Shining Through.

Scripture:

Exodus 34:10

[The LORD] said [to Moses]: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been performed in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the Lord; for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.

Observation:

Moses receives this promise - a promise for all those who have been brought out of slavery in Egypt - from God after the original tablets of the law had been shattered. They were shattered as a sign of how immediately the Israelites had failed to uphold their part of the covenant with God - bowing before golden idols even before Moses could make it all the way down the mountain.

God's chosen people are flawed and fail, but God persists in 

choosing to shine through them in a way that will eventually 

draw all nations into right relations with the Divine.

Chapter 34 ends with the story of Moses spending so much time in God's presence that his face literally begins to shine with such brightness he has to wear a veil so the others can bear to look at him. We are meant to shine like that. I am meant to shine like that. But, make no mistake, it is not the glory of this world - of self-aggrandizement and simulated perfection - that we are to shine with.  

God's promise is:

I will shine through you - despite your failures and flaws.  

God is the light.  

You are the veil allowing others to see what they can't otherwise bear.

Application:

This weekend I was at a family wedding. I was asked to say grace at the reception - probably because I am a pastor and that's kinda in my wheel house. I pray in public often, and I was happy to accept this invitation. But, as I prepared, something happened. God spoke to me. I was reminded of what God has been teaching me over the last several years about being a disciple that shines in a way that others can observe, endure and imitate. So, instead of just staying in my comfort zone and "doing my thing", I asked Tessa, Zephyra and Josiah to help me. (Solomon was off the hook because he still only speaks in tongues.) It was a bit of a risk. It took more time and practise than if I had just done it alone. Still, they were game, so we made a plan. Tessa would read a Psalm verse, the kids would help me lead everyone in a "fun" grace to the tune of the Jaws theme, and I would close with an "adult" grace.

Later that night, a friend of Tessa's parents made a point of coming over to talk to me. She mentioned that her date for the evening, who is not much interested in anything to do with church, said to her (upon her mention that I am a pastor), 

"I can see why people would want to go to his church."

Neat.

But, let's be clear: that was the result of God shining through my stumbling. You see, when the time came for grace, our little plan began to collapse almost immediately. Tessa was nursing Solomon, so she stayed at the table while I went to the mic with Josiah and Zephyra. The mic at the podium failed, so we were moved to the floor where no one could see or hear the kids. I quickly stood them up on a couple of chairs and prayed silently they wouldn't fall off while I read the psalm verse. After the "shark grace" (which actually went over very well) I moved quickly to get the children off their chairs before saying the actual and official blessing over the banquet. Just then the mc jumped in and started meal service.

We weaved back through the crowd to our table, having barely executed 1/3 of our plan for modelling a family in mission together. We blinked dimly, but somehow, God shone. I saw God's light shining in the faces of Z and J at having been invited to help with something so important. I saw the light of God within my introverted wife as she considered and then accepted the invitation to pray in this public way. I saw a halo appear around an assembly of banquet revellers as they blessed the LORD with their hands clasped atop their heads in the shape of shark fins. I saw God's light in the face of a woman excited that her loved one had gotten a taste of what life with God can be like if we are willing to set down our pretensions and baggage for but a moment.

Prayer: 

(to the Jaws theme. Don't forget to put your fin on!)

God is ...

good and ...

God is ... great so ... let us ... thank God for this food.

(clap your hands together and say, CHOMP!)

Shine, Lord? Who, me?!? Okay!?!  

Sounds scary and amazingly fun.  

I'm not sure where to start. What's that? Start with where I'm 

at and what we're already doing and You'll use that?  

Shine, Lord! Wow! amen.

Lame Bumper Sticker; or, Life Changing Promise!

Scripture:

Jeremiah 29:10-11

10 For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.

Observation:

Verse eleven above is often quoted on bookmarks and other paraphernalia. Taken on its own it is saccharine and innocuous to the point of being almost meaningless for anyone who finds themselves in the midst of any life stage other than "smooth sailing".

Its worth remembering this verse comes on the heals of God's word to those who had been uprooted from their homes in and around Jerusalem and forcibly relocated to Babylon by occupying armies. Not only that, but they have also heard this will be no fleeting trial. Thus says the Lord, only after 70 years of exile shall I hear your cry and answer once more to bring you home. In the meantime, hunker down. Don't defer living. Build a house and plant a garden.

Back in Exodus, part of the rationale for having Israel wonder in the desert for 40 years before gaining entry into the promised land was so that an entire generation would pass with only the next generation actually entering the promised land. Here, God sends word to folk who are already adults informing them that no return from exile will be granted until 70 years have passed.

Oh, but don't worry: "For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope."

Application:

In order for God's word to endow the hope it offers in this case - and I believe it most certainly does - we have to come to grips with the challenging reality that God's plans for us:

1) Always take individuals into account, but very rarely obsess about individuality (least of all individual salvation) to the extent that we are trained to do by modernity; and,

2) Often allow for no small amount of hardship and trial in order to disabuse us of our nasty habits of adultery and idolatry.

In the first case, the hope God's promise offers is not that everything will be alright for each of us sooner or later; rather, we are part of something (the Whole People of God) much bigger than individual trials and victories. As such, we have a communal claim on a portion of the divine redemption of all things.

In the second case, God's offers hope untethered from the slings and arrows of weekly or generational eventualities. This is not to say that our suffering is unimportant to God. Just the opposite, God is so intent upon delivering us (collectively) finally from evil that the Divine willed to suffer and die alongside us in firm solidarity so that we could become possessed of the hope that passes all understanding.  

Exile is never permanent - even if we die in its grip!

This powerful - and, admittedly difficult - teaching turns us upside down and inside out. It gave the exiled Jerusalem remnant in Babylon the courage and endurance to look to the life and welfare of the foreign lands they were in. It gives me the hope to stop obsessing about my own difficulties and bear them more lightly while I work for justice and mercy today where I am.

Prayer:

God of exiles and wonderers, you are my hope and my future. I give you thanks for the many blessings in my life and pray for the grace of ever-increasing gratitude. I confess that I am also caught up in troubles beyond my control or understanding. I trust you to bring deliverance and liberation in your time. In the meantime, I pray for all those who are forced from home today by forces of warfare, economic wrangling or natural disasters - especially indigenous peoples. Amen.

Matristics 101

Scripture:

2 Timothy 1:5-6
5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. 6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands;

Observation:

"Patristics" is the word we use for the study of the earliest church fathers. Their theology, scriptural interpretation, and counsel is held up throughout many Christian traditions as a source of authority and wisdom second only to scripture itself. 

Google "patristics" and you will come across some famous and familiar names: 
Ignatius of Antioch, Pope Clement 1, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, Athanasius, Jerome, Augustine of Hippo ...
They are giants and heroes of the faith, to be sure. They follow in the steps of the first Apostles in that they taught and acted with the privileged voices of acknowledged authority. This is the same authority we glimpse above when Timothy is said to have been consecrated/ordained by the laying on of Paul's own hands (an ancient tradition that symbolizes the transfer of power and authority from an elder to a novice). 

You know what you won't return in your Google search of "patristics"?

Women. Not one. For whatever reason, the voices and authority of women were stricken from the record of the early church histories and failed to be celebrated throughout much of the last two millennia. 

That makes our passage (and the numerous others like it enshrined in scripture itself) worth their weight in gold. For here we are told of two other giantesses of the faith, whose work in passing on the ways of the Lord to Timothy preceded and enabled Paul's work with him. 

Lois and Eunice. I love that these names have stood the test of time. I wonder if they have been preserved in part by women of faith throughout the ages who refused to let official censorship and patriarchy silence them completely. 

Application:

I like to think of myself as a pretty fair person. I avoid making judgements on individuals character or competency based on gender (or race or...) but today I am reminded of systems of bias much bigger than any fair individual. These structures of sin and domination were seemingly strong enough and slick enough to catch up even Giants like Origen, Tertullian, and Augustine. I would be foolhardy to pretend I am not subject to them. 

Today I am convicted to do two things: 1) celebrate the strong and faithful elders who have so ably passed the faith on to me through word and deed - especially the women; 2) spend some silent time with the LORD that divine presence might point out to me the biases and darkness that hide within my heart and hold systemic sway over me. 

Prayer:

God, male and female you have created all humans in your image. And yet, too often individuals are privileged or marginalized because of gender or sex. From all forms of oppression and injustice, deliver us o Lord!
And for those women in my life whose strong, faithful examples and mentorship opened my eyes to the lie of sexism I give you thanks. 
Thank you, Lord, for Grandmas Lucille and Audrey; for Reta and Bonnie and Rita; For Barbara and Jan and Lisa and so many more. Amen.

Put you in your place.

Scripture:

Psalm 104:5-9

5 You set the earth on its foundations,

so that it shall never be shaken.

6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

7 At your rebuke they flee;

at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.

8 They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys

to the place that you appointed for them.

9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,

so that they might not again cover the earth.

Observation:

God, our Father, is the mightily wise creator and ruler of all that is.

In ancient near-middle-east cultures, waters -especially "the deep"- was shorthand for chaos, destruction, and ultimately, death.

Here Creator God is celebrated for shackling chaos; for placing term limits upon destruction; and, for putting death in its place. These forces run down from the high places (the proper dwelling places of gods and God) and thus humble themselves before God. Note: chaos, destruction and death are not here themselves destroyed. For we know to well that they still enjoy a foot hold in our earthly experience. Yet, the promise is clear: all powers, all situations and all creatures are subject to the just and merciful rule of the LORD.

Application:

Today I am going with my family to a park on the banks of the mighty Peace River in northern Alberta. The kids will not swim in the river as it is full of eddy's and a fairly wicked undertow. This same river that appears as silky blue ribbon bisecting two sides of a creatively carved valley from atop the Dunvegan bridge, always holds some potential for destruction, chaos and even death. This is doubly true in times of flood or storm when the river seems intent upon transgressing its banks.

I suppose I would avoid such places altogether - like a creepy old abandoned house or a radiation contaminated work site - except for the promise of the Gospel, the good news that predates but is fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Christ.  

The promise is this: All will bow and submit to the gracious 

authority of the Holy Three in One. That means you, meta-

static cancer; and you, debilitating nerve wasting disease; 

and you, wagers of war; and you, practitioners of hatred; 

and you, horders of resources; 

and all y'all flood, fire, drought, quake and storm!

Today, and everyday, it is this Good News that propels me to the edge of the deep, to the darkened ally, to the stinking landfill and beyond. For there is no place where God is not. No! There is no God forsaken place.

How about you? Where do you have the hardest time 

believing that God is actively present?

Prayer:

Under the care of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

I am bold to press beyond fear, past anger, into sadness. For you, O LORD, are God of Up, God of Down, God of East, South, West and North, God of chaos, destruction and death, God of Justice and Mercy. I submit. Grant me grace to stay within the boundaries you have assigned me. Amen.

There is no "I" without a team.

Scripture:

Mark 4:13-20 (See also - Matthew 13:10-17; Luke 8:9-10)

13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. 17 But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.[b] 18 And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. 20 And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

Observation:

In North America we tend to interpret scripture in a way that prioritizes the experience, plight and salvation of individuals.  This is a not surprising result of the social, political and economic cultures that we live and participate in; but, we will always miss some of the rich invitation <--> challenge on offer from the Lord if we pretend that our experience is no different in this regard from the first hearers of Jesus.  

Simply put, although people in that ancient time and place acknowledged some individuality existed, they understood that communities and nations make individuals - not the other way round.  As a result, their thinking about salvation wasn't merely personal, but always included a large emphasis on the wider community of faith.

How might this simple, yet profound point enrich our interpretation of the passage at hand?

Well, one interesting thing that happens when we "zoom out" from the "individual' seeds, and their various points of landing, is that we are free to see some of the other actors in the story that otherwise remain out of sight and out of mind.  Of course that includes the sower, but we need not stop there.  We might begin to look for the one who made the path and the one who tills and tends the good soil.  We might also ask, "who failed to pick the rocks from the rocky ground, or to chase away those thieving birds, or to pull up those pesky weeds?"  And then, there are the harvesters implied at the end.

Can you think of any that I missed?

Application:

I have been blessed in the past through teachings that have focussed on the individual soil types and their seed-outcomes.  I am not saying that there is nothing to be gained from interpreting the bible first and foremost through our own experiences and perspectives.  What I am saying is this: the more angles we can address and interpret God's word from, the richer in wisdom we will become.

So, keep trying to discipline your life so that you might become good soil, by all means!  I will do the same, but today I will be paying special attention to the other forces, individuals, organizations and networks that aid and undercut my efforts.  I will also be thinking about the various soil types not as individuals whom the Word of God touches, but as communities of faith where the Word of God is trying to set up shop and put down roots.  

Is your faith community like a bird-frequented footpath?

A rock garden?  

A bramble with indefatigable wheat pushing up and through?  

A lush, high-yielding field?  

Whatever it looks like: 

who's out front and who is hiding behind the scenes?

Prayer:

Lord, let my heart be good soil.  Good soil is not disassociated from others.  Good soil is a tangled web of relationships that enrich and enliven one another.  Thank you for reaching into my experience today and everyday and pulling my gaze up and out so that I can see the marvellous work of your hands in plants and animals, people and weather patterns.  You stick together individuals to make communities of mutual care and protection even as you protect and guide communities from which to raise up healthy and integrated individuals.  You are the man! ... Um, well, I guess I mean, You are the God!  amen.

Fear (Respect) The Word of the Lord

Scripture:

Jeremiah 23:1-32

32 See, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and who tell them, and who lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or appoint them; so they do not profit this people at all, says the Lord.

Observation:

In an extended rant, Jeremiah rails against false prophets.

What is the mark of a false prophet, you might ask?

According to this section there are several:

1) fails to criticize, challenge or correct "wickedness", telling people what they want to hear versus what they need to hear;

2) speak visions, dreams and words of their own imaginings according to agendas other than that of the Lord;

3) failure to dwell in the presence and the word of the Lord;

4) reckless 'prophesies' do not profit, help or aid their hearers, instead of being built up as vibrant disciples they are isolated and made dependent.

Application:

As one tasked with proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ on a regular basis to a particular set of God's people, these prophesies always give me pause. Am I dwelling adequately in the presence and word of God? Am I preaching an agenda other than that of the Reign of God? Am I bringing adequate invitation? Challenge?

Further, this passage ought give pause to any who seek to grow in their ability to "Hear a word from the Lord and respond to it."

Are we dreaming false dreams that tell us what we want to hear; or, does the word we receive square with the larger biblical witness? Are we acting like lone-rangers; or, are we accountable to a community of faith?

I am currently on vacation. I needed this vacation badly. Worn down by routine responsibilities, I was failing to spend sufficient time dwelling in the Lord waiting upon the divine word. That needs to undergird and uphold all I do; so, not surprisingly, my work (and leisure and oikos) were suffering.

How about you? Have you heard a word from the Lord lately?

How do you tell the difference between false and genuine words?

Prayer:

Thank you, God of the far of and of the near. You have created all that is will purpose and panache. Thanks for meaningful (if somewhat daunting) work! Thanks for the daily, seasonal, and lifelong rhythms of rest and abiding that make it all possible.

And, Dad? Where I have failed to be faithful in hearing and sharing your true word, forgive me. Forgive me, correct me and restore me that I may serve the purpose for which you created me. Amen.