Love…Our Only Hope

9 May 2019

There are no words sufficient enough to describe the depth of my sadness, dismay, and even anger, in response to how, far too many, people are reacting to the report by Robert Mueller, special counsel. I think he was assigned to search for Russian interference in our 2016 election and any collusion by the Trump campaign with Russia in that election. I say “I think” because I repeatedly read that the full scope of his mandate has never been made available to the public. A redacted version of the report was released to Congress and the public on Thursday, 18 April 2019.

The report clearly stated that insufficient evidence was identified so show collusion with the Russians by the Trump campaign or any American. Given that, for nearly two years, we were told by a multitude of Democrats, and seemingly every liberal media outlet, that our president was controlled by Russia, it would seem there would be celebration in finding that he did not collude with Russia. Instead, the same people and media outlets that had pushed the collusion narrative immediately shifted to arguing that the report gave ample reason for Trump being guilty of obstruction of justice. The Mueller report said there were actions by the president that could indicate obstruction, but other actions countered reaching that conclusion. In the end, Mueller said that he would not charge the president with obstruction but would not exonerate him. The obstruction decision fell to Attorney General William Barr. In a press conference shortly before releasing the report, Barr explained the process that he and Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein went through in deciding not to charge the president with obstruction. What Barr explained made total sense to me.

However, the rage regarding obstruction goes on full bore. Even as I started writing today (19 April), our local paper, The Fayetteville Observer, has two articles that clearly reflect this focus on obstruction while hardly mentioning the finding of no collusion. Here are those headlines: “Report provides layers summary could not”; “Analysis…Mueller paints damning portrait of Trump”.

After listening, on the radio, to the Barr press conference on Thursday and watching TV news reports and commentary, I was in bad shape by 6:10 p.m. when my wife, Denise, and I headed off a Maundy Thursday service. The service was at First Baptist Church (Anderson Street) where Reverend Rob James is pastor. This service was filled with meaningful music, instructive and reassuring Scripture readings, and a sermon that reminded me there is only one way to overcome the division and hopelessness generated by, and reflected in, the Mueller report response described above.

Pastor James defined maundy as referring to a command, of being equal to a mandate. He went on to say the following:

During Maundy Thursday, we are called to remember the last moments of freedom of Jesus before he is betrayed by one of his closest friends, before he is arrested by people he has seen every day in the temple, before he is mocked and ridiculed, before he is abused and spit on, before he is crucified and killed on a cross, before he is laid in a tomb. The commands that we are called to remember this night, the Maundy of Maundy Thursday are the things that Jesus told his disciples during those final moments of freedom; his commands, his mandates…in a very real way, his last wishes.

James followed this by sharing his experience with his father as that father had been told he only had six months to live. His son was just a teenager. Thankfully, despite the doctors’ projection, his father lived three years. Over that time, he took the pastor on rides and talked about his (the father’s) life: the good, the bad, everything. When that father was at death’s door, he requested that his teenage son make some promises to him. Pastor reviewed those promises with us, but then came to the last words his father spoke to him. He said, “Don’t ever forget that I love you and will always be proud of you.”

Rob James kept the promises that he made to his father. The critical point is that he kept those promises; not because he expected reward, but because he loved his father. This experience with his father clearly gives Pastor exceptional understanding of, and appreciation for, the last wishes of Jesus. One of those wishes appears in John 13:34-35 (New International Version): 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

I left this sermon profoundly reminded that loving one another is our only hope for healing the divisions that threaten our very existence and dispensing with the hate, in our midst, that is so obvious and destructive. However, reality challenged my capacity for believing that we can really lay hold of loving one another. That is especially of doubt if our loving one another is to be driven by our recognition of Jesus’ love for us. In a nation where church membership is on the decline, especially among young people, and Christians are being pushed to the fringe of society, it does not seem likely that this “love one another” arrangement is possible.

Inspired, but still wondering if the “love one another” arrangement is possible in our time, Denise and I headed to the first baseball game being played by the Fayetteville Woodpeckers in our beautiful new stadium. Once in our seats and enjoying the game, we started talking with people seated around us. I was amazed that the atmosphere was so relaxed and welcoming.

Midway through the game, our team was down 5-2. At that point, there was a sense of concern throughout the stands. Despite being down by three, we kept pulling for our team. By the top of the 9th inning, the score was 5-5. We celebrated throughout the stadium. In the end, the Woodpeckers lost 7-5.

The point of sharing my baseball game experience is to acknowledge what happened in that stadium and how it speaks to loving one another because we love Jesus. At the low point in the game when the outlook was not good, we kept pulling for our team. When the score was tied, we celebrated. When the Carolina Mudcats scored two in the 9th and went on to win, the crowd was clearly still appreciative, and supportive, of our team.

Granted, this was just an entertainment event, but what happened there highlights the principle that common focus promotes unity. The fact is, apparently, everybody in that stadium was committed to, and felt a connection to, the Woodpeckers. The result was a kind of unity, togetherness, which is missing in our country when it comes to the difficult issues that we face. A baseball game cannot fix what plagues us as a nation. But, if we have the common focus on loving Jesus because He loves us, we will follow His command to love one another. Therein is our only hope for overcoming the divisions and hatred that is wringing the very life from our nation. Do not be fooled; no other focus will suffice. If you doubt the truth in that statement, consider what have become the objects of our focus, the Mueller investigation among them, and the results wrought by focusing on a myriad of subjects other than Jesus.