Exodus is a great story. Before we read it, though, most Americans need to erase the vision of Charleton Heston in Cecil B. DeMille's Ten Commandments from our minds eye. There are some similarities -- but there are many differences too.
For instance, do you remember that God told Moses to ask for a 3 day leave of absence? The familiar refrain is "Let my people go!" But the end of that phrase is "...so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness. (Ex 5:1) God had said to Moses. "...go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wildrenesss to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.'" (Ex. 3:18) The reason for a three-day journey was so that they could get far enough away from the Egyptians' settlements so that their sacrifices wouldn't stink up the city. The people, when they left, thought they were going on a road trip -- a vacation -- not a life-long journey!
How many times has this happened; you think you're going to live a simple, well-planned life, and then something happens: illness, accident, death of a loved one -- these circumstances can take us on a life-long journey that we never intended to embark upon.
God protects those who get where they're going in the time that they think they are going there, as well as those who travel down detours, whether they are of their own making or whether they are forced upon them. The challenge is for those who get to finish their trip according to plan to realize that those who don't get to their destination often didn't veer off the road because they wanted to -- it's just the way it turned out.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Power to Continue
"The Power of God and gods of Power" series has been challenging, but enlightening. It is difficult to translate what it means to rely on the power of the living God, particularly when I feel like I'm personally running out of steam. But the fact that I am continuing to put in a full day's work means that the power is coming from somewhere, and I choose to believe it is from being tapped into the living power of God.
This week we're going to explore 2 of the biggest theological topics there are: Why does God permit suffering, and how do we discuss and understand the Trinity. These are big questions -- and the answers only partly satisfy. This is where faith is necessary -- that certainty of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. We can't always explain everything to our ultimate human satisfaction, just as human activity would never be fully explanable to an ant. We don't have the capacity to fully understand the ultimate Mystery. This frustrates some and confounds many. Yet to throw up our hands and say "forget it all" isn't an option either, because the longing to be connected with this power doesn't go away.
Some answer this longing outside "organized" religion (only those on the outside think we're really organized -- we know the truth!). They try to connect with the "universal life force" or talk about karma. No matter what we call it, we're still looking for completeness. Even the atheists that rail against the existence of God and claim that the evils of society can be laid at the doorsteps of those of us who believe in God's existence "doth protest too much." (Besides, if we're responsible for all of those evils, you have to acknowledge all of the things that we've done right as well, because there have been many.)
I think the power to continue to explore Mystery is given to us by that Mystery --- because God loves us so much God is always looking for us to come and dance!
This week we're going to explore 2 of the biggest theological topics there are: Why does God permit suffering, and how do we discuss and understand the Trinity. These are big questions -- and the answers only partly satisfy. This is where faith is necessary -- that certainty of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. We can't always explain everything to our ultimate human satisfaction, just as human activity would never be fully explanable to an ant. We don't have the capacity to fully understand the ultimate Mystery. This frustrates some and confounds many. Yet to throw up our hands and say "forget it all" isn't an option either, because the longing to be connected with this power doesn't go away.
Some answer this longing outside "organized" religion (only those on the outside think we're really organized -- we know the truth!). They try to connect with the "universal life force" or talk about karma. No matter what we call it, we're still looking for completeness. Even the atheists that rail against the existence of God and claim that the evils of society can be laid at the doorsteps of those of us who believe in God's existence "doth protest too much." (Besides, if we're responsible for all of those evils, you have to acknowledge all of the things that we've done right as well, because there have been many.)
I think the power to continue to explore Mystery is given to us by that Mystery --- because God loves us so much God is always looking for us to come and dance!
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