There has much in the media of late about the 25th anniversary of Watergate. One newspaper cartoon showed Richard Nixon with angel wings and a halo on the clouds of heaven reading a newspaper with the headlines, "Watergate 25th Anniversary." Nixon exclaims, "Hey, what'd ya know...I am a crook..."

This provided all kinds of fodder for this preacher's musings. Was this a heavenly newspaper or an earthly one? Was the cartoon's point that Richard Nixon could deny history's judgment of him but not heaven's? And then there is the fact that the cartoon depicted Nixon with angel's wings. Could a crook end up in heaven? Anyone who knows the gospel knows that a crook can. (If it were not so, there would be hope for none of us). Heaven's judgment is merciful as well as accurate.

I reflected again too on Senator Sam Ervine's comment after Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon about the pardon powers of the President being greater than those of the Almighty. Ervine pointed out that God can only pardon those who repent. Ervine's point was well taken. It is true that the only thing that prevents a person's receiving God's grace is their unwillingness to admit their need of it, but I am not sure Ervine was completely right. Specifically, I am not sure which really comes first, grace or repentance. It most certainly is God's grace that produces our repentance rather than the other way around. After all, it was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us--Richard Nixon, and you and me.

©C. David Hess

Timothy McVeigh has been convicted in the Oklahoma City bombing case and has been sentenced to death. Yet he remains a mystery. Michael Fortier, his former army buddy, said about him, "If you don't consider what happened in Oklahoma City, Tim is a good person."

Many have been struck by his stoic attitude in court. In an interview after the trial, his attorney, Stephen Jones, tried to counter that image by telling how McVeigh blocked the penalty-phase testimony of a young woman from his past because she had just been married.

"Mr. McVeigh said, 'If she testified for me she'll be marked forever, I just don't want to do that to her,' " Jones said. "That's why when people ask me 'Is he evil or is he demonic?' I have to remember the things that I have seen Tim do that are very considerate of other people."

Is it possible that the same person could be capable of such evil and also deeds of consideration and kindness? Of course it is.

I believe it was Blaise Pascal who said that man is both a little lower than the angels and also the scum of the earth. This is true of each of us.

Alexander Solzenitsyn pointed to the same truth when he said, "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Of course, this is the word of judgment that God would have us hear. The dividing line between good and evil is not between human beings but within each human heart. Tim McVeigh is a mystery, but no less a mystery than you and I.

©1997C. David Hess

There has been a lot of controversy recently about the proposal that ebonics (essentially black slang) be taught as a second language in some California schools. Someone e-mailed me the ebonics version of the Lord's Prayer:

I like the ebonics version of the Lord's Prayer. The Gospel has always been translated into the language of the people whoever the people are. This is true on the deepest level even without a translation or paraphrase of the language. Peter Gomes, Preacher to Harvard University, has written in The Good Book:

It was at Pentecost that all people regardless of their language, cultural background, or diversity of personal experience heard God's word to them. It is still Pentecost.

©C. David Hess 1997