4th Sunday in Advent - Worship at Home

     Well, the weather has not been kind to us this week, having to cancel all of our special activities.  However, just because we are not having worship together here does not mean you can't celebrate the 4th Sunday of Advent as a family.  Here is a brief order for worship that you can all participate in together. 
     Before you begin, gather four candles of any kind and place them in a prominent place where you are gathered (the middle of the kitchen table, for instance, or on the coffee table).  Also make sure to grab your Bibles so that you can read together from the scripture portion.  Finally, you will need to decide your favorite Advent/Christmas carol (no Jingle Bells here, we're talking the ones from church!) that you will sing together at the end.  That is all you will need for this simple, at-home Sunday worship!
     As you go through the service, remember that today's theme is love.  Thus far we have gathered under the themes of hope, joy, and peace.  Today we remember the love God shows for us in becoming one of us in the birth of Jesus.

To begin, light the four candles while someone reads the following:
Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe.
In your Son, Emmanuel,
you have shown us your light
and saved us from the power of sin.
Bless us as we light the candles on this wreath.
Increase our longing for your presence,
that at the celebration of your Son's birth
his Spirit might dwell anew in our midst,
for he is our light and our salvation.
Blessed be God forever.

Sing together the first verse of Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel:
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to you,
O Israel.

Pray together with this prayer or one of your own:

Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come.
With your abundant grace and might,
free us from the sin that hinders our faith,
that eagerly we may receive your promises,
for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Read Scripture together:

Introduction: 

     In the 1st Kings text, we find Elijah hiding in a cave because, he says, everyone is trying to kill him.  Elijah was a prophet, or someone who spoke God's words to the people.  The people didn't like what Elijah was telling them; Elijah was reminding the people of Israel that they were supposed to worship God alone, and to remember God's commands, which the people had forgotten.

     So Elijah has had to run away from the people.  For 40 days he ran, twice being visited by an angel who provided Elijah with food so that he could keep going.  Finally after 40 days Elijah found a cave to hide in, and that is where our reading begins.

1 Kings 19.9-13

Talk about it together:

1. In the introduction we find out that Elijah has been fleeing for 40 days.  Do you remember other places in the Bible where the number 40 was significant?  (If you need a little help, just google '40 days in the Bible' for lots of ideas.)
2. As God appears to Elijah several things happened.  Name everything that happened before God appeared to Elijah.
3. Why do you think God waited to come to Elijah in the sound of sheer silence?  Have you ever heard sheer silence?  What was it like?
4. As we prepare for Christmas we remember that God comes to us, too.  Rather than God coming in big and loud ways, we remember that God came to us in a little baby, Jesus.  What does God coming to us as a baby tell us about God?  What does it tell us about God's love?
5. What are some ways that you have seen God coming to you?  (Remember, it doesn't have to be big, earth-shattering events like huge miracles or anything.  What we learn from Elijah is that God often comes in the small, quiet ways.)

Pray together: 
Begin by going around and saying something for which you're thankful.
Secondly go around and confess ways in which you haven't lived as God wants us to, and ask forgiveness.
Next go around and share a way in which you hope God's love comes to all the earth.
The third round is praying for others.
Lastly go around and add anything else you want to pray for.
End in the name of Jesus.

Share the peace together:
Share the peace with one another, remembering that because God came to us in love through Jesus we can always have the 'peace which surpasses all understanding.'

Sing together:
Get the lyrics of the song you chose earlier, and have fun singing together!  You may even want to search YouTube and see if there are any versions you can sing along with, or get out your cameras and make one of your own!

This is a short version of our own worship we would have had today.  Peace and blessings this snowy day - and everyone stay safe!

Expectantly thankful?

Beacon of Hope, Thanksgiving Square*

     It is hard to be writing an Advent piece before it is actually here, and before Thanksgiving for that matter.  To solve my dilemma of not wanting to skip over Thanksgiving and therefore minimize the importance of  attempted to read the Advent 1 lesson with the lens of Thanksgiving and lo and behold this Advent text is FULL of Thanksgiving!  This week we are in Chapter 12 of The Story and this chapter focuses on three aspects of David's reign:

1. David and Bathsheba, and Nathan's involvement to help David see the truth of his sin
2. David's challenge with his son, Absalom, who committed insurrection and was killed
3. David's preparation for the building of the temple

     Our focus will be on the third portion, which comes from selected chapters from 2 Chronicles and tells of David's preparation for the building of the temple. As our text begins God reveals to David that because of his exemplary military record (and thus the many thousands who died at his command) he will not be allowed to build a temple to God.  Even though God has allowed David to win and has blessed Israel through their victories, it seems that for the temple to truly be a place for God's dwelling it needs to be constructed and overseen by someone with no bloodshed on their hands.  Thus David's son, Solomon, would be 'a man of peace and rest' who could build the temple.
    King David then addresses the people whom Solomon would direct in the building; he emphasizes the fact that the temple will not be for mortals, but for God.  Perhaps this is necessary because King David then goes on to describe how lavish the temple will be, and all of the materials and precious stones and metals he has collected - this promises to be the most opulent structure built to date, and will be a testament to God's unending faithfulness and mercy to Israel.  As our text ends, King David began to praise the Lord in a song of thankfulness:

                                 Blessed are you,
                                     O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel,
                                     for ever and ever.
                                Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power,
                                     the glory, the victory, and the majesty;
                                     for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours;
                                yours is the kingdom, O Lord,
                                     and you are exalted as head above all.
                                Riches and honour come from you,
                                     and you rule over all.
                                In your hand are power and might;
                                     and it is in your hand to make great
                                     and to give strength to all.
                                And now, our God, we give thanks to you
                                     and praise your glorious name.

In this week of Thanksgiving I find that David's song of praise invites us, too, into the jubilant posture of thankfulness, acknowledging the greatness of God's love and faithfulness.  More importantly, I think, with this attitude of gratitude, we realize just how much we do have - a great key to avoiding the consumer trap that is the holiday shopping season.  As my colleague Julie Schuett said so clearly at our community Thanksgiving service yesterday, "nothing is more satisfying than giving thanks for all you have rather on focusing what you lack."
    
And yet.  And yet this is also Advent, the season of expectant hope.  As much as this is a text about thanksgiving, it is also a text of waiting and anticipation of the temple to be built.

In our culture the season of preparation officially starts the same day as Thanksgiving.  There is no time to be stuck in Thanksgiving, but we are swept up in the preparation for Christmas by the Black Friday sales starting at 8:00 on Thanksgiving night.  The same, I think, is true of our faith. 
     As we simultaneously give thanks for all of God's abundant blessings, we look around us and realize the reality that all is not as it should be.  And so we prepare for that day when it is.  For David and Solomon and all of the Israelites the preparation consisted of readying a physical building.  For us today we prepare our hearts - not necessarily adorning them with jewels and precious metals, but with a ready willingness to have Jesus in our lives.
     Pondering these two themes of Thanksgiving and Advent together have left me pondering the mystery of the paradox: how am I thankful for what I have and still am waiting for?

*Scott, Andy. Beacon of Hope, Thanksgiving Square, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55532 [retrieved November 25, 2013]. Original source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Belfast_(144),_October_2009.JPG.

What are you looking at?

     For Sunday's texts we are focusing on the portion of The Story in chapter 11 where Samuel anoints David as king - even though Israel already has a king in Saul.  It is an interesting story because once again it points to God's working through the least suspected, least qualified, and most surprising of candidates.  As the story unfolds, it appears that Samuel has been sulking over God's decision to appoint a different king.  Perhaps he is taking it especially hard since he warned the people what would happen if they got a king, and he is running around with an 'I told you so' mind frame, or maybe he just secretly wanted it to succeed since the people wanted it so much.  Whatever it was, God had to tell him to stop grieving and get back to work.
     So Samuel goes to Bethlehem where he meets Jesse, the man God told him to find.  Jesse has several sons, and upon seeing the first son, Eliab, Samuel was certain this was the one God had chosen, presumably because of his appearance, based on God's response:  "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not look at things people look at; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart."

   This assurance from God is especially comforting for me personally, because based on human standards I fall well short.  Really.  I know I can put on a good show for the public, but there are many things which are sub-par and which can sometimes cause me anxiety.  And the silly thing is (in my head I know it's silly) that it bleeds into all aspects of my life: my parenting, my pastoring, my blogging, and yes, my appearance, as trivial as that sounds.
     So God's words give me great hope in all of this.  When I lose my patience with my two-year-old who is sobbing into the floor because she is tired and refuses to take a nap; when I forget to use tact or loving care with those I meet; when I type something stupid for all of the world to read; when I have a bad hair day; God doesn't care.
     Ok, so God cares.  But God doesn't care, if you get my drift?  God loves me for who I am, and while God rejoices with my triumphs and the Spirit sings when I do something right, those things aren't really what matter to God.
     God cares about the heart, and in the heart we find the truth of who we are.  And, more importantly, even when my heart is in the wrong place (which sometimes it is) I can still find forgiveness.
     So after hearing these words, I am left questioning the mystery of my life and how I look at people.  Do I look at the outward appearance and forget what lies beneath?  Or, knowing that God looks at my heart, do I afford others the same grace?

Like everyone else?

     As we continue our journey through The Story we come to the story of Samuel, the last judge over Israel.  Samuel was a special judge, dedicated to God's service by his mother after she miraculously conceived and bore Samuel.  God came to him one night and called him to be a truth-teller, and from that first call Samuel knew the hardship and difficulty of telling the hard truth, foretelling the ruin of his teacher's family.
     In the text for Sunday we will once again focus on Samuel's hard truth-telling.  This time, however, the truth does not just affect one family but the whole nation of Israel.  The Israelites had looked around at their neighboring nations and noticed something about them: they all had kings.  And, it tells us in 1 Samuel 8 that the people were determined to have a king, so that they would "be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.  It took much dialogue for Samuel to get to the heart of the peoples' desire for a king, but in the end they came right out and said it.  They simply wanted to be like everyone else.

     I can remember growing up and complaining to my mom that 'everyone else' was doing something that I couldn't do.  My desire to fit in and be like everyone else was so strong that I sometimes (and this is not something I'm proud of) went behind my mom's back to do something she wouldn't otherwise let me do.  I suspect that the Israelites would have done the same with Samuel if he had not given them a king in the end, and it goes to show how strong a desire to fit in can be.
     What the Israelites had forgotten was that because of their covenant relationship with God, who had chosen them out of all the other nations, they weren't like everyone else.  They were God's chosen people, set apart, and made holy so that all the nations would see their light and want to know their God.
     The same is true today for us followers of Jesus.  We struggle with the desire to be like everyone else - to have what they have, to do what they do, act as they act, believe what they believe.  But what we forget is that God has chosen us.  In the waters of baptism and joined to Christ, we are set apart, made holy, so that everyone else would see our light and want to know our God.
     As I have been thinking about my own desire to fit in, to be like 'everyone else' I often find myself running back to the baptismal font and reminding myself that God loves me - without the things I think I need, without me acting the way I think I need to act, without believe the way I think I need to believe.  God loves me just as I am, and more than that I am called to be no more than that.  Just me.  I came across this quote recently:

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
    Rudyard Kipling

God is the one who gives us company during those lonely times, comfort during those scary times, and God is ultimately the one who owns us - holds us - loves us.  After reading this text I am left pondering whether what I do, say, and believe comes from God in me or from my own desire to be like everyone else?

Faithful?

 
   This week we are blessed by the hearing of Ruth's story.  It is a wonderful story of faith and love, kinship and redefining family lines.  One of the most quoted verses about faithfulness and love is found in Ruth, and surprisingly it is not spoken between a man and woman, but between a mother and her daughter-in-law. 

Ruth and Naomi, Marc Chagall*

Where you go, I will go;
   where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
   and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die—
   there will I be buried.

What is astonishing about these words spoken by Ruth is that there is nothing for her where Naomi is going.  The men have all died, and the women are now helpless.  It would be better for Ruth to stay in her homeland and find another husband who can provide for her.  

     As many in-law jokes and negative images as there are today (movies like Meet the Fockers and others come to mind) this is a totally different picture and model of what familial relationships mean.  These two women clung to each other when they had nothing else.  And in their faithfulness to each other they find a deep friendship in the midst of the bitterness of life.

     Now of course there is the love portion of the story - Ruth and Boaz, the 'guardian-redeemer' for Naomi.  The Levirite law in scripture provides for a man's widow by ensuring that any living male relatives will marry her and so she will be provided for.  Yet when Boaz goes to the guardian-redeemer (who remains nameless) he cannot marry Ruth for fear that any children they have will take inheritance away from the children he already has, and so the way is made for Boaz to marry Ruth. They have a son, named Obed, who becomes the father of Jesse, who becomes the father of David, King David, who is the ancestor to Jesus. 

     Three times now, in the last three weeks, God has worked through women - the least powerful and lowest in society - to bring about God's will.  Not only that, but Rahab and Ruth are people outside God's covenant with Israel.  Ruth is a Moabite and Rahab was a Canaanite living in Jericho, and these two outsiders become the descendants of Jesus.

     As we talked about last week with God's call of Gideon, God isn't necessarily looking for the best trained or most highly qualified individuals to work in the world, God simply needs a willing heart.  And the beautiful thing is that in the willingness, we are made perfect through our own guardian-redeemer, Jesus.

     When you feel like your faith or willingness is faltering, remember Ruth's words of faithfulness and fidelity, remember her strength and courage, and most of all, remember Christ your guardian-redeemer, whose faith makes ours possible.  So where is God calling you to be faithful?

     

*Chagall, Marc, 1887-1985. Ruth and Naomi, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55328 [retrieved November 5, 2013]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clicks2006/4150846200/.  

Life or God?

     Chapter 8 in The Story covers a huge amount of material, including the really great stories of Deborah, Samson and Gideon.  These were three individuals chosen by God to lead Israel during times of great turmoil and military unrest.
     The theme of the chapter, and of the whole book of Judges is that 'the people sinned and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.'  It seemed that Joshua and his generation did a wonderful job of sticking to the covenant except the part where they 'recite it to their children, and talk about it when you are at home and when you are away, when you lay down and when you rise.' We are told that after Joshua died, "another generation grew up who neither knew the Lord nor what he had done for Israel."  And with this generation came several more who followed a pattern:

• Sin and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord by worshiping other gods
• Cry out to God to deliver them from their enemies
• God raises a judge to rule them and provides peace for the duration of the life of the judge
• The judge dies and the people sin and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord

While all three of the major judges discussed in chapter 8 are wonderful and have fascinating stories, full of God's presence and God's Spirit, we will focus this Sunday on Gideon, particularly on his call story found in Judges 6.11-24.
 
Gideon is from the smallest and weakest clan in his tribe, a lowly farmer with no military or strategic experience.  He knows his sheep and his land, and he knows that the luck for the Israelites has been running thin.  Agricultural disaster, famines, and enemies winning every battle meant a bleak outlook for them, and everyone took it as a sign that God had abandoned them.  All of this set up makes the opening lines of the text seem rather comical, when an angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and the following dialogue takes place:
Angel: The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.

Gideon and the Angel, He Qi*

Gideon: But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.

The angel appears to Gideon and seemingly says two outrageous things.  Firstly that God is with them, and secondly that Gideon is a mighty warrior.
     As I read this account of Gideon's call, I am reminded of so many conversations I've had with myself and with others.  Circumstances around us would seem to point to God's absence, and yet God has promised to be with us.  And like Gideon, I also find myself asking for signs.  I've never been quite so fortunate as Gideon to receive so many, so specific signs, but the signs of proof are not where I want to focus today.
     I am drawn again and again so the circumstances of life and God's presence with us.  It is easy to look at others, and sometimes at ourselves, and wonder where God is.  Surely if God was with us, x, y, or z would never have happened.  Surely if God was with us we wouldn't feel this way.  Surely if God was with us...
     But what if this is the wrong line of thinking altogether?  This line of thinking focuses on the lack of evidence of God's presence.  It is a scarcity mentality.  And, it is not exactly biblical, as Philip Yancy discusses in his book, Disappointment with God.  In it, he tells the story of an acquaintance who cautions us, "Don't confuse life with God."  Life happens.  And as disciples of Christ, we know that there are powers other than God at work in the world.
     The truth is that life circumstances don't actually give us any clue as to God's presence or lack thereof.  The truth is that God is with us.  Period.  That is why Christ came, and why he suffered, died, and rose again, and that is why we are joined to him in baptism.
     What this story of Gideon tells us is that God isn't necessarily looking for the people who have it together, or for those whose lives look good from the outside.  God isn't looking for highly trained or qualified people.  God is simply looking for a willing heart.  And when God finds it, the world begins to change.  God's power in and through Gideon made the difference of life and death for the Israelites.  God's power in and through us makes the difference of life and death for those we meet.  We never know what is happening in the lives of those around us, and as disciples ready and willing to shine our lights and live a life of witness, our random act of kindness, our word of forgiveness and love, our service in the name of Christ changes the world.
     This week I am pondering the mystery of life and God.  Rather than asking why God is missing, perhaps the mystery is for us to find God in all circumstances, and to give thanks for the small things that didn't go wrong, rather than focusing on the things that did.
*He, Qi. Gideon and the Angel, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46091 [retrieved October 29, 2013]. Original source: heqigallery.com.

To fear or not to fear?

     We have come to the conquest of the Promised Land in chapter 7 of The Story.  We hit the highlights of the conquest, starting with Jericho, the story of Rahab, and how God provided victory for the Israelites after 7 days of marching around the city.  We then have the battle with Ai, and the subsequent defeat of 5 kings.  These stories of battle include seemingly impossible victories for the underdog, unlikely allies, and most of all, evidence of God's faithfulness to Israel through fulfilling a centuries-old promise. 
    It is good to note that societies at that time were mostly theocracy, where the god of the people ruled and militaristic strength and victories proved that one nation's god was better than another.  By winning so many impossible battles, and by going in to the Promised Land as a fulfillment of God's promise, the Israelites were making a statement to the world: our God is supreme.  To make God's power even more tangible, the author of Joshua even includes a couple of verses about the sun stopping in the sky, for about a day, it says.  "There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded a human voice; for the Lord fought for Israel."
     But even more than the military victories that Israel celebrated as they entered and conquered the Promised Land, this story is about trust in God and God's promises.
     Each time the Israelites come up on an obstacle, whether it is a wall or a great and mighty army or a river, God provided and they came out ahead.  Several times in Joshua the Lord tells the Israelites

Be strong and courageous.  Do not be discouraged.  For the Lord is with you wherever you go.

     Now while I can't relate to military battles, other than hearing of them in the news, I can relate to strength and courage (or the lack thereof!).  I often find myself facing my own giants, whether real or perceived.  Often times the giants come from within, in the form of self doubt, criticism, and fear, as I think about my job performance, my parenting skills, or my role as wife.  Other times there seems a task too big to complete or something that is impossible to do.  Still other times it seems like I face something in the future that is unknown and scary.
     No matter the giant, these words for the Israelites are for me and for you.  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be discouraged.  For the Lord is with you wherever you go.

    I found this lovely acrostic for Fear at Avies Place, and thought it quite fitting.  We can be the latter since we know God is with us.

Are you with Moses? Or the rest of them?

    

Moses Striking the Rock*

As we move along in "The Story" we find ourselves mired in more conflict between the Israelites and God.  It has been a year since the Exodus from Egypt, and the Israelites have been camping in Sinai as Moses received from God the Law, and it is finally time to go forth to the Promised Land, the land which was promised to their ancestors in the covenant God made with Abraham.  So they set out, according to their tribe, in 12 groups - and no sooner had they started than the complaining and blaming God for their hardships:

The rabble among them began to crave other food,** and again the Israelites started wailing and said, 'If only we had meat to eat!  We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost - also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.  But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!'

The problem with this complaining is that they did it in earshot of God - which made God quite irritable.  After all, God had performed some pretty miraculous signs, had delivered them from slavery, had promised to be their God and to bring them salvation and a Promised Land, had kept them alive in the wilderness for a year, and was ready to get settled - and now the people are complaining again?
     When it comes to patience and forgiveness, God definitely takes the cake.  I get impatient with Frankie when she can't understand why she can't have a piece of chocolate AND chocolate frozen yogurt (which was exactly what happened last night).  And, as we read on, we find out that God's patience only lasts so long before punishment is meted out.
     Despite the complaining about food, they move on and get close enough to the Promised Land to send spies in to see what awaits, one scout from each of the 12 tribes.  And the scouts are gone for 40 days.  (Remember that 40 is an important number?  This is a clue for us to pay attention!)  After 40 days, they returned with the report: it is as God said - a land flowing with milk, honey, and fruit - it is wonderful!  Except the people there are huge!  The report they gave said that they were like 'grasshoppers' compared to the residents of the land and that there was no way they could win in a military conquest.  So the Israelites become afraid again, and plot to return to Egypt as slaves.
     All but two - Joshua, son of Nun, who will be Moses' replacement, and Caleb.  Together with Moses, these three try to persuade the whole nation that it is worth it and that God has promised and is with them - they should go and take it!  Except doubt and fear win the day, and the Israelites continue to bicker about going or staying.  And here is where the punishment from God comes.
     Because the people didn't believe in God's promise, even after everything they had seen in Egypt, they would wander in the wilderness for 40 years (one year for each day the scouts were in the land) and no one who is the age of 20 or over would live to see the Promised Land.  Their worst fear - dying in the wilderness - will come true.

     In the 40 year wandering many things happen, including an incident in which Moses disobeys God.  As punishment, God told him he could see the Promised Land but never enter it.  And so the 40 years comes to a close and the Israelites are standing at the edge of the long-awaited Promised Land.  And Moses, knowing he will never enter it, gives his farewell address. The address in its entirety takes up several chapters in Deuteronomy, but the gist can be found in a few verses:

Surely the Lord your God has blessed you in all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.’  So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the Lordyour God is giving you for all time. Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. ~ Deuteronomy 2.7, 4.39-40, 6.4-7

     Even though the Israelites were made to wander for 40 years, even though they complained about not having the food they wanted, even though again and again they failed to trust in God and God's promises, they are at last delivered.  Moses knows that they have been blessed, even if it did not seem so.  And Moses also knows that as people of the covenant it will go well for them to obey God's teachings.
     Into all of this, I read myself.  The complainer and drama queen that I am, I identify with Israel so much that I am sometimes ashamed of looking at the behavior from the outside.  Yet I am who I am, and thankfully God is who God is - which is merciful and abounding in steadfast love and forgiveness.  As I live my life of faith, trying to trust God's promises, I find the last part of the Deuteronomy text most helpful.  When I keep God's words in my heart, when I recite them to Frankie, or talk about them at home or when I am away, when I lie down and when I rise, I am much less likely to complain or grumble or lose faith.  Following Moses' instruction is not so much a command for me, but an invitation to a life of faith.I hope that I can be more of a Moses than the rest of the group, and hopefully if I follow these instructions it will happen.  But this has left me wondering:
     How do you live your life without becoming too much of a complainer?  How do you live your faith in God's promises?

*He, Qi. Moses Striking the Rock, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46127 [retrieved October 15, 2013]. Original source: heqigallery.com. 

**They had been eating quail and manna in the wilderness since leaving Egypt. Both of these items were provided each night by God to sustain the people in the wilderness.

Obedience or faith?

     After a week of vacation (which included two Sundays), we are back at it with an interesting and far-reaching chapter of The Story, titled, "New Commands and a New Covenant."  It is the story which takes up the latter half of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, the portions of scripture which I joke used to keep me awake during my 24-hour on-call stints as a seminary student at the hospital.  They are the portions of scripture which are easily glossed over and are the reason that many think that religion is a bunch of rules to follow.
     Indeed, if you were to only read these chapters, it would seem that way.  The conversation between God and Moses include rules (or laws, in the Jewish tradition) that can generally be divided into two categories: how to deal with others and how to deal with God.  In the rules in dealing with others we get all sorts of topics from diet and apparel to loans and lawsuits.  In the rules in dealing with God we get all sorts of topics like how to worship and how to offer sacrifices.  But rather than getting bogged down in the details of each law, let's look at the why of the law.

     The why all comes down to what God tells Moses in the days following the Exodus from Egypt, when God delivered the Israelites from slavery into freedom, when God says, 

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. ~ Exodus 19.4-6a

The law is set so that the people shall be God's treasured possession.  Now if you know me, you know that the English language and grammar are very important, and these verses are one reason.  Let's talk about the word shall, shall we?  
     The word 'shall' is often used interchangeably with the word 'will' yet more than will, shall indicates a future inevitability.  For instance, you knew that when I said, 'let's talk about the word shall, shall we?' that I was going to do it.  Regardless if you wanted it or not.  And that is the grace in the midst of all this law.  God will treasure these people out of all the earth, and they shall be a priestly kingdom and a holy nation whether they want to or not.  It is more than God willing it to happen, indeed because God wishes it, it shall happen.
      Now this statement from God marks what is called the Mosaic Covenant, one of the five covenants in the Old Testament.  The first was the Noahic Covenant, and was regarding the destruction of the whole earth with flooding - God covenanted never to destroy the whole earth again.  This covenant did not require any action from anyone on earth.  It is an open, unrestricted promise that no matter what, God will not do this.  The second was the Abrahamic Covenant, and regarded the promise to make Abraham into a great nation, to bless all the world through him.  This covenant is based on the understanding that Abraham will trust God's promise, going to a new country and waiting for the promised heir.  Now the third covenant, the Mosaic Covenant is dependent not on trust in God's promises, but on obedience to the law.
     We Christians are not people of the Abrahamic Covenant, but are part of a later covenant made that we will come to in a couple of months.  However, that does not mean that this scripture is not for us.  This scripture shows us something unbelievable about God and God's love for all of creation.  God who made the whole cosmos, who can create catastrophic floods, who can do great miracles and powerful feats, knows us.  Knows our names.  Knows who we are, what we like, and our innermost thoughts.  And God 'shall's' us into holy people - not because of our obedience (remember, we are not people of the Mosaic Covenant) but because God loves us. 
     As I ponder these covenants, and my own relationship with God, I wonder how obedience and faith work together, and how my relationship is affected by each of these.  Thankfully I know that regardless of my faith or obedience, God shalls me as God's own and God knows my name.
* Artwork: Moses receiving the tablets of the law on Mount Sinai, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55133 [retrieved October 8, 2013]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meister_der_Bibel_des_Patrice_L%C3%A9on_001.jpg. 
* for more on the Covenants, a good source is 5 Covenants of the Old Testament.

Blessed to bless others?

    

Sacrifice of Isaac, Marc Chaggall

The story for this week has always troubled me.  It is the portion of The Story which talks about Abraham - the surprising man through whom God chose to build a nation of people - people who would eventually bring about God's salvation for the world.  Now most of Abraham is a great story of faith, miracles, human missteps, and imperfect miracles. 
     God chooses two people in their 90s who are unable to have children to have a child from whom would come a nation as numerous as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the ground.  These two people don't entirely believe God, and so plot to help God by providing a surrogate mother for Abraham's offspring, a son born to Sarai's servant (and likely Abraham's second wife).  Yet God assures them that the son to be born will truly belong to Sarah and Abraham - and now God has to 'clean up' the mess that Abraham made.  God promises that this first son born to Abraham, Ishmael, will also grow into a great nation.  It is commonly believed that Ishmael's line is the line that eventually founds Islam. 
     And so finally, approximately 20 years after the promise, Sarah becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, and Abraham names him Isaac.  Abraham and Sarah celebrate and take joy in this miraculous son - giving praise that God has blessed them in this way.  And then the story seems to take a wrong turn.
     Genesis 22 is the story of God testing Abraham.  God comes to Abraham and says, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will show you."  The thing that surprises me each time I read this story is that after this request from God, the text simply continues, "So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey..."  From Scripture it seems as if Abraham blindly follows.  There is no arguing with God, no pleading for Isaac's life, no questioning, he just gets up early the next morning and goes.
     As I've heard people talk about this story, a few themes usually emerge: Abraham is to be exemplified for his deep faith in God and trusting that God knows best; this is a foreshadow to God's own sacrifice of the 'one and only son'; we can learn from Abraham about sacrificial giving, and willingness to give up what it important.
     None of these are bad.  In fact, they are each a good attribute of faith, and of being willing to let the Spirit lead and guide into situations that may be uncomfortable because God might be up to something new.

     But I have to tell you that I wouldn't have done it.

The thought of tying up my Frankie with the intent to sacrifice her is horrifying and brings tears to my eyes.  Granted we are far removed from the culture of animal and child sacrifice (archaeological studies have proven that child sacrifice was a common ritual in that area and period of history).  Granted I've never heard God's voice asking me to do anything, let alone move to a new place and kill my child.  Granted I am not Abraham.  Because if I was, the story would have gone differently.
     If I was Abraham, I would have choked on my beverage (for whatever reason whenever God talks to me in my imagination we are doing so over a cup of coffee or tea), eyes bugged out, and the arguing would have ensued:

But God!  You promised me this son!  You said that we would be a great nation!  I love this kid!  NO. WAY.

Last week as a group of colleagues was talking about this text, we actually pondered if the real test was not if Abraham would do what God asked, but if Abraham would question God's seemingly irrational request to kill Isaac.  What if God really wanted to see what Abraham was made of?  After all, Abraham did have another son, even if the text calls Isaac his 'one and only.'  Ishmael was off in the desert somewhere, and if Isaac died Abraham could always have gone looking.
     What if God was waiting for Abraham to come to his senses and NOT do what God asked?  And then, when Abraham was on the mountain, had Isaac bound, and was lifting the knife, it was God who choked on the beverage-of-choice, and had to scramble and make a ram appear in the thicket so that Abraham wouldn't do it?
     It could have been this cosmic game of chicken - who would back down first?  God?  Or Abraham?  In the end, it was God who ended up backing down, and I can imagine God saying, "I really didn't think it would get this out of hand."
     Maybe all of this is my attempt at rationalizing the irrational.  Maybe I am as faithless as Abraham was faithful.  Maybe I am uncomfortable with a God who asks us to sacrifice our children just to 'test' us. 
     So what do we do with this story?  Abraham through the Biblical narrative is a hero of faith, for his willingness to do what God asked of him, and I cannot discount that, or take away from Abraham this honor.  I also cannot applaud God for asking the death of a child.  What I can do is contemplate the mystery of my faith. 

• What would I be unwilling to 'sacrifice' to God?  
• Why?  
• Is that, in the end, an idol I have made for myself?

And even after those questions, there is the bigger question of Abraham's story.  God promised to bless Abraham in order to be a blessing to others.  It is, according to the story, because of Abraham's great faith that 'all the nations of the earth gain blessings for themselves.'  Apparently, I am an indirect recipient of the blessing of Abraham's faith.  Which leads to an even deeper and greater mystery:
Isaac and child sacrifice aside, how am I using my blessing to continue to bless others?

Let's start at the very beginning

     And so it begins.  Our journey through 'The Story' has officially kicked off and we are ready to dive into chapter 1 this coming Sunday.  As I read the chapter and its corresponding Scripture from Genesis 1-4 and 6-9, I think of the song from The Sound of Music when Fraulein Maria teaches the children about music.  She sings:

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.
When you read, you begin with A-B-C,
When you sing, you begin with do-re-mi

 When it comes to Scripture, a good place to start is the very beginning.  In the beginning...  God's infinitude is so incredibly difficult to comprehend I have a hard time with it, and if I try to think about it too much my head starts to hurt.  God has always been.  Always.  And at some point God created.  Now there is much debate about this part.
     How did God create?  When did God create?  While it is not as notable in the news like it was a few years ago, the creation v evolution debate runs rampant and while we don't debate the issue here at St. John there are people on all sides of that coin.  And at the heart of this debate is not about whether God spoke and POOF! the earth appeared or whether God spoke and BAM! a Big Bang started the slow evolution of our universe; at the heart of this debate is truth of scripture. 
     If the Bible says God created the earth in 6 days what do we do with scientific evidence of evolution, tectonic plate movement, carbon dating, etc?  If you believe in evolution does that mean you don't think the Bible is true?  If you believe the Bible's version of the creation story, does that mean you don't believe science is true?  How does one go about reading the Bible and using our God-given sense of reason?
   
It seems that while starting at the beginning is a good place to start, it is not necessarily simple.

     Personally, I believe that God's Word is truth in that it reveals to creation about God, the creator.  It is truth in that it shapes how we think about and live life.  It is truth in that in Scripture we find the Living Word who brings salvation to all creation.  And I believe in evolution, that the earth is 4.6 billion years old, and that God is God nonetheless.  I believe God created and continues to create today.  And I believe species and our planet continues to evolve and change.
     What is revealed to us in Genesis is that God created, and God created an AMAZING thing.  The following video from Hubble gives a glimpse into our universe:

Obviously the people who wrote these words weren't there.  And I also don't believe that God dictated scripture to people who wrote it down word-for-word.  Yet when you get through all the questions, through the absurdity of talking snakes (did the people sinning somehow make it that animals and people couldn't talk anymore?) a very simple truth is left:

God created and saw that God's creation was good.  God was in perfect harmony with God's creation until the humans (which God created with free will) rebelled against this relationship by doing what they wanted to rather than what God commanded which resulted in all sorts of unintended consequences.  Pure and simple.  That is the truth we know about the beginning.

And thankfully for us, it is a beginning that begins again and again, each breath a new creation and chance to live in relationship with our Creator.  As I go back to the beginning again, I am living the mystery of an ever-patient, all-forgiving God who is right there, waiting for me to come back to the beginning.  Again.

Words for nourishment?

     It begins! The Story will guide us through the next nine months of worship and education, and we will be transformed as individuals, families, and a whole congregation of people reading through Scripture together, learning how God's story and our story fit together, and learning to see God.  This Sunday we will introduce the story, talk about the whys and hows, and have a serious conversation about the place and role of scripture in our lives.
     If the annual poll by the American Bible Study can be believed, this year they reported that:

Americans overwhelming (77%) believe morals and values are declining in the U.S. The most-cited cause for the decline is a lack of Bible reading. As in previous years, the survey found that the Bible remains a highly valued, influential force in America. But beliefs about the Bible and its role in society are becoming increasingly polarized—particularly when the data is examined by age group.
  The research also uncovered a significant disconnect in belief versus behavior. While 66% of those surveyed agreed that the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life, 58% say they don’t personally want wisdom and advice from the Bible and about the same amount (57%) read it fewer than five times per year.*

Lutherans have a unique way of reading and talking about scripture and the Word of God.  While the simple fact is that the Bible is 66 individual books divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament, "its meaning — and its significance to the Christian faith — is far more complex and profound. As Lutherans, ELCA members believe that the Bible is the written Word of God. It creates and nurtures faith through the work of the Holy Spirit and points us to Jesus Christ, the living Word and center of our faith. And in reading the Bible, we are invited into a relationship with God that both challenges us and promises us new life."**
     To help us think about Scripture and its role in our lives, we will examine Isaiah 55 this week.  This is part of Second Isaiah, the portion written to Israel while they were in captivity in Babylon.  Because of the triumph of Babylon and the exile of Israel as slaves, the people felt that God had forgotten them, that God was not near, and had little hope of returning to the promised land.  In this portion of Second Isaiah, the prophet is kindling hope, encouraging the Israelites to 'seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.'  Not only is it a gentle reminder that God had not abandoned them, but it is a calling back to the core of who those people were.  They were covenant people, and God is faithful.  So faithful, in fact, that God's word happens.  Period. 
'For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
   and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
   giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
   it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
   and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.'
This promise to the exiled community of Israel is the same promise we hear today.  We may not be exiled, but maybe we feel lost, or alone, or confused, or let-down.  Maybe we don't feel any of that at all and feel content, or joyful, or thankful, or peaceful. Whatever it is we feel, we have God's promise that as sure as rain nourished the ground, so God's Word nourishes us.
      More than just a list of dos and don'ts, more than a how-to manual of life, more than good advice or the history of the world, this is God's Word and its purpose is to transform and to nourish.  It is revelation insofar as that it reveals to us the nature of God, and points to Christ. 
     Through reading scripture we are nourished, we are healed, we are transformed.  And this, all through words on a page.  (And a good measure of the Holy Spirit!)

*from: http://www.americanbible.org/state-bible
**https://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/The-Bible.aspx

Entertainig angels?

     For Labor Day weekend, the 'unofficial end of summer', the weekend most known for relaxing and picnics than actual labor, has us reading a text all about parties and banquets.  Except rather than talking about what are the best/worst dishes of summer, or what sorts of table decorations to use to make the biggest WOW factor, we have a lesson in where to sit at the table.
     In our gospel from Luke Jesus gives a lesson in honor/humility of seating at a dinner.  Now in our culture, seating at a dinner is often foreign to our experience, other than weddings or other large events.  At these events there is usually a 'head table' and then close to that the tables for the secondarily important people, and then tables out from that for the rest of the guests.  Now I've never actually been to a wedding where someone has the guts to go right up to the head table and have a seat.  Can you imagine what that would be like?  Yet Jesus teaches that people should not sit in places of honor but "when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."  No one I know (at least I don't think) would have the gall to sit at the head table at a wedding or banquet, even if they inwardly wanted to.  Yet it has also never been my experience that I sat at a table and the bride or groom came and told me to sit at a table closer - it is generally known before the event who will sit where.  So this part of the gospel sounds funny to my 21st century ears.  But that was not the whole lesson. 
     Jesus went on to talk about who you invite to your banquets.  And this is where it gets really surprising and hard.  "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."  What would the guest list for the next wedding you are invited to look like if we took Jesus' words seriously and invited the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind?  I was just at a wedding a couple weeks ago and the guest list included family mostly, but also a few friends.  It has been the same at every other wedding I've been to (including my own).
     Jesus seems to be pushing, once again, at our tendency to turn inward and make the banquet and celebration all about me, my family, and us.  But we are in the season of texts focusing on love of God and love of neighbor, and Jesus is forever pushing us to expand our definition of 'neighbor.'  And in my estimation, this portion of the text especially speaks to our culture today, since Jesus talks about reciprocity.
     In our culture, it seems as if it is often all about reciprocity.  Keeping track of who invited who over last, and whose turn it is to have the party.  Or keeping track of how much this person spent on your present so that when it is your turn to give them a present you can spend about the same amount.  Or deciding who or who not to invite based on if they invited you over since the last time.  I do it, so I am guessing others do it, too.
     This teaching from Jesus really gets us outside of ourselves doing something totally for the sake of someone else, selfless giving and inviting so that someone else feels honored and valued.  Which is what our text from Hebrews talks about when it says, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it."  One of my favorite songs is called Angels Unaware by Michael W. Smith, and really gets at these two texts, I think.  We are often so focused on us and our own stuff that we neglect those around us.  This is true at the grocery store, at work, at school events.  Even on Sunday mornings as we gather for worship, we sit with our families, we talk with those we know, we look at the visitor and aren't quite sure how to interact, because maybe they aren't really new and I just don't recognize them. 
      Yet this is what Jesus teaches against - because it is not all about us.  It is not all about status, or being fair, or even, or what others think.  It is about love.  Everything Jesus said and did points at this type of Kingdom love which gets us outside of ourselves and reaching out to others.  I ponder how God calls me out of myself to love others, to live for others, to show hospitality to others.  To help you ponder this mystery, I've included a 5-minute video of Michael W. Smith's song:

Loved enough to be set free?

     So for Sunday’s texts we have a beautiful story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath from Luke 13.  The Sabbath, according to Jewish law (Exodus20.9) is a day for resting on which no work is to be done.  Yet here is Jesus, in the synagogue no less, healing a woman who had been crippled 18 years, which the leaders of the synagogue considered work.  And so the leader (not addressing Jesus directly, but speaking to the crowds) indignantly stand up and tries to correct Jesus’ healing, pointing out that it is work and that really ought not be done on the Sabbath.

     And in typical Jesus fashion, he takes the words of the leader and turns them around on him, pointing out that even they unbind their oxen and donkeys on the Sabbath, making a clear connection from this unbinding of animals and the woman’s figurative bondage to her ailment for 18 years.  Now here is where the Greek comes in handy – and we see something unnoticeable in the English.  The word for ‘untie’ in verse 15 is the same word for ‘be set free’ in verse 16.  The Greek word is actually ‘loose’ and is used only here and two other places in the New Testament in this figurative manner of ‘be set free,’ a literary tool the author chose to force us to see the connection between the two examples.

     Now, what is the point of this connection?  I believe it is to emphasize that Christ came to set free – period.  The Sabbath, the day set aside for praising God (which the woman does in verse 13) is always and only about being set free: the act of God for us, to us, and with us.  If the being set free involves a little work on the Sabbath, it is only for the sake of the gospel and bringing about God’s kingdom.

     Unfortunately we won’t get to hear the verses that follow our text for Sunday, as the lectionary skips ahead next week to chapter 14.  However, right after our story ends Jesus goes on to tell about the kingdom of God.  This story, along with the two parables in 13.18-21, gets at the heart of God’s kingdom, which is freedom from bondage.

     As I look back on my own life and my own experiences of being set free, more often than not it is in worship – maybe not on the Sabbath – but in a worship setting, surrounded by other people, singing songs, hearing Scripture, and receiving Christ’s promise of freedom in Word, water, bread, and wine.  One of the most clear moments I have of being set free was at a women's retreat in college.  I have written about the experience before, but it has been so impactful I will write about it again.   It was just one overnight, and there were about 8 of us ladies gathered.  While I can't remember the theme exactly, I remember that it centered around baptism.  We talked, we read the Bible, we worshiped, we remembered what God had done for us.  And it was in those 18 or so hours that God's promises freed me from the huge weight I had been carrying around.

     You see, I was a hopeless people-pleaser, always saying what I thought you wanted to hear but never sharing my own thoughts.  This was true about religion, politics, food, sports, school; you name it and I could tell you what everyone else in the planet thought - except me.  Meeting God again in that time of rest and worship, I was reminded that God created me - and my thoughts - and that they were good.  And that I didn't need the approval of others by watering down who I was so they liked me better.  Saying this now sounds silly - because I have been freed from those bonds and can't believe I let them contain me for so long.  (Close to the 18 years the woman in our gospel text experienced.)

     So I ponder the mystery of God’s love today.  That God would meet me, free me, and then allow me to tell it to others is the greatest gift I can give the world.  How has God’s love set you free?