Pastors' Blog

Look—I’ve never done this before—but then again, no one has responded to the previous week’s blog like this before.

For the last three weeks, Karen and I have had a delightful, I-really-enjoy-shedding-my-shiny-black-coat-all-over-your-carpet house guest named Kora, the favorite dog of our favorite granddaughters, who are frolicking by the lake of their other favorite grandparents. Wonderful girls, sweet dog.

Which needs to go out at night for obvious reasons. But alas, I broke my last flashlight and was looking for a replacement. Well, God bless one of our readers (from where I don’t know), who immediately ordered a brand new halogen flashlight that arrived two days after the blog with this note tucked inside: “I have a flashlight exactly like it—it is Great! I hope you enjoy it!” Signed with her name. Fortunately, Amazon included an email address so I could express my joyful gratitude to this kind stranger.

And oh boy, this flashlight is way more than “great!” It not only has a halogen light—but it also comes with a super-duper zoom lens (that can adjust its beam from blinding pinpoint to wide-area circle)—and on top of all that, it also can switch from low beam to high beam to blinking beam to a beam that actually blinks the morse code letters for S-O-S. You will never be able to lose me now!

Reminds me of Peter’s prescient observation about prophecy: “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19).

Because that is what prophecy is—a halogen light peering into the dark uncharted future and exposing what we would never have seen lurking in our pathway. But they are much more than flashlights for the future. They are divine halogens that can supernaturally pierce the dark lair of the apocalyptic dragon and expose his deadly modus operandi with the Light of the world.

“I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5)—and “I am the bright Morning Star” (Revelation 22:16)—Jesus still declares. And He is the one Light we need now more than ever before, as we attempt to navigate the dark shadows of this pandemic landscape now our home. 

For the last few weeks, I’ve been pouring over those apocalyptic halogen snapshots of uneasy weirdness and terrible implication. Is there an interface between what we are living through on the cusp of a new school year and those dusty, long-forgotten, prophecies? Do they speak with decipherable clarity? Does the light of Christ and the Word of God expose the dark mastermind behind what we endure right now? From prophecy can we see with greater clarity the direction today’s stunning trends are headed?

Rhetorical questions, all four of them. This is why I am inviting you (and the friends and family you have) to join us Sabbath mornings, beginning next Sabbat, August 22, the eve of a new school year on all three of our campuses. Join us, join me as we seek to shine the halogen of prophetic light on what lies ahead. “American Apocalypse: ‘What Is Past Is Prologue’”—because if Shakespeare is right and the past is but prologue, then we have every somber need to be armed with the light of Holy Scripture at this critical time. Period.

And if we can decipher the beauty of God’s character and the face of our Lord Jesus in these ancient words—and if it is true that “when we as a people understand what this book [Revelation] means to us, there will be seen among us a great revival” (TM 113)—then can you think of a more essential, opportune moment in history to discover or rediscover all God has embedded in these ancient prophecies for His endgame friends?

When I was a boy, I remember my dad telling this story on himself to a group of my friends: “I was the toughest kid in my neighborhood—whenever the boys saw me coming, they started running—but they could never catch me!” And I recall feeling so upset because his story made him look like a weakling. Every child likes to think the authority figures in his or her life are invincible.

That’s why it is so confusing for the American public to decipher who of our many authorities are the ones we should believe, trust, obey. Look at all the debates we’re having, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) over face masks and social distancing; (2) over whether schools across the country should open or remain closed; (3) over the safety or lack of it for air travel; (4) over whether churches should open or not. Confusion over authority, confusion among authorities—how do you decide?

Take the decision of our Pioneer church board and board of elders, augmented by the protocol recommendations of our reentry taskforce—to open up our sanctuary this coming Sabbath, July 11. Talking about trusted authorities, here was a Zoom screen full of them, volunteer leaders of our congregation with a very much vested interest in Pioneer getting it right. So did they make the right decision?

I believe they did. But the more important question is—the right decision for whom? 

The Centers for Disease Control and the President’s coronavirus taskforce all are agreed—COVID-19’s greatest threat is to individuals 65 and older as well as those who have preexisting medical conditions. Does that mean everyone over 65 and/or with preexisting health conditions will contract COVID-19? Hardly. But it does mean individuals with these risk factors do well to evaluate the outside-the-house environment they choose to occupy, even on a Sabbath morning.

Here is the CDC’s counsel (irrespective of your age or health condition):

• “In general, the more people you interact with, the more closely you interact with them, and the longer that interaction, the higher your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19.
• “If you decide to engage in public activities, continue to protect yourself by practicing everyday preventive actions [wash your hands often, cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when others are around, clean and disinfect et al].
• “Keep these items on hand and use them when venturing out: a cloth face covering, tissues, and a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if possible.
• “If possible, avoid others who are not wearing cloth face coverings or ask others around you to wear cloth face coverings.” 
• (www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019- ncov/need-extra-precautions/older-adults.html)

In accordance with this counsel, our Pioneer reentry taskforce is taking these actions: 

• Providing hand sanitizer for every worshiper entering the church;
• Requiring face masks for all worshipers age two and above (if you forget yours, we’ll give you one);
• Designating physical distancing in the sanctuary by limiting the number of worshipers in each pew (by maintaining six feet between families and/or individual worshipers, and keeping every other pew vacant); 
• Disinfecting the pews, door handles, and restrooms between first and second service;
• Dismissing worshipers by rows at the end of the service (in the back) through the south narthex exit, (in the front) through the canopy exit.

Why all this protocol? First, because your life and health are what matters most to your Pioneer Family. We not only want you to be safe—we want you to feel safe. Second, because being Christlike means considering the needs and safety of others, irrespective of our personal decisions (hence the required face masks). I believe our task force has made every safety provision so we may gather to worship our Creator and Savior in peace and confidence.

Does that mean we all show up this Sabbath? I doubt that will happen. Every worshiper must determine when is the right time to go back to church. Which means nobody needs to feel guilty about not worshiping in person. You’ll know when the time is right. And you will still enjoy a full live-streaming experience (9:00 AM/11:45 AM ET) where you live.

But for those of us who will venture into this “brave new world” this coming Sabbath, I say we celebrate our return with the words of David: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” (Psalm 122:1). 

Talking about “a brave new world,” look at America’s summertime pastime now! After weeks of haggling and whining (pardon a pejorative participle), Major League Baseball owners and the Player’s Association have come to grumbling agreement—sixty games played in 66 days, thus it shall be in the pandemic shortened season of the Summer of 2020. 

But there’s more: “The season's success probably depends on MLB's ability to contain coronavirus spread, an issue the [newly ​released] health and safety protocol covers in immense detail. Addressing everything from travel to social distancing to a ban on spitting, the manual is a strict guide for a potential 2020 season and illustrates the difficulty of pulling off such an endeavor” (www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29354014/sources-mlbpa-agrees-report-july-1-discussing-health-safety-protocols). What! No more spitting! How can this be baseball?

But there’s still more. Take a look at ESPN’s summary of this “brave new” season. Warning—if you could care less about baseball, this will be really boring (I have a hard time deciphering it myself):

 • Teams will play their four divisional opponents 10 times and each of the five interleague opponents in the same geographical area four games apiece [e.g. Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox].

 • The National League will use a designated hitter [substitute batter for pitchers previously utilized only in the American League]. 

 • In extra innings, teams will begin with a runner on second base [unbelievable—but a savvy pandemic-way to shorten extra-inning games]. 

 • Teams will have a taxi squad that allows them to have as many as 60 players available to play in major league games [former rosters were 40 players].

 • There will be a COVID-19 injured list with no minimum or maximum length of time spent on it, while standard injured list stints will be for 10 days and the typical 60-day stint will instead be for 45 days (ibid).

And who’ll be singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” for the seventh-inning stretch? Nobody. You mean no “Buy me some peanuts and ​C​racker ​J​ack—I don’t care if I ​never get back”? Nope. The stadiums will be empty. The Boys of Summer will be playing to the television cameras—a concession to the pandemic’s brave new world of sports.

Crazy, isn’t it? Multiply all of this by basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, NASCAR racing, the Olympics, cricket, rugby, and ping pong, et al—the footprint of this pandemic is stomped large across a global sports market once expected to grow “to nearly $614.1 billion by 2022” (www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190514005472/en/Sports---614-Billion-Global-Market-Opportunities). And now?

And yet juxtapose all of this beside Heaven’s urgent 24/7 mission to save the human race while there is still time—why it seems ludicrous to even mention the two in the same breath—the business of sports and the enterprise of salvation—doesn’t it?

Especially when we remember that for one lost sheep the very Good Shepherd of Heaven hurried into the raging night. Who will ever forget His post-Calvary cry to the universe: “Rejoice with Me—I have found My lost sheep” (Luke 15:6)! To risk all of Heaven for one lost sheep? “If there have been but one lost soul, Christ would have died for that one” (Christ’s Object Lessons 187 emphasis supplied). Are we worth that much, too?

So as the summer before us wobbles and wanes—and the pandemic refuses to part—be assured it is very OK for us to ask our Savior for a gift in this season of the pandemic—a softer heart for lost people who live a lot closer to us than the nearest ball field. I’d rather be singing—“Rejoice with me—I have found His lost sheep”—wouldn’t you?

I must confess I hardly know what to write. It is my Wednesday routine to sit at this laptop and compose another entry for my Fourth Watch blog. But today's headlines are the visceral recitation of our nation's ugliest truth. Racism. 

We sat in a Zoom circle a few days ago—and listened as our colleague and friend, Taurus Montgomery (African American pastor of our Harbor of Hope campus in Benton Harbor), described the shock of being yelled out of his car. A teen at the time, Taurus had been impatiently waiting for his sister to emerge from the house—when a white police officer in an unmarked car screeched to a halt and with a revolver pointed at Taurus and his brother, yelled: "Get out—with your hands up!" The stunned young men obeyed immediately. A split second later the officer's radio goes off in the background, "Suspect has been apprehended." Without a word, let alone an apology ("Sorry, fellas"), the officer holsters his gun, jumps in his car and speeds away. End of story. 

End of story for you and me, perhaps. But for a black kid growing up with racism, how do a story and an adrenalin memory like that ever end? Sitting in that Zoom circle it was more than obvious the PTSD sort of stress every black man must experience when another killing—three of them in a row recently in this land of the free—strikes. Another black life snuffed out by raw power. End of story? Are you kidding!

I listened today to another colleague of mine, African American Adventist pastor of the Brinklo Emmanuel church, Anthony Medley. Visceral pain from vented anger over racism's chokehold, bondage not even the church (not to mention society) has been able to break, let alone heal.

The video images now of George Floyd dying are seared on the collective conscience of us all. Ever notice the soldiers played a game of craps as the Man on the cross was dying? "Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get" (Mark 15:24). The nonchalance over a man dying at their hands—how do you forget that picture?

But if that's all we remember, how can that chain be broken? My friend, Nick Miller, attorney for the Lake Union Conference, last Sabbath afternoon on a Facebook Live panel discussion (thank you, Debbie Michel, host), shared three provocative Ellen White admonitions worth brooding over:

• “The desire to show their masterly authority over the blacks is still burning in the hearts of many who claim to be Christians, but whose lives declare that they are standing under the black banner of the great apostate. When the whites commit crimes, they are often allowed to go uncondemned, while for the same transgressions the blacks . . . are treated worse than the brutes. . . . Will not God judge for these things? As surely as the whites have brought their inhuman cruelty to bear upon the negroes, so surely will God’s vengeance fall upon them” (14LtMs, Lt 99, 1899).

"Whew! Not my problem." Keep reading.

• "There is a cause for the moral paralysis upon society. Our laws sustain an evil which is sapping their very foundations. Many deplore the wrongs which they know exist, but consider themselves free from all responsibility in the matter. This cannot be. Every individual exerts an influence in society. In our favored land, every voter has some voice in determining what laws shall control the nation. Should not that influence and that vote be cast on the side of temperance and virtue?" (RH November 8, 1881).

"Whew! That one's about temperance and not racism." You missed the word "virtue."

• "While we will endeavor to keep the 'unity of the Spirit' in the bonds of peace, we will not with pen or voice cease to protest against bigotry" (16MR 216).

"Protest against bigotry." The time has come for white Adventists to step out of the shadows and "with pen or voice" do just that, "protest against bigotry." 

This Sabbath in both Livestream worship services your Pioneer pastors and Andrews chaplains will read a statement on camera describing where we can go from here. Next steps. Because as history has taught us, if we don't begin somewhere, we won't be going anywhere. With Jesus.