Gen 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19 for Sun., June 1, 2008

Translation:

(9)These are the generations of Noah:  Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, Noah walked with God. (10)Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.  (11)The earth was marred before God and the land was filled with violence. (12)God saw the land, how marred it was because all flesh ruined its ways upon the earth.  (13)God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me.  The earth is filled with violence because of them I now am going to destroy them along with the earth. (14)Make for yourself an ark from gopher trees.  Make cells in the ark and cover it inside and outside with pitch.  (15)And this is how you will make it: the ark will be 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, 30 cubits high. (16)Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above and put a door in the side of the ark.  Make lower, second and third [decks].  (17)And I am bringing a flood of waters upon the earth to ruin all flesh which in it is a breath of life under the sky, everything on earth will die.  (18)I will establish to my covenant with you and you will enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife and your son's wives with you.  (19)And al that lives, from all flesh two from everything you will bring to the ark to preserve with you, male and female they shall be.  (20)Those that fly according to their kinds, and from the animals according to their kinds and from all creeping things of the land according to their kinds.  Two of each will come in with you to be preserved. (21)And take for yourself every food which will be eaten and gather up for yourself and it will be for you and for them food."  (22)And Noah did everything which God commanded him, thus he did.  

(7:24) And the waters prevailed over the earth 150 days.

(8:14)And in the second month on the 27th day of the month, the earth dried up.  (15)God spoke to Noah saying: (16)"Go out from the ark with your wife, your sons and your son's wives with you.  (17)Every living thing which is with you, all flesh and all flying things and all animals and every creeping thing which creeps upon the earth will come out with you to swarm on the earth and multiply upon the earth." (18)And Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him.  (19)All living things, all creeping things and all flying things and all those which creep upon the earth came out from the ark by families.

I recently attended Godly Play training, where I learned to tell biblical stories in a new way.  Our instructors told us many biblical stories for us to reflect on.  One of the stories was the story of Noah and the flood.  There were about 30 adults in the room when the story was told and when the story was over, several were in tears.  In a time where the images of Katrina, tsunamis, cyclones and earthquakes are all still very fresh, it is hard to hear a story of destruction.  Especially a story of destruction initiated by God.

The story of Noah is one of the first stories in the Bible that illustrates how things have really gone wrong since the creation that God called "good."  The violence and corruption of Genesis 6 is over and against the goodness of God's creation in Genesis 1.  It seems that it is not just people that are corrupt, but everything has gone wrong.  It is all flesh (which indicates to me, even animals and other parts of creation).  God has to do something.

I think we often read this story and think that God must have been experiencing some kind of divine depression.  God looked down on earth and disliked what God saw and in a fit of depression decided to end it all.  Maybe this is how it happened.  I like to think that God saw the earth and realized that things were not going the way God had intended.  The creating was incomplete.  God needed to have some form of redemption, some way to wipe this slate clean.

The flood was obviously a destructive way to cleanse the earth from it's wickedness, but I think God was searching for answers to "fix" the corruption on the earth.  Short of saying God made a mistake with the flood, I think God was still creating and still finding the best ways to offer newness in a somewhat wrecked world.  Obviously, God's plan was not to completely destroy the earth (he did preserve two of every species), but rather to wipe out the tendencies for corruption.

In the end, I think God discovered that the flood was perhaps not the ideal solution.  Kind of in the same way none of the animals paraded before ha adam (literally "the earth-dweller") were the solution to his singular existence (Gen 2:18ff).  God promises never to flood the earth again, and God does find other ways to offer redemption to the earth that do not involve mass destruction.

This Sunday, we will hear a sermon entitled "It All Belongs to God."  In some sense, that fact may frighten us because the divine Creator, especially in this story, has the power to end all creation.  On the other hand, the divine Creator makes a covenant with Noah and all creation to never again destroy every living being.  God makes a solemn oath and we can rely on that.  It doesn't mean that bad things will never happen, but it does mean that everything belonging to God is secure in God's covenant. 

Matt 6:24-34 for Sunday, May 25, 2008

Translation:

(24)No one can serve two lords; for he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will be loyal to one and the other he will despise. You cannot serve God and possessions. (25)Because of this, I say to you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, not for your body, what you will wear. (26)Look at the bird of the sky, for they do not sow, they do not reap and they do not gather up into a barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them; are you not superior to them? (27)And which of you, by worrying add to one cubit to your life? (28)And with clothes, why are you anxious? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they do not labor, they do not spin. (29)And I say to you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed as one of these. (30)But if the grass of the field is here today and tomorrow thrown into the oven and God thus clothes it, will he not do much more for you, of little faith? (31)Therefore, do not be anxious, saying "What will we eat?" or "What will we drink?" or "What will we wear?" (32)For all this Gentiles seek after, for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. (33)Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this will be added to you. (34)Thus, do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. The trouble of today is enough.

One of my favorite authors is Chaim Potok. He writes these amazing novels about Jewish life. You have to be a little invested in the plot to get through the first few chapters, but it's always worth it because he writes such beautiful and thought provoking stories.

One of my favorite Chaim Potok quotes is from his book The Chosen. It goes like this: "We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye?...I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives the span, he is something."

I think of this quote every time I read this scripture from Matthew. I think of this quote because it reminds me that our lives are really very short, and for many people in this world life is full of suffering. Some do not have food or drink or clothing. For some people, these things are a real concern and lack of necessity. And yet, in our short lives, Matthew tells us not to worry about these kinds of things! This quote and this scripture remind me that little good comes from worrying about these things. Worrying is like being the blink of an eye.

The scripture tells us that God provides the necessary things that we need. It is true that God has provided, but it sometimes seems that things are not evenly distributed among all God's people. I doubt this has much to do with God's ability to provide and has more to do with our ability to share. Rather than worrying about whether or not goods and services are being evenly distributed, it would make more sense for me to do something about why they are not. It's better to be the eye that blinks, not the blink of the eye.

I think this week I will try to do less complaining about what I don't have and do more to think about what God provides. I think I will try more to think about what God has provided for this planet and how I can do my best to make sure I am not using more than my fair share and that everyone else gets equal opportunity.

Matt 28:16-20 for Sunday, May 18, 2008

Translation:

(16)And the eleven disciples traveled to Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had commanded them.  (17)And they saw him, they worshiped him but they doubted.  (18)And Jesus was coming and spoke to them, saying "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (19)Go, therefore, make disciples of all the people, baptizing them into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, (20)teaching them to keep everything whatsoever I commanded you.  And surely I am with you every day until the end of the age."

In preparation for writing this blog, I read (as I always do) several commentaries.  One of my favorites has an "Explanation" section with these words, "Theirs is indeed an awesome responsibility: to go, make disciples of all nations, baptize, and teach.  If left to their own devices and strength, the task would be overwhelming.  Yet they are not left alone in this assignment.  The risen, enthroned Jesus promises to be with them in their fulfillment of it, not intermittently but always." (Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 33b, pg. 889)

I totally agree with this commentator: Jesus' promised presence makes all the difference.  That said, I'd like to take this commentator to task on the use of the word "overwhelming."

I think that the task wouldn't just be overwhelming, but impossible!  These eleven disciples (not twelve--remember, Judas doesn't make it this far in the story) worshiped, but doubted.  Some translations say that "some doubted."  This is a Greek grammatical quandary, but I think Matthew does not mean that only some doubted.  They all doubted.  And admit it, that scares us even 2,000 years later because it means that it's possible that others (the disciples of all people!) aren't sure about this faith either.

Let me qualify the word "doubt."  In this case, it means some kind of wavering.  It's the kind of back-and-forth we all go through when one possibility seems reasonable and right but another pulls us in a totally opposite direction.  It's indecision, uncertainty.  These disciples do not know what is going on.  Are they seeing things?  Should they continue to take any of this seriously?  They are all at a crossroads in their own lives.  Of course they have doubts!

So, here we have eleven disciples, who worship but not with some sense of reservation.  Then Jesus tells them to go and make disciples.  Overwhelming?!  Impossible!  Here are eleven men who aren't even sure this is what they want to do, or what they believe, or what and how any of this happened anyway.  I doubt they were feeling level headed enough to feel overwhelmed at this point.  I'll bet they mostly wanted to just go back to their lives prior to meeting this Jesus.  I'll bet they wanted to jump on a boat to Tarshish.  I'll bet they had a hundred other things they'd rather do.  In fact, if it wasn't for Jesus' final words in the Gospel of Matthew "I am with you every day until the end of the age," I wonder if we would even know anything about the disciples today.

It's not just that to "Go, therefore, make disciples of all the people" is an overwhelming task. Without Jesus' promise to remain present, I don't think it is possible at all.  The fact of the matter is that no individual human being can save anyone.  If we cannot point to the risen Christ as Savior when we go out to make disciples, then our message will have no power and no meaning.  A disciple is literally a "follower," "pupil," "student."  If Jesus did not go with us in our ministry, who would we teach folks to follow?

So, to all of those who have skipped over the last verses of Matthew thinking "not me!  I could never do that!" I say, breathe easy!  Your job is to show others how to follow Christ, by showing them his teachings and teaching his commands.  You don't have to be Christ!  

The blog hiatus of 2008

I've been absent from the blogosphere in the last two weeks, but not without good reason!  I spent four days in Rochester, New York soaking up Godly Play Training.  It was fabulous!  Godly Play is perhaps most well known for the stories that are told to children using what appear to be "bare bones" materials that take on enormous meaning.  Godly Play is incredibly difficult to explain, but is an amazing experience that I hope to share with many at Trinity.

Then it was off to my "Residency Event."  In the Virginia Conference, all "probationary" clergy are required to attend two Residency Events each year, where we take in some continuing education.  This time, the topic was Leadership.  Though it's a long car trip to Blackstone, VA, the speakers are always wonderful and it's a lot of fun to catch up with friends and colleagues. 

Then I returned to Trinity for a day.  I read a lot of email.  Returned a lot of phone calls and made some last preparations for Sunday before I left town one last time for a training event in Richmond.

So, after two weeks of no blogging, I'm back!  This week's Scripture is Matthew 28:16-20, a very famous scripture, used at practically every commissioning ceremony that I've ever attended.  I think you'll enjoy this Scripture, so be sure to check back when it's posted!