Faith in an App

Posted on August 21, 2022 by Craig Kuehn

When I worked for Snowline Hospice, we used Google Maps to find where our patients are. I discovered that Google Maps has no idea where anything is in Georgetown, CA. One time it had me turn left on a road. Except, instead of a road, it was somebody’s driveway. I had to call the patient’s house to get directions. That patient’s house was on the opposite side of Georgetown from where Google thought it should be.

Another time we were going to visit my mother in the Salt Lake area in her new apartment. It told us to turn right and as soon as we turned it told us to make a U-turn. After a few more wrong turns, we turned it off and found her place on our own.

Most of time, Google Maps gets me exactly where we need to be. I still use it. Though I am more cautious, I have faith that Google maps will get me to where I need to be.

The Letter to the Hebrews gives us a definition of faith: “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1b) We can’t see hope. I am not confusing hope with desire.

If I see someone eating an ice cream cone, and in that instant, I want an ice cream cone, that is not hope. That is desire. If I was a kid, I might hope my parents would buy me an ice cream cone or as an adult I might hope I have enough money for an ice cream cone. If I know I have enough money, then it remains a desire. Then I might ask myself, “Do I really need an ice cream cone?”

The other piece of faith is the conviction of something we don’t or can’t see. That doesn’t necessarily mean it stays unseeable. It is just currently not seen. I might have faith that I will reach my destination, even though I cannot see it yet. In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the author is arguing “that faith is the belief that ultimate reality lies not in the here and now or in things visible to sight, but in things yet to come and things that cannot be seen.”[1]

We might have faith in a person. We expect that that person is truthful. That faith can be broken if we find out that the person is not truthful, or if a person doesn’t deliver on a promise.

So, it is by faith that the worlds were prepared by the word of God. (Hebrews 11:3) We weren’t around at that time, but we have faith that God prepared creation. The Greek word translated as worlds is the plural of the word, αἰών. This word can mean a long period of time. Or if referring to a place, it means the universe.

Hebrews 11:3 might be better read as the universe was prepared by the word of God. The earth was not visible when the universe was prepared, but it is visible now. In the inverse, we have faith that God prepared for the earth in the beginning before there was an earth.

I recently read that astrophysicists believe that atoms didn’t exist until some minutes after the big bang. There was still nothing to see, but the building blocks for visible matter began to take shape.

Next, we turn to the epitome of faith, Abraham.

Abraham’s hometown was in what is now Iraq in a town named Ur. It was named after the Sumerian moon god. Later his family move up the Euphrates River to Haran. Best guess on Haran’s location is in modern day Turkey near the Syrian border. After his father, Terah, died, Abraham took his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot, to Canaan. Abraham was already an old man when he moved to Canaan.

Until recently when transportation was relatively cheaper, people, typically, died in the same town or city where they were born. Oftentimes, that is still the case today. Historically, it took a major event for a mass migration to happen.

Abraham’s moving his family and everything he owned to go to a place he knows little about, only because God told him to, was very rare. It was a leap of faith. God’s incentives to Abraham would be that Abraham would be blessed, be a great nation, and the whole world will be blessed through Abraham. (Genesis 12:1-3)

Basically, Abraham lived in a tent and herded sheep. He was nomad. Sheep eat to the roots, so they have to keep moving to new pasture to eat. Abraham was a really good shepherd. In his old age, he had hired help to do most the shepherding. He had so many employees that he could and did use them as his own personal army, at times.

In spite of this, the land promised to Abraham and his descendants did not belong to Abraham. There were city-states where Abraham settled. Abraham bought a burial site for Sarah, the only land he owned. 

God later reiterated the promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or as the sand on a seashore. Abraham believed this even though he and Sarah were very old people who had no children.

This also meant that Abraham had no heir, except, maybe, Lot. We are not told about what Abraham thought about having descendants when he had no children and no prospects of ever having children. Sarah thought it was a joke. What we are told is that Abraham had faith.

In her old age, Sarah had a son, Isaac. They had just the one son. Not exactly a number that is as great as the number of stars at night. All of their hopes and dreams were in this one son. Even then, Abraham was willing to kill his son, because God told him to do it. Isaac was spared because of Abraham’s great faith.

Isaac doubled his father’s production of sons by having twins. The younger, Jacob, had a large family. Abraham’s great-grandchildren became the start of a great nation and became to be known as Israelites. Hundreds of years later, they would establish the Jewish religion.

Abraham died without seeing any of God’s promises come true. It would take a few hundred years for that to happen.

Our stories of Abraham, typically, do not have Abraham praying. Abraham had a very personal relationship with God and he even talked to God face to face. We are not told if God’s utterances of covenant are during prayer or visions. They seem to be visions initiated by God.

We talk to God through prayer. There are various prayer forms. One of them is petitionary prayer. It basically means that we petition God for stuff. We pray not to get lost. We can pray for a good outcome of whatever we may be facing. We may do an intercessory prayer for healing for another person.

When we don’t get the outcome we wish for in a prayer, we sometimes say that our prayers were not answered. It might be more accurate to say that the answer to the prayer was not what we expected or hoped for.

I’m sure that there are people who decide to give up on prayer if it doesn’t go their way. I don’t know those people. I do know of people who after they don’t get the outcomes they desire, continue to pray anyway. That is faith.

The psalmist reminds us, “Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. Indeed, our heart rejoices in him, for in his holy Name we put our trust. Let your loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, as we have put our trust in you.” (Psalm 33:20-22, BCP)

We gather on Sundays and other days in faith. We believe what Jesus taught. We believe in what the author of Hebrews and other people wrote about Jesus. We have faith that what is important in life is what we cannot see and is yet to come. We have faith in the promise of everlasting life. As Jesus says “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) We know Jesus does not lie.

I still use Google Maps. Even though it occasionally lets me down, I still have faith that it will be reliable again. I have an assurance of things hoped for. I also pray for discernment that I will know when it is wrong and to find my destination in spite of it. I am convinced that I will see what I do not yet see.

So, it is with religious faith. We can’t see God. People did see Jesus. After Jesus left, the Holy Spirit was given to us and remains with us today. We have the assurance and conviction of the Holy Spirit’s constant presence.

We may wonder where God is at times. Our faith sustains us in God’s presence in good times and bad times. And we have faith that one day we will be in God’s loving presence.

Text: Hebrews 11:1–3, 8–16 (NRSV)

[1] Gagnon, R. A. J. (2001). Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C. In R. E. Van Harn (Ed.), The lectionary commentary: theological exegesis for Sunday’s texts, volume two (p. 508). Eerdmans.

Posted in blessings, Faith, Science and Religion, Trust | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Here, chick, chick, chick

Posted on April 1, 2022 by Craig Kuehn

“May you live in interesting times.” I don’t think this saying is a blessing or a warning. It is a curse. My interest in these times has peaked. There’s a pandemic. There’s the threat of World War III. That’s way too much interesting times.

Two of the questions that nag at me are, why did Putin do something so dumb? Why did Pilate do something so dumb? Well, the first answer for both could because they could. For Pilate, he was okay as long as he maintained order, kept his head down, thereby keeping his head. For Putin, he assumed omniscience and omnipotence and if pushed, he could lie and bully his way toward his goal or out of trouble. How’s that going for you Vladimir?

Then we have Herod Antipas, not to be confused with his father, Herod the Great. Herod the Great assumed the Roman tradition of naming a male child after the father. Only Herod didn’t know when to stop. So, there were Herods all over Palestine in the first century. Antipas’ brother, Herod Archelaus, was king of Judea. Archelaus was even too ruthless for Rome and was replaced by a Roman governor.

Antipas lived in Rome for many years making friendships with Emperor Tiberius’ family. When he returned to rule Galilee, like Pilate, he would survive by keeping order, keeping his head down, thereby keeping his head. In addition, he needed to get along with the Roman governor of Judea. Though he had friends in high places, he was still not a Roman.

I have just mentioned powerful people. These particular people have proved that they have little regard for human life. Might makes right is their creed. They invoked fear and in Putin’s case it is turned to the present tense. There are now laws in Russia against criticizing the state. Western reporters interview Russians who speak out against Putin anomalously for fear of arrest.

Jesus comes along and says things like, “blessed are the poor” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” How can one of these people keep a populous in check by fear if the people are loving their neighbors?

It upsets the apple cart. It overturns the world order. Anyone spreading this stuff needs to be dealt with. Putin could not control Ukraine if its President was intent with fraternizing with western European countries and worse, the United States. I wouldn’t be surprised if Putin tried to take out Zelenskyy earlier and having failed, decided to go all in. Now thousands on both sides are dying.

In these scenarios, people who promote a world view that opposes the power structures and thereby gaining a following are dangerous to the state. Jesus is on the move and he is teaching, preaching, and healing as goes on his way.

Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. Luke has a long journey or pilgrimage section of his gospel, narrating Jesus’ trip leading to the climax of the story. Every town Jesus visits on his way to Jerusalem gives us, the reader, hints of what is to come. As Jesus gets closer to Jerusalem, the suspense builds. Luke is dramatic.

Jesus was doing some harsh teachings in an unknown town when a group of Pharisees caught up to him. Normally when we read about Pharisees talking to Jesus, they are usually there to start a theological argument.

This particular group of Pharisees are there to warn Jesus that Herod Antipas wants to kill him. Herod already had John the Baptist beheaded. So, this warning was believable. Yet, the Pharisees don’t seem to explain why Herod wants Jesus dead. They are telling Jesus to flee from the town, implying that Herod knows where Jesus is.

On the one hand, it appears that these Pharisees are genuinely concerned with Jesus’ wellbeing. Herod certainly doesn’t want any insurrection in Galilee. His Roman friends might take it out on him. On the other hand, Herod may have sent the Pharisees to scare Jesus into going south into Pilate’s jurisdiction. Except Jesus is already on his way to Jerusalem. Jesus seems to assume the latter hypothesis.

As Luke puts it, Jesus’ face is toward Jerusalem. It is there that Jesus’ fate lies, not with a puppet king who likes to exaggerate his importance.

Jesus tells the Pharisees to send Herod a message. Jesus insults Herod by calling him a fox. Herod adapted to Roman ways and survived through alliances with powerful Roman families. Herod also survived his filicidal father. Like a fox, Herod wants no one to challenge his territory and authority.

Today calling someone a fox might be a compliment. Not so in ancient Palestine. In Jesus’ time, calling someone a fox would either imply that the person is wickedly crafty, is worthless, or an insignificant person, or some combination of those three attributes. The prophet Ezekiel called false prophets foxes. Jesus seemed to have no problem provoking Herod.

Jesus wants them to tell Herod what Jesus is up to. Jesus is casting out demons and healing people. When someone is healing people in a town and soldiers show up to arrest that person, well, I would hate to be one of those soldiers.

Jesus might confuse the Pharisees because he changes the time line. Instead of healing and finishing up, Jesus is going to travel over the next three days. Jesus is confident Herod won’t kill him because prophets can only be killed in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is also out of Herod’s authority. Jesus is not running away from Herod or Herod’s threat. Jesus is going to his death in Jerusalem.

Since the time of King David, Jerusalem was the center of Israelite activity. It was the place of government and with the temple, the center of religion. The temple in Jerusalem forced the rural priests to move to the city. This caused the people to move their religious observances from rural areas to Jerusalem. Most people could only afford to do this on the high holy days. These several times a year pilgrimages were also a boon to local merchants.

Since religious activity was centered in Jerusalem and its temple and its seat of government, prophets were also compelled to go to Jerusalem to say what God compels them to say. Oftentimes, prophets had messages concerning the rich and the powerful, including the kings.

Powerful people don’t always take criticism well. Too often, prophets paid with their lives for the sake of their ministry. This is why Jesus says he can only die in Jerusalem and not at Herod’s hand, the ruler of Galilee’s hand. Herod will have a role in Jesus’ fate in Jerusalem.

After Jesus delivers his message to the Pharisees, he launches into a lament over Jerusalem. Jesus is referring to Jerusalem as a person. It is not the kings that kill the prophets, it is Jerusalem. The holy city acts violently toward God’s emissaries. Nehemiah and Jeremiah both refer to Jerusalem’s violence against the prophets.

Then Jesus expresses his fondness for Jerusalem, his nurturing care for Jerusalem. Jesus has a desire to gather the people of Jerusalem as a hen gathers her brood. Yet Jerusalem rejects Jesus. Jerusalem rejects anyone who cares for her, anyone who wishes to set Jerusalem on a right path.

Almost everyone who heard Jesus knows how a hen protects her chicks from predators. Have you ever seen a chicken hawk go after its prey? The hawk hovers around, casting its shadow on the ground. The old mother hen is often aware of the presence of the hawk in time to gather her chicks under her wing. With a furious fuss she squawks till her brood is safe by her side. She fluffs out her wings and protects them with her own body.

The chicken hawk dives and the old hen turns her body toward him and keeps a wary eye without moving from her children. The predator comes in again for the kill and the mother spreads her wings even wider. A third time he dives only to be thwarted by the determined self-sacrifice of the mother hen. She is too big to be a target and the chicks are too safe to be seized so he flies away.

Jesus has the same care and fierce determination to protect Jerusalem. Jesus wishes to protect the people of Jerusalem. Jesus is invoking scriptural metaphors found in Ruth, and Psalms 17, 36, 57, and 61. A common predator of hens and chicks are foxes. Jesus wants to protect Jerusalem from Herod. But Jerusalem rejects Jesus and favors Herod the fox.

Jerusalem is emblematic of the Israelites, the children of Jacob. They follow God, but only when it is convenient. If any hardship happens, then God is rejected for another way or for other gods, just like the Israelites in the Sinai wilderness. A hen knows how to protect her chicks and the chicks respond to the hen. Yet Jerusalem lacks the wisdom of a baby chicken.

Jerusalem’s house, the temple, is forsaken. Israel will not heed God’s word. Jeremiah, centuries earlier, condemned the temple. Other prophets warned Jerusalem that the temple would fall and it did. Jesus repeats those warnings. Forty years after Jesus’ death, the temple was destroyed for good. It was never rebuilt.

In frustration, Jesus declares that Jerusalem is not willing to be protected by Jesus. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and his fate. Jesus has saved others, but he cannot save himself. (Luke 23:25) Jerusalem has made its choice. Jesus has given up on them. It seems that these words are directed at the Pharisees as being representatives, not of Herod, but of Jerusalem.

Presumably, the Pharisees are from the religious center, Jerusalem. Jesus, like a long line of prophets, is warning the Pharisees of what is to come. Like the Israelites of old, they too will fail to see and plan for disaster.

The next time the Pharisees see Jesus will be when they say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Luke 13:35b) We now call that day Palm Sunday. But these words from Psalm 118 are also read at Passover. Jesus will see these Pharisees again, in Jerusalem at Passover.

Even in a city that kills prophets, Jesus wants them protected. Even in a city that kills prophets, Jesus will not stay away. Jesus’ mission is love. It is that mission that makes enemies for Jesus. In a world where might makes right and the poor are to be exploited and where wealth is concentrated in only a few, Jesus’ mission is not welcome. It sort of sounds like modern Russia. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

It is interesting, at least in Luke’s mind, that after Jesus says “Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last,” (Luke 13:30) some Pharisees show up to warn Jesus that his life is in danger. Jesus is signaling an uprooting of the world order.

We are baby chicks. Jesus desires to gather us under his wings. When it seems like the world has gone way off its tracks, there is someone who will be with us to protect us and guide us. Might does not make right. Love does.

Text: Luke 13:31–35

Posted in Behavior, Evil, Jesus, love, News and politics, pandemic | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Servant-Leader

Posted on November 16, 2021 by Craig Kuehn

Following the Transfiguration, Jesus once again draws a large crowd and heals a possessed boy. It seems Jesus couldn’t go anywhere around Galilee without tripping over a demon.

After this healing, Jesus goes undercover, once again, through the Galilee, apparently undetected. Jesus needed time to continue his trainings and teachings with the disciples. He knew his time was short. He didn’t need any more interruptions.

Without mentioning names, Jesus obliquely says that the Son of Man will be killed and will rise again after three days. This is the second passion prediction Jesus made to the disciples. None of the disciples asked any clarifying questions.

With, perhaps, a few exceptions, everyone has experienced a time when a teacher, professor, or instructor has asked a question and no one raises a hand.

There are likely several reasons for this: someone is sure they have the answer but don’t want to show off or be the only one with a hand up, some may not want to raise a hand and be “the nerd” (our son fits that category), or some may not be sure they know the answer and don’t want to risk being wrong in front of everybody, or some just have no clue what the answer is.

These are true story examples of some class behavior. A student remembers back when this student took drivers ed and the teacher asked if anyone knew what the raised bumps between lanes were in the roads. A guy raised his hand, was called on, and said in all seriousness, “for blind people so they stay in their lane.”

Everyone turned and stared at him in silence. The teacher had this look on his face like, what? Then everyone started laughing and his buddy next to him whacked him in the arm saying, “you’re joking.” But he just turned to his friend shrugging his shoulders. So, the teacher set him straight. He never raised his hand in class again.

Another student related, “I watched one facepalm after my classmate said this, “Ugh! I don’t even know what a verb IS!” This was in an advanced linguistics course for would-be English teachers.

We can only speculate about why the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus any questions. The tongue-tied, no questions asked, disciples, end up at Capernaum, which is on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus’ headquarters was in Peter’s house.

Jesus knew they were arguing and unless Jesus was hard of hearing, he knew what they were arguing about. It is rare for an argument to be whispered. (Though, I have seen it done. You know, when someone whispers, our hearing gets notched up.) Jesus asked what they were arguing about. Again, none of the disciples wished to raise their hand with an answer to Jesus’ question.

When Mark refers to the disciples, he is referring to the people Jesus is teaching. These were likely some or many more than the twelve apostles. To make the distinction, Mark says that Jesus sat down with the just the twelve.

Jesus said that to be a leader, one must put everyone else ahead of the leader. We usually think of a leader with people following, which is kind of what those words mean. Jesus, though flips that concept on its head.

In order to serve others, the servant-leader must know them. Afterall, how can one serve if the need is unknown. The servant-leader must connect with others on a personal level. Only then can the servant-leader meet the needs and cares of others. These connecting actions create gratitude in the receiver and joyful hearts for the giver and the receivers.

A lot of people would not recognize someone who was a braggart and was often in people’s faces, literally and figuratively as a servant-leader. It would seem to be the opposite persona for Muhammed Ali. The disciples asked who was the greatest. They never met Muhammed Ali.

I remember watching the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The opening ceremonies have entertaining performances, the parade of the athletes, and speeches by Olympic officials and local organizers. The highlight, though, is the lighting of the Olympic flame.

I think a part of the reason for this is that the person who lights the flame is usually the best kept secret in the world. Usually, the first one in the stadium is a world-class runner for the summer games. Even if very well known, that will not be the person lighting the flame. The torch gets passed off several times heightening the speculation of whether or not that will be that person who lights the flame.

The torch reached the top of the stadium and I assumed that Janet Evans, an Olympic swimmer would light the flame. At the last minute, a figure appeared from the shadows and was handed the torch. It was Muhammed Ali, an Olympic gold medalist. The place erupted. Ali held up the torch high in one hand and his other hand was shaking from his Parkinson’s disease. That scene is forever in my mind. (If that wasn’t exactly as it happened – don’t tell me.)

Muhammed Ali was involved with more than thirty organizations, including the Andrea Bocelli Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, the NAACP, and the Special Olympics.

“Ali traveled to numerous countries, including Mexico and Morocco, to help out those in need. In 1998, he was chosen to be a United Nations Messenger of Peace because of his work in developing nations.” (Muhammad Ali – Quotes, Record & Spouse – Biography)

“Religious tolerance also played a large role in his life. Though he was devoutly Muslim, he regularly met with leaders of other faiths to impart a greater understanding between the religions of the world.

“Ali said to CNN, when asked about 9/11, ‘Rivers, ponds, lakes, and streams – they all have different names, but they all contain water. So, religions all have different names, but they all contain the same truths. I think the people of our religion should be tolerant and understand people believe different things. It’s a shame that this (tolerance) didn’t happen before.’” (Muhammad Ali had a lifelong mission to help those in need (mashable.com))

Just by coincidence, a documentary series about Muhammed Ali, servant-leader, was on PBS. Though a Muslim, Ali reflected what Jesus was teaching the twelve.

Jesus is giving an example of one of the aspects of the realm of God. It is one where gratitude for what God gives us is received in love. This love is then reflected to everyone around.

Jesus makes his point with a child. This is going to sound harsh, but it was the social hierarchy of Jesus’ time. Men were on top. The wealthy on the very top and then the small middle class, and then the masses of the poor. Next were women. After women, were children, regardless of gender. It was a big deal for a child to reach adulthood. The child was no longer at the bottom of society. Some of those traditions and celebrations continue to this day, like bar-mitsvahs.

Jesus puts a child in front of the twelve. This may look to us like a cute moment, but it anything but that. Jesus chose the lowest member of society. In another moment of upending social norms, Jesus declares that anyone who welcomes a child also welcomes Jesus and the one who sent Jesus. In other words, welcoming the least in society is welcoming God.

“A father had the right to punish, sell, pawn off, or even kill his own child.”[1] Our views have improved towards children since then. Yet, I still hear over and over again about children being our future. Maybe, we should appreciate them for who they are now. The disciples were arguing about who was the greatest. Well, the greatest is a child. (Muhammed Ali wasn’t born yet.)

Human beings are tribal. It’s in our DNA from tens of thousands of years before history. We like to hang around with people like us and avoid others. In prehistoric times, we might not know if others from another tribe are going to be peaceful or are arriving to take our food and anything else. It was survival thing.

Jesus wants us to remove those boundary feelings that might well up with a stranger or strangers. Instead of assuming what another wants from us, we are to consider what we might give or at the very least, to make a connection.

What will I do about these things when I leave here? I don’t know. It’s in my DNA to be suspicious. But Jesus points me to a new reality that can erase animosity in the world.

[1] Marty, P. W. (2001). Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B. In R. E. Van Harn (Ed.), The lectionary commentary: theological exegesis for Sunday’s texts, volume three (p. 244). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Posted in Behavior, blessings, Jesus | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Strength in Community

Posted on September 21, 2021 by Craig Kuehn

When our son, Brian, was about three years old, we got a dalmatian puppy. When dalmatians are young, they are a handful. Brian couldn’t say spots. It came out as pots. We wanted to name her Daisy, so we registered her name as Daisy May Potts. Even after she was full grown, Daisy always considered herself a lap dog.

One night we had spaghetti with a tomato sauce and we knew that Brian was going to make a mess, which would provide us with some Kodak moments we could use when he was older.

I don’t remember the exact details, but it must have begun when Brian accidentally dropped some spaghetti on the floor. Of course, there was our spotted companion who eagerly gobbled up what was dropped. This was very amusing to Brian. So now, he would pick up some spaghetti and throw it to the floor. Daisy would jump on it while Brian giggled, which meant he would do it over and over again. Also, Daisy accumulated some red on her coat.

Brian did produce the expected face covered with tomato sauce moment. We don’t know where those pictures are today or if we even have them anymore. Maybe we gave them to Brian.

Crumbs are an inevitable part of dining, whether you are a child or an adult. That’s why God invented napkins. It is true today and it was probably true as long as there have been human beings.

We were gone for three weeks in August 0f 2021. We were in Utah when the Caldor fire broke out. We kept track of it through the internet and on TV news. Utah Idaho, and Wyoming weather forecasters included California smoke forecasts in their TV segments. Wildfire smoke was a constant on our trip. As the fire approached Placerville, Brian was on standby to get important documents out of the house.

When we dined in restaurants during our trip, we had napkins on our laps. (It’s expected in polite company.) We didn’t bother, otherwise. We were careful to keep the crumbs on our plates. Jesus made trips, too, and he tried to have a vacation or two.

We are in a portion of Mark’s gospel that is like a travel log.

Jesus was in the Gennesaret region, north of the Sea of Galilee, when he decided to go to the Phoenician coast city of Tyre, which is now in Lebanon. The Canaanites we read about in the Bible were Phoenicians. Phoenicians were once a mighty trading people who settled in much of the Mediterranean. After Alexander the Great and then the Romans, that was, essentially, the end of that.

Still, Tyre was an impressive city in Jesus’ time. It would be rather cosmopolitan and it would be really non-Jewish. Jesus was in enemy territory. However, Tyre might have been more welcoming than the constant attacks from the temple authorities that Jesus endured in the Galilee.

It seems Jesus was in need of a break from the Galilean crowds and their demands and the heckling from the Jewish authorities. The people of Tyre would not care about some itinerant Jewish preacher wandering into town. Even then, Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there. Jesus’ plan failed.

At least one person knew who Jesus was and she took her shot at getting Jesus to help her. She was not a Jew, but she was desperate for help and didn’t seem to care about religious pedigrees. She may have thought that if this Jew can help her then who cares if he is a Jew.

An additional impediment was that a Jewish man could not be seen with an unaccompanied woman. It is especially bad if that woman is not a Jew. The woman’s desperation is acute and societal bounds must be broken. She has nothing to lose but her daughter. Jesus would be justified in kicking her out.

This woman’s daughter had what Mark describes as an unclean spirt. It is unlikely that the Phoenician woman cared whether the spirit was clean or unclean. That is more of a Jewish distinction that would have made little sense to her. This phrase, unclean spirit, is used elsewhere in the New Testament implying demonic possession.

This unnamed woman begged Jesus to cast out the demon inhabiting her daughter. Jesus may have been perturbed that he was asked to do work, work that he went to Tyre to escape from. Jesus went to Tyre to rest. It is like being on vacation when you get a call from work. You might think to yourself, “Well, I got to take the call, but I don’t have to like it.”

Jesus dismissed the woman by telling her that the children are to be fed first and not have their food taken and thrown to dogs. Very few dogs would have minded that. In other words, Jesus is there for the Jews and gentiles are no better than dogs.

This woman was not only persistent, but she was also very quick and clever. She brushed off the insult of being compared to a dog and said that even dogs eat the food that children drop (or throw) on the floor. I have seen with my own two eyes a child throw food to the floor and then giggle, I mean giggle, when the dog rushes over to eat the thrown food. You know, tomato sauce is unbecoming on a dalmatian. The woman would be satisfied with a crumb.

She won the argument. The woman assumed the role of a prophet and confronted Jesus, reminding him of his responsibility to humankind and not just the Jews. Jesus relented. Jesus declared that the woman’s daughter was healed, the demon is gone. The woman returned home and her daughter was cured.

Cynically, it might be noted that Jesus’ healing of the woman’s daughter was just to get rid of her. Whatever Jesus’ motive was for the healing, it was done. More significantly, Jesus expanded his healing ministry beyond Jews to someone who was not a Jew. Gentiles were no longer excluded from Jesus’ grace.

Jesus then headed north on the coast to Sidon, another Phoenician city, then he turned east toward the Jordan River that is north of Galilee. Jesus went past Galilee to the Decapolis, a region of ten gentile cities or towns. Just to emphasize, Jesus traveled through predominately Jewish territory to go to another gentile region. We are not told where in the Decapolis Jesus went. Just a note, the Galilee region was not exclusively Jewish.

Jesus’ reputation apparently also traveled from nearby Galilee to the Decapolis. Again, religious affiliation was no impediment to the local people and it is now no impediment to Jesus. Some people bring a deaf man who, understandably, has speech issues. These people more than likely spoke Greek. Jesus spoke Aramaic. There is no mention of a translator or if anyone was bilingual.

These people wish Jesus to heal a man’s impediments. They were probably relatives, but Mark gives no details about the man or those who brought him.

In first century Palestine, a man with these disabilities would not be pitied. He would be considered a sinner and that somehow, he deserved being deaf with a speech impediment. He must have lost his hearing later in life, because he is not a mute. His deafness would have put him on the bottom rung of society. Even the poor would be thought of as betters.

Jesus privately took the man away from the crowd. Whereas Jesus healed from a distance in the previous story, Jesus is now very hands on. Jesus put his fingers in the man’s ears. Jesus put his spittle on the man’s tongue. Then Jesus looked up and prayed.

Now we get back to language. Jesus says, “Ephphatha.” It is an Aramaic word that literally means to open the womb, but was also used to figuratively perceive or understand something. For example, to open one’s ears to hear or listen or interpret. When Mark translates Ephphatha into Greek, he uses the word dianoichtheti. This means to utilize or perceive a body part. Or our English translations keep it simple and say, “Be opened.”

Whereas, the Syrophoenician daughter was healed without Jesus’ presence, Jesus puts a lot at play in this healing. He uses touch, spit, prayer, and a command. Presumably, Jesus is commanding the man’s ears. Before Jesus commanded a demon.

Immediately, the man could hear and speak plainly. The man was restored to society. Jesus seems to have returned the man back to his friends and family, because he orders them to tell no one about what just happened. Of course, they go blabbing about it to seemingly anyone who would listen, which is pretty ironic.

Now we have to give them some slack here. Here is this man who was deaf and couldn’t speak well and now he can. People are going to ask what happened. The friends and family can either lie or tell the truth. They chose to tell the truth. Jesus healed the man. “He even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” (Mark 7:37c)

Here, we hear two healing stories in the midst of a pandemic. Unlike most of Jesus’ healing interventions, these two are for gentiles and not Jews. Pandemics are nothing new. Jesus and the disciples likely never physically endured a pandemic. But there were many pandemics before their time and we might assume they heard stories of ancestors who survived them. An argument could be made that if not for a pandemic that wiped out most of the Roman army, Rome might have never fallen. Or, at least, not as soon as it did.

Our pandemic is different from all the other pandemics before it. Vaccines are relatively new in medicine and human history. The vaccines that are available to us now were made in record time using new technology. This created some skepticism. Yet, they work and work very well. Thousands of lives will be saved because of the innovation of mRNA.

Jesus gives us a pathway in these difficult times. Even in the midst of a pandemic, we are separated in the response to it. Jesus’ response to need, even though it was initially relucent in the first case, was compassion.

Jesus did not just heal physical or spiritual issues. Jesus restored the victims to society. We live in a time when people are divided into camps. In a pandemic with people dying, we are driven by fear. We are driven by a fear of death and from infection. We are driven by fear that our freedom is being taken away from us.

I don’t like wearing a mask. But I will if it makes others feel more comfortable. I got vaccinated so I would not have to wear a mask and also so I would not end up in a hospital and possibly die. Granted, I am closer to the end than to the beginning, but I would like to stick around a little while longer.

Perhaps, the question for those who are hesitant in getting vaccinated might be, “What would you do to help the people around you, your family and friends?” Making the question open ended might provoke solutions we have not thought of before. Doing nothing, though, is not an option.

Many of those who were infected with COVID-19 and survived continue to suffer from the aftereffects of the disease. The little Syrophoenician girl was healthy until she wasn’t. What were her aftereffects from demonic possession? She couldn’t see a therapist, because they hadn’t been invented yet. Injuries to one’s mental health, in those, days were to just deal with it on your own.

In order to help those with lingering COVID and other scars, we need to work together. That means we need to be less selfish and put away our animosity toward those with differing views. We can get out of this mess if we work together.

Posted in Behavior, blessings, Health and wellness, Jesus, News and politics, pandemic, Relationships, Science and Religion | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Being Fed

Posted on August 1, 2021 by Craig Kuehn

There is a phrase that is not used much anymore. It was used as a metaphor to describe something stupendous or miraculous. It goes something along the lines of, “That’s the best thing since sliced bread.”

It probably started when someone thought sales of bread would increase if there was a machine that would slice the loaf of bread before putting it in a bag. Before that sandwich slices were cut from a loaf of bread and that bread was likely not packaged. If I were to cut sandwich slices from a loaf of bread, one slice would be obviously bigger then the other. With sliced bread, they are all the same width, except, maybe, the heels.

In this country, I think we take bread for granted. Back when I was a tyke, lo these many years, I was taught that bread was life. Maybe because of sliced bread, we mainly, I think, buy bread for sandwiches. It doesn’t seem too necessary for our lives, especially when we have access to so much food.

When I was young, bread was like a side dish. We had bread and butter on the side of our plates. Of course, it was usually sliced bread, but it could be a dinner roll, which I still see at Thanksgiving. In later years, we never had bread at meals, unless it was a sandwich.  

Suzie and I see typically three lectures from one of the Great Courses on Wednesdays. We just finished one about the birth of civilizations. In almost every case, a civilization occurred after people became an agrarian society. This allowed the population to increase and as the population increased, then someone had to be in charge and there had to be more complex organizations. Also, trading was expanded, which was probably the catalyst for writing.

In the old world, every agrarian society domesticated grain. In west Asia and the Mediterranean, it was principally wheat. In east Asia, it was rice. There is some debate if the domestication of wheat and barley was for food or for beer. The jury is still out. Humans being humans, I’m betting on beer.

Whether it was for bread or for beer, the staple food of the ancient world was grains. In the new world, it was principally tubers. In the ancient world, people starved if there was a bad grain harvest. Society and civilization depended on grains.

Today, we don’t depend on grains, but they remain a part of our diets. The loaves of sliced bread we get in the store seem to be shorter than they used to be. Even then, they are bigger than the loaves that were part of the miracle of the Feeding of the 5,000. Those loaves were about the size of two dinner rolls we would use today. The people of Jesus’ time depended on bread. The alternative was starvation.

The middle part of John’s chapter six follows the feeding of the 5,000 with five barley loaves. The people wanted to seize Jesus and make him king. Alarmed, Jesus goes and hides. Everybody’s bellies are full. The sun is setting and the vast crowd is hanging out.

Meanwhile, the disciples were also hanging out. They also don’t know where Jesus was and it seems they didn’t want to stay at that site. So, they got into to their boat to go back to Capernaum, without Jesus. It was night when a storm came up and they could not row against the storm. They were terrified seeing Jesus walk toward them. Jesus got in the boat and poof, they put in at Capernaum.

The next morning, the crowd woke up to find a boat gone and rightly assume that Jesus didn’t leave with the disciples. Jesus is still seemingly missing.

So, they got into the remaining boat to go to Capernaum, in case Jesus was there. Presumably, all 5,000 did not try to get into that one boat. You know, some had to go to work. Some had to go shopping. Some had to deal with in-laws. You know the stories.

They get to Capernaum and their hunch was right. Jesus was there at Capernaum. But there were only two boats and Jesus didn’t get in either one. They were puzzled and asked Jesus how did he get there? That was a question that Jesus did not want to answer. They saw the feeding of the 5,000 with their own eyes. Jesus telling them that he walked on the Sea of Galilee might be over the top.

Jesus rightly tells them that their efforts to find him are only because of the miracle of the loaves. It might be relevant to note here about the feeding of the poor in the ancient world. The percentage of the poor in the Roman world was about 90%. It was a subsistence existence.

Each day was an exercise in getting something to eat. In the cities if the poor did not eat, there were riots that could topple the government. The emperor in Rome made sure grain was always supplied to the people of Rome. Wheat was sold at a steep discount, subsidized by the government. A lot of the Roman expansion was to find new sources of wheat.

Jesus providing enough bread for the multitude to eat made Jesus look like the emperor. They think they found someone who could relieve them of the threat of hunger that they lived with every day.

Jesus says they are looking for him, not because of signs, but because they had their fill of bread. Ironically, the miracle of the loaves was a sign. Mahatma Gandhi said, “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” The crowd was hungry, but they failed to see God when God was right in front of them.

Jesus is going to try to tell them that Jesus is not there for their physical or even their political needs. Jesus is there for their spiritual needs. The bread that they ate perishes. There were leftovers. If not eaten soon, it will rot. (That is, after it gets so hard that it breaks your teeth.)

What they need to work toward is “food that endures for eternal life.” (John 6:27b) It is this food that will be given by the Son of Man. It is God who has sealed the Son of Man. So, by implication, food for eternal life comes from God. Notice that Jesus does not explicitly say he is the Son of Man.

Jesus’ statements must have provoked a lot of questions. They certainly do for me. But the first question is about what we might do to perform the works of God. Jesus isn’t going to make this easy for them. Jesus’ answer is to believe in the one God sent.

When Jesus says that their work (and presumably, our work) is to believe the one whom God has sent, our first impression is that Jesus is talking about himself. And that is a pretty good assumption. But did God only send one person that we are to believe? Well, there were hundreds of Old Testament prophets. All of whom God sent.

We know about the two great prophets Elijah and Elisha. We presume that they were illiterate as there are no writings ascribed to them. The prophet Elisha impossibly feeds a hundred people with 20 loaves. Then there are the literary prophets that are in the Bible – the literate ones. Plus, King Saul prophesied as did King David. In fact, there are many unnamed prophets mentioned in scripture. They were all sent by God.

Guess what? We are all sent, too. In baptism, we promised, or it was others who promised on our behalf, a bunch of promises that we are to do on God’s behalf. The Baptismal Covenant provides the outline of what God sends us out to do. It is a short but difficult list. When we do those things, we are doing the work of God. With a few exceptions, God works in this world through us. The first thing is to believe in the one whom God sent, Jesus.

In Ephesians 4, Paul says, “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12) Elsewhere, Paul describes other gifts given to us by God to do God’s work in the world. But notice that there were prophets in New Testament times, too, as there are today.

Prophets are significant to us, because we believe that they speak for God. There were people who said they were prophets, but were rejected. That happened in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and even today. Scripture is the test of the legitimacy of a prophet. But prophecy is one of the gifts we may receive. There are other gifts we may be given to further God’s work. We may have one gift or two or three as no one has every gift, but Jesus. We collectively do God’s work, powered by the Holy Spirit.

Well, that is a summary of centuries of theological reflection that the crowd around Jesus did not have the benefit of. However, they wanted a quick and easy answer. They figured out that Jesus was claiming to be sent by God, but they will not take his word for it. They want a sign, as if the loaves were not enough.

They challenge Jesus to tell them what work he is performing. Again, were the loaves chopped liver? No! They hadn’t even invented liverwurst yet, let alone sliced bread!

They go on by recounting the story of their ancestors who ate bread, the mana, in the wilderness. It is really unclear if the crowd are relating the miracles of the loaves to the mana in the wilderness and thereby equating Jesus with Moses. But if they are making that link, Moses was sent by God and so Jesus would have to be sent by God, which they seem to be disputing. Talk about a tough crowd.

Jesus tells them that it was God who sent bread from heaven, not Moses. Jesus says, “it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.” (John 6:32b) That mana stuff was fake bread. It went bad if it wasn’t eaten the same day (unless it was the sabbath).

The bread that God gives is better than that mana stuff. The bread that God gives is better than the loaves they ate the previous day. The bread of God comes from heaven to give life to the world. That sounds pretty good. They want Jesus to give them that bread always.

Then in verse 35, we get the punch line of John’s chapter six. “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’” (John 6:35)

When Moses asks God what name to give to the Israelites if they ask who sent Moses, God answers, “I am.” I am sent Moses. I am provided bread in the wilderness. “I am the bread of life.” Jesus is the I am.

Jesus is the bread of life. That statement leads us to Holy Communion. When the consecrated bread is given, typically it is said, “The body of Christ, the bread of heaven.” We very purposefully, though subtly, link consecrated bread with bread from heaven promised by Jesus. Only this bread is not mana. It is Jesus.

We are spiritually fed by the bread that is Jesus. Our physical needs of eating and drinking are necessary for life. If we go to Jesus, we will never be spiritually hungry. Those who believe in Jesus will never be spiritually thirsty.

Being spiritually fed, we are given the energy to share our gifts with others. Jesus is not some historical figure we read about on Sundays. Jesus is present to us, in the here and now, in the Eucharist. It is Jesus’ presence in the here and now that informs us and empowers us to do God’s work in the world.

Posted in Faith, Jesus, Poverty | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Blessings After Loss

Posted on November 25, 2020 by Craig Kuehn

2020. What a year. It is this time of year where families and friends gather together to give thanks. I remember what that was like. I remember the Thanksgivings of years gone by.

These last years, we would gather with our daughter-in-law’s family in Pleasanton. We would catch up with everyone’s lives and, more importantly, be with our grandchildren and they with both sets of grandparents. Several years ago, our son cooked a turducken. A couple of years ago, we gathered at our daughter-in-law’s grandmother’s home in Escondido. There was always quite a feast in either place. We always brought home leftovers.

Ah, those were the days. This Thanksgiving the two of us are staying home and being socially distant, but not from each other. We are going to have Cornish Game Hens. Back in the day, I could eat one of those at one sitting. Those days are gone. So, there will be leftovers.

Isn’t the concept of leftovers a sign of abundance? There are places in the world that don’t observe a thanksgiving type of holiday. There are places in the world where leftovers are a foreign concept. There are people in our country and in El Dorado County who do not experience leftovers.

We have stories of Jesus being at feasts. Jesus refers to feasts in some of his parables. The miracles of the loaves are signs of plenty and of Eucharist. Eucharist literally means thanksgiving. When we celebrate the Eucharist, it is a ritual of thanksgiving. However, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has taken that away from us, as well as the gatherings of families and friends this time of year.

Still, Jesus points us to plenty and thanksgiving. With some exceptions, Jesus preached and taught to poor people. They were not familiar with leftovers. Each day began with a reckoning of where the day’s meals would come from. Jesus gave people hope. Scarcity is not part of God’s plan.

We are blessed to have our feasts with family and friends. Even those in this county who find it difficult to find enough to eat, can eat their fill this Thanksgiving and every Thanksgiving at St. Patrick’s in Placerville. And there will also be leftovers.

This virus has taken us to a desert land of isolation. Granted, we are not entirely isolated. Suzie and I go to the store, but not much of anything else. We hope to travel again next year after the vaccines are out. It is interesting that when Pfizer announced the successes of their vaccine, Zoom’s stock fell.

To be a leper in ancient times was to lead a life of isolation. People would run away from lepers. They depended on the generosity of people to leave them food and to make sure to not hang around to see who picked it up. When Jesus healed ten lepers, the only one to give thanks was the former leper who was not a Jew. The Samaritan was grateful for having his life returned to him. Today we have cures and vaccines.

Pfizer’s vaccine for this coronavirus and the other vaccines that will likely soon be out give us hope. There have been many pandemics throughout history and there were likely many others in prehistory. The human race persevered, though there were severe losses. Medical technology is much better now and it gets better every year.

We can see the light at the end of tunnel now. Next year will gradually see improvements in infection rates and the economy. We can give thanks for hope.

It is a message of hope that Moses gives the Israelites as they prepare to enter the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. They traveled long through the Sinai desert and have finally reached their destination. This is mainly Moses’ fault. Being a male, he never stopped and asked for directions.

The Deuteronomy reading takes place as the long journey through the Sinai is ending and the Israelites are on the verge of entering the Promised Land. Moses is giving the Israelites their final instructions.

Moses knows these people. As he related to God on several occasions, these are a thick-headed people. No matter how faithless they may seem, Moses would remind God that they are God’s people, for better or worse. So during their journey, God would relent and help them out.

Knowing these stiff-necked people, Moses is reminding them that at the end of their journey, their exodus, is made possible through God’s grace. They are entering a good land, a land that will bless them with food, water, metals, and maybe even wealth.

They traveled through a wilderness where water was scarce into a land where water flows seemingly everywhere. Now Moses was saying this at the Jordan River. The lake to their left is dead. The river is meager, nothing anywhere near the grandeur of the Nile. The land around the river is only green near the water and everywhere else is desolate.

In spite of the meager surroundings, there are hills on the far side of the valley. It is in those hills that Moses’ promised glory of water, wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive trees, and honey are to be found. It kind of sounds like Moses is leading them into El Dorado County.

This is a land of bounty that made the trip from Egypt worth it. They will not hunger. They will eat their fill. With their full bellies, they will bless God for all that God gave them.

That vision reminds me of some past Thanksgivings when I finish the meal and sit in my chair and wonder how I am supposed to get up and move. Will my legs be strong enough to lift all the pounds I consumed? Obviously, this is a first world problem.

Yet way back then at the edge of a Charlie Brown river Moses describes a place of bounty. It is a Thanksgiving speech, except for the “thanks” part, though Moses implies who should be given thanks.

Moses reminds them that as they flourish in this land that it might be easy for them to take all the credit for their good fortune. They are to remember God and how God led them from slavery to freedom and to this good land. When their barns are full and their flocks have multiplied and their gold has multiplied, they are not to forget what God has done for them.

They are to remember that God gave them water when they were thirsty. God delivered them from poisonous snakes. God fed them with mana when they had no food to eat. I think Moses is saying that that their very lives were saved by God.

The way they are to remember God is by following God’s commandments and laws in a grateful response for all that God did for them. They are to give thanks for all that God did for them. Part of those commandments and big chunk of the laws are about worshipping God and how they are to do it.

Certainly, the Israelites can gain wealth through their own hard work in the fields and in the mines. They will not get rich by sitting around drinking wine all day. Though that doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but too much of anything is not good. It is God that will give them the resources to make their lives better through their own hard work.

As Paul mentions 2 Corinthians, the one who sows little will get little and the one who sows much will receive much. As God blesses the abundance, then it is incumbent to give abundantly. Our lives are enriched through our giving. (Paraphrasing 2 Corinthians 9:6-12)

Whether it is Paul’s message or Moses’ prediction of a future abundance, we are blessed to have more than many people in the world. Many of us will have leftovers this weekend. Some us will have somebody else’s leftovers.

After giving this great vision of a bountiful future in this new land, Moses gives the Israelites the bad news in the next chapter. You see, there other people already living those hills. They might not like strangers showing up and taking what they want. That is the theme of almost every western movie.

(Just as a side note, the violence that is depicted during the Israelite occupation as told in the Bible does not have archeological collaboration. In fact, Joshua and Judges contradict each other on several points of occupation. Archeologists and others are still trying to piece together the puzzle.)

Moses’ message is a reminder to the people to be grateful. Grateful for their freedom, for getting out of Sinai, and for the fruit of the land that they will occupy. No one person can take full credit for her or his achievements. It is out of gratitude that we share what we have and give thanks for the blessings we receive.

I assume that nearly everyone in the world has some kind of loss due to the pandemic. At the same time, we don’t get through life without loss. Yet, there is hope. Even Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof had hope in his poverty that he would be a rich man. He was blessed by a great wife and five daughters, all of whom challenged him. We even receive blessings in a pandemic. It is those blessings we acknowledge and give thanks for.

This Thanksgiving, let us give thanks that our lives not like, not like, a fiddler on the roof!

Text: Deuteronomy 8:7–18 (NRSV)

Posted in blessings, Holidays, Hope | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Healing What Ails Us

Posted on June 14, 2020 by Craig Kuehn

Like sheep without a shepherd they gathered. More and more, they gathered. Which way would they go? What would they do next? Their purpose, though, was clear. Just read the signs: “Black Lives Matter; No Justice, No Peace; I Can’t Breathe, Veterans for Peace; Don’t Hurt People; Ignorance = Fear.”

 

Here are a few excerpts from an op-ed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the LA Times: “Yes, protests often are used as an excuse for some to take advantage, just as when fans celebrating a hometown sports team championship burn cars and destroy storefronts. I don’t want to see stores looted or even buildings burn. But African Americans have been living in a burning building for many years, choking on the smoke as the flames burn closer and closer.

 

“Racism in America is like dust in the air. It seems invisible — even if you’re choking on it — until you let the sun in. Then you see it’s everywhere. As long as we keep shining that light, we have a chance of cleaning it wherever it lands. But we have to stay vigilant, because it’s always still in the air.

 

“So, maybe the black community’s main concern right now isn’t whether protesters are standing three or six feet apart or whether a few desperate souls steal some T-shirts or even set a police station on fire, but whether their sons, husbands, brothers and fathers will be killed by cops or wannabe cops just for going on a walk, a jog, a drive. Or whether being black means sheltering at home for the rest of their lives because the racism virus infecting the country is more deadly than COVID-19.”

 

One of the points Kareem and others make is that for racism to end in this country (and probably other places, too), white people need to do the work. Jesus is looking at the protesters and has compassion for them, just as he did for the crowds that followed him.

 

Matthew 9:35 begins with a summary of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus was an itinerant preacher and healer. The way Matthew phases it, Jesus left no town or village in the Galilee region unvisited.

 

And in every place, Jesus healed everybody. Jesus was very inclusive. It should be noted that not everyone who lived in this region were Jews. In fact, Jews were relatively new to the area. The Romans allowed Herod the Great to settle Jews in the Galilee region. Jesus cured “every disease and every sickness.” (Matthew 9:35b)

 

Jesus had compassion on the people who crowded around to see him. They seemed lost. They were harassed, presumably by Roman soldiers. It was as if they were sheep left to fend for themselves wandering around the country-side with no clue what tomorrow will bring.

 

Then Jesus spoke to his disciples in a curious way. Using an agriculture metaphor as he often does, Jesus says that the harvest is really big, but there are few workers to bring in the harvest. It was as if there were 5,000 acres of vines and five people to pick the grape clusters. That would mean a lot of dropped fruit.

 

So, Jesus asked the disciples to ask the “Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37b) It is assumed that Jesus is not speaking literally. Who is the Lord of the harvest? If it is supposed to be Jesus, then why would Jesus ask them to ask him to send out laborers? Is Jesus referring to God? If so, then what purpose does Jesus have?

 

The conventional wisdom is that the disciples upon hearing Jesus say this believe Jesus is referring to them as the laborers. It is like the commercial where a meeting is being run by Amy Poehler and she says everyone gets a corner office, but the building must be changed. Then she says, “Chad.” And Chad realizes he has been tasked to do the impossible of giving everyone a corner office.

 

Jesus decided that he can’t do all this healing, curing, and exorcisms all by himself. So, he shares his authority with the apostles. Then Matthew names them. The gospel writers are not on the same page when it comes to the names of the twelve. Only in Matthew do we see the name of Matthew, the tax collector, as an apostle.

 

These twelve are to go out only to Jews. In fact, they are to avoid any place where there are gentiles. It is the Jews who are “the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matthew 10:6b) In addition to all that curing and cleansing and casting out, they are to proclaim the good news. And the good news is, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 10:7b)

 

What did Jesus mean by that? A better translation might be, the kingdom of heaven approaches. It is not a location thing. It is a timing thing. Jesus believes that the end of the earth is nigh.

 

That was 2,000 years ago and here we are with a COVID-19 pandemic and trying deal with systemic racism. Where is the kingdom of heaven? There is no cure, yet, for COVID-19. We have spent centuries dealing with racism in this country and our country is not alone with this problem. The awful thing is that people demonstrating in the streets are risking a COVID-19 death, because it is that important to them.

 

In the current discussions about race, there is an important point that was made. It is not enough to declare oneself as not racist. One must be anti-racist. The distinction is that the former is passive and the latter is active. It is not enough for black people to make a stand against racism. White people must take a stand. That is the only way things will change.

 

Where is the kingdom of heaven? It can be here. The kingdom of heaven is a place where racism has no definition because it is unknown. Jesus went out to all the people of Galilee, regardless of who they were. Jesus commissioned the apostles to go the Jews. As much as the Jews could be the establishment in Roman occupied Galilee, it was Jews who had to change the Jews and proclaim the kingdom of heaven. We are challenged to follow in the apostle’s footsteps and be anti-racist.

 

There was and continues to be a sense of the kingdom of heaven in the Middle East. The culture of that area has, for centuries, had a strong sense of hospitality. It was and is an obligation to take care of whoever arrives at your door step.

 

When Jesus sends the apostles out with no money and instructions accept no money, to go out with minimal clothing, they are to rely on the hospitality of strangers. They need not worry about eating, because they will be fed.

 

When our ears hear this leap of faith that the apostles are being asked to do, we might wonder if we could ever do this. In the United States in the twenty-first century, it would be scary. But in the Middle East, it would be expected that you would be taken care of. So this is not that big a leap of faith as we might think it is.

 

But just in case they are not welcomed somewhere, which would be a serious break in the culture, they are to leave that town and not even carry its dust with them. This is a Jewish custom so that in case the dust is unclean it can be left behind.

 

Then instead of the house of Israel being the sheep, the apostles are the sheep. Snakes must have possessed wisdom, because the disciples are to be as wise as serpents.

 

However, there is danger. Preaching what Jesus preaches will make some people angry. Jesus is rocking the boat. The kingdom of heaven is not the status quo and people in power like the status quo.

 

The nice thing is that they will not need lawyers when they are dragged before governors and kings. Their words will come from the Holy Spirit.

 

How will people respond to the message of the kingdom of heaven? Not well. Brothers will betray one another as will parents and children and some will be put to death. They will be persecuted. They will not even be able to finish traveling to all of the towns before the Son of Man comes.

 

Jesus is not clear who the Son of Man is and neither is Matthew. That might be because Matthew doesn’t know or it is to be kept a secret. We may assume it is Jesus but Jesus does not say so. Besides, it wouldn’t make any sense because Jesus is standing right in front of them. So, it must be somebody else. There is a sense that the Son of Man is going to show up in a very short time, maybe a month or two.

 

We still wait for a supernatural cleansing. Of course, maybe, the Son of Man has already come and we are the ones who are tasked to take the apostles’ place. The demons of violence, hatred, and division seem to be gaining strength all around us. We are called to name them and cast them out. While we may not have the gift of raising the dead, literally, we can raise people out of despair, grief, racism, and helplessness. Afterall, it must be easier than giving everyone a corner office.

 

What does the kingdom of heaven look like? It does not look like protesters calling for social justice. It does not look like empty streets for fear of infection. It looks like love. There was song sung by Martha and the Vandellas called Dancing in the Streets. Dancing in the streets is what the kingdom of heaven looks like.

Posted in Behavior, Hope, Jesus, Justice, love | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

God’s User Agreement

Posted on January 14, 2020 by Craig Kuehn

When I download an app, I typically will either check the box that says I read the user agreement or scroll to the bottom of the agreement so that the installation can continue. I suspect that most people do the same thing. I mean, I want the software and it really doesn’t matter what is in the user agreement.

 

I also believe that the software companies know that we don’t read the user agreements. I don’t have Tumblr, but after some googling I discovered that they put some interesting things in their user agreement. Here are two examples:

 

Their community guidelines prohibit impersonation with a specific example:

“Don’t do things that would cause confusion between you or your blog and a person or company, like registering a deliberately confusing URL. Don’t impersonate anyone. While you’re free to ridicule, parody, or marvel at the alien beauty of Benedict Cumberbatch, you can’t pretend to actually be Benedict Cumberbatch.”

In their privacy guidelines, they even add some positive affirmation:

“Reblogs, Likes, and Replies (sic) are a matter of public record, so if you’re truly ashamed of your desires it’s best to keep them to yourself. Buy why? Be proud of who you are. You’re beautiful. We’re looking you in the eyes and telling you how beautiful you are.”[1]

 

User license agreements are basically, contracts. Lawyers always say to read a contract before you sign. However, I’ll bet most lawyers don’t read the user agreements of the apps they download.

 

In the Episcopal Church, a document called a Letter of Agreement is negotiated and signed by the rector, the Senior Warden, on behalf of the Vestry, and the bishop. It is basically the bishop’s document that can be tweaked by the vestry and/or the rector. Any tweaking must be approved by the bishop. It spells out compensation, vacation times, and benefits, mainly.

 

It is a contract. But the church wants to use more words and letters to make it seem less legal. This is from a church that has canon law. Go figure.

 

God works through covenants. A covenant is a contract. You’d think that God is a lawyer or something. It started in the beginning, with Adam and Eve and later with Noah. After those things didn’t go so well, God made a covenant with Abraham. God will be with Abraham and his descendants and they will have God will be their god. The world will know God through the descendants of Abraham.

 

God spoke through Isaiah reminding the people of another covenant and said, “I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations.” (Isaiah 42:6b) Through Isaiah and the prophets, God told the Jews that they were to be the light of the world, to bring the world to God through them. But they didn’t do that.

 

After the Babylonian exile, they said they didn’t want foreigners. They said, “We won’t marry foreigners. We won’t touch or deal with foreigners, because we need to stay pure.”[2] They looked inward upon themselves.

 

God was not pleased. So, God sent Jesus. Jesus reminded them that they were to be a light to the world. They didn’t like that. Jesus was rocking the boat. So, the authorities decided to get rid of him. That didn’t work so well either.

 

Jesus knew that he could not be the light to the world all by himself. The message cannot stay inward it needs to go outward. The crucifixion was actually a favor. Jesus came back to commission his disciples to spread his word throughout the world – a much more effective strategy than Jesus trying to cover the world all by himself. Instead of the world going to Judea, the disciples would go out to the world.

 

It didn’t take Paul long to figure out that strategy. For Peter, it took a bit longer. But that’s Peter. God had to give Peter a vision to convince him that God was for everyone, not just the Jews. (Acts 10:9-23)

 

It was that vision that convinced Peter he could go to the house of a Roman officer – that gentiles are all right, after all. Jesus’ message is for all people. Though the Jews were and still are the chosen people, God’s message of peace and love was and is proclaimed throughout the world by Jesus’ followers.

 

Jesus’ mission only began after his baptism. Jesus was anointed “with the Holy Spirit and with power.” (Acts 10:38b) As Peter describes it, Jesus began his teachings and healed people after Jesus was baptized. In other words, baptism is a powerful act.

 

Peter’s sermon in our reading from Acts is shorter than mine. It is a summary of who Jesus is and what Jesus stands for. It is Peter’s declaration that gentiles are welcome in the Christian community. Indeed, there are no outcasts in Christianity.

 

In the act of baptism, a human being pours the water or directs the immersion of baptism, but it is God who acts and God acts with power. Personally, I believe that the Holy Spirit guides us to seek baptism, if our parents or others didn’t already make that choice for us. I think it was the Holy Spirit who guided Jesus to John to be baptized in the Jordan. But still, the Holy Spirit becomes fused with us in baptism.

 

This spiritual aspect of baptism creates a covenant between the person baptized and with God. As the priest or bishop says during the anointing following a baptism, “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever.”[3] This is a perpetual bond. God wants us. God will not let go of us, even if we turn our backs on God. The Holy Spirit will tug at us. We can accept the tug or reject it. But the Holy Spirit will never give up.

 

Baptism is sticky. It stays with us when we worship and when we don’t. God does not let go. We may push away, but God does not let go.

 

Baptism is our initiation rite giving the one who is baptized membership in the church. We are joined with Christ in baptism. Cornelius the centurion and his whole household were baptized by Peter after hearing the gospel. We are made ministers in baptism. Baptism makes us a Christian, not an Episcopalian, not a Roman Catholic, not a Baptist, not any other denomination in Christianity. We belong to Christ and not to a specific denomination.

 

Being infused with the Holy Spirit at baptism, we are given gifts for ministry. All of the charisms that Jesus had are available to us. However, we only get a few of them. It takes the whole church together to continue Jesus’ ministry with Jesus’ gifts. If you like doing something and you are good at it and it reflects love, then that is your spiritual gift. (I add that love part, because we recently saw the movie, The Irishman, and he had gifts but not a lot of love.)

 

Because God and the church are kind of lawyerly, when there is a baptism (and occasionally even when there is not a baptism) we recite with the ones being baptized, The Baptismal Covenant. It is a contract that the baptized make with God. It also reminds us of the contract we made with God.

 

These are promises we make. They are difficult promises, but they lay out the goals of being a Christian. The Baptismal Covenant is the contract we make with God. It is our User Agreement.

 

Jesus’ message of peace, justice, and compassion were echoed by Peter in his sermon. We promise in The Baptismal Covenant to do these things as well. They are difficult. But we can do them with God’s help.

 

 

 

Text: Acts 10:34–43 (NRSV)

[1] https://www.onelegal.com/blog/fantastic-clauses-hidden-in-contracts-and-eulas/

[2] Paraphrasing Ezra and Nehemiah

[3] Book of Common Prayer 1979, page 308.

Posted in baptism, Faith, Jesus | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Saints to the Rescue

Posted on November 24, 2019 by Craig Kuehn

On October 23, 2019, Bob Valette took off from the Sonoma County airport with a tanker full of repellant. Meanwhile, his son Dustin Valette was making sandwiches for 60 people in his Healdsburg restaurant, conveniently named, Valette Restaurant. He was doing this while coordinating food relief efforts for the evacuees.

 

“Valette is working with Chef Kyle Connaughton of Single, Catelli’s Domenica, and helpers from the community (Costeaux provided the bread) to feed the approximately 60 people at the Healdsburg Community Center taking refuge from the (Kincaid Fire). They served about 200 the next night.

 

“As (Valette) packed up his car with sandwiches–made with long loaves of fresh French bread, heirloom tomatoes from his own garden, meat and cheese from his restaurant kitchen — he realized the irony of such fancy sandwiches in an emergency. But that’s what he does, and that’s what he knows. And food, after all, is love. And a good sandwich takes just as long to make as a bad one.

 

“Also ready to assist is a state-of-the-art mobile kitchen built by celebrity chef Guy Fieri after the Tubbs Fire. Having been involved in other recent fire relief efforts, he has seen the devastation up close and was instrumental in the buildout of a custom kitchen that could serve thousands.

 

“Fieri has worked closely with Chef Jose Andres and World Central Kitchen, a collaborative chef collective that works with the Red Cross to provide meals in disasters. Jose Andres, who was nominated for a Nobel Prize for his worldwide food relief efforts tweeted this morning that he was (there) for Sonoma County if needed.

 

“As Valette brought the sandwiches to the community center, surrounded by smoke and crawling with reporters, he smiled as his friend Ken Rochioli of KR Catering pulled up with more trays of food. Rochioli was stopped by reporters for an interview. Valette snuck by, saying that he needed to get back to his restaurant because he had an entirely new menu to prepare at the restaurant that evening. Not to mention helping with dinner for 200 at the shelter.”[1]

 

In a lot of disasters, evacuees eat a lot of stale food. I observed during the Camp Fire and the Kincaid Fire that chefs mobilized to prepare food for the displaced. Instead of stale sandwiches, they were served feasts.

 

If you had your power turned off like us, there were no feasts unless you ate out, somewhere. One night, we had peanut butter sandwiches for dinner, because we didn’t dare open the refrigerator door. All the food in the refrigerator and freezer had to be thrown out anyway.

 

Feasting is an act of hospitality. Jesus depended on hospitality as he preached in Galilee and as he journeyed to Jerusalem. The gospel writers do not note that people threw money at Jesus. Most of Jesus’ followers were, likely, not very wealthy.

 

In Luke’s gospel, we find Jesus entering Jericho. In Luke, Jesus has a long journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. Luke’s phrase is, “He set his face to Jerusalem.” Luke’s scene is like a rock star walking down Israel with a growing crowd following along. It is to be accepted that most in the crowd were enthralled with Jesus. But there were likely some who wanted to bring Jesus down.

 

Jesus enters Jericho. This is an odd place in Jesus’ journey. Jesus travels down the highlands, but now he is in the Jordan Valley. Jerusalem is over the top of a long uphill walk from Jericho. Jericho was a major commercial city. It was at the crossroads of trade routes. It was more cosmopolitan than Jerusalem. There were likely many cultures coexisting in Jericho. Mark Antony once gave Jericho as a present to Cleopatra.

 

Jesus is near Jerusalem and his fate. It would be two days from Jericho to Jerusalem, because Jesus will have to stay in Jericho on the sabbath. The day after the sabbath will be Palm Sunday.

 

We are then introduced to Zacchaeus. We are told he is rich, because he is a tax collector. Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus. The only problem was there was the throng already following Jesus and the added people of Jericho were crowding around Jesus. Zacchaeus couldn’t see Jesus because he was height-challenged. Zacchaeus wasn’t going to let his handicap stop him. So, he climbed a tree.

 

Now what happens next is interesting. Jesus sees Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree and calls him by name. How did Jesus know Zacchaeus’ name? Jesus tells Zacchaeus to come down, because Jesus is to stay that day in Zacchaeus’ house. I’ll bet it was a really nice house.

 

The gospel writers are in agreement that tax collectors were sinners. Zacchaeus received his wealth from the good people of Jericho on behalf of the Roman Empire. Zacchaeus’ sin was likely that he was a collaborator with the occupying, foreign army.

 

The heart of Zacchaeus’ sin, though, was greed. It was greed that made him rich. Yes, people can get rich by being greedy. People can also lose much by being greedy. Just watch most any game show. People don’t win Survivor by being nice. Greed prevents safety upgrades to electrical lines, leading to blackouts and wildfires.

 

The residents of Jericho must have resented seeing their money in Zacchaeus’ house. As they watched Jesus inviting himself into Zacchaeus’ house, everyone, no exception, condemned Jesus’ actions. Even the apostles’, who must have been near Jesus, must have joined in the complaint.

 

Zacchaeus, too, heard the grumbling. In an act of repentance, Zacchaeus pledges to give 50% of what he has to the poor. In addition, Zacchaeus will repay anyone whom he defrauded four times the amount fraudulently taken.

 

Of course, Zacchaeus knew he could live quite comfortably on half of what he has. Zacchaeus also makes no pledge against future earnings. As to the potential fraud, if someone could prove that Zacchaeus defrauded them, then they would also be accusing Rome of fraud and that accusation could result in death for the complainant. Zacchaeus has a lot of loop holes. On the other hand, Zacchaeus is also being generous.

 

For Jesus, it was enough. Salvation has come to the house of Zacchaeus. I don’t think it was the amount of money that impressed Jesus. It was Zacchaeus’ change of heart. That’s what counts. People who strive to do good, people who try to treat people well, are not Jesus’ target audience. People despised Zacchaeus for the things he did. Zacchaeus had a change of heart and that is what Jesus seeks. One who was lost, was found.

 

Another way to say a “change of heart,” is to say conversion. Conversions come in many flavors. Obviously, there are religious conversions. They can be varied. One may convert from one religion to another. One may convert from no religion to a religion and one may convert from being religious to an atheist.

 

A conversion can be a change in attitude. One can convert from a consumer of resources to a conserver of resources. Someone might convert from not caring to study to being a hard-working student.  Someone thinking climate change is a hoax to making life-style changes to reducing that one’s carbon footprint.

 

Then there is the act of conversion. Zacchaeus had a seemingly instant conversion that resulted from his encounter with Jesus. Some people have instant conversion experiences. I believe that most of these come as a result of a series of encounters with the end result being the conversion. For example, after many encounters with Christians and reading about Jesus, a person might have a dramatic event that tips the person into faith. Also, someone might see constant images of damage to the planet, but a particular event tips them into conservation.

 

Zacchaeus changes his outlook, his world view. This story has an unspoken theological problem that is related to being a saint. Jesus declares salvation has come to Zacchaeus’ house. The story implies that it was Zacchaeus’ declarations that brought salvation. But we say that one must be baptized to be a Christian and have the path to salvation. Certainly, Zacchaeus could have been baptized later. However, there was yet no Christian church.

 

This is an issue in considering Zacchaeus’ status, but it also includes all of Jesus’ apostles and disciples. I know of no record of Peter or any other of the twelve apostles ever being baptized. Baptism was and is a requirement for Jewish converts. So I assume the view was if you were a Jew and a follower of Jesus, baptism was unnecessary or assumed.

 

These assumed unbaptized early pillars of the church are called saints. We even name churches after them. Though, I don’t recall a St. Zacchaeus’ Church, but who knows? Maybe there is one. Saint Paul uses the term, saint, broadly. For Paul, a saint is anyone who is baptized. Paul refers to the recipients of his letters as saints. I don’t know if Dustin Valette is baptized, but he is a saint.

 

So, that is why there is a day (and a Sunday) that honors all the saints. Of course, All Saints’ Eve is also called All Hollow’s Eve or Halloween. On November 1st and, optionally, on the following Sunday we honor all the saints living and dead. We honor all the baptized, all those grandfathered-in saints, and especially those who experienced a change of heart and changed their lives and the lives of those whom they knew. Most of all, we honor us.

 

 

Text: Luke 19:1-10 (

[1] By Heather Irwin, Sonoma Magazine

Posted in Behavior, Environment, Forgiveness, Giving, Jesus | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Triune Love

Posted on July 14, 2019 by Craig Kuehn

Our brains are way too small to comprehend God. The Trinity is what makes sense of what we know about God, even though we really can’t fully explain it.

 

John Wesley once said, “Show me a worm that can comprehend a human being, and then I will show you a human being that can comprehend the Triune God.” Martin Luther’s comment was even more to the point. “To try to comprehend the Trinity endangers your sanity.”

I tend to agree with Justo Gonzalez who once said, “Trinity is a mystery, not a puzzle. You try to solve the puzzle; you stand in awe before a mystery.”

 

We run into this problem of addressing the Trinity in how to address God in prayer. The typical formula for Christian prayer is to begin the prayer by addressing God in general or addressing the first person of the Trinity.

 

The prayer closes by reminding ourselves that we pray through Jesus. This is because Jesus promised that whatever we ask Jesus it will be done by his father. Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:13, ESV)

 

Now if we want to be really ambitious in prayer, we might add the Holy Spirit in there too, like we might do on Trinity Sunday. At times, a prayer might be concluded by adding the whole Trinity by person, “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

 

Only rarely, have I ever heard or seen a prayer that begins by addressing the Trinity. When that happens something really big is coming, like a confession.

 

So, I will examine the thing we cannot comprehend. I will begin a crazy quest. Let’s begin with the first person of the Trinity, sometimes called Father. And let’s begin by looking at a classic prayer.

 

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we begin by saying, “Our Father.” We are addressing God, but we say, “Our Father.” What does it mean to call God, “Father?”

 

This comes from Jewish tradition. When Jews refer to a father, they can mean a direct biological father or they can mean a relative or a rabbi may be called “father.” Abraham is sometimes referred to as “father Abraham.” This is because there is a sense that we are all children of Abraham.

 

There are several Old Testament examples where God is referred to as “Father.” The same reasoning is that we are children of God. The term was used before the Babylonian exile, but became more popular after the return from the exile. This may be because there was a great desire for more intimacy with God so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated and the Jews would not be exiled again.

 

When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, Jesus taught them a typical Jewish prayer. Jesus began with, “Our Father in heaven.” This might be because there will be no question about what father is being referred to here. It is God – in heaven. The prayer addresses God. Jesus could have begun by merely saying, “God.” Instead, Jesus chose a term with more intimacy.

 

Now a side note. When we say God the Father, we are repeating centuries of tradition that we inherited from middle eastern and Roman cultures. God gets the Father role for Jesus because Mary is his mother. It seems to me that God is beyond gender.

 

God did something radical. God took on human flesh and gender in the incarnation. Jesus was human and divine. AND, and he didn’t go crazy. He was focused.

 

As Paul reminds the Romans, we have access to God through Jesus. (Romans 5:10f) Through Jesus we receive God’s grace and many benefits: justification by faith, peace, hope, and sharing in God’s glory. Jesus shares his relationship with God to us. This can only happen because Jesus is God. This is a divine act.

 

It was only Jesus who could destroy the bonds of death. It was only Jesus who could resurrect and ascend into heaven. All of this was prefigured by the few that Jesus brought back to life after they died. The last person Jesus did this for, Lazarus, was the last straw for the authorities and led to Jesus’ execution. And in that crucifixion, sin was vanquished and we were reconciled with God – a divine act.

 

Jesus’ divinity provoked a problem for Christianity. If Jesus is God, are we monotheists or polytheists? The early church struggled to define it. It was largely accepted that Christianity was monotheistic. The sticky part was defining Jesus with God – but Jesus is God. How does that work?

 

The settlement came with the Council of Nicaea which produced the Nicene Creed, version one. Jesus is of one being with God the Father. Jesus is eternal from before time and forever. It was a majority vote and those opposed continued to oppose Jesus’ oneness with God for centuries. The difference in theology was very fine.

 

Once the relationship of God and Jesus was officially resolved, the question of the status of the Holy Spirit needed resolution. Christians used the term Father, Son, and Holy Spirit from the first century. In Matthew, Jesus commands us to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would be with them.

 

The Holy Spirit comes from Judaism. The Spirit was active in creation in Genesis 1. The Spirit is referred to in the psalms and the prophets.

 

We celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday by recalling the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit giving them the power to proclaim Jesus’ story and teachings. This was a divine spark. Paul refers to the Holy Spirit many times as, principally, the engine of the church and of Christians.

 

The First Council of Constantinople amended the Nicene Creed to include the Holy Spirit as God and as proceeding from the Father, not the Father and the Son. That was a western, unofficial, addition.

 

In John 16, Jesus promises that the Spirit of truth will guide us in all truth. Then Jesus implies that the Spirit will, in essence, impart God’s wisdom to us through the Spirit. Jesus combines the Trinity by saying that Jesus has all that the Father has and the Spirit will declare to us what Jesus has. I have no clue how all of that works but I have experiences of it.

 

The core of God’s expression to us is love. That is the core of our relationship with God. That is what Jesus commanded us to do. That is what the Holy Spirit declares to us. I suppose, I could summarize the Holy Trinity as three expressions of love. But that might create more problems than it solves.

 

It is this incomprehensible, divine, love that beckons us. Our response is to return God’s love and to love one another. This gives us a taste of the divine. As Paul says, “The same Spirit agrees with our spirit, that we are God’s children. But if we are children, we are also heirs. We are God’s heirs and fellow heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:16-17a, CEB)

 

The Holy Trinity is in many ways incomprehensible. There is one God. However, we experience God in three ways. I don’t think that God is limited to three, but that is what we perceive. The glue is love. We are created, in love, to have a relationship with God. To make that love visible, Jesus came among us. The Holy Spirit makes those connections permanent for those who choose to see.

 

“God is love” (1 John 4:18b) and we are “children of God.”[1]  If we never experienced love, then there would be no God. We get a taste of God’s love here, in this life. Yet, there is a much greater love that waits us in the life to come.

 

Text: John 16:12–15

[1] Children of God has Old Testament roots, but is explicit in: The Beatitudes, John 1 and 11, Romans 8 and 9, Philippians 2, 1 John 2, 3, and 5.

Posted in Behavior, Church, Faith | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment