Always Remember

 

Isaiah 29:13-14 NLT

¹³ And so the Lord says,
    “These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
    is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.
¹⁴ Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites
    with amazing wonders.
The wisdom of the wise will pass away,
    and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”

Deuteronomy 24:17-22 NLT

17 “True justice must be given to foreigners living among you and to orphans, and you must never accept a widow’s garment as security for her debt. 18 Always remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from your slavery. That is why I have given you this command.

19 “When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all you do. 20 When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don’t go over the boughs twice. Leave the remaining olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. 21 When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, don’t glean the vines after they are picked. Leave the remaining grapes for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. 22 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I am giving you this command.

In his conversation with the pharisees in Matthew 15, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29, accusing them of having hearts that have wandered away from God.  “These people say they are mine . . . but their hearts are far from me” (Is. 29:13).  Could these teachers of the law really have forgotten what it means to be God’s people?  Surely they would remember the refrain that repeats throughout the Old Testament, “Always remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from your slavery” (Deut. 24:18,22).  We see it twice in two paragraphs in this chapter of Deuteronomy, and three other times in the book (Deut. 5:15, 15:15, 16:12).  Remembering what God had done is an ongoing refrain and source of hope in the Psalms:

¹⁰ And I said, “This is my fate;
    the Most High has turned his hand against me.”
¹¹ But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
    I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
¹² They are constantly in my thoughts.
    I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works. –Psalm 77:10-12 NLT

In Deuteronomy, Moses is speaking to people who can remember firsthand what it was like to be slaves, or to be the children of slaves. It shouldn’t be too hard for them to remember their dramatic rescue and their years in the desert on the way to the Promised Land.  But by the time of Isaiah those stories may have become like ancient fairy tales, and by the time of Jesus the idea of being rescued from oppression was a distant dream, something God might do again, but when?

In addressing the Israelites, Moses is also addressing generations to come, and the Passover  (a book that is used to tell the story of the Exodus at the Passover seder) that is used today teaches that everyone must view themselves as though they personally came out of Egypt. In Deuteronomy, this remembering is the explanation for the command to rest on the Sabbath day. 

“Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.” -Deut. 5:15

The expectation is that the Sabbath must include remembering and giving thanks to God for this rescue and redemption.  On a deeper level, there is also the expectation that this will inform our actions, that we will treat others with kindness and generosity because God has been kind and generous with us.[1]

How often do we take the time to think about how God has rescued and redeemed us?  Maybe there hasn’t been something in your life as dramatic as being rescued from slavery in Egypt, but Jesus has rescued us from slavery to sin and death.

“We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.” -Romans 6:6

We are recipients of this great blessing, and participants in the bringing of this blessing to the world.  Theologian James Cone says, “the church is the community that participates in Jesus Christ’s liberating work in history.”[2] We are heirs of the promises of God which are for all people, and so we bring this resurrection hope to our understanding and response to the challenges our world is facing today.    We live humble, thankful, kind, generous lives so that others can have this hope. “True justice must be given to foreigners living among you and orphans…” (Deut. 24:17 NLT)  A more literal translation says, “You shall not pervert the justice due…” (ESV).  The Message version makes it even more clear that this requires us to take action. “Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights.”

“Always remember.”

Think back over your life and the obstacles that have been overcome.  Thank God for helping you and bringing you to this day.

How has God been kind and generous with you?  Ask God to help you pass that on to others.

How can we make sure that people get their just rights?  Ask God for the help and courage to do this.

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[1] https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/shabbat-as-a-reminder-of-the-exodus/

[2] A Black Theology of Liberation - Fortieth Anniversary Edition (p. 120). Orbis Books. Kindle Edition.

Word Power

Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.” (Luke 2:34-35)

As I was reading this passage from Luke this morning, in which Simeon tells Mary about the amazing future of the baby Jesus, I remembered another passage from Hebrews about the power of God’s word:

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

As I pondered these passages, I realized that it’s no wonder, considering what Simeon and Hebrews say, that the people of Galilee hearing the Sermon on the Mount[1] were saying this:

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law. (Matthew 7:28-29 et al)

That “real authority” was the word of God in the flesh speaking to them.  Every word Jesus spoke was God speaking, so of course it would go straight to the hearts of all those who listened like a sword . . . or a laser, to use a more modern analogy.  And some who heard wouldn’t like to have what was in their hearts exposed, and others would be encouraged and comforted to have these words touch their hearts, maybe because some would hear grace, and some would hear truth.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

The grace would bring joy, but the truth would be difficult. 

It’s amazing to me how the same words can be so different depending on how we hear them.  This is one of the reasons I love having the opportunity to talk about the Bible with people.  We all hear and see God’s word a little differently, depending on what’s in our hearts and minds at the time.  That timeliness is another reason why the words of the Bible are so alive and powerful and timeless.  This is the mysterious and wonderful work of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Maybe I am fascinated by this idea of the piercing potential of Jesus’ words because I am a reader and a writer, one who seeks to find and share the power of words.  Even though I read and write prose, I love how words can point to a beauty that transcends the words themselves like poetry, just like how individual notes of music put together create something that transcends the notes themselves.  This I think is in essence what it means to be spiritual--being open to the experience of this transcendence, and appreciating its beauty.  If this happens with words and notes of human making, how much more powerful it must be when this happens with words of divine origin.  Surely this is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer was thinking about when he said that the “proclaimed word is not a medium of expression about something else, something which lies behind it, but rather it is the Christ himself walking through his congregation as the Word.”[2] 

Maybe this is what Cornelia Funke was thinking about when she wrote Inkheart,[3] a story in which some people have the power to truly bring words to life.  When the people in the book with this gift read a story aloud, the characters in the story come out of the story and are stuck in the real world until another reading puts them back.  You can imagine the complications that result.   I wonder if any of us have read Jesus to life out of the Bible and then wished we could quickly put him back rather than deal with his grace and truth.  But oh how he lives on and on as those words echo through our hearts and minds and lives.

May you hear and see Jesus as you hear and read his words today and every day, and know the power of his word to bless and comfort and heal and reveal, and find in them grace and peace.

 

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[1] Have you ever wondered about the location and the acoustics that day?  Me, too.  Here’s what I found: http://www.israeljerusalem.com/sermon-on-the-mount-location.htm

[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Worldly Preaching,, ed. Clyde E. Fant (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1975), 129.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkheart

Solitude

It isn’t good for the man to be alone.  –Genesis 2:18

God said these words about Adam, and proceeded to create Eve.  Thus began the first family, and just like any time there are people together, there was trouble.  Maybe that’s why God had to keep promising—to Jacob, to Moses, to Joshua, to the disciples—to be with them, to never leave them alone[1]--to help them as he helps us to get through our troubles.[2] 

God also promised that whenever we are gathered together in his name that he would be among us.[3]  Sometimes there’s nothing quite like the beauty of people working together in Jesus’ name.  And there’s nothing quite as ugly as people being ugly to each other.  We are people who need people, but we don’t like to need each other too much, so we are like the push-me-pull-you (pushmi-pullyu) from Doctor Dolittle,[4] each trying to go our own way while at the same time inexplicably connected with each other.

Why can’t we all just get along?[5]  I suppose that’s a question for the ages.  We could blame it on that first family or the serpent or even on God,[6] or maybe it’s just human nature.  Thinking like a writer, I would say that something always has to go wrong to make the story work, to keep us interested, to draw us along through the plot and wanting to see how it all works out.  It always works out in the end, though, doesn’t it?  Even the Bible, in the end, has us all in heaven singing praises to God and to the lamb with the entire host of heaven and people from every tribe and nation.[7]

We live in a world full of people.  Maybe that’s why we crave solitude sometimes, and yet God said it’s not our permanent state.  It’s not good for man to be alone.  Maybe God was the first parent to realize the difficulties of having an only child?  When there are two or more children, they can play together, but when there is only one, the parent must also be the playmate.

For whatever reason, it seems we are stuck with each other, and so we have a choice:  we can make it work and enjoy the beauty of helping and encouraging one another, or we can make it ugly and deal with the consequences.  The beauty of being together is that when there are two or more there is the potential for love.  A person who is alone can only love his or herself, and we can thank the Greeks for the story of Narcissus so that we can see how badly that can turn out.[8] 

But wherever God is, there is redemption.  The person alone who is looking at God instead of the mirror becomes someone who then reflects God to other people.[9]  Jesus spent time alone in prayer, and we need that kind of alone time, too.  Jesus also brought us the living example of grace.  His message to the disciples, the message he told them to tell the world, is that we are forgiven.[10]  And Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians that we are to be ambassadors of reconciliation.[11]  No matter how ugly we are, or how ugly somebody else is, there is forgiveness, made possible by God through Jesus Christ.  Even when forgiveness seems impossible, it is possible.  We can get along if we let God into the equation, and somehow we are best equipped for this possibility if we’ve had some solitude with God first.

The goal is to get along.  Is this what we’re teaching?  In some ways yes and in other ways no.  American individualism isn’t quite the recipe for harmonious community, depending on how we approach it.  Self-care is important, but self-esteem may be leading us down a dead-end road.[12]  As much as we are quick to claim the right to be our own people and make our own decisions, we are not alone in the world and everything we decide for ourselves has the potential to impact someone else.  The more we take that into consideration, the more we grow and the better we get along with the world.

Plays nice with others – This was what our kindergarten teachers hoped to write on our report cards.  As we got older, our successes were measured differently.  Knowledge was rewarded with good letters.  Initiative was rewarded with dollar signs.  Persistence and creativity and hard work were rewarded.  But in the end what will last beyond the schooling and the jobs and the bank accounts are our relationships with people.  In the end we will need people to care for us just as much as we did when we were first born. 

We are people who need people.  May we learn to live together in beautiful, harmonious peace.

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[1] Genesis 28:15, Exodus 33:14 , Joshua 1:9, Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5

[2] See Isaiah 43

[3] Matthew 18:20

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Dolittle_characters#The_pushmi-pullyu

[5] Paraphrase of Rodney King in 1992 about the riots in Los Angeles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King

[6] See Genesis 3

[7] Revelation 7:9

[8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissus_(mythology)

[9] 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

[10] John 20:23, Matthew 6:12,14-15

[11] 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

[12] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-work/200910/status-more-accurate-way-understanding-self-esteem

Lent, Lending and Living Lean

What Twitters gave up for Lent in 2011

Looking up the word lent on the internet brings a curious collection of information.  It is the 40-day season prior to Easter in the church calendar.  It is the past tense of lend.  It is the Hebrew word nashak which means the bite of a snake or to lend upon usury.  It is the “power and possibility of the paschal mystery…that the way of the cross, the way to Easter, is through death.”  It is a germanic word meaning “spring.”  Hmmm….a curious collection indeed.  What to make of this?

Maybe nothing.  But then I wonder.

The Bible speaks against lent, in the lending and charging usury sense:  “You shall not charge interest on loans to another Israelite, interest on money, interest on provisions, interest on anything that is lent.” (Deuteronomy 23:19)  But Jesus says to be generous about lending: “Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42).

Although technically that’s not what is meant in our church use of the word lent, maybe it ought to be.  After all, Hannah lent her son to God: “For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him.  Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:27-28)  And since our season of Lent in the church is about Jesus, I wonder if we aren’t missing the boat if we don’t consider that God lent us his son for 33 years.

For that matter, it seems that Lent is actually about considering how everything we have and everything we are is lent to us by God.  “At the beginning of Lent, we are reminded that our possessions, our rulers, our empires, our projects, our families and even our lives do not last forever. “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). The liturgies throughout Lent try to pry loose our fingers, one by one, from presumed securities…” (Companion to the Book of Common Worship).

Even our very lives are lent to us, just like Hannah lent her son.

Lent with no strings attached, however.  How curious that the Hebrew word that is lent in Deuteronomy 23:19 means to lend with usury, but also the bite of a snake.  So lending with interest, with strings attached, leaves us vulnerable to attack?  But the word for lent in 1 Samuel 1:28 is another thing entirely.  It means to ask.  Jesus says to give to everyone who asks.  Hannah asked for a son and that’s what she got, so she lent (asked) him back to God. 

Ok, now you’re confused and so am I.

Lent sounds a lot like leant which is, for the British, the past tense of lean.  Proverbs tells us to lean not on our own understanding, but instead to lean on God. (Proverbs 3:5-6)  And if we’re to be learning to “pry loose our fingers” from the things we rely on other than God, we are, in a sense learning to live lean.  No wonder lent is, in many traditions, a season of fasting.

And so it seems that all these disparate meanings work together after all. 

Coincidence?  I think not.

 

The Curious Collection of Lent Googling  (otherwise known as references)

“You shall not charge interest on loans to another Israelite, interest on money, interest on provisions, interest on anything that is lent.” (Deuteronomy 23:19)

“For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him.  Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:27-28)

Nashak A primitive root; to strike with a sting (as a serpent); figuratively, to oppress with interest on a loan -- bite, lend upon usury. (Strong’s Concordance)

Lent - a period of 40 days before Easter during which many Christians do not eat certain foods or do certain pleasurable activities as a way of remembering the suffering of Jesus Christ

Origin: Middle English lente springtime, Lent, from Old English lencten; akin to Old High German lenzin spring   First Known Use: 13th century  (Miriam Webster)

Lent - In the Christian church, a period of penitential preparation for Easter, observed since apostolic times. Western churches once provided for a 40-day fast (excluding Sundays), in imitation of Jesus' fasting in the wilderness; one meal a day was allowed in the evening, and meat, fish, eggs, and butter were forbidden. These rules have gradually been relaxed, and only Ash Wednesday—the first day of Lent in Western Christianity, when the penitent traditionally have their foreheads marked with ashes—and Good Friday are now kept as Lenten fast days. Rules of fasting are stricter in the Eastern churches. (Concise Encyclopedia)

Lent – the past tense of lend. (Dictionary.com)

Lend - to give to another for temporary use with the understanding that it or a like thing will be returned lend you my copy of the textbook until the weekend> lend me five dollars?> (Miriam Webster)

Leant – chiefly British past tense of lean

Etymology - In Latin the term quadragesima (translation of the original Greek Τεσσαρακοστή, Tessarakostē, the "fortieth" day before Easter) is used. This nomenclature is preserved in Romance, Slavic and Celtic languages (for example, Spanish cuaresma, Portuguese quaresma, French carême, Italian quaresima, Romanian păresimi, Croatian korizma, Irish Carghas, and Welsh C(a)rawys).

In most Slavic languages the common name is simply a phrase meaning "fasting time" (as Czech postní doba) or "great fast" (as Russian великий пост vyeliki post). In Tagalog, the name retains from its Spanish wording Cuaresma while the local wording uses "Mahal na Araw" or "Beloved Days".

In the late Middle Ages, as sermons began to be given in the vernacular instead of Latin, the English word lent was adopted. This word initially simply meant spring (as in the German language Lenz and Dutch lente) and derives from the Germanic root for long because in the spring the days visibly lengthen. (Wikipedia)

The Paschal mystery = An excerpt from the Companion to the Book of Common Worship (Geneva Press, 2003 110-111)

What we hear during Lent is the power and possibility of the paschal mystery, and that the way of the cross, the way to Easter, is through death. To appropriate the new life that is beyond the power of death means we must die with Christ who was raised for us. To live for Christ, we must die with him. New life requires a daily surrendering of the old life, letting go of the present order, so that we may embrace the new humanity. “I die every day!” asserts Paul (1 Corinthians 15:31). Resurrection necessitates death as a preceding act. The church’s peculiar Lenten claim is that in dying we live, that all who are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death. To be raised with Christ means one must also die with Christ. In order to embrace the resurrection, we must experience the passion of Jesus. The way of the cross, the way to Easter, is through death of the “old self.” In dying, we live.

Therefore, at the beginning of Lent, we are reminded that our possessions, our rulers, our empires, our projects, our families and even our lives do not last forever. “You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). The liturgies throughout Lent try to pry loose our fingers, one by one, from presumed securities and plunge us into unknown baptismal waters, waters that turn out to be not only our death tomb but surprisingly our womb of life. Rather than falling back into nothingness, we fall back on everlasting arms. Death? How can we fear what we have already undergone in baptism?

It is the power of the resurrection on the horizon ahead that draws us into repentance toward the cross and tomb. Through the intervention of God’s gracious resurrection, lifelong changes in our values and behavior become possible. By turning from the end of the “old self” in us, Lenten repentance makes it possible for us to affirm joyfully, “Death is no more!” and to aim toward the landscape of the new age. Faithfully adhering to the Lenten journey of “prayer, fasting and almsgiving” leads to the destination of Easter.

During the final week, Holy Week, we hear the fullness of Christ’s passion, his death, and resurrection. From Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and on to the Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday), all of Holy Week focuses on the passion. As his followers, we travel Christ’s path of servanthood through the Lord’s Supper and the suffering of the cross toward the glory of Easter, all of which underscores the inseparable link between the death and resurrection of Jesus.

(from http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/worship/worship-resources-lent/ )

What Twitterers are giving up for lent : http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2013/february/what-people-gave-up-for-lent-2013-according-to-twitter.html

 

 

Loose Ends

I’ve just finished reading a book by one of my favorite authors, Alexander McCall Smith, called The World According to Bertie.  It’s part of his “44 Scotland Street” series.  Many of his books started out as weekly serials in a Scottish newspaper, and I enjoy imagining what it might be like to read the book in installments.  The way life has been for me this year, that’s about how I’ve read it anyway.  There are several different story lines in these books, all connected because they happen in the same building, even though the characters in each plot thread rarely interconnect.  As with most works of fiction, you can tell when you’re near the end because the plot lines start to resolve, so that the book comes to a close having tidied up the loose ends.  We prefer our movies this way, too.  When the studios have tested movies in focus groups, they have found that audiences don’t like stories that don’t resolve.  We want to have things settled, so we don’t leave wondering.  We can deal with some open-ended questions, but there can’t be too much of that or we won’t recommend the movie to our friends, and it’s the buzz that makes for big box office numbers.  What’s funny to me about this today is that real life isn’t always so nicely resolved.  This is one of the things I noticed working as a chaplain at the hospital this summer.  When someone is in the hospital facing death or the potential of it, all the loose ends in their lives come into sharp focus.  All the family messiness comes with them to the hospital.  One of the ways chaplains help take care of some of these loose ends is to help patients execute healthcare power of attorney forms.  Never got around to getting married?  Ok, but you can still give your significant other the authority to make life-or-death decisions for you—just sign here.  Don’t get along with your next of kin?  It’s ok, you can override their authority over you by appointing someone else as your legal agent.  What I find highly ironic now as I reflect on this scenario is that I started down the path to ordination largely because of my belief that no matter what other answers might be helpful, the ultimate solution and resolution is Jesus.  In the ecumenical environment of the hospital, I could not offer that solution.  Worried about death?  It’s ok, because Jesus has conquered sin and death.  Do you know him?  Can I tell you about him?  I prayed for peace and comfort with many people, and for those who were already Christian, I did this in Jesus’ name.  I could help them to remember what they already knew, but if someone answered the question, “How do you find strength” with something other than Jesus, I had to work with what was already there.  One of my fellow chaplains would frequently ask, “Do you feel like you helped this person?  How did you help them?”  I would usually answer “yes” because I had given the patient the opportunity to talk about whatever was troubling them.  But I know that any help that didn’t have Jesus at the center was going to be short-lived.  So there was perhaps short-term resolution in my conversations with patients, but long-term resolution was out of my hands.  Really this is what happens with the characters in the “44 Scotland Street” series—there is short-term resolution, but the long-term resolution is outside the scope of the book.  And frequently this is how life is.  We get a snapshot, a glimpse, but so often the bigger picture is beyond our field of vision.  And that’s why we need God’s resolution—Jesus.