"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Tuesday, 09 March 2010 | |||
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Daylight Saving Time | |||
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It's a happy coincidence and not by design that this coming
Sunday, March 14, on which I months ago planned to preach from Joshua 10,
turns out to be "Spring Forward Day." Saturday night before bed
we all turn our clocks ahead an hour, thereby losing an hour of sleep,
but gaining over the spring, summer and much of the fall an hour longer
of daylight in the evenings. The story from Joshua at the beginning of chapter 10 is of course the Lord holding the sun still while Israel finished its victory over an Amorite coalition of several kings. There the extension of daylight appears to have been not just a single hour, but perhaps about twelve hours, the length of a "day" as ancient people typically used the word (to mean the length of daylight hours). Perhaps the first question that arises for modern readers of Joshua 10 regards the scientific feasibility of the miracle. We can obviously quibble about the language which has the sun standing still, when modern astronomy has taught us that it is the earth which turns only making the sun appear to move through the sky. And there are deeper questions about whether events contrary to the course of nature are possible. But the Bible and traditional Christianity are rooted in belief in a God who is able to and has chosen to break into the natural order and bring about events of which natural agents are not capable. Part of the wonder of Joshua and the sun is the awesome extent of God's capability in relation to natural powers. It's no surprise that the God who can stop the sun can also raise the dead. It's also good to point out some of the silly things believers have said over the past 100 years or so about the miracle of Joshua 10. Circulating around the Internet you can find reports that a 24 hour gap in astronomical history has been found by astronomers, NASA computers and the like. The gap is supposedly explained by Joshua's long day. Those stories are all nonsense and probably all stem back to a book by C. A. Totten, who briefly taught military science at Yale in the 19th century. His book starts with the absurd assumption that one can calculate the date and day of the week of creation and goes from there to further nonsense like a not-quite 24 hour gap caused by the sun standing still for Joshua. You can find a good accounting of all the silliness here: http://www.reasons.org/controversial-topics/joshuas-long-day/joshuas-long-day-and-nasa-computers-story-true Much better then a bogus apologetic based on pseudo-science is the straightforwardly allegorical interpretation of Origen who sees the battles of Joshua as symbols of spiritual warfare with evil and then interprets the long day as a sign of God's extension of the opportunity for salvation (see II Peter 3:9). We share the light of Christ with all who might believe in the long day given to us by His resurrection. We live in a long, long daylight saving time as God brings into His kingdom and saves "the full measure" of all who will believe. Like the trusty Israelite warriors kept at their battle until the long day was ended and all was complete, may you and I keep at the posts where God has placed us until the present day is ended and the Sun of Righteousness rises again on a new and eternal Day. | |||
Tuesday, 02 March 2010 | |||
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Saved by a Trick | |||
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"Would you help me with my rent?" It's a request we get more and more these days in our church office. A few years ago we responded to such a request from "Jane." We try to be wise and careful because we have limited funds and we want our gifts to be used for the purpose intended. So we agreed to provide a check for a small portion of what was needed and asked for a landlord's name to whom to write it. Jane then came to pick it up. I was in the office when Jane arrived with a young man who apparently was her boyfriend. As I handed her the check I glanced at her friend and noticed he was wearing a picture ID from work. The name on his badge was the name she had given as her landlord for the check. We had been deceived, tricked. I'm not sure why, but I gave them the check anyway. Perhaps there is some justification for my leniency in Joshua 9. Confronted by reports of Israel's victories over Jericho and Ai, a coalition of Canaanite kings forms in verses 1 and 2 of Joshua 9 and prepares for a pre-emptive strike against the Israelite advance. However, one community takes a different tack and prepares a ruse (verse 4) to protect themselves against Israel. The Gibeonites were inhabitants of a collection of towns centered on the city of Gibeon, located in the mountains seven miles southwest of Ai and about nine miles northwest of Jerusalem. Evidently deeming military resistance to be futile, they concoct a scheme to convince Israel to enter into a peace treaty with them. It's amusing to read how credulous Israelite leaders are deceived by the flimsy pretense that a Gibeonite party has come from a far away country. Props like moldy bread and worn-out shoes and clothes are taken as solid evidence for the tale that they are seeking peace from a distance and pose no threat to Israel in the land they are conquering. Only after a treaty has been negotiated is the deception uncovered. We may be somewhat surprised that Israel honors a treaty entered under false pretenses. Our present legal system would void any contract created under such circumstances. Why, we wonder, wouldn't the Israelite leaders feel free to wage war on and punish Gibeon for the trick? Part of our question about Israel's keeping the treaty arises because we have lost the sense of sanctity with which ancient people regarded oaths. But even on their own terms, Israel might have good cause to fear God's wrath for violating the herem ban on allowing their enemies to live and remain among them. Yet the text shows in verse 20 that they actually are more fearful of God's wrath if they violate their oath with the Gibeonites. And there is no sign in this chapter or what comes after that God is unhappy with them for their leniency with Gibeon. Indeed, perhaps the greatest miracle God will do for them follows almost immediately in chapter 10. There is lots to mull over in this story, but it suggests that God's violent intent against the inhabitants of Canaan is not absolute. We first saw the sparing of Rahab in chapter 2 as she acknowledged the true God. And now we see the Gibeonites saved as they at least acknowledge the overwhelming might and power of God for the Israelite army. In the midst of all the slaughter, there is a thread of mercy running, mercy even for a deceitful enemy. The lectionary Gospel text for this Sunday, Luke 13:1-9, connects nicely with our Joshua text as Jesus rebukes a question about the tragic deaths of some Galileans killed by Pilate. The disciples imagine it's because of some terrible sin on the Galileans part. Yet Jesus points to universal sinfulness and the need for repentance, then tells a parable the point of which is God's patience in waiting for sinners. We are all guilty and even deceitful about our sinfulness. We are not by birth or by right part of God's people. In a sense, we are all Gibeonites, coming to God hoping for some trick to save our skins from His wrath. And He is merciful, taking us into His holy community and suffering us to live in His presence, just as the Gibeonites were accepted into the midst of Israel and even became servants first of the Tabernacle, then of the Temple. So we may be called to regard those who deceive us with more merciful eyes. How might those who are still living in the slavery and fear of sin be brought in and incorporated into the people of God? Unlike ancient Israel, we as Christians have no calling at all to be agents of God's wrath. So even more than they we have cause to allow ourselves to suffer wrong or trickery in order to be what we truly are, agents of grace. This is what Jesus is getting at as He asks us to turn the other cheek. Though it's in the context of internal disagreements among church members, Paul says the same in I Corinthians 6:7, asking us to live in peace even if it means being wronged or cheated. We might ask ourselves, who are the Gibeonites for us, to whom we should show some leniency for their deceit or other misconduct, so that we might ultimately show them Jesus and His love? | |||
Wednesday, 24 February 2010 | |||
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Get Back Up | |||
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A recent Newsweek sports blog reflects on the winter Olympic equivalent of getting back up on the horse off which you fell. The writer begins by discussing a face-first crash by luge champion Shaun White in an event before the Olympics. White said it shook him up, but the way to shake off the shakes was "to get back up to the top to do it again." White then successfully completed the move where he first crashed and won the race. On a darker note, the writer notes that the death of the Georgian luger during a training run at the Olympics did not halt plans to continue the event, albeit with some modifications to the track and a lower starting point. All the competitors also felt it was right to continue the event and do their best. There's a bit of getting back up on the horse for Joshua and the army of Israel in Joshua 8, as they prepare for another run at conquering the fortified city of Ai. After the rout that began chapter 7, many of them must have been somewhat leery of another go at the folks who so soundly defeated them. Joshua's own attitude in chapter 7 verse 7 was monumentally defeatist. Yet in chapter 8, they are prepared to try again. The lesson is that the renewed effort is all divinely orchestrated. In verse 2 of chapter 8, God gives them the right strategy, an ambush behind the city, with a frontal assault only as a ruse. No more cocky forays with a minimal force. God also tells Joshua to take the whole army, which he then divides, part for the ambush and part for the march on the gates, which is a feint. God blesses the carefully following of His instructions and there is finally a great victory at Ai. God relaxes the herem ban a little, allowing some plunder and livestock, but the destruction of all the inhabitants according to God's direction is faithfully executed. After a brief, disastrous loss, Israel is back, we might say. The theme of renewal is carried forward even more at the end of the chapter, verses 30-35, as the nation renews its covenant with God following the instructions of Moses in Deuteronomy 27. The theme of blessing or curse in verse 34, which is even more prominent in Deuteronomy 27, mirrors the contrast between the victory in chapter 8 and the defeat in chapter 7. The covenant renewal is a refreshed recognition that Israel depends solely on God for its success. For Christians the Israelite victory of Joshua 8 will remind us of the renewal and victory that God can bring even after our worst defeats and failures. Yet for us we know that it's more than just a matter of courage to get up and try again. We are constantly aware that our spiritual success is utterly dependent on God. That is the very nature of grace, a renewal and blessing that is undeserved and unobtainable by our own efforts. Let us look for the moments both in individual spiritual practice and in corporate worship where we may hear again the good news of God's grace in Jesus and renew our covenant to live only in and through that grace. Then we will be able to get back up and try again, time after time. | |||
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 | |||
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Hand in the Cookie Jar | |||
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"Corporate sin" in a modern sense has been much in
the news the last couple years. The shenanigans of banks, investment
firms, etc., along with their highly paid and benefited, but sometimes
corrupt CEOs, have been held up for public scrutiny and condemnation.
It's perfectly clear that, like Achan in
Joshua 7, a number of people have committed acts of greed and theft
that have had grave consequences not just for their own companies but for
our whole nation, even for the world. Sub-prime lending practices were corporate sin not just in the sense that they were committed by corporations but because the consequence of the wrong-doing affected us all, corporately. In Joshua 7, Israel was unexpectedly, miserably defeated as they went out to war against the city of Ai, a small place which didn't even merit marshalling the complete army of Israel. Yet what should have been a more than sufficient force of two or three thousand Israelite soldiers was routed by the men of Ai. The defeat of Israel turned out to be God's judgment on the greed of a single man, Achan, and his family. Ignoring the herem ban on Jericho and its contents, he appriated a fancy garment and some gold and silver for himself. In the process all Israel was tainted by Achan's sin and found themselves abandoned by God when they attempted to conquer the next city. Despite our recent acquaintance with corporate sin on the large scale in the last couple years, Achan's tale is difficult for us. Why should everyone suffer for one man's malfeasance? Why does God hold the whole nation accountable until Achan is identified and his sin rooted out by the harsh punishment of stoning to death? We might understand it better if the self-enrichment and deception had been Joshua's or one of his lieutenants. We grasp the fact that people in power can cause widespread grief by their misdeeds. But Achan was a relative nobody, a foot soldier in the army. Why should his petty little crime be a national shame and defeat? Achan's story is a needed corrective to our own weak contemporary sense of sin and its seriousness. It highlights the corporate nature and effect not just of the sins of the great and powerful and not just of great and powerful sins. Achan teaches us that even the wrongs we think of as tiny and inconsequential are a contamination and infection that can damage others and wreak havoc in the communities in which we live and work. There is no such thing as a victimless crime or a private sin. The wrong things we do and the right things we fail to do are stones tossed into the social ponds of our lives and their effects ripple outward, even if, like Achan, we keep the sins themselves secret. As Lent begins, and we take seriously the call to amend our lives, lay aside sin and walk in new ways, perhaps Achan's sorry foolishness and disastrous end can help us take it all more seriously. We may desire to be free of greed or lust or lying or addiction or simply pride. Maybe that desire can be strengthened by honest reflection on how our sin affects a spouse or children or friends or co-workers. Maybe we will be more ready to let the grace of God in Christ stone to death the sin that is in us if we are more alert to the ways in which our sin brings defeat to others. May the Lord help us all early on to come to the point of painful honesty with ourselves, not waiting like Achan did until the fateful lot falls at our tent door. And in honest confession may we fine blessed and healing forgiveness. | |||
Wednesday, 03 February 2010 | |||
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"Devoted" | |||
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I've known the story of the battle of Jericho for as long as
I can remember. I think we marched singing "Joshua Fought the Battle
of Jericho" seven times around a stack of blocks in our first grade
Sunday School classroom. Then we got to knock the blocks down and
celebrate God's victory over that ancient city with all our childish
enthusiasm for destruction. It's a little more difficult story to read and to prepare to preach Joshua 6 at age 54. Especially after the reflection I did last fall on God's violence in the Old Testament, I zero right in on the parts skipped over in lessons for children. The end result of the destruction of the wall was, says 21, "They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it--men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys." Verse 24 says that the slaughter was followed by the burning of the city, except for gold and silver which went into the Tabernacle treasury. At the heart of the Jericho story and a large part of the narrative of Joshua is the Hebrew word and concept, herem. Translated "devoted to the Lord" in the NIV/TNIV, the word literally simply means to destroy or devote to destruction. In the Old Testament, the word picks up overtones of things held so sacred that no one can possess them except God, hence the destruction of what cannot be held solely for God and the plunder of precious metal for the Tabernacle. Herem is a troubling concept and the Israelites themselves had great troubles carrying out the "ban" on people and property designated herem. Some account needs to be given of the terrible violence God seems to call for. Yet there is also in herem the kernel of a viewpoint which challenges our easy and careless acquisitiveness and assertion of ownership. We are quick to assume that all the products of our hard fought labors are ours to keep and do with as we please. We take little thought for what among our possessions God may deem His own. So this Sunday I hope to struggle a bit with the violence inherent in the Jericho story, but I also hope to learn a little about what it means to utterly devote my endeavors and the fruits of my endeavors to my Lord. | |||
Tuesday, 12 January 2010 | |||
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Getting Through It | |||
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"How will I ever get through it?" is a question we
ask ourselves when facing a difficult task or circumstance. I asked it
back in October as I faced the aftermath of a car wreck and all the
responsibilities that remained despite being sore and without a vehicle.
I asked it in December when in a single week I ministered to a dying
member and led his memorial service, dealt with a flooded church building
(including my office), helped play host to a homeless shelter in our
other building, and came home to face both a broken oven and dead
refrigerator, not to mention all the other pre-Christmas events and
expectations of family and church. It was important to remember at those
times that God had been with me in similarly difficult circumstances in
the past. As we move on to Joshua 3 this coming Sunday, we find Joshua and the people of Israel facing a difficult and daunting circumstance. God has commanded them to cross the Jordan River into Canaan and take the land to the west has their own. But at that time of year, the river was swollen and flooding. The two spies of chapter 2 may have crossed in a little boat or raft or even by swimming, but it would be impossible to float over Israel's army of thousands, much less all the women, children and livestock. Many of them must have asked, "How will we get through it?" At this point the promise made to Joshua in chapter 1, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with you," comes into play and is shown to be true. Joshua had been there and participated in the great crossing of the Red Sea following the leadership of Moses. So he may have had some inkling and faith that if God was truly with him like He was with Moses, a similar thing might happen at the Jordan. Yet we need to remember that the people gathered here before the Jordan are almost entirely a new generation. It's forty years after the Red Sea. A vast majority of them would have been only infants or small children or not yet born when the stupendous miracle happened. If they were to have any faith in another miracle like the old one, it could only be by accepting the word and testimony of the previous generation, most of whom were dead and gone by now. As we face our own difficult circumstances, whether it's the loss of a loved one, unemployment, a divorce, a conflict with friends or family, a major illness or any number of seemingly unsurmountable barriers to continued good life, we may be in the same faith situation as that new generation of Israel. We may not by personal experience be able to recount and remember a point at which God came to our aid and saw us through deep waters. Yet we still have the testimony and witness of those who've gone before us. Our parents' or grandparents' stories of passing through the Great Depression or World War II are not just boring old tales. They are the record that God is faithful, that God will with us like He was with them, that God will get us through it, whatever "it" is. Facing my own impassable "Jordans," I pray for a better memory to recall how God has been with those who've passed through such things long before me. In that memory I find great resource to renew and strengthen my conviction that God will get me through it. May we all be blessed with such good memories. | |||
Tuesday, 05 January 2010 | |||
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Behind Enemy Lines | |||
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"People there are fascinated by blonde hair," said our
daughter about her trip to China this past summer. She had ample opportunity to
reflect on what it was like to be completely different in appearance from the
people around her, and how it felt to be on the outside of a culture looking
in. That "outside looking in" feeling shows up in more than one direction in our text for this Sunday from Joshua 2, where we find two young Israelite spies hiding out in Rahab's house in Jericho. We read both the experience of the young men who were found out and desperate in the midst of the foreign and hostile Jerichoites, and the experience of Rahab who sought sanctuary for herself and her family among the foreign and hostile Israelites. The story of Rahab reminds us that God is in the business of pushing people behind "enemy" or at least foreign or alien lines in more than one direction. We as Christians may find ourselves led like my daughter into the midst of a culture and people who are strange to us. At the very same time we are called, like the ancient Israelites saved and incorporated Rahab, to welcome and incorporate strangers behind our own cultural and social lines. As we "fight for survival," whether its economically as individuals or against terrorism as a nation or as a church against declining numbers, we remember that in the midst of its struggle for a place in the land Israel had room to welcome outsiders and bring them into their lives. Rahab shows up two or three times in the New Testament, most interestingly in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1. The Israelite welcome and redemption of a foreign prostitute was ultimately part of God's plan for their own redemption. Let us keep crossing the lines and finding those God wants to save, and in the process we will reclaim our own salvation. | |||
Thursday, 31 December 2009 | |||
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Recipe for Courage | |||
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As we sit on the brink of a new year, I'm not sure I've ever
been so happy to see an old year go. A car wreck, a flooded church
building, and a raft of busted appliances at home are the memories I take
away from the last quarter of 2009. Maybe the earlier part of the year
was better. It's just hard for me to remember right now. So I'm really
ready to enter 2010. It seems likely that the Israelites were even more ready for the change in their situation reflected in Joshua 1. After forty years of aimless life in the wilderness, they were now being prepared to enter the land that God was giving them. The opening chapter of Joshua displays the hand over of leadership from Moses to Joshua, the commission to enter and possess the land, and a four-times repeated charge to be "strong and courageous." Yet the courage asked of Joshua and Israel does not seem to center so much around bravery in battle, though military action was ahead. Instead, verses 7 and 8 call for a steadfast and courageous observance of the law of God given through Moses. The foundation of Israel's success was to be spiritual, not military. As verses 2 and 3 make clear, the land was to be (and in a sense already was) a gift from God, not the product of Israelite military prowess. To be successful in this situation meant to retain a strong devotion and commitment to the Lord who gave them their land. One other theme of the text touches my own heart as the new year begins. The theme of "rest" appears in verses 13 and 15, both times understood, like the land, as God's gift. Entering into the promised land was to bring God's people a promised rest from struggle and strife. Yet the rest promised under Joshua's leadership is superceded by the promise in Hebrews 4:8-11 of a final and complete Sabbath rest for the people of God through the grace of Christ. So though I hope for better times and some rest in the new year, I ultimately look for those gifts where they are to be truly found, in the gracious blessing of knowing Jesus Christ. | |||
Tuesday, 15 December 2009 | |||
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Be Holy Until Then | |||
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What would a Christmas shopping list for the Lord look like?
At first it seems like it might be a good idea. Instead of expending so
much effort on shopping for family and friends, why not try to procure
gifts for God? But what would be on the list? Repentance from my sins More love toward others More gifts given to people in need Time sacrificed in service and prayer Time given to humble meditation on the Word Elimination of a bad habit or two Yes, a Christmas list for God is an odd-looking affair. And then we come to our text this Sunday, Hebrews 10:5-10, which begins with a quotation from Psalm 40:6-8, the beginning of which is: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, with burnt offerings and sin offerings The Old Testament system of agricultural sacrifices is no more--that's part of the point of the text--but we might do well to remember that even in Old Testament we learn that God is not placated or pleased with the mere offering of gifts. The emphasis, as we ought to remember at Christmas, is not on the gifts we give, but on the Gift He has given us. This passage from Hebrews is difficult because the end of verse 5 quotes not the Hebrew Old Testament, but the Greek translation of it known as the Septuagint. Psalm 40:6 says, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have opened. . ." In the Psalm the point is that obedience, listening to and doing God's will, is better and more important than sacrifice. It's a point Jesus and James also made. Yet the Greek version of the psalm talks about "a body you prepared for me." It's hard to make good sense out of that phrase in the original context, but the New Testament writer to the Hebrews clearly saw it as a reference to the sacrifice of Christ's body (see verse 10). It's not sacrifices, it's not even obedience that will please God. Ultimately, it's only His own perfect Gift, offered not by us, but on our behalf by Jesus Himself that will allows to be what God wants us to be, to be holy. So the strange history of the transmission of Old Testament biblical text through the Greek language allows a progression in understanding the depth of God's grace. What we give or do is always secondary to what God gives and does for us in Jesus. Our holiness is ultimately His gift, given through the sacrifice of Christ. Yet there is a still a call to be holy, to accept and live according to the gift we've been given. I can't redeem myself, I can't please God by my own efforts, but I can please and honor Him by receiving and living by the Gift. That's exactly what Mary did in our text from Luke 1:38, as she echoes Hebrews 10:9 (which is understood to be Jesus speaking), "Here I am. I have come to do your will" with her own, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me according to your word." Our holiness is always like Mary's, a reception of grace and a willing acquiescence in God's will. May that Gift be to all of us this Christmas, according to His Word. | |||
Wednesday, 09 December 2009 | |||
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Rejoice Until Then | |||
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We light the pink candle this Sunday. There are three
purples and one pink on the Advent wreath. Just how this tradition took
its present form is shrouded in the clouds of history, but it's generally
understood that this third Sunday of the season is different, the Sunday
of Joy. As I understand the thought behind the pink candle, it's that a
basically penitential season (marked by the color purple) is interrupted
with a sign of the joy that is always ours in Christ. We have a great text for this third Sunday in Advent: Philippians 4:4-9 (I've extended it to pick up verses 8 and 9, gorgeous words). It begins with the call to rejoice and seemingly realizes that our rejoicing as Christians happens as the Advent wreath pictures it, sometimes right in the middle of sorrow and anxiety. In the text, the call to rejoice is coupled with the promise of peace. We rejoice because we enjoy the peace of God which transcends all our immediate circumstances and comprehension of them. It's in the receiving of His peace that we have real joy. Yet peace and joy can seem hard to come by in this season. Certainly anxiety rises as we try to add Christmas preparation, even of the best and most spiritual kind, to already full daily schedules. And for some of us, the season is often tinged with various sadnesses, whether for someone who no longer with us to celebrate or for hurts or other losses that Christmas brings to mind. The text offers what I think is the route to experiencing some Christmas joy, a course of contemplation or meditation in verse 8 of thinking about all the best things in our lives. Specifically in relation to Advent and Christmas, I would offer. . . [It's at this point I took a 2-hour break away from writing this post to visit a family and came back to my church office to discover the whole building (offices, youth room, fellowship space) 1-2 inches deep in water from a frozen pipe that broke in the ceiling.] So this is going to be a real test of what I'm suggesting as I sit in the middle of a mess, with workmen around me tearing off the baseboards to dry out our walls, to try and contemplate joyfully the things that Paul suggests in verse 8 in relation to Christmas: Whatever is: True - The Son of God did in fact come to us, to me, as an infant child. Noble - That He sacrificed the glory of heaven for the humility of a stable. Right - Mary and Joseph did exactly what the Lord asked of them. Pure - The Virgin Mother and her quiet devotion to her Child. Lovely - A sky full of angels singing God's praise. Admirable - The shepherds who believed the angel's message. Excellent - The saving grace of God. Praiseworthy - Our Savior who came to be with us and still is with us, because: Verse 9 closes the text blessing us not only with verse 7's "the peace of God," but "the God of peace will be with you." He's with us. Let me think about that awhile today. jjj | |||
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I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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