While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’ And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the crowd making a commotion, he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district. -- Matthew 9:18-26
I think that of all the stories in the Bible, this one, or actually these two, are probably my favorites. They are repeated in both Mark and Luke, but this one seems like the Reader's Digest version, a condensation that hits the high spots and leaves out a lot of details, unlike the stories in both Mark and Luke. Still, the three of them all feature the same kind of "sandwich" format -- Jesus is going to heal a child, is stopped by the touch of an older woman followed by her healing, then he continues on to his destination not to heal a child but to raise her from the dead. In a sense, two women were physically raised from the dead that day, one from true physical death and one from a kind of cultural death that resulted from not only from illness but also isolation and invisibility caused by cultural norms and practices.
I was just thinking about the story when I realized that I was usually drawn to the elder woman, the one who was healed by the faith that if only she touched a tassel on Jesus' clothes, she would be freed from the illness that had plagued her life for twelve years. Oddly (or perhaps not so oddly), twelve years was the same number the young girl had lived on this earth. I usually see myself in the woman, not because of her faith but more because of her age and her less-than-visible ailment. I wish I could say I had a quarter of her faith, but the truth is that only sometimes can I even come close. Still, I look at her and feel not just compassion but connection. She is my sister, perhaps moreso because in her I see some of my own struggles.
Today, though, my thoughts went to the girl-child who began and ended the scripture passage. I think too of the "rest of the story" in the other recountings. This girl was a child of promise, as all children are. She had already beaten the odds many times by surviving to the age of twelve, the very threshold of womanhood and the beginning of her life as wife, mother and probably grandmother. That was her promise, and now she lay sick unto death with something the physicians could not cure. Her father had the faith that Jesus could heal her if only he would come to her bedside since she could not come to him. The delay with the hemorrhaging woman must have been agonizing to him, risking the life of his precious daughter to cure some unknown woman of something that still allowed her to walk around, had been with her for years without being imminently fatal and surely could have waited a few hours if not a day or so for a cure. But Jesus chose to stop and the father had no choice but to wait.
I wonder about what the girl-child was thinking as she waited for her papa to return to her. Surely no matter how close to death she was, she would wait for someone who had loved and protected her all her life to return to her and make her better. Kids have faith that their parents can do that; I know I thought mine could. I trusted that they could take the pain in my legs away, which they did with hot water and leg rubs, both of them sitting up with me until the cramps subsided and they could put me to bed and then return to their interrupted slumbers themselves. Maybe the girl-child didn't have faith that Jesus could heal her but I bet my bottom dollar she had faith her daddy could.
Two women, two stories, two cures, two lives turned completely around by the God-given power of one man, the presence of God and the faith that Jesus could do what human beings could not do and cure what they could not. I have to ask myself what can I learn from the story that I haven't learned before? Where is my faith, in my papa or in my Parent/Brother/Guide? Of what do I need to be healed, a physical ailment, an emotional breakdown, a spiritual desert? For what am I looking, a cure or a healing? They are different things-- one removes a disease or difficulty while the other removes the need to fear it or let it define me. Cures are wonderful things but healings are priceless.
Today I can see myself as both women at various times in my life. Their stories become mine and I learn from both of them. I can ask for what I need and I can have faith to believe that even the unasked will be answered in some way, even if not exactly the way I would want it to be. The person I reach out to touch might be the one who helps to heal something in me, and the one I pray for might be the one who again proves to me that prayers can change lives.
Pretty powerful lessons for a morning's thoughts and eight short verses of what amounts to a Reader's Digest version of a story. It makes me want to examine my life to see where the cures and the healings are. Am I one of the walking wounded or am I lying there waiting for someone else to bring me help? Most of all, in whom and in what do I put my faith?
I think it's going to be an interesting contemplation for the rest of today -- and beyond.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul </a> on Episcopal Café Saturday May 26, 2012.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
May 19 -- A Biblical Business Plan
So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you. I will come down and talk with you there; and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself.
So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.
Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’ -- Numbers 11:16-17, 24-29
The Israelites are still wandering around, but the bloom is clearly off the rose insofar as their joy at being freed from the bondage they had in Egypt. In the part of the reading that was omitted, the people moaned and groaned, griped and moaned some more about being so tired of eating manna. They wanted meat, lots of meat. What God promised them was that they would have meat, indeed, they would have meat so plentiful and so often that they would literally have it coming out of their noses. That part always makes me smile, but it isn't part of today's lesson.
Moses had found that being the go-to guy for this group had its drawbacks. Not only was he on call with God but it seemed everybody else wanted his ear (as well as his attention and his judgment -- in their favor, of course). Moses probably felt like he was losing his mind. But then came the brilliant plan to delegate; any good businessperson worth their salt today comes pre-programmed to do that but for Moses and the Israelites it was a new concept. Instead of Moses being the sole arbiter, now there were seventy elders who were given the authority to be the go-betweens, solving the problems where they could, and bringing the big stuff for Moses to discuss with God. Moses must have felt a huge weight off his shoulders.
But then there's almost always a fly in the ointment. Two of the designated had stayed in the camp instead of attending the conclave. Worse yet, they were actually prophesying in the camp, something that evidently at least one person thought was beyond the pale. "Moses, Moses, those people over there are doing something they shouldn't be doing." Joshua was all for rushing back to the camp and taking care of the problem right then and there, but Moses stopped him. "Let them alone. They are doing what they should do and I would to God there would be more like them!"
This story reminds me of the one about Jesus' disciples who griped about people who weren't part of their group doing the same things the disciples were -- preaching, teaching and healing. Jesus and Moses both responded in pretty much the same way, "Let them alone. They are doing what they should do."
Nobody really likes a snitch, and often the snitch ends up getting the worst of it because the boss often agrees with the snitch-ees rather than the snitch-er. Too often it's micromanagers and disgruntled people who run to management and complain about someone else's (real or perceived) flaws, faults and shortcomings, often to cover or redirect attention away from their own. I know I've been guilty of it, and I suspect I'm not alone in that boat.
Ken Blanchard is credited with coming up with the phrase "Catch them doing something good." Instead of focusing on what is wrong, give folks a pat on the back for doing good things, right things, positive things. Like most parents, I didn't praise my kid enough for doing the right things because I was busy trying to get him to fix the things he did wrong. I've worked for people who are pretty much the same -- much more focused on pointing out every error while never really saying much about the 99 things I did right. I realize now how focusing on the wrong thing affected my son, because I see how it affects me in my daily life and work. It does make me a bit more aware of fault-finding and the destructiveness of a constant diet of negative feedback where a little positive feedback might be a whole lot better.
Jesus and Moses might not have had a handy phrase for what they wanted the disciples and the elders to model, but I think the general idea was there. Clean your own house before you start cleaning someone else's. Don't be quick to judge another's doings because they might just be doing precisely what they were supposed to do. Even if you aren't part of the inner circle, take the example Moses and Jesus set and follow them to the best of your ability.
Now there's a business concept. I think I'll have to try that at work next week, at least try a little harder to look for the good and catch someone doing it. And I have the perfect place to start looking... just don't tell my boss!
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Saturday May 19, 2012.
So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.
Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’ -- Numbers 11:16-17, 24-29
The Israelites are still wandering around, but the bloom is clearly off the rose insofar as their joy at being freed from the bondage they had in Egypt. In the part of the reading that was omitted, the people moaned and groaned, griped and moaned some more about being so tired of eating manna. They wanted meat, lots of meat. What God promised them was that they would have meat, indeed, they would have meat so plentiful and so often that they would literally have it coming out of their noses. That part always makes me smile, but it isn't part of today's lesson.
Moses had found that being the go-to guy for this group had its drawbacks. Not only was he on call with God but it seemed everybody else wanted his ear (as well as his attention and his judgment -- in their favor, of course). Moses probably felt like he was losing his mind. But then came the brilliant plan to delegate; any good businessperson worth their salt today comes pre-programmed to do that but for Moses and the Israelites it was a new concept. Instead of Moses being the sole arbiter, now there were seventy elders who were given the authority to be the go-betweens, solving the problems where they could, and bringing the big stuff for Moses to discuss with God. Moses must have felt a huge weight off his shoulders.
But then there's almost always a fly in the ointment. Two of the designated had stayed in the camp instead of attending the conclave. Worse yet, they were actually prophesying in the camp, something that evidently at least one person thought was beyond the pale. "Moses, Moses, those people over there are doing something they shouldn't be doing." Joshua was all for rushing back to the camp and taking care of the problem right then and there, but Moses stopped him. "Let them alone. They are doing what they should do and I would to God there would be more like them!"
This story reminds me of the one about Jesus' disciples who griped about people who weren't part of their group doing the same things the disciples were -- preaching, teaching and healing. Jesus and Moses both responded in pretty much the same way, "Let them alone. They are doing what they should do."
Nobody really likes a snitch, and often the snitch ends up getting the worst of it because the boss often agrees with the snitch-ees rather than the snitch-er. Too often it's micromanagers and disgruntled people who run to management and complain about someone else's (real or perceived) flaws, faults and shortcomings, often to cover or redirect attention away from their own. I know I've been guilty of it, and I suspect I'm not alone in that boat.
Ken Blanchard is credited with coming up with the phrase "Catch them doing something good." Instead of focusing on what is wrong, give folks a pat on the back for doing good things, right things, positive things. Like most parents, I didn't praise my kid enough for doing the right things because I was busy trying to get him to fix the things he did wrong. I've worked for people who are pretty much the same -- much more focused on pointing out every error while never really saying much about the 99 things I did right. I realize now how focusing on the wrong thing affected my son, because I see how it affects me in my daily life and work. It does make me a bit more aware of fault-finding and the destructiveness of a constant diet of negative feedback where a little positive feedback might be a whole lot better.
Jesus and Moses might not have had a handy phrase for what they wanted the disciples and the elders to model, but I think the general idea was there. Clean your own house before you start cleaning someone else's. Don't be quick to judge another's doings because they might just be doing precisely what they were supposed to do. Even if you aren't part of the inner circle, take the example Moses and Jesus set and follow them to the best of your ability.
Now there's a business concept. I think I'll have to try that at work next week, at least try a little harder to look for the good and catch someone doing it. And I have the perfect place to start looking... just don't tell my boss!
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Saturday May 19, 2012.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
May 16 - Why?
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
“The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet’ ”?
If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. -- Matthew 22:41-46
What is worse than a question? Perhaps it is the question to which one doesn't have the right answer, or any answer at all. The Pharisees, guys who thought they had all the answers, found that this was one where the answer they had was wrong.
In my humble opinion, questions are what make the world go around and keep it turning. Every time we think we have answers, it is like the questions change and we're back at square one, looking for answers again. The image of the toddler who is just beginning to wander around comes to mind, along with the inevitable and unending questions they always ask, "What's that?" or worse, "Why?" There are a lot of times we don't have an answer to that "Why?" but we still get our feet held to the fire by a three-year-old for whom "Because" is not a sufficient answer.
I wonder if God gets tired of "Why?" prayers. Why is there suffering in the world? Why do ducks fly rightside up instead of upside down? Why did I survive an accident where someone else died? Why are there mosquitoes? Why was this person born with physical or developmental challenges? Why can't I ever remember where I put my keys or parked my car? Why do I have this illness when I didn't do anything wrong to cause it? I don't think even Solomon could stand up to an onslaught like that. Luckily, God's got patience and, incidentally, all the answers -- the right ones.
One thing about being an EfM mentor is that I get to ask questions, lots of questions, in our TR sessions. What's even better is that I don't have to have the answers because each person's answers are usually different and geared to their own personal journey. The best thing, though, is even though I go into a TR with an idea of how I think it should go, quite often it goes in a totally different and totally unthought-of direction but I still end up having my own insights as well as sharing in the insights of others.
Humankind has always questioned and I don't think that's ever going to change. The disciples had a lot of questions for Jesus, but what they got weren't cut-and-dried, easy answers. We still ask questions of all kinds, silly ones, ponderous ones, wishful ones, even agonized ones at times, but we ask all the same. The answers I get aren't always ones I want to hear, just as sometimes I don't really seem to get any answer at all, which personally drives me nuts. Still, I question, I look for answers and I try to be open to whatever comes from the search.
My question now is what am I supposed to be doing in my life -- oh, and where do those stray socks go when only a single sock of a pair comes out of the dryer?
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Wednesday May 16, 2012.
“The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet’ ”?
If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. -- Matthew 22:41-46
What is worse than a question? Perhaps it is the question to which one doesn't have the right answer, or any answer at all. The Pharisees, guys who thought they had all the answers, found that this was one where the answer they had was wrong.
In my humble opinion, questions are what make the world go around and keep it turning. Every time we think we have answers, it is like the questions change and we're back at square one, looking for answers again. The image of the toddler who is just beginning to wander around comes to mind, along with the inevitable and unending questions they always ask, "What's that?" or worse, "Why?" There are a lot of times we don't have an answer to that "Why?" but we still get our feet held to the fire by a three-year-old for whom "Because" is not a sufficient answer.
I wonder if God gets tired of "Why?" prayers. Why is there suffering in the world? Why do ducks fly rightside up instead of upside down? Why did I survive an accident where someone else died? Why are there mosquitoes? Why was this person born with physical or developmental challenges? Why can't I ever remember where I put my keys or parked my car? Why do I have this illness when I didn't do anything wrong to cause it? I don't think even Solomon could stand up to an onslaught like that. Luckily, God's got patience and, incidentally, all the answers -- the right ones.
One thing about being an EfM mentor is that I get to ask questions, lots of questions, in our TR sessions. What's even better is that I don't have to have the answers because each person's answers are usually different and geared to their own personal journey. The best thing, though, is even though I go into a TR with an idea of how I think it should go, quite often it goes in a totally different and totally unthought-of direction but I still end up having my own insights as well as sharing in the insights of others.
Humankind has always questioned and I don't think that's ever going to change. The disciples had a lot of questions for Jesus, but what they got weren't cut-and-dried, easy answers. We still ask questions of all kinds, silly ones, ponderous ones, wishful ones, even agonized ones at times, but we ask all the same. The answers I get aren't always ones I want to hear, just as sometimes I don't really seem to get any answer at all, which personally drives me nuts. Still, I question, I look for answers and I try to be open to whatever comes from the search.
My question now is what am I supposed to be doing in my life -- oh, and where do those stray socks go when only a single sock of a pair comes out of the dryer?
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Wednesday May 16, 2012.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
A Reflection on Laundry
One of the most important parts of our EfM group is the TR, the Theological Reflection. We consider a word, a text, a picture, video, movie, experience or issue, form a metaphor encompassing what stands out for us from the topic or artifact (objects), and then consider the world of the metaphor through the lenses of tradition, culture, position and action. It's a way of teaching us to look for God, faith, meaning and opportunity for learning and ministry in everyday things. The discussion varies from week to week, sometimes very focused and sometimes, as we call it, like herding cats, but the beauty is that something comes out of it no matter how scattered or tightly focused the discussion. That something often goes with us through the week and makes us see things -- people and situations-- in new ways.
On this occasion the metaphor we were using involved considering a washing machine, how it worked, what it did, what could go wrong with it, what could put it right. We spoke of feeling the thunkety-thunkety of the unbalanced load, the noise of the spin cycle and other metaphors for life as a washing machine or the clothes in it. Then someone brought up that packing the washer too tightly resulted in wrinkled clothes. Hadn't really considered it in that light but it gave me something to think about, something that said any time something is crowded it often gets crumpled and not able to stretch and breathe. It gets unhealthy and, in the end, produces something wrinkled that doesn't look good or seem clean enough. Someone asked if those clothes got ironed and that's when the fun (and the "AHA!" moments) began. Some owned irons and used them, whether sparingly or frequently. One knew someone with an iron they could borrow if necessary but hadn't felt that need as of yet. I have an iron but am not precisely sure where it is.
I can see myself as a washing machine as well as the clothes in one, but when it comes to an iron and what happens when it is used, that's something else entirely. I'm one who ignores the wrinkles for the most part and just wants to get on with whatever has to get done. I snickered to a classmate that for me, ironing was like the doctrine of substitutionary atonement: I just didn't believe in it. Maybe that's a bit whimsical, but that's how I feel about it. That's just talking about the physical act of ironing --- like clothes, church linens and the like. The metaphorical ironing is a bit different.
I have a wrinkled soul. I know it, God knows it and quite a few people know it as well. Some can deal with it, some can't see how I can deal with it, and occasionally I wonder the same thing myself. In terms of a ministry, the wrinkles show up as wanting to do things but not being able to or not being willing to step out in faith and try. In terms of my personal life, it's in the relationship with different people. With God, however, I sort of look at it as God accepting that I'm wrinkled and ever so gently touching me up with an iron to smooth out the rough spots, but only when I notice and am uncomfortable enough with the wrinkle to really want it gone. God will do that for me, but only if I really want it to happen. I have to invest in it myself for it to have value, just as I have to invest in the right detergent and softener to get my clothes and things both clean and soft. Some wrinkles are unavoidable but most can be, if I care enough to do the things that will help prevent them.
I don't know what others came up with as insights, but for me, it was a change of perspective that I probably need to consider. That's one thing about this part of EfM that we call a TR: it makes me look at how I see things and begin to discern what works and what doesn't, what I need to learn and also to unlearn, what I think, what I believe, and what all those mean to me in my life. The trick now is to take that insight and actually do something with it, along with being glad God is there to help me get rid of the wrinkles.
Now to just remember not to overcrowd the washing machine or overcrowd my life with inconsequentialities. Oh, and I must learn to sort more carefully so the socks won't fade on something important. Come to think of it, black socks are like sin -- they kind of leave a stain, no matter how carefully I think I've sorted it out. I don't want my clothes coming out looking dirtier than when they went in, or more wrinkled than they need to be. Small wrinkles may be easily overlooked like small imperfections, but dingy or spotted clothes are a lot more obvious, like the sins I accumulate during a day or a lifetime.
Gotta love a device that allows me to put my feet (and my mind) in a different place with a different perspective. That's what TRs do for me.
Now if I could just use a TR to help me figure out how to always have socks that come out of the washer in pairs.
Originally published at Daily Episcopalian on Episcopal Café under the title "A Wrinkled Soul" Tuesday, May 15, 2012.
On this occasion the metaphor we were using involved considering a washing machine, how it worked, what it did, what could go wrong with it, what could put it right. We spoke of feeling the thunkety-thunkety of the unbalanced load, the noise of the spin cycle and other metaphors for life as a washing machine or the clothes in it. Then someone brought up that packing the washer too tightly resulted in wrinkled clothes. Hadn't really considered it in that light but it gave me something to think about, something that said any time something is crowded it often gets crumpled and not able to stretch and breathe. It gets unhealthy and, in the end, produces something wrinkled that doesn't look good or seem clean enough. Someone asked if those clothes got ironed and that's when the fun (and the "AHA!" moments) began. Some owned irons and used them, whether sparingly or frequently. One knew someone with an iron they could borrow if necessary but hadn't felt that need as of yet. I have an iron but am not precisely sure where it is.
I can see myself as a washing machine as well as the clothes in one, but when it comes to an iron and what happens when it is used, that's something else entirely. I'm one who ignores the wrinkles for the most part and just wants to get on with whatever has to get done. I snickered to a classmate that for me, ironing was like the doctrine of substitutionary atonement: I just didn't believe in it. Maybe that's a bit whimsical, but that's how I feel about it. That's just talking about the physical act of ironing --- like clothes, church linens and the like. The metaphorical ironing is a bit different.
I have a wrinkled soul. I know it, God knows it and quite a few people know it as well. Some can deal with it, some can't see how I can deal with it, and occasionally I wonder the same thing myself. In terms of a ministry, the wrinkles show up as wanting to do things but not being able to or not being willing to step out in faith and try. In terms of my personal life, it's in the relationship with different people. With God, however, I sort of look at it as God accepting that I'm wrinkled and ever so gently touching me up with an iron to smooth out the rough spots, but only when I notice and am uncomfortable enough with the wrinkle to really want it gone. God will do that for me, but only if I really want it to happen. I have to invest in it myself for it to have value, just as I have to invest in the right detergent and softener to get my clothes and things both clean and soft. Some wrinkles are unavoidable but most can be, if I care enough to do the things that will help prevent them.
I don't know what others came up with as insights, but for me, it was a change of perspective that I probably need to consider. That's one thing about this part of EfM that we call a TR: it makes me look at how I see things and begin to discern what works and what doesn't, what I need to learn and also to unlearn, what I think, what I believe, and what all those mean to me in my life. The trick now is to take that insight and actually do something with it, along with being glad God is there to help me get rid of the wrinkles.
Now to just remember not to overcrowd the washing machine or overcrowd my life with inconsequentialities. Oh, and I must learn to sort more carefully so the socks won't fade on something important. Come to think of it, black socks are like sin -- they kind of leave a stain, no matter how carefully I think I've sorted it out. I don't want my clothes coming out looking dirtier than when they went in, or more wrinkled than they need to be. Small wrinkles may be easily overlooked like small imperfections, but dingy or spotted clothes are a lot more obvious, like the sins I accumulate during a day or a lifetime.
Gotta love a device that allows me to put my feet (and my mind) in a different place with a different perspective. That's what TRs do for me.
Now if I could just use a TR to help me figure out how to always have socks that come out of the washer in pairs.
Originally published at Daily Episcopalian on Episcopal Café under the title "A Wrinkled Soul" Tuesday, May 15, 2012.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
May 12 - Festivals
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Say to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts. You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall bring an offering by fire to the LORD.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you shall practice self-denial, and you shall bring an offering by fire to the LORD; you shall do no work throughout that day. For it is a Day of Atonement, on which expiation is made on your behalf before the LORD your God. Indeed, any person who does not practice self-denial throughout that day shall be cut off from his kin; and whoever does any work throughout that day, I will cause that person to perish from among his people. Do no work whatever; it is a law for all time, throughout the ages, in all your settlements. It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall practice self-denial; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe this your sabbath.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Say to the Israelite people:
On the fifteenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Feast of Booths to the LORD, [to last] seven days. The first day shall be a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations; seven days you shall bring offerings by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall observe a sacred occasion and bring an offering by fire to the LORD; it is a solemn gathering: you shall not work at your occupations.
These are the set times of the LORD that you shall celebrate as sacred occasions, bringing offerings by fire to the LORD--burnt offerings, meal offerings, sacrifices, and libations, on each day what is proper to it--apart from the sabbaths of the LORD, and apart from your gifts and from all your votive offerings and from all your freewill offerings that you give to the LORD.
Mark, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the yield of your land, you shall observe the festival of the LORD [to last] seven days: a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day. On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. You shall observe it as a festival of the LORD for seven days in the year; you shall observe it in the seventh month as a law for all time, throughout the ages. You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the LORD your God.
So Moses declared to the Israelites the set times of the LORD. -- Leviticus 23:23:44 (Tanakh*)
Leviticus is a book of law, ritual and practice, things with which the person we call the Priestly writer was intimately concerned. It is a book that is probably one of the harder ones in the Bible to read and to really get into, but it is important because it transmits not just God's wishes and commands but also establishes the way life is supposed to be lived, with God and the worship and reverence of God at the center of it all.
In this passage, God gives Moses instructions on religious observances that are to become annual events, feasts that will become hallmarks of Israelite and later Jewish religious life. The first and second days of Tishri, the seventh month, are called Rosh Hashanah, a celebration of the beginning of the new year. It arrives with the blowing of the shofar and was an opportunity to examine mistakes of the past year and resolve to do better in the new one. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, comes eight days later (the tenth day of Tishri) and is the most solemn day of the calendar, a day of fasting, prayer and repentance. The fifteenth day of Tishri marks the beginning of Sukkot, the festival of booths, a joyous time when the harvest is celebrated but also where the people build simple shelters reminiscent of the temporary ones the their ancestors made on the journey to the promised land. Sukkot is also called the Feast of Tabernacles, although the only Tabernacle was the temporary structure that went with the Israelites and served as their temple during the journey.
It seems from all the activity that Tishri was a really busy month. God planned out a lot of days where sacrifices were to be made, and a lot of time for repentance and rejoicing. What strikes me, though, is that it seems that there is a lot of down time, times when anything to do with any creative work was forbidden. There are actually 39 different classifications of "work" which include things as varied as gardening or growing crops, sewing, ripping out, slaughtering animals for meat, shearing, spinning and weaving, cooking anything that wasn't started before sundown on Shabbat, kindling a fire, using a hammer, carrying things in a public area, or even writing two letters (like A and B, not whole missives) as well as eliminating or erasing two letters. Sabbath is serious business, and the holy days and festivals of Tishri contain all the regular weekly sabbaths plus more.
What I think God had in mind for those extra days when work was forbidden wasn't just to give people time off, like vacation days or what is occasionally called in today's working world as "personal days." No, God had those extra days put in for people to stop and have time to really consider what was important -- where they were, what they had done, what needed improvement in their personal relationships with God and their fellow human beings, and what they could do about it. Yes, repentance came into it, but it wasn't the same kind of repentance that most Christians think about, the sackcloth-and-ashes kind of repentance that makes us call ourselves "miserable offenders" and feel like totally unworthy creatures. Repentance such as that practiced on Yom Kippur is more a reorientation toward God and living in harmony with the earth and its inhabitants. Sabbath time gives a person the opportunity to do that in a Godly-mandated way, a way that doesn't make it fight for time and attention with all the other things of life; it's built into the schedule.
Something the people of this world really seem to need but seldom take is time off from work to just rest and recuperate. Most of us have weekends off from work, but the weekend hours are often filled with stuff we didn't have time to do during the week and activities that we have been waiting to enjoy when we can sandwich it in between the kids' soccer games and karate classes, getting the lawn mowed and the laundry done. If we make it to church, it takes a a while to settle into the quiet and a lot of effort not to think of what has to be picked up from the grocery store on the way home or has to be finished up before Monday morning comes around again. There's really very little time to really think about God much less actually spend terms cultivating the relationship.
For each of the Jewish festivals and holidays in Tishri, there are designated sabbath days that are like bookends, days before the festivals to contemplate, repent and return, days after to firm the resolve, rejoice and go out to live a more God-connected life. I wonder what life would be like if we all had those sort of mandated Sabbath days where work was forbidden and only rest, refreshment and worship were permitted? I wonder how much better we'd not only feel but actually be For those who practice a rule of life, a discipline such as the Daily Office can be a bit of Sabbath time that one consciously chooses to do, despite whatever else is going on in life at the moment. What it does is add balance, a chance to slow down and breathe as well as connect with God. Instead of shoe-horning time for God into an hour on Sunday morning,there's a little time every day that is as important as watering the plants or tidying up the kitchen. It puts things in order and encourages growth. That, in God's wisdom, is what we are offered with Sabbath and sabbath time.
I wonder -- how might I more consciously and constructively use Sabbath time in my own life? What would it mean to me, my health and my faith? I have a feeling it would bring nothing but good, and the world would move along just fine without my having to spend every waking moment being busy, keeping the world, or at least my little part of it, humming along. I have a feeling there might be at least a few less heart attacks and stress-related illnesses as well.
But then, I have a feeling that's what God intended, just as surely as the opportunity for connection through prayer, fasting, worship and good works were. God had it all planned out; all we have to do is to do it.
Shabbat Shalom.
*Reproduced from the Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café under the title "Shabbat Shalom" Saturday, May 12, 2012.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you shall practice self-denial, and you shall bring an offering by fire to the LORD; you shall do no work throughout that day. For it is a Day of Atonement, on which expiation is made on your behalf before the LORD your God. Indeed, any person who does not practice self-denial throughout that day shall be cut off from his kin; and whoever does any work throughout that day, I will cause that person to perish from among his people. Do no work whatever; it is a law for all time, throughout the ages, in all your settlements. It shall be a sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall practice self-denial; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall observe this your sabbath.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Say to the Israelite people:
On the fifteenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Feast of Booths to the LORD, [to last] seven days. The first day shall be a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations; seven days you shall bring offerings by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall observe a sacred occasion and bring an offering by fire to the LORD; it is a solemn gathering: you shall not work at your occupations.
These are the set times of the LORD that you shall celebrate as sacred occasions, bringing offerings by fire to the LORD--burnt offerings, meal offerings, sacrifices, and libations, on each day what is proper to it--apart from the sabbaths of the LORD, and apart from your gifts and from all your votive offerings and from all your freewill offerings that you give to the LORD.
Mark, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the yield of your land, you shall observe the festival of the LORD [to last] seven days: a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day. On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. You shall observe it as a festival of the LORD for seven days in the year; you shall observe it in the seventh month as a law for all time, throughout the ages. You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I the LORD your God.
So Moses declared to the Israelites the set times of the LORD. -- Leviticus 23:23:44 (Tanakh*)
Leviticus is a book of law, ritual and practice, things with which the person we call the Priestly writer was intimately concerned. It is a book that is probably one of the harder ones in the Bible to read and to really get into, but it is important because it transmits not just God's wishes and commands but also establishes the way life is supposed to be lived, with God and the worship and reverence of God at the center of it all.
In this passage, God gives Moses instructions on religious observances that are to become annual events, feasts that will become hallmarks of Israelite and later Jewish religious life. The first and second days of Tishri, the seventh month, are called Rosh Hashanah, a celebration of the beginning of the new year. It arrives with the blowing of the shofar and was an opportunity to examine mistakes of the past year and resolve to do better in the new one. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, comes eight days later (the tenth day of Tishri) and is the most solemn day of the calendar, a day of fasting, prayer and repentance. The fifteenth day of Tishri marks the beginning of Sukkot, the festival of booths, a joyous time when the harvest is celebrated but also where the people build simple shelters reminiscent of the temporary ones the their ancestors made on the journey to the promised land. Sukkot is also called the Feast of Tabernacles, although the only Tabernacle was the temporary structure that went with the Israelites and served as their temple during the journey.
It seems from all the activity that Tishri was a really busy month. God planned out a lot of days where sacrifices were to be made, and a lot of time for repentance and rejoicing. What strikes me, though, is that it seems that there is a lot of down time, times when anything to do with any creative work was forbidden. There are actually 39 different classifications of "work" which include things as varied as gardening or growing crops, sewing, ripping out, slaughtering animals for meat, shearing, spinning and weaving, cooking anything that wasn't started before sundown on Shabbat, kindling a fire, using a hammer, carrying things in a public area, or even writing two letters (like A and B, not whole missives) as well as eliminating or erasing two letters. Sabbath is serious business, and the holy days and festivals of Tishri contain all the regular weekly sabbaths plus more.
What I think God had in mind for those extra days when work was forbidden wasn't just to give people time off, like vacation days or what is occasionally called in today's working world as "personal days." No, God had those extra days put in for people to stop and have time to really consider what was important -- where they were, what they had done, what needed improvement in their personal relationships with God and their fellow human beings, and what they could do about it. Yes, repentance came into it, but it wasn't the same kind of repentance that most Christians think about, the sackcloth-and-ashes kind of repentance that makes us call ourselves "miserable offenders" and feel like totally unworthy creatures. Repentance such as that practiced on Yom Kippur is more a reorientation toward God and living in harmony with the earth and its inhabitants. Sabbath time gives a person the opportunity to do that in a Godly-mandated way, a way that doesn't make it fight for time and attention with all the other things of life; it's built into the schedule.
Something the people of this world really seem to need but seldom take is time off from work to just rest and recuperate. Most of us have weekends off from work, but the weekend hours are often filled with stuff we didn't have time to do during the week and activities that we have been waiting to enjoy when we can sandwich it in between the kids' soccer games and karate classes, getting the lawn mowed and the laundry done. If we make it to church, it takes a a while to settle into the quiet and a lot of effort not to think of what has to be picked up from the grocery store on the way home or has to be finished up before Monday morning comes around again. There's really very little time to really think about God much less actually spend terms cultivating the relationship.
For each of the Jewish festivals and holidays in Tishri, there are designated sabbath days that are like bookends, days before the festivals to contemplate, repent and return, days after to firm the resolve, rejoice and go out to live a more God-connected life. I wonder what life would be like if we all had those sort of mandated Sabbath days where work was forbidden and only rest, refreshment and worship were permitted? I wonder how much better we'd not only feel but actually be For those who practice a rule of life, a discipline such as the Daily Office can be a bit of Sabbath time that one consciously chooses to do, despite whatever else is going on in life at the moment. What it does is add balance, a chance to slow down and breathe as well as connect with God. Instead of shoe-horning time for God into an hour on Sunday morning,there's a little time every day that is as important as watering the plants or tidying up the kitchen. It puts things in order and encourages growth. That, in God's wisdom, is what we are offered with Sabbath and sabbath time.
I wonder -- how might I more consciously and constructively use Sabbath time in my own life? What would it mean to me, my health and my faith? I have a feeling it would bring nothing but good, and the world would move along just fine without my having to spend every waking moment being busy, keeping the world, or at least my little part of it, humming along. I have a feeling there might be at least a few less heart attacks and stress-related illnesses as well.
But then, I have a feeling that's what God intended, just as surely as the opportunity for connection through prayer, fasting, worship and good works were. God had it all planned out; all we have to do is to do it.
Shabbat Shalom.
*Reproduced from the Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café under the title "Shabbat Shalom" Saturday, May 12, 2012.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
May 11 - Beams, Motes and Lessons
‘Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgement you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.
‘Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.
‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. -- Matthew 7:1-12
There are days when the readings for the Daily Office sort of leave me scratching my head and wondering that all that means to me. Then there are days when there is so much that it feels almost impossible to take it all in. This is one of those passages. There are four paragraphs and enough there to keep a mind busy for years contemplating them.
There are so many familiar lessons here: as you are judged, so you will be judged; the log in your own eye vs. the speck in your neighbor's; don't throw pearls before swine; ask, seek and knock; do to others as you would have them do to you. These were all precepts I was taught in Sunday School as a child and still haven't been able to master despite hearing them again and again for years. They don't seem difficult, when I read them on the page, but why are they so difficult, even impossible, to live out so much of the time?
Take judging. I have an awareness that I am doing it but control it? That's something else. So why do I do it? Very possibly because it ties in with the next bit about the beam and the mote. In one situation, I feel judged because there are notes all over the databases I work in, pointing out errors that individually wouldn't amount to a hill of beans but collectively feel overwhelming. I judge in return, partly to remind myself that the person leaving the notes is far from perfect themselves. I know I'm wrong, but I seem to do it without really thinking. Why not just be more careful? I do try, but I still make mistakes. I judge the log in their eye because I feel that they don't seem able to see it; I also don't forget I've got a rather large one in my own.
The part about "do unto others" sounds so easy to do. If I want to be treated politely then I need to be polite myself. If I need a hand, I have to not only ask for it but also have to be alert to the potential needs of others that I can fill. If I don't want to be judged --- well, that's harder because it is putting a behavior on someone else that isn't mine to put on them. Perhaps if I look at it a little differently, maybe looking at it as judging others as I would expect God to judge me. Is it fair for me to expect God to use a six-inch ruler when I use a yardstick? If it weren't a challenge, it would be automatic and everybody would be doing it. As it is, it is a challenge I need to take up as I start my day and prepare to go to work to face it head on.
Jesus didn't give these lessons just to hear himself talk. He expected them to make a difference in the lives of those who heard him. Because more than two thousand years have happened between then and now doesn't dilute those lessons or excuse halfhearted hearing and little action. Sunday School lessons have a way of applying to the whole life, not just an hour on Sunday mornings.
I think I need to go back to school. I can recite the lessons but I hope God grades on the curve when I actually get to the test based on those lessons. I pray for the grace to grade others on that same curve I want for myself. I've got some lessons to relearn and homework to do to practice those lessons.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Friday, May 11, 2012.
‘Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.
‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. -- Matthew 7:1-12
There are days when the readings for the Daily Office sort of leave me scratching my head and wondering that all that means to me. Then there are days when there is so much that it feels almost impossible to take it all in. This is one of those passages. There are four paragraphs and enough there to keep a mind busy for years contemplating them.
There are so many familiar lessons here: as you are judged, so you will be judged; the log in your own eye vs. the speck in your neighbor's; don't throw pearls before swine; ask, seek and knock; do to others as you would have them do to you. These were all precepts I was taught in Sunday School as a child and still haven't been able to master despite hearing them again and again for years. They don't seem difficult, when I read them on the page, but why are they so difficult, even impossible, to live out so much of the time?
Take judging. I have an awareness that I am doing it but control it? That's something else. So why do I do it? Very possibly because it ties in with the next bit about the beam and the mote. In one situation, I feel judged because there are notes all over the databases I work in, pointing out errors that individually wouldn't amount to a hill of beans but collectively feel overwhelming. I judge in return, partly to remind myself that the person leaving the notes is far from perfect themselves. I know I'm wrong, but I seem to do it without really thinking. Why not just be more careful? I do try, but I still make mistakes. I judge the log in their eye because I feel that they don't seem able to see it; I also don't forget I've got a rather large one in my own.
The part about "do unto others" sounds so easy to do. If I want to be treated politely then I need to be polite myself. If I need a hand, I have to not only ask for it but also have to be alert to the potential needs of others that I can fill. If I don't want to be judged --- well, that's harder because it is putting a behavior on someone else that isn't mine to put on them. Perhaps if I look at it a little differently, maybe looking at it as judging others as I would expect God to judge me. Is it fair for me to expect God to use a six-inch ruler when I use a yardstick? If it weren't a challenge, it would be automatic and everybody would be doing it. As it is, it is a challenge I need to take up as I start my day and prepare to go to work to face it head on.
Jesus didn't give these lessons just to hear himself talk. He expected them to make a difference in the lives of those who heard him. Because more than two thousand years have happened between then and now doesn't dilute those lessons or excuse halfhearted hearing and little action. Sunday School lessons have a way of applying to the whole life, not just an hour on Sunday mornings.
I think I need to go back to school. I can recite the lessons but I hope God grades on the curve when I actually get to the test based on those lessons. I pray for the grace to grade others on that same curve I want for myself. I've got some lessons to relearn and homework to do to practice those lessons.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Friday, May 11, 2012.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
A Real and Virtual Place
I'm proud to be part of EfM, Education for Ministry. I've been a student and am now a co-mentor to two fine groups of intelligent, inquiring, contributing souls who meet weekly to worship, chat about goings-on in our lives, study and be involved in both theological reflection and a ministry of prayer. They are not much different than most EfM groups except that the folks in my groups have, for the most part, never laid physical eyes on other members of the group. My groups meet online and represent people from all over the country. Even if they are not at home, many fire up the laptops while they are traveling in order to join in the session. It's a unique and very great way of learning, interacting and preparing for ministry both inside and outside the church walls.
One question that often comes up when talking about EfM online is "How can you possibly be a community of you have never met anyone else in the group? How can it be a community when all you see are words on a screen with no body language, facial expression or tone of voice?" The answer is simple, "We can and we do."
What exactly is a community? It's a group of people with similar goals even when there are very different ideas of how to achieve those goals. It's a group where each person is important and where each person's talents and abilities are honored and their thoughts and beliefs, even if not shared by any or all in the group, are considered valid for that person and respected as such. Whether or not the group is all under one roof literally or figuratively is less important than that they all subscribe to a set of norms upon which they all agree. It is a place where confidentiality is respected and participants feel safe to express ideas, beliefs and concerns in a place where no conversation is complete until every voice is heard with respect and openness.
So how can this be achieved when even in places where people meet face-to-face have difficulty doing so? For one thing, groups online have to work a little harder since there are no visual or auditory cues to follow. One of the most important lessons is to assume good intent; what someone reads in a person's words might not be precisely the same thing that the speaker meant, so it behooves us to read generously. That might not be such a bad idea when reading the Bible as well, since what we try to read into it is far from what the original writer or speaker intended it to mean. For another, seeing the words rather than just hearing them enables us to go back and reread statements that we might have otherwise missed. But, like every group, community is achieved by the weekly reporting in of events of the week that are part of what we call the "onboard" question such as "If your week were a bookstore, which section best describes it?" or "Where was God present or absent in your week?" It is also built when prayers are sought for friends, loved ones, mere acquaintances, people impacted by tragedy, world events, illnesses, deaths, thanksgivings for the group or for blessings received. As we learn each other's stories, we form bonds that transcend distance. They truly do become a community, as real and as bonded as any face-to-face group can be.
Last week I had the pleasure of having dinner with two members of one of the groups I co-mentor. One was a lady whom I had met several times before, a delightful person and a fascinating person with whom to talk. The second person was someone whose writing I had read for some time before "meeting" her in class during her first year of EfM. The three of us sat down and the conversation flowed as if we had always met around a dinner table in person rather than being names, pictures and words on a computer screen. We simply picked up a conversation we might have just discontinued an hour, a day or even a week before. It was a testimony to the power of community that can be built in a virtual world.
EfM online offers a course of study in topics usually not covered in a local parish or in a place other than at a seminary or theological school. What it also offers is a place where one can attend class in pajamas or business suit, never miss a discussion or theological reflection, comment on a topic that was written several weeks ago, and feel a part of a community of others who care about one another and who are committed to bringing out the best in each other. So can a virtual study group become a community? Indeed it can -- and it does.
Originally published on Daily Episcopalian at Episcopal Café Tuesday, May 8, 2012.
One question that often comes up when talking about EfM online is "How can you possibly be a community of you have never met anyone else in the group? How can it be a community when all you see are words on a screen with no body language, facial expression or tone of voice?" The answer is simple, "We can and we do."
What exactly is a community? It's a group of people with similar goals even when there are very different ideas of how to achieve those goals. It's a group where each person is important and where each person's talents and abilities are honored and their thoughts and beliefs, even if not shared by any or all in the group, are considered valid for that person and respected as such. Whether or not the group is all under one roof literally or figuratively is less important than that they all subscribe to a set of norms upon which they all agree. It is a place where confidentiality is respected and participants feel safe to express ideas, beliefs and concerns in a place where no conversation is complete until every voice is heard with respect and openness.
So how can this be achieved when even in places where people meet face-to-face have difficulty doing so? For one thing, groups online have to work a little harder since there are no visual or auditory cues to follow. One of the most important lessons is to assume good intent; what someone reads in a person's words might not be precisely the same thing that the speaker meant, so it behooves us to read generously. That might not be such a bad idea when reading the Bible as well, since what we try to read into it is far from what the original writer or speaker intended it to mean. For another, seeing the words rather than just hearing them enables us to go back and reread statements that we might have otherwise missed. But, like every group, community is achieved by the weekly reporting in of events of the week that are part of what we call the "onboard" question such as "If your week were a bookstore, which section best describes it?" or "Where was God present or absent in your week?" It is also built when prayers are sought for friends, loved ones, mere acquaintances, people impacted by tragedy, world events, illnesses, deaths, thanksgivings for the group or for blessings received. As we learn each other's stories, we form bonds that transcend distance. They truly do become a community, as real and as bonded as any face-to-face group can be.
Last week I had the pleasure of having dinner with two members of one of the groups I co-mentor. One was a lady whom I had met several times before, a delightful person and a fascinating person with whom to talk. The second person was someone whose writing I had read for some time before "meeting" her in class during her first year of EfM. The three of us sat down and the conversation flowed as if we had always met around a dinner table in person rather than being names, pictures and words on a computer screen. We simply picked up a conversation we might have just discontinued an hour, a day or even a week before. It was a testimony to the power of community that can be built in a virtual world.
EfM online offers a course of study in topics usually not covered in a local parish or in a place other than at a seminary or theological school. What it also offers is a place where one can attend class in pajamas or business suit, never miss a discussion or theological reflection, comment on a topic that was written several weeks ago, and feel a part of a community of others who care about one another and who are committed to bringing out the best in each other. So can a virtual study group become a community? Indeed it can -- and it does.
Originally published on Daily Episcopalian at Episcopal Café Tuesday, May 8, 2012.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
May 5 -- Cheek Turning
‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. -- Matthew 5:38-48
You know, sometimes Jesus makes it almost too hard to be a follower, a "good" one, anyway. This is one of those passages that I really have to struggle with, and, I'm afraid, most of the time I fail miserably at it.
The law about "an eye for an eye" was a definite improvement over what had gone before. No matter what the offense at that time, it could be a death sentence. Steal something? If the owners of the stolen property caught the thief they could kill him, even if it nothing more was taken than a handful of grain. Cause a scratch on someone's arm? Well, that could get you just as dead, under that legal system anyway. Lex talonis, the law of "an eye for an eye" was a great improvement. Hammurabi, the Mesopotamian king known for setting up a whole code of laws (of which this was one), limited the punishment to that of being equal to the crime. If I ran over your foot with my ox cart, you could run over my foot as punishment, but no more than that. It was an ideal of equal punishment for the crime or offense. In the Bible, the same principle showed up in Exodus 21:23-24 which states, "[i]f any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." There were other laws that had some gradations, such as those involving injury to a slave or a pregnant woman, but on the whole, it was a pretty equal law. I could live with that, but Jesus took it to the next level.
Thinking about this "life for life" thing, it occurs to me that that's the law in this country -- at least at times, for certain people, and covering certain situations. It seems to me that quite often who commits the crime and their ability (or not) to afford a top-notch lawyer to defend them (or to prosecute the one or ones who wronged them). Justice is no longer a thing of "You can only hit me as hard as I hit you in the first place."
I wonder what the courthouse would be like if we honestly and truly did the Jesus thing of turning the other cheek? We talk a lot about being a "Christian" nation, but when push comes to shove, you push me and I'll push you back twice as hard. Being Christian has nothing to do with justice if it means getting our own back (with a little extra for our pain and suffering, of course). We accept that the saints were, probably on the whole, a more forgiving bunch, like Francis of Assisi who, when confronted by his father, took off his clothes and walked off starkers rather than fight over them. Incidents like that are probably the reason that the ratio of saints to less-than-saintly people is rather low.
I have to ask myself how often I turn the other cheek to people who, in my view or in fact, have injured me in some way. The answer is a paltry "Not very often." There are times I fight back and other times when I simply just walk away, saying some not-so-nice things under my breath. Prayers for them? Usually I fall into the case of the Psalmist who prayed that God would do some pretty hefty punishments on his enemies. How many times do I at least think of how I could get even -- or better yet, ahead? The answer to that is far more often than is good for me, even if I never actually act on it.
Jesus gives us some really tough assignments. I wonder what would happen if I were a little more "turn the other cheek" and a little less eager to get my own back plus a bit? What would this country be like if we who claim to be Christian were little less quick to claim that we're a "Christian nation" and a little quicker to actually practice what we hear preached and preach ourselves? What would that mean in my life it I were to concentrate on that homework and less on getting even? I have a feeling that writing a research paper or balancing my budget would seem like child's play compared to that.
Perfection may be totally out of my reach, but that that doesn't excuse me for not trying a little bit harder in the forgiveness area. I think God and I need to have a conversation about a few people right now. I'm sure glad God doesn't work 8-5, Monday thru Friday only.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café on Saturday, May 5, 2012.
‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. -- Matthew 5:38-48
You know, sometimes Jesus makes it almost too hard to be a follower, a "good" one, anyway. This is one of those passages that I really have to struggle with, and, I'm afraid, most of the time I fail miserably at it.
The law about "an eye for an eye" was a definite improvement over what had gone before. No matter what the offense at that time, it could be a death sentence. Steal something? If the owners of the stolen property caught the thief they could kill him, even if it nothing more was taken than a handful of grain. Cause a scratch on someone's arm? Well, that could get you just as dead, under that legal system anyway. Lex talonis, the law of "an eye for an eye" was a great improvement. Hammurabi, the Mesopotamian king known for setting up a whole code of laws (of which this was one), limited the punishment to that of being equal to the crime. If I ran over your foot with my ox cart, you could run over my foot as punishment, but no more than that. It was an ideal of equal punishment for the crime or offense. In the Bible, the same principle showed up in Exodus 21:23-24 which states, "[i]f any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." There were other laws that had some gradations, such as those involving injury to a slave or a pregnant woman, but on the whole, it was a pretty equal law. I could live with that, but Jesus took it to the next level.
Thinking about this "life for life" thing, it occurs to me that that's the law in this country -- at least at times, for certain people, and covering certain situations. It seems to me that quite often who commits the crime and their ability (or not) to afford a top-notch lawyer to defend them (or to prosecute the one or ones who wronged them). Justice is no longer a thing of "You can only hit me as hard as I hit you in the first place."
I wonder what the courthouse would be like if we honestly and truly did the Jesus thing of turning the other cheek? We talk a lot about being a "Christian" nation, but when push comes to shove, you push me and I'll push you back twice as hard. Being Christian has nothing to do with justice if it means getting our own back (with a little extra for our pain and suffering, of course). We accept that the saints were, probably on the whole, a more forgiving bunch, like Francis of Assisi who, when confronted by his father, took off his clothes and walked off starkers rather than fight over them. Incidents like that are probably the reason that the ratio of saints to less-than-saintly people is rather low.
I have to ask myself how often I turn the other cheek to people who, in my view or in fact, have injured me in some way. The answer is a paltry "Not very often." There are times I fight back and other times when I simply just walk away, saying some not-so-nice things under my breath. Prayers for them? Usually I fall into the case of the Psalmist who prayed that God would do some pretty hefty punishments on his enemies. How many times do I at least think of how I could get even -- or better yet, ahead? The answer to that is far more often than is good for me, even if I never actually act on it.
Jesus gives us some really tough assignments. I wonder what would happen if I were a little more "turn the other cheek" and a little less eager to get my own back plus a bit? What would this country be like if we who claim to be Christian were little less quick to claim that we're a "Christian nation" and a little quicker to actually practice what we hear preached and preach ourselves? What would that mean in my life it I were to concentrate on that homework and less on getting even? I have a feeling that writing a research paper or balancing my budget would seem like child's play compared to that.
Perfection may be totally out of my reach, but that that doesn't excuse me for not trying a little bit harder in the forgiveness area. I think God and I need to have a conversation about a few people right now. I'm sure glad God doesn't work 8-5, Monday thru Friday only.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café on Saturday, May 5, 2012.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
April 28 - A Dwelling Place for God
The Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me. This is the offering that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine linen, goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, fine leather, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing-oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and for the breastpiece. And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them. In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.
They shall make an ark of acacia wood; it shall be two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make a moulding of gold upon it all round. You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side of it, and two rings on the other side. You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, by which to carry the ark. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. You shall put into the ark the covenant that I shall give you.
Then you shall make a mercy-seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width. You shall make two cherubim of gold; you shall make them of hammered work, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. Make one cherub at one end, and one cherub at the other; of one piece with the mercy-seat you shall make the cherubim at its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy-seat with their wings. They shall face each other; the faces of the cherubim shall be turned towards the mercy-seat. You shall put the mercy-seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the covenant that I shall give you. There I will meet you, and from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant, I will deliver to you all my commands for the Israelites. --Exodus 25:1-22
One of the most interesting things about visiting foreign places is to visit not just the tourists sites that are generally the reason for visiting in the first place, but wandering about the local markets. Not the stores with antiseptic-looking rows of packaged goods, but the place where stall after stall or small shop after small shop stand cheek-by-jowl, selling all kinds of wonderful things with a personality and individuality that you just don't find at Saks Fifth Avenue or Wal-Mart. Brightly-colored cloth is sold next to shiny brass and metal implements while the spice stall, woodworker's shop and the leather store add their pungency in various quarters. Incense and jewelry of precious metal, colored beads and gemstones can be had there and, not far away, rows and rows of fresh vegetables and fruits tempt the eyes and the palate. Bazaars and marketplaces like that exist all across the globe, and the chance to visit one of them is a sensory treat that can seem almost overwhelming but is something that is hard to forget.
Reading the list of materials God required for the building of the tabernacle, the place where God would be present among them, I had the picture in my mind of a colorful bazaar, its sights and sounds and textures. I can't help but wonder where in the world would a bunch of wanderers in the desert come up with such a wealth and diversity of gifts with which to build and furnish such a structure, much less a portable one? The Priestly source, I understand, was very much concerned with sacred things and so that writer would undoubtedly have rejoiced in the item by item list of building materials much as a contractor might pour over the list of stone, cement, lumber, glass and all the hundreds of different kinds of materials from which he will direct the erection of a building, be it skyscraper, cathedral, school or ordinary house.
Usually when I think of the exodus and the journey to the promised land I think of a journey where folks had maybe a change of clothes and traveled light. No overhead bins, no extra baggage in the hold, no trunks and portmanteaus with an entourage to manage stowage, packing, unpacking and serving as each day required. Then I remembered that before they left Egypt, Moses was told to "[t]ell the people that every man is to ask his neighbor and every woman is to ask her neighbor for objects of silver and gold”(Ex. 11:2). They not only left Egypt, they didn't go empty handed.
Then it hit me. Part of those gold and silver objects might not be for the Israelites to deck themselves out in or to use like folks in my mother's generation would save for "good", occasions like the preacher or other company coming for dinner or even special family holiday meals. Those gold and silver objects might have been for survival; the Israelites might trade them with caravans they might run across, or to pay for provisions in places like oases that might have marketplaces or small bazaars. But part of it, perhaps all of it, I don't know, might have been for just this construction project God had in mind. In my mind's eye, I see a desert landscape, dry and dusty and brown, but I see rising up a singular construction, full of color and brightness and rich scents, roughness and smoothness, all present in a place where God would dwell among God's people.
There are many times when my life feels like the desert in which I live: dry, dusty, barren except for scrub and the occasional spiny cactus. Nothing is really easy there, and to one who loves the million shades of green of forests and meadows and gardens, it's not a beautiful place although many would disagree with me on that. I have squirrelled away bits of brightness and familiar weaves, hoarding them -- for what? They've been in my baggage as I've wandered through both the literal and figurative trek through the desert, and I'm saving them for what?
What if I took those bits and pieces, those treasured items, experiences and memories and put them together to create a place for God to dwell? What if I found a resting place for an internal ark containing not just the symbols of covenant but a mercy seat, a thin space between God and me, a place of presence? What if I could look across the landscape of my soul and see this tabernacle standing out as a reminder that God is present -- not just in the abstract but in actuality, not just around but within as well?
I think I have some plans to look over and some inventory to check. I may be needing to do a little construction job in here.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Saturday, April 28, 2012. Thanks to Ann Fontaine for the title of the reflection.
They shall make an ark of acacia wood; it shall be two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make a moulding of gold upon it all round. You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side of it, and two rings on the other side. You shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, by which to carry the ark. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. You shall put into the ark the covenant that I shall give you.
Then you shall make a mercy-seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its width. You shall make two cherubim of gold; you shall make them of hammered work, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. Make one cherub at one end, and one cherub at the other; of one piece with the mercy-seat you shall make the cherubim at its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy-seat with their wings. They shall face each other; the faces of the cherubim shall be turned towards the mercy-seat. You shall put the mercy-seat on the top of the ark; and in the ark you shall put the covenant that I shall give you. There I will meet you, and from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the covenant, I will deliver to you all my commands for the Israelites. --Exodus 25:1-22
One of the most interesting things about visiting foreign places is to visit not just the tourists sites that are generally the reason for visiting in the first place, but wandering about the local markets. Not the stores with antiseptic-looking rows of packaged goods, but the place where stall after stall or small shop after small shop stand cheek-by-jowl, selling all kinds of wonderful things with a personality and individuality that you just don't find at Saks Fifth Avenue or Wal-Mart. Brightly-colored cloth is sold next to shiny brass and metal implements while the spice stall, woodworker's shop and the leather store add their pungency in various quarters. Incense and jewelry of precious metal, colored beads and gemstones can be had there and, not far away, rows and rows of fresh vegetables and fruits tempt the eyes and the palate. Bazaars and marketplaces like that exist all across the globe, and the chance to visit one of them is a sensory treat that can seem almost overwhelming but is something that is hard to forget.
Reading the list of materials God required for the building of the tabernacle, the place where God would be present among them, I had the picture in my mind of a colorful bazaar, its sights and sounds and textures. I can't help but wonder where in the world would a bunch of wanderers in the desert come up with such a wealth and diversity of gifts with which to build and furnish such a structure, much less a portable one? The Priestly source, I understand, was very much concerned with sacred things and so that writer would undoubtedly have rejoiced in the item by item list of building materials much as a contractor might pour over the list of stone, cement, lumber, glass and all the hundreds of different kinds of materials from which he will direct the erection of a building, be it skyscraper, cathedral, school or ordinary house.
Usually when I think of the exodus and the journey to the promised land I think of a journey where folks had maybe a change of clothes and traveled light. No overhead bins, no extra baggage in the hold, no trunks and portmanteaus with an entourage to manage stowage, packing, unpacking and serving as each day required. Then I remembered that before they left Egypt, Moses was told to "[t]ell the people that every man is to ask his neighbor and every woman is to ask her neighbor for objects of silver and gold”(Ex. 11:2). They not only left Egypt, they didn't go empty handed.
Then it hit me. Part of those gold and silver objects might not be for the Israelites to deck themselves out in or to use like folks in my mother's generation would save for "good", occasions like the preacher or other company coming for dinner or even special family holiday meals. Those gold and silver objects might have been for survival; the Israelites might trade them with caravans they might run across, or to pay for provisions in places like oases that might have marketplaces or small bazaars. But part of it, perhaps all of it, I don't know, might have been for just this construction project God had in mind. In my mind's eye, I see a desert landscape, dry and dusty and brown, but I see rising up a singular construction, full of color and brightness and rich scents, roughness and smoothness, all present in a place where God would dwell among God's people.
There are many times when my life feels like the desert in which I live: dry, dusty, barren except for scrub and the occasional spiny cactus. Nothing is really easy there, and to one who loves the million shades of green of forests and meadows and gardens, it's not a beautiful place although many would disagree with me on that. I have squirrelled away bits of brightness and familiar weaves, hoarding them -- for what? They've been in my baggage as I've wandered through both the literal and figurative trek through the desert, and I'm saving them for what?
What if I took those bits and pieces, those treasured items, experiences and memories and put them together to create a place for God to dwell? What if I found a resting place for an internal ark containing not just the symbols of covenant but a mercy seat, a thin space between God and me, a place of presence? What if I could look across the landscape of my soul and see this tabernacle standing out as a reminder that God is present -- not just in the abstract but in actuality, not just around but within as well?
I think I have some plans to look over and some inventory to check. I may be needing to do a little construction job in here.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Saturday, April 28, 2012. Thanks to Ann Fontaine for the title of the reflection.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
April 21 - Sometimes Ya Just Need a Hand
From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarrelled with Moses, and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?’ But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’ So Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’
Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some men for us and go out; fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.’ So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the sun set. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.’ And Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner. He said, ‘A hand upon the banner of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’ -- Exodus 17:1-16
The Israelites were out of Egypt and on their way to ---- where? The reality of the trip was finally getting through to them and, what was worse, here they were, tired and thirsty, but there wasn't any water!
"Moses, you idiot! What are we doing here in this desert with no water and no real idea where we're going or when we're going to get there? DO SOMETHING! And do it NOW!"
I have a feeling that after this, Moses probably would have welcomed another round or two with Pharaoh. As before, many times, God had the answer. "Just go over here, take your staff of elders and your staff of wood and strike the rock. They'll get their water." It happened, just as God said it would. Another crisis averted.
And then here came the Amalekites, bent on eliminating these interlopers. Joshua got the command to take some guys out to meet and fight with him while Moses, Aaron and Hur would go watch from the top of a nearby hill. It didn't sound too promising except that Moses promised that as long as he held his staff in the air, Joshua's team would win. All was well for a bit, but holding a wooden staff in the air for a long time gets to be pretty painful, so Moses would have to lower his hand and the Amalekites would start their surge. It was almost like watching a conductor of a large group of singers who burst into song the moment the conductor raised his hands but if those hands dropped the sound stopped completely. I can imagine the conductor having fun raising and lowering his hand quickly just to listen to the disjointed music, but for Moses it wasn't that much fun.
Aaron and Hur had a solution. While Moses was still able to hold up the staff, they dragged a rock over to the place where he was standing and watching the battle. Finally Moses could sit down but holding the staff was more and more painful. Aaron and Hur each took an arm and held it up until sunset when Joshua finally routed the Amalekites. I can imagine how relieved Moses was to finally be able to lower his arms and take the strain off his back and shoulders, not to mention have his band of dependents safe.
That part of the story made me think of the times I've felt like I've had to hold up a rod of heavy wood and not put it down lest the world, my world, anyway, fall apart totally. The life I figuratively held in my hands was my own, and the Amalekites were various people, things and events that came crashing like storm waves over a sea wall. Many times I've felt I've faced the Amalekites totally alone, and the struggle was exhausting physically, mentally, emotionally and, often, spiritually. There have been many times, though, when someone saw my need, pulled up a rock for me and held my hands up until I could breathe again and move ahead. Even if the fight with the Amalekites wasn't totally over, I had the help that gave me time to figure out what to do next.
Moses built an altar to commemorate the event, naming it the "The Lord is My Banner," signifying the victory God had given them. I'm not much good at building things, much less altars, but what I have built is a support network of people who have held up my arms when I didn't have the strength to do it, and for whom I would do the same. It wasn't just me who built it though; it was the people who showed up when they were needed most and, most fortunately for me, many have stuck around. They have been not just supporters but friends, and true friends like them are truly signs of God's care for me. It’s hard to think that any thing or anyone but God could have put them where and when they were most needed. Some have come and gone when the battle was over, some are still there after years and years.
I know the relief that Moses felt when he had friends (ok, and a relative) to do what was needed when he hadn't the strength to do it himself. His testimony was indeed written down in a book while mine will be written in a blog. Still, whether saving one life or a hundred thousand or more, I have a feeling that God is, if not directly pulling the strings, at least laying a trail of breadcrumbs or the hint of an oasis nearby, with a rock and a good friend or two waiting to be discovered.
For M, JJ, S, HH, HL, MC, J, B, and my cast of thousands. Thank you all.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Saturday, April 21, 2012.
Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some men for us and go out; fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.’ So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the sun set. And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.
Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.’ And Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner. He said, ‘A hand upon the banner of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’ -- Exodus 17:1-16
The Israelites were out of Egypt and on their way to ---- where? The reality of the trip was finally getting through to them and, what was worse, here they were, tired and thirsty, but there wasn't any water!
"Moses, you idiot! What are we doing here in this desert with no water and no real idea where we're going or when we're going to get there? DO SOMETHING! And do it NOW!"
I have a feeling that after this, Moses probably would have welcomed another round or two with Pharaoh. As before, many times, God had the answer. "Just go over here, take your staff of elders and your staff of wood and strike the rock. They'll get their water." It happened, just as God said it would. Another crisis averted.
And then here came the Amalekites, bent on eliminating these interlopers. Joshua got the command to take some guys out to meet and fight with him while Moses, Aaron and Hur would go watch from the top of a nearby hill. It didn't sound too promising except that Moses promised that as long as he held his staff in the air, Joshua's team would win. All was well for a bit, but holding a wooden staff in the air for a long time gets to be pretty painful, so Moses would have to lower his hand and the Amalekites would start their surge. It was almost like watching a conductor of a large group of singers who burst into song the moment the conductor raised his hands but if those hands dropped the sound stopped completely. I can imagine the conductor having fun raising and lowering his hand quickly just to listen to the disjointed music, but for Moses it wasn't that much fun.
Aaron and Hur had a solution. While Moses was still able to hold up the staff, they dragged a rock over to the place where he was standing and watching the battle. Finally Moses could sit down but holding the staff was more and more painful. Aaron and Hur each took an arm and held it up until sunset when Joshua finally routed the Amalekites. I can imagine how relieved Moses was to finally be able to lower his arms and take the strain off his back and shoulders, not to mention have his band of dependents safe.
That part of the story made me think of the times I've felt like I've had to hold up a rod of heavy wood and not put it down lest the world, my world, anyway, fall apart totally. The life I figuratively held in my hands was my own, and the Amalekites were various people, things and events that came crashing like storm waves over a sea wall. Many times I've felt I've faced the Amalekites totally alone, and the struggle was exhausting physically, mentally, emotionally and, often, spiritually. There have been many times, though, when someone saw my need, pulled up a rock for me and held my hands up until I could breathe again and move ahead. Even if the fight with the Amalekites wasn't totally over, I had the help that gave me time to figure out what to do next.
Moses built an altar to commemorate the event, naming it the "The Lord is My Banner," signifying the victory God had given them. I'm not much good at building things, much less altars, but what I have built is a support network of people who have held up my arms when I didn't have the strength to do it, and for whom I would do the same. It wasn't just me who built it though; it was the people who showed up when they were needed most and, most fortunately for me, many have stuck around. They have been not just supporters but friends, and true friends like them are truly signs of God's care for me. It’s hard to think that any thing or anyone but God could have put them where and when they were most needed. Some have come and gone when the battle was over, some are still there after years and years.
I know the relief that Moses felt when he had friends (ok, and a relative) to do what was needed when he hadn't the strength to do it himself. His testimony was indeed written down in a book while mine will be written in a blog. Still, whether saving one life or a hundred thousand or more, I have a feeling that God is, if not directly pulling the strings, at least laying a trail of breadcrumbs or the hint of an oasis nearby, with a rock and a good friend or two waiting to be discovered.
For M, JJ, S, HH, HL, MC, J, B, and my cast of thousands. Thank you all.
Originally published at Speaking to the Soul on Episcopal Café Saturday, April 21, 2012.
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