Meditation on Collaboration #5
When it came to bringing Good News to people, Jesus did not even try to do it alone. In Matthew 4, Jesus is being tempted in the wilderness. Power and recognition were shown to him, but Jesus didn’t take the offer. However, he did realize he wasn’t going to be able to do this ministry thing alone.
Why he chose 12 and why they are a mix of brothers and singles is probably formulaic. In good Hebrew tradition, it would be a good idea to have 12 representatives. This correlates with the number of tribes of Israel –12. But holy numbers are also 3 (trinity), 4 (points on a compass), 7, (number of days in creation) and 40 (days and nights of rain that created the flood, number of years in the wilderness). Why didn’t he choose any of these numbers?
The truth is, nobody knows. The whole thing could have been more practical than we suspect. In reading the newspapers or on entertainment analysis shows, it’s clear that stars all have an entourage: that gathering of folks needed for driving, traffic control, bill payment, food procurement, front men, and image. The point is not the number of disciples, which seemed to expand over time. The point is that Jesus did not try to create a movement by himself. He intentionally set out to gather a group large enough for the mission. Throughout the gospels we find Jesus with people. The only times he was alone was when he was praying, or gathering his thoughts away from the crowds, or when he was deserted by the disciples. Speaking of praying, if you read the Gospel of Luke’s version, Jesus prayed about this selection process and from many disciples, he chose 12 from among them.
When we do campus ministry, or any kind of ministry, we cannot do it alone, either. We must continue to offer invitations to those around us—and we must have a clear idea what we want these invitees to be and to do. Jesus didn’t say, “Well, hang out with me and we’ll see what happens.” Jesus tried all sorts of things and events—healing people, dinner going, preaching tours, and the like. If we want to follow the model of Jesus, it’s all about identification of followers, training, experimenting and deeper training, so these disciples will have the tools to offer Good News.
If you have any kind of faith life, you will want to be joined with others in the mission. We cannot do this alone. Look in the job jar and see what disciple activity you’d like. After all, there weren’t 12 Jesuses in the band. There was Jesus and the entourage of twelve.
Matthew 4:
18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Luke 6
Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles
12Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 14Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, 16and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Saturday, September 8
Friday, September 7
Just a Few Good Rules
Meditation on Collaboration #4
Discovering what’s really, really important to faith has been the church’s job since forever. What true faith and belief is is not left up to individuals because there are no boundaries on what an individual might believe is truth. That used to tick me off. I wanted to believe what I thought was important about God and jettison the rest. Sometimes when I feel stunted by the church’s insatiable need for conformity, I get hammered by that same spiritual wanderlust—a need to throw off the shackles and go. I mean, where’s the creativity? Where’s the focus? Do we all have to think alike? Isn’t faith more than doing the same thing over and over, or saying the same thing over and over, and hoping it sticks? How can anyone find any meaning in everyone having to agree with others all the time?
One helpful story about dealing with this internal conflict is the scripture in Acts 15. Here’s the way scripture begins:
1Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” “It is necessary for them [everybody] to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”
It seems the early Jewish/Christian believers needed to agree on whether uncircumcised men could be considered followers of Jesus. The traditional folks said, “of course you do. Jesus was Jewish, the disciples were Jewish, ergo all real believers have to be Jewish, that is, circumcised. Circumcision is the Jewish mark. On the other side were those who believed, “Hey, who can contain God? Look at all these miracles that have been done by God among the non-Jews! Surely we can’t go on demanding everybody has to be circumcised? God is active among those who are Jews and those who are not! “11we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
The groups ranted for a while, then this decree came down from James, who was the head of the believers (traditional folks) in Jerusalem: “19Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, 20but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.”
So, when the deal went down, the only things that mattered were those that were evidence of God’s presence and to not drink blood, not eat meat sacrificed to foreign gods, and no fornication. Pretty simple, really. Just a few rules.
As groups age and mature, there have to be rules. If dorm life had no rules and the place was run by freshmen, that would be scary. If there were no rules on the highway, that would be deadly. If UNO had no rules, everyone would graduate and not pay a nickel for it and people would, literally, park everywhere!
As the followers of Christ have grouped themselves into churches and believing groups, they have expanded their rules, too. This is predictable because people keep on discovering new situations, and God bless them, they want to know what’s “the right thing to do here.” Seemingly, this request for rules has no end.
But the point for the day is this: collaboration is God’s rule of thumb for groups as well as individuals. It breaks down barriers, gets through our shared fears to our shared lives and promotes a healthy, if slightly rule bound, faith life.
Life together is a grand collaboration. Let’s get to it!
--fred
Discovering what’s really, really important to faith has been the church’s job since forever. What true faith and belief is is not left up to individuals because there are no boundaries on what an individual might believe is truth. That used to tick me off. I wanted to believe what I thought was important about God and jettison the rest. Sometimes when I feel stunted by the church’s insatiable need for conformity, I get hammered by that same spiritual wanderlust—a need to throw off the shackles and go. I mean, where’s the creativity? Where’s the focus? Do we all have to think alike? Isn’t faith more than doing the same thing over and over, or saying the same thing over and over, and hoping it sticks? How can anyone find any meaning in everyone having to agree with others all the time?
One helpful story about dealing with this internal conflict is the scripture in Acts 15. Here’s the way scripture begins:
1Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” “It is necessary for them [everybody] to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”
It seems the early Jewish/Christian believers needed to agree on whether uncircumcised men could be considered followers of Jesus. The traditional folks said, “of course you do. Jesus was Jewish, the disciples were Jewish, ergo all real believers have to be Jewish, that is, circumcised. Circumcision is the Jewish mark. On the other side were those who believed, “Hey, who can contain God? Look at all these miracles that have been done by God among the non-Jews! Surely we can’t go on demanding everybody has to be circumcised? God is active among those who are Jews and those who are not! “11we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
The groups ranted for a while, then this decree came down from James, who was the head of the believers (traditional folks) in Jerusalem: “19Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, 20but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.”
So, when the deal went down, the only things that mattered were those that were evidence of God’s presence and to not drink blood, not eat meat sacrificed to foreign gods, and no fornication. Pretty simple, really. Just a few rules.
As groups age and mature, there have to be rules. If dorm life had no rules and the place was run by freshmen, that would be scary. If there were no rules on the highway, that would be deadly. If UNO had no rules, everyone would graduate and not pay a nickel for it and people would, literally, park everywhere!
As the followers of Christ have grouped themselves into churches and believing groups, they have expanded their rules, too. This is predictable because people keep on discovering new situations, and God bless them, they want to know what’s “the right thing to do here.” Seemingly, this request for rules has no end.
But the point for the day is this: collaboration is God’s rule of thumb for groups as well as individuals. It breaks down barriers, gets through our shared fears to our shared lives and promotes a healthy, if slightly rule bound, faith life.
Life together is a grand collaboration. Let’s get to it!
--fred
Thursday, September 6
Best Friends forever
Collaboration #3
Best Friends Forever
Jonathan and David were best friends. They had been that way forever. Jonathan was the son of King Saul, and David was to be the anointed one, the one who would be king next. This made for a lot of palace intrigue, since normally, the son of the King would be next in line for succession.
But the boys were somewhat oblivious to this situation. Instead of letting this stuff get between them, they laughed and played and created games. That’s what friends are—seemingly oblivious to all the world and its vagaries, and focused on their friendship. Even when things got hot between David and Saul, the boys made a game out of the life and death situation. You can read all about this history in I Samuel, chapters 18-20.
For a devotion today, make a list of your best friends and pray for them.
Jonathan’s list was David, and he would put his life between David’s and the King. That’s a strong friendship and rare. Maybe you are not in that kind of situation—but you can still have best friends.
Aren’t friends just the best?
1 Samuel 20
1David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came before Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my life?” 2He said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me; and why should my father hide this from me? Never!” 3But David also swore, “Your father knows well that you like me; and he thinks, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.’ But truly, as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.” 4Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
Best Friends Forever
Jonathan and David were best friends. They had been that way forever. Jonathan was the son of King Saul, and David was to be the anointed one, the one who would be king next. This made for a lot of palace intrigue, since normally, the son of the King would be next in line for succession.
But the boys were somewhat oblivious to this situation. Instead of letting this stuff get between them, they laughed and played and created games. That’s what friends are—seemingly oblivious to all the world and its vagaries, and focused on their friendship. Even when things got hot between David and Saul, the boys made a game out of the life and death situation. You can read all about this history in I Samuel, chapters 18-20.
For a devotion today, make a list of your best friends and pray for them.
Jonathan’s list was David, and he would put his life between David’s and the King. That’s a strong friendship and rare. Maybe you are not in that kind of situation—but you can still have best friends.
Aren’t friends just the best?
1 Samuel 20
1David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came before Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my life?” 2He said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me; and why should my father hide this from me? Never!” 3But David also swore, “Your father knows well that you like me; and he thinks, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.’ But truly, as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.” 4Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
Wednesday, September 5
Uncommon Dreams Mix with Common People.
Meditation on Collaboration #2
Paul and Cornelius had nothing in common. Paul was a religious drifter, going from town to town presenting his views about Jesus, Jews and how a person needed to be Jewish to be a Christian. It stood to reason, that since Jesus was a Jew, everyone who was really going to have a shot at being saved needed to be Jewish. Cornelius was an Italian warrior, and though he was deeply spiritual and faithful to God, he was not Jewish. He had no real thought of being Jewish either, since he was an occupying foreigner and an officer in the army. He was tolerated and feared. He was as welcomed as any occupying army has ever been.
Both Paul and Cornelius had dreams—the kind you have when sleeping. Cornelius’s dream was a message to bring Paul from his seaside accommodations to the interior of the land. Paul was dreaming about how someone would send for him and he should go. And by the way, another part of the dream was this: all animals are clean (being clean is a really important concept—remember the story of the Good Samaritan? The man by the side of the road was unclean—that’s why no one wanted to stop and help. To read more of that story, go to Matthew 10: 25-37).
Paul went to Caesaria and all heaven broke loose on the people (who weren’t Jewish). This amazed Paul because he had been trained to think nothing beat being Jewish. He was wrong, it seems. In fact, it turns out that nothing is better than being with God. Wherever and whoever believes in God can have a share of the Holy Spirit.
Paul and Cornelius were collaborators for God—even though they started their spiritual journeys in different places. Does that mean people have to give up being Jewish or being worshippers of God to be saved? Some would say so.
I say, however, it’s not whether a person is this faith or that. The message of God is that God blesses collaboration and those who listen to and act on their dreams. These dreams are the vehicles of God.
God is looking for people to hear and see dreams. Dreams are the messengers of God.
The result, at the end of Chapter 10, is that all the people were blessed—and they became radically hospitable to one another. The non-Jews invited the Jews to stay for a few more days to exult in God’s spiritual life, even though they weren’t Jewish. The Jews decided to stay with the gentiles, even though the people in Caesarea had been viewed to be substandard and unclean.
Collaborators break down barriers, are really hospitable and move on with God.
Have you had any dreams lately? Maybe your dream is the collaborating link God is looking for. Why not wake up and smell a dream?
Acts, Chapter 10
1In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. 2He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. 3One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.” 4He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; 6he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” 7When 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, 8and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa. (There’s more to this story in a Bible—there’s one somewhere around you, I just know it).
Paul and Cornelius had nothing in common. Paul was a religious drifter, going from town to town presenting his views about Jesus, Jews and how a person needed to be Jewish to be a Christian. It stood to reason, that since Jesus was a Jew, everyone who was really going to have a shot at being saved needed to be Jewish. Cornelius was an Italian warrior, and though he was deeply spiritual and faithful to God, he was not Jewish. He had no real thought of being Jewish either, since he was an occupying foreigner and an officer in the army. He was tolerated and feared. He was as welcomed as any occupying army has ever been.
Both Paul and Cornelius had dreams—the kind you have when sleeping. Cornelius’s dream was a message to bring Paul from his seaside accommodations to the interior of the land. Paul was dreaming about how someone would send for him and he should go. And by the way, another part of the dream was this: all animals are clean (being clean is a really important concept—remember the story of the Good Samaritan? The man by the side of the road was unclean—that’s why no one wanted to stop and help. To read more of that story, go to Matthew 10: 25-37).
Paul went to Caesaria and all heaven broke loose on the people (who weren’t Jewish). This amazed Paul because he had been trained to think nothing beat being Jewish. He was wrong, it seems. In fact, it turns out that nothing is better than being with God. Wherever and whoever believes in God can have a share of the Holy Spirit.
Paul and Cornelius were collaborators for God—even though they started their spiritual journeys in different places. Does that mean people have to give up being Jewish or being worshippers of God to be saved? Some would say so.
I say, however, it’s not whether a person is this faith or that. The message of God is that God blesses collaboration and those who listen to and act on their dreams. These dreams are the vehicles of God.
God is looking for people to hear and see dreams. Dreams are the messengers of God.
The result, at the end of Chapter 10, is that all the people were blessed—and they became radically hospitable to one another. The non-Jews invited the Jews to stay for a few more days to exult in God’s spiritual life, even though they weren’t Jewish. The Jews decided to stay with the gentiles, even though the people in Caesarea had been viewed to be substandard and unclean.
Collaborators break down barriers, are really hospitable and move on with God.
Have you had any dreams lately? Maybe your dream is the collaborating link God is looking for. Why not wake up and smell a dream?
Acts, Chapter 10
1In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. 2He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. 3One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.” 4He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; 6he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” 7When 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, 8and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa. (There’s more to this story in a Bible—there’s one somewhere around you, I just know it).
Tuesday, September 4
Faith stories are not individual events.
Meditation on Collaboration #1
We do this faith life with others. Faith stories are not individual events.
In one of Ann Lamott’s books (she is coming to Omaha--read all about it in the Omaha World Herald http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10118776), she reminds us about how God used one of the bad girls of the bible to save Joshua’s spies. The story describes a number of values inherent in our great faith, one of which is that God’s purposes can use anybody and that sometimes the simple faith of the outsider is a of great help to the established community. In Joshua 2, we read all about how Rahab hides the spies from the King of Jericho and concocts a plan for their continued safety. She asks only that the Hebrews remember her act when they come back later to take over the town. The whole project is messy, since it includes a lady of the evening. But there it is, right there in the book of Joshua. It describes how representatives of the God’s community can collaborate with all kinds of folks in the creation of God’s Kingdom.
God’s plan includes the collaboration of an individual and a community. The story includes Rahab’s individual initiative on behalf of the Hebrew community. The point? the Biblical model describes how no an individual’s experience and action is validated through community. In this story, it goes even further by stating clearly, collaborators don’t even need to be between people of the highest societal morality. Rabab was a prostitute, yet she was part of the grand collaboration scheme in Joshua, chapter 2. For her collaborative efforts, she is among those listed in the genealogy of Jesus (Mt. 1:5)
Could it be that despite your past history, God is looking for your help in creative a faithful community on UNOs campus?
Watch for visitors at the door, they just might be the folks God is sending you for your collaboration in creation.
--f
Joshua 2
1Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there. 2The king of Jericho was told, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.” 3Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land.” 4But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from. 5And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.” 6She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. (go ahead, read the rest of the story)
We do this faith life with others. Faith stories are not individual events.
In one of Ann Lamott’s books (she is coming to Omaha--read all about it in the Omaha World Herald http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10118776), she reminds us about how God used one of the bad girls of the bible to save Joshua’s spies. The story describes a number of values inherent in our great faith, one of which is that God’s purposes can use anybody and that sometimes the simple faith of the outsider is a of great help to the established community. In Joshua 2, we read all about how Rahab hides the spies from the King of Jericho and concocts a plan for their continued safety. She asks only that the Hebrews remember her act when they come back later to take over the town. The whole project is messy, since it includes a lady of the evening. But there it is, right there in the book of Joshua. It describes how representatives of the God’s community can collaborate with all kinds of folks in the creation of God’s Kingdom.
God’s plan includes the collaboration of an individual and a community. The story includes Rahab’s individual initiative on behalf of the Hebrew community. The point? the Biblical model describes how no an individual’s experience and action is validated through community. In this story, it goes even further by stating clearly, collaborators don’t even need to be between people of the highest societal morality. Rabab was a prostitute, yet she was part of the grand collaboration scheme in Joshua, chapter 2. For her collaborative efforts, she is among those listed in the genealogy of Jesus (Mt. 1:5)
Could it be that despite your past history, God is looking for your help in creative a faithful community on UNOs campus?
Watch for visitors at the door, they just might be the folks God is sending you for your collaboration in creation.
--f
Joshua 2
1Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there. 2The king of Jericho was told, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.” 3Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land.” 4But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from. 5And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.” 6She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. (go ahead, read the rest of the story)
Monday, September 3
Real Rest
Getting real rest
Every seventh day, we need rest. This is wisdom. The ancient faithful took hold of this direction and applied it to their lives. It helped them thrive.
In general, I think this is a good plan. Pushing the limits of our bodies must be periodically followed by periods of rest. We cannot always be working. Nor can the land always be worked. It needs extended rest. The principle is that extended rest applies to people and to the land. This will allow God’s shalom to reign.
It is clear we all need rest on a regular basis and we need extended rest on a less frequent basis. The land and animals under our care also need rest.
We live in times of constant blurred lines between work and home, play and work, recreation and rest. We don’t always see the difference in these concepts. That doesn’t mean the words are meaningless, but simply a challenge. We need to rest. These words of rest may be the most difficult of all biblical words for us and our 24/7 culture to hear. We people love work, we love entertainment, we love to produce.
This morning’s Business section carried a comment about work life: “We are all on call all the time.” I know how I feel when I turn off my cell phone and computer: deprived and detached. Danger signs are apparent in the working world. This is not so good.
What would it take to be a wise person of regular periods of rest and regular periods of extended rest? What will happen if we are always working? Will that life of work bring God’s shalom? I think not.
Work is good and is part of creation, but it can function only with times of rest.
--Fred
Leviticus 25:1-7
1The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying: 2Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a sabbath for the LORD. 3Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in their yield; 4but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the LORD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your unpruned vine: it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. 6You may eat what the land yields during its sabbath—you, your male and female slaves, your hired and your bound laborers who live with you; 7for your livestock also, and for the wild animals in your land all its yield shall be for food.
Every seventh day, we need rest. This is wisdom. The ancient faithful took hold of this direction and applied it to their lives. It helped them thrive.
In general, I think this is a good plan. Pushing the limits of our bodies must be periodically followed by periods of rest. We cannot always be working. Nor can the land always be worked. It needs extended rest. The principle is that extended rest applies to people and to the land. This will allow God’s shalom to reign.
It is clear we all need rest on a regular basis and we need extended rest on a less frequent basis. The land and animals under our care also need rest.
We live in times of constant blurred lines between work and home, play and work, recreation and rest. We don’t always see the difference in these concepts. That doesn’t mean the words are meaningless, but simply a challenge. We need to rest. These words of rest may be the most difficult of all biblical words for us and our 24/7 culture to hear. We people love work, we love entertainment, we love to produce.
This morning’s Business section carried a comment about work life: “We are all on call all the time.” I know how I feel when I turn off my cell phone and computer: deprived and detached. Danger signs are apparent in the working world. This is not so good.
What would it take to be a wise person of regular periods of rest and regular periods of extended rest? What will happen if we are always working? Will that life of work bring God’s shalom? I think not.
Work is good and is part of creation, but it can function only with times of rest.
--Fred
Leviticus 25:1-7
1The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying: 2Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a sabbath for the LORD. 3Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in their yield; 4but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the LORD: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your unpruned vine: it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. 6You may eat what the land yields during its sabbath—you, your male and female slaves, your hired and your bound laborers who live with you; 7for your livestock also, and for the wild animals in your land all its yield shall be for food.
Sunday, September 2
God Is Bigger than I Think
Making Room in our Minds
I think the God we worship says a lot about our hopes and dreams for ourselves and the world. Indeed, the crux of religion is this: how does God speak in our time. To whom does God speak? What difference does it make if God speaks.
Years ago, after the holocaust and World War II, some philosophers believed God was dead. After all, it was argued, how could so much pain be allowed by any kind of God? Extreme realism, cynicism and analysis forced the human race to an untenable conclusion that God was mortal after all. Later, this view died away of its own weight, because people were incessant in their demand for hope. People now reasoned, “hope can be found even in the microcosms of every day life.” The result has been a variety of views of “God Lite.” At times, all this God talk has turned the Creator and Savior into an illusion—like the human population is making God into that for which we hope.
Perhaps this difficulty was the result of our minds being too small to grasp that God is beyond what we make Him/Her to be. We think, “Well, if thus and so is happening, and God isn’t responding, God must be irrelevant.” Rather, I think, we make the error that God has only one way of doing things, one way of appearing and one way of being described. (We also make God our own scapegoat giving us good reason to be passive and do nothing on ecological and human to human issues.)
The book Isaiah has a wonderful passage in chapter 40 which describes God to be worshiped—and that God does not have a mono-personality: that God description has two personalities. The first is creator and the second is redeemer.
Isaiah 40:25-31
25 To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
God is not dead because of what we believe or don’t. God is not dead because of the bad news we see and read and atrocities humans force upon each other and the planet. God lives because of what God is: creator and redeemer, among other descriptions. Biblically, the creator God is our redeemer is reflected in the Exodus, the nation Israel under David, Jesus and the disciples, Jesus and Jerusalem, and Jesus and the world. That the creator God is also redeemer means matter matters.
The biblical truth is that God is creator and redeemer and is unwilling to let go. The promise of a redeemed planet continues through all creation, including us.
Blessings on you this day!
--Fred
I think the God we worship says a lot about our hopes and dreams for ourselves and the world. Indeed, the crux of religion is this: how does God speak in our time. To whom does God speak? What difference does it make if God speaks.
Years ago, after the holocaust and World War II, some philosophers believed God was dead. After all, it was argued, how could so much pain be allowed by any kind of God? Extreme realism, cynicism and analysis forced the human race to an untenable conclusion that God was mortal after all. Later, this view died away of its own weight, because people were incessant in their demand for hope. People now reasoned, “hope can be found even in the microcosms of every day life.” The result has been a variety of views of “God Lite.” At times, all this God talk has turned the Creator and Savior into an illusion—like the human population is making God into that for which we hope.
Perhaps this difficulty was the result of our minds being too small to grasp that God is beyond what we make Him/Her to be. We think, “Well, if thus and so is happening, and God isn’t responding, God must be irrelevant.” Rather, I think, we make the error that God has only one way of doing things, one way of appearing and one way of being described. (We also make God our own scapegoat giving us good reason to be passive and do nothing on ecological and human to human issues.)
The book Isaiah has a wonderful passage in chapter 40 which describes God to be worshiped—and that God does not have a mono-personality: that God description has two personalities. The first is creator and the second is redeemer.
Isaiah 40:25-31
25 To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
God is not dead because of what we believe or don’t. God is not dead because of the bad news we see and read and atrocities humans force upon each other and the planet. God lives because of what God is: creator and redeemer, among other descriptions. Biblically, the creator God is our redeemer is reflected in the Exodus, the nation Israel under David, Jesus and the disciples, Jesus and Jerusalem, and Jesus and the world. That the creator God is also redeemer means matter matters.
The biblical truth is that God is creator and redeemer and is unwilling to let go. The promise of a redeemed planet continues through all creation, including us.
Blessings on you this day!
--Fred
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