12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3; from 1st Sunday of Advent)
9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1; from 2nd Sunday of Advent)
I've been struck this year by this emphasis in Paul's letters, actually in Paul's prayers, which we heard on each of the first two Sundays of Advent. It is love that prepares us to greet Jesus the Messiah when he comes again in glory to make all things right.
Paul does not exhort moral behavior, disciplined religiosity, or law keeping as the way to prepare oneself to meet the Lord. In fact, he says it's the quality of our relationships with other human beings (the horizontal relationships, if you will) that will determine our posture or attitude or disposition with regard to our relationship ultimately with our creator, redeemer, sustainer, and judge.
It is abounding love alone that can make us blameless, unashamed and prepared to meet our king and judge and savior. It is this agape (selfless, sacrificial) love that bears the kind of fruit that lasts, that satisfies, and that renews and heals the world.
May God answer Paul's prayers in me and you.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Monday, December 07, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
running post
Two weeks till our Half Marathon - Dec. 12 in Point Clear, AL.
had a good run yesterday. ran 13.1 and broke 100 minutes...
had a good run yesterday. ran 13.1 and broke 100 minutes...
Thanksgiving Beard
new urban dictionary phrase - yeah, just shaved mine...
November 29: Thanksgiving Beard
An unintentional beard started over the 4 day Thanksgiving weekend, where you're too lazy to shave it off Monday morning. Usually continues until Christmas or New Year's Day.
Also known as a Holiday Beard
Boss: You look like you haven't shaved in days. That's unprofessional.
Employee: Sir, that's my Thanksgiving beard. It's my way of honoring our forefathers.
Boss: Oh, I didn't realize that. Maybe I'll grow one too.
Monday, November 23, 2009
in my name
We continued in Jesus' "Discourse on Community" in Matthew 18 last week.
5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me"
This verse compares with verse 20
20 "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Both these statements by Jesus include a condition and a similar result, with the same central premise: "in my name."
The context again is the community, relating together, guarding the unity, which includes dealing with sin individually and in the community. We saw previously how important humility is as the fundamental and most important quality for Jesus' followers to have in relationship with one another.
What does "in my name" mean?
It could mean:
What is his name? His name is Jesus, as the angel commanded (1:21), for he will save his people from their sins. But we also read in 1:23 that "they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means God with us). This created for us (the readers) an interesting tension: we are listening for his naming as Immanuel - and we never hear it. He is never called Immanuel in his story.
But we have this promise of his presence somehow through his name, and his own promise at the end of the story - "behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (28:20)
I love this, I think this is very significant - Jesus seems to be saying, "Remember, I am Immanuel, God with us. When you encounter one another, whether it's a simple welcome or gathering to pray through restoration and reconciliation, and you do so remembering that I am with you, that I am in the midst, that as you receive the presence of a brother or sister you do so as you would receive me, as if you were receiving me, you will find and discover that you are receiving me, that I am there.
There is also the name by which he is called, "Jesus," and it may also figure into this whole discourse, but that's to consider another day.
Also, we heard in the Discourse on Mission (ch. 10), and will hear in the final Discourse in chapter 25, more about receiving Jesus. In chapter 10, we heard Jesus say "whoever receives you receives me" (v. 40), and we'll hear in the end-time judgment scene the king, the Son of Man, say that "as you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (v. 40). Again, we have more of Jesus so identifying with his disciples, with the little ones, with those living and serving and going "in his name" that when we receive his disciple we receive him, and when we serve a hurting, little one we are serving him.
Lord Jesus, help me serve you and receive you, by receiving and serving those around me. Forgive me for treating so lightly, so thoughtlessly, sometimes so arrogantly, those whose lives touch mine. Thank you for you humility, your gentleness, your faithfulness.
5 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me"
This verse compares with verse 20
20 "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Both these statements by Jesus include a condition and a similar result, with the same central premise: "in my name."
The context again is the community, relating together, guarding the unity, which includes dealing with sin individually and in the community. We saw previously how important humility is as the fundamental and most important quality for Jesus' followers to have in relationship with one another.
What does "in my name" mean?
It could mean:
- because of me
- for my sake
- because I have commanded it
- and perhaps even, as if the child were me
What is his name? His name is Jesus, as the angel commanded (1:21), for he will save his people from their sins. But we also read in 1:23 that "they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means God with us). This created for us (the readers) an interesting tension: we are listening for his naming as Immanuel - and we never hear it. He is never called Immanuel in his story.
But we have this promise of his presence somehow through his name, and his own promise at the end of the story - "behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (28:20)
I love this, I think this is very significant - Jesus seems to be saying, "Remember, I am Immanuel, God with us. When you encounter one another, whether it's a simple welcome or gathering to pray through restoration and reconciliation, and you do so remembering that I am with you, that I am in the midst, that as you receive the presence of a brother or sister you do so as you would receive me, as if you were receiving me, you will find and discover that you are receiving me, that I am there.
There is also the name by which he is called, "Jesus," and it may also figure into this whole discourse, but that's to consider another day.
Also, we heard in the Discourse on Mission (ch. 10), and will hear in the final Discourse in chapter 25, more about receiving Jesus. In chapter 10, we heard Jesus say "whoever receives you receives me" (v. 40), and we'll hear in the end-time judgment scene the king, the Son of Man, say that "as you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (v. 40). Again, we have more of Jesus so identifying with his disciples, with the little ones, with those living and serving and going "in his name" that when we receive his disciple we receive him, and when we serve a hurting, little one we are serving him.
Lord Jesus, help me serve you and receive you, by receiving and serving those around me. Forgive me for treating so lightly, so thoughtlessly, sometimes so arrogantly, those whose lives touch mine. Thank you for you humility, your gentleness, your faithfulness.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Why Do I Run?
So why do I run?
I shared that I was asking myself this question last week, as I prepared my sermon on endurance. Again, the call to endure always has that context of struggle / trial / distress on the one hand and the promise / reward / joy on the other. We do not endure to earn something or convince God we deserve a reward, but to realize what has been promised but not yet fully realized.
Why I run:
I run because I can.
I run because I like to run.
I run because I feel better physically when I run.
I run because I feel better about myself in general when I run.
I run to improve myself, to push myself beyond my present limits.
I run to eat (but more and more I eat to run - there is a difference).
I run because I am vain and narcissistic.
I run because I don't want to be fat (or because I want to look good).
I run because I like people to know I'm a runner, that I'm still active and an athlete.
I run because, even though sometimes it's really difficult physically and/or mentally, sometimes it's the best experience and a great feeling to finish a long, hard run.
There you go, the good, the bad and the ugly.
God give me grace to trust in your goodness and grace as my deepest truest consolation, hope and joy.
Speaking of "why do I run?" Here's the trailer for Saint Ralph -
I shared that I was asking myself this question last week, as I prepared my sermon on endurance. Again, the call to endure always has that context of struggle / trial / distress on the one hand and the promise / reward / joy on the other. We do not endure to earn something or convince God we deserve a reward, but to realize what has been promised but not yet fully realized.
Why I run:
I run because I can.
I run because I like to run.
I run because I feel better physically when I run.
I run because I feel better about myself in general when I run.
I run to improve myself, to push myself beyond my present limits.
I run to eat (but more and more I eat to run - there is a difference).
I run because I am vain and narcissistic.
I run because I don't want to be fat (or because I want to look good).
I run because I like people to know I'm a runner, that I'm still active and an athlete.
I run because, even though sometimes it's really difficult physically and/or mentally, sometimes it's the best experience and a great feeling to finish a long, hard run.
There you go, the good, the bad and the ugly.
God give me grace to trust in your goodness and grace as my deepest truest consolation, hope and joy.
Speaking of "why do I run?" Here's the trailer for Saint Ralph -
Monday, November 16, 2009
Walk On
In preparing for my sermon on endurance I remembered U2's song, "Walk On," from their album "All that you can't leave behind." That album title comes from the song "Walk On." I found out that the inspiration for the song came from the movie "Beyond Rangoon" which tells the story of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese activist who was sentenced to house arrest in 1989 for protesting her government. Earlier that year, while walking with some of her supporters, soldiers blocked their path and pointed rifles at them. Suu Kyi kept walking, despite orders to stop. The soldiers threatened to shoot her, but didn't. Her actions have been closely monitored by the government, but she remains an influential leader and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
I love this song. Listen to the end of it, Bono and the Edge seem to incorporate their faith into it -
I love this song. Listen to the end of it, Bono and the Edge seem to incorporate their faith into it -
Endurance
God's word to us Sunday was about Endurance.
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. (Hebrews 10:34)
Endurance, or steadfastness, perseverance, patience - seems to always connect a time of trouble, trial or tribulation with the promise, goal, reward, or joy to come. It's not something we do to get something we don't have, at least in pledge or promise - but something we hold onto, something we hold out for. Endurance means, in effect, faithfulness - hence the writer ends this section with that appeal.
In this passage we see confidence connected with reward, endurance with the promise, and faith with life.
And there is one of the keys - what is the reward, the "life" that we are seeking? We won't endure for something if there's a satisfactory trade-off that's easier, quicker, etc. We only sin because in that moment something holds out for us more satisfaction than Jesus, something seems more life-giving than trusting in God's love and grace...
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. ( 1 John 2:28)
The greatest motivation for endurance, of course, is Jesus' enduring the cross and the shame for the joy set before him - in order to secure our salvation, because in some real sense we were his joy...
Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1-3)
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. (Hebrews 10:34)
Endurance, or steadfastness, perseverance, patience - seems to always connect a time of trouble, trial or tribulation with the promise, goal, reward, or joy to come. It's not something we do to get something we don't have, at least in pledge or promise - but something we hold onto, something we hold out for. Endurance means, in effect, faithfulness - hence the writer ends this section with that appeal.
In this passage we see confidence connected with reward, endurance with the promise, and faith with life.
And there is one of the keys - what is the reward, the "life" that we are seeking? We won't endure for something if there's a satisfactory trade-off that's easier, quicker, etc. We only sin because in that moment something holds out for us more satisfaction than Jesus, something seems more life-giving than trusting in God's love and grace...
Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. ( 1 John 2:28)
The greatest motivation for endurance, of course, is Jesus' enduring the cross and the shame for the joy set before him - in order to secure our salvation, because in some real sense we were his joy...
Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1-3)
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Humility
Andrew Murray's "Humility" is a classic. I read it years ago, and it's making the rounds at Church of the Apostles. I borrowed Robert's copy (my old one is lost - maybe in Ivan) to review it some for the first section of Matthew 18, Jesus' Discourse on Community, where Jesus calls for humility first off, before going any further about relationships in the Christian community.
From the preface of Murray's "Humility":
There are three great motivations to humility: it becomes us as creatures; it becomes us as sinners; it becomes us as saints. Humility is first seen in the angels, in man before the Fall, and in Jesus as the Son of Man. In our fallen state, humility point us to the only way by which we can returen to our rightful place as creatures. As Christians, the mystery of grace teaches us that as we lose ourselves in the overwhelming greatness of redeeming love, humility becomes to us the consummation of everlasting blessedness.
It is common in Christian teaching to find the second aspect taught almost exclusively (ie. that it becomes us as sinners) and [some] have thought that the strength of self-condemnation is the secret of humility... the Christian life has suffered where believers have not been guided to see that even in our relationships as creatures, nothing is more natural and beautiful and blessed than to be nothing in order that God may be everything. It needs to be made clear that it is not sin that humbles but grace. It is the soul occupied with God in His wonderful glory as Creator and Redeemer that will truly take the lowest place before Him."
Humility is really just knowing who you really are. In Greek and Roman culture, humility was shameful; but for the Jew and the Christian is was and is the highest virtue. Who we are before God, before Jesus, is at the same time nothing, so very, very small, and yet also beloved, precious, worth the "precious blood" of the Son of God. Humility is being occupied with God, and not with ourselves. The way toward humility is not, as Murray says, self-condemnation (focusing on ourselves), but God-exaltation (focusing on the goodness and greatness of God). Our own sense of smallness and preciousness will inevitably follow.
Our sense of importance will not be in relation to others ("who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"), but only that we know we are important to the heart and love of God, to the kingdom of our humble savior king.
Thank you Lord Jesus for your great humility, in incarnation, in obedience, in suffering and death, and even now in your intercession for us. Be formed more and more in us, as we mroe and more look to and trust in you.
From the preface of Murray's "Humility":
There are three great motivations to humility: it becomes us as creatures; it becomes us as sinners; it becomes us as saints. Humility is first seen in the angels, in man before the Fall, and in Jesus as the Son of Man. In our fallen state, humility point us to the only way by which we can returen to our rightful place as creatures. As Christians, the mystery of grace teaches us that as we lose ourselves in the overwhelming greatness of redeeming love, humility becomes to us the consummation of everlasting blessedness.
It is common in Christian teaching to find the second aspect taught almost exclusively (ie. that it becomes us as sinners) and [some] have thought that the strength of self-condemnation is the secret of humility... the Christian life has suffered where believers have not been guided to see that even in our relationships as creatures, nothing is more natural and beautiful and blessed than to be nothing in order that God may be everything. It needs to be made clear that it is not sin that humbles but grace. It is the soul occupied with God in His wonderful glory as Creator and Redeemer that will truly take the lowest place before Him."
Humility is really just knowing who you really are. In Greek and Roman culture, humility was shameful; but for the Jew and the Christian is was and is the highest virtue. Who we are before God, before Jesus, is at the same time nothing, so very, very small, and yet also beloved, precious, worth the "precious blood" of the Son of God. Humility is being occupied with God, and not with ourselves. The way toward humility is not, as Murray says, self-condemnation (focusing on ourselves), but God-exaltation (focusing on the goodness and greatness of God). Our own sense of smallness and preciousness will inevitably follow.
Our sense of importance will not be in relation to others ("who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"), but only that we know we are important to the heart and love of God, to the kingdom of our humble savior king.
Thank you Lord Jesus for your great humility, in incarnation, in obedience, in suffering and death, and even now in your intercession for us. Be formed more and more in us, as we mroe and more look to and trust in you.
Jesus' Discourse on Community, Matthew 18
We began Matthew 18 last night - this is the 4th "discourse" in Matthew's gospel. Let's call it the Discourse on Community. It's all about relationships among disciples, sorting them out, keeping them right, helping one another along.
It begins with a question from the disciples: "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
Peter has gotten a lot of attention and seems to have received the mantle of leadership among the disciples in the previous two chapters. He was given the keys of the kingdom after identifying Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God; he was chosen (along with James and John) to observe the transfiguration and Moses and Elijah; he was the one that the tax collectors came to and was asked a question as Jesus' representative. And "at that time" the disciples asked Jesus about who was the greatest.
Jesus uses a child as the model for both entrance into the kingdom and as a measure of greatness in the kingdom. It's as if Jesus is saying that this question is the totally wrong way of thinking. "Become like a child" - could mean everything from being trusting, filled with awe and wonder, being powerless and/or unpretentious, to beginning all over (ie. being "born again").
Then Jesus calls for humility. Humility, the cardinal virtue, is the first order of business when discussing relationships in the community of Jesus. It's the foundation of all the other concerns: for seeking the straying, not scandalizing "little ones," confronting sin in a brother, or forgiving seven hundred and ninety times.
It begins with a question from the disciples: "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
Peter has gotten a lot of attention and seems to have received the mantle of leadership among the disciples in the previous two chapters. He was given the keys of the kingdom after identifying Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God; he was chosen (along with James and John) to observe the transfiguration and Moses and Elijah; he was the one that the tax collectors came to and was asked a question as Jesus' representative. And "at that time" the disciples asked Jesus about who was the greatest.
Jesus uses a child as the model for both entrance into the kingdom and as a measure of greatness in the kingdom. It's as if Jesus is saying that this question is the totally wrong way of thinking. "Become like a child" - could mean everything from being trusting, filled with awe and wonder, being powerless and/or unpretentious, to beginning all over (ie. being "born again").
Then Jesus calls for humility. Humility, the cardinal virtue, is the first order of business when discussing relationships in the community of Jesus. It's the foundation of all the other concerns: for seeking the straying, not scandalizing "little ones," confronting sin in a brother, or forgiving seven hundred and ninety times.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Ben's engaged
Ben is engaged! Hurray!!
Thursday, November 05, 2009
injustice and persecution
On the Side of the Angels
by Joseph D'Souza and Ben Rogers
by Joseph D'Souza and Ben Rogers
[I posted this in March, 2008 - and repost it today in anticipation of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church and an email I just received with an article/blog posted Nov. 4 by Ben Rogers "Inside the North Korean Gulag" - check it out.]
In preparing for a small group at which we will be discussing "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake," I read this book (finally); it was also triggered by reading an article by Ziya Meral, "Bearing the Silence of God," in Christianity Today (March, 2008). Ziya is Turkish, grew up Muslim and became a Christian when he was 17. He works with Christian Solidarity Worldwide, as does Ben Rogers. Our son, Ben, met Ziya at the University of Toronto while attending a summer course on genocide, and has spoken of him often. Ben Rogers has been to Church of the Apostles several times as a guest of Tom and Lisa Yearwood; Ben human rights work focuses on Pakistan, Burma, and Sri Lanka. Lisa told me Sunday of Ziya and Ben Rogers' connection at CSW.
The book is a call to Christians to become advocates for human rights. One of the strengths of the book is its strong emphasis that Christian human rights advocacy is indeed our kingdom mission calling, and that it is not to be aimed just at human rights for Christians, but for all people regardless of their faith. We are to love all our neighbors, and this includes working for freedom, which demands freedom of faith... which means we love our neighbors who freely choose not to be Christians.
In the chapter, "Good and Evil," the authors suggest that perhaps the best description of the kingdom is found in the beatitudes. Then they share that in the book The Lost Message of Jesus, Steve Chalke and Alan Mann "describe the kingdom as 'the in-breaking shalom of God,' available to us all. We often think of shalom as being synonymous with peace, but in fact the word, used many times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, incorporates 'contentment, health, justice, liberation, fulfillment, freedom and hope' and affects us in every aspect of life - 'socially, economically, spiritually, and politically.'"
In the chapter "Salt and Light," D'Souza and Rogers describe how Christians in India (in particular, the All India Christian Council, of which D'Souza is the president) have stood with and advocated for the rights of both Muslims and Dalit (the continuing untouchable caste). Even after many Dalit chose to convert, not to Christianity, but to Buddhism, Christians supported their right to be free and reaffirmed their love and support for them. They conclude this section with the beatitude, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
In the chapter "What Next" they speak of our human and Christian responsibility, and requirement, to make a difference, specifically to be advocates for justice. There are two equally valid and interdependent categories of advocacy - private and public forms of advocacy, or described as engagement and protest. They point out it would be difficult for an individual or organization to do both of these.
There are two sets of essential principles to guide efforts on behalf of the oppressed. (1) Pray, protest, and provide. Mostly prayer is private, and protest and provision is public. In the service of advocacy (2) authenticity, aid, and accountability overlap and deepen the first three.
Prayer is first and foremost, especially for Christian human rights advocacy. Brooke prays everyday through a couple of prayer lists provided by International Justice Mission and Voice of the Martyrs. Every year in November we observe the "International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church."
One form of protest that they write persuasively about is letter writing - to officials who are charged with responding to their constituents concerns and to work for the public good, and to those who are suffering injustice (even if they don't receive them, their captors may read the letters). They quote a letter that Francesco Miranda Branco, an East Timorese prisoner of conscience, sent in reply to an activist in the UK:
My brother, God is very kind and just, and he loves us, you and me who believe in Him. We can never feel angry and upset at God when we suffer, because behind all the suffering He has a beautiful surprise for us.Secondly they discuss demonstration, both in one's own country (basically safe) and in the country where injustice is occurring. [I could not help but think of Martin Luther King. I recently finished reading "The Autobiography of Martin Luther King" (by MLK, Jr, and Clayborne Carson). Of course, it was really more about nonviolent resistance to unjust laws, or the lack of enforcing just laws, but usually in the context of peaceful demonstration.]
In terms of provision they cite time (volunteering with a human rights organization); financial sacrifice; material assistance (books, clothing, medicine, etc.); providing expertise in various fields (law, computer technology, medicine, construction, land mine clearance, agriculture, etc.); or pursuing a career in order to be an influence for advocacy (such as elected office, State Department, the World Bank, or journalism).
Finally, they conclude in the chapters entitled "Never Give Up!" and "Faith in Action" to call for perseverance in serving the Kingdom mission and doing God's will, for integrating faith and action.
"A Christian approach to human rights is distinguished by love. It is not simply about a cause, a political movement, or a philosophy - it is about human relationships, love, and dignity. As Philip Yancey writes,
A political movement by nature draws lines, makes distinctions, pronounces judgment; in contrast, Jesus' love cuts across lines, transcends distinctions and dispenses grace. Regardless of the merits of a given issue... political movements risk pulling onto themselves the mantle of power that smothers love. From Jesus I learn that, whatever activism I get involved in, it must not drive out love and humility, or otherwise I betray the kingdom of heaven" ( in The Jesus I Never Knew). (p. 183-184)
Monday, November 02, 2009
down from the mountain-top
Last Tuesday we discussed the encounter Jesus had with the desperate father and his demonized son after coming down from the Mountain of Transfiguration. Here are a few of the things we talked about:
There may be an inference here to when Moses came down from the mountain the first time and the people were worshiping a golden calf... great disappointment, disbelief, trust misplaced.
There may be an inference here to when Moses came down from the mountain the first time and the people were worshiping a golden calf... great disappointment, disbelief, trust misplaced.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
phrase of the day
Phrase of the Day...
This is also what husbands get when their wife utters those terrifying words: "I'd like to talk with you."
(this comes from Urban Word of the Day: disclaimer - some of the entries can be crude or offensive... but some are really good)
This is also what husbands get when their wife utters those terrifying words: "I'd like to talk with you."
Fatigue which is used as an excuse when one does not want to perform undesirable tasks such as work.
My co-worker claimed her Chronic Fatigue Syndrome kept her from coming to work, but she had no problems making it to the nightclubs. What she really has is Selective Fatigue Syndrome.
(this comes from Urban Word of the Day: disclaimer - some of the entries can be crude or offensive... but some are really good)
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
John's Transfiguration account
Why didn't John include the Transfiguration story in his gospel?
I think John intended his whole gospel to manifest the glory of Jesus. This is his stated purpose in recording Jesus' "signs" - "This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him." (John 2:11)
The first half of John's gospel is devoted to these signs (often called "The Book of Signs"), the second is focused on Jesus' passion ("The Book of the Passion"). It is John who refers to the crucifixion as the beginning of Jesus' glorification (eg. 12:23f; 13:31; 17:1).
I still don't know why John wouldn't include the story, except that he had one exaltation alone in mind, the one that begin with the "lifting up" on the cross and concluded with the resurrection. In this the Father is glorified (13:31; 17:1f); in this he displays the light and beauty and glory of God the Father.
"Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father's glory..."
I think John intended his whole gospel to manifest the glory of Jesus. This is his stated purpose in recording Jesus' "signs" - "This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him." (John 2:11)
The first half of John's gospel is devoted to these signs (often called "The Book of Signs"), the second is focused on Jesus' passion ("The Book of the Passion"). It is John who refers to the crucifixion as the beginning of Jesus' glorification (eg. 12:23f; 13:31; 17:1).
I still don't know why John wouldn't include the story, except that he had one exaltation alone in mind, the one that begin with the "lifting up" on the cross and concluded with the resurrection. In this the Father is glorified (13:31; 17:1f); in this he displays the light and beauty and glory of God the Father.
"Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father's glory..."
a summary of Transfiguration sharing
the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
(3) one last interesting thought is a possible play against the crucifixion –Monday, October 19, 2009
a New Moses?
Last week in looking at the Transfiguration in Matthew 17 we considered the allusions to Moses' experiences on Mount Sinai. Some of these may be a stretch, but taken all together I think it's convincing that there's a connection.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sukkot / Tabernacles and Transfiguration, 5 and postscript
Okay, a few more thoughts to bring the relevance of "the Feast" to the time of Jesus.
In John 7, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. It is there, on the last and great day of the feast, that Jesus declared the promise of living water - the Holy Spirit - to those who believe in him (vs. 37-39).
Two themes were strongly associated with the Feast during Jesus' day: (1) water, and (2) light. The priests ritually poured water on the altar as a kind of prayer to God for the rain to come in its season, and on the last day they would really douse it so that water would even start running out of the temple. And there were huge menorahs standing in the temple courts that were lit all through the Feast and lit up the whole area. John picks up on this light theme as well, in chapter 8 and 9, as Jesus twice says "I am the light of the world" and enlightens darkened eyes.
We see these themes in Zechariah and Isaiah as they point to the Day of the Lord and even to the Feast of Tabernacles in the age to come.
In the first post I quoted some from the Jewish Prayer Book for Sukkos. As I was looking for a closing prayer(s) to end this series of posts I saw again how many pages including various litanies of pleas that God would "please save, now." This is also a prayer that we Christians pray a lot, in short it's the prayer "Hosanna!" (Hoshana in Hebrew)
I'll close with this prayer called "Farewell to the Succah:"
"May it be Your will, LORD, our God and the God of our forefathers, that just as I have fulfilled [the mitzvah, or "commandment"] and dwelled in this succah, so may I merit in the coming year to dwell in the succah of the skin of Leviathan. Next year in Jerusalem."
[here's the commentary on this strange and interesting petition... "The Leviathan was a monstrous fish created on the fifth day of Creation. Its story is related at length in the Talmud (Bava Basra 74b), where it is told that the Leviathan will be slain and its flesh served as a feast to the righteous in Time to Come, and its skin used to cover the tent where the banquet will take place."]
Christians say it this way: "Maranatha." "Come quickly, Lord," and make all things right and all things new. By the grace of God in Messiah, may all God's people dwell with him in the new earth.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place (tabernacle) of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
(Revelation 21:1-4)
In John 7, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. It is there, on the last and great day of the feast, that Jesus declared the promise of living water - the Holy Spirit - to those who believe in him (vs. 37-39).
Two themes were strongly associated with the Feast during Jesus' day: (1) water, and (2) light. The priests ritually poured water on the altar as a kind of prayer to God for the rain to come in its season, and on the last day they would really douse it so that water would even start running out of the temple. And there were huge menorahs standing in the temple courts that were lit all through the Feast and lit up the whole area. John picks up on this light theme as well, in chapter 8 and 9, as Jesus twice says "I am the light of the world" and enlightens darkened eyes.
We see these themes in Zechariah and Isaiah as they point to the Day of the Lord and even to the Feast of Tabernacles in the age to come.
In the first post I quoted some from the Jewish Prayer Book for Sukkos. As I was looking for a closing prayer(s) to end this series of posts I saw again how many pages including various litanies of pleas that God would "please save, now." This is also a prayer that we Christians pray a lot, in short it's the prayer "Hosanna!" (Hoshana in Hebrew)
I'll close with this prayer called "Farewell to the Succah:"
"May it be Your will, LORD, our God and the God of our forefathers, that just as I have fulfilled [the mitzvah, or "commandment"] and dwelled in this succah, so may I merit in the coming year to dwell in the succah of the skin of Leviathan. Next year in Jerusalem."
[here's the commentary on this strange and interesting petition... "The Leviathan was a monstrous fish created on the fifth day of Creation. Its story is related at length in the Talmud (Bava Basra 74b), where it is told that the Leviathan will be slain and its flesh served as a feast to the righteous in Time to Come, and its skin used to cover the tent where the banquet will take place."]
Christians say it this way: "Maranatha." "Come quickly, Lord," and make all things right and all things new. By the grace of God in Messiah, may all God's people dwell with him in the new earth.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place (tabernacle) of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
(Revelation 21:1-4)
Sukkot / Tabernacles and Transfiguration, 4
Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles, had some strong eschatological themes associated with it. These come principally from Zechariah 14.
Zechariah speaks of a great day of the LORD that is coming when all nations will be gathered against Jerusalem to fight against her, houses will be plundered and women raped (v.1-2).
5 Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a one day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. 8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
Related to this picture of the the Lord renewing all things and reigning in his world, there are some texts in Isaiah that also inform us:
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law (or teaching),
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2-4; also in Micah 4)
Then in Isaiah 4, we hear of a cloud that will cover Mount Zion and the assembly (recalling the Shekinah cloud that descended on the Tabernacle, which may have been expected to return at the consummation), and of a "booth" or tabernacle:
Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
To try to summarize how Tabernacles may be related to the Transfiguration:
- the Lord will come and stand on a mountain and manifest his sovereignty in victory
- the true and final culmination of the Exodus is coming
- the Word / Torah / Law of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem. Justice and righteousness, light and truth, for all the nations shall be brought about on that final day.
- the Lord himself will be our refuge and shelter, and dwell in our midst in all his glory
- we will rejoice with all the nations over God's provision and protection, and in the revelation of his Word, and his executing of justice
I think Peter had some or all of this (and surely more) in mind as he blurted out his offer to make three booths for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. This vision of Jesus had everything to do with the victory of God in Christ and consummating all things in his glorious kingdom.
Zechariah speaks of a great day of the LORD that is coming when all nations will be gathered against Jerusalem to fight against her, houses will be plundered and women raped (v.1-2).
Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives... (vs. 2-3)The Mount of Olives will split and the people will flee, but
5 Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a one day, which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. 8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
The chapter continues with talk of panic and punishment, but includes this:
Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. (v. 16)
Everyone who survives, of all the nations, shall go to Jerusalem every year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast.Related to this picture of the the Lord renewing all things and reigning in his world, there are some texts in Isaiah that also inform us:
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law (or teaching),
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2-4; also in Micah 4)
Then in Isaiah 4, we hear of a cloud that will cover Mount Zion and the assembly (recalling the Shekinah cloud that descended on the Tabernacle, which may have been expected to return at the consummation), and of a "booth" or tabernacle:
Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
To try to summarize how Tabernacles may be related to the Transfiguration:
- the Lord will come and stand on a mountain and manifest his sovereignty in victory
- the true and final culmination of the Exodus is coming
- the Word / Torah / Law of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem. Justice and righteousness, light and truth, for all the nations shall be brought about on that final day.
- the Lord himself will be our refuge and shelter, and dwell in our midst in all his glory
- we will rejoice with all the nations over God's provision and protection, and in the revelation of his Word, and his executing of justice
I think Peter had some or all of this (and surely more) in mind as he blurted out his offer to make three booths for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. This vision of Jesus had everything to do with the victory of God in Christ and consummating all things in his glorious kingdom.
Sukkot / Tabernacles and Transfiguration, 3
Here's the next installment trying to understand a possible Tabernacles undercurrent or influence on the Transfiguration of Jesus.
We read in Nehemiah 8 of a time after the people of Israel had returned from exile, had restored the temple and rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem, when the Torah was read to all the people gathered. They wept and grieved upon hearing it. This is when we hear that well known verse: Ezra encourages the people not to grieve, but that "the joy of the Lord is your strength." (v. 10)
The text continues to say that the leaders got together to study God's Word and found in it that God ordered them to dwell in booths during "the feast of the seventh month" (v. 14) and
The great rejoicing has to do with God's provision and protection, even in the midst of a profound sense of vulnerability and how transitory and exposed our lives are. The book that is now associated with Sukkot is Ecclesiastes, which speaks of the vanity or "breathiness" of life, of enjoying the good things God provides, while remembering to fear God and obey his commandments. And yet it also points to another Tabernacle in their midst as they traveled through the wilderness; one that showed them that God was indeed in their midst, going before them and guarding them from behind. And pointing to a day when God would again, fully and finally in the consummation and renewal of all things, will tabernacle among his people and indeed be their tabernacle.
We read in Nehemiah 8 of a time after the people of Israel had returned from exile, had restored the temple and rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem, when the Torah was read to all the people gathered. They wept and grieved upon hearing it. This is when we hear that well known verse: Ezra encourages the people not to grieve, but that "the joy of the Lord is your strength." (v. 10)
The text continues to say that the leaders got together to study God's Word and found in it that God ordered them to dwell in booths during "the feast of the seventh month" (v. 14) and
"that they should proclaim it and publish it in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.” (v. 15)And so they did, apparently there were booths everywhere... and the passage concludes
And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in the booths, for from the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. 18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days... (vs. 17-18)So, again, associated with the Feast of Tabernacles is great rejoicing and the reading of whole Torah, all that God revealed to his people.
The great rejoicing has to do with God's provision and protection, even in the midst of a profound sense of vulnerability and how transitory and exposed our lives are. The book that is now associated with Sukkot is Ecclesiastes, which speaks of the vanity or "breathiness" of life, of enjoying the good things God provides, while remembering to fear God and obey his commandments. And yet it also points to another Tabernacle in their midst as they traveled through the wilderness; one that showed them that God was indeed in their midst, going before them and guarding them from behind. And pointing to a day when God would again, fully and finally in the consummation and renewal of all things, will tabernacle among his people and indeed be their tabernacle.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Sukkot/Tabernacles and Transfiguration, 2
The first place that God calls for Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), to be observed is in Leviticus 23:33f.
39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
In the parallel passage in Deuteronomy 16, the people are commanded to "rejoice in your feast... so that you will be altogether joyful" (vs. 14-15). Here we also are told that this was one of three "pilgrim" feasts, that is, for which they were to go up to Jerusalem.
Lastly, listen to what God commands with regard to his Word and this Feast in Deuteronomy 31. This is one of the last things Moses shares with them before it is his time to depart:
9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
So we have themes of rejoicing in the goodness and provision of the Lord, of remembering the transitoriness of the wilderness wandering and our current journey, and of all God's people gathered in Jerusalem to hear all the words of Torah...
39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
In the parallel passage in Deuteronomy 16, the people are commanded to "rejoice in your feast... so that you will be altogether joyful" (vs. 14-15). Here we also are told that this was one of three "pilgrim" feasts, that is, for which they were to go up to Jerusalem.
Lastly, listen to what God commands with regard to his Word and this Feast in Deuteronomy 31. This is one of the last things Moses shares with them before it is his time to depart:
9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 And Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
So we have themes of rejoicing in the goodness and provision of the Lord, of remembering the transitoriness of the wilderness wandering and our current journey, and of all God's people gathered in Jerusalem to hear all the words of Torah...
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Sukkot & the Transfiguration
Tuesday night we read Matthew 17 and began a discussion of the Transfiguration. This week is the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths), called Sukkot (meaning tabernacles or booths) in Hebrew terminology. Because of the timing, we spent our time talking about "the Feast," in part because of the strange comment by Peter on that "high mountain" when he saw Jesus, in transfigured glory, and Moses and Elijah talking together.
"Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." (v. 5)
That word, "tents," is the word used for tabernacle or booth in the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures. It's the same root for the word used in John 1:14 when it says that the word became flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us; and the same word in that passage (2 Cor. 12:9) that Marva Dawn used as the key verse for her excellent book "Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God."
I think that the theme of the Feast of Tabernacles is an undercurrent in this passage; it may not be the main big point (which is probably that Jesus is the new and greater Moses, God's Deliverer and Revealer, to lead his whole creation in a New Exodus to freedom...), but as we look at the various themes associated with Sukkot, it seems that at least Peter had some eschatalogical, consummation of God's history and vindication of God's people, thoughts going on in his head when he blurted out his offer to make three booths...
I have to stop here for now, I'll add a couple more posts with the background, but I'll close with some Sukkot prayers from the Siddur (the Jewish Prayer Book). [Note: HASHEM means literally "The Name" which is a circumlocution for the Divine, in our Bibles usually written as LORD]
"Behold, I am prepared and ready to perform the commandment of succah as the Creator, Blessed is His Name, commanded me: In succos shall you dwell for seven days...
May the pleasantness of my Lord, our God, be upon us - may He establish our handiwork for us; our handiwork may He establish.
May it be Your will, HASHEM my God and the God of my forefathers, that You cause Your Presence to reside among us, that You spread over us the succah of Your peace - in the merit of the mitzvah of succah that we are fulfilling - to unify the Name of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and His Presence, in fear and love, to unify the name... and to surround us with the aura of Your honor, holy and pure, spread over our heads from above like an eagle arousing its brood, and from there cause an abundant outpouring of life for Your servant..."
May God bless all His people observing this Feast with the fulfillment of their prayers.
"Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." (v. 5)
That word, "tents," is the word used for tabernacle or booth in the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures. It's the same root for the word used in John 1:14 when it says that the word became flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us; and the same word in that passage (2 Cor. 12:9) that Marva Dawn used as the key verse for her excellent book "Powers, Weakness, and the Tabernacling of God."
I think that the theme of the Feast of Tabernacles is an undercurrent in this passage; it may not be the main big point (which is probably that Jesus is the new and greater Moses, God's Deliverer and Revealer, to lead his whole creation in a New Exodus to freedom...), but as we look at the various themes associated with Sukkot, it seems that at least Peter had some eschatalogical, consummation of God's history and vindication of God's people, thoughts going on in his head when he blurted out his offer to make three booths...
I have to stop here for now, I'll add a couple more posts with the background, but I'll close with some Sukkot prayers from the Siddur (the Jewish Prayer Book). [Note: HASHEM means literally "The Name" which is a circumlocution for the Divine, in our Bibles usually written as LORD]
"Behold, I am prepared and ready to perform the commandment of succah as the Creator, Blessed is His Name, commanded me: In succos shall you dwell for seven days...
May the pleasantness of my Lord, our God, be upon us - may He establish our handiwork for us; our handiwork may He establish.
May it be Your will, HASHEM my God and the God of my forefathers, that You cause Your Presence to reside among us, that You spread over us the succah of Your peace - in the merit of the mitzvah of succah that we are fulfilling - to unify the Name of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and His Presence, in fear and love, to unify the name... and to surround us with the aura of Your honor, holy and pure, spread over our heads from above like an eagle arousing its brood, and from there cause an abundant outpouring of life for Your servant..."
May God bless all His people observing this Feast with the fulfillment of their prayers.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
ezer kenegdo
After giving the man work to do and a warning with regard to navigating life in God's garden in a way that is Life and not a prideful partaking of what leads to death, God says,
"It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper fit for him" (Genesis 2:18).
I shared Sunday in a sermon based on this verse that God did not make the woman because the man was lonely, nor to make him happy, but to join him in the call to "bear the image, do the work, and live the Life;" and we saw that that phrase "a helper fit for him" can be understood as something like
ezer kenegdo
"It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper fit for him" (Genesis 2:18).
I shared Sunday in a sermon based on this verse that God did not make the woman because the man was lonely, nor to make him happy, but to join him in the call to "bear the image, do the work, and live the Life;" and we saw that that phrase "a helper fit for him" can be understood as something like
"a power equal to him" orWhat's very cool is that the overwhelming majority of times the word ezer ("help" / "helper") is used in the Hebrew Scriptures is in reference to God. There is absolutely no concept here of my little assistant or apprentice who just adds an additional pair of hands to get a job done... in fact part of the idea of the "fit for him" or "corresponding to him" or "equal to him" can even be something like "in his face" (that's not a joke!). I found the following article excellent.
"a strength corresponding to him."
ezer kenegdo
Monday, October 05, 2009
The Soloist
I shared about the movie, The Soloist, yesterday in a sermon on marriage. I commend the movie, not only for the beautiful story of the power of friendship (which is one way to describe the main point of my sermon), but also for its depiction of homelessness. May God give us grace to be able to befriend the poor and powerless, and to know how to "help"; this is precisely what we hear the prophets continually crying out about, what is God's very heart, and what we hear and see in the person of Jesus.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Restless Lip Syndrome
from "Urban Word of the Day"
Never knew that's what you call it, what I've had all these years that has discouraged my wife so...
October 1: Restless Lip Syndrome
When a person keeps interrupting a conversation and can't keep her or his mouth shut.
Chris has to come my house to drink because when we're at his house, Linda's Restless Lip Syndrome prevents us from carrying on a conversation.
Never knew that's what you call it, what I've had all these years that has discouraged my wife so...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Pumped about Plumpy Nut
I was asked to visit Summerdale Peanut Company this morning to pray with the workers for safety and a bountiful harvest. It was a bit of a last minute thing by the owner, who asked me in church yesterday as they are beginning their crazy push to process the peanut harvest over the next month or two. A big concern is safety, as there are a lot of moving parts and people work a lot of overtime (and get really tired) to make extra money.
The owner, Joe, went through our last new member's class in which we spend a session talking about our work as ministry. Ministry is not just what I do. We are to glorify and serve God and his world in all we do, including our work or "vocation." Tim Keller speaks of all work as a form of gardening - taking the raw material of creation and working with it for the sake of human flourishing. Joe remembered this and out of concern for his workers and as a sign of dependence on the Lord asked me to come out.
So I went to Summerdale Peanut Company and shared a little bit and prayed with fifteen or twenty people who chose to come to a short prayer service on the front porch of their office building. Joe sent me the following video regarding Plumpy Nut, as one beautiful way that peanut growing and processing does indeed serve the common good. It's encouraging, but only if the product gets to the children that need it. What can we do to make that happen??
(I'll post a synopsis of my words to the Peanut workers at "The Restoration Project")
The owner, Joe, went through our last new member's class in which we spend a session talking about our work as ministry. Ministry is not just what I do. We are to glorify and serve God and his world in all we do, including our work or "vocation." Tim Keller speaks of all work as a form of gardening - taking the raw material of creation and working with it for the sake of human flourishing. Joe remembered this and out of concern for his workers and as a sign of dependence on the Lord asked me to come out.
So I went to Summerdale Peanut Company and shared a little bit and prayed with fifteen or twenty people who chose to come to a short prayer service on the front porch of their office building. Joe sent me the following video regarding Plumpy Nut, as one beautiful way that peanut growing and processing does indeed serve the common good. It's encouraging, but only if the product gets to the children that need it. What can we do to make that happen??
(I'll post a synopsis of my words to the Peanut workers at "The Restoration Project")
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
the Messiah and the Temple
2 Samuel 7
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
There's an interesting connection between the Messiah and the Temple that seems to have been present among the Jews in Jesus' day. There are some standard passages from the Hebrew Scriptures that we know influenced common messianic expectation, such as Psalm 2. But one that I read about in studying Matthew 16 is this passage from 2 Samuel 7.
The story is of David's desire to build God a permanent house in Jerusalem. You may remember that through Nathan God said no, but your son will. And that word from God through the prophet included the promise of an eternal kingdom and the son/father relationship.
We probably have a reflection of this in Jesus' trial when the only accusation witnesses make against him is that he said he would rebuild the Temple in three days. In that very context, in the next verse we hear the high priest ask Jesus, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the living God?" Jesus does not deny it, and then gives further messianic affirmation - "But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Matthew 26:59-64)
“If the Nathan prophecy is given an eschatalogical interpretation, the building of the house of God is a messianic duty. Conversely, anyone who sets up to be a builder of the temple is indirectly claiming to be the Messiah and the Son of God. It is now clear why the high priest, when an examination of the witnesses to Jesus’ statement about the temple is at a deadlock, puts the direct question as to messianic claim and forces Jesus’ confession.” (in Matthew 8-18, vol. 2, Davies and Alison)
So when Jesus (and Matthew who records the event) connects his being the Messiah, the Son of the living God, with being the builder of a new ekklesia, a new assembly of God's gathered, called-out people, he is being faithful to their tradition.
Further, this gives some clarity to Jesus' statement in John 2 which is the background for the false witnesses testimony with regard to him saying he would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. When he said in John 2:19, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (which John tells us concerned the temple of his body), he was making a messianic claim. He was the son of David. God was his father. The throne of his kingdom would be established forever. And he would build for his father a house in which to dwell...
19 you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Eph. 2)
Thanks be to God.
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.
There's an interesting connection between the Messiah and the Temple that seems to have been present among the Jews in Jesus' day. There are some standard passages from the Hebrew Scriptures that we know influenced common messianic expectation, such as Psalm 2. But one that I read about in studying Matthew 16 is this passage from 2 Samuel 7.
The story is of David's desire to build God a permanent house in Jerusalem. You may remember that through Nathan God said no, but your son will. And that word from God through the prophet included the promise of an eternal kingdom and the son/father relationship.
We probably have a reflection of this in Jesus' trial when the only accusation witnesses make against him is that he said he would rebuild the Temple in three days. In that very context, in the next verse we hear the high priest ask Jesus, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the living God?" Jesus does not deny it, and then gives further messianic affirmation - "But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Matthew 26:59-64)
“If the Nathan prophecy is given an eschatalogical interpretation, the building of the house of God is a messianic duty. Conversely, anyone who sets up to be a builder of the temple is indirectly claiming to be the Messiah and the Son of God. It is now clear why the high priest, when an examination of the witnesses to Jesus’ statement about the temple is at a deadlock, puts the direct question as to messianic claim and forces Jesus’ confession.” (in Matthew 8-18, vol. 2, Davies and Alison)
So when Jesus (and Matthew who records the event) connects his being the Messiah, the Son of the living God, with being the builder of a new ekklesia, a new assembly of God's gathered, called-out people, he is being faithful to their tradition.
Further, this gives some clarity to Jesus' statement in John 2 which is the background for the false witnesses testimony with regard to him saying he would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. When he said in John 2:19, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (which John tells us concerned the temple of his body), he was making a messianic claim. He was the son of David. God was his father. The throne of his kingdom would be established forever. And he would build for his father a house in which to dwell...
19 you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Eph. 2)
Thanks be to God.
Friday, September 18, 2009
God's temple
Friday, September 18, 2009
16 Do you not know that you (plural) are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Paul continues on with his "God's building" metaphor and takes it to its most important and impacting, and obvious to a Jew, end - they, the church in Corinth were God's "temple" and that the Spirit of God indwelt them.
When Jesus says he will build his church, Israel redeemed from Egypt is in the background. The word ekklesia / church was one of the words used to translate the word assembly or congregation of the people of Israel "called out" of Egypt by God to himself (cf. Exodus 19). "Build" being the same word that his accusers will use when they say he claimed he would rebuild the temple in three days.
Before getting to 2 Samuel 7 in the next few days, we will let this soak in. The temple is God's house, God's building, God's dwelling place. It is the place where he meets his people. Originally it was a movable tabernacle, by means of which God said he would dwell among his people. Now that place is a people. A called out people. A gathered people. A people in whom the Spirit dwells, among whom Jesus / Emmanuel is present, under and unto a Father who loves them with unending love.
16 Do you not know that you (plural) are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Paul continues on with his "God's building" metaphor and takes it to its most important and impacting, and obvious to a Jew, end - they, the church in Corinth were God's "temple" and that the Spirit of God indwelt them.
When Jesus says he will build his church, Israel redeemed from Egypt is in the background. The word ekklesia / church was one of the words used to translate the word assembly or congregation of the people of Israel "called out" of Egypt by God to himself (cf. Exodus 19). "Build" being the same word that his accusers will use when they say he claimed he would rebuild the temple in three days.
Before getting to 2 Samuel 7 in the next few days, we will let this soak in. The temple is God's house, God's building, God's dwelling place. It is the place where he meets his people. Originally it was a movable tabernacle, by means of which God said he would dwell among his people. Now that place is a people. A called out people. A gathered people. A people in whom the Spirit dwells, among whom Jesus / Emmanuel is present, under and unto a Father who loves them with unending love.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
"I will build"
We've been in Matthew 16:13-19 in our Tuesday night study, a hugely important passage in Matthew. It's the first time the word church (Greek is ekklesia = "called-out ones") is used in the New Testament; the only other place in the gospels it is used is in Matthew 18.
One of the things we've been discussing is Jesus saying "on this rock I will build my church."
Just thinking out loud... here, in today's epistle reading, Paul writes to the Corinthians about building, and that they are God's building.
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
One of the things we've been discussing is Jesus saying "on this rock I will build my church."
Just thinking out loud... here, in today's epistle reading, Paul writes to the Corinthians about building, and that they are God's building.
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. 11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
So what I'm thinking about is whether this passage should be put tightly with Matthew 16, and say that Jesus is building his church through the building work of Paul and the other apostles or that it is a slightly different picture or perspective Paul is presenting...
Paul writes that he laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it... and also says, there is no other foundation than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. Perhaps this means that for each city where the church is established a new foundation of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ is laid, as opposed to saying that the foundation is already there (in the death and resurrection and reign of Jesus the Messiah).
Ultimately, for today, we ought to ask ourselves: am I being built by Jesus and/or building with Jesus faithfully, today? on a good foundation, with lasting materials, indwelt by worship & the Word & acceptable sacrifices...
Hopefully, I'll have more installments along this line. There's more in Matthew 16, and 1 Cor. 3, we need to consider (and 2 Samuel 7... - check it out).
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Trouble, Suffering, and Friends
The following comes from an article by Wendell Berry on the economic crisis, in which he is critical of a fundamental premise of free market capitalism, and our whole society: the fantasy of limitlessness (also the original sin...). It's a good article that can be found at Harpers. I share it for the comments regarding his connecting the words friend and freedom, following up on Jesus' encouraging words that he calls us friends:
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you... (John 15:14-16)
Berry writes:
"As earthly creatures, we live, because we must, within natural limits, which we may describe by such names as “earth” or “ecosystem” or “watershed” or “place.” But as humans, we may elect to respond to this necessary placement by the self-restraints implied in neighborliness, tewardship, thrift, temperance, generosity, care, kindness, friendship, loyalty, and love.
"In our limitless selfishness, we have tried to define “freedom,” for example, as an escape from all restraint. But, as my friend Bert Hornback has explained in his book The Wisdom in Words, “free” is etymologically related to “friend.” These words come from the same Indo-European root, which carries the sense of “dear” or “beloved.” We set our friends free by our love for them, with the implied restraints of faithfulness or loyalty. And this suggests that our “identity” is located not in the impulse of selfhood but in deliberately maintained connections."
And this is exactly what Jesus, our true friend, did and does for us. He set us free to live within the bounds of boundless love, amidst all the joys and suffering of this life. That was my point Sunday: that while "trouble and suffering" (Greek: thlipsis = tribulation, oppression, persecution, or "that which causes pain") are part of our allotted limits in this groaning world, that we have a friend, and a friend can make all the difference when you're dealing with trouble and suffering.
And as we grow in friendship with Christ Jesus, we become more and more free - to follow him, glorify him, and serve him and his world. Thanks be to God!
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you... (John 15:14-16)
Berry writes:
"As earthly creatures, we live, because we must, within natural limits, which we may describe by such names as “earth” or “ecosystem” or “watershed” or “place.” But as humans, we may elect to respond to this necessary placement by the self-restraints implied in neighborliness, tewardship, thrift, temperance, generosity, care, kindness, friendship, loyalty, and love.
"In our limitless selfishness, we have tried to define “freedom,” for example, as an escape from all restraint. But, as my friend Bert Hornback has explained in his book The Wisdom in Words, “free” is etymologically related to “friend.” These words come from the same Indo-European root, which carries the sense of “dear” or “beloved.” We set our friends free by our love for them, with the implied restraints of faithfulness or loyalty. And this suggests that our “identity” is located not in the impulse of selfhood but in deliberately maintained connections."
And this is exactly what Jesus, our true friend, did and does for us. He set us free to live within the bounds of boundless love, amidst all the joys and suffering of this life. That was my point Sunday: that while "trouble and suffering" (Greek: thlipsis = tribulation, oppression, persecution, or "that which causes pain") are part of our allotted limits in this groaning world, that we have a friend, and a friend can make all the difference when you're dealing with trouble and suffering.
And as we grow in friendship with Christ Jesus, we become more and more free - to follow him, glorify him, and serve him and his world. Thanks be to God!
Friday, May 08, 2009
more on addiction and grace
Here are the last three paragraphs in that section called "Deliverance" in Gerald May's Addiction and Grace (don't miss the last paragraph):
"I believe that grace's empowerment is present in all true healings, in deliverances of all kinds, and in any movement toward wholeness and love and freedom, however great or small. It is present in physical and psychological healing, in social and political reconciliation, in cultural and scientific breakthrough, in spiritual deliverance from evil, in religious repentance and conversion, and in the ongoing process of spiritual growth. It is present wherever love really grows. In every such situation, grace enables us to make necessary initial changes and to continue, over time, to nurture those changes in creative, constructive ways.
"God does not flash into our lives to work a piece of magic upon us and then disappear. To do so would eradicate human dignity; it would prevent our participation. Instead, God's grace is always present intimately within us, inviting and empowering us toward more full, more free exercise of will and responsibility. The more open and spacious our will and responsibility become, the more God and person commune in creative splendor.
"We are never simply visited with a healing or deliverance, which we can then safely forget. Grace is not a pill we are given or a method applied to us so that we can simply go on about our business. Grace always invties us forward. Every liberation requires continued attention, every healing demands continued care, every deliverance demands follow-up and every conversion requires faithful deepening. If we do not respond to these ongoing calls, if we deny our empowerments for continued growth in freedom and responsbility, our healings may well be stillborn. Then, as in Jesus' words about evil spirits returning to a house swept clean, our last condition may turn out to worse than our first." (pp. 154-155)
"I believe that grace's empowerment is present in all true healings, in deliverances of all kinds, and in any movement toward wholeness and love and freedom, however great or small. It is present in physical and psychological healing, in social and political reconciliation, in cultural and scientific breakthrough, in spiritual deliverance from evil, in religious repentance and conversion, and in the ongoing process of spiritual growth. It is present wherever love really grows. In every such situation, grace enables us to make necessary initial changes and to continue, over time, to nurture those changes in creative, constructive ways.
"God does not flash into our lives to work a piece of magic upon us and then disappear. To do so would eradicate human dignity; it would prevent our participation. Instead, God's grace is always present intimately within us, inviting and empowering us toward more full, more free exercise of will and responsibility. The more open and spacious our will and responsibility become, the more God and person commune in creative splendor.
"We are never simply visited with a healing or deliverance, which we can then safely forget. Grace is not a pill we are given or a method applied to us so that we can simply go on about our business. Grace always invties us forward. Every liberation requires continued attention, every healing demands continued care, every deliverance demands follow-up and every conversion requires faithful deepening. If we do not respond to these ongoing calls, if we deny our empowerments for continued growth in freedom and responsbility, our healings may well be stillborn. Then, as in Jesus' words about evil spirits returning to a house swept clean, our last condition may turn out to worse than our first." (pp. 154-155)
Monday, May 04, 2009
Willard on grace
Before I share the second installment of Gerald May, I want to share an excerpt from an interview with Dallas Willard in "Stillpoint," the quarterly magazine of my alma mater, Gordon College. Willard wrote "The Spirit of the Disciplines" and "The Divine Conspiracy" (and several other books) which were both very helpful to me.
Here he speaks concisely of the body, grace, and effort - this ties in with both the addiction and grace themes, and a resurrection ethic of the body. Note especially the last paragraph.
+ + + + +
SP: Your chapter “St. Paul’s Psychology of Redemption” in The Spirit of the Disciplines was enormously helpful to me in understanding the body’s role in our spiritual lives.
DW: Psychology is bodily. The body is a primary spiritual resource. I love this quotation from Sir William Ramsey’s St. Paul, the Traveler and Roman Citizen: “In Paul, for the first time since Aristotle, Greek philosophy made a genuine step forward.” It’s so appropriate to put him in that context because it’s actually true. Ramsey was able to help me see Paul in a different light, to see how really bodily spirituality is. Paul really meant it. Take those passages like “I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” That doesn’t mean asceticism--just sensible training of the whole person to do the will of God.
SP: There’s so much you miss in the Pauline writings if you’re only looking at him through the lenses we often see him through.
DW: Before I began studying the spiritual disciplines, I was reading St. Paul through the lens of dispensational theology. Basically what that does is relieve us of any genuine responsibilities to do anything except believe correct doctrine. That’s important, but that’s not life. I had to get past the idea that grace had only to do with forgiveness; that grace was opposed to effort--which it isn’t; its opposed to earning--and to understand the power of grace as an activity and a life . . . that was difficult coming from the theological sources I had.
Here he speaks concisely of the body, grace, and effort - this ties in with both the addiction and grace themes, and a resurrection ethic of the body. Note especially the last paragraph.
+ + + + +
SP: Your chapter “St. Paul’s Psychology of Redemption” in The Spirit of the Disciplines was enormously helpful to me in understanding the body’s role in our spiritual lives.
DW: Psychology is bodily. The body is a primary spiritual resource. I love this quotation from Sir William Ramsey’s St. Paul, the Traveler and Roman Citizen: “In Paul, for the first time since Aristotle, Greek philosophy made a genuine step forward.” It’s so appropriate to put him in that context because it’s actually true. Ramsey was able to help me see Paul in a different light, to see how really bodily spirituality is. Paul really meant it. Take those passages like “I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.” That doesn’t mean asceticism--just sensible training of the whole person to do the will of God.
SP: There’s so much you miss in the Pauline writings if you’re only looking at him through the lenses we often see him through.
DW: Before I began studying the spiritual disciplines, I was reading St. Paul through the lens of dispensational theology. Basically what that does is relieve us of any genuine responsibilities to do anything except believe correct doctrine. That’s important, but that’s not life. I had to get past the idea that grace had only to do with forgiveness; that grace was opposed to effort--which it isn’t; its opposed to earning--and to understand the power of grace as an activity and a life . . . that was difficult coming from the theological sources I had.
the mystery of grace
The following are a couple of paragraphs from "Addiction and Grace" by Gerald May. This is a section he calls "Deliverance." This means deliverance from addictive behavior, not specifically from demons (though that may be true also). I read this the day after we discussed the power and mystery and hiddenness of the kingdom of God in Bible study (Matthew 13); to me, it rang in harmony with those themes.
"This is the spiritual experience I learned about from recovering addicts, the unique phenomenon that sparked my professional/personal journey into psychology and spirituality. I can only call it deliverance. There is no physical, psychological, or social explanation for such sudden empowerments. People who have experienced them call them miraculous. In many cases these people have struggled with their addictions for years. Then suddenly, with no warning, the power of the addiction is broken. To me, deliverance is like any other miraculous physical, emotional, or social healing. It is an example of "supernatural" or "extraordinary" grace, an obvious intervention by the hand of God in which physical structure and function are changed and growth toward wholeness is enabled. In the case of addiction, healing takes the form of empowerment that enables people to modify addictive behavior.
"I am choosing my words carefully here, Deliverance enables a person to make a change in his or her behavior; in my experience deliverance does not remove the addiction and its underlying attachments. Something obviously happens to the systems of the brain when deliverance occurs; either the addicted systems are weakened or the one seeking freedom are strengthened or both. But there is still a role for continued personal responsibility. Considerable intention and vigilance are still necessary. I have witnessed many healings of substance and nonsubstance addictions and of many other disorders. In none of these miraculous empowerments were people freed from having to remain intentional about avoiding a return to their old addictive behaviors. The real miracle was that avoidance became possible; the person could actually do it. Deliverance does not remove a person's responsibility; it does empower the person to exercise responsibility simply, gently, and effectively.
"In a way, this is how grace seems to work with us in all areas of life. The special flowerings of grace that we call deliverance and miracles seem so extraordinary only because of the way we look at them. The natural grace that God continually offers us in the normal circumstances of our lives is really just as miraculous. It stands ready to transform and empower us in the most ordinary situations. Miracles are nothing other than God's ordinary truth seen with surprised eyes.
"Our very being in this world, our existence as individuals and communities, is miraculous. It is miraculous that God creates us with bodies and brains that are capable of adapting to virtually any conditions, and that God preserves within us an invincible freedom of choice. It is no more miraculous that God can thaw the most frozen of our adaptations and massively, instantaneously, empower our freedom of choice. A particular eruption of grace strikes into a person's life like a lightning bold of loving energy; the power of God's goodness shines in victory over a particular human enslavement or misfortune. The enemy is weakened; the person is empowered." (pages 153-154)
That was more than I intended to share, but that last paragraph was really good. Actually the next three are also, I'll share those separately.
"the natural grace of God... stands ready to transfrom and empower us in the most ordinary of circumstances"
"A particular eruption of grace strikes into a person's life like a lightning bolt of loving energy."
"This is the spiritual experience I learned about from recovering addicts, the unique phenomenon that sparked my professional/personal journey into psychology and spirituality. I can only call it deliverance. There is no physical, psychological, or social explanation for such sudden empowerments. People who have experienced them call them miraculous. In many cases these people have struggled with their addictions for years. Then suddenly, with no warning, the power of the addiction is broken. To me, deliverance is like any other miraculous physical, emotional, or social healing. It is an example of "supernatural" or "extraordinary" grace, an obvious intervention by the hand of God in which physical structure and function are changed and growth toward wholeness is enabled. In the case of addiction, healing takes the form of empowerment that enables people to modify addictive behavior.
"I am choosing my words carefully here, Deliverance enables a person to make a change in his or her behavior; in my experience deliverance does not remove the addiction and its underlying attachments. Something obviously happens to the systems of the brain when deliverance occurs; either the addicted systems are weakened or the one seeking freedom are strengthened or both. But there is still a role for continued personal responsibility. Considerable intention and vigilance are still necessary. I have witnessed many healings of substance and nonsubstance addictions and of many other disorders. In none of these miraculous empowerments were people freed from having to remain intentional about avoiding a return to their old addictive behaviors. The real miracle was that avoidance became possible; the person could actually do it. Deliverance does not remove a person's responsibility; it does empower the person to exercise responsibility simply, gently, and effectively.
"In a way, this is how grace seems to work with us in all areas of life. The special flowerings of grace that we call deliverance and miracles seem so extraordinary only because of the way we look at them. The natural grace that God continually offers us in the normal circumstances of our lives is really just as miraculous. It stands ready to transform and empower us in the most ordinary situations. Miracles are nothing other than God's ordinary truth seen with surprised eyes.
"Our very being in this world, our existence as individuals and communities, is miraculous. It is miraculous that God creates us with bodies and brains that are capable of adapting to virtually any conditions, and that God preserves within us an invincible freedom of choice. It is no more miraculous that God can thaw the most frozen of our adaptations and massively, instantaneously, empower our freedom of choice. A particular eruption of grace strikes into a person's life like a lightning bold of loving energy; the power of God's goodness shines in victory over a particular human enslavement or misfortune. The enemy is weakened; the person is empowered." (pages 153-154)
That was more than I intended to share, but that last paragraph was really good. Actually the next three are also, I'll share those separately.
"the natural grace of God... stands ready to transfrom and empower us in the most ordinary of circumstances"
"A particular eruption of grace strikes into a person's life like a lightning bolt of loving energy."
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