Scripture: Psalm 22:1-15
I sit trying to pray today. I say try because I am grieved. I have never liked death, I hate hospitals, and this is the aspect of ministry that just makes life suck. It is because mourning is not fun, I do not like sheading tears. Death is a part of life.
I have a heavy heart today because someone in our Meeting has passed beyond the veil. I won’t mention names, those that are close enough to me will know, and those that are not will understand in their own ways. There is a darkness that surounds death, we do not know how to handle this milestone of life. Should we even label it as a part of life? I do believe we should.
The thing about death is that we very quickly realize that what we have been focused on in our life may not really mean much. If we are focused on our jobs, money, or countless other things that take our time and energy what do we have to show for it? Not a whole lot. But what if we invest our lives in relationships? What if? See that is the darkness surrounding death. So easily we are distracted by countless idols in this world. We lose tract of what is really important. We miss out on the building of relationships because we would rather build a legacy or empire, but in the end our empire is nothing without the love and respect of the people around us.
So often our minds are focused on the short term goals of life. The short term goals that in the end when all else is stripped away mean nothing. Scripture often speaks of judgement at th end of life, it speaks of it as a raging fire that will consume all that we have done. Burning everything that we have build, leaving only the things built of materials of lasting value. The things of stone and metals…
Even this sounds damning. Because stone can break in the flames, and metals can melt leaving us with piles of something we cannot recognize as our lives. But there is something that will remain. When stone and metal burn and melt there is a blending of materials, it can be formed into the most beautiful rocks imagined. Rocks that become priceless to people seeking them out. In life, people would die to get their hands on the rocks made in the fires of the earth that blend the elements of metal and stone. We have mines dedicated to their discovery, and population shifts revolving around the adventure of the find. That is what we all want. We want to find that most precious ore that will give us meaning. It is a cycle of life, one that continues throughout history, the seeking and finding of the most precious things of life.
But in the end we find that the metals we all saught were not found in the ground but in the lives we shared with along the way. The most precious aspects of life…are life. The psalmist in this passage speaks of his ancestors, as well as his future. He realizes that his ancestors have already passed through the fires of life and in the end it was revealed that of all they did the only thing that mattered was the family and the faith they left behind. It was in that place that this poet finds comfort. He faces a sure end, his mouth is so dry that his tougnue is sticking to the roof, his bones are so weary that it is as if they will melt like the wax of a candle. But he holds onto the faith and the family that he has had from the beginning, and that he will leave behind.
We are not self made people. We are a product of the cycles of life that connect us back to the very origin of our humanity. That cycle continues well beyond our last breath as we ourselves have lived among mankind. The problem of sin is that it breaks us off from that rich heritage of our past, our present, and future. When we focus on the idols of our culture we stray from the path of life and we lose some of the preciousness of what we were given. Eventually what is left is just the dust of weathered and beaten stone known as dirt.
That is what we came from in the beginning, according to the ancient Hebrew poet. We are just dust without life, then God breathed into our forms and gave life to us. We, at that moment, become something more, something precious. Because of that moment we were given a responsibily to be caretakers of everything that was created. To care for the earth, to tame the earth to produce what was good. In the end what do we pass on? All we pass on is our faith and our families. Both are encompassed around relationships. Where is our faith and who are our families? With one breath, God made dirt more precious than all the gold in the mines. With one breath God made us more than we truely are. In one breath we can return back to being the dust of the earth, unless we pass on a faith and linage of precious stone and metals.
As I pray today, I pray with a heavy heart because I know so often I am using the breath God has given me not to build up his kingdom with precious worth while materials. So often I build my life with the empty things that will only last a short time in the fires of judgment. But I know that there is Grace, there is always time, until that last breath, that God can use me to create something of value. God kept the linage of David through all the trials facing him. He came, born through that line connecting the history of Israel and all of mankind with the divine. He lived a total and complete life with us, for us, and through us. God is the gold and precious stones that builds precious life. Let us today be the bearer of Life so in the end those that live after us will have something more than dust to inherit.
Scripture: Job 1:1, 2:1-10
This week I have meditated and prayed with this pasage from Job quite a bit. I do not know if it is the image of a conversation between God and Satan or just the entire scene.
There is just something about this story of Job that seems to bring hope. Although it is kindof creepy thinking that Satan and God might be having a discussion about me as well.
Job is a regular guy. Sure he’s rightious but overall he is no one of any real power. But Satan puts his faith to a test. “Skin for skin,” he says. People will give all they have to save their own skin is a very true statement. We will work at a job that we hate because it provides some sort of security for our life. Many people vote for political leaders that assure that their lives will be taken care of. Skin for skin. What do we lose or gain by such a transaction?
So Satan gives Job a skin condition, one that makes my stomach turn just to think about, Job is left to consider his life. What is interesting is what he does. This was before health insurance…it was before medical science even, but Job did do something. If we have an infection our first response is to get it out. It is in our DNA to be honest that is why we have an immune system. So Job does the logical thing, he scapes his skin to get the infection out. He then sits in ashes as a sign of mourning, there may be some medcal point to that as well, I’m not a doctor, but ash is a sign of brokeness. And Job is broken.
His wife looks at this broken man and says, “why hold onto your integrety, curse God and die.” It is a weird statement. But in reality we all consider it every day. If things do not go our way we want to blame God. If we lose our job we blame God. If we get sick we blame God. If our loved ones die or leave, we blame God. We will do almost anything to push blame away from ourselves and put it on someone else,and if we don’t know who to blame, God is easy. Skin for skin.
Life is full of the unexpected. It makes it life. If we knew everything that would happen to us life would be boring and in many cases pointless. The unexpected gives us excitment. Yet we want to try to secure our life take the risk out to save our skin. In the end we lose something precious, we lose life. When we try to secure our financial world, we lose risk and the settle for something less, and then we complain. We try to secure our faith communities and we lose the unexpected and instead of life we have stuffy, boring, dead churches. We try to save our skin. Often it is the unexpected aspects of life that leave the most lasting impressions.
Think of those unexpected times you have experienced as you pray today? Have they allowed you to grow? In hind sight, what would you have perfered? Would you have saved your skin or held onto God?
Scripture: Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
How often do we want things that we do not have? I’m guessing most of us have participated in this at least once today. I wanted steak bu instead I had a burrito (not a bad tradeoff since I had a very good burrito from my favorite Mexican restraunt in Kansas City). Well I also wanted to purchase a wireless router for my mother-in-laws computer so I could use their internet when we are at their house, but alas I did not purchase it.
Why not, don’t think it was not because I have amazing skills in the area of self discipline because that is not the reason. The truth is I did not purchase I because my wife gave me a look. If you are a married man you know the look. It is that look that says…well it says many things but in this case it was if you buy it I will be very disappointed.
This passage starts with Israel, as the wandering tribes, longing for meat. Meat was something that a wandering tribe has a hard time obtaining. There were thousands of people so if you were able to find a bunny running around you were lucky. (Did they have bunnies in the wildness?) So they thought back to their wonderful times back in the land flowing with milk and honey, Egypt…wait we got that backwards they were slaves in Egypt. It was a land of bondage, poverty, hard labor, and racism. Who in their right mind would be longing for a time when they were held under the harsh thumb of tyranny?
That is the point we need to ponder. When we live in this lifestyle of longing for things we cannot have we are actually longing for slavery. This is a sin. “Thou shall not covet you neighbors…” Covet is such a dirty term, it just sounds wrong, which is probably why wedo not hear it outside of church. We try to avoid these terms that point out sin. Which leads us to another point, we avoid reminding ourselves of sin. This in itself I sinnful.
Sin is a form of bondage. I say this because when we are living in sin we are longing for things. Longing for things that will satisfy our own desires, many of which are selfish. Not all desires are sinful, in fact many of them are leading from the Holy Spirit. Desires become sinful when they are acted on in a manner that is focused only on our own personal benifit. Even some really good activties can become sinful if we enter them with a selfish intent. For example, to become a medical doctor is an honorable and needed pursuit, but if you only pursue the medical arts to recieve a big salary then we are probably leaning toward sin. Of course, if people are only trying to become a doctor for the money they may probably would not be able to finish medical school. Sin is bondage, and in this story Israel is showing us just how easy it is for sin to turn our hearts to long for the bondage.
We want meat. We had meat back then, so I want to go back. The sin is not in the desire for meat but what we give up in trying to obtain it. They are willing to go back to a life of bondage for fish. When if they stay with God and kee walking to the promised land the will be able to raise as much meat as they want. Sin steals from our future and puts us into bondage. This sin, the sin of wanting something now instead of going through the struggle to obtain something better, literally puts us into bondage.
This leads us to a life of simplicity. The simple lifestyle ecourages us to give up our selfish desires so that we can obtain a better life in the future. If we give up meat for now while we wander through the wilderness we will have more opportunity in the future for something even better. In a culture of materialism this seems pretty crazy. Why live a simple life? It frees us to do something greater. If we are not bond by sin, or debt we can change directions quickly. We can enter into ministry without worrying if we may have a conversation with a collections agent. We can support ministries freely because we already know our bills are covered in our budget.
The simple life is crazy but amazing. Monks, Mennonites, and Quakers have tried to live this lifestyle. Some live it well and others actually live this lifestyle in a sinful manner. We should live a simple life not to look holy, but so we are free to answer the call of God in our life. It was a command from Jesus when He sent out His disciples, yet often we forget it. Why? Because we want meat. We want what we want now and do not want to wait for an amazing blessing in the future. As we pray today let’s consider why we are living the way we are and if we are honoring God in it, or if we are honoring ourselves. If you are under the tyrant of debt guess what there is a way out. Be warned it is a vast desert that you must cross and along the way you may not have much meat to eat, but on the other side of that desert is a promised land. If you cannot see the land across the desert, talk to the countless groups helping people out of bondage. They are all over you can hear them on the radio and buy their books at most places books are sold. This is just one step and it is not the whole story of why we should live a life of simplicity. It goes way beyond the financial aspects of life. It enters the spiritual as well. Do we trust God or do we long for the world? Do we seek to be citizens in the Kingdom of God or slaves in the land of bondage.