Hebrews 11:17-28 Faith Is...

Observation: The sermon in Hebrews recounts example after example of what faith looks like in the lives of people in the Hebrew Bible: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. Important note: it always involves taking action. Even Abraham, whom God has asked to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, trusts enough in God's promise, "It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named after you," that Abraham goes forward, believing that God will provide a solution. I'm also drawn to the words about Moses, who was raised by Pharaoh's daughter, and in theory, could have lived in privilege all his days, yet instead took the side of God's people against the most powerful nation the world had ever known.  

Application: Something that seems to hold all these examples together: Faith is always about making choices. Not just one choice, but repeated choices. And those choices do not make sense unless God is good. It reminded me of Martin Luther's quote, "faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times." 

We've got the wrong idea about faith a lot of the time. Faith isn't about checking off boxes of very extraordinary or unlikely Biblical events, and whether we can intellectually assert that they historically took place. And faith doesn't mean following religious rules for fear of punishment, and excluding all the right people to keep ourselves morally pure. Neither of those definitions of faith are any use to God or the neighbor God asks us to serve. That's not what faith looked like for Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, or Moses. 

Instead, faith is living. Faith is daring. Faith is not just in God, but in God's grace. Faith is waking up each day, and making choices that would make no sense if God were not good. Speaking up for those with no earthly clout of power. Rejecting comfort in favor of doing hard work on ourselves. Listening when we would rather get defensive. Advocating when we would rather be silent. Speaking out and doing the right thing when we know ahead of time we'll be called naive or even ignorant. 

If God were not good, none of these choices would make sense. If God were not good, we would have to spend all our time and energy defending ourselves, our property, our reputations, our little fleeting bit of happiness in a meaningless existence. But since God is good, we err on the side of grace, for the world, for each other and for ourselves. 

Prayer: God, you are good. Help me live like it today. Amen. 

Acts 7:1-8 "If You Knew Then What You Know Now...?"

Observation: After being accused of speaking against the Temple and Jewish religious laws in Jerusalem, Stephen, a Jewish Christian, begins telling the whole story of God's people, beginning with Abraham. What I notice about Stephen's retelling is a small detail not mentioned in the book of Genesis. In both versions, God promises the land that will become Israel to Abraham and his descendants, but in Stephen's version, God also forewarns Abraham that his descendants will spend four hundred years as resident aliens and slaves in Egypt before they return to inherit the Promised Land. Wow. Kind of makes me wonder whether hearing about this part of the story would make Abraham doubtful about making a covenant with God. Even though there is the promise that they will eventually dwell as free people in the land, that's a pretty dark cloud on the horizon. 

Application: A common question I think about when looking back on my life is, "If I had known a few years ago what I know now, would I have made the same choices?" Especially when we look back on difficult times in our lives, it's hard not to speculate. Are we better off for having gone through the trails we never could have predicted? Is it really true that "whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger"? 

I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, I think it can be really harmful, especially when someone has gone through something traumatic, to tell them, "It was all part of God's plan. It had to be this way." That discounts the pain and brokenness too many people experience. I would never dream of telling someone who has experienced something like domestic violence, sexual assault, murder, family separation, or other trauma that this was somehow destined or necessary. I could never worship a God who would intentionally put us through things like that.

On the other hand, I do believe in the theology of the cross, which tells us that God's presence can be found and experienced profoundly even in the depths of our pain and suffering. The Christian community is formed and marked by a symbol of God's entering into even the worst moments of human cruelty and showing love for us there. I do not believe every bad thing that happens is a necessary part of our story, but I do believe that because our world is twisted and fallen, and bad things do happen, God can turn those bad things into instruments of healing. Even though there was nothing "necessary" about the Israelites' period of slavery in Egypt, God did use that period of slavery to mark God's people with compassion forever, and codify that compassion into religious law, that they are never to mistreat foreigners in their own land the way they were mistreated. 

No trauma should ever be viewed as necessary, and no evil and injustice should ever be seen as inevitable. To say it ever is only opens the door to justifying horrific atrocities. But since we can't go back and change the past, God's healing touch can transform our stories and our souls, to allow for healing, justice and compassion in the future.

Prayer: God, transform our stories. Bring healing from that which is broken, and give us repentance so that which is healed may not be broken yet again. Amen.      

Psalm 127 Words of Blessing that Sting

Trying (unsuccessfully) to adapt a different morning routine in the summer, with travel, vacation, kids at home in the mornings, later nights, etc. Devotions have suffered. But by golly, I'm going to keep at it.

Observation: One thing I note here is that I had forgotten the first half of the psalm--"unless the Lord builds the house"--and the second half, about sons being "arrows in the quiver" of a father, were part of the same psalm. Taking them together reminds me that not only does God help us with physical building projects, but with the much more difficult "building" we do, of family relationships.

Application: I noticed today, as I was leaving for work in the midst of the chaos of having four kids at home, each with their individual needs, quirks, and mini-crises, that I actually apologized to my wife as I set out for work. We are definitely feeling the late summer burn-out of having all our kids underfoot for seven or eight weeks already, plus recovering from travel, and having them "all to ourselves" again, after a blessed week with lots of extended family support and love. I apologized. I said "I'm sorry" to my wife as I left her with our kids.

And then I got on the road, and started to reflect. I realized that this morning was going to be the third morning in a row that a lot of moms and dads in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, wake up wondering how their sons or daughters are doing, and had to remember that they are gone. Violently taken from their lives.

The words of this psalm do resonate with me: sons (and daughters) are a blessing and a heritage from the Lord, and I should never for a moment forget the awesome gift and responsibility of being a dad to these four beautiful humans. But they are also words today that sting, when I remember all who are grieving the loss of a child. I don't know that any words could be proper consolation in a situation like this, but we do know that God himself has known the pain of losing a child, and God feels their pain now, in depths we can not comprehend.

Prayer: God, be with families that are facing unbearable loss. Be with moms and dads who have had that title violently torn from them, and who are trying to find a way to be alive today, without the ones who were their blessing. Hear their cries, O Lord, and deliver them, in Jesus' name. Amen.