1 After these events, the Lord’s word came to Abram in a vision, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your protector. Your reward will be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you possibly give me, since I still have no children? The head of my household is Eliezer, a man from Damascus.” 3 He continued, “Since you haven’t given me any children, the head of my household will be my heir.” 4 The Lord’s word came immediately to him, “This man will not be your heir. Your heir will definitely be your very own biological child.” 5 Then he brought Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you think you can count them.” He continued, “This is how many children you will have.” 6 Abram trusted the Lord, and the Lord recognized Abram’s high moral character. Genesis 15:1-6 CEB -Rev. Melissa Fain- So you have to be careful when you get “facts” from the internet. For example, Pinterest will often give suggestions on how to organize or do things. These time saving measures often add time to the job. Either that, or you end up with a really hilarious Pinterest Fail. And you’ve all seen quotes with an image of some famous person having said it? You have to make sure those people actually said those quotes, because sometimes, they didn’t. While I could easily pull up a fake MLK or Gandhi quote (because they are all over the place), I love this ludicrous one where there is a picture of Jean Luc Picard saying “Use the force, Harry,” and the attributed to Gandalf. That one was made obvious as a joke, but there are people who want to trick you into believing something that isn’t true. Then there are times when something becomes so widespread, we don’t know it’s false. I’ve seen this one image so many times and in so many ways. It suggests that “Do not be afraid,” is found 365 times in the bible. Now, I can just look at that and know it’s false. Why? You tell me you wouldn’t see a million devotionals and daily calendars all over Hallmark, Dayspring, and Mom and Pop bookstores if that phrase really was quoted in the bible 365 times? Marketers would be all over it! And even if we pretended marketers remained clueless of the potential payout of this magical phrase, it didn’t take much sleuthing to find people who did the homework for me. Even if you include other phrases, like “fear not,” the phrase only appears between 109-115 times. Well, it’s still good for a wall calendar, right? It is an interesting phrase, though. It’s said often enough, it deserves our attention. “Don’t be afraid.” (Oh do I get fearful.) I’m currently reading a book called “Sacred Wounds: A Path to Healing from Spiritual Trauma.” It was written by Teresa Pasquale who is a therapist working with those suffering with PTSD, often the result of a church experience. She described three reactions of a wounded person. First is flight. There are those who run away when they see anything that resembles the thing that initially hurt them. Second is fight. There are those who bark and bite when they see anything that resembles the thing that initially hurt them. Finally, there’s freezing. She compared this to a deer caught in the headlights. The trauma is so desperate and real, we don’t know what to do, so we just freeze. Jonah fled. The Israelites often froze. Abram, in this case, fought. This is the middle of Abram, soon to be Abraham’s story. God painted such a pretty picture at first. Your heirs will be as numerous as the stars, and numerous as the grains of sand. At that point in time he didn’t know about the trials and tribulations that were headed his way. He didn’t know how long he would have to wait. His spouse was impatient. She led him in the wrong direction trying to get the promise fulfilled. I would fight too. The middle of journeys look like messes. I should know: I organized my daughter’s books and puzzles a few weeks ago. After removing everything from the double ottoman, the living room looked more like a war zone than a place where people could relax. Puzzle pieces were everywhere. Books were stacked in similar shaped piles. Trash was surrounding everything, because my kids seem to think every piece of paper is worthy of saving. Looking over the destruction I had to remind myself, “This is part of the job. We are moving towards something better. Then everything began to take shape again. The pieces found their puzzles. (Well, most of them did.) The books made their way into the ottoman, and they all fit! When I finished, no one would need to know the living room blew up before it was put back together. Then, I remember, two summers ago, I met my sister with my son in Cade’s Cove. We stayed for a couple of days. We camped, and we hiked. Kimberly decided the best hike for the three of us was Abram’s Falls. Now, at this point I hadn’t done that hike since college. Aeden had never walked that far before. At the beginning of the trail, he was excited to see a waterfall. Now, remembering we still had to walk all the way back, we were a quarter of the way to the falls, and it starts. “How much longer?” “This is hard!” “Can we turn around now?” There were tears, and not all of them were from him. I sat him down and laid it out. Let’s continue, and when you are ready to turn around and head back, we will. If we do it before we get to the falls, you don’t get to see the falls." His attitude changed, and we made it all the way. He played in the water. We ate lunch, and the walk back was so much better than the walk there. The getting there was tough, but I think, for the most part, that’s how it’s supposed to be. Some of that is in knowing God often times doesn’t reveal everything all at once. Could you imagine Abram’s reaction if he received everything at the beginning? Stars in the sky and sands under his feet are great. Throw in Sodom and Gomorrah, Hagar and Ishmael, and the potential sacrifice of Isaac and it might have been too much for him. Who would have blamed him if he simply said, “I’m too old for this?” I guess the point I’m trying to make is this: Are you willing to understand you only have the small picture. Our understanding is a crude cave drawing in comparison to God’s panoramic. Usually, when God has a plan, it requires sweat, tears, and pain. It’s messy. There are usually times when we look at what we got and wonder why we started to begin with. But, it’s the only way to reach the destination. We jump in, not because it’s fun or easy, but because it’s right. We build treasures that matter: Relationships, plans that will last generations beyond the people making them; those kinds of things. Treasures that have eternal rewards, not financial ones. A friend of mine put it succinctly: Many today want to be the church of “my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” and not the church of “carry the cross.” Crosses are heavy, and many come with a death sentence at the end. Scratch that, whether it’s a spiritual, physical, or another kind of death, carrying the cross always comes with a death sentence. It’s the only way to find new life, or (in relation to the church) you become a zombie church. No longer alive, and kinda not dead: Undead. It’s a church that attempts to be something it can no longer be, while becoming something that can bite out and hurt others. Not where God wants a church to be… Don’t be afraid. Yeah, you might know more of the journey than Abram was aware of, but that darkness you see ahead is not the end. You can’t see as far as God.. That is merely the middle. You have to go through it to find that new light. And guess what? When you get to that darkness, it won’t feel as dark as it looks, because each of us are capable of shining God’s light, and where God’s light shines, the darkness cannot hide. You are not what you were. You never will be that ever again, but God knows what you could be. Go. Take the journey. Walk to that messy hard place. Don’t be afraid. God goes with you. Wanna connect with others? Join Fig Tree on:
Facebook (We live cast the event every Saturday at 2pm EST, for those who wish to participate.) Our Subreddit “Don’t even begin to think that I have come to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I haven’t come to do away with them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17 CEB -Rev Melissa Fain- We must pick up the Hebrew Bible for the sake of fulfillment. It is very difficult to understand the New Testament without these early books. It must be done before we move further into our wilderness. The Ten Commandments remain a piece of the Old Testament we can easily pull into our Christian context. We can unite under these simple truths. Don’t murder. Don’t get caught up with the stuff your neighbor has. Don’t make false idols. Don’t put anything before God’s eyes… What was that? You don’t remember that commandment? It’s right there, right before the idol commandment. What we are used to reading is, “You must have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3 CEB) As a child, it confused me that we separated this commandment with the nixing idols commandment. They sound exactly the same. In an important way, they are connected. Both have to do with worship. The idol commandment is about worshiping something other than God. Early on, this would be, don't go to other temples, or raise up Golden Cows, or worship Ba'al. That sort of thing. This “no other gods before me” is directly related to what we bring in to worship our God. Quite literally, we are not supposed to bring anything but our worship and adoration before God. This commandment is discussing the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant. God’s home. When we come to God’s house, we are coming only to visit God. Now, I’ll be the first to say it is difficult to understand what is adoration and worship, and what is not. Do we worship and adore God with music? If so, what kind? Do we worship and adore God with our fellowship? What about the sermon? Is it worship and adoration? When we don’t come at the Holy of Holies with particular care, almost anything could find itself in a worship, because almost anything can be justified. This is yet another reason why we are beginning with nothing. Did you know that while the general Protestant Church has been dying to oblivion, the Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox, and Catholic Church have all been growing? These traditions would tell you it’s because there earlier understanding of the Truth is the correct one. When I read or hear from those who have chosen one of these faith traditions, this is what they generally say, “It’s not that I really believe the reason why they do what they do, but they know what they do.” In other words, if you approached a Catholic Priest, after Mass, and begun asking why certain objects were in the room, he’d be able to tell you. If you were to ask an Eastern Orthodox Priest why they do each aspect of worship, he’d be able to tell you. If you asked a Protestant why they do a Call to Worship, sit during certain times, and stand at other times… I doubt the minister could even really explain why anymore. When we can no longer explain why what we are doing is worship to God, we might not be worshipping God anymore. At least, that’s what all these “nones” (The group of people who believe in God but cannot find themselves going to church) conclude. Why we do things is just, if not more, important than what we do. "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." 1 Corinthians 9.24-27 -Matt- Like anyone who has grown up in the Church, I've probably heard this passage more than a dozen times. From when I was a child up until now. But it seems to me as if the entire focus is usually on the "running the race" part. I.e., how it's presented is: "Train yourself to run the race. And, oh yeah, that may be some sacrifices. But we won't go into specifics on that." I don't think I've ever heard or seen anyone focus on that last verse. And I wonder why. Maybe because it's too "mortification-of-the-flesh-Catholicky"? I mean, "I make my body a slave." That's not just working out. In fact, it may even be the opposite of working out, because working out is still kinda caring for the body. As I recall, slavery of that time was quite common for prisoners of war. So this is full-on war imagery. Go to war against your body. The Desert Fathers and Mothers understood this verse as a war. That is why they fled from the corruption of the cities to the desert. Why they took upon themselves monumental acts of fasting and penitence. And one should be careful when one looks to such examples. They are the bright sun and we are mere weak candles. Which is to say, we must be careful in following their practices of war against the body. There are even stories of novices trying to do too much, too quickly. This, too is a sign of pride. This is why such examples looked to a spiritual guide and mentor, which is still the best way to begin. But I have to wonder if we don’t find ourselves in a very similar situation as the Desert Fathers and Mothers. Our urban areas all over the world are growing exponentially, while rural areas decline. We are all rushing into the cities. I look around my life, and I have to admit that I see a lot of comfort. Comfortable furniture, apartment, garden, music, books, movies, television, internet, heating, plumbing, alcohol, junk food, and on, and on… In comparison to many, I might as well be living in the lap of luxury. But what would it cost me to, for example, take shorter showers? And use slightly cooler water? To eat simpler? To turn the heat down a little bit in the winter? To just start taking small steps in order to strike blows to my body and make it my slave, rather than the other way around? If we have the money and the means, we can live in comparative luxury. And many of us do. C.S. Lewis once said about giving (money), that it was a good idea to give at least slightly more than you feel comfortable giving. It should “hurt.” At least a little bit. But so much of our culture is based on insulating us from all hurt. But maybe there are also worse things than pain. It’s out of season for Lent, but maybe it’s a good idea to engage in a little mortification all year round. Maybe we need to recover the idea of being at war with our bodies. And then Paul adds the kicker that makes this all especially dangerous for pastors/preachers: "So that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." Lord, have mercy. Matt grew up in Utah, but now lives in Europe. He continues the theological wanderings of a spiritual mutt, who is continually confronted with the vastness of his own ignorance. 15 The Lord replied, “Go! This man is the agent I have chosen to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 Ananias went to the house. He placed his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord sent me—Jesus, who appeared to you on the way as you were coming here. He sent me so that you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Instantly, flakes fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. 19 After eating, he regained his strength. He stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days. 20 Right away, he began to preach about Jesus in the synagogues. “He is God’s Son,” he declared Acts 9:15-20 NRSV Movies have these cliches. Let me share some of them with you. If there is a dog in the movie, that dog will always bark at the bad guy. An action hero never ever wears prescription glasses. Bombs are usually defused only if there are less than five seconds remaining on the clock. People can drive moving cars while looking directly at the passenger. They also tend to move the steering wheel 100 times more than the average driver. In a chase scene, most women will fall down at some point. Whenever someone appears to be working on a computer, the screen is so bright it projects itself on the person’s face. Or at least, when they are accessing a computer that doesn’t belong to them, they can easily break the password by looking at the person’s desk or remember some obvious clue given in a previous scene. Also, if a bad guy wants redemption they must die for it. It has to be a sacrificial death, where it saves the good guys in the process.
Maybe this is why biblical movies are a tough sell, especially the New Testament stories. Could you imagine the pitch? Okay, so we have this guy. It turns out he is the Son of God. The Son of God, really? Does he come in and destroy the bad guy with lightening or hellfire or anything? Oh, no. He’s a pacifist. He doesn’t hurt a single person the entire movie. Right… well, go on. Anyway, he starts to gain this following. People are willingly leaving their family over this guy. Oh, so with his big following he overtakes the government, and puts a new system in place? Umm, no. In fact, the government in rule when we comes in is still the same government when the story ends. Then the followers… No, the followers mostly die terrible deaths. The bad guys… Mostly get away in the end. It’s not the story we want to hear. We want our happy endings. We want our “and they lived happily ever after.” If not, we at least want to know the bad guys were punished. That’s just not how life works, and that’s not how Jesus asked us to react to life. There are two important pieces of Jesus Christ we must understand before we can get what’s going on in our scripture. First, Jesus died. The resurrection is only as spectacular as the real death that came before it. As Christians, as a church, we are continually called to that death. When we try to emulate the resurrection without allowing our old selves to truly die, we end up with an undead church. Seriously. It’s the zombie church, and I’ve seen it over and over again. They can’t do what they used to do, but they refuse to let it go. This means they only appear alive, but they are really already gone. Until they let go, they can’t truly be reborn. They bite others, infecting congregants. I’ve spent the last few years helping the wounded. It’s dangerous stuff. Saul, the man who gathered up Christians to be murdered, died on that road. Not literally. His heart did not stop, but who he was ended in that moment. This was the future leader of the early church. Anything from that previous life, necessarily had to die. Second, Jesus came to end the cycle of violence and hate. You know what’s interesting about the place where I’m at? I hear the problem from every angle, but no one wants to take blame. So much is broken right now. The General church is broken. The region is broken. Churches all over the nation are broken. Ministers are broken. Congregants are broken… But, blame always belongs to someone else. We all have our stories about the minister, the church, the congregant, the region, or the general suck that caused the problem. Do we realize we scapegoat the problem? We place the blame on something or someone who can’t do anything about it. We can’t change the people or the long gone system that hurt us. Sure, we can put our burden on them, and send them out as our sacrifice, but it doesn’t solve the problem. Do you realize Ananias could have scapegoated Saul? He could have taken one look at Saul and said, “Oh no, Lord. That guy is the reason we are in hiding. That guy is the reason several of my friends are now dead. I’m out.” Can you see the seriousness of it all? The future of the Christian story was put in Ananias’ hands, and Ananias had justification to let Saul rot in his blindness. “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you. If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well. When they wish to haul you to court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too. When they force you to go one mile, go with them two. Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you. “You have heard that it was said, You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who harass you so that you will be acting as children of your Father who is in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good and sends rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? The words of Jesus from Matthew 5:38-46. Do you see the potential that sits in our laps? Do you see the possibility of the future of the church? God is not asking us to heal a murderer. God is not asking us to redeem a villain. God is asking us to forgive our fellow brother or sister in Christ, and invite them back into the family, with no strings attached. What is being asked of us is not nearly as difficult as what God was asking of Ananias. Ananias did it. Ananias healed the murderous villain. In doing so the future of the Early Church took root. Can we do what God is asking of us? Can we give it up at the cross? Can we let go of the scapegoat, and personally sacrifice for the future? 11 The Lord instructed him, “Go to Judas’ house on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias enter and put his hands on him to restore his sight.” 13 Ananias countered, “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man. People say he has done horrible things to your holy people in Jerusalem.14 He’s here with authority from the chief priests to arrest everyone who calls on your name.” 15 The Lord replied, “Go! This man is the agent I have chosen to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17 Ananias went to the house. He placed his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord sent me—Jesus, who appeared to you on the way as you were coming here. He sent me so that you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Instantly, flakes fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. 19 After eating, he regained his strength. Once, there was a young girl. She was born into poverty. Her parents had immigrated to the United States to escape the great potato famine of Ireland. From an early age she suffered. She had five siblings, but two passed away at birth. When her mother passed away, her dad was a horrible caregiver. Finally, giving up, he dropped her brother and her at a poor house. Meanwhile, the girl was also blind. As a child, she was an uneducated blind girl. Anyone who would have seen her would have thought: this girl would amount to nothing. That was not the case. No one would have guessed this girl would find her way into an academy for the blind, become the top of her class, and eventually be the woman who would make the breakthrough with Helen Keller. Anne Sullivan was counted out as child, but there was potential in that soul. Potential that would change the world. Our history is often shaped by second chances, or missed opportunities. For Anne Sullivan, she was determined not to spend her life in poverty. It was during a state inspection, Sullivan convinced one of them to allow her to leave and enroll in a school for the blind. For Franklin Sanborn, the man who agreed to let her go, it was saying yes to someone who appeared like a lost cause by most definitions. I know it doesn't make sense to compare Anne Sullivan to Saul. It appears the only connection is both were blind. I want to compare their potential greatness. For that matter, anyone's potential greatness. It is easy to see a diamond sitting in a setting, lying on a jeweler's table. Some of us can even tell the quality of the 4 C's to that diamond. Then it can be given a value. What many of us can't do is see the value of a diamond just dug up from the earth. I'm sure, many of us would think we are looking at a piece of trash. No real value at all. We like to celebrate a beautiful person. We raise them up. We give them love and adoration. We tend to forget, many of these people started out as raw, unpolished, and unrefined. They didn't grace the jeweler's table with the other precious gems. In some cases, they had a terrible and dark history. Their history was paved with the death of others. Now whether that was the fault of others, like Anne Sullivan's story, or the person was responsible, like Saul, we don't want to give our focus to these people. They are not on the inside. They are not part of the group. Newsflash, God likes outsiders. God likes the underdog. God is known to pick those on the outside to change the inside. Moses lived with the enemy before he became the liberator of the Israelites. Issac, Jacob, and Joseph were not first born children. Yet, they are the ones who inherited the birthright and changed the story. Saul was a bad guy. He watched Stephen being stoned to death! This was one of the Apostles! Before the blinding on the road to Damascus, no one within the Christian story would have seen anything redeemable in this man. In fact, he had to change his name because no one trusted "Saul." Yet, this would be the guy who would write the next chapter in the Christian story. More than any other Apostle, Paul was the biggest evangelist in early Christendom. What does that mean for us? Don't assume who are the people who are going to change the world. We can look at all those pretty diamonds out there, when we should be looking for an uncut gem. 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." John 20:20-23 NRSV This week the Holy Spirit comes up in lectionary. Speaking personally for a moment, I had a view of the Holy Spirit when I was a child. I always saw it as feminine. I can remember I used the feminine pronoun all the time. To me, God was non-gender specific, Jesus was male, and the Spirit was female. This was huge for me, as someone who was raised by a father, and no strong female influences nearby. As a child, congregants at my church would simply inquire, "Why are you saying "she"?" I'd be happy to share my theory, and they added nothing more.
It wasn't until I entered high school, and I came across an overzealous Baptist. He heard I was going into ministry. It didn't matter that my high school self believed that was music ministry, and not pulpit ministry, he was going to soundly put me in my place. Every time I met him, he came with a bible full of little dog ears. At first I discussed the passages with him, but then I realized he was cherry picking, a word here which means he was pulling a single verse without context. (Sorry, I've been reading A Series of Unfortunate Events to my son.) By that time, I had been using contextual analysis for a couple of years. It was basically the only theological tool I could use at that point. Then he came with the big guns. You know the ones: Paul and Timothy. That's when I realized he was getting outside help, probably from his minister. Once I started getting outside help, well it was over. Both of us had lost, as the conversation reached the point of absurdity. Anyway, months after our bible battle had ended he heard me refer to the Spirit as "she". "What are you doing?" He bluntly asked me. At first I didn't know what he was talking about. Once he clarified, I told him the same thing I'd been telling congregants. "You're wrong. How can God be non-gender specific, when we call him Father." Straight to the heart. Also, the Holy Spirit is a male, and I have bible verses to back it up. K.O. He destroyed me in two sentences. This is a great example of how the bible is both a tool and a weapon. When used appropriately it can heal, help, guide, and grow. Used incorrectly it can destroy people. I've been destroyed by the bible before. I don't think this kid realized what he was doing. He was doing more than getting a fellow sister in Christ on the same biblical page. He was severing a very important spiritual connection. I had no self-esteem. I believed I was worthless. I needed to understand how I was made in the image of God. If God couldn't be female, I must not be crafted in that image. Like I said, he destroyed me. The point: The spirit comes when we don't expect it. It's form is ambiguous on purpose. In the New Testament alone I can name three very different forms. Of the Earth: Like a dove that drops down on Jesus at his baptism. (I know, I know. We both know this is a really loose connection, but I loved that title so much I had to use it. Yes, it's probably the exact opposite of Earth.) Wind: In our scripture for today, Jesus breaths the Spirit on the Disciples. Fire: The Spirit lights upon the Disciples like flame. The Spirit comes to each of us outside of our knowledge and biblical know-how. It gives us what we need. A gentle drop of love and acceptance, when coming out of the baptismal waters. A promise of connection, no matter what. A fire to keep us going when all seems lost. A realization that all of us are made in God's image, no matter what. Perhaps our biggest problem today is not in what we can label, but in letting go in what we can't. 31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." 32 He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Luke 13:31-35 NRSV Our scripture today hits me.. Let’s take it apart.
Now earlier in scripture Luke makes a point to say that Jesus was still travelling. The end goal was Jerusalem. In our scripture for today, he is currently in Galilee, which is ruled by Herod. When we think Herod we often think of the baby killer in the beginning of Matthew. This is not the same guy. The Herod in Matthew was incredibly narcissistic. He named multiple children, including females after himself. This Herod is one of his sons. This is the son that beheaded John the Baptist and married his own niece. (The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, right?) Anyway, this Herod had no desire to kill Jesus. In actuality, he just wanted to see him. Eventually, when Jesus was arrested, Herod finally gets his chance, and sends him back to Pontius Pilate. So why are the Pharisees telling Jesus to leave, or Herod will kill him? He was already headed out of town, and Herod had no desire to kill Jesus? Because, like many things the Pharisees did, it was a trap. Jesus was a known prophet. If he ran from Herod it would look like he didn’t have God’s power behind him. Therefore, he would appear as a false prophet. If he faced Herod to speak with him, it would make a people who were already angry with Herod (he was the guy who used the temple tax to put a Roman Eagle at the entrance to the rebuilt temple) they would be enraged with Jesus. Like all the other traps, this one looked impossible to break free from. Jesus’ response is interesting to me. First, I believe he gets angry, or at least frustrated. I say this, because a fox was not one of the good animals to be associated with. In his frustration he defuses the bomb. He’s not running out of town. He’s not seeing Herod. Instead he basically says, “I have work to do. We both know nothing is going to happen. Leave me alone.” I don’t know if I’m alone here, but when I’m frustrated it tends to spill over into other areas. Like, I might be frustrated a project I’m working on isn’t going the way I want. Well, then I recall other projects that didn’t work. Sometimes that leads to getting frustrated at things that don’t deserve my frustration. Like, I might unfairly get frustrated at the ones I love, and that usually leads to me apologizing. Jesus’ frustration spills over to Jerusalem. The city that “kills the prophets, and stones those that are sent to it.” See that phrase at the top of the page? When one feels sorrow instead of anger, you are on the Christian path. In Jesus’ frustration, he begins to lament the very people who would eventually kill him. Most would react a bit different than Jesus did. A group of people want you dead, you call those people your enemy. A group of people don’t want to listen to what you have to say, and just call you a liar, you unfriend them. In an act of radical love, Jesus still wants them to be included in God’s family. It’s a lamentation. He is literally walking to his death, and he is weeping for those who will crucify him. What do we do with that? We have to find that sorrow for those who have hurt us. Why? Often times, the ones who have hurt us are hurt too. There comes a time where it is more important to do what is right than what is fair. It’s not easy. Easy is biting back, taking revenge, or living in the pain of the past. There comes a time where we are called to that radical love of forgiveness: When we end that cycle of brokenness and abuse, so we don’t end up being the ones who hurt someone in the future. When we weep for those who haven’t found that true peace yet. When we no longer see enemies, or outsiders, but simply people who haven’t accepted God’s love in the Body of Christ. It’s accepting our ability to wound others; in our imperfection, we are fallen creatures. We try our hardest to follow God’s will, but our hardest will never be perfect. It is in our own humility we can find forgiveness for others. You cannot change who you were. You can only make actions now, to try to live into God’s purpose. It’s a purpose that doesn’t belong to me, or you. It’s God’s plan, and it requires letting go. Let go. It’s time. Jonah 1:12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea! Then the sea will become calm around you. I know it’s my fault that this great storm has come upon you.” (CEB) I was taught Jonah was possibly the only successful prophet. He told the people to turn from their ways, and they turned from their ways. True, they were the enemy of the Israelites. True, Jonah was more invested in the people being destroyed in a righteous fire. Eventually, he did what he was told, and the outcome was good. (Side note: I personally believe the sign of a successful prophet is telling God's wishes. Period. It is then up to the people to decide if they want to listen to the prophet.) Congregants and ministers alike struggle with what to take away from Jonah. He fought God. He didn't really give his best once he consented. What is there to learn from this guy? Giving up. He was stellar at it. I'm not talking about giving up where God wants you to hang on. You know, when God calls you to a Nineveh, and you book it to Tarshish instead. I'm talking about giving up when it's best for everyone else. Giving up when it might hurt you. That's what Jonah was good at. Sometimes, we don't know when to let go. We are not comfortable with uncertainty, and when God is calling us to it, we tend to hang on a little tighter. The ship might go down, but darn it, we hung on for as long as we could. Having the foresight, trust, and humility to know when to let go and jump into the unknown is a spiritual practice. We should embrace it when it comes upon us. I would love to hear from you. There are several ways to communicate and connect:
Join Fig Tree's Subreddit Follow our Pinterest page Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Dorothy sat with the Wizard in a huge cavern. They were reacquainted with one another the same way their paths were parted. The Wizard floated away and back again, in a hot air balloon. Now they were trapped underground. They could see the sun in the distance, but they had no way to reach it. Once again, the Wizard had survived by tricking the different people into believing he could do real magic. No one in this party believed he was a real Wizard. The curtain had been pulled back, and the trick had been learned. Dorothy knew what he really was. The Wizard was a humbug. The Wizard spoke those words in an injured tone. Dorothy spoke those words in love. Despite what he really was, Dorothy still loved him. - Summary from Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz- pages 177-8 So many phrases stick out in my mind from my young adult life, but one has really come to mind today, "Once we learn the truth, it cannot be undone. We simply must move on to understand what that truth means." We are allowed to accept that truth can hurt us, like the Wizard. Yet like Dorothy, we are called to find the real magic and wonder once that truth is learned. Dr. Rev. Fred Craddock was a Wizard of sorts. He was able to speak bold truths about the bible without pulling the curtain back. It made his sermons both relatable and educational. It's serious business preaching, because once you learn the truth, it cannot be undone. It's not like everyone is in the same place in their faith journey.We are not all walking into the great hall to get our heart, brain and courage at the same time. It's also not like there is some mystic age where these truths can be learned. We all have our own pace to accept these truths. A sixteen year old might be where a forty year old is when it comes to faith development. Eventually, there comes the time where the curtain has to be pulled back for the story to continue. For our faith to grow. This is why I'm not going to give you a sermon on the Creation narrative. I'm going to show you my work. I'm going to pull back the curtain, and explain what I'm doing. Let's begin. The bible begins with two Creation Narratives. The first is Genesis 1-2:1-3. The second is Genesis 2:4-25. (These audio captures are from Reddit Reads the Bible. It's a project of /r/Christianity.) We believe these are two different accounts of creation because certain things are happening again. Let's use those tools I mentioned last week to figure this out:
When I'm doing sermon prep, I'm not just doing the above work. I'm also trying to figure out what you can do with it. Like a surgeon doesn't cut upon a patient and just point out what he or she sees. They see a problem, and they find a solution to that problem. We must, as a people of God, find a way to close this up so we don't bleed out. I am not an Atheist. I am not an Agnostic. I believe there is something beyond this realm of existence. It is something that cannot be easily quantified. I believe there is a God in that existence, and that God is a God of love. I believe Christ is the Son of that God, and the Spirit of Christ dwells in all of us. We get to the Emerald City of our faith, and we give up when the curtain is pulled back. In actuality, the curtain is just the beginning. We can choose to get stuck with our green colored glasses, and not accept there's more. Many have made that choice, and many a faith have grown stagnant because of it. I'm moving forward. I'm taking a new path, knowing where I'm headed. I'm headed towards the Truth: the Word made flesh. Yes, when I first began my Christian journey I thought it would look different. That's the trick about Truth. We don't know until we get there. Do what Dorothy did. Love what was, and let it go. Our old faith will not help us as we begin this journey. Also, it will eventually come back to us, when we can reacquire it in a new way. Understand it in a new light, and to walk in that light.
What color were Dorothy Gale's magical shoes? The answer all depends on the source. If you are trying to get to the original text the answer is silver. If you are going for more of a collective knowledge the answer is ruby. That was a softball question. Here is a hard hitter: Are there horses in the land of Oz? The novice would say yes. There was the "horse of a different color" in the MGM movie. The intermediate would say no. In Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, a horse finds its way to Oz with Dorothy. Everyone is shocked because they have never seen a horse before. An expert would say maybe. While both of the above are technically true, there are other things going on. Like there is a saw horse Tip/Ozma create in The Marvelous Land of Oz. Why is "horse" a known word at all in the land of Oz? Also, before the real horse ever shows up, Ozma describes the creature as walking as well as any real horse. Once again, if horses do not exist in Oz, how does Ozma correctly reference one? When people learn CPR they start on dummies. When theologians talk about biblical interpretation they, for some reason, go right into the biblical text. Why? I think it's because most theologians forget the pastoral side of their educational call. Not only do you need to give these future minister the tools for Biblical interpretation, but you need to give them certification for teaching it in a pastoral setting. I believe, this should require finding a secondary text to use the tools on first. A text that is safe, and can be pulled apart without fear of faith getting crushed in the process. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. (Or be awesome about explaining these touchy subjects in a caring way, like Dr. David L. Petersen, a Presbyterian minister. We all can't be Petersen.) With Wizard of Oz we have the collective story being drastically different from the original. Even when people write about it today, most can't help but slip in the MGM variant. Sticking with the original canon is also problematic as there were 14 books written by Baum and multiple written by other authors. It is the perfect set of stories to practice critical thinking. One of the tools theologians use to understand the Hebrew bible is called Documentary Hypothesis. Basically, there is reason to believe the Torah was multiple individual sources, brought together to create one central story. There are a few reasons to believe this.
Think of it this way: Imagine all the Oz canon was to disappear, along with the MGM movie. You are left with "Return to Oz," "The Wiz," "Oz: The Great and Powerful," and "Syfy's: Tin Man." Then it was your job to try to figure out what sources were used. Where did the different aspects of the story come from? This is difficult enough having the sources at our disposal. Imagine the immense difficultly when they no longer exist. This is what we are dealing with when it comes to understanding the voices in Biblical text. The original story was oral tradition. When the story was finally written down the oral tradition was lost. Think of what written text cannot do: We come across it all the time on Reddit. Inflection, at the very least, has been lost. The feelings of the characters were left with the verbal tradition. That is our original source, and that source is gone. (Well, the original source was the actual event, so really we are two steps removed already from the story.) Next week I'm going to wrap this series up by returning again to Genesis 1-2. I'm going to show you behind the curtain, so to speak. I'll give you the different tools I use in writing these meditations and sermons. Most importantly, I'm going to give some suggestions when talking about these texts with others.
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