…the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, "Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it." 16 So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak: "You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18 For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. 19 After… (Acts 13:14-19)
Rather than a specific phrase what grabbed my attention today was the overall answer Paul gives as a “word” of exhortation. His response continues from where I left off with a recounting of the general events in Israel from the Exodus through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
When asked for a word of exhortation Paul doesn’t offer a rousing sermon about how to live your life, or a charismatic encouragement to make it through the day. What Paul does is tell a story – the story – of God and God’s people. It is a story they all presumably know already. Yet this is what he wants to share as his word of exhortation: to recount the ways that God has provided for God’s people and most particularly the final provision of God’s son in Jesus Christ.
This drives home to me how much Jews are a storytelling people, and as descendants of the Jews we inherit that tradition. As much as we love doctrine, and belief statements like creeds and confessions, at the heart we are a people who know God in story. As you flip through Acts you can see several times where early Christians like Stephen and Peter and Paul engage in retelling the old and well known stories to talk about God. Not a system of beliefs – but a living, breathing, unfolding faith. It is in the unfolding story of God and creation that the people ground their faith, identity, and hope. So when they need a word of exhortation Paul tells them the story – the old, old story.
I just received an email the other day that said the Bible meant: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (B-I-B-L-E)… however cute this may be, it just doesn’t strike me as what the Bible is about (never mind that there is much in it that isn’t anything close to basic). Foundationally what the Bible offers us is just what Paul tells these gathered Jews and God-fearers, that as we look through the stories of our ancestors we can see God at work for justice, peace, and love – offering wholeness to the people. As we see God at work in history than it reminds us that God is similarly at work in our lives – even when we cannot see it. We trust because generations before us have trusted. We hope, and in doing so we offer hope to the generations that come after us.
God is our story and we are God’s story, thanks be to God.
Have you spent time immersing yourself in the story of God?
Do you see yourself in the stories of the Bible… your struggles, hopes, brokenness and dreams?
Are you offering hope to the world by letting your life be a witness to God’s ongoing story?
Speaking God,
From the beginning you have spoken creation into being as a story. You walk through the chapters of our life and seek to make our stories sing of love and grace. Give us eyes to see you at work in our lives, and the strength of heart to offer hope to the world in the living of our lives. Amen.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
August 19: God-fearers
After the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, "Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it." So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak: "You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. (Acts 13:15-16)
I left more of the text than I really needed to – so that there is some context for where my attention is drawn. Five words stand out to me… “and others who fear God.”
Who are these others?
I have heard some scholar’s reports about the “god-fearers” and their place in the synagogue. They are the people who were drawn to the worship of God of the Jews but never came fully into the community… fearers of God, with a place in the synagogue – but not Jews. They stopped short of that identity transforming commitment.
Who are these others? More importantly… are we these others?
The question of discipleship asks this very question – are we those who fear God… who are drawn to God… who recognize that there is truth and life here… and yet we find ourselves unable to make the full commitment. We find ourselves unable to “cast aside our nets” and follow Christ.
The god-fearers in this text are to the Jews, and the followers of the way (early Christians) the direct equivalent of the crowds that followed Jesus around listening and watching… but never committing to discipleship. They are there… and that is something – and something good. But it is only a first step, and not meant to be the destination of our journey to, and with, God.
Today? Today the god-fearers are the cultural Christians… the god-fearers are those who identify as Christian but don’t really make that a priority in their life. They may or may not attend church, and may or may not intentionally practice the way of Christ in their life, and may or may not profess that a relationship with God is of primary importance in their life… but however they (we?) engage a life of faith they are holding something back. They aren’t “all in”!
Fearing – but not committing.
Drawn – but not taking on the name of Christ.
A part of the community – but without ties, and it isn’t their primary hearth and home.
God-fearers are those who hedge their bets. There is truth here – and so we attach ourselves in a periphery way to it, but we don’t want to make any kind of full leap into a way that meddles too much with our lives.
Are you fully a part of the discipleship community… or living the life of a god-fearer?
What is your primary community… and does it witness to the love of Christ in life giving ways?
Are you willing and open to God’s Spirit meddling in your life?
Transforming God,
It is so easy to fall into a routine faith and worship. Stir us up God to trust our relationship with you enough to dive into a life of faith – fully committing ourselves to service and growth in the name of your son Jesus Christ.
Amen.
I left more of the text than I really needed to – so that there is some context for where my attention is drawn. Five words stand out to me… “and others who fear God.”
Who are these others?
I have heard some scholar’s reports about the “god-fearers” and their place in the synagogue. They are the people who were drawn to the worship of God of the Jews but never came fully into the community… fearers of God, with a place in the synagogue – but not Jews. They stopped short of that identity transforming commitment.
Who are these others? More importantly… are we these others?
The question of discipleship asks this very question – are we those who fear God… who are drawn to God… who recognize that there is truth and life here… and yet we find ourselves unable to make the full commitment. We find ourselves unable to “cast aside our nets” and follow Christ.
The god-fearers in this text are to the Jews, and the followers of the way (early Christians) the direct equivalent of the crowds that followed Jesus around listening and watching… but never committing to discipleship. They are there… and that is something – and something good. But it is only a first step, and not meant to be the destination of our journey to, and with, God.
Today? Today the god-fearers are the cultural Christians… the god-fearers are those who identify as Christian but don’t really make that a priority in their life. They may or may not attend church, and may or may not intentionally practice the way of Christ in their life, and may or may not profess that a relationship with God is of primary importance in their life… but however they (we?) engage a life of faith they are holding something back. They aren’t “all in”!
Fearing – but not committing.
Drawn – but not taking on the name of Christ.
A part of the community – but without ties, and it isn’t their primary hearth and home.
God-fearers are those who hedge their bets. There is truth here – and so we attach ourselves in a periphery way to it, but we don’t want to make any kind of full leap into a way that meddles too much with our lives.
Are you fully a part of the discipleship community… or living the life of a god-fearer?
What is your primary community… and does it witness to the love of Christ in life giving ways?
Are you willing and open to God’s Spirit meddling in your life?
Transforming God,
It is so easy to fall into a routine faith and worship. Stir us up God to trust our relationship with you enough to dive into a life of faith – fully committing ourselves to service and growth in the name of your son Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
August 12: What's in a name?
“But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit” (Act 13:9 NRS)
So I’m staying with the whole two name thing today, but with a different focus. I can’t move beyond this text without spending some time reflection on this pivotal moment. We talk a lot about Paul’s Damascus road experience of being blinded by Christ and turned from zealot Jewish persecutor of Christians to the greatest Christian missionary in the Bible. But it is here in this text, several chapters later, that we find the consummation of that transition, for when this text says, “Saul, also known as Paul” he forever changes identities. Paul is never again called Saul, just as he has never (in scripture) been called Paul before this text. For accuracy sake I will say that the name Saul is used three more times in Acts, but it always used by Paul when talking about being blinded by the light on the road to Damascus.
Clearly:
Saul is who Paul used to be – before Christ.
Paul is who Saul becomes – through Christ.
So, what is in a name?
In what is probably one of the best known scenes of Shakespeare we come across this same conversation. Juliet wants Romeo to leave behind his identity as a Montague in order that they can be together in their forbidden love for one another. Here is but a part of that great interplay:
JULIET
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
ROMEO
[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
JULIET
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
ROMEO
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii)
What is in a name? Surely more than Romeo and Juliet understand. There is a great power in names. And “changing” one’s name is no easy task – it is rewriting the unfolding story of our lives.
This is why figures like Peter and Paul stand out so much in the biblical tradition - like Abram (to Abraham) before them – they have their names changed. Their lives are rewritten – transformed – by God at work in them.
This is discipleship that leads to apostleship: opening ourselves to God’s transformation, naming our reality and our identity in and through God.
When we take up the child to be baptized and ask the parents, “What is this child’s name?” It is as if we say, everything is in our names… and this child’s name is about to change – God’s transformative Spirit is dwelling in your child and naming this child, and that name is of critical importance, because from this point on this child carries the name of God: Christian – follower of Christ.
To play with Romeo and Juliet a bit – and slightly unfair to them and their love… the struggle we have in our lives as disciples and apostles is that there are many things that ask us to deny our name. Peter and Paul – as we see them in the second half of their lives after being transformed by God’s Spirit - stand as great mentors and witnesses of faith because they stayed true to their name.
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name…
Where do you find yourself tempted to deny your name?
What places and people create a struggle to live always as one who bears Christ’s name?
How is God inviting you to join in rewriting the unfolding story of your life?
Naming God,
You have named and claimed us in baptism for the glory and revelation of your kingdom. Help us bear your name with grace and love in all that we do and in all that we are and in all that we say. Amen.
So I’m staying with the whole two name thing today, but with a different focus. I can’t move beyond this text without spending some time reflection on this pivotal moment. We talk a lot about Paul’s Damascus road experience of being blinded by Christ and turned from zealot Jewish persecutor of Christians to the greatest Christian missionary in the Bible. But it is here in this text, several chapters later, that we find the consummation of that transition, for when this text says, “Saul, also known as Paul” he forever changes identities. Paul is never again called Saul, just as he has never (in scripture) been called Paul before this text. For accuracy sake I will say that the name Saul is used three more times in Acts, but it always used by Paul when talking about being blinded by the light on the road to Damascus.
Clearly:
Saul is who Paul used to be – before Christ.
Paul is who Saul becomes – through Christ.
So, what is in a name?
In what is probably one of the best known scenes of Shakespeare we come across this same conversation. Juliet wants Romeo to leave behind his identity as a Montague in order that they can be together in their forbidden love for one another. Here is but a part of that great interplay:
JULIET
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
ROMEO
[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
JULIET
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
ROMEO
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii)
What is in a name? Surely more than Romeo and Juliet understand. There is a great power in names. And “changing” one’s name is no easy task – it is rewriting the unfolding story of our lives.
This is why figures like Peter and Paul stand out so much in the biblical tradition - like Abram (to Abraham) before them – they have their names changed. Their lives are rewritten – transformed – by God at work in them.
This is discipleship that leads to apostleship: opening ourselves to God’s transformation, naming our reality and our identity in and through God.
When we take up the child to be baptized and ask the parents, “What is this child’s name?” It is as if we say, everything is in our names… and this child’s name is about to change – God’s transformative Spirit is dwelling in your child and naming this child, and that name is of critical importance, because from this point on this child carries the name of God: Christian – follower of Christ.
To play with Romeo and Juliet a bit – and slightly unfair to them and their love… the struggle we have in our lives as disciples and apostles is that there are many things that ask us to deny our name. Peter and Paul – as we see them in the second half of their lives after being transformed by God’s Spirit - stand as great mentors and witnesses of faith because they stayed true to their name.
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name…
Where do you find yourself tempted to deny your name?
What places and people create a struggle to live always as one who bears Christ’s name?
How is God inviting you to join in rewriting the unfolding story of your life?
Naming God,
You have named and claimed us in baptism for the glory and revelation of your kingdom. Help us bear your name with grace and love in all that we do and in all that we are and in all that we say. Amen.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
August 5: Blind Faith
But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him (Bar-Jesus the magician) and said, "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now listen-- the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun." Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand. (Act 13:9-11)
This is an intriguing text to me because of what it doesn’t say and yet… speaks loudly. Paul tells this magician, another guy with two names, that he will blind for awhile and the when it happens Bar-Jesus (the magician) gropes about for someone to lead him. Does this sound familiar? Paul – once Saul – is another man with two names. He too went blind for awhile. He too needed others to lead him by the hand.
The text seems to tie Paul’s story to Bar-Jesus and what happens to him here, and yet the story has nothing else to say about this magician… groping for someone to lead him he exits stage left and never returns to our story. On another day I might have been interested in talking about what is different in their stories in the exit of Bar-Jesus and the missionary journeys of Saul/Paul. However today I think I’d like to focus on what is similar. And this comes even more into focus when we look at Bar-Jesus’ other name given to him in the text, Elymas. In Arabic the name means wise.
Elymas is wise in the ways of magic, just as Saul the zealous Pharisee was wise in the ways of the law. But both of them are struck blind.
Why blindness? Why not mute, or deaf, or lame? Nebuchadnezzar the great Babylonian king in a moment of great hubris and pride was struck down by the God of Israel and became and animal for seven years foraging for food. Seems to me that might have worked with Saul and Elymas as well.
So why blindness?
Well Nebuchadnezzar need a lesson in humility… and there isn’t much more humbling than foraging as an animal for seven years. So perhaps the blindness is that Saul/Paul and Bar-Jesus/Elymas needs a lesson in seeing. They were both wise… and yet God reveals to them that they cannot see at all – they are wise in all the wrong things. They seek after knowledge and power and wisdom that is not of God, it doesn’t make a straight path to God. God has to reveal truth to them, make straight their pathway to God, by showing them just how little they see. Only when they realize that they have been looking the wrong way – seeking after the wrong things… can they see the truth.
Ananias laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized. (Act 9:17-18)
There is much that we label wise that doesn’t really deserve the name. Elymas isn’t wise – he is deceitful and misleading. Saul wasn’t wise – he was filled with hatred and bound up in rules that had becomes far less than the God they once point to.
Like Saul and Elymas we too need to go blind from time to time. We too need to grope for someone to lead us… lead us back to that which is truly wise, rather than that which simple bears the name but doesn’t actually lead us into relationship with God.
Are you seeing what God wants you to see?
What is clouding your vision from making straight a pathway to God?
Have you held the hand of someone else who needs to find that path?
Healing God,
You are a God of healing… whose methods are often mysterious. Guide us back to you and your ways, O Lord. And enable us to lead others towards your truth and love.
Amen.
This is an intriguing text to me because of what it doesn’t say and yet… speaks loudly. Paul tells this magician, another guy with two names, that he will blind for awhile and the when it happens Bar-Jesus (the magician) gropes about for someone to lead him. Does this sound familiar? Paul – once Saul – is another man with two names. He too went blind for awhile. He too needed others to lead him by the hand.
The text seems to tie Paul’s story to Bar-Jesus and what happens to him here, and yet the story has nothing else to say about this magician… groping for someone to lead him he exits stage left and never returns to our story. On another day I might have been interested in talking about what is different in their stories in the exit of Bar-Jesus and the missionary journeys of Saul/Paul. However today I think I’d like to focus on what is similar. And this comes even more into focus when we look at Bar-Jesus’ other name given to him in the text, Elymas. In Arabic the name means wise.
Elymas is wise in the ways of magic, just as Saul the zealous Pharisee was wise in the ways of the law. But both of them are struck blind.
Why blindness? Why not mute, or deaf, or lame? Nebuchadnezzar the great Babylonian king in a moment of great hubris and pride was struck down by the God of Israel and became and animal for seven years foraging for food. Seems to me that might have worked with Saul and Elymas as well.
So why blindness?
Well Nebuchadnezzar need a lesson in humility… and there isn’t much more humbling than foraging as an animal for seven years. So perhaps the blindness is that Saul/Paul and Bar-Jesus/Elymas needs a lesson in seeing. They were both wise… and yet God reveals to them that they cannot see at all – they are wise in all the wrong things. They seek after knowledge and power and wisdom that is not of God, it doesn’t make a straight path to God. God has to reveal truth to them, make straight their pathway to God, by showing them just how little they see. Only when they realize that they have been looking the wrong way – seeking after the wrong things… can they see the truth.
Ananias laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized. (Act 9:17-18)
There is much that we label wise that doesn’t really deserve the name. Elymas isn’t wise – he is deceitful and misleading. Saul wasn’t wise – he was filled with hatred and bound up in rules that had becomes far less than the God they once point to.
Like Saul and Elymas we too need to go blind from time to time. We too need to grope for someone to lead us… lead us back to that which is truly wise, rather than that which simple bears the name but doesn’t actually lead us into relationship with God.
Are you seeing what God wants you to see?
What is clouding your vision from making straight a pathway to God?
Have you held the hand of someone else who needs to find that path?
Healing God,
You are a God of healing… whose methods are often mysterious. Guide us back to you and your ways, O Lord. And enable us to lead others towards your truth and love.
Amen.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
August 3: Rabbit Trials R Us
I'm taking off down a rabbit trail from the Book of Acts to continue a thought from my sermon this last Sunday. (Bonus to anyone who can track how this flows out of my sermon... but I assure you in some convoluted way it does.) So for today simply a thought to think about and share:
I've always heard about a protestant work ethic... but actually what we all have is a Roman Catholic work ethic. We are bound up in the idea that what we do and achieve makes us valuable and good. God's grace will always be a empty sentiment in such a world... and an impossible reality for us to live into until we give up such a totalitarian work ethic.
God loves you, and I love you - simply because you are you!
How can you (we) re-orient our lives such that our self-worth is not measured in success... achievement... and stuff? (that last is a very theologically deep word!)
I've always heard about a protestant work ethic... but actually what we all have is a Roman Catholic work ethic. We are bound up in the idea that what we do and achieve makes us valuable and good. God's grace will always be a empty sentiment in such a world... and an impossible reality for us to live into until we give up such a totalitarian work ethic.
God loves you, and I love you - simply because you are you!
How can you (we) re-orient our lives such that our self-worth is not measured in success... achievement... and stuff? (that last is a very theologically deep word!)
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