GREATER THAN OUR PAIN

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18

 

We lost a beloved leader last month. United States Congressman from Maryland Elijah Cummings, a sharecropper’s son and civil rights champion, died on October 17, 2019 at the age of sixty-eight. Cummings’ booming bass voice was a beacon for the poor in his black-majority district of Baltimore. Amid partisan politics, Cummings challenged his fellow legislators to “stop invoking fear, using racist language and encouraging reprehensible behavior.” He believed deeply in our nation’s democratic government, which George Washington called “the last great experiment for promoting human happiness.”

 

Those who knew Cummings understood that he endured much physical pain. In 2017, Cummings underwent a minimally invasive heart procedure, which led to an infection that kept him in the hospital longer than expected. He was later hospitalized for a knee infection. During his last days in Washington, he moved with obvious difficulty, using a cane and a walker. Following his death, his body was brought to the Capitol rotunda for public respects to be paid. Many prominent dignitaries, including two presidents, spoke at Cummings memorial service. But to me, the one who best described Cummings was his own congressional aide, Harry Spikes. Traveling together, Spikes and his mentor-boss spent many hours talking and sharing their perspectives. Spikes reported that Cummings never seemed to experience pain when he was speaking publicly about his passion for our democracy, human rights and the marginalized in our society. He told Spikes: “Remember to be greater than your pain.” At one of his last speaking opportunities, the topic was religion and racism. The crowd stood when he entered the room. Humbled, Cummings said, “I am going to stand up for you until I die.” He kept that promise.

 

Cummings had a profound faith in God and in our democracy. We can look to the words of the Apostle Paul to inspire us to follow the congressman. Like Cummings, Paul spoke of a future bright with promise in Jesus Christ. In Romans 8, Paul says, “those who live according to the Spirit (of Christ) set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” This is the key to life and peace.

 

Father God, we thank You for “the great cloud of witnesses” like Elijah Cummings who have gone before us. Amen

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan finds ideas for her devotional blogs in everyday places and events, from comic strips to magazines and books, comments on the fly from people she meets, ancient memories of her childhood, and nigglings from God. To date, she has written nearly 700 different devotions, filling one book of daily readings, Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian, published in 2015. Meg is working on a second book (Saints TWO) which she had hoped would be completed by now. She posts once a week, which means in seven years, she will have enough entries to fill a second book. Sometimes life gets in the way of writing, so Meg is pacing herself, enjoying spending time with her husband, their four daughters and spouses, ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, as well as their rescue dog, Bassett/Beagle mix Ginger. Meg is involved in volunteer work at her church, Christ Lutheran in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, and also with sexual violence/sex trafficking prevention and education. She speaks to groups whenever she if offered the opportunity. She is a voracious reader of other people’s writing, which gives her lots of ideas for more devotional blogs. Read more about her at www.MegCorrigan.com or contact her at MegCorrigan@comcast.net .

THE JELLINEK CURVE

No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but…He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

 

Alcoholism is a progressive disease. Dr. E.M. Jellinek studied alcoholism, addiction and mental health continuously from the 1930’suntil his death in 1963. Thanks to Jellinek’s acute interest in the personal drinking histories of many subjects, the doctor sought to educate the public about the gradual descent into oblivion that chronic alcoholics experience. His “Jellinek Curve” illustrates these deteriorating alcoholic behaviors, as well as the corresponding healthy behaviors when an alcoholic chooses sobriety. It is no coincidence that the “Curve” shows a beginning, a descent into the bottom of the curve, and a not-so-easy climb back out of the depths of addiction.

 

Chronic addictive behaviors, including alcohol and drug addiction as well as gambling, overeating, spending, sexual deviances, and many other obsessions, are indeed diseases (a condition that prevents the mind and body from working normally), and they are progressive (becoming increasingly worse without intervention to stop the process). But one hallmark of these compulsions is that recovery begins with a conscious choice to change. When I read 1 Corinthians 10:13, I am always struck by my own shortcomings. The passage brings me up short when I realize that I can, with God’s help, resist any and all temptations that befall me. I am not chemically dependent, but I have loved and lived with and lost more alcoholics than I care to remember. And I know it is not so easy for them to accept God’s help to end the cycle of addiction.

 

Does 1 Corinthians 10:13 apply to addictions? Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill W. said men and women who abuse substances “have not only been mentally and physically ill, (they) have been spiritually sick.” Many of the most successful addiction treatment programs include faith and spirituality. Clearly, an addicted person needs a profound change of thinking about herself to achieve sobriety, and one time-honored path to positive self-awareness is faith in God. As with any major life transition, support from friends, family, and society—including our faith communities—can improve the journey away from addiction.

 

Healing Lord, touch those with addictions where they need Your help. Restore them to wholeness. Amen

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan finds ideas for her devotional blogs in everyday places and events, from comic strips to magazines and books, comments on the fly from people she meets, ancient memories of her childhood, and nigglings from God. To date, she has written nearly 700 different devotions, filling one book of daily readings, Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian, published in 2015. Meg is working on a second book (Saints TWO) which she had hoped would be completed by now. She posts once a week, which means in seven years, she will have enough entries to fill a second book. Sometimes life gets in the way of writing, so Meg is pacing herself, enjoying spending time with her husband, their four daughters and spouses, ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, as well as their rescue dog, Bassett/Beagle mix Ginger. Meg is involved in volunteer work at her church, Christ Lutheran in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, and also with sexual violence/sex trafficking prevention and education. She speaks to groups whenever she if offered the opportunity. She is a voracious reader of other people’s writing, which gives her lots of ideas for more devotional blogs. Read more about her at www.MegCorrigan.com or contact her at MegCorrigan@comcast.net .

LIVING WATER

“Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” John 4:14

 

My husband Patrick can fix and build most anything. He is handy with carpentry, mechanics, electrical, assembly, and just plain trouble-shooting problems around our property. The one thing that seems to defeat him is plumbing. “Electricity is either on or off,” he says. “Engines either work or they don’t. Carpentry takes a good eye and even better measurements.” While I would give up before I even took a serious look at a project, he tackles tasks fearlessly. “But plumbing,” he says, “is a different bearcat. You think you’ve followed all the necessary steps carefully, but you turn on the water and…there’s still a leak!” Water, he believes, has a life of its own.

 

Water is a substance like no other. Water is absolutely essential to life: 55 to 78% of the human body is made of water. The most abundant substance on this planet, water comprises nearly one fourth of the earth’s mass. Ninety-eight percent of that water fills our oceans. And oceans are rising at an alarming rate due to global warming. The city of Venice, Italy, is suffering from an all-time high-water level largely due to melting ice caps thousands of miles away. Some inhabited islands in the Pacific Ocean are in danger of sinking into the sea, and their populations will become “climate refugees.” Even Isle de Jean Charles, a narrow island in the bayous of southeastern Louisiana is slowly sinking into the Gulf of Mexico. Water will have its own way.

 

Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well about the “living water” that He alone can give. This “living water” is the life-essence of Christ that He offers to anyone who believes in Him. The “living water” will find the lowest point in our lives and fill that place with light and healing. Christ’s Spirit will flow into us, lift us from a place of despair and provide us with eternal life, starting right here, right now. Yes, the “living water” of Christ has a life of its own and it is ours for the taking.

 

Lord Jesus, water can be deadly but Your “living water” gives us life abundantly and eternally. Amen

 

Meg Blaine Corrigan finds ideas for her devotional blogs in everyday places and events, from comic strips to magazines and books, comments on the fly from people she meets, ancient memories of her childhood, and nigglings from God. To date, she has written nearly 700 different devotions, filling one book of daily readings, Saints With Slingshots: Daily Devotions for the Slightly Tarnished But Perpetually Forgiven Christian, published in 2015. Meg is working on a second book (Saints TWO) which she had hoped would be completed by now. She posts once a week, which means in seven years, she will have enough entries to fill a second book. Sometimes life gets in the way of writing, so Meg is pacing herself, enjoying spending time with her husband, their four daughters and spouses, ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, as well as their rescue dog, Bassett/Beagle mix Ginger. Meg is involved in volunteer work at her church, Christ Lutheran in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, and also with sexual violence/sex trafficking prevention and education. She speaks to groups whenever she if offered the opportunity. She is a voracious reader of other people’s writing, which gives her lots of ideas for more devotional blogs. Read more about her at www.MegCorrigan.com or contact her at MegCorrigan@comcast.net .

CAREFULLY TAUGHT

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28

 

“How would you distill your thoughts, experiences or observations about race into one sentence (of) six words?” This is the challenge given by former National Public Radio host Michele Norris with The Race Card Project. People are encouraged to condense their observations and experiences about race into one sentence with just Six Words. Since it began in 2010, the Project has received tens of thousands of Six Word stories from throughout the world. One entry was: “You’ve got to be carefully taught,” which has special meaning for me.

 

Those six words are the title of a song from Rogers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific,” a popular Broadway musical and movie in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. This production told of cross-cultural love affairs in the South Pacific during World War II. Two threads of my life intertwined to make me acutely aware of the lyrics of the song: one, my forward-thinking high school music director chose “South Pacific” as a school production my senior year, 1964. And two, I was simultaneously being raised by racially prejudiced parents. While my part in the musical was only a small one, the impact the story line had on me was profound.

 

In one of two uncomfortable relationships in the musical, Caucasian actor John Kerr sang the song to his Asian lover, played by France Nuyen. In an attempt to explain to her how their respective races cast a dark shadow on their relationship, Kerr sings, “You’ve got to be carefully taught/to hate and fear/you’ve got to be taught/from year to year/it’s got be drummed in your dear little ear/you’ve got to be carefully taught.” The portrayal of this risky relationship raised eyebrows and hackles at the time. Parents of my classmates—and my own parents—thought the characters were too controversial for impressionable teenagers to portray. The music director persevered and the show went on.

 

Today, there is a resurgence of hatred of “the other” rising in the world. Jesus never intended for us “to be carefully taught” to hate people of other races. Our Lord mandates us to love others as He loves each of us.

 

Jesus, carefully teach us tolerance and unconditional love for all humankind. Amen

DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT

Praise the Lord! O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 106:1

 

According to verywellmind.com, Dunning-Kruger Effect is “a cognitive bias in which people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are.” Because they don’t know what they don’t know, these people often believe they are smarter than they are. We all know someone like this: the uncle who believes he is extremely knowledgeable about computer technology even though his five-year-old daughter can run circles around him on a Smartphone. The entrepreneur who truly believes she has the inside track with the stock market but continually fails at business ventures. The student who blows off test after test but blames the professor for grading the student’s work incorrectly.

 

A common phrase used in the past to describe such folks is: “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” When psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger coined the phrase in 1991, their simple premise was that “people are unreliable resources for evaluating their own skills and shortcomings” (blog/hubspot.com). Just about everybody exhibits a few Dunning-Kruger traits; we all want to believe we are savvy about subjects that are familiar to us. But it is when individuals separate themselves from the concept of self-improvement and personal discovery—when life revolves only around one’s ability to prove competence at all costs—dysfunction is not far away!

 

Enter the transforming power of Christ! Our living Lord gives us permission to just be ourselves. Christ tells us over and over in Scripture that He loves us unconditionally; even when we repeatedly demonstrate that we are not perfect, He still loves us just the same. The entire text of Psalm 106 is about God’s redeeming, forgiving, transforming love in any and all circumstances. Verse 6 says, “Both we and our ancestors have sinned; we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.” And verse 8 answers: “Yet He saved (us) for His name’s sake, so that He might make known His mighty power.” Yes, God gives each person the ability to use our gifts and talents in small and large ways, and He rejoices when we live for Him. But He doesn’t base His opinion of us on whether we know all there is to know about anything. He just loves us!

 

Lord, let me be confident in Your constant loving care! Amen