Battle and Death

2Samuel 1:25

How the mighty have fallen
in the midst of the battle!

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We come from the land of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
How soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war. We are your overlords.

On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.

So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day despite of all your losing.

"The Immigrant Song" written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, recorded by Led Zeppelin from "Led Zeppelin III"

Edwin Starr and later Bruce Springsteen sang the song "War." It carries the chorus, "What is it good for/Absolutely nothin'." Well, many wars are good for nothing. Most wars have a tendency to kill young boys for the indiscretions of older men. Some wars are fought because someone can't leave well enough alone. More and more, wars are fought not for noble reasons, but only for wealth and power; both only fleeting blips on the radar of history.

Saul had fallen out of favor with the Lord. David is rising in stature. It doesn't help matters that Saul's son Jonathan and David are like brothers together, Saul's line is threatened because the people hail David, the conquering hero.

Philistines attack the Israelites at Gilboa and Saul heads into battle with his sons, but it is not to be his victory. Saul and Jonathan with Abinadab and Malchishua, two of Saul's other sons, all die in the battle. It is a horrible day for David.

How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle!

How soft your fields so green, can whisper tales of gore.

War is horrible, war is a terror; especially the wars that are fought for the wrong reasons with weapons and tactics that are devastating to the armies that fight them and the nations that wage them. (Yes, I am saying that war, when engaged poorly, can harm the very soul of a nation.) It is highly likely that there are people who feel this way of every war, without regard to whether it is just or not, and maybe this is what we need to remember, there is just war.

Perhaps even more important than the war itself is what follows. Is there justice in the peace that follows the war. The leading cause of World War II was the Treaty of Versailles. The way WWI ended, the penalties placed at the feet of the Germans, laid the groundwork for the next world war. The Marshall Plan rebuilt Europe after World War II. Europe is stronger today because of it. American reconstruction was another matter after the assassination of President Lincoln. This is an example of winning a war and losing a peace which America still pays for today.

It is time to remember Robert Plant's plaintive cry in "The Immigrant Song," "So now you'd better stop and rebuild all your ruins, For peace and trust can win the day despite of all your losing." In battle the mighty will fall. It is how we follow the fall that matters to the end of days.

Winning poorly only lays the way for the next generation of war victims.

Spill the Wine

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John 15:1-4

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

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Spill the wine,
Take that pearl.

"Spill the Wine" written by Eric Burdon and recorded by Eric Burdon and War from the album "Eric Burdon Declares War"

If there is one thing that is clear in John's writing about the vine and the branches it is that what is worthless is cut away. We often involuntarily twinge a bit at the prospect of pruning, but what gets lost is that what is worthless, what is dead, won't feel the pain of being cut away. Literally it is what is "cut-away." Then, it's off to the fire with the rest of the dead wood to provide heat and light. Then again, that's not the kind of timber that will burn long so it's not worth much for that purpose either.

The trick is that for the branches to be fed, the branches have to abide in the vine and the vine in the root. That is how the nourishment of the soil, water, and sun come together to become something so very delightful.

Another word that can be used for abide is "rest." I love the image in resting. In resting there is no resisting. In resting there is revitalization. Resting is being revived. As we rest we accept what comes, even when what comes includes heat and drought. Resting, not fighting to get what is not of use, is what we are called to do. As for the branches that don't, they won't bear fruit and they will be pruned.

When we fight we don't get what we need. When we resist we prevent what we need from coming to us. When we deny what we need, we won't accept it. But as we abide, as we rest in the vine, the fruit that follows is glorious, it is stupendous.

Back in the days of the Lord, there was still a grading system of wines. Sure, there wasn't the vintage system that vintners have today, but still you knew the difference between the good wine, the table wine, and the rot-gut stuff only the winos would drink. We are called to be of the finest vintage and that only happens when we abide.

Chill the wine, take that pearl!

War and What Follows

Matthew 24:4-8 (NRSV)

Jesus answered them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

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Someone told me love would all save us
But how can that be, look what love gave us
A world full of killing, and blood-spilling
that world never came

And they say that a hero can save us
I’m not gonna stand here and wait
I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles
Watch as we all fly away, Hi-ii-igh!

"Hero" performed by Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott from the "Spiderman" soundtrack and released on Nickleback's "Silver Side Up" (2001)

"A hard rain's gonna fall." Who talks like that anyway? I heard that expression somewhere in my youth. I took it to mean that the day will come when all that we know and do, especially the wicked, will be swept away like the flood. "A hard rain's gonna fall." You better believe it!

There will be wars, and rumors of wars. This comes from scripture, and I know there are statistics somewhere that tell us how many armed conflicts are being fought everyday. I wonder when the last day was that there was no declared war anywhere on earth. I'm not even counting random violence, I mean good old fashioned wars and rumors of wars.

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places." I can think of fewer things that sound appealing to me. Now not only will there be nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom--not only will the political strife get nasty--so will hunger and natural disasters. Sure, much hunger in this world is caused directly or indirectly by political strife, but natural disasters are a completely different ballgame.

So this must take place, but it's only the beginning. It's birth pangs as when labor has just begun, not contractions at three-minutes apart. This is the beginning, not the end. But as with birth pangs, something new will come from the pain and sorrow, new life.

The world is killed with killing and blood spilling and we need a hero. Fortunately, the world has a hero. Our Lord comes not as a king who will subdue his enemies by his might, but as a babe born in a stable. He comes as a man who dies as a criminal nailed to the cross.

He is the hero who can save us. The song talks about not waiting for someone to come. The song talks about taking charge and taking hold of the wings of eagles and soar beyond this world. So to must we, we must be careful of the wings we take though. Let us hold to the Lord. By His life and death and resurrection we can soar like on wings of eagles.