What if ... the Church did not exist?

We, here in the 21^st century USA, find it hard to relate with those who have known freedom and then totally lost that freedom. From observations gleaned since my college days, people groups lose their basic freedoms because of arbitrarily set socio-economic restrictions – be they imposed by duly elected leaders, military dictators, kings or self-appointed civil revolutionaries.

    Fifty-eight years ago, upon the world's stage, a large people group, lost their freedom to an entrenched military and godless presence. Author Michael Furchert grew up in that very limited world, having never experienced the freedoms his parents knew were possible. He says; “believers were pressured to leave the church and to follow communism. 'Without God and without sun, we will get the harvest done' was a slogan taught to the farmers in our communities. And to children in school, this song: 'We need no god, no king, no emperor to save us; to redeem us from our misery we must arise ourselves.' My sisters and I did not participate. We were among the 2 percent of East German students who refused to join the communist youth organizations or to conform to their beliefs. Thus I lost the privilege to obtain a driver's license, participate in my graduation ceremony or to attend college.” The 87 mile long Berlin Wall was the defining reason why Michael and his family could not walk the few miles past that impediment to see their relatives.

    There is an interesting statement found in chapter three verse ten of the Epistle (letter) to the Ephesians: “through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known.” When I think of church, two definitions come to me. There is the universal church, referring to all believers in Christ – regardless of where they live, no matter what race they come from. There is also the local church, identified by individual believers choosing to gather for recurring worship and interaction, according to specific and differing convictions of polity. What if the church did not exist?

    Thirty years ago on November 9, 1989 East Berlin Germans regained their freedom after losing it. How did it happen?  Furchart says “Growing numbers of students, workers, artists, and oppositionists began to join church-wide weekly Prayers for Peace. In the churches they found a safe haven to freely discuss their concerns. They found pastors to pray with them or help them seek dialogue with the communist regime. Here they heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ: 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who mistreat you!' “Between September and October 1989, weekly prayer marches and demonstrations in Leipzig had grown from 8,000 to 300,000 people. By early November, the prayer vigils of Leipzig and Berlin had grown into a nationwide movement. Out of the churches we marched into the streets, with burning candles in our hands, with songs of praise and freedom on our lips, approaching the soldiers who awaited orders to shoot.

   The police started to beat and arrest people. Secret agents infiltrated the crowds to incite violence. They wanted someone to throw a rock or overturn a car – anything to give the military a reason to open fire. Again and again, church leaders called upon people to resist aggression and to pray for peace. One lady kneeling on the street arose and put a flower into the muzzle of a gun. She watched a tear roll down the soldier's cheek. Not one shot was fired. Instead, the Berlin Wall came down. On November 9, 1989, our family stepped over the rubble of the wall into freedom to be reunited with our relatives. Months earlier, East German dictator, Erich Honecker, had declared the Berlin Wall would stand for another 100 years. Now people were dancing on that wall singing the famous German hymn Now Give All Thanks to God.”

    The Peaceful Revolution of 1989 remains an historic legacy of the East German churches. One former Communist leader said about their defeat: “We [our government and military] were prepared for anything. But not for candles, faith and prayer.”

Be Thankful!

What if ... there were no birds?

    About a year ago I was challenged by a local friend with a question for this column. I asked him what might that look like and he quickly ticked off issues to the significant impact this question would have on our current quality of life. What if birds did not exist? For these unique air, ground and water fowl keep our planet livable in a multiplicity of ways. Here are a few of them.

    What would camping be like without birds? Imagine the overwhelming odds uneaten insects would have upon the enjoyment of our day and evening campfires. The picture causes me to physically shudder at the thought of all those mosquitoes, black flies, gnats, no-see-ums and horse flies. When deer ticks bite into our skin, they leave a small reddish bull's eye welt, handily confirming the danger of their attack.  Remove the greatest restraint on insect populations and we could well count on having not one – but multiple welts. Camping grounds might not even exist and four season vacation spots would be limited to three seasons - maybe less.

    Quoting from birdlife.org, please note. “The domestication of the Red Jungle fowl and the Rock Dove were seminal events for human food security. In the past 10,000 years (on any one day there are some 25 billion chickens alive on earth): domesticated geese, ducks, guinea-fowl, turkeys and quail make important contributions to human diets.”

    With no birds, the variety of what we consume would be seriously lacking. Where would Thanksgiving be without a well done fowl or the signature Chinese presentation of Peking Duck. Manage their lives carefully, let some live and be guaranteed the enjoyment of all manner of eggs. 

    With no birds migrating from the north to the south across the North American continent twice a year, there would be minimal seed distribution. That is one of the ways the area surrounding Mt. St. Helens has so quickly created new growth of all types of trees, bushes and grasses. “In the high mountains of the American West, there's a tree called the white bark pine with large seeds which grizzlies and black bears love to eat. The tree's seeds are dispersed by just one bird: the Clark's nutcracker, a black-and-white-winged cousin to the crow.” If this nutcracker did not exist, these bears would be out of one of their main food supplies.

    Birds give us two additional favors: their colors and their sounds. The primary means of their flight, their feathers attached in full plumes and arranged with such magnificent hues of every color we can imagine. What would a forest or a garden be without the calls of cat birds, robins, orioles, blue birds? Their sounds sweeten our hearing with the melodies of music. Go to any symphony orchestra and you will hear during the warm-up, the sounds of birds calling to one another, from pianos to all manner of flutes to violins. I can't imagine a world without music!

    Be it penguins swimming effortlessly in the arctic oceans to eagles riding the air currents far above our heads, without birds - our ability to appreciate the majesty and the call of the wild would be severely hampered. So, thank you God, for birds.

Be Well.