A pastor I know wrote a furious Letter to the Editor of our local paper. Hmm, boy, it was a doozy. He came out swingin’! One of the first lines was “What the heck is wrong with you people?” It was passionate…and incendiary. Written yesterday, it’s already being forwarded around our local Christian community.

Apparently the local paper said some mean things about Jerry Falwell. This is very sad and inappropriate. Dr. Falwell died earlier this week. He was a passionate Christian, a visionary, a builder of the faith. Yet he was a mortal. He said and did things that not everyone appreciated. As our Christian radio station said repeatedly, “He was a man who was deeply loved…but not by everyone.”

Those who didn’t love him, and who coincidentally write editorials for the local paper, used the occasion of his death to lambast him. His crime? Being fallible. Stepping on toes. Occasionally speaking before he thought. Oh yes, and being a Christian.

I didn’t read the editorial, but I gather it was insulting. Mud-slinging on the memory of this pastor, educator, family-member, friend. That’s not right. Yet is it appropriate, when mud is being slung, to join the fray, flinging mud ourselves?? That’s what the pastor’s Letter to the Editor did. It was dirty.

What does Scripture say about this? Here’s a challenge from The Message.

“Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it.
Live out your God-created identity.
Live generously and graciously toward others,
the way God lives toward you.”

(Matthew 5:48 The Message.)

The pastor was certainly within his right to feel frustrated. Even writing the letter was a healthy exercise. But sending it? How does that shine the Light of Christ?

Could it be possible that we can learn more about being a Light Bearer for Christ by watching Melinda Doolittle leave American Idol? Joy emanated from her face, even as she was being “voted off” by 60 million Americans. “America has voted….against you,” is the paraphrase of Ryan Seaquest’s announcement.

She may not have made the cut in the fickle eyes of our beauty-and-youth-obsessed American voters, but she’s a Top Pick in God’s house. I see God’s words come alive through her actions and attitude. No anger. No tears. Joy.

Live out your God-created identity.
Live generously and graciously toward others,
The way God lives toward you.

That’s Melinda. Gracious and Generous. Way to go, Sister. And I love the “Death Cheater” t-shirt. Worn with a big smile. She knows it’s true. (Jerry Falwell knew, too, and he lives eternally to prove it.) She knows her identity is in Christ and she’s a Daughter of the King.

To me, this shows the joy in the journey....not joining the Insult-Fest. (How would it have been if Melinda started bad-mouthing Jordin and Blake?? Ugly. Yet I can hardly type those words because I know Melinda would never do that!) Let's have joy. Let’s not join the mud-slinging because one of our team members is being insulted. Dr. Falwell no longer cares. He’s in Glory and he could care less what the local paper is printing.

“I’m telling you to love your enemies.
Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.
When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer,
for then you are working out your true selves, your God-created selves.”

Matthew 5:43-44 The Message

Respond with the energies of prayer. That’s a concept. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst.

So here’s my question. Are we all the same inside? Or are believers being changed, through the power of God, from the inside out? When we join in the fray, I get the sense that we’re proving something for the Other Side. The Side that says, “You’re all nasty deep down inside. All we have to do is poke you hard enough and you’ll come out swingin’!”

Are we changed? Or not? I don’t want to come out swingin’…or slingin’. (Yet I confess I do both of these things, often.) I want to be new. I want to respond with the energies of prayer. That's the only earthly way we can turn the other cheek.

Lord, help us do it…Help us shine your light on this lost and dying world.
To you, Christ, be the glory. Amen.

The Sun’s atmosphere sings. Like the whales and the wind and the birds, it sings. Who could ever think of something so magical? It's better than Harry Potter.

I read about the singing atmosphere in my Yahoo News. You can read all about it yourself. Why take my word for it?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070419/sc_space/sunsatmospheresings

The article starts: “Astronomers have recorded heavenly music bellowed out by the Sun's atmosphere.”

Why are we surprised? Because it's outside of something we could even imagine! What a cool idea....the Sun's atmosphere, singing loudly, but outside of our ability to really appreciate it. (Kind of like Sanjaya.)

Yet God’s word tells us over and over again that the heavens sing. Consider Isaiah 44:23:

Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done this wondrous thing.