Day by Day with the Word

Shouting - Isaiah

2010-09-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

The prophets tend to have one volume level - LOUD!! They are the guys standing on the soap box on the corner shouting to everyone who will listen...and it seems like no one is listening. Justice, righteousness and faithfulness...that's about the extent of the sermon notes. Over and over again, treat everyone fairly, quit wasting your lives, don't get distracted away from God. I think we probably need a loud voice shouting at us sometimes. We are way to comfortable doing our usual doings. It sometimes takes someone to shake the bed and shout at us to get up and going.....NOW! At least, that's how I'm feeling halfway through Isaiah...I've still got to get through Jeremiah, Micah, Amos and all the rest of the corner shouters. Just remember....God loves us!

Wisdom - Proverbs

2010-08-09T17:39:00.000-07:00

This week we finally get out of Psalms and head into Proverbs. Did you know that both Psalms and Proverbs are categorized as "wisdom" books? What do you make of wisdom? What is it? How does it operate in our lives? How do you get it? What does it do? Any ideas?.... let me know

Nature - Psalms

2010-08-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

Jesus once said that even if his followers were silent, the stones would shout out. In the Psalms we find an expression of the close connection between God and the natural world. It is, we are reminded over and over, God's creation. God made everything, therefore we can trust it and we can see a reflection of God in it. The world around us can even speak of or shout God's name if we pay attention to it. The spiritual connection to nature is more than simply the fact that trees are beautiful. It is the idea that God makes stuff...God takes an active part in the world we live in - whether it's building trees or building lives, God is knee deep in the stuff of this world. We can't go anywhere without seeing God's hand at work.

Images - Psalms

2010-07-26T03:57:00.000-07:00

I've just spent a week at the General assembly of the Presbyterian Church and now I'm at Synod School, which is a week long family camp for Presbyterians. I'm hoping that the Psalms keep me a little bit sane! It certainly is a wonderful book. Rich and thick with emotion, energy and imagery. God is: a rock, a fortress, a deliverer, our strength, our help, our wings. Yesterday I ran across this: "You show me the path of life, in your presence there is fullness of joy." I like that! Sometimes I find these little gems in Psalms. A phrase - a line that just smacks me between the eyes and says everything that I need to hear. I hope you all come across some lines like that. Let me know!

Job - blessings and curses

2010-07-05T05:59:00.001-07:00

Job...what a great book. I might almost be bold enough to say...the greatest book in the Bible. It really cuts to the heart of so many of our questions about ourselves and about God. In fact, the entire question that the book is intended to address may be, "What is it that we can really say about God?" The book emphasizes words - good words and bad words, words that are full of wisdom and foolish words.

In 1:21, after Job has been inflicted with pain for the first time, Job says, "Blessed be the name of God." The Hebrew word of blessed is BARAK. It is the same word that Job's wife uses in 2:10 to tell Job, "CURSE God and die." Blessing and curse - the same word. Job's wife is probably being sarcastic here as in, "Yeah, right, Job...go ahead and bless this so called God of yours. What's so blessed about God now?"

What can we say about God? Can we know what God's up to? Read more!!!

Ezra Nehemiah - Interpretation

2010-06-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

OK...so, I haven't blogged here for awhile...but I assure you, I've been more or less keeping up with the reading! In about a month, we'll reach the halfway point of the Bible. It seems hard to believe that we've covered that much ground. Ezra and Nehemiah cover similar territory and even though some of it is slow going, there are nuggets that just knocked me off my feet.

Nehemiah 8:8 has a great scene in which Nehemiah talks about interpreting God's law to the people. It reminded me that scripture is always in need of interpretation. We don't always get it by just looking at it. Sometimes we need help discerning its meaning. I suppose that's often the preacher's task, but the preacher is telling you that he sometimes needs someone Else's help in finding the interpretation.

There's a lot of confessing done in these books...long long sections of communal confession. Why don't we do that much anymore? I suppose we find it depressing or something. Confession isn't supposed to make us feel rotten...it's supposed to remind us of the greatness of God's grace. It's supposed to maintain our humility - something I believe in short supply today. So I'm confessing how rotten I've been at keeping up with this blog and asking God's help in keeping it up to date!

1 Chronicles - Making history

2010-05-31T18:53:00.000-07:00

Well...we've pretty much been through the entire Biblical story by the time we get to Chronicles. Starting in Chronicles the writers begin to re-tell the story...with changes. One thing we learn as we read the entire Bible is that it rarely likes to tell a story only once. Instead, it retells it again and again in a number of variations. Rather than spending lots of time and energy trying to "harmonize" all these versions of stories, we should ask ourselves what message God is telling us through these multiple tellings. Maybe, any story is impossible to tell in only one way. Maybe the only way to be truthful about something is it look at it from a number of different angles. What does this say about our own lives and how we should look at ourselves? Maybe it's always helpful to get multiple perspectives on how to perceive ourselves. As you read through the re-tellings in the rest of the Old Testament...look for what's new in the story. How is it shedding new and different light on the same old thing?

1 Kings - Peer Pressure

2010-05-21T06:28:00.000-07:00

In chapter 22 of 1 Kings, the kings of the northern and southern kingdoms are cooperating, miraculously, but they shop around until they find a preacher who will tell them what they want to hear. Of course, in those days, a preacher who didn't preach the right sermon to the king might have found himself floating upside down in the river. Rev. Micaiah resists peer pressure and gives the kings the bad news and no one is very happy about it except God who is glad that at least one person is listening to him. Do you find it difficult to hear God when God isn't saying what you want to hear? Yikes...

2 Samuel - Power and Presence

2010-05-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

I used to think the "Sopranos" on HBO was about as violent and vindictive as you could get, but that was before reading about bloody general Joab who is constantly tossing someone's head over a wall or impaling them with a spear, or Solomon's favorite "hit man," Benaiah. All of these stories make me wonder whether or not it's possible to have human power and to trust in God. Does our sense of personal power get in the way of trusting God's power? David and Solomon seem to balance the two somewhat successfully with some notable exceptions. But on the whole, it seems like a pretty shaky alliance. Are all of these stories just supposed to cure us of our desires to reach the top? What does it mean to, "Be all you can be"?

1 & 2 Samuel - War

2010-05-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

In 1 Samuel, young David seems to be able to do no wrong. Like the book of Joshua, he seems to have the Midas touch in all his battles. But then along comes 2 Samuel and suddenly things seem so much more .... complicated. His relationship with Saul and especially Saul's son, Jonathan, are full of irony and sadness. David must negotiate the troubled waters of being both friend and enemy. Soon, the bodies start piling up. You can't get involved in a cycle of violence without it coming back and affecting you. At one point, when David's relentlessly "hawkish" general Joab is pursuing the enemy general Abner, Abner says to him, "Is the sword to keep devouring forever?" Isn't this what happens? Violent means to our ends wind up bringing nothing but sadness. David loses his best friend ever - his soul mate. David's own life begins to lose its pristine luster.

Ruth - Foreigners

2010-04-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

I find it interesting how there have been so many taboos against mixing with foreigners and now we get this story of how a foreign woman acts faithfully and even becomes a great grandmother of King David...and, of course, Jesus. This seems like a great example of how scripture is often in conversation with itself. Even though there is an important thing to be learned about steering clear of influences that might drag us away from God, there is an important thing to be learned from those outside of our own tradition. Jesus himself gets in trouble for including so many outsiders as the heroes of his parables and as the guests at his dinner table. All of this seems to raise the issue of how we should live in this world and participate in its daily life and yet remain holy - apart for God.

Judges - Perspective

2010-04-26T09:12:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about perspective in these readings. From who's perspective is this being written and what's the perspective from which I'm reading it. Many of the stories of Judges are certainly not written from a woman's perspective and probably not from the point of view of the Canaanites. Sometimes, what's good news from one person's point of view, is bad news from another. Is the fact that I'm a citizen of a very powerful country affect the way I read the stories of Israel conquering the land? Would I look at these conquest stories any different if I was Native American or living in a country which was being oppressed by another? And then, of course, a big question is, "What is God's perspective?" Maybe that's what I'm trying to discover between the lines of scripture. How is it that God looks upon us and what does God see? Maybe every story of scripture gives us another little hint as to the way that God sees things all the time.

Judges - Women

2010-04-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

So far, the readings from the Bible have not done any favors to women everywhere. Daughters are sold into slavery. Women are snatched up like booty after a battle. Marriage and divorce are purely at the male whim. Life is not easy for women of the ancient world. It's not much better in the book of Judges...except for some very interesting stories. I'm tempted, even, to call Judges the feminist manifesto of the Old Testament. Look at all the strong women here... Deborah is judge and prophet whose mere presence assures victory in battle. Jael kills an enemy general by hammering a tent peg in his skull (that ought to give every man a little pause before going to bed each night). Samson's mother seems exceptionally intelligent, especially compared to her dullard husband. And Delilah is, well, you'll have to judge for yourself, but she certainly is competent.

Not all is well for the women of Judges. Caleb gives away his daughter as a prize for whoever can be victorious in battle. And Jepthah's daughter comes to a bad end. But she takes it well.

The Bible seems to repeatedly favor the downtrodden. And perhaps this is why women do so well given the cultural context of the time. God can work through all of us. Most of all, it is God, not us, who is the strength behind it all.

Joshua - Covenant

2010-04-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

Between all the battles in Joshua (that's another discussion!) there are two more events that are sometimes called, "Covenant Renewal." This is when Moses, or in this case Joshua, gathers the people around and renews everyone's loyalty to God. Chapter 24 of Joshua has an especially good example of this. He recites an abbreviated history of Israel, mostly talking about the many ways that God has saved them from trouble. Then the people are challenged to respond to these saving actions of God. Joshua says, "Choose this day who you will serve!"

It seems to me like these periodic reminders are helpful. Many married couples find it helpful to renew marriage vows. Even yearly anniversaries can be helpful in renewing promises and remembering why they were made in the first place. In some ways, our weekly worship services are a bit of covenant renewal. Do we need more? What do you think?

Deuteronomy - Leaders

2010-04-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

The story of Moses has been such an incredible lesson in leadership. Moses has been through the wringer with both God and the Israelites. I'm still a little mad at God for not letting him put a toe in the Promised Land. I was especially interested in chapter 17 in which there's a description of a good king is supposed to look like: They are not supposed to desire power or money. They should spend lots of time contemplating God's will for the people. And they shouldn't "lord it over" everyone. It's not a bad description for most any kind of leader. But everyone who gets a little power seems to fall down a deep pit of power, desire and manipulation. It's a story as old as Deuteronomy. Maybe all leaders need to wander around the desert for 40 years before taking charge....

Deuteronomy - Listen

2010-03-30T11:42:00.001-07:00

It's been a few days since I've been here to my "Day by Day" blog... I guess I got a little bogged down in Numbers.... but now we have broken free into Deuteronomy! One of my favorite books of the Bible. Maybe it's because it's primarily one long sermon by Moses. He's got a real good gift for rhetoric.

The Jews name their books differently than we do. They usually name the book after the first significant word in the book. So Deuteronomy is simply called, "The Words" since the first sentence is, "These are the words that Moses spoke..." It's an appropriate title. And it reminds us that our attitude toward this book should be the same as that of the Israelites - listening. It's so hard to listen because of the daily distractions around us. Deuteronomy urges us again and again, however, to set aside the distractions and turn to God alone.

Meanwhile, I will try to set aside enough distracts to be a bit more daily with this blog. Have fun reading and listening!

Leviticus - thoughts

2010-03-15T06:43:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd offer my thoughts on what it's been like reading the Bible on my Kindle so far. For those of you who don't know, a Kindle is one of those new electronic book readers. It's about the size of a small book, but it can hold the content of about 500 books. Right now, 66 of them are from the Bible. As I expected, the Kindle is very easy to use for going straight through a text, but is more cumbersome than a paper book at flipping back and forth between pages. Therefore, when I'm in a discussion and we're going all over the place, the Kindle is nearly impossible to use. However, it's been great as I do my initial reading. At first, I really had a hard time, but then I settled in to the discipline of going straight through the text without a lot of doubling back. This is a new way of reading the Bible for me. I'm more used to dodging in and out, back and forth through scripture. Now, I am spending much more time going through it as it is set forth for us. All in all - not a bad thing to do!

I've finally gotten to the end of Leviticus and heading into Numbers. I'm anxious to leave all the confusing rules behind and get back to more of a story format. But as I do, I realize that these rules form the backdrop for so much of the story that follows. Isn't that the truth of life - much of what we struggle with comes in the context of our worldview - the "right" and "wrongness" of what we experience. Guilt, joy, fulfillment and sadness all center on the way that we perceive the expectations upon us. If anything, Leviticus helps us understand some of those expectations.

Leviticus - Different

2010-03-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

I'm still slogging through Leviticus. It's probably one of the most difficult books to get through trying to deal with some awful strange stuff - how to properly dissect a bird? Where to toss the blood? It seems, though, that a lot of Leviticus is concerned with God's people being distinctively different from everyone else around. The words "Holy" and "special" are used a lot. It might be useful to think about how it is that we are different. Do we really stand out as God's people? As the song goes, do people really know us by our love? Maybe we blend in a bit too well with the world around us. Should I let my beard grow long?

Leviticus - Dangerous God

2010-03-05T06:33:00.000-08:00

Leviticus leaves little doubt that God is dangerous. The construction of the tabernacle seems designed to keep people from accidentally stepping into the toxic holy of holies where one glimpse of God's presence might obliterate you. The elaborate costume of the priests seems more like a hazmat suit designed to protect the wearer from being destroyed by God. Maybe we need to pay more attention to this idea that God is not like Caspar the friendly ghost. God loves us and cares for us but does not exist to serve our every whim and need. God is unpredictable and dangerous. Getting close to God is not necessarily good for your health. Maybe we all need some kind of protective gear in church.

Leviticus - Lists Update

2010-03-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

Here's how I'm doing on the lists I'm keeping: So far, I've counted 12 scripture passages that talk about God's breath/wind/spirit (all the same word in Hebrew) but in Leviticus, just about everything is "pleasing to God's nostrils." The phrase "Here I am" - 7 times. God's covenant with Israel is repeated 15 times. The "Fear of the Lord" - 4 times. Sabbath related laws - 5 places so far. God is "Gracious merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love" - only once so far...but I know this one is going to pop up again and again. Laws that are difficult to understand - too many to count.

Exodus - Tabernacle

2010-03-01T12:41:00.000-08:00

I always wondered why the Bible went off on a long excursion about how to build the tabernacle while God was meeting with Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. Then it occurred to me that maybe the purpose of the tabernacle was to build sort of portable Mount Sinai - a place where God and the people could meet no matter where they were. The word "tabernacle" itself means "abode" or "tent". It's the word used in the first chapter of the gospel of John to describe God's dwelling with us in the person of Jesus "...and the Word became flesh and "tented" among us...". All throughout this section of Exodus the text keeps returning to the topic of God's dwelling with us - meeting with us - abiding with us. This section really isn't about constructing a portable building as it is about paying attention to how we relate to God. ... imagine that...a portable mountain!?!?...

Exodus - Leadership

2010-02-25T05:55:00.001-08:00

It never occurred to me how much the story of Moses is about the trials and tribulations of leadership. At first, Moses is unprepared for the job and doubts his abilities. He can only do it if his older brother comes along with him. Moses doubts not only his own abilities but the wisdom of God's plan. But slowly he gains confidence and soon he's doing a lot of things by himself. He speaks with greater authority and conviction and begins to trust God a bit more. In chapter 18, things are going so well that everyone wants to come to him for help and he experiences... that most 21st century kind of thing - stress! So he has to learn to delegate authority. You can almost feel the strain of leadership within Moses at times. What a great story.

Exodus - I Doubt It

2010-02-21T14:20:00.000-08:00

1 book down and 65 to go (thank God Presbyterians don't read the apocrypha). I haven't yet found a good regular time to read the Bible every day, but I'm figuring out a weekly discipline that gets me through all the chapters in a week. I read a lot on Mondays and Tuesdays, then slow down with my reading as the rest of the week speeds up.

As I leave Genesis behind and head into Exodus I was wondering if I would find Moses to be a more towering personality than the rather rascally-looking patriarchs of the other stories. But Moses isn't looking very good in the first few chapters. So far I've listed (another list) 5 times that Moses doubts God's advice including more or less the entire chapter 4. Don't you think these guys would get the picture after awhile? I don't suppose I should expect them to behave any better than myself, but still...I hope Moses starts looking a bit better as we go on.

Genesis 41 - Just Dreaming

2010-02-16T09:54:00.000-08:00

What is it with all this dreaming? Joseph gets into trouble with his dreams. Then he gets out of trouble by interpreting others' dreams. I wonder why dreams play such a pivotal role in these stories. Perhaps it's because dreaming is an unconscious act that bypasses our troublesome wills. Even though dreams can be obscure, on the other hand, they can often "cut to the chase" in a way that our conscious thoughts don't. This certainly proved true in the dreams of the Joseph story. Can it be that we think too much about things sometimes? Can we overthink an issue that God is putting in front of us? Maybe we should take the advice that we all got a long time ago and just... "sleep on it."

Genesis 38 - Making Lists

2010-02-14T18:20:00.001-08:00

This probably means I have some sort of illness, but when I read the Bible I start making lists. My oldest Bible has a dozen or more lists that I've jotted down and as I've made my way through Genesis, I've started more lists: How often does someone say, "Here I am!" -- so far, 5 times. How often does God restate the covenant -- so far, 11 times. What are the different names of God -- so far, El, El Elyon, El Shaddai, Yahweh, Adonai.

It could be that the way the Bible is written encourages this kind of list-making. The Bible often repeats ideas and images and with each repetition the image/idea gains meaning and importance. I love trying to follow the path of an image as it makes its way through several stories, like the way wind/breath/spirit is found throughout the first few chapters.

So, if you don't share my compulsion for lists, I'll be glad to share mine with you as we keep going. After all, we do have 65 more books to go before we reach Revelation!

Genesis - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

2010-02-09T11:12:00.000-08:00

Our God is repeatedly referred to as the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" which sounds pretty good until you actually think about what these persons were like. Abraham has some weak moments but seems to make up for it all with his faithfulness on Mount Mora. Isaac just doesn't have that big a part in the Bible, but overall comes out looking alright. But Jacob.....Jacob.....what was God thinking!? His story is just one outrageous thing after another. Only Jacob has the audacity to demand that God do something for him before giving his allegience to God (28:20). When he finally tries to ask forgiveness from his brother I wonder whether I would have been as gracious as Esau.

So, when we pray to the "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," I can't help but have this vision in my head of crazy Jacob planning some new scheme and I've gotta believe that if God is there through it all with Jacob, God will stick with me through all my craziness.

Genesis 22 - Sacrifice

2010-02-07T04:17:00.001-08:00

This picture is of a George Segal sculpture depicting the sacrifice of Isaac. It was created to commemorate the shootings at Kent State. They refused it because they thought it too controversial. It now resides at Princeton University outside the chapel. I have found it to be extremely powerful for me. This story leaves me almost breathless. I can't read it without being immediately transported to the cross.

Genesis 19 - Too close for comfort

2010-02-03T19:05:00.000-08:00

I'm not quite sure how to say this politely. For certain, the Bible doesn't worry too much about being polite. But here it is... this book is full of lots of stuff about sex. Rape, incest, infidelity and lots of begetting. In fact, did you know that the Hebrew word for KNOW is the same as the word for sexual intimacy. So, sometimes our english translation will say that so and so KNEW so and so... and then she had a baby. How interesting that knowledge and intimacy are connected. The Bible knows that sex is interwoven with so much of our lives. We just have a hard time figuring out how to talk about it in public without snickering or being preachy or judgmental. Maybe this story can help us in being real about it. What do you think?

Genesis 11 - Babies!

2010-02-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

The beginning of Genesis seems obsessed with babies. Numerous times, including during the creation, we are told to be "fruitful." And then there are all the lists. Lists of who "begot" who...on and on. It's clear that the world is becoming populated and that this is a good thing. But then chapter 11, verse 29 comes along and WHAM!... "...and Sarai was barren, she had no child." It's as if God's plan hits a stone wall.

I know that circumstances are different now than they were in the ancient world, but even today, the news that a couple cannot conceive a child can be difficult. In the ancient world, the survival of the clan was dependant upon children. God's Covenant with Abraham is all dependant upon children. This part of the story provides a real test as to whether or not Abraham and Sarai are going to totally depend on God or not.

Genesis 3

2010-01-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

The language of the Bible may be antiquate but the plot is as new as this morning's newspaper headlines - lust, jealousy and violence. Rather than spending time relishing the beauty of God's creation in chapter one, the Bible just jumps right into the mess us humans tend to create when we get involved. When Eve takes a bite of the fruit, it says she does so because she was overcome with desire. When Cain kills his brother, he too is overcome with a longing. These stories get right to the point when it comes to what makes us "tick." We are all full of longings and desires which, if we aren't careful, quickly take us down the wrong path. God created a beautiful world with much in it to be desired. But those same desires quickly turn on us if we aren't mindful all the time of the object of our desire. I'm left wondering along with the author of Psalm 8, why is it that God cares for us so much? Despite our weaknesses, why does God love us so much. I guess that's what the book is all about... I better keep reading.

Genesis 1

2010-01-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

I'm off and reading! I'm heading into this adventure a little before the February 1 kick off because I'm preaching from these texts and have to get a little ahead things. If you're not reading as far ahead as I am, just look at the older posts.

I'm trying to keep my seminary-trained brain a little at bay as I do this reading. I'm trying not to instantly grab a commentary or Hebrew dictionary. Instead, I'm trying to just settle into the Bible and see how the plain flow of the reading hits me. As I read through this all-too-familiar beginning of the Bible I noticed for the first time how much of it is about getting the planet organized. Could God be a Presbyterian? In the Beginning everything seemed to be just a mess with planetary stuff just strewn every which way (sort of like a certain teenager's room I know). But then God comes along and mostly just spends time sorting things out: Light is separated from dark. Water from land. Heaven from earth. Everything is put in its place in nice neat little piles. It makes me think all the more of the "place" God intends for me in all of this. God didn't just throw everything around and expect us to clean up the mess. It's more the other way around. God put everything in a certain place so that it all works right and the more we learn about where stuff belongs, the better our lives work. If only I could get God to straiten out my basement!

Version Diversion

2010-01-17T16:00:00.000-08:00

I've had way too much time this January to get ready for reading through the Bible in February. My biggest decision has been about what version to use when doing the reading (I'm a bit obsessive about these kinds of things). Part of my decision was made by a Christmas present...Jean got me a Kindle, one of those electronic book readers by Amazon.com. So, I've decided to read through the Bible on a book reader which already makes it a different experience. I'm used to flipping back and forth through my Bible as I read. But the Kindle really encourages a person to simple make your way through a book one page at a time without much digressing. I will be reading the first five books of the Bible (also known as the Pentateuch) from Robert Alter's wonderful translation. The rest of the Old Testament I will probably be reading from the Tanak, which is the version most widely read by the Jewish community. I'm hoping that these interesting translations will help me to see new things. I hope that the rest of you don't obsess about translations as much as me. Just relax and do the reading. But if anyone wants to talk translations....I'm all ears!

God-Breathed

2010-01-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

Everything in the Bible is supposed to be "God-Breathed" and "useful" (2 Timothy 3:16) and yet there are huge chunks of it that go mostly unnoticed by us most of the time. There are other parts whose "usefulness" seem rather sketchy such as the instructions for building a portable temple. And some parts seem outright un-helpful, such as admonitions by God to go and destroy things. Rather than sitting on the outside looking in on these scriptural oddities... I'm going to dive right in and wade through the entire thing. Please join me and add your own comments. I'm starting on Monday February 1st, 2010.