Preamble:

The collapse of Soviet styled socialism characterised by the bringing down of the Berlin Wall saw the slow acceptance and absorption of the majority of socialist counties into some form of market economy based on the West. Western (USA & UK) styled capitalism had its day and was heralded a success. The ‘East’ and notions of its ‘controlled equality’ were demonised as failed conceptually.

Over the passed few months we have seen a collapse in the Western styled capitalism characterised by the credit crisis and failed institutions of the financial sector. It would appear Western styled capitalism has now had its day. The ‘West’ and notions of (Thatcherite) unregulated ‘liberty’ in the form of a de-regularised open market economy has failed to deliver. It has suffered the entropy of its own greed.

From this we are seeing the New Beginnings of a post capitalist economy. It appears a new hybrid is emerging. A new form of Capitalism where its financial foundations – the institutions on which it depends – are fully or partially nationalised. In other words socialism is at the very core. Thus we have a new form: a socialist based capitalism – Socio-capitalism (Hegel and Marx would be proud).

To underpin the new and emerging model it is time to re-evaluate the foundations of society. Now is an ideal time to re-assess and re-establish community values. To try and get it right or at least better than we have evolved under the two failed systems. Now is a time to act. We need a new value system to guide the new and emerging political ideals. A system well worth fighting for and promoting. A system that brings out, and brings back, the best in individuals and society, but where do we start?

Successful institutions are a good beginning. What has succeeded and survived the ‘old failed system’? Voluntary organisations and associations stand out. They have (in the UK at least) been plastering over the cracks in the very fabric of British Western Capitalism for years. They have been the mortar to the bricks, the institutions, of society. So what can we learn from them? How have they worked and what hidden human values underpin their continued success? What in the best cases do they suggest should form the value foundations for a new and emerging Soio-capitalism? Two flags fly high: loyalty and support.

An Introduction:

The foundations of human existence are in the family unit. The family is worth fighting for. It is here that primary values are formed. If appropriate values cannot be instilled through the family unit they are not likely to pervade society as a whole. The success of family process lie (it can be argued) in fraternity (brother/sisterhood) at the value base of which is found loyalty and support. These form the basic foundation stones to life and living. Yes, we need unpack the terms and this will follow but initially, as with Wittgenstein, this will occur through their use.

Firstly, it will be through notions of loyalty and support that we will refined the terms and application of equality and liberty. The relationship between these two relics of the failed systems will still form the key to the new. Any new value system has to equate freedom to regulation in meaningful ways. This will form the first task…
About the Author:

President John Adams wrote to his wife in 1776: “The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.”

While we Americans do a great job of celebrating with pomp and parade, I can’t help but be struck by Adam’s wishes for the day to be commemorated as “the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” I can personally confess to falling way short on that. Games? Got it. Illuminations? Really got it. Picnics with burgers, hot dogs, and ice cream. Oh, yeah.

But this “solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty ” mandate has thrown me into a public statement of guilt. Oh sure, I do pray solemnly and reverently for those who came before me, who threw themselves into the line of fire to give me freedom. And liberty. And of course the ongoing pursuit of happiness of which we are so addicted. But celebrating July 4th with solemn acts of devotion has never been ingrained into my thinking about the day.

I love what Paul says about freedom in the book of Galations: “It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. Gal 5:13-14 (The Message)

As July 4th is celebrated throughout this great country of ours, I will be celebrating my freedom and liberty with my family in another land. We will be vacationing in South America, where, ironically enough, the personal freedoms we have so enjoyed here in the United States are in scarce supply throughout many regions there. Whether or not we will even have access to “illuminations” is in serious debate. The probability of enjoying hamburgers, hot dogs, and ice cream is downright miniscule.

Wherever you happen to be this July 4th, I hope you take some significant time out of your day to honor John Adams’ wish: commit to spending some portion of your day to “solemn acts of devotion.” Take time out today to pray for our country. Pray for the soldiers on the other side of the world who are currently fighting for others’ freedoms. Pray for their families…that they have peace about their loved ones’ safety and mission there. Pray for our leaders…that, while keeping the courage to stand up for their convictions, they would continue to keep the interests of others at heart as well. Pray for the safety of our citizens…that we be protected from random acts of terrorism and violence. And pray for those who came before us…those men and women upon whose tall shoulders our personal freedom and liberty rest.

Enjoy the day with your family and serve one another with love. Gather with neighbors for a bike parade. Enjoy your favorite barbequed foods, run through the sprinkler, catch fireflies with your kids, suck ice cream out of the bottom of a cone, and watch fireworks on a blanket in your local park or in your own backyard.

And promise to be ever mindful today, of your personal freedom, your liberty, and your rights. Be thankful. Pour out a blessing on behalf of those to whom you owe it. Love others. Hug your kids. Hug your spouse. And pat your dog.

Happy Independence Day!

NOTE: Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson, 1993, 1994, 1995. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
About the Author:

As citizens of the United States of America, we believe the U.S. is a very successful country compared to the rest of the world. For the most part, we also trust and respect our complex justice system. If a suspect is proven guilty by the court of law and claims he or she is innocent, we usually have more faith in the court’s decision rather than what the suspect is trying to say. After all, we do want as many criminals as possible behind bars, right? If the crime committed was very disturbing such as murdering a child we become very furious and we want to make sure that someone pays for that. Once the court rules a guilty verdict against a suspect in such a horrible case, we feel safe for another day in our comfortable homes. All thanks to our perfect judicial system another criminal is behind bars.

The U.S. courts do often help protect the rest of society by locking up dangerous people. Unfortunately the system is far from perfect and innocent people receive guilty verdicts. These innocent people are torn away from their families, careers, free life and faced with humiliation. They often face many years or life behind bars and even the death penalty. Such a harsh punishment for the person who did not commit the crime. It is scary to think that anyone of us can fall in to this loop-hole in our judicial system where we can face time in prison even though we are innocent.

How could this happen, how can the court misjudge such life impacting cases and come up with the wrong verdict? Researchers had done many investigations on wrongful arrests, they found that the large majority of arrests were mistaken because eyewitnesses have pointed out the wrong people. Having as many criminals as possible behind bars in today’s system comes with a price, the price of innocent people going to jail too. The emotional victims want someone to pay for the crime, as long as someone gets punished they will feel better. The victim will go home and feel safer, sometimes not realizing that an innocent person is paying a price so the victim can feel cozy.

Many experiments conclude that jurors and law professionals rely a lot on eyewitnesses to come up with a guilty or not guilty verdict. Gary Wells (1998) researched forty special cases. In all forty cases DNA proved that all forty convicted suspects were innocent. In thirty-six of these cases eyewitnesses wrongfully accused the suspects. This is a major flaw with eye witness testimony. This is a crime in itself! First of all we are talking about forty people being wrongfully accused. More than three quarters of them are accused thanks to their “perfect memory” witnesses. This alone proves that eye witness testimonies should not be given as much credit as they are in today’s justice system.

A real life example of the eye witness testimony flaw is the Harris and Adams case. A police officer pulled over a vehicle at night to let the driver know that his headlights were turned off. The driver pulled out a gun and killed the officer. Suspect Harris was found a month later denying that he shot the officer. Harris claimed he picked up a hitch-hiker who was driving the car and the hitch-hiker shot the officer. The second suspect Adams who was the hitch-hiker claimed he was innocent but three witnesses claimed they saw him shoot the officer because Adams had a mustache and long hair which fit in to their description. Although Harris confessed that he stole the car and the loaded handgun, Adams was charged for the murder because three witnesses claimed they saw a description of Adams shooting the officer. Years later, the freed Harris was charged for a different murder and confessed on death row that he also shot the police officer twelve years earlier. Adams was finally released after an innocent twelve year sentence. Three witnesses pointed the finger at the wrong person.

How can three different witnesses point at the wrong person? Human memory is not like video or photo camera that can bring up a clear picture later in time. Our memories are often distorted by our schemas and other factors. If we are missing a piece of the picture when trying to remember something, our mind will replace it with something else. In this situation we will have a skewed memory. It was dark outside when the officer pulled the car over, therefore we can only see parts of the situation. Our mind can fill in those dark spots with other schemas when we try to remember the situation at a future time. The other problem can be the biased questions that police officers and investigators ask the eyewitnesses. For example if the officer has seen the suspect in custody, the officer’s questions to the witness may be biased by the suspect’s true description. Unknowingly, the officer might even make hints as to whether the witness is on the right track for describing a similar description of the suspect.

Another study was done by Patricia Tollestrup, John Turtle, and John Yille. The study focused on how we acquisition or pay attention to a certain scene, how we store that information and how we retrieve it later from our memory. They studied cases where the suspect confessed to the crime. These cases had eyewitness bystanders and eyewitness victims. The bystanders proved to have a more accurate memory of the crime scene than the victims involved. 100% of the bystanders remembered if the suspect had facial hair, only 60% of the crime victims remembered this correctly. Only 48% of the bystanders and 38% of the victims involved remembered the hair color of the suspect. The worse part is that both the bystanders and the victim eyewitnesses chose the right criminal 48% of the time in a lineup. This study shows that eyewitness testimony is very weak. It also shows that if the eyewitness was the victim of the crime, chances are their testimony is even weaker because of many factors that bias their memory. Another major reason why eye witness testimony should not take as much weight as it does today.

Jurors in a court case often don’t realize the imperfections of eye witness testimony. They don’t realize how imperfect our memories can be. If the jurors hear a great deal of confident detail about the crime from the witness, the jurors can easily be convinced by such a testimony. In an unusual event such as a short crime scene, a witness only collects pieces of the scene and later tries to put it altogether in to a story. Another conflict we have with memory is cross-racial identification. We have more difficulty identifying someone of another race other than ours. For example a black witness might have a harder time identifying a white suspect because blacks find it easier to differentiate between blacks. A black witness will have a harder time differentiating between whites the same as whites will have a tough time differentiating between Asians or Hispanics.

Another flaw that sometimes if not often puts innocent people in jail is the confident testimony of a victim that was seriously hurt or violated (Loftus). When this victim says with confidence “this is the guy that did it, I will never forget that face…” it is hard not to discredit their feelings and the fact that they lived through that horrible crime. Therefore it becomes easy to go with their testimony. A huge problem that Elizabeth Loftus talks about is the fact that judges will often not allow an expert to testify to the jury about the flaws of eyewitness testimony. Some judges will allow it, but others will make excuses as to why this expert testimony is not allowed. This leaves the jury uneducated about eyewitness flaws which potentially leads to a wrongful verdict.

When further researching the subject, I was amazed at some of the statistics I read about the inaccuracy of eye witness testimony. This is even if the crime occurred in broad daylight and there were many witnesses. I was also amazed at how much the courts rely on witnesses. Elizabeth Loftus went on to explain that when a judge decides not educate the jury of memory inconsistency of eyewitnesses, the jury for the most part decides the verdict from their “gut feeling”. They ignore the balance that needs to be present between physical scientific evidence and witness testimony. The jurors without the simple education rely too heavily on the witness. This leads the jurors to make the wrong decision and possibly convict the wrong person. Another great point that was made by Loftus is the repetition of seeing the accused person. When the victim spends time seeing the person in photos, in lineups, in the courtroom, the suspect even if truly innocent becomes encrypted more and more in the victims memory. This makes it possible that if the victim saw the true criminal he or she probably wont recognize the criminal anymore especially if the victim saw the criminal once for a short time during the crime.

Our ability to remember accurately is not as reliable as we think it is. We are often unaware that our memories change which causes us to change the story from what really happened. We often forget the importance of the factors that can skew our memory and perception. Unfortunately we think factors such as confidence and details are more important and reliable when in fact these factors cause errors in decision making. When a case is made, the court system and the police should not rely so heavily on eye witness testimony, they need to continue to find more evidence in a case even if there are witnesses who sound like they have a good story.

Read some true stories that related to flawed eye witness testimonies and you will see how damaging it can be!

Just when we thought spring had finally arrived, we got blasted with snow flurries and wretched weather all day Saturday. Rain mixed with snow and sleet…and spring spirits dashed right along with hopes of getting anything done outside in the garden…or of simply catching a whiff of fresh spring air. Because my calendar tells me that spring has officially arrived—we’re ten days into it for crying out loud and chocolate bunnies, eggs and marshmallow chicks line rack upon rack of grocery store shelves after all—yet my eyes tell me that winter is indeed, still in our midst—we cannot leave our homes without bulky overcoats and sweaters—I’m caught between the desire for celebrating spring’s freshness and vitality with the inescapable resignation that winter, at least up here in New England, is still here.

Such is Holy Week. We want so badly to celebrate the Resurrection at Easter, but we feel overcome with the passion and trial of the days leading from Palm Sunday through Good Friday. This season signals—around the world—time for reflection. During Holy Week, we move—day by day—from sadness to enthusiasm. From the valley of darkness to the tunnel of light. And that entails conflict.

Many of us feel conflicted these days. Overall, general “conflictedness.” The war in Iraq might be bogging us down in one way or another; college acceptance and rejection letters might be cause for overall malaise or even panic; and figuring out the calendar for summer activities for your kids in light of your own schedule might be more than you can emotionally handle.

I’ve been unusually conflicted lately. I’ll most likely be re-entering the official workforce in the next few weeks or months, and I’ve been interviewing, taking tests and talking with lots of different folks from varied areas of the work-world in an effort to nail down what I should be doing with myself, professionally, for the next oh, twenty years or so. A huge decision. We’re trying to figure out how to transition from having a mom in the home to having one gone during the day; how to shuffle kids to various activities without a mom-chauffeur yet with a new teen driver on our roster; and yet how to deal with the financial reality of multiple college tuition bills for most of the foreseeable future which, in and of itself is enough to cause discomfort. Perhaps my family just has too many balls in the air. Too many unanswered questions. Too many variables in the equation.

Yet as I look around, I see so many others facing conflict and discomfort. I cannot go one week without receiving an email or a phone call from a reader whose family member is struggling with one problem or another. Financial problems, health concerns, relationship issues. Most of us hate being uncomfortable. We hate conflict. Hate uncertainty. Hate dealing with the struggle in order to celebrate the victory. And yet that’s the real lesson of Holy Week.

However tempting it is to focus your thoughts and energies this week on the celebration of Easter—on resurrection and renewal—I hope that you allow yourself some quiet time to sort out the conflicts and discomforts of Maundy Thursday and of Good Friday. To focus on the sacrifice. For as you grow more fully aware of the sacrifice that Christ made on your behalf, you will gain immeasurable joy at the power of the Resurrection.

And if you are of another faith, please be sensitive to the fact that this week brings with it introspection for millions of people around the world. Passover will be celebrated by Jews and they will have rituals and holy remembrances, too.

So as tempting as it is when you’re in discomfort, confused…or just in a funk…to focus on spring’s lightheartedness and brightness, on chicks and on chocolate, remember that for a few days anyway, it’s not about that. It’s not about the bunnies. Even though, I admit, they’re taking up inordinate amounts of windowsill and tabletop real estate in my own home these days, and as much as they emotionally lift me out of the doldrums of winter, out of my own confusion and state of disequilibrium and into the sublime celebration of spring, they have little to do with the days ahead of us this week.

Go ahead and splurge on chocolate and on baskets. On flowers for your home or in a new outfit or on travel. This is a time for celebration, to be sure, come Easter Day. But allow yourself in the next few days, to internalize the conflict of Holy Week. It is one time of year when your internal struggle should be palpable. For we cannot get to Easter, to victory, without coming to grips with the sacrifice of Good Friday. Throughout life, we cannot get to true celebration without coming to grips with life’s struggle.

Diesel fuel is made from crude oil, a nonrenewable resource. Biodiesel fuels are characterized as substitutes for diesel, but not all biodiesel fuels are clean and renewable. Renewable biodiesel can be made relatively easily from used vegetable oil.

Other possible sources include locally grown cellulosic materials such as switchgrass, straw, hemp, and algae. The B number indicates how much biodiesel is in the mixture. For example, B2 is 2 percent biodiesel, 98 percent petroleum; B100 is 100 percent pure biodiesel with no petroleum. Diesel trucks, cars, and farm equipment can run entirely on vegetable oil properly filtered in small, makeshift settings without petroleum sources of energy. There is also the potential for heating buildings with biodiesel fuels.

The Politics of Ethanol

Ethanol is defined as an alcohol obtained from the fermentation of certain carbohydrates such as grains, molasses, starches, or sugars. American ethanol, whether it is made from corn or soy, depends on the continued use of petroleum and reportedly uses more petroleum than is saved by the end product itself. In addition, conventional corn and soy are likely to be genetically modified and dependent on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which are also petroleum products. The source of the energy that creates, refines, and distributes biodiesel fuels needs to also be clean and renewable.

In 2004, Congress passed the American Jobs Creation Act, which included a subsidy to oil companies and agribusinesses (such as Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill) of 51 cents per gallon of ethanol. In 2005, oil companies received direct deductions from their taxes-more than two billion dollars-to blend around four billion gallons of ethanol.

Clean and Renewable Options

There are claims that Brazil has achieved clean energy self-sufficiency with homegrown sugar cane biodiesel fuel. However, Ecologist and Geneticist Dr. David Suzuki is skeptical of those characterizations. He maintains that Brazil does use petroleum to produce its biodiesel, even though the petroleum may not be imported. He also cautions that Brazil might be destroying rain forests to plant more sugar cane. So sugar cane biodiesel does not currently appear to be clean and renewable.

A history of renewable energy in the United States includes windmills, widespread use of passive solar in Pasadena (California) at the turn of the twentieth century, development of the electric car around 1913, extensive and efficient electric train and streetcar systems throughout the country (which could have been modified to run on more renewable energy sources), and methane captured from septic systems to create electricity. Details of the dismantling of these technological innovations by competing corporate interests are disheartening.

Government Has a Role

Congress continues to ignore the savings from conservation while subsidizing nonrenewable and dirty energy sources, such as oil and coal. Coal often relies on mining processes that destroy ecosystems, and coal-powered plants emit toxins such as mercury. Supporters of nuclear energy characterize it as clean and defend huge government subsidies for nuclear plants. But opponents argue than any energy source that cannot be safely placed in someone’s backyard, such as nuclear waste, is unacceptable.

Although the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsor competitions and presentations that highlight renewable energy, green buildings, and sustainable communities, these innovations receive few direct incentives from the federal government.

Significant economic benefits from clean and renewable energy include lower energy bills in homes, schools, and businesses; white- and blue-collar jobs; reduced health care and environmental clean-up costs; and increased revenues to local and state governments from these additional jobs and savings.

Technological alternatives that merit government subsidies include clean mass transit systems, plug-in electric vehicles (parts of New York are using plug-in trash trucks), passive solar, photovoltaic cells, geothermal heating and cooling, small-scale windmills and solid waste management systems, green roofs, and food and biomass fuels locally raised on small ecological farms (such as organically grown sorghum and corn for human consumption where only the discarded stalks are used for biodiesel fuels).

The challenge is to educate the public about technologically and economically feasible choices. Only an honest debate that circumvents special interest politics will compel environmentally, scientifically, and economically sound political choices.

“I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve.” Luke 1:38. (from THE MESSAGE)

To fathom the response of Mary is to capture one of the most powerful messages of Christmas.

Engaged to be married to Joseph, full of hope for a life blessed by marriage and motherhood, pure of heart and of body, she had every reason to believe that she would enjoy the fruits of a good and honest life. Simple. Out of the spotlight. And yet the intervention by Gabriel, God’s messenger, stopped her in her tracks, turned her world upside down, and changed the course of history.

Gabriel gave the news to Mary that she would become pregnant, give birth to a son, and call him Jesus. Visibly shaken, she said to the angel: “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.” And thus the conception by the Holy Spirit was revealed:

”The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
The power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
Will be called Holy, Son of God.” (Luke 1:34-35 from THE MESSAGE)

That message rocked her world.

And then it was revealed by Gabriel that her cousin, Elizabeth, had also conceived a child with her husband, Zachariah, even though she was very old, and thought to be barren.

And then Gabriel replied: “Nothing is impossible with God.” And Mary immediately answered: “Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.” (Luke 1: 37-38 from THE MESSAGE)

And thus the course was set: this divine, eternal drama would change the lives of mankind from that moment forward. From the family of Joseph and Mary, to Zachariah and Elizabeth, to the shepherds abiding in the fields: the news of the conception by the Holy Spirit, the unswerving belief of Mary and her immediate desire to serve, and the birth of the babe who was born a Savior has granted believers around the world the promises of forgiveness, righteousness, completeness, and a place in the heavenlies at the right hand of God.

It is important to grasp that, despite the recent frenzy in America about taking Christ out of Christmas (having “winter celebrations” instead of “Christmas parties”; “Programs” instead of “Pageants”; and “City Trees” instead of “Christmas trees”) that we Americans are nonetheless distinctly Christian. In fact, four out of five of us describe ourselves as Christians. A recent Harris poll found that 82% of us believed in the Virgin birth, and surprisingly, even among those who admit to being non-Christian, 43% believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.

The Virgin Birth is an incredible historical account with the most profound impact ever introduced to mankind. It is full of wonder and mystery. And I accept and believe it in faith. I believe in other divine orders as well. I believe in God the Creator, as do 94% of Americans; in heaven, as do 89% of Americans; in the eternity of the soul, as do 86% of Americans; in miracles, as do 85% of Americans; and in Christ’s resurrection, as do 86% of us. (1)

But two of my favorite parts of the Virgin Birth of Christ are Gabriel’s message, and Mary’s immediate response: “Nothing is impossible with God”, and “I am the Lord’s maid, ready to serve.”

How many times in your own life have you encountered a situation that looked impossible? Where you felt hopeless, helpless, and hapless? Certainly, you have struggled with relationships, health issues, and financial burdens that have looked absolutely hopeless. There may have been marital battles—large or small—that have forced you to wonder if resolution was even possible, let alone practical. Your children may be rebelling, your home life may be in ruins, your health may be in a state of serious jeopardy, and so you look at life right now through eyes of despair rather than through eyes of hope.

Can you imagine the fear that coursed through Mary’s veins when she was first confronted by Gabriel? Young, pure, and engaged but not yet married…and being told that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and deliver the Savior of the world? Her initial shock would have to have been completely overwhelming. Any one of us would be traumatized by such news! Yet she found comfort in the angel’s assurance: “nothing is impossible with God.”

So how did she go from being overwhelmed by the news to the immediate reply: “I am the Lord’s maid, ready to serve”?

For when I read and re-read the account of the Virgin Birth, it is not only through the filter of “Nothing is impossible with God.” Rather, being a two-part account, it’s the immediate desire and readiness to serve that truly amazes me! Mary was ready to serve! After hearing overwhelming news. Confronting confusion. Facing fear of rejection and ridicule. Yet she was immediately ready.

Twenty seven years ago I was hit by a car as a pedestrian. My right leg met the bumper and my pelvis met the hood of the speeding car when I attempted to cross the street on my way to my part-time summer job as a college student. The impact propelled me about seventy-five feet in the air before I landed in a crumpled heap on Route 100 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I was unconscious for a couple hours and, shortly after waking up, had an angel encounter of my own. I re-tell the incident at the risk of losing you; I understand that angel encounters are extremely rare, and that you may find my experience unbelievable. And how could someone else lend it credibility anyway? But especially now, at Christmas, I feel compelled to share it.

Waking up in extreme pain and bewilderment that went beyond rational thought, my first sight was that of my mother and brother staring at me in the emergency room of the hospital. Just like in the movies, everything went in and out of fuzziness (my head was pounding from a concussion), and I was overcome with a sense of “What in the world happened to me?!?” (Apparently that’s a universal reaction to coming out of unconsciousness.) My family was able to quickly explain things and help me sort out the gravity of the situation. I was extremely fearful—like Mary—and understood immediately that my future held in the balance. I was closer to death than I was able to comprehend. And when my brain started to get wrapped around just exactly what had happened to me (my pelvis was fractured in two places, my tibia and fibula were shattered, internal organs suffered extreme bruising, trauma affected my ability to face immediate surgery, my brain was suffering from a concussion), I started shaking uncontrollably. And then the angel spoke to me and I got the sense—like Mary—to “fear not.” For her words—though short and simple—were delivered with great calm: “We’re not ready for you yet.” The rest was delivered with equal weight, but with less clarity. The Message resonated strongly: “Go and tell others about God.”

I confess that—unlike Mary—I lacked the sense of “Here am I Lord, your good and faithful servant.” As a self-absorbed twenty-year-old college junior, my only desires were to survive and get back into the action at Wake Forest University, where my sorority sisters and fraternity brothers were having way more fun than I was. I didn’t tell anyone about my angel encounter for another twenty years or so. And I did a lousy job of “telling others about God” as well. My fear of proselytizing led me to keep my mouth mostly shut. I tried to “tell others” with good behavior. With feeding the hungry and clothing the poor. With housing teens in crisis pregnancies. Going on mission trips. Yet I lacked the confidence and boldness to spread The Message much beyond that.

And so I failed to live up to part of the purpose that I believe God saved me for. I was given another chance at life, yet in many ways, I wasted it.

Regardless of your theology, your religious background, and your place in this journey, you can nonetheless identify with the impossibility of some of the challenges that life throws our way, and of your desire—or lack of it—to be good stewards of your time, talent, and energy in meeting them. Some of us are well aware of our life purpose, and know with certainty the roadmap we are to follow in carrying it out. Some of us
are well aware of our life purpose, but quietly put it on the back burner for one reason or another. Fear of rejection? Of failure? Of the sheer magnitude of the purpose and the impossibility of achieving it? And some of us have no idea why we’ve been put into this time and place in history. We’re still groping for answers—or even worse—can’t even articulate the questions!

So it makes Mary’s response even more incredible to me. Faced with news that would confound the bravest among us, she responded with calm dignity and enjoyed the confidence that faith in Gabriel’s message allowed. With faith and assurance in God’s promise, she not only accepted the news; she offered herself as a willing servant. Immediately.

It is my hope that during this season of Christmas, you will be open to immediate service, too. That despite sad news, overwhelming odds, confusing trials and tribulations, and confounding problems in your everyday workaday world, you will grab hold of the promise—with confidence—that “Nothing is impossible with God.” And that you will fear not—like Mary—and agree to stand in the gap for service to others. It may be service to your children and to your spouse. Or to your next-door neighbor. It may be to complete strangers who are facing challenges beyond your comprehension and living as disenfranchised citizens of the world.

Regardless, move forward with confidence that service—while sometimes frightening, sometimes overwhelming, and almost always inconvenient—might just lead to events that could change the course of history. Like Mary.

NOTES:

(1) The Harris Poll #52, September 13, 2000.

Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson, 1993, 1994, 1995. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.