Out Our Way: Charlie Russell skies

In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called.  He was a devout man who feared God with his entire household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.

One afternoon about 3 o'clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw and angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius!" 

He stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?"  

He answered, "Your prayers and amour alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner whose home is by the seaside."

When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.  Acts 10:1– 8

Out our way, lots of folks have visited the Charlie Russell museum in Great Falls. Russell loved this part of Montana and painted a lot of scenery that is fairly familiar. No wonder the Montana Tourism folk call our area "Russell Country."  

When I was back east going to seminary, now and then one could find Russell prints at various art stores and I recall a few folks having them hanging in their homes. I have to admit I admired their taste  - but as marvelous as a Charlie Russell painting is, I'd rather see that scenery out my window than hanging on my wall.  

Charlie dazzled folks, especially at the end of his career with magnificent sunsets and what I had come to call Charlie Russell skies - but as marvelous as they are to look at in an art museum, it's nothing to being outside on one of those days and seeing the real thing.

Out our way, we have been studying the Book of Acts and this past week got to a point where a Roman Centurion by the name of Cornelius is introduced. Though a Gentile, he is what folks in those days called a "God-Fearer" - a non-Jew who nevertheless worshipped the Lord. And that raised a question in my mind: why would a hard bitten career soldier in the army of occupation worship what to him must have been a foreign god?

And I came to the conclusion that this Gentile, an Italian in the Roman army of occupation, had discovered that the Lord is not merely the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but his God as well!

Consider the situation in which Cornelius found himself.  Rome was a very "liberal" and "progressive" place when it came to religion. You could believe anything you wanted to and it was perfectly fine. Statues and idols of every known god and temples of both foreign and domestic deities were everywhere. Cornelius could pick and choose as so many do today - create a smorgasbord religion to suit his tastes and prejudices. Except that type of religion doesn't really satisfy because ultimately it is not God we are worshipping, but ourselves.

Truth is, we can't be trusted. Every great civilization, when it decides to make faith and spirituality a matter of personal taste, declines and, sadly, begins to decay and rot. Empires and their various religious idols had come and gone over the centuries, but the Jews remained ... as did their God.

Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome had all gone from worshipping a creator God to worshipping themselves in the name of religion - and each culture had decayed, declined and died out. So too did their gods. Where were Isis, Osiris, Baal, Moloch, Zeus and Pan? Dead and gone just like the empires that had once worshipped them. Yet the Lord - the God of Israel - remained, as did Israel despite being conquered, dispersed, sent into exile, and persecuted for centuries. 

Cornelius realized there was a difference between the gods of the pagans and the God of Israel. In his service to the Empire stationed in Israel he had not discovered yet another religion ... but the real thing.  He had discovered God!

We live in a world not all that dissimilar from the pagan Roman Empire as it began to decay and crumble. Calling ourselves "progressive" we back away from God and the ultimate Reality. Calling ourselves "tolerant and inclusive" we will not tolerate nor accept within our midst those who have faith. And our culture withers away. Immorality, decadence, and self-destruction are hailed as signs of sophistication when indeed they only lead us to chaos and the abyss.    

Cornelius saw this in his own time and sought the Lord despite being a foreigner, a member of the "master race," and the dominant culture of the day. And God received him as one of His own. May we be as wise and as blessed as Cornelius! Amen.

  (John Bruington is the pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Havre, Montana. He and Goliath, professor of Horse Sense Theology, can be reached at [email protected].)