Category: Year A

Embrace the Change, Slowly (Exodus 24:12-18)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Moses receives the law from God on Mount Sinai, by Unknown artist, 1877

The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there; I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up onto the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come back to you. Look, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the Israelites. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. (New Revised Standard Version)

The Lord graciously entered into a covenant with the ancient Israelites. Following this, Moses was summoned to come up the mountain into God’s presence. There he would receive the tablets of stone with the law and the commandment on it. Yahweh was providing the people with instruction on how to live in the covenant relationship.

The scene was set for the Lord to give an extended revelation to Moses. Moses ascended the mountain, into the cloud, so that the people did not see him. For the next forty days and nights, God’s law and commandments were relayed and taught to Moses.

What did not happen is God tossing some stone tablets containing the law to Moses and then going on God’s merry way. The whole encounter unfolds over an extended period of time. That’s because we are people; we need time to wrap our heads and hearts around new realities. Humans require the gift of slowness to learn and absorb.

Western society, however, does not operate that way. More, faster, and better seems to be our cultural creed. And it’s found everywhere around us. Speed reading. More money. Bigger stuff.

Hogs and chickens are raised on factory farms in large confinement buildings. They never see the light of day. Instead, they are given steroids and growth hormones to grow faster and bigger, so that they can get to the market more quickly and get a better price.

Churches and faith communities in financial trouble look for quick solutions and fast turnarounds by expecting pastors to work more, faster, and better. Sports teams hire and fire coaches with dizzying frequency, believing that if the athletes aren’t faster and better with more wins, then there’s something wrong with them, the coach, or both.

But we have no further than the end of our nose to look for change.

People are in control of very little in this world, and so, a great deal of life is the ability to respond in changing circumstances – both wanted and unwanted. Resilience and flexibility are needed.

Moses receives the Ten Commandments, by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1860

The Lord brought about the end of Egyptian slavery for the Israelites through a series of plagues against Egypt. God miraculously delivered the people from the Egyptian army by parting the Red Sea. And Yahweh graciously entered into covenant with them at the mountain. All of this was a major change of life.

It was the people’s responsibility to respond in faith and obedience to the actions and words of God. The Lord was allowing them the space and the time to come to grips with their new reality – which is one reason why Moses met with God for forty days and nights on the mountain.

The Israelites needed to spend their time adjusting to their new life, and contemplating the giving of the law, which was about to happen. Since we are privy to the end of the story, we know that the people did not do this. They became impatient, and experienced a failure of faith and obedience.

Aaron and Hur were the leaders who needed to step up and guide the people in the special opportunity of preparation for receiving the law. Whatever it is they did, it wasn’t that.

Murmuring, complaining, and arguing are the initial signs of impatience and wanting things to happen faster, even immediately. But faith is not forged this way. Faith is developed through dealing with adversity by looking to God, listening, and obeying. Faith knows that all things can be faced with joy.

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face various trials, consider it all joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance complete its work, so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4, NRSV)

Waiting, patience, and the stretching of faith is not typically what people sign up for. Whenever there are circumstances which warrant endurance and perseverance, it’s far too easy to become antsy and begin grumbling about the situation.

That’s what happened to the ancient Israelites. They had a stiff price to pay for their impatience and impertinence. Don’t be like them. Instead, decide now for encouragement, in and through, all circumstances.

Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that none of you have an evil, unfaithful heart that abandons the living God. Instead, encourage each other every day, as long as it’s called “today,” so that none of you become insensitive to God because of sin’s deception. We are partners with Christ, but only if we hold on to the confidence we had in the beginning until the end. (Hebrews 3:12-13, CEB)

May almighty God give you grace to persevere with joy, so that the Spirit may complete the work begun in you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God, the Jilted Lover (James 4:4-10)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”

So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him make himself scarce. Say a quiet yes to God and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet. (The Message)

Quite apparent is the fact that the Apostle James was not trying to win friends in the world. However, he was trying to influence the people within the churches in his care. Specifically, he was confronting the proud and arrogant.

So, please understand, up front, that James was going after the haughty persons because it takes a hammer to break a hard heart. And so, his approach ought only to be emulated in the unique context of handling persons stuck in their own destructive hubris. Nevertheless, there is much instruction in these verses to help us all.

Throughout Holy Scripture, we find a marriage metaphor, likening the relationship of God to the people, much like a lover. God’s covenant relationship is at the heart of understanding the whole of Scripture. Whenever people stray from divine promises, God is offended and hurt. 

Yes, God feels pain. God is an emotional Being, which is why we have emotions as God’s image-bearers. One way to view the Bible is that it is a book about God, the jilted lover. The Lord set affection and love upon people, yet many people have spurned their Lover’s advance. And this situation pains God. 

When Adam and Eve, decided to find satisfaction outside of God, the Lord was hurt. After them, when people had children and raised them, they did so largely apart from the God who loved them:

The Lord saw that the human beings on the earth were very wicked and that everything they thought about was evil. He was sorry he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. (Genesis 6:5-6, NCV)

Yet, God was gracious. The Lord took a group of Noah’s descendants, Abraham’s family, and set a covenant of affection on them. God hoped to restore the world to right relationship through the Israelites. However, they too, came to set their affections on others. So, nearly half of the Old Testament is devoted to communicating the Lord’s hurt and disappointment. 

Like a jilted lover, God longed for Israel to remain faithful. For example, the prophet Hosea had an unfaithful wife, Gomer, and their relationship mirrored the relationship between God and Israel. Just as Hosea did not give up on his wife, even though she was brazenly unfaithful, so God looked at Israel as a spouse and could not bear to give her up.

Israel spurned their lover’s grace and kindness and actively sought other lovers, causing God anger and agony. God recounted the history of unfaithfulness:

“At every crossroad you built your platform and degraded your beauty by spreading your legs to all comers. And so, you encouraged even more promiscuity. You prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your neighbors with the large sexual organs, and as you added to your seductions, you provoked me to anger…. 

Still not satisfied, you prostituted yourself to the Assyrians, but they were not enough for you either. So, you prostituted yourself with the Babylonians, the land of traders, but again you were not satisfied. How sick was your heart that you could do all these things, the deeds of a hardened prostitute?…

You are like an adulterous wife: you take in strangers instead of your husband. Ordinary prostitutes are given gifts, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers. From every direction you even bribed them to come to you for your sexual favors. As a prostitute, you were more perverse than other women. No one approached you for sexual favors, but you yourself gave gifts instead of receiving them.” (Ezekiel 16:25-34, CEB)

Despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, God extended grace to the beloved spouse:

“I am taking you back!
I rejected you for a while,
but with love and tenderness
    I will embrace you again.
For a while, I turned away
    in furious anger.
Now I will have mercy
    and love you forever!
I, your protector and Lord,
    make this promise.” (Isaiah 54:6-8, CEV)

The Old Testament ends with God still longing for return:

The Lord proclaims: “I care passionately about Zion; I burn with passion for her.” (Zechariah 8:2, CEB)

All of this theological awareness was in the heart of the Apostle James when he wrote his letter to the hard-hearted. He knew they were flirting with the world. He wanted them to stop and return to the God who longed to show them grace, if only they would humble themselves.

God yearns, passionately, for us to find our needs met, and enjoyment found, in the loving divine embrace. Spiritual adultery hurts God deeply, like it would any jilted lover. God awaits with loving patience to show grace and compassion to wayward people. 

Only the stance and attitude of humility can receive grace. Sinful pride prevents people from receiving God’s good gift. So, James rattled-off ten quick staccato commands to remain connected in a love relationship with God. They are resolutions to live by. 

Submit to God

Humble folk willingly place themselves under God’s authority because they are convinced God has their best interests at mind. One temptation when facing adversity is to entertain the belief that no one is going to look out for you except yourself. So, to avoid getting hurt too badly, we might become cynical, arrogant, and callous – self-protective strategies designed to keep the hurt away. This only creates hardness of heart. The alternative is faithful submission to God – knowing that God’s Spirit will protect and living with the conviction that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

Resist the devil

Satan is a bully. The way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them. We face down the temptation by submitting to God and resisting the devil. Don’t be deceived into flipping it around by listening to Satan and avoiding submission to God.

Come near to God

Like a loving parent, the Lord longingly looks out the window waiting for prodigals to return. Coming to God is the first thing we ought to do. When my daughter was young her bike was stolen. So, we sat down together in the backyard and came to God in prayer. I barely finished praying when a police cruiser pulled up in the alley behind our house. The policeman rolled down his window and said, “Hey, are you missing a bike?”  We hopped in and he took us to where someone had ditched the bike. It was a tremendous lesson that when we come to God, God comes to us. I realize life does not always work that way, yet we can be assured that God listens, hears, and will respond.

Wash your hands

We cannot approach God with blood on our hands, but must come squarely facing our sin and disobedience.  We must deal with the wrong we have done without sweeping it under the rug. God wants us to admit our sin, receive grace, and deal with matters of restitution and reconciliation, without trying to save face when found out in a concern for “optics.”

Purify your heart

Whereas the previous resolution is mostly external, this one addresses the inner person, the heart. Not only do our actions need to be cleaned up through washing our hands, but our attitudes must also be purged of pollution. Our hearts cannot handle two masters; we are to be single-minded without mixed motives.

“The man who tries to walk two roads will split his pants.”

African proverb

The next four resolutions describe important emotional responses to sin:

“The Crying Giant,” Wilmington, Delaware

Grieve

Trying to move on without grieving and lamenting is called denial. Grief is not only an event; it is a process which takes time. Grieving is biblical. Sharing our stories with each other, giving testimony to God’s grace, and expressing ourselves is important. A loving God knows there cannot be healing apart from grief and lament.

Mourn

Blessed are those who mourn with an emotional response to the devastation of sin. Mourning sees sin in all its foulness and degradation. People who do not mourn become hard-hearted and need deep spiritual transformation. Jesus offers the remedy: By his wounds we are healed.

Wail

We are to more than cry – we need to wail.  Whereas mourning might be more personal, wailing has a much more public dimension to it. I believe the great tragedy in many modern churches is an inordinate focus on victory and triumphalism. The result: Far too many Christians cry alone. No one should ever have to cry by themselves. We must weep with those who weep. If there ever was an appropriate place for crying, it should be amongst fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Change

We cannot turn the clock back to some bygone idyllic era. We are to grasp the type of change which occurs in living for Jesus Christ and above sin – with no casual cavalier attitudes toward sin. I once had a conversation with a young woman about heaven and hell. When we began the discussion, she expressed a desire to be wherever the better party was going on. By the time we finished our conversation she was grieving and crying. I never knew what became of her. But once she got just a glimpse of the gravity of sin, it undid her.

Be humble

Humility sums up all these resolutions. The paradox is that through grieving, mourning, and wailing we become joyful and satisfied; through suffering there is glory; becoming last is to become first; entering the narrow gate leads to the broad open space of God’s eternal life.

Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us a consuming fire of judgment. Set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image, through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen

Idolatry Is the Tail Wagging the Dog (Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year A1 Comment

Praise the Lord!
    O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord
    or declare all his praise?
Happy are those who observe justice,
    who do righteousness at all times.

Remember us, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;
    help us when you deliver them,
that we may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,
    that we may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
    that we may glory in your heritage.

Both we and our ancestors have sinned;
    we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly…

They made a calf at Horeb
    and worshiped a cast image.
They exchanged the glory of God
    for the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God, their Savior,
    who had done great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
    and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
Therefore he said he would destroy them—
    had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
    to turn away his wrath from destroying them. (New Revised Standard Version)

Adoration of the Golden Calf, by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665)

When it comes to sin, especially the sin of idolatry, it’s imperative that we name it for what it is. It will do no good to fudge on it by saying that so-and-so struggles with it more than me, or that it’s not as bad as assault or murder.

No, we must call sinful idolatry just that, because the problem of idolatry is at the heart of humanity’s spiritual struggle. The first of the Ten Commandments frames it and names it squarely:

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery; do not worship other gods.” (Exodus 20:2-3, NRSV)

And the second commandment straight up prohibits any manufacturing or worshiping of idols:

“You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them….” (Exodus 20:4-5, NRSV)

In the New Testament Gospels, Jesus also drew sharp lines between God and idolatry:

“No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6:24, NRSV)

The early church fathers (and mothers) forsook dependence on anything or anyone other than the one true God. Idolatry is an obsessive and fruitless search to satisfy a legitimate need in an illegitimate manner by giving oneself to someone or something other than the true object of the heart’s longing.

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

St. Augustine

None of this means that the material and physical world is somehow bad – that money, possessions, food, books, nature, and other people are objects to avoid – because they are most certainly not! The problem arises whenever we seek to replace God with the things God made, God’s own creation.

By seeking to save our souls and fill the emptiness in our spirits with more and more wealth, or more and better jobs, or more time and expense for reading, or just about any other activity or possession there is, those things which were given for our use and enjoyment and to be stewarded well by us, end up becoming the users and our masters.

Inanimate objects, ideas, and activities begin calling the shots and giving the commands about what we should do and not do. What we own, now owns us. Even the poor can succumb to idolatry through the sin of covetousness by wanting things they do not have in the belief that wealth and possessions will make their lives whole and worthy. But this breaks the tenth commandment:

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17, NRSV)

Nature and all the earth were formed by the Creator. And, as such, they too, give glory to God and recognize they themselves are not to be worshiped.

The heavens are telling the glory of God,
    and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
    and night to night declares knowledge. (Psalm 19:1-2, NRSV)

Genuine wealth, prosperity, happiness and peace are found in the Creator of all good things. It is God who will:

  • wipe every tear from our eyes (Isaiah 25:1-9)
  • provide protection and guidance through the hard times of life (Isaiah 54:17)
  • be present with us as we walk through the valley of despair and ascend the mountain of celebration and joy (Psalm 23)

The reason idolatry is so insidious and difficult to name is that our affections are typically on a good thing which God has created and given for us. It’s just that, over time and through an extended process, the tail begins to wag the dog. For example:

  • Humanity serves the Sabbath instead of the Sabbath serving humanity
  • Parishioners venerate a church building instead of the church building being a tool for ministry
  • People are slaves to their hobbies instead of the hobby serving the person
  • Spouses worship one another instead of worshiping the God who brought them together
  • Groups let their traditions hold them with an iron grip, instead of traditions being held loosely by groups

It could (and does) happen to each one of us. And when it does, we need the wisdom and humility to see it for what it has become. Then, confess it as idolatry, and accept the forgiveness which is freely available from the Divine.

Almighty and everlasting God: Not to us, but to your name we give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Yet because of the idolatry in our hearts, we have strayed far from you. We have disobeyed your commandments; we have trusted our own judgement; and we wonder why we feel distant from you. We have worshipped idols of silver and gold—and idols of self and comfort. Forgive us for not loving you as we ought, not obeying you as we were taught, and not trusting that our forgiveness has been bought. Amen.

Follow God’s Word (Deuteronomy 6:10-25)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Priest Teaching Children The Catechism, by Jules-Alexis Meunier, 1898

Now once the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to you—a land that will be full of large and wonderful towns that you didn’t build, houses stocked with all kinds of goods that you didn’t stock, cisterns that you didn’t make, vineyards and olive trees that you didn’t plant—and you eat and get stuffed, watch yourself! Don’t forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 

Revere the Lord your God, serve him, and take your solemn pledges in his name! Don’t follow other gods, those gods of the people around you—because the Lord your God, who is with you and among you, is a passionate God. The Lord your God’s anger will burn against you, and he will wipe you off the fertile land. Don’t test the Lord your God the way you frustrated him at Massah. 

You must carefully follow the Lord your God’s commands along with the laws and regulations he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight so that things will go well for you and so you will enter and take possession of the wonderful land that the Lord swore to your ancestors, and so the Lord will drive out all your enemies from before you, just as he promised.

In the future, your children will ask you, “What is the meaning of the laws, the regulations, and the case laws that the Lord our God commanded you?” Tell them: We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. But the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our own eyes, the Lord performed great and awesome deeds of power against Egypt, Pharaoh, and his entire dynasty. But the Lord brought us out from there so that he could bring us in, giving us the land that he swore to our ancestors. Then the Lord commanded us to perform all these regulations, revering the Lord our God, so that things go well for us always and so we continue to live, as we’re doing right now. What’s more, we will be considered righteous if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as he commanded us. (Common English Bible)

The Catechism, by Edith Hartry, 1919

Christians often refer to the Bible as “God’s Word.” By that reference we mean that God has graciously revealed the divine nature to us through this Book, the Holy Scriptures. 

The ancient Hebrews referred to the first five books of the Old Testament as the Law of the Lord or the Torah. The Jewish people understood God as a great, high and holy Being who mercifully accommodated or communicated to us on our level by giving the Law. 

Just as a parent coos and babbles and speaks in a very different way to a baby in a crib, so God speaks to us in a way we can understand about the care, concern, and love the Lord has for us. Just as an infant is unable to understand an adult conversation taking place, so God is a lofty Being who is well above our comprehension. We have no ability to understand anything God says unless the Lord graciously and lovingly bends down to speak to us on our level.

God’s Law, the Torah, was the curriculum for Israel’s religious instruction. The Law of the Lord is meant to be a behavior pattern, to be embodied in the lives of God’s people through both teachers and parents who learn God’s Word and, in turn, pass it along to children and others – thereby providing guidance for how to live in God’s world. 

God’s law is an extension of God’s grace, and we are to gratefully accept the grace of God expressed in God’s Word. We are to ingest it, eat it, reflect on it, and dwell with it, in order to know God and be the people God wants us to be.

There are several other words that come from the root word for Law, Torah, in the Hebrew language. A teacher is a “moreh.” A parent is a “horeh.” Parents and teachers are to be living guides in the way of God’s Word. The Hebrew word for teaching is “yarah.” 

So, in other words, the moreh’s and the horeh’s are to yarah the Torah. Parents and teachers are to point and lead others into the ways of the Lord. The fifth book of the Law, Deuteronomy, makes it clear how parents, mentors, teachers, and influencers are to pass on God’s Word:

Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! Only the Lord! Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. Recite them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. Write them on your house’s doorframes and on your city’s gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, CEB)

A Village Catechism, by David Rychaert III (1612-1661)

God’s Law, or God’s Word, is to be as familiar to us as our back door and it is to be in front of us all the time. When children ask us anything about God’s commands and regulations, we are to have a ready answer for them, in language and ways that they can understand.

We do this by carefully and systematically engrafting Holy Scripture into our minds and hearts. As we get God’s Word into ourselves, we are to also get it into our children and others. It happens by continually talking about Scripture – at home around the dinner table, as well as when we are working or playing together.

God’s Holy Word is to be continually in front of us, so that we do not forget it. We need to start each day and end each day with God’s Word. We can put the words of God on our refrigerator and our car’s dashboard. There is always an opportunity refer to God’s Word and incessantly chatter about it with others.

Someone may say, “That’s pretty radical – I don’t need to do all that!” Then I would say that you are missing out on living a blessed life because people are blessed when they walk according to God’s Word and keep God’s Law in front of them and seek God through God’s Word with all their heart. 

Let us not be so busy, pre-occupied, nor worried, that we end up pushing God’s Word to the margins of our lives as only a Sunday activity – or something for our discretionary time (which doesn’t actually exist). 

Let’s take the time to carefully look at God’s Word and let God speak to us through it.

Let us be intentional about connecting with the God who has so graciously given us a guide for grateful living. 

And let us lay solid plans to catechize people into the basics of faith and holy living in the church. Amen.