Sunday, July 26, 2015

I Can't Go With You

The book of Exodus destroys most of the warm, fuzzy feelings we normally attribute to God.  Although there is a sense of real relationships with Moses, God comes across as an incomprehensible tyrant. 

And that's just it.  I can't comprehend it.  I don't can't understand the depths of God's jealousy for the people of God.  And I write that intentionally - not jealousy of but jealousy for.  It seems like in God's ultimate cosmic mind, there is no other option for his people - there is only him and for them to disregard him and his power for their lives, it taints the relationship.  It colors it in a way that cannot be repaired and he can no longer even be around them because of his holiness.

Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey.  But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way. 

When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments.  For the LORD had said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites, "You are a stiff-necked people.  If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you.'   (Exodus 33:3-5a)

But our human perception of tyranny is not one of oppression, it is a misunderstanding of the completeness of God's holiness and righteousness.  God's rightness.  We live in a world that believes it is a human right to not have consequences for our decisions, that somehow we are not bound by any law or rule because when we are caught, 'we didn't mean it.'  In order to continue on the selfish road, we expect that those in authority will have mercy each and every time and when they respond with discipline or punishment because of bad behavior, we cry out "Bully!" 

But God is neither a bully nor a tyrant: he is holy.  And he desperately desires something entirely different for his children.  Even though our scriptures seem to make out that God wanted to destroy the people of Israel at the mountain, he cannot because they are his treasure.  His discipline is postponed which (hopefully) we'll look at tomorrow.

Questions:

1.  What is one time you deserved punishment and received it?

2.  What is one time you deserved punishment and avoided it?

3.  From which one did you learn more?  What did you learn?

Friday, July 24, 2015

Etching

Some of my relatives still write letters.  It's a beautiful thing - a long, lost art if you ask me, but writing letters, of course, has regressed to the point of near extinction by the facility of e-mail or text messaging.  The instantaneousness of receiving information far outweighs the benefits of a paid envelope, right?

Every birthday or anniversary, my parents send me a card.  Yes, cards are nice and they make me smile, the sentiment helps to brighten a day, but what I really search for is their handwriting.  They both have amazing script, loops and lines all in place.  If their handwriting was put in a 'lineup,' I could probably be able to pick them out at first choice.

And beyond the visible swirls and twirls of the writing itself, is the deeper appreciation for taking time to write something to me that will take almost two weeks to reach me.  By the time the letter arrives, everything in our lives could have changed, but that one letter that reaches me is a lasting impression about what was important to them at the moment, so it becomes important to me also.

It's the beauty of writing a letter: time, focus, legibility, depth of foresight (you have to know what you are going to write beforehand.  There's no erasing)

Moses was on top of the mountain a long time receiving a letter.  Forty days, we read, and the Israelites were getting a little impatient about this fated family vacation in the desert.  They approach Aaron, Moses' brother, and push him, "Come make us a god who will go before us.  As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what happened to him.'

When life becomes stagnant, stale or full of nervousness, we tend to think that God has abandoned us.  We need instant gratification for the calming of our senses and we have a penchant for quick, non-thought-out action.  It doesn't matter what we do as long as we do something.  For the Israelites standing in the shadow of a Mountain of God, their assumption was that God had done something to Moses so it was time to not only get a new God but get a new Moses, too.

But during the time that they had been waiting, God was crafting his own Magna Carta.  When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mt. Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.  (Ex. 31:18)

The tablets were inscribed on the front and the back.  (Can you imagine that?  God's own handwriting?)  Unlike writing an e-mail, scratching the entire covenantal law into stone takes time.  You all know how much focus it takes to write a neat, concise letter - preparation and careful legibility.  These forty days God was preparing the gift of the Law for the Israelites, that which would keep them safe in the community and in close connection with God.  But the Israelites ruined it with their impatience.

Questions:

1.  When was the last time you got a handwritten letter?  What was it about?  Did you keep it?

2.  What kinds of things are you most impatient about?  How does that affect your decision making processes?

3.  If you could write a handwritten letter today telling them about the most important thing in your life, who would you write it to and what would it entail?

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Atonement

I stumbled across this in devotions this morning from Exodus.  Naturally, I had passed over it multiple times because I am an impatient, clumsy reader, but chapter 30: 11-16 struck my fancy.  I'll put a few questions at the end.

Then the Lord said to Moses, 'When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the LORD a ransom for his life at the time he his counted.  Then no plague will come on them when you number them.  Each one who crosses over to those already counted is to give half shekel, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.  (5.8 grams per half shekel)  This half shekel is an offering to the LORD.  All who cross over, those twenty years old or more, are to give an offering to the LORD.  The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the LORD to atone for your lives.  Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the tent of meeting.  IT will be a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD, making atonement for your lives.

I don't know why this passage irks me.  Perhaps because it makes it sound as if we can answer the age old question, "How much is a life worth?" by responding, "Well, it seems like it's weighing in at 5.8 grams of metal."  God speaks to Moses, and it would be interesting to get Moses' thoughts about the atonement, the reconciliation of humanity to God.  Did Moses wonder what It was about money that could appease God's wrath through coinage?

But there is a deeper question here, I think.  At base we are getting to the root of all evil - the love of money.  Perhaps there is a point to which God says, "I've blessed you all be freeing you from slavery, I've brought you out from Egypt on your way to the Promised Land, and I don't want you encumbering yourselves with the love of financial stability.  God provides.  To give back only reemphasizes how great is his goodness."

I love, though, that the rich cannot give more in an attempt to buy God's mercy and the poor cannot opt out.  It levels the playing ground and even though the poor may or may not be able to shoulder the weight as much, there is a sense of joy to be on the same ground as your neighbors.

Questions:

1.  Does your church, or your ministry group, ever talk about money?  (Alternatively, do they ever stop talking about it?)

2.  In what ways does the sacrifice of money make an atonement, a reconciliation between you and God?  In what ways does this seem strained?

3.  Does God really need the money?  How are the finances of the church used?  Do you know?  Do you want to know? 

4.  The scripture speaks of crossing over to be counted.  This is a very public place where the perception is that once you've crossed over to be counted among the faithful, there is not only atonement, but safety from plagues.  What plagues modern day faithful who refrain from being counted?

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Slog

I'm back to reading through the entire Bible - from front to back; from 'In the beginning' to 'The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.  Amen.'

It's a daunting thing to read this book, one that feels like I have read so many times but in truth, I'm not sure I've read it deeply ever.  I have the tendency to skip over vast swaths of OT genealogies and laws/statutes/ordinances and dive headfirst into the fresh water of the narrative stories and then the New Testament. 

But I bought this new Bible and its got two inch lined margins on the sides which are dedicated to scripted thoughts from the texts and as much as I like to write, how do you go deep when reading through sections of the OT like the one I'm currently battling through - Exodus 25-31, where Moses is receiving the exact requirements for what will be included in the tabernacle. 

Yawn.

I don't care about Aaron's vestments, or the size and composition of the lampstands, the numbers of curtains and what hue they are to be dyed.  No wonder people don't read the Bible from cover to cover.  Reading through this is like walking through two feet of fresh snow wearing a full snowsuit and boots.  A real slog.  It's tiring and sweaty and, frankly, I just want to skip it but as I read through all of the ordinances about the worship space, I realized the beginnings of our fascination with getting the esthetics right for worship.  It's demanded and required for the good of those who are leading it. 

Chapter 28 verse 34,35 the gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate round the hem of the robe. Aaron must wear it when he ministers.  The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the LORD and we comes out so that he will not die.

I don't get it.  Aaron will die if he doesn't wear the bells on his robe?  I'm not trying to sound irreverent, but is God really going to be snuck up on?

But our fascination with the adiaphora, the small things of insignificance in the realm of Kingdom things, can be talked about at length.  Some of it is great conversation specifically when talking about tradition and why we do things.

Here are some questions to ponder:

1.  What are some of the things that occur in my worship service that I don't pay attention to anymore? 

2.  What are some of the esthetics of space that occur in the sanctuary where I attend?  What is the artwork?  What is the symbolism?  How has the space changed since I've attended? 

3.  What does the pastor, or worship leader, wear?  Is this essential?  Is it distracting?  What is symbolically being said by the garments of the worship leader?

4.  In the worship service, what are the most important things?  What is it that is not adiaphora?