Can we Love ~ Tom Booth

This is a wonderful song that gets directly to the point of this weeks lectionary readings. I wonder if any of really get it…

Can We Love.

Can we love?
Can we lay down our lives?
Can we wear His crown of thorns?
Can we drink the cup that He drinks?
We must lay down our lives.

It’s more than raising our hands
It’s more than singing this song
It’s saying  yes to the giver of life
It’s righting the ways that are wrong

Can we love?
Can we lay down our lives?
Can we wear His crown of thorns?
Can we drink the cup that He drinks?
We must lay down our lives.

It’s more than singing His praise
It’s more than shouting God’s name
It’s bringing forgiveness to injuries wounds
And hope to those imprisoned by shame

Loving the Lord Our God
With all our heart, mind and soul
Loving our neighbor as ourselves
The kingdom of love we will know

With feet secure on the ground
And hearts humbled by love
You send before God’s anointed one
To ask a question
To ask a question

Can we love?
Can we lay down our lives?
Can we wear His crown of thorns?
Can we drink the cup that He drinks?
We must lay down our lives.

Can we love?
Can we lay down our lives?
Can we wear His crown of thorns?
Can we drink the cup that He drinks?
We must lay down
We must lay down
We must lay down our lives.

Ethical vs Upholding a code…

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.
(Psalm 15 ESV)

Psalm 15 and Psalm 24 are 2 of the entrance liturgies we find in the Hebrew Scriptures. And when we read these we are struck by something that is different than we expect…

Who can enter into God’s space… O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill? From Leviticus and Numbers we expect it to be about purity. It is about those who keep the laws and live by the law. If you are purified according to the Law you are in…

But that is not what the above says. The above is about how we ethically treat each other and what the community is like that is gathering around God. It is about respecting your neighbor and living a life of love that is abounding to all.

It is not about keeping a prescribed code that was given to help us understand what it means to love our neighbor. It is about loving our neighbor.

You see we have come to understand that we have to follow the law because that is what purifies us and makes us love God, but we can not love God on our own. We need Him to move us to the point of seeing the love He has for us and that will move us to allow that love to over flow to the other. It is not about keeping a list of rules to make us love God. It is about letting the love God has poured on us to spring forth in the lives of all around us.

Would you like a drink?

Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the LORD’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”
The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” But the LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”
Then the LORD sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made. (Exodus 32:15-35 ESV)

So Moses comes down off the mountain after being with God and he has the tablets that God wrote on, and when he gets closer he hears shouts. Not shouts of victory or the cries of defeat, but singing. He is hearing worship! And when he enters the camp, his anger wells up and he throws the tablets on the ground and breaks them and lets the people have it!

If this would happen in a congregation today, can you imagine what would happen to this leader? They people would revolt, but they hear Moses and respect him, and they listen to him. They are even willing to do what he asks them to to repair the damage they have done by looking for and having Aaron make them a God. Once the tablets are broken, Moses takes the calf, and pounds it into a fine dust and then puts it in the water, and makes the Israelites drink it… Like lemonade, only probably not very tasty…

They drink the god they made… Then Moses goes and asks God to forgive them, he offers himself as a sacrifice for them. “But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” God does not allow this, but sends a plague on those who sinned against Him…

So I wonder what it is we would be drinking? What do you need to pound into a powder and put in your coffee, or you water and drink up in repentance… money, food, your house, your car, your job, your tv, your computer…

What would you have to drink?

What is your golden calf?

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”
But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. (Exodus 32:1-14 ESV)

The people had just been through an amazing ride, well ok walk…

They were led out of Egypt and through the Sea of Reeds and the Egyptian army was killed in the chase. Then God provided food for their journey…

Now Moses and God are on the mountain… and the people are getting anxious, they need something to occupy them. Interestingly it is just like us. We need to be entertained, ask a school teacher how hard it is to maintain the attention of a student with the fast paced society we live in. They needed something, just like us to focus on…

So what is the focus of your life? What is the one thing that takes the seat of adoration in your temple? What is the thing you would sacrifice everything else for?

Here we see the Israelites  giving up their plunder from Egypt to make a god, something they can see and worship and focus on. They were willing to give up everything, or were they? Did they realize by doing this they were damaging their relationship with the one who led them here? Did they know that their need for a focal point was destroying the relationship God had built with them. That by doing this little thing, this thing that shouldn’t really matter they were causing a rift in the relationship.  I mean what does it really matter if their gold was in their ears, on their fingers, or in the form of a calf they could carry with them? It is the position of their hearts!

So what is on that seat in your life? What takes center stage for you?

If your not sure look at your bank statements and see where your hard earned money goes, because that can give you a clue where your devotion is. Where does your money go. Jesus said where your treasure is, their your heart will be also… If you can give your treasure to God, he will return it to you in many many times over…

I pray that God himself will be your golden calf.

Hate you…

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ (John 15:16-25 ESV)

Love one another… You were chosen by God and appointed to go and bear fruit so that you will love one another…

Have you always felt love in the gathering of worship known as the Church? There were times I have been in a place of worship where you could cut the tension with a knife, and it would have to be a sharp on to break through… There was snot much love in that place, and this has been more than once and in many places across the nation I have been to. I am sure if we are all honest, we have all experienced this…

Sometimes they will know we are Christians by our love is shown in the exact opposite… They know we must not be followers of Christ by our hate or disdain or tension we have with each other… Or is that really the world creeping in?

You see the world persecuted Jesus. Actually according to the gospel from which today’s lesson comes the World and the Jews persecuted Jesus. I know we could get into all kind of discussions on the involvement of the Jews and what that means. Let’s say it this way to get to the talking point. The world and the religious world persecuted Jesus… They saw that Jesus was teaching differently than the law they knew and was teaching so they were upset that he was leading people astray from their teachings. That that it was scriptural, but it was different than what they were teaching. So they got rid of him…

Have you ever been afraid to question the teachings of the church on a subject because you felt like God was telling you something different than what the church was saying? Have you ever been the only one that seems to think different on a passage of scripture than the rest of those gathered to study? We need to speak our minds and work through the tough questions. The Bible is not as straight forward as the church would want us to think it is. And that is OK, because God gave us each other to work through the questions, in line with our traditions and the scriptures… Not just believing something because that is what we are told we are suppose to think a passage means, or we believe this because we always have…

They hated Jesus, and they will hate you. If you are feeling the hate because what you are saying or feeling is different than the status quo, you might be in good company…

They hated Jesus, they will hate you…

Don’t give up on God ~ He’ll never give up on You!

“But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
“And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.
“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. (Nehemiah 9:16-31 ESV)

Wow! What a recounting of the story of Israel…

They were a stiff necked people, who freed from slavery wished to go back. Then once in the land turned on God again, and again and each time God did not forsake them, He stayed by their sides and heard their cries and met their needs…

Sound exactly like us! We constantly fall away. Sometimes because the sin sneaks up on us and sometimes because we willfully walk away and turn to the sin. We give up following God and go to our own needs.

But do we need to be concerned for ourselves? Do we need to worry about what will happen to us?

Read the passage again. Did you see it and hear it. Even when they had turned on God, He was with them. Now yes He did hand them over to their enemies, but He was there with them and heard their cries and delivered them. God does not give up on His people! God does not give up on you!

You need not worry about yourself or your own needs. Your flesh does not need to be gratified. Look out for the other and God will supply for you. For God is a gracious and merciful God! He will take care of what is His!

Kids write the darnedest things…

Received the below in an email and thought it needed to be shared…

A Nun Grading Papers
CAN YOU IMAGINE THE NUN SITTING AT HER DESK GRADING THESE PAPERS, ALL THE WHILE TRYING TO KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE AND MAINTAIN HER COMPOSURE!
PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE WORDING AND SPELLING. IF YOU KNOW THE BIBLE EVEN A LITTLE, YOU’LL FIND THIS HILARIOUS! IT COMES FROM A CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEST.

KIDS WERE ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. THE FOLLOWING 25 STATEMENTS ABOUT THE BIBLE WERE WRITTEN BY CHILDREN. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN RETOUCHED OR CORRECTED. INCORRECT SPELLING HAS BEEN LEFT IN.

1. IN THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, GUINESSIS. GOD GOT TIRED OF CREATING THE WORLD SO HE TOOK THE SABBATH OFF.

2. ADAM AND EVE WERE CREATED FROM AN APPLE TREE. NOAH’S WIFE WAS JOAN OF ARK. NOAH BUILT AND ARK AND THE ANIMALS CAME ON IN PEARS.

3. LOTS WIFE WAS A PILLAR OF SALT DURING THE DAY, BUT A BALL OF FIRE DURING THE NIGHT.

4. THE JEWS WERE A PROUD PEOPLE AND THROUGHOUT HISTORY THEY HAD TROUBLE WITH UNSYMPATHETIC GENITALS.

5. SAMPSON WAS A STRONGMAN WHO LET HIMSELF BE LED ASTRAY BY A JEZEBEL LIKE DELILAH.

6. SAMSON SLAYED THE PHILISTINES WITH THE AXE OF THE APOSTLES.

7. MOSES LED THE JEWS TO THE RED SEA WHERE THEY MADE UNLEAVENED BREAD,WHICH IS BREAD WITHOUT ANY INGREDIENTS.

8. THE EGYPTIANS WERE ALL DROWNED IN THE DESSERT. AFTERWARDS, MOSES WENT UP TO MOUNT  CYANIDE TO GET THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

9. THE FIRST COMMANDMENTS WAS WHEN EVE TOLD ADAM TO EAT THE APPLE.

10. THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT IS THOU SHALT NOT ADMIT ADULTERY.

11. MOSES DIED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED CANADA THEN JOSHUA LED THE HEBREWS IN THE BATTLE  OF GERITOL.

12. THE GREATEST MIRICLE IN THE BIBLE IS WHEN JOSHUA TOLD HIS SON TO STAND STILL AND HE OBEYED HIM.

13. DAVID WAS A HEBREW KING WHO WAS SKILLED AT PLAYING THE LIAR. HE FOUGHT THE FINKELSTEINS, A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN BIBLICAL TIMES.

14. SOLOMON, ONE OF DAVIDS SONS, HAD 300 WIVES AND 700 PORCUPINES.

15. WHEN MARY HEARD SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF JESUS, SHE SANG THE MAGNA CARTA.

16. WHEN THE THREE WISE GUYS FROM THE EAST SIDE ARRIVED THEY FOUND JESUS IN THE MANAGER.

17. JESUS WAS BORN BECAUSE MARY HAD AN IMMACULATE CONTRAPTION.

18. ST. JOHN THE BLACKSMITH DUMPED WATER ON HIS HEAD.

19. JESUS ENUNCIATED THE GOLDEN RULE, WHICH SAYS TO DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO ONE TO YOU. HE ALSO EXPLAINED A MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY SWEAT ALONE.

20. IT WAS A MIRICLE WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND MANAGED TO GET THE TOMBSTONE OFF THE ENTRANCE.

21. THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE LORD WERE CALLED THE 12 DECIBELS.

22. THE EPISTELS WERE THE WIVES OF THE APOSTLES.

23. ONE OF THE OPPOSSUMS WAS ST. MATTHEW WHO WAS ALSO A TAXIMAN.

24. ST. PAUL CAVORTED TO CHRISTIANITY, HE PREACHED HOLY ACRIMONY, WHICH IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MARRAIGE.

25. CHRISTIANS HAVE ONLY ONE SPOUSE. THIS IS CALLED MONOTONY.

Oh how I sometimes cringe when I read the Bible…

The Holy Word of God is our compass and a guide to help us through the days. I do long each morning to read and be in the word. To hear what my daddy has for me for the day – to get through and to have the wisdom that He wants to impart to me. I wait with baited breath to read the lectionary readings for the day…

And I have to admit sometimes it leaves me a little flat. I get nothing or I wonder why did I read that, or how can I do that…

Today would be one of those days…

The daily lectionary readings for the day according to the Daily Lectionary from the ELCA are:

Nehemiah 9:1-15
Ephesians 5:21—6:9
Psalm 119:97-104

All of these are great readings, and yet not really what I needed to day I guess, or maybe I’m not getting it…

But I read Psalm 119 again a few times…

Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your testimonies are my meditation.
I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts.
I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.
I do not turn aside from your rules,
for you have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way.
(Psalm 119:97-104 ESV)

And I wondered about “Oh how I love your Law!” And with all of the discussions I’ve been having lately, it got me to thinking and chuckling…

How many of actually like rules and want to follow them? How many of us actually take seriously the law of God? And then we have to talk about what the Law of God is… Is it the 613 laws in the Hebrew Scripture? Is it the 10 Commandments? Notice most of the New Testament has no separation of the 10 Commandments from the other Laws. (Yes a few places Jesus expands on the what some of these mean, but the 10 Commandments are not held up as the best of the best…) So what is the law of God and how do we love it?

We understand your precepts and follow your code… For doing things the right way and pleasing the maker of the code… Jesus came and told us that those who follow the laws for the purpose of pleasing God are doing the wrong thing. The law was made for our benefit not to hold us captive. We are not suppose to know the law so we watch our selves so carefully we never do anything out of line, but we are suppose to live in such a love relationship with God that we have that love overflowing from our lives.

Don’t keep the law to please any one, because it won’t. Love God and Love neighbor through every last action of your life!

Why bother?

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
(John 6:60-69 ESV)

I remember reading this with my pericope group as we did text study to prepare for our upcoming sermons and I asked the question, “Why does Jesus give the disciples an out and not us?” Because Jesus plainly asks the disciples after the crowd sees and hears how hard the teaching is and they leave, He turns to the 12 and says, “Are y’all going to go to?”

But Jesus does give us a choice on whether or not we follow, and stick with what He has called us to. Following Jesus is not a one time decision. Once I make it I’m good and I don’t have to worry about anything again. Actually I remember Shane Claiborne saying something like, “Once I found Jesus my life got harder…” and that is actually the way I have found it to.  Each day we get a choice of letting things go, or doing what we know we have to as followers of Christ.

Joshua said it as well, “Chose this day whom you will serve… … But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

Each and every day we have a choice to make. But I’m there with Joshua and Peter. Where else can I g, because I have tasted the wonders of the Lord and seen the abundant life He has for me, and there is no where else to go. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”