We live in a world of uncertainty and instability. Alarm bells clang regarding climate change, with fears of rising sea levels as harbinger of impending ecological devastation. Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Ukraine, and elsewhere spark fears of a great conflict on a global scale.
But the uncertainty and instability now goes to the human person itself. Point to an ultrasound picture of a pregnant woman’s womb and ask, “What is that?” The scientific and moral reality gives way to an unstable world where only the strong are allowed to survive.
4D Ultrasound of baby yawning in the womb. Image from LifeNews.com
The simple matter of boys and girls is no longer so simple. Mount Holyoke, an historic women’s college, has announced a broad redefinition of eligible students, recognizing “that self-identity may change over time.” That does not mean self-identity as Christian or atheist, Republican or Democrat, carnivore or vegan, but self-identity in terms of whether you are a man or a woman. Here is Mount Holyoke’s new policy:
The following academically qualified students can apply for admission consideration:
•Biologically born female; identifies as a woman
•Biologically born female; identifies as a man
•Biologically born female; identifies as other/they/ze
•Biologically born female; does not identify as either woman or man
•Biologically born male; identifies as woman
•Biologically born male; identifies as other/they/ze and when “other/they” identity includes woman
•Biologically born with both male and female anatomy (Intersex); identifies as a woman
The following academically qualified students cannot apply for admission consideration:
•Biologically born male; identifies as man
All this with the recognition that what you identify as may change, as entire new categories of human persons are invented.
When tonight’s Psalm, Ps. 93, says, “The world is established; it shall never be moved,” this is speaking about the structure of the cosmos. We are created as particular people in a particular time, and there are challenges associated with your life in your body lived out in your time and in your place. The vocation of being you is a calling to live out who you are not in the realm of fantasizing about being someone different but about being God’s creature in the place where He has put you.
There is something extraordinarily freeing to confess, “The world is established; it shall never be moved.” God made the world, and although it is now in bondage to decay, and the principle of death permeates all things, still, the God who made the world promises the regenesis of the cosmos, the resurrection of the dead at the renewal of all things.
Which means that, on a practical level, the wasp which has invaded your home or the leaking toilet must be dealt with, yet there is no need for fear about the sun exploding in nuclear fury or an asteroid careening into us. It will be no surprise if the world ends this way, or more likely through a nuclear holocaust of our own making. Still, “The world [the cosmos] is established; it shall never be moved,” and God the Creator cares for all things, even at the end of all things in this age.
It also means that, if your life is difficult, if you do not have enough time to work on this or that, if you cannot achieve something you dreamed about, then you should instead say, “This is the concrete life God has given me to live out. I will act in the here and now according to God’s will, and not despair that things are like this.” For the LORD is enthroned above the roiling waters, and they shall be still at His command.
In the ancient world, waters particularly were associated with chaos. But the Lord reigns upon the waters, He is mightier than their thundering (Ps. 93:4). Into the chaos and churning waters teeming with sin stepped Jesus, and precisely there did He reign; He is “robed in majesty” as the Spirit descends upon Him. He did what the Father willed, taking on our nature, and what is more, taking on our sin. For all this, He was tormented by the devil and mocked by the world. Even still—or rather, precisely because of all this—to Him the Father says, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
To us, in our little lives in our little corners He says the same thing: “You are My beloved son, My beloved daughter, in You I am well-pleased.”
Step back into the chaos and be who you are: a baptized child of God. Face down the despair and the uncertainty with the concrete knowledge that by the decree of Father, Son, and Spirit, “The world is established; it shall never be moved.” +INJ+