An Easter Week Poem

     In the weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, I have been preaching on the cries of Jesus from the cross. Repeatedly I have been struck by how much He was in control, though He appeared to be under the control of the cross, the nails, and the torment of crucifixion. In His last words from the cross, which I have been studying this week, He said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit..." (Luke 23:46). This statement is spoken by a Savior who controls His death, and is confident in it that His Father will not suffer Him to see corruption (Psalm 16:10, Acts 2:31), but will in fact receive His spirit, and then resurrect His body from the dead. Because He died like this for us as His people, we can die like this as well - confident that He is able to receive our spirits, and He will one day raise our mortal bodies from the dead. Amen.

     Here are a few lines I wrote in response to what my heart has seen this Easter week:

Behold this Savior, rejected yet reigning,

Dying while still His power sustaining,

Slain by foes who were yet fulfilling,

The sovereign plan of eternal willing. 

Behold the King, dead but not doomed,

In another's grave His body entombed,

Stone and soldiers seal His room,

A place of death yet victory’s womb.

Behold the morning, early but breaking,

The earth reels from a sudden quaking,

The tomb is opened, gaping and bare,

The King is risen! He is not there.

A Baby

A baby, yes, like others born,

The dawning of another morn’,

A mother, yes, like ones before,

But in this birth there’s so much more,

Angels broke the veil to sing,

The arrival of a newborn King,

Shepherds left their flocks to see,

Salvation clothed in humility,

The pain - the joy of delivery,

The cry – the breath of eternity,

A couple looks through tears to view,

The infant who makes all things new,

This helpless baby, the hope of earth,

Nursed by the mother that gave Him birth,

Dependent on her He opens His eyes,

Dependent on Him she softly cries,

This child appears like all the others,

And yet He comes to save His brothers,

All others born to Adam’s race,

Now have a King to give them grace.

A baby, yes, like others born,

But on the first Christmas morn’,

Heaven came to dwell with men,

God came down to save from sin.

Unfair Weather Friends

In 2015, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson released an album together called “Django and Jimmie”. Of course, I bought it - not for Willie, but for Merle’s sake. On that album is a song called, “Unfair Weather Friend”. It describes the friend who shows up when everything is dark and bad and proves his fidelity in adversity. That, by the way, is the measure of a true friend.
Real friends show themselves to be so, not so much when we enjoy their company, as when their company is a sort of necessity. It is when we need them to be there to hold us up, not merely hang out with us, that we see why we really love them and call them our friends.
Proverbs 18:24 says, “…there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” I have often heard that phrase applied to Jesus, and rightfully so. He is a friend of sinners, and being a friend of sinners (of whom I am one) He is faithful to them even when the weather is not fair in their lives. He is a friend to them even when the bad weather is of their own making. I bless Him for His surpassing friendship to me, and I long to be that kind of friend to others as well. I want to demonstrate and replicate the grace and mercy of unfair weather friendship.

In Harper Lee’s novel, “Go Set a Watchman”, Uncle Jack Finch tells Jean Louise (the grown up “Scout”), “…the time your friends need you is when they’re wrong, Jean Louise. They don’t need you when they’re right.” It is easy to be a friend when your friends are right. A friend to those who are wrong, however, is a true friend and one like the truest Friend I’ve ever had.

Contrarian Clinician

            I’d prefer positivity. I would. But, I can’t take blind positivity over sighted reality.

Walker Percy wrote about one of William Faulkner’s characters in The Sound and the Fury. Percy said:

“Naming death-in-life as Faulkner did with his character Quentin is a thousand times more life-affirming than all the life-affirming self-help books about me being okay and you being okay and everybody being okay when in fact everybody is not okay, but more than likely in deep trouble. Beware of people who think that everything is okay.”[1]

People today prefer to be affirmed in their lives and lifestyle choices. So, I recognize that standing behind a Bible and repeatedly pointing folks to where that Bible seems to contradict their comfortable lives makes me a cultural contrarian. I don’t necessarily enjoy that posture, but if a light above us illuminates how stained our lives are with sin, isn’t it better to talk about that, rather than trying to paint over the stains with bright colors that make us feel better, but don’t really clean up anything?

Pointing out the “death-in-life” doesn’t make you the most pleasant voice in the room, but it may just mean you are the most sane and sensible one speaking. Speaking to what is wrong isn’t always a pretty sound to hear, but if we can diagnose what is wrong – however painful that process may be – then we can start talking about how to treat it.

Here is what I believe (and hope) will happen. If most people simply continue to talk as if there’s nothing to be treated, eventually the stench of the dying all around us will overwhelm all the potpourri preaching, and somebody will say, “What’s that smell?” Maybe then the contrarian will become a welcome clinician who not only points to the festering sores of society, but also says, “There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole.”

---

[1] Percy, Walker, Signposts in a Strange Land, (Picador, New York, 2000), p. 164

Tell me, Preacher...

Tell me, preacher, what should I do?

Look unto Jesus. He will help you.

I hear that, preacher, but what about…

Look unto Jesus. Why should you doubt?

But my problem is real, and I am concerned,

Jesus is real. Have you not learned?

His word is not just for Sunday’s hour,

His life is not just a spiritual power,

His cross is not just a sin offering,

His power is not just a religious thing,

His empty tomb is still empty today,

His work on you is still underway,

Your problem may seem like a mountain too tall,

But look to Him, you’ll see, it’s so small,

He raised you from death and snatched you from hell,

Whatever you’re facing, trust me, “It is well.”

He’s not shaken by anything you fear,

He’s sovereign over all, even when it’s not clear.

Preacher, I’ll turn to Jesus, I’ll listen to you,

Good, because that is all I know to do too.

Tomorrow will be my son's 15th birthday. It's been a bit of a tradition to write a little poem for the occasion. He doesn't find it all that interesting now, but one day, perhaps he will.


"Tanner at 15"

When I add it up the tally is clear,

Sure enough, it’s the fifteenth year,

It’s not the math I struggle to get,

It’s just the fact I can’t fathom yet,

What was I doing and why did I miss,

When you skipped all those ages prior to this?

I remember now; I was there all along,

And said every year, “This has to be wrong,”

Time will not wait for its speed to be seen,

It rushes from birth to a year like fifteen,

Son, please remember what I’m trying to say,

You might be a man with a son one day,

And you’ll look around and see how he’s grown,

And wonder where all the time has gone,

So remember to look every time you can,

At the little boy who’ll soon be a man,

Pick him up often and say with a smile,

I love being your daddy, if just for a while…

-Terry Trivette

Article for the Newsletter

I write a little article for an in-house newsletter we publish at the church. Though it is already read by upwards of 20 people, I thought I would start posting it here for those who don't get to read it at the church.

From your pastor,

            On January 22^nd, hundreds of thousands of people showed up in our nation’s capitol for the annual “March for Life”. It is a demonstration of pro-life supporters, held on the anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision on abortion. What? You didn’t hear about it on the news? You probably didn’t. The media virtually ignored it.

            Brent Bozell, the president of the Media Research Center said, “If these were a few dozen hipsters prostesting corporate profits while taking selfies with iPhones, the networks would have wall-to-wall coverage.” I fear he is right.

            Truthfully, standing up for and doing what it is right doesn’t seem to garner much attention in this world. Ours is the age that celebrates sin and, as Romans 1:32 says, takes pleasure in those who do the very things God has promised to judge.

            Let us remember, however, that we do not serve the Lord Jesus for the sake of the applause of the world. We do not preach the gospel, love our neighbors, and fight for those who cannot fight for themselves so that our society will say what great people we are. If we do seek for that, we had better not hold our breath.

            We do what we do in obedience to Jesus, for the advancement of His kingdom, and for the “well done” from His lips when there will be no media to cover it. Serve Him, church, and let His pleasure be what pleases you the most.

His,

Pastor Terry