Grab your tambourines and lyres!

    Philosophers, statesmen, and great writers often have trademark quotations, like: 

    - “We have just begun to fight.” 

     - “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” 

     - “Everyone thinks forgiveness is lovely until he has something to forgive.”  

    The game board of “Jeopardy” played on the Alex Trebek studio stage is chocked full of such quotes. I have a trademark statement and though my circle of influence is small, my trademark has been picked up and repeated appropriately and in the spirit in which it was first delivered. I’m confident it will out-live me. 

     It was created when my son David was participating in and sweating out a sprint triathelon. We were on the sidelines, not only to encourage him, but the other 1500 entries or at least the ones that made it to the final run. They swam, they rode bikes, and they ran. After hooting and howling through the events, I was at a loss for words that would spur them on to the finish line. So, I clapped my hands as one bedraggled participant ran up a hill and I called out: 

    - “We applaud you!” 

     That was the best I could mentally muster. It was uttered with the greatest admiration and sincerity. But it didn’t fit in with the verbiage of the surrounding crowd or in the context of such an event. At best, it might have given that straggling, panting runner an inward chuckle that incentivized him to push on. I can only hope. 

    My “we applaud you” has lived on and everyone who uses it knows where it came from, what it means, and who said it. I am usually cited. That’s a trademark! I am known, not only for the words, but for the message they communicate, the enthusiasm that voiced them and the heart that motivated them.

 

“We applaud you! We applaud you!” is exactly what I recall when I read Isaiah 30:31-32:

     The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod.  And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them.

    The Assyrians are the enemy in this passage, at least the perceived enemy. My perceived enemies might have the faces of political personalities, opposing ideologists, cantankerous neighbors, or self-centered relatives. However, my vision of the LORD’s brandishing sword is really against enemies that attack a deeper stratum, my soul. Those are my REAL enemies! What great satisfaction and confidence there is in knowing that the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Creator of everything created is waving and flourishing his sword on my behalf against fear, intimidation, comparison, addiction, hatred, accusations, impurities, love of money, covetousness, selfishness, worry, grudges, and all those enemies that fight against the wellness of my body, soul and spirit. It is a marvelous sight to imagine.

     Whether accompanied by lyres and or tambourines, or with only the simple praise of my heart and lips, I can’t help but holler out to him who wields the sword and pins down our enemies, “We applaud you! We applaud you!”

The Vindication of Joseph Kennedy

If you have forgotten who Joseph Kennedy is, he is the high school assistant football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington state. Not a headline breaking position or location until Kennedy knelt in prayer at the fifty-yard line after games and was joined by some of the players. The headlines, opinion polls, social media rants for and against Kennedy for making public demonstration of his faith in a public environment and accusing him of coercing those he led to comply with his religious act, followed him all the way to the Supreme Court of the U.S. A recent 6-3 decision of that court reversed the ruling of lower courts, re-instating Kennedy in his job and defending his First Amendment rights.

Juxtapose the scene of Kennedy kneeling at the fifty-yard line after a game and what we witnessed Monday night in the Bengals-Bills game. I don’t recall anyone standing up from the field or the stands yelling, “You can’t do that! You can’t kneel on the field and pray!” From coach to referee, to press crew to player, to fan and to sportscaster, the natural, immediate, spontaneous response was to pray. No one was ashamed to do it. Maybe some were ashamed because they hadn’t done that in a long time and wondered if they had right to pray now. But they, we, were all desperate. They, we, were in a situation beyond themselves. No brain, no brawn, no raising of the fist, no beating of the chest or clownishly celebrating a TD would have met their need. That was proven by the suspension of the game. No one had a heart to do what they had always done before and loved doing. This was a new ballgame.

Can you believe it, a sportscaster prayed aloud on national TV! Can you believe he didn’t get shut down for it! Why? Because when we are overwhelmed, we know that we need God. Not only was the injured football player in need, those around him and all those watching were as well.

What does God think of us who stand against Him ninety-five per cent of the time and run to him with urgency on certain occasions, like fallen towers and football players, hurricane destruction and diagnosis from our doctor? Gratefully His Word is full of promise that those who seek Him will find Him. That His love, compassion, mercy, and long-suffering nature will always turn his ear to our prayer.

Monday night gave me a new picture of a statement in God’s Word. The image of Philippians 2: 10 “…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” I have always relegated that to heaven, the golden gates manned by Saint Peter and to the final judgment of man. I thought of it as a final acquiescence to the Lordship of Christ, but too late and without opportunity for redemption. Admittedly that is a doomsday rendition. Monday night I saw a far more hopeful image to put in its place.

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/damar-hamlin-collapse-cpr-attempts-triggers-emotions-from-buffalo-bills-cincinnati-bengals-nfl-players/3160665/

As urgent, serious, desperate prayers went up to God for Damar Hamlin’s preservation and healing and because those who seek God, find him, I’d be interested to know how many who knelt on Paycor field found something or Someone new. Were there some with their heads bowed who rediscovered the One they had left for other pursuits, or realized how precarious life is and that a toned spirit is needed as well as a toned body. Gratefully there were those who knew what to do when our hearts are overwhelmed and they led the way to the Rock who is higher than us.

Situations like Hamlin’s happen every day. Every hour someone is in a dire situation. The kindness of God is that Damar’s was in front of a whole nation of viewers giving us all the right and opportunity to kneel on the field or in our homes and pray to God who cares more than we can imagine for Damar, his family and for each of us.

Oh, and thank you Joseph Kennedy.