Category: Bible

Bible · God

I Am Who I Am

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I can’t stop listening to Walter Brueggemann. What he says is so compelling. Just a brief comment from him got me thinking. I’ll have more in the next post about the Exodus story.

I’m listening to him talk about the Exodus – the emancipation of the Hebrew people from Egypt. A significant part of the story is in Exodus chapter 3, where Moses has a life changing experience, encountering God in the burning bush. He asks God ‘What is your name ?’
God does not answer the question directly, but says, essentially, ‘I am who I am’
Is it a name, or not ? Perhaps not in the regular understanding of a name.
Hebrew names have a meaning that says something about who you are. So my name – Jonathan – means gift of God.

I remember visiting a family who were soon to have a child baptised. One of the first things I asked was the child’s name. This particular family had chosen a name that was a combination of the football team they followed and a sporting hero. I’m guessing that this name is unique – and I won’t include the actual name here, because you could google it and find this person straightaway.

The point is, names say something – maybe about us, or about our parents’ hopes and dreams for us. So when God sidesteps Moses’ question, it may be that God isn’t quite ready to reveal their name.

Another aspect of this encounter, is that once you know someone’s name, you have knowledge about them. They have revealed something very personal, and made themselves vulnerable to a degree. When you know someone’s name you have a degree of power over them. You call their name and they turn round to see who it is that wants them. In not revealing a name, maybe God is exercising freedom. I’m not ready for you to know that about me – yet.

As the Old Testament progresses, we hear numerous names for God – because God cannot be contained by one name. Similar to the 99 names for God in Islam. Sometimes, we might want to claim ownership of God. We want to say that we know all there is to know – at least the most important things. But maybe sometimes the most important thing to say is that we don’t know God.

Grace and Peace

Bible · faith · Political

Justice – Another Word For Love ?

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Justice in a passage from Luke’s Gospel

I was working on a sermon earlier this week, on a text from Luke’s Gospel.

Luke 11:37-42

37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. 38 The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.

42 ‘But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practised, without neglecting the others.

The phrase that caught my eye was this: But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God.

They are just paying lip service to the command to love their neighbour. It struck me that when Jesus uses that phrase ‘Justice and the love of God,’ he is using another way of summing up the whole law – Love God and love neighbour. In other words, the idea of bringing justice to someone is what it means to love them.

Justice in Psalm 119

‘Coincidentally,’ earlier in the week, I had a part of Psalm 119 in my daily prayers and noticed that word justice again.
Psalm 119 is in 22 sections of 8 verses for each section, each section starting with one of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The message of the psalm is about the beauty and sufficiency of God’s law. It’s a comprehensive treatment of the importance of God’s law – demonstrated by the way that the psalm is structured using every letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

In each section there are 8 verses, and in each verse there is a word that represents the law. So the law is descibed in the following ways: Promise, Statute, Decree, Commandment, Word, Precept, Ordinance, Ways.

As far as I can see, nearly every verse in the psalm (with just a few exceptions) includes one of the words above, and interestingly I noticed the word justice crops up in two sections. (Below)

148 My eyes are awake before each watch of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promise.
149 In your steadfast love hear my voice;
    O Lord, in your justice preserve my life.
150 Those who persecute me with evil purpose draw near;
    they are far from your law.

Salvation is far from the wicked,
    for they do not seek your statutes.
156 Great is your mercy, O Lord;
    give me life according to your justice.
157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
    yet I do not swerve from your decrees.

On these two occasions, I wonder if justice is intended as another word to stand in for ‘law’ etc. to remind us that justice is central to God’s law.

So, meditating on these instances of the word justice led me to the thought that justice is central to the law of love.

So what do we mean by justice ?

Walter Brueggemann has spoken about justice as “Sorting out what belongs to whom, and returning it to them.”

The word return implies that people have had things taken away from them, or do not have what rightly they should have.

The plight of the Palestinian People

A few years ago now, we became aware of the reality of life for the Palestinian people.  A key part of their story goes back to May 14th 1948, when at midnight the British mandate of Palestine ended, and the State of Israel was proclaimed. Over a short time, this resulted in over 700,000 Arabs either fleeeing or being expelled from their homes.

There are families who two generations later, still have the key of the door to the house that they lived in. Maybe grandparents have handed the key on to successive generations to keep alive the hope that one day justice may come, and they will be able to return. To mark this period of time in the history of the Palestinian people, May 15th became a annual reminder of this forced expulsion, and was named Nakba Day. (Nakba means catastrophe)

Justice is about sorting out what belongs to whom and returning it to them, but the injustice of land grabbing is still happening today in many parts of the world, including Israel, where Israelis are illegally taking land from Palestinian people that has been theirs for generations, to build Israeli settlements.

The Skyline Drive

In 2009, I had a sabbatical, and spent part of the time studying at Eastern Mennonite University doing some of their Summer School modules. I was fortunate enough to also be able to spend 10 days with my wife and son travelling around the state of Virginia in the USA.

One day, we found ourselves driving on the Skyline Drive, a 105 mile route that runs through the Shenandoah National Forest, from Front Royal in the north to Waynesboro in the south.  In order to set up the national park back in the 1930’s, the federal government had to buy the land, which involved resettling hundreds of people who were living in the area.  Many of these people did not want to move, and there were numerous court cases as they challenged the right of the government to move them off their land.  

Justice is about sorting out what belongs to whom and returning it to them. Sadly, those families lost their homes and in many cases their livelihoods. Even though they were resettled, they had been forcibly uprooted from homes they had known in some cases for generations.

The widow, the orphan and the stranger

Another take on justice runs right through the Old Testament. It’s not so much about giving people back what they have lost, but enabling them to enjoy what everyone else enjoys. The current word is ‘agency’ – justice is when the poor have agency to access the things that I take for granted – food, shelter, lack of violence, work, community, healthcare ….

In the Old Testament the people who most often need justice were widows orphans and strangers. That’s because they were the people who did not have anyone to speak on their behalf.

In that patriarchal society, a married woman would need her husband to get justice, but a widow is on her own in that world; an umarried woman would have her father to speak for her, but an orphan is on their own. They have no one to speak for them.  Similarly a stanger – that is, a foreigner living within Israel would be on their own.

It is these people, above all, who should be cared for.  The way to show that we love neighbour is how we treat the weakest in our society, those who have no one to advocate for them.

What comes to mind now, are the people in my community who are working for justice:
Gloucester City Mission, who work with those who have no home to call their own. At one time, they did have a home, but for whatever reason, they are now on the street or in temporary accommodation.  GCM are working to return a home for the homeless.
Emmaus Communities are also working for justice for the homeless – to help people in getting back what we should all have as a human right – a home.
Gloucester Food Bank. I pray for the day when all the food banks will have closed.  When there will be no one who is going without another human right – food to sustain them. But until that day, we thank God for those who are working for justice for the hungry. To give back what has been taken away
And lastly GARAS – Gloucestershire Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers. They are working with those who have had so much taken away from them.  Country, Community, Home, Job, Family, Dignity … Justice is about giving back to them what every human being should enjoy by right.

For Jesus, justice and love are part of the same law. The command to uphold justice for the weakest is central to the DNA of the church. Without justice we are empty, we have nothing. Without justice we are just making a noise

But when we work for justice, we are serving those who have no protection, no one to speak for them, the ones without a voice – working to include them and embrace them so that they, like us can share in the bounty that God has given us all to enjoy.

Grace, Peace and Justice.

Bible · Church · faith · Following Jesus

Eating With Knives And Forks

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So, I was in church this morning, and we had three readings … extracts below:

From the final words of the letter to the church in Ephesus, encouraging the community of believers to stand firm in their faith:
For our struggle is …. against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

From John’s Gospel, chapter 6, words of Jesus
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

And from the book of Joshua chapter 24, Joshua addressing the Israelite nation:
“Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

The thing that really struck me today was the way that God works through everyday living.

I was once in a class where we were asked this question by a visiting professor:
“What is the opposite of spiritual”

As we sat around waiting for one of us to be brave enough to respond, I think we were all asking ourselves – ‘Is this a trick question?’
Eventually someone piped up – ‘maybe the opposite of spiritual is physical ?’
The professor smiled, because someone had fallen into the trap he had laid.
No, no, no! He cried.
We waited. The rest of us who had been too cowardly to answer, feeling bad for the one who had stuck his head above the parapet, so to speak.

He looked at us intently. Clearly this was an important lesson that we needed to learn.
“The opposite of spiritual is unspiritual.”

Oh. Well yes, that seems logical. But what’s your point, we wondered.

Here I quote Eugene Peterson to explain the point that the professor made. “When we talk about something being spiritual, we are talking about something that God is doing.”

The mistake is to think of ‘spiritual things’ as things going on in the ether. Airy fairy. Things that don’t have any connection with life, but are more in the realm of ‘ideas about God.’

But if we take Eugene Peterson’s definition, then we’re talking about events, experiences and actions that are very much to do with real life.

In Christian Spirituality, there is an undestanding that the words and works of God are made apparent through the material stuff of our lives. In 21st century life, it’s sometimes hard to see this, since so much of our lives are lived in a bubble that removes us from the earthiness of life. We used to eat with our fingers, but now most of us use a knife and fork. There’s something about a connection with the basic essential of life – food that we have lost. I remember being invited to an Ethiopian friend for a meal, and being given no knife and fork, but quantities of ‘Injera’ – a soft sourdough type bread, slightly spongey, to gather up the food on my plate.

In his book ‘Run with the Horses.,’ Eugene Peterson describes that ‘earthy spirituality’ in this way:
“Biblical faith everywhere and always warns against siren voices that lead people away from specific and everyday engagements with weather and politics. Dogs and neighbors, shopping lists and job assignments. No true spiritual life can be distilled from or abstracted out of this world of chemicals and molecules, paying your bills and taking out the garbage. With the current interest in spirituality, we must be on guard not to revert to an other-worldly piety.”

To get back to the passages at the top of this post.
When Paul writes about contending with spiritual forces, we might picture among those forces the drive to make us want to produce more and more to satisfy our desire for aquisition and consumption. These forces are very real, and make themselves known in work places and board rooms. In lecture halls and classrooms. In shops and on T.V. and social media. In fact anywhere and everwhere you look.

When Jesus talks about the flesh being useless, he is talking about that side of our ‘fleshly’ human nature that is all about trying to be our own gods and goddesses – a seductive temptation that in the end leads nowhere.
He contrasts that kind of flesh with his own flesh – his physical body that he will give ‘for the life of the world.’

And in the third passage quoted, Joshua is challenging the people – not so much on what they believe, but how they will live. Again, moving the realm of the spiritual from ideas and beliefs to the lived life.

We had a wonderful example of that in our service this morning. Heather, our curate, was to be taking a baptism service after our morning communion service. She explained that at the moment of baptism, the minister pours the water of baptism using a scallop shell, which has long been a sign of baptism and the Christian journey. In recent months, as well as giving a baptism candle and a bible, we now give the baptised the shell that was used in their baptism.

What a powerful lesson to take away from this! Baptism is the beginning of a journey of faith, in which we are daily looking to see what God is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us – activity which is very real, whether it is made known in work places or board rooms. In lecture halls or classrooms. In shops or on T.V. and social media. In fact anywhere and everwhere you look. And in the life of the church – it is the everyday that speaks of God’s activity: water in baptism, bread and wine that we share around the table of reconciliation, and in the very beauty of creation all around us – all of life can speak to us of what God has done and is doing.

Grace and Peace.




Activism · Bible · Ecology · Political · Prayer · World Affairs

Spirit-Led Movements Always Perplex

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This is a part of chapter 5 of the book of Acts in the New Testament.

12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. 17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”

This is the account of the beginnings of the church. However, at this stage, it’s a movement within Judaism, but claiming something new that is driving a wedge between the powers that be and this new phenomenon.
(The new thing being a proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus).

I’ve written before about categories that characterise the work of the Spirit …
Inclusion … (contrasted with exclusion)
Abundance v Scarcity
Economic Justice v Coercive Power
Connectedness v Individualism
Cooperation v Competition
Solidarity v Looking After #1

In the account in Acts, the tension is between:
Voices that are determined to speak, and the forces that want to silence them
New possibilities that are emerging and present arrangements
Emancipation and Intimidation

When I was thinking about how this might play out today, there are numerous examples, but one that comes to mind is Extinction Rebellion.
How might we all play a part in the fight to put the climate emergency at the top of the political agenda ?

My thoughts are also turning to Afghanistan today. Western powers have much to regret and reflect on over past mistakes, but it’s clear that an immediate concern is the way that ‘present arragements’ in the form of fundamentalism are at play:
Silencing the voices that have begun to speak, quashing the new possibilities that have been possible (education of girls for example), and using intimidation to restrict the freedoms that are a human right.

Grace and Peace, and prayers especially for the Afghan people.


Bible · community · Following Jesus

Then Moses Climbed Mount Nebo

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We were round at some friends yesterday evening catching up not having seem them for a while. They were telling us about their recent short trip in South Wales. One day they went to the top of Pen-Y-Fan, hoping to enjoy the spectacular view from the top. The weather was clear when they started out, but by the time they had reached the top, it was covered in cloud !

They told us about their trip around Europe some years ago – that as they arrived at each new area, town, city, etc, they would look for a high place to be able to see the landscape around them, and to get a feel for where they were in that landscape. It might be a hill, or a tower, and anything that gave them some kind of overview. Maybe they’ll get to go back to Pen-Y-Fan one day and take in that glorious view.

There’s a hill near where we live called Robinswood Hill which rises to just under 200m metres. From the top, you can see all around – the city of Gloucester below us; the Malvern Hills to the North West; the Severn Valley to the South; Cheltenham and the Cotswolds to the East. It’s a wonderful spot.

Although we were thinking about literal high places, I wondered about another question to do with our neighbourhood, which is just under a mile from Gloucester City centre – If we imagined ourselves high above the streets where we live, what would we see, and how do we understand our place within it ?

In my reading just this morning, I read this passage from the Hebrew scriptures. It’s a part that describes the end of the life of Moses. Just before he dies, he is given the chance to look down from a high place (Mount Nebo), over the land that God has promised to Israel.

Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, 3 the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”
Deuteronomy Chapter 34.

It’s one of those coincidences that seem to happen from time to time – when you’ve been thinking about something, and then it pops up soon afterwards from a completely different place. It seems like God is telling you to keep thinking and asking what this is all about. I’m pondering what this might mean for us …

In the early church, one of the ways that leadership was described was to do with being able to see the ‘Big Picture.’ The Greek word is Episcope.
It’s not a word we’re particularly familiar with, but we do know other related words – microscope, telescope, periscope … all intruments designed to see something – something small, something far away, something above you …

If there were such an instrument as an episcope, it would be something that would help you to see the lie of the land around you. An overview. An important aspect of leadership is to be able to so this. It might mean that you’re less likely to get caught up in distractions. You have an idea of what the task is. You have a grasp of what’s needed.

Strangely, it’s about getting a broad view, but one that helps you stay focussed.

Part of the call to follow Jesus involves ‘getting to a high place’ to see the lie of the land. The essential tool for this work is listening. Listening to others tell their stories. Finding out what is important to our friends and neighbours. Learning how to serve those around us.

One of the other passages I read this morning was from St Paul’s letter to the church in Rome – these words seem ver relevant to the call to ‘Know Jesus, and to Make Jesus Known.’
How can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? Romans Chaprter 10.

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Bible · Church · faith · Grace · Theology

Which Side Are You On ?

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Or – alternative readings of Numbers Chapter 16.

I’m reading the Old Testament book of Numbers at the moment.

It’s a book worth spending time on, because of parallels with the situation of the Christian church. The narrative of the book of Numbers is set in the time after Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt, but before they enter the land of promise. The Christian story is also set between a time of deliverance through the cross and resurrection of Jesus, and the future time when God will fulfil the promise of a ‘New Heaven and a New Earth.’

It’s a story of a community that at times is divided because of the challenges that they face in their wilderness wanderings. it’s a time of formation, with Israel trying to work out what is their identity and mission, as competing voices clamour to be heard.

In Numbers chapter 16, we read of a rebellion headed by Korah, one of the Levite tribe.
The Levites as a tribe were given the responsibility and privilege of serving in the Tabernacle, the ‘Tent of Meeting,’ which was the focus of Israel’s worship. However, their duties were limited, and overseen by Aaron and the other priests. Korah’s issue is that some Levites were seen to be better than others. His point is that the whole of Israel have been called and have an equal status – all are holy.

16  1 Now Korah, along with Dathan and Abiram took 2 two hundred and fifty Israelite men, leaders of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men, and they confronted Moses. 3 They assembled against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! All the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?’

4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his company, ‘In the morning the Lord will make known who is his, and who is holy, and who will be allowed to approach him; the one whom he will choose he will allow to approach him. 6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all your company, 7 and tomorrow put fire in them, and lay incense on them before the Lord; and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You Levites have gone too far!’

8 Then Moses said to Korah, ‘Hear now, you Levites! 9 Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to allow you to approach him in order to perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation and serve them? 10 He has allowed you to approach him, and all your brother Levites with you; yet you seek the priesthood as well! 11 Therefore you and all your company have gathered together against the Lord. What is Aaron that you rail against him?’

As the story progresses, Korah and his large number of followers are portrayed as faithless, wishing they were back in what they see as the relative comfort of Egypt, and angry that Moses’ leadership style is too authoritarian.
Moses and Aaron are portrayed as men full of integrity, not making any profit out of their leadership position.
Then God comes into the story, and is clearly on the side of Moses and Aaron, the result being that Korah and all his followers die.

As I reflect on this passage, I’m asking two question:
1: Who wrote the account ? Usually it’s the winners who write history. In this case it was likely the priestly class who are the authors.
2: Is it possible to read it from different standpoints ?

So, reading it from the point of view of the leaders, we’ve got a revolt that threatens what God is doing and the leaders of the uprising must be punished. Leaders are ordained by God and should be obeyed, or else !

Or, could you read this from ‘below,’ from the point of view of the rebels, and say to the priestly class / leaders about their reading of events – well that’s what you would say! The truth of it is that when people without power and influence try to have their say to bring about change, they usually end up worse off, as on this occasion. The leaders use their position, and invoke God or some other power as being on their side.

The way the priests wrote it, they come down on the side of Moses, but my sympathies are with Korah. More importantly, we need to read this through a New Testament lens. For St Paul, there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, Slave and Free, Male and Female – the biggest distinctions in the world of 1st century Judaism. All are equal in Christ.

The impulse to make distinctions between people is a powerful one. It’s embedded in our culture of achievement. Some are seen to be intrinsically worth more than others. To varying degrees, this separation can still occur on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, wealth, education, class, etc, and in the church, ordination. In opposition to this divisive approach, the Gospel declares that in Christ we are of equal value, with no distinction and no requirement to meet a certain standard.

There are applications for leadership here. A reading of the incident that is sympathetic to Moses, but also trying to be a ‘critical friend,’ might say that Moses has become too remote from the people with the result that they complain without understanding what Moses is doing. We see that all the time in the church and in secular environments. Leaders need to keep in close touch with those in their care.
A more critical judgment of Moses (and Aaron) might say that they have become proud of their status, and see themselves as beyond reproach. If leaders in a church become too separate, the danger is that they see themsleves, or are seen by others as more holy than the rest. This quickly leads to a culture either of dependence or rebellion, rather than a healthy interdependence that recognises the holiness of all.

Grace and Peace, especially to all in leadership.


Bible · community

What Would Walter Bruegemann Say (WWWBS)

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I’m using a book by Walter Brueggemann for my daily prayers. Gift and Task – It’s based on a year cycle of readings in (I think ?) The Presbyterian Church of America. So each day there’s a Psalm, readings from the Old and New Testament, and a Gospel reading. Walter Brueggemann then has a reflection on one or more of the passages.

When I read a review of the book before I bought it, one of the comments was that it felt like after a while, Brueggemann was repeating himself and going back to the same subjects. Well, having got almost half way through the year, I can say that this is true, but also really helpful. To begin to get a feel for themes that reappear in scripture really gets them into your mind and heart.

Here are a few of the themes that are revisited:
Exclusion v Inclusion
Empire v Commonwealth
Self Confidence v Trust
Scarcity v Abundance
Competition v Cooperation
Individualism v Connectedness
Self v Community
Death v Life
Business as Usual v Transfomation
Knowledge v Wisdom

One simple example was yesterday’s reading from Galatians, where Paul compares acts of the flesh, with life in the Spirit, and draws out the contrast between self and community.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5 verses 19 – 23)

He makes the simple but profound point that the first list is all about the self. “A life that is propelled by self advancement at the expense of others and a passionate will to have one’s own way.” This kind of life is, in the end, destructive of community, and is fostered by the individualsim that is rampant in our world.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit list is all about community, supporting one another through acts of love.

Grace and Peace.


Bible · Church · community

The Gathered People Of God

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I’ve been wondering what you might call a community of followers of Jesus if you didn’t want to use the word church.

In my daily prayers, I’m reading the book that I know as Ecclesiastes – part of the wisdom literature of the First Testament.
In Hebrew, the title of book is ‘Qoheleth’, which is usually translated as The Preacher. A reasonable name for a book of wisdom you might say.

But – the root of the word Qoheleth is the verb qhl, which means ‘to gather,’ and a more accurate description of the title of the book would be ‘The One who gathers people together.’ (In the presence of God). And our name for the book – Ecclesiastes, also means a person who gathers people together.

In the New Testament, the word that is translated as church (ekklesia) should more accurately be translated as gathering. The word church is now so much about a building, when what we are talking about is a community, and I’d like to think that we could get back to the original sense of ‘church’ as the gathered people of God.

Grace and Peace

Activism · Bible · Church · faith · Following Jesus · Political

The River Runs Down Hill

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Water is a prominent theme in both the First Testament, and the Second. I was listening earlier this week to a talk by Ched Myers, speaking about both the ecological and the theological significance of water.
Listen here. Roll Like A River

There’s a lot to digest there, but I’ll just refer to sonmething he said at the end. He’s made the point earlier that in his context in Southern California, the river Ventura that once flowed all year round is now seasonal. This is largely because the water is taken off by residential needs and industry futher up stream.
That has all sorts of ecological consequences to the environment, as well as affecting those who live down stream.

The situation is not unlike the Jordan Valley, where many people, (Palestinians in particular) have to contend with water shortages, as well as the land itself being impoverished.

Already, we are seeing water as a commodity being fought over, and who wins ? The rich. We are familiar with wars over other resources like oil, but we are now realising that the main building block of life – water – is getting scarcer in many areas, and a cause of conflict.

In Southern California and the Jordan Valley, it is the environment and the people downstream that are affected.

Ched Myers draws a parallel between the ecological and economic issues here, and the way that water is spoken of in scripture.

There are many passages that speak of the life giving properties of water – coupled with water as an image of our spiritual lives. In Psalm 1 water is a symbol of God’s way of living.

Happy are those whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. (Psalm 1 verses 1-3)

In John’s Gospel we hear Jesus say these words:
“Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” John Chapter 4 verse 14

It’s clear that water is not only essential for our very material lives, but is also a kind of code for what we might call abundant life, where there are no winners and losers, but where everyone has their needs fully met.

The Prophet Amos says this:
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,  I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos Chapter 5 verses 21-24

Water flows down hill … but by the time it reaches the communities where Ched Myers lives, or the Palestinian People in the Jordan Valley, there is not enough left for everyone.

In my last-but-one post, I said that the Christian life is about ‘Gift and Task.’ This post is definitely about ‘Task’. The task of every one of us to seek justice for those who are furthest away from the source of blessing. Those who are on the margins where the resources do not reach, as well as the land that is impoverished by lack of water.

Grace and Peace.

Bible · faith · suffering

When The Work Is Done

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Holy Saturday and Prayer

Today is Holy Saturday. An important day in the Christian calendar. The day between Good Friday and Easter Day. That holy space between death and resurrection. The space between desolation and life.

My reading in the book of Lamentations, still despairing over the destruction of the Holy City, Jerusalem, has these words, addressed to God:
You have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. Lamentations 3 verse 44

But even in the midst of this despair, we read just a few verses later:
I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit;
You heard my plea …
You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!
You have taken up my cause, O Lord, you have redeemed my life. (Lamentations 3 verses 55-58)

Somehow in the life of faith of the Old Testament saints is a recognition that even in a time of loss and grief, when God seems to be absent, the only thing to do is to pray. Prayer is all that is left. It’s a paradox. We see no hope, and yet, in spite of that, we hope. These passages are a deep well of resources for the person of faith.

Walter Brueggemann puts it like this:
“Faith is the capacity to hold both honest reality and open possibility”

I wonder if Jesus’ disciples were able to draw on those resources after the crucifixion. I wonder what hope, if any, they were able to find ?

Holy Saturday and Rest

In the Jewish faith Saturday is the seventh day of the week. The Jewish Sabbath. A day of rest. It starts on Friday night and lasts until Saturday night. This recalls God’s work of creation, where each of the acts of creation ends with these words:
And there was evening and there was morning, the first (second etc) day. Genesis Chapter 1

The Sabbath day of rest mirrors God’s own rest at the end of the work of creation:
On the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
(Genesis 2 verses 2 & 3)

This Sabbath day, Holy Saturday, is also the culmination of God’s work. As God rests at the end of the work of creation, so now another work is finished. Jesus’ dying words on the cross are ‘It is finished’
When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
(John 19 verse 30)
It is at the cross where Jesus finishes his work to be with us in solidarity until the very end.

So this day is a day when we wait. Nothing happens on Holy Saturday. It’s a day for quiet contemplation. Until the celebrations that begin to signal the resurrection, there are no services. Everything stops.

It’s a day when we might recall those aspects of our lives where, like the writer of lamentations, we hold those two ancient prayers together. The prayer of absolute despair and the prayer of hope in the face of no hope.

You have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
And
I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea … you came near when I called on you;

In some mysterious way, the hope doesn’t deny the state that we are in, and yet the reality of that despair cannot stop us from praying.

Grace and Peace.