spiristirrer

Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, put fire in it, and laid incense on it; and they offered before the Lord alien fire, which He had not enjoined upon them. And fire came forth from the Lord and consumed them; thus they died at the instance of the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord meant when he said:

Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, And gain glory before all people.” And Aaron went silent.

Leviticus 10:1-3 (TANAKH)

Oh, Leviticus, Leviticus, how you give God a really bad name. This is the kind of stuff that give PR people nightmares at night. It gives me nightmares too, trying to explain why God would do these things.

If we were to use Leviticus alone as our source for knowing who God is, it really would not be a nice picture. When reading this book it seems that the holiness God asks for requires us to negate what it means to be human. God here is not happy with blemishes of any kinds, nor dead bodies, nor blood, nor sex, nor childbirth, nor skin rashes, nor bodily discharges of any kind (including menstruation), nor improperly cooked sacrifices, nor nakedness (unless one owns the nakedness, check out Lev. 18), nor an assortment of all sorts of other things.

I’m sure by now you know that something here really bothers me. In Genesis I read that all that God made was good. Later in the Gospel according to John I read that “[t]he Word became flesh and lived among us . . .” (John 1:14). God became flesh . . . the same flesh that gets skin rashes, has bodily discharges, prepares its dead, is born of a woman, who menstruates and goes into labor, comes into the world naked, and can easily forget how to make a sacrifice.

In coming into the world God reminded us that holiness was not situated in negating the created order but instead in honoring it by living a life of love towards self, others, & God.

So as people who take the story of faith seriously, what are we to do with Leviticus?  What do you think?

I spent the weekend with a group of amazing young people who are ready to hear God’s voice in their life. They came from different places across the Louisiana conference to worship, hear,
and serve God. We purposely invited them to leave their world for these few days. We made sure that televisions were off, cell phones put away, and computers were nowhere in site. Little did we know
that on Saturday a tragedy would make our gathering even more important.

Our common prayer during the weekend came from Ephesians:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation that makes God known to you. I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call . . .

Ephesians 1:15-18 (CEB)

We live in a hurting world, a world where hatred seems to guide the way. Hatred blinds us it makes us see the other not as God’s beloved but as an object to be disposed off, to get out of the way.

There is no better time to pray that God may “awaken us.” We must shine a light in the darkness, we must become peacemakers, we must not participate (through action or inaction) in our systemic pattern of inflammatory rhetoric.

In order to be transformed we must take the time to foster the interior life. Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador, facing a daily life full of violence tells us:

We really live outside of ourselves. There are very few humans who truly live inside themselves and this is why there are so many problems . . . . In each person’s heart, there is something like a small, intimate space, where God comes down to speak alone to that person. And this is where a person determines his or her own identity, his or her own role in the world. If each of the people with so many problems were to enter at this moment this small space, and, once there, were to listen to the voice of the Lord which speaks in our own consience, how much could each one of us do to improve the environment, society, the family with whom we live?

(from Through The Year With Oscar Romero: Daily Meditations)

As I heard of the events that were unfolding I was thankful to be surrounded by such amazing young people. They were hearing God’s call to be about God’s kingdom in the world. They left and returned to a world that needs their visions, dreams and hopes. May God awaken us, all of us, to the need for Good News, for our need to become proclaimers of God’s love, God’s light for the world!

Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such great sin upon them?” Aaron said, “Let not my lord be enraged. You know that this people is bent on evil. They said to me, ‘Make us a god to lead us; for that man Moses, who brought us from the land of Egypt — we do not know what has happened to him.’ So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off!’ They gave it to me and I hurled it into the fire and out came this calf!”

Exodus 32:21-24 (TANAKH)

We have all been desperate. Even when we know something is not “right” we can easily give in if there’s enough pressure. We tend to blame only teenagers for this behavior but the truth is that group-think is a problem among young and old alike.

Standing for what we believe to be right in the face of a raging mob is difficult. How many times we have experienced this in our families, our faith communities and our politics. When you add desperation to the mix, hopelessness and the unknown it makes it easy to give in, to go along, no matter what.

What I find interesting in this passage is that I expected Aaron to just be honest and acknowledge that he had given in, that he was concerned also, that he was trying to appease the crowd. He knew it was wrong, but was it? What if Moses did not come back? What if this “Lord” that Moses was talking to was not for real after all?

All of us are full of excuses for why we are not faithful to promises made and commitments taken. Sometimes those excuses might have legitimacy but most of the time they sound ridiculous in light of the larger narrative of our lives. The least we can do is acknowledge that we  “messed up” and seek to begin again.

There are times when as people of faith we must stand for what is right, no matter the consequences. In the Christian tradition this means that we stand for the lowly, the poor, the marginalized, the hungry, the naked, the imprisoned, the one’s in need of good news. This might not be popular but it is God’s call to us in response to the covenant we have made in our baptism.

As leaders we know that human beings will always choose gods of their making instead of submitting to the one true God. We stand in the midst of the people, not with excuses, but to remind the people of our common story as God’s own.

‘What is this thing that you are doing to the people? Why do you act alone, while all the people stand about you from morning until evening?’ Moses replied to his father-in-law, ‘It is because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, it comes before me, and I decide between one person and another, and I make known the laws and teachings of God.’ But Moses’ father-in-law said to him, ‘The thing you are doing is not right; you will surely wear yourself out, and these people as well. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.’

Exodus 18:14-18

Wow! I’m sure that for the pastors reading this there will be no question why this caught my attention as I read this morning. We as a whole tend to have “lone ranger” tendencies. At times it seems like we take great pride in what we have accomplished all by ourselves. Lifting up examples of great “lone rangers” we fail to provide a different model for leadership in the faith community. Moses father-in-law was a wise man. He recognized human limitations and the unhealthy patterns that Moses was perpetuating. In the end this way of leading was not good for him nor for the people he cared so deeply for. The answer to this dilemma was in front of him, the people themselves could be empowered to lead each other.

‘You represent the people before God; you bring the disputes before God, and enjoin upon them the laws and the teachings, and make known to them the way they are to go and the
practices they are to follow. You shall also seek our from among all the people cabable men who fear God, trustworthy men who spurn ill-gotten gain. Set these over them as chiefs of thousands,
hundreds, fifties, and tens, and let them judge the people at all times. Have them bring every major dispute to you, but let them decide every minor dispute themselves. Make it easier for yourself by letting them share the burden with you. If you do this — and God so commands you — you will be able to bear up; and all these people too will go home unwearied.’

Genesis 18:19-23

I know that none of us are leading communities in the wilderness trying to reach a promised land. We are leading faith communities to be about God’s kingdom in the midst of life. What would it look like to adopt a more collegial and communal approach to leadership? What if we shared the burden of the people with others? What if we visioned, ordered, and led in leadership groups?

You shall observe this as an institution for all time, for you and for your descendants. And when you enter the land that the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this rite? you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, because He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but saved our houses.’

Exodus 12:24-27

Do we explain why we do what we do?

Why do we gather on Sunday to worship? Why do we sing songs and hear scripture? Why do we have a bath and eat at a table? Why bread and wine? Why help the poor? Why welcome the marginalized?

These are only some of the questions that come to mind as I think about our Christian faith. There are many others . . .

The passover was a world changing moment for the Hebrew people. It marked a new beginning, a change of direction, a turning of fortunes. The ones that were slaved now found themselves freed to go home, to build a nation, to self-determine their future. They could not forget this turning of events, so the repetition of the ritual acts served as a perpetual remembrance of their identity as God’s people.

We have those moments in our Christian faith. We talk about repentance, conversion, regeneration. We talk about professions of faith & its renewal. This coming Sunday we celebrate Baptism of the Lord, where we remember Jesus’ baptism and ours. These ritual acts should help us to bring back into being, to re-member, our identity as God’s people through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Maybe we, like the Hebrews, should make it a point to have our children ask us, Why do we do what we do? Why do we gather, why do we eat and drink in Jesus’ name? Why do we call ourselves Christian?

In my Christmas Eve post I talked about why that night was different than any other night. I wrote about the importance of passing on the faith through the signs, symbols, and seasons of our Christian tradition. Reading this portion of Exodus this morning reminded me again of the power of story to help us remember, live, and proclaim.

May our bath, word, meal, & life become rites of identity for us and for our children, for the life of the world!

And [Israel] blessed Joseph saying, ‘The God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day — The Angel who has redeemed me from all harm — Bless the lads. In them may my name be recalled, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they be teeming multitudes upon the earth.’

Genesis 48:15-16

I am a fan of blessing, in fact it has been a topic of conversation in this blog a few times before (most notably here and here). Yet, each time I encounter blessing in scripture it grabs my attention and this time it has been no exception.

What struck me this time in the many blessings found in Genesis is that its speakers meant what they said. They believed that somehow the divine would respond and support their speaking and ritual action.

Those who are blessed are indeed blessed and those who are cursed or whose blessing is not ultimate (see Esau’s “blessing” here) are in trouble.

Blessings serve as a way to invoke the divine to become active in the lives of human beings. Do we mean what we say when we bless today?

When we invoke the Holy Spirit in the sacraments of baptism or communion? When we call down the Spirit to bless those who are taking the covenants of marriage or ordination? When we bless the everyday lives of people, their homes, their fields, their new beginnings?

Maybe we have become to advanced and have left little room for mystery. Maybe we have left little room for the possibility that the Spirit does still break into history and makes good on our broken words, weak songs, and timid invocations of the holy.

I think we need more blessing, more invocation, more proclamation that the God we serve cares about life, humanity and the world. More proclamation that in blessing we acknowledge that what God has created is holy!

[Jacob] himself went on ahead and bowed low to the ground seven times until he was near his brother. Esau ran to greet him. He embraced him and, falling on his neck, he kissed him; and they wept.

Genesis 33:3-4 (TANAKH)

Forgiveness is easier said than done. It’s one of those things that most of us know to do but few of us are willing to do it when something serious happens in our life.

At times those closest to us can hurt us the most. They know us, know our weaknesses and the right buttons to push. It can be easy to hurt someone you love and hard to extend forgiveness, after all they should know better.

Asking forgiveness from someone is at times as difficult as forgiving. Can we just move on? Why should it be brought up again? Won’t that make it worst? We can make so many excuses for the extremely difficult work of forgiving and asking for forgiveness.

Esau had some good reasons not to forgive and to seek revenge. Time and time again his brother Jacob had tricked him, taken advantage of him, and used him to achieve his purpose. From birth Jacob had been trying to take Esau’s place in the family and the promise.

Jacob had reasons to be scared of his brother. His attempt at buying mercy is understandable. Jacob had learned what it meant to be taken advantage of and fooled. Life had transformed Jacob, he was sorry for what he had done.

In his book, Embodying Forgiveness, L. Gregory Jones tells us that

in the face of human sin and evil, God’s love moves towards reconciliation by means of costly forgiveness. In response, human beings are called to become holy by embodying that forgiveness through specific habits and practices that seek to remember the past truthfully, to repair the brokenness, to heal divisions, and to reconcile and renew relationships.

(from the Introduction, iix)

Forgiveness is needed in the world today. Time and time again we hurt each other and participate in the perpetuation of patterns of injustice. This brokenness keeps human beings in constant enmity with each other, with the created order, and with God.

Forgiveness is costly but not forgiving is costlier. Today I wonder who needs my forgiveness and who needs me to ask for forgiveness? How can I be an agent of peace making and reconciliation in the world? How can I be a hearer of a truthful past? How can I lead the community of faith to be a community of forgiveness?

Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is present in this place, and I did not know it!’

Genesis 28:20 (TANAKH)

In a recent post I spoke about being attentive to three important communal covenants that I have made: baptism, marriage, & ordination. These are key relationships that continue to shape me by being means of grace in my life.

As I continue to read Genesis I’m struck by the continual reminders of covenant. God is a God of covenant making with Adam & Eve, with Noah & his family, with Abraham & Sarah, with Isaac & Rebekah, with Jacob . . .

At each step of the way God reminds all of them of a covenant made and the promises that accompany that covenant. Their mistakes, their unfaithfulness, the struggles of life do not negate the covenant instead the covenant serves as a continual guide and reminder of God’s intention for those with whom the covenant has been made.

In baptism I entered in a covenant with God to be part of the community of faith with Jesus as our Lord. In marriage I vowed to live in partnership with another and only that other for the rest of my life. In ordination I joined the community of the ordained to be about leading the Christian community towards kingdom life.

I wonder if we realize how important these covenants are? Do we recognize in making them that “surely the Lord” is in them?

Sometimes we make covenants without realizing their importance and what it means to live in them. In order to recognize their importance I think we need to do a better job of formation in what it means to be part of these covenants. We also need to learn the great story of faith, for our covenant making is the continuation of God’s story in our lives.

Even when we don’t realize it, God is present in our covenant making. Part of our task as God’s people is to shine a light on that presence, to proclaim the good news in the covenant making, and remind those who are entering these covenants that the promises made are means of grace in their lives.

I continue to be surprised by what I encounter each time I engage the story of faith. I look forward to this continued journey!

The Exultet is the traditional hymn of praise of the Easter Vigil. My prayer is that United Methodist will re-discover this important service of the Christian Church.

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!

My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,

that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night
when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come happy fault,as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault,
O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

Of this night scripture says:
“The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”

The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.

Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father,
in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

(For it is fed by the melting wax,
which the mother bee brought forth
to make this precious candle.)

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever.
Amen.

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:15-18

The Church was built on proclamation. “Jesus is Lord,” the early Christians would proclaim. Their way of life grew this movement from a small band of disciples to the universal religion that it is today. Sunday after Sunday we gather to proclaim the reality of the Lordship of Christ and to experience it in the braking of the bread.

In the United Methodist ritual for Holy Communion we call the Spirit upon the gifts of bread and wine and upon us so that “we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood.” It is this same Spirit that we count on as we leave this gathering “to give ourselves to others.” In these short words that we repeat Sunday after Sunday we remind ourselves of the purpose of the declaration, Jesus is Lord!

A few weeks ago I wrote about no more church growth. It’s provocative title grabbed the attention of many. The comments that followed were passionate on all sides. Some were even troubled by the suggestion that I as a minister of the Gospel was not into church growth. Others expressed their own frustration over the constant pressures and their desire for something different.

Like the Pharisees and Saducees at the time of Jesus many of us find ourselves wanting a sign (Matthew 16:1-4). More people, more programs, more stuff for us. None of these things prove that God is present. None of them are the yeast that will bring about God’s kingdom! In fact in the book of Acts we read that the gathered community focused on learning the story, eating the meal, and lifting up concerns, holding things in common, and helping those in need. When they did this well, “the Lord added to their number.” (Acts 2:47)

The real yeast comes from the proclamation and its power to bind and loose in the world! For me the key to kingdom sharing is that the people of God have the Spirit’s power to loose the bonds of the oppressed, free the captive, and give sight to the blind. Focusing on our growth for our survival means that instead of loosing we are binding, instead of freeing we are oppressing, instead of giving sight we are blinding.

In the end Jesus told his disciples not to tell . . . maybe he wanted them to be the proclamation instead. Maybe he wanted them to pay attention to what he was about to model: self denial, sacrifice, humility.

As we near Holy Week may we take time to reflect on the way of the cross. This way is not popular, it’s counter-cultural, and it demands our whole selves. As we continue to question the purpose of the church in this changing world we might look not just at Matthew 28 (“Go and make disciples . . .”) but at the totality of Jesus’ life and work and ask: Who do we say Jesus is? Who do others say he is? Upon what rock are we building our church?