Exodus 3:1-15: Dust Off the Sandals, There's Still a Journey

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. - Exodus 3:1-15

At this point in the story, God has placed Moses into the witness protection program, moved him to Midian and gave him a new identity as the son-in-law of Jethro. At this point, forty years after he fled a murder charge in Egypt, he thinks he is now in a different story, the story of a shepherd, father, married man and son-in-law of a wealthy priest in Midian.  

But God takes this opportunity to remind Moses that he is a part of a larger story, a story which he had almost been able to forget after 40 years. He states, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." It caught my attention that God said "I am the God of your father" Now that was someone Moses probably hadn't thought of in a long time because Moses never really knew his father, having been separated from his family as a baby. But the Bible records his name as "Amram" and his mother's name as "Jochabed" 

God reminds him that he there was another story and God had a part for him. He might think that at 80, his course was set and there was nothing new on the horizon. He might be thinking of retiring on a comfortable sheep income, but God says there's another task, to lead reintroduce the people of Israel to him and it wasn't the retiring sort of job. It was very demanding and would use all of his strength and faculties.

God reminds us tthat we are here in another story and God has a part for us. We might think that we are old enough to cruise into the sunset without glory and without drama. We might be thinking of retiring on a comfortable retirementincme, but God says there's another task. If there were no more tasks, then he would take us home. But the task he has for us isn't the retiring sort of job. It is  demanding, using all our strength and faculties. That's what he gave those to us for. 

So dust off the sandals, because there's still a journey.

Luke 4:1-13: Refusing the Devil's Bargain

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. - Luke 4:1-13

Are you driven by what you need? Are you driven by what you control? Are you driven by who you think you are to other people? Then, the devil has a deal for you.  And if we are honest, we would probably say that we have probably raised our hand for one of these "deals" at some time in our life. Why? Because we are needy people in a world that is uncertain and we aren't sure that we're worth anyone's regard. It is true. We are needy, the world is out of control and we can't tell how anyone really feels about us. So we accept the hand out from the devil, whether grudgingly or gladly.

But Jesus knew that the devil is a terrible "lord" So he didn't take the deal. And when, after refusing the deal, the devil revisited him "at an opportune time" he was killed and lived again, he offers a hand out to all us who have been willingly suckered into the devil's deal and fallen. Because Jesus is a good "lord"--the kind I want to serve because I believe he is good. 

Random Poems from August 2016

 The chuff of train brakes released.

The receding curve of the lights.

The increasing metronome clack of wheels.

The waves and faces pressed to glass.

Will there be another dream?

I wished someone would give me something free

And when I took it, I was afraid. 

How to repay a debt unborrowed, or live unobliged?

Will they still notice me?

Five otters slid down the river bank  and

Four frogs saw them frolic and

Three owls shook their head and

Two salmon swished by one day.

-----------------

Two cows walked down the road. Swaying, chewing

, 

Turn your smile on me.

The kind word, the eyes light up, chatting, friends remembered.

With them. So I linger. Please.

Turn your smile on me.

The harsh word and you turned away.

The day stretches long before me, uncertain reception when I return.

Turn your smile on me.

The shy look, the tired leaning in, the hug with no hurry.

Freshly washed hair under my chin,

Turn your smile on me.

I was a bicycle racer

Yellow and black

Off the ramps and around tight curves, 

Looking over my shoulder.

Flurry of pedals and no brakes.

I beat my brother around the block.

Romans 10:8-13: The Direction Setter

But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” - Romans 10:8-13

 The word of God needs to be in two places in order to be effective: in your heart (because that is the center of your will) and in your mount (because that is how you project yourself in social situations). Is Jesus going to be Lord of both.

What does it mean to have Jesus as Lord? Well, it means that what we do is in line with what he wants. We have to internalize his style so that when we do things, it looks like what Jesus would do in the same space. We don't hear from Jesus all the time, but he has left plenty of sample interactions with people to teach us how we should do it. 

There can be a temptation to duplicate his results without duplicating his heart, and that works well for a while in well-defined situation. But life has a way of throwing curve balls at us and "duplicate" answers won't work because they need the creativity of the spirit of God to find new ways to hit that curve ball. Otherwise we are applying old stereotypical Christian solutions to new problems and new situations and that just looks stale.

If we don't control our mouths under Jesus' control, then we are poor representatives of him. Beyond his genius, Jesus' always had words that comforted and challenged those who were with him. That required connecting his mouth with his heart and required that both were integrated with the Father's will. No easy task, but definitely something that I can try to get to by thinking carefully about what I am thinking and the words that arise from that thinking. 

O Lord, set the direction for my heart and my mouth.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11: Remembering to Testifying to Rejoicing

When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. - Deuteronomy 26:1-11

These verses are a good example of how remembering is an act of testifying. The command was given before the thing--crossing into the land God had given them--but before it had happened. When everyone would have made it across the Jordan, they would go to the tent of meeting and bring offerings from their first produce from the land and say out loud that God had done what he promised. They would say this out loud to each other. This was a declaration, in public, that they agreed that God had given it just as he had promised.  

There were several parts to this remembering: First was the verbal statement of their origin as wanderers, slaves in Egypt as rescued people and now as settlers of the promised land and now as individuals who receive what "you, Lord, have given me." Second was giving the basket containing produce from their first crop in the new land. Third was to place that basket at the altar and bow down. Each action was both a way to remember--by speaking, by giving and by bowing down--and also a way of testifying to its truth. From verse 11: "Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household."

What I got from this is the importance of gratitude to God, not just in my thoughts, but also in my words, making my work and offering to God and my submission to God's orders. How do I show that I am really thankful? By saying it out loud when I'm recounting our history, by recognizing tangibly God's goodness in my work and by giving him my allegiance as my Lord. And, of course, coming through this process rejoicing. 

Who was listening? The people, the Levites and the foreigners. The people and the Levites should already known, but the foreigners who were not God-followers might not. 

Haiku: December 24 - February 17

Mysteries abound
but I like well-worn sofas
for my ignorance.

Seven umbrellas

Shelter our heads to the bus

Laughing, relieved gasps

Running man to cross

Red man to draw me up short

Rain puddles, splatters

When the morning breaks

You turn your smile on me til

When dusk settles in.

Sketched for me to find, 

You draw worlds out from a phrase

Found at sentence depth.

 

Sleep on empty days?

I wish but there's more to do.

Let out a deep sigh.

The sound of footsteps

Either a mouse or a grown child

Just one is louder.

I can see blue skies

Through the gaps in tree branches.

Still yearning for leaves.

Week before New Year:
Left over Christmas regret

Mixed with unclaimed cheer.

Lights pulse with music.

Crowds pause to take their selfies.

Wander nighttime paths.

Change of the season.

Marked by the lengthening days. 

New Year starts slowly.

Grey skies and grey fog.

Obscured trees line the distance.

Birds are still sleeping. 

Trees like fragile sticks

Stand sentry along the road

With ragged salutes.

Hummingbird darts out

From between winter flowers. 

Seeking sustenance. 

Took the long road home 

(the short road is too scary)

But it was worth it.

Crossing morning grass

Birds peck through leaves for breakfast.

"Something must be there!"

Wind can't stir the trees.

Leaves fallen, bagged and removed.

Rain pushes the sky.

Which way should I walk?

Into the field or forest?

Its such a nice day.

Ember glow on hills

Silhouette of the morning

Foreshadows the dawn.

Leave the promised land.

Not so "promised" any more.

Move to "hopeful" place.

Oceans separate

And I can't afford to call.

I'll write a letter.

That my inmost thoughts

Are known is both comforting

And terrifying.

Sleepy eyelids droop.

My head nods over and falls.

Til a jerk brings it up. 

Smell of bread rises up

The stairs to where I'm working.

Soon I will descend.

Thoughts barely fitting

In the confines of my head

Wait! Now another!

Exalted on high

Neck aches and eyes are blinded

Anxious eyes look up. 

New course corrections.

Back on the previous track.

Try the next exit.

Birds splashing water.

Then check each ruffled feather.

Then fly fully groomed.

Heart's eyes cannot see

If they're not fully opened.

Lord, open them, please!

So deep and profound

The voice of God speaks across

Ages, to reach our days.

Cycle by cycle

Speaking across the ages.

Forming into words. 

Not stumble, fall, rise

But discover and explore

Further up and in.

Alas, it's fallen.

The city of the mighty

In which they trusted.

Lone flower waiting

Expecting in the morning

Winter sun's glow.

Gray looks good on you. 

Unusual vibrancy.

Sign before more years.

Coffee pours, fragrant.

Into the mug, my hand waits.

To lift for a sip.

Like plans without thought

Is the life without the Lord. 

Can't see, can't do well.

At the kitchen table

It is tough to determine

The shape of the world.

Birds under wet leaves.

Darting out to grab a bite

Dodging the rain drops.

Go to sleep one night

Wake to a whole new morning.

Were they connected.

Coming back to life

Temporarily on hold 

For a trip abroad.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11: All Fools Before Christ

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. - 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

"Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed." There is a foolish desire to be unique in what we believe-that somehow we are the one or among the few who have seen and believed the truth--but this is just foolishness. There were many smart people in Corinth--those who could parse ideas and grasp their implications with the best--and they took joy in exploring those big thoughts and in discussing them to find the jewels to be discovered therein--and they took pride in being able to do that with an ease that surpassed the others around them. 

I know that joy. I hear the echoes of my own pride when I read Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 11:5 where he said "I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” He was that guy who excavated the nuggets of truth and confounded his debate opponents. But when he encountered Jesus--the same Jesus whose church he had been persecuting--he found out what a fool he had been and how far he had missed the truth.  About himself he wrote, "For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God."

And Paul saw that in the Corinthians--that same joy, that same pride, that same arrogance, that same...foolishness. To have been so smart and so wrong. To have been so close and yet missed the truth about Jesus, about his life, death and resurrection from the dead. 

And I see it in me--that same joy, that same pride, that same arrogance, that same...foolishness. I have been so smart and often so wrong. So I must return like Paul, like the Corinthians, to Jesus the Christ who, after he "died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared" The rest is a working out of the implications of these truths, which none of us worked out on our own, but which all of us need equally. That puts us on an even playing field, all fools before Christ.