Chapter 13

Good Monday Morning to this week 14 of 2020

Isn’t it interesting how quickly we turn to scriptures of the Old Testament, to the people to Israel, to the prophets as we continue to face restrictions in our daily lives?

There is no real comparison to the Babylonian exile of the Jews, but let’s just see if we can yet learn from them, extract one of two ideas from their time in exile.  For example
Ezekiel’s vision “the Lord is there”  passages full of the echoes of God’s sovereignty.

This sovereign God resolved that he would be known and acknowledged. Approximately 65 occurrences and variations. “Then they will know that I am the Lord”. A divine promise that God will be known through the restoration and spiritual renewal of Israel.

God’s total sovereignty is also evident in his mobility. He is not limited to the temple in Jerusalem. He can respond to his people by leaving his sanctuary in Israel, and he can graciously condescend to visit his exiled children in Babylon.

Yes, there was great lamentation, complaining and dreaming of the better days, the days of freedom and the days of the “home” land:
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, we also wept, when we remembered Zion. We hung our lyres on the willows in its midst. For there those who carried us away captive required of us a song; and those who tormented us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember you, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. (Psalms 137:1-6)

Just as God’s people were in his hand when they were in the promised land singing psalms by the river Jordan and under the authority of divinely anointed kings, so are they still in his hand while exiled to a foreign land, in mourning by the rivers of Babylon, and subject to foreign kings who are also ultimately under God’s authority. In other words, the first prerequisite for God’s people to survive and serve him in exile conditions is an expanded belief in the sovereignty of God.

The exiles are then given God’s instructions through Jeremiah as to how they are to live faithfully in exile. Preston Manning brings it down to four points: 

Settle Down and Build
Settle down, build houses and families, engage in productive work (agriculture) that you may increase in number and not decrease.

Pray
God is reachable by prayer from Babylon just as he was from Judea. Pray specifically for the peace and prosperity of the place where God has relocated you so that you may prosper from its prosperity.

Disregard False Spiritual Advice
You are to disregard the voices and visions of false and immoral prophets who counsel you to act contrary to these instructions. (wow this does sound familiar to all the conspiracy videos and texts we are getting currently)

Trust the Promises
Lastly, God, through Jeremiah, seeks to restore the courage and morale of the exiles by challenging them to trust in his promise of their ultimate spiritual and political restoration.

There is spiritual edification in recognizing that God stays faithful in his covenants, that he forgives all sin despite whatever historical or sociopolitical circumstance.”
James Mikołajczyk

I wish you a blessed Monday as many of your a stuck in some form of restriction. I wish you the care of the Almighty as worries and trouble keep trying to make their way into your heart to affect you faith, your joy and your trust in His promises.

Philemon

Chapter 12

Good Monday Morning to this week 13 of 2020

“I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. Ezekiel 34.25

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43.19

The pessimist complains about the wind, the optimist expects it to change, the realist adjusts the sails. W. Arthur Ward

A few years ago I was standing on the outskirts of Ouagadougou, temperatures were in the 40tes. We got off the motorbike and stood in the scorching heat. A wind picked up, first came the relief along with a slight feeling of cooling, followed by red dust covering me with layers, resulting in, me, already a red-skinned into a red-skinned with many layers of Burkina’s wilderness dust.

But as hot as it was, as awkward as it was, the wind brought a change to the atmosphere. I wished for shade, water, but also for more wind. It felt as in the words of Isaiah;  something new was as happening, something springing forth.

Shortly after,  I rapidly moved to the next shade I could find  …

Wind in the wilderness, yes, but how does that lead us to the covenant of peace to dwell in security?

The wilderness often has an attitude of negativity, feelings of repulsion and hostility, places of horror with wild creatures.

The wilderness in the Bible is described as places and times of considerable significance where people are called to important tasks.

The wilderness is often a site of God’s grace expressing a place where God purifies and transforms, also revealing God’s nature.

A Covenant of peace?

Covenant a noun meaning “to select the best” coming from the root words “choice meat”
leading to the concept “cut a covenant”. A covenant was instituted by the two parties of the covenant who would take a fattened animal, the best of the flock or herd, and “cut” it into two pieces. Then the two parties of the covenant would pass through the pieces symbolizing their dedication to the covenant and by this action are saying, “If I do not hold to the agreements of this covenant, you can do to me what we did to this animal.”

Let’s wrap this up!

The wind blows with change through the wilderness. The change comes with a transformation happening after a covenant of peace is made. Isaiah speaks of a “pool of water” filling the wilderness with acceptable trees. In this fructification of the barren land, one can discern God’s creativity along with the promise and covenant of renewed fertility. With the transformation happening the full potential of the change can happen.
Ezekiel has a very profound vision, that to dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods or the newly restored land.

As we face this wilderness we are globally in, I pray for the wind of change, accompanied only with the covenant of peace until He the creator brings us to the restoration of fructified land with sustaining life!

Wishing you a healthy week.

Philemon

Chapter 11

Good Monday Monday Morning to this week 12 of 2020

As we stick to the rules trying to “flatten the curve” of this pandemic we spend more time at home and are somewhat forced to change our habits. Through meeting fewer people for some,it’s really to “walk alone”. Shopping last Friday I saw many elderly going slower in the shop, they made best of the time to have a chat with a neighbor or a salesperson.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

It’s been a while since I took out the “Bible Blender”. Let’s do that again!
I put these following verses in the mixer and have a great blend of encouragement and verses talking about the fact that we do not walk alone, come out.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Abide in me and I in you. 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you.

Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. 

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

You lead me beside still waters. 

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

We will fear no evil. 

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Transformed by the renewal of mind.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

For nothing will be impossible with God. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

For the Lord did not forsake his people. 

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Do not lean on your own understanding

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts. Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!

Wishing you a blessed and healthy week.

Philemon

Chapter 10

Good Monday Morning to this week 11 of 2020

We start here with Daniel: 
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12.3

Daniel still in exile: 
The fundamental theme of the Book of Daniel is God’s control over history. Chapters 10, 11 and 12 in the Book of Daniel make up Daniel’s final vision, describing a series of conflicts between the unnamed “King of the North” and “King of the South” leading to the “time of the end”, when Israel will be vindicated and the dead raised to shame or glory.

Trouble and triumph:
Daniel received the words in the form of a vision. Daniel was about 85 years old at the time and had recently spent a night in the lions’ den for refusing to stop praying to the one true God. Even though many of his fellows Jews had returned to Israel to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, Daniel was still in Babylon. Daniel knew from the vision
there’s trouble, but also triumph ahead.

The Meta-narrative; a story about a story: 
There is so much going on in this last chapter. Trouble and triumph are in the midst of these are prophetic visions. A rather simple emotional tool installed in our soul, before we can let the big things gain momentum in our lives they are feed by a little four letter word called HOPE. Is hope fed by prophetic vision, the meta-narrative of that which is to come? Some of Daniel does sound like this … a story about a story, encompassing and explaining other “little stories”  that assemble the “little stories” into a whole! Do these litte stories of hope lead to other little stories of hope forming the bigger stories, leading to a form of perpetual hope?

Hope the refusal to accept reality: 
Hope, on one hand, is an absurdity too embarrassing to speak about, for it flies in the face of all those claims we have been told are facts. Hope is the refusal to accept the reading of reality which is the majority opinion; and one does that only at great political and existential risk. On the other hand, hope is subversive, for it limits the grandiose pretension of the present, daring to announce that the present to which we have all made commitments is now called into question.
Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination

Again, they that be wise: 
And they that be wise – Those who are instructed in the works of Christ and live out of that grace, sharing that mystery of grace, are wise and shall shine – shall be distinguished by the purity of their creed.

The climax of the narrative of Daniel: 
The climax comes with the prophecy of the resurrection followed by  the coming “kingdom of heaven”. Daniel 10-12 does not say that history will end with the coming of the Jewish kingdom; rather, the “wise” will be brought back to life to lead Israel in the new kingdom of God.

And now to grace: 
And they that turn many to righteousness – They who, living out of the grace become bright luminaries of the Kingdom of Jesus. 

And now to the wise: 
So to be wise is to live out of grace!

Again to Grace:
For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.  Saint Augustine Of Hippo

That is the mystery of grace: it never comes too late.
Franois Mauriac

Be wise, live out grace, so the many little stories of the narrative of your life 
lead you to the Kingdom of Heaven! 

May the Grace of our Lord be with you!

Have a great start to this new week!
Philemon

Chapter 9

Good Monday Morning to this week 10 of 2020

Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6.11

In a time that everyone is speaking of prevention and precaution in the context of the Coronavirus, let’s look at the relevance of spiritual prevention and precaution.

Paul wrote this letter while imprisoned in Rome,  to the churches in Ephesus and the surrounding region. He addressed three main themes:

1. Christ, reconciling all creation to himself and to God.
2. Christ uniting people from all nations to himself,  to one another and to His church.
3. Christians living as new people with a new culture.

The text is structured so that we hear:

1. First, a rationale for the task, to stand against the schemes of the devil.
2. Secondly, the needed armor as, truth, righteousness, peace and faith.
3. Thirdly,  spiritual orientation with prayer and faith in the Spirit.

This metaphor of the armory was written for a minority group of people, remembering that the armory is designed to help stand fast not just for aggressive action. Standing fast being armed does not require another person to get hurt in any way. Withstanding another description also has significance in this text, empowering believers to withstand the evils that surround and threaten them. The nature of the armor itself is profoundly defensive. The only equipment for an attack is the sword,  specifically a weapon, a spiritual sword. Followers of Jesus are girded in truth, faith, peace, with the sword of the Spirit through which in prayer and faith they stand firm for their defense.

Melinda Quivik writes in her commentary:

The churches and people of the renewed culture are called to maintain strength, wearing the “armor of God,” in order to pray that “the mystery of the gospel” will be proclaimed. The proclamation is not about something knowable in the way we know a fact or encounter, the proclamation is about something irrevocable, unbelievable, and imperative. (crucifixion, resurrection and true life)  The “whole armor of God” is needed for the war against the principalities and powers, also the forces of own sin, our own separation from God, our own desires for that what does not feed and nourish God’s creation. The enemy threatens from within and outside ourselves. To be set and stand firm in all daily challenges, knowing that much opposes God’s desire that “the mystery of the gospel” brings joy and transformation to this Earth,  is a key and central message here.

In the armory, we may immediately apply it to an individual context, yet it’s far more than that, we see it being used in reference more than for an individual, more for a family, a community a church and a for a whole people. We can wear these gifts together as we stand shoulder to shoulder as an impenetrable wall of strength.

A quick look at the tools with some of their many meanings:

The belt holds, fixes what is necessary in such a way that it enables us to work freely and flexibly,  to walk or run loosed from constrains trying to hold us down.

The breastplate covers the core, righteousness protects the heart and the vital organs so that the flow of life can always reach every part of the body.

Shoes stand for readiness to stand and speak peace.

The shield is a defense against flaming arrows aimed at people armed with faith, facing assaults from those who do not know about the gospel of peace.

The “helmet of salvation” reminds us of our transformation, our new rights with the new identity of grace, strength and confidence.

The sword of the Spirit, the word of God proclaims the mystery of the gospel, it both cuts and salves (soothes). It is law and gospel, trouble and grace, an offensive weapon, one for healing and peace, because, in Christian terms, the Spirit kills and brings to life.

Chained to a Roman soldier, Paul uses this allegory or imagery as his mind goes forth naturally to the subject of amour and warfare, yet it’s all about spiritual strength and courage greatly needed for his and our daily walk of faith. The aim is keeping on the whole armor with the principle of true grace, aiming at standing firm as we run our race, not against human enemies, but principalities and their forces, not letting them assault the things newly belonging to us, demonstrating and showing the heavenly image in our hearts.

With these impressive tools we can feel the armored impact and protection with the power of God’s word enabling us to move emboldened into the week ahead, called to standing firm in prayer and faith.

Be strong- because He goes before us.

Be strong- because He is with us.

Be strong- where you put your feet, I’ll give it to you.
A promise made to Joshua by Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There)

Blessings
Philemon 

Chapter 8

Good Monday Morning to this week 9 of 2020

Thinking and speaking about compassion and mercy I came across this passage from Walter Brueggemann speaking on generosity. I’ll leave you with this, as this week emerges out of the shadows:

Walter Brueggemann, 11.03.1933  an American Protestant Old Testament scholar and theologian.  He is known in modern progressive Christianity and argues that the Church must provide a counter-narrative to the dominant culture or forces of our time.

On Generosity

On our own, we conclude:
there is not enough to go around

we are going to run short
of money
of love
of grades
of publications
of members
of years
of life

we should seize the day
seize our goods
seize our neighbor’s goods
because there is not enough to go around

and in the midst of our perceived deficit
you come
you come giving bread in the wilderness
you come giving children at the 11th hour
you come giving homes to exiles
you come giving futures to the shut down
you come giving easter joy to the dead
you come – fleshed in Jesus.

and we watch while
the blind receive their sight
the lame walk
the lepers are cleansed
the deaf hear
the dead are raised
the poor dance and sing

we watch
and we take food we did not grow and
life we did not invent and
future that is gift and gift and gift and
families and neighbours who sustain us
when we did not deserve it.

It dawns on us – late rather than soon-
that you “give food in due season
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

By your giving, break our cycles of imagined scarcity
override our presumed deficits
quiet our anxieties of lack
transform our perceptual field to see
the abundance………mercy upon mercy
blessing upon blessing.

Sink your generosity deep into our lives
that your muchness may expose our false lack
that endlessly receiving we may endlessly give
so that the world may be made “Easter” new,
without greedy lack, but only wonder,
without coercive need but only love,
without destructive greed but only praise
without aggression and invasiveness….
all things “Easter” new…..
all around us, toward us and
by us, all things Easter new.

Finish your creation, in wonder, love and praise. Amen.”
Walter Brueggemann

Wishing you a week of abundance.

Philemon

Chapter 7

Good Monday Morning to this week 8 of 2020

Zacchaeus, scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his luck, delighted to take Jesus home. Luke 19.6 MSG

Scramble and commotion are related words, both very often used within the context of Israel and the teachings and parables of Jesus.

Scramble; to move somewhere quickly and in a way that is not graceful, to move something upwards, make one’s way quickly or awkwardly up a steep gradient or over rough ground by using one’s hands as well as one’s feet.

Commotion; a sudden, short period of noise, confusion, or excited movement

Other terms of seen: To be in haste, see the commotion, a growing disarray, the cluttered, there was a bustle or scuffle, commotion and hurry, scramble and stir.

Zacchaeus scrambled up and down from the sycamore tree.

The Sycomorus,  the fig-mulberry, having fig-like fruit and leaves like the mulberry. A strong tree with great branches, and are easily climbed. That a man of this chief publican’s dignity would have resorted to such a manoeuvrer suggests his foresight, energy, determination, and ingenuity.

Curiosity carried Zacchaeus to scramble up the tree , in haste he scrambled down the tree, being called by name was great reason to do so quickly, past the commotion, the love and invitation of Jesus brought him down and to his house. There he received his guest Jesus joyfully! This joy is significant and showing a previous yearning for this encounter.  The internal revolution of Zacchaeus was as perfect as instantaneous,  receiving the free and full forgiveness of his sins, a justifying righteousness, an abundance of grace.

I’m getting a few words and ideas here for us, for myself, this morning:
Curiosity, scrambling, excited commotion, invitation, being called by name, receiving in joy, forgiveness, abundance.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Beatitudes

This beatitude gets the heart of the matter, echoes and rings in my ears as I sit here contemplating this wonderful short story out of the life of Jesus.

As we scramble to the busy schedules of this week, let’s remember the joyful commotion of being met my Jesus in our homes and being called by His name!

Wishing you a wonderful start to this week.

Philemon

Chapter 6

Good Monday Morning to this week 7 of 2020

Philippians 4:12 “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

Reframing is a technique used in therapy to help create a different way of looking at a situation, person, or relationship by changing its meaning. Also referred to as cognitive reframing, it’s a strategy therapists often used to help clients look at situations from a slightly different perspective.

Reframing is seeing the current situation from a different perspective, which can be tremendously helpful in problem-solving, decision making and learning.

Reframing is helping you or another person to more constructively move on from a situation in which you or the other person feels stuck or confused.

The aim of reframing is to shift one’s perspective to be more empowered to act – and hopefully to learn at the same time.

Many times, merely reframing one’s perspective on a situation can also help people change how they feel about the situation, as well.

Many Christians today experience a frustrating and confusing disconnect between the story of Scripture and the story of their lives.

If  Jesus is the redeemer of all things, how does faith in him reframe every aspect of our lives? How does Christianity connect to the whole of who we are? Is Jesus relevant in an increasingly complex world? These are the types of questions many of us wrestle with today.

Think about the past week. Recall some of the different places, activities, and situations you were involved in. Where did you see your faith making a difference? Where did you feel his presence? Where did you not feel connected to him? If he feels uninvolved, it could be that the multifaceted dimensions of your life and the demands placed upon you are stealing your connection with Him?  And if that happens, is faith relegated to just another thing in we have to juggle.

How do we reframe?

Who am I, why am I here, what do I do? Where do I go, what’s important in life, what’s real and what’s an illusion; what’s true and what’s false,” and on and on. Jesus with the disciples on the road to Emmaus a good example of two followers that had lost sight of the true or the whole story. They were confused; blinded to seeing Jesus—in fact, they didn’t ever expect to see Jesus again. Did they forgot the part where Jesus said He would rise again on the third day or were they just deeply dissapointed? And so they desperately needed Jesus to once again open their minds to the true and whole story of what he accomplished. Luke 24.32 Passion Version:  Stunned, they looked at each other and said, “Why didn’t we recognize it was him? Didn’t our hearts burn with the flames of holy passion while we walked beside him? He unveiled for us such profound revelation from the Scriptures!”

The setting for many to find faith is in and through worship, which includes Scripture, proclamation, and sacrament as the breaking of the bread as the story then continues: Stay and have supper with us …  That is also where the faith of all is sustained. It is the place where Jesus continues to reveal himself. The Christian faith is born and nurtured where people share in worship through word, gesture, water, bread, wine, and mutual care, the smile, the clasp of another’s hand, perhaps even an embrace. It’s the Emmaus story for today,  one of movement, containing nine verbs describing movement. The two men “are going”, Jesus “came near and went with them”, they “came near”, Jesus “walked ahead of them”, “he went in to stay with them”, “he vanished from their sight”, and “they got up and returned”. Some of the verbs tell of movements made by Jesus; others tell of the two men. Either way, both Jesus and his followers are on the move. But it is not movement for its own sake. The moves being made have a purpose, one of fellowship (communion) with Jesus and others.

Where is your Emmaus Road this morning? What types of complexity and fragmentation characterize your life? Where is your personal reframing taking place?

Wishing you a blessed week!

Philemon

Chapter 5

Good Monday Morning to this week 6 of 2020

Six days later, three of them did see it. Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter then any bleach could make them. Elijah, along with Moses came into view in deep conversation with Jesus. Peter interrupted, “Rabbi, this is a great moment!. Le’ts build three shelters …
Mark 9: 2-5 MSG

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Ps 91

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble .. Ps 45

In you oh Lord I have taken refuge .. Ps 31

There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day,
and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain. Is. 4.6

Let me dwell in Your tent forever;
Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Ps 61

A shelter, a hut, a tent, a dwelling…  a basic architectural structure or building that provides protection from the local environment. Having a place of shelter, of safety and of retreat, i.e. a home, is commonly considered a fundamental physiological human need, the foundation from which to develop life. Equally significant is also the metaphorical shelter, beliefs, convictions, values and traditions.

Dallas Willard also refers to an “interior castle” of the human soul, a shelter with many rooms, and they are slowly occupied by God, allowing us time and room to grow.

Jesus born at a stable, temporary yet sufficient shelter for his birth, therefore He knows much of earthly shelters in his life, even more about the spiritual: In deep conversation with Elija and Moses he’s called out by Peter; “Rabbi, this is a great moment!. Le’ts build three shelters …

Just then a light-radiant cloud enveloped them and from deep within the cloud, a voice: “This is my Son, marked by my love, Listen to him!”

Did Jesus really have an unsheltered life? The cloud enveloped him, deep in conversation with Elija and Moses, he is engulfed, surrounded, covered, overshadowed by the presence of God, as the deeply affirming words are spoken: My Son, marked by my love!

The Almighty God, He Himself is the shelter, and in His shelter, He keeps us safe from danger and harm engulfing us with His presence.

The psalmist in Psalm 31 begins with the words,  in you, O Lord, I have sought refuge, this,  his portrayal of the role of Yahweh. The idea of taking refuge may well derive from the common experience of finding protection in the hills.  The verb denotes the confident seeking of security, rather than a flight of desperation. This communicates dependence on Yahweh as opposed to the trust in their own ability. The object of deep desire and refuge is emblematic of the person who places complete trust in God with taking cover in his shelter.

Safeguarded by the shelter of the Yahwe I wish you a blessed week!

Philemon