Slogging through the rules

You want details… I’ll give you details!

Our  90 day Bible journey in these last few days has taken us through the interesting and sometimes puzzling  territory of Leviticus, and Numbers… ahhh…what a joy!  If you are a details person, one who is a stickler for the rules, you may well love this stuff.

Me, not so much.

My wife said something like, after reading this stuff I have never been so glad Jesus came!

I agree, but there is still so much to glean from these books even in the midst of the repetition and often odd (to us) rituals and practices there in.

One of the things that really dawned on me was the repeating of the need to take a Sabbath. Over and over again the idea of Sabbath rest was highlighted. What I also find interesting is that this rest isn’t so much about God as it is about us. Today we don’t have near so many rules, I am glad I didn’t have to have blood splashed all over me at my ordination, nor was there slaughtering of any kind come to think of it! But the need for Sabbath is still real and quite frankly we stink at it. Maybe we can still learn much from these early rule books of the bible.

Getting into Numbers I am struck with just how big this people was, Over six hundred thousand, and I am pretty sure they were just counting the guys here. So this wandering people of God in the wilderness was the size of Milwaukee! Gives you a unique perspective on what was going on, it was a huge deal, and with a size like this come rules so that this newly formed people, for that is in fact what they were, could live together.

At the root, this still is all about relationships. Relationships between God and His people, between neighbors, and on and on… you get the point.

There is much more detail that I could go into here, but if you are reading along, you know, if not, open up your Bible and dive in!

Do you want some cheese and crackers to go with that whine?

This is not your fathers Charlton Heston!

Exodus… To go out.

Today we started on the great story of deliverance from bondage into the long ago given promises of God. Abraham is long gone, as is Isaac, Jacob (Israel) Joseph and each and every one of his brothers, they had been blessed and as each day went by they grew these people who have come to be known as the Hebrews. Note: this name has nothing to do with men making coffee, just fyi.

What sets the stage for this story of Exodus is … um… well… I knew it a minute ago… hhhmmmm… oh yeah, forgetting.

So a new Pharaoh comes to power in Egypt and he doesn’t remember the blessings of Joseph, he doesn’t see in this growing population the blessing that his predecessors saw, he sees a threat! So trying to be a good xenophobic dictator, he takes steps to crush these outsiders. Now on the surface what he does seems mighty silly, ok, horrifying and silly, to the modern reader.  He proclaims that all the male Hebrews shall be put to death at birth. Now if you are trying to control an expanding population, you don’t clear out the males. I mean one guy could um… well you get the point… make lots of babies if there are enough women around.

A great nation!

However, as in many cultures of the time they focused on the patriarchal line for identity and so much more. By killing off all the Hebrew males the Pharaoh hoped to wipe out the Hebrews by removing their identity!

But these were the chosen people and God hears their cries and as the story unfolds through this Moses guy who should have been dispatched long ago. It is a great story, but what I want to touch on today is the idea of remembering, trust and hardness of heart.

To tell you the truth I have struggled long and hard with God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. It seems well, it seems like so much over kill, like such a vindictive thing for this God I know to be a loving creative God to do. But there it is, over and over again.

As I read these passages once again today, these thoughts came back to me. But as I read the length and breadth of the Exodus story from the beginning, a thought dawned on me. We can be such a fickle people. One day we vow never to do something again, or to start doing something that we should have done long ago, only to bail without a moment’s thought.

What highlights this for me is the how quickly the whining begins; Pharaoh, the Israelites, heck even Moses himself. In particular is this scene the Israelites have finally been given their release they are going out not on the direct route, because God knows what is going to happen but more on that later. Pharaoh stewing in his misery gathers up his troops and goes out after them. Well they freak, and can you blame them. At first threat the Israelites start whining and want to go back to the way things were before even they were awful.

They don’t really trust, they forget the long-a-go promise, they forget what God has already done and they forget that God has promised to deliver them. How often when God leads us into a new place are we want to start whining when we confront our first challenges. I am not absolving myself of this one bit, I am as guilty as everyone else. I grow impatient I want it my way, I want comfort, I want sameness. But God wants me to grow into who he created me to be in the first place, God is a creating God and does this continually in our lives and promises to be with us and guide us in all things and yet we whine!

The good news that we find is that God comes to us and delivers us even in our whining in our need for sameness, and offers us new life in Jesus Christ our own great exodus into new life.
Finally you might have noticed the Lego pictures! COOL!

Just found this site today…. I will be using more of this as we go along because I love legos!  It claims to be “The world’s largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible.” It is really something! Check it out!  http://www.thebricktestament.com/

Even though…

Today we finished up Genesis in our 90 day program. The last 10 chapters moved pretty fast for me and that was good. The promo literature said “read the Bible in 90 days in as little as 30 minutes a day” I haven’t come close to 30 minutes for the readings we have, at least not yet!

As I stated before Genesis is foundational, it is the footings that so much of the rest of scripture rest on and that foundation is God’s faithfulness and steadfast love for his creation which includes you and me.

Today we find Joseph as the great muckity muck over all of Egypt and as he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream there were seven good years of plenty and now the lean years have come upon the land. The famine has reached as far as the Canaan and word has reached them that there is grain to buy in Egypt. So Israel sends his sons, with the exception of Benjamin to Egypt to get some grain. Once there despite the years and experiences Joseph has gone through he spots his brothers in the crowds coming to buy grain.

Can you imagine how he must have felt, or at least could have felt. Here are these brothers who beat him up, sold him into slavery where he was then thrown into jail for years, here they stand now before him, begging to buy grain. Oh the revenge factor here is huge! HUGE!  How would have you responded, how do you respond when someone who has done you wrong in the past now comes to you in a position of relative powerlessness?  Talk about temptation, but it seems Joseph has a bigger idea, he has family, love and hope on his mind and so puts together an elaborate ruse to see how is brothers will behave.

Long story short the brothers do the right thing, and the whole family is reunited in the land of Goshen… yes if you ever had ever heard that expression of surprise on TV or from a Grand parent,  “Land o Goshen” this is where it comes from.

Any way forgiveness seems to reign supreme. Joseph sets up his family on good land they continue to be blessed in all ways a grow in this foreign land. Toward the end of the story after Israel (Jacob) dies he is taken up to be buried in the promised land. Then the brothers begin to worry. Now that Dad isn’t around what will Joseph do, we treated him pretty poorly back in the day, and now that Dad isn’t here to keep the peace, and harmony in the family (like he ever really did that) what will Joseph do?

What comes next is one of my favorite lines in scripture. His brothers are so worried they actually bring it up to him. How many times in life do we needlessly worry about what others might do simply because we do not talk to them about it?  But they do and Joseph responds in Genesis 50:20: “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today” Whoa… what profound faith, what deep forgiveness.  This doesn’t mean Joseph didn’t remember or learn from what happened to him, he dealt pretty shrewdly with his brothers when they first came to him, but there was forgiveness and life emerged from this forgiveness. This little family that began with Abraham, Sarah and Isaac was nearly the size of a small nation all ready. The experiences of Joseph’s life had been hard, and his forgiveness was expensive as it aways is, but Joseph was faithful and God continued to be good on his promises even in Egypt!

It seems to me that Joseph had long ago forgiven them, but the brothers had never quite gotten around to accepting that forgiveness. Here is the other kicker for us, how often do we struggle with accepting forgiveness and moving on?  Forgiveness is about life, it is about living the promises that God’s love is for us freeing us to forgiven and love others… wow what a great story!

A rose is a rose…or maybe it is a Rosaceae

Today I was again reminded of names. I touched on it yesterday when I talked about the relational aspect of names in the Bible. I am on Day 3 of the 90 day Bible challenge which covers Genesis 28-40. Today names once again are a big deal.

One of my congregational members is sending me e-mails about her observations. Today she noted that she had thought that “Jacob was the good guy – yesterday I was rooting for Esau.” You do have to feel for Esau. But as the story unfolds it is Jacob who was blessed, Jacob quite frankly was a jerk, a blessed jerk, but a jerk none-the-less! In part I blame his over indulgent mom!  From the womb this guy was toast though. His name Jacob can literally mean “ankle grabber” which is a biblical way of saying he was a cheat. He was born grasping after things, namely his brothers ankle, but that was just the beginning… he was born a cheat. Sure Esau coughed up his birth right for a bowl of lentil stew, so maybe he wasn’t so bright, but Jacob saw his opening to take advantage and took it with a vengeance. Then there is the deceit that took place around getting the blessing… don’t even get me started on that!  Jacob was what his name implied.

But don’t think Jacob got away with it, as a friend of mine was once fond of saying, “what comes around goes around.” Today we read of Jacob’s search for a bride which lead him back to his ancestral homeland. Upon arrival, he does a very guy like thing, he looks at the natives and starts to boss them around!  I love that… anyway soon Rachel comes with her sheep to have them watered and Jacob evidently smitten shows off a bit by moving the stone from the mouth of the well by himself, somethings never change.

Anyway… back to the deceit. Jacob is welcomed into Laban’s home and works for him and his wages will be Rachel. The seven years pass and the wedding is held, but sneakiness is a family trait so in the morning Jacob awakes and finds that he has married Leah, Rachel’s older sister. The trickster is tricked! Over and over again there is deceit, favoritism and scorn in the working out of these relationships. Doesn’t sound very “family values” oriented if you ask me. This dysfunction is laid out  in the names of the kids. Leah’s names all reflect her longing to be loved, Ruben the first born means “look a son” which in that culture was a huge deal!

The key for me in these readings is that God is faithful, mostly despite the workings of his chosen people. Yes they have moments of great faith, but they also have moments of great sin. It is God who is faithful and just. It is God who is the keeper of promises. Over and over in these stories it points to the “chesed” or stead fast love of God.

For more information on Rachel and the role of the women in this story I found this to be a very interesting site. Women in the Bible http://www.womeninthebible.net/1.4.Rachel.htm They have more on the some of the names found in these stories which can be quite interesting… ie. Leah means cow! Layers upon layers!  Oh it is hard to read right through, I keep wanting to stop explore and go deeper, but that will come… this summers challenge is cover to cover in 90 days!

In the “Big Inning”

Well I have been quite neglectful of this blog in recent weeks. But I have a new passion to fill some space. If you are reading this perhaps you already know this,  this summer many at my congregation are joining me in the 90 day Bible reading challenge.  Yup… you got it… we are going to read the whole Bible this summer cover to cover…

I hope you can join us!

In the Beginning

Ok, we are off… For the last two days we have tackled Genesis up to the 28th Chapter. I can’t tell you how many times I have read these passages… and how many times I haven’t read parts of them. Yes there are long stretches of names that seem odd to us, but in those names there is story, connection and at their core, relationship. When I teach the Bible no matter the age group I emphasize the fact that Genesis is foundational. To stretch the building terminology further… they are the footings, the bedrock of faith and the story of God’s amazing grace and love for us.

In my experience there is no such thing as a perfect relationship, good ones, yes, perfect… no.

So goes Genesis. Once humanity is on the scene it doesn’t take long for the perfect relationship between God and Adam and Eve to go south. I love it when Adam confronted by his sin immediately points his finger at Eve, and she in turn the serpent. If you have ever caught children misbehaving in anyway this is nearly always their immediate response. If you have ever read a newspaper or watched TV it is also the immediate response of nearly everyone when something goes bad.

It’s classic.

What isn’t so classic, at least in our modern world is how the story unfolds later in Genesis. There is much that seems foreign, odd, and often down right disgusting. Abram married his half sister…ewwww…. but, I imagine if Abram was confronted with much of what happens in the world today he most likely would be equally grossed out. What I see etched out early on in these stories, are the themes of a people who are not perfect, these are not the Sunday School stories, these are stories of real people, warts and all. What also is fleshed out is the story of God who works with imperfection to bring about the perfection of his love for all of creation. The stories will just keep getting better as we continue in Genesis!

I can’t promise that I will post after each days reading, I am going to try, but… hey after all it is summer!

I would love to hear your impressions, ideas, questions or concerns. Just make a comment in the box below and the process expands beyond my pontifications, and that gets back to the core of relationship again, the relationship between you and me, God and his Word!

This is so cool

Some folks love splitting would, they like the exercise, the discipline… or whatever… not me.

Given the choice I would enjoy splitting wood like this… http://www.snotr.com/video/2651

Tempus Fugit

I think I am getting old.

This is happening of course, against my will. It didn’t happen all of a sudden, though the rate at which it has approached is nearly dizzying. I first noticed it long, long ago, back in 1990, as I was holding a precious pink bundle of joy in my arms. Time seemed to speed up a little, and it hasn’t bothered to slow down any since.

You see that little bundle of joy is graduating from high school at the end of month! For pete’s sake, I remember my high school graduation like it was yesterday! Wait… umm… well I guess it was yesterday plus a whole bunch of years…

When it comes to time flying by, I have been told by my elders, who assure me that I am still “just a kid,” that this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. When my kids were very young, I would also hear from those older and wiser than I that I should treasure these early moments of my children’s lives for they would too soon grow up.

I have done my best to savor and appreciate the gifts of each of my children as they grew. As time seemed to gain momentum, each year would present its own unique set of joys and struggles. And I tried to give thanks to God in the midst of all of it, for all of it.

Now, once my eldest has graduated from RAHS and is off to Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, in the fall, she will still be my child, she will always be my child. Someday when my son is out on his own, doing whatever it is that God has uniquely gifted him to do, he will still be my child. To borrow a phrase from Paul in Romans, “there is nothing in all creation” that will change this fact.

Likewise, as Christians, in the waters of baptism we have become part of God’s family — heirs with Christ of eternal life. Now, to most of us, I imagine that sounds pretty good, but then we like the children we so often are (this is not a bad thing), look at the world around us and ask why? We see pain and suffering; we see those who shun God’s love for them; we see those who shun the love others would share with them; we see those who abuse themselves or others, or even creation itself; and we wonder what on earth the Heavenly Father is up to.

It is a good question, an honest question, but as a father who has been questioned from time to time I think we can catch an insight in the words from 1 John 3 “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.”

I find great comfort in these words. We are God’s children, now… not someday… now … just as we are … we are God’s children now. Knowing this we are freed to trust all we are and all we love into God’s loving hands. We are freed to grow into the children God created us to be. Time for us may fly by… but as heirs we can look to the future in hope as we are loved by the one who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and in who’s loving hands all time rests.

May God bless us all in the big moments of life, and in the calm patches as we grow into what we will yet be in Christ.

eeeeek!

This past week our Gospel reading was from Luke 24 where Jesus is making his post resurrection appearance to his disciples and the first words out of his mouth were…”Peace be with you”

What a very different greeting than the words that lead off our nightly news… fear arises as________ panic engulfs___________…. you can fill in the blanks.

The funny thing is human reactions to both Jesus blessing of peace, and today’s headlines of horror are about the same… The disciples we are told were “terrified” and how many people after hearing and seeing today’s news program are left in the same state.

Why are we so easily scared?  I mean it is our default response to almost everything. I walk into the room and my wife doesn’t expect me, she looks up and she is scared out of her whits. She says “don’t do that to me” and I am like… ummm… what walk around my house?  I mean it wasn’t like I was trying to sneak up on her (though I have done that!) I was just walking by her, in fact I wasn’t even in “her space” when she was startled. Go figure…

I am a Sci-Fi fan. Mostly books, but I am a big fan of both the major franchises, Star Wars and Star Trek. However, most of the books I like when made into movies are just plain old dung!

Not from the newest Star Trek film... this is real(ish)

Why?

Because they tend to focus on the fear and not the hope. Most Sci-Fi I can’t stand is because the authors, writers, producers cast their eyes on the future and all they see is fear. Dark and dreadful, foreboding and often very alarming. I also find it very interesting that in human vs. Alien stand offs we are nearly

always the good guys, if humans are the bad guys is is often because of some horrific mutation, that makes the bad guys no longer fully human.

I digress…

Take a look at the current Swine Flu hubbub… I mean, yes the flu can be horrible… and it does cost some of the most vulnarable their lives… but is it worth this panic?  This absolute fear that grips us and fills our news papers and TV headlines…

Seriously… in a country of nearly 110 million people, 20 deaths have been confirmed, yet the news papers and on-line news outlets continue to flaunt numbers and phrases like this… “The death toll in Mexico is believed to be 160.”

Believed to be?? This is hard news?? Aw… come on.

Even so, these deaths though sad, are not out of the norm. Yearly flu of the more garden variety takes anywhere between 50 -150 small children each year in the US.  They can’t even give you an accurate guess as to how many adults die, there are just too many other factors.

Now I am not saying fear is bad, in fact it is good it is what keeps us alive. We are litterally hard wired for fear, but not to be fearful. Fear saves us in what could be quite nasty situations,  preditors, bad dates, or even zombies that only want us for our tasty brains.

Living in a state of fearfulness is bad, it keeps us from living the life God intended. When people are too fearful to help one aonther, when we are fearful of our finances or healh or anything we are all diminished.

When Jesus bid his disciples “Peace be with you” he was blessing them with a shalom, a peace, that enables the abundant love God intends for each of us, so that we might boldly go where… well wherever…with the good news that in Christ we are all called to life, now and forever, fear not!

The Shack

More info on this book from the Author.

The Shack… An interesting place to visit, but you are not meant to stay there….

Last week we took a quick look at the shack in our Adult Forum. It was the beginning of a great conversation. In fact, the consensus of those gathered was that we need to spend a little more time on The Shack.

So… Each Sunday in May, except the 10th we have a guest speaker coming in, we will go in depth looking at the pro’s and con’s of The Shack.

There has been quite a bit of heat generated by this book, some just gush over it, others are deeply concerned over what they view to be heresies this book promotes.

Personally, I liked the book quite a bit. I also have major problems with some of Paul Young’s theology and opinions.  However, I do not go to novels to build my faith, that privilege is given to the Bible. I am not afraid to talk about this book nor to encourage you to read it. But I do beg you, do not stay in the shack.

If you have read the book then you know that would be the authors advice as well! I am looking forward to the study and discussion this book will inspire over the next month. If you have questions or comments of your own about this book or our study, please leave a comment.

Here are several links I have found that talk about his book, some like it, others loath it… a good balance if you ask me… Use your head, use your heart, and use scripture as your guide in your time in The Shack.

This is Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill out in Seattle. You might say he has a strong opinion about The Shack!

Other Links- they should open in a new window for you.

http://markpenrith.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/shacking-up/

http://stevebishop.blogspot.com/2008/07/shack.html

http://doxxa.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/book-review-the-shack-is-it-heresy-or-good-literature/

http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2008/07/shacking-up-with-godwilliam-p-youngs.html

http://confessionalbytes.blogspot.com/2009/02/shack-book-review.html

http://www.workingpreacher.org/chartingculture.aspx?article_id=199

http://lutherlibrary.blogspot.com/2008/11/shack.html
There… that is enough to keep you thinking for a while…. let me know what you think!

I will be commenting on our study over the next few weeks so please… if you will…

Post a Comment today!

Well I did manage cookies

Well, today was my day off.

I started to think, “what did I accomplish?”

Not much really.

I ran to Home Depot with my wife to pick up a couple things for a display I am helping her make, and I made some cookies for her to take when she goes to visit her mother later this week… the rest are for us.

My garage is a mess, my “man cave” is nearly as bad.

I cleaned nothing today. I cured no one, as far as I know I didn’t make any impact on the world for good or ill.

I started to feel like crap for this.

Then I thought, why? Why do I feel like this for just mellowing out?  For not having an agenda and a to do list, for not meeting goals?

I mean, did God not rest on the 7th day after all the creating stuff was done?  Is not a Sabbath a built in need for us as human?  Were we not made to rest as well as to work?  So then why do I find goofing off so blasted bothersome… notice I didn’t say I couldn’t do it. I manage to goof off pretty well… but resting and feeling good about it.. well that… that I have a harder time with that.

Maybe it is the good mid-western work ethic I hear that I have, maybe it is the guilt and piety of my Scandiavian and Germanic ansesstors and the whole waist not idea, maybe it is sin, the forces of darkness niggling away at me trying to convince me that somehow someway I must always do more to be sucessful, to be loved, to be worthy…

I am not sure… but I will try to be at peace for yet another week with a messy garage and a man cave littered with wires and guitar parts.

Blessings to you as you seek to rest in who God created you to be.