What is Justice?

Isaiah 59:9-19 (NRSV)

Therefore justice is far from us,
   and righteousness does not reach us;
we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness;
   and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. 
We grope like the blind along a wall,
   groping like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
   among the vigorous as though we were dead. 
We all growl like bears;
   like doves we moan mournfully.
We wait for justice, but there is none;
   for salvation, but it is far from us. 
For our transgressions before you are many,
   and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions indeed are with us,
   and we know our iniquities: 
transgressing, and denying the Lord,
   and turning away from following our God,
talking oppression and revolt,
   conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart. 
Justice is turned back,
   and righteousness stands at a distance;
for truth stumbles in the public square,
   and uprightness cannot enter. 
Truth is lacking,
   and whoever turns from evil is despoiled. 

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
   that there was no justice. 
He saw that there was no one,
   and was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm brought him victory,
   and his righteousness upheld him. 
He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
   and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
   and wrapped himself in fury as in a mantle. 
According to their deeds, so will he repay;
   wrath to his adversaries, requital to his enemies;
   to the coastlands he will render requital. 
So those in the west shall fear the name of the Lord,
   and those in the east, his glory;
for he will come like a pent-up stream
   that the wind of the Lord drives on. 

What is justice?

I remember years ago taking some version of the Myers-Briggs personality inventory and there was a question that asked which word I was more attracted to - "justice" or "mercy."  I struggled with that question then and I still do because for me the two are inexorably connected.

But I know that isn't the case for everyone.  For many they are perhaps not opposites, but perhaps pretty close to incompatible.  Tied up in this text from Isaiah are militaristic images and words:  vengeance; victory; fury; garments of battle such as a breastplate and helmet.

There is in one definition of justice the presumption of the assignment of merited rewards or punishments, and the idea of being "fair."  Yet also tied up with the definition is the concern for peace, righteousness and respect for people.

One word covers a lot of territory.

Gandhi defined justice in a way that I think begins to get to the heart of Christian understanding:  "Justice that love gives is surrender.  Justice that law gives is punishment."

Justice as we read this text is perhaps most notable by its absence:  "we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness; and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope like the blind along a wall, groping like those who have no eyes"

In this situation of no justice in a dark world, we are told that God is displeased and enters in to intervene.  We know that God in Christ provides the light to see justice and to provide justice and to live justly.  

How do you define justice?  Where does mercy fit?  Is justice really blind?  Is it truly fair?  Where does truth fit?  Where does humility fit?  Where does surrender fit?

Where does love fit?

God of justice, send your Holy Spirit to surround us with your love so that we may seek justice for all and that we may be merciful even as we ourselves beg mercy from you.  Amen.

Psalm 23

Psalm 23 (NRSV)

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff --
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
my whole life long. 

How does our walk of faith go Monday through Saturday? Recently David Lose blogged that one of the reasons he goes to church on Sundays is that by Sunday he needs a dose of that Good News.  The week gets long.  It pushes us. It stretches us.  Sometimes it punches us in the gut.  Like David Lose, by Sunday, oftentimes coming to church is like healing balm.  I need to be reminded again that God is with me.

Yet, Monday through Friday, if we really were in dire straights - if Sunday couldn't come soon enough and we were at the end of our rope - I'll bet that at least a good portion of you would know where to turn for comfort and it would be here, with Psalm 23.

Even though the pastoral language of the Psalm sometimes seems incongruous with our urban and suburban realities, there is something we seem to instinctually get about God's rod and staff comforting us.

We might be tempted to balk at the metaphor of the shepherd and sheep.  And yet, are there times it feels as if life is herding you here and there?  As if any moment a fox or wolf might just jump out and surprise you in the form of an illness, car accident, angry neighbor, etc?

Have you ever felt as if you were sitting at a table with your enemies?  Alone, lonely, wishing you were anywhere else?  Or in the darkest valley, perhaps of depression, grief, anger, or anxiety, and you just needed to know there was a way out?

Over and over again, people return to this Psalm for its comforting promise of hope:  God is with us.  Psalm 23 moves us to trust that promise.  It gets us through those times when it feels as if nothing else is working in our lives.  It makes us long for those still waters and green pastures and know that they are indeed possible.

This Psalm though is only the beginning.  Words of comfort abound in God's Book of Faith.  It can be your gateway to an even fuller, richer, and deeper trust of that promise of hope.  Let it lead you in to conversation with God and to new connections to God's promise.

Lord you are with me.  Always.  Help me never to forget and always know where to turn when I am in need.  Amen.

Members of one another

Ephesians 4:25-32 (NRSV)

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Another one of Paul's pep talks.  On a first reading, I almost always feel downcast as to how far I fall from the mark here.  It's tempting to look through this list and think about what it is that is the hardest for me to do.  (for the record, probably "not letting the sun go down on my anger!")

Yet as I read it again, tucked neatly in the beginning of the passage is the reason Paul gives us for being tenderhearted and forgiving of one another.

We are members of one another.

Over and over the church is often referred to as the body of Christ.  Imagine a body at war with itself.  When your legs refuse to bring the rest of you to where you need to be. Or your stomach is empty, not giving you the energy for live and work.  Or you haven't slept and your brain won't put together sentences clearly when you need to give a presentation.  When cancer eats away at your cells leaving your body weak, but your mind is strong and agile and aware of ever bit of pain.

If then as the Body of Christ, we are members of one another, what happens when the members attack each other?  How does that effect the body?

The truth is that not all members of a group of people - even people in a community of faith - like each other.  But we are connected by a Holy Spirit that needs us to be in concert.  To treat each other with compassion and forgiveness.

And when we can't...when we try and try but just can't seem to do it, we have the other members of the body who are there to be tenderhearted and forgiving with us, empowering us through their love and forgiveness to do the same.

I like to think of membership this way rather than the way we have tended to come to see it.  The tendency is to say "I am a member of St. Paul's" or "St. Matthew's," or "Holy Trinity," or "Grace Lutheran," which is the same way we'd say we are members of a club.  

Instead we are members of one another.  We are part of each other.  Together we act as God's hands and feet in the world as the Body of Christ.  Working together is hard.  Loving each other is hard.  But the life that comes from the love we bear each other makes the body work as it is meant to.

Forgiving God, you have set me free.  You have included me as your own.  Give me the power of your love to be tenderhearted to your other children so that I am ever mindful of building up the body of Christ.  Amen.

Water

Jeremiah 2:4-13 (NRSV) Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the LORD: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves? They did not say, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?" I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, "Where is the LORD?" Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit. Therefore once more I accuse you, says the LORD, and I accuse your children's children. Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.   The other night, Jimmy Carter was on the David Letterman show.  He has a new book, and one of the issues from the book and from his work that he was discussing was the "Guinea Worm."  This parasite infects those in many countries who have no access to clean drinking water.  The eggs of the worm live in stagnant - you might say dead! - water and when a person drinks, they become infected with the worm that within a year can grow to be 30 inches long inside of them. The topic of "living water" is still one that we struggle with today, both literally and metaphorically.  There are far too many people in the world without access to clean springs of flowing, living, life-giving water. And there are also ways in which we turn, as the Israelites, toward other forms of "life."  Other gods you might even say.  Gods we can control and see. The topic of life giving water has been prevalent this week - beginning Sunday with the Samaritan woman at the well.  Jesus offered her life giving water from the source which here Jeremiah describes.  God has been offering life giving water for a long time. Water is something these days we probably take for granted.  And because of the ease in which we can get it, perhaps it is harder to see the metaphorical implications of life giving water.  But for so many in this world, water is a prize above all others.  For the Israelites it certainly was.  And yet, they still turned to other gods. God still offers us life giving water.  Offers us life.  And hopes we live fully to share it with others. In other texts God said it simply as this: "Choose life."  Can we share both God's living water and water that gives life? Gracious God you offer us the water of life and give us the good news.  Help us to drink fully from the cup of life and to share your life giving promises with others.  And Lord, let us not forget your children who need clean, fresh, life giving water and not rest until their thirst is quenched.  Amen.

Christ in the OT

1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (NRSV)

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

and

Annunciation of Our Lord 

Isaiah 7:10-14 (NRSV)

The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test. Then Isaiah said: "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?

Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 


Two short readings for today, one New Testament, one Old Testament.  One from the normal lectionary.  One from the readings for today being the feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord.

Both, however, having everything to do with Hebrew scriptures and the place of Christ in them.  From the Isaiah passage is one of our beloved Christmas texts.  We are used to hearing prophesies from the Old Testament in regards to Christmas.

But what's going on with Paul?  Baptism?  Rock is Christ?  What does that mean?

We just heard this past Sunday the reading of the Israelites getting water from the rock at Horeb.  Now Paul tells us that rock is Christ?  What to do with that?

Some of that uncertainty comes from not always being able to reconcile the God we see in the Old Testament to the God of the New.  It's the same God, yet while we know that, it doesn't always make sense.

I'm borrowing the answer to this from Pastor Rob Bell, who has an amazing blog on the Bible going on right now.  This is what he has to say about it:

I don’t read the Bible like a flat line. I don’t see all of the passages in the Bible sitting equally side by side so that you can pick one and then counter it with another and go back and forth endlessly, always leading you to the randomness of God. I read it as an unfolding story, with an arc, a trajectory, a movement and momentum like all great stories have. There are earlier parts in the story, and there are later parts in the story. The story is headed somewhere, and a Christian, I see it headed to Jesus. Because of this, I read it through the lens of Jesus, especially the parts that come before the specifically Jesus parts. 

So as Christians, Jesus is like our lens.  He's the filter we see through.  In this narrative of life the story has been unfolding through time - since creation.  The Bible is the story of that life of faith.  The journey of God and God's people - leading always to Christ.  As Martin Luther put it, the Bible is the "cradle for Christ."  It lifts Christ up for us.

That isn't to say that there wasn't a lot of other stuff going on in the OT.  There was.  The OT stories stand as rich and alive even on their own merit. But now on the other side of the cross, we can look back and see the story unfolding and God preparing us.  And the saving waters at Horeb prepare and remind us of the saving waters of our baptism.  Clothed in Christ we and seeing through the lens of Christ, we can see God's work unfolding and leading always to Christ.

If you are interested in learning more on the Bible, I highly recommend Rob Bell's blog found here:  http://robbellcom.tumblr.com/post/66107373947/what-is-the-bible

God of story and life, help me to see your saving work unfolding in my life and unfolding in the world.  Help me to be part of your story!  Amen.

Control

Genesis 24:1-27 (NRSV)

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but will go to my country and to my kindred and get a wife for my son Isaac." The servant said to him, "Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land; must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?"

Abraham said to him, "See to it that you do not take my son back there. The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, 'To your offspring I will give this land,' he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there." So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, taking all kinds of choice gifts from his master; and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water; it was toward evening, the time when women go out to draw water. And he said, "O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. I am standing here by the spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. Let the girl to whom I shall say, 'Please offer your jar that I may drink,' and who shall say, 'Drink, and I will water your camels'  let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master."

Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, coming out with her water jar on her shoulder. The girl was very fair to look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. Then the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please let me sip a little water from your jar." "Drink, my lord," she said, and quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw for your camels also, until they have finished drinking." So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.

When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose-ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, and said, "Tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?" She said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor." She added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder and a place to spend the night." The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD and said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the way to the house of my master's kin." 

The road that Abraham followed to get to where God led him was a long one.  Abraham was known for his faith - and yet, the journey to get his son and hope for the tribe that God was building with their family was full of mistakes and missteps.

Yet now in his old age, Abraham rests in full confidence with the plan God has for him, and as he prepares for the end of his life, he continues to make sure that God's will continues to be followed.

Those plans now affect the next generation, specifically Isaac and the going about getting him a wife.  Something it seems (at least based on this portion of text) that Isaac won't have much say about.

This is the age old dilemma, isn't it? Where in my life do I get to control, and where in my life do I simply need to learn to trust God and let go?  That need for control is often the very thing that leads to sin - missing the mark.

The process of letting go is not an easy one, and it isn't meant to be.  We need to learn to make decisions and to learn to control aspects of our life and personality.  However, as we mature in our life and in our faith, we begin to learn the reality of powerlessness and where we most definitely don't have control.

At least, hopefully we do.

It took Abraham - already an old man by the time he began this journey - a while to fully learn to let go and trust in God's leadership. It's taking me some time myself.  I don't know about you, but I do a lot of backsliding on this "letting go of control" thing.

It takes daily reminders.  Prayers of strength and forgiveness.  People around me to remind me of my reality and direct my path when I dig in and don't want to let go.

If you don't have someone in your life like that - someone to remind you you aren't in control (a pastor, a friend, a therapist or small group, a spiritual director), I suggest finding someone.  Someone to help you when you go off the rails.  Someone to help keep you humble.

Again, the AA and other addiction groups seems to get it more seamlessly I think than many of our churches.  "One day at a time" and "let go and let God" are two of their slogans.  Pretty simple, even if it isn't easy.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change or control.  Courage to change the things I must.  And wisdom to know the difference.  And give me courage to find some in my life I trust to remind me of your patience and love when I forget and go my own way.  Amen.

As much as you need

Exodus 16:9-21 (NRSV)

Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, 'Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.'" And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. The LORD spoke to Moses and said, "I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'"

In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.'" The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. And Moses said to them, "Let no one leave any of it over until morning." But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, as much as each needed; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. 

In the news this week I read of a NASA study that has said that unless there is a major shift in the unequal wealth distribution and exploitation of resources soon - as in now - that the global industrial civilization we enjoy in the US and Western world will collapse sometime likely in the next thirty years.

"Gather as much as each of you needs." the LORD told Moses to tell the Israelites.

Well, I'm not sure about you, but I have a lot more than I need.  And I know plenty who don't have enough.

As a people over the last few millennia we've done a pretty poor job with this command.  And, unsurprisingly, civilizations have fallen in that time.  Babylonians, Assyrians, the Han Empire, the Roman Empire, the Mayans.  When most of the resources are consumed by a smaller, elite part of the population, history tells us it doesn't end well.

In the wilderness, even those Israelites who gathered enough manna didn't trust that it would be enough and so held some back to the next day.  They wasted it.

How much do we waste of the precious resources God has provided us?  And why do we take more than we need?

What then do I really need?

God of bounty and generosity, you provide all I need and yet I find ways to want more.  I forget to trust in your providence and trust instead in resources that ultimately come between you and me, as well as between me and those who are truly without.  Open my eyes and heart to those who need me to share your bounty.  Move me to action to help serve this failing civilization so that we can all truly have what we need.  Amen.

Image of the Invisible God

Colossians 1:15-23 (NRSV)

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers -- all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him -- provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel. 

There's a lot of deep theology in this text.  It begins with a "Christ-hymn" reminiscent in some ways of the one in Philippians 2.  And it ends with what will be a theme in the letter to the Colossians: whether they will remain firm in their faith.

I've always been struck by the beauty of this passage.  Both the hymn as well as the rest of the verse.

But nothing perhaps strikes me more than the opening line.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."

Jesus defined.

As firstborn of all creation, the Christ is an integral part of God's creative work.  He is also, the first born of all re-creation.  With the resurrection he becomes part of God's promise to us of new life.

What does it mean to us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God?  That he is the knowable of the unknowable?  The face of the great mystery?  

Or simply that when we are with Christ we are with God.

One of the things about deep theological passages is that it can be tempting to get lost in the theology.  As someone who likes to muse and ponder over things, I have been tempted to look at this passage a puzzle to solve.  How is it that in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell?

And there is a time and a place for that.

But I have found that when I strip away the pieces of the puzzle, the words of comfort from the mystery of Christ remain the center.  

"In him all things hold together."

When I need to be held together, this passage tells me where I can turn.  In fact, where I don't even need to turn because I am already being held together. I am already reconciled to God through Christ.  

Passages like this that are rich in theology and rich in comfort is one of the treasures of Scripture.  It is one of the reasons to dig in and dive deep into its pages.  Find someone to discuss it with.  You'll be glad you did.

Image of the Invisible God, you have saved us.  You have reconciled us to yourself and hold us together through your church and through your great love for us.  Help us to study and know your word so that we can get ever closer to the richness of life you offer us. Amen

Curiousity

John 7:53-8:11 (NRSV)

Then each of them went home, while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

When you do a little poking around with this verse (on Bible Gateway in this case), you find this note on one of the translations:

"The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53."

Now when I started this devotion based on the daily lectionary, I went in with the plan that I'd react each day with the text - not go into an in depth study.  And I'm going to honor that promise to myself here, but boy is it tempting not to.

When I read a note about the text like this the first question of course that comes to mind is "Why?"  

Why was it left out and/or why was it put in?

I'm not going to answer that question, but I'm going to hopefully put that bee in your bonnet about it.  Why was this text added?  For what purpose?

I hope to put that bee in your bonnet to draw your curiosity to the scriptures.  Here is a story that we probably know - or think we know - better than a lot of Biblical stories.  Can't we picture this woman?  Picture Jesus, writing with his stick in the sand?  Feel that indignation and anger at the men who wanted to throw stones at her and then a bit of satisfaction at their shame when they don't?

Yet this story wasn't there initially.

How has this story framed our image of Jesus over the years and how might that image have changed (or not) without it?  

And what does this tell us about how scripture was framed?  What does it tell us about the agenda that the gospel writer of John had?

Yes...I said agenda.  He had one.  And that's not a bad thing.  We've gotten used to thinking agendas are manipulative, but that's not what's going on when we think of how the gospel writers all put together their books of good news.  They all had something they wanted to say.  Something they wanted to teach.  Something they wanted the reader (or in the early days, the hearer) to know about Jesus.

What does John want us to know about Jesus?

Why do you think this was added?

God of mystery, ignite a fire of curiosity in me about your Word and your good news.  Let me always seek to grow and learn and feed my faith with your scriptures.  Amen.

Fear and Powerlessness

Psalm 128 (NRSV)

Happy is everyone who fears the LORD,
who walks in his ways.
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion.
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
May you see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel! 

"Fear of the Lord" has been a phrase and concept that I've witnessed many people struggle with.  I admit that I've been challenged by it myself.

One of the reasons it's challenged me is because of the quote I've heard often that "fear is the opposite of love."  I'm not sure where that quote originated, but I heard it in conversations in Seminary and I've heard it from various sectors in the theological realm.

I get the reason for the quote.  The purpose is to say that it is fear, not simply hate, that drives most of the vengeful, damaging, cruel, awful acts in the world.  That it was fear of the Jews that drove the Nazis.  That it is fear of homosexuality that drives groups like Wellsboro Baptist church.  That it is fear of women getting power that drives patriarchy.  That it was fear of former slaves uprising that drove the Jim Crow laws of the South.

There perhaps is something to that.  I do know that fear of losing power has driven many a despot to heinous acts of violence.

But I think perhaps that quote has done some damage to the word fear.  "Fear" of the Lord is something else entirely.

Some use the word "awe" instead, and awe I think is definitely part of it.  But it isn't quite enough.  But I think that we could use a good dose of rehabilitation for the word "fear" - at least in terms of how we view God.  

One of things I've always admired about 12-Step groups is that their first step admits powerlessness - whether over alcohol, or drugs, or the alcoholism within a family system, etc.  It is there I think that the most meaningful connection to the word "fear" comes.  Admitting we don't control our destinies; that we can't control demons of drugs or alcohol; that we can't control the actions of a dysfunctional family system or sex addiction or food addition, but that instead "letting go" and turning over to God (or "Higher Power" if you like) frees us from that control those demons have over us.  A God who can take all that - who can take our sinfulness, our addictions, our pain, our control - that God is worthy of the right kind of fear.

I have always thought Christians - especially Western Christians - can learn a lot from the 12-Step programs.  We are addicted to our Western Culture and the power it gives us.  There's really no denying that. We stress, we plan, we worry over our future and how to keep what is ours.  We all do it.  I do it.

Yet the Psalmist here seemed to be a little ahead of the 12-Step curve.  Fear the Lord.  Admit powerlessness.  Let go and let God.  

Lord, I admit that I am powerless over ________________ (fill in the blank) and a cannot free myself.  Only you can restore me to wholeness, to health, to sanity.  Restore me.  Free me.  Forgive me.  Give me strength this day to move forward, confident in your loving mercy and surrendering always to your infinite wisdom and power.  Amen.

Complaints

Numbers 21:4-9 (NRSV)

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

Imagine a setting at church you've been part of recently where folks began to complain because of...what?  Money?  Attendance down?  Not enough volunteers helping?  How the worship service went?

Well, here's one way to bring them in line. (or not...)

Every now and then I have to admit that a Biblical scene makes me chuckle.  The story of the whining Israelites has always been a source of a giggle.  Led from slavery, they are known in their 40 years in the wilderness mostly for their complaining and bad behavior.  Lack of food makes them want to go back to Egypt and then the kind of food they get makes them complain more.  When Moses is away, they take to worshipping a golden calf.

It's a reminder to us I think that God's people can complain with the best of them.

Both the Israelites and us.

As a teen I used to complain to my parents about the "hypocrites" I saw at church, and as the years passed, I occasionally heard (and made!) complaints like those above:  not enough people are giving money.  Not enough people are helping out.  Not enough people are showing up for worship.  I don't like the music at the service.  I don't like the contemporary service or the traditional service or the way we do bulletins or announcements, etc. etc, etc. 

The truth is that I've got no reason to giggle at the Israelites.  God's people still complain.  Including this person.

Unlike the Israelites we don't have to bring out the snakes, live or bronze, to keep us in line.  We have instead a savior who loves and forgives us, despite our complaining.  A savior who has given us the church to continue to be God's hands on earth.

The reality is that we are still going to complain.  And sometimes our complaining will because we are weary of others' complaints.  We don't always agree.  It helps perhaps to remind ourselves we come from a long history of complainers and yet have been forgiven and made right with God despite any dissatisfaction we have with our institutional church.  Can we forgive as well?  From forgiveness the path becomes wide open and we can begin the work of the church in earnest.

God of mercy, forgive us when we get carried away with complaints and forget our true purpose as your people.  Forgive us as well when we judge others for their complaining.  Help us to be mindful always that we are your people and your love transcends everything - including our complaining.  Amen.

Justification by faith

Romans 3:21-31 (NRSV)

But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.

Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. 

Sometimes I feel as if every Lutheran is meant to have this text from Paul carved on our hearts!  It's all there - the centerpiece of justification by faith.  

What makes this text one of my favorites however, isn't the breaking down of the theology of justification by faith.  It is the immense comfort of God's grace through that justification that Paul gives:  "For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God: they are now justified by his grace as a gift..."

At my most broken and my most low, this amazing gift of God has always pulled me through.

Coming right after it, however, is a line that deserves more attention than I can give it this short morning devotional.   God putting forth Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement is an image that has perhaps challenged and even hurt the faith of some.  God sacrificing his son?  What kind of God is that?

Substitutionary atonement is a big phrase - hard to comprehend, hard to wrap your head around, hard even for some to believe.  Theories of atonement - how Christ's death on the cross save us - have gotten Christians into some big verbal sparring over the centuries.  Perhaps as much as verbal sparring about justification of faith vs. works.

Here, however, the image that I think is important to remember is that of the cross itself. The message of the cross is more than foolishness.  It is a scandal.  And to have that be the grounding of our faith was - especially to 1st century Roman citizens - outrageous, given the horrible death that the cross inflicted.  Yet it is in that act that we put our faith.

There are, I believe, better words today that scholars use to describe the work of the cross than a "sacrifice of atonement" (all apologies to Paul...).  If you find it troubling, I point you to a few theologians who can help describe it in a way that might make sense.  Both Tony Jones in his A Better Atonement and David Lose in Making Sense of the Cross summarize and describe (in a very accessible way) many of the ways we have seen the salvific work of the cross as well as offer ways that we might want to consider looking at it.

Faithful Lord Jesus, your act on the cross is the centerpiece of my life of faith.  Strengthen my own faith, reminding me always of God's gift of grace and compassion, even when I don't always understand how God's mysterious ways work in my life, or when words like "justification" and "atonement" seem like stumbling blocks. Amen.

Blessings

Isaiah 51:1-3 (NRSV)

Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness,
   you that seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
   and to the quarry from which you were dug. 
Look to Abraham your father
   and to Sarah who bore you;
for he was but one when I called him,
   but I blessed him and made him many. 
For the Lord will comfort Zion;
   he will comfort all her waste places,
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
   her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,

   thanksgiving and the voice of song. 

First my apologies...in all my previews of this it has come up with all capital letters.  I tried everything to get them off, but to no avail...

The story of God blessing Abraham is found all throughout scripture.  Genesis is where we first hear Abraham's story, but the thread runs all throughout the Hebrew Bible and even into the New Testament where Paul takes it up.

 Recently on my Facebook page I shared an article I'd found on Huffington Post.  It's title was "The One Thing Christians Should Stop Saying."  That phrase is "I am blessed" or "I've been blessed."  The reason?  We tend to use that phrase most often when we have had good things come our way.  Perhaps our job has gone well, or we've gotten a new home or new car, or maybe we've gotten to travel to that place we've always wanted to go. Or, if we are talking about our national experience, perhaps it is because we feel a sense of exceptionalism or opportunity that others don't have. 

The problem with how we tend to use "blessing" in the 21st century Western world is that it, as the article said, "reduces The Almighty to some sort of sky-bound, wish-granting fairy who spends his days randomly bestowing cars and cash upon his followers."

 That is not the kind of blessing that God gave to Abraham. 

In fact, the Abrahamic blessing was not just about Abraham at all.  Here in Isaiah, the prophet reminds us that God blessed Abraham and made him many "for the Lord will comfort Zion."  The blessing of Abraham then was not simply for Abraham itself, it was for the entire benefit of the nation, and then through the nation of Israel, eventually us.  The blessing of Abraham did not end with the patriarch.  Nor did it end with Israel.  Instead, they were the vehicle through which that blessing moved forward through time.

 The better phrase is "blessed to be a blessing."  We are not blessed for ourselves, but so that we can continue to pass that blessing on to others: those who needs God holy love in their lives.  

When you see the bumper sticker "God bless America" then, remember that it is not complete.  Instead, it should say "God bless America, so that we can be a blessing to others."

 God of blessing, pour out your love on us and strengthen us to spread that love and your blessings to those who need them most. Amen