Meditation on Trust #5
It’s the end of the work week and time for the weekend. In a conversation yesterday with a UNO junior, he told me clearly his agenda for the next three days was to study Spanish and have just enough time to party. So that’s pretty much the weekend: study and party. Your agenda might be similar. Or you might be in the thick of a paper and thinking of putting off the party until the job is done.
Nehemiah’s story is like the latter. He had a job to do and he wasn’t going to be happy until it was completed. It seems Nehemiah was in the field of engineering; his job was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by attacking foreigners generations before. Though he was a servant to a foreign king, he went ahead and asked for permission to rebuild the walls of the “city of his fathers.” The king granted permission and he also provided for wood for the beams.
In a way, Nehemiah was rebuilding his life and the lives of his people by rebuilding the city. This is great urban planning. The Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce would have been excited. Just think of it: coffee and tea bars on every corner. Rug, clothing and bookshops in the Old Market. Special events around the holidays. This place that had once been a grand city had become an empty wasteland. But now comes a man, Nehemiah, with a plan, resources and dedication. He’s going to rebuild the city. Who knows? It might become a great city again. And certainly, its rebuilding will give honor and glory to God.
I’ve been thinking about this idea for some time and I propose it to you: God gets excited when we participate in the shift of our world of ruin to a world that’s robust. The larger purpose of our being on this planet and at UNO is not our degrees and training, valuable though they are. The larger purpose is the transforming of our selves and our world. Our degrees and our training can be much larger than a paycheck. Trusting in our larger purpose gives us hope.
Some wish to wait for others to take the lead. I’m hoping you will take a role in this cosmic shift. If you want to party about that this weekend, go ahead. Being part of God’s shift in our city is a big enough reason!
Nehemiah 2
1In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I [Nehemiah] carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before. 2So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor with you, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my ancestors’ graves, so that I may rebuild it.” 6The king said to me (the queen also was sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a date. 7Then I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may grant me passage until I arrive in Judah; 8and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, directing him to give me timber to make beams for the gates of the temple fortress, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was upon me.
Friday, September 21
Thursday, September 20
Meditation on "Who do You Trust?" #4
Who do you Trust? #4
I tend to trust people who have good opening lines. Mr. Spock used to say, “Live long and prosper.” That’s a good line.
The angels in the Bible had a good opening line, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you news of great joy.” God had a great opening line, speaking of creation, “It is very good.” Jesus had a good opening line when he was on a recruiting tour: “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” It was an invitation, a statement of purpose and a tantalizing comment.
Ann Lamott, a Christian writer, had a good opening line last night: “I didn’t bring a prepared speech, I only came to tell you the things that I really believe are really, really, really true about faith and about writing.” That line relaxed people and created a sense of trust. By the end of the hour an a half journey together with her, there was a sense of well being and hope. To conclude her talk, Ms. Lamott played a favorite gospel song of hers over the sound system. Then she danced on stage (and she had told a few stories about how she and her boyfriend are not good dancers), she asked people to stand and sing along (the crowd clapped in time) and she set out to be herself. Would that we could all do that!
I was wondering why I felt trust and compassion for and with this woman from California. I had heard everything is perfect there. She said, “No, it’s not perfect. I’m not perfect.” And she also doesn’t think the way God shows him/herself to us is perfect. “have you ever noticed you need an answer from God right now, and the answer comes in a week or two or three or some months later? I find that annoying.”
Ann talked about situations she’s been in and looked for God. She’s been sober for 21 years and was converted to being a Presbyterian 22 years ago. It was striking to me her father and mother are atheists, yet her grandfather was a Presbyterian missionary in China. Evidently, her father did not like his father’s lifestyle and found little in it worth saving. Maybe there was some conflict there. Maybe there was a rebel. Maybe things just didn’t pan out. Maybe the weather and lifestyle in California is too perfect. Who knows?
Anyway, a good opening line can be truthful and yet be friendly, even inclusive, and put people at ease. You might want an opener for your paper, for your friend, for your friends friends. You might even need a good opener for people who are on the edges. Perhaps even for God (“Hey God, my life is great right now. Thanks a bunch.”) It might be a good idea to try out a few of them. Why not write them down and keep them handy? Who knows when you might need one? After all, you are taking a leadership role in your life. Do people have good reason to trust you?
Here’s a great opening line. It’s specific, inclusive (all people) and has purpose:
John 1
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
I tend to trust people who have good opening lines. Mr. Spock used to say, “Live long and prosper.” That’s a good line.
The angels in the Bible had a good opening line, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you news of great joy.” God had a great opening line, speaking of creation, “It is very good.” Jesus had a good opening line when he was on a recruiting tour: “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” It was an invitation, a statement of purpose and a tantalizing comment.
Ann Lamott, a Christian writer, had a good opening line last night: “I didn’t bring a prepared speech, I only came to tell you the things that I really believe are really, really, really true about faith and about writing.” That line relaxed people and created a sense of trust. By the end of the hour an a half journey together with her, there was a sense of well being and hope. To conclude her talk, Ms. Lamott played a favorite gospel song of hers over the sound system. Then she danced on stage (and she had told a few stories about how she and her boyfriend are not good dancers), she asked people to stand and sing along (the crowd clapped in time) and she set out to be herself. Would that we could all do that!
I was wondering why I felt trust and compassion for and with this woman from California. I had heard everything is perfect there. She said, “No, it’s not perfect. I’m not perfect.” And she also doesn’t think the way God shows him/herself to us is perfect. “have you ever noticed you need an answer from God right now, and the answer comes in a week or two or three or some months later? I find that annoying.”
Ann talked about situations she’s been in and looked for God. She’s been sober for 21 years and was converted to being a Presbyterian 22 years ago. It was striking to me her father and mother are atheists, yet her grandfather was a Presbyterian missionary in China. Evidently, her father did not like his father’s lifestyle and found little in it worth saving. Maybe there was some conflict there. Maybe there was a rebel. Maybe things just didn’t pan out. Maybe the weather and lifestyle in California is too perfect. Who knows?
Anyway, a good opening line can be truthful and yet be friendly, even inclusive, and put people at ease. You might want an opener for your paper, for your friend, for your friends friends. You might even need a good opener for people who are on the edges. Perhaps even for God (“Hey God, my life is great right now. Thanks a bunch.”) It might be a good idea to try out a few of them. Why not write them down and keep them handy? Who knows when you might need one? After all, you are taking a leadership role in your life. Do people have good reason to trust you?
Here’s a great opening line. It’s specific, inclusive (all people) and has purpose:
John 1
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
Wednesday, September 19
Meditation on "Who do You Trust?" #3
Who Do You Trust? #3
It’s Wednesday and it’s a good day to start moving.
There is a difference between a maze and a labyrinth. A maze is built to have lots of stops and blind alleys. Try it out at http://games.yahoo.com/games/kidsmz.html The challenge is finding the way through, because there are many alternatives, but there is only one way through. A maze is designed to be frustrating. A maze has its own value, though. It teaches us that we must be self-reflective and have a good memory if we’re going to find our way through the puzzle. We must be self-reflective, because we experience a variety of emotions when the way is not simple. Self-reflective people wonder how to cope with conflict, mixed messages, and being lost.
A labyrinth, on the other hand, has only one way through from the outside to the center. Though the pathway is circular and goes back and forth, there is no issue of deciding which way is the right way. If a person stays on the path, there is no way to get lost. If a person will trust the path, that person will find the center. This center can be understood
as a person’s spiritual center, or the place where we connect with God. (On Tuesday, Sept. 25, there will be a maze in MBSC at the fireplace lounge, bring friend and come to experiement!)On October 13, a dozen or so of us will go to an area campground and walk a maze in a cornfield and a labyrinth in a meadow. We will build leadership skills by working through this kind of complexity as a group. (We’ll also climb trees a’la rock climbing) You are invited to join us. Look for more information later.
So is the way to God complex or simple? Is the way to God for you a series of switchbacks and difficult and competing solutions and possibilities? Or is the path to God as simple as getting on the right path and staying on it?
Both possibilities are reflected in scripture. Moses, for example, stopped in front of a burning bush and received clear direction there. What could be simpler? God is sending Moses to bring the suffering people out of Egypt. That’s the job. Jesus, on the other hand, spent his entire adult life praying, searching, leading and finally dying in the service of a way of life. The liberation of the people was not physical, but spiritual. On the surface, it looks simple; underneath, it’s clearly complex. (Have you ever tried to lead a group of twelve?)
Rather than tell you which is the true path, let me say simply that both approaches have value and both approaches, when used as the only approach, fall short of making us any more faithful. In the end, we must find ways to be faithful and simple, and we must be self-reflective and not fall for the “there’s only one way, and by the way that’s my way” attitude.
The important thing today and every day, is to take a step and get moving. We are called to make a decision to trust that calls us out of our self-centeredness and into God-centeredness.
Exodus 3
1Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”
Tuesday, September 18
Meditation on "Who do You Trust?" #2
Who do you trust #2
Since we’re on an Ann Lamott roll here (she’s going to be at the Holland Center Wednesday night at 7PM; it’s a free event and you are invited; the doors open at 6PM), I thought of presenting the story of Jesus in the Temple. According to the Gospel of Luke (this story does not appear anywhere else, by the way), Jesus has been in the temple for three days and his parents are frantic with their searching for him. Evidently, the omniscient powers of Jesus were not received from or bestowed on his biological parents. And in the end after they heard his explanation concerning his whereabouts and why didn’t they know where he’d be, they did not know what he was talking about. Sounds just like a teenager/parent conversation.
Ann asked a priestly friend of hers on this topic: “What would Jesus have done with thirteen-year-olds?” Father Tom replied:
“In biblical times, they used to stone a few thirteen-year-olds with some regularity, which helped keep the others quiet and at home. The mothers were usually in the first row of stone throwers, and had to be restrained.” And she later comments, “Every parent who saw this note on my wall laughed and felt better; nothing helps like letting your ugly common secrets out.” (p. 95 in “Plan B: Further thoughts on Faith”)
The Boy Jesus in the Temple
Luke 2
41Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50But they did not understand what he said to them. 51Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
I suspect that last line was added to make us all feel like Jesus was divine and never caused anyone any trouble. It could also be we’d like a nice tame little savior—someone we can always appreciate. Evidently he never experienced the drama of 7th grade.
But the story of Jesus in the Temple is more than a cute diversion. It’s a reminder that most of us want to have it all: we want to be wise in our youth, respected by our elders, free to not check in with anyone, have no conflict, and always be right. But by our college years, we have to give up on that. We know wisdom comes from conflict, by being in healthy groups and not just the hard partying ones, self-assessment that includes looking deeply into our failures, and the realization that sometimes there is no “right.” It’s just the decisions we make in the midst of a mess.
I knew a sixteen-year-old who was morose one day. I asked him what was up. He simply looked up with his swollen eyes and said, “I just realized my childhood is over.” Perhaps at sixteen he was a little slow on the uptake, but at least he got it—if you’re reading this, your childhood is over. Of course, this doesn’t mean life is no fun anymore. The Psalmist reminds us, “Joy comes in the morning.” But the quality question remains: Now what? My friend, Lori, made a marvelous comment to this point recently. She noted, “What we need are armbands that have this abbreviation, “WWAD?” Translation: “What Would an Adult Do?”
In our post childhood times of decision-making: Who is worthy of your trust? Who will help you into adulthood? Who is your guide?
Trying to do it alone is a failed plan. Non-assessed animal behavior doesn’t work. So, here’s the question, “Now that you’re not a kid anymore, who do you trust?”
Care for some tea in the temple?
Since we’re on an Ann Lamott roll here (she’s going to be at the Holland Center Wednesday night at 7PM; it’s a free event and you are invited; the doors open at 6PM), I thought of presenting the story of Jesus in the Temple. According to the Gospel of Luke (this story does not appear anywhere else, by the way), Jesus has been in the temple for three days and his parents are frantic with their searching for him. Evidently, the omniscient powers of Jesus were not received from or bestowed on his biological parents. And in the end after they heard his explanation concerning his whereabouts and why didn’t they know where he’d be, they did not know what he was talking about. Sounds just like a teenager/parent conversation.
Ann asked a priestly friend of hers on this topic: “What would Jesus have done with thirteen-year-olds?” Father Tom replied:
“In biblical times, they used to stone a few thirteen-year-olds with some regularity, which helped keep the others quiet and at home. The mothers were usually in the first row of stone throwers, and had to be restrained.” And she later comments, “Every parent who saw this note on my wall laughed and felt better; nothing helps like letting your ugly common secrets out.” (p. 95 in “Plan B: Further thoughts on Faith”)
The Boy Jesus in the Temple
Luke 2
41Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. 46After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50But they did not understand what he said to them. 51Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
I suspect that last line was added to make us all feel like Jesus was divine and never caused anyone any trouble. It could also be we’d like a nice tame little savior—someone we can always appreciate. Evidently he never experienced the drama of 7th grade.
But the story of Jesus in the Temple is more than a cute diversion. It’s a reminder that most of us want to have it all: we want to be wise in our youth, respected by our elders, free to not check in with anyone, have no conflict, and always be right. But by our college years, we have to give up on that. We know wisdom comes from conflict, by being in healthy groups and not just the hard partying ones, self-assessment that includes looking deeply into our failures, and the realization that sometimes there is no “right.” It’s just the decisions we make in the midst of a mess.
I knew a sixteen-year-old who was morose one day. I asked him what was up. He simply looked up with his swollen eyes and said, “I just realized my childhood is over.” Perhaps at sixteen he was a little slow on the uptake, but at least he got it—if you’re reading this, your childhood is over. Of course, this doesn’t mean life is no fun anymore. The Psalmist reminds us, “Joy comes in the morning.” But the quality question remains: Now what? My friend, Lori, made a marvelous comment to this point recently. She noted, “What we need are armbands that have this abbreviation, “WWAD?” Translation: “What Would an Adult Do?”
In our post childhood times of decision-making: Who is worthy of your trust? Who will help you into adulthood? Who is your guide?
Trying to do it alone is a failed plan. Non-assessed animal behavior doesn’t work. So, here’s the question, “Now that you’re not a kid anymore, who do you trust?”
Care for some tea in the temple?
Monday, September 17
Meditation on "Who do You Trust?" #1
Who do you trust?
Ann Lamott is coming to town on Wednesday. You’re invited to hear her speak at the Holland Center at 7PM. Doors open at 6 PM and the event is free. Your friends at our UNO campus ministry have read her works and believe she has an honest integrity and speaks truth. If you need transportation, please let me know by phone or email and we will arrange something for you.
Let me share how she came to be sponsored by a connected group of progressive congregations.
Creighton University offered Ms. Lamott, even though she is not Catholic, the opportunity to lecture on behalf of a women’s health series. This is normal, well and good. However, in her most recent book, published after the contract between Creighton University and Lamott was finalized, she speaks about euthanasia and abortion as options that do not always deserve condemnation. Certain folks in the Catholic hierarchy and in the associated Creighton medical community saw a chasm between accepted Catholic teaching and what Lamott had written. They discovered boundary issues. Discussion with Lamott followed and the contract was revoked.
Let me say Creighton has to walk a fine line here. As an academic institution, it needs to welcome new ways of thinking and be on the edge of academia., or we’ll continue to think the earth is the center of the universe. On the other hand, it cannot flaunt traditional Catholic teaching and expect no consequences. Like most of life’s decisions, this was not a clean cut, but looked jagged and bloody.
A group of leaders from progressive congregations in Omaha (from the denominations that support our campus ministry at UNO, yea!), quickly decided Ann Lamott should definitely come to Omaha to speak because she has some deep and valid things to say about God, Jesus, her teenage son, Sam, politics in our nation, and her own faith journey. These are powerful and accessible stories of faith (how God is with us in coping with alcoholism, power in the family and such). Within 24 hours, the new deal was done and she’s coming on Wednesday. There is room for 2,000 of our closest friends and I hope you’ll join us.
So who and what do you trust? Church teachings? Authority figures? Your gut feeling? If it feels good, do it? The Jesus who broke rules and demanded expected much and demanded change? The Jesus who was traditional?
The way we answer these questions speaks to how we view ourselves: are you a person who needs to be told what to do and how to act in order to be offered salvation? Are you a person who needs to make his/her own decision without reference to traditional ways of thinking? or are you someone who is comfortable with God and trusts that God is not vindictive if you listen and question and creates room for varied opinion? These questions go to the very core of how we view ourselves as people and God’s children.
We may not get all this understood and answered by Wednesday, but I hope you continue your dialogue with God!
John 2:
3The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
23When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. 24But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.
Ann Lamott is coming to town on Wednesday. You’re invited to hear her speak at the Holland Center at 7PM. Doors open at 6 PM and the event is free. Your friends at our UNO campus ministry have read her works and believe she has an honest integrity and speaks truth. If you need transportation, please let me know by phone or email and we will arrange something for you.
Let me share how she came to be sponsored by a connected group of progressive congregations.
Creighton University offered Ms. Lamott, even though she is not Catholic, the opportunity to lecture on behalf of a women’s health series. This is normal, well and good. However, in her most recent book, published after the contract between Creighton University and Lamott was finalized, she speaks about euthanasia and abortion as options that do not always deserve condemnation. Certain folks in the Catholic hierarchy and in the associated Creighton medical community saw a chasm between accepted Catholic teaching and what Lamott had written. They discovered boundary issues. Discussion with Lamott followed and the contract was revoked.
Let me say Creighton has to walk a fine line here. As an academic institution, it needs to welcome new ways of thinking and be on the edge of academia., or we’ll continue to think the earth is the center of the universe. On the other hand, it cannot flaunt traditional Catholic teaching and expect no consequences. Like most of life’s decisions, this was not a clean cut, but looked jagged and bloody.
A group of leaders from progressive congregations in Omaha (from the denominations that support our campus ministry at UNO, yea!), quickly decided Ann Lamott should definitely come to Omaha to speak because she has some deep and valid things to say about God, Jesus, her teenage son, Sam, politics in our nation, and her own faith journey. These are powerful and accessible stories of faith (how God is with us in coping with alcoholism, power in the family and such). Within 24 hours, the new deal was done and she’s coming on Wednesday. There is room for 2,000 of our closest friends and I hope you’ll join us.
So who and what do you trust? Church teachings? Authority figures? Your gut feeling? If it feels good, do it? The Jesus who broke rules and demanded expected much and demanded change? The Jesus who was traditional?
The way we answer these questions speaks to how we view ourselves: are you a person who needs to be told what to do and how to act in order to be offered salvation? Are you a person who needs to make his/her own decision without reference to traditional ways of thinking? or are you someone who is comfortable with God and trusts that God is not vindictive if you listen and question and creates room for varied opinion? These questions go to the very core of how we view ourselves as people and God’s children.
We may not get all this understood and answered by Wednesday, but I hope you continue your dialogue with God!
John 2:
3The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
23When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. 24But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.
Thursday, September 13
Meditation: focusing on the Big Picture:#4
It’s Thursday, so you might be looking for a leader for your weekend. You know the type: someone who is fun, upbeat, will go with you to lots of fun or thrilling events, still leaving time for completion of papers and studies so you’re all prepared for Monday. You’re looking for someone who will fill you life.
Yesterday, we read about the ordeal in Plattsmouth with the beating of a man with baseball bats. Not much in the area of positive leadership there! Today’s less than stellar report concerns an OPS teacher and girls softball coach who single handedly destroyed her career by driving the wrong way on a one way in downtown Omaha (right in front of the Police Station!) and was ticketed for a Federal DUI!
We’re tempted stick out proverbial noses in the air and think: “How tawdry!” when the reality is most of us are lucky we’ve not gotten caught. We certainly are looking for leaders for the weekend.
Here’s a thought:
When Jesus called his few disciples, he went out immediately and began to heal people. He could have read the news reports and gotten what the British call a “toffee nose.” In those days, chronic illness was thought to be tied to bad behavior—by you, your relatives, people in your tribe, or your leaders. It was logical to believe healing could come only by wiping the slate clean through a sacrifice to God. Jesus, the leader, had another plan:
Matthew 4:
Jesus Ministers to Crowds of People
23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. 25And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Jesus led by healing, not by calling peoples’ misdeeds to attention. Later in his life as Son of God and Savior, he adopted additional means of calling attention to God in peoples’ lives, but his first actions were healing ones.
This weekend, we might want to look for a healing presence; or for that matter, be one.
Yesterday, we read about the ordeal in Plattsmouth with the beating of a man with baseball bats. Not much in the area of positive leadership there! Today’s less than stellar report concerns an OPS teacher and girls softball coach who single handedly destroyed her career by driving the wrong way on a one way in downtown Omaha (right in front of the Police Station!) and was ticketed for a Federal DUI!
We’re tempted stick out proverbial noses in the air and think: “How tawdry!” when the reality is most of us are lucky we’ve not gotten caught. We certainly are looking for leaders for the weekend.
Here’s a thought:
When Jesus called his few disciples, he went out immediately and began to heal people. He could have read the news reports and gotten what the British call a “toffee nose.” In those days, chronic illness was thought to be tied to bad behavior—by you, your relatives, people in your tribe, or your leaders. It was logical to believe healing could come only by wiping the slate clean through a sacrifice to God. Jesus, the leader, had another plan:
Matthew 4:
Jesus Ministers to Crowds of People
23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. 25And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Jesus led by healing, not by calling peoples’ misdeeds to attention. Later in his life as Son of God and Savior, he adopted additional means of calling attention to God in peoples’ lives, but his first actions were healing ones.
This weekend, we might want to look for a healing presence; or for that matter, be one.
Wednesday, September 12
Meditation: focusing on the Big Picture:#3
When You Come to Yourself
This morning’s news had a disturbing article about a beat down in Plattsmouth. The reporter tried to make sense out of the “love lost and my ex is bigger than you are” theme. Seems as though the second fight between the Weeping Water group and the jilted boy in the Plattsmouth group came to the house of the father of the jilted. He woke up with the racket and went to the front porch to be met with a hale of aluminum baseball bats. He’s in intensive care. Read it here: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10130064
The article reads like it was a pretty stupid and immature activity. Both boys and girls on both sides ended up looking a lot like the Sharks and Jets in “Westside Story”—Teens trying to vie for territory and the honor of a woman. It didn’t work out that way. They all lost.
I’m reminded of the story of a youngster in Luke 15:
The Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother
11Then Jesus _ said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ 20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
The story goes on to reconciliation. But first the son had to do some self reflection and take ownership for his actions.
This story looks like everyone was going to live happily ever after. But they didn’t—the family continued in gracious love and unpretentious dysfunction. (read more in your bible—I know you’ve got one; also they’re available online for free). But the son and father do reconcile.
A problem with living with people is this: we don’t get it right all that often. But when we don’t, the biblical way of doing this is to fess up, take stock, make reparations and move on. That’s what’s meant by “he came to himself.” Are you ready to come to yourself?
This morning’s news had a disturbing article about a beat down in Plattsmouth. The reporter tried to make sense out of the “love lost and my ex is bigger than you are” theme. Seems as though the second fight between the Weeping Water group and the jilted boy in the Plattsmouth group came to the house of the father of the jilted. He woke up with the racket and went to the front porch to be met with a hale of aluminum baseball bats. He’s in intensive care. Read it here: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10130064
The article reads like it was a pretty stupid and immature activity. Both boys and girls on both sides ended up looking a lot like the Sharks and Jets in “Westside Story”—Teens trying to vie for territory and the honor of a woman. It didn’t work out that way. They all lost.
I’m reminded of the story of a youngster in Luke 15:
The Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother
11Then Jesus _ said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 13A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ 20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
The story goes on to reconciliation. But first the son had to do some self reflection and take ownership for his actions.
- What he’d done (run away and used up his share of the estate
- What he stood for (his values)
- Who he was related to (father and brother)
- Where his home really was (with his father and brother—with all its warts)
- What he needed to do to reconcile
This story looks like everyone was going to live happily ever after. But they didn’t—the family continued in gracious love and unpretentious dysfunction. (read more in your bible—I know you’ve got one; also they’re available online for free). But the son and father do reconcile.
A problem with living with people is this: we don’t get it right all that often. But when we don’t, the biblical way of doing this is to fess up, take stock, make reparations and move on. That’s what’s meant by “he came to himself.” Are you ready to come to yourself?
Tuesday, September 11
Meditation: focusing on the Big Picture:#2
What’s in Front of You?
In the movie, “Dead Poet’s Society”, a teacher at a prestigious school for boys has taken his charges to a flat plaza like space where they are walking in procession. Of their own accord, they fall into step with each other and begin marching to a common rhythm. Left righ left. Around and around they go in a large circle, left right left. Finally, everyone is in step with everyone else, left right left, in military precision. The teacher, played by Robin Williams, has the boys stop and review: “Why did you all get in step with everyone else?”
They had no answer except that it seemed natural to get in step with each other. But in the movie, the boys weren’t going anywhere in particular. Instead, they were just going around in a circle. The question then becomes not only, “why did you get in step with everyone else”, but “where were you going?”
The book of Exodus describes how the Hebrews escaped slavery of Egypt and how they ran for the wilderness. Now that they were safe from the clutches of Pharaoh, they needed a new set of skills to live in this land. After instructions, the end of Exodus 40 gives specifics on when the camp was to move, where the people were to go.
Exodus 40
34Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; 37but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.
As long as the pillar of flame or the pillar of cloud were in front of the people, they knew whether to go and where to go. If the pillar was still, the message is “don’t go on” If the pillar moved to a new location, the people were to decamp and follow. The people knew where to go by following what was in front of them. The story goes on to report how the people never lacked for food or water or direction during the whole 40 year saga.
If you’re feeling lost, it’s good to know what’s in front of you. Perhaps you don’t know the fire and cloud. If you’re not feeling lost, it’s good to acknowledge what’s in front of you and what you’re following. You might be following a dream or a destiny or a hope. Whatever you’re following, it will take you somewhere or nowhere.
What’s in front of you?
In the movie, “Dead Poet’s Society”, a teacher at a prestigious school for boys has taken his charges to a flat plaza like space where they are walking in procession. Of their own accord, they fall into step with each other and begin marching to a common rhythm. Left righ left. Around and around they go in a large circle, left right left. Finally, everyone is in step with everyone else, left right left, in military precision. The teacher, played by Robin Williams, has the boys stop and review: “Why did you all get in step with everyone else?”
They had no answer except that it seemed natural to get in step with each other. But in the movie, the boys weren’t going anywhere in particular. Instead, they were just going around in a circle. The question then becomes not only, “why did you get in step with everyone else”, but “where were you going?”
The book of Exodus describes how the Hebrews escaped slavery of Egypt and how they ran for the wilderness. Now that they were safe from the clutches of Pharaoh, they needed a new set of skills to live in this land. After instructions, the end of Exodus 40 gives specifics on when the camp was to move, where the people were to go.
Exodus 40
34Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; 37but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.
As long as the pillar of flame or the pillar of cloud were in front of the people, they knew whether to go and where to go. If the pillar was still, the message is “don’t go on” If the pillar moved to a new location, the people were to decamp and follow. The people knew where to go by following what was in front of them. The story goes on to report how the people never lacked for food or water or direction during the whole 40 year saga.
If you’re feeling lost, it’s good to know what’s in front of you. Perhaps you don’t know the fire and cloud. If you’re not feeling lost, it’s good to acknowledge what’s in front of you and what you’re following. You might be following a dream or a destiny or a hope. Whatever you’re following, it will take you somewhere or nowhere.
What’s in front of you?
Meditation: focusing on the Big Picture:#1
Staying Tuned to the Big Picture
Picture this: a desk with computer paraphernalia & speakers, remnants of food and drink, photos, tv zapper, a few books, note paper, and other stuff. A set of papers is due this week and they need to be outlined. How to get focused and get the work done?
When as years go by, people start accumulating stuff—more sets of games, more books, more clothes, more TVs, more cars, more more, more. In many homes, garages used to be places where people put their automobiles. Back in the day, the average family felt good about having one car. Today, there’s often at least one for every person of driving age. The result of all this stuff fallout is that the cars no longer fit in the garage, (unless you have a house with three or four garages) because the garage is already full of stuff. So some bright person started building storage facilities. More places for more stuff!
Distractions abound in the study area. They abound in other parts of our lives, too. So much to do and so much stuff to wade through. We wonder: “Will I ever have enough time?” How do I prioritize? A simple lifestyle is hard to implement. Steven Covey, a prolific writer on putting values into motion, puts it this way: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” One of the Psalms says this, “I keep the Lord always before me (16.8).
Daily routines to keep the God as our focus is not a distraction from the main thing. And for where you are in life, God many not be the main thing for you. Maybe getting degree is the main thing. Maybe a healthy relationship with a significant other is the main thing. Maybe your sexuality, relationships to parents, your job, loneliness or stress is the main thing. Maybe figuring out your main thing is the main thing.
If you’re struggling, why not try something daring: Try God as your focus for a few days. Think about God being with you while traveling. Is the Lord in your car? Is the Lord in your attitude? Is the Lord in your relationships? Is the Lord with you in your degree search? Is God with you in your questioning? Is God around in your search for tickets to the perfect concert? (or event a better day at work?)
Imagine God is somewhere on your desk in that mess, maybe even under the pile, next to the used video and pin number. Who knows what you’ll find if you move that stack!
Psalm 16
Song of Trust and Security in God
A Miktam of David.
1 Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.” _
3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.
4 Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; _
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
7 I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Picture this: a desk with computer paraphernalia & speakers, remnants of food and drink, photos, tv zapper, a few books, note paper, and other stuff. A set of papers is due this week and they need to be outlined. How to get focused and get the work done?
When as years go by, people start accumulating stuff—more sets of games, more books, more clothes, more TVs, more cars, more more, more. In many homes, garages used to be places where people put their automobiles. Back in the day, the average family felt good about having one car. Today, there’s often at least one for every person of driving age. The result of all this stuff fallout is that the cars no longer fit in the garage, (unless you have a house with three or four garages) because the garage is already full of stuff. So some bright person started building storage facilities. More places for more stuff!
Distractions abound in the study area. They abound in other parts of our lives, too. So much to do and so much stuff to wade through. We wonder: “Will I ever have enough time?” How do I prioritize? A simple lifestyle is hard to implement. Steven Covey, a prolific writer on putting values into motion, puts it this way: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” One of the Psalms says this, “I keep the Lord always before me (16.8).
Daily routines to keep the God as our focus is not a distraction from the main thing. And for where you are in life, God many not be the main thing for you. Maybe getting degree is the main thing. Maybe a healthy relationship with a significant other is the main thing. Maybe your sexuality, relationships to parents, your job, loneliness or stress is the main thing. Maybe figuring out your main thing is the main thing.
If you’re struggling, why not try something daring: Try God as your focus for a few days. Think about God being with you while traveling. Is the Lord in your car? Is the Lord in your attitude? Is the Lord in your relationships? Is the Lord with you in your degree search? Is God with you in your questioning? Is God around in your search for tickets to the perfect concert? (or event a better day at work?)
Imagine God is somewhere on your desk in that mess, maybe even under the pile, next to the used video and pin number. Who knows what you’ll find if you move that stack!
Psalm 16
Song of Trust and Security in God
A Miktam of David.
1 Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.” _
3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.
4 Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; _
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
7 I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Saturday, September 8
Jesus and the Entourage
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.
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.
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
Saturday, September 1
It's not about getting to heaven...
Christianity is not about getting to heaven
Most of us like music and singing. I’ve discovered in the churches I’ve served that people love to sing the songs they know. As I travel from church to church on Sundays, or hear students on campus, I pick up right away on that. Whether traditional or contemporary, high liturgy or praise services, the songs people sing best are the ones they know the best.
One of the traditional song hits I know best is “Love Divine All Loves Excelling”, where in line two, we read, “Joy of heaven to earth come down.” The model is that God came to earth in Jesus. The model is that heaven has come to earth. The theological point is not that we die and go to heaven—the point is that heaven comes to earth while we are alive!
In the modern hymn, “Sanctuary” we hear about being “pure and holy”—not there, but here.
In the Lord’s prayer, we hear the ancient story: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Again, it’s not about getting to heaven, but acknowledging that God is remaking earth into heaven.
Our God-talk today is that God is the great recycler—not making something brand new, but something that is re-newed, changed, recycled.
A friend and colleague of mine, Rev. Ebb Munden, recently preached a sermon on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of a church. In the sermon he said:
Too often I revert to trusting in myself or the powers of this world rather than God alone. And I worry about the fact that much of what I have attempted to do in my ministry to achieve peace with justice in our church and in our world has not met with the success I wanted. I still grieve at the pain, the injustice, the violence in our church and our world, and I am impatient with my own unfaithfulness. Nevertheless, I discover that an amazing thing has happened. I find myself filled with a persistent hope for the future even when I see little evidence to justify it.
Hope is different from optimism. Optimism believes that things will always turn out the way we want . Hope knows that things often do not turn out the way we want but trusts that God rules; God’s will, will be done. To say that God rules is not to say that God wants whatever happens, or that God is the cause of whatever happens, or that God controls all that happens. It is to live in the resurrection faith that in everything that does happen God is acting to raise up new possibilities for the future to serve God’s will that there be life, new life, fulfilling life, eternal life for all.
I believe Christianity is not about going to heaven, but about realizing heaven comes to earth, and is recognizable in following God and trusting God. Heaven is God’s will coming being reborn on earth. The earth is being remade—recycled before our eyes. Does not that make us earth keepers?
--fred
Matthew 6:7-13
7“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9“Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
Most of us like music and singing. I’ve discovered in the churches I’ve served that people love to sing the songs they know. As I travel from church to church on Sundays, or hear students on campus, I pick up right away on that. Whether traditional or contemporary, high liturgy or praise services, the songs people sing best are the ones they know the best.
One of the traditional song hits I know best is “Love Divine All Loves Excelling”, where in line two, we read, “Joy of heaven to earth come down.” The model is that God came to earth in Jesus. The model is that heaven has come to earth. The theological point is not that we die and go to heaven—the point is that heaven comes to earth while we are alive!
In the modern hymn, “Sanctuary” we hear about being “pure and holy”—not there, but here.
In the Lord’s prayer, we hear the ancient story: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Again, it’s not about getting to heaven, but acknowledging that God is remaking earth into heaven.
Our God-talk today is that God is the great recycler—not making something brand new, but something that is re-newed, changed, recycled.
A friend and colleague of mine, Rev. Ebb Munden, recently preached a sermon on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of a church. In the sermon he said:
Too often I revert to trusting in myself or the powers of this world rather than God alone. And I worry about the fact that much of what I have attempted to do in my ministry to achieve peace with justice in our church and in our world has not met with the success I wanted. I still grieve at the pain, the injustice, the violence in our church and our world, and I am impatient with my own unfaithfulness. Nevertheless, I discover that an amazing thing has happened. I find myself filled with a persistent hope for the future even when I see little evidence to justify it.
Hope is different from optimism. Optimism believes that things will always turn out the way we want . Hope knows that things often do not turn out the way we want but trusts that God rules; God’s will, will be done. To say that God rules is not to say that God wants whatever happens, or that God is the cause of whatever happens, or that God controls all that happens. It is to live in the resurrection faith that in everything that does happen God is acting to raise up new possibilities for the future to serve God’s will that there be life, new life, fulfilling life, eternal life for all.
I believe Christianity is not about going to heaven, but about realizing heaven comes to earth, and is recognizable in following God and trusting God. Heaven is God’s will coming being reborn on earth. The earth is being remade—recycled before our eyes. Does not that make us earth keepers?
--fred
Matthew 6:7-13
7“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9“Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
Friday, August 31
Meditation on tents
Tent Pitching
After college graduation, a group of us went to upper New York State to canoe and camp. We pitched tents in the wilderness of the islands and lakes around us. Our celebration was to get away from the tensions of exams, wrestling with life goals (“what are you going to do after you graduate?”) and life as we knew it. The desire to get away from it all is still around, and probably will be as long as there are houses and weekends—especially national holiday weekends. People are taking their tents and driving to all points of the compass to get away to something different.
God appreciates that, but God also does it differently when it comes to tents. Tents are a well-known commodity in scripture. Abraham entertained there, Jacob moved too meet his brother with them, the Hebrews marched through the desert with them, and Paul was known to be a tent-maker. These temporary structures were built for travel as well as a place away from the elements, even while being in the midst of them.
In the Gospel of John, what was translated “dwelt” (v. 14) also means, “pitched a tent.” Verse 14 could be read this way: “And the word became flesh and God pitched a tent among us.” That God chose to be with the people makes where that happened a sacred place. God is with us, pitching a tent with us wherever we go.
Besides the sacredness of the space, there also is the idea of the temporariness of the structure. No footings were dug and filled to keep the tent from shifting. When the tent was packed, the earth was once again revealed. Sacredness did not move with the tent, it stayed with the earth. The earth was sacred. It still is.
If God cared for the earth in revelatory acts of pitching a tent, are we not also called to care for the earth—because it is sacred? What can you do today to demonstrate you honor the sacredness of the earth?
John 1
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, _ and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. _
10He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, _ and his own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, _ full of grace and truth.
Wednesday, August 29
No Rapture, just an earthy party
No Rapture, just a party;
based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The Bible is full of stories on banquets and invitations as if to proclaim God’s life among us is all about sumptuous feasts and happy gatherings. Look at the stories of the prodigal son (Luke 15), the groom and the bridal party (Matthew 25.6), even Joseph and his reuniting with his brothers and father (Genesis 42). There are stories of Jesus eating and drinking with short people, taxing people, lazy people, frantic people, wise people, possessed people and more. I recall, as well, the big entrance into Jerusalem just before the last supper (Matthew 21). In fact, Jesus spent a lot of time with a wide variety of folks who, presumably, knew how to party! This leads me to an easy conclusion: The biblical indicators are that, out of thanksgiving, we can all be about celebrating God’s love for all creation.
When we break into the letters ascribed to Paul, we find an additional nuance: these festive meetings involve going out to meet the dignitary and bringing the dignitary to the event. Paul was brought from the house of Simon by the sea to the house of the soldier, Cornelius in Acts 10; and in Acts 28:15, the Christians in Rome journeyed journey out to meet Paul and become part of his entourage as he entered the capital city.
I like what Steven Bouma-Prediger says here:
[The oft quoted passage below] does not describe “the rapture”—believers being whisked off the Earth and the Earth being burned up to nothing. Indeed, contrary to what many Americans believe, there is no “Rapture” in the bible. Paul’s picture here is not about escaping from the Earth but about greeting the King as he returns to establish shalom on Earth. Christian eschatology is not escapist but earthly and earthy. And since our ethics is shaped by our eschatology, our actions in the present ought to reflect this earthly and earthy view of God’s good future.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, _ about those who have died, _ so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. _ 15For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. _ 16For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
What’s biblical is that Christ is coming and his followers will have an ecstatic meeting in the air with him. And right after that—an earthly and earthy party.
based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The Bible is full of stories on banquets and invitations as if to proclaim God’s life among us is all about sumptuous feasts and happy gatherings. Look at the stories of the prodigal son (Luke 15), the groom and the bridal party (Matthew 25.6), even Joseph and his reuniting with his brothers and father (Genesis 42). There are stories of Jesus eating and drinking with short people, taxing people, lazy people, frantic people, wise people, possessed people and more. I recall, as well, the big entrance into Jerusalem just before the last supper (Matthew 21). In fact, Jesus spent a lot of time with a wide variety of folks who, presumably, knew how to party! This leads me to an easy conclusion: The biblical indicators are that, out of thanksgiving, we can all be about celebrating God’s love for all creation.
When we break into the letters ascribed to Paul, we find an additional nuance: these festive meetings involve going out to meet the dignitary and bringing the dignitary to the event. Paul was brought from the house of Simon by the sea to the house of the soldier, Cornelius in Acts 10; and in Acts 28:15, the Christians in Rome journeyed journey out to meet Paul and become part of his entourage as he entered the capital city.
I like what Steven Bouma-Prediger says here:
[The oft quoted passage below] does not describe “the rapture”—believers being whisked off the Earth and the Earth being burned up to nothing. Indeed, contrary to what many Americans believe, there is no “Rapture” in the bible. Paul’s picture here is not about escaping from the Earth but about greeting the King as he returns to establish shalom on Earth. Christian eschatology is not escapist but earthly and earthy. And since our ethics is shaped by our eschatology, our actions in the present ought to reflect this earthly and earthy view of God’s good future.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, _ about those who have died, _ so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. _ 15For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. _ 16For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
What’s biblical is that Christ is coming and his followers will have an ecstatic meeting in the air with him. And right after that—an earthly and earthy party.
Tuesday, August 28
A String on God’s Pinky
Genesis 8:1-9:17
The grand story of the flood reminds us that God has made a covenant with all of us. All of us humans and all the animals on the earth, as well: “8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.”
I was reminded in this scripture of life on the ark, of how the family of Noah trusted God for the journey, and how, in the end, God fulfilled a promise of hope to all the animals. We are meant to be a gathering of humans in the midst of the wider gathering of all creation. This is hard to remember.
Yesterday was the first day of the second semester at UNO. We had a difficult assignment—to make friends with all the students as they trudged through the Plaza. Oxygen was playing, free food was available and the intense heat made us grateful for the breeze. Not all students were particularly thinking about God at this moment in their lives. Most were interested in cell phone conversations and relationship building. The last class was a fleeting moment ago. Now it was time for something fresh. A new beginning.
Steven Bouma-Prediger says it this way:
Many read this story as a story about the covenant with Noah, but like a steady drumbeat, eetigh times in ten verses (9:8-17) Sctiputre tells us that God’s covenant is with more than humans. Iondeed, it is with the Earth itself. We tend top think that God is intereted only in us humans, but this covant with creation tells us otherwise. And while we think the rainbow is for us00to remind us of God’s mercy—the text tells us that the rainbow serves as a reminder primarily to God. As Frederick Buechner puts it, “the rainbow is like a string tied around God’s pinky, lest God forget his everlasting covenant. God see the rainbow and remembers his covenant with creation.
Enjoy today’s renewed creation, and tie something on your pinky to help you remember!
--Fred
The grand story of the flood reminds us that God has made a covenant with all of us. All of us humans and all the animals on the earth, as well: “8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.”
I was reminded in this scripture of life on the ark, of how the family of Noah trusted God for the journey, and how, in the end, God fulfilled a promise of hope to all the animals. We are meant to be a gathering of humans in the midst of the wider gathering of all creation. This is hard to remember.
Yesterday was the first day of the second semester at UNO. We had a difficult assignment—to make friends with all the students as they trudged through the Plaza. Oxygen was playing, free food was available and the intense heat made us grateful for the breeze. Not all students were particularly thinking about God at this moment in their lives. Most were interested in cell phone conversations and relationship building. The last class was a fleeting moment ago. Now it was time for something fresh. A new beginning.
Steven Bouma-Prediger says it this way:
Many read this story as a story about the covenant with Noah, but like a steady drumbeat, eetigh times in ten verses (9:8-17) Sctiputre tells us that God’s covenant is with more than humans. Iondeed, it is with the Earth itself. We tend top think that God is intereted only in us humans, but this covant with creation tells us otherwise. And while we think the rainbow is for us00to remind us of God’s mercy—the text tells us that the rainbow serves as a reminder primarily to God. As Frederick Buechner puts it, “the rainbow is like a string tied around God’s pinky, lest God forget his everlasting covenant. God see the rainbow and remembers his covenant with creation.
Enjoy today’s renewed creation, and tie something on your pinky to help you remember!
--Fred
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