Tag Archives: justice

Reflections on Jack Layton’s death

Jack Layton, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, has died after a hard-fought battle with cancer.

As I observed Jack Layton over the past several election campaigns, my respect for him grew with each campaign.  He was an effective campaigner and a man who seemed to be able to connect with both English and French speaking Canadians.  He was also a man with an indomitable spirit, who demonstrated a great deal of courage and optimism in his struggle with cancer.

Tommy Douglas (the NDP’s  founding leader) was a man whose political values were grounded in Scripture.  Sadly, as the party developed it seemed to move farther away from its Biblical roots, defining justice more in ideological terms than Biblical ones.  Consequently, I found myself lamenting the party’s stand on some issues even as I was grateful for its contribution on others.  Still, since this is a time for appreciation rather than critique, let me say that even though I did not vote for the NDP in the recent federal election, I concurred with Jack’s passionate support for the concerns of  the elderly and the economically vulnerable.  I was surprised and pleased to learn a few months ago that Jack grew up in a family that had an active church involvement, and that his concern for social justice stemmed from a sense of being called by God.

When leaders or public figures die, especially when their lives seem to be cut short sooner than we expect, it raises all kinds of questions for us.  Is God good?  Why did this happen?   Where is our hope?  Am I next?

Just as Jack Layton did, all of us have hopes and dreams for our own lives and families.  We also have hopes and dreams for our community, our nation and the world.  Sometimes those hopes seem to get cut off or crushed.  I don’t know all that is going to happen to me in the months and years to come.  Neither do you.  But I do know that if my confidence is fixed on Jesus, ultimately my hope will not be cut off, because I will share in His resurrection life in a world made new.

This morning, after hearing the news of Jack’s death, I found myself re-reading these words from the Book of Psalms

I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.

Psalm 146:2-5 NIV

In the end, our hope cannot be in any political leader.  The hope of the earth is Jesus the Messiah, who was crucified for us and raised again, and whose coming again in glory we await.  Scripture declares that He is the one who will establish justice and righteousness on the earth.

So I will thank God for everything that was good in Jack Layton’s life, leave the final assessment of his life in the hands of God, and take this event as a reminder to live my life with my hope set on Jesus, who was, and is, and is to come, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and who is sovereign over the kings of the earth (Rev 1:4-8).

Good grief

Yesterday I had the privilege of tasting grief at its best at a memorial service for Daniel Robert Hall, who died two-and-a-half weeks ago in Zambia at the age of 38.  It was an exquisitely painful yet glorious time of worship and remembrance.  For Rob’s family and close friends, yesterday’s memorial service was the third such event in two weeks, following a funeral in Zambia and another in Cambridge, yet they displayed remarkable grace, humility and honesty as they laid bare their hearts, shared their memories of Rob, spoke about the hope of eternal life and the fulfillment of all things, cried, laughed, and worshipped.

Grief is not something any of us seeks, yet it comes to all of us.  Grief is unavoidable in a world marked by the curse of death.  Yet those who belong to Jesus, the crucified and risen Messiah, know that death is not the final word.   And so we can grieve with hope.  The emotions of loss are just as powerful, but in the end we know there is a more powerful reality still – the reality of resurrection.

That is where our hope lies.  Not in anything we can do, but in what only God can do.  That is why we can sing songs in the face of death.  I didn’t really know Rob well, but yesterday’s service was filled with abundant testimonies  of the life of faith that he lived.  He was a man of action – a man of faith and adventure – a man of amazing energy and loyalty – a man who did much good – a man who loved many.  He was a man with the faith of Abraham – a faith that motivated him to go out, not knowing where he was going, because he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  That is why Rob was restless.  He had a vision that could not be satisfied in this life.

When I told my friends from work about Rob’s death, they all expressed deep sympathy for his wife Kate, their three children, and Rob’s parents.   Some expressed the view that his life was wasted, cut short in its prime.  It’s natural for us to feel this way because death is a robber and a usurper.  It was not God’s original intent, and it’s not our final destiny.  Yet I do not believe Rob would have said his life was wasted.  It seems he knew the secret of living well – that those who try to hold on to their lives end up dead, while only those who give up their lives for the sake of King Jesus and his coming Kingdom find the life that death cannot destroy.

I can’t honestly say that I was Rob’s friend – I didn’t know him well enough for that.  It’s his father Ken that I count as  a friend and spiritual father.  Yet I have been deeply impacted by Rob’s death, and the testimonies that followed about the compelling power of a life well lived.  At yesterday’s service I found myself moved to tears at several points.   I wept for Kate and her children who will grow up without their Dad, I wept for Ken and Lois and for the Hall and Cantelon families, I wept for Rob’s friends, but most of all I wept with love for God, gratitude towards Him, grief over wasted opportunities, and a deep, gut-wrenching conviction that I absolutely must live my life full-out for the King and the Kingdom.  I know again, more deeply than before, that I don’t ever want to live without vision.

So let’s get really practical about this.  I have discovered Equator Coffee.  This may not be news to most of you, but about twelve years ago, Rob’s brother Craig and his wife Amber started a coffee-roasting business, dealing in organically grown fairly traded coffee.  This is an expression of their desire to do what they can to see that coffee farmers get a fair return for their labour.   It’s a way that I can buy good coffee and at the same time be confident that I am bringing a blessing to the families of the workers who grow that coffee.  This is a simple act of economic justice.  It’s something I have the power to do.  I am planning to set up a buying group for friends at our church, and possibly one at work as well.

What has this got to do with the hope of resurrection?  At first glance, nothing.   In reality, everything.  If I say I am placing my hope in Jesus’ return and His coming Kingdom, then I need to live by the values of that Kingdom now.  That can take many forms – loving my wife and kids, singing love songs to Jesus, blessing the poor, praying for the sick, speaking hope to others in His name.  If I have an opportunity to do good to someone in His name, I should do it.   No such act is wasted if Jesus is on the throne.

Is my one small act going to change the world?  No.  Jesus has already changed the world.  I am simply aligning myself with the new world that He is bringing into being – a new world that will be inherited by all those who have put their hope in Him and are choosing  to live in the light of that hope here and now.

This is good grief – grief that is not wasted – grief that inspires us to live lives of faith, motivated by the hope of the Kingdom.

I believe Rob would be pleased.

New Years Eve reflections

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth
You have set Your glory above the heavens
From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise
To silence the foe and the avenger
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers
The moon and the stars which You have set in place
What is man that you are mindful of Him?

This awe-inspiring psalm came to mind as I stood on the beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on New Years Eve under a starlit sky on a windy but warm  night.

To a Northerner like me, it was an amazing experience to be able to walk on the beach in shorts on New Years Eve in what ought to be the middle of winter.  Here in the Dominican Republic, although still in the Northern Hemisphere, we are close enough to the equator that there is little difference between summer and winter.

This has been a week of amazing grace.  My mission for this week was to see my son Reuben (the third of my four children, but the second to marry) wedded to Jessica Cole, the love of his life.  Not only that, but I had the privilege of helping to officiate at the wedding.  The Lord provided for our whole family to share in the wedding festivities and have a week-long tropical vacation – a first for all of us on the Hartgerink side of the wedding.

All of this was in the back of my mind as I stood on the beach on New Years Eve.  A few hundred feet away, a band played Latino music and champagne and other beverages flowed freely as a noisy crowd of people celebrated the New Year under stars and palm trees in the open-air hotel lobby and adjoining patio.  It is good to celebrate, but I needed to get away and clear my head.  The week had been full of impressions and swirling thoughts.  Earlier that day several of us had gone on a day-long tour of the Dominican countryside, including a sugar-cane plantation, rum-making, cigar-making, a coffee and cacao plantation.  We had seen much poverty – not absolute destitution, but poverty all the same – as hard-working people strive to improve their living conditions. Yet these same people are friendly, cheerful and seemingly happy for the most part. On the way back from the tour I had the opportunity to share my hope in Jesus with our tour guide, and leave him what I hoped was a generous tip to encourage him.  It was a small gesture, but I couldn’t get away from the realization that even though the tourist trade has brought newfound prosperity to the Dominican Republic, we the tourists are still greatly privileged as compared to those who live on the island and serve us while we are here.  I know that the Lord directed Marion and me to bring our family here for this wedding feast, and help Reuben and Jess fulfil their dream.  This is an amazing privilege and a very practical example of God’s totally unmerited favour.  At the same time, I also know that with privilege comes responsibility.  I see that tourism does bring great benefit to many on this island. But still my heart cries out with questions.  Why such inequity?  How much can I do about it?  When will everything be made right?

I’ve been reading the Bible and following the Lord’s ways long enough to know His answers to these questions.   The inequity is a result of man’s sin.  I cannot do everything about it, but I can do something.  Everything will be made right when Jesus returns to establish His Kingdom.  In the meantime, as one of his followers I am called to do whatever is in my power to practice justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with my God.

I know the answers – but still my heart cries out in protest at the inequities.  My walk on the beach helped to put everything in perspective for me.  The God who made the seas that pound these sandy shores also made every nation on the earth, and the starry heavens that fill my heart with awe and wonder.  He keeps faith forever and He is not slow in keeping his promise.  He is waiting for many to come to repentance, but the day of the Lord will come, and on that day every secret deed will be brought into judgment, the motives of every heart will be laid bare, and all things will be set right.

This thought causes me to tremble, both with the fear of the Lord and also with holy anticipation.  This is my heart’s  cry — for Reuben and Jess as they begin their marriage;for myself, Marion and our children and their families;for the Cole family, for all those our lives touch, and indeed for all those who walk on the earth : that we will live our lives in the light of His coming – for this is our only true and lasting hope, for 2011 and all the years and ages to come.

Come Lord Jesus.

Fixing the world : who holds the key ?

Last weekend I spent a day at the family cottage with my brother Jan and my brother-in-law Jamie, replacing a rotten sill before winter.  It was very much an improvised solution, as our cottage repairs often tend to be.  Although my contributions to this task were relatively minor, I did learn a lot and also enjoyed their company on a cool but pleasant late fall afternoon.

The lunchtime conversation was wide-ranging, as is usually the case in gatherings with my side of the family.  I come from a line of people who hold strong views on many subjects and are seldom shy about expressing them.  This can lead to some animated discussions, especially when it comes to issues of politics and social policy.  In less than an hour we had touched on federal immigration policy, pesticides and organic farming, crime and punishment, war and peace, municipal politics, recycling, and more – in addition to discussing the activities of our various offspring and the future of our family cottage.

My brother and sisters and their spouses, good liberal humanists all, tend to lean to the left when it comes to politics and social policy.  As an evangelical Christian, my views on such matters are often quite different than theirs.   However, I am very grateful for the lively sense of social concern that was imparted to all of us by my parents, and I recognize that this sense of social concern is an expression of values that come from our common Biblical heritage.

Although I am an evangelical Christian, I am far less inclined than some evangelicals to automatically support conservative policies on all issues.  I see aspects of Biblical truth reflected in the concerns of conservatives, liberals, socialists and greens, and I am disturbed by the tendency of politicians of all stripes to act as though their party is the only champion of truth and justice, while their opponents are demonized as the epitome of all evil and the cause of all the country’s problems.   Whatever happened to constructive political discourse?

The truth is that no human government holds the key to solving all the world’s problems.  In the democracies of the West, as the Christian heritage that originally motivated leaders to be servants of the people is less and less understood and valued, the people become more and more apathetic and cynical about politics.  Simplistic, hastily-conceived solutions – whether proposed by the left, the right or the middle – often seem to be devised more to score political points than to address the nation’s real problems.  Such an approach seldom yields good and lasting fruit.  History shows that when things decay past a certain point, the door is left open either for a takeover by a hostile power, or the ascent of a self-appointed savior of the nation.  Whichever way it goes (savior or invader), the new leader more often than not ends up proving to be a brutal dictator, and whether the official ideology of the so-called savior is leftist or conservative, the end result is brutal oppression, corruption and injustice. The twentieth century alone gave us Franco, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Chairman Mao, and Robert Mugabe – to name only a few of the worst.

Why is this?  At the risk of oversimplifying, let me go out on a limb and suggest a one-word answer : PRIDE.  The wisdom of God teaches us that humility goes before honour, and that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Pride, on the other hand, inevitably leads to self-deception and becomes our downfall.  Unfortunately, leaders who are professed Christians are not immune from this disease, and so we have the sorry spectacle of priests and bishops who have done terrible damage to young lives through sexual abuse, evangelical leaders who have fallen into sexual sin and marital infidelity, and professed Christians in politics who sometimes prove to be as corrupt as the godless leaders they replace.

Because none of us is immune from either moral failure or simple mistakes, because none of us possesses all the wisdom of God and all the abilities needed to lead effectively, and because none of us is capable of being anyone’s savior, I am profoundly grateful to be part of a church family in which our leaders understand the value of team leadership, mutual accountability and submission to one another.  Leaders desperately need people who care enough about them to hold them accountable and speak truth into their lives even when that truth is not what the leader wants to hear.  Leaders also need to be humble enough to surround themselves with people who have strengths that balance their own.  Above all, leaders need to recognize that their authority to lead comes from God, that they are not authorities unto themselves, and that their leadership can only attract God’s blessing as they surrender their pride to Him and learn to be servants to those they lead.

King David of Israel was far from a perfect leader, yet the Bible describes him as a man after God’s own heart.  This was not because he was perfect, but because he was submissive.  He recognized the limits of his power, and listened to the prophets of God when they brought him words of guidance or correction.  It was only when he temporarily forgot this that David, blinded by lust, plotted to have Uriah killed so that he could marry Bathsheba – an error that had a disastrous impact on his kingdom, his family and the nation.  Yet even when confronted by this terrible failure, David responded like the man of God that he was.  He repented openly and threw himself on God’s mercy.  The fact that the Bible records not only David’s successes but also his times of weakness and failure shows us what an honest and trustworthy book it is.

I believe David’s example is highly relevant to our day.  David was not a good king because he was able to solve all the world’s problems or even all Israel’s problems.  He was a good king because — and to the extent that — he put his hope in the Lord, recognized the limits of his power, acknowledged that he was a servant to his people, and looked for the day when God would openly rule the whole earth through the coming Messiah.  He was a good king precisely because he did not look to himself to be a good king, but looked to the One who alone is good and is the source of all goodness and all legitimate rulership.  Because he acknowledged this, he was able to govern righteously and his kingship was a blessing to Israel.

The answer to my question is simple.  Who holds the key to fixing the world?  No-one.   That is, no-one except Yeshua (Jesus), the crucified and risen One, the Jewish Messiah who has demonstrated his faithfulness, has paid the price for sin and made a way for us to be reconciled to God, and has been appointed by God as ruler over the whole earth.

Does that mean we do nothing about the world’s problems, and simply wait for Him to return?   To that question – really two questions – I would answer No, and Yes.  No, it does not mean that we do nothing about the world’s problems.  But Yes, it does mean that we wait for Him to return.  Ultimately, Christ alone is qualified to rule, and it is only when He rules openly in the Messianic kingdom that we will see perfect justice and peace on earth.  The best human governments can only approximate this to a greater or lesser degree.  But the Bible tells us that a day will come when the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover (or fill) the sea, and we can hasten this day as we proclaim Jesus’ coming Kingdom, and use whatever authority we possess to represent the heart, character and priorities of the coming King in our sphere of influence.  Everyone who is made in God’s image (in other words, every human being) is intended to represent God’s benevolent rulership over the earth by carrying a measure of His authority in our sphere of influence.  As we humble ourselves and look to Him, we are changed into a reflection of His glory and goodness, so that our exercise of whatever authority He has granted to us becomes a blessing to those whose lives we touch.  As we do this, we are empowered to act righteously and to represent the Messiah’s coming reign on the earth, until the day when He returns in power to judge evil and put it under his feet, and to govern a restored earth.

The OC Transpo strike – a way forward

Most people in Ottawa are frustrated with the OC Transpo bus strike.  The refusal of the union leadership to consider any of the city’s contract offers seems unreasonable and certainly not in the best interest of the citizens of Ottawa.   What has been happening so far is that the union leaders have been rejecting all the city’s offers without giving their members a chance to vote.  It seems to me that the union leaders are not only ignoring the public good, they aren’t even acting in the best interests of most of their own union members.  Their position really only benefits a few people at the top of the union.

I’ve heard many people say that they believe the drivers should be ordered to return to work and that public transit should be declared an essential service, but that doesn’t seem likely, and it would also leave a lot of resentment in the union.  Yet if the strike hasn’t been resolved by the end of the holiday period, Monday January 5 promises to be a day of horrendous traffic snarls when commuters attempt to return to work and school.   Most of us aren’t looking forward to this. Isn’t there anything we can do?

Well, yes, there is.   In such circumstances, the federal Minister of Labour has the legal authority to order a vote of the union membership on the employer’s latest offer.  According to the City’s web site (www.ottawa.ca), on December 24 the City of Ottawa asked the federal Minister of Labour, Rona Ambrose, to exercise this authority and require ATU local 279 to vote on the city’s latest contract offer.  So far,  Ms. Ambrose has not responded to this request.   It’s not too surprising that she didn’t respond during the Christmas/Boxing Day holiday period, but today is a normal work day and this issue is important enough that the City ought to get a response to its request.

If you want to make your voice heard to someone who can actually influence the process, e-mail Rona Ambrose (AmbroR1a@Parl.gc.ca at her Edmonton office, Ambrose.R@parl.gc.ca at her Ottawa office) and ask her to order ATU Local 279 to vote on the City’s latest contract offer.  It’s only fair that the members be given a chance to decide.