This is the verse that Luther Memorial has adopted as a guidepost for our living together. The book of Joshua follows the people of Israel across the Jordan River and into the land promised to Abraham, then Issac, then Jacob and finally Moses. This is the land 'flowing with milk and honey' where they shall plant vines and drink their own wine, build houses and live in them. That is, this will not be a temporary 'stopping over' place; this will not be a land that will be overrun by others, but rather it will belong to the Israelites.
Moses cannot enter the promised land; God won't allow it. Rather, Moses stood on a high mountain and looked to the horizon and saw the land that God promised to Israel. [Just an aside, when Martin Luther King Jr. made his 'I have been to the mountaintop' speech, he is co-opting this story of Moses from Deuteronomy.]
Now Joshua has led the people into the promised land. People are already living there; people who worship a god other than YHWH. [In fact, each people/tribe of this time worshipped its own god]. What a temptation to the people! They had quite a lot of trouble following YHWH when they were alone and dependent in the wilderness. Now they must choose to remain faithful to YHWH in the face of other possibilities and under pressure from other people. So Joshua tells them,"....choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in theregion beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." 24.15
It is a good text for our life together as followers of Jesus for we too are confronted with many gods, many voices, many demands and temptations. Life is far from simple and faithfulness is a constant discipline. Together we will continue to discern what it means to 'serve the Lord' but yesterday we were able to share the experience of being God's people in the world during On the Road with Jesus (see http://www.luthermemorialns.org/ for more information). More than that, we were able to launch 7 of our young people off into the next phase of their lives following high school. Our youngest could look at these [older] young people and see themselves down the road, having heard God's word and served in God's name. It was a helpful reminder for us all that we need to continually pray for these young people.
Add to that our prayers of thanksgiving for the men in our lives: fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers, sons, and friends; men through whom the Spirit works to help shape society and our lives.
Yesterday we were able to claim once again, 'as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord', and to do it with great rejoicing.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
The Spirit....power unleased. We're On the Road
If you are following the blog and are not a member of Luther Memorial - or haven't been in church for the last 2 months - you may have missed mention of our On the Road with Jesus event taking place this Sunday, June 12th. It is just by chance that our event and the Festival of Pentecost occur on the same day this year. Perhaps we should have re-named it On the Road with the Spirit, because, of course, that is the what Pentecost is all about.
Acts 2.1-2
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
We are only using this shortened version of the assigned Pentecost text, but it does include all the essential elements of Pentecost for us.
The Festival of Pentecost is a Jewish festival that occurs 50 days following Passover (notice the 'pente') That is why all these folks - the disciples and other believers - were gathered together with a large crowd of folks from many other regions and cities. They weren't gathered in order to receive the Holy Spirit. They were gathered according to Jewish tradition, and the gift of the Holy Spirit gave the gathering new meaning.
Well, more than new meaning. It gave those gathered new power as well. Now we Westerners are prone to think of power in terms of what it can accomplish - but in a more pejorative sense, looking for how power can be used to our advantage. Here we watch as the gift of the Spirit does accomplish amazing things, but those things benefit only the group, not the individuals present. When the Spirit moves over the crowd, these folks who spoke in different languages were now able to understand each other. That is amazing in itself. The Spirit reverses the curse of the Tower of Babel and enables diverse people to be of one voice. You can see the unity theme developing here.
Even more amazing, in my book, is that all those who were present listened to each other. The scriptures say that those present indicated they were able to hear in their own language. From parent to teacher to preacher, we know that speaking is one thing, but being heard is something far more precious. Each foreigner was able to hear in his own language.
So what is God doing here? Jesus has ascended; the disciples are a bit confused and adrift. So God meets them where they are - both emotionally, spiritually and geographically - right there with lots of strangers, and gifts them with the power that will make it possible for them to be one in service to God. This is how God is going to build the Church - and the vision was global from the beginning.
Makes this a perfect text for our Mission Sunday - where we step out into the world and having identified places where the hand of God can bring new life to others, where we can serve others, we put ourselves to work. It is not for the sake of completing tasks, but in order that we might identify places where God is at work already, and we are there to put on our labor.
Acts of the Apostles is the book of the Bible that teaches about the early days of the Church. It is a book about the work of the Holy Spirit, calling people into faith, bringing folks to baptism, protecting Paul in shipwreck, freeing Paul when he was a prisoner and much more. When we go out on the road this Sunday, this will be a powerful Spirit which accompanies us. If you haven't decided where to serve, now is a great time to choose one of our teams or a project of your own.
For no matter where we are throughout the city, we will be one, powered by the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the other.
Blessings.
Acts 2.1-2
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
We are only using this shortened version of the assigned Pentecost text, but it does include all the essential elements of Pentecost for us.
The Festival of Pentecost is a Jewish festival that occurs 50 days following Passover (notice the 'pente') That is why all these folks - the disciples and other believers - were gathered together with a large crowd of folks from many other regions and cities. They weren't gathered in order to receive the Holy Spirit. They were gathered according to Jewish tradition, and the gift of the Holy Spirit gave the gathering new meaning.
Well, more than new meaning. It gave those gathered new power as well. Now we Westerners are prone to think of power in terms of what it can accomplish - but in a more pejorative sense, looking for how power can be used to our advantage. Here we watch as the gift of the Spirit does accomplish amazing things, but those things benefit only the group, not the individuals present. When the Spirit moves over the crowd, these folks who spoke in different languages were now able to understand each other. That is amazing in itself. The Spirit reverses the curse of the Tower of Babel and enables diverse people to be of one voice. You can see the unity theme developing here.
Even more amazing, in my book, is that all those who were present listened to each other. The scriptures say that those present indicated they were able to hear in their own language. From parent to teacher to preacher, we know that speaking is one thing, but being heard is something far more precious. Each foreigner was able to hear in his own language.
So what is God doing here? Jesus has ascended; the disciples are a bit confused and adrift. So God meets them where they are - both emotionally, spiritually and geographically - right there with lots of strangers, and gifts them with the power that will make it possible for them to be one in service to God. This is how God is going to build the Church - and the vision was global from the beginning.
Makes this a perfect text for our Mission Sunday - where we step out into the world and having identified places where the hand of God can bring new life to others, where we can serve others, we put ourselves to work. It is not for the sake of completing tasks, but in order that we might identify places where God is at work already, and we are there to put on our labor.
Acts of the Apostles is the book of the Bible that teaches about the early days of the Church. It is a book about the work of the Holy Spirit, calling people into faith, bringing folks to baptism, protecting Paul in shipwreck, freeing Paul when he was a prisoner and much more. When we go out on the road this Sunday, this will be a powerful Spirit which accompanies us. If you haven't decided where to serve, now is a great time to choose one of our teams or a project of your own.
For no matter where we are throughout the city, we will be one, powered by the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the other.
Blessings.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Word is eternal....but my schedule has been crazy!
To my faithful followers!
Sorry for the silence. This is a very good example of how the world interferes with the Word all too often. But since the Word is eternal, God continues to speak in the midst of our crazy schedules and family crises and soccer schedules! In fact, the great message of the incarnation - the taking on of human flesh by Jesus, the Son of God - is the reality of God in the truth of our everyday life.
Even as we are called to be the face of Jesus to others, loving, forgiving, speaking truth, serving and caring.......others can and will be the face of Jesus to us. This is the power of the Word for us; God continues to speak to us, be present to us, and to work in this world for the sake of life now and eternally.
Re-defining life is a primary message of Jesus and his ministry among us. Life is much more than simply surviving. As Jesus brought the Kingdom of God into reality 2000 years ago, he re-defined life in terms of 'the other'. Life in solitude is not the life God intended - it has always been in community and for community.
Which of course means we need to fight our selfish natures. Martin Buber (I'm pretty sure he was a philosopher, 20th century) wrote a book called I and Thou. It is a classic and folks will often simply quote the title when speaking about our relationships with each other and the world. We are not called to make the other, 'other'. We are not to make an object out of their humanness, the particularity of who they are. I remember one day when I was teaching full time when a parent in frustration said to me, "You people" meaning all teachers. She had missed the point of Buber's I and Thou.
We do this in many ways and to many people. We choose our "I" over your "Thou". It's human; it's rarely helpful. As Jesus leaves his disciples he promises the gift of the Holy Spirit: the power of God moving among us, reminding us of Jesus' life and ministry, bringing life into dark places.
And reminding us that always, forever, it is "I and Thou" - we are community created by God, forgiven through Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Blessings to all.
Sorry for the silence. This is a very good example of how the world interferes with the Word all too often. But since the Word is eternal, God continues to speak in the midst of our crazy schedules and family crises and soccer schedules! In fact, the great message of the incarnation - the taking on of human flesh by Jesus, the Son of God - is the reality of God in the truth of our everyday life.
Even as we are called to be the face of Jesus to others, loving, forgiving, speaking truth, serving and caring.......others can and will be the face of Jesus to us. This is the power of the Word for us; God continues to speak to us, be present to us, and to work in this world for the sake of life now and eternally.
Re-defining life is a primary message of Jesus and his ministry among us. Life is much more than simply surviving. As Jesus brought the Kingdom of God into reality 2000 years ago, he re-defined life in terms of 'the other'. Life in solitude is not the life God intended - it has always been in community and for community.
Which of course means we need to fight our selfish natures. Martin Buber (I'm pretty sure he was a philosopher, 20th century) wrote a book called I and Thou. It is a classic and folks will often simply quote the title when speaking about our relationships with each other and the world. We are not called to make the other, 'other'. We are not to make an object out of their humanness, the particularity of who they are. I remember one day when I was teaching full time when a parent in frustration said to me, "You people" meaning all teachers. She had missed the point of Buber's I and Thou.
We do this in many ways and to many people. We choose our "I" over your "Thou". It's human; it's rarely helpful. As Jesus leaves his disciples he promises the gift of the Holy Spirit: the power of God moving among us, reminding us of Jesus' life and ministry, bringing life into dark places.
And reminding us that always, forever, it is "I and Thou" - we are community created by God, forgiven through Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Blessings to all.
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