Vapor

One of my favorite songs from the last couple of years is a song called "Vapor" by the group/duo, Gungor (Michael Gungor and his wife, Lisa).  The title comes from a theme brought out in Ecclesiastes.  We are mostly familiar with the term from that book, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!"

Well, the word vanity most closely in the Hebrew means "vapor." And I think you can imagine what vapor is. It's fleeting-ness. You can imagine the impossibility of capturing it in your grasp.

Are there times when vapor seems to be a good word for what happens in life?

When things just don't seem to be able to be held on to? Grasped a hold of?

Kept?

So, following Galatians, I've decided to see if I can wade into the vapor of Ecclesiastes. I'll begin that next week!

In the meantime, here are the lyrics and video to "Vapor." It's a gorgeous song and I've found great life and meaning in it.  Hope you do as well!

Oh the vapor of it all
It’s a chasing of the wind
The powers of the earth so pale and thin
We will set our hearts on you again

Heaven taunts the hearts of men
We can feel it from within
The beauty of it all
The mystery
The swelling of a voice
A rising sea

Holy
You oh God are Holy
Trees clap their hands for you
Oceans they dance for you
You are holy

Oh the mystery of it all
I can never peer within
I’ll never find the words or understand
The fullness of a God
Become a man

Holy
You oh God are Holy
Trees clap their hands for you
Oceans they dance for you

You are holy
Infinite and holy
A billion suns rise for you
Clouds paint the skies
Mountains stand tall
Valleys now down
Everything rising to
lift up their song for you

Holy
The impossible and holy
Kings become fools for you
Kingdoms to ruins for you
Vapor finds ground in you
Music finds sound for you
Everything rising
Everything rising

Come like dawn
Like waves
Like sunlight
Bring this world to life

Come like rain
Like breath
Like springtime

from Vapor, by Gungor released 01 March 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOH6qYTOo0c#t=109

Aliens: Isaac and his Sons and Grandson

Genesis 26:2-4New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; settle in the land that I shall show you. Reside in this land as an alien, and I will be with you, and will bless you; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and will give to your offspring all these lands; and all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring.

Genesis 28:3-5New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and numerous, that you may become a company of peoples. May he give to you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien—land that God gave to Abraham.” Thus Isaac sent Jacob away; and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

Genesis 47:3-5New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our ancestors were.” They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to reside as aliens in the land; for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, we ask you, let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

Abraham was an alien in a strange land, and so was his son Isaac, and so too was Isaac's son, Jacob. 

And so too were Jacob's son.

Not simply Joseph, sold into slavery: but all of Jacob's sons, who became aliens in search of food during the famine.

Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob's son's inherited the alien/migrant mantle from Abraham. It was the life they knew.  

Children today inherit the alien mantle from their parents as well. Parents looking to give their children better - safer - lives. 

Can you imagine? Trekking thousands of miles in some cases simply to make sure your children stay alive?

What kind of welcome can they expect?

For more information about what you can do to help migrants and refugees in crisis, visit Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service here: http://lirs.org

God of the cosmos, remind us that this world is yours and that we are so fortunate to be able to share it with each other. Amen.

Aliens: Abraham

Genesis 12:9-11New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land. When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance;

Genesis 17:7-9New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”

God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 

Genesis 21:33-34New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. And Abraham resided as an alien many days in the land of the Philistines.

If you are anything like me, you have been touched with sorrow at the tragic plight of the refugees - mostly Syrian - fleeing into Europe from the bloody violence ravaging their country.

It has made me ask myself where God is in this story. Where is God's movement? Where does God stand when refugees flee to become aliens in new and foreign countries?

And where does God want me to stand?

And so I want to spend a little time looking at where God stands in scripture.

And perhaps the first way to do that is to look at God's first chosen leader, Abraham.

Who by God's very call was an alien.

Who left his home and went where God called him to.

Who settled in more than one place as an alien.

From the very beginning God's people were people on the move. God sent Adam and Eve - for protection as much as punishment - out of the Garden. God sent Noah from his home into the ark.

And God sent Abraham from his home toward the promised land where generations after him would continue to move toward.

Does God stand with those who would keep people out?

Or does God stand with those who are moving toward a new home?

And where do I stand?

I'll look through some of God's aliens in these next few blogs to see if we can find answers.

God of movement, move my heart toward those who have been moved from home. Amen.

Galatians 6:14-18

Galatians 6:14-18The Message (MSG)

For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God—his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!

Quite frankly, I don’t want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do—the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.

May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!

It bears repeating over and over again:

It is not what you and I do.  It is what God IS doing...creating a totally new, free life.

How would you live if every day you were reminded that God was doing something new in you that day?

The tense of the verb is important here. 

What God IS doing.

Not just what God did. Not what God will do.

What God IS doing.

God - active in our world.

Active in our lives.

Active in our churches and homes and families.

Even when we aren't paying attention.

Even when we are too caught up in our actions. Our worship. Our time and our talents. Our meetings. Our stewardship drives. Our budgets. Our long-range planning. Our curriculum.

Paul reminds us that God's activity is what keeps everything going. 

And because of that we are free.

So what are you going to do with all that freedom?

Free at last, free at last. Thank you God that we are free at last. Open my eyes today to see all the ways you are making my life new so that I may fully grasp my freedom! Amen

Galatians 6:11-13

Galatians 6:11-13The Message (MSG)

Now, in these last sentences, I want to emphasize in the bold scrawls of my personal handwriting the immense importance of what I have written to you. These people who are attempting to force the ways of circumcision on you have only one motive: They want an easy way to look good before others, lacking the courage to live by a faith that shares Christ’s suffering and death. All their talk about the law is gas. They themselves don’t keep the law! And they are highly selective in the laws they do observe. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible

And Paul makes it back full circle.

"All their talk about the law is gas!" Do you ever feel that way? That sometimes rules are just piled on just to make someone sound important?

What makes us important?

Being one in Christ.

And trusting in that.

That's it. 

Now, I think that we've come full circle it is important to remember that - at least for our benefit - we shouldn't always confuse "law" with "works." It may seem as if Paul often conflated the two in his writing, but Paul - and Luther later - knew that faith bears good fruit. Faith, trust...throws us into gear. And yes, good works come out of that. 

But make a law about it, and really, you miss the point. 

It's easy to tell someone to get circumcised. Or not to drink. Or not to dance. Or swear. Or wear certain clothing.

Those things are easy to make laws about. And even easier to be selective about.

But faith...faith pushes us toward love. Pushes us toward our neighbor. There's nothing selective about love. 

Love just is.

And love just does. 

Faith just is.

Faith just does.

Faithful God, let me fall trusting into your arms and then reach out in love to my neighbor. Amen.

Galatians 6:7-10

Galatians 6:7-10The Message (MSG)

Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

I have to admit that gardening metaphors are sometimes lost on me.  I've never been a gardener.

But whether you are a gardener or not, you know something about weeds. Even I know something about weeds.  The unspectacular garden in the front of my house boasts a bunch of them, and I know enough to know I don't want them to hang around!

So for those of you who do garden - and all of you who know something about weeds - it's pretty clear which you want, right? A full harvest or weeds?

I've gotten excited when I got one flower to bloom and not die on me, so I can imagine the sheer joy felt with a full harvest.

An abundant harvest!

And that's what God wants for us.  Sheer joy.

Because the truth is, when our life is bearing fruit, it doesn't just bring joy to those around us, it brings joy to us as well. 

Good Gardener: make of me a full harvest. Amen!

Galatians 6:1-6

Galatians 6:1-6The Message (MSG)

Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.

Sav(e) your critical comments for yourself. Because you might be needing forgiving before the day is over.

Those might be some of the hardest words to hear and obey in scripture.

Forgiveness is a practice. It's a practice because it takes practice.  And it's something that isn't done simply once, but over and over again.

There are people I have to forgive over and over. Sometimes the hurt has been so deep that I have to practice forgiving them again. In my sermon on Sunday, I mentioned the Biehls, who forgave the South African men who killed their daughter and now work side by side with them.  Recently I read a book by Desmond Tutu on forgiveness, and he talked about how they said that some days that had to forgive the men again. Sometimes the pain of missing their daughter is so hard, that they need to remind themselves of the forgiveness they willingly gave.

Forgiveness is complicated. Please don't let anyone tell you it isn't.  It takes work. It takes practice. And it takes support.  It isn't simply accepting an apology with a "that's OK, no problem," and it does mean that sometimes some kind of restitution has to be made. If someone committed a crime against you, forgiving them doesn't mean they don't have to still face their day in court.

It is something many people have problems doing, and that's OK! Because it's a practice, you aren't expected to get it perfectly every time.

I highly recommend Tutu's book (that he wrote with his daughter): The Book of Forgiving.  (You can find it here:http://smile.amazon.com/Book-Forgiving-Fourfold-Healing-Ourselves-ebook/dp/B00DB32SR6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441144874&sr=1-1&keywords=desmond+tutu). It's a wonderful book on how to heal and forgive.

Lord, teach me to forgive as you forgive. Help me especially when it seems so hard. Amen