The Cosby Show

I've been watching the Cosby Show a lot recently. In some ways it's made me a bit cynical about the age we live in. I mean seriously - name 1 weekly show you can actually watch with your children that isn't loaded with broken people making seriously bad decisions. And I am not saying that shows that provoke conversations about real life are to be avoided, but shouldn't there are also be some shows that give us an example of what it looks like when you are doing things well? A target to aim at, if impossible to achieve?

Because I can tell you something, my family may not look like the Cosby family but I sure want it to. I want to raise children that respect me and one another. I want a marriage that is full of laughter and forgiveness and grace. I want to lip sink and dance to jazz music in the living room. I want to show those around me that I am both serious and not serious. I want to be creative in showing my children the consequences of their choices (Hello! Theo and living in the real world!).

But the biggest truth about the Cosby family is that it felt so incredibly safe. You know, you see Dr. Huxtable rolling his eyes at another of Denise's impulsive decisions but you don't ever think he's going to reject her or tell to "get the H!@? out of his house." You know that he loves her but sees her faults and all. I want that. I want to be that for my daughter.

And yes, it is incredibly sad that very many of us (most in fact) were not born into the Huxtable family. And perhaps it feels a bit like pouring salt into an open wound to watch a family who has something that you don't. But I think this trend toward making shows more like "reality" is really a trend toward diminishing hope. The message is something like "Don't hope for safety, don't work for love and connection because those things are a fantasy." But my sincere belief as that these things are not fantasy. They are also not related to wealth. They are not accessible to only the privileged few. It is about a small number of people, making a choice to be a safe place for each other and everyone else. And when that happens God is in it and things will change.

As Margaret Mead put it:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

P.S. Here's a Cosby Show Treat to make your day.

Hero

I am in love with this song: Hero

It's just beautiful to listen to: acoustic, raw, somber and true. It's both provoking and soothing. Check it out.

How Christian Living Looks

I am reading this amazing book called Chasing the Dragon. It's about a Christian, English, woman, missionary who served (serves actually, I think) in Hong Kong. At the point the book was written she was specifically serving a non-governed (that's right anarchist) city near Hong Kong called the Walled City.

Now her story is miraculous and inspiring, so much so that I am sure there is all sorts of controversy (both within Christendom and without) if I were to dig it up. I mean she was a very young (20ish) woman, who was living alone in Hong Kong, during the 1960s in the middle of what was possibly the most drug infested and dangerous city in the world during that time. Yet she serves and survives and sees miraculous things. You should seriously pick up the book.

What I felt compelled to share with you this morning, is a section of the book where she discusses the transformed life of one of the women she served. It knocked me over and screamed "Now this is the redemptive plan in action." So here it is:

So the family in our house grew and was further augmented by constant appearances from Mrs. Chan who I had come to know months earlier through her son, Pin Kwong. He was vicious addict of nineteen who has no intention of changing his ways and collected money by holding up victims at knife point in the public toilet. I often asked him about his widowed mother, but he refused to allow me to visit her saying, "She is an old idol worshiper. She won't want to hear from a Christian."

When Pin Kwong was arrested and put in prison for the fifth time I sought his mother and found her lying on a little bed in her Walled City room. She had decided to die, because her son had been arrested once more. She had no husband or family and Pin Kwong was all her life. Chinese women are very proud of their sons, but he was rotten and took away any money she ever had so she had no more will to live. He had not wanted me to visit her for fear that I would discover he had been exploiting his mother for the little amount she could collect selling vegetables and herbs at the market. When we found her, she had already laid there for some days without eating and was very weak. The boys went out and bought chicken essence and bones to boil for soup, and we set about restoring the elderly lady. While we fed her we told her about the Father who had given her His most precious possession, His only son, because He loved her.

Mrs. Chan was a simple woman who had never been to school. She had never heard of Christ before, and could not follow long sentences. We laid our hands upon her and prayed out loud, asking God to teach her in a way she could comprehend. After the prayer, she looked up, grinning from ear to ear, saying that when we prayed she had been cured of her "sickness of the lungs" and could breath clearly for the first time in years. It never returned.

That night she dreamed that a man in a long white robe came to her, and holding out His arms asked her to come to Him and be baptized. Since that time she was quite radiant, and when I moved to Lung Kong Road, she was delighted. We gave her a key to the new home and she pottered in and out happily cleaning everything in sight, cooking meals and introducing all her local market vendor friends, who would sell us provisions cheaply. Bestowing on me a signal of honor she became my kai ma and I her kai neui, meaning godmother and goddaughter. She adored her new family and bossily clucked around us all.

A women, lying in her bed, ashamed of her life, cut off from love, abused by an addicted son. Visited by a Christian and then by Christ, regains her sense of significance and meaning by becoming the mother hen of not one but many boys, who were formerly addicted but needing a mom. Only God could orchestrate a healing so complete for so many.

They're ready, We are not

This morning my Bible study focused on the end of days (e.g., the second coming of Christ, the Millennium, etc.). Part of what was covered were the descriptions in Isaiah about what the rule of Christ will be like. Specifically, there are several passages in Isaiah discussing radically different relationships between God, Earth, Animals and Humans. The fact that all the Earth will know the Lord, that all animals will live harmoniously (lions and lambs raising their young together), that humans will live harmoniously with one another and with animals. It is described as this wonderful and glorious time established because we will all know God.

During part of the study, the author made an exclamation, referring to Roman's where it is written that the very Earth aches for the return of Christ. And this got me thinking, the Earth (mountains, rivers, trees), animals (dogs, lions, eagles) - according to this scripture are presently aching for the return of Christ. They can't wait because they are ready live in harmony with God.

Yet they ache, long for, exist in this separated state... why? For us.

That's right, from a Christian perspective, God is holding off the second coming of Christ, the heavenly kingdom on Earth, because He patiently waits for more of us to get it together. To wake up to our selfishness, betrayals and greed and return to Him.

This provides a radically different perspective on Christians relationship with animals and the earth. Specifically, we should understand that the earth and all it's non-human inhabitants are doing us a HUGE favor. They exist in a broken world because of us and they await reunification with God to provide time for us.

This speaks to me about the way I should look at and treat the inhabitants of this planet and the planet itself. I am not suggesting no longer cutting down trees to make homes or giving up meat, but I am suggesting that we be good stewards of their lives. That we are not flip or superior about their existence. It seems clear to me that we aught to experience a sense of gratitude for our planet and to the non-humans with whom we share it.