Haggai 1:15-2:9: Still Here and Still at Work

On the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month.  In the second year of King Darius, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” - Haggai 1:15-2:9

'For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.'

What does it look like when God is with you? I think that we--especially Americans--view the signs of God with us and "success" in a certain way: a story with a reconciliation, a big comeback win and a happily ever after. But this story, the disappointment when the exiles returned to a much diminished temple, reminds God's people that God is not slow and God isn't on our schedule. We need to leave God's reputation in God's hands.

I don't like that because it doesn't look good for God. Many times if I am thinking this, I am really saying that I don't like this because it doesn't look good for me or my group or my family. That is, I have staked so much on God's looking good that when he looks bad I look bad. And I don't want to look bad. It has stopped being about God and started being about me. We need to leave God's reputation in God's hands. 

Many of the psalms and prophets try to motivate God with this. "If you don't do something, God, people will ask what kind of God are you?" Unfortunately for me, God's answer is, "I can wait for the better outcome. I am not anxious and you shouldn't be anxious either."

I admit, I need encouragement some times. I am not that patient or confident. So I ask for the small sign, even if its not the whole enchilada, at least a taquito to hold me over. As the Lord says to Haggai, "And my Spirit remains among you." He's still here and still at work. 

1 Timothy 2:1-7: God Includes All Who Disagree With God

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. - 1 Timothy 2:1-7

"...who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." 

There are a lot of "all" words in these verses. "made for all people", "all those in authority", "all people to be saved", "ransom for all people" and "mankind" (i.e. all people) Kings, leaders and Gentiles seem to be questionable, in the minds of some people. They are immoral, ignorant and headed in directions that are diametrically opposed to the way of God. There is temptation to just write people like this off, saying they get what is coming to them--that if we just ignore them, they will ultimately get what they deserve. But Paul flips this around. Rather than ignoring or isolating these people, he has been appointed to engage with them. In doing so, he is doing helping fulfill Jesus' own mission: "as ransome fo all people"

Part of that engagement is praying for the leaders in all ways: "petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving" That is, we pray for what we know or imagine are the struggles of the leaders. 

Then he goes beyond this to describe the "peaceful and quiet lives" citizens should live under these leaders. That is, our default posture is not rebellion but peace. Like Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." because they are creating an environment where growth and health are possible, not just for themselves but also for those around them. 

Then he says that he is a true and faithful teacher. That is not a role that can be achieved from a distance. Sure, you can convince your buddies how smart you are. But Paul wasn't appointed to preach to his buddies. Rather to those who explicitly were not his buddies, the Gentiles. 

 When I read the words "all" in these verses, I am reminded how ambitious God's plan of rescue is for the world and how much he must love all the people, even those who flaunt their disobedience or apathy. Grant that we could have the same attitude, even with those we disagree with.

Psalm 79:1-9: One Hurt By My Sin

O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild. They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.

How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.

Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. - Psalm 79:1-9

 "How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?"

It is interesting how the author characterizes God's motivation in allowing the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of their neighbors. He calls it "jealousy"--"how long will your jealousy" burn. Is God the spurned lover who retaliates in a rage? And, following this line of thinking, is God going to respond to my sinfulness in the same way, in being angry at me?

Jealousy is a term about relationships--the relationship between lover and the beloved. The author uses this term--jealousy--to describe how God feels. Not the emotion of a static deity, but the emotion of a God who loves his people with an incredible amount of emotion. God is angry when we follow other voices--voices "that do not acknoledge" God. Voices that we like better than the voice of God himself. On one hand, he is angry that we are so easily tempted by other voices or even the sound of our own voice. On the other hand, he has no sympathy to those who deluded us and lead us astray. Jealousy is not the word for enemies, it is the word for lovers who choose another. 

God loves us with an intensity, so intense that the God of the universe is hurt by what we do. His love is too great to let us walk away. Love that desires nothing more than a restored relationship. 

When I think of God as someone hurt by my sin rather than a list of rules that I have broken, I think I am coming closer to the truth which ought to govern my life.

Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1: Watching a Train Wreck

You who are my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?”

“The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”

Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. - Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1

 "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved."

This is the tragedy of the redeemed. We rest in the solace of the fact that we are forgiven, and the urgency of repentance recedes from our consciousness. But this apathy is killing us and we idley pursue other things to fill up the emptiness inside. These things to take the place in our hearts that only God can fill are frustrating and even angering to God who cares for us. It is like the relationship between a drug user, his drug of choice and the parent who watches him gradually destroyed by his addiction. We are the addicts, chasing temporary solace while God sits by.

In these cases, what should God do to motivate us? Is he helpless in this case because of the magnitude of his mercy? No, he is not, but he knows that the solution requires bringing us to a place where we want him more than those other "gods" which we have tried to use to bring meaning, security and control in our lives. Sometimes we don't even realize that we have done this, this settling for the grace of lesser gods. Sometimes we think God is still there, to rescue us, even when things go wrong and even when we've been effectively ignoring his direction.

In these verses, God lets the other things that his people have been depending on, the land, the city, the temple all to fall away. Some of his people think that God would be upset, but not that upset. So they wait. But then God doesn't respond quickly. They fall into despair and that despair is heartbreaking to those watching this trainwreck of a nation: "Since my people are crushed, I am crushed"

Is God looking at me and watching a trainwreck of a person, slowly wasting away on a diet of insubstantial and meaningless God-substitutes? I hope not and when I slide that way, I pray he will not need to have to withdraw the same way he did to his people to get my attention.

Luke 13:10-17: Nitpicking A Miracle To Death

On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. - Luke 13:10-17

When God does something wonderful for someone, suddenly the spotlight is no longer on me and I sometimes feel jealous. I mean God has done wonderful things in my life and what happened to this someone is no more incredible than what happened to me. So I nitpick and find something that they aren't doing just right so that their "wonderful" moment wasn't quite as wonderful. By knocking them down, I am putting the spotlight back on myself. And that is sin.

The most incredible day in the life of this woman was the day when she met Jesus. He struck down the spirit that was crippling her, letting her experience--for the first time in "eighteen long years"--walking upright and probably without pain. But when Jesus did that, the spotlight was taken from the "synagogue leader" who probably felt himself the most upright in the whole town. So that leader looked for something that would make the woman look less impressive. "Oh, healed. Well, she was healed on the Sabbath and all good Jews know that God himself rested on the Sabbath and therefore no miracles from God occurred on the Sabbath." Bam! Put that woman--and Jesus--in their place. But Jesus revealed his comments for what they were--a thin veneer of righteous over a heart full of selfishness. 

I am guilty like this. Minimizing the work of God (and the credit he should rightfully get from it) by trying to make it smaller than it was (it was a miracle) by nitpicking all the flaws so that it appears less miraculous. But the lie is not in the miracle, it is in the nitpicking. "Oh yeah, but you didn't do X or Y or Z. How could you do that?" Instead of giving God full credit and letting him deal with the question of details. I'm probably the guy in the New Jerusalem complaining about the environmental impact reports that weren't filed before it was installed on planet Earth. But God is great. And God does good work. And any attempt by me to distract from that is wrong.

Hebrews 12:14-29: Don't Allow Yourself To Be Trivialized In My Sight

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” - Hebrews 12:14-29

"Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord" The first part of that sentence seems harmless: "Make every effort to live in peace with everyone..." If it says "make every effort" and I tried really hard to get along with people, then haven't I met my obligations? And if they are still mad at me, what can I do? I mean, I tried hard right and they didn't respond so if we aren't at peace, it isn't my fault. Right?

Even the second part of the sentence seems pretty tame: "be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." It is easy to read holiness as being a good person and we know that God requires that we are holy to be close to him. We know that we are supposed to follow the rules and act like God would expect of us.

So what's the big deal?

Holiness isn't just a warm and fuzzy. It actually can be scary. The author goes back to Old Testament, when Moses and the people of Israel were learning about God and he said they need to treat him differently. Getting close to God was like getting close to fire. That's why they had to be careful getting close to the mountain of the presence of God, so they wouldn't die.

Fire heats and it purifies, it also consumes and scorches. You have to respect it or you get burned. While we don't come to a literal mountain where God is dwelling, we are still trying to come close to God through Jesus. Treating God like he is our buddy is to relate to him unrealistically. It is unrealistic to treat God like our peer. He is not our buddy. It is foolish to treat God like someone we bargain with. He needs nothing from us and we have no leverage. It is foolish to treat God like a person. He is not at risk of dying nor is he confined to the limits of a physical body. When we say God is holy, we are saying that he is fundamentally different from us, in being and in character. Assumptions about him can lead us fatally astray. We have to respect God the way we respect fire: good, powerful and at the same time dangerous to be on the wrong side of. 

This very fire that we rely on and are grateful for cannot be underestimated and trivialized like a Christmas card or an Easter basket. It cannot be ignored or set aside. "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”" Lord, don't allow yourself to be trivialized in my sight. 

Jeremiah 1:4-10: Ignoring the Spirit's Truth At My Own Peril

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

“Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” - Jeremiah 1:4-10

How do you react when someone like your boss asks for someone to raise their hand to undertake something you don't know how to do? Do you react by keeping your hand down? Do you wait to see how everyone else reacts--maybe someone else knows how to do it? Do you pause to consider whether the unknowns in this case are worth the risk?

I tend to err on the other side. If someone asks if I can do something, I tend to say "Yes" and then figure out what they are talking about later. 

This is what happened to Jeremiah when God is looking for volunteers. His first response is a cautious one--I am too young--, not sure that it is worth the risk or maybe thinking that God had overestimated his capabilities. But God says to Jeremiah: "Don't say that you are too yong" He doesn't even give Jeremiah the pep talk like he did for Joshua ("be strong and courageous") or promise help like he did for Moses ("Aaron will speak") He just says: "You must go to everyone I send you and say whatever I command you." And that was enough for Jeremiah, even though the message was tough.

Sometimes God gives us tough things to say. Maybe not the same as Jeremiah. But a truth that needs to be heard. A truth which, if not said, has bad consequences. Not saying the truth might seem like a better, safer option. But God knows better and commands us to say it despite our misgivings and despite the personal consequences of how others might think of me.

Sometimes I like to speak the truth. Maybe for the wrong reason, because I want to use the truth like a weapon and not as a guide. Other times I don't like to speak the truth because it has negative personal consequences in the short term. Right at that moment, God's Spirit often whispers a command: Speak my truth. And I ignore that whisper at my own peril.

Galatians 5:1, 13-25: The Character of Grace, Not Of Mere Survival

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. - Galatians 5:1, 13-25

There is another way to live, not contrary to the law but beyond the law. Paul says, "For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” but then he says, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." and then, after listing the fruit of the Spirit, he says "Against such things [the fruit] there is no law." The law was about restraining us from going against our neighbor. The Bible knows that we will tend to see other people as competitors, rivals, enemies or nobodies. As a result, the law had to come to reframe people, not as the rivals, but as someone as worthy of us of being loved. "Love your neighbor as yourself."

But then Paul goes beyond that: if we didn't live with other people as rivals--if we lived with other people as deserving love way that God loves us--then it opens up a whole new way of life. Whereas life now classifies people as superiors, rivals, equals or dependents, the Spirit's way of life is about a new sort of relationship that isn't evaluated but rather celebrated. This doesn't contradict the golden rule--love your neighbor as yourself--but rather delves deeply within it to find what relationships can become if we follow the Spirit. What could we create together if we weren't always comparing or competing--if we were a loving, joy filled, peaceful, kind, patient, faithful and in-control sort of people. I pray God we are not the last to get there, but we would be the first ones through the gate into the character of grace, not the character of mere survival.

Luke 9:51-62: What I Now Fight To Maintain

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them. Then he and his disciples went to another village.

As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” - Luke 9:51-62

"As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem." Jesus is headed home. His deadline is approaching. 

The first group opposes Jesus, because they are Samaritans and he's going to the "wrong" holy mountain.

The second man claims to be willing to follow Jesus, but he hasn't really considered the cost. He is like the plan that springs up quickly but dies back due to shallow roots.

The third man claims to be willing to follow Jesus, but he says he will do it later. Like those who say they will do what God wants after they retire.

The fourth man claims to be willing to follow but still has a lingering attachment that prevents his whole hearted commitment.  

The last phrase from Jesus summarizes this dilemma: No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. We all have our ideas of what our service should look like and it usually involves looking back at what we are giving up. There are things that I am accustomed to that I now fight to maintain. Am I willing to serve God and give those up or am I always going to be looking back. God willing, I  will look to where Jesus is going, not where I am coming from.

 

Haiku

Awake with the dawn 
No birds, just people yelling 
Strange type of tweeting.

Leaves fall to the ground
Green to mottled yellow brown

Prelude to budding

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14: A Clue That God Is Still With Us

 When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.

Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” And he replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on.

Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”

“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.

Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.  - 2 Kings 2:1-2,6-14

Sometimes, I think God knows we need encouragement. "for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." (Ps. 103:14) We don't always remember this, at the height of our powers, but then sometimes the inevitable failure and decay of entropy brings us down. There is no place that this impacts us the most more than in relationships, when someone who is our rock is taken away from us. Sometimes we can see it coming, sometimes it creeps up on us unawares, sometimes we are surprised while our backs are turned. But in each case, a major hole is ripped open in our lives.

This happened to Elisha when Elijah, his mentor is taken away. In that moment, Elisha sensed his inadequacy, both to follow in his footsteps, but also just to live. We see this when he asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit because he knows he doesn't have what it takes to do what Elijah did. We see this in his grief when he tears his clothes when Elijah is done. 

But then he takes Elijah's cloak and strikes the water of the Jordan and the Jordan splits open and Elisha is able to cross over. This is significant for two reasons: one, because of the history of Jordan-splitting activities, when God brought Israel out of Egypt under Moses and God brought Israel into the promised land under Joshua. But more immediate and relevant when Elijah struck the waters of the Jordan and the water was divided (v. 8) and then Elisha takes the same cloak and does the same thing (v. 14). The fact that it was the same cloak-Elijah's cloak-that he used, gave him the clue that God was with him the way he was with Elijah. 

That is the encouragement that he needed. God doesn't always do these things for us, but because he knows that we but dust, he knows that we are weak and easily discouraged and he reminds us through something, big or small, that he is still with us even when things are breaking down or people are leaving or are taken away.  Many years before, God had encouraged Elijah after being pursued into the wilderness by King Ahaz and Queen Jezebel by sending ravens to feed him and then sending oil and grain to the the widow of Zarepath who feed him. Now, at the critical moment, this same type of encouragement was available to Elisha. 

When we are about to break, God will provide a way to meet the trial. Maybe not a "solution" but a clue that God is with us.

John 14:8-17: If Not Jesus, How Much More Not The Spirit

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. - John 14:8-17

"The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." 

Wouldn't it be nice if when people saw us that we were indistinguishable from Jesus? 

Philip asks "Show us the Father and that will be enough for us." And Jesus reponds by saying, in essence, "Wouldn't it be nice if when people saw me, I was indistinguishable from the Father? If you have seen me, you have the seen the Father." When Jesus spoke and did things, he didn't do them on his own, but he was perfectly in line with what the Father would do. Jesus felt that this conclusion (that he and the Father were one) was a natural one what the disciples had seen over the previous 3 years.

And he says it can go even deeper, into the uncharted territory, when Jesus' disciples were left on their own with only the his teaching and the Spirit as guides. Not only would they be doing the same things Jesus would do, but in fact, they would exceed him. That's pretty hard to imagine, doing better than Jesus. But let's look at one way this was clearly true in the next generation after Jesus died: Jesus spent his entire ministry in Israel but soon after his disciples would represent Jesus to the entire Roman empire, exceeding what Jesus did.

But there is still another level of faith. Jesus comments that the Spirit is coming. No one would be able to see or hear the Spirit (see John 3) except those who were Jesus' disciples. So if Philip had trouble "seeing" the Father, how much more trouble would he have with seeing the Spirit. That's not what happened, though. We can see the book of Acts (Acts 8) that Philip was listening to God's message ("Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip")” and when his job was done, the Spirit moved him on ("the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away").

 How does this work? Jesus spelled it out: "f you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth." We keep God's commands and he directs the Spirit to stay with us.  We have to trust that the Spirit is there and pay attention to his guidance. Otherwise we will be like Philip, still asking Jesus to "show us the Father" when he has already given us the Spirit right inside us.  

Genesis 11:1-9: His Kingdom, Not Ours

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. - Genesis 11:1-9

 "...so that we may make a name for ourselves otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth" Babel was about empire building, the concetration of human power and potential in order to gain dominion over the world. The people decided to do this "so that we make But domnion was never meant to happen apart from God. According to these verses, the purpose for this tower was to maintain this power--this ability to do things and shape the world and there was a fear that if they they "were scattered over the face of the while early" they would lost this strength. God recognized this when he said, "nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them." It seems that they not only shared a language, but a similarity of understanding the world. 

The building of the city that reached into the sky required a division betweent the rich and the poor, some at the top making decisions and some at the bottom making bricks, just like when the people of Israel were in Egypt. That is, in this society without God and with clarity of purpose, there were unparalleled means to (a) do great things and (b) oppress systematically.

But one morning, they woke up and they couldn't understand each other. Language was broken. Mis-understanding reigned. This common language, common purpose, common identity and common understanding was gone. Some subset of the peole had a new language, purpose, identity and understanding. And they found it easier to live apart. 

Dominion without God wasn't a good thing. When God started bringing things back together in the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit reversed what happened at Babel. The Spirit changed diversity of language from a disadvangage to an adantage. Rather than removing language to prevent misunderstanding, God expanded understanding to encompass the variety of languages within his kingdom. God wants his kingdom to be built, not ours. When we fall into the trap of building our kingdom, then language reverts to its divisive, separating role. But when we build God's kingdom, the diversity of language, understanding and perspectives can be uniting and empowering.    

Acts 2:1-21: You Are Mine

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

“‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’  - Acts 2:2-21

"I will pour out my Spirit on all people" This passage always seems a bit chaotic to me--a bit out of control--because instead of just a few people getting the Spirit, all the people are getting the Spirit and instead of just a few people getting dreams, visions and prophecies, everyone seems to be getting some sort of direct revelation.  Everyone gets to see the miracles ("wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below") and everyone gets to be saved ("everyone who calls on the name of the Lord.") How do we handle it if the somebody becomes everybody?

It reminds me a little of Peter's letter where it says that "...you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."  If everybody is "chosen", then nobody is chosen. If everybody is a priest (a special minister before God), then nobody is a priest. If everyone is God's special possession, then nobody is "special". 

Doesn't this seem like chaos? I can just imagine two believers in a room, both confidently asserting contradictory claims of the will of God. Imagine the 120 believers in the upper room when this happened. Imagine the 3,000 who would receive the Spirit in just this chapter. Everyone running around with the "word of God" and predictions about the future. It can be glorious. It can be exciting. It can be darned confusing. But the alternative: the boring, no visions, no Spirit life of a Christian kills or ignores God's supernatural role in our lives by calling it unreliable and subjective--with even cited examples of other badly behaved believers.

But God is going to be God. At Babel, he confused the languages of people in order to confound man's pride but now he bestows additional languages so that his praise and message can be heard.  Whereas a Babel, no one could talk to his neighbor, now each man could hear his neighbor clearly. Babel reversed. Gospel translated. 

This is not the case of "if everyone is chosen,  no one is chosen." False generalization. My kids don't say "if everyone is Tim and Helen's kid, then no one is Tim and Helen's kid." We never had a 4th kid, but if we did, they would instantly have the same status from us as their parent, because they are ours. God has reached out and said, "You are mine." That changed everything. 

Psalm 30: The Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.

Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.

When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” Lord, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.

To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? W ill it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.”

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever.  - Psalm 30

"When I felt secure, I said, 'I will never be shaken'...but when you hid your face, I was dismayed." Our sense of stability should come from God and not our circumstances. There are still tears. The psalmist talks about "weeping may stay for the night." and being in mourning when God "removed my sackcloth." He talks about waiting, "being in the depths" and fearing that his enemies having a chance to gloat over his weakness. But the one thing that he counts on is the solidity and immovability of God. If the relationship with God is good,  then the rest will be good. If that is not good, then nothing is good. 

As it says in Hebrews, "...but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'" (Heb 12:26b-29) God allows "shaking" and the years and the waiting because he wants us to see what is really solid. No relationship, no position, no bank account, no skill or talent lasts. That is scary in some ways because I want good things to continue. I don't want them to be taken away just for God to prove his point. But I think that sometimes we don't realize how much we aren't depending on God until those things are taken away--at least temporarily.  

What I get from this psalm is: fight the good fight, keep on fighting and rely on God's stable character .

Revelation 5:11-14: Doing My Bit To Give God Credit

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” 

The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

 Sometimes we worry about boasting, because we know, in our heart of hearts, that we don't deserve the praise that goes with that boasting. We aren't really that great. We don't really deserve all of that credit. There were many people, circumstances and other factors which led to the success that we've enjoyed. So, rather than shout our own praises, we sit quiet and hope that someone else notices what we've done.

In this scene, we have millions of angels flying around the throne of God and essentially saying: "Whatever praises could be imagined, you deserve it." Sometimes it must get tiring being God, doing all this good stuff like maintaining the universe and handing out blessings and orchestrating salvation and no one seems to notice. But in this heavently scene, everyone gets it and they are not quiet about who should get all of the credit.

I like to imagine myself in this scene, down in the bottom left corner of heaven, doing my bit to give God all of the credit. I guess I could even start today.

Acts 9:1-20: No More Sense of Self-Managed Worth

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”

“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. - Acts 9:1-20

 God had to speak to two people that day in Damascus. Both had to give up their preconceived ideas in order for God to use them. 

The first was Saul. It says he was "breathing murderous threats against the Lord's disciples." He had built his identity around being the most zealous of the Pharisees, with no squishy (no gray) in how he felt about Jews who thought Jesus was the Messiah. They were either good Jews or else they were heretic Jesus Jews. For him to change his mind about Jesus was to say that his previous energy was wasted and in the wrong direction. 

I think that we sometimes fail to appreciate how much has to be given up when we say Jesus is Lord. How much of our identity must be reformed and our previous decisions and priorities questioned and, in many cases, tossed out the window. Paul could no longer claim to be one of the "good Jews" because he had met Jesus the Messiah. How does it feel to realize that you aren't "good" any more, and realize that that is actually ok. To be reformed without trying to cling to any sense of self-managed worth.

The second was Ananias (and, by extension the rest of the disciples). The question for them was: do you believe that God really changes people? I think that we, as Christians, believe in the theoretical possibility of someone's life being turned around but if we catalog all of our acquaintances, there are those who we categorize as "extremely unlikely" to change and therefore we don't waste our hope or prayers on them. That begs the question: does God merely nudge those who are already almost in the kingdom over the edge or does he push the hard-headed over the precipice. I guess I have to ask what he did with me: did here he merely nudge or did he push? I like to think I only needed a nudge, that I was basically almost there which basically minimizes my sinfulness into an inconvenience, not something which needed salvation.

Ananias clearly placed Saul (by reputation) in the second group: the hard cases. In some ways, he also wasn't sure whether Saul was in a position to be changed or whether God would choose to exercise enough of his power to change Saul. Whether God was in power-save mode. I mean if God was willing to expend enough energy to save a Saul, a 10 on the tough-nut scale, couldn't he do better to save 10 people who were just 1s? 

Haiku: February 18 - May 5

 Chill of the morning 
Finds only the brave go out
With hands in pockets

Restless thoughts adorn 
My head on the sleepless nights
Sparkle like dark thorns. 

Assume it's just one
And it will turn out all right.
We're talking waffles.

Small cat paused near door
Unaware we watched nearby
Slipped into the fog

What is the morning
But the cessation of sleep
And opening eyes?

An obligation
To repay a debt incurred
A heavy burden.

First flower blooming
Adorn the trees and meadows
Shake off winter's gloom.

Cannot sleep any more
Sun peeking in the window.
Might as well get up.

Walk on gilded paths.
Lined golden with fallen leaves.
And edged in shadow.

Piles of grey clouds loom.
Lie on morning's horizon.
Rain is expected.

Cherry blossoms drift
Settle to the ground softly
Stirred by the breezes.

Lemon aroma.
Shiny green leaves fill one side
And block the neighbor.

Move the clocks one hour.
Lose an hour, not recovered
Til later this year.

Dead bugs on the floor.
Are the last things I want to see.
Because they have friends.

Path winds between trees.
Lazily without purpose.
Until the meadow.

Rocks piled remember.
The divide we agreed upon.
Don't move one further. 

Clouds break, grey to blue.
Haze obscuring the distance.
But its clear nearby.

Do not move the stones.
Set up by your forefathers.
Someone will notice.

Water dripping down.
The window outside my house
Until the sun peeks out. 

Whimsical wind blows. 
Tossing leaves and toppling pots.
Tugging on jackets.

Angry loud voices.
Rough threats in the evening.
What will the night bring?

Days like falling petals.
Lie unappreciated.
Under passing feet.

Settting aside clothes 
To put in traveling bags
To fly tomorrow. 

Rain in the gutters.
The early morning pattern.
Making me get up. 

Smell of dough rising
Coffee gurgling and gasping
Promising morning.

No five seven five.
No three lines and nature themes.
No haiku for me.

Dew drops on a leaf.
Before the sunlight hits the lawn.
Cat pauses mid-stride.

Ponder the music.
No words but something is stirred.
Then it fades away.

Under the white moon.
Along the brightly lit strees.
We walked happily.

As a child I thought.
The dark was a scary place.
Now dawn is too bright.

On April mornings
The air is full of bird sounds. 
Oh what a racket.

In distance calling.
Gesturing for us to see.
What you are doing. 

Heady, stinky blooms.
Of plums and cherry flowers.
How I miss this place!

If the world stopped today. 
Would there be something undone?
Or would the world go on?

There is not much more
I can do to make this move
Faster, but I try.

In late night meetings
My mind wanders, before I sleep.
Start dreaming early.

Tasks remain undonw.
Who takes the shift while I sleep?
Can I trust you, Lord?

Morning birds chatter
Who knows what they talk about.
Later, they're quiet.

You think I don't know.
That's ok. Leave it that way.
Maybe we'll both leave.

Listen long enough.
I'll figure out what you mean.
And then I'll look smart.

Luke 13:1-9: Am I Especially Good?

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” - Luke 13:1-9

It is interesting to me that those who asked Jesus about the mixing of Galilean blood seem to be asking Jesus if the Galileans were particularly sinful. If it was me, I would have been asking Jesus to pronounce judgement on the Romans, not the Galileans. Then Jesus uses another example: residents of Jerusalem who died when a tower collapsed. Did they die because they were especially bad?

It is easy to find reasons why victims of a tragedy are victims. We always are trying to find reasons for why things are the way things are. We are trying to find a reason because we are trying to defend God's choices about who dies and who lives--as if he needed defending. 

But searching for the sins of a the victims in a tragedy is asking the wrong question. Rather than asking why they suffered, we should be asking why we aren't suffering. I am so full of mixed motives sometimes that I'm sure that it would be simpler for God to just remove me from the scene so he would have fewer moving pieces to worry about. But he doesn't. By his mercy, I'm still around. 

The next verses about the fruitless fig tree give us a clue: the man tending the fig trees asks for just one more year to let the fig have time to finally bear fruit. Figs typically bear fruit within 3-5 years. So if the tree in Jesus' story isn't bearing fruit after 3, it isn't because it is a waste of soil and sunlight. The tree just needs a little time to reach the potential that was there in that tree when it was planted.

God looks at us and while some might think: what a waste of food and oxygen, He can see the full potential that he put within us when he created us and then saved us. He has a plan and he does not cut short that plan when we are inconvenient to him. Rather he lets us live until the potential he sees in us comes to fruition. Or he cuts us short when his plan has run its cource.

Not because we were better or worse than other people, but because he has a race for us to run.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13: Blessings Are A Test of Me-Ism

 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. - 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

"Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did" What are these examples? They are examples of people who received God's blessing, but were still judged. Blessings are not always a statement of how well we are doing.  Sometimes when things are going OK, we assume that we are basically doing OK with regard to God. Sometimes when we receive blessings, we assume they are our blessings. 

In the first verses of this chapter, Paul lists several examples of blessings that everyone in Israel received: living under the cloud of God's presence, crossing the Red Sea, eating water and food provied miraculously by God. But Paul says, "nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness." They received God's blessing but still they were judged.

We receive many good things in life because God is a good God. But it does not mean that He does it because we are good. Don't get me wrong: blessings are a sign of God's favor, but often it is a sign of his undeserved favor. Maybe we are blessed in spite of who we are or what we're doing. Sometimes, he blesses us because he wants to bless someone else. Conversely, sometimes we are blessed merely as the side effect of his blessing someone else. Or maybe we are blessed, just to keep us alive until we can repent or until something else in God's time table happens. 

So Paul warns: you still need to be serious about living an obedient life. We are always tempted to revert to a selfish me-focused lifestyle that grumbles, complains, bargains and flirts with other priorities. And God's favor gives us the leeway to get away with that for a while, but it isn't the healthy way. These temptations, the temptation to revert, isn't fatal, but giving in to them rots the soul because doing so doesn't leave us in the direction that God wants.

Are there areas where I am reverting? Is God asking me who is really first in my life and would I really like the honest answer to that question? Blessings are a test much the same way as trials are a test. I pray that I pass the test.

not just the side effect of someone else's blessings. 

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.