Christmas Cards: the images

given on Sunday, December 6, 2009

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One week into Advent and Christmas Day is getting closer.  I have to be honest, the Christmas cards are still on my “to do” list.  The task is not getting any smaller, and the mailbox is still waiting.  I always think the four weeks of Advent would be enough time to get my holiday chores done with plenty of time for family and friends, too.  I started thinking about Christmas cards this summer and even purchased them.  I still like the ones I selected, but now I am rethinking what my cards really say.

When I first began thinking about how Christmas cards relate to our celebration of Christmas, I began with the simple idea that we send out our messages through warm, loving messages.  Our Christmas cards are messages much like the prophets’ words in the Old Testament.  Even today’s scripture is one more example of how Malachi, another prophet.  The images are not the same that we use in our contemporary Christmas cards, but to the people of Jerusalem, the images in these few verses were very concrete and served as a metaphor for how the coming Messiah would purify them.

² “ … For He is like a refiner’s fire

And like launderers’ soap.

³ He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;

He will purify the sons of Levi,

And purge them as gold and silver,

That they may offer to the LORD …”

The images of pure silver and pure gold appeal to the senses of the Israelites.  For others the idea of washing the clothes with soap also is a concrete image for them to understand how the Messiah will purify their soles.

Last week we talked about the reason we have a Christmas season.  I asked that we consider what our cards truly say about the reason for the season.  We may be confident that we know Christmas truly is about the birth of Jesus and the New Covenant, but I am afraid that others may not see what we see.

Think about all the images familiar to us during the holidays.  We see the obvious—Santa Claus, the Christmas trees, the lights, the packages, the candy canes, and even just the colors of red and green.  The images are swirling around us and wrapping us up in the shopping, the events, the festivities, and the traditions.  The question though remains:  Do the images we present during the Advent season truly reflect the importance of Jesus’ birth?  Do the images explain how Jesus purifies our lives?

Look at the pictures of your Christmas cards.  What images do they present?  Is there a hidden message?  Is there a message about Christ?  Would those images tell others how Jesus can purify their lives if only they accept the gift of grace from God?

As I spread out the cards I have purchased this year and last year, I am startled to see some patterns:  snowmen, snow, birds, pets, farm scenes, and nature scenes far outnumber the ones which are clearly connected to the New Testament story we refer to as the Christmas story.  In fact out of the three on the bulletin, only one refers to the Baby Jesus; and of the others spread around me, only two of the nine different cards are clearly telling the reason for the season, the birth of Christ.

The simple, happy, warm images I have selected to share my Christmas wishes hardly mention anything about my own faith.  The images are all familiar to our society as images of Christmas, but few really relate to the true meaning of Christmas.

Look around you today.  What do you see?  The images are everywhere whether during the daylight or during the night.  The images are speaking out loud and clear, but what do they say to all who see them?  I suppose we could analyze them in many respects in an effort to bring meaning to them, but should we?

Turning to the web, I decided to google some of the words that could be connected to images of Christmas.  I found that the images certainly do match the 89cards; the next step was to see why we now connect them to Christmas.  Another google search and I located a website, “Apples for the Teacher,” which listed almost two pages of Christmas symbols with their meanings.  The list is lengthy, but each item has an explanation:

• Advent wreath:  four candles placed in a circle of evergreen.
• Angel:  the messengers who told the shepherds of the birth of Jesus
• Bells:  church bells are rung to announce the birth of Christ
• Candles:  represent the light Jesus brought to earth
• Christmas tree lights:  also represent the light of Jesus replacing the candles
• Creche`:  the manger in which the baby Jesus slept upon his birth
• Evergreen tree:  originally part of pagan tradition celebrating the winter solistice representing the end of winter; converted pagans kept the tradition
• Gifts:  stand for the gifts the Wisemen brought to Baby Jesus
• Holly:  another tradition carried over from the converted pagans who believed the green holly was a promise the sun would return; early French and English families hung holly over their doors to symbolize a home which celebrated Christ’s birth
• Reindeer & Santa Claus:  St. Nicholas, a real person/bishop who was declared a saint, chose the reindeer to pull his sleigh as he gave presents to the children and needy people
• Star:  the Star of Bethlehem which guided the Three Wisemen to Baby Jesus
• Gold:  a precious metal associated with the power of kings
• Frankincense:  a resin from a rare and sacred tree used to make incense
• Myrrh:  a resin from a shrub used to make perfume

Interestingly enough, among all these symbols of Christmas, there are no snowmen, no sleds, no cardinals, no farms, no little white churches found among the fields of snow, no ice skaters, no puppies, kittens or penguins.  All these are other images I find in the cards scattered around me.  My symbols are not primarily the Christian images which could be sending out the message that Jesus was born a man to bring God’s message of loving one another really are sending out the warm fuzzy type of greeting associated more with the meteorological season of winter here in our community than anything.

What should I do?  Do I trash all my cards and find new ones?  Maybe the images on my cards do send a message.  Maybe, in a not-so-direct manner, my cards show the receiver that I am happy and that even in the midst of winter it is the small joys in life that enriches my life.  My values are reflected in the images, just not the value of my faith.

If I review the images based on the cards, I find hidden messages.  For instance, in each card is the evergreen tree.  Not one card is missing some form of evergreen, holly, and even mistletoe.   The winter months can be beautiful, but the hope of life eternal is there in the evergreens that surround us.

Another image in the cards are the nature elements.  Almost every one of them includes birds—cardinals, chickadees, geese, and even penguins.  Oddly not one dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit.  Maybe the Holy Spirit is represented by all birds, whether they can fly or not, i.e. the penguins.

The images in our cards may speak louder than the words.  We, as Christians, find joy in so many places.  Joy comes in the Aurora Borealis, which swirls around the stars to the north.  Joy comes from kids running and playing in the snow and building snowmen.  Joy comes from the warmth of a fire in the fireplace where we curl up with our kittens and puppies.  Joy comes from skating on a frozen pond with friends.  The images in many Christmas cards show joy, the joy we find in our hearts because we believe in Jesus Christ.

The Christmas cards, which is a custom that began with Sir Henry Cole sending out 1,000 special designed cards he had printed in 1843, (according to the “Apples for the Teacher” website) do speak for us.  The images say so much about us, but we can do more.  As you sign those cards, address and stamp the envelopes, seal them with a prayer.  If you write an annual letter, share what a difference God has made in your life—what blessings can you share.  As you place the cards in the mailbox, close the box with a prayer of thanksgiving for all the friends and family you have in your life.  Let the prayer ask for God to take care of them, even ask God to protect the mail carriers which handle the cards along their journey.

The Old Testament prophets had only their voices to send out the message of Jesus’ birth.  We have so many ways to share the good news.  Take the images we share through the mail, and live them.  Make sure that your life, the images you present face to face with others, mirrors your belief in the reason for the season.  Do not let the hustle and bustle of the holiday wreck the image of Christ in your life.  You know the good news of Jesus’ birth in the manger; show it.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We are ending our worship together today, but we know that the images we share in this sacred space can be shared outside those doors.  Help us to share the message of Christ’s birth in the images we present not only in our cards, but in our lives.  Thank you for the gift of your son because it truly brings joy into our lives.  –Amen

Consider the images in Luke 1: 26-38

^26-28In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:

Good morning!

You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,

Beautiful inside and out!

God be with you.

^29-33She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.

He will be great,

be called ‘Son of the Highest.’

The Lord God will give him

the throne of his father David;

He will rule Jacob’s house forever—

no end, ever, to his kingdom.”

³⁴Mary said to the angel, “But how? I’ve never slept with a man.”

³⁵The angel answered,

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

the power of the Highest hover over you;

Therefore, the child you bring to birth

will be called Holy, Son of God.

^36-38“And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.”

And Mary said,

Yes, I see it all now:

I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve.

Let it be with me

just as you say.

Then the angel left her.               –The Message

Christmas Cards: the season, the reason

given on Sunday, November 29, 2009

 

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Thanksgiving break is over and the workweek is ahead.  We have had family, turkey dinners, football, lazy afternoon naps, shopping and the shift to a new season—Christmas.  Just a few days, but we do so much.  One goal may be to get those Christmas cards and letters started if not done.  At least I always think that it should be done before I get into the last few weeks of the school’s semester and all the rushing around to get things done for Christmas; unfortunately, I typically do not get the cards done.

Still Christmas cards are on my to do list and it triggered me into thinking a bit more seriously about the cards themselves.  For instance, did you ever think about God’s Christmas card?  Look back at the Old Testament verses in Isaiah and Jeremiah.  These prophetic words were spoken hundreds of years before Jesus was even born; yet the prophets were sending out the first messages that Christ was coming:

Isaiah 40:3 ³ The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“ Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make straight in the desert

A highway for our God.  (NKJV)

Jeremiah 33:14-16 ¹⁴ ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD,

‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:

¹⁵ ‘ In those days and at that time

I will cause to grow up to David

A Branch of righteousness;

He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved,

And Jerusalem will dwell safely.

And this is the name by which he will be called:

THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  (NKJV)

Obviously the prophets were trying to prepare the Israelites that Christ would be coming, but so many did not hear the message.

I know that when I hear someone say that something is going to happen like an earthquake here in Missouri any day, I have a tendency to dismiss it and not think about the reality of it.  The fact that the message sent by the prophets to the people living around the Jordan River and even the east coastline of the Mediterranean Sea hundreds of years before Christ was born must not have taken the message very seriously either.

Today, over 2,000 years after Christ was really born, we are still living in a society that skeptics still disregard the significance of the prophets’ messages.  As practicing Christians who show up at church each week to worship, the significance of the prophets’ messages seems as important today as it did last year, five years ago, 25 years ago, even 75 years ago.  We grew up in homes where the season was the reason for our lives.  We grew up knowing that the season is the reason we celebrate Christ’s birth even 2,000 years later.  We certainly do not celebrate our own birthdays to the same extent because we are simply Christians who believe, not Christ who changed the world by one simple rule:  Love one another.

We select Christmas cards that share the sentiments we feel during this season.  We send the cards to those of our family and friends who share our feelings about the season.  We renew relationships, we continue relationships, and we find relationships in the messages on the cards and the histories included in the notes and letters we receive.  Christmas cards become treasured little historical records for us.  The question, though, is does the reason for the season reflect in the cards?  The question we need to ask is do our Christmas cards share our sentiment about the significance of Christmas?  If we were to send the Christmas cards to those who do not know about Christ, would they be read and heard or read and ignored?

I have to admit that I went back to the Christmas cards that I bought and looked at them more carefully.  My tendency is to select a variety of cards to send to different friends and family members that reflect how I know them or how they know me.  The images on the cards are the eye catchers, but the sentiments must also share a significant image to the reader.  As I looked back over the cards I have picked, I started realizing how many really do not directly mention the reason for the season.  Listen to some of them:

• May the warmth of friendship and the wonders of the season add special joy to your holidays.
• Wishing you warm winter moments…bright Christmas memories.
• May Christmas surround you with beauty, touch you with warmth, and fill you with joy.
• May this Christmas season bring you special moments and happy memories.

The words may mention Christmas and allude to the reason, but they certainly do not spell it out in clear, concrete ideas.  I may be guilty of not sharing the true meaning of Christmas by just sending out the platitudes, the soft-sell words on my Christmas cards.

True, Christmas is a season in which family and friends reconnect.  We give gifts, we gather for meals, we may even drops some coins in the Salvation Army kettles, but how often do we do these things with Christ in the center of it.  Do we say the words that reconnect us to the reason for the season?

As we go through the advent season, I hope we do see Christ in the center of all the special events, the meals, and even the gift giving.  Are we honestly sharing Christ or have we lost Christ?

The Christmas cards I send are typically sent to those who know Christ in their lives.  The significance of one word—Christmas—probably is not lost on most of the receivers.  Looking at those same sentiments knowing that the addressees on the card do know Christ can certainly change the emphasis in the words.  Look at these same words with Christ’s message as the central idea:

• May the warmth of friendship and the wonders of the season add special joy to your holidays.
• Wishing you warm winter moments…bright Christmas memories.
• May Christmas surround you with beauty, touch you with warmth, and fill you with joy.
• May this Christmas season bring you special moments and happy memories.

The difference in reading is subtle, but I believe the difference is tremendous.  Christmas is Christ’s birthday.  It is a means to keep the focus on the reason for the season.  We should never let Christ out of Christmas.  The cards and letters we send this season need to keep the reason in them.  There are too many other messages bombarding our families, our friends, and us that are outnumbering the message of Christ.

This year, read the Christmas cards with Christ in the center.  When you write your notes and letters, add a line or two about how Christ is the center of your life.  Think about sending a card to someone who may not know Christ because we have a message to share which is so spectacular that we want everybody to have the gift of Christ in their own lives.

Then, as the year changes and we move past Christmas and into 2010, let’s make the season year round.  Let’s look for the little ways we can send Christ messages out year round.  For instance, many of the emails I get now have a sentiment or a web connection that is part of the signature in each mailing.  I use the phrase: Love God, love life, love one another. Maybe there is a little extra I could add like a favorite verse or at least the identifying book, chapter and verse such as Philippians 4:13 which has been on the bulletins all year.

When you send a note to someone, maybe add you favorite verse under your name.  Maybe you can find some cards or stationary that reflects your faith.  I am not sure of all the ways you might keep the reason for the season in your communications year round.

As a church, maybe we can identify other means of sharing the reason for the season year round.  I know we have been thinking about new signs, maybe the signs are inspirational as well as connectional.  We live in a world so full of words and images; we just need to see how to use them to keep Christ in focus.  Our actions definitely speak volumes, but so do our signs, our buildings, our prayers, and our outreach in and outside of the church itself.  The church that keeps Christ as the reason for the season keeps Christ in the center year round.  As you send out those Christmas cards this month, let your mind explore new ideas to keep Christ the reason for our season of faith.

Dear God, the father,

Thank you for the gift of your son.  We look forward to the celebration of his birth, but we also want others to feel the excitement and the love we feel by having you in the center of our lives.  We know that the season is brief, but the reason lasts year round.  Help us find ways to give the gift of God to those who still have not received your grace in their lives.  –Amen

The New Testament reason for the season…

Luke 1:12-20

¹²Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in fear.

^13-15But the angel reassured him, “Don’t fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You’re going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He’ll achieve great stature with God.

^15-17“He’ll drink neither wine nor beer. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother’s womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God’s arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he’ll get the people ready for God.”

¹⁸Zachariah said to the angel, “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.”

^19-20 But the angel said, “I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth. Every word I’ve spoken to you will come true on time—God’s time.”  (The Message)

Turkey, Comfort and God

given on Sunday, November 8, 2009

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The Annual Turkey Dinner is over, and all that is on my mind is turkey—well and pie.  I guess in a way, the month of November just might as well be called the month of Turkey.  Now that may seem a bit silly, but think about it.  Fundraisers often become turkey dinners.  Fundraisers try to get as much money together as possible to purchase turkeys for the local food pantries.  Turkey is economical.  Turkey is healthy.  Not to mention the fact that turkey has become equated to our Thanksgiving holiday.  Why turkey?  Why not ham?  Why not Belgian waffles?

I suppose we could research the topic, but I see something else in turkey.  I see comfort.  The season may indicate a reason that turkeys are available, much like deer season brings venison.  Turkeys can be seen in the recently harvested cornfield picking up the grain for their meals.  Turkey can be roasted and feed a full family, maybe several generations at once.  Turkey leftovers can provide a number of other meals, too, such as soup, turkey tetrazzinni, and turkey pot pie.  This is one staple of our American diets that seems to offer so many options.  Turkey is one of our classic comfort foods.

Certainly the title of the sermon seemed a bit perplexing, but the idea that has gelled all week with me is that we often need comfort and how do we meet that need?  We certainly look for comfort foods, comfortable clothes, comfortable chairs, comfortable people, and comfortable routines.  I am sure the list of comfort items or situations continues each with our own twist, but I think we may be overlooking the key to finding comfort—God.

In our hymnal there are 33 listings alone under the category “comfort.”  As you can see by the bulletin, several are our favorites.  Even the 23^rd Psalm is listed twice among those titles—one in King James Version.  In the index of my Life Application Bible, there are 12 readings listed of which four are from the New Testament and eight are from the Old Testament.  In the concordance 19 are listed under the title “comfort (ed) (s)” which is followed by “comforter(s)” under which there are an additional four listings.

Why do we not say, “Oh, I turned to the Bible because I was having such a bad day that I needed some comfort.”  Instead, we think that we had such a bad day that all we need is chocolate.  Why do we call up our closest friend to talk through all the troubles that are raging through our mind, and we need the comfort of their ear, their advice, or their shoulder?  Why don’t we call up God in prayer and talk it out with him?

Those questions bring us right back to November and turkey.  For some reason, November has traditionally been a mentally low month for me, and I am guilty of complaining about the loss of the colorful world we live in during the spring, summer and fall.  I dread the dreary skies, the grey trees, the brown grass, and the harvested fields turning to that dried, aged, old refuse rather than the bright yellow straw or the fuzzy soybean stalks or the light airy corn shucks.  I seem to remember all the negatives that have built up in the past few weeks and months and fail to see the glories for this time of year.

I seek the comfort that typically gets wrapped up in a turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy topped off with pumpkin pie and whipped cream.  Those meals taste good on my tongue and fill me up from the inside out.  The cold breezes and the grey skies disappear behind sleepy eyelids as the comfort food heals from the inside out.

The need for comfort and the different sources of comfort has filled my thoughts all week.  I tried and tried to tie the concept of thanks to comfort and to God in a catchy little phrase I could use as a title, but all that failed.  The final connecting thought and title came down to “Turkey, Comfort and God.”  A bit disconnected at first sight, but the connections are there.

Obviously turkey is connected to comfort through our tummies.  Of course, turkey is not the only comfort food—hot homemade yeast rolls, chocolate in almost any form, a good cup of tea—or coffee, I suppose—hot baked potatoes or mashed, sweet green peas—frozen, not canned–chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pie, banana bread right out of the oven.  The list goes on and each one of us has our particular additions and/or deletions from the list of comfort foods.

The needed connection to comfort is also painfully obvious for each of us.  Each one of us has a list of irritations, trying circumstances, health issues, or disappointments.  Each one of us seeks ways to feel better or at least handle the situation without a temper display or making a grievous mistake.  And despite all we know about our faith, about God and his teachings, we seldom jump up and go right to God in prayer.  We seldom sit down in our recliners and kick back with the Bible in our hands to read and to hear God guide us through the situation.

On the bulletin’s cover, you can see the image of comfort food.  You know, the well-roasted turkey, the mashed potatoes, the cranberries, the green beans and the list grows.  But we need to remember that comfort really comes from within ourselves.  In our scripture today, we pulled out the verses which focus on the word ‘comfort’ yet the entire psalm reminds us of the value, the comfort we find in God’s words.

This psalm reflects 22 sets of images to help God’s people learn the value of the Bible’s words.  I know that the young people who went to school at the temple must have dreaded trying to memorize all the words of the Bible.  The students then did not have printed words available and depended on the memory of their teachers, of their parents, and of themselves.  The method of using the alphabet to help them reminds me of the early primers used by our own ancestors.  Today’s students have so many distractions and so many different stimuli that memorization is challenging, not to mention how difficult it is for students with long term memory issues.

Using the Hebrew alphabet was one mnemonic device that worked.  Think of how these students committed the value of God’s word to memory.  They had a mental book of rules, verses, hymns, and stories to fall back on when they needed comfort.  I have very few verses committed to memory.  I have trouble keeping long pieces of information memorized and available at the tip of my mind to pull up for my comfort on those long days where everything seems to have gone wrong.

We do need some skills to help us when we want comfort.  I suppose the optimum would be to have a chocolate chip cookie, a cup of cold milk, and a few Bible verses to fill the comfort need.  I do have one, and in our household we call it Mom’s Verse.  I learned over those last months of her life Mom did have a favorite verse, Isaiah 40:31:

…but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.  [NIV]

Interestingly enough, my kids and I now use that verse, too.  There are times when we miss her so much that we find comfort in knowing her verse.  Another generation now hears those words and finds comfort, not only from a long absent grandmother, but from God, too.

Comfort comes in so many forms.  Look at the second picture on the bulletin:  two very comfortable dogs, stretched out nose to nose on the couch.  They are not worried about a thing.  They do not have any sheep to tend, no squirrels to chase, and no ducks to retrieve.  They are settled comfortably on a sofa (in the original picture it is on denim upholstery) and apparently have not a worry.

Granted, we have our own pictures of comfort.  I like to think our pets could tell us so much.  They depend on us, the owners, to meet their needs whether it is food, companionship, health care, or shelter.  We, too, look to God for those same qualities in life.  What we have not done is turn over our needs to God’s care.  We have probably all told someone who is unhappy or dealing with a difficult problem to say a prayer and turn it over to God.

Letting go, once we do share our worries with God, is one of the hardest skills a Christian has to develop.  The dogs in the picture certainly do not have trouble with letting go, do they?  Looking at the verses in Psalm 119, we can see the reminders of how to let go and let God:

Remember your word to your servant,

For you have given me hope.

My comfort in my suffering is this:

Your promise preserves my life.

The arrogant mock me without restraint,

But I do not turn from your law.

I remember your ancient laws, O Lord,

And I find comfort in them. …

 

The words remind us and provide the key to keeping faith in God:  learning the scriptures and applying the advice to our own situations.  We must develop a routine, a system to read scriptures and/or devotionals.  If we fail to read these verses, these chapters and these books, we are not equipping ourselves with the knowledge to find comfort.

Thank goodness, though, for comfort food, for best friends who listen through the night as we share our bad days.  Thank goodness we have God’s words and listen for him to talk with us as we try to help others find comfort.  The final picture of Jesus holding a young child on his shoulder demonstrates the value of human contact.  We find human contact a tremendous comfort when we struggle with the trials of our earthly life.  We find the comfort in parents, cousins, aunts and uncles.  We find friends we can depend on when the demands on our health or our lives just seems too much.

Our role as Christians is to serve as God’s eyes, hands, and legs.  We are to see this world, the circumstances and the people, through his eyes so that we may find those who need comfort.  Knowing who needs comfort then calls us to action to serve.  Each one of us has our own skills, our own talents to use in service.

I rely on my family, true, but I also have friends and co-workers who help me handle the demands of this life.  The three friends from college, the ones I refer to as the Jewels, each is so uniquely different, yet we all have a deep-seeded faith.  We know that God is our source of comfort and strength, but we also know that God wants us to help others, too.  We know that should anything happen to one or another of the four of us, we have God, but we have each other, too.

Dear God,

Today, as we continue on towards Thanksgiving thank you for all that you provide:  the words of the Bible, your people, your grace, and you love.  We know that the days are not always easy and we will have trials to manage.  Thank God for the truth, guidance and comfort found in your words.  And, as we sit down to another turkey dinner, thank you God, for friends, family, and even our pets for the comfort they offer, too.  We see them as your arms wrapping around us in comfort.  May we, too, offer comfort to others, as you would have us do.         –Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for Earthly Saints

given on Sunday, November 1, 2009

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Today begins November.  November means Thanksgiving to me even though there is a day devoted to elections, another day for remembering a war and our veterans.  I even have three generations of birthdays to remember—my sister-in-law, husband’s son, and now my granddaughter’s–and all of that happens before Thanksgiving.  This year the first Sunday in Advent concludes November.

All of this and today, the first day, the calendar reads:  All Saints Day.  I decided there was only one way to connect all of these pieces into one sermon:  Today we thank God for the earthly saints which have guided us through our lives and helped us grow spiritually.

No set of requirements or great feats is required for us to identify those unique individuals who have introduced us to Christian life.  Each one of us has someone who has taken us to church for the first time.  In most cases that person is a parent, but not always.  My own mother was Presbyterian, but when she agreed to marry Dad, she also agreed to join the Methodist Church.  She did put in one stipulation:  She would not go to the small, rural church that all of his family attended.  Rather she insisted that they go to the church in town so her children would have a broader social group—at church.

I am sure that Mom was not thinking about what a dramatic decision that was at the time; but in my analysis of that decision these many years later, I am sure it was instrumental in my faith journey.  While attending the non-family rural church, I attended one that brought me into contact with a wider range of individuals.  I stepped away from the two-mile radius of aunts, uncles, and cousins, into the one in town—a full eight miles away.  Today that sounds almost ridiculous, but 55 years ago, the difference was a cultural leap and bound difference.  Today, living in Johnson County, that eight miles is about how distant the house is from one side of the community to the other, and the distance between my house to our church here is twice or three times that.

Still the decision my mom and dad made to change the location of their membership brought me into direct contact with an entirely different set of mentors.  Among them was Mrs. Jean Jones.  [Now I have struggled all week to bring her full name up into memory and I just could not.  It took three days just to get her husband’s name to surface, and then last night I added her son and daughter’s name, but it was not until Saturday morning that the name literally popped up as I started typing the Mrs.]  Jean Jones was a middle school teacher, but while she waited to get into the school system, she took on the teaching of our high school Sunday School class.

I am sure she has no idea the importance of her decision; I just know that in terms of my spiritual development it was a monumental decision.  Until then my ideas about God and faith were pretty much determined by Mom and Dad—along with the basic Methodist curriculum for elementary kids.  Mrs. Jones really shared and demonstrated her faith very simply but in a manner that a teenager heard.

What makes a saint?  According to the Life Application Bible’s concordance, a saint is “those declared righteous by God:” such a simple statement, but one that is packed with potential.  Is it not possible for us, right here on this earth, to identify earthly saints?  I did not find a list of qualifications, but the Merriam Dictionary on-line outlined the various definitions of a saint as:

1: one officially recognized especially through canonization

as preeminent for holiness

2 a: one of the spirits of the departed in heaven

b: angel 1a

3 a: one of God’s chosen and usually Christian people

b(capitalized): a member of any of various Christian bodies;

specifically : latter-day saint

4: one eminent for piety or virtue

5: an illustrious predecessor

I think we can identify saints right here with us as well as those who have preceded us into heaven.

When I take time to look back over my list of spiritual mentors, I know that they have been “one of God’s chosen,” I know that they have exhibited piety and virtue simply by the example they live right here beside me.  I do not think it is necessary for them to be evaluated along some long list of qualifications to determine whether they are saints or not.  I know that Mrs. Jones quietly but very deliberately taught me about living a Christian life in this part of the universe.  She opened up an understanding for me that stuck.  So did my mom.  So did a long list of everyday people who demonstrated faith in action.

I have asked others who has been instrumental in their spiritual development.  BJ talked about her aunt:

The person that inspired me the most was my Aunt Bessie in Poteet, Texas.  Every year when school was out I would go spend the summer with her and my cousin Julia Ann who was 3 months younger than me.

 

Aunt Bessie made sure we were at Church every Sunday and Wednesday evenings.  She took us to Choir Practice and made sure we attended Vacation Bible School.

 

Everyday she fixed a huge lunch for her husband and field hands.  As she prepared the food she was always singing “What A Friend We Have in Jesus”.  To this day I think of her when that song is sung, and sometimes I cry during it.  She was a blessing in my life.

 

Now each of you are sitting there thinking about your own childhood.   Each of you are going back to your summers and thinking about what you did.  You start hearing the words of that hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and suddenly you are triggering all these thoughts about others in your life that have indeed taught you something about faith.

I remember a summer youth minister who came from the Office of Creative Ministries and spent a summer in my hometown.  We really were not that far apart in age.  She was in college and I was going into my senior year.  I have lost her name, but I remember she came from the boot heel.  She spent her summer working with our MPYF even going on our summer campout.  My summer experience with her led me to work for the Office of Creative Ministries while I was in college.

As you start remembering your own saints today, I ask you to also think about your role as a Christian in other peoples’ lives.  Do you think they will stop and have stories about how you helped them along in their spiritual journey?  Do you think they see you as living out your faith so that you might be described “declared righteous by God”?

Sue identified one of her family as righteous:

My grandmother was very influential with me.  She was a devote Baptist but really a great lady.  She always had the entire Sunday School come out to the farm in the summer for a Day on the Farm.  They went to a large church in the Quad Cities so there were bunches of kids.  She never lost her temper and always loved kids.

 

As I read over her email, I realized that my mom shared a dream with Sue’s grandmother.  Different generations, I know, but the same love for nature.  They loved this world so much that they wanted everybody, especially those trapped in the concrete jungle of the city, to experience the earth in all its glory—dirt, grass, trees, animals, flowers, and even the toil it takes to work this Garden of Eden, so to speak, that God has provided us.

Such a simple concept, yet today more and more does not see the role of protector of our earth.  Mom, including many others such as Sue’s grandmother, knew we are to care for this earth as it cares for us.  That seems like a qualification for a saint to me.

Oddly enough, the individuals we have shared are not preachers.  No where in the definitions does it say that one must receive a degree in divinity or complete any other formal training to be a saint.  I would gather we have all seen “holy” individuals who we would never consider adding to the list of saints in our lives, but there are some who demonstrate saintly qualities in the pulpit but more importantly outside the church’s closed doors.

Stop and think about who has served as your pastors in the past.  Each of you has at least one who pops into mind as being special in your life.  There are qualities about that individual who reached you spiritually and has left lessons that stuck into your long-term memory.  Maybe that individual was a leader in the community and lived out a Christ-like role that you chose to immolate.

Today’s scripture from Revelations may not seem to connect to well to the idea of earthly saints, but read them one more time:

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

³ I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

 

These first three verses spoke to me as I thought about the earthly saints in my life.  I know that those individuals created a world for me that is very similar to the one described in those first few verses.  My new Jerusalem is actually the world in which I live.  It is a world that I see through God’s eyes.  The people are those who deserve God’s love.  The earthly saints I know are and have lived right there among God’s people caring for them.

Today may be “All Saints’ Day” where most focus on the people who have left this earth and have already joined God in eternal life.  We see in Revelations that the image John had for us is full of concrete images.   We believe in that picture of beauty and blessings which await us, but while I am waiting, I am living in a world filled with beauty and saints which brings such joy to me.

⁵ And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. ⁷ All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

 

Let us leave today with all the memories of our personal, earthly saints.  Let us thank God that we have been blessed by their presence in our lives.  Let us work to follow their examples as we try to live our lives following Christ and looking at this world through God’s eyes.  Let us quietly work to preserve this earth so its beauty and its fruits may sustain others.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for leading us through this earthly life.  Thank you for the guidance and the service of your followers who serve as earthly saints.  Thank you for allowing us to experience the joy of living on this earth.  Thank you for walking with us in our lives so that we may see this earth and the people on this earth through your eyes.  May we follow in your footsteps and help guide others to the New Jerusalem.

–Amen

How do you praise God in the rain?

given on Sunday, October 18, 2009

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The rain has really gotten to me this week.  I suppose it would not be so frustrating if the sun could have popped out at least once a day.  The grey sky, the multiple levels of clouds, the drizzle, the downpours, and the cold have taken a toll on me.  I started looking for ways to have sunshine.

Then I worked on reading the lectionary for the week.  I could not find a bright side to the verses in Job, Hebrews, or Mark, but then I began reading Psalm 104.  The words sounded so joyous but I had a hard time feeling very picked up.  I turned and asked Bruce just how do you praise God in the rain.

Now think about that for a minute.  We have not seen the beautiful colors of the fall yet.  All we have seen is rain!  But wait, the color is there.  The trees are indeed dressing up.  The maples, especially the hard maples, are turning those rich, radiant reds and oranges that contrast with the dark bark of the limbs.

The oaks are turning colors, too.  They are turning from the bright green of the heated summer to the yellowish, almost polka dot leaves with the brown-capped acorns cupped in the small twigs and leaves right before they fall to the littered ground.

And what about the black gum trees?  I saw one that was larger than most; and its burgundy, almost black, leaves were illumined by ghost-like silvery grey.  The rain and cool temperatures almost seem to have frozen the leaves to the trees’ limbs.

Still the constant drone of rain on the metal roof at school or the cold wind blowing in the opening and closing doors has taken a toll on me.  I struggle with long, drawn-out days, and it is frightening to think that the days are actually shorter—at least according to the sunrise and sunset.

The question remains, though.  How does one praise God in the rain?  Psalm 104 may guide us by providing us a reminder of all the glories that we do have surrounding us.  Sometimes the rain just slows us down and makes us take time to remember just where God is in our lives.  Yet rain is key to our lives so we praise God for the rain even when we think we have had way too much.

As you continue to read through the verses of Psalm 104, you find the language so colorful—much like the autumn leaves and mums.  And then, I saw something else:  the creation story in living color.  Verses 11 through 18 list all the wonderful creatures that have filled this earth.  Tucked away in this section is verse 13:

¹³ You send rain on the mountains from your heavenly home,

and you fill the earth with the fruit of your labor.

How could I be so blind or narrow-minded not to remember this!  All I have been doing is whining, not praising the Lord.

Still the psalm continues.  The verses from 18 to 31 continue to describe the earth as the delightful creation of God.  The earth is populated by so many creatures which demonstrate their uniqueness, their adaptability, their beauty and God has given us charge over them.  Rainy days are part of that delicate life cycle which sustains all living creatures here on this earth.

How do we praise God on the eighth day of clouds, rain and cold?  We must keep our focus on him.  When the rains hit, we need to take a moment and thank God for that rain.  Sometimes it takes days of rain to force us inside our homes to sit, rest, and re-prioritize our lives.  The top priority, which we so often drop to the bottom of the list, is to praise God.

Rainy days are restful days.  We cannot go out and do the yard work or the fieldwork.  We cannot go out and play in cold rain without reaching a point we are chased back inside to the warmth of a hot shower or a cup of hot cocoa.  We tend to come in and complain about that chore we wanted to get done before the rain or complain how the rain is ruining our lives since we cannot go to the lake or get on the bikes and go.  One might be tempted to say rain is one of God reminding us who is in charge—God is!

Are there other ways to praise God on these rainy days?  Sure there are, but sometimes we have to be reminded what we can do.  By carefully adjusting our mindset into a praise mode rather than a complain mode, we can see other options for these rainy days.

At school, rainy days typically mean more students tend to sit more quietly and work more productively.  Yet after about the second or third day, they begin fighting the quiet, productive pace.  They move into an agitated state.  They cannot sit still.  They crash at the table or they stay at home.  Teaching changes its focus, too, from praise to consequences.  The teachers and the students must work to keep focused and positive.

The psalmist says it so clearly:

²⁷ They all depend on you

to give them food as they need it.

²⁸ When you supply it, they gather it.

You open your hand to feed them,

and they are richly satisfied.

²⁹ But if you turn away from them, they panic.

When you take away their breath,

they die and turn again to dust.

³⁰ When you give them your breath, life is created,

and you renew the face of the earth.

Whether we are students and teachers, whether we are farmers or factory workers, whether we are doctors and nurses or store clerks we need rainy days to praise God.  We need the rainy days to force us to rest and remember that God is our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer.

On rainy days, we must work to keep our focus on God.  When we focus on God, we are moved to praise him because we see this world through his eyes.  We see the needs of others before we see our own needs.  We see the beauty around us rather than the muddiness in our lives.  How do we praise God on rainy days?  We do just that—praise him!  We turn to the Bible for the words as we find them in Psalm 104 today:

³¹ May the glory of the Lord continue forever!

The Lord takes pleasure in all he has made!

³² The earth trembles at his glance;

the mountains smoke at his touch.

³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.

I will praise my God to my last breath!

³⁴ May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

³⁵ Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth;

let the wicked disappear forever.

Let all that I am praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

We may face more rainy days this month, this year; but we know that God is good and has a purpose for everything.  Our purpose is to see the world through God’s eyes and to serve.  With that focus, we praise him, even on rainy days.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We see the glory of your world all around us even in the rain.  We have complained about the days lately, but we also know that the rain is so vital for this earth.  We thank you for wrapping us up in such autumn days when the splendor shakes in the trees and the smells waif through the air and the sun lets all your radiance glow.  Forgive us for our lack of focus and for our whining, but thank you for the words of the psalmist to open our eyes to your loving care.                                                       –Amen

Praise Season

given on Sunday, October 11, 2009

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I suppose it was inevitable.  There is no way to avoid using that scripture.  You know the one I am talking about, the one about the seasons.  Here we are rushing through the seasons this year.   We are in those typical, fall days when harvest is underway, the days are getting shorter, and winter is rushing in on us.

Those verses we somewhat have memorized are so familiar, but do we understand, truly understand those words?  Just understanding the setting adds a dimension we may not have considered before.  The Bible places this book after Psalms and Proverbs, right before Isaiah.  It is almost hidden, and the words, which wrap around this book, are filled with hope, guidance, and promise.  Ecclesiastes tone does not seem to fit beside Proverbs because it is King Solomon’s inner thoughts filled with uncertainty, with doubt, with questions about God and faith rather than those words of advice from confident leaders.

Look at those words that begin the third chapter:

“² A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

³ A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

⁴ A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

⁵ A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

⁶ A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

⁷ A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

⁸ A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace.”

We have heard these verses used in songs, in speeches, in previous Bible studies and Sunday school materials.  We hear it all too often during moments of grieving.  Still King Solomon continues in his thoughts and the verses which follow need to be considered:

^9” What do people really get for all their hard work? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. ¹¹ Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. ¹² So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. ¹³ And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

¹⁴ And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him.”

If these words are taken apart and looked at under a microscope, we see Solomon’s questions.  First, “What do people really get for all their hard work?”  Those words sound challenging.  The way we read it depends on how optimistic or how pessimistic we are feeling.  Listen to what happens when you put emphasis on different words:  “What do people really get….  What do people get for all their hard work …  What do people get for all their hard work?”   See what happens?  In my experience, I have used that exercise to get students to listen for changes in tone.  In this case it can show how much questioning Solomon had.  Solomon may have been wise, but he was a man—not God.  He had to go through the same questioning we do.

Yet the other words in verses 10-14, I can imagine how Solomon began seeing through God’s eyes:  “I have seen the burden God has placed on us all.”  The burden of taking care of this earth may be a heavy one, but when everybody works together the burden is light.

Reading on to verse 12: “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.”  These words provide the rationale for why we have been given the responsibility of taking care of this earth and its people.  What God has made is indeed beautiful.  Look at this world we have today.  We have had one of the most phenomenal summers this year.  We have seen green grass all summer.  We have seen some of the most gorgeous blossoms, wildflowers and carefully tended.  The clouds and the temperatures have awed us this summer.

And, as we all know, since everything has its own time, we know summer turns into fall and fall turns into winter.  The cycle of life continues.  And our responsibilities continue.  Sometimes we wonder why the chore list never ends.  Remember what Solomon adds:  “He (God) has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”   Solomon seems to know what God plans, but he knows people in general—the rest of us—do not get the big picture.  What is the full scope of God’s work?

Solomon may be working through all his human uncertainties, but he also wonders if others know how to manage this uncertainty.  He tries to explain that even if we do not completely understand, we can do as he does:

^“12 So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can.”  We are to look at the beauty of this earth, and be happy.

Today we gather here on an October Sunday among friends.  We are to follow Solomon’s wise advice—be happy and enjoy, but we also must take care of this world God has provided us.  We must take care of our brothers and sisters in Christ, but also all those surrounding us who are hurting—hunting for meaning and purpose in their lives.  They have no idea that they are hunting for God.

Today we are out here in the community.  We are comfortable; we are happy; and we are among friends.   This takes us to the next couple of verses:  “¹³ And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.”  Harvest time in our communities means the hard work is almost over.  We are nearing that time of year when the farming calendar ends and a lull occurs.  The crops are harvested.  The fields are prepared for the next year.  The cattle have had their calves, and we go into a quieter time.  We enjoy “the fruits of our labor.”

Today we sit out among the farmlands of our communities.  We sense the importance of our labor.  We need rest from our labor.  We need to celebrate, to praise God and to thank him for all the wonders in this grand world we are so fortunate to live in.  We must try and understand the big picture as Solomon tried to explain:

“¹⁴ And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear [revere] him.”

We may think we know what eternity holds for us, but I suspect we are just seeing a piece of it.  When I can drive down the highways and watch the splendor of autumn bursting out in the trees or when I open my ears and hear the birds singing, I am filled with joy and it is easy to praise God.  When I hear of a tragedy or see the pictures of horror whether it is war or nature’s fury, my heart cries out.  Still, in the midst of misery, I see God working through the hands of his people regardless of their faith, their nationality, their size, or their history.  And I know there is so much more to the big picture.

The final words of Ecclesiastes 3 seem to explain the big picture.  We can hear King Solomon talking out loud about the uncertainties, about all that we see here on this earth; and we see how he advises us to accept what God asks of us:

“¹⁵ What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

¹⁶ I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt! ¹⁷ I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everyone, both good and bad, for all their deeds.”

¹⁸ I also thought about the human condition—how God proves to people that they are like animals. ¹⁹ For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless! ²⁰ Both go to the same place—they came from dust and they return to dust. ²¹ For who can prove that the human spirit goes up and the spirit of animals goes down into the earth? ²² So I saw that there is nothing better for people than to be happy in their work. That is why we are here! No one will bring us back from death to enjoy life after we die.”

We are so fortunate to be here on this earth working with one another.  We find joy and contentment in the passing of the seasons.  We harvest and know that with God we have done well.  We come to a time to rest and we know that all is good.  This is indeed the season to praise God, to revere God, to say thanks to God.

Dear God,

Thank you.  We often find ourselves grumbling and complaining about the irritations in life.  We talk among ourselves and ask questions about why this happens or that happens, but we know we do not see your big picture.  Today, let us find the joy in our lives here on this grand earth.  Today, let us join in our praises for all that you have provided us.  Today, let us know that we are here to do your work and to be happy in it, because we have faith know that for everything there is a season.  Thank you, God, for loving us and

Faith Is Everyday

given on Sunday, October 4, 2009

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With all the business of everyday living over- whelming me this week, I found myself struggling.  I could not come up with a theme or an idea or a verse or even a hymn to use for today’s service.  Then Wednesday night, while following my nightly routine, I read the introduction for the Guidepost reading.  For six days, the topic was based on thoughts concerning faith that evolved from a small car accident.

The idea that even a car accident could connect to one’s faith in God started bubbling up in my mind and I woke up the next morning thinking how fascinating it is to see faith in something that some might use to question faith.  Faith is everyday.  Faith is getting up in the morning and seeing the sunrise.  Faith is putting on you favorite pair of jeans.

The secret of faith is that it sneaks into your life maybe as simply as being born into a Christian family which says a blessing at each meal, makes Sunday a day of rest beginning with Sunday school and worship.  For so many of us, our faith began that quietly and we just lived our lives learning that God is everywhere, in everything, in good events and in bad events.  Faith begins as just part of our everyday existence and we see no reason to question it.

Yet for others, faith comes in a life-changing event.  They are born into a family where God is missing.  They live each day struggling to find out who they are.  The cynics debate with the believers about the origins of mankind, the structure of the universe, and see the bad as evidence that there is no God.  They fail to see faith in others because they are so clouded with everyday drama that God cannot do anything for them but shed tears.

I remember a conversation with my dad many years ago.  I cannot remember the circumstances, but he was concerned why he had never had an eye-opening, Aldersgate-type epiphany or Christ-awareness moment in his life.  Now at that time I was far from understanding my calling into ministry, Mom was fighting her cancer, and I had two young children not to mention a marriage and a fulltime job.  Yet that conversation probably was a very definite “God moment.”  I certainly did not have any wisdom to share with my dad or Biblical references to rely on, but I did have the Holy Spirit as I now understand.  I told Dad that it did not matter whether he had one of those dramatic experiences because he was living his faith.

See Dad always believed.  He always said grace at each and every meal we had.  He knew God through the seasons of farming and his compassion for the cattle he raised.  He had always lived in a family who went to church every Sunday, so we went to church every Sunday.  He lived everyday with his faith.  He lived every single day knowing God was a part of his universe.

As we talked, he also told me that he did not understand why he could be driving along making his deliveries, listening to the radio, hear a story and begin crying.  My dad had no idea that he was experiencing the Holy Spirit in those moments.  At those quiet moments rolling down the roadways, he was listening with God as his filter.  He was using his faith everyday and did not even realize it.  The Holy Spirit was helping him pray for those in need.  The tears were God’s tears as he saw the pain and the agony of his children.

Faith is everyday.  We live our days knowing God is walking right there with us.  We see the world through God’s eyes.  We witness the sunrises and sunsets knowing God is with us.  We experience the change of seasons with anticipation for all the glory that we see.  We see the leaves change their colors and the late flowers bloom.  We see the snowflakes gather on the side of the road.  We see those first daffodils pop open in the bright sunshine.  We sit out under the summer night skies and watch the stars, listen to the coyotes in the distance, and we know the promises of God.

Faith is everyday.  When we are placed in those awful moments in our lives where it seems everything is falling apart, faith is still present.  Unfortunately we sometimes forget.  Knowing Mom had cancer meant knowing there was a battle ahead.  I do not think it ever occurred to me during the first six months or more that Mom, we, could lose the battle.  Instead it simply meant that we were going to have to work through it like so many other life-changing, or should I say life-challenging, events.

Mom’s faith was different than Dad’s.  I always seemed to know that Mom’s was an active one.  She talked about it.  She demonstrated it openly, not just in the house, but in the community.  I do not know if she ever had an epiphany of any type, I just know that the challenges she had worked through over her lifetime kept her faith active everyday of her life.  The cancer was just one of those experiences you had to work through.

Everyday during that battle, Mom turned to her faith.  She spent many hours reading and making notes in her Bible during the last months of her battle.  She found joy in the grandchildren even though she really could not play with them.  She thrilled at the glory of God’s natural world.  She shared her faith with the many, many friends and family members who circled around her—often expressing confusion over how could this be happening.

Faith is everyday for everybody everywhere in the world.  I look outward to the people who wrap around this globe.  Christianity began in the area that seems so small today.  Yet the message of that one baby, who was born and grew up right there among his people, living his faith everyday, talking and sharing his wisdom with the children as well as the elders at the synagogue, simply grew everyday every where until it wrapped around the globe.  The complex faith of the Israelites might have smothered Jesus’ message, but that model of faith and how it can operate on one simple rule—love one another– became a wildfire.

While reading I Corinthians 11, I saw something I had not seen before.  I first read verses 17-22 and could not understand why Paul sounded so angry and why the church would be acting like that.  I read the words with my understanding and experience of communion today.  I failed to evaluate the culture of Paul’s world.  The young church was struggling to  blend the old customs of eating and drinking during a meal with the new custom of a Christian ritual representing, reconnecting to Jesus.  Paul’s job was to teach how faith was lived everyday with new customs.

When you return to reading the passage, you realize that Paul was teaching so those first verses were reporting what problems he was hearing about the new practice of communion.  Today we are joining Christians around the world in communion.  The table is global, the faith is the same, but the cultures are different.  The seasons are different.  The environment is different.  The sanctuaries are different.  The elements are different.  The faith is not.

Everyday, everywhere, everybody who follows Christ knows how faith makes life wonderful.  Faith is everyday. every where, and for everybody whether in your family or for someone living on the opposite side of the globe.  Faith can be quiet or faith can be loud.  Faith can be private or can be public.  Faith is everyday, as comfortable as the sun shining on your face.  Faith is everyday, as comfortable as the easy chair is in your living room.  Faith is everyday, as comfortable as leaning over the fence in your yard talking to your neighbor.

As we move to the practice of communion, we see faith connecting us in this holy space to those everywhere at this moment also joining in the holy feast.  We return to the very beginning of our faith.  We sit at the Lord’s Table right there with the apostles, their friends, and Jesus.  We are all following our everyday routines not knowing that tonight what our people have prophesied for thousands of years is about to unfold before our very eyes.  We are simply having a meal and relaxing.

The original Lord’s Supper was a pivotal point in the development of Christianity.   Today, we are so used to our faith and our practices that we may not fully embrace the experience of the apostles.  They were stepping out to lead others into the New Covenant.  When Jesus stood up and asked for their attention, he asked them to commit themselves to continue leading others to live their faith.  He wanted them to know that faith in God would support them every day; and every time they broke bread together as Christians, they were to remember him.

Faith is everyday.  Your faith has brought you into the church today and it will go out the doors with you.  You are invited to join at the table along with the millions of other Christians who also actively life their faith everyday.

Dear Father,

Our faith in you is so comfortable.  Our faith is quiet and secure within us, but we know that around this earth, others struggle.  May they find peace and security in their faith.  The faith we have helps us to hear all that occurs in and around the world with a prayer in our hearts.  May our tears be your tears as we model our faith among the others in our community.  May our actions and our behaviors mirror those of your teaching.  May we be filled with the Holy Spirit as we join in communion with each other here today and other believers around this world.  –Amen

Proverbs: A Christian Manual Part III

given on Sunday, September 27, 2009

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During a casual conversation about this set of sermons on Proverbs, I heard—or should I say witnessed—one individual shot hands up and tremor saying, “Proverbs!  I studied that for 12 weeks…”  Right then and there I knew it was time to wrap up our review of Proverbs.

The decision to make this the final discussion on Proverbs does not mean the value has diminished.  Instead, I have discovered that there really is another entire role for Proverbs:  that as an Old Testament version of Bartlett’s quotations.  The value of the wise sayings is very real, much like the golden ore the prospector searches for in the streams and mountains or the Yukon or the Rocky Mountains (as well as other sites).  The lessons within the 31 chapters are timeless.  The audience remains the same—the young people, all people, and the leaders.

Proverbs is not a narrative, not a historical piece, not a book filled with genealogy, nor a literary collection of poetry.  Proverbs is a collection of edited sayings to provide readers thought provoking, sometimes even humorous guidelines for life.  Reading Proverbs will probably begin by a search of a concordance when needing Biblical advice on a specific topic or situation.

The small lessons gleaned from these chapters during the last two weeks were those each and every one of us need to keep tucked away in our consciousness.  And even as we sum up the wisdom of Proverbs today, we know there is so much more to learn from these wise sayings.  The key is to return to the words to seek God’s words to you.

Maybe one should review Proverbs 6:16-19 each year:

Here are six things God hates,

and one more that he loathes with a passion:

eyes that are arrogant,

a tongue that lies,

hands that murder the innocent,

a heart that hatches evil plots,

feet that race down a wicked track,

a mouth that lies under oath,

a troublemaker in the family.

Each year we should stop and evaluate our lives to make sure we are remaining true Christians.  These words remind us of the behaviors that God does not want any one of us to exhibit.  When I read these, I went back to the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy too, just to see how the ideas match up.  Then remember that Jesus brought us the New Covenant, the Golden Rule, or the One Commandment that covers all:  Love one another.  Treat your neighbor as you want to be treated.  The various ways of saying it does not change how simple life can be just following one rule.

Do not forget, too, the beginning framework given in Proverbs 1:7:

⁷Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God;

Only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.

God is the foundation, the source of life, and is omniscient.  In the study notes from Life Application Bible, the multiple descriptions of God are outlined, God…

…is aware of all that happens (15:3)

…knows the heart of all people (15:11; 16:2; 21:2)

…controls all things (16:33; 21:30)

…is a place of safety (18:10)

…rescues good people from danger (11:8, 21)

…condemns the wicked (11:31)

…delights in our prayers (15:8, 29)

…loves those who obey him (15:9; 22:12)

…cares for poor and needy (15:25; 22:22, 23)

…purifies hearts (17:3)

…hates evil (17:5; 21:27; 28:9)

The list creates its own sermon series and could be supported with stories of Jesus’ life here on earth.  As I read through these descriptors, I realized how the New Testament stories of Jesus demonstrate all these qualities.

But Proverbs does not stop with just explaining who God is, it also explains how we should respond or honor God as again outlined in the study notes.  Our response (to God) should be …

…to fear and reverence God (10:27; 14:26,27: 15:16; 16:6, 19:23; 28:14)

…to obey God’s Word (12:13, 19:16)

…to please God (21:3)

…to trust in God (22:17-19; 29:25)

Each of these behaviors are exemplified by the various personalities of the Old and the New Testament.

Think about this:  a wide range of Jews and Christians wrote each of the books in the entire Bible.  No one editor or even a team of editors sat down and compiled the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  The fact that all the books even survived is phenomenal, but when you add the understanding we have today of how the Bible has been compiled, translated, and discussed throughout time, the connectedness and the application of this manual is beyond human understanding.

Back to Proverbs, though:  The book just keeps on going and going.  The couplets keep listing the Christian behaviors each one of us should demonstrate today, as well as in the pre-Christian times.  God does want us to succeed so the verses even tell us what to do.  There are qualities that promote success and a good reputation:

Righteousness:

A good and honest life is a blessed memorial:

a wicked life leaves a rotten stench.  (10:7)

Hating what is false:

A good person hates false talk;

a bad person wallows in gibberish.  (13:5)

Committing all work to the Lord:

Put God I charge of your work,

then what you’ve planned will take place.  (16:3)

Loving wisdom and understanding:

Grow a wise heart—you’ll do yourself a favor;

Keep a clear head—you’ll find a good life.  (19:8)

The list continues and even lists “qualities that prevent success and cause a bad reputation.”  The wisdom continues and the fact remains that as long as we keep our focus on God, our lives Christ-centered we cannot go wrong.

The one section that I have yet to focus on is that final one—wisdom for leaders.  The initial thought might be that we do not necessarily need this because we are not leaders.  Yet each and every one of us is a leader in our community.  We are Christians who strive to lead others to Christ.  We believe that following God and his one commandment will transform the world.

Consider these leadership qualities outlined in the study notes:

diligence, trustworthy messengers, don’t penalize people for integrity, listen before answering, able to discern, listen to both sides of the story, able to stand up under adversity, able to stand up under praise.

Even reviewing the story of Solomon as he had to make a decision on the mother of the child brings almost each one of these qualities into light.  These qualities may be key for leaders in our communities, but the qualities are valuable for each one of us regardless of how we perceive our role in the community.  Do we demonstrate or model these qualities in our own homes and in our jobs?  If we use Jesus’ one commandment, we do.

Editors have identified four “tongues” or as we would better understand, “speech patterns”:  Two are positive.  Two are negative.  Each pattern has at least seven to fourteen supporting verses in Proverbs.  The four are the controlled tongue, the caring tongue, the conniving tongue, and the careless tongue.  I can see the wisdom of the first two kinds in teaching:

The Controlled Tongue:  Those with this speech pattern think before speaking, now when silence is best, and give wise advice.

The Caring Tongue:  Those with this speech pattern speak truthfully while seeking to encourage.

No doubt we should work to use those two speech patterns, but all too often we slip into the negative ones:

The Conniving Tongue:  Those with this speech pattern are filled with wrong motives, gossip, slander, and a desire to twist the truth.

The Careless Tongue:  Those with this speech pattern are filled with lies, curses, quick-tempered words—which can lead to rebellion and destruction.

In our classroom, I hear these two tongues over and over.  The Drama Queens are the worst, but then I find it so easy to fall into those two patterns, too.  When I tire, I can be careless.  When I become drained from all the negativity in my classroom, I become cynical and sarcastic which leads to even becoming a conniving tongue.

We each know our weaknesses.  We each know our strengths.  On those days when we are weary, drained, frustrated by the demands of our earthly life, we need words of encouragement.  Proverbs little couplets of wisdom may be the key.  One final sidebar to share is that listing the results of living an honest–and I add—Christian life:

Short-term results:

• Ill-gotten treasure is of no value.
• The righteous are rescued from trouble.
• The evil are trapped by sinful talk.
• Fraudulent gain is sweet for a while.

Long-term results:

• The upright are guided by integrity.
• Truthful lips endure.
• Riches gained quickly don’t last.
• Riches gained dishonestly don’t last.
• The blameless are kept safe.

The wisdom continues to grow.  We have a tool that we may be overlooking that really has so many answers to managing our lives in a world filled with un-Christian behaviors, with cynics, with evil, with challenges that eat away at our inner core.  We have the wisdom of generations in Proverbs and in all the books of the Bible.

Read Proverbs expecting to hear God talking to you.  Read Proverbs when you need advice.  Read Proverbs as you would poetry and good literature.  Read Proverbs when it seems no one hears you.

In the last chapter, there are a few more verses to explore.  The structure is different, more like the opening seven chapters.  The setting for the chapter is more like a family sitting down around the patriarchal leader who is sharing what he has learned.  Not only does King Lemuel, give advice, he also praises his wife.  I can just picture all the young people sitting on the floor in front of him while their parents sit in chairs listening.  To close, hear some of these final words in Proverbs:

“Leaders can’t afford to make fools of themselves,

gulping wine and swilling beer,

Lest, hung over, they don’t know right from wrong,

and the people who depend on them are hurt.

Use wine and beer only as sedatives,

to kill the pain and dull the ache

Of the terminally ill,

for whom life is a living death.”

“Speak up for the people who have no voice,

for the rights of all the down-and-outers.

Speak out for justice!

Stand up for the poor and destitute.”

A good woman is hard to find,

and worth far more than diamonds. …

She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,

And keeps them all busy and productive. …

“Many women have done wonderful tings,

But you’ve outclassed them all! …”

The words may seem a bit humorous to us sitting here in the 21^st century.  But the truth is that the same words do apply just as much now as it did in the 8^th century before Christ.  So today, as we leave the words of Proverbs, let us also leave with the wisdom to return to those words.

Dear Wise Father,

We are living in a world just as full of non-Christian behaviors as the wise kings in the Old Testament.  We meet the same challenges the Israelites met in their lives.  The TV may be blaring, the iPods plugged into our ears, and the world is at our fingertips on the screens of our computers; but the words of Proverbs continue to provide guidance today.  Help us to open the Bible and expect to hear your talk to us.  Help us to know that even today the wors Of King Solomon still provide sound advice for today. –Amen

Proverbs: A Christian Manual Part II

given on Sunday, September 20, 2009

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Originally I thought tackling Proverbs was a good idea, but this morning I am finding a little uncertainty.  I have tried all week to sit down and read all the couplets of wisdom from Chapter 10 through Chapter 24.  Finally I had to stop and regroup.

First, I tried to print off the chapters so I could make notes and read quickly.  Well, my first attempt created a document over 23 pages.  Now that should have been the first clue that I was being a bit over zealous.  With a little manipulating of fonts and page layout, I did manage to get it down to 16 pages and still I did not get the message.

Finally, I decided the job had to be tackled a little differently so turned to my study Bible and reviewed the side bar pieces.  In these fourteen chapters there are 457 verses of advice, many take two verses to complete so roughly 228 different pieces of advice.  Then I started realizing that many were very similar so needed editing to categorieze the advice.

By this point I knew that the task was going to have to take a different twist and turned to the Archeological Bible because I started thinking about how the Jewish people handled this type of reading.  I also started thinking how fortunate we are that Jesus gave us one primary commandment, because my memory certainly could not handle this mammoth amount of advice.

The Archeological Bible did put a new perspective on the book.  The timeline alone takes away some of the immediacy I was feeling to read each and every verse:

“Solomon’s proverbs were written between 970 and 930 B.C., while Hezekiah’s scribes compiled additional,  “unpublished” Solonomic proverbs between 729 and 686 B.C.  Nothing is known of Agur and King Lemuel, so the dates of composition of their contributions are unknown.”  (p.957)

Now that timeframe certainly means that no one living during King Solomon’s own lifetime was using these verses as Sunday school material or textbooks for teaching the young people at that time.  Why Solomon’s proverbs took 40 years to write!  And then, the publishing of the full set of proverbs took almost 250 years to complete—if I understand how the work was developed.  The final piece to the book is that Solomon was not the only wise man that is quoted in all these verses.

Going to the next paragraph of the Archeological Bible notes, another more contemporary explanation is added, one which creates a very real picture in my mind:

“The fact that Proverbs is an anthology—almost a scrapbook—of collections implies that it was not compiled at any one given point.”  (idib)

A scrapbook!  Now that makes so much sense to me that I relaxed my shoulders and took in a deep sigh.  The only things missing are the enhancements, and I could sure have some fun taking pictures and putting one together based on these wise sayings.

Whenever I scrapbook, I find the pictures say so much that words are not always needed.  Still some pictures can be grouped together in a way to emphasize a certain theme.  My scrapbook pages are more often connected through a saying or a theme than they are by a calendar of events.  Proverbs seems to be published along those principles, so it makes sense to analyze the book in that manner.  Therefore, the solution to my problem was presented through the words of my study Bibles.

One last tidbit from the preface in the Archeological Bible, which can keep us all on the same mindset as we continue:

“..recognize that the pat statements so plentiful in Proverbs are not promises from God but general principles …Try to dismiss from your mind the many exceptions that might otherwise cause you to read these assertions with a skeptical mindset. … Allow yourself to delight in the visual imagery and to chuckle at the humorous images that convey universal truths … Enjoy the comparisons and contrasts, and don’t be surprised by the lack of continuity that is often evident from one saying to the next.  By way of comparisons and contrasts, don’t be surprised by the lack of continuity that is often evident from one saying to the next.  By way of comparison, recall some of Benjamin Franklin’s proverbial maxims … such as ‘A penny saved is a penny earned.’” (p. 958)

There is it, I knew I heard Ben Franklin talking to me while I was reading the verses. Reading the Message translation Proverbs 12:27

“A lazy life is an empty life,

but “early to rise” gets the job done.”

When I read that, I knew I could hear Ben Franklin’s voice as my mind heard, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”

The advice of Solomon and the other wise men that is collected in Proverbs is massive.  When I read verse 27, I knew that even Ben Franklin had to have been familiar with these bits of wisdom.  I could not find the “penny saved” reference when I started searching, but my Methodist thinking looked at these words with a new insight.  The advice just makes common sense.  As Methodists we are to read the Bible for the basics, look at the historical experiences and our own experiences to see how the teachings in the Old and the New Testament apply.  The final piece for Methodists is to think.  Think about the words in the Bible.  Think about how that has applied throughout all history.  Think about how the words of advice should or do fit into your personal life.  Finally, analyze it, think it out, maul it over.  The words in the Bible are indeed Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

A member shared that acronym with me last week.  He said the preacher he heard while in Texas had used that acronym, and I had to use it.  The Bible, all of it, not just Proverbs, are basic instructions for us right now, here on this earth.  It is not for the Eternal Life, which goes right back to the instructional piece we learned last week from the notes in the Life Application Bible:

“Many people think that what’s written in the Bible has mostly to do with getting people into heaven—getting right with God, saving their eternal souls.  It does have to do with that, of course, but not mostly.  It is equally concerned with living on this earth—living well, living in robust sanity.  In our Scriptures, heaven is not the primary concern, to which earth is a tagalong afterthought.  “On earth as it is in heaven” is Jesus’ prayer.” (p. 829)

I suppose in the long run, it is for Eternal Life, but Eternal Life is dependent on how well we live life here on earth.  We need Proverbs and the other guiding words of the Bible in order to stay focused on God and follow his advice.

As I work to understand the Bible’s words, I have to remember what role I am taking.  The book of Proverbs is written to an audience of students, not teachers or leaders already proven to be wise.  Reading through the verses needs to be done with an open mind that is asking questions, looking for understanding, and seeing how to use the information in the future.  As I mentioned last week, the student who sees the words and just recites them back without understanding is functioning at a C level.  The student who reads the words and can understand how the words apply in their own life or can look at others and see it work are functioning at a B level.  But the student who can use the words as a tool in their own lives repeatedly in different situations or who can help someone else analyze and seek to improve the situation has reached A level work.  The A level is wisdom.

By looking at the verses in Proverbs, one can see which type of student becomes the wise learners (notice a wise one is always a learner).  The qualities are outlined in the Life Application Bible:

Wise Learners quietly accept instruction and criticism:

Proverbs 10:8:  A Wise heart takes orders;

an empty head will come unglued.

Wise Learners love discipline:

Proverbs 12:1:  If you love learning, you love the discipline that

goes with it—how shortsighted to refuse correction.

Wise learners listen to advice:

Proverbs 12:15:  Fools are headstrong and do what they like;

wise people take advice.

Wise learners accept parents’ discipline:

Proverbs 13:1:  Intelligent children listen to their parents;

foolish children do their own thing.

Wise learners lead others to life:

Proverbs 10:17:  The road to life is a disciplined life;

ignore correction and you’re lost for good.

Wise learners receive honor:

Proverbs 13:18:  Refuse discipline and end up homeless;

embrace correction and live an honored life

Wise learners profit from constructive rebuke:

Proverbs 15:31-32:  Listen to good advice if you want to live well,

an honored guest among wise men and women.

An undisciplined, self-willed life is puny;

an obedient, God-willed life is spacious.

Naturally this leads all of us to another question:  If the focus of Proverbs is on students, and we are all suppose to be life long students, then who is teaching and how are they suppose to act?  The wise sayings have not overlooked that problem either.  In fact the study notes also outline the proverbs for the teachers:

Good teachers help people avoid traps:

Proverbs 13:14:  The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,

so, no more drinking from death-tainted wells1

Good teachers use pleasant words:

Proverbs 16:21:  A wise person gets known for insight;

gracious words add to one’s reputation.

Good teachers speak at the right time:

Proverbs 15:23:  Congenial conversation—what a pleasure!

The right word at the right time—beautiful!

Proverbs 18:20:  Words satisfy the end as much as fruit does the

stomach;

good talk is as gratifying as a good harvest.

From all these verses, which are only 12 of the 437 just in the section “Wisdom for Everybody,” the students and the teachers are given the simplest of instructions from which to grow.  As I go over them, I cannot help but think how can I instill these qualities in the students who come into my classroom.  The line between a public school teacher and a Christian is so terribly thin, yet legally so incredibly thick.

Applying all this knowledge from God, through the words of his people, seems impossible at times.  Yet, through my Methodist thinking, I know there is one adage that continues to make the role of student and teacher manageable:  Model.  Model the one true commandment.  Love one another.  If Jesus can walk on this earth living out God’s love, then I should do the best that I can to follow that model of God’s love.

By looking through the filter of the Golden Rule, the advice of Proverbs and any of the other Old and New Testament words we find the key to “heaven on earth.”  In my Methodist head, I keep thinking of the classic KISS principle, “Keep it simple, Sinner.”  Just love one another and everything else falls into place.  The words from Proverbs continue to be read generation after generation and the advice is sound.  Even the wise American Ben Franklin used them.  Yet we know that the one rule Jesus taught us supersedes all others.  We must remain wise learners in order to see how loving one another keeps it simple and provides us heaven on earth.

Dear Wise One,

We ask you to continue speaking to us through the words of Proverbs.  Keep our minds open to the words as we struggle to become wise learners.  Keep our hearts right with your love in order that we may be wise teachers modeling your Golden Rule.  When we stumble, remind us that you still love us and help us get up and begin a new.  Thank you, God, for the wise leaders that have worked so hard to guide us through the centuries.  Thank you, too, for loving us even when we make mistakes.            –Amen

Proverbs: A Christian Manual

given on Sunday, September 13, 2009

This is the first of a mini-series.

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Proverbs:  A Christian’s Manual

I suppose almost every one of us has wondered why in the world there is not a handy manual for raising kids these days.  We grow up, get married, and have children.  All along we learn by doing; but when you suddenly have the responsibility of raising a young baby, we want a how-to manual.

For the next several years, we struggle to know what to expect and what we are to do.  First are the nighttime cries of the new baby.  Next we worry about safety proofing the house when the baby begins walking.  Before long the first day of kindergarten arrives; and we worry about all the outside influences that our child will confront.  Where is that manual?

The manual is there—right in front of us.  The manual is a composite of 66 books.  How can we overlook it?  Still we do overlook it.  We know the stories of how the earth was formed in Genesis, of Noah and the Ark, of David and Goliath, and of the Baby Jesus born in a manager.  The stories seem so familiar, but we still think of the Bible more a storybook than a manual for life.

For some time I have been curious about Proverbs, that book following Psalms.  I do not remember ever having a preacher talk about it.  I have no recollection of ever participating in a study of Proverbs.  When I look at Proverbs, I am reminded of another small book, H. Jackson Brown, Jr’s Life’s Little Instructions.  In fact, as I mentioned last week, I have used it for class discussions and reflections.  This small book of advice was written so a father could provide his son life lessons as he headed off to college.

Still the question remains, why do we overlook life’s instructions provided in the Bible, especially in Proverbs.  God’s instructions for life are written right there just like Brown’s pieces of advice to his son.  Compare the two:

Life’s Little Instruction

Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.

Strive for excellence, not perfection.

Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.

Proverbs

Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.

A generous man will prosper: he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

So why have we avoided studying Proverbs?  Maybe one answer is that it seems so obvious, almost too easy to expect the words to make a difference in our life.  Yet when one begins reading it, the first few chapters are so focused on the topic of “wisdom” and written in such a literary manner that one can become lost.  Understanding the definition of wisdom and how it is presented helps in understanding all the couplets that follow.

According to my study Bible, knowledge is having the facts and wisdom is applying those facts.  As a teacher, I refer to that as B-level work and A-level work.  I try to teach the students to understand what knowledge is which is basically B-level work.  The goal, though, is getting the students to use higher order thinking skills, HOTS, by taking the knowledge, evaluating it and then applying it in different situations—another words synthesis or A-level work which means wisdom has been reached.

The purpose of Proverbs, according to the Life’s Application Bible study notes is

“to teach people how to attain wisdom and discipline and a prudent life, and how to do what is right and just and fair…to apply divine wisdom to daily life and to provide moral instruction.”  (p.1070)

Written primarily by King Solomon–the same one who stood in the temple and decided the only fair way to provide the two self-proclaimed mothers of a child was to cut the child in half–the notes say he was the “wisest man who ever lived.”  Yet I remember feeling a tremendous sense of horror at the thought of cutting a baby in half.  How could he be considered wise?  Needless to say as a young girl, I had not reached the understanding that the King would never carry through with that action. The King’s wisdom knew the real mother would never allow him to harm her child even if it meant giving up the child.

As Solomon begins the book of Proverbs, he makes an argument why it is so important to teach young people the rules of Christian living.  He begins in Proverbs with the premise, or the basic rule, that knowing God is the key to wisdom:

⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

but fools despise wisdom and discipline.  (from the NIV)

In our culture today, fear would not be translated as honor and respect.  Fear is a negative term in our common use.  Today, in the Message, the same verse reads:

⁷Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God;

Only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.

Reading the two translations caused me to look a little more closely to the Message translation.  I backed up to the introduction to Proverbs written by Eugene Peterson.  Suddenly, as I read, a new twist or a better understanding emerged:

“Many people think that what’s written in the Bible has mostly to do with getting people into heaven—getting right with God, saving their eternal souls.  It does have to do with that, of course, but not mostly.  It is equally concerned with living on this earth—living well, living in robust sanity.  In our Scriptures, heaven is not the primary concern, to which earth is a tagalong afterthought.  “On earth as it is in heaven” is Jesus’ prayer.” (p. 829)

The words Peterson wrote suddenly made so much sense.  Why shouldn’t we realize that the Bible was written as a manual for life here on earth more than for eternal life?  It is how we live here on this earth that leads us to eternal life.

Peterson goes on to define wisdom in this matter:

“Wisdom is the art of living skillfully in whatever actual conditions we find ourselves. … Wisdom has to do with becoming skillful in honoring our parents and raising our children, handling our money and conducting our sexual lives, going to work and exercising leadership, using words well and treating friends kindly, eating and drinking healthily, cultivating emotions within ourselves and attitudes towards others that make for peace.”  (ibid)

This makes so much sense.  Peterson’s explanation is written in language I know.  The words do not need interpretation.  He is straight talking right to me.  Proverbs is written so that we are indeed given the rules for life.

Proverbs is our “life instruction book” and we just keep overlooking it.  Proverbs is from the Old Testament, before the New Covenant.  I suppose that may be one reason we have avoided them—we thought the rules did not apply any longer, but they do.

The book of Proverbs is divided into three primary sections.  The first nine chapters are focusing on the wisdom for young people, but the principles are just as important for all of us, not just young people.  The second section covers 14 chapters and is titled as wisdom for all people.  The rules in this section cover daily living.  The final section is wisdom for leaders and includes contributions from other “wise men” not just Solomon.

Are we ready, then, to begin reading Proverbs?  Are we ready to look at these rules for daily life and see if we are doing well?  I am not sure, but I also do not want to ignore these gems of wisdom.  I want to see if I can deal with people and life here on earth in a manner that lets me experience “heaven on earth.”

Let’s begin by going back to that first section of the book; the one which is wisdom for young people:

1. Start with God (Chapter 1)

• Pay close attention to what your father tells you
• Don’t follow bad friends who tempt you to “go out and raise some hell, mug people, rob people, etc. (sounds like gang behaviors)
• Result listed in verse 19:  “When you grab all you can get, that’s what happens: the more you get, the less you are.”

1. Make insight your priority (Chapter 2)

• Look for good advice, even collect it
• Analogy of a gold prospector on an adventurer, a treasure hunt
• Connects wisdom to God in verses 6-8:  “…God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding.  He’s a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well, a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere.”
• Result/concluding statement in verse 21:  “It’s the men and women who walk straight who will settle this land, the women with integrity who will last here.”

1. Don’t assume you know it all (Chapter 3)

• Reminders of following God, trusting God, honoring God
• Connects Wisdom to the very source of life and warns never to “walk away from God” “because God will be right there with you; he’ll keep you safe and sound.”
• Advice on dealing with others is a clear reminder of the New Covenant to love one another.  Verse 27:  “Never walk away from someone who deserves help; your hand is God’s hand for that person.”

The chapters four and five continue to outline key points about how to listen and search for wisdom.  Reading them in the message is almost like reading advice columns in the newspaper.  The various sections are very clearly titled:  “Your life is at stake”,  “Learn it by heart”, “Nothing but sin and bones”, “Never take love for granted.”  Then the style changes in chapter six.

Chapter six develops small poems in story form which wrap up in a cause and effect statement.  It is getting close to deer season and chapter six starts off with one titled “Like a Deer from the Hunter.”  This small section  talks about getting oneself into a mess such as a bad deal with someone, and it ends with a warning hunters hope the deer do not heed:

“Don’t procrastinate—

there’s no time to lose,

Run like a deer from the hunter,

fly like a bird from the trapper.”

We might smile or giggle about that from the mindset of deer hunting, but place yourself in the hooves of the deer.  The warning is so accurate that we must apply it to our own lives.

The style shift of chapter six continues through chapter nine.  The list of topics even talks about dressing to seduce (if time, reference styles today and how they have changed).  The story unfolds and the young man falls into the trap.  This is a timeless story and therefore a timeless piece of advice.

Wisdom may sound as though it is so difficult to develop, but the results are certainly worth it.  Our life on earth can be just a glimpse of heaven if we strive to read the words from the Bible, if we meet together to reach understanding together, if we develop the skills to hear God talk to us through the words, through our Christian relationships, and through our efforts to live out the knowledge we have.  We may not all be the Lady Wisdom, but we certainly know that we can make the commitment to reach understanding and then apply that knowledge into our daily lives.

Dear God, provider of Wisdom,

We face the challenges you have warned us of each and every day.  We ask that you strengthen our resolve so we do not tire or do not misunderstand the lessons of your word.  As we read, as we discuss, and as we apply the knowledge, help us to continue serving others as your own hand.  Let us share our knowledge and help others to find heaven on earth while we wait for the final gift of life eternal and join you.   –Amen