We have read some troubling stories lately in our Chronological Bible readings. In the past month, we have worked our way through the books of Joshua and Judges, which contain no small amount of violence and bloodshed. Some of these biblical stories can make your stomach turn with disgust!
One such story is the death by gang rape of an unnamed young woman in Judges 19. So much of this story is unspeakably disturbing. Continue reading
Have you ever noticed how people’s memories can be very selective? We remember what we want to remember, whether or not things actually happened as we remember them. Usually we remember things to our own advantage, but sometimes we are guilty of twisting the facts. Continue reading
In today’s Chronological Bible reading, we come across one of my favorite topics in the Old Testament: the cities of refuge. These were six cities in ancient Israel that were set apart as “safe havens” for people who committed murder or manslaughter. Something about the conditions set forward in Numbers 35:9-34 strikes me as meaningful for our lives as disciples of Jesus. Continue reading
You know the story of Cinderella, right? A beautiful daughter is mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, who force her to do all the dirty work of the house. When the Prince announces a ball so that he can choose a wife, Cinderella is not allowed to attend – that is, not until her fairy godmother appears. The rest, as you know, is history: the dress, the pumpkin carriage, the dancing, the stroke of midnight, the glass slipper, the happily ever after.
It’s a classic story, but really the only thing most of us share with Cinderella is the menial housework which we all must do. Most of us don’t marry royalty or attend fancy events. Designer shoes and limousines are rare luxuries. And “happily ever after”? Well, for many of us, that remains to be seen.
In the meantime, all we have time for is mean, ordinary work. Sometimes the “daily grind” can feel as meaningless as picking lentils out of a pile of ashes.
Do you ever feel like church is that way, too? Do worship services feel repetitive, mundane, and even boring to you? Do you feel obligated or required to come to church? It’s all right if you say “yes” – I won’t tell anyone.
Take a look at Leviticus 6:8-13, a passage we came across last week in the course of our “Chronological Bible” reading. Leviticus is full of regulations, procedures, and rules about how the ancient Israelites were supposed to worship God while wandering in the wilderness. And let’s be honest: some of the chapters in Leviticus are downright boring for us to read. (Just think how the Israelites must have felt as they wandered aimlessly for forty years!)
In this passage, God gives the priests instructions about how to care for the burnt offering that was to be presented continuously before God. Each morning, the priest on duty was to wake up, put on his special priestly clothes, get ready to go to work, and then…
…collect the ashes from last night’s sacrifice.
And then he had to put on his regular clothes. He was then allowed to take the ashes outside the camp to the dump site. The priestly linen clothing was only worn for the menial morning task: Cinderella’s housekeeping work.
What was so special about those ashes? Why was the priest required to wear fine linen clothes for a job that would more than likely get them dirty? And why did the cleaning job require special clothes, but taking out the trash called for a different costume?
I don’t have good answers to these questions. But what I do know is this: these few verses point out the importance of treating God with great respect. The very mundane act of sweeping up yesterday’s sacrificial ashes was worthy of special attire. Being in God’s presence, even for that short amount of time, required priestly clothes – a symbol for the priest’s attitude of humility and holiness.
Every Christian is a priest, in the biblical sense: each of us can offer “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5 NIV). As we do the work of worship, let us pursue humility and holiness before the Lord. Every encounter with God is a unique and meaningful experience, no matter how mundane the activity may seem to us. There is great value in worship, because it is a service that we give to God.
After all, someday the Prince of Peace will come again, and, yes, there will be a “happily ever after” for his Bride. In the meantime, let us express our love for God by worshiping him regularly, joyfully, and intentionally – even in the ordinariness of our worship, and even in the ordinariness of our lives.
Every year since Eisenhower, the President gives a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, held on the first Thursday in February. This year’s speech has gotten a lot of press on account of one sentence, in which President Obama mentioned the Crusades in connection with a discussion of religiously motivated violence throughout the world’s history.
I won’t be commenting on that sentence. There is already enough commentary on the comparisons between Islamic extremists and Christian extremists. Your opinion on that subject is probably already made up, and I would just be wasting your time by writing more about it.
So I’ll write about something else: what President Obama actually said. His 20-minute speech was about much more than the Crusades. (In fact, he only mentioned them once, and here I’ve mentioned them twice already!) You can read the transcript of his speech online. Just go to this site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/02/05/remarks-president-national-prayer-breakfast
(As you read, remember that every U.S. President presides over a nation made up of many different religions.)
President Obama highlights three principles “that can guide us, particularly those of us who profess to believe”:
You know, this really is a pretty good three-point sermon by the President. These are strong thoughts, worthy of reflection and meditation – and action. I believe he does well to put humility at the top of the list. We all need so much more of that attitude. And he does very well to give such practical applications as a response: if, indeed, #JesusIsTheSubject, then perhaps the #CHOGTraffickLight initiative is an appropriate step of faith. (See www.chogtrafficklight.org for more information.)
All politics aside, I am very impressed by this speech at the National Prayer Breakfast.
Now, what was that about the Crusades?
Everyone loves a storybook ending, right? The good guy is celebrated, the bad guys get what’s coming to them, and everything is right in the world. We leave the novel, the television, or the movie theater with a sense of contentment: things are just how they are supposed to be.
“The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first… he had seven sons and three daughters… After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.” (Job 42:12,13,16 NIV)
Check it out: Job received twice as many sheep, camels, oxen, and donkeys as he had lost at the beginning of the story. He was given exactly as many sons and daughters as were lost in the tragedy of chapter 1 (although surely these new children could not replace his first children). Job comes out of his tremendous loss on top of the world once again!
But something isn’t quite right here. Usually in a storybook ending we can identify why the hero is victorious in the end: perhaps he beat the enemy, or he remained true to his principles, or he survived the conflict, or he learned an important lesson. In the case of Job, all four of these things are somewhat true, but they are not the climax of Job’s activity, growth, or development as a character.
Throughout the book, Job has been complaining against God and arguing for his innocence. The pervasive question throughout the book is “Why?” – why have these terrible things happened to an otherwise nice, successful, upright guy?
Finally, of course, God enters the scene and speaks to Job and his friends (chapters 38-41). God is shown to be righteous and all-powerful. And what is Job’s response to God? How does Job change? What does he do to “deserve” the blessings God was about to give him?
Two things: he repented before God, and he prayed for his friends.
In just a few words, Job expresses his newfound humility before God: God is God, and Job is not. And then, silently, without fanfare, Job prays for his friends – the three with whom God was angry for speaking falsely, the three who had tried (unsuccessfully) to convince Job he had sinned and thus had deserved his tragic state.
Job repented before God and prayed for those who had wronged him. And then God blessed him tremendously.
Now, I do not believe Job “forced God’s hand” or somehow manipulated God into blessing him. Job did not earn God’s blessings. But he put himself in a spiritual position to be able to receive what God had in store for him.
Repentance and praying for friends (even enemies). Seeking humility before God and seeking the welfare of others.
What if our lives were marked by such developments in our character? What if we actually have very little to do with bringing about storybook endings to situations in our lives? What if we humbly pursue relationship with God and peace with others? What might our world look like?
Isn’t that just how things are supposed to be?
The ancient story of Job is an incredible drama – that is, if you like long, extended, repetitive speeches. The “frame” of the story is easy to remember: a wealthy man loses all his possessions, children, and most of his health, apparently just as a test from the Tempter (in Hebrew, “the Satan”) to see if Job will be faithful to God.
If you are participating in our “Daily Bread” (Chronological Bible) group, then hopefully you are off to a good reading start this year! We are now finished reading Genesis, the first of the 66 books of the Bible, which contains some of the oldest stories in the scriptures. Next up is another very ancient story, the story of Job.
But let’s pause for a moment to consider what we’ve seen so far.
In our “Chronological Bible” reading this week, we came across a few more well-known stories in the first half of Genesis. Tara and I found ourselves discussing several of these stories from time to time, especially those stories that were surprising or troublesome in some way or another. Let’s take stock of what we have seen so far:
…and that’s just from twenty chapters of Genesis! Do you notice a pattern here? How is it that so many stories in the first book of the Bible have such a negative slant against the women in the stories? Sure, ancient Middle Eastern culture tended to be rather patriarchal in nature – and many cultures around the world today, including our own, still tend to favor men to varying degrees.
Having a patriarchal culture is one thing, but telling so many stories that portray women in such a negative light is another thing. What is going on here?
I can’t really make sense of this. The women of Genesis get a pretty bad rap, and I don’t have a good explanation. They are mistreated, abused, neglected, and disrespected on multiple occasions. The important overarching story of Genesis is God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the twelve sons (all men). The sign of the covenant is circumcision (only for men). In many cases, the women seem expendable.
Maybe the best conclusion to draw is simply to make sure that the same thing does not happen in our world today. Maybe the experience of reading these stories in Genesis should compel us all – men and women alike – to treat women with utmost respect in our everyday experiences, our churches, our schools, our workplaces, our government, and our homes.
I encourage you to read about a present-day movement emphasizing gender equality (#HeForShe) at this website: www.heforshe.org
Pastor David
I don’t want to be a “January 3 Christian.”
Many of us at Mt. Haley are reading the Bible all the way through during this new year. We are using the so-called “Chronological Bible,” which rearranges the biblical text into the order, more or less, in which the events in the Bible occurred. This will help us draw connections among the stories of the various books of the Bible, and by the end of 2015, we will have read all 66 books in their entirety.
I intend to write a post each week to share some of my reflections as I read the scriptures with you this year. And as we get started, my first thought is simply this:
I don’t want to be a “January 3 Christian.”
The first readings of the Chronological Bible are similar to many Bible-in-a-year reading plans: we covered the first several chapters of Genesis. In the first three days of the year, we have read Genesis 1-9, which contain many well-known stories:
Creation. Adam and Eve. The fall. Cain and Abel. Noah and the flood.
And we still have 362 days to go. It’s only January 3! There is so much more to the Bible than just these first few stories.
I have heard Christians argue that we have to defend a literal six-day creation in order to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. I have heard Christians say that without a literal apple(?) in a literal garden, everything else in scripture becomes meaningless. I have heard Christians say that modern-day weather events might be a sign of the end times, because God promised (remember) that he wouldn’t destroy the earth by a flood again – but earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis and the like are apparently fair game for divine wrath.
Why do we emphasize these stories from early Genesis so much? Why do we make them the litmus test for true Christian faith? Why do we urge ourselves to be “January 3 Christians”?
If you love these early stories, keep on loving them. But please keep in mind that we have yet to read over 99% of the Bible. What if the best is yet to come?
What if Genesis 1-9 just gets the ball rolling so we can find out what God is really up to in his relationship with humanity?
Keep reading, friends, and let’s keep up the conversation.
Pastor David