Pastorkate’s Weblog

One of the things that we overlook in the giving of the Promised Land to Abram is that He and Sarai would be a BLESSING to the people who were already inhabiting the land.  God did not send them into that land to conquer or vanquish those people but to show God’s blessed nature to them.

As Brian McClaren says ”  The children of Abram and Sarai (the Jews) will be an unique us in relation to the all the other thems  of the world. No their identity will not be us at the top of the Pyramid and them at the bottom.” ….   No Abram’s and Sara’s unique identity will be  “us FOR them, us WITH them and us for the benefit and blessing  of all.”

What does it mean to see ourselves as blessings to others?  How is this different than seeing ourselves as saviors, winners, wealthy patrons or even missionaries?  What does it mean to bless others?   Does it mean to seek the best for them and share the love of God with them?

I believe that we do not loose our unique place in God’s kingdom if we share our seats with others.  God is not for us and against all others.  God loves everyone – because all are creatures of God.

Someone once asked me what my definition of mission was.   I started talking about bringing the good news to others, offering help and guidance and salvation from sin, poverty and evil.   He then asked me ” Do you think God is already working in those people or do you think you are bringing them something new?”    I really had to stop and think.  How would my “mission” to others change if I started looking at how and where God was already working instead of thinking I had all the good news in my back pocket – choosing when where how I would share?

The world view changes when you seek to share in the blessings of God bestowed upon the entire world and maybe even just be willing to join in with the work of the Spirit. By doing that, we ALL are blessed. !

In chapter 5 McLaren speaks of the story of the Tower of Babel.   It’s in Genesis 11:1-9.

Just to refresh your memory, the story is about a giant tower that was built to appease the gods.     This tower was just one of many gigantic structures (pyramids, temples, tombs) that were built by slaves.  They were at the bottom of the society, sweating, dying, hauling massive stones and bricks to create these structures. Everyone assumed that this pleased the god Baal and this was the best they could do to be faithful and honor these gods.

But in the story of the falling of the tower of Babel, the biblical story tellers  “realize that the living God of Israel must be better than that.”   The tower is brought down by fire and storm and the “babel” of languages brings confusion and destruction to this monument to a competitive deity to the Hebrew God.   “We come to know a God who consistently refuses to support a pyramid economy with a few at the top and masses at the bottom. We come to trust a God who consistently opposes the oppressors and consistently takes the side of the humble, vulnerable and the poor.”   (pg 21)

This is an amazing story that is repeated over and over again in the Bible and then revealed most clearly in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.  McLaren challenges us to not be conformed to the standards of the world that seek to climb over others to get to the top.    God calls us to be better than that.   God calls us to bring about the healing of our world through the caring of the oppressed and hurting people who need our support.

There is a short video on Facebook of an African American woman who is standing in line at a grocery store waiting to pay for her food.   The woman in front of her (lighter skinned) writes a check to pay for her food- no questions asked.   What the checker does  not know is that these two women are related by marriage.

Comes time for the black woman to write her check and the checker asks for ID, Phone number,  and then gets out a large book of listings of “bad check writers” and searches for this woman’s name.   Her daughter is embarrassed, she is angry and ready to  become “the angry indignant black woman”  when the first woman takes on the checker.   “Why are you doing this to her? You didn’t ask me for this information.”   She replied that the white woman shopped here often and she didn’t know the black woman.  “In fact I am a visitor to this town and this woman has been shopping here for years.”

The upshot of this story is that racism is so pervasive in our society that we may not even notice it or even figure there is nothing we can do about it.   But you can be better than that “status quo.”   By standing up and advocating for the downtrodden- even in the grocery store, we elevate the oppressed and elevate ourselves to a better way of life.   Look for ways you can speak up.  Look for ways you can be better.

“There’s nothing wrong with desire. The question is, whose desires are you imitating?  To be alive is to imitate God generous desires… to create, to bless, to help, to serve, to care for, to save, to enjoy.   To make the opposite choice– to imitate one another’s desires and become one another’s rivals– is to choose a path of death. ”

(Brian McLaren, We Make the Road by Walking, pg. 17)

Its the age old story of good and evil in the garden of Eden.  Here take these good things, God says, and we say, No  these other things serve ME the best.  Ain’t no way around it, we are selfish people and need to train our higher power and abilities to make better choices.   In this instance, I often think about the AA prayer attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr,

        O God, give us the serenity to accept what cannot be changed,

The courage to change what can be changed,

and the wisdom to know the one from the other.

There is a great deal of advertisement, facebook, TV ads, store sales that urge us to buy, drink, eat and play more than we are.  What?  You don’t have the latest gadget or just sat around reading last weekend?  Some would even say that church is a waste of time.  How do we channel our desires and the pressure to impose desires upon us?

I think the first place is to center yourself on what truly restores your soul.  Usually that does not involve spending, going, selfies or buying.  It involves having a block of time to remind yourself that there is more to life and being alive than fulfilling these temporary desires.

God longs for us to imitate Jesus as we decide how to spend our time, money and attention. May you seek to reflect God’s generous desires for us.

James T. Kirk: Your ship is compromised, too close to the singularity to survive without assistance, which we are willing to provide.
Spock: [speaking privately] Captain, what are you doing? You are being illogical.
James T. Kirk: Showing them compassion may be the only way to earn peace with Romulus. It’s logic, Spock. I thought you’d like that.
Spock: No, not really. Not this time.
Nero: [replying to the offer of assistance] I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times. I would rather die in agony than accept assistance from you.
James T. Kirk: You got it! Arm phasers. Fire everything we’ve got!

Such is the classic exchange between Captain Kirk and Spock the first officer of the Enterprise space ship on Star Trek.

Mclaren’s chapter this week talks about the logic  or the derivation of the word logos in greek  which is sometimes  interpreted as study of  or WORD.   In first chapter of the Gospel of John we read that Jesus is the LOGOS  or the Word of God made flesh. He is the logic that makes sense of all of life.

“If we learn and trust the wisdom that comes in creation and in Jesus, we will live our lives in a new way, John says.  We will discover God as our loving parent and we will encounter all other creatures as our relations, our relatives in one family of creation.”  Brian McLaren

All to  often we believe that what is logical is being mechanical, strong or being compliant.   Jesus challenges us to see the true logic in creativity, goodness and love.  Love wins, newness multiplies, freedom grows and meaning expands.  This is the logic of God.

I think we have lost so much of our wonderment and mystery in our lives. That is, until we look up.
On a dark night we can see millions of stars and can only imagine the infinite reaches of our universe. It is amazing that there are more stars (suns) in our own galaxy (the Milky Way) than there are people who have ever inhabited earth. And that is only OUR galaxy.

Closer to home on September 27 there will be a lunar eclipse – one of the ways that early astronomers were able to prove that the earth rotated around the sun and not vice versa.

All this may make us feel small and insignificant as we look up and realize that we are just a tiny part of the large universe created by God (and not even the center of the universe either!!! ). However, the Biblical story tells us that God has made us and claims us as divine children- each special and unique. God knows the hairs on our heads and the depths of our souls. God walks with us and loves us.

Amazing isn’t it? Some days it takes my breath away.

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry

We handed out words on Epiphany Sunday- some random and some were intentional about which word they wanted. The random word that I picked was HOPE. Fitting, because it has been a concept I have been wrestling and thinking about since last fall’s stewardship campaign.

I began to think about what was hope, where was hope and how it sustained me. I also thought about how hope has disappointed me- but that is a conversation for the next blog entry! Just because you hope something will happen doesn’t make it so.

I think I am a hopeful person- kind of a glass half full type. I usually have a great confidence in stepping into new things and trusting that God will guide me. It always seems to work out- despite my fears.

Where I have trusted in the hope and faith of my God and the gifts given to me, I have usually been able to work my way through. It hasn’t been easy but as I look back on my life I can see how my hope and confidence in the LORD changed what could have been a very bleak situation. In other words, like quantum physics, your action today changes  the future. it is not set in stone. Hope can change my attitude and change the world.

And I think it really has !

What’s your word?