tribe, was captured by an English trader and taken to England. He lived in England for nine years, learning the English language and culture.

In 1614, Captain John Smith took him back to New England, but shortly after that he was again taken captive and this time sold into slavery at a port in Spain. Providentially, some local friars bought and rescued him, and then introduced him to Christianity.

From Spain, Squanto eventually made his way to England where he lived until 1619, when he obtained passage back to his home in New England. Anxious to return to home and family, Squanto went ashore at what was to become Plymouth only to discover that the entire Patuxet Tribe had been killed by a plague. Squanto was the sole survivor. Squanto joined himself to the Wampanoag Indian tribe until the Spring of 1621 when he adopted the Pilgrims, determining to help them survive at the place where his tribe had not.

Thanks to God, His instrument Squanto, and the character and determination of the Pilgrims, half of the 102 people who had come over on the Mayflower survived that scathingly difficult first year. Moreover, they harvested a sufficient food supply for their second winter at Plymouth.

Governor Bradford appointed a day of Thanksgiving and invited the Wampanoag Indians to celebrate and give thanks to God with them. Chief Massosoit and ninety of his men came and feasted with the Pilgrims eating deer, turkey, fish, lobster, eels, vegetables, cornbread, herbs, berries, and pies. The Indians even taught the Pilgrims how to make popcorn. During the three day feast, the Pilgrims and Indians competed in running, wrestling, and shooting games.

In this way, the Pilgrims gave thanks to Almighty God, acknowledging their utter dependence upon Him for their survival and existence in the New World. This story tells how in the life of the Pilgrims, God had prepared a people of humble beginnings to be a light of liberty to an entire nation. William Bradford said it best with soaring, yet intensely practical, vision:

"Thus out of smalle beginnings greater things have been prodused by His hand yt made all things out of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so ye light here kindled hath shone to many, yea in some sorte to our whole nation; let ye glorious name of Jehova have all ye praise."

Thanks be unto God.