Bully Pulpit
Good Morning Friends,
I was talking to a Marine yesterday about wounded warriors coming home and wanted to know the best way to help and I learned something worth sharing. He had a distain for institutions that wanted to coordinate help because it was as salt in a wound that people in the communities these soldiers come from would not help naturally. This is not to say that they are not appreciative but that it is painful to realize that what they thought they were fighting for may not really exist. There is a desire to move from hunger to health and hope, not the cycle of charity becoming toxic that at first elicits appreciation, then anticipation, then expectation, then entitlement, then dependency. I would think that if Theodore Roosevelt were still around, he would be leading the charge and presenting the case from a Bully Pulpit.
Scripture: O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us. How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire? Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake. Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes. Let the groans of the prisoners come before you; according to your great power preserve those doomed to die. Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord! Then we your people, the flock of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
Psalms 79:1-13 (NIV)
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
Romans 15:4 (NIV)
who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalms 103:5 (NRSV)
Message: Despite what some might think, the “Bully” in bully pulpit has nothing to do with being forceful. The term coined by Roosevelt was essentially saying that the Presidency was a great … a good platform to advocate for an agenda to get something done. Maybe more pulpits should be bully in that sense. The meaning of words change but we still have wounded warriors. Some are condo association leaders, others servants for the cause of Christ. You can see wounded warriors everywhere… a spouse sacrificing for the sake of the home, an employee for the sake of the company…a parent for the soul of their children… A person feeding the hungry only to see them become obese. The war has not ended and the battle field is larger than you might imagine. Here are a few words of Theodore Roosevelt that might help:
“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
“A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards.”
“Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
Friends, we are to hear the cry of the wounded warrior and we are to use more than dollar diplomacy to solve the problem.
Pray we not substitute knowing for doing. Pray we learn from history. Pray we not respond to chronic needs as though they were a crisis. Pray we help each other develop. Pray our charity not foster dependency, deception and disempowerment. Pray we petition the Lord. Pray we ask for forgiveness when necessary and pray in the end we are thankful. Pray we realize the world is created anew each day. Pray that the molting appearance of our culture just be a sign of an imminent transformation like that of the eagle in Psalm 103.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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