The Assistant

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “ I heard you voice in the garden, and I saw that I was naked and hid myself.” He said, “Who told that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” (Translation mine) We see that God speaks to Adam first. It is Adam to whom he gives the command, and later, while walking in the cool of the day calls out to the man, “Where art thou?” Later God will address the Ten Commandments to the Israelite, just as he did with Adam “Thou (masculine singular) shalt have no other gods before me,” “לֹֽא יִהְיֶֽה־לְךָ.” We see that God gives pride of place to Adam. Adam was and is first and God respects this in both the Tanakh and Gospels and Epistles. At the same time, we also see that God loves a level playing field. Notice that God has a series of questions for Adam but with Eve it is simply, “What have you done?” God is short with Eve. Why? The answer lies with God’s intention for the woman. He creates her to be a help or “ezer” for the man. Only God is also called “ezer.” It’s a word that implies help in battle. The woman is God’s assistant Marine on behalf of the man. This is perhaps the reason that God is so short with Eve. Picture a janitor slaving away under your sink, something goes badly wrong and the janitor shouts to his assistant, “Give me the pipe wrench!” No please, no thank you because the assistant is the janitor’s right hand man. The woman was created to be God’s apprentice, his assistant when it comes to the man. We see later how Manoah’s wife reasons with him, setting his theology to rights, saving him from the imagination of his heart (Judges 13:22ff). She is but one example among many of what it means to be a "help suitable" for man in both the Tanakh and the Gospels and Epistles.

"Midnight Mass"--The Cats Were The Tip-Off

“Midnight Mass”— The Cats Were The Tip-Off Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t watched “Midnight Mass” be aware, there are spoilers. I will try to stick to early episodes but if you liked to be surprised, this article might not be for you. Art often provides a way to understand, to process, the times in which we live. Mike Flanagan’s highly interesting and entertaining series is such an attempt to understand, or perhaps better, to chew over what we’ve been up to in the Western nations for the past two years. The cats were the first tip-off. Early in the coronavirus scare, we saw scenes coming from China of cats who were killed, sometimes even dropped from high-rises, but perhaps more often, exterminated by government officials. The cats were sacrificed for the greater good. Even our big cats in the United States were, for a time, suspect. Dogs too were also sacrificed in China for “the greater good.” They were carriers of covid, and thus, unclean. In “Midnight Mass,” both species are early victims of the new or perhaps rather old, religion. Which brings me to the religiosity itself—the rejuvenated priest is a purveyor of “salvation” in the very first episode. In the same way, in real life, masks, lockdowns, distancing and vaccines were all invested with sanctity and salvation. Stanley Hauerwas, a theologian whom I greatly admire, in a dialogue with Will Willimon, even as the lockdowns held full sway at Duke and the world, opined “isolation may be a form of love.” And, of course, as is necessary to all religions, there must be those who fail to comply; there must be sinners, transgressors, the unclean who are outside the assembly, outside the church. Even the “We’re All In This Together” mantra is echoed throughout “Midnight Mass.” In the very first episode, a rather domineering woman insists that come a crisis, the entire community repairs to one and only one refuge, the church. On the island, they, like us, are “stronger together” until, of course, they aren’t. And miracles. As in real life, many insisted that the masks had protected them from colds and flu for a year, so in “Midnight Mass” wonderful things happen to build the assembly of the faithful. It also looks to me like the old/young priest has similarities to the nation’s high priest, complete with his own feminine devotee/boss lady and do-gooder, in real life taking the form of the always scarfed Dr. Birx. As Father Paul administers the sacraments and safety/salvation, so too, Dr. Fauci. But perhaps the priest, like Dr. Fauci himself stands for all of us. We were troubled, half-demented, weak and then we “found the solution.” The solution was a bit troublesome, no one likes to lug a big heavy box around. The box must be dragged into the manse by the young priest himself but once there it not only provides safety, it also provides comfort. The priest knocks on the heavy wooden box and companionably, whatever is within, knocks back. But the real tip-off for me comes from the opening scene. What was it that we were most afraid of? Was it getting covid? Yes, we were afraid but that fear paled before another, the fear of killing someone else. Is it any wonder that this is exactly how “Midnight Mass” begins? In the years following the horror and desolation at Salem Village, every attempt was made to sweep what had happened under the rug. It was only later, with Nathaniel Hawthorne, that the attempt was made to understand what had happened in the darkness. What is less well known, is that Sweden preceded Salem in being grasped by delusion. Sweden also gave in to witchcraft hysteria, and from 1668-1676 wrought horrors that real evil witches might envy. But their reckonings, how they processed the events of these eight years, differed from that of New England. The Swedes were far more willing to look things in the face. As the delusion was dying out, the clergy and governors prudently advised the populace simply to pray to be delivered from evil and abandon their hyper-focus on invisible menaces that might or might not be infecting themselves or their neighbors. Mike Flanagan ruminates in the direction of the church. As a Presbyterian minister, I think that’s a pretty good direction. How was it that the good, holy, and just commandment “love thy neighbor,” become a monster that justified ratting on our neighbors, attacking them in public places, isolating ourselves and coercing small and large sacrifices? How did that derivative of the word salvation, namely “safety,” become a false idol, not just in the time of the covid scare, but arguably since December 7th, 1941 or on second thought maybe even earlier, even 1692? I pray, hope and actually expect that quite soon congregations all over this nation will begin to figure out the answer; we’re close. But here’s the question that I think Mike Flanagan is asking, and I think it’s a good one, how is that people fall prey to dark angels and convince themselves that these angels are angels of light?

The Dead Sea Scrolls, Scrolls of Jerusalem.

The Dead Sea Scrolls Aren’t The Dead Sea Scrolls; Jeremiah 32 and The God of Faith

My secondary title exaggerates. Of course, scrolls were found in the Dead Sea region. At the time of this writing more than a thousand scrolls have been found, scrolls from the pens of hundreds of different scribes. But other scrolls have also been found in other regions. In or near Jericho, Origen is said to have discovered a cache of scrolls, found a jar like those at Qumran. (1) At Masada, scrolls very like those at the Dead Sea have also been found. (2) Norman Golb in his book, "Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?" makes a very persuasive case that prior to the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, libraries from Jerusalem were spirited away from Jerusalem in order to save them from the oncoming Roman armies. At their destinations the books were enclosed in jars and hidden away. 

As I think on these things who could help but remember Jeremiah 32? Jeremiah had been prophesying (correctly) that Jerusalem would be taken by Nebuchadnezzar but now in chapter 32, another word comes to the prophet. God tells him to buy a field and get the deed. Now, this word from God is very surprising. It’s as if God is saying in April of 1979, “go buy some land on Three Mile Island. Invest!” And the Lord continues “Take these deeds, both the sealed deed of purchase and this open deed and put them in an earthenware vessel. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.” (3) the promise continues “For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. Fields shall be brought in this land of which you are are saying, It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.” And in Chapter 33, “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: In this place which is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks. In the cities of the hill country, the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them.” (4)

Now let’s fast forward to the first century. The Romans are coming and the elders of Jerusalem know that the city is doomed. They decide to hide their libraries, learning from Jeremiah they decide to hide their books in jars and in the earth itself. They hide away their books to preserve them, yes, but also to remind God (because they have been reminded by him!) that one day the land would again be inhabited, that one day there would again be heard, “the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, and the voices of those who sings, as they bring thank offerings to the house of the Lord.” Now fast forward once again to 1948 and to the discovery of the young Bedouin boy. Driven from Europe and the United States the refugees and survivors of the Shoah have returned to the one place that seemed open to them, to the Holy Land, to Israel. Could it have been the Lord who directed the play of the Bedouin boy that day? Could it have been God reminding us in his humble way of who he is? He is the God of faith. He made a promise to Israel and he keeps that promise, but even more he sticks by Jerusalem and Israel, come hell or high water. And what a lesson that is, for the Jews certainly, but even more for the nations. Do we see yet, the goodness of God? The Jews are God’s people but also an object lesson, showing us the character of the God who is great and good.

  The promise to Jeremiah came true in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah and it came true again in the time following the Holocaust. How many times can God fulfill his promises? Let me answer that question with a question. What are the limits of the goodness of God? The so-called “Dead Scrolls” are a witness to the God of Faith, who doesn’t forget, who walks along side us, whose glory is to make both Jew and Gentile into conquerors, conquerors to the nth degree. And why does he do this? Here, I will let the reader do his own exploration. Open the Bible with me and see why.

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 1.Golb, Norman, Who Wrote The Dead Sea Scrolls (New York, NY: Scribner, 1995). p.105-109

 2. Ibid., 132.

 3.Revised Standard Version of the Bible (New York, NY: Oxford University, 1973).

 4.Ibid.

 Ibid.

We Hid Our Faces

 In the Old Testament Moses' face shone when he came down the mountain after speaking with the Lord (Exodus 34). But after Moses had given the law to the people, they asked him to veil himself because they were afraid. However, we then read that when Moses went into see the Lord, he took off the veil. Who could imagine veiling one's face before the Lord, before his friend, before THE friend?

When we gather in our congregations, we are in the same position as Moses was in the tabernacle. We are with the Lord; we look to him and shine. How? We shine because he is shining on us. But there's more! We then look at one another-- we see the shining faces, that pleasure and delight and glory and we do what comes naturally, we shine even more, going "from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:17ff). This is why many are against masks in the church, because the churches are the assemblies of God. The Lord Jesus has promised to come on Sunday and he comes and is among us, our friend and our savior and we shine!

And what of all the masks we see in so many places now? Short answer: they have no future. How come? Not because of man. Man holds down the truth in unrighteousness. We are caught up in a delusion and we cannot get out.

However, this is the new covenant time and we will be unveiled, all of us.  According to Isaiah 25, "the veil that is over the face of the nations will be removed." And this promise is not only for when Jesus comes but it can be fulfilled right now. We see the power of death.  The fearfulness of it has all the tribes and ethnicities in its grip.  But death has no victory. Death has no future.  Let's stop praying just for ourselves. Let's pray first for the churches, the congregations and then at the same time, for all mankind that we would all be delivered from these coverings and not just the ones that we can see. Help us Lord to be freed from these veils that cover the eyes of hearts and keep us from seeing one another as You do. For too long we have hidden our faces from those who are incarcerated, from the refugees, from the unborn, from our neighbors of opposite political stripe. We have hidden from the poor man, we have hidden our faces from the tribes, from the slaves and descendants of slaves, the builders of this land.  It has been our great loss. At the end of the day, we have hidden our faces from the Lord Jesus. 

We don't have to save the world, I am not calling for more "busyness," just that the eyes of our hearts would be uncovered and we would see as the Good Samaritan saw, as God sees and understands us and loves us. All I want is that the constipation of our hearts would be unblocked, to put it crudely! I want the Holy Spirit, for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty! (2 Cor. 3)

Not Without Them

 Our work is not to withdraw but to engage, to have the fights, discussions, everything. Not over Facebook, not online but face to face. I don't want healing, happiness or peace if it means going on without those who disagree with me. I want us to be together come what may. I would rather be miserable with those who I think are loonies, nazis, stalinists, totally wrong weirdos than be happy without them. I would hope those who think me a bleeding heart dumb liberal pinko commie would want the same.

Shine

 

We are all far too familiar by now with “cancel culture.” Bullying has lessened but been replaced by this far crueler practice, a practice which we can see throughout the Bible. In Genesis 2, when Adam sinned, “he hid from the face of the Lord.” In Isaiah, the man of sorrows, Lord Jesus, is one from whom “men hid their faces.” I must confess that there have been times when hearing a knock on the door, I went and hid in the bathroom until the visitor gave up and went away! But God is different; he goes out. He walks in the garden in the morning breeze and seeks after Adam and Eve when they have hidden themselves. In the New Testament also, the Lord persists.  When the disciples lock the door on him and everyone else, he passes through that door and speaks to them and breathes on them the Holy Spirit. He seeks and saves the lost. My ancestor, Robert the Bruce betrayed the freedom fighter William Wallace and caused his death by agreeing to meet with Wallace and then avoiding him for the next month. But the Lord is different, he seeks us out, his face shines on us. In Genesis when darkness, “covered the face of the deep,” his word went out, “let there be light,” and there was light. Though we hide our faces from him, closing the eyes of our hearts and turning away, he looks for us and has compassion. He really is the Good Samaritan who sees us and comes to us and heals us and carries us. He looks at us hiding in darkness, hiding from our neighbor and from him and his heart goes out to us. He loves us still and proves it. “May the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.”

The Mask

Masks are very much in the news and in evidence. But what of the masks we have been wearing long before Covid19?  In his last book, “Till We Have Faces,” C.S. Lewis retold the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche as a parable about humanity’s relationship to the Lord Jesus. The title came from a question posed in the book, “How shall they (the gods) meet us face to face till we have faces?”  Have you ever considered the mask, the covering that you, that we all, put on every day? We hide from ourselves, our neighbor and God. Look at history. Think of the “Red Scare,” of 1917 that birthed the Espionage Act, so many innocents put into jail, so many citizens deported. Never heard of any of it? That’s no accident. We sweep things under the rug; hide from our own cruelties. Who remembers McCarthyism and the lives that it destroyed? What of the ways that we barred black people from farming in our region? These are just three examples of the way we cover up. We love our masks. And believe me, I don’t exclude pastors. On the contrary, we in ministry love to cover up our feelings and our failings.  God is very patient but his patience has an end.  His is not okay with our lies, our masks, our coverings, our burial shrouds. Is this now the time that God has chosen to rid us of our masks, “to destroy the face covering that is over all the nations,” (Isaiah 25:8)? We are the same as the disciples, deniers, betrayers and murderers, Christ-killers. This is us. But remember, it’s sinners that God saves.  Let’s pray in accordance with his promise in Isaiah 25 that God destroys our masks, and now “we all with unveiled faces” look to the Lord and shine, looking at, seeing at last, our neighbor and “going from glory to glory.” (2 Cor. 3:18)

Not All Gospel

 Did you know that not everything in the Bible is gospel? Certainly all of the Bible is “God-breathed, useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction and for training up in righteousness” But the gospel is something specific. Paul and Jesus expected us to search the scriptures; when we do we are led to Isaiah 52-55 first of all. The gospel is the news of the coming of the seed of David, that root out of dry ground. He took on our sins. He healed, righted, all of us who were so wrong. The gospel is justice.  It is, to quote the famous hymn, “God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay, remember Christ our savior was born on Christmas day.” Though we put Jesus on the cross, God meant it for our good. The salvation of the cross is for Christ-killers like us. But there are other parts of the Bible as well, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” A man once told me that he could always repent, sometime in the future. I was dumbfounded. How do you know you will able to repent?  When Jesus comes again, one may be so used to turning from him, denying him, one will walk oneself right into hell. Let’s read all the Bible, all of it is for our good.

"Till We Have Faces"

“Till We Have Faces”

In Matthew 22, Jesus is asked about the law and gives a summation that was well-known in his day, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Yet however good this is, the new covenant outshines it by far. The new covenant reveals that our neighbor loves us.  The new covenant is the revelation that the Lord is this neighbor.  But there’s more. It doesn’t only mean seeing that the Lord is the neighbor who loves us but also the vision to see our neighbors and the love shining in their faces towards us, and even by reflection who we really are in Jesus. Right now of course this is not seen all the time.  Isaiah 25 speaks of “the veil,” “the covering,” that is over all nations. We do not see one another or the Lord; the face of God and man is obscured. But one day the veils will be removed, the face coverings taken away and we will. Paul writes that this has already begun to happen, “And we all with unveiled faces, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image going from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord.” As a minister I see this every Sunday, I look into the faces of those before me and I see a light and a love beyond words. I begin perhaps to see even the face of the Lord. In C.S. Lewis’ last book, a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, “Till We Have Faces,” written with the help of his wife, Joy Davidson, the main character asks “how can they meet us face to face till we have faces?” Using this myth the Lewises were telling us that we have covered over and suppressed the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we have covered over and suppressed his face and ours. But God removes the covering and the face is revealed. We will see our neighbor. Then God will swallow up death in victory and all tears will be wiped away and people will say, “Look! This is our God, we have waited for him and he will save us; this is the Lord, we have waited for him.”

Knowing God

              What matters is knowing God. Certainly there are decisions that we make; we need to hear the voice of our teacher telling us what to do, to hear that voice behind us saying, “this is the way, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21) But what matters first of all is that He is no longer hidden (vs.20). When Mary Magdalene in the garden was weeping, there was a man—she supposed him to be the gardener—who spoke with her but then after having turned away she heard his voice, saying her name, “Mary” and she turned towards him and said, “Rabboni” which means in her home language of Aramaic, “My teacher.” She knew him now and then he gave her work to do, “Go to my brethren…” So we see, the first thing in both the Old and New Testaments, is to know the Lord; this is the precious pearl of great price. When Jesus said her name, it was the same as when he said, “Lazarus, come out.” He had awoken her heart to see. Everything begins here with the Lord speaking a word and calling into being the things that are not. The reason why the assembly and even sometimes the church building itself is a sanctuary, a place of refuge is because Jesus is our sanctuary, we cannot help but follow after him, even the church building can’t help but become something of a sanctuary, “the very stones… “(Luke 14:40). Why then is the church is locked during the week? Why would it ever be locked on  Sunday morning? This looks too much like the disciples locking themselves in. They inadvertently were preventing Jesus from entering, preventing the cure to all their diseases from entering! Were it not for his resurrected strength and power he would not have been able to go in and save the disciples. But he passed through the locked doors, destroying their self-imposed prison house. My foster sister in Chicago went to churches on Sunday morning trying the doors last month; they were all locked but then she came to a church worshipping, praise God! The church building itself is a sanctuary but the assembled worshippers even more a sanctuary.  And let us not forget the expectation of privacy in these troubled times. No arm of the government, no one not “in-house” should ever be advised by minister or anyone else who worshipped and when. The church, the assembly is a refuge because this is what the Lord is and looking at him we become like him.

Knowing God

What matters is knowing God. Yes, there are decisions that we make; we need to hear the voice of our teacher telling us what to do, to hear that voice behind us saying, “this is the way, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21) But what matters is that He is no longer hidden (vs.20). When Mary Magdalene in the garden was weeping, there was a man—she supposed him to be the gardener—who spoke with her but then she heard his voice, saying her name, “Mary” and she turned and said, “Rabboni” which means, “My teacher.” She knew him now.Then he gave her work to do, “Go to my brethren and tell them…” So, the first thing is to know the Lord; it’s the pearl of great price. When Jesus said her name, it was the same as, “Lazarus, come out.” He had awoken her heart to see. Everything begins with the Lord speaking a word, calling into being the things that are not. The reason why the assembly and even the building itself is a sanctuary, a refuge is because Jesus is. (Luke 14:40). Why then is the church locked, ever?—but especially on Sunday! The disciples locked the door, inadvertently preventing Jesus, preventing the cure to all their diseases from entering! But he’s able to tear down all our prisons, release the captive. My friend in Chicago went to churches on Sunday trying the doors, but then something wonderful, an assembly in the parking lot. The building is a refuge but the people even more so.  And this leads us to remember one thing more. No one should ever be “told on” because they worship. No arm of the government should ever be told or even ask who worshipped and when. The church, the assembly is a refuge because this is what the Lord is. Praise God for this time; we are learning to know him.

Black and White, Slave and Free

Black and White, Slaves and Free

Did you know there is racism in the Bible?  In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron attempt a coup d’etat against Moses, a take-over.  He is married to a black woman and they are not pleased. They ask, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?”  Now Moses is the meekest of men and says not a mumblin’ word against his brother and sister but the Lord takes issue.  He calls them on the carpet, “come out you three, to the tent of meeting” and he proceeds to tell them how much he loves Moses, and when the Lord finishes speaking his anger is kindled against Aaron and Miriam and when the pillar of cloud is removed from over the tent, Miriam is leprous, her skin has been turned as white as snow.  I know there might be some who say, “How come God did not punish Aaron too?"  But remember Aaron is the representative of the entire people of Israel, moreover think what God is conveying here.  It’s as if God is saying, “You want a white woman, I will give you a white woman!”  When Aaron and Moses see Miriam they are horrified.  They plead with God, Moses says “Heal her, O God, I beseech thee.”  Their prayer is granted and Miriam is healed after seven days.  God chastises those whom he loves.  God is teaching his beloved about the evils of racism.  As a white woman myself I have begun to be aware of some of the privileges and rights that I enjoy that my black brothers and sisters do not.  I have never been redlined. Black people came to our region from the south in the early 1900’s but they were not able to buy land on which to create their farms; they were not able to pursue their vocations. Can you imagine? What would you do?And it’s not just in the past: I have very rarely been suspected of shoplifting in a store but I have observed young black girls in the store, people look at them askance. They see it too.  I had no fear of driving at night in Evanston, Illinois where I was a teenager. Black teenagers had this fear constantly. Black moms and dads have to have “the Talk” with their children. It’s not a talk about the birds and the bees, it’s a talk about how to stay alive-how to come back home alive. Put your hands on the wheel, tell the officer before you make any move that you are just going for your wallet in the glove compartment. My mom and dad never had to have this talk with me. I haven’t been sent to jail for shouting and laughing in a mall; many young black men have.   My family and I enjoy the fruit of many generations of being accorded our rights; we have been able to pursue happiness without the roadblocks that have been constantly set in the faces of the descendants of slaves, the builders of this country.  In Anglo-Saxon law a slave is not just freed by proclamation, a slave is freed when he is given three things: land, a mule, and a sword. So with all due respect and love to Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation which I often quote, by my reckoning, slavery never ended since neither the slaves nor their descendants have ever been given any of the above.  Dear readers, God’s word bears fruit (Isaiah 55). His word is the word of liberty, not only for one part of society but also for the builders of this nation, the slaves and their descendants.

Common Sense in the Time of Coronavirus

Common Sense

 The woman with the flow of blood knew that if she touched the fringes of Jesus’ garments she would be saved. She’d been fighting her disease for twelve years; it had become a battle. Her faith, the gift from heaven of “establishment,” that is, being rooted and grounded in knowledge of the Lord’s goodness, had shown her the truth: salvation clung even to Jesus’ ritual fringes. As we consider the way we live now, many wonder if the real disease is fear. When we are in the grips of it, good decision-making is impossible. When confronted by any threat, even one far more terrible than coronavirus, the first order of business is to confidence and calm. But panic has the nations of the earth, in its deadly, heady, delusional grip. But let us consider the woman with the flow of blood. She had common sense, or perhaps we should say, “communion” sense. With the Lord, in communion with him, all fear is cast out.  But what of those times when we are felled by fear?  The Bible tells of a man who had fallen among thieves but was saved by the Good Samaritan. So often, we are those fallen by the wayside, felled by the thief called Panic.  The Good Samaritan sees us where we are, helpless, and has compassion and saves us. The Good Samaritan is the Holy Spirit who restores us to common sense, “communion sense,” communion with the Lord and with one another, partaking of the bread and the wine as the disciples do, as the seventy elders did at Sinai. The first order of business for us is to seek after communion with the Lord. Our constant prayer, should be that all fear would be completely driven from our land and destroyed from the face of the earth and that instead, the Holy Spirit would come in and restore us to common, “communion,” sense.

The Source

The Source

The American people are indeed “full of vim and vigor,” just as the President said on Tuesday, but let’s further his thought. What is the source of that merriment, good cheer, lustiness, patient perseverance, exuberance and life?  It’s Jesus.  It is the Lord who gives life, eternal vim and vigor as it were. There is a misconception--we always picture eternal life as “going to heaven when you die.”  This is not what the Bible teaches.  Consider the reading for Sunday (which I sincerely hope you will hear in person), when Jesus tells Martha, “your brother will rise again.” Martha replies, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” To which Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life”—To paraphrase: “No Martha, life is right now, life is here!”  The meaning of Jesus’ coming is that mankind will remain forever, body, soul and spirit. There is no more death and we are not going to die. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Bible is the most realistic book that there is about death.  It’s in this same chapter in John that Martha speaks so frankly of her brother Lazarus in the tomb,” Lord, he already stinks, it’s been four days!” Talk about keeping it real.  But Jesus knows something far weightier, something that pushes death right off the stage. He says, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  And he does not keep this life to himself, he gives it to us and indeed all creation.  That’s why the American people are lively. That’s why we cannot be “locked up” as the President also said. Not because we aren’t an “incarceration nation,” not because we don’t lock ourselves up in places far worse than any prison. It is because Jesus comes into every locked room and trap and frees the prisoner. Consider the lock-up that is the epidemic of busyness and delusion. Last week people were forced to stop and breathe even if only for a moment.  Families took a break from cars and walked around and enjoyed themselves. Our waters and skies were finally clear all over the world. My sister called me last week and told me about how she had woken up on Monday morning and her face “felt weird.” It took her a few moments to realize why. She was relaxed for the first time in years. Jesus means eternal life, vim and vigor, but if he is the source then we also have to rest.  We must stop in the name love, stop and listen, stop and go for a walk, stop and just do one thing at a time, stop and hug somebody, stop and concentrate, stop and not go anywhere, stop and go visit friends and family even when it interferes with work, stop and do nothing and be bored.  This is also a part of having vim and vigor if our vim and vigor comes from the source of all vim and vigor, the Lord Jesus, our peace and wholeness.  God loves us, he sticks by us, he loves us too much to let us go on in delusion and  tortures.  The difference between God and ourselves is simple. The reason that he is so “other,” is because he is so good.

Meet on Sunday

We must reject all fears and meet in person to worship on Sunday.  After having said this let me assure the reader that I encourage those who are even the least little bit disinclined to come, to feel more than free in their decision! We will see each other soon Beloved!  I look forward to talking with you over the phone or online or in person in a different setting. You are constantly in my prayers. Remember no matter what happens, we are one in the Lord Jesus!  But after having said this, let's keep the services going and the doors open on Sunday! What's my thinking here? It was Jesus' cross that brought the disciples together on the first day of the week and then he came among them confirming his work on the cross and comforting them, breathing on them, giving them the Holy Spirit, empowering them. As the Israelites were gathered together on the near side of the Red Sea in fear and anguish, so were the disciples brought together. Just as the Israelites were brought through the water together and believed and worshipped and rejoiced on the far side of the Red Sea so the disciples worshipped the Lord when he came among them.  It was always risky to gather on Sunday both for the disciples and for their friends and families.  They must have known and agreed that following Jesus might very well bring down the wrath of the Roman Empire on Israel.  When they followed Jesus they were indeed risking the destruction of the nation, a nation which was and is the light of the world.  But empowered by Jesus, Jesus who seeks and saves the lost, they were obedient.  Today persecuted Christians meet openly and in secret on the first day of the week. Certainly this is a risk to themselves but much more harrowingly this meeting, this obedience is a terrible risk to family, friends and tribe, many of whom are not even believers.  But they have learned that they must obey Jesus without counting the cost.  They must overcome even these fears and stand.  This is not to say that those who do not want to come to church should not feel free not to come.  When this situation has passed we will run to welcome them back to church and "the spoil of those who stayed behind will be the same as those who went into battle." But we must keep the churches open on Sunday for worship, obedient even in the face of the most harrowing fear.  With the help of the Holy Spirit we will soon find the answer to the powers that be that seek to cheat, mistreat and control us.

Queen of The Sciences

There is an old joke or adage that goes something like this:  A physicist labors to climb a mountain and when at last he reaches the summit he finds the theologian at the pinnacle,  waiting for him.  In the 19th century, scientists laughed the opening verses of Genesis to scorn; “How ridiculous,” they said, “in the Bible, light appears before the sun and the moon and the stars.”  Later, however, the intellectual heirs of these same scientists grew silent when their own theories pointed to the primacy of light, before sun, moon or stars.  And there is much more.  Consider, how the Bible points to the need to take care of the oceans even before the earth (Genesis 1:28b).  Only now are do we begin to understand how connected we are to the oceans.  God gave us to be gardeners, caretakers, helpers to all creation beginning by quieting and comforting the places where we live but then immediately looking to the oceans, coral reefs and icebergs.  God gave us to be stewards and helpers of these things at the very beginning, how much more in the new creation in Jesus?  Or consider Jesus' emphasis on guts.  Yes, you read that right.  When the Good Samaritan has compassion on the man who has fallen among thieves, what it actually says in the original language, is that the “guts,” the “innards” of the Good Samaritan were moved when he saw the wounded man. All of us understand this feeling but science is now beginning to see how the guts, the innards, are actually the cornerstone of the immune system and have been called “the second brain.” Or consider the first man, Adam. His name comes from the Hebrew word “adamah” or “earth.”  Adam was formed from the earth; he and Eve are dirt. Only now is science beginning to discover its importance.  To the horror of their watchful mothers and fathers, babies routinely put little things found on the floor into their mouths, but immunologists have discovered that this dirt is essential for the baby; it is is child’s immune system training itself.  Society and science are learning more and more about the soil—it can be amended, it can “grow” (terra preta), it lives.  To our sorrow we have also learned that the earth can be poisoned and deadened, but, I would hasten to add, it can and will be revived, by a people following Jesus; Jesus, “who does not fail or become discouraged” until he has righted all that is wrong, Jesus who is the chief gardener.  There is no need for theologians in the pulpit, pew or professor’s chair to “harmonize” science with the Bible.  Students of the Bible, professional or amateur (and that’s all of us) simply need to do the work that Jesus has given us to do, namely to hear the Bible (large swaths of the Old and New Testaments) read on the Lord’s Day (Sunday), together in our congregations, then to study the Bible the rest of the week, on our own or in our bible study groups. There is one more task though.  It is to be confidant, remembering that theology is “queen of the sciences,” remembering so that we are not overcome with shock when we find ourselves with an insight that has not yet occurred the physicist, astronomer, historian or cancer researcher.  God loves the world and gave himself the work of making us a “people in the know.”  He does all things well.

White As Snow: Racism in Numbers 12

Did you know there is racism in the Bible?  In Numbers 12 Miriam and Aaron attempt a coup d’etat against Moses.  He is married to a black woman and they are not pleased. They ask, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?”  Now Moses is the meekest of men and says not a mumblin’ word against his brother and sister but the Lord takes issue.  He calls them on the carpet, “come out you three, to the ten of meeting” and he proceeds to tell them how much he loves Moses, and when the Lord finishes speaking his anger is kindled against Aaron and Miriam and when the pillar of cloud is removed from over the tent, Miriam is leprous, her skin has been turned as white as snow.  I know there might be some who say, “How come God did not punish Aaron too?"  But remember Aaron is the representative of the entire people of Israel, moreover think what God is conveying here.  It’s as if God is saying, “You want a white woman, I will give you a white woman!”  When Aaron and Moses see Miriam they are horrified.  They plead with God, Moses says “Heal her, O God, I beseech thee.”  Their prayer is granted and Miriam is healed after seven days.  God chastises those whom he loves.  God is teaching his beloved about the evils of racism.  As a white woman myself I have begun to be aware of some of the privileges and rights that I enjoy that my black brothers and sisters do not.  I have never been redlined. I have very rarely been suspected of shoplifting in a store, to name just two in a long list.  My family and I enjoy the fruit of many generations of being accorded our rights; we have been able to pursue happiness without the roadblocks that have been constantly set in the faces of the descendants of slaves, the builders of this country.  In Anglo-Saxon law a slave is not just freed by proclamation, a slave is freed when he is given three things: land, a mule, and a sword.  By my count neither the slaves nor their descendants have ever been given any of the above.  Dear readers, God’s word bears fruit (Isaiah 55) and our words of liberty should too, not only for one part of society but also for the builders of this nation, the slaves and their descendants.

We the People

Growing up I was blessed in so many ways. My parents were both politically active, advocating for the stranger and for the oppressed. As a baby I went door to door (in their arms!) campaigning for George McGovern. They took me along to marches and in all their work included me and taught me many beautiful things. I think it was sometime in the 90’s that a new phrase, a new way of referring to the president came into being, “leader of the free world.”  For those who had been raised during World War II, calling a president “leader,” sets off alarm bells. Moreover as theological students they had both learned  that there is only one “leader” or “Fuhrer,” and that is Jesus, and Jesus alone, not Hitler, not Roosevelt and not Stalin; both Karl Barth and Bonhoeffer taught my parents this lesson, a lesson they would never forget. The Queen herself rightly bows to a foreign prince, the Lord Jesus. But my parents’ concern, a concern I share, goes further. What is a president?  A president is someone who presides over the national conversation; much like a skilled hostess, a president can turn the conversation this way or that.  The office is powerful as such, but not imperial.  I'm glad that in our day and age, the phrase, “leader of the free world” seems to be used less than it once was.  We don't want to forget that we are a government of the people, by the people and for the people.  The apostle Paul says, “let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God…those that exist have been instituted by God.”  Paul lived in an Empire. The authorities instituted by God were the emperors, governors, centurions and the like. But we have been given a  democracy, the authority instituted by God is us. There is no other way for Americans than democracy; if we resist we resist to our own hurt, even as the apostle warns. A young man I know and esteem, once indicated to me that he would like a dictator in America; he had been raised in Europe and used to the efficiency of the “strongman.” Democracy is sometimes not easy to understand. It must be painfully learned again and again, but God is faithful and good and he will not let us forget forever.  The buck does not stop at the presidency, but right here, with me and you. Every Sunday I pray for local and national government, but I never forget that the government is us; whatever happens, at home or abroad is our responsibility, we are the authorities instituted by God.

"Accidental" Evangelist

As we read aloud from the Bible my friend looked up and said, “Does this mean I don't have to worry about converting people anymore?” I was startled but I had to agree with her. We had been reading through 2 Corinthians 2 but also reflecting on places like Acts 1, and I realized that when Jesus tells the disciples, “ You shall be my witnesses," they neither set up on a street corner with a bullhorn, nor do they book a travel agent to travel to the farthest nations. Instead, look at how Peter's first sermon and the subsequent conversion of three thousand people came about-- The disciples, both men and women, had simply been praying in the upper room in obedience when the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they began to speak the praises of God in many languages. This was, not surprisingly, a bit startling to the people in Jerusalem, and they gathered in consternation and wonder but some asked aloud whether the disciples weren't just early morning drunks. It was to defend himself and the others against the charge of public drunkenness that Peter speaks, and in so doing is compelled to share the gospel. To paraphrase: "You meant the death of Jesus for evil but God meant it for your good.”  What we see with Peter and even more clearly with Paul in all of their preaching is that, in fact, we don’t need to worry about evangelizing at all.  The pattern that we see throughout Acts and the entire New Testament not to mention the Old, of  “stumbling” into preaching the gospel is everywhere. Truly, “in Christ Jesus we are created to do good things, prepared in advance by God for us to do.” Without a doubt we will be the Lord's witnesses, and "make disciples of many nations" but this is not because of our own efforts, but rather because we will see and hear wonders of God and he himself will provide a situation where we are almost compelled to share what we know. In other words, as my friend also said," Relax but be ready. ” We will simply, through no effort or worry beforehand, find ourselves telling the story, say, of Samson, or perhaps reminding someone of Jeremiah 31, even without directly quoting a single phrase. We will find ourselves, like Peter, like Paul and all the disciples, quite easily and innocently sharing the gospel, "accidental" evangelists. As Jesus said, “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Test the spirits

The child was made to feel special.  He was told again and again how much the abuser loved him.  But now, as an adult, he knows the truth: that that love was a lie.  His abuser was incapable of loving him, or of really even seeing him, or any child.  His abuser was blind, imprisoned in adamantine bonds.  All of this raises the question: How do we test spirits? How do we find out what love really is?

    At precisely the point where would expect the apostle Paul to tells us to "love the Lord with all our hearts and souls and minds,” Paul goes in a different direction.  He speaks instead of a love that is beyond us but for us.  Much has been said and written about the famous "love" chapter of I Corinthians but let's keep in mind that wherever the word "love" is used, the phrase, "the love God has for us” or “the love God gives us” could be substituted: "the love God has for us is patent and kind, the love God gives us is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude."  You see, the law of Moses tells us to love the Lord our God but something even better happens in the new covenant. To understand, go back to the story of the new covenant.  King David was faithfully loved by God; the Lord supported him wherever he went giving help and hope, giving victory over the enemy.  But of course, this faithful love was not only for David but for the people.  God established David's throne forever in order that his people might have rest and dwell secure.  And there was even more to come.  The Bible speaks time and time again of a greater David, one descended from David's line, “there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.”  This branch, this shoot is the messiah, Jesus, and God's faithful love supports him and gives him the victory for our sake and yet even this is not the end of the good news, "I will give you the faithful pities of David" (Isa 55:3, Acts 13:34).  Not only are we "more than conquerors” because Jesus has conquered sin and death and the devil for us on the cross, we are also given all the faith and the love that he has, we too are "enfaithed," we too are supported and  helped and given the victory. And here’s what it comes down to: So often we think that love is just natural.  We take it for granted, forgetting that wherever and whenever love occurs it is a gift from the God who is love. It is from our heavenly Father. It is because of the word that rang out even before creation, it is for believers and non-believers (Matt 5:45, Isa 45).  The Bible tells us to test the spirits. So then, when someone says, "I love you," see if it is so.  Does it conform to I Corinthians 13?  Does it conform to the stories to which that chapter is pointing?  A child of course cannot do this; it is the parents' job, it's the community's work to protect children from those who are both deceiving and, most likely, terribly deceived themselves.  Contrary to what many say, the Lord does not teach us to suspend disbelief, rather we are to be scientists and prove what is true.  Well was it once said that theology is “the queen of sciences.”