The New Game: Believe In Me Of Not

 The Shama continued:

So after reading the entire Shama how are you feeling about what you read?  

Personally, I was doing quite fine until I read the Numbers passage.  

Numbers seemed more like it was composed out of the  human mindset.  

Being killed for picking up stick rubs up hard against my belief that God is love.

However, what I am thinking is, it was/is more about the issue of taking seriously God’s request for commitment and faithful behavior on our parts.

God might have been using this stick-gatherer as an example of what happens when people do not honor what God asked.

But then I think, did it have to be so final?  I mean the person didn’t have a chance to repent.

My whole being is resisting this example.

Then I have to think about that particular context and time in history.

But still.

The truth is God was dealing with, what I will call, a most difficult problem with His human creation.   The human ego — the human need to choose its own way.

God fought that persistent battle all the way through the Old Testament storied.  

It is absolutely amazing how overwhelmingly strong the human physic is.

And by the way, God did make us with the will to be sufficient.

So here is my take — my imagination — on how God radically changed the game:

After centuries of playing the game, of request, punish, and forgive, God got extremely frustrated and tired of trying to get through to his human creation.

So God decided to make an extraordinary change in the paradigm. 

God decided come down and live among these creatures — who were made in His image.

God sent His angels to prepare the way for a new game — a new way of being.

And one Holy Night God was born in the baby Jesus.

And on that night a bright star lite up the sky, and angels announced the good news of the coming of peace and good will in all the earth.

God created a new game; a new way of dealing with the steadfast mentality of the human nature.

The new game had very few rules:

³⁶‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ ³⁷He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ ( Matt. 22)

 

And God said, believe in me or not.

            Totally your choice. 

Picking Up Sticks??

 This blog is a continuation of yesterday, where I referenced the text from Leviticus 19.

As I am thinking about that reading, and others I have reflected on in the past month, I am reminded of the Jewish Shama.

The Shama is a prayer that the  Hebrew people are asked to pray twice a day, once in the morning and once at the end of the day.  As well as at other time, such a special holidays and meals.  

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. ⁵You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. (Deut. 6)

This prayer is meant to center one’s heart on the God who saves, forgive and sustains life.  It is the key to all other needs of any human being. 

The Shama is composed of Three different passages from the Old Testament books called The Torah which includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 

I have printed the three texts that make up the entire Shama:  

 

I will have more to day at the end.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. ⁵You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. ⁷Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. ⁸Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, ⁹and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deut. 6)

13 If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today—loving the Lord your God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul— ¹⁴then he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil; ¹⁵and he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat your fill. ¹⁶Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshipping them, ¹⁷for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord is giving you. 18 You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. ¹⁹Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. ²⁰Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. (Deut. 11)

27 An individual who sins unintentionally shall present a female goat a year old for a sin-offering. ²⁸And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the one who commits an error, when it is unintentional, to make atonement for the person, who then shall be forgiven. ²⁹For both the native among the Israelites and the alien residing among them—you shall have the same law for anyone who acts in error. ³⁰But whoever acts high-handedly, whether a native or an alien, affronts the Lord, and shall be cut off from among the people. ³¹Because of having despised the word of the Lord and broken his commandment, such a person shall be utterly cut off and bear the guilt.

32 When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day. ³³Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses, Aaron, and to the whole congregation. ³⁴They put him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. ³⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him outside the camp.’ ³⁶The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

37 The Lord said to Moses: ³⁸Speak to the Israelites, and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the fringe at each corner. ³⁹You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. ⁴⁰So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God. ⁴¹I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God. (Numbers 15)

WOW!!

32 When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day. ……⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him outside the camp.’ ³⁶The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

No wonder God’s character was considered wrathful and mean.

But then you have to ask yourself what the real message is here.

At first read the issue to think about is what harm does picking up stick do?  Was it really bad enough to be killed?

However, the other side of the story is that he was doing it at a time that was/is suppose to be dedicated to God alone.  Thinking about God and NOTHING ELSE.

13 If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today—loving the Lord your God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul— ¹⁴t………¹⁶Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshipping them, ¹⁷for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you…

You might say: but picking up stick??????

to be continued

How About a New Reformation?

 

This Last Sunday, in Lutheran congregations, it was Reformation Sunday.

The Gospel for Reformation Sunday is from John 8:

31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’ ³³They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’

34 Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. ³⁶So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. ³⁸I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’(Jn.8)

  

I’ll call it a day when reform was called for.  

A day to remind us that there is a better way.

‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’

Far back in history, from the very beginning in fact, God has been clear about what he wanted from his human creation — made in His own image.  

To care for all He had made.

                                            Care as God cares.  

Now I have always considered the Book of Leviticus a narrow listing of laws that need to be followed, to the letter, in order to be acceptable to God.  

But in Sunday’s Old Testament reading — Leviticus 19 — I found myself quite taken by the expectations printed there. 

I hear a solid sense of Jesus’ teaching on how to live together in God’s truth. 

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy….. 15 You shall not render an unjust judgement; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. ¹⁶You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

17 You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. ¹⁸You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19)

We hear clearly, in these words, Jesus’ message of humility and servanthood.  The need to live beyond our own personal wants and needs.

To me it hit the nail smack on the head; because it calls us to a truth that is critical for us to be attentive to.  The truth that how we act — act in God’s name — is what people observe in us.

Maybe it is time for a new reformation.

Some Would Call God "mean."

Now the challenge of determining the theology of the Creator God as portrayed in the Old Testament. 

To do that I want to share the opinion an eighth grade confirmation student I talked to many, many, years ago.

It was my custom to have individual conversations with each student in the Fall and in the Spring.  This particular Spring conversation occurred after the eighth grade class had experienced a full school year of Old Testament.

During the interview I ask the student: “Now that you have learned the Old Testament stories, what is your image of God now?

The response:  “He is mean.”

Here we have one of the more graphic examples of how we might see God is capable of  “mean.”  

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

   whose right hand I have grasped

to subdue nations before him

   and strip kings of their robes,

to open doors before him—

   and the gates shall not be closed:

“To subdue” Is to strive against. 

It is not just a verb that quiets down or calmly reprimands. 

It is a verb that describe an over-powering, forceful trampling underfoot in order to disable father resistance.  

To reduce to tenderness, to melt, to soften the rebellion

One commentator puts it this way: “God will “subdue” actions before Cyrus — the uncompromising Hebrew verb radad  means “to beat down” or “to stamp flat” — and the kings will be publicly humiliated by having their loins exposed….underlining the aggression with which God will breach public boundaries and enemy leaders’ honor alike….(p. 173 Feasting On The Word Year A Volumn 4))

I imagine that God’s brain exploding at that point in history.  

No more patience to offer His uncontrollable human creation.

What we are witnessing in this portions of Isaiah asked us to go beyond the lion lying with the lamb vision; to a God who can, and does indeed, go beyond His passionate love for his people, and creation, in order to make an extraordinary impression on those who have blatantly chosen the way of evil.

Right smack in the middle of the Hebrew Bible we read of this God who shows His passion and determinations to right the wrongs of human temptation. 

It must be kind of like a parent feels when children make horrible decisions that can ruin their life.  There is circuit in the parents brain that just pops with fear and yes anger.   And tough love is the position taken.

What I want to invite you to consider is:  This same God is passionately active in correcting political a culture that has invaded this nation. 

Remember on the Day of Pentecost when God invaded the disciples with tongues of fire and a mighty wind?"

Some would call that "mean" too.   

I believe God is actively busy righting wrongs, injustices and the unkind mindset of the human world view.  Calling all, who will listen, back to the image of emptying themselves.

What do you think?

How Do You Understand God's True Nature?

 So here is what is going on in my mind this week:  The two, quite startingly opposite, theologies on God’s character. 

The one the Old testament often appears to profess.

The one God, Himself, came in Jesus’ skin to manifest to the whole world.

My reason for this complicated conversation, in my brain, comes from two Sundays reading in the common lectionary.

First, before I left for vacation I read from Philippians 2:

⁶ who, though he was in the form of God,

   did not regard equality with God

   as something to be exploited, 

⁷ but emptied himself,

   taking the form of a slave,

   being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form, 

⁸   he humbled himself…(Phil. 2)

He humbled himself.....

This image of God is the one I cling to for may personal faith.  I believe in Jesus’ modeling of God because it is extraordinarily accepting, loving and forgiving of our inborn natural human tendencies.

No matter how weak and tempted we are; no matter the size of our faith; Jesus/ God takes us right where we are and slowly molds us into possibilities never imagined. 

When we stay focused on the New Testament, and Jesus’ teachings, we begin to know a God who is gracious not wrathful.

However before God came in Jesus’ skin we had only the Hebrew image of God.  Which is a mixed bag of divine characteristics. 

If you read the Wisdom books you hear, mostly, of a faithful and all sustaining God of steadfast love and kindness. 

However, there are also stories of God’s constant battle with his people and their unwillingness of follow God’s will.

Stories like the forty year in the wilderness led by Moses.  Where we hear of the creation of the golden calf; and finally the Ten Commandments.

We can read about stories of Saul and David with all of their religious, as well as personal, battles.

Or the Flood story where God decided to destroy all of creation and begin again.  That attempt, to right a wrong, didn’t prove too successful in the long run.

And how about the story of Job, where God allowed Satan to basically ruin Job’s life?

This last Sunday we heard a reading, from Isaiah 45, of a God who once again uses great force to right a wrong.

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

   whose right hand I have grasped

to subdue nations before him

   and strip kings of their robes,

to open doors before him—

   and the gates shall not be closed:

I’ll talk about that tomorrow.

God is asking: “Can you learn to see through my eyes?”

 

In the kingdom of God we find, through stories like Jonah, that God usually doesn’t follow our set of rule and of our views of how life “should” be.

Clearly, God is not limited to our particular mind-set. 

We learn early in our lives to demand what we call “fair.”

By the of age two we know how to stand our ground when things seem “unfair.”

When we get older, and unfairnesses are larger, we take to the streets to strike against the injustice.  We gather around others who think the same way we do and stand firmly together resolving to make it “right.”   To make it “fair” according to our way of thinking.

We know of these movements all to well in todays world. 

The question I have is: What, or who, constitutes fair?

What Jonah thought was fair; was not what God thought was fair.

This little story, in the Middle of the Old Testament, bids us to consider: What does this story tell us about ourselves?  What does it expose about our presumptions on what is fair and good, unfair and bad.

God was intending to change Jonah’s heart.

                                                               It clearly didn’t work.

Can it work for you and me?

When someone hurts us; when someone disagrees with what we feel strongly about.  We want them to stop.  We want God on our side.

And God response is:  I will do what I know is best.

I will give what I choose to give.

And forgive whom I choose to forgive.

The question of the century:  Should God not be concerned about others?

You see, it is not about fair or fairness.  It is about whether or not we are concerned about others as well. 

The story about Jonah challenges us to examine our thinking, check our habits and adjust our behavior.

It challenges us to examine our faith in Jesus The Christ.

It challenges us to examine the ways we listen, understand and live God’s word.

How does what we know, think and act upon frame how we become apart of God’s way of thinking and doing?

Does our understanding of God — our faith — guide our practices, our habits, our ways of interacting and speaking with each other?

Some of you might claim: God’s kingdom, by human standards, is irrelevant, unrealistic and it simply not fair. Because God is so extremely generous and forgiving to everyone equally.  

And those other people “don’t deserve it.”   “Not they way they act.”

Here is the question I think God is asking all of humanity:  

“Can you learn to see through my eyes?”