The peh Factor
“Seeking balance in a polarized world”
Transitions
This evening Terri and I were talking about the transitions we have experienced in this past year. We moved to our retirement home in Bigfork. We have started new jobs with new emphasis. For Terri it has been with a brand-new set of colleagues. For me it is two congregations of folks for a short period of time. Because of Covid-19 we have eaten out less, haven’t gone to movies, haven’t traveled like we had hoped. We have transitioned into being more at home bodies with all that that entails.
In addition to these transitions which almost everyone who is reading this shares, we have also experience once again the transition of political power from the Republicans to the Democrats. During the years of my political awareness I have witnessed a number of such transitions:
Kennedy to Johnson
Johnson to Nixon
Nixon to Ford
Ford to Carter
Carter to Reagan
Reagan to Bush
Bush to Clinton
Clinton to Bush
Bush to Obama
Obama to Trump and now
Trump to Biden
During each transition there were people who were triumphant. Our guy won! Our priorities will be advanced. America will become more of what I believe it should be. Yeah!
There were also those who were frightened. It may not have looked like it on the surface, but, the feeling of becoming powerless, the things I cherish being lost or taken, America becoming different than I want it to be, different than it “ought” to be can be a terrifying thing.
We are in a time of political transition once again. We will live through it. Two years in the future we will be able to impact another transition and then two years after that and two years after that and so the transitional journey of America goes.
I the image from Plato’s Book VI of The Republic. He coined and used the phrase “Ship of State.” Buy it he
likens the governance of a city-state to the command of a naval vessel - and ultimately argues that the only men fit to be captain of this ship are philosopher kings, benevolent men with absolute power who have access to the Form of the Good. https://www.definitions.net/definition/ship of state
Of course, we do not agree with the one who should be the captain. We believe that captain should be an individual duly elected by the people whom that individual will lead.
There is another image within the phrase Ship of State that I like. Initially when I heard the phrase I thought of a engine powered boat cruising ahead at full speed. I no longer see it that way. There are two ways Plato’s naval vessel would have moved forward. One was by the oarsmen rowing together. Oh how our political leaders need to do that in our day an age. The other was by hoisting the sails. When a vessel was under sail-power they would have to tack their way across the waters moving left and the right, back and forth toward their ultimate destination.
That is what we do during our times of transition. Through one election those with elected power move toward the starboard with Republican leadership. Then an election or two later, when those with power shift, we move toward the port with the Democrats. Back and forth we go. What is important is that we know the direction in which we are moving. That is where I believe our leadership and we who elect them have the greatest work to do. Our leaders need to be encouraged and challenged to do the work of defining the direction in which we are moving and making that direction known to the people they serve.
Transitions.
There is another transition that takes place in our lives although with the noise created by our world today it is often lost. The transition I am referring to that takes place within our souls when we enter the Kingdom of God. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:20-21,
For our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!
Our citizenship is in heaven! God IS sovereign. Jesus IS king. We haven’t seen the full impact of that reality, but it is reality. We will know that eternal reality when either we die and cross that threshold between this world and the next, or when Jesus returns and established a new heaven and a new earth filled with redeemed and restored humanity.
What an incredible transition that will be!
As Christians we are caught in the “in-between times” as some have called it. How would our new King want us to live during these times? Jesus said it this way:
…Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, ON EARTH as it is in heaven.
We are in a time of transition during our years spent here on earth. In many ways we have dual citizenship. One is temporal and the other eternal. Part of the goal of our spiritual life, our walk of faith, is to begin living by the eternal kingdom now, even as we live within this temporal one. So, during these in between times, during this time of yet another transition, let’s live like Christians of all ages have had to learn to live,
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… Hebrews 12:2a
Amen.
Pastor Paul
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