Vacation

I'm going to be taking a break a couple days early because of vacation.  Leaving on Saturday - and have to leave my laptop behind.  But I got news today that my grandmother died this morning - so in all honesty, I will be spending the next few days thinking about her and doing some devotional reading for myself!

Will be back on August 3rd!  God bless!

Saul

1 Samuel 9:1-19New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.

Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, had strayed. So Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the boys with you; go and look for the donkeys.” He passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the boy who was with him, “Let us turn back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us.” But he said to him, “There is a man of God in this town; he is a man held in honor. Whatever he says always comes true. Let us go there now; perhaps he will tell us about the journey on which we have set out.” Then Saul replied to the boy, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What have we?” The boy answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way.” (Formerly in Israel, anyone who went to inquire of God would say, “Come, let us go to the seer”; for the one who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.) Saul said to the boy, “Good; come, let us go.” So they went to the town where the man of God was.

As they went up the hill to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?” They answered, “Yes, there he is just ahead of you. Hurry; he has come just now to the town, because the people have a sacrifice today at the shrine. As soon as you enter the town, you will find him, before he goes up to the shrine to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those eat who are invited. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.” So they went up to the town. As they were entering the town, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the shrine.

Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering of my people, because their outcry has come to me.” When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall rule over my people.” Then Saul approached Samuel inside the gate, and said, “Tell me, please, where is the house of the seer?” Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer; go up before me to the shrine, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind.

Ridley Scott is making yet another film about Moses.  That's all well and good, I suppose, but really everything I want to see in a Biblical epic happens in I Samuel.

Because this story has it all.

Enter today the best villain in the Bible for my money: Saul.  Villain in a "love to hate him because he's so complex" way.  Not one of those one-dimensional James Bond type villains.  

Saul makes a great villain because he starts out so innocently.  He's got hero written all over him.  He's Shakespearean. He's the flawed noble youth whose life falls apart because of power, pride, corruption and madness.  

He's MacBeth, Darth Vader, and Walter White all rolled into one.

Today when we meet Saul he's the hope of the future.  He's young, handsome, earnest, and obedient.

And that's what will make his fall so hard to see.

In Saul we see how easy it is for things to fall apart.  In Saul we begin to understand the old cliche about the road to hell being paved with good intentions.

In Saul we see that just like the parable of the wheat and weeds from Jesus that was in the Lectionary this Sunday, the wheat and the weeds grow together and sometimes their roots become entangled.

Saul will become entangled.  He'll lose his way and forget the path he's on and who put him there.

It's all too easy.

Saul's is a tale that begins with such promise.  Yet, for all his failings, Saul remains to me a figure of compassion.  He will lose his way, and yet we know that the way is still being paved.  We know that while we might sometimes forget God, God does not forget us.

And I don't think God forgot Saul.

God of mercy, sometimes it is all to easy to lose my way: to forget your promises and try to seek my own path.  When I stray, bring me back again.  Set my roots firmly in your path.  Amen.

Samuel

1 Samuel 7:15-17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. He went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all these places. Then he would come back to Ramah, for his home was there; he administered justice there to Israel, and built there an altar to the Lord.

OK, gotta admit.  I have a partiality to Samuel, so we just might see him more than once.

By the time these few passages occur, a LOT has happened in the book of I Samuel.  The Philistines took the ark of the covenant, Eli lost his sons and died, and the Israelites got the ark back!   OK, well, you just have to read the action for yourself.

In the meantime, between the lines, the little boy who God called - the boy whose mother relinquished him to serve the Lord - grew up.  And he became a judge of Israel.

Now, the Israelites had judges - not kings.  And that will become the sore point of the rest of Samuel's story.  Because the Israelites want a king, not a judge.

Politics, in other words, has always been an issue.

Now I have always thought of Samuel as a prophet more than a judge.  But I think it is important to note that he is in fact the leader that God has chosen for his people.  Samuel is more than a priest or a prophet.   He is the leader God wants for his people.

And yet...wait and see what he will do.  The people will cry for a king.  And Samuel ultimately will be the one who will help them get one.  More than one, actually.

What I've always loved about Samuel is that he doesn't let his own position of judge and any power than might give hold sway over him.  He gives up being a judge to his sons and in the end, becomes the voice for his people to God when they insist on a king - even though he knows the folly of the idea.  As with all Biblical characters, Samuel is not perfect.  But he is loyal.  And he is wise.  Wise enough to judge a people, and yet know when to step aside.

I couldn't cut and paste all the first eight chapters of I Samuel here.  But read them.  See who this man Samuel is.  This leader who got two whole books of the Hebrew Scriptures!

Good and gracious God, help us to see and trust in true leadership when it is put before us.  In these days of ideology and polarization, it often is hard to spot a true leader like Samuel.  Help us to know them when we see them.  Amen.

Eli

1 Samuel 3:1-9 (NRSV)

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of theLord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!”and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

I am a preacher's kid.  Granted, I didn't become one until I was in my 30s, so didn't have to grow up with a parent as a pastor as some do.  I'm rather glad of that.  There's a big shiny spotlight that follows PKs (preacher's kids) around.

In the chapter before this one, we find out that Eli has some PKs in his household.  Eli's sons have a spotlight on them alright.  For their bad behavior.  Behavior bad enough to earn God sending a messenger to let Eli know that his sons are doomed.  Not the ending most misbehaving PKs fortunately get.

Yet, here we meet Eli again - after the news has been broken to him and finding him in the temple where his work and his life are.  And if Eli wasn't astute enough to catch on to what was happening with his sons before this, he is astute enough to see what's happening to his protege, Samuel, now.

Here we are told Eli is perceptive.  (Maybe we do tend to be more perceptive about people not in our family)!  Eli, who wasn't perceptive when Hannah was praying (thinking she was drunk instead) now sees in Hannah's son God's work unfolding.  He's an old man, his eyes are "dim," and he's had some serious family problem.  But Eli knows when God is calling.  And he knows God is calling Samuel.

It isn't always so easy to hear God's call.  I like that it takes Samuel several times to go to Eli before he figures out what's happening.  Because honestly, that's how it works for me most of the time.  Sometimes I'm just as slow on the uptake as Eli.

Also telling for me is Eli's graciousness to Samuel.  His sons have been condemned, but Eli is going to nevertheless be there for this boy who has been given to God's service.  He knows that whatever his family issues, God's work and will must be accomplished.

God of grace, help me to hear you when you call and send me guides - like Eli - who can't point your way to me when I miss it!  Amen  

Hannah

1 Samuel 1:1-14 (NRSV)

There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”

As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.”

It is with the narrative of Ruth that we begin in earnest to move toward the story of King David.

Following the book of Ruth, we get to 1 Samuel, and Samuel's mother, Hannah: a character like Sarah and Rachel in her barrenness, and like Mary in her praise.  A mother like Elizabeth who out of faithfulness will give her son to God's service.

So with Hannah, we get many themes that are repeated throughout scripture.

And the one that maybe stands out is accused drunkenness!

Another place we hear of God's followers being accused of public drunkenness is in Acts at Pentecost.  Like Jesus' apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, Hannah is lost in her prayer and so seems to the priest, Eli, to be drunk.

And it makes me wonder just how tame my own faith seems in comparison.

Growing up Lutheran, you get to know the cliche of the stoic, emotionally repressed Scandinavian Lutherans who don't want to see too much excitement in church (maybe Eli was a Swedish Lutheran?).

And it makes me wonder - as we face a time when the church is facing all kinds of challenges in dwindling membership, as well as a loss of significance in influence, whether some of the loss we are facing is because unlike Hannah and the Apostles, we ourselves aren't getting lost in our faith.  

I'm not saying ever act of prayer or worship needs to be like Pentecost or Hannah's prayer.  Really, they can't and all have integrity.

And yet, I wonder what it would be like if someone saw me and couldn't help but say: "there's another one of those drunken fools for Christ. I want what she's got!"

Good and gracious God, you've given me much to be crazy about.  Help me not to be afraid to show how crazy I am about you and your wide, wonderful world!  Amen

Ruth

Ruth 1:16-17New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Ruth said,

“Do not press me to leave you
    or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
    where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
    and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die—
    there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
    and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”

What I notice this time that I never paid attention before was the poetic form of Ruth's speech - which reminds me of both Hannah's song and Mary's magnificat.  

What it means, well, that's something I'm not sure about.  

But, it does make me think that somehow these women are connected.  Women who came from humble origins - from nowhere some would say.  Women who ended up being mothers who moved God's story forward in surprising ways.

Unlike Orpah from yesterday, Ruth does what isn't expected.  She breaks from tradition.  She remains loyal - fiercely loyal - to the woman who has become her family: a woman who has no blood ties to her.  A woman who isn't even of her tribe or country.  A woman who was an alien - refugee - to Ruth's land - and who brings Ruth now to be an alien - a refugee - to her land.  

It's hard not to read this story of a family created regardless of national boundaries and not think of the children who right now are refugees in our country.  Children who came either alone or with family they were separated from because they had no other place to turn.

I heard of a group of protesters in Arizona shouting at these children with signs that said "Not our children, not our problem" and I thought of Ruth - steadfastly staying by her mother-in-law's side.  Refusing to leave her alone.  Refusing to be defined by blood ties as family.

They are our children.  They are our problem.  And all I can hope is that someone fights as loyally and fiercely for them as Ruth did for Naomi.

God of the alien, remind us always that all boundaries are yours and your family is our family.  Amen.

                                            

Orpah

Ruth 1:3-15New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The Lord grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.”But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.” Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

Does anyone ever think about Orpah?

Admittedly, there isn't much here, but yet of all the characters in the book of Ruth, something about this woman who appears fleetingly in the story, strikes a chord with me.

Because Orpah doesn't really do anything wrong.  She does what's expected.  She goes with her mother-in-law initially and then she follows Naomi's directions when the older woman tells her to go back home.

So she goes home to her family.  She does what's expected.  Back to her life and following the rules she's been given.

Yet somehow...somehow...

We know, even without knowing ahead of time how the story ends (or knowing the name of the book!) that it is Ruth's stepping out off of the expected path - not following the rules - that is what God's looking for.

Because by this point in the Old Testament if we know anything it is that God is always moving outward - beyond the boundaries we construct and even the boundaries God constructs.  Always moving out further and further.  Not going back.  Not retreating to the safe place of home.  Ever expanding outward and upward.

There is nothing wrong with Orpah.  We don't find her demonized in the story or compared to Ruth.  And yet we know somehow that Orpah missed out, don't we?  By going back, Orpah missed God's ever expanding story unfolding.

Our churches and communities are full of both Orpahs and Ruths.  And I'll admit that for a lot of my life, the temptation to be Orpah has been strong.  Following the rules, staying with family.  Not taking the risk to discover an expanding life.

God loves Orpahs as much as Ruths.  Of that I have no doubt.

But if we are Orpahs, are we missing something of the abundant, expanding life that God is offering now?

God of the universe, send me.  Help me to step out of my comfort zone and move into the places of discipleship and mission that you have created me for!  Amen

Naomi

Back to characters from the Old Testament.  Starting now with the Book of Ruth.


Ruth 1:1-7; 19b-21 (NRSV)

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.

...When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them,

“Call me no longer Naomi,
call me Mara,
for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.
I went away full,
but the Lord has brought me back empty;
why call me Naomi
when the Lord has dealt harshly with me,
and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?"



Most people know the story of Ruth, at least generally.  In the editing I provided today though for the text, I left out Ruth's plea to stay with Naomi, as well as Orpah's return.  We'll get to those another day, but I wanted to look first at Naomi herself, who for all intents and purposes drives the story of Ruth.

Naomi's speech to her people in the land of Judah is a poignant one.

She's come back after many years.  A lifetime really.  And according to her, it has been a lifetime of tears.  She's lost her husband and her sons.  She left her home with promise and now returns defeated.

Yet as she returns, in her misery, she misses perhaps that after all these years, she is remembered.  

It's not the kind of memory of going back to a high school reunion.  In fact, even at my ten year high school reunion, there were lots of us who had forgotten some of the faces.

But Naomi - poor, miserable, lonely Naomi - is remembered.  And her arrival has caused a stir in the town.

God is a God of memory.  God remembers who we truly are, even when we forget ourselves.  Naomi remembers herself as "Mara" - bitter.  Her memory cannot yet get past the fact that she is alone.

And yet God remembers her and her people remember her.

And she will not be alone.

How does God remember you?  How do you remember yourself?  Perhaps, like Naomi, you are still in the process of finding that all out.  Perhaps sadness overshadows joy sometimes.  Even many times.

But God remembers you.  Remembers the real you.  Your true self.  

Child of God.

God of memory, remind me when I forget, who I truly am.  Your child.  Amen.

Reflections from Boston: Luke 15:11-32

Luke 15:11-32 (NRSV)

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

One of the definitions of “prodigal” is “extravagant.”  Wasteful even.  (From it we get the word, prodigious, which means "extraordinary in size). 

The tendency has been to look at this parable from Jesus as saying that it is the younger son who is lost, is lost because he has spent his money extravagantly and wastefully.  But is it the younger son who is truly prodigal?

Or is it the father who lavishes love so extravagantly on this son – this son who seems to throw everything away?  Is it he who is prodigal?  

The older son would probably think so.  This son has admittedly been working hard.  He's the one who stayed.  He's the one who never asked for anything.  What does this son think about the idea of throwing a party for his wastrel, younger brother?  Remember that this story follows after the story of the lost sheep in Luke.  Why do you think these two stories go together?  Is it as strange to throw a party for a spendthrift son as it is to leave 99 sheep unprotected to go look for a lone lost one?

What does this story tell us about God’s love for us?  And what would you say to the older son? 

We don’t know the end of the story.  We don’t know if the older brother goes into the party or stays out.  Look at some of the language of how the older son sees himself in relation to his father.  He uses words like “slave” and calls his brother “this son of yours” rather than my brother.  Does the father who loves lavishly strike you as someone who treats his older son like a slave?  It doesn't seem so, and yet, can we understand why the older son might have thought so?

There's a tendency when we hear this story to immediately feel connected to one or the other of the characters.  Who we see ourselves as or who we empathize with in the context of this story, is likely to influence how we see God's love and the Kingdom of God in general.

It is likely to influence who we see as lost and who we see as found.

It's likely to influence what we see as righteous and what we see as sin.

How do you imagine the story ends?  

God of lavish and extravagant love...lead me to love just as widely, just as deeply and just as lavishly as you do.  Amen.