This Sunday we will begin a four week study of Rev. Adam Hamilton's book Enough. The book talks about how we Americans have become obsessed with STUFF and with collecting more and more STUFF. STUFF has frequently become more important to us than anything else--more than our relationship with other people and more than our relationship with God.
This becomes abundantly clear when a loved dies. The fights that family members get into over mom or dad's stuff are really sad to see. It ruins relationships, although it usually indicates that relationships were not good to begin with. And our focus on needing more stuff takes priority over giving back to God. We fail to recognize that everything we have is a gift from God.
This Christmas as my daughter was home visiting, somehow we got to talking about stuff. She said quite bluntly, "Well you know, there's not anything of yours I'm going to want after you all are gone. You can just get rid of it all before you die." (She's kind of mess like that all the time!) But it was a good thing in many ways. What are we collecting for? We can begin to simplify and re-prioritize.
I encourage to purchase a copy of the book and read along. Hamilton has a lot of good things to say. The books are available in the church office and on Sundays. Then on February 19, we will make a commitment of our financial gifts to God for the work of the church in 2012.
Please be praying for the church, for a change in your own life and heart toward more simplicity and generosity, and for God's kingdom to come in this little corner of the world.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
New Year's Resolution
It has been a long time since I blogged--March of 2011. We had started the Grand Sweep and I had this idea that I would blog right along with readiing and preaching through the Bible. You see how long that lasted. So I have a New Year's Resolution and that is to get back to blogging. It is an embarrassment that newcomer's might be checking out the website and seeing how long ago it was that I last blogged.
I start off this new year with thanksgiving--thanksgiving for all the blessings of 2011. It was a challenging year with many changes. We brought on new staff we said goodbye to others. We began our preparation to build a sanctuary. We faced some financial difficulties. And yet through it all, we saw how God continued to lead us in a mighty way. The message is for us to stay faithful as God is faithful. We have to keep trusting that God has big plans for us here at the corner of 3009 and Green Valley Dr. If we will trust God with our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness, we will see what God will do.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
I start off this new year with thanksgiving--thanksgiving for all the blessings of 2011. It was a challenging year with many changes. We brought on new staff we said goodbye to others. We began our preparation to build a sanctuary. We faced some financial difficulties. And yet through it all, we saw how God continued to lead us in a mighty way. The message is for us to stay faithful as God is faithful. We have to keep trusting that God has big plans for us here at the corner of 3009 and Green Valley Dr. If we will trust God with our prayers, presence, gifts, service and witness, we will see what God will do.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
Monday, March 21, 2011
A History Lesson
This week we finish reading the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, the books of Law or teachings in our Grand Sweep journey of reading through the Bible. It is easy to get bogged down as we read through the lists of laws. But they were necessary as God took his people and formed them into a faith community. He had to instruct them in the ways of worship, in the ways of living together on a day in and day out basis, what basic health and nuitrition would be like and how to settle disputes. The laws sought to cover every conceivable situation so the people would know what was expected and what to do when particular circumstances arose. If the people had stuck with these laws, they would have found shalom, spiritual, emotional and physical well-bieing.
Now we move on to the history books. But the history books of the Bible are different from our history books. Modern history books seek to be objective. They seek to record history exactly as it happened. We have eye witness accounts to events that go on in the world and these are written down precisely. History is secular. We see it as happening separately from our religion. But this is not so in the Biblical world at all.
In the Biblical world, the peple were intent on observing and participating in what hppenend in and around them because they believed that God was personally alive and active in the world, in their community and in them. God was active in whatever was happening from a simple sunset to an encounter with a neighbor. For biblical people, God was not an idea that philosophers discussed. God was present in the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences of daily life. They did not make up and embellish fanciful stories. They simply revealed the ways of God with men and women and the world. They gave narrative shape to actual people and circumstances in their dealings with God and in God's dealings with them.
Sometimes they did not mention God a lot, as in the book of Esther. But that is because God's silent presence was in everything that was taking place. As far as the writers were concerned, the reason to pay attention to any event was to stay alert to God.
I hope that as we read these books, especially the difficult ones, we will remember how grounded in God they are. We will struggle because some are so harsh. The call to wipe out entire peoples is very difficult. We can only explain it by remembering the time in which the people lived. It was wipe out your enemy or be wiped out. And some of these cultures practiced horrors beyond our imagination that are not described in the pages of the bible. We simple have to keep reading and keep trusting God. So keep reading and what you will find is a history that is very different from "our" usual history. This history will pull us into a way of reading that involves us and everyone around us in all the ways of God.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
Now we move on to the history books. But the history books of the Bible are different from our history books. Modern history books seek to be objective. They seek to record history exactly as it happened. We have eye witness accounts to events that go on in the world and these are written down precisely. History is secular. We see it as happening separately from our religion. But this is not so in the Biblical world at all.
In the Biblical world, the peple were intent on observing and participating in what hppenend in and around them because they believed that God was personally alive and active in the world, in their community and in them. God was active in whatever was happening from a simple sunset to an encounter with a neighbor. For biblical people, God was not an idea that philosophers discussed. God was present in the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences of daily life. They did not make up and embellish fanciful stories. They simply revealed the ways of God with men and women and the world. They gave narrative shape to actual people and circumstances in their dealings with God and in God's dealings with them.
Sometimes they did not mention God a lot, as in the book of Esther. But that is because God's silent presence was in everything that was taking place. As far as the writers were concerned, the reason to pay attention to any event was to stay alert to God.
I hope that as we read these books, especially the difficult ones, we will remember how grounded in God they are. We will struggle because some are so harsh. The call to wipe out entire peoples is very difficult. We can only explain it by remembering the time in which the people lived. It was wipe out your enemy or be wiped out. And some of these cultures practiced horrors beyond our imagination that are not described in the pages of the bible. We simple have to keep reading and keep trusting God. So keep reading and what you will find is a history that is very different from "our" usual history. This history will pull us into a way of reading that involves us and everyone around us in all the ways of God.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
Monday, February 28, 2011
Holiness of Heart and Life
Read Leviticus 14 and 15
Thses two chapters of Leviticus had a lot of laws about personal holiness. They taught one how to purified one's self and stay pure. People went to a deal of effort to avoid defiling themselves once purified. The laws remind us of the link between physical and spiritual health. We get bogged down in all the descriptions of the skin lesions and bodily discharges. But their knowledge of health was way beyond their time. And follwing some of these codes resulted in much better physical health. Certainly taking seriously God's commands put them in much better spiritual health as well.
One of the important aspects of their state of uncleanness was that it lasted only until the evening. For the Isrealites, the new day began when the sun when down. Persons who had been unclean for a day could go to bed at night with a sense of purity. They began their new day at sunset, so as they went to sleep at night they could do so with a sense of freshness and peace. Being one who often wrestles through the night with the problems of the day, this sounds like a really wonderful pattern. Maybe we could benefit from such a change in time frame, going back to God's time in the Old Testament.
So lay aside the problems of the day as the soon goes down. Welcome the evening with a sense of calmness and peace. Then enjoy a good night's rest and be ready to serve the Lord with gladness as the dawn breaks in the morning.
What will it take for you to change your daily pattern?
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
Thses two chapters of Leviticus had a lot of laws about personal holiness. They taught one how to purified one's self and stay pure. People went to a deal of effort to avoid defiling themselves once purified. The laws remind us of the link between physical and spiritual health. We get bogged down in all the descriptions of the skin lesions and bodily discharges. But their knowledge of health was way beyond their time. And follwing some of these codes resulted in much better physical health. Certainly taking seriously God's commands put them in much better spiritual health as well.
One of the important aspects of their state of uncleanness was that it lasted only until the evening. For the Isrealites, the new day began when the sun when down. Persons who had been unclean for a day could go to bed at night with a sense of purity. They began their new day at sunset, so as they went to sleep at night they could do so with a sense of freshness and peace. Being one who often wrestles through the night with the problems of the day, this sounds like a really wonderful pattern. Maybe we could benefit from such a change in time frame, going back to God's time in the Old Testament.
So lay aside the problems of the day as the soon goes down. Welcome the evening with a sense of calmness and peace. Then enjoy a good night's rest and be ready to serve the Lord with gladness as the dawn breaks in the morning.
What will it take for you to change your daily pattern?
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
Friday, February 4, 2011
The Great I Am
Read Exodus 3:13-22
This section of Exodus is one of the most beautiful and puzzling in scripture. The name God gives to Moses is one that has puzzled scholars forever and probably will continue to do so. It is one of the great mysteries of God--one of those times that the more one understands God, the more mysterious God becomes.
The most common translation of the "name" God gives is "I am who I am." It could also be translated "I will be what/who I will be", "I will cause to be what I will cause to be", I will be who I am/who I will be". Probably the very best way to think about what God is saying to Moses is this: "I will be God to you". This applies to all of Israel as well. God will be God to Israel. Wherever God is being God, God will be the kind of God God is. Israel does not need to be concerned about divine arbitrariness or capriciousness. God can be counted on to be who God is. God will be faithful to God's promises. Israel's own experience with God in its history before and after Moses will confirm the meaning of this name.
By giving Moses any sort of name, God allowed Moses, and thereby Israel, some intimacy with God. Naming allows for a true encounter and makes possible real communication. By giving the name, God becomes available to people, to us. God and humans can now meet one another and both parties can address one another. Yet because the name is not a person, there remains a separateness, an otherness. God remains mysterious.
In Judaism, throughout the Hebrew Bible still today, God's name is considered very holy, so holy in fact that it was not to be spoken. Wherever Yahweh appears, Adonai (Lord) is spoken instead in reverence to God.
One more thing about the name of God. As you can tell from the "I am who I am", Yahweh is made up of a combination of the "to be" verb in Hebrew. That makes a very interesting play when you start thinking about the relationship of God to humans. Our being comes out of God's being. In Hebrew you cannot even talk about "being" without talking about God. Unless you know a little about Hebrew you cannot know or see that at all. But it is a rich visual image Hebrew that reminds us again that we ARE all children of God, ones who belong to the Great I AM.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
This section of Exodus is one of the most beautiful and puzzling in scripture. The name God gives to Moses is one that has puzzled scholars forever and probably will continue to do so. It is one of the great mysteries of God--one of those times that the more one understands God, the more mysterious God becomes.
The most common translation of the "name" God gives is "I am who I am." It could also be translated "I will be what/who I will be", "I will cause to be what I will cause to be", I will be who I am/who I will be". Probably the very best way to think about what God is saying to Moses is this: "I will be God to you". This applies to all of Israel as well. God will be God to Israel. Wherever God is being God, God will be the kind of God God is. Israel does not need to be concerned about divine arbitrariness or capriciousness. God can be counted on to be who God is. God will be faithful to God's promises. Israel's own experience with God in its history before and after Moses will confirm the meaning of this name.
By giving Moses any sort of name, God allowed Moses, and thereby Israel, some intimacy with God. Naming allows for a true encounter and makes possible real communication. By giving the name, God becomes available to people, to us. God and humans can now meet one another and both parties can address one another. Yet because the name is not a person, there remains a separateness, an otherness. God remains mysterious.
In Judaism, throughout the Hebrew Bible still today, God's name is considered very holy, so holy in fact that it was not to be spoken. Wherever Yahweh appears, Adonai (Lord) is spoken instead in reverence to God.
One more thing about the name of God. As you can tell from the "I am who I am", Yahweh is made up of a combination of the "to be" verb in Hebrew. That makes a very interesting play when you start thinking about the relationship of God to humans. Our being comes out of God's being. In Hebrew you cannot even talk about "being" without talking about God. Unless you know a little about Hebrew you cannot know or see that at all. But it is a rich visual image Hebrew that reminds us again that we ARE all children of God, ones who belong to the Great I AM.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Holy Ground
Read Exodus 3:1-6
The Grand Sweep has now taken us into the book of Exodus in our journey through the Bible. We read another of my favorite verses, Exodus 3:5, "Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." I am a person who hates to wear shoes. If you drop by the office you are likely to find me without them. I quote this verse as justification for my behavior.
But truly "holy ground" is an important spiritual concept for us to ponder. In a sense all ground is holy because all ground is created by God. But usually we each have places that are particularly important on our spiritual journey. We have been on retreats or vacations or get aways to these places and experienced the presence of God in a particularly strong way. These are places we want to return to from time to time in order to get back in touch with God. And even if we cannot physically return there, we will often return there in our minds.
I invite you to find a holy space for study and reflection in your home. Our year long journey through the Bible will not be easy. Some books of the Bible are not very easy to read. Leviticus and Numbers have so many laws and detailed rituals that you think they will never end. The litany of "the king did what was evil in the sight of the Lord" in the prophets also gets old. But do not despair! We will get through these readings together. And if you have a holy space to read, relect and pray each day--a daily holy ground--you will find yourself drawing closer to God even through the most difficult of scriptures.
So take off your shoes, sit back, relax, and get ready to keep reading. Through all the scripture, God is present. God has much more patience than we ever deserve. The great "I Am" will come to us as we read, and we have no idea how much we will grow, individually and as a church, as we remain open to hearing what God has to say to us through God's word this year. That's a promise.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
The Grand Sweep has now taken us into the book of Exodus in our journey through the Bible. We read another of my favorite verses, Exodus 3:5, "Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." I am a person who hates to wear shoes. If you drop by the office you are likely to find me without them. I quote this verse as justification for my behavior.
But truly "holy ground" is an important spiritual concept for us to ponder. In a sense all ground is holy because all ground is created by God. But usually we each have places that are particularly important on our spiritual journey. We have been on retreats or vacations or get aways to these places and experienced the presence of God in a particularly strong way. These are places we want to return to from time to time in order to get back in touch with God. And even if we cannot physically return there, we will often return there in our minds.
I invite you to find a holy space for study and reflection in your home. Our year long journey through the Bible will not be easy. Some books of the Bible are not very easy to read. Leviticus and Numbers have so many laws and detailed rituals that you think they will never end. The litany of "the king did what was evil in the sight of the Lord" in the prophets also gets old. But do not despair! We will get through these readings together. And if you have a holy space to read, relect and pray each day--a daily holy ground--you will find yourself drawing closer to God even through the most difficult of scriptures.
So take off your shoes, sit back, relax, and get ready to keep reading. Through all the scripture, God is present. God has much more patience than we ever deserve. The great "I Am" will come to us as we read, and we have no idea how much we will grow, individually and as a church, as we remain open to hearing what God has to say to us through God's word this year. That's a promise.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Saints and Sinners
In these latter chapters of Genesis, we get all kinds of characters. Jacob is a grabber and trickster from the day he is born. He cheats his brother Esau out of his birthright with the help of his mother. Then he has to flee for his life. In his father-in-law Laban, he meets his match.
Jacob marries two wives with Rachel being his favorite and the understandable jealousy between the two is forever evident. When Rachel finally gives birth to a son, Joseph becomes the favorite son. Joseph loves to rub that in with his brothers which causes all kinds of sibling rivalry. And so on, and so on...
If you have the Daily Response Book, you will have read on page 12 these words from Kalas, "Faith is not simple, not even for good people, not even for saints. The lives of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah ought to instruct us at that point. We may sometimes be troubled by their inconsistencies (especially if we are momentarily dull to our own), but we might also be encouraged by them. If they made it, and were even crucial to God's plan, surely there is hope for us! This is not to justify our sins or our lapses in righteousness but to recognize that goodness doesn't come easily. There are no sudden saints."
"There are no sudden saints." I love that statement! We are all a mixture of saint and sinner. And if we did not know that before, we should certainly know that after having read the book of Genesis. We have the capacity to be so faithful, going when God says "go". Some days are like that. Then other days we get afraid and don't stand up when we should. We pull the covers over our head instead or put our foot in our mouths. It's our version of going to Egypt and passing off our spouse as our sibling to save our skin. But no matter what, we keep putting one foot in front of the other on this journey of faith, taking a lifetime to grow in our love for Jesus Christ. That is our goal and it is worth striving toward.
Fortunately, God gives us a new beginning every day! We get to start over with fresh opportunities to be God's people. That is God's gracious gift to us, and it is God's grace that saves us too. For that, we can be eternally thankful.
So keep reading. Don't you give up on God's people in the Old Testament because God never did.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
Jacob marries two wives with Rachel being his favorite and the understandable jealousy between the two is forever evident. When Rachel finally gives birth to a son, Joseph becomes the favorite son. Joseph loves to rub that in with his brothers which causes all kinds of sibling rivalry. And so on, and so on...
If you have the Daily Response Book, you will have read on page 12 these words from Kalas, "Faith is not simple, not even for good people, not even for saints. The lives of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah ought to instruct us at that point. We may sometimes be troubled by their inconsistencies (especially if we are momentarily dull to our own), but we might also be encouraged by them. If they made it, and were even crucial to God's plan, surely there is hope for us! This is not to justify our sins or our lapses in righteousness but to recognize that goodness doesn't come easily. There are no sudden saints."
"There are no sudden saints." I love that statement! We are all a mixture of saint and sinner. And if we did not know that before, we should certainly know that after having read the book of Genesis. We have the capacity to be so faithful, going when God says "go". Some days are like that. Then other days we get afraid and don't stand up when we should. We pull the covers over our head instead or put our foot in our mouths. It's our version of going to Egypt and passing off our spouse as our sibling to save our skin. But no matter what, we keep putting one foot in front of the other on this journey of faith, taking a lifetime to grow in our love for Jesus Christ. That is our goal and it is worth striving toward.
Fortunately, God gives us a new beginning every day! We get to start over with fresh opportunities to be God's people. That is God's gracious gift to us, and it is God's grace that saves us too. For that, we can be eternally thankful.
So keep reading. Don't you give up on God's people in the Old Testament because God never did.
Grace and peace,
Rev Linda
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