Factoids:

• We served 2,832 lunches during the first half of the year, an average of 128 lunches per week
• For the first half of the year we have spent $4,448.18.
• That averages $741. a month.
• By the end of July we will have spent all of our Emergency Food and Shelter Program grant.
• That means to continue providing the same number of lunches per month we need $4,440 in gifts.
• Additionally, every dollar we give allows us to apply for a matching amount from the federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program.

One of the unique things about our Sack Lunch program is that the program is all volunteer.  We currently have ten volunteers who distribute lunches or serve in this ministry.  100% of our gifts go directly to food.  You can share that with friends who may wish to give.  Checks should be made out to WHPC (West Hollywood Presbyterian Church) and marked in the memo: Sack Lunch Program.

Thank you!

And Thanks to our Sack Lunch Ministry Team:

Joy Allen, Kazz Blackwell, Artie Buraimoh, Laurie Fox, Gary Grayson, Jack Gregory, Michele King, Bob Patenaude, Henry Penner, and Ron Thomas

This Sunday we will have a delicious, mouth-watering, fresh baked-bread, aroma filled service!  Even in our carb-conscious culture, this is worth savoring!

There is a two sentence parable in the gospel Luke (and Matthew).  It’s one of the few parables that Jesus used in teaching that obviously didn’t need to be interpreted.  That’s the reason it’s only two sentences long!  It also is not often the focus of a sermon or a service.  But it is a powerhouse parable.

Here it is:

Jesus continued, “What does the realm of God resemble? What is it like?   It is like the yeast which a baker added to three measures of flour and kneaded until the whole ball of dough began to rise.”

Throughout Jesus ministry, people were always asking him “What is the realm of God is like?” Today we probably would ask Jesus the question, “How do we live a spiritual life?”  In other words, how do we make this life (our life) “holy” or “sacred?”

In the world in which Jesus lived, bread was the staple of every diet.  Everyone ate bread.  That’s partly because Jesus lived in a primarily agrarian culture (most people were farmers or shepherds) but also because they lived “close to the land.”  There were no stores and no consumer-economy.  People worked the land, which grew the grain, which was harvested as wheat, ground into flour, mixed, and baked into bread.  Shepherds often exchanged wool or meat for grain.   From our perspective today, this was a pretty “simple lifestyle.”

The key to baking bread is yeast.  In Jesus’ time it was called “leaven.”  Yeast or leaven is that which makes the bread rise.  In Jesus’ life time, bread baking was pretty much the work of women; and just like birth itself, this “feminine task” was in every way seen as connected to the cycle of life.  Bread was “the source of life.”  It was the staple of the human diet in Jesus’ world, much like rice is in many Asian cultures today.  Bread was eaten at every meal.  If you were lucky, you could have some stew with it or lentils or fish, but when none of those other things were available the people depended and lived on bread.  If you didn’t have bread, you died.   So bread became the symbol of life.  That’s why it plays such an important part in the sacrament of Communion!

Obviously today bread is not the staple of our diet.  Bread is often simply something which enhances our meal.  In our carb-conscious culture, many restaurants in LA don’t even serve bread with meals or if they do, the wait staff almost always asks if you want bread before bringing it to you.

We live in such a different world than our spiritual ancestors!  But if we lived in a much less affluent time, bread would be a staple in our diet.  So going back to the image of Bread as the staple, the source of life in the ancient world, we encounter this simple teaching of Jesus in which he offers an example of what the spiritual life is like: “It is like the yeast which a baker added to three measures of flour and kneaded until the whole ball of dough began to rise.”

Yeast?  The spiritual life is like YEAST?  You’re kidding, right?

This Sunday, our friend and sister-in-faith, Sharon Tool will be helping us figure out what this parable means.  Sharon is an extraordinary bread-baker!!!   She bakes fresh bread for every Communion service at her home church, United University Church on the USC campus and for their social time after worship.  For those who attended our annual combined Good Friday Service with United University Church, you got to “taste” Sharon’s bread at the Bread Breaking station of the cross.  It’s some of the most delicious bread in the world.  During our worship, Sharon will be making bread on the Communion Table as together we explore what this two sentence parable means for our faith.  And for Communion, Sharon will have a loaf of scrumptious fresh baked bread for us to share!

Obviously, it’s about the yeast, but it’s not the yeast itself.  It’s what the yeast “does!”  So as we prepare for this Sunday, let me ask you to think about this:  How do you bring Jesus to life?  How are you like “yeast?”  How have others brought Jesus to life for you?  How are they like “yeast?”

This Sunday – Come hungry and leave filled!

God Bless!

Dan

This Sunday’s Scripture:

Luke 13: 18, 20-21

Jesus offers an illustration of what the realm of God resembles.

Jesus continued, “What does the realm of God resemble? What is it like?

To what will I compare the realm of God?  It is like the yeast which a baker added to three measures of flour and kneaded until the whole ball of dough began to rise.”

Where is God when our lives are messed up?  Where is God when things are not going smoothly?  Where is God when our stomach is in knots or our lives are all tangled up in situations we never expected?

The Apostle Paul gives us a little insight into that in his letter to the Christian community, called the letter to the Ephesians.  He writes it, literally, from prison!  Can’t really get more knotted and tangled than that!

Blessings,  Dan

One such story that grabbed my attention is that of a young girl in 2 Kings 5. She was the Hebrew slave-girl serving in the household of Naaman, the military commander of the Aramaeans (Syrians), an enemy of King Joram and the Israelites – a hostility that continued for decades. The writer tells us that this unfortunate girl was taken prisoner by the Aramaeans during one of their marauding raids into Israel. Naaman may have purchased her for his household in a slave market or for all we know; she may have been captured by Naaman himself.  I cannot begin to imagine her parent’s grief when she just vanished into thin air one horrible day; never to know what happened to her, what had become of her.

As the story goes, Naaman was afflicted with leprosy. The young Hebrew slave-girl who waited on his wife took pity on Naaman and told his wife about a prophet in Israel, Elisha, who could heal Naaman.  The Book of Kings tells the story of how Naaman sets out to find Elisha and in the end is healed by washing himself seven times in the Jordan River, on Elisha’s command. All seemed to have worked out well for Naaman, and who knows, maybe relations between Israel and Aram did improve a bit for awhile – after all, after he was healed Naaman did confess that he now believed that “there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.” Maybe from now on Namaan would think twice before sending a marauding raid into Israel’s territory.

But nothing changed for the Hebrew slave-girl. As she had vanished from her home, she vanishes off the pages of the Bible, not to be mentioned again. She probably stayed in the house of Namaan till her death. Yet, naively, I sometimes make up my own ending for this story. In my ending, Namaan sends her back home as a gesture of thankfulness because she told them about Elisha. In my ending I see her running towards her parent’s home to be reunited with her parents in her mother’s warm embrace. But, alas, that’s not how it works in the real world. No Hollywood ending.

In 1977, while walking home, 13-year-old Japanese schoolgirl Megumi Yokota vanished without a trace. Initially, authorities were convinced Megumi was a runaway, but her family was adamant: she would never run away.

The first time I read Megumi’s story was in Phillip Yancey’s book Prayer: Does it make any difference? Phillip shared how he had tried for several years to help a Japanese family, the Yokotas, in their desperate search for justice. “In 1977”, he writes, “their thirteen-year-old daughter Megumi vanished on her way home from badminton practice after school. Police dogs tracked her scent to a nearby beach, but the distraught Yokotas had no clues to explain their daughter’s sudden disappearance. Sixteen years later, long after the Yokotas had resigned themselves to Megumi’s death, a North Korean defector made a stunning claim: A Japanese woman named Megumi, who played badminton, was living in North Korea at a training institute for intelligence spies. Scores of Japanese, he said, had been kidnapped and forced to teach Korean spies the Japanese language and culture. He provided heartrending details of Megumi’s abduction: agents had seized her, wrapped her in a straw mat, and rowed her to a waiting spy ship, where she had spent the night scratching against the hold with bloody fingers, crying: ‘Mother.’ For years North Korea dismissed all such reports as fabrications. But in the face of mounting pressure, Kim Jong-Il himself, the ‘Dear Leader’ of North Korea, at long last admitted to the abduction of thirteen Japanese, including Megumi.”

Of the thirteen abductees, five were returned to Japan, the other eight died during their time in captivity. Megumi was one of the eight; she used her own kimono to hang herself.

Did the Hebrew girl and Megumi feel abandoned by all? Could they find comfort in God’s presence in their alienation? Or did they feel abandoned and forgotten by God?

In the words of Phillip Yancey:

These things feed my faith: epiphanies of beauty in nature, sunbursts of

forgiveness, the portrait of God I get in Jesus, stirring encounters with

people  who truly live out their faith. And these feed my doubts: God’s

baffling tolerance of history’s atrocities, my unanswered prayers,

sustained periods of God’s absence.

I loved fairy tales as a kid, but you rarely find fairy tales in real life or in the Bible. Time to go see a Hollywood movie with a wonderfully naïve happy ending,

Kobie

For more info on Megumi’s story see:

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/abduction/film.html

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/abduction/

Check it out at the following link:

KOLE: “LIFE BE’S NO FAIR!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXE0fHiULVM

Poor little guy, we’ve all been there and as a parent I have had the same conversation countless times with my kids. It’s hard for a six year old to understand that mom is not being fair, but mom is doing the right thing. You cannot give a six year old and a ten year old the same responsibilities, freedom, and privileges. Let’s take the example of cutting meat with a butcher’s knife: It will help the ten year old to gain independence and self confidence, but the six year old? Well, most probably a visit to the Emergency Room! Yet, the six year old will rightly feel that s/he is being treated unfairly like a “baby.” That’s parenting for you! You cannot even deal with your children in the same manner, because they have different personalities, temperaments, strengths, talents, needs, and weaknesses. Instead of trying to treat my kids equally I try to treat them as individuals with their own specific needs. It may not be fair, but it is just.

But it is not only kids who feel slighted when they are not being treated fairly – we will experience it many times in our own faith journeys. Face it: God is not always fair. Anyone who claims that God is fair is making a statement that is not found in Scripture. When you read the Bible stories you’ll make a quick discovery that God doesn’t deal with all of us equitably.  But God always does what is right; therefore God often treats us differently, not because God is fair, but because God is just.

Unfair does not equal unjust. But sometimes we confuse these two concepts with one another as the workers did in the Parable of the Landowner in Matthew 20. In this parable the landowner hired different workers at different times throughout the day. At pay-time he shows unexpected kindness and pays the workers hired later in the day the same wages as those working since early that morning. Is this unfair? You bet it is! But is it unjust?

Let’s talk more about this on Sunday,

Kobie

As this tender scene unfolds some may sense that something deep and profound just happened. This is not at all what Simon the Pharisee saw and so he was not happy at all. Disgusted, he grumbled under his breath, if Jesus really was a prophet, he would have known and been able to see what type of women was touching him. But Simon is the one who is not really seeing. All he can see is a “sinner”. As a Pharisee, he saw someone who was labeled as a “sinner,” as unclean, someone who is not keeping the Law, and thus an outcast. That this woman dared to touch Jesus repulsed him, because her mere touching would also make Jesus unclean before the law. Blinded by his perception, Simon misinterprets the woman’s actions.

Sadly many through the ages who have read this passage made the same mistake – thinking the phrase “a woman from the city” refers to a prostitute. But in ancient culture the expression “a woman in/from the city” was not a euphemism or veiled allusion to a prostitute. Yes, they had their own colorful expressions referring to prostitutes, but this is not one of them. The expression probably refers to where this unnamed woman was from, which was a typical way to identify people – remember, last names did not exist yet – for instance; Jesus of Nazareth, Mary from Bethany, Simon, the Pharisee.

However it may be, Scripture does not provide us with any personal information about this woman, except that she was from the town, and a “sinner,” which was a general expression for a person considered unclean by the law. Those who did not keep all the stipulations of the law were considered unclean, called “sinners,” and treated as outcasts. What precisely she did wrong, we don’t know, because the gospel writer does not provide us with the information. It doesn’t seem to be crucial to the plot of the story.  Yet many readers feel compelled to speculate about her misdeed. I sometimes wonder, if this had been a story about a man from the city who used to be a sinner, would so much scholarly research have been dedicated to uncovering the precise nature of his “sin” or would the readers have jumped to the conclusion that the sin must have been sexual in nature? Why is it that when a woman and sin are mentioned in the same sentence in Scripture the first assumption made is that it must be some kind of sexual misstep?

And let me point out that the expression “was a sinner” is not the best way to translate the Greek text. It should be translated as a woman who used to be a sinner. The truth is we don’t know much about this woman; we don’t even know her name. She is an unknown nameless woman, and yet Simon made an instant assumption about what she was all about, deciding then and there that she was not worthy to touch Jesus. But when Jesus looked at this woman, he really saw her, past all the superficial assumptions and preconceptions.

So Jesus spoke up and told Simon a parable:

“Simon, I have something to say to you.”  “Tell me Teacher,” he said.  “Two people owed money to a creditor. One owed the creditor the equivalent of two years’ wages; the other, two months’ wages. Both were unable to pay, so the creditor wrote off both debts.  Which of them was more grateful to the moneylender?” Simon answered, “I suppose the one who owed more.”  And Jesus said, “You are right.” (Luke 7: 40-43)

Simon easily understands the point of the parable, but does he really get it?  So Jesus turns to him and asks: ‘Do you see this woman?” It is as if he is asking: “Do you really see this woman, Simon?” Listen again to what Jesus said to Simon: “Do you see this woman? I came into your house and you gave me no water to wash my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair.  You gave me no kiss of greeting, but she covered my feet with kisses. You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with oil. (Luke 7:44-46)

All Simon could see was a “sinner,” but Jesus saw somebody who showed love because she had received forgiveness. Remember, I mentioned earlier that we should rather translate verse 36 as: a woman from town, who used to be a sinner. This is the reason why she crashed Simon’ party, why she brought costly ointment with her to anoint Jesus: to show her gratitude and love towards Jesus. Why? Because she had experienced forgiveness. The text does not us tell when, where, or how it happened, just that it did and it liberated her. It set her free to show love. It enabled her to do the very thing Simon did not and could not do for Jesus. She extended towards Jesus the hospitality that Simon withheld: water for his feet, a kiss of welcome, and an anointing for someone coming in from a journey exposed to the dust and the heat of the day. These were all things that Simon the host should have done for his guest, Jesus. Instead, it is an uninvited guest, this nameless woman, who shows Jesus hospitality. For this reason, says Jesus: I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven – see how much she loves me. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little. (Luke 7:47)

And so Jesus confirms her new state in life and validates her new life by saying to her: Your sins are forgiven. She has indeed been raised into a new life. Her actions were the testimony to this new life. This is what Simon could not see, blinded by his perception that she was a “sinner” – someone lacking. He was not able to see that she was doing the very thing he was supposed to do, but failed to. Simon, the Pharisee, could not really see the woman, so he distanced himself from her. Jesus really saw this unnamed woman, all the pieces of her, and it caused him to move towards her with compassion, love and a blessing of peace.

The story ends with Jesus blessing the woman and saying to her, Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. (Luke 7:50) But I cannot help but wonder, where can she go, now that she has been set free of her former life?

Jesus gathered around him a new family, a new community, a new family of God. To be invited to sit around his table does not depend on blood relation, or status, or money, or education, or race, or so-called respectability, or whatever superficial boundaries we as humans erect to keep out others who are different from ourselves.  No, all are welcomed. What this unnamed woman in Luke needs is a community of forgiven and forgiving sinners. This story yells out the need for a church, not just any church, but a church that says: All are welcome here!

This story of the unnamed woman in Luke 7: 36-50 invites us to take up the challenge presented to Simon the Pharisee, and to be converted to Jesus’ way of seeing.  Where will you be this week in relation to those in your family, friends, colleagues at the workplace, strangers that may cross your path? What about church on Sunday mornings? When strangers walk trough the doors of the sanctuary? Will you be quick to make assumptions or will you try to really see them as Jesus sees them and reach out in compassion and love?

Sad to say, but I have caught myself many times being a kindred spirit to Simon, the Pharisee,

Kobie

This reflection is dedicated to our brother JD, may those who cross paths with you on your journey ahead really see you.

Think differently

Act differently

Believe differently

What’s your view of God?

This Sunday we will take a closer look at the second topic in our new worship series called “A New Kind of Christianity:” What’s your view of God? In a recent Gallup poll survey researchers found that although 91.8% of people interviewed said they believe in God as a higher power or cosmic force, they had four distinct views of God’s personality and engagement in human affairs. These four views were dubbed by the researches as Authoritarian, Benevolent, Critical or Distant. The Authoritarian God is seen as angry at earthly sin and willing to inflict divine retribution. The Distant God is described as a faceless, cosmic force that launched the world but leaves it alone. Some saw God as a Benevolent God who sets absolute standards for humans, but is also forgiving, while others defined God as a Critical God – the classic bearded old man, judgmental but not intervening or punishing.

But these are not the only images of God. I read a reflection a while ago by Rabbi Brian, who writes a weekly spiritual reflection, called Out-Of-The-Box. Rabbi Brian shared that from his conversations with people over the years, he has gathered many more colorful attempts to encapsulate the limitless – different notions that different people have come up with as stabs at trying to define God. Here is a list of some of the interesting definitions he has heard over the years. See if you can identify one that relates to your image or understanding of who God is:

Highest ideals

God is “not the internalized voice of an authority whom we are eager to please and afraid of displeasing; it is the voice of our total personality expressing the demands of life and growth.”

Everynothing

There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is Serene. Empty. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternal. Present. It is the mother of the universe.

Television

I don’t understand the entirety of how my television turns the wires that come into it into pictures and sound. I can still enjoy it. I can feel the same about God.

God, driving the cart

God is the driver of the cart that I am sitting in the back of… I can clearly see where I’ve been, but not where I’m going. I wonder about how much faith I have in the driver.

Pet : me :: me : God

My dogs don’t understand why I have to take them to the veterinarian for shots that hurt. Perhaps God causes me “pain” for reasons that are beyond my understanding?

A friend

God is a friend I can reach out to and be with at any time I feel the need to reach out and share.

Not it

I don’t know much about God, I just know that I’m not it.

Ground-of-us

Twentieth century theologian Paul Tillich referred to God not as being out there, but as being “the ground of our being.”

Panentheism

It is the notion that everything is in God and that God is in everything. (This is not the same as pantheism – without the “en” – which maintains that “everything is God.”) Panentheism maintains that there is more to God than the material universe, that God is transcendent and non-personal, and that God is both the creator and the original source of universal morality.

Chairgod of the board

God sets the agenda, but doesn’t get involved in day-to-day operations.

How about you? What is your notion of God? What is your view of God? Who is God to you?

I know what you are going to ask: What does the Bible say? Well, that’s not so easy to answer. You see, there are many different images of God in Scripture – in fact in Scripture there is an ongoing conversation about the character of God. But more about that on Sunday,

For now, go think about it for a bit. Who is God to you? How would you describe God?

Kobie

To read more about Rabbi Brian, click on the following link:

http://www.rotb.org/_2_z_1_rabbibrian.html

For more info on the Gallup Poll, see following link:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2006-09-11-religion-survey_x.htm

This Sunday’s Scripture

John 14: 8-11

Philip said, “Rabbi, show us Abba God, then we will be content.” Jesus said to him, “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand?” To see me is to see the Abba God. So how can you ask, ‘Show us your Abba God?’ Don’t you believe that I am in God and God is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. It is Abba God, living in me, who crafts each word into a divine act. Believe me that I am in God and God is in me, or else believe because of the works I do.”

Well, let’s start at the beginning. The story is set around the fourth century before the birth of Jesus. And it’s about the Jewish community living in exile in Persia during the reign of the mighty Persian Empire.

It all starts with King Ahasuerus, the ruler of Persia, who throws a feast that lasts for six months to show off his wealth and power. But as if that were not enough, at the end of the six months, he hosts this lavish and opulent banquet at which wine flowed freely. Separate from this banquet, Queen Vashti, his wife, hosts a banquet for all the women. After six days of partying, totally wasted, he demands that Vashti be brought to his party to “put on a show of her beauty” for those present and for the government officials. It does not take much imagination to figure out what he has in mind, but just in case you didn’t catch it; to “put on a show of her beauty” is a euphemism for a lewd sexual performance. He also instructs her to wear her crown, and many ancient historians suspect he meant for her to put on “only” her crown. Vashti flat out refuses to be humiliated and exploited in this way. I suspect Vashti’s dignity and self respect counted more to her than living in opulence and privilege as the queen of Persia. NO, is her answer.

In an act of total drunken stupor and rage he dethrones and banishes her from his court. No only that, it seems Vashti’s refusal is nothing short of a national emergency. If news of her behavior were to leak out, all the women in Persia would be out of control. The land will descend into anarchy. Really? You’ve got to be kidding! Apparently not, because an edict went out that from now on all women should be subordinate to their husbands. If you ever wonder where it was first said in Scripture that a wife should be subordinate to her husband, now you know. It was a rule made by a weak and drunken Persian king. Go figure!

Of course when he sobers up he realizes what he has done, but it is too late – the imperial edict cannot be reversed. To cheer him up his attendants suggest they start an empire wide search to find a worthy replacement for Vashti. Meaning someone who would listen and do as she is told. So the king sends out commissioners to every province in the empire to round up (yes, round up – there was no choice involved) every beautiful and young unmarried girl and bring them to the king’s palace. Esther, a Jewish girl, is among these girls, probably 12-14 years of age – girls usually married shortly after they reached puberty. Then for a year long, they were prepared with cosmetic treatment and instructed in the ways of how to “please” (if you get my drift) the king. Then they were brought one by one, night after night, to the king’s bedroom. The one he finds to be the most beautiful and who pleases him the most will become the new queen and the rest will live for the rest of their lives in his harem as concubines. Your heard me correctly – no one goes home. Today we would view this as kidnapping and sexual slavery.

Poor Esther, she always did what she was told – the very opposite of Vashti, probably one of the reasons the king liked her so much. She was an orphan, adopted by her uncle Mordecai whom she, according to the story, always obeyed. And when she arrived at the palace it was her survival strategy. The eunuch in charge of the girls picked up on it fast and favored her, giving her special attention, and instruction in the ways the king likes to be pleased. It worked and she became the new queen, all the while hiding her true ethnicity (on instruction of her uncle) – she was a Jewish girl. A foreigner, a minority with no legal protection living in exile in Persia.

Well she thought she was safe until her uncle refused stubbornly to bow down to Haman. Haman in turn responded with irrational anger vowing revenge not just on Mordecai but all his people.  So he schemes to annihilate every Jewish person living in the Persian Empire. On a specific day every Jewish man, woman, and child would be slaughtered. It was to be genocide. And he succeeds in his conspiracy by not only bribing the king, but by generalizing and telling half truths. “There is a group of insolent people who resist assimilation and who willfully disregard the king’s law,” said Haman. The truth of course is that there is just one man, Mordecai who refused to bow down to Haman. The king doesn’t want to deal with the “problem” so he gives Haman the authority to do whatever he wants to correct the “problem.” As foreigners, strangers in a foreign land, the Jewish population’s lot is sealed. A date for the genocide is announced – the day on which every Jewish man, women, and child will be slaughtered by their neighbors - and their land and property confiscated.

When Mordecai asks Esther to plead the Jewish case before the king, she at first refuses. Her situation is precarious so don’t judge her too quickly. Although she is the queen, she is still just a concubine who lives in the king’s harem. She doesn’t socialize with the king on a daily basis. The only time she sees him is when he summons her at night to his room for sex. In the morning she is returned to the harem. And she’s not that young anymore, she is now less often summoned by the king. Remember there are hundreds of girls in his harem. So she explains to Mordecai that she hasn’t been summoned to the king’s bedroom in 30 days - she knows the chances of seeing the king in the foreseeable future is small. She also knows all too well, after living in the harem for 5 years, trained in court etiquette, that if one approached the king unsummoned, the punishment is death. And so she refuses to risk her life.

Some people, especially some feminist Biblical scholars like Vashti, and dislike Esther. They view her as a push-over. In contrast to Vashti, who refused to be a man’s sexual object, Esther is viewed as the stereotypical woman in a man’s world. But the reality is Esther had neither any power as a woman in a patriarchal world or as Jewish minority living in exile in Persia. No civil rights, no protection under the law – no voice. She had no choice about entering the king’s harem.  But she refused to be a victim; rather she chose to be a survivor, who made the best of the situation once she found herself in the king’s harem.

But Mordecai helps her to face the reality; she has been lulled into a false sense of security. She’s not safe in the palace; this is where the threat is coming from after all. There are people who are aware of the fact that she is Jewish, so she can’t escape. She has survived so far, but isn’t truly safe. She is just as vulnerable as all the other Jewish people living in exile in Persia. So Mordecai says to her: Don’t fool yourself into thinking that, just because you are in the imperial palace, you will be the only Jewish person to escape. If you insist on remaining silent at this time, vindication and liberation will come, to our people through another source, but both you and your family will surely die. If there is one thing we learn about God in scripture and from the prophets it is that God is on the side of the oppressed and one way or another God will act through some willing human or another to save the oppressed and restore justice. But if Esther doesn’t do something, then she and Mordecai will surely die.

It is then that Mordecai says something that is maybe the only indirect reference to God in the Book of Esther: Who’s to say – you may have come into the royal court for just this moment. Who knows, Esther, maybe this is the reason you became the queen. All these coincidences, the king getting drunk, Vashti’s fall from grace, Esther becoming the new queen, may reveal that God was at work behind the scene all this time, but one cannot be sure. All Mordecai and Esther can do is act, and hope that their actions corresponds with God’s plan and purpose for them. There is no assurance for Esther that it will work out well.

Sound somewhat familiar? It’s not that different from how most of us experience our journey of faith. God doesn’t intervene directly or miraculously, say, as with Daniel in the lion’s den, or Joseph who had dreams, or God speaking to Abraham, or Moses who divided the Red Sea. Esther doesn’t know in the immediate circumstances if things will work out. The chances are big that she may not be able to sway the king, and Haman may succeed with his plans for genocide. She may risk it all for nothing. Esther and Mordecai cannot be completely sure if they are acting in accordance with God’s will. They just don’t know. All they can do is to act within the circumstances they find themselves, to take advantage of those opportunities with an attitude of hope, even when reality seems against its likelihood. How many times have you prayed, when your back was against the wall, when you did not know which way to turn, when you did not know what was the right thing to do, when you had to make a decision and did not know how it would work out, (prayed) to God for a sign; please God just show me what to do?  Will it all work out well?

In the words of Sidney White Crawford: Often life locates us in a situation where we are capable of taking action on behalf of some oppressed person or persons, but with negative consequences to ourselves. Esther’s consequences are clear and absolute: She faces death. The consequences for us may be less absolute but nonetheless devastating – loss of job, family rupture, embarrassment, to name only a few. The author of Esther has captured in two short verses the dilemma of the average believer: How does one find the courage and faith to do what is right in the face of divine and human ambiguity ?

Somehow Esther found the faith and courage to step forward and take control of her own fate. As Esther steps forward we realize something had changed in her, she has found her own voice. She is no longer told what to do; she no longer obeys; now she commands and tells Mordecai what to do. Wherever the chips may fall, live or die, I will do everything I can to save my people. Esther is willing to lose her life in order to safe the lives of many, to save her people. So Esther sends a message to Mordecai: Bring together all the Jewish people in Susa now and fast for me. Do not eat or drink, day and night, for three days. After that I’ll go to the king, in defiance of the law; and if I perish, I perish.

Esther’s dilemma reminds me of the words of Lisa Rhodes: Women have always had difficult choices to make between personal freedom and financial security, self preservation and the survival of their families, people and communities. What would you do? Vashti chose personal freedom, at the expense of giving up all the splendor of the Persian kingdom. Esther chose freedom for others, at the risk of death.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO? There WILL come a time in life that you will need to say NO, and there WILL come a time when you may need to SPEAK UP on behalf of others. What will you do? Will you be able to find the courage and faith to do what is right in the face of both divine and human ambiguity?

I don’t doubt for a moment that many of you have already experienced a time in your life that you needed to say NO, or a time you needed to SPEAK UP. When you heard that small voice saying: What if you were called for such a time as this? When you had this gut feeling that “I’m finding myself in this time and place in my life where I’m called upon to act, to use what God has given me, my gifts, my life experience, my abilities, and my position of privilege.” Yet you also felt scared, afraid, unsure, and hesitant; you had so much to lose. What did you do? Were you able to find the courage and faith to do what was right in the face of both divine and human ambiguity?

I must admit that though there were times that I did indeed say No, or SPOKE UP, there were also many times that I did not, when I just could not muster the courage and faith to do what was right, fearful of the consequences it held for me. Those are the times in my life that I regret the most.

Sometimes I wish we could change the past,

Kobie

This week as Hurricane Alex approached the Texas coast and threatened yet more disaster and destruction from the oil gushing forth in the Gulf, a number of news stories reminded people that most Insurance policies exclude “Acts of God.”  Are earthquakes and hurricanes really acts of God?   Once again I thought to myself, “Is God Good?  Or Is God violent?”

This past week I went to Children’s Hospital to visit little Aaron, for whom we have been praying for many, many months.  Aaron is the cutest little blonde haired six year old boy imaginable.  From the time he was 14 months old until now he’s had surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation to fight cancerous tumors that grow in his brain.  While I talked with his grandmother, Aaron was having a great time playing with his Legos, just like any other 6 year old boy.  But oh, what this child has been through in his short life is unbelievable.  I don’t know how someone so young can endure so much!  When I think of Aaron and so many of the other kids who are at Children’s Hospital, I find myself asking, “Is God Good?  Or Is God violent?”

This Sunday we’re beginning our new summer series called:

A New Kind of Christianity:

Think differently

Act differently

Believe differently

Brian McLaren just published a new book called, “A Kew Kind of Christianity -Ten Questions that are Transforming the Faith.”  At the beginning of his book he writes:

The God question:  Is God violent? Nearly all religions seem hell-bent on inspiring people to kill each other…  So we ask:  Why does God seem so violent and genocidal in many Bible passages?  Does God sanction elitism, prejudice, violence, or even genocide?  Is God incurably violent and is faith capable of becoming a stronger force for peace and reconciliation than it has been for violence in the past?

~ Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christianity, p.19-20.

The question of whether God is Good or Violent is not just about global issues, it’s about our personal beliefs and relationships with God as well.  Just ask Officer Ortiz’s family, or those who have lived through a natural disaster, or Aaron’s family or yourself.  Listen to Susan’s wrestling with this question from Recycle your Faith.

Is God Good?

If you believe, or want to believe (or even want to explore!) how God is Good, what do you need to do to:

Think differently

Act differently

Believe differently

???

Blessings!

Dan

Genesis 1

The story of Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light!” and there was light.

And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”

And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”  And it was so. God called the dry land “earth” and the waters, “seas.”

And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit.”

And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly about the earth.” And so God created them.

And God saw that it was good.

And God said “Let the earth bring forth living creatures.”

And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, “Let us make humanity in our image, after our likeness.”  So God created humanity in God’s image.  And God blessed them.

And God saw everything that God had made, and behold it was VERY GOOD.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them.  And on the seventh day God rested.  So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work which God had done in creation.

Luke 15: 11-31

The Parable of the lost son and Loving Father

Jesus told this parable:  A man had two sons.  The younger of them said to their father, “Give me the share of the estate that is coming to me.”  So the father divided up the property between them.  Some days later, the younger son gathered up his belongings and went off to a distant land.  Here he squandered all his money on loose living.

“After everything was spent, a great famine broke out in the land, and the son was in great need. So he went to a landowner, who sent him to a farm to take care of the pigs.  The son was so hungry that he could have eaten the husks that were fodder for the pigs, but no one made a move to give him anything.  Coming to his senses at last, he said, “How many hired hands at my father’s house have more than enough to eat, while here I am starving!  I’ll quit and go back home and say, I’ve sinned against God and against you; I no longer deserve to be called one of your children.  Treat me like one of your hired hands.”  With that, the young son set off for home.

While still a long way off, the father caught sight of the returning child and was deeply moved.  The father ran out to meet him, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  The son said to him, “I’ve sinned against God and against you; I no longer deserve to be called one of our children.”  But his father said to one of the workers, “Quick!  Bring out the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet.  Take the calf we’ve been fattening and butcher it.  Let’s eat and celebrate!  This son of mine was dead and has come back to life.  He was lost and now he’s found!  And the celebration began.

Meanwhile the elder son had been out in the field.  As he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing.  He called one of the workers and asked what was happening.  The worker answered, “Your brother is home and the fatted calf has been killed because your father has him back safe and sound.”

The son got angry at this and refused to go into the party, but his father came out and pleaded with him.  The older son replied, “I never disobeyed even one of your orders, yet you never gave me so much as a kid goat to celebrate with my friends.  But then this son of yours comes home after going through your money with prostitutes, and you kill the fatted calf for him!”

“But my child!” the father said.  “You’re with me always, and everything I have is yours.  But we have to celebrate and rejoice!  This brother of yours was dead and has come back to life. He was lost and now he’s found.”

The stories in the book of Judges are set in the pre-monarchy time period of Israel’s history. During this period Israel was a confederacy of loosely organized tribes. They did not have a centralized government or a standing army and had limited weapons with which they could defend themselves.  During this time the tribes were “ruled” by judges rather than kings. In times of peace a Judge had the authority to settle disputes and problems. In times of war or oppression the Judges acted as a rallying point to gather the tribes and muster a militia together to defend themselves against their enemies. This could prove almost impossible at times, when certain tribes felt that it was not their fight and did not want to get involved. So sometimes the leader of an already existing militia group (somewhat similar to the warlords of today) would be pressured into the role of Judge to liberate the people, which is what happened to Jephthah.

So it should come as no surprise that many of these Judges (in spite of the pious sounding title) were hardly role models of any kind. Jephthah, as we discovered last week, sacrificed his daughter, Samson murdered his first wife and destroyed the lives of all who came in contact with him, Gideon promoted the worship of fertility gods, and the list goes on.

Deborah stands out among the judges for her wisdom, courage and faith in God. She is introduced as a judge in chapter 4. She is the only female judge mentioned in the Book of Judges. Yet, in spite of the patriarchal world she was living in, it seems that the people had no difficulty in accepting her as a judge. We read in chapter 4 that Deborah held court under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. There the people came to seek her advice and counsel, to hear her words of wisdom, to find a resolution for their problems and have their disputes settled. To be a judge in peace time was not an officially sanctioned position, but people such as Deborah, were recognized as individuals who were endowed by God with special gifts – thus Deborah had authority rather than power, and people respected her for the qualities she had and trusted her leadership.  She was the ideal role model of what a judge should be.

Deborah is also introduced as a prophet. A prophet was not someone who foretold the future, but someone who received divine oracles in order to make God’s will known to the people. In other words a prophet was a person called by God to proclaim God’s word to the people, many times to liberate and deliver the people from their enemies or to correct an injustice.  Although most of the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures were men, several women were also called as prophets, such as Miriam, Huldah, Noadia, and Isaiah’s wife. It seems that female prophets were present throughout the history of Israel.

We read in chapter 4 that the Israelites were cruelly oppressed for twenty years by King Jabin of the Canaanites. The superior Canaanite army who kept the Israelites under control was under the command of a fearsome general called Sisera.  With nowhere to turn, the people called out in desperation to God.  Responding to a divine oracle Deborah speaks the prophetic words and summons Barak to gather the various tribes of Israel to fight against Sisera: The Holy One, the God of Israel, commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.

Barak has reason to be reluctant to enter into battle against invincible Sisera. The Canaanite forces were a professional, well trained, and disciplined army of soldiers who possessed vastly superior military technology. They were literally armed to the teeth, while the Israelite militia was a motley group of “citizen” soldiers, fewer in number and armed with inferior weapons.  Victory was highly unlikely.

Still Barak agrees to go to battle, but only on one condition, Deborah must accompany him in battle: “If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” Deborah agrees to the condition but warns Barak that the honor of conquering the enemy will go to a woman instead of him: “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Holy One will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.

Some have seen Barak’s request that Deborah, a woman, accompany him into war as a sign of weakness, but I think Barak’s request attests to his absolute conviction that Deborah was sent by God and so he refuses to go into battle without her presence, since he is convinced that her presence would ensure God’s presence with the Israelite militia and victory against the terrifying Sisera.

Deborah seems to be one of those rare figures in human history that can inspire such loyalty and trust in people that they can indeed achieve what seems impossible; a trusted leader who can convince people to follow them to take extraordinary risks in the hope of succeeding against all odds.

We read that Sisera assembled a terrifying force: Sisera called out all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the troops who were with him, from Harosheth-ha-goiim to the Wadi Kishon.

The battle would be totally lopsided; the sight of iron-trimmed chariots was enough to make any opposing force cower in fear. They were the stealth bombers of the ancient world – their weight and velocity as they charged into an opposing army would plough a dreadful furrow through the ranks of soldiers, slaughtering the soldiers on foot and decimating the opposition. Defeat was in the air – liberation but a faded dream.

With the battle lines drawn, Deborah says to Barak: ‘Arise! This is the day Yahweh gives Sisera into your hands. God is indeed going out before you.’ Then something extraordinary and unexpected happened: a sudden torrential downpour caused a flash flood which turned the battlefield into a deep muddy mess. The iron wheels of the fearsome chariots got stuck in the mud, the chariots sinking under their own weight.  Trapped in the mud, confusion and bewilderment broke out among the ranks of the Canaanite soldiers, providing the Israelites with the opportunity to completely defeat Sisera’s army – meaning everyone that did not escape was killed.

The defeated Sisera escaped on foot and fled towards the encampment of Jael the Kenite woman. Biblical scholars explain that Jael and her family were tinsmiths who made various farming utensils and weapons. Since they were nomadic (tent-dwellers) they traveled wherever they could find work. Jael’s campsite was close to the battlefield because her family was probably making weapons for the army.

When Jael spots Sisera; exhausted, hungry, and scared, she calls him to her tent, feeds him and hides him by covering him with a rug. “Do not be afraid,” she assured him. And why should he be suspicious of Jael? After all, according to verse 17, there was peace between King Jabin and the Clan of Heber. Exhausted from the battle and the flight and thinking he is safe, Sisera falls asleep. But he was seriously mistaken: Jael had kinship ties with the Israelites. Jael’s husband Heber was descended from Jethro, who was Moses’ father in law. So, Jael waited till Sisera fell asleep, and then killed him by driving a tent peg through his skull into the ground with a mallet. Gruesome and disturbing to say the least. This fulfilled Deborah’s prophecy that Sisera would fall to a woman.

Chapter 5 recounts the events as a victory song. In the song Jael is called ‘most blessed among women’ and Deborah is identified as the “motherly protector” of Israel.  After the Israelite tribes were delivered from Jabin’s oppressive regime, there was peace in the land for 40 years.

This is an interesting story on so many levels and it challenges our understanding of womanhood on so many levels: How do we feel about women who are involved in violence? What about females as military commanders? Is there something morally wrong with a female warrior? Is violence only an appropriate activity for men?  Is all violence immoral? Does Deborah and Jael’s story justify violence? What would be the moral action if you lived in a world where you were cruelly oppressed?

I’ll leave you with the words of the Guatemalan theologian Julia Esquivel’s reflection on Deborah’s story:

Deborah’s story breaks the tradition of submission and calls on us to place our bodies before the machine guns. It observes that we continue to talk instead of taking liberation into our own hands while thousands of our people are being massacred. It breaks through the false understanding of pacifism that masks the face of God, reducing God to ineffectual neutrality in the face of injustice and oppression.

Some food for thought this week,

Kobie

For some background info on Guatemalan theologian, poet and activist, Julia Esquivel, see the following link:  http://www.whitworth.edu/News/2007_2008/Fall/EsquivelLecture.htm