Play the Ball Where the Monkey Drops It

This has been a rough week for Americans. First, we had the bombings at the Boston Marathon, then some pretty unusual and severe weather around here, with houses blown away and roofs torn off, and to top off the week, we got word of an explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas that was so severe it registered on the Richter scale. The blast was felt 40 miles away. I know because my wife felt it.

All of this was not lost on newscasters who made the point that April seemed to be a terrible month for tragedy. On April 19, 1993, ATF officers stormed the Branch Davidian compound outside of Waco and in the resulting assault and fire, over 80 people, men, women, and children, lost their lives.

Two years later, on April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh filled a rented truck with fertilizer and set off a terrible explosion in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. That blast claimed the lives of 168 people including 19 children under the age of 6.

Then, on April 20, 1999, two students entered Columbine High School with semi-automatic weapons and murdered 12 students and one teacher, and injured 21 others before killing themselves. Tragedy upon tragedy.

Besides these highly publicized tragedies and sorrows, we all have our individual tragedies. We have lost loved ones, suffered financial set-backs, and fought serious injury and disease. Sometimes it’s hard to maintain our faith in the midst of such suffering.

This week, I was talking with someone about this very issue. In theology, it is known as “theodicy” which is an attempt to understand the goodness of God in the face of evil. The question posed is that God is either good or powerful, but not both. If God were both, God would eradicate evil, thereby showing both his goodness and his power. Some people claim that since evil has not been eradicated, then God must not be good—he doesn’t care, or he must not be all that powerful—he cannot overcome evil.

That’s where the title of this article comes from. I wish I had thought of it, but I didn’t. Some years ago, my cousin sent me a book with that title; it is actually a golf metaphor. Back in the days when the British ruled India, the ruling class tried to carve golf courses out of the jungle. Mostly they were successful; the grass grew well and the climate was ideal. The problem was the wildlife. They don’t have monkeys in Scotland, so the rules of golf never addressed the contingency of having your ball stolen off the green. What is a serious golfer to do? You guessed it. In India, the rules of golf state that you “play the ball where the monkey drops it.” Philosophically, you embrace the chaos. It could be a better lie or a worse one.

But what does this have to do with God, tragedy, and theodicy? If we believe that God truly is in control, and that God truly is good, then there must be some other explanation. For most theologians, from Augustine on down, it means that we have to hold these two seeming opposites in tension, understanding that we do not see the big picture. It may look like chaos and tragedy, but perhaps it is not. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned, and strength to be built. Any athlete will tell you, no pain, no gain. We are building strength for eternity, and God is there to help, not hinder. We have to trust where we do not understand. So we can believe that God is both good and powerful. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Boots on the Ground

We hear a lot of talk about “boots on the ground” in the news these days. It has to do with basic warfare strategy. War today is fought much differently than it was even 50 years ago. Iraq was not anything like Vietnam, and Vietnam was not anything like WWII. Today we have precision missiles and surgical air strikes, even drone fighters. But what does that have to do with God and the church?

Its true that when we talk and think about the mercy and the love of God, militaristic images seem a little out of place. And yet, they are common images in Scripture; fighting the good fight (1 Tim 6:12), putting on the armor of God (Eph 6:11), and wrestling against the powers of darkness (Eph 6:12). In military terms, putting “boots on the ground” is a colorful way of saying that after all the preemptive strikes, after the strategic bombing, somebody still has to go in and clean up the mess. You still have to have people who are willing to go into a war-torn area and rout out the lingering enemy troops.

Here in Sand Springs, we have just had a season of joy and celebration; there have been receptions, special worship services, and visitors as we establish a new relationship between pastor and congregation. But now is when the real work begins. Now is when we have to begin our strategic planning that we have put off “until the new pastor arrives.” That time is here, and there have already been people asking about some of the projects and programs that are near and dear to their hearts.

Let me assure you that we are already beginning to do some of that planning in order to move forward as a congregation. What are we doing? Well, let me just mention a few things, and please bear in mind that this is not an exhaustive list, nor is it in order of priority, but it should help folks know what is “in process.”

First, the session and the appropriate committees have been discussing hiring a new Children’s Ministry Director. This is a position we have had in the past, and we would very much like to see it developed for our future. It may not look quite like it did before, we may tweak the job description to fit our new reality, but it is high on our priority list.

Second, we are beginning a Newcomers class to provide a way for visitors to join the church. We have not had one in a few years, and we actually have folks looking forward to being a part of that.

Third, as I mentioned in worship last week, I will begin a series of sermons on selections from the Book of Revelation. I often get questions about and requests for help in understanding this unique book, and I thought a sermon series would be a helpful way for us to begin to do that.

You may have noticed that all these approaches, all these tasks, are designed to help us grow in our faith. Jesus sent us into the world to make disciples (Matt. 28:19), that is our primary task as the church. We are to gain new ground, to embrace new people, and bring them into God’s Kingdom. That image may be a bit militaristic, but I think it is apropos.