Galatians 6: 1-18 (links validated 6/14/22)

In noting that doing good to those who are far away is easier than doing good to those who belong to the nearby household of faith, Peterson refers to John Updike’s novel, The Coup (182). Its central character is Don X. Gibbs, a U.S. embassy official whom locals murder as he tries to deliver American junk food to the drought-stricken African country of Kush. Gibbs’ widow says of him, “I’ve forgotten a lot about Don … actually I didn’t see that much of him. He was always trying to help people. But he only liked to help people he didn’t know”

In noting that doing good to those who are far away is easier than doing good to our neighbor, Peterson refers to John Updike’s novel, The Coup (182). Its central character is Don X. Gibbs, a U.S. embassy official whom locals murder as he tries to deliver American junk food to drought-stricken African country of Kush. Gibbs’ widow says, “I’ve forgotten a lot about Don … actually I didn’t see that much of him. He was always trying to help people. But he only liked to help people he didn’t know” (italics added).

From his wonderfully fanciful sketch of Abraham from the book Peculiar Treasures (Harper and Row 1979 p. 4) here is Frederick Buechner: “In spite of everything, Abraham never stopped having faith that God was going to keep his promise about making him the father of a great nation. Night after night it was the dream he rode to sleep on—the glittering cities, the up-to-date armies, the curly-bearded kings. There was a group photograph he had taken not long before he died. It was a bar mitzvah, and they were all there down to the last poor relation. They weren’t a great nation yet by a long shot, but you’d never know it from the way Abraham sits enthroned there in his velvet yarmulke with several great-grandchildren on his lap and soup on his tie. Even through his thick lenses, you can read the look of faith in his eyes, and more than all the kosher meals, the Ethical Cultural Societies, the shaved heads of the women, the achievements of Maimondies, Einstein, Kissinger, it was that look that God loved him for and had chosen him for in the first place. ‘They will all be winners, God willing. Even the losers will be winners. They’ll get their name up in lights,’ say the old man’s eyes. ‘Someday—who knows when?—I’ll be talking about my son, the Light of the world.’”

("James Billington, the Librarian of Congress and a student of Russian history, happened to be in Moscow in August of 1991, the tumultuous time when the old Soviet regime was giving way to a new social order. These were tense and dangerous days, and power was balanced on a razor's edge...")

In his book, Good News from Northhaven, Michael Lindvall tells the story of a single mom who wanted to have her baby baptized. The problem was this: Northhaven is a small church whose practice is for a sponsoring elder or couple to stand with the parents of the child to be baptized. The young mother had no husband, no parents, and no sponsoring elders to stand with her. So, in counseling with her, the pastor said he was willing to baptize the child, but he thought it could be awkward. She said she understood, but still wanted to go through with it, that she only wanted what was best for her daughter. So, they set a date, and when it came time in the service for the baptism, the pastor asked her to come forward with her child. Then he turned to the congregation and asked, "Who will stand with this family for the baptism?" No one moved. The moment of awkwardness had arrived. Then came a stir in the middle of the sanctuary. One of the senior elders stood up and said, "I will," and proceeded to the front. His wife quickly followed suit. Before they got to the baptismal font, another elder and his wife came forward; then another, and another. In time, the whole congregation was standing with the mother and her baby. The pastor smiled, breathed a prayer of gratitude and began the baptismal service...

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