Here are the Scripture readings for Sunday, May 17. The reading from Acts 10 is part of a larger story about Peter and Cornelius, a Roman centurion. While Peter was indeed a “Christian” in that he was a follower of Jesus, at this very early point in the life of the church there was no breach yet between followers of Jesus, who at this point were almost all Jews, and the Jewish community. As a Jew Peter would only associate with Gentiles (that is, everyone who was not of Jewish ethnicity) on a very limited basis. While some Gentiles, such as Cornelius, worshipped with Jews at the synagogue and practiced many parts of the Law of Moses, even they were reckoned as outsiders and were not welcomed fully into fellowship with the Jewish community.
But then one day God did something shocking. God poured out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius, and in a dream told Peter to see Cornelius so Peter could see what God had done. What was shocking about this was the Jewish belief that God’s promises associated with the victory of God over the nations (literally, over the Gentiles), of which the giving of the Holy Spirit was one, were believed to be for the Jews only. But with Cornelius it was becoming apparent that all peoples were able to share in God’s promises and in God’s kingdom.
To put it bluntly, none of us would be part of Christ’s body if it wasn’t for what God showed Peter by pouring out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius. This story isn’t as much about the conversion of Cornelius to Christianity as much as it’s about God converting Peter to embrace the vast scope of God’s mission.
This story helps us see that while God’s presence is embodied throughout the spectrum of ethnic groups, from Anglo Saxons to Zulus, God is not identified with any one of these groups. If this is true can we really speak of a “Christian West” versus an “Islamic East” when Christians still abide in lands throughout the Middle East and Central Asia? How does this challenge how we perceive ourselves in relation to the other nations?
What parts of God’s mission do we find shocking? How does the vastness of God’s mission challenge some of our core assumptions?
Thursday 5/14
Isaiah 49:5-6
Acts 10:1-34
Friday 5/15
Isaiah 42:5-9
Acts 10:34-43
Saturday 5/16
Deuteronomy 32:44-47
Mark 10:42-45
Read Psalm 98 each of these three days.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Rooted and Sent
The readings from John and from Acts for Sunday, May 10, may at first read seem to go against each other. The image of the vine and branches in John 15 is an image of stability, continuity and rootedness. The story in Acts 8 of the scattering of the Jerusalem church and of Philip moving here and there by the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a story of motion, change and of being sent. How do we both stay rooted and get up and go?
In the Isaiah passages below we see how central the image of the vineyard is in describing Israel’s relationship to God. For Israel the image of the vineyard is closely associated to having a specific place in the world, namely the Promised Land. But as Christians we do not share in this same promise of being given a special piece of land, of being a settled people. How do we relate to this image of vineyard?
A better way to imagine this image may be to think of what it means to be a fruitful people. In Genesis God’s first command to humanity is to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth, in others words to be fruitful and to get up and go. We are called to be a rooted people, but we are rooted in the person of Jesus and not to a special piece of land. Paul’s words about the fruit of the (Holy) Spirit help us what it understands to be fruitful and sent. Wherever we are we embody the Christ-like virtues and by doing so make God’s presence tangible.
Another way to think of the dynamic of being rooted and sent is to be “inwardly strong and outwardly focused,” which is the motto of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship, a group within the PC(USA) that seeks to help churches become sent communities and not static institutions. I encourage you to check out their blog postings and see what insights are valuable or perhaps provocative.
What kinds of roots do we have –both spiritual and to family, neighborhoods, work and other places? How can these roots not be barriers to being sent, but the very places we are called to go to and bear fruit?
Monday, 5/11
Isaiah 5:1-7
Galatians 5:16-26
Tuesday 5/12
Isaiah 32:9-20
James 3:17-18
Wednesday 5/13
Isaiah 65:17-25
John 14:18-31
Read Psalm 80 each of these three days.
In the Isaiah passages below we see how central the image of the vineyard is in describing Israel’s relationship to God. For Israel the image of the vineyard is closely associated to having a specific place in the world, namely the Promised Land. But as Christians we do not share in this same promise of being given a special piece of land, of being a settled people. How do we relate to this image of vineyard?
A better way to imagine this image may be to think of what it means to be a fruitful people. In Genesis God’s first command to humanity is to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth, in others words to be fruitful and to get up and go. We are called to be a rooted people, but we are rooted in the person of Jesus and not to a special piece of land. Paul’s words about the fruit of the (Holy) Spirit help us what it understands to be fruitful and sent. Wherever we are we embody the Christ-like virtues and by doing so make God’s presence tangible.
Another way to think of the dynamic of being rooted and sent is to be “inwardly strong and outwardly focused,” which is the motto of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship, a group within the PC(USA) that seeks to help churches become sent communities and not static institutions. I encourage you to check out their blog postings and see what insights are valuable or perhaps provocative.
What kinds of roots do we have –both spiritual and to family, neighborhoods, work and other places? How can these roots not be barriers to being sent, but the very places we are called to go to and bear fruit?
Monday, 5/11
Isaiah 5:1-7
Galatians 5:16-26
Tuesday 5/12
Isaiah 32:9-20
James 3:17-18
Wednesday 5/13
Isaiah 65:17-25
John 14:18-31
Read Psalm 80 each of these three days.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Still Waters, Troubled Waters
As we begin to move to “Ordinary Time,” that long season (about six months) from Pentecost to Advent, I’d like to offer a word about the Sunday lectionary readings. During the seasons of Advent, Epiphany and Lent the Old Testament readings and the New Testament readings share common themes. They are intentionally paired like this so we are able to see how Jesus is rooted in and fulfills Israel’s Scriptures. But after Easter a change begins to take place in how the Sunday readings are ordered. There is no longer a connection between the Old Testament texts and the New Testament texts. The reason behind this shift is to remind us that the Old Testament is not important only because it helps us understand the New Testament. The Old Testament is the Word of God in its own right and can be read and preach on apart from the New.
The readings for Sunday, May 10 begin to move in these different directions. During Easter the Old Testament readings are replaced by readings from Acts, which tell the story of Christian community lived powerfully in the light of Christ’s resurrection. But there is no direct connection between the Gospel readings and the readings from Acts. In the reading from John’s Gospel Jesus declares that he is the vine and his disciples are the branches, who draw strength and life from him. The readings from Amos convey provocative images of Israel as the vine and God as the keeper of the vineyard. While God expresses his anger toward Israel for failing to treat the poor with dignity and respect, we also hear that God cannot forsake his people and that God’s compassion will overcome God’s anger. How do these discomforting passages from Amos help us see the more familiar and comfortable reading from John 15 in a new light?
The readings from Acts below provide background to the reading from Acts for Sunday. While Jesus commanded his disciples to set out from Jerusalem and go to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth with the Gospel message, the church remained in Jerusalem. But as persecution against Jesus’ followers broke out the church was forced to scatter, including a follower of Jesus named Philip. This persecution, perhaps a move by God, forced people like Philip to travel to Judea, Samaria and eventually the ends of the earth. God did not want to allow God’s people to become too comfortable in Jerusalem and so the pressure and stress of persecution became an impetus for Jesus’ followers to obey Jesus’ command. How can some of the pressure and stress we experience help us to fulfill God’s call to us? How does it change our understandings and expectations of God that God both leads us beside still waters and troubles the waters? What was Philip able to see and do because God upset the apple cart?
Thursday, 5/7
Amos 8:1-7
Acts 8:1-8
Friday 5/8
Amos 8:11-13
Acts 8:9-25
Saturday 5/9
Amos 9:7-15
Mark 4:30-32
Read Psalm 22:25-31 each of these three days.
The readings for Sunday, May 10 begin to move in these different directions. During Easter the Old Testament readings are replaced by readings from Acts, which tell the story of Christian community lived powerfully in the light of Christ’s resurrection. But there is no direct connection between the Gospel readings and the readings from Acts. In the reading from John’s Gospel Jesus declares that he is the vine and his disciples are the branches, who draw strength and life from him. The readings from Amos convey provocative images of Israel as the vine and God as the keeper of the vineyard. While God expresses his anger toward Israel for failing to treat the poor with dignity and respect, we also hear that God cannot forsake his people and that God’s compassion will overcome God’s anger. How do these discomforting passages from Amos help us see the more familiar and comfortable reading from John 15 in a new light?
The readings from Acts below provide background to the reading from Acts for Sunday. While Jesus commanded his disciples to set out from Jerusalem and go to Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth with the Gospel message, the church remained in Jerusalem. But as persecution against Jesus’ followers broke out the church was forced to scatter, including a follower of Jesus named Philip. This persecution, perhaps a move by God, forced people like Philip to travel to Judea, Samaria and eventually the ends of the earth. God did not want to allow God’s people to become too comfortable in Jerusalem and so the pressure and stress of persecution became an impetus for Jesus’ followers to obey Jesus’ command. How can some of the pressure and stress we experience help us to fulfill God’s call to us? How does it change our understandings and expectations of God that God both leads us beside still waters and troubles the waters? What was Philip able to see and do because God upset the apple cart?
Thursday, 5/7
Amos 8:1-7
Acts 8:1-8
Friday 5/8
Amos 8:11-13
Acts 8:9-25
Saturday 5/9
Amos 9:7-15
Mark 4:30-32
Read Psalm 22:25-31 each of these three days.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Working Class Hero
The Scripture readings for Sunday, May 3 focus on the image of God as our shepherd. When we listen to stories from the Bible we find that shepherds were rather low on the ladder. After Moses fled Egypt because he committed murder, the job he was able to get as a fugitive was as a shepherd. When the prophet Samuel goes to visit Jesse for an important meeting with his family, Jesse leaves his youngest, and presumably least important, son to tend to the flocks. Just because shepherds played a needed role did not mean they were held in high esteem. Like many workers today they provided a necessary service but were considered best left both unseen and unheard.
So it is interesting that throughout Scripture God identifies with the work of shepherds, with those whose service was invaluable and invisible and who worked on the margins of society. Some of the most powerful shepherd/lamb imagery from the Bible is found in the book of Revelation, where Jesus is pictured as both lamb and shepherd.
How do we understand God as our shepherd? How does God’s work remain hidden from the view of polite society? How is God at work in the margins? At the center? How does the image of God/Jesus as shepherd inform our own ministry and mission?
Monday, 5/4
I Samuel 16:1-13
I Peter 5:1-5
Tuesday 5/5
I Chronicles 11:1-9
Revelation 7:13-17
Wednesday 5/6
Micah 7:8-20
Mark 14:26-31
Read Psalm 95 each of these three days.
So it is interesting that throughout Scripture God identifies with the work of shepherds, with those whose service was invaluable and invisible and who worked on the margins of society. Some of the most powerful shepherd/lamb imagery from the Bible is found in the book of Revelation, where Jesus is pictured as both lamb and shepherd.
How do we understand God as our shepherd? How does God’s work remain hidden from the view of polite society? How is God at work in the margins? At the center? How does the image of God/Jesus as shepherd inform our own ministry and mission?
Monday, 5/4
I Samuel 16:1-13
I Peter 5:1-5
Tuesday 5/5
I Chronicles 11:1-9
Revelation 7:13-17
Wednesday 5/6
Micah 7:8-20
Mark 14:26-31
Read Psalm 95 each of these three days.
Friday, May 1, 2009
No Other Name?
In different ways the Scripture readings for Sunday, May 3 focus on the uniqueness of God’s action in Jesus Christ. The reading from Acts concludes with the famous statement that “There is salvation in no one else (other than Jesus Christ), for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved." In John Jesus is unique because he is not like the hired hands who run away at the hint of danger. Instead Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep and the only one who can command the attention of his flock, for his sheep know his unique voice.
How do we understand the uniqueness of Jesus today, especially in light of our knowledge of other world religions? Part of the challenge we face is that the authors of the New Testament didn’t have the same awareness of world religions that we do. When the New Testament was written, Christianity was something of a reform movement within Judaism. While the divide between the Church and the Synagogue was growing it was not complete. Islam would not come into existence for another five hundred years. Contact with religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, which both pre-date Christianity, were either very limited within the Roman Empire or non-existent. Even the worship of the gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome were understood to be more about pledging allegiance to the Empire than about making any theological claims about God.
But we live in a very different world. The printing press and the internet can give us instant access to the beliefs and practices of all kinds of religious traditions, and we know more and more people who were raised in places where Hinduism or Islam, and not Christianity, was the dominant faith. We are no longer unaware of the fact that there are a number of other established, global religious traditions that do not understand God or Jesus in the same way we do.
How do we confess and practice our faith within the context of other world religions? Our Presbyterian/Reformed tradition may be especially helpful here. Unlike other strands in Christianity which emphasize the importance of the conscious, deliberate human decision to follow Jesus and seek forgiveness from God in Christ’s name, the Reformed tradition emphasizes the importance of God’s initiative in salvation. For people of a Reformed perspective it is not our confession of faith that saves us, but God’s gracious act in Jesus Christ. In the words of the Second Helvetic Confession, a foundational confession for our theology, “We are to have good hope for all. And although God knows who are his, and here and there mention is made of the small number of the elect, yet we must hope well for all, and not rashly judge any man to be a reprobate.” Salvation is determined not by the soundness of our theology, but by the justice and mercy of God.
Another Reformed emphasis that can guide us is our conviction that God’s Law continues to guide us. Part of this Law is the command not to bear false witness against our neighbors. Any religion has its wackos and extremists, and Christianity is no exception. We cannot assume that the loudest strand in a religion is representative for all strands. Fundamentalist Christians do not represent the whole of the Christian tradition anymore than militant Islamists represent the whole of Islam. Just as Christianity is a diverse religion, so are the other world religions. We cannot take the worst example of another faith and use that to tarnish the reputation of all followers of that faith, to bear false witness against our neighbors by bringing undue harm to their reputation.
In engaging in interfaith dialogue we may want to aim more for understanding than agreement. The goal might not be to change/convert minds, but to help others understand how our convictions about God shape our lives. If we understand interfaith conversation in this way our distinctive beliefs and practices are not liabilities in a diverse world, but salt that adds flavor. To take the presence of other world religions seriously does not mean we minimize or neglect our own.
The readings from Genesis, John and Psalm 23 and Mark speak of God as shepherd and us as God’s flock. How does this image of God as shepherd both enrich our faith and add flavor to interfaith conversations about who God is and how God relates to us?
Thursday, 4/30
Genesis 30:25-43
Acts 3:17-26
Friday 5/1
Genesis 46:28-47:6
Acts 4:1-4
Saturday 5/2
Genesis 48:8-19
Mark 6:30-34
Read Psalm 23 each of these three days.
How do we understand the uniqueness of Jesus today, especially in light of our knowledge of other world religions? Part of the challenge we face is that the authors of the New Testament didn’t have the same awareness of world religions that we do. When the New Testament was written, Christianity was something of a reform movement within Judaism. While the divide between the Church and the Synagogue was growing it was not complete. Islam would not come into existence for another five hundred years. Contact with religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, which both pre-date Christianity, were either very limited within the Roman Empire or non-existent. Even the worship of the gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome were understood to be more about pledging allegiance to the Empire than about making any theological claims about God.
But we live in a very different world. The printing press and the internet can give us instant access to the beliefs and practices of all kinds of religious traditions, and we know more and more people who were raised in places where Hinduism or Islam, and not Christianity, was the dominant faith. We are no longer unaware of the fact that there are a number of other established, global religious traditions that do not understand God or Jesus in the same way we do.
How do we confess and practice our faith within the context of other world religions? Our Presbyterian/Reformed tradition may be especially helpful here. Unlike other strands in Christianity which emphasize the importance of the conscious, deliberate human decision to follow Jesus and seek forgiveness from God in Christ’s name, the Reformed tradition emphasizes the importance of God’s initiative in salvation. For people of a Reformed perspective it is not our confession of faith that saves us, but God’s gracious act in Jesus Christ. In the words of the Second Helvetic Confession, a foundational confession for our theology, “We are to have good hope for all. And although God knows who are his, and here and there mention is made of the small number of the elect, yet we must hope well for all, and not rashly judge any man to be a reprobate.” Salvation is determined not by the soundness of our theology, but by the justice and mercy of God.
Another Reformed emphasis that can guide us is our conviction that God’s Law continues to guide us. Part of this Law is the command not to bear false witness against our neighbors. Any religion has its wackos and extremists, and Christianity is no exception. We cannot assume that the loudest strand in a religion is representative for all strands. Fundamentalist Christians do not represent the whole of the Christian tradition anymore than militant Islamists represent the whole of Islam. Just as Christianity is a diverse religion, so are the other world religions. We cannot take the worst example of another faith and use that to tarnish the reputation of all followers of that faith, to bear false witness against our neighbors by bringing undue harm to their reputation.
In engaging in interfaith dialogue we may want to aim more for understanding than agreement. The goal might not be to change/convert minds, but to help others understand how our convictions about God shape our lives. If we understand interfaith conversation in this way our distinctive beliefs and practices are not liabilities in a diverse world, but salt that adds flavor. To take the presence of other world religions seriously does not mean we minimize or neglect our own.
The readings from Genesis, John and Psalm 23 and Mark speak of God as shepherd and us as God’s flock. How does this image of God as shepherd both enrich our faith and add flavor to interfaith conversations about who God is and how God relates to us?
Thursday, 4/30
Genesis 30:25-43
Acts 3:17-26
Friday 5/1
Genesis 46:28-47:6
Acts 4:1-4
Saturday 5/2
Genesis 48:8-19
Mark 6:30-34
Read Psalm 23 each of these three days.
Monday, April 27, 2009
The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son(s)
Our readings from Sunday, April 26 speak of the mysterious but powerful presence of the risen Christ. In the story of the travelers on their way to Emmaus we are told the risen Jesus appeared unrecognized to two of his followers and told them how the Law and the Prophets foretold that the Messiah would suffer, die and be raised from the dead. But for the Jews of Jesus’ time, and for us, the Old Testament’s predictions of a crucified and resurrected Messiah are not obvious. Peter was horrified when Jesus said he would be killed, and as our reading from Mark below points out, even when the crucified and risen Jesus was standing right in front of his disciples they still didn’t understand or believe what was happening. If the whole of the Old Testament speaks of a crucified and risen Messiah it must do so in more subtle terms, otherwise the disciples and even Jesus’ opponents would have been quick to understand who Jesus was. How does the Old Testament prepare is for a suffering and resurrected Messiah?
On one level there are a number of individual stories in the Old Testament that have death and resurrection themes. Abraham almost sacrifices his son, Isaac, but at the last minute God stops him; Isaac nearly died but was restored to life. Joseph, Jacob’s beloved son, was presumed dead by his father but in reality was sold as a slave in Egypt, with his time as a slave and a prisoner a kind of death before he rose from the depths and was seated at the right hand of Pharaoh and then restored to his father. Decades later, a different Pharaoh, who did not know of Joseph, became afraid of the growing Hebrew community within Egypt. He ordered all newborn Hebrew males to be drowned in the Nile to curb the Hebrew population. Moses’ mother, to save her son, put him in a waterproof basket and left him in a spot on the river where she knew he would be found, and like Joseph Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s household. In each of these stories beloved sons face death but are instead given life.
One can look at the broader story of Israel as one of death and resurrection. Perhaps the best example of this is Ezekiel 37, where the nation of Israel is described as a valley full of dry bones – of corpses – that is resurrected by God. For Ezekiel this image is a way to describe Israel’s experience of exile. In exile Israel is not just cut off from their land, but from everything that gave their life purpose, direction and meaning. Israel’s exile is not just about being forcibly removed from their homeland. It’s about their broken relationship with God. Time and again the prophets describe a time when Israel’s relationship with God is restored and then Israel will be able to return to the Promised Land. The readings below from Jeremiah and Hosea speak of God restoring his people from their “death” in exile to life in their Promised Land. In Jeremiah we hear images of the passion, or the suffering, of Israel in their distress and of God acting to save Israel from their time of great distress.
Perhaps as the risen Jesus explained how the Law and Prophets foretold his death and resurrection Jesus did not use specific proof texts to show that he would suffer, die and be raised. Instead perhaps Jesus retold the story of Israel as a story of suffering, death and resurrection that matched Jesus’ own story. For exiled Israel resurrection was not primarily about what happens after death, but about a renewed sense of purpose, meaning and direction that allowed for life even in the midst of suffering. This helps us see that resurrection is not only about what happens after death, although resurrection is certainly about this as well. Resurrection is also about a renewed relationship with God that brings about a new sense of meaning, purpose and direction, grounded in love for God and for neighbor, that is mindful of the suffering and injustice in the world but allows us to live creatively as resurrected people who are no longer bound by sin.
Understanding Jesus’ death and resurrection in this way can help us engage more fully the Scriptures of the Old Testament. In many ways Israel was always on the verge of either death or resurrection, always on the verge of losing their identity as God’s distinct people yet sustained by the promise God would never forsake them. While we don’t face slavery in Egypt we do face powers that dehumanize us. How does the Law “resurrect” us in the face of such dehumanizing powers and help us live differently? Neither do we face the threat of exile in Babylon, but worldly powers do attempt to seduce us away from the Gospel of the crucified and risen Christ. How do the Prophets help us identify these worldly powers and provide for an alternative life based on God’s act of restoration and resurrection?
What stories do we have of “death” and “resurrection,” of “exile” and “homecoming?”
Monday 4/27
Jeremiah 30:1-11
I John 3:10-16
Tuesday 4/28
Hosea 5:15-6:6
II John 1-6
Wednesday 4/29
Proverbs 9:1-6
Mark 16:9-18
Read Psalm 150 each of these three days
On one level there are a number of individual stories in the Old Testament that have death and resurrection themes. Abraham almost sacrifices his son, Isaac, but at the last minute God stops him; Isaac nearly died but was restored to life. Joseph, Jacob’s beloved son, was presumed dead by his father but in reality was sold as a slave in Egypt, with his time as a slave and a prisoner a kind of death before he rose from the depths and was seated at the right hand of Pharaoh and then restored to his father. Decades later, a different Pharaoh, who did not know of Joseph, became afraid of the growing Hebrew community within Egypt. He ordered all newborn Hebrew males to be drowned in the Nile to curb the Hebrew population. Moses’ mother, to save her son, put him in a waterproof basket and left him in a spot on the river where she knew he would be found, and like Joseph Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s household. In each of these stories beloved sons face death but are instead given life.
One can look at the broader story of Israel as one of death and resurrection. Perhaps the best example of this is Ezekiel 37, where the nation of Israel is described as a valley full of dry bones – of corpses – that is resurrected by God. For Ezekiel this image is a way to describe Israel’s experience of exile. In exile Israel is not just cut off from their land, but from everything that gave their life purpose, direction and meaning. Israel’s exile is not just about being forcibly removed from their homeland. It’s about their broken relationship with God. Time and again the prophets describe a time when Israel’s relationship with God is restored and then Israel will be able to return to the Promised Land. The readings below from Jeremiah and Hosea speak of God restoring his people from their “death” in exile to life in their Promised Land. In Jeremiah we hear images of the passion, or the suffering, of Israel in their distress and of God acting to save Israel from their time of great distress.
Perhaps as the risen Jesus explained how the Law and Prophets foretold his death and resurrection Jesus did not use specific proof texts to show that he would suffer, die and be raised. Instead perhaps Jesus retold the story of Israel as a story of suffering, death and resurrection that matched Jesus’ own story. For exiled Israel resurrection was not primarily about what happens after death, but about a renewed sense of purpose, meaning and direction that allowed for life even in the midst of suffering. This helps us see that resurrection is not only about what happens after death, although resurrection is certainly about this as well. Resurrection is also about a renewed relationship with God that brings about a new sense of meaning, purpose and direction, grounded in love for God and for neighbor, that is mindful of the suffering and injustice in the world but allows us to live creatively as resurrected people who are no longer bound by sin.
Understanding Jesus’ death and resurrection in this way can help us engage more fully the Scriptures of the Old Testament. In many ways Israel was always on the verge of either death or resurrection, always on the verge of losing their identity as God’s distinct people yet sustained by the promise God would never forsake them. While we don’t face slavery in Egypt we do face powers that dehumanize us. How does the Law “resurrect” us in the face of such dehumanizing powers and help us live differently? Neither do we face the threat of exile in Babylon, but worldly powers do attempt to seduce us away from the Gospel of the crucified and risen Christ. How do the Prophets help us identify these worldly powers and provide for an alternative life based on God’s act of restoration and resurrection?
What stories do we have of “death” and “resurrection,” of “exile” and “homecoming?”
Monday 4/27
Jeremiah 30:1-11
I John 3:10-16
Tuesday 4/28
Hosea 5:15-6:6
II John 1-6
Wednesday 4/29
Proverbs 9:1-6
Mark 16:9-18
Read Psalm 150 each of these three days
Thursday, April 23, 2009
At One
One of the readings for this Sunday, April 26 is from Acts 3. Peter and some other disciples had gone to the temple for daily prayer, along with many other Jews. On the way into the temple courts they saw a crippled beggar and healed him. The crowd is astonished and Peter told them he was able to do this through the power of the crucified and risen Jesus, who was rejected by the Jewish people and put to death. Yet Peter acknowledges the people acted in ignorance, and the suffering of Christ fulfilled what was foretold in the prophets. And it is through the crucified and risen Jesus that there is repentance and forgiveness of sins.
At first reading it may seem that Peter is laying the blame for Jesus’ death at the feet of the Jewish people by calling them “Christ killers,” a terrible term that has been used all too frequently in Christian attitudes toward Jews. But the reading below from Daniel 9 helps us to see Peter’s speech in a different light. Daniel was a devout Jew who was forcibly brought into exile in Babylon. Like his fellow exiled Jews, Daniel longed for a restored relationship with God that would allow God’s people to return to God’s Promised Land. So in prayer before God Daniel acknowledges not only his sin and rebellion, but the rebellion of all God’s people, from the kings and priests on down to the common folks. After confessing the sin of all the people of God, Daniel seeks God’s mercy and asks God to restore God’s people and the holy city of Jerusalem. In this prayer Daniel is not blaming anyone for what has happened, he is simply acknowledging that all people, from least to greatest, failed to head God’s word and presence in their midst. Yet despite this God is compassionate and merciful and can act to save. This is the gist of what Peter is doing. Peter is not blaming the Jews for Jesus death. Like Daniel he is acknowledging that the people have rebelled but that God is still rich in mercy, that through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection the breach between God and humanity has been healed.
But how does Jesus’ life, death and resurrection heal this breach between God and humanity? How does Jesus atone for our sins? The words “atone” and “atonement” were created by John Wycliffe, the first person to translate the entire Bible into English. When he tried to translate Hebrew, Greek and Latin words that speak of how Jesus’ death saves us he could not find the right English word, so he created one. “Atone” literally means at one. Jesus makes us at one with God. The Eternal Son of God who was one with the Father since before the creation of the world, became fully human in Jesus and made the story of humanity God’s own.
In Sunday’s reading from Luke’s Gospel the resurrected Christ appears to some disciples and said, “Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” It is interesting that Jesus mentioned the psalms, for these psalms are not primarily God speaking to human beings, as are the Law and Prophets. The Psalms are human prayers of joy and sorrow, of triumph and agony, of steadfast faith and of confusion addressed to God. On the cross Jesus quoted two Psalms: Psalm 22 (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) and Psalm 31 (Into your hands I commit my spirit), and in the New Testament the Psalms are often quoted to help us understand who Jesus is. In his reliance on the Psalms Jesus is making our longings, our story, his own, and therefore God’s own. In his life, death and resurrection Jesus both brought the presence of God “down to earth” and lifted our human story “up to heaven.”
In their prayers and speeches Daniel and Peter retold the story of God’s relationship to God’s people, a story as applicable to the Church as it was to the Jews Daniel and Peter addressed. In Jesus Christ the story of this relationship is also retold: Both the people of Israel and Jesus had humble origins and were under the thumb of worldly powers (Egypt, a corrupt monarchy for Israel, Babylon, Persia and Greece for the Jews; A corrupt monarchy and Rome for Jesus). Yet God chose both Israel and Jesus to be God’s image in the world. Israel struggled with this call and in its disobedience experienced the godforsaken feeling of exile from all that gave their life meaning and purpose. On the cross Jesus made his peoples’ exile his own, crying out in godforsakeness as death ruptured his relationship to the Father. But the story does not end there. Resurrection is not just a happy event for Jesus, but God’s promise that all who know what it is to be exiled, lost and cut off will be redeemed.
The Book of Daniel shaped the imagination of the Jews at the time of Jesus – Jesus’ reference to himself as “the Son of Man” comes from Daniel. In the reading from Daniel 10, Daniel encounters a divine messenger who comes in human form, and he is terrified at the sight. This messenger goes on to tell Daniel that even as God’s people are in exile God is uprooting the fallen powers of this world so that the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdom of God. When Jesus’ disciples see the risen Christ they have a similar response to Daniel when he encountered his divine visitor. A divine visitor revealed to Daniel that the suffering present in the world did not mean that God was not at work. The story of Jesus’ life death and resurrection tells us that God’s story is “at one” with ours, that in Jesus God both shares in our story of longing for a better world and has acted with power to redeem this world. How do we experience “at one-ment” with God through the story of Jesus?
Thursday, 4/23
Daniel 9:1-19
I John 2:18-25
Friday, 4/24
Daniel 10:2-19
I John 2:26-28
Saturday 4/25
Acts 3:1-10
Luke 22:24-30
Read Psalm 4 each of these three days.
At first reading it may seem that Peter is laying the blame for Jesus’ death at the feet of the Jewish people by calling them “Christ killers,” a terrible term that has been used all too frequently in Christian attitudes toward Jews. But the reading below from Daniel 9 helps us to see Peter’s speech in a different light. Daniel was a devout Jew who was forcibly brought into exile in Babylon. Like his fellow exiled Jews, Daniel longed for a restored relationship with God that would allow God’s people to return to God’s Promised Land. So in prayer before God Daniel acknowledges not only his sin and rebellion, but the rebellion of all God’s people, from the kings and priests on down to the common folks. After confessing the sin of all the people of God, Daniel seeks God’s mercy and asks God to restore God’s people and the holy city of Jerusalem. In this prayer Daniel is not blaming anyone for what has happened, he is simply acknowledging that all people, from least to greatest, failed to head God’s word and presence in their midst. Yet despite this God is compassionate and merciful and can act to save. This is the gist of what Peter is doing. Peter is not blaming the Jews for Jesus death. Like Daniel he is acknowledging that the people have rebelled but that God is still rich in mercy, that through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection the breach between God and humanity has been healed.
But how does Jesus’ life, death and resurrection heal this breach between God and humanity? How does Jesus atone for our sins? The words “atone” and “atonement” were created by John Wycliffe, the first person to translate the entire Bible into English. When he tried to translate Hebrew, Greek and Latin words that speak of how Jesus’ death saves us he could not find the right English word, so he created one. “Atone” literally means at one. Jesus makes us at one with God. The Eternal Son of God who was one with the Father since before the creation of the world, became fully human in Jesus and made the story of humanity God’s own.
In Sunday’s reading from Luke’s Gospel the resurrected Christ appears to some disciples and said, “Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” It is interesting that Jesus mentioned the psalms, for these psalms are not primarily God speaking to human beings, as are the Law and Prophets. The Psalms are human prayers of joy and sorrow, of triumph and agony, of steadfast faith and of confusion addressed to God. On the cross Jesus quoted two Psalms: Psalm 22 (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?) and Psalm 31 (Into your hands I commit my spirit), and in the New Testament the Psalms are often quoted to help us understand who Jesus is. In his reliance on the Psalms Jesus is making our longings, our story, his own, and therefore God’s own. In his life, death and resurrection Jesus both brought the presence of God “down to earth” and lifted our human story “up to heaven.”
In their prayers and speeches Daniel and Peter retold the story of God’s relationship to God’s people, a story as applicable to the Church as it was to the Jews Daniel and Peter addressed. In Jesus Christ the story of this relationship is also retold: Both the people of Israel and Jesus had humble origins and were under the thumb of worldly powers (Egypt, a corrupt monarchy for Israel, Babylon, Persia and Greece for the Jews; A corrupt monarchy and Rome for Jesus). Yet God chose both Israel and Jesus to be God’s image in the world. Israel struggled with this call and in its disobedience experienced the godforsaken feeling of exile from all that gave their life meaning and purpose. On the cross Jesus made his peoples’ exile his own, crying out in godforsakeness as death ruptured his relationship to the Father. But the story does not end there. Resurrection is not just a happy event for Jesus, but God’s promise that all who know what it is to be exiled, lost and cut off will be redeemed.
The Book of Daniel shaped the imagination of the Jews at the time of Jesus – Jesus’ reference to himself as “the Son of Man” comes from Daniel. In the reading from Daniel 10, Daniel encounters a divine messenger who comes in human form, and he is terrified at the sight. This messenger goes on to tell Daniel that even as God’s people are in exile God is uprooting the fallen powers of this world so that the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdom of God. When Jesus’ disciples see the risen Christ they have a similar response to Daniel when he encountered his divine visitor. A divine visitor revealed to Daniel that the suffering present in the world did not mean that God was not at work. The story of Jesus’ life death and resurrection tells us that God’s story is “at one” with ours, that in Jesus God both shares in our story of longing for a better world and has acted with power to redeem this world. How do we experience “at one-ment” with God through the story of Jesus?
Thursday, 4/23
Daniel 9:1-19
I John 2:18-25
Friday, 4/24
Daniel 10:2-19
I John 2:26-28
Saturday 4/25
Acts 3:1-10
Luke 22:24-30
Read Psalm 4 each of these three days.
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