When I was a pastor in New Jersey some decades ago, two of my parishioner-families were from Nazi Germany. Ironically one couple and another lady both came to America to escape to a better life in America. In visiting with each family, I thought it would be great to get the two families together to talk about their past and I would just listen to their sharing. What happened was beyond my wildest dream. In sharing old pictures they realized they both came to America after the War on the very same ship … pictures they had included people they both knew. What a reunion and what emotional memories it evoked.

The horror of folks who lived through World War II are beyond what any of us can imagine, and I knew one family well who was Jewish and both the man and his wife survived to come to America, were taken under my grandfather’s wing, and got established in this new country. I was about junior high age when the man told me in front of my grandfather how he witnessed his parents being thrown into the gas chamber and he was taken to the edge of the encampment and released and told to run til he got out of Germany. Tears ran down this man’s face as he shared his journey.

Out of Germany came some great men of God, like Dietrick Bonhoffer and Hulmet Thielicke. I met Thielicke in 1975. Just to be in his presence was a bit overwhelming, but he shared stories I will never forget ... he was a story-teller that so much resembled that of the parables of Jesus. I will never forget one simple statement he made during one lecture he gave: “The greatest challenge [of a Christian] is to see things from God’s perspective.”

Whether it is Baptist, Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, or any other group of Christians, there are always persons to which they look to see things “rightly”. Or, in other words, to see things the way we are indoctrinated to see them ... that’s what often educating children and youth, and even adults, often means. But Thielicke’s challenge, as personal as it was, is one for all of us to ponder.

We most often see things from God’s perspective when we note how Jesus reacted to people he came upon. He often rebuked official religious leaders … reached out to the disenfranchised, the lame, the sick, the sinner, those who were looked down upon by religious folks. Jesus went out of His way to touch lives, lift folks up, give them hope and a second chance ... to be more like a servant than one who thought He should be served. And, he did not serve to get an award or be recognized by some civic organization ... He did it because it was part of what he was made of.

Understanding God has nothing to do with knowledge about scripture, one’s own church’s beliefs, or even how much we do for our church, our community, nation or civic organization.

Understanding God has to do with how our faith transforms us to be a servant of the Almighty. Seeing things from God’s perspective helps me to see others from God’s perspective. It even means seeing the world from God’s perspective ... not America’s perspective, our political party’s perspective, or even that of our church’s perspective ... for to see things from God’s perspective is an ongoing spiritual struggle to block out the demand for loyalty by all these other entities and allow God to remold us, to inspire us, to get a better focus on the world around us ... from God’s perspective.

I have always been inspired by the gospel writer John, for John looks beyond historical ‘facts’ and tries to understand Jesus, his life and ministry, from God’s perspective. Whether it is ‘love’, ‘life’, ‘light’ or even the ‘world’, John has an overarching perspective. Yes, to see things from God’s perspective is a challenge for us all, and a challenge throughout life. Always taking time to step back in life and to rethink how God sees what is going on, this is both a challenge and an opportunity to allow God’s spirit to refocus and even transform us.

Understanding God ... seeing things from God’s perspective ... take time this week to ponder such a thought.

Pastor’s Podium

The Pastor’s Podium column is offered each week by a different pastor or lay person representing an Ellsworth County church.

The week’s columnist is Jim Morford, retired pastor.

The I-R is seeking additional writers for the Pastor’s Podium page. We would like to have all area churches represented. The schedule is rotated so no one writes more than once every three months.

If the pastor or a lay person at your church is interested in writing for this page and is not on the schedule, please call the I-R at (785) 472-5085 for more information.