"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.
Thursday, 06 May 2010 | |||
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Community and Connection | |||
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Yesterday a Russian Muslim couple was detained for several
hours by Indian security when the woman's behavior raised suspicions for
the flight crew on a SpiceJet flight. Reportedly she was tall, did not
remove her burqa (veil) while eating, and did not speak at all. They
feared she might be a man trying to disguise his identity. Yet it was all
a false alarm, generated by cultural differences and a false perception
of what turned out to be an innocent observation of the custom that one
never removes a burqa in public. Our text for this Sunday from Joshua 22 picks up the odd story of the false perception by Israelites on the west side of the Jordan of a religious act by Israelites on the east side. Reading commentaries has given me a couple fancy names for these two groups. The land ceded by Moses to tribes on the east side is "Transjordan," hence the two and half tribes there are "Transjordanians," while Canaan proper on the west side is "Cisjordan," so the inhabitants there are "Cisjordanians." We remember that the Transjordanians are the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of Manasseh (East Manesseh). The other 9 and a half tribes are the Cisjordanians. Even the technical titles reflect a bit of the issue that's at work here in chapter 22. The prefix "cis" means "on this side." So even the labels have an orientation toward the larger group of nine and a half tribes as somehow being Israel proper, the ones who truly inhabit the promised land. So the stage is set for the misunderstanding when the Transjordanians presume to build a second altar to God, raising fears that they will disregard and forsake God's proper altar in the Tabernacle which now resides in Cisjordan, across the river some distance away and not at all convenient for the sacrifices and worship of tribes on the east side. Yet the happy ending to the story is that it's all a misunderstanding. The Transjordanians never meant to actually worship at and offer sacrifices at their duplicate altar. Instead it's a reminder, a "Witness," that they too are part of Israel and are called to true worship at the one altar of the one true God. It's an obscure but good text for our times when Christians are still divided in so many ways, by doctrine, by sacramental understanding, by worship styles and by differing conceptions of the nature of the Church and its mission. What we may perceive as pernicious error in doctrine or practice among other believers may often turn out to be only our false perception of innocent attempts to remain true to the same Lord we all worship. Our Covenant denomination has a good history of trying to overcome some of those dividing and distancing mistaken perceptions and seeking unity among all those who know Christ. We certainly haven't always done it well and our little denomination of 160,000 might be perceived as simply another splinter group and division. Yet my prayer is that we will let our willingness to countenance differing styles and convictions (while holding tight to the center of Christ and the Scriptures) drive us toward the unity that God wanted for Israel and that Jesus wants for the Church. Twice already this week I've been in conversations about ways in which churches of different denominations might work together, in one case for ministry to physical needs, and in the other case for Gospel outreach through a joint Vacation Bible School. May our Lord help us to keep setting up "altars" of faithful service and cooperation that point to the unity we enjoy in Him. jjj | |||
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Profile |
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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