CP 253 O Deer! Bambi's perpetual captivity...

CP 253 O Deer! Bambi’s perpetual captivity…

A few months ago there was a notable news item about herds of deer on the border of what used to be West Germany and Czechoslovakia. That border marked the line between the Warsaw Pact countries and the NATO alliance of the West. Not long after WW2 a fence was built by the Communists to stop ‘migration’ to the West. The ‘fence’ was actually three fences of high and vicious barbed wire, fully electrified. Armed guards constantly patrolled its entire length. Apparently more than 500 people died along that border as they sought freedom from that oppressive regime.

They were not the only casualties. For century upon century herds of deer had freely roamed the forests of Europe in that area. Once the death-dealing fence was in place the deer quickly learned to avoid it. Deer on the Czech side moved through the eastern forests up to the fence, along it on well worn tracks, and away again. On the German side the herds of deer learned to do the exact same thing. East was east, and west was west, and ne’er the herds did meet.

Now here’s the thing... The herds still don’t meet. It is now 25 years since the wall came down and the fence was removed. In the years since then observers were astonished to see that the deer adhered (!) to the tracks they had learned. Since scientists began micro-chipping the herds only two, both male, are known to have ‘crossed the line’, and one of those returned the same day and never ‘re-offended’. The herds are stuck in their learned patterns of behaviour in spite of the fact that not a single deer alive today was alive when the electric fence was doing its dirty work. As one report had it, ‘The wall is still in their heads!’ No other animals are limited in the same way.

I observed in a sermon recently that the deer were almost certainly Christians. A few hours later I mused that I could have added, ‘Probably Lutheran!’ I belong to a church which prides itself on its convictions about Gospel freedom. We love Galatians 5:1. ‘For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand fast then, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.’ (RSV) Most certainly the Gospel bestows the gift of freedom through forgiveness, for Christ’s sake, by grace, through faith. With it comes that delightful and cherished confidence that there is now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Being placed ‘in Christ Jesus’ puts the children of the heavenly Father beyond any accusation that could ever be raised according to law. Nothing, repeat nothing… nothing in all creation, nothing… can ever separate us from the love of God the Father revealed in Jesus Messiah our Lord. Nothing!

More often than we know, the ‘walls’ remain in our heads. A few examples from scripture. First, Mary and Martha. When Lazarus died both ‘knew’ it was too late for Jesus to intervene. ‘Lord if (only) you had been here…’ The unsaid part of that encounter was that all ‘knew’ that once the stone was in place and the cemetery gate shut, well, that’s the end of it. Jesus had to destroy that wall in the mind.

Second, think of the two sons of the prodigal father. Junior ‘knows’ that having blotted his copybook disgracefully he has gone beyond the point of no return and his sonship is forfeit forever. That’s his wall in the heart which Jesus and his Father proceed to blow apart with a ring and a robe, sandals and a cloak, all climaxed with a feast. Senior, on the other hand, has lived with a wall all his life. ‘All these years I have slaved for you…’ How sad. And his was the harder wall to dismantle.

I reckon if I sat with you we could come up with a million examples of that ‘deerish’ behaviour. Just think about the teachings, assumptions and expectations we had as we entered life which were never going to be fulfilled or met because they simply weren’t true? Not long ago I came across a chap who struggled all his life with receiving and living in forgiveness because his mother had put it into his head that God was carefully recording, in His Book, every single thing he ever did wrong.

Walls can be theological… The Church has used a certain structure in its worship for centuries. Can worship be legitimate without a traditional liturgy? That’s a wall in some minds. Another is the notion that true worship can only happen if we are using only hymns! In Luther’s day there was a wall about translating the scriptures into German… after all, everybody knew they had been delivered to the church in Latin! Not true of course. The Latin was a translation of the Hebrew and Greek. Later on there were objections to English because ‘we knew’ they were originally written in German!

A friend of mine had a wall in his head about God… when he was young his father told him it was pointless looking to the heavens for help because, ‘there’s no one there.’

After all the ugly truths have emerged about abuse of children within and under the cover of churches, can you imagine how the angry comments of millions of parents have created walls against trusting God? Hypocrisy of any sort builds walls where there should not be walls.

For me, the miracle is that, again and again, humbly spoken Gospel words and gentle lives can open things up for somebody to identify that lies create an impression of walls which simply do not exist. The greater miracle is that Jesus the Christ got behind the real wall of the law, undermined it by his life of suffering glory, dismantled the accuser’s strongholds by delivering forgiveness through his own death, drove a stake through the dominating heart of the spirit of death by his resurrection, and proceeded to lead the redeemed through those shattered walls into the kingdom of his Father.

I have a feeling there’s much more to write about ‘them walls.’ Much, much more. Whatever, let your thought structures be challenged by what He did, and as he shows you the lies upon which your walls are built, rejoice as you see them evaporating before the laser truth of Him and the Gospel.

Bless you all.

Fred