OT Notes June 2 I KIngs 18:20-39

1) this is quite the long narrative, so obviously we have decisions to make for it, whether we are usingit to teach, preach, or as a spiritual resource.
2) I think of Eugene Peterson on this passage, where he emphasizes Baalism as an emotional, consumer-oriented faith.
3) Baal was a god in the Canaanite pantheon. He was a youthful storm god. the name, in Hebrew cna mean lord, husband. Baal may have been connected ot fertility. He was also part of a death and rebirth account where his sister/consort  saves him from the clutches of the underworld. Baal defeated Yam of the sea, so some of the chaos stories would touch on him.Some mutilation riutals may a have accompanied hte cult of Baal to re-enact the story of his preparation to face death. the story resembles the account of the season in the story of Persephone.
4) We are in the presence of the time honored template of one against many here, think Sgt. York, or extend it to the account of the movie 300 of the Spartans at Thermopylae, or the Westerns or medieval stories of duels..
5) Obviously, the god of Israel is powerful. How do we deal with the story when we seek but do not find the power of god?
6) One could work with Ahab here. i am mystified why the supporters of a union of church and state do not refer to this story of the dangers of a union of church and state.
7) When have you had a Mt. Carmel incident?What powers helped you through it?
8) At v. 27 Elijah moves toward sarcasm and taunt. We are loath to do that in our pluralistic age.should the lectionary reading stops where it does?
9) What do you think of the touch of making Elijah's sacrifice even harder to ignite?

Week of May 26 Devotional Points

Trinity Sunday-Ps.8 -Apollo 11 had a quote from the psalm from the Pope when it launched, and so the words of this psalm still are on the moon.It has been said that hunman beings are midway between apes and angels. No one could possibly appreciate the vast expanse of the universe as we cna with the photographs from space probes and telescope technology.So, who are we in the midst of that vat universe, or universes, that God is mindful of us?

Memorial Day is a hard day for me. I feel nostalgia for the parade our little town held on this day. I grieve for the “gold star” parents still. I heard a country about a man being compelled to drive his son;s truck around to have something of his to hold on to. It seems to me that every Christian has to confront the issue of pacifism and further we are all moved to mourn the awful loss of life of war and to care for the widowed and orphaned, as Lincoln memorably said.

Tuesday-Marjorie Thompson writes of the center of one’s life. when we don't act from it, we tend to get discouraged and feel diminished, as if we are merely another cog in the apparatus. when we do work from our center, our best self, we tend to have new ideas, more energy, and seem to contribute a positive dimension to others as well as our own mood.Have you found your center, spiritually or otherwise? Does it seem like uncharted territory?

Wednesday-I’ve been working and struggling with Zechariah.Its succession of visions leave me confused and uncertain as to their meaning. I tend to think that we can handle them more easily as we are used ot the succession of images in movies and TV.further, its images are picked up by John in Revelation, so they are obviously capable of some plasticity in approach. What images for god and the fiath mean the most to you? What are scenes or images in a movie or TV that have stuck with you?

Thursday-I just heard a country song advising us to live like we’re dying.the song says to go out of the comfort zone and take some chances: to skydive, to do something new, exciting and dangerous.It also says that the experience may push us to become better human beings: better friends, better parents, better spouses.Foir christians, every day can hold this promise, as we claim we die to our old selves and are constantly being born to a new, better, more elevated self.

Friday-we had an interesting discussion recently about some of us having trouble with the very idea of grace. Some of can only feel worthy of a gift if it is deserved. Raised on conditional love, we cannot even imagine unconditional love, and a gift without strings. Maybe we can go back a step. We may feel that we do not need grace, but others do. that may be a good starting point. Maybe praying for grace for them is a great start at claiming the gift of grace for oneself.

Saturday-June 1-For me summer starts today, even though the season officially starts later.I recall how summer seemed to stretch out before you during school vacation when little. It presaged ball games, swimming, and bike hikes.What are your hopes for the summer? Please consider adding some spiritual exercises or reading to your list of activities. What in your life seems to require summer vacation? What of summer presages the best times and enjoyments for you?

Prov. 8 Trinity sunday Notes

Prov. 8:22-31,

The figure of the Trinity usually causes an eye roll or the closing of eyes for sleep. Lately, our readings from John clearly provide raw material for the Trinity as it circles around the rleations of the spirit and of Jesus as the ones sent by the Father, the Sending One.Let’s approach it in a different way today. Presbyterians have traditionally intoned that we worship a capacious God. The Trinity is a way of saying  that; God is complex and full. God breaks and breaks through  our best intentions of understanding. We may well understand what we can of god, but surely that does not exhaust the vastness of the being and reality of god.In its way, the Trinity is a reminder: it may be the way we can speak of the Christian God, but by no means t=doe sit encompass everything about God’s nature and dealings with this world.I think it wa sin the Hustler where the young one says that you taught me everything I know, and the reply goes: but I did not teach you everything I know.

We get to work with a figure not nearly examined fully enough this morning on Trinity Sunday, the figure of Lady Wisdom in the book of Proverbs. Few passages give us the angle of a figure within the life of God in the Old Testament as this personification of the divine attribute of wisdom.This passage allows me to not only look at the God of creation but a vital part of that creation, the sheer joy, delight, imagination involved in creation. Here, Wisdom is not tucked away in a garden or on a mountain peak, in the midst of creation. Wisdom permits god’s work to be comprehensible and intelligible, to be able to perceive its structure and order. Wisdom grows with the created world, its companion.Creation allows this attribute of God to find a place to be and to enjoy the work.Here God is architect, planner, and engineer.Wisdom is found in the midst of the creation of the created ones, a bustling city.Wisdom seeks to give us the tools and perspective to live well in the world.Remember the cosmic child at the end of 2001? Wisdom delights in the responsive, in the relations between and among creation. It thus mirrors the relationality at the heart of the Trinitarian conception of God.(See Brown book)

Later Christians will apply wisdom to both Christ and the Spirit. Before Jesus, Philo of Alexandria had linked the figure of wisdom to God’s plan and vision, the logos. Of course John has that very plan made flesh in Jesus  Christ.Wisdom does seem to be a mediator between heaven and earth, or maybe better, a bridge, or even cosmic glue, knitter, connector. So Wisdom exists in the spirit, the Creating One, and the Redeemer, and we encounter it in all of the facets of god we call Trinity.

Wisdom may be found in  thought, action, and word. Wisdom plans, implements and evaluates.(fool in love?) When is wisdom=love?

Our elder daughter is being examined for her doctoral comprehensives, and she is gracious enough to tell me some of what she is reading. she just read Richard of St. Victor on his mystical writings, but he did at least three volumes on the trinity as an inter-relationship of love. for him, God cannot be a monad, a solitary self, for the fullness of love needs relationship He asserts that perfect love requires sharing and mutuality., internal and external. In God there is neither”miserly withholding or inordinate squandering.”  On Trinity Sunday, we perhaps do well to be humble, as we cannot fully fathom the fullness of God. That God encounters us this morning.

Column for memorial Day 2013

Memorial Day places me in competing moods. On the one hand, I look with nostalgia at my hometown, New Salem, in southwestern Pennsylvania. memorial Day marked the start of summer, even if some school days were still ahead of us. Our village had a parade every memorial day. A nearby junior high band would play and pretty girls march in a drill line. We got popsicles at the American Legion. We would walk to the sandstone memorial of the wars, and a young man would play taps from a cemetery hill across the road, and its broken notes would echo in our many hills. I did not know what people meant when they spoke of a Gold Star mother. Later, the popsicles left a bitter taste in my mouth, as I was an altar boy and helped serve far too many funerals for boys coming home in a casket from Vietnam, some of whom had grabbed the treats at the Legion Hall. Men who never spoke of war would speak a bit of it to me as they lined up for their drinks, as they knew my father had served in the Merchant Marine and been twice wounded. Some would talk with more than a hint of shame that their age did not permit them to be in WWII, or that they had not seen combat. I admired their humility and stoic reticence to speak of the horrors they witnessed and may well have committed.

On the other hand, it seems to me that Christians must face pacifism, even if they cannot accept it in the end. It odes seem to me that all people of faith are called to mourn the dead, their lost futures, and the ripples of pain and harm that touch need comfort. What brings out patriotism in the face of war? Why does the word, hero, seem to apply best to someone in combat? People risk their lives in other pursuits, but we rarely have parades and festivals for them.

What is it about human beings that martial virtues arise, but not in other areas? Why do acts of courage and sacrifice appear in wartime, when they may be in little evidence at other times?  The causes of war are rarely even close to justifying the loss of soldiers. I was honored to help with a committal service in a cemetery in St Louis not long ago. The sheer number of flag topped graves was cause enough to take my breath away.

For some time, at least since President Carter, the military seemed far more reluctant to use troops than the civilian side of presidential advisors. Those who have felt the strife of war are properly skittish about putting the lives of soldiers on the line as symbols, statements, or yes I even need. The new breed of radical politicians speaks so easily of death and destruction because they have not faced it.

Memorials are to jog, or even create, memory. We don’t have speeches often on this holiday, so the transmission of the histories is more difficult. Back in Indiana, the graveyard at the Kingston Presbyterian church will have flowers placed on every grave of the veterans buried there, but with special attention to those who fell in battle. People who  are close with their money and their emotions will cut flowers from their garden to place them. Many of them organize their planting so they can have flowers to place or the graves, or they send children out into the fields and woods to seek out wild flowers or blooms from shrubs and trees. An old man will speak good words of the meaning of memorials and country, and a small knot of people of different generations wil pile into cars on their way to a gathering or family picnic. When the wind would rise, the fragrance of the flowers could be caught, and the flags flutter over patriot graves. Some would return home to cry.

end of Rev. notes and OT Pentecost and Trinity sunday notes

Rev. 22:12-14,16-17,20-21

This uses a number of images previously introduced to tie up loose ends perhaps-As usual the lectionary omits difficult material and it is up to us to expand it or not. Does the start of our section cause some disquiet on the justification/salvation front? How do you regard the Last Judgement? If we push this a bit, the bride of Christ image can cause disquiet but also is charged with all sorts of energy.The bright morning star could be a link to all sorts of other religious images. This may be an entry point into Christianity in a plural environment.(Is it possible that we have a Lucifer/Is.14 image here too?) the morning star image is an intriguing one (is it a taking from astrology or astronomy or both perhaps?) do we emphasize baptismal imagery in this passage and book  enough? To what degree is this tree of life also a symbol with other beliefs or is it only a return to Gen. 2? when do we feel moved to say Maranatha with conviction and yearning? One could also work with its closing words, so different than the viewpoints that are placed on this work. In the end, is this an inclusive or exclusive vision? (One may also consult the old O’Connor story, Revelation) Some textual variants had God’s grace to all, not the saints alone.

Gen.11 Babel-frames the primeval story with the desire to be as God,but this time we will reach God on our own.

one could also look at ANE tower construction-what building/technology is an attempt at Bebel goal fo the gate of God? With our advances are we once again at a point where “there is no limit to what we can do?”

language and  linguistic histories

technology-technical priesthood-technical imperative and Ellul as reaching the gateof god

Babel and Babylon and its gates-this seems to me to be a sotry included due to the exile in babylon

Deborah Tannen and other on troubles in communication

what is the impact of social media and a 24 hour news cycle on our communication? has it impeded analysis? To what degree do we live in a Babel/babble of sounds?

Prov. 8 and Woman wisdom major figure in first part of the book of Proverbs. why do you think so relatively neglected?

key to choose life and its path from DT.

belief in human grasp of order being a gateway to the divine (Seow and Inst. of Theol.) an antidote to chaos-Wisdom linked to Logos by Philo-

linked to creation itself-look a the succession of images in the passage for it

linked to artistic delight of creation some  elements of play here-perichoresis and dancing(as in choreography) could be an angle-maybe even liturgical dance if one is so inclined/rejoicing

Note William Brown Book 7 Pillars of Wisdom on creation themes.Trinity Books: Paul Fiddes-LaCugna-Cunningham

Week of May 12 devotional thoughts

Sunday May 12-Mother’s Day-We have a psalm of praise of ra day that praises mothers.Verse 11 could easily apply to mothers:”light is shed on the righteous/and joy on the upright in heart.” May mothers know no darkness this day. may the light of love shine on them all day. May joy be shared fully this day.

Monday-encouragement is not the easiest thing to do without falling into cliche.I just poicked up a new book by the spiritual writer Marjorie Thompson on the subject. she sees the need for encouragement to be rooted in our doubts about our own worth. so, she simply asks us to imagine to be soaking in the loving presence of God for us with an image that works, light, water, radiance, or being suffused with a virtue.

Tuesday-self-esteem and achievement are linked. We spent a good bit of time on rasising self-esteem by praise, but unconnected to achievement.I see the point as so many people hear nothing but put down, it serves as an affirmation of self-worht. the trouble is that it is an assertion alone. Achievement buttresses self-concept when you can say that I did this.What achievement mean much to you? Do you have some moral achievem,ents of which you are proud? How about a spiriutal mountain you have climbed?

Wednesday-we are scheduled to have a scholarship meeting here today. Few things give me as much pleasure as getting money together for a worthy cause. i find few causes more worthy than education.Who were some teachers that touched you in a positive or negative way? did they say anything that stuck with you? Vcan you recall some instances where you gained a new perspective or something in a new way?

Thursday-Affirmations are forms of mantras.I was just reading a spiritual director stressing the use of them to fight different spiritual ailments, a version of an apple a day.They can have a way of  going deep inside and can arise, unbidden, in certain needful situations. Since we don;t memorize Bible verses as we once did, we may need to post them or recite some to allow them to seep into our consciousness.

Friday-Fred Rogers continues to interest me. I love the story that Koko, the gorilla who learned some sign language watched him on TV.when Mr. Rogers went to visit Koko, the beast embraced him and went to untie his shoes.He would wake extra early to exercise in the pool, but his early waking also allowed him to exercise his soul in prayer wiht an enormous number of people for whom he prayed.

Saturday Recently we had a clean-up campaign in Alton.In the church year, we have Advent and Lent.for that matter, every time we have a prayer of confession it is clean-up time for our souls. Sometimes it is so difficult to face some of the junk in our lives over the years, that we bury it without dealing with it, even in asking God for forgiveness. Sometimes, the junk has been in us for so long we cannot imagine life without it. Try. The faith is about release, and may it be so for you.

May 12 Sermon Notes Act 16 Jn 5

We had a choice in gospel readings last week. I so like this passage from John, that I decided to push it into this week, the scene may need a bit of background. It appears that people gathered to pray for healing at a pool of water. A legend grew up that if an angel of healing flew by, the water would be disturbed. the first one in would be healed. It would be a Lourdes of extra anxiety. Day after day people would peer at the water, searching its calm surface for a break in the sheen.

We may have archaeological evidence of the  posts near this pool of water.In osme manuscripts We have a story that the water getsdisturbed when an angel disturbed the water, first one in gets healed.Think of the frustration, year after year knowing that you will not be able to bethe firs tone in, yet going out of hope anyway. The physical paralysis had to have threatened the poor man with a paralysis of hope. After a while, it became the routine of his life-back and forth to the pool with a community of sufferers.To be so close ot a potential souorce of healing and to find it out of reach, we are in the territory of the myths of Tantalus or Sisyphus.

Paul and Silas meet a slave who was possessed and was seen as a fortune teller.when they heal her, the owners lose their meal ticket. Paul and Silas are flogged and thrown in prison. the paralytic, the slave, and now Paul and Silas are all imprisoned in different ways. Paul and Silas free the girl of her prison and get prison for it, but they are too released, freed, set at liberty from captivity also through  an earthquake, often a sign of divine presence and energy. For me, one of the great tragedies is the self-imposed barriers we maintain, even with an open door.

Jesus asks one of the great therapist's question-do you want to be well? At one level this is one of the stupidest questions imaginable. Of course I want ot get well. That’s why I have been dragged over here, year after year. .At a deeper level, it pushes us, do you want to be healed? A young man calls me from indiana routinely. he loves to complain about everything, but especially his shrew of a wife.For years, i have told him to go to therapy or couples counselling, but no. Why? In part, this is what he knows, better the devil he does than the shadow of the future. a therapist once told me that we seek insight into the source of our issues. Even if we get that insight, it matters not until we get the willingness to change or attitudes or behavior. in other words, even when healing is right in front of us, we will sit immobilized. We may resist being healed physically due to some of the side effects, actual, potential, or imagined.

Do you want to be healed? It is a deep question, worthy of the best therapists. last week at the meal we retold the old joke of many psychiatrists does it take to change a lightbulb:none, the light bulb really needs to want to change. I was working with someone last week who has come to the conclusion that forty years of dating and marrying addictive personalities may be enough.

We have a Bethsaida pool within because the prayer of Jesus is being answered even now. The glory, the presence of God is here in the church and in each other as temples of the Spirit.God has made a home with us. There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God.

Mother's Day 2013

Mother’s Day is redolent with memory

May we make some good ones, today,

as we recall countless memories this day.

A mother’s memory is a marvel,

as they can instantly recall the favored treat

for each member of the family flawlessly.

We are grateful for all of the sayings of mothers-

some impenetrable some wise, some bizarre,

but they are anchors in our minds

for ways t9 approach life away from them.

Eve, the Bible’s first mother, has a sense of the living one.

A mother’s love gives us a deeper insight into the life of God

A mother’s love could be the mother bear in Hosea,

as a mother’s love is a fierce love,

Look at the mothers with Elijah and Elisha,

and look to the nurture of Isaiah's nursing mother.

Compassion in Jeremiah is motherly love

Compassion drove Jesus to raise the son of a Nain widow

Could mothers have it all?

Can any human being have it all?

On this day especially, may mothers know the depth of devotion.

May mothers be blessed in abundance for all they did and do.

No mother is perfect, so

amy they be gentle on their missteps

and may we be open in forgiveness

May they be recognized for their countless,

unseen hours of work and worry.

We do recognize the pride mothers have in us.

It may be the closest we get to see

the very pride of God.

No one sees the potential in us like a mother.

No one sees the good in us so clearly as a mother.

No one hopes in us and for us like a mother.

Sermon Notes May 5 Rev. 22, Jn 14, Acts 16

May 5 Acts 16, Rev. 22,Jn. 14

We live in an area fed by and threatened by the Father of Waters, the Mississippi. Rivers are part of our imaginative landscape. Think of Huck Finn,or songs like Ole Man River or Springsteen or Talking Heads. We are deep in a mix of the quotidian and the symbolic this morning.Lydia was a dealer in purple. She is part of a gathering of women who meet on the Strymon riverside. Strymon was a river god, and this river was a marker for a number of battles and annoyed Hercules. In all likelihood she ran a small home production facility. I do not know if production meant that she made a lot producing material for the elite who could afford it.In other words, Lydia is a business woman.Maybe she belonged ot the local chamber of Commerce. Just like us, she is worshipping near a river.  Importantly for our Reformed reading of Scripture her whole household is baptized. Her household becomes the base of operations for Paul for a while. Philippi was probably a bit smaller than Alton. It had a mixed community, including a number of retired Roman soldiers and officials, along with a variety of crafts and services, and of course, the poor. Lydia’s product was for the elite. Think of how only the emperor and the bishop could wear red shoes after the fall of Rome, or how bishops wear purple now.

We move toward the ending of Revelation, as it opens up a new passageway in time and space. It is an open invitation to bathe in and drink in the water of life. In March we read of Is. 55 to come to the waters without any tuition, any fees, and bills, and credit charges or overdraft fees. (see Reversed Thunder) waters of life could be baptism; they are certainly connected to Jesus, and the mythic waters of Ezekiel and its expansion in the new temple/dwelling place of God. How is it connected to the tree of life? Last week we encountered the river of the water of life.In Exekile, this Edneic river water trees for fruit and the leaves were for healing. Here the leaves of the trees are for the healing of nations. I suppose it means different peoples but perhaps their national life as well.Notice this book is closing in not on annihilation but healing. Certainly national wrongs need to be healed. Certainly the national memories that haunt us need to be healed. I am going to need healing of 9/11, Vietnam and other national problems.

A friend of mine led a confirmation retreat recently. He gave the students a choice of doing a statement of faith or a more artistic presentation. His son selected a tree as the core of his symbols for the faith. The Disney movie Pocahontas had a mystical, magical maternal  tree that dispensed wisdom to the young girl.think of how the trees move as an avenging ecological army in Lord of the rings, or how Winnie the Pooh and countless fairy tales are set inhte wodds.

Heaven here is the presence of God. Here no light is needed, as God’s presence, God’s light pervades the place.In my imagination that makes it a place of perfect peace, inside and out.I had a film clip of the movie waht draams May come where the Robin Williams characterisable to paint his verison of heaven.

Jesus speaks of making a home, a place for us, crafting one, building it. The peace at the end of this chapter has Jesus leaving, bequeathing, handing  down to us something precious. The verb usually means to let go, to relinquish, to forgive.Our passage starts with a response to a question by Judas.Jesus is promising healing from the anxiety and fears that beset us all.

Notes on Rev. 21:10, 21:22- 22:1-5

21:10-21:22-22:5-

One should definitely contemplate adding material from the given passage. The image of the pearly gates is here, for instance.

In so many ways, the OT is a response to the destruction of the temple, and most of the NT was written in the face of the destruction of the Herodian expansions almost as soon as they were completed. So it is somewhat of a shock to see the temple obviated in this vision. On the other hand, the presence of God pervades the entire large space (compare I Kings 6-7, Ezek. 40-8), so perhaps it is better called a temple-city, or heavenly capitol. without a temple, the throne seems to be city center..Some many of the jewels are related to the tabernacle  construction of Exodus and pick up points about Solomon’s temple as well.

For some reason we have been taken with the number of the mark of the beast. The baptized are sealed with a different number, and that is what they parade on their foreheads. Notice that the ancient impossibility of seeing God’s face is gone.

Notice that the vision of Ezek. 40-48 is expanded, but some elements of exclusion remain, but do note the gates.A small but telling item from that source is that leaves for healing now become leaves for the healing of nations. What healing would the different ethnic groups need? So will heaven be therapeutic? The word is used for healing as opposed to the pharmacy of medicine/sorcery of Babylon. (Recall that Communion was called the medicine of immortality).

One could go a long way with the image of light that move together here.Isaiah’s (ch. 60) vision of riches pouring into Jerusalem comes into play once again.One could go a long way with the re-appearance of Ezekiel’s sacred river issuing forth from this heavenly city, as we have the Missouri and Mississippi dominating our region.

April 28 Sermon Notes Rev. 21, Acts 11

April 28 Rev. 21, Acts 11

Those of you with sharp memories narrowed your eyes a bit and wondered, didn’t we hear words similar to this last week?  Those of you not here last week  breathe a sigh and think, good I didn't  miss anything last week, then. You’re right some of the words today at the end reflect words in the heavenly throne room back in chapter 7.One of my points of deep sadness is we have permitted the book of Revelation‘s  beautiful vision to  be obscured. I do not think it was sloppiness or a repetitive vision, that we are reminded about tears being dried and our thirst being quenched from the springs of the waters of life. Life is not easy;  we do not get a free pass from trouble due to being Christian, no matter the positive thinking commands of contemporary religious life. This Bible- soaked set of  images constantly goes to the Old Testament for its description of the new age being born in our lives right now. This powerful image of the new age is borne of memories carried forward.

While it is important to some to keep heaven closed off to only a chosen few, I prefer to see it as a more open environment of a God who says-see I make all things new. What is closed off to us in this little section is the sea and death. In biblical images they are linked in the theme of chaos, that utter disorder that threatens the order of creation and life itself, the culture of death as John Paul II called it.  Even Eden’s threats are banished.   

We catch a hint of the open heaven in our reading from Acts. The closed Christians saw the movement as one of the Jewish Jesus, but it was blowing the doors off and spreading along the Roman travel system. It takes a vision to get through to Peter, not argument or persuasion, but he gets the message clearly. A new day was dawning. Acts tells us that the God who makes all things new then is not a rigid static entity trying to freeze time.God does not worship particular aspects of the past, nor particular forms of it, and neither should we. Peter shows us the result of an open mind pried open by the Spirit. He knew he would catch complaint and criticism for a vast expansion of the audience for the Christian message. Peter’s major defense is that God was moving in a new direction. It is not Peter’s idea, but he is being faithful to this new phase in the life of the church.Peter is being pulled along by a new tide of history.

People who try to use end time, apocalyptic material in the Bible as precise descriptions about life in America seem to read it as a downward spiral that pushes God to act,as in Noah’s flood. We are getting just a hint of its power as some businesses and roads  have been flooded by the river. It is indiscriminate as it threatens a levee or overflows a bike path. We have lived through a remarkable time in civil rights and liberties that emerge from a different biblical perspective the breaking down of barriers and realization that we are part of one human family. All of  us here have lived ot see a large social change. Tears have been dried, and the cause of tears of prejudice has lessened in our lifetime. It seems  churches are infrequently fully integrated but seem intent on spinning off into groups bound by similarity in appearance and attitude. God is nota god of annihilation of this good earth, but God continues to labor over creation, to transform it into a world suitable for life.

Week of May 5 Devotional thoughts

Sunday May 5-Ps. 67 takes a piece of the Aaronic blessings and extends it all all nations. It also links the fertility of the soil directly to the blessing of God, as a result of praise for God. Most of us do not see God so directly operating out of a quid pro quo today. In our ecological age, we do now see many connections with our decisions that are at some remove from a direct effect on our small blue planet.

Monday-As I’ve  mentioned, I’m working on a collection of essays on the Book of the 12/minor Prophets. I decided to work with a theme or themes from each book, but I extend them to both teh public as well as the private dimension.for instance, from joel, I may stress aging from chapter 2. It has clear personal dimensions as we care for the elderly or watch our own powers decline. At the same time, it is a social issue for hwo we are going to protect the dignity and caregiving for a larger number of elderly people living into their years.

Tuesday-I was taken with the new Redford movie on radicals a generation later. Most of them have kept one part or another of their beliefs, but as Redford’s character says, “they grew up.” I just noticed that a surprising number of americans think that armed conflict may be in the offing in our country. Obviously, we are dealing with a response to the insanity being peddled on various outlets, especially the internet.

Wednesday-we’ve been working with the book of Proverbs. Last week we worked with its stress on being a cool spirit as a sign of wisdom. a wise person is one who is able ot exercise self-control. we are not slaves to our emotions.I just heard a report on NPR that said that studies of criminals are showing some alarming differences in brain function that makes it more diffiuclt for them to control their thoughts, impulses, and emotions. How have you learned self-control?

Ascension Thursday-this is a Roman Catholic Holy day, but it is barely noticed by most Protestants. 40 days after Easter Jesus no longer makes appearances to the disciples.For early christians, the ascension was the great sing of Jesus being vindicated by being elevated to the divine precincts as in the early creeds. Along with the sacraments, how do you get a sense of access to Jesus in heaven?

Friday-I’m reading a new book, co\-authored by Donald Capps, on Limbo.The book emerged from his noting that the old doctrine of limbo had been abandoned by the Roman Catholic church. he sees the concept as continuing to have real psychological power. for instance, a hospital stay is a limbo experience. Waiting for a diagnosis, or waiting on a job application to be answered puts us there.

Saturday-In Rocky Ground, Bruce Springsteen sings:”you pray for guidance/only silence now meets your prayers.” That sense of absence plagues many of us in our prayer lives. How do you handle the feeling that prayer is not heard or that it receives no response? What have been well-answered prayers for you? when have you felt frustrated in your prayer life? Have you explored different avenues of prayer?

Column on Laments

My new copy of Interpretation, a journal of Bible and theology from Union Seminary in Virginia, features laments on its cover. Most of us are quite skilled and eloquent in asking god for help for others and, at times, ourselves, especially when a health concern intrudes. In worship, we often give models of how to confession shortcomings to the mercy seat of god. For me, thanksgiving does not come easily, but I have learned to notice things large and small where I can utter words of gratitude.

In our positive environment, we do not provide much help with lament. We don’t use a lot of sad songs from hymnbooks. We rarely pour out our souls in a religious version of the blues. Some pastors I know consider lament a form of religious whining, so they reject it. I would counter that it is a form of religious catharsis. Life is so hard, so often. Mountaintop experiences are few and far between. We can only live on their fumes for so long. It cannot be an accident that a plurality of the Psalms would be in the lament vein. If the Psalms are a prayer book, for “every part of the soul” (Calvin) then we should not neglect such a valuable resource.

We had a heated discussion group at first Presbyterian recently. Part of it was a proper response to social challenges we face as Americans. Some see it as a sign that the end is hurtling before us, so that god will intervene. The ministers around our table do not hold to that notion. Some argued for a path of outright hostility to our culture, to refuse to co-operate with its dictates, to aggressively pursue a “Christian” stance that stands in opposition to the cultural and its mores and norms. Others asserted that we should work within its notions to seek to help make a transition to a more “Christian” posture in public policy. Instead of rocking the boat, we should work within the system to help change it, rather than standing outside the tent in denunciation. I can see merit in both positions, and feel caught between effectiveness and incremental adjustments, or standing on principle.

I do wonder before we get on our high horse, if we should not first move into a posture of lament. Lament gives voice to the pain we suffer and the pain we witness. Pain isolates and silences us. When placed in a posture of prayer, public or private, it loses some of its potency. When suffering we may feel acutely the seeming absence of god in our struggles. Lament closes the distance between heaven and earth, and it reminds us as the Book of Common Worship says, “God is always more willing to hear our prayer than we are to pray.” Part of our lament could be our uncertainty about a path to take or a warning that our decision may be arrogant, or mistaken, even flat out wrong.

The psalms give us a template for prayers of lament. They are bold prayers, as they can speak to God from the depths, and they seem to us to be bold prayers, prayers in the imperative mood. Instead of pleading, they seek to rouse God to action. They emerge from a sense of being powerless against the forces arrayed against us. They usually end in a declaration of relief, as if getting something off the chest in prayer helps to heal a hole in the heart.  Laments show us that we can put any thought into an envelope of prayer. that sheer act can change our perspective. Lament is a shaking of the fist against the pain of the world. It then energizes us to fight the good fight, in the manner to which we feel called to pursue.