Faith, Veterans, and Friends

Yesterday I attended the funeral of the father of my friend Craig Buckles.  Paul Buckles was plain and simple, a war hero.  The children of Paul all performed a eulogy; a task though filled with love and remembrance, was also filled with tears.  Paul fought under the command of General George S. Patton in France in late 1944.  A member of the 161^st Combat Engineers, Paul, a Private First Class, took over for his commander when the officer fell to enemy fire.  Under fire, Paul completed the mission of securing a bridge.  Though wounded, Paul continued with their mission and thus was awarded the bronze star, and Patton took notice of Paul’s bravery and invited him to play cards.

All I really knew of Paul when I was growing up and getting in trouble with Craig was that he was a loving father.  He had to be with the trouble that Craig and I routinely got into.  I never knew the man until I listened to the children talk about all their wonderful memories of their parents both of whom are now deceased.

Paul’s pastor spoke of baptizing him a few years ago and how he had a deep and abiding love of Christ.  The children told stories of Paul being saved numerous times during the war.  Once he was sitting on a log with a friend eating the usual horrible GI food when a woman approached them from the woods and invited them to her house for a home-cooked meal.  As the two soldiers followed her, they heard an explosion and ran back to the canteen.  The canteen and most of the soldiers were obliterated and the log that Paul had been sitting on a few minutes earlier was ground zero for the German shell.

Craig described Paul’s visions as he lay on his deathbed.  For two days, Paul would occasionally stare off into space and tell Craig how beautiful it was on the other side, the place where he was going.  Craig also heard him talking to his deceased wife who Paul said was waiting in that beautiful place for him.

As a psychiatrist, Craig is trained to diagnose hallucinations.  As a Christian, Craig also has a deep faith in Christ.  Craig admitted that the visions could have been the wishes and hopes or a dying man, or it could indeed be visions of his ultimate destination.  I prefer to believe as Craig, that Paul’s deep and abiding faith allowed him to see his new home.

I am reminded of Jack Cash, the brother of Johnny.  Jack was mortally wounded in an accident at a sawmill.  The fourteen-year-old older brother of Johnny also had a strong faith and wanted to become a preacher.  On his deathbed, moments before his death, he became lucid and asked his mother if she could see the angels.  Jack said he could hear them singing and it was beautiful.  He died peacefully.

During my heart surgery and subsequent repair after I died in ICU, I also saw visions.  I thought I might be hallucinating but I wasn’t under the influence of drugs since a narcotic would hurt my heart.  I saw a group of women, dressed in old time clothes smiling at me and welcoming me.  The feeling of peace was overwhelming.  I believe and I believe strongly.

Sermon for Epiphany

Today we celebrate Epiphany.  What exactly is an Epiphany?  A quick look in the dictionary gives four meanings.  The first definition is a Christian festival observed by the Western Churches on January 6, in commemoration of the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi.

The second definition is the appearance or manifestation of a deity. The third definition is one is used commonly in our language, and that is the sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.   The fourth definition is a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.

The Eastern churches celebrate the coming of Christ in a festival known as Theophany.  Theophany is the manifestation or appearance of God to a person.  The Eastern churches celebrate Theophany on Jan 19 in accordance with the Julian calendar.

Beginning in Matthew, the Gospel says that wise men from the East came to Jerusalem seeking the child born as King of the Jews.  The three men, Magi, were astrologers and not Kings as legend would have it.  Nowhere in the Gospel of Matthew is it mentioned that there were three Kings.  Indeed, Matthew does not say how many Magi came to see Christ, only that they brought gifts.  The Magi, most scholars presume, were Zoroastrian priests from Persia.

Zoroaster founded a religion in Persia around 600 BCE, and the priest practiced astrology.  The Zoroasters believed in a supreme deity and the cosmic battle between a good spirit and an evil spirit.  The Magi most probably did not come to Jerusalem seeking Jesus at his birth, but two years later. Why do I say that?  Haven’t we been taught that the Magi came to the manger and gave the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh?  The gifts are full of symbolism; gold is the gift for kings, frankincense is  the gift given during sacrifice in the temple, and myrrh is used as a perfume for embalming the dead.

The Gospel of Luke does not mention the Magi.  Luke says that an Angel appeared to the shepherds in the field and announced the birth of our savior.  Then the Heavenly host said Glory to God in the Highest and the Angels vanished back into heaven. On a side note, Pope Benedict said that the Angels did not sing, that they spoke, and that to our ears their speech is singing.  Based on personal experience I would say that is true. 

Seemingly, the Gospel of Luke and Matthew therefore disagree on what happened that night that Christ was born.  However, if we take a closer look at Matthew it does not say the Magi came to see the baby Jesus, but the Christ child.  Herod, upon hearing that a child in Bethlehem was supposed to be King of the Jew ordered the massacre of all male children around two years of age.  An angel warned Mary and Joseph and they fled to Egypt.  Now historians do not record the massacre of Jewish children, a catastrophe that would surely warrant some mention in the records of the time.  Herod was a brute; he had some of his own sons murdered because he feared they would take his throne.  Theorists think that given the population of a small town such as Bethlehem that perhaps as few as twenty children were murdered, a small number that could escape the notice of the historians.  However, some churches say that thousands were killed, all the way from a few thousand to 144,000 as postulated by the Coptic Church.  The higher number is surely absurd; such a number of children killed would have brought the attention of the Roman authorities and inclusion in the historical records of the time.

Luke has the couple going to Jerusalem to present the baby at the temple.  Then the family journeys to Nazareth to live.  A flight to Egypt I not mentioned in any of Luke’s accounts or indeed the Gospels of John and Mark.  

So what is the truth? The simple fact is that we do not know. Historical accounts differ from Biblical accounts, especially on the death of the Holy Innocents.

Many sites on the internet explore the contradictions in the Gospels.  The site below http://www.thenazareneway.com/infancy_of_christ.htm  explores the infancy Gospels.

What do we need to take away from the explanations of the birth of Christ?  All we need to know is that Christ was born, made incarnate in the Virgin Mary, came into the world begotten, not made, light from light, true God from true God, of one being with the Father.  It is all there in the Nicene Creed.

If you find yourself troubled by the contradictions in the Gospels, pray for guidance.  Follow Matthew 7:7-8:  Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Ask, Seek, and Knock.