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.