Shade Tree Wisdom 3/15/08

“The heavens declare the glory of God,
The skies proclaim the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech,
Night after night they proclaim knowledge.
There is no speech,
Or language,
Where their voice is not heard” Psalm 19, 1-3.

I just love this time of year. The flowering trees, the bushes with color. In our backyard there is a little kumquat tree, doesn’t look like much, but its flowers now are really something. And soon there will be a dogwood flowering in the back. And those delicate flowering trees, along the parkway, spectacular. The Psalm has it right.

And that is what St. Paul speaks of when he writes, “What may be known of God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.” Rom 1,19.

Look at this letter. Written to Rome where there was much to read, imperial decrees, great poetry, finely crafted philosophy and various religions and gods and goddesses. Written by one who had no connections, was really unknown, and yet, this letter soon caught attention because it came to grips with things that troubled people.

Paul takes the glorious fact of Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection, and asks “What is God up to, and why?” So He begins by saying, “I am proud of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of salvation to everyone that believes, Jew first, and then everyone”. Paul explains it is God’s way of putting people right with God”.v.16.17.

So St. Paul starts as he does. The question is troubling, “What kind of life does your philosophy really offer you? Now, he writes, You do know God, for his works can be clearly seen, then why ignore Him as you do? For “what happened was this, people knew God perfectly well, but didn’t treat Him like God, “and their foolish heart was darkened”. V.22.

And it goes down hill from there, but “God gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done.” To follow their own devices. And the evil life that followed is described in verses 28 – 32.

These verses could be describing the America we live in, in 2008. Rom. 1,28 Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. 29 And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, 30 fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. 31 Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. 32 And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best! So the letter to the Romans offers the only solution to the problem of sin. We read it, take comfort in its rich promises, and depend on it for the hope that is in us in Christ, the Risen Savior. Food for thought in this Holy Week.

GPD 3/15/08