This is kind of a non-blog post but it's to say that I'm going to be stopping the blog for a couple of days. It started off as a help to make sure I not only did my daily Bible readings but also thought about them. The problem is that over the last few days I have gone to pick up my Bible and thought, "Oh know, I've got to think about something to write about his!"
So perversely enough what started out as a help has turned into a hindrance. I do enjoy this blog a lot so I'll be back to it after a couple of days but for now I think I need a short Sabbath from it.
Friday 19 November 2010
Tuesday 16 November 2010
The scary job of leadership
Ezekiel 33:1-34:31
Hebrews 13:1-25
Psalm 115:1-18
Proverbs 27:21-22
It's one of those days when the one year Bible joins up. Ezekiel has been talking about getting rid of Israel's bad shepherds and providing the people with a new Good Shepherd while Hebrews talks about Jesus the Good Shepherd of God's flock.
This passage in Ezekiel however haunts me every time I read it. A well meaning elder once showed me Ezekiel 33 and told me that this was how God judged Christian leaders. I think he was trying to reassure me about the place of human freedom in God's plan of predestination but what he actually did was spook me hugely about the responsibility I would have as a minister to speak the direct truth to people about God's judgement and God's grace.
The duty of being a watchman for any size of community is a huge responsibility and not one I particularly enjoy. I love to open up God's word, to proclaim God's grace and to speak of all that Jesus accomplished for us on the cross. I don't like the bit about warning and rebuking people.
But then I ask myself another question, "What if I did enjoy it?" What sort of person would that make me?
Monday 15 November 2010
Genre and Reading the Bible on its own terms
Ezekiel 31:1-32:32
Hebrews 12:14-29
Psalm 113:1-114:8
Proverbs 27:18-20
Words can sometimes get confusingly misused and misunderstood and in Christian circles one of those words is "literal." This word is often confused with the word "accurate" but the two are far from being the same. Let me give you two examples outside of the Bible. If someone from France were to point outside and say to you, "il pleut des cordes" he would not be telling you that there was a freak shower of ropes occurring but a literal translation of what he said was "It's raining ropes." Raining ropes might be a literal word for word translation but it's definitely not an accurate one.
Secondly we all know the Irish Blessing that starts with "May the road rise to meet you" and I'm sure you have wondered what on earth that means, it sounds like a description of falling and that does not sound like the start of a blessing, "may you be thumped by the tarmac!" What it actually means is "may you be prosperous." Road in Irish doubles up as a metaphor for business / prosperity and the rising part is a metaphor for increasing and prospering. Hence may your money / wealth / happiness rise. It sounds a lot less poetic when you put it like that.
Literal does not equal accurate and in the two cases above literal translation can mean downright inaccurate translation. So why, oh why have so many Christians got themselves into a huge rut about reading everything in the Bible literally? Why have we painted ourselves in to theological corners over creation and the end times and so many other parts of scripture that have important and life changing truths to tell the world because we have insisted on taking them literally?
What brought on this rant? It's all Ezekiel's fault. Ezekiel happily plays about with the idea of Eden as a metaphor in chapter 31. He describes Assyria and Egypt as trees in the Garden of Eden. He treats Eden no more literally than the person who wrote Psalm 114 talks about the mountains skipping like lambs in a literal fashion. We have to start taking the Bible on its own terms. Some of it is poetry, some history, some legal code, some parable, some a very odd genre called apocalyptic, some is song, some proverbs or wise says and on and on we could go. The Bible is not tied to one genre and we have to use our brains when we read it and not tie ourselves or the text into a literalistic straight-jacket.
If it does not demand a literal reading then why should we try to force one on it. By doing so we can totally lose the meaning.
Hebrews 12:14-29
Psalm 113:1-114:8
Proverbs 27:18-20
Words can sometimes get confusingly misused and misunderstood and in Christian circles one of those words is "literal." This word is often confused with the word "accurate" but the two are far from being the same. Let me give you two examples outside of the Bible. If someone from France were to point outside and say to you, "il pleut des cordes" he would not be telling you that there was a freak shower of ropes occurring but a literal translation of what he said was "It's raining ropes." Raining ropes might be a literal word for word translation but it's definitely not an accurate one.
Secondly we all know the Irish Blessing that starts with "May the road rise to meet you" and I'm sure you have wondered what on earth that means, it sounds like a description of falling and that does not sound like the start of a blessing, "may you be thumped by the tarmac!" What it actually means is "may you be prosperous." Road in Irish doubles up as a metaphor for business / prosperity and the rising part is a metaphor for increasing and prospering. Hence may your money / wealth / happiness rise. It sounds a lot less poetic when you put it like that.
Literal does not equal accurate and in the two cases above literal translation can mean downright inaccurate translation. So why, oh why have so many Christians got themselves into a huge rut about reading everything in the Bible literally? Why have we painted ourselves in to theological corners over creation and the end times and so many other parts of scripture that have important and life changing truths to tell the world because we have insisted on taking them literally?
What brought on this rant? It's all Ezekiel's fault. Ezekiel happily plays about with the idea of Eden as a metaphor in chapter 31. He describes Assyria and Egypt as trees in the Garden of Eden. He treats Eden no more literally than the person who wrote Psalm 114 talks about the mountains skipping like lambs in a literal fashion. We have to start taking the Bible on its own terms. Some of it is poetry, some history, some legal code, some parable, some a very odd genre called apocalyptic, some is song, some proverbs or wise says and on and on we could go. The Bible is not tied to one genre and we have to use our brains when we read it and not tie ourselves or the text into a literalistic straight-jacket.
If it does not demand a literal reading then why should we try to force one on it. By doing so we can totally lose the meaning.
Sunday 14 November 2010
The cheering crowd
Ezekiel 29:1-30:26
Hebrews 11:32-12:13
Psalm 112:1-10
Proverbs 27:17
We've been looking at the book of 1 Samuel in church these last few Sundays and one of the recurring themes of that book is how the sons of great men don't often become great men themselves. The pressure of having a famous or successful family must be horrible. No worries there for me thankfully...
This makes what is said (and how it is said) in today's passage from Hebrews so special. The writer of this letter could so easily have listed the saints of the Old Testament and the inter-testamental period and then gone on to say, "That's the standard, they're watching you closely to see if you match up!"
Instead he or she states that this great crowd of saints is gathered around us cheering us on. This great crowd of witnesses are the people who are shouting your name from heaven, urging you on as a follower of Jesus.
They do not look down on you accusingly, wondering whether you are up to scratch or not, instead they shout you on and wave your team colours for you.
Listen up, can you hear them chanting your name?
Saturday 13 November 2010
The fall of Tyre - The lessons we never learn
Ezekiel 27:1-28:26
Hebrews 11:17-31
Psalm 111:1-10
Proverbs 27:15-16
RTE are reporting that the Irish Government are definitely not in talks with the EU about a bailout of our once bubbling economy. Every other news agency in the world is saying that they are. A few years ago property in Tullamore was more expensive than property in Manhattan. These days the houses on some estates are being sold at a third of the price they were going for in 2007.
In reading Ezekiel's words against Tyre you can't help but see the parallels between her fall and Ireland's fall. Thankfully in our case it has not been a violent collapse (so far) but the pain has been every bit as real for people. Tyre's success is written about first. All of the places she traded with are listed. As I type this I look round the room at a television made in Korea, I am typing on a laptop from a Japanese company, sitting on a Swedish sofa made in Poland, sipping New Zealand wine from a glass made in France, and everything else in the room was probably made in China.
But after listing the success of Tyre's trading relationships (and the Bible talks about international trade as a good thing as long as it is done fairly) and describing in overflowing language of how Tyre was a protective angel and partner for Israel it goes on to say, "Your rich commerce led you to violence, and you sinned. So I banished you in disgrace." At one point Ireland had the largest per capita income of any EU country and if you lived here with your eyes open you would have found that an incredibly embarrassing fact as cheek by jowl with immense wealth there was unbelievable poverty and disadvantage hardwired into Irish society. The wealth of our society had been built on the backs of the poor who had worked hard for those whose lifestyles eventually derailed the whole economy.
The violence in the Irish situation was not the physical violence of the army and navy of Tyre but instead the economic violence perpetrated against the poorest in Irish society. I can't help but think that if the driving force of the economy had been put to good social use improving the lot of the working poor in our society with free healthcare, free education and improving the living conditions of those who generated most of the country's wealth with their labour then when the inevitable property collapse hit we would still have people with some spending power who could have helped the country buy their way out of this mess.
Tyre didn't learn. It became so fascinated with its wealth that its King considered himself a God. I'm sure our Taoiseach does not think so highly of himself but even these many centuries later with Tyre's example written out for us in black and white we still do not learn. Let's hope that we not be singing these words about Ireland in the not-too-distant future -
33 The merchandise you traded
satisfied the desires of many nations.
Kings at the ends of the earth
were enriched by your trade.
34 Now you are a wrecked ship,
broken at the bottom of the sea.
All your merchandise and crew
have gone down with you.
35 All who live along the coastlands
are appalled at your terrible fate.
Their kings are filled with horror
and look on with twisted faces.
36 The merchants among the nations
shake their heads at the sight of you,
for you have come to a horrible end
and will exist no more.
Ezekiel 27:33-36
Hebrews 11:17-31
Psalm 111:1-10
Proverbs 27:15-16
RTE are reporting that the Irish Government are definitely not in talks with the EU about a bailout of our once bubbling economy. Every other news agency in the world is saying that they are. A few years ago property in Tullamore was more expensive than property in Manhattan. These days the houses on some estates are being sold at a third of the price they were going for in 2007.
In reading Ezekiel's words against Tyre you can't help but see the parallels between her fall and Ireland's fall. Thankfully in our case it has not been a violent collapse (so far) but the pain has been every bit as real for people. Tyre's success is written about first. All of the places she traded with are listed. As I type this I look round the room at a television made in Korea, I am typing on a laptop from a Japanese company, sitting on a Swedish sofa made in Poland, sipping New Zealand wine from a glass made in France, and everything else in the room was probably made in China.
But after listing the success of Tyre's trading relationships (and the Bible talks about international trade as a good thing as long as it is done fairly) and describing in overflowing language of how Tyre was a protective angel and partner for Israel it goes on to say, "Your rich commerce led you to violence, and you sinned. So I banished you in disgrace." At one point Ireland had the largest per capita income of any EU country and if you lived here with your eyes open you would have found that an incredibly embarrassing fact as cheek by jowl with immense wealth there was unbelievable poverty and disadvantage hardwired into Irish society. The wealth of our society had been built on the backs of the poor who had worked hard for those whose lifestyles eventually derailed the whole economy.
The violence in the Irish situation was not the physical violence of the army and navy of Tyre but instead the economic violence perpetrated against the poorest in Irish society. I can't help but think that if the driving force of the economy had been put to good social use improving the lot of the working poor in our society with free healthcare, free education and improving the living conditions of those who generated most of the country's wealth with their labour then when the inevitable property collapse hit we would still have people with some spending power who could have helped the country buy their way out of this mess.
Tyre didn't learn. It became so fascinated with its wealth that its King considered himself a God. I'm sure our Taoiseach does not think so highly of himself but even these many centuries later with Tyre's example written out for us in black and white we still do not learn. Let's hope that we not be singing these words about Ireland in the not-too-distant future -
33 The merchandise you traded
satisfied the desires of many nations.
Kings at the ends of the earth
were enriched by your trade.
34 Now you are a wrecked ship,
broken at the bottom of the sea.
All your merchandise and crew
have gone down with you.
35 All who live along the coastlands
are appalled at your terrible fate.
Their kings are filled with horror
and look on with twisted faces.
36 The merchants among the nations
shake their heads at the sight of you,
for you have come to a horrible end
and will exist no more.
Ezekiel 27:33-36
Faith means never having to say "I Know"
Ezekiel 24:1-26:21
Hebrews 11:1-16
Psalm 110:1-7
Proverbs 27:14
"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen." So says Hebrews 11 verse 1 before going on to illustrate this with examples of "saints" from the Old Testament who trusted God. The thing about faith is it is the admission that we simply do not know for certain.
We do not know. But we trust.
If levels of belief are drawn on a scale and knowing is put at the top at 100% and utter indifference is at the bottom at 0 then where does faith come in. Is it at 90% - so close to knowing for certain that there is no obvious difference? Is it at 80, 70, a good A grade or a poor B?
Possibly closer to a low grade F...
Jesus speaks about faith in a strange way, he talks about it being a tiny thing, a near invisible thing and yet its effects are amazing, beyond all proportion to its size. He tells parables comparing faith, the life of faith and the effect of faith as being like yeast, tiny seeds and other near invisible things that despite their smallness have amazing effects.
There is something incredibly liberating about being told that its not about knowing beyond all doubt but instead it is about having a tiny, mustard seed, yeast cell sized, piece of faith. We don't know but we do believe and that somehow in the weird and profound logic of God is much, much more powerful.
Hebrews 11:1-16
Psalm 110:1-7
Proverbs 27:14
"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen." So says Hebrews 11 verse 1 before going on to illustrate this with examples of "saints" from the Old Testament who trusted God. The thing about faith is it is the admission that we simply do not know for certain.
We do not know. But we trust.
If levels of belief are drawn on a scale and knowing is put at the top at 100% and utter indifference is at the bottom at 0 then where does faith come in. Is it at 90% - so close to knowing for certain that there is no obvious difference? Is it at 80, 70, a good A grade or a poor B?
Possibly closer to a low grade F...
Jesus speaks about faith in a strange way, he talks about it being a tiny thing, a near invisible thing and yet its effects are amazing, beyond all proportion to its size. He tells parables comparing faith, the life of faith and the effect of faith as being like yeast, tiny seeds and other near invisible things that despite their smallness have amazing effects.
There is something incredibly liberating about being told that its not about knowing beyond all doubt but instead it is about having a tiny, mustard seed, yeast cell sized, piece of faith. We don't know but we do believe and that somehow in the weird and profound logic of God is much, much more powerful.
Friday 12 November 2010
Impressionistic Use of the Bible
Ezekiel 23:1-49
Hebrews 10:18-39
Psalm 109:1-31
Proverbs 27:13
This one is only really half thought out tonight (possibly because it is written so late after being out at an Alpha Course in the pub chatting until late) but also because it is a tricky idea for me to get my head round.
Reading through Psalm 109 I got to verse 8 and thought, "hang on, that's familiar." It turns out that it is used in Acts 1 verse 20 by Peter when he is talking about Judas and finding a replacement for him. In the New Living Translation it says, "let someone else take his position."
Taken like that, totally out of context, then you could think of it as being a prophecy about Judas. It possibly matches but it really does require a bit of imagination. Then you go back and read the whole Psalm and you realise that these words, "let someone else take his position" are on the lips of the accusers of an innocent man and all of a sudden the whole thing gets very confusing.
It seems that Peter and others (especially Matthew) seem to use the Bible in a very impressionistic way, especially when it comes to saying, "The Bible says..." It's odd because this approach to the Bible would get most preachers laughed out of church these days. Is Peter right to use the Bible in this seemingly random way?
I don't know. But what it does make me think of is that rather disgusting proverb, "There is more than one way to skin a cat." As a complete digression I have to ask at this point how many there are and who on earth thought of them...
As well as there being more than one way to part a feline from its fur there are also many different ways of reading the Bible. You can go in depth into a passage, pulling it apart and looking at the history, language, etc. You can Meditate on it as it is and let the passage soak into you like a marinade. You can sing it and adapt it to music. You can read it out together as a congregation or Bible study group.
Or you can us it impressionistically just like Peter did, taking parts of sentences out of context and quoting them to people as, "The Bible says..." It must be a valid way of reading if Acts 20 is anything to go by but in the end it leaves me feeling a little cold.
What do you think?
Hebrews 10:18-39
Psalm 109:1-31
Proverbs 27:13
This one is only really half thought out tonight (possibly because it is written so late after being out at an Alpha Course in the pub chatting until late) but also because it is a tricky idea for me to get my head round.
Reading through Psalm 109 I got to verse 8 and thought, "hang on, that's familiar." It turns out that it is used in Acts 1 verse 20 by Peter when he is talking about Judas and finding a replacement for him. In the New Living Translation it says, "let someone else take his position."
Taken like that, totally out of context, then you could think of it as being a prophecy about Judas. It possibly matches but it really does require a bit of imagination. Then you go back and read the whole Psalm and you realise that these words, "let someone else take his position" are on the lips of the accusers of an innocent man and all of a sudden the whole thing gets very confusing.
It seems that Peter and others (especially Matthew) seem to use the Bible in a very impressionistic way, especially when it comes to saying, "The Bible says..." It's odd because this approach to the Bible would get most preachers laughed out of church these days. Is Peter right to use the Bible in this seemingly random way?
I don't know. But what it does make me think of is that rather disgusting proverb, "There is more than one way to skin a cat." As a complete digression I have to ask at this point how many there are and who on earth thought of them...
As well as there being more than one way to part a feline from its fur there are also many different ways of reading the Bible. You can go in depth into a passage, pulling it apart and looking at the history, language, etc. You can Meditate on it as it is and let the passage soak into you like a marinade. You can sing it and adapt it to music. You can read it out together as a congregation or Bible study group.
Or you can us it impressionistically just like Peter did, taking parts of sentences out of context and quoting them to people as, "The Bible says..." It must be a valid way of reading if Acts 20 is anything to go by but in the end it leaves me feeling a little cold.
What do you think?
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Don't Forget the Good News
Ezekiel 20:1-49
Hebrews 9:11-28
Psalm 107:1-43
Proverbs 27:11
I've become increasingly worried over the last while at how churches seem to be polarising over methods of reaching out to people and ways to grow the Kingdom of God. On the one hand some churches seem to want to water absolutely everything down so that just about every aspect of Christian faith is up for grabs. If we have to look exactly like the culture around us in it's greed and it's celebration of all things youthful and successful then so be it, off we go, let's look more and more like the world so that we can bring more people in.
The flip side of that comes in the form of movements such as Way of the Master that seem to see the problem not in the look of the church or in what we should adopt to attract the world but in a wholesale redesign of the story of Jesus so that what he does is come to tell the world the bad news of how much God can't stand who they are and is really, really itching to send them to hell for stealing cookies from the cookie jar or pens from the office.
In contrast to both of these approaches the Bible emphasises this weird and wonderful idea that it calls the "Good News." That phrase has become so over used and hackneyed that it pays to go back to the Bible every once in a while to read what it means. I would encourage you to use something like www.biblegateway.com and search under each use of that phrase "Good News" to rediscover what way the Bible uses it and then compare it to how your church or community use it.
In Psalm 107 the idea of telling the Good News is broken down to its simplest form, "1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. 2 Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies. 3 For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south."
"Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!" The word redeemed here is a word used when talking about buying someone out of debt slavery or marrying someone who has been left destitute. Has God changed your life and lifted you out of the mess you were in? Go on, tell people about it! There are enough people out there in the church fixated on convincing people of the "Bad News" first before they will let them know the Good News but this psalm tells us repeatedly to let people know what God has done for us. Tell them the Good News and tell them it again and again and again.
Hebrews 9:11-28
Psalm 107:1-43
Proverbs 27:11
I've become increasingly worried over the last while at how churches seem to be polarising over methods of reaching out to people and ways to grow the Kingdom of God. On the one hand some churches seem to want to water absolutely everything down so that just about every aspect of Christian faith is up for grabs. If we have to look exactly like the culture around us in it's greed and it's celebration of all things youthful and successful then so be it, off we go, let's look more and more like the world so that we can bring more people in.
The flip side of that comes in the form of movements such as Way of the Master that seem to see the problem not in the look of the church or in what we should adopt to attract the world but in a wholesale redesign of the story of Jesus so that what he does is come to tell the world the bad news of how much God can't stand who they are and is really, really itching to send them to hell for stealing cookies from the cookie jar or pens from the office.
In contrast to both of these approaches the Bible emphasises this weird and wonderful idea that it calls the "Good News." That phrase has become so over used and hackneyed that it pays to go back to the Bible every once in a while to read what it means. I would encourage you to use something like www.biblegateway.com and search under each use of that phrase "Good News" to rediscover what way the Bible uses it and then compare it to how your church or community use it.
In Psalm 107 the idea of telling the Good News is broken down to its simplest form, "1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. 2 Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies. 3 For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south."
"Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!" The word redeemed here is a word used when talking about buying someone out of debt slavery or marrying someone who has been left destitute. Has God changed your life and lifted you out of the mess you were in? Go on, tell people about it! There are enough people out there in the church fixated on convincing people of the "Bad News" first before they will let them know the Good News but this psalm tells us repeatedly to let people know what God has done for us. Tell them the Good News and tell them it again and again and again.
Monday 8 November 2010
Justice, Jubilee and Generational Poverty
Ezekiel 18:1-19:14
Hebrews 9:1-10
Psalm 106:32-48
Proverbs 27:10
It can be so easy to read the passage in Ezekiel 18 these days and just nod and agree or maybe even shake our heads and wonder at the barbarity of ancient Israelite culture that demanded that whole families be repaid for the crimes or sins of a child or a father. The principle was summed up in a proverb, " The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste."
The problem is we operate the same principle in our own culture but largely in an economic sense, although also partly in a judicial sense.
What do I mean?
I mean that when a parent messes up their lives financially or morally by wasting their family's money on drink, drugs, gambling, reckless spending or whatever, then we do very little as a society to financially repair families that are left in this mess. The mess is the fault of the parent but the results are felt by the children and even debts can be handed down from generation to generation (as happened with a friend of men who was left with a sizeable debt after the death of his father) meaning that children can be caught in a downward spiral of generational poverty.
In the book of Leviticus (chapter 25 and following) God prescribes a cure for generational poverty in the form of the Jubilee principle. When the tribes first conquered the Promised Land the territory was divided up equally between the tribes and within the tribes it was divided up evenly between clans and families. Land could be sold but only for a set period of time. Every 50 years the land reverted to the original owners. This meant that if I, for example, squandered my property and ended up sold as a slave in poverty then by the time the next Year of Jubilee came round my family would have some chance of getting themselves back on their feet as they would get the land back in a set period of time.
It's not known if Jubilee was fully put into practice in ancient Israel at all but it finally broke down around the time of a king called Ahab in the mid 800s BC. If it ever did work then it was a brilliant device for breaking the cycle of generational poverty. Now we live in a very different society and the link between wealth and land is not as strong as it once was but how could we mirror that Jubilee principle in our own society and so remove our own barbaric practice of enforcing generational poverty on innocent children whose father's sour grapes have forced their mouths to pucker?
Hebrews 9:1-10
Psalm 106:32-48
Proverbs 27:10
It can be so easy to read the passage in Ezekiel 18 these days and just nod and agree or maybe even shake our heads and wonder at the barbarity of ancient Israelite culture that demanded that whole families be repaid for the crimes or sins of a child or a father. The principle was summed up in a proverb, " The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste."
The problem is we operate the same principle in our own culture but largely in an economic sense, although also partly in a judicial sense.
What do I mean?
I mean that when a parent messes up their lives financially or morally by wasting their family's money on drink, drugs, gambling, reckless spending or whatever, then we do very little as a society to financially repair families that are left in this mess. The mess is the fault of the parent but the results are felt by the children and even debts can be handed down from generation to generation (as happened with a friend of men who was left with a sizeable debt after the death of his father) meaning that children can be caught in a downward spiral of generational poverty.
In the book of Leviticus (chapter 25 and following) God prescribes a cure for generational poverty in the form of the Jubilee principle. When the tribes first conquered the Promised Land the territory was divided up equally between the tribes and within the tribes it was divided up evenly between clans and families. Land could be sold but only for a set period of time. Every 50 years the land reverted to the original owners. This meant that if I, for example, squandered my property and ended up sold as a slave in poverty then by the time the next Year of Jubilee came round my family would have some chance of getting themselves back on their feet as they would get the land back in a set period of time.
It's not known if Jubilee was fully put into practice in ancient Israel at all but it finally broke down around the time of a king called Ahab in the mid 800s BC. If it ever did work then it was a brilliant device for breaking the cycle of generational poverty. Now we live in a very different society and the link between wealth and land is not as strong as it once was but how could we mirror that Jubilee principle in our own society and so remove our own barbaric practice of enforcing generational poverty on innocent children whose father's sour grapes have forced their mouths to pucker?
Sunday 7 November 2010
Save Ireland from Sodomy!
Ezekiel 16:42-17:24
Hebrews 8:1-13
Psalm 106:13-31
Proverbs 27:7-9
Ian Paisley and his fellow Free Presbyterians used to wear T-shirts and carry banners with the rather catchy slogan, "Save Ulster from Sodomy" and they would display them in front of anywhere there might possibly be a whiff of homosexuality in Northern Ireland. Some enterprising gays even brought out a line of opposing T-shirts that read "Save Sodomy from Ulster" but what neither side in this sartorially driven argument seemed to ask was this, "What was so bad about the city of Sodom that God destroyed it?"
The answer is given in Ezekiel 16 "Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door." If that is the Bible's definition of "Sodomy" then I think we need a new line of T-shirts made because that sounds very like the evils of modern day capitalist Ireland.
Save Ireland from Sodomy!
Saturday 6 November 2010
It's not what you know...
Ezekiel 14:12-16:41
Hebrews 7:18-28
Psalm 106:1-12
Proverbs 27:4-6
Jesus is pretty much free to do whatever he wants. I would go so far as to say he is the most free being in all of the universe and whatever else there might be beside that. So what does the most free being in the universe choose to do with his time and eternity?
The Hebrews passage today tells us. "He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf."
That's how he spends his days. Talking to the Father on your behalf and mine.
Now, how special does that make you feel?
Hebrews 7:18-28
Psalm 106:1-12
Proverbs 27:4-6
Jesus is pretty much free to do whatever he wants. I would go so far as to say he is the most free being in all of the universe and whatever else there might be beside that. So what does the most free being in the universe choose to do with his time and eternity?
The Hebrews passage today tells us. "He is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf."
That's how he spends his days. Talking to the Father on your behalf and mine.
Now, how special does that make you feel?
Friday 5 November 2010
Don't Think Pink!
Ezekiel 12:1-14:11
Hebrews 7:1-17
Psalm 105:37-45
Proverbs 27:3
The Proverbs verse for today is particularly timely for us.
James doesn't normally talk too much about the things that he does at school. Being a typical boy he simply goes "Uh, we did pig painting. It was brown and yucky. It wasn't a live pig though..." But this morning he talked forever about a boy in his class who has informed him recently that he is "a girl." The reason for this moment of gender confusion on the part of his classmate is that when asked what his favourite colours were the other day, James said, "Green, Blue, Orange and Pink."
Green, Blue and Orange were all perfectly acceptable colours for a boy to like but pink, according to the boy at his table, was not. So now James has had to put up with days of "You're a girl!" Now asides from the fact that it is very odd for anyone to use the word "girl" as an insult it is also a pretty good example of the truth of Proverbs 27:3 "A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier."
The effect of this other boys foolish words were pretty heavy on James this morning. Hopefully he'll get over it pretty soon and I'm sure he'll dole out his own fair share of foolish words. In the meantime we'll get to showing him videos of Stade Francais thrashing lesser rugby teams and assure him that he most certainly is a boy.
Hebrews 7:1-17
Psalm 105:37-45
Proverbs 27:3
The Proverbs verse for today is particularly timely for us.
James doesn't normally talk too much about the things that he does at school. Being a typical boy he simply goes "Uh, we did pig painting. It was brown and yucky. It wasn't a live pig though..." But this morning he talked forever about a boy in his class who has informed him recently that he is "a girl." The reason for this moment of gender confusion on the part of his classmate is that when asked what his favourite colours were the other day, James said, "Green, Blue, Orange and Pink."
Green, Blue and Orange were all perfectly acceptable colours for a boy to like but pink, according to the boy at his table, was not. So now James has had to put up with days of "You're a girl!" Now asides from the fact that it is very odd for anyone to use the word "girl" as an insult it is also a pretty good example of the truth of Proverbs 27:3 "A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier."
The effect of this other boys foolish words were pretty heavy on James this morning. Hopefully he'll get over it pretty soon and I'm sure he'll dole out his own fair share of foolish words. In the meantime we'll get to showing him videos of Stade Francais thrashing lesser rugby teams and assure him that he most certainly is a boy.
We're Doomed!
We are all going to die!
Normally the kind of phrase reserved for dodgy Hollywood disaster movies or the fat red-faced guy in a super hero film who is just about to be crushed by a flying car thrown by the bad guy / monster / evil opposite of the hero from a parallel universe.
But the bizarre thing is that its true. We are all going to die. All of us. Or as the Blues Brothers would put it, "You, me, everybody" we're all going to die. It's the last big taboo in a society in which we have gotten rid of just about every other taboo you can think of. Want to go on Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer and talk about your lesbian affair with your dad's sex-change best friend? OK, go ahead! Want to talk about death? No! Don't talk about that.
The Proverbs passage today is pretty blunt and to the point. Don't boast about tomorrow, you don't know if you're going to have one.
Being aware that you are going to die can be both a liberator and a motivator for people. I've been reading and listening to a lot of biographies over the last few months and some of the greatest figures in the 20th Century managed to achieve the things they did because they were convinced early on that they didn't have very long to live and so set out to seize life in both hands and do something with it, sometimes for good and sometimes for ill.
So, to quote a famous 20th Century Philosopher, "Life's short and there's no return and no deposit." Get on with it. If you have questions you want to ask, ask them. If there is something you want to achieve, get working. If there are things you want to find out, go looking. If there are sorrys that need said or relationships that need fixed then go do your best to do it. Never think, "I'll think about this later, I'll do this later, I'll say sorry later, I'll get right with God later..."
You might not have a later to do it.
And while we are on the subject of death...
Normally the kind of phrase reserved for dodgy Hollywood disaster movies or the fat red-faced guy in a super hero film who is just about to be crushed by a flying car thrown by the bad guy / monster / evil opposite of the hero from a parallel universe.
But the bizarre thing is that its true. We are all going to die. All of us. Or as the Blues Brothers would put it, "You, me, everybody" we're all going to die. It's the last big taboo in a society in which we have gotten rid of just about every other taboo you can think of. Want to go on Jeremy Kyle or Jerry Springer and talk about your lesbian affair with your dad's sex-change best friend? OK, go ahead! Want to talk about death? No! Don't talk about that.
The Proverbs passage today is pretty blunt and to the point. Don't boast about tomorrow, you don't know if you're going to have one.
Being aware that you are going to die can be both a liberator and a motivator for people. I've been reading and listening to a lot of biographies over the last few months and some of the greatest figures in the 20th Century managed to achieve the things they did because they were convinced early on that they didn't have very long to live and so set out to seize life in both hands and do something with it, sometimes for good and sometimes for ill.
So, to quote a famous 20th Century Philosopher, "Life's short and there's no return and no deposit." Get on with it. If you have questions you want to ask, ask them. If there is something you want to achieve, get working. If there are things you want to find out, go looking. If there are sorrys that need said or relationships that need fixed then go do your best to do it. Never think, "I'll think about this later, I'll do this later, I'll say sorry later, I'll get right with God later..."
You might not have a later to do it.
And while we are on the subject of death...
Wednesday 3 November 2010
A Sinful Leader is a Good Leader
Ezekiel 7:1-9:11
Hebrews 5:1-14
Psalm 105:1-15
Proverbs 26:28
It's interesting to compare the description of what a High Priest should be like with the description of Caiaphas (the high priest who tried Jesus) in the Gospels. He does not come across as someone who is "able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses." Instead of dealing gently with Jesus he is harsh, violent and intolerant of him. We see in these two images of a high priest two very different visions of what it means to be a leader.
For many people being a leader is about harshly directing from the front, being the person who sets a perfect example and shows that he or she is leader by virtue of being better than everyone else. And if they are not better then the only thing to do is go and find a new leader who lives up to such exacting standards.
The Bible takes a much more realistic view of human leadership. Every High Priest in the Old Testament was directed to offer sacrifice for their own sin as well as for the sins of the people. What this act presumes is that the High Priest will be a man who sins and gets things wrong. Hebrews actually goes so far as to tell us that this then becomes a positive quality in the High Priest because he can then deal gently with people who go astray because he is prone to the same sins and weaknesses as they are.
We all have to fight against sin and no sin is ever a "good sin" but having an awareness that you are a sinner should generate in you an ability to not only tolerate the sins of others but to be able to deal gently with them. In the Calvinist branch of the church that I come from there is a much misunderstood doctrine called "Total Depravity" which doesn't mean that everyone is a depraved mindless beast but instead tells us that everyone is broken in sin. Everyone sins and everyone is so burdened with sin that they themselves can do nothing about it but throw themselves on God's mercy.
I find it very freeing to know that everyone is broken and that even the most pious person you can meet has their own sins that they wrestle with. It's freeing because it lets me know that I'm not alone but also it is freeing in that when they do something to really annoy or hurt me I can find comfort in the fact that they do this because they, like me, are broken. I can't fix them but one day God will.
Hebrews 5:1-14
Psalm 105:1-15
Proverbs 26:28
It's interesting to compare the description of what a High Priest should be like with the description of Caiaphas (the high priest who tried Jesus) in the Gospels. He does not come across as someone who is "able to deal gently with ignorant and wayward people because he himself is subject to the same weaknesses." Instead of dealing gently with Jesus he is harsh, violent and intolerant of him. We see in these two images of a high priest two very different visions of what it means to be a leader.
For many people being a leader is about harshly directing from the front, being the person who sets a perfect example and shows that he or she is leader by virtue of being better than everyone else. And if they are not better then the only thing to do is go and find a new leader who lives up to such exacting standards.
The Bible takes a much more realistic view of human leadership. Every High Priest in the Old Testament was directed to offer sacrifice for their own sin as well as for the sins of the people. What this act presumes is that the High Priest will be a man who sins and gets things wrong. Hebrews actually goes so far as to tell us that this then becomes a positive quality in the High Priest because he can then deal gently with people who go astray because he is prone to the same sins and weaknesses as they are.
We all have to fight against sin and no sin is ever a "good sin" but having an awareness that you are a sinner should generate in you an ability to not only tolerate the sins of others but to be able to deal gently with them. In the Calvinist branch of the church that I come from there is a much misunderstood doctrine called "Total Depravity" which doesn't mean that everyone is a depraved mindless beast but instead tells us that everyone is broken in sin. Everyone sins and everyone is so burdened with sin that they themselves can do nothing about it but throw themselves on God's mercy.
I find it very freeing to know that everyone is broken and that even the most pious person you can meet has their own sins that they wrestle with. It's freeing because it lets me know that I'm not alone but also it is freeing in that when they do something to really annoy or hurt me I can find comfort in the fact that they do this because they, like me, are broken. I can't fix them but one day God will.
Tuesday 2 November 2010
Positively Unashamed
Ezekiel 3:16-6:14
Hebrews 4:1-16
Psalm 104:24-35
Proverbs 26:27
Psalm 104 is as upbeat as an early Beatles song or a piece of Europop but don't let that fool you. This is not the Macarena of the Bible, simple cheery audio chewing gum for the soul. This positive expression of the joys of this world is a great antidote to the temptation within Christianity to become world-despisers.
In To Kill a Mockingbird Miss Maudie is told by some fundamentalists that she and her flowers will go to hell. She should, apparently, have been spending more time indoors reading the Bible than outdoors tending her flowers. But had she gone inside and read psalm 104 she would then have found herself encouraged by God's Word to get back out into the great outdoors and enjoy nature's worship of its creator, possibly even with a glass of wine to "make her glad."
The world that God made is still a beautiful and wonderful place. Enjoy it, and don't forget to say thank you to the one who made it.
Monday 1 November 2010
Ezekiel the Psychedelic Prophet
Ezekiel 1:1-3:15
Hebrews 3:1-19
Psalm 104:1-23
Proverbs 26:24-26
It still comes as a bit of a shock to the system every time I read the start of Ezekiel. After going through Isaiah with his visions of all nature in harmony in a renewed Eden, Jeremiah's blood curdling but all too realistic (and eventually realised) threats to Judah, and then the heartbreaking descriptions of loss in Lamentations, Ezekiel can read like some mad Saturday morning cartoon show.
Wheels within wheels all covered in eyes. Lightning blasts moving within and among creatures with multiple heads, a glowing being on a sapphire throne. It really does sound as though someone spiked Ezekiel's water with LSD.
Why does God speak to Ezekiel using this style of vision?
I can think of 2 possible reasons, neither which are mutually exclusive. If you think of any others let me know!
The first is because Ezekiel and his people have been through a massive national and personal trauma that probably had them doubting God's existence, God's power or God's interest in them at all. With all that Ezekiel had seen then angels in the smoke of the temple (Isaiah's call) or pots boiling over out of doors (Jeremiah's call) just won't do it. Ezekiel's consciousness has been battered by the brutality of war. To get through to him God employs his own "Shock and Awe" approach.
In doing so he gives Ezekiel a vision of himself as God of all the earth, not some local deity, wholly other, wholly different, wholly free and all-powerful. Jerusalem is ruined but God is above and beyond human temples and constraints.
The second reason is much more simple and prosaic. Maybe Ezekiel is just that kind of guy. God respects our personalities and more often than not works through them rather than against them. Maybe Ezekiel sees visions like this because he is God's psychedelic prophet rather than God's boring mundane one.
What do you think?
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