For a Better Community

Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God's emissaries for keeping order. It is God's will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government. 1 Peter 2:13-17 (MSG)There was one policeman in my hometown of Heiningen (at that time population 2,500), yup, just one. When our grammar school teacher took us on a field-trip to the Rathaus (city hall) we got to meet him and he showed us the two jail cells. They were full of boxes and paper. I don’t think they were used very much. I liked his uniform, which he filled out nicely, but I was especially impressed with his gun. I don’t know what all he did, but he did a lot of patrolling, when we rode our bicycles around he seemed to be all over the place, he kept watch.We were on vacation camping when severe weather hit. So in the middle of the night my Dad piled us all into the car to drive to our Great Uncle’s farm to sit it out there. On the way a fierce lightning bolt split the sky and hit the far corner of the roof of one of the large old farm houses in the distance. It was instantly on fire and my Dad wheeled the car around and raced to the farm, jumped out, woke up the sleeping family, and began helping with getting the animals out, while my Mom tried to restrain us in the car. It wasn’t long before fire trucks arrived and they were impressive. My Mom finally relented and let us go out into the rain to watch the fireman do their work. In the end everything living was saved but the farm house was lost.Why am I telling you these two old memories of mine? For one because my entire life I have thought of both policemen and firefighters as a positive and not a negative. Wherever I have lived things were not worse but better because of their presence. I don’t imagine life to be better without them, I am glad they are among us doing their work.I don’t know how it is that so many want to tell some horror story about how “the cops” did them or someone they know wrong, or how the fire department was too slow to respond and didn’t know what they were doing. It’s kind of like most everyone is always ready to tell some medical horror story, but boy when they are sick they are more than glad to visit a doctor. A few weeks ago I checked my facebook page (something I don’t do very often) and someone was complaining about how the “cops” had cramped their style at a weekend party, followed by are more general rant against law enforcement. I commented that I am not their camp. How many of us have to put on a bullet proof vest to go to work? Generally if I police myself I don’t have much to worry. In fact I don’t get up worrying about “the cops” (I don’t even like the word “cop/s”, to me it lacks respect). They have not cramped my style, but they and the fire department were there when my daughter wrecked her car. They were there when people acted stupid during fire season, when people were dying or died, when things got out of hand, and they have continually kept watch.However I have observed a trend over the past thirty years. We are increasingly shifting the responsibility of “watching” away from ourselves. A healthy family rarely if ever needs police intervention. Why, because in a healthy family each person takes responsibility to police themselves. The same is true in a healthy community, responsibility to watch isn’t shifted to just a few but is shared by all. Think about it, how many incidents, accidents, and emergencies involve irresponsibility, drinking, drugs, general butt-headedness, and outright evil.And since this is a “pastor’s note” I venture to add what few are still willing to recognize, namely, where godlessness increases self-centeredness and lawlessness increases (Matthew 24:11-12, Romans 1:28-32). In the absence of God we exalt ourselves and deceive ourselves in our sinful arrogance. The Apostle Peter in his first letter hits the nail on the head when he reminds followers of Christ specifically as well as anyone willing to listen to, “Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God” 1 Peter 2:16 (NIV). And servants of God major on loving God and loving their neighbor, they focus on the things the Spirit of God would have us do and be, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV).I am fully convinced we will have better lives, a better community, and even a better country if we dare to practice the wisdom of God’s word.To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans