Is Paul An Overthinker?

             I know an overthinker when I read one, because that is my own tendency.  Do you know the joke that, being a pastor, why use a word when ten will do?  There is an uncomfortable amount of truth that underlies the humor.  In our passage, Paul could be accused of doing exactly that.

             Heard of a "to do" list?  How about the "Done for us" list":

·       Blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing…

·      Chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world…

·      Destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ…

·      Freely bestowed (his glorious grace) on us in the Beloved…

·      We have redemption through his blood…

o   Forgiveness of our trespasses…

·      This according to the riches of his grace lavished upon us…

·      Made known to us the mystery of his will,

o   According to his good pleasure set forth in Christ…

§  To gather all things in him for the fullness of time, in heaven and on earth…

·      Obtained an inheritance (in Christ)…

·      Destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all…

·      So we might live for the praise of his glory, the first to set our hope on Christ…

·      In him, when you heard the word of truth,..

o   The gospel of your salvation…

§  And believed in him, were marked by the seal of the Promised Holy Spirit.

·       This is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

We have our Story (Capital S).  I have a literary theory that poetry results when all the excess words are removed.  So, a poem…(maybe?)

Jesus was born unto us,

       Jesus lived with us,

          Jesus died for us,

              Jesus rose for us,

                  Jesus reigns over us,

                      Jesus prayers for us.

      That’s our story and I am sticking with it.  Dig into Paul and be amazed at what God has accomplished in this story.

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Artemis Versus Jesus...or Economics Versus Religion?

Our Summer Sermon Series is drawn from Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus.  To give a little background to this letter, there are details in Acts 19 and 20.

Paul caused a riot.  Ephesus was the home to a Temple of Artemis and with Paul showing up with his cronies, they were making a dent in the religious trade.  Because that is what the riot was about.  It was not about the truth of Jesus versus the truth of Artemis.

No, it was about religious tourism.  There was a silversmith guild in Ephesus that apparently made its money off of religious icons of the goddess Artemis.  Along comes Paul and company and people are beginning to listen to this new guy.  In fact, it reflected the efficacy of Paul’s entire operation in Asia.

Now, that might sound deceiving in today's consideration, because Asia is really, really huge-now, a whole continent.  In the time of the Roman Empire, it was a province that occupied the western part of what is now the nation of Turkey, a region of Greek speaking cities (again, a different time from the present).

But the kicker is Ephesus is NOT so different from us today.  Why did Demetrius, the ringleader from the silversmiths, kick up a fuss?  Well, after complaining about how Paul was finding success all over Asia (the province), he said, “And there is danger not only that this trade of ours (silver trinkets of Artemis) may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her… (and buy the silver trinkets of the silversmiths)”.

Wrap up economics in religious terms and start a riot. 

I was curious as to what these trinkets looked like, so here is one possibility, with free advertising to the folks providing the link.  I have no connection or link to them other than a convenient pic.

https://images.app.goo.gl/d5427PTzhfTbts1c6 

How Much Can One Man Take?

           A man comes to Jesus in the last throes of desperation.  There is no other chance for his daughter.  Only the Lord knows what he has tried thus far to save his little girl.  Jesus is his only remaining option.  "Come, lay hands on her and heal her."

            Jesus agrees and they start off.  They are headed from the synagogue to his home.  There is a crowd, things are moving in slow motion because that is how crowds move.  How close is the father to exploding for everyone to get of the way, to move things along.  Until Jesus stops, looks around and asks the most inane question imaginable, “Who touched me?” 

            His disciples speak the words that I can feel in the heart of the little girl’s father.  “Are you nuts?  You are Jesus, the Messiah, the popular one.  This is a crowd.  Maybe the question is better asked ‘who did not touch me’ instead of who did?

            Just when it seems like the question is nothing but a “blow off” of precious time, a woman comes out of the crowd to take ownership.  After Jesus spends who knows how much time with her, after Jesus has gotten all tender and wonderful, so that screaming in frustration is not a viable option, the crowd begins to move once again.

            Only for messengers to come from the man’s house to let him know it is too late.  His daughter has died.  “Do not bother the teacher (Jesus) anymore.”  Jesus overhears this conversation (according to the NRSV).  Jesus says, “Do not fear, only believe.”  The people are going to laugh at Jesus when they get to his house.  He claims some nonsense about ‘sleep’, not death. 

Mark 5: 21 to the end of the chapter, I invite you to read the story.

 

Peace,
Pastor Peter

How Do I Use The Bible to Think About God? Subtitled: Is nitpicking a useful tool?

     Theology, as previously explained, falls at the crossroads of thought expression and the love of neighbor.  It is thinking about God in relation to our neighbor.  Thoughtful expression and the love of God is contemplation (for ease of reference).

    So how do I?  Read the Bible.  Yah, that's one of those easy bits of bumper sticker wisdom that rapidly breaks down on serious consideration.  But why the Bible is a wonderful, confusing, humanly constructed, divinely inspired document is something for a different set of posts.

    In reengaging with social media, I have fallen into a number of discussions surrounding theology.  This has inspired me to update my Facebook profile picture to someone poking a bear with a stick.  

    When I was in Seminary, one of the things we were taught in regards to the Law of Moses is that there are 613 "mizvot".  These are specific 'do's and don't's' drawn and interpreted from the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.  Our "New Testament" point of view is that Jesus fulfills what came before, including the law.  So it is easy to get a little arrogant and disparage the 'nit-picking' of the Mizvot.  It is unfair and inappropriate, but it was a thing.

    And yet, how many pieces of Christian thought and 'command' have been hung on individual bits of the New Testament and defended as though the whole gospel rested upon a certain interpretation?  If not the whole gospel, at least the vehemence of my arguments are in inverse proportion to amount of Bible I am using in my argument.

     How do we avoid that?  Hanging far too much weight off of far too little Scripture?  A good place to start is with the law as given by Jesus.  There are two commandments, to love God and to love Neighbor.  This does not replace the 613 Mizvot.  Rather, it provides a foundation against which to hold them up.  On these two given by Jesus hangs the whole law and the prophets (and the gospel and the epistles).  

    So in our Bible reading, we come across something that strikes a chord (for good or for ill).  Or, more likely, we come across the words of someone else who makes a theological claim based on a certain verse in a certain light.  Start with Jesus' own guide.  Is there love here for God or neighbor?  Is there not?  Is there more than just love?  

    So, to answer my own subtitle, nitpicking is not a useful tool.  Love must be the first proof we seek in a text.  When our 'proof texting' turns into nitpicking, it no longer becomes useful for building up the body of Christ (another Jesus thing).  Jesus demonstrated love by His death on the cross for us.  God demonstrated love in Jesus' resurrection and the promise of our salvation.  The Holy Spirit is given to indwell us, to be our loving guide while Jesus is in heaven.  

Peace,

Pastor Peter

When Jesus Hid Things From the Masses

     One of the great cons in the anti-Christ movement is the 'secret teaching'.  This is when there are people who stand up in the name of the Lord and claim that there is 'more than meets the eye' in what our faith teaches us.  I remember numerological analyses of the Bible that revealed 'new' and 'profound' information.  That was apparently debunked when others did numerological analyses of "Moby Dick" and found similar 'new' and 'profound' information.  I say apparently, but I am relying on a memory and do not have the time or interest to chase down that rabbit hole.

    HOWEVER, the use of the 'secret teaching' can be drawn from Jesus.  Mark 4: 33-34, part of Sunday's preaching basis, is clear,  ³³With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; ³⁴he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

    "Them" is the general populace who have come to listen.  He needed to explain the parables to the disciples.  If you have ever seen "Jesus Christ Superstar", the need for Jesus to explain things to his disciples assumes that they are, collectively,  rather dim as lights for Christ.  I do not accept that.  The key bit is Jesus explained 'in private'.

    When we read the parables today, about the harvest and the mustard seed growing into the greatest of shrubs, I think we can get at the meaning Jesus intended.  What Jesus was doing has planet changing implications.  For us, that is our faith-dream come true.  

    But consider where Jesus was teaching and preaching.  It was an occupied nation that has already seen rebellion and insurrection against its overlords, the Romans.  Within a generation, it is going to be the spot of one of the worst internal rebellions ever in Imperial history.  And Jesus is talking about something that will take over the world.  Something that the Romans are very sensitive to as imperial, conquering overlords.  

    It is secret knowledge to protect those who are hearing it.  It is secret knowledge that becomes rather obvious to people 'in the know', as the disciples become and, as I hope, we are.  

    Where 'secret knowledge' becomes dangerous is when it adds to the voice of Scripture.  What Jesus 'really meant' is to be revealed when a certain level of trust or inculcation or support is achieved.  "I know something you don't know" is a dangerous invitation to a religious experience.  

    The truth of Scripture is plain spoken.  The love of Jesus is obvious, even in the 'secrets' of the parables.  That is the measure by which we should interpret the words of anyone, even this pastor, who claim to speak in Jesus' name.  Is it a parable or is it a delusion?

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Contemplation for the Non-Mystic Book of Orderly Presbyterian...

     At the intersection of our thought processes and our love of God is 'contemplation'.  This is not 'theology', thinking about our faith and our God relative to our neighbor.  Contemplation is thinking about our God.  But in thought, word, and deed, there is more rolled into our thoughts than a simple intellectual enterprise.

    "Thoughts" are what we do not say and what we do not do.  Thoughts are the motivations for those things.  Thoughts are not just the 'logical' expressions and considerations of our brains.  Thoughts encompass feelings and imagination and reaction and sensory perception and transcendence.  "Thinking" and "hearting" and "muscle memory" and our well of being in our very souls find their expression in 'thought'.  

    I had to work at this one because it was the weakest, in my considertion of the Easter Six.  But the Lord has a way of opening eyes and hearts if we are willing to pay attention.  Because of Stewardship, of all things.  

    It was a matter of picture what we are willing to pay for in a church.  Picture multigenerational, picture needing more hymnals and pew bibles to supply the balcony, picture two services, picture the results of God's love flowing in this community.  This picture, this vision, this imagined potential, this reflection on the goodness and capacities of our God, is contemplation.  

    To God be the glory, Great Things He hath done.  Greater Things He is Going to Do.  Here.  With us.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

The Church Wants You...For Your Soul or For Your Money...??

   So Jesus is credited with saying, "You cannot serve God and Money" and "Money is the root of all evil."*  These are cultural sayings that have done much to disassociate Christianity with Currency.  One big divider of people from 'organized religion' is the observation that churches are only obsessed with money.  In the era before every church could stream, how many 'big TV preachers' were lampooned for pushing on the fundraising even more than the soul-saving?

    There is this Christian technical term called 'tithing' that is at the basis of fund-raising, usually defined in a literal sense as 10%.  An amusing 'clarification' sought for this literal sense is 'pre' or 'post' tax?  It seems to be an adaptation of another saying credited to Jesus, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's".  

   In my experience with the PCUSA, the more common technical term is 'stewardship'.  This one links back to the creation story in my understanding, where humans were made stewards of the whole creation (and an evaluation of our effectiveness would require a whole other set of posts).  We have worked out multiple 'campaigns' to achieve success in this thing called Stewardship.

    As if that is not enough, there is an entire way of thinking about Jesus that surrounds the idea of prosperity, that Jesus will give us more stuff if we are more faithful.  Is there a thread (cord) of greed in that way of thinking?  Is Jesus trying to buy our votes, our faith?  Does that mean if I don't have money, I am not a good and faithful believer?  It's messy, so very messy.

    As South Presbyterian Church, we begin in our self-identification 'as followers of the risen Lord..."  In our Seasons of Mission, we are in the time of Scholarships.  We have been SO blessed that we can give to support the academic dreams of kids at our area high schools and in our own congregation.  It is empowering and humbling that we can do this as a congregation.

    It is as though these scholarships were made for this church, something that allows us an 'in' to participate in the communities around us, it makes a difference in people's lives, and it is a demonstration of caring without regard to where a person comes from.  It is a joyful thing that we can participate in (a lot of work but a powerful witness).  

    There is the picture I want to capture for Stewardship.  That as followers of the Risen Lord, we have worked to create a place within the community, one that makes a positive difference, one that shows caring, one that we can take pride in, one that we can be excited about.  Can you picture the church, this piece of God's Kingdom, where it is our joy to give?  

    Would you share what that church looks like?

Peace,

Pastor Peter

* I am not going to verify or affirm the accuracy or inaccuracy of these quotes, we have bibles for that.

Making America Greater

Exercising Free Speech makes America greater. College campuses where there are protests against Israel over the Gaza War make us greater because we CAN protest. Throwing around accusations that colleges are somehow in sympathy with the Nazis because this is antisemitism a la Fox News says makes us greater because we CAN speak openly and freely.

Being offended by Free Speech makes America greater because we can talk back without fear or retaliation. 

There are things called slander and satire and deceit and hate mongering that we risk in Free Speech. But we talk it through, maybe even to the Supreme Court, and it makes America greater. 

Suppressing the freedom of speech strangles us. By all means, let’s fight with words, but raise a fist or a club or a gun or authority wielded to “shut it down” or retaliation or oppression, that makes America no different from what the WORST of the rest of the world does.

“Beacon of freedom to the world” is NOT hiding our dirty laundry but flapping it in the wind for the world to catch a whiff and working through it and coming out stronger. 

Not more uniformity in belief, not bowing to whatever strong type would like to dictate what we say or how we say it.

No secrets, that is the heart of free speech. Got an agenda? Sing it out. Selling your words to the highest bidder? Great, we are a capitalist society, but put it out there. Free Speech is double edged, triple edged, can bring the love or the hate in equal measure. 

We have to be greater. Not better. Not superior. But greater. We don’t hide speech but say what we want and have the guts to take responsibility for what we put out there.  And if we don’t have the guts to take responsibility for it, maybe we discover that we have the courage that sometimes the most powerful free speech is when we shut our mouths.

That’s what the people who made the ultimate sacrifice in uniform for this nation were protecting, America and the possibility for it to be ever greater.  Remember that as we remember this Memorial Day. Please.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

Who Are We? Who Who, I Really Want to Know...

 Any fans of CSI out there?  That brought a cultural anthem forward for a new generation.  Some who have greater life experience may go back to '78 in the Old Century when this old, old question found new expression, titling an entire album.  

Who are we?  South Presbyterian Church?  We are a merry band of Presbyterians who meet a 10 am on Sundays.  But we are privileged with more.

New Life Apolstolic Ministries, Inc. shares this campus and the Word of God at 12:30 pm on Sundays.  Pastor Isaiah D. Brisbon is the shepherd of this flock and we have the delight of inviting him to share the message with our congregation this Sunday, May 26, 2024. 

I will be away this coming weekend to spend some time with family in Maine.  

Who are we?  We are South Presbyterian Church and New Life Apostolic Ministries.  Ours is the privilege to share God's Word in God's House here in our little corner of God's Kingdom.

Peace
Pastor Peter

PS  Does anyone think The Band called The Who was named for The Doctor?

Reaction to Harrison Butker

 From the National Catholic Register Website: Editor’s Note: Harrison Butker, 28, the placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League, delivered the commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, on Saturday, May 11, 2024.  What followed was a transcript of the speech.

Here is the part that has been getting the press attention, from that transcript:

"I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother. I'm on the stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation. I'm beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me, but it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker."

I have a lot of responses to that, ranging from the theological to the visceral.  But I would like to answer this statement with one by Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin,

'The moment Christianity became about confessing the "right things" rather than simply practicing love and inclusion was the moment it became a tool of the powerful rather than a movement that lifts up the people Jesus spent the most time with."

But that's not the part that really got to me.  It was not until I read the whole transcript and went back to reread it that this popped:

"It is not prudent as the laity for us to consume ourselves in becoming amateur theologians so that we can decipher this or that theological teaching — unless, of course, you are a theology major. We must be intentional with our focus on our state in life and our own vocation. And for most of us, that's as married men and women."

It is not prudent as the laity to decipher this or that theological teaching...

Not prudent as the laity for us to consume ourselves in becoming amateur theologians...

We must be intentional with our focus on our state in life and our own vocation...

Is not our state in life, as Christians, to love God and love Neighbor?  

Is Spirituality Confusing?

 Yes. Next post…

Lol?

What is the Holy Spirit? Is Jesus the Gift of Christmas and the Spirit the Gift of Pentecost? Might God gift us yet in the future in some other way?

And then there are terms like “being spiritual”, which seems to be a more popular faith-based self-identification than being “religious”. There is a whole category of books known by the topic of “spirituality”. Recently, I found myself stirring up the mud by trying to define spirituality in terms of “transcendence”. Yah, not helpful, even if I think I know what I am talking about.

The Bible throws around the term “spirit” a lot. My bible reading right now is around King Saul in the book of 1 Samuel. They talk about God sending evil spirits upon Saul. How can I unravel this word that I have been soaked in my whole life to try and make sense of it?

You decide whether it is a benefit or a detriment that knowing “how” to do something rarely gets in my way. That’s meant some problems in home repair issues, but never stopped me when it comes to thinking about my faith.

There is a contrast in the writings of Paul between Spirit and Flesh. It can be summed up essentially as “Spirit good” and “Flesh bad”. But that is another discussion.

Where this helps us is that “flesh” is a clear description of us, human, created, sinful beings (thus bad and needing Jesus). Jesus is God “incarnate”, ‘made flesh’, same root word in Carnivore, flesh-eater. I know, kind of icky.

But in clearly defining our existence as “flesh”, the idea of “spirit” can then encompass what is beyond the flesh. Christianity has specific definitions of “spirit” in terms of God, in terms of humanity in connection to God, as do many faiths and systems of belief.

The key takeaway is that “ spirit” is beyond the flesh. It might be capital H and capital S “ Holy Spirit” or a description of some kind of ghostly apparition. 

That is why, I believe, it can be hard to pin down a working definition because the word is so encompassing. 

So, by definition, we are Flesh and God is Spirit. But the reality that the spiritual is integral to who we are as beings of Flesh is evidence to me that the world can see and know the divine, the transcendent, the spiritual.

I hope that is helpful.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

Emmanuel: God With Us...Within Us...

 So God invested some special power in some special individuals in the First Testament.   Like when the spirit of the Lord entered into Samson and he tore apart a lion with his bare hands.  (Judges 14:3).  But it is more than a superhero with a fancy haircut.  A what with a what?  Judges 13-16 records his story.

But God is also someone who empowers the arts.  Bezalel was the chief architect of the tabernacle, the wandering house of God as the people wandered during the Exodus.  He was assisted by Oholiab, a master of carpentry, weaving, and embroidery (Exodus 38:23).  To read the second half of the Book of Exodus is to read about their work, inspired by the spirit of the Lord, to build a house for the Lord.  This was when the Ark of the Covenant was made (see "Raiders of the Lost Ark" for an outsized, mythological considertion of THAT artifact).

The spirit of the Lord also blessed kings.  When Samuel anointed David (1 Samuel 16:13-14), the spirit came upon him.  The spirit was also upon Saul, David's predecessor, but that spirit came and went with the attitudes of the man.

The spirit triggered the powers of prophecy that we find in the First Testament.  Isaiah claims that power explicitly (Isaiah 61:1), sharing what God has told him to share.

So, there is nothing new in Acts 2 in terms of what the spirit is.  We find many examples across the Old Testament.  What is new is Jesus.  First, the Spirit comes as Jesus among us once Jesus has returned to heaven (John 14).  Secondly, the Spirit accelerates that which is latent within us.  Those are the joys and the gifts of the Spirit that we can find in Paul's letters.  Last Thursday was Ascension Day, the day Jesus returned to heaven.  We are in a ten day period of quiet, perhaps fearful contemplation, by Jesus' followers.  They are waiting for something, something big.

It is nothing less than the birth of the Church.  And it comes with the universal and permanent expression of God's Holy Spirit upon them and, to this day, upon us.  

So there you go.  Questions?  I would be delighted to try and answer. 

Peace,

Pastor Peter

Why I Miss Newspapers

There are moments when I am not speaking as Pastor Peter, the minister and nice guy, blah de blah.  There are moments when I need to vent.  Like now.  

There are a lot of reasons why I miss newspapers.  The weekend Sunday color comics for example.  Black ink leeching onto my skin for another.  

Getting to the point especially.

I have defaulted to the Google's feed for my news stories.  Yes, that probably reduces the quality of my life, but that's another story.  But it makes me long for newspapers.

They got to the point.  After the Headline, they had one paragraph, maybe 1-3 sentences to get my attention and get me reading.  So the necessary stuff was in the opening.  If I wanted to read on, there were literal paragraphs to follow, if I was so inclined.

But now I have to click.  So the headline was "Final Notice: Dollywood, Dolly Parton's Theme Park, Suspends All Operations Without Refund."  I have been to Dollywood, more than once.  I like Dollywood.  I am a big fan of Dolly Parton, I love her album of rock songs.  I love Beyonce's cover of Jolene, but I love Dolly's more.  So this caught my attention.  It blew my brain to find out she wrote the theme music to the various rides.  I want to go back just to the blacksmithy 'make your own' part.

Not only did I have to click, but I had to scroll.  A teaser is dropped in the first paragraph, something about 'unsafe conditions', before an extended introduction extolling the virtues of the park.  The park is virtuous, get on with it!  What happened in Tennessee!!  Why is Dollywood gone??

It's not gone.  It's weather.  It is safety for guests and crew.  It is a necessary precaution in the face of conditions in the Southeast.  It took too many scrolls to get to the point.  "Final Notice"??  Makes it sound like "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot".  

What the Heaven Are You Talking About?

“God is love” and “To God be the Glory”.  I believe these to be the “objective” truths of our faith.  These are the presuppositions of our Lord Jesus in giving us the whole law in the call to love God and love neighbor.  I believe that Jesus, in laying down His life for us, is providing the ultimate demonstration of God’s love while showing us the ultimate Glory of the Lord, power over evil and death and all their minions.

I believe that if the whole world would embrace these truths, we could abolish war, poverty, hunger, climate destruction, pollution, all the evils of the world.  

But we cannot because we are broken.  And God will not impose goodness upon us, we must choose the Lord.  Which has led to people of manipulative spirit to seek to use our God (often in cruel and divisive ways) to advance their own causes and has led people of good intentions to act in unloving (often cruelly and divisively) ways to ‘advance the kingdom of God’.

So this is what I believe and I believe I can’t force them to believe for their own good and I have to respect them and the dignity of their beings because they, like me, are created in the image of God.  That is the point of view from which I am to act, to speak, and even to think.  But, but, but what about the ‘thought police’ and the novel ‘1984’ and Big Brother trying to control everything?

What about Jesus saying in the Sermon on the Mount that, in my heart, if I have hatred for my sibling, I have already committed murder?  Yah, but nobody knows.  Well, except God.

So no politicking, no fear-mongering, no hatred, no ‘othering’ (making an enemy out of some others because of some characteristic of their being or personality), no intimidation, no trickery, no sinful motivations like money or power, no manipulation, no power play, no power promising, no coopting of divine authority for our own…

So what am I left with?  Preaching universal love and forgiveness?  (God’s love is universal, we are all God’s children.  God’s forgiveness is universal, there for the taking).  And to God be the glory, so there’s nothing left for me?  Maybe that’s the whole point, take off the pressure.

This is what in heaven I am talking about?

 

Peace,

Pastor Peter

What Is The Bible Telling Us for This Week? 1 John 5: 9-13, Poking at the text.

So the Bible says we receive human words, but that God's words are greater.  

That leaves humanity in the DIRT, because can we even begin to measure how much GREATER God is than God's created humanity, notwithstanding that we are FALLEN humanity?

The reason is that the words of God are the words God has spoken in regards to God's Son.

The passage says 'testimony', which makes it sound like a trial.  Maybe it is.  But God's greater words than our own are in regards to Jesus.

It is not about knowing the words, but believing them, if we believe in the Son of God. 

Ok, God speaks better than us, God's words are in regards to Jesus, but they are not 'out there in the ether'.  God speaks to our hearts, God's truth is within us (more about this at Pentecost I would think).

But there is a flip side to this.  Those who do not believe in God have made our God a liar by NOT believing the words God has given us about God's Son.

But wait a moment, this is not some objective truth?  It is an internalized truth.  Not to believe in God is to make God a pretty gi-normous liar.  When I say 'internalizing', this is believing in what God has to say.  To believe makes God a truth teller about Jesus.  Not to believe makes God a liar about Jesus. 

What are these words of God?  God has given to us eternal life, and that life is in the Son.

God's greater words than those of humans are that we have eternal life in God's Son.

The result?  Those who have the Son have life, those who do not, do not have life.

To have the Son is to have the word of the Son, to believe it, having it in our hearts, from God, in the sure and certain knowledge that God has a superior word to our own, and having the Son is having eternal life.  Turn our hearts and backs on that and God is made a liar, and eternal life is not to be had.

This is why John is telling us who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that we KNOW we have eternal life.

It seems the people John is writing to have the part down about believing in Jesus, but have questions about whatn then comes of that.

So, in 1 John 5: 9-13, we are offered the greater testimony, witness, word-whatever works as the term for communication-that the Son, that Jesus is the basis of eternal life, not something we know, but somethig we internalize, we believe in with our hearts.  

Letter Writing and the Bible

Our Sermon Series has included Prayer, Theology, Contemplation, and Missions; is going to include Worship and Evangelism; all drawing on lectionary readings from the first letter of John.  1 John, with its associated 'books',  2 John and 3 John make up his trio.  It is written by the author of the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation.  What's a lectionary?  That's another post.  Today, the focus is on the single largest type of literature (by number of books) in the First Testament.  It is the 'epistle', the letter written by an apostle.  

 Paul is our big letter writer in the New Testament.  Romans to Philemon (and Hebrews?...fodder for another post, or maybe an old one...) are his, or attributed to him (again, another post).  They are different from the other letters, like John, because Paul's are named for their addressees, whether congregations or individuals.  

James, Peter, John, and Jude are the other letter writers, named for the authors.  It seems they are listed in that book order not because of importance as Apostles but on the lengths of their respective works.  Of John's three letters, the second is addressed to an unnamed lady and the third to Gaius, both with John calling himself 'the elder'. 

The first letter just gets into it.  "We declare to you what was from the beginning..."  He gives us a broad base of his beliefs, a powerful witness.  Best clues as to who the audience is come in the last chapter.  John says, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life."  Then he closes with "Little children, keep yourself from idols."

It is one thing to have a gospel, a gathered narrative that has a purpose around our Lord Jesus Christ.  Every gospel has its own focus and personality, but it is all about Jesus.  What do we do with letters?

Reverse engineering maybe.  I take this term mostly from military applications.  A piece of enemy tech is obtained and then deconstructed, engineered in reverse, to figure out how it works.  That works with letters too.

We have half the correspondance.  But these are not letters that discuss the weather or how the family is faring.  This is 'religio-business' correspondance, which required an investment is time, but also in writing materials, papyrus (maybe) and ink-all hand made, luxury items.  Then, it needed to be sent.  There was no general postal service, just an Imperial system based in the military.  So every word was valuable.  So, I am saying these letters were pricey enterprises, so their authors got to the point.

And they were a response.  So, when John  says 'keep yourself from idols' and it closes the letter, the last line, I believe we can assume there is an issue with idols.  When he writes 'to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life', that the question of eternal life is a 'thing'.  

Which is why, I believe, 1 John has lent itself to exploring the thoughts, words, and actions of the faith as we express our Love for God and our Love for Neighbor.  That is what John is exploring in his letter.  Maybe not in an explicit manner like this series of sermons, but definitely in how the faith is expressed and lived.

The story of Jesus, the story of His death and resurrection, the story of our salvation, it is all implicit to the entire text.  John does not need to tell it again (he can refer folks to his gospel for more information).  

Will we be able to construct the full backstory behind the letter?  No.  But that is okay.  The Bible was written at specific times in the past, to their present circumstances, with an eternal message.  The message does not change, but the circumstances do.  Understanding that is why the Bible continues to be relevant today.  It also mitigates against unloving interpretation that seeks to impose previous circumstances on the present day.

How can it do that?  Well, as we like to say, it is 'the Word as inspired by God.'  That's a 'church-ish' way of saying "God did it."  To read these letters to best effect means we need to understand what they are as literary pieces and why they were written.  I hope this helps make reading these books in the bible more accessible.  

As always, I am delighted to try and answer questions, and still learning when I get them wrong.

Peace,

Pastor Peter

Danger Will Robinson...

 There is a wonderful little book called "The Presbyterian Handbook".  As I read that, I realize it might be straining people's credulity.  But John Calvin is looking out on the cover, sliding down a pair of shades.  There is some 'tongue in cheek' about this book, but it also condenses a lot of good information into a palatable form.  

Usually when you look at the pages of a closed book, they are all one color-usually white.  So it is with the Handbook except for a few pages just past center.  This is the part that talks about Predestination.  The pages are bordered in a gray-scale tone with the following: "Warning-It May Take Multiple Readings-And Time-To Understand This Concept".

Makes me think of the robot in "Lost in Space", Danger Will Robinson...with the flopping arms...  No, I am talking about the Lost in Space: The Original Series, from the last century...

I realized that in my 'after action' post yesterday, I allowed myself to get mixed up.  I too am from the last century...  The Warning concept for this sermon series is not Worship, but Evangelism.  And it was not until I was reviewing 1 John 5: 1-6 that I realized I had the weeks reversed.  Next Sunday is Worship.  Mother's Day will be Evangelism.  Both will be drawn from 1 John 5.

But here is the majority bit of that passage, verses 1-5, Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, ⁴for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. ⁵Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Let me carve out a logical progression within these verses.

1. We who believe that Jesus is the Christ have been born of God.

2. Whatever is born of God conquers the world.

3. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

In the Divine Backstory of our faith, Jesus, the Son of God is the Ruler of Creation.  But here, in God, we are put alongside Jesus as conquerers, in His love.  

The reaction of "Oh My God" is not inappropriate here.  In "Legally Blond, the Musical", there is a number, "Omigod You Guys".  I would love to take the emotionally enthusiastic expression of that song and pair it to the story provided us by these verses to begin to craft a reaction to what God has done for us.  The only lyric I would probably keep from the Musical is "You're a perfect match".  

Standing on its own, a case might be made that, despite its catchiness, the song runs afoul of the Commandment on not taking the Lord's Name in vain.  

But the blessing of the song is how it catches the listener up in its enthusiasm.  That is the enthusiasm Christians could have for what God has done for us.  The song sets up a mood that would provide for meaningful, powerful, and wonderful Worship.

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Sunday's Sermon: After Action Report

So I have come to realize that I may have just issued my most political sermon of recent memory, cushioned in the 'excuse' of theology.  In an attempt to demonstrate our need to think about our God, about our faith, in consideration of our love of neighbor, I read back and realize I took a 'stand' on transphobia, child-rearing, white privilege, capitalism (our basic economic principles), and poverty.  

It probably won't be difficult to discern how I would tend to vote.

But up until this week, our topics have been pretty straight forward.

Prayer?  Talking to God, there is nothing that is off limits.  It is easy to drop that kind of a comment and then stay well back from the borders of what we, as humans, may feel to be off limits in communicating with the Almighty.  And that works in both directions, staying away from the hard subjects we may bring to God and the hard subjects God may bring to us in return.

Contemplation?  Thinking about God?  It is a beautiful thing, an aesthetic thing.  It is 'mystic', therefore separated from reality?  Maybe?  That God created absolutely everything and called it good?  Are there a few things in 'everything' that is 'good' possibly taking our contemplation into some...interesting places?

And Missions?  Doing for our neighbor.  I came to that with a consideration of 'what is' in our church, not what could be.  How do we reach out to help our neighbors?  We do some pretty amazing things.  It is to be celebrated, it is to be strengthened.  That was not the place to ask the tougher question, is it nearly enough?

But now it gets hard.  Theology, thinking about God, coming back around to prayer, there is nothing off limits in our thinking about God.  But unlike prayer, this is applied faith, about how it affects our neighbors.  There is an intersection between our congregational existence and our 'rest of life' existence there.  Yes, God is love.  There is no sweeter starting point.  But now let us intersect what we believe with what we do...  

I thought Evangelism, talking to our neighbors in the love of God, was going to be the one that really clogged my pores.  Do not misunderstand, it is a hard subject, one that has some precedents in the popular culture that are, quite frankly, rather cringe-worthy.  But if God is love is the beginning of our thoughts on the Divine, it certainly provides a starting point to where we speak of our faith.  But like theology, do we speak for ourselves or let others (even me) speak for us?  In theology, the question is whether we think for ourselves or let others think for us in Christ.

The conclusion to this sermon series is on Mother's Day, where we will consider what we do for God.  Where we will consider Worship.  If nothing is off limits in our Prayers or our Theology, how might that play out for Worship?

These are the 'activities and actions' of faith, how we 'do' our Christianity.  The Church has a mission, the church has values.  These are ways and means to live into them.  

Peace,

Pastor Peter 

Sunday's Sermon: Apr. 28, 2024 At the intersection of our Thoughts and Loving our Neighbors, Theology.

 

April 28, 2024 “Who is Going to Think?  We? Or Someone else, FOR US?”  1 John 4: 7-21

Rev. Peter Hofstra

            If you want theology brothers and sisters, our Response of Faith is full of it this morning.  How do we think about our faith?  How do we think about our Jesus?  The Westminster Confession of Faith is a classical expression of the theology of the Presbyterian Church.  So is it going to have all the staying power of an upper level textbook from any particular scientific discipline and effectively glaze over our eyes and tuck our hearts back into bed for a nap?  Chemistry and physics had that effect on me in an earlier time in my life.

            So we believe that it is God’s pleasure, in God’s eternal purpose not only to choose Jesus but also to ordain him.  Hey Mary, you are following in Jesus’ footsteps this morning, pretty cool eh?  All you who are elders and deacons, can I have a show of hands please?  Again, in the footsteps of Jesus.  It pleased God to ordain Jesus into eight different jobs, as mediator, prophet, priest, king, head, Savior, heir, and judge.  Mary, you get only one.  And, this is a big And, God has given Jesus a chosen people (which we hope/believe/know includes the likes of us).  And we shall, in the fullness of time, have 5 things happen to us, we will be redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified. 

            Can I get an amen? 

            If we go to our Bible passage today, I think it is verse 10 that ties most profoundly back to what the Westminster Divines (yes, that is what history calls them, they did not come up with this name for themselves), the diverse bunch of theologians who wrote the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which not only implies but compliments the Westminster Longer Catechism, all of which was actually passed as law by the English Parliament, at least until the Restoration of the monarchy, when everything done by the Parliament was summarily undone.

            Oh, verse 10, in this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Atoning sacrifice, that is the big throw back theological idea.

            Westminster is a big name in the Presbyterian fandom.  Last church I served had a Westminster Auditorium.  Our sister church down in Berkely Heights is the Westminster Presbyterian Church.  Before I went to Princeton to be ordained, I studied at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.  If I were to ask you to consider where that name comes from, the most obvious connection might be Westminster Abbey, over in London.  What I only came to understand later in life is that the entire Parliament building in London is the Palace of Westminster. 

            Being steeped in this stuff like a tea bag left to soak for too long, I always had a picture in my mind of the Westminster parts of our Book of Confession being written in a place like this, guys in the wigs hunkered down in pews, scattered in small groups across the Sanctuary.  It is a bit mind blowing, at least to me, that the foundational theological documents of the Presbyterian Church were written in the halls of power of one of the greatest nations on earth, at that time, to become the law o the land.  A vague comparison might be to think about our Denomination’s constitutional document, the Book of Order, being written in the capital building and being passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. 

            That is what theology can grow into.  We see it today.  God thought penetrates the American political system.  It can be implicit, members of the government who believe in Jesus and use the values of their faith to make decisions about the nation.  It can be almost obscenely explicit, “God says do this, or we are going to be punished!!”  Remember Hurricane Katrina wiping out New Orleans?  Remember Superstorm Sandy smacking New York City?  Leaders declared, in Jesus name’, that was punishment.    

            And there are voices out there right now telling us what we should do and believe because of what those voices claim in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, waving their Bibles and scaring me.  Christian Nationalism, a blending of American patriotism with a patina of faith.  A Gospel of Prosperity, a means of thinking that God blesses those who are faithful by how much stuff they get. 

            It is so big and so pervasive and so overwhelming, there is no escaping it.  No escaping theology.  So how often do we push it away in frustration, shut it off like we are shutting off the news that has nothing but bad things to report, maybe desiring to curl up in a ball and shut out the world, just so we can get a little alone time with our Lord.  That is, if we haven’t been so disgruntled or jaded or jaundiced that we’ve pressed out our Lord Jesus out to the margins as well.

            So this is where we are today.  At the junction of our thoughts and our love for our neighbors.  That makes our passage in John ideal for theology.  I count the word ‘love’ 26 times in verses 7 through 21.  Bible-philes?  I would love-pun intended-to be proven wrong in that count. 

            Theology begins with one simple premise, biblical in origin (which is good) in our passage this morning.  John tells us at the end of verse eight.  This is the bumper sticker we need.  “God is love”.  Everything else, all our theology, must derive from that one truth.  When John tells us God is love, it develops a theological statement. 

            Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.  Not to know love is not to know God.  So everything not done in love is NOT done in God.  How about that as a first level test of somebody’s motivations? 

            If you read the blog posts this week, you will have seen that in the High Middle Ages, when knowledge was being organized into the first round of ‘sciences’, branches of knowledge, theology was the queen of the sciences.  If theology derives from the truth that God is love, all the other sciences derived from theology. 

            In our faith rubric, theology occurs in the human capacity for thinking, where it crosses with Jesus’ command to love neighbor.  It is an applied science, applying the love of God to neighbor.  Maybe this will help, at the risk of betraying yet another layer of geekiness in your pastor.  Consider physics.

            “Pure” physics will establish the scientific basis for the capacity to warp time and space and effectively travel faster than light.  Applied physics will be building the warp engine to go where no one has gone before.

            Theology is how we think about God, who is love, ipso facto…sorry, trying to sound sciency…it is how we think about love, so how love is shared and applied to a world in need.  Our contemplative verse is a theological statement, a statement based on thinking about our God.  Let’s love one another because love is from God.  We are born of God and we know God if we love.

            What else do we know from John?  God is love ipso facto, sorry, therefore God sent Jesus as our Savior.  God loves us so that God abides in us and we in him, by the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We can be bold on the day of Judgement because God’s love has brought forgiveness to us.  Love casts out fear, because what did we fear?  Punishment.  But that does not exist any longer, because of, right, love. 

            Now comes application.  Cannot love God if we hate our brother and sister.  Because how can we love the God we cannot see if we do not love the siblings we do see?  These are the thoughts that John shares with us, the structures of how to be Christian, of understanding what we believe.  They lead to how we apply our faith, in what we say to our neighbors, our…evangelism, and what we do for our neighbors.  As a congregation, that is our missions.

            So that’s where we are.  God is love.  God loved us so much that God gave us God’s only begotten son.  He died for us and rose for us.  How are we supposed to think about that?  That’s verse 10, the one the Westminster divines would love.  Jesus is an atoning sacrifice.  A what now?  This is how forgiveness was structured in the First Testament.  A person sinned, they confessed, and they atoned, they paid reparations for breaking God’s law.  It was done in the form of an animal sacrifice.  A life for a life, since the wages of sin is death.  Think of it as one of Jesus’ parables, it was tailored to the thinking of the first generation of Jewish believers in Christ Jesus. 

            This is thinking about God, trying to place the actions of the divine into a human context.  God does things in a way to try and penetrate the fog that is human perception.  Why were there two trees of note in the Garden of Eden?  The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which the first couple messed up on…don’t eat this.  And the Tree of Life, which, if they ate of it, would give eternal life.  So tree number 1 is sin and tree number 2 is life, is love, is…Jesus!  And what Jesus did!  Ohhhh.

            Or one of my favorites, the Trinity.  God is one and God is Three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Islam has one God, just Allah, and a prophet.  This tripling down is nonsense to them.  Judaism has God, at best, Jesus and the Spirit are the biggest retcon’s in history.  We Christians just rewrote the history back to Genesis.  Or, or, God was giving creation a predestined bit of side eye.  How do I get through to these people?  Trinitarian formula (because theology likes to talk sciency sometimes).

            So God is love, cool.  All powerful, that’s pretty straight forward.  Creator deity, pretty common across all religious experiences.  Creation is Good, product of a loving God.  But so big and distant.  Kind of abstract.  So lets get up and personal.  Step across the divide from being the Creator into the Creation, come as a guy.  Call him Jesus.  Celebrate with gifts, so, Christmas.  But we humans have this huge ego capacity to recreate God in our own image, check out the art work around Jesus.  He’s very white in a lot of the publicity pieces.  Wanda Sykes dropped a comment about this being Malibu Jesus, I will never be able to look at those pieces the same way again.  Probably for the best.  But I digress.  Jesus, human, and God, so in a one to one relationship with me, and, because of the divine part, with everybody else.  It’s the God-part that allows him to answer all our prayers and know all our hearts.

            But then the Holy Spirit…well, John gives us a leg up on that.  God is not just out there, God is not just a guy whose here, God is in here.  God abides in us and we abide in God.  So, back to our first truth, God is love.  Love is over all and through all, love is up close and relational, love is in my heart.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Time for the human to go, huh.

            So you know those eight jobs that Jesus was given and those five things that happen to us as laid out by the Westminster theologians?  All of those are derived from, work to help us understand, are Scripturally provided divine wonder put in human terms. 

            Here is why I believe it is so important that we are well-versed in the bible and what we think about our God.  Because of the people of faith who will skip past the ‘God is love’ part when they speak in the name of Jesus.  Let’s beat down on homosexuals and all “those” people who claim the LGBTQ alphabet legally, morally, socially, emotionally, and physically because the Bible condemns them.  NO.  They are God’s children and there is nothing they can do that will make them NOT God’s children.  And love does not beat down, in any shape or form.  I happen to believe that when my mom took the wooden spoon to my backside, because “The Bible says so”, she was turned into an abuser in the name of Jesus.  I love my child so much that I need to hit them?  What? 

            Or this gospel of prosperity, God will bless me with material goods because that is how I interpret the Bible.  NO.  That means the poorer you are, the farther you are from God?  You know the secondary homeless crisis in this country?  The primary crisis is that there are people in the richest nation in the world who do not have home.  The secondary crisis is everything done to sideline them, push them out of sight and out of mind.  There is a direct correlation to policies pushing on that abuse to the theological understanding that they are poor and therefore unblessed.

            Do I want to start on race relations?  An entire theological history based on the privileged theological interpretation that makes skin pigment into the defining characteristic of who and how God loves us?  Our thinking about God, about God who is love, based on melanin?

            In all of this, we are doing theology, thinking about God.  And it affects how we treat our neighbors.  Even ignoring God, showing up on Sunday but leaving Jesus behind the rest of the week?  That is as reflective on our intentions about God’s love as everything else we do.

            Why did God’s love manifest as Jesus dying for our sins?  Why did God manifest as a victim, for us?  I would suggest that, in part, it is so that every person who has been victimized by ‘Good Christian theology’ can still find the love of God and a Savior in Christ Jesus, who was victimized with them.  Theology is complicated?  Yes, it can be.  But its foundation is so simple.  God is love.  The bible is built upon that foundation to explain it to us sinful humans.  Two thousand years of Christian theology, a whole book of Confessions, our Westminster divines, our mission statement, our core values, all of that is our heartfelt, ongoing, ever-failing but ever-forgiven process of living into that truth.  To put in another, far more succinct way,  Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Amen

Sunday's Scripture: Focus on Theology 1 John 4: 7-21

To avoid creating overlong posts, which the sermon very well might, here is Sunday's text, courtesy of the Oremus Bible Browser:

1 John 4: 7-21

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. ¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ¹⁶So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. ¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. ²¹The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

Rules for Thinking About God: For Theology: Like, the Bible?

   Some of this of this Blog Post, while drawn from the Holy Bible, may be disturbing to some readers due to violent and graphic and exploitative content.  Yes, in the Bible.  There are reaons why it made the 'cut' when libraries were censoring their collections.

     So, how do we use the Bible as the basis of how we think about God?  Because the Bible is the Special Witness to our God.  We have creation, and we can see the beauty of God in creation, a more General Witness, but the Bible is the handbook.  

    Now we know that the Bible was not written in a day, or a year, or even a generation.  It's history extends over a thousand years (at least) writing process.  And there is progress in the Bible.  Progress?  Yes, there is the first and the second covenant, what we divide the bible into as the Old and New Testaments, and Jesus emerged from the First and gave us the Second.  So, if we want a rule of thumb in thinking about God and the use of the Bible, it is that Jesus is the pivotal authority on all things 'old' and all things 'new'.

    But I could be abstract to the point of putting my readers to sleep, so, HOW ABOUT AN EXAMPLE OF THE COMMAND OF JESUS AND WHY IT IS SUPERIOR TO WHAT COMES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT?  That is a vain attempt to attract interest if the introduction to this post is losing folks.

    So, Bible part 1, the Sermon on the Mount, a rather significant sermon collected by Matthew in chapters 5 and following in his gospel.  Here are verses 33-37:

³³“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ ³⁴But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, ³⁵or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

    Now why would Jesus say this?  Because the people in the time of the First Testament considered breaking an oath to God as a capital offense.  Or, to use some outdated language from several "Westerns", a hangin' offense-but the law of Moses usually mandated rocks.

    In the last three chapters of the book of Judges, the people of Israel mount a war of what is almost extermination against one of their own tribes.  There is a rape and murder that is so heinous that the victim's body is hacked to pieces and sent throughout the land to rally support to punish the tribe of Benjamin, from whose midst the murderers exist and who are NOT being handed over for trial and punishment.

    Oaths are made to the Lord in this War.  The first is that EVERYONE is going to show up, because everyone promised to and anyone who does not (to fight against the Benjamites) is subject to death.

    The second is that the tribe has done such evil in the land that EVERYONE has vowed not to allow their daughters to marry into that tribe anymore, ever.  They are cut off.  

    The War is then carried out until every man, woman, and child in that tribe is slaughtered (with great losses on the side of Israel as well) except for 600 men making a last stand (out of a fighting force that the Bible says began at 26,000). 

    At this last stand, the people of Israel realize what they are about to do.  Israel was about to wipe out one of their own, one of the Tribes of God's people.  

    So what do we do?  Exterminating 26,000 down to 600, not counting women and children, how do they come back from that?

    The people of Israel could offer their daughters in marriage except they promised that they would not.  So the Benjamites are out of luck on that score.

    HOWEVER, another promise was made that EVERYBODY was to come out and fight.  Did they?  A census is taken and it is found out that the people of Jabesh-Gilead were not there for the War.  They broke their oath so they must be punished.  This solves the bigger Oath problem.  No one can give their daughters to the Benjamites, BUT the whole army can march up, destroy Jabesh-Gilead and slaughter everyone except the virgin daughers.  These are the daughters of oath-breakers, and, even better, there is no one left to protest. This nets them 400 wives for the Benjamites.  

    But there are 200 men who need wives.  And I should note, when I say "wives", I mean "breeding stock".  Women hold no status in these negotiations and decisions.  

    So what do we do?  Well, the people of Shiloh have a festival where their virgin daughters do this festival thing out of the city.  Let's put the Benjamite men in hiding to come running out during this festival and kidnap the women as their 'wives'.  And when their fathers and brothers come to complain, we will tell them that Israel made a promise that no 'wives' would be given to this sinful tribe, and we do not break our promises made to God, so forced abduction, kidnapping, and human trafficking will provide the answer.

    Yah, that's really in there, Judges 19-21.  Which is why we turn to Jesus when it comes to using the Bible to provide a foundation for thinking about God, for our theology.  Jesus said love God and love neighbor.  That begins to mitigate against this HUGE abuse that was committed in the name of keeping promises made to the Lord.  

    Then he said, "Let your word be 'yes, yes' or 'no, no'; anything more than this comes from the evil one."  We tend to gloss over that last part, that promises in the Lord's name come from the evil one, but Judges makes it pretty clear why.

    That's a biblical example.  But Gaza, Ukraine, human trafficking in this country and around the world, the deterioration of the women's reproductive rights, unwanted children, How many more women (a preferred target) and men and everyone have been abused, vicitimized, injured, ostracized, and outright killed because of how someone believes that they are keeping their promise to God?  The promise to God has become an idol more important than loving God and loving neighbor.  

    That is why it is so important that we are actively, passionately, deeply, Biblically thinking about God and God's love.  Because others are also thinking about God and people are dying as a result.

Peace,
Pastor Peter