cedars of Lebanon…

These are magnificent trees…

Here is a little history from Wikipedia.org:

Once Lebanon was shaded by thick cedar forests, so it is no coincidence that the tree is the symbol of the country. After centuries of persistent deforestation, the extent of these forest has been markedly reduced. The trees survive in mountainous areas, where they are the dominant tree species. This is the case of the slopes of Mount Makmel that tower over the Kadisha Valley where the Cedars of God are found at an altitude of more than 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). Four of them have reached a height of 35 metres (115 ft). and their trunks are 12–14 metres (39–46 ft) around.[1]

Concern for the Biblical Cedars of God goes back to 1876 when the 102-hectare (250-acre) grove was surrounded by a high stone wall, which was paid for by Queen Victoria. The wall protects saplings from goats.[1]

They can grow to be huge trees that reach all the way up to heaven!  Trunks 39 feet around! These are wonderful demonstrations of what God’s kingdom will be like, magnificent, wonderful and big! Something that commands our attention! Even in their old age they still produce fruit and sap. They are always doing what they need to be doing.

Are you rooted in the Lord and growing ever deeper in His love? Stay in Him and you will produce fruit through out all of your life and point people to God, just like the cedars!

2 trees or not 2 trees – that is the question

We get so hung up on the fruit and the tree and the serpent being the devil and a bunch of stuff that we learned in Sunday School that simply isn’t in the Bible.

I wonder sometimes why the apple got the short straw on being the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Was this because the apple was known to the youth and it was easy to talk about the fruit being an apple. Even today on the Christian radio station I listen to I heard a song that talked about the apple being the fruit Eve and Adam ate. The Bible does not say what the fruit was, it was simply on the tree in the middle of the Garden…

And how many trees were there? Yes this is a ridiculous question. No one knows how many trees there were in the Garden of Eden. However I really mean how many special trees were there in the Garden of Eden? And as I type this I think I emphatically know the answer, but I am wrong. We do not know how many special trees there are either.  It is not stated in the Bible how many special trees there are but there is something there that many of us overlook or forget or were never taught.

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24 ESV)

Now that man is like us we have to get them out of the garden so they don’t eat from the tree of life and live forever! After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the Genesis story tells us that man and woman were just like God except God lives for ever and man does not. So if they would have eaten from the tree of life, they would have been exactly like God. So there are at least 2 trees that are special in the Garden of Eden, and the tree of life is now guarded by flaming spinning sword bearing Cherubim. (Cherubim are scary enough from the description of the in the Bible, I’m not sure why they need the flaming spinning swords!)

So what is true? Is the apple the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as we have been taught? Is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the only special tree in the Bible as we have been taught?

I guess the question for the day shouldn’t be 2 trees or not 2 trees, but why do we cling to what we have been taught when it does not jive with the Biblical witness? Why do we claim to know the truth of God when we do not even really know what His word says?

Dear daddy God, please help us to give up our knowledge and to live and stay in the realness of you, and to be led in your path and go out doing your mission. Guide us in your mercy and love to show forth your grace. Amen

keep it!

A house divided against itself can not stand!

Have you ever been there?

Luke 11:14-28 tells us the story we heard from Mark last Sunday of the reason Jesus can cast out demons according to the Pharisees and the scribes is because He does it by the chief of demons… Yet a house divided against itself can not stand. So if demons are casting out demons then the house of demons will fall. This is not only true for the house of demons, but also for the house of God…

Have you ever been involved in a congregation where there were struggles and fighting inside amongst the people that should be united under the cross of Christ?

We get hung up on knowing the full truth and making sure that everyone else knows this truth as we have discovered it… But is this really what the gospel is all about?

Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Now what does this mean?

You see we are so ready to share what we think the word of God means, and look for those who believe the same as us, so that we can help others see the truth of the error of their ways… We use the information we have been given through the gospel to help others see how wrong they are. But Jesus said to keep the word of God. To store into yourself and allow it to change your life, and then that will show others how much Jesus loves them… And that will change them, and allow them to be changed and bring them into relationship with Jesus. Not us telling them how wrong they are, but keeping the word of God in us and allowing it to change us and that will change others!

So keep it!

Books…

The book of Life is the book we read about in Revelation 20. It tells us that anyone whose name is not written in this book will be thrown into the lake of fire…

We have to do the correct things to get our name in the book of life. We will be judged by what we have done. As Lutherans we believe we are held in God’s hand by grace and it is not by works that we are saved, yet Revelation 20 tells us differently…

But it also says there are other books that are opened. They are not named but books are opened…

Makes me think about the trees in the garden of Eden… There are many trees, but there are 2 special trees… The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree at the center of the garden that God tells Adam and Eve to not eat from. And then at the end of Genesis 3 we hear about the other tree, the reason for humanities expulsion from the garden, the tree of eternal life. We could have been just like God if we would have eaten from the tree of eternal life, having the knowledge of good and evil…

But we have to watch what we do so we are judged good, or we can have faith in he promises of God and know that Jesus paid the price for us… Or we can worry about the other books listed in Revelation 20 and what they could mean for us… Or we can hope in the unseen things and have faith in the promises of God.

God’s Merry Band of Fools!

Psalm 74 tells us how the people of God are surrounded by those who scoff at God a foolishly mock God and His ways. When oh when Lord will you come and smite these foolish people and bring us out of the calamity we are under…

But is that really what is happening? The psalmist here seems to think that God is slow in bringing about the promised relief from the foes, the enemies of God. God has obviously forgotten the plan, and needs to be reminded that the people He has claimed needs to be saved form the world around them.

12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You split open springs and brooks;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.

But the psalmist does understand that God is working through the creation and the things that are here, by using them to show forth His power and mercy. He is working in and through the world the way it is…

And the thing the psalmist misses and we sometimes forget is that we are also enemies of God, and foes to those who follow God. When we sin we are not a friend of God, but against God. When we think we have it all figured out and our way is the only way then we are the foe of God and sinning against those who follow God. We are the ones that the psalmist is asking for God to come and remove and smite and relieve those who are following God. When we ask God to remove those who do not believe we are asking for God to remove us from this place…

Anne Lamott writes, “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” If we are certain about anything that is controlled by God, then we are not really getting God. We need to live in the promise God has given us and not cling to any certainty that we have made.

So remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day, and remember we are all a part of God’s merry band of fools!

 

What do you know?

What are you completely sure of in life?

There is not much I am completely sure of, well maybe there is, but maybe there isn’t…

I’m sure I am the father of my 3 daughters, and I am sure I will love them regardless of what they do.

I’m sure that I will never be a millionaire. I really hope I’m wrong about that, I would like to be able to help lots of people…

I know that I want to be god in my life… Yes you read that correctly. I want to be the supreme ruler of my life, I want to be the god of my destiny, and determine everything that happens in my life…

I think if we were all honest with ourselves we would all have to say this, because this after all is the original sin, wanting to be god. This is what the serpent told Eve about the forbidden fruit, that if she ate it should would be like God. We want to control our lives, and not allow anyone else to have control over us.

But isn’t that where we get ourselves into trouble? If we could just let go and allow God to be the controller of our lives wouldn’t things run smoother, and be better?

So let go and allow God to have control….

Who are you?

Who are you was a hit song by the Who, and has some interesting lyrics…

I was reminded of this song though today as I read through the gospel passage for the lectionary of today, Luke 8:4-15, the parable of the good soil.

You see “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.” And so I wonder who are you?

Are you the path where you get trampled on or are the birds eating you alive, or are you rock and lack moisture and withering away, are you the thorny ground and feel choked, or are you good soil and are producing????

I think we are all all of these over our life time. We are trampled by others and the world around us and eaten up by those who are there to pick us apart in the ministry we try to do. We lack moisture and wither when we are not really connected to the root and not foundationally rooted in the living God. We are choked out by the thorns of life that try to make us think we are not doing what we need to. Sometimes we are good soil producing a hundredfold and allowing God to work through us.

Who are you? includes the lyrics:

I know there’s a place you walked
Where love falls from the trees
My heart is like a broken cup
I only feel right on my knees

I spit out like a sewer hole
Yet still recieve your kiss
How can I measure up to anyone now
After such a love as this?

My heart is like a broken cup I only feel right on my knees… In prayer is where I get it right and live as the good soil. I spit you out like a sewer hole when I live as the path, rocky, or thorny soil and do the things I shouldn’t do when I’m not connected to the root that feeds me. Yet I still receive your kiss – even though I do not deserve you  grace, a relationship with you because of who I am, I still get it. How can any of us measure up after a love such as this…

Who are you? Cause I really wanna know…

Earthly tent…

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 ESV

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

Our earthly home is only for a time. But we need not worry about our earthly home. As Paul tells the Corinthians that when our earthly tent is destroyed we have a home in God. God has prepared a place for us that is much better than we could ever image because we have a home in God. A home that is better then anything we could ever image…

So live in the thought that God has prepared a place for you that is beyond your imagination and a place that will be a safe place for you for all eternity!

Out of the depths…

Psalm 130 is the appointed psalm for today. And it begins, “Out of the depths I cry…”

Have you ever felt like you were so far away from God that you didn’t what to do? That you were in the depths of Sheol, or worse? “What can I do, everything is crumbling around me and no matter what I try it doesn’t seem to help it only gets worse, will somebody please help me!”

The psalmist understands this, and knows this place, that is where they are… Asking if God remembers our iniquities and holds them against us who will be able to stand, so please God be attentive to me crying out for you help from the darkest hole I’ve ever been in. The psalmist tells us that is where they are, and they know all about it. The hole seems so big and dark like there is really no way out, and the sad news is it is going to get deeper and darker before the help actually arrives…

The psalmist tells us, as they did, we have to wait on the Lord, our souls have to wait on the Lord and we have to hope in His word. To find solace in the comfort and the words from the God who created us and promised to never leave us or forsake us. And we have more than the psalmist, who would have only known the word of the Lord to be spoken by the prophets or written in the Law, we have Jesus and the revelation of the love God has given through His only begotten Son.

And we have the Spirit…

Remember even the depths of God… my blog post from 2 days ago. Where Paul tells the Corinthians that the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. That the Spirit goes to the unknown places of God, and here the psalmist tells us that they are crying out of the depths… The depths that were created by God, the places that the Holy Spirit is searching…

So fear not as the hole gets darker and deeper, cause the Spirit is with you, and God will see you through. Hope in His word as the psalmist reminds us and cry out of the deep, knowing that He is with you, even in your deepest darkest hole!

What is a lamp for?

This is a lamp that is in my house, I made it from a lamp kit from Lowes and a clarinet someone gave me. The base is a table top microphone stand. I glued all of the pieces together and had a tube cut in the middle that was threaded and ran the cord for the lamp through this. Now this lamp is not only cool to look at, add to any room and start many conversations, it is also a functional lamp.

It gives light to the room, in fact it is getting close to the time I will need to turn it on as it is in the room I am typing this blog, and the sun is going down. While I prefer God’s light, when the sun goes down, the buildings around block out God’s night time lights…

But I digress, what is a lamp for?

Merriam-Webster online defines lamp as

1a : any of various devices for producing light or sometimes heat: as (1) : a vessel with a wick for burning an inflammable liquid (as oil) to produce light (2) : a glass bulb or tube that emits light produced by electricity (as an incandescent lightbulb or fluorescent lamp)b : a decorative appliance housing a lamp that is usually covered by a shade
2: a celestial body
3: a source of intellectual or spiritual illumination
4: eye 1a —usually used in plural

Interestingly the site says that the first known use of lamp is the 13th Century.  Of course Jesus spoke in Aramaic so that is fine but this word was not the original…

But  a lamp is for light or heat. It can be a vessel for burning oil with a wick, or a bulb as an incandescent, or a new halogen bulb. It is a celestial body or a source of intellectual or spiritual illumination. It is a way to bring light into a dark place. Or it is a bringing of things that we want to not be known to a place where they are known.  That is what Jesus speaks of today in Mark 4:21-25.

A lamp is not brought into a room to be put under a bushel basket. For those of us in the 21st Century this is a funny thing, because a lamp will still usually show under a bushel basket, because our electric lamps are taller than a bushel basket, so this would just be an annoyance, and I think that is what Jesus is really getting at. But you see in Jesus day putting a lamp under a bushel basket would not only not allow the lamp to light the room, it could really cause the lamp to light the room by setting everything on fire.  But the annoyance of a bushel basket hanging on a lamp (I wish I had a bushel basket to put over the clarinet lamp and take a picture!) is what the things we are trying to hide coming to light would be for us. They would embarrass us if people knew what we were hiding. We would not be able to go the same places or do the same things, as our world would be turned upside down. Or would it be better? Have you ever had a secret you kept from people because you were afraid of the reaction you would get for this secret? You hid your life from everyone and tried to act and be a person you were not, because you thought that is what everyone wanted, but once it was out you were able to really live as who you were created to be with out the hindrance of the secret weighing you down.  Well Jesus says that one day everything will be brought to light, even the things we do not want to be known. Everything will be known even our deepest darkest secrets.

So instead of trying to keep the lamp from showing our secrets, and pushing the lamp towards others as we point out all of the things they are doing wrong, maybe we should just let our sins come to light and allow everyone to know that we are hurting and not perfect. Instead of trying to bring others down so we feel better, why not bring our own trash and crap to light to show the world that we are hurt and scared, but Jesus still loves us and uses us to reach the world?

Which gives a better witness, pointing out our neighbors sin and showing how much better we are, or showing we are damaged but Jesus loves us anyhow?

Use the lamp you’ve been given to shine a light that will help others see His light!