Isaiah 42:1 – Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

While we usually hear the word justice in a context of handing out punishment, synonyms for justice include integrity, fairness, impartiality and my favorite evenhandedness. Consider today how your work, in whatever form that work takes, helps to bring justice to your community.

Prayer: Steadfast God, stand beside us in all we do as we seek to make this world more just. AMEN.

Above:  The Persian Empire Circa 500 B.C.E.

God is the Hope of All People

JULY 20, 2013

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Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada.  I invite you to follow it with me.

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Exodus 12:37-42 (An American Translation):

So the Israelites set out from Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides the dependents; a great cloud went up with them, as well as very much live stock, both flocks and herds.  With the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, they baked unleavened cakes; for it was not leavened, because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

The length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years; and at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, on that very day all the hosts of the LORD left the land of Egypt.  Since that was a night of vigil on the part of the LORD to bring them out of the land of Egypt; this night must be one of vigil for the LORD on the part of the Israelites throughout their generations.

Psalm 136:1-3, 10-16 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his mercy endures for ever.

2 Give thanks to the God of gods,

for his mercy endures for ever.

3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords,

for his mercy endures for ever.

10 Who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,

for his mercy endures for ever;

11 And brought out Israel from among them,

for his mercy endures for ever;

12 With a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm,

for his mercy endures for ever;

13 Who divided the Red Sea in two,

for his mercy endures for ever;

14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it,

for his mercy endures for ever;

15 But swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea,

for his mercy endures for ever;

16 Who led his people through the wilderness,

for his mercy endures for ever.

Matthew 12:14-21 (An American Translation):

But the Pharisees left the synagogue and consulted about him, with a view to putting him to death.

But Jesus knew of this, and he left that place.  And numbers of people followed him about, and he cured them all, and warned them not to say anything about him–fulfilment of what was said by the prophet Isaiah,

Here is my servant whom I have selected,

My beloved, who delights my heart!

I will endow him with my Spirit,

And he will announce a judgment to the heathen.

He will not wrangle or make an outcry,

And no one will hear his voice in the streets;

He will not break off a bent reed,

And he will not put out a smoldering wick,

Until he carries his judgment to success.

The heathen will rest their hopes on his name!

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The Collect:

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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God is the hope of all peoples, and the people who worship God (in the Judeo-Christian traditions) are called to be lights to the nations.  This is the deity whose “mercy endures for ever,” to quote Psalm 136.

The reading from Exodus is set immediately prior to the departure from Egypt.  The Canadian Anglican lectionary will cover that event during the Week of Proper 11, so I choose to hold off on certain comments until then.  For today, then, may we focus on the theme of an impending exodus–first from Egypt then from Mesopotamia.

The author of the Gospel of Matthew applies Isaiah 42:1-4 (the First Servant Song) to Jesus.  This text from Deutero-Isaiah is set shortly before the end of the Babylonian Exile and the return of exiles to their ancestral homeland.  This Exodus, like the one from Egypt, is God’s doing via direct actions and human agents.  The theology of much the Hebrew Bible, edited into its final form during the Post-Exilic period, is that the Israelite nations fell from greatness because they disobeyed God by condoning social injustice, practicing polytheism, and refusing to rely on God for strength.  So it makes sense that, prior to a Second Exodus, the Israelite people, identified as the servant of God, receive a charge to be a light to live justly and be a light to the nations.  (Read Isaiah 42:5-9.)

Yet a too-frequent feature of Post-Exilic Judaism was exclusivity.  Chevy Chase, when he was on Saturday Night Live, said

I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not

on the Weekend Update segment.  Likewise, there was a

I’m Jewish, and you’re not

quality about Post-Exilic Judaism.  During the time of Jesus, for example, there were many Gentiles who rejected polytheism and embraced the God of Judaism, but whom the Jewish religious establishment defined as marginal.  These Gentiles were still Gentiles, so there were places in the Jerusalem Temple complex they were not supposed to enter.

Jesus had great appeal to this population, from which came many of the first Christians.

I write these words on the Sixth Day of Christmas, so the thought of light in the darkness, applied to Jesus, is very much on my mind.  And I am exactly one week away from the Feast of the Epiphany, which is all about taking the news of the gospel of Jesus to the Gentiles.  This thought comforts me, for I am a Gentile.

Christianity, an offshoot of Judaism, is an overwhelmingly Gentile faith system, of course.  But we have our own metaphorical Gentiles, those we keep at the margins.  Our criteria vary, ranging from socio-economic status to sexual orientation.  But Jesus lived, died, and rose again for these people, too.  And, before that, God loved all the insiders and outsiders, as we humans define them.  May we learn an essential lesson:  That our definition of “insider” is much narrower than God’s.  Then may we act accordingly.

KRT

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/god-is-the-hope-of-all-people/

I want to start with a bit of a confession.  I agonize over these sermons, on Remembrance Sunday.  It’s a difficult line to walk.  And so let me begin by reminding you that you don’t need to agree with everything – or anything – I say!   I do not speak for this church.  As a preacher and leader, I speak to this church, and in that role I cannot simply say what folks agree with.  I must push, and challenge, and stretch, or else fail in my calling.  You don’t have to agree.   You probably shouldn’t, because I make at least my share of mistakes!  But I hope you will think, and engage, and above all, I hope you will encounter the voice of the One who both loves us most dearly, and challenges us most profoundly.  Fair enough so far?   Remembrance Day at the armory is simpler.  There we can simply remember, honour, and give thanks.  Here in church we must also be addressed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The Remembrance Day dilemma:  on the one hand, it is important on this day to remember those of you who have laid down your lives for the rest of us, in order to resist evil and to preserve the freedom and the life we enjoy.  We need to offer our respect and our gratitude, and we need to remember the fallen.  It’s the right thing to do. 

On the other hand, part of the message of Remembrance Day is “never again.”  It’s a message that the human race has always needed but never managed to learn.  If we simply make heroes of our own soldiers, if we preserve the “us” and “them” divisions upon which war depends, then it seems to me we fail in the task of peacemaking, which is the true calling of the church.  On this day in particular I am challenged by the realization that our Lord Jesus Christ explicitly refused armed resistance in his own time and ministry.   Most particularly, he refused to divide humanity into an “us” and a “them.”  On this day of remembrance and respect, what good news does Jesus have for us, and are we able to hear it? 

And yet, as I struggle with Jesus’ apparent pacifism and my own, I know that we live in what many call “the real world.”  I do appreciate the police.  And it seems that age after age, military intervention is what keeps chaos at bay.  How would we protect the teachers and schoolchildren in Afghanistan without it?  How will we address the genocide in Darfur without it?  How would Hitler have been stopped without it? 

Well, as I was agonizing, I thought I found something.  Something that unites us all, something God is doing in the world with which we can all connect.  Let me use world war II as my example. 

It was – wow — seventy one years ago Europe plunged into World War II.   Over the next five or six years, nearly the whole world was locked in a kill-or-be-killed battle.  It was a hellish time, because in spite of the courage and heroism, in spite of the friendships that were formed in the ranks, in spite of the adventure, war is hell.  War is hell because in wartime, people do inhuman things to one another.  Both sides, of course – it wasn’t only them doing horrible things to us, it was also us doing horrible things to them.  Cities full of civilians bombed, including two flattened by atomic bombs.  Prisoners in camps treated as if neither they nor their captors were human beings.  And there’s more – lots more. 

And yet, somehow, a generation or so later, when I was growing up, almost all of the nations involved in that war had become part of the same military alliance.  We travelled freely across most of Europe, and my grandparents’ German names were no cause for concern.  The seminary I attended was partnered with a school in Japan.  And now in my sons’ generation, we have the European Union.  When you cross the border between France and Germany you scarcely know you’ve crossed a border.  My sons have never known, and can scarcely imagine, hatred and warfare between the major European powers. 

What did that, do you think?  What built this European peace and security? 

Now, I know we have a long way to go.  I’m just back from the Middle East, after all.  Afghanistan sits heavy on our hearts.  We remember Rwanda, and the horrific breakup of Yugoslavia, and the genocide in Darfur that is happening as we speak.  We’ve got a long way to go.  But in Europe, at least, real progress has been made. 

What has made the difference? 

I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the war itself.   You can correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that the war was fought as a necessary evil.  Its purpose was not to bring peace, but to stop an evil even worse than the war.   Is that fair enough?  Stop a worse evil, war can do.  Build a better world, war cannot.  If all we have is a war, then the result, if I know history at all, is what happened after World War I – winners and losers, with the losers nursing grudges and looking for revenge and a reversal of fortune.  It’s like the Hatfields and the McCoys, with the injury and insult of World War I setting the stage for World War II.  It’s not surprising.  War causes so much grief and harm and injury!  Some of you, even, have a hard time letting go of anger and hurt from more than sixty years ago.  If that happens to the best of us, what hope do the rest of us have to escape it?  No – war may be necessary in some situations, but war itself does not build a peaceful or just society.  World War II may have saved the world from a terrible evil – but it did not create the peace we enjoy today. 

So what did? 

I’m betting that what built Europe, and what led people to sign up for the forces and what kept them sane in the hell of war, what keeps our men and women in Afghanistan together and inspires them in their relief efforts in Pakistan and Haiti, is a vision for a better tomorrow, the belief that we’re making a difference.  I’d like to call it a quest for justice, the kind of justice that includes everybody in the world, even our enemies.  After all, we will never kill or imprison all the bad guys – because good and evil is mixed up in all of us.  We can’t ever clean out all the bad guys and start civilization fresh.  Even God tried that, so the flood story goes, and it didn’t work.  What we need to do is to lift all of us, imperfect as we are, to a higher level of justice and grace.  We will only be secure, after all, when no one wants to blow us up, when no one is so desperate to feed their family that they’ll do anything, when no one is so fearful or anguished that they become inhuman.  Bottom line:  war or peace, we are struggling for a better tomorrow, and the only one that is worth struggling for is a tomorrow that is better for all of us.  Are you still with me? 

In this struggle, there are lots of allies, and some of them are surprising.  In World War II, it wasn’t just the armies that fought against Hitler.  There were resistance movements throughout Europe.   There were all those people who sheltered Jews, and helped them to escape to safety.  There were people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church inside Germany, who raised their voices against the Nazis, who named the evil and who refused to co-operate.  There were plots against Hitler from within his own high command.  Following the war, there was a huge effort to build democracy and economic strength in all of the nations involved in the war, to build a freedom and a prosperity and a strength of relationship that would prevent another war, and it’s worked!  Today in Afghanistan, along side our forces, there are the Women for Women in Afghanistan, through whom this church has placed five teachers this year alone.  There are the teachers and students themselves, risking their lives to build a nation, beginning with the children.  There are aid workers, and medical workers, and farmers, and politicians and advisors.  And there are moderate Muslims who read the Qu’ran and who know that Allah commands justice and compassion and not hate, who are raising their voices and refusing to co-operate with the extremists.  On every side and in every struggle, the spirit of humanity and the Spirit of God is alive and cannot be crushed. 

I believe that is where God is at work in our world – if we must fight so be it, but I believe God is at work to erase the “us” and “them” mentalities so we can work together to build a freedom and prosperity in this world that leaves no one out.  A passion for justice, justice for all – that’s the Spirit of God in our world.  Listen to this from Isaiah, again:

 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit upon him and he will bring forth justice to the nations.  He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.  A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.  In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged until he establishes justice on the earth…  I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand.  I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” 

Here is good news as I see it:  it’s not all up to us.  The Spirit of God is moving in this world, everywhere in this world, in us and in our enemies, to build the kind of justice on which true security is found.   The Spirit of God is moving to care for all those bruised reeds and dimly burning candles in all the toughest places in the world.  The Spirit of God is bringing light to those in darkness, freedom to those locked in hate or oppression.   God is changing us, from a fighting people to a compassionate people.  

We’ve made a lot of progress, and we’ve a long way to go.  We will only be truly at peace, after all, when no one wants to blow us up, when no one wants revenge, when no one feels a need to hate or to kill.  We will only be secure when we all have justice, when we all have freedom, and when we all have enough prosperity that our children do not starve or die from preventable diseases.  

I am grateful to those who opposed Hitler and fascism, by armed means or otherwise. 

I am grateful for the love, the hope, and the courage with which you and many have struggled, and with your willingness and theirs to lay down your lives for others. 

I am grateful for all those who serve as peace workers, peace keepers, or justice makers – of whatever language or creed, be they in the forces or in the halls of government or in the classrooms, fields, or the churches and mosques and synagogues, from Cypress to Rwanda to Afghanistan to Darfur and from the middle East to Canada. 

And I am grateful to the Spirit of God, who moves among us and among our enemies, changing hearts, opening eyes, tenderly nurturing every flame of hope and every tenuous growth of life throughout the world. 

May none of us labour or give our lives in vain, but may peace and justice grow day by day in this world.  Follow me, said Jesus.  So be it.  AM EN.

“In your light we see light.”–Psalm 36:9b

Image Source = AutoCCD

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kind_en_Kaars.jpg)

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March 25, 2013

Collect and lections from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer

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Follow the assigned readings with me this Lent….

Kenneth Randolph Taylor

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Isaiah 42:1-9 (New Revised Standard Version):

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations,

He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring for justice.

He will not grow faint or be crushed

until he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the LORD,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people upon it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,

I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

I have given you as a covenant to the people,

a light to the nations,

to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness.

I am the LORD, that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to idols.

See, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth,

I tell you of them.

Hebrews 11:29-12:3 (New Revised Standard Version):

Note:  The Prayer Book states that the reading begins with 11:39, but I have backed it up to 11:29. My practice is to extend readings sometimes, but never to abbreviate them.

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.  By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days.  By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

And what more should I say?  For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets–who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raising fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.  Women received their dead by resurrection.  Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.  Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented–of whom the world was not worthy.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

Psalm 36:5-10 (New Revised Standard Version):

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

your judgments are like the great deep;

you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house,

and you give them drink from the river of your delights.

For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light.

O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,

and your salvation to the upright of heart!

John 12:1-11 (New Revised Standard Version):

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom had raised from the dead.  They gave a dinner for him.  Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at table with him.  Mary took a pound of costly perfume made from pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.  The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said,

Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?

(He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; the kept the common purse and used to steal what was put in it.)  Jesus said,

Leave her alone.  She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.  You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.

When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.  So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

OR

Mark 14:3-11 (New Revised Standard Version):

Note:  The Prayer Book lists the reading from Mark as 14:3-9, but I have extended this by two verses.

While he [Jesus] was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.  But some were there who said to one another in anger,

Why was the ointment wasted in this way?  For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.

And they scolded her.  But Jesus said,

Let her alone; why do you trouble her?  She has performed a good service for me.  For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will always have me.  She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.  Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.  When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money.  So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

The Collect:

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find int none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

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I note the two options for the Gospel reading.  Clearly these are variations on the same story, for they are quite similar.  Yet they contain discrepancies with regard to minor details.  This fact does not trouble me, for I am not a Biblical literalist.  I have read the Bible too closely to think of the book as inerrant or infallible.

One needs to avoid a basic error in logic.  Often people mistake accuracy for truth.  Truth, in the Biblical sense, is that which is reliable.  So, what is the truth common to John 12:1-11 and Mark 14:3-11?  Whether the woman was Mary of Bethany or an unnamed female does not matter.  Whether she anointed Jesus’ head or feet is irrelevant.  Whether this happened at the home of Simon the leper or at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in unimportant.  Let us look at the proverbial forest, not the trees.

Jesus recognized the love behind the woman’s gesture and accepted both.  And he knew that his critic(s) operated from cynicism and self-interest, not humanitarian interests.  A denarius was one day’s wage, so nard ointment worth 300 denarii was truly extravagant.

In God’s light we see light.  In the person of Jesus we see God.  And God is love.  Throughout history people have committed atrocities, betrayed innocent people (including Jesus), and condoned inhumane deeds in the name of God.  Current and recent events indicate that this pattern continues.  In this context, a simple, loving, and extravagant anointing of Jesus, which is inherently beautiful, seems more lovely.

May we recognize and applaud beautiful acts of love toward God, and commit some of these, too.  Such love is true.

KRT

Published originally at SUNDRY THOUGHTS OF KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR on March 26, 2010

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/in-your-light-we-see-light/

Above:  Bathabra, Israel:  Traditional Site of the Baptism of Jesus

Image Source = Producer

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bethany_(5).JPG)

Jesus:  God Incarnate, Identifying with Us

JANUARY 9, 2011

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Isaiah 42:1-9 (New Revised Standard Version):

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, in whom my soul delights;

I have put my spirit upon him;

he will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not cry or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

a bruised reed he will not break,

and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

he will faithfully bring forth justice.

He will not grow faint or be crushed

until he has established justice in the earth;

and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the LORD,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people upon it

and spirit to those who walk in it.

I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness,

I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

I have given you as a covenant to the people,

a light to the nations,

to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

from the prison those who sit in darkness.

I am the LORD, that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to idols.

See, the former things have come to pass,

and new things I now declare;

before they spring forth,

I tell you of them.

Psalm 29 (New Revised Standard Version):

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,

ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;

worship the LORD in holy splendor.

The voice of the LORD is over the waters;

the God of glory thunders,

the LORD, over mighty waters.

The voice of the LORD is powerful;

the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.

The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;

the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,

and Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the LORD flashes both flames of fire.

The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;

the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl,

and strips the forest bare;

and in his temple all say, “Glory!”

The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;

the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.

May the LORD give strength to his people!

May the LORD bless his people with peace!

Acts 10:34-43 (New Revised Standard Version):

Then Peter began to speak to them:

I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ–he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.

Matthew 3:13-17 (New Revised Standard Version):

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying,

I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?

But Jesus answered him,

Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.

Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said,

This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.

The Collect:

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

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Christian theology holds that Jesus was sinless.  (I accept this proposition as an article of faith.)  Considering that the baptism John the Baptist offered was an outward sign of repentance, and that sinless Jesus had no reason to repent, why did he insist on baptism?

Jesus identified with mere mortals.

The Incarnation signaled this, and Jesus’ baptism continued the theme.  Jesus, who had no sin, came to take all sin onto himself–to become sin near the end of the narrative of his earthly life.  But first he had identify with us in repentance.  There is a certain parallelism at work here.  And sinlessness did not lead to aloofness from sinful human beings.

This is the person we Christians understand to be the Son of God, our Lord and Savior.  He is worthy, indeed.

KRT

Written on June 8, 2010

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2011/12/28/jesus-god-incarnate-identifying-with-us/

In the book of Isaiah there is a beautiful promise describing Christ’s tender attitude towards the poor and needy where it says,

He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed He will not break
And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish” (Isaiah 42:2-3a)

At a glance this verse might easily be mistaken purely as a portrait of Christ’s love and mercy.  The true beauty of this portrait however lies not so much in what it reveals  of Christ’s love but in what it tells us of his justice.  The words immediately preceding this frequently quoted verse are a promise that “He will bring forth justice to the nations.”   And just what does bringing forth justice  mean?  It means bringing a quiet reassuring voice to an anxious soul.  It means dealing ever so gently with people that are bruised and easy to break.  It means preserving those whose lives have  become like the flickering flame of a candle that would be easily snuffed out by one false movement.

This tender portrayal of justice is then immediately followed by the words,

He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not be disheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law. (Isaiah 42:3b-4)

That sounds good to me.  Come quickly Lord Jesus.

In some ways, it would have been easy for Stokes to avoid this issue.  But he didn’t.   Piper’s absence provided the perfect opportunity to address the undue allegiance many Christians give to prominent preachers, and Stokes took the opportunity to speak to the issue with grace, humility, and truth.

Corporately as a church, perhaps one of the aims God has for us in this text is to redirect our hopes from Pastor John as God’s servant (lower case “s”)— faithfully directing us to God week in and week out through his preaching—and direct us to Christ himself, the Servant with a capital “S.”

I am throwing no stones here. I’m as disappointed as you are that I won’t hear pastor John preach for the next eight months. I’ve been here before. I remember back in the 1980’s after about 6 years being here at Bethlehem under John’s preaching, I graduated from Bethel Seminary and I was called as a 30 year-old to become an associate pastor in a church in Iowa.

It took me a year before I could hear the Word of God preached from the pastor there. The problem was not that he was not true to the Word of God, he was. At root, I believe the problem was idolatrous: I had “John Piper” shaped ear. I could only hear the “word of John” bringing me the Word of God. Mercifully, God broke me and showed me this and opened my ears to hear the preaching of others. The lesson was, “Look for me here, in the Bible, by the power of the Spirit. Listen for me in the Bible and I will meet you. I’ll feed you. I’ll be your all in all.”

Pastor John is 63 years old and away for 8 months. Perhaps one of God’s aims in this text this weekend to cause each of us to desperately open the Word and look to Jesus with ourselves? Perhaps one of Gods aims is corporately is to give us a “new ear” opened to hear from “ordinary pastors”[2] and preachers and teachers like me and the staff—and the thousands of other ‘ordinary’ pastors around the globe.

In Isaiah 42:1, to correct the vanity of trusting in idols, God shifts our attention by saying, “Behold, my servant…my chosen [one]…Behold! Look to my chosen one, look to the one in whom I delight, look to Christ.” So, my aim in the remainder of this message is to align with God’s aim and point you to behold Christ, to see Christ as he is in this text. And to that end I will point out five things in this text that I believe God wants us to see and behold about Christ for the advancement of our faith.

This should have at least four effects on us.  First, for the pastors reading, if you’re an ordinary pastor like me, then take heart: God can speak through you as much as he can men like John Piper. Get in the study, open the book, seek God’s face, then preach as if souls depended on it because they do.

Second, again for us pastors, don’t try to be something you’re not.  Don’t try to be a John Piper, or a MacArthur, or Keller, or Rodgers, or Dever, or whoever you love to listen to.  Be yourself.  Pursue sanctification and be the preacher God has equipped you to be at the church he’s called you to.

Finally, for the pastors, don’t idolize any preacher–save Christ himself–by hearing him as an infallible authority on the Word. Every pastor will be wrong on some things.  Be encouraged by their ministry, but listen with discernment and study the Word for yourself. God has always given the church unusually gifted preachers, but they are still men in the end.  We honor their ministry, but worship only Christ.

Then, for the lay people reading this, listen to your pastor.  Men like Piper are preaching with their congregation in mind. Your pastor is preaching with you in mind.  If he is a good pastor, then he wrestling with the text each week, with  you in mind.  He is before the throne of grace with you in mind.  He is giving himself–heart and soul–with you in mind.  Don’t wish for another pastor, pray for and love the one God gave you.  And let yourself be challenged, taught, and encouraged by him.

By God’s grace, let’s flee the sin of preacher idolatry.

]]> http://wordstepping.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/i-share-everything-with-you/ Wed, 19 May 2010 06:21:21 +0000 gone http://wordstepping.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/i-share-everything-with-you/ Isaiah 42:8-9

“I am the Lord; that is my name!

I will not give glory to another or my praise to idols.

See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.”

I have no idea where this is going…many come and say “you need to do this” or “don’t do this”.  I hear their voices but cannot comment, for until light is given I do not know.  It is not an issue of morality, I’ve no wish to slip into known sin.  It is not an issue of biblical teaching, for I sit in it seeking insight, listening for a Word.  It is an issue of what He desires, where He leads.

Choosing to stay still in the midst of darkness feels like death and surely seems unwise.  Certainly, many look, wonder and shake their heads.  I cannot blame them, I’d do the same.  Yet, I must answer to One who promises to guide me.  Stepping solo into darkness, grasping at “something”, trusting that any direction I go will be “just fine” leaves me alone, scouting dark terrain on hands and knees.

Before I visited my blog today, I prayed that God would speak to me through today’s Taize verse (upper right hand corner).  It says:

The Lord says: I shall lead my people by a road that is unknown to them. I shall turn the darkness into light before them. (Isaiah 42:10-17)

Hoping for a ”It’s gonna be all right, just go here” kiss on the cheek, I get more of the same–the message hasn’t changed, He gives me nothing new.  All is unknown, a foreign trek I travel.  Darkness is until light is given.  I wonder about wild animals, cliffs and strange sounds, without light I feel vulnerable, want shelter.

Standing still feels lifeless, empty.  Nothing to give, nowhere to go.   Like a soldier holding his ground while under assault, the severity and pain of the crisis screams through every nerve.  Busyness tries to silence it, bury it, keep it down.  It fails, solace is somewhere “over there”–beyond what I can see, beyond what I now know.  Pummeled by pain in the dark, it is hard to stand still.  Yet moving without light, without a Divine “Come this way” ensures needless suffering, a suffering outside His will.

I weep and stand, I beg for strength.  I want Him…I want what leads to Him, I want what leads others to Him. A road unknown is all I’m promised.  Light will be given, darkness will be dispelled–one step at a time, yes, one step at a time…

Tonight I can not sleep. I’ve been watching the minutes pass by. I have a nagging suspicion that this is due in part to my body’s inner clock, considering that I have been in a habit of staying up until 4 or 5 am the past few nights, but I have been going to bed earlier and earlier even with that pattern, and was up to midnight last night, so I feel that throws a wrench in that theory.

It’s mostly due to my thoughts. I know that Scripture says to take every thought captive, and that I am given a spirit of soundness of mind.

But I can’t help but go over life as of late and ask the Lord “what are You doing, and what are all these things for in Your greater purpose?”

Today someone gave me the advice that, instead of asking the Lord “Who are my friends?” ask Him “Who are Your friends?” and I find that to be excellent advice. I hope to walk it out and learn who His people really are.I hope to be one of His friends as well.

Friends. I’m laying awake thinking about friendships.

The thought that is in my mind is, if you go up to a coke machine and put a coin in, and it eats it, how long do you keep putting coins in before you stop? I acknowledge that is a bit of a flawed metaphor, but really… if you have a friend and you call or text and try to initiate spending time together, and it doesn’t work out most of the time, and that person never calls or texts you without your initiation, are they really much different than a coke machine that eats your money?

And so then what. You walk away from the coke machine, hoping that as you leave it might finally drop down the soda you were trying to get. Not that people are just something that you put love and affection into in order to get something back, but for friendship, fellowship… is there not some level of mutuality that is ok to be expected? So here I am. I walked away from my coke machines a few months ago. And it sucks.

Something rather tragic I was thinking about the other day, and I know this may not be the best outlook on life but it was my reality, is…
on paper, I am a pre-med honors student, 99th percentile SAT scorer, with a stack of awards for getting the highest grade in most of the classes I was in my senior year of high school, even one of them was the highest grade the teacher had ever given anyone ever, all this with little to no effort, and I am a musician who is able to play multiple instruments and sing all well enough to win a spot playing said instruments even auditioning against others who concentrate on even just one of the instruments I play… I paint photo-realistic paintings. I write. I record. Wild javelina have eaten out of my hands. In archery I shot at twice the distance of the other people in my class. Since first grade I removed from class for an accelerated program. Wild deer have approached me and licked my face. I am a certified scuba diver. I am trained to save your life. I have bandaged broken limbs. I volunteer. I go on missions trips. I have performed on Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern stage. I can show up at a stranger’s doorstep and find myself invited in for dinner. I have pet a wild shark. I can convince a mechanic that I know stuff about cars. I can make do in the city, and in the middle of nowhere. At work it has been noted that I build the strongest relationships with customers with the greatest ease out of my entire department. I have baptized 40 people. Hummingbirds have landed in my hands, more than once. I have a history of giving up my school breaks to go on missions trips. I impress doctors and nurses with my medical knowledge, sometimes knowing things they don’t know. The list goes on. On paper, written down, in history books, I would look like quite the well-rounded person.

I sat there the other night, contemplating that. Sitting completely alone in my house. By myself. All the lights off. In pitch black. With no car to take me anywhere. And all my roommates had left. But… nowhere to go even if I had my car. With my cell phone out, looking at numbers… but with no one to call. And certainly no one was calling me.

I am reminded of Paul boasting about how he was the Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a righteous man, as far as their code went. He did all that society asked of him and he did it well. But it’s all meaningless. My accomplishments, my righteousness is as filthy rags.

Tonight I take assurance in knowing that God makes all vessels for use in His hands, and He is near to the brokenhearted. A bruised reed He will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.

Well, I am off to see if I can fall asleep now.

I am a college senior, studying pre-medical coursework as part of my health sciences degree. I don’t entirely plan on using my degree as I once intended, but I am completing the course work. This past semester that included a course in Biochemistry.

While staying at IHOP-KC over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had it weighing on my mind that a large biochemistry exam was looming shortly after I was to return home. That probably had something to do with this little bit of insight.

Poisons.

As part of my biochemistry coursework, the professor, who walks in relationship with Jesus, wanted to teach us application of the material. He often talked about how when he was an undergraduate student, he viewed his biochemistry material as a devotional in learning about the brilliance and creativity of the Lord, and His hidden wisdom. I guess I got a trinket of that… in the way some poisons work.

Who here has heard of enzymes? The basic idea is that there are a LOT of processes in our bodies just to make them live. These would be kind of slow, as they are based largely on chemical interactions that require lots of energy to occur, and some aren’t really favored on their own. Enzymes are a type of catalyst that make it a bit easier, kind of “jump start” those reactions. Something key about enzymes is their specificity – it’s not exactly lock-and-key, but close enough. Enzymes are typically for a specific substrate (the chemical compound that binds to it.)

As I said, these enzymes are crucial to key processes to make us live – such as metabolism, the process by which energy is made for our cells to function (maybe you remember learning glycolysis in biology class? Krebs/Citric Acid cycle, Electron Transport Chain..). Using that as an example, the entire system utilizes specific enzymes to do specific things to the substrates, each time creating a different product that then goes and reacts with the next enzyme, like a sort of Goldberg Machine.

Ok. So I mentioned poison earlier.

Poisons work by kind of lookin’ like they could be the right substrate. They fit into the “keyhole” of the enzyme. Kind of like that key stuck in my car door, they fit in, but then they can not proceed with the rest of the reaction (like that key can’t unlock my car door…) and then they just stay there, never leaving. They take up the free enzymes and thus, reactions cannot proceed as normal. I can’t unlock my car on the driver’s side. Imagine if there were a key stuck in both my driver’s and passenger’s side… then I’d just be stuck out of my car (I don’t have a clicker, and neither do our cells.) So, if there was a key stuck in all of the doors of my car, and the only way to unlock it was to use a key, then my car would be rendered effectively useless. That’s what poisons do. They come in, they look like they’d work, but then they just shut everything down and kill cells.

Here’s the thing, though. They only work because they look like the right thing. That key only ended up in my door because it’s a key, it looks like a key, if it was a nail file or a twig or a candy cane or something, it wouldn’t have been confused as something that was supposed to be in my car door. Ye savvy? Poisons only work ’cause they look like the substrate that’s supposed to bind. If it’s another compound that looks nothing like it, it ain’t gonna bind.

So where’s the revelation here?

Scriptural truth, and lies.

There’s those crazy folk out there doing things that just absolutely are off the wall. Maybe a small select few catch on, but it’s not really making waves. You know, like holding rattlesnakes, drinking kool-aid, picketing soldiers’ funerals, locking themselves up in bunkers, etc. That stuff automatically sends up red flags for most.

But when I read the words of Jesus, He talks about those who will come in His name, to lead astray even, if possible, the elect. He warns us to take heed of what we hear. The book of Jude, the letters to the churches in Revelation, the letters to Thessalonica, most of the New Testament, it’s all addressing those who came in the name of Jesus but without the Truth of Jesus. Like the sons of Sceva, they come in His name but without knowing Him, and they are powerless. But we are warned to be careful of those who use His name in vain. It’s possible to spread His name ineffectively! He said so. Why else would there be a command against taking His name in vain? He wants us to use His name in alignment with His character. When we accept the lie that is in His name (looks like a good thing,) but it’s not really of Him, then we poison ourselves, we poison our walk.

You know, I just have to say, we need to stop defining our theology by what the music on Christian radio says, by what our pastor says. We need to, like the Bereans, start looking at what Scripture says, and checking the teachings we are given against the Word of God. How can I say I am a Christian and not be consumed by the Word of God? I so love how Misty Edwards put it in a recent podcast:

There is no such thing as being a Christian without total allegiance to every word that Jesus said

He is NOT the God described in the trendiest song, if that song does not line up with Scripture. Just because it mentions His name does not mean it is talking about Him. Just because Christian radio picks it up and plays it, does NOT mean it is about Him. If it does not line itself up with Jesus as He is portrayed in the Word of God, it is not about Him, and it needs to be thrown out, or it is a poison that will kill your worldview and your walk with Him, and probably of those around you if you accept it and begin teaching it.

Any teaching, any and every teaching, that does not line itself up with the heart of God as expressed in the Word of God needs to be thrown out. It is the most dangerous thing. It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is not ok. It’s simply not. What is greater wickedness than to misrepresent the heart of a Holy God? What is more fearful than to think you know Him, but to be wrong? There are so many instances of the people thinking they know God, but walking after their own way.

I so often hear people quote Paul  from Philippians 1, speaking of those preaching Jesus to increase his chains. Now, I’m just guessing here, but I am thinking that if Paul is saying they are preaching Jesus, then what Paul would mean by “preaching Jesus” is that these people are actually spreading the truth about Jesus in order to get Paul in more trouble, because if they were not spreading the same message as Paul, I find it doubtful that it would then be associated with Paul and thus used as a testimony against Paul. Does that make sense? I really doubt those who were preaching Jesus to increase the chains of Paul, those of whom Paul spoke, saying

“whether in pretense or truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice”

I highly doubt Paul would say the same thing of those preaching Jesus’ name for personal wealth. I highly doubt he’d rejoice so much over those talking of Jesus and ignoring the cross.

And even with Paul’s words in mind, even if I am wrong here in my interpretation of Paul’s situation, I have to say that we ought to stop interpreting Jesus’ words through the lens of Paul’s writings, that instead we ought to look at Paul’s writings through the lens of Jesus’ words. I don’t think we can take this one part of one letter of Paul and use it as an excuse to rejoice over those who preach His name without His character. We are still told by Jesus to discern against false prophets who come in His name. Many many times He warned this! Matthew 24!!! Mark 13! John 8 and John 10 show the character of Jesus, as He really is. John 16. Luke 17, Luke 21.

Jude. 2 Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 4.

We need the logos, the John 1 revelation of Jesus. We need to know Him as He is portrayed in the Word, in Truth. We need to clear our system of poison, and to stop ingesting it.

In John 17 Jesus said that eternal life is to know Jesus Christ. In Matthew 7, He says that many will come to Him and call Him Lord, and He will say

“depart from Me, I never knew you…”

We need to have The Master Locksmith come and take the lock out of our car door, and disassemble the entire thing, remove the key, and reassemble the lock so it is receptive to the Real Key. Fast from the outside influences. Fast from media, even Christian music, fast from TV, from magazines, from movies, from those voices telling you ideas about God, to take time to step away from those things, and to get with God and let Him show Himself as He is, but also to take the Word of God and to read with fresh eyes. To read it and cast off what you’ve been told about it, but instead to let Him tell you about it. To read the entirety of the Word, and to learn who He really is. To love the Psalm 2 God, the Isaiah 42 God, the Psalm 45 God, the book of Revelation God just as much as the Song of Solomon God, the Jesus on the Cross God… to realize He is Judge, the One who Justifies, He is Prince of Peace who is coming to make war on wickedness, that He loves righteousness and with the same fervency He hates wickedness, that He weeps over sin and yet He is anointed with the oil of gladness, that He is fearful yet His love casts out fear…

We need to be full of the Word of God, in Spirit and in truth… and to accept no lie… we need to define our belief about Jesus and the songs we will sing to Him and the way we will speak of Him based on the Word, NOT to define our interpretation of the Word based on the songs we hear or the things people have told us.

The Word must come first.

I am not saying that there isn’t joy. Families connect, people at least pretend to be nice and charitable; kids are excited and it is even permissible that work be slightly less productive. Football and basketball games are on at unusual times of the day and it is a great time of year to relax and watch movies. There is generally a lot of good food around which is also nice since I am a horrible cook!

Just yesterday I made a FaceBook status update indicating that I had finally gotten into the holiday spirit of things. It has been difficult for me to get really enthusiastic about the holidays this year. There are many reasons why I find it challenging to be merry, but one simple truth gives me joy and a glimpse of hope.

It is never easy to enter into the holiday season after the loss of a loved one. When my mom past away the following Christmas was difficult. Now my dad has also past on to the next life and while I have two sisters with there husbands and kids, I feel more alone than ever before. Each of my sister’s families has their own traditions now. Our gathering Christmas day reflects that reality. I feel like an add-on, a last second addition to the Christmas agenda. Experience tells me intense discussion not involving me will take place regarding my transportation to our Christmas celebration. I believe that is unintended on their part, but that is how it works. Over the last four years while my sisters did there family Christmas stuff, I would hang out with my dad. That will not be happening this year.

Another thing that disappoints me about this time of year is the emphasis on gifts. Don’t get me wrong, I love getting stuff and being creative in shopping for others. At the same time there are a lot of people in need, not to mention we don’t use half the stuff we get. (There is never enough; there is more than enough. A quick observation to think about.) I have discovered that I feel spending real quality time with people is an awesome gift. Not because I have anything great to offer, but sharing life brings a satisfaction that a camera, laptop or sweater cannot.

The holidays are also unpleasant times for people in my profession. Since people may not be able financially or emotionally to buy stuff and be joyful, it is often a difficult time for my clients. Depression, anxiety and general stress can be particularly difficult to deal with at this time of year. As a result, it can be challenging to separate my professional and personal lives during the Christmas season. Often it seems like a really strange paradox.

Finally, we are also approaching the time when people will begin reflecting on 2009 and making mostly meaningless New Year resolutions. I have no desire to look back at the first six months of 2009. Absolutely horrible months with little joy. The second half of the year has been exciting and I have grown in my walk with God along with enlarging my community.

You are probably thinking “Thanks Dobbs for finally writing a sentence with some hope!” What I wrote above is the real process my heart and mind have went through over the last week. Life does not give us enough time to celebrate things like climbing mountains. Truthfully, I hated having these thoughts racing through my head so soon after returning from New York.

Earlier in the week I was reading some Advent material from my church, Common Ground, along with an Advent reflection from another church in Indy called The Porch. I then did some reading on my own. As a result, the Book of Isaiah has become one of my favorite books in the Old Testament.

Isaiah 42 (The Message)
Isaiah 42
God’s Servant Will Set Everything Right
1-4 “Take a good look at my servant.
I’m backing him to the hilt.
He’s the one I chose,
and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.
I’ve bathed him with my Spirit, my life.
He’ll set everything right among the nations.
He won’t call attention to what he does
with loud speeches or gaudy parades.
He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt
and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant,
but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right.
He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped
until he’s finished his work—to set things right on earth.
Far-flung ocean islands
wait expectantly for his teaching.”
The God Who Makes Us Alive with His Own Life
5-9God’s Message,
the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies,
laid out the earth and all that grows from it,
Who breathes life into earth’s people,
makes them alive with his own life:
“I am God. I have called you to live right and well.
I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe.
I have set you among my people to bind them to me,
and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations,
To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light:
opening blind eyes,
releasing prisoners from dungeons,
emptying the dark prisons.
I am God. That’s my name.
I don’t franchise my glory,
don’t endorse the no-god idols.
Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled.
I’m announcing the new salvation work.
Before it bursts on the scene,
I’m telling you all about it.”

The truth that brings me peace and joy is that of Christ. We are in Advent, a time of great anticipation of the birth of Jesus, the only son of God and our redeemer. Each day of our lives, year after year, every day can bring redemption. You can redeem broken relationships, brake the bondage of bad habits, captives will be set free and we can have peace in the midst of difficult times. That is why when I was thinking back on this year and wrote about a deeper relationship with God and greater community a few paragraphs ago, it all became clear. God’s redemptive plan is ongoing. It has been happening in my life without me fully recognizing it. This reality does not take sadness or loneliness away, but it gives me perspective and hope. So as we wait with great expectation to reflect on and celebrate the birth of our redeemer Jesus Christ, I simply say, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

ISAIAH_42_SERVANT_of_the_LORD_.mp3 (4458 KB)

ISAIAH 42 “SERVANT of the LORD; PRAISE to the LORD; PROMISE of the LORD’s HELP; ISRAEL’s OBSTINATE DISOBEDIENCE”
recorded for your spiritual enrichment by vanderKOK

42:1 The Servant of the LORD
“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,My Elect One in whom My soul delights!I have put My Spirit upon Him;He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. 2 He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed He will not break,And smoking flax He will not quench;He will bring forth justice for truth. 4 He will not fail nor be discouraged,Till He has established justice in the earth;And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”
5 Thus says God the LORD,Who created the heavens and stretched them out,Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,Who gives breath to the people on it,And spirit to those who walk on it: 6 “I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness,And will hold Your hand;I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,As a light to the Gentiles, 7 To open blind eyes,To bring out prisoners from the prison,Those who sit in darkness from the prison house. 8 I am the LORD, that is My name;And My glory I will not give to another,Nor My praise to carved images. 9 Behold, the former things have come to pass,And new things I declare;Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
10 Praise to the LORD

Sing to the LORD a new song,And His praise from the ends of the earth,You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,You coastlands and you inhabitants of them! 11 Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice,The villages that Kedar inhabits.Let the inhabitants of Sela sing,Let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the LORD,And declare His praise in the coastlands. 13 The LORD shall go forth like a mighty man;He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war.He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud;He shall prevail against His enemies.
14 Promise of the LORD’s Help

“I have held My peace a long time,I have been still and restrained Myself.Now I will cry like a woman in labor,I will pant and gasp at once. 15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills,And dry up all their vegetation;I will make the rivers coastlands,And I will dry up the pools. 16 I will bring the blind by a way they did not know;I will lead them in paths they have not known.I will make darkness light before them,And crooked places straight.These things I will do for them,And not forsake them. 17 They shall be turned back,They shall be greatly ashamed,Who trust in carved images,Who say to the molded images,’You are our gods.’
18 “Hear, you deaf;And look, you blind, that you may see. 19 Who is blind but My servant,Or deaf as My messenger whom I send?Who is blind as he who is perfect,And blind as the LORD’s servant? 20 Seeing many things, but you do not observe;Opening the ears, but he does not hear.”
21 Israel’s Obstinate Disobedience

The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake;He will exalt the law and make it honorable. 22 But this is a people robbed and plundered;All of them are snared in holes,And they are hidden in prison houses;They are for prey, and no one delivers;For plunder, and no one says, “Restore!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this?Who will listen and hear for the time to come? 24 Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers?Was it not the LORD,He against whom we have sinned?For they would not walk in His ways,Nor were they obedient to His law. 25 Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger And the strength of battle;It has set him on fire all around,Yet he did not know;And it burned him,Yet he did not take it to heart.
NKJV

My heart goes out to these people, because I felt like that myself once.  Before I began writing seven years ago, I had wanted to write for at least twenty years and often talked about it with my family.  At one stage, in desperation, one of our daughters gave me a pile of books on how to write, accompanied by a homemade bookmark, bearing the inscription ‘Write your own!’  However, it took the ending of a ministry I loved, followed by six months’ break, before I finally realised that the moment had come in my life when the dream to write and the call of God were in fact one.

It happened like this.  I was holidaying in Turkey and was sitting reading Isaiah 42 in my bible one morning.  I had read verse 9 – See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare – and noted in my journal that I knew my old role had gone but now I truly wanted to hear the ‘ new things’ God had for me.  Then I read on – and stopped in my tracks at verses 18-20:

Hear, you deaf, look, you blind, and see!  Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send?  Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord?  You have seen many things, but have paid no attention; your ears are open, but you hear nothing.

Yes, it was a strong challenge – a rebuke even – but so patient and kind too.  It was as if God were saying with a big sigh: ‘Come on, Jo!  How many times do I have to show you?  Go home and start writing the book!’

Well – I did! That was what it took for God to get through to me that yes, it was okay to write – that this, in fact, was what I was being called to do at this stage of my life.

So what is God calling you to do?  Is it perhaps the very thing you’ve been dreaming of doing all your life?  Could God in fact be giving you permission to bring your dream to reality?  …  Could you possibly have a book in you too?

But, just been listening to a sermon on Isaiah 42 by Mike Cain this afternoon and thought I’d share some of the joy!

It’s simple but is so easily forgotten (especially by me) when things are hard, when the Christian life requires you perserve more than you ever want to or feel able to that we have a Saviour in Jesus. I get so tempted to box things and not to take all things to him, but Jesus is God’s ‘One true Servant’, the perfect one who allows us to come to the creator of the Universe. He is the one that brings justice and  comfort. All of this was so refreshing to be reminded of but what really struck me was a simple illustration:

“if we’d fallen down a hole, then we need someone who isn’t in the hole to come and rescue us.”

It’s one i’ve heard before, but the reminder that there is someone who can come to us when we feel that there is no-one who understands reminded me of just how loving our God is, and how we are far from alone and how stupid it is to not have my eyes fixed on Jesus when he is the perfector of my faith.

I feel so much like a bruised reed at the moment, feeble and unable to continue, and yet this amazing passage has reminded me that although there are many things wrong with this world, Jesus, the One perfect Servant came to be our rescuer before he came to be our judge, which will happen one day. He came full of grace which I don’t deserve but he came anyway!

Praise be to God!

I had been accused of something I didn’t do. Now it was being gossiped about. When I tried to correct the misinformation, the response was, “Why are you so defensive?” The more I tried to explain, the worse it got.

Crushed I went to my friends, both in their eighties, who had often been my listening posts. “It’s not the truth, is it? Then don’t hang on to it,” they advised. “Don’t give the gossip any weight by mulling it over or talking about it. In due time God will vindicate you.”

But I couldn’t just leave it. Silence is consent, isn’t it? I spent much emotional energy trying to prove my innocence. To no avail. Finally I realized my friends were right: I needed to focus my energy on more constructive coping. How?

Searching out what God thinks about me, I wrote out Scripture verses on cards so I could say them while driving the car or walking the dog, verses such as: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:33-34).

In these words I heard Jesus saying, “I’m the only one qualified to judge you and I don’t condemn you.” In fact, He let me know his pleasure in words like these: “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17)

Focusing on God’s truths helped me walk with dignity and courage.

And in time, it happened just as my friends predicted: the gossip was proved wrong and I was vindicated.

Have people spread rumors or gossip about you before? How did you respond? How can you aim to respond in the future?

November 27, 2007:

God has been speaking to me about justice and hope.

Do a concordance check on the word justice in the Bible (go to unboundbible.com). So many scriptures stress how important justice is in human interaction. It is closely tied to righteousness. Several Greek and Hebrew words translate as both just and righteous.On Monday, I had an incredible conversation with my friend Matt about numerous things. At one point, he was contemplating how he might need to alter his participation in entertainment that depicts images of violence against human beings, based on the question If I am to love human being then. I wondered where I need to change my activities if I’m to love people.

In that same conversation, he spoke on a scripture that is hugely significant to him Psalms 42 which says,

”1.”Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;

My chosen one in whom My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the nations.

2.              “He will not cry out or raise His voice,

Nor make His voice heard in the street.

3.              “A bruised reed He will not break

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

4.              “He will not be disheartened or crushed

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

Matt commented that that the church should be seeking to establish justice in the nations. Where there is injustice, we should be responding.

Later that night at home, I felt prompted to pick up and read the bible that had been laid open to no particular spot. It was opened to Amos. I read the introduction to the book and then read through the whole book. It spoke on justice. Amos had been sent to warn Israel of the consequences they would face if they didn’t change their ways. I expected that I would read about them worshipping other gods, as Israel had done many times during the rules of the kings. Well outwardly at least, they were doing acts of worship to God. Very extensively.

But God did not want their acts of worship because they were acting unjustly toward the poor and powerless.

As I read, one of the scripture got me right between the eyes.

 Thus says the LORD,

“For three transgressions of Israel and for four

I will not revoke its punishment,

Because they sell the righteous for money

And the needy for a pair of sandals.”

This how you are being unjust, Brandi, those words said. (At least one of the ways) I have been placing a higher importance on getting what I want and getting it cheaply than the humane treatment of other human beings.  I have been neglecting the oppressed for the sake of my own material gain. The reference to the sandals in the scripture is figurative. However to me, it was specific example of my lack of love to my neighbor who is exploited.

I’m looking for a new pair of black slipper shoes to replace the ones I’ve worn threadbare.  I place a high value on getting these shoes inexpensively. That price tag comes at the expense of another human being who is being exploited so that the company can market those shoes at a price attractive enough to win my patronage.

 The thing is, I know better. Maybe most Americans don’t make the connection between the sale price and the means at which it was obtain. But at that moment, God used the knowledge that I’ve had of the problem of unfair labor conditions and said, ”It is time to make a decision and take action;” because God loves justice and He desires that His children bring justice to the nations. I am called to love my neighbor and He gave me a very specific way to do so.

 He has spoke to me about this in the past and I had responded in little ways I learned about fair trade. I felt good about buying something at a local fair trade store.

 I’ve been receiving information from the organizations International Justice mission and Free the Slaves, which work to expose and stop slavery, including forced labor for businesses whose products are marketed in the states.

In June I was reading on the spiritual discipline of simplicity- living simply- in the book “Celebration of Discipline.” It was quite a beautiful chapter. At the end he gave some suggestions on ways we can live out a life of simplicity. (I strongly recommend that people read it)

He suggests: ”reject anything that breeds the oppression of others.”

He notes ”this is one of the most difficult and sensitive issues for us to face, but face it we must. Do we sip our coffee and eat our bananas at the expense of exploiting Latin American peasants? In a world of limited resources, does our lust for wealth mean the poverty of others? Should we buy products that are made by forcing people into dull assembly-line jobs?”

That idea came to mind Monday night with the thought, ”it is time to act on that. Fully.”

 I have since been chewing on this. The how is fairly simple (though, admittedly, not necessarily easy in practice.) There is a variety of resources I can utilize to find out what businesses and products contribute either to fair labor or oppression. I plan to share those resources I encounter with others in order to make it simple for them.

It’s a matter of taking to those steps.

It will necessitate a change in lifestyle.

It means being willing to give up stuff.

(Through my prohibition of companies that do unnecessary animal testing, I found that I really didn’t lose much personally, as I had found much better products that I would not have bothered with, had I stuck with the old tried-and-true items I’ve since avoided)

This decision, at the surface, challenges my value for frugality.  It has long been cemented in my mind that it was important and virtuous to spend as little as needed on a particular item. It’s one of the reasons I love thrift stores.  It seemed a waste that people would spend a lot of money on pricey clothing and other items. That money could be used for more important things, including the benefit of people in need. And one, practically speaking, can get more for their money.

I’ve subconsciously tied saving money with being able to help people more, even though I realize that I didn’t necessarily use my saved money for others. Frugality is good. It’s just that my practice of it has to change.

I thought, Well God, that means everything I buy will cost more money.

And I got the response: Buy less.

“It’s going to be a huge inconvenience, God. I may not even be able to buy some things locally or even directly at a store.”

What’s more important?

Okay.

I looked up shoes under fair trade. I found a pair that most closely matches what I’m looking for at the lowest cost I found. $55. I’ve never spent that much on shoes. The proceeds go to help AIDS orphans in Africa.

What’s more important?

I’ve got so much to learn.

I will even more gladly continue to patronize thrift shops. It is a great way to contribute to the ministries they support, support the recycling of resources, and save money.

I encourage others to seek God regarding this issue.

One thing I’ll need to be wary of is pride and self-righteousness. I had a good conversation with my friend Stephanie Seitz and my mom about it. I want so much for God justice to “flow like a river.” I fear that in writing this for public viewing there may be pride, pride fishing, or whatever.

Why am I writing this? I’m excited about the hope in this. I want, and expect, to see this result in change. To see corporations finally respond to the demands for fair labor practices. For owners of cacao plantations to cease using child slave labor.

The church in America  (with all believers) is called to respond to the message of Amos and seek justice for the oppressed. I want to be a part of encouraging the body.

To inspire poeple to seek God in this.

There is so much creative potential.

I’ve been thinking over the past month or more about what I could possibly preach on and have been praying continuously for God to show me what he’d have me to say. At times I’ve pretty much been preaching to myself and I myself have been impacted by some of this material. Yes, I know I’m weird.

My base audience will be 100-150 people who most likely go to a small country church at least most of the time. Though these people go to church often I think I need to present a more evangelistic message to the people especially with it being homecomingl.

Sermon 1: Ezekiel 37:1-14 – Alive in Christ

I’d present this sermon by first reading the entire text and then presenting each point by means of explaining each person.

The first person is that of the dead (in Christ). I’d explain this type of person and how many believe themselves to be alive though are not. Being religious as opposed to truly following Christ will be presented.

The second person is that of the believer/person who prophesies. How the person acts in accordance with God’s will shall be presented as well as a comparison to the first person.

The third is that of God. As the passage ends with a reminder of God’s promise to the Israelites, I will end with reminding the congregation of what God promised to us through Jesus Christ. A presentation of the basic gospel message will then be presented.

Sermon 2: Luke 2:41-52 – Knowing Christ without knowing Christ.

Most of the text will be read so that they will understand the background text but I will talk in detail more about verses 49 and after. I’m extremely iffy on whether or not to do this one though there is some parts of it I like.

Verses 49-50 state, “”Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.”

I still need to do background material to make certain I am correct in stating this but it seems as if Mary and Joseph did not realize who Jesus was despite his virgin birth. They did not know their own child was the Son of God!

If the earthly parents of Jesus did not realize who he was then shouldn’t that mean we ourselves should examine whether or not we really know him? The “topic” of the sermon will base on that question. I have yet to come up with concrete points to the sermon.

Sermon 3: Isaiah 42:5-8 – God Is

The first point deals with Isaiah 42:5 which states, “This is what God the LORD says— he who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it.”

This point mainly deals with how amazing God is (possibly quote some stuff from Isaiah 40) and gradually have that be told to be the reason we serve him for transition into the next point.

Verses 6-7 will read for the second point which states, “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.”

Here I’d talk about how we are to go out and be a light unto the world, proclaiming the name of Christ with service and love.

The last point will be Isaiah 42:8 which states, “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

With this passage I’d speak more on the holiness of God as opposed to the awesomeness of God as previously. God is to be set apart in our lives as no other is set apart. As he has no equal, he should have no equal in our lives.

The Lord is Great, should be proclaimed, and deserves our full attention.

Sermon 4: Isaiah 65 – God’s Urging, Judgment, and Blessing

Here are three verses which seem to show the three points I’d like to make with these sermon. I’d use the entire chapter.

Point1 / Verse 1: I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’

God seeks us.

Point2 / Verse 12: I will destine you [who forsake the Lord] for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.

Those who do not answer displease God.

Point3 / Verse 14a: My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts,

God will bless those who serve and follow after him.