What I Shall Cling To

SATURDAY 2.23.08 - PSALM 118:13-17
I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me. The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: "The LORD's right hand has done mighty things! The LORD's right hand is lifted high; the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!" I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

Okay, so this was supposed to be yesterday's reading but I was so busy relaxing that I didn't want to descend to the basement or bother Gaby by invading his room to blog. So I read Numbers yesterday, which wasn't quite the enthralling reading that we were supposed to have in following the Lent readings.

I wish I could always keep this verse before me. I wish that I could be filled with the spirit to sing it. And so I'm going to choose that spirit today.

Two things that I love about this verse, brilliantly written and so true to life:

#1 - "The LORD is my strength and my song..." This is present tense, right now, the LORD is my strength. Right now the LORD is my song. It doesn't matter what my life is taking me through, through troubles or joys, through anything: right now, the LORD is my strength and my song. This is what it means to live in joy, and thus to live in victory. Sure, there are times when this is more difficult than others. But...

Okay, so I've been frustrated with the fast because it hasn't been as spiritual as I would have liked it to be. But, as has been mentioned here a lot, I've realized that the focus has been on me, Exodus, Courtney and I, whatever. The focus must be on You. If I focus on me, then things are not going to be joyful or victorious much of the time. Indeed, they will usually be failure after failure if I focus on my feelings and my actions. But...the LORD, You, You be my strength, You be my song.

#2 - "He has become my salvation." It's interesting that this is not necessarily an all time thing like "my strength and my song." There was a journey to the point of Your salvation. Maybe, no not maybe, I know that it is like this in every trial, in every struggle. You become the salvation. That's a reality I rarely live in.

I mean honestly, I bought this book called "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society," hoping that it would back up my conviction that one of the most detrimental things to true Christ-following is expecting a fast-food, instant God. And how have I treated You throughout this fast...like a fast-food, instant God. Oh God, I don't feel You - change it now! Ah, I'd like to mark that down as passion, but perhaps it's just impatience. Real worship is in spirit and in truth, and an instant God isn't truth. It's a long walk. You will become salvation.

So, as I go out...You are my strength, You are my song, become my salvation!

Shema and Crucifixion

Asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus responded without hesitation: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." In Hebrew, this is known as the Shema, which is simply the first Hebrew word in the phrase. It is obviously one of the most important statements in the Scriptures, and it should be made even more important to Christians as Jesus picks it out as the most important commandment.

This statement is so wrapped in layers of meaning, from the LORD is one to how we are to love the LORD. What stands out to me is that we are to love the LORD with heart and soul and strength. Basically we need to love God with our whole beings. To break it down a bit, heart is where our emotions and our desires and our will comes from. In Hebrew, it is actually very closely related to our mind. Strength is our body and all of our physicality. Soul, in ancient Hebrew belief, is actually the unity of the emotions, desires, thoughts, character, and so on as the whole person. So love the LORD our God with our whole beings.

So, if Jesus knew this was the greatest command, it's logical to think that He would orient his ministry towards the goal of making it possible. Making it possible for people, humans, to love the LORD with their whole beings, body, mind, and soul.

The more and more I read through the gospels the more that this is simply jumping all over me. Awhile ago I wondered about Jesus' miracles, healings, exorcisms and other radical things that he did that seem so beyond me. Now as I look at that stuff through a different lens, the lens of the Shema, I see that the miracles are meant to change people's minds, to allow them to see that God is God and God is all powerful. That God is the only God. That's why John calls the miracles "signs." They are not just about the miraculous thing that gets done, they are about what the miraculous thing points to. Miracles deliver peoples' minds and hearts and set them on the LORD.

And healings. Healings deliver peoples' bodies, their strength. A blind man, a crippled man, a leprous man, a bleeding woman, these people all have bodily problems that may separate them from worshipping with their whole bodies. A blind man cannot worship the LORD who provided the lush forests and magnificent mountains. A crippled man cannot worship the LORD who gave him speed and dexterity. And so on. Jesus delivers peoples' bodies.

And souls. The wholeness of a person. The seat of their "spirit." Traditionally, we think that this is what Jesus died on the cross for. And it is. But I don't think that it is only in the sense of "so we can go to heaven and be with Him." Soul, in the Shema sense, is the unity of body and mind, strength and heart.

So I think that Jesus came, lived, and died so that salvation could be brought to our heart, strength and soul. So that we could understand and be free to worship the LORD, to love the LORD, with our bodies, minds, and souls.

That seems to make sense to me, and it really helps me understand why Jesus does what he does...don't know how it was explained though. Or what to do with that now.

Lord, I know that You are the LORD. Help me to live in a way that teaches others You are the one LORD, that inspires others to serve You with their strengths, and invites others into the wholeness of Your salvation.

Water to Wine

Listening recently to Rob Bell talking about wine and heaven, a thought struck me that seems to come right from what we've been thinking about lately. The D.C.K.L. and how God acts in response to it.

In the miracle of changing water into wine, the text actually never says that Jesus changes water into wine. That's how we talk about it, and that's fine, but it really doesn't say that Jesus did anything to accomplish the miracle. The story reads like this: Mary says to do what Jesus says, Jesus tells the servants what to do, they do it, the water is wine somehow.

I connect that with something I read in "The Gospel According to Moses," by Athol Dickson, which says that Jesus is the Word, the Law, the Old and the New Testament, all of it from beginning to end, and I've got a new thought rolling around my mind involving the D.C.K.L.

As I've said before I believe that the sequence of deliverance, community, knowledge, and land (D.C.K.L.) is the pattern of living that we live out to prepare the way for God. It's the biblical way that has been shown to us throughout Scripture. If we accept that Jesus is the Word, all of it, from beginning to end, then it is what Jesus is telling us to do.

Now here is where we connect to the water to wine story. Jesus told the servants what to do and they did it. Then, somehow, the water was turned to wine. When the master of ceremonies tasted it, he remarked what a great wine it was. Who actually changed the water to wine? The servants certainly don't take credit for it. Jesus never touched the wine. What turned the molecules into wine? How does that happen?

We don't know. We don't need to know. What we do know is who did it. God. There is no doubt. The servants didn't, Mary didn't, the master of ceremonies didn't. This only leaves us with God. Jesus told the servants what to do, they did it, and God worked.

This is how I believe salvation works. Jesus (the Word) has told us what to do. We need to do it, to prepare the way. Then God works. We don't know how, we don't know all the steps, but in the end, salvation is accomplished.

Lord, may I live with this knowledge in mind daily, aware of my chances to deliver, to provide care and community, to help people see and know You, to bring Your realm of power right here, right into this earth. May salvation be accomplished by You, in whatever way You do it.

This is Where It Gets Big

Okay, enough philosophizing Lord. I love it, but now I'm starting to see the point. I don't want to keep living in "starting to see the point," or "beginning to see how it all plays out." I want to be in on the action, the bringing of the point to others, the preparing the way with hands in the dirt, feet in the soil. Because I believe that's where You've called us all to be.

But it always brings me back to the same point. If preparing the way beginnings (and it must) with deliverance, then who needs delivered? And from what? Do I wait or do I go? Will You bring the opportunities right into my path or must I walk out to where I think the opportunities might be?

So this is where it gets big, and where it gets difficult. My forty this time is to focus on Your will. My prayer then is that You bring into my life soon someone or some situation that I can be a part of bringing deliverance and community to. And by saying that I can be a part, I'd love to have whatever this opportunity is with the support of the Exodus Community.

I trust that You will show us how and where to live Your way. I trust that when we do You will bring salvation. And I must say, I can't wait for that.

Oh God, Where Are You Now?

Sustained time in Your presence is so elusive. I don't want to feel like I'm forever questioning You, forever falling away from You, forever losing touch with where You are, but sometimes I think that either You or I are moving way too fast for each other. I mean, maybe once or twice a day our thoughts entwine for several seconds, minutes if I'm lucky, and then I'm on my way or You pick up and move.

It's funny, those seconds of intersection keep me going, leep me struggling. Yet, somedays I just want to find You and know You without the enormous struggle that it is involved. Sometimes I think that despite Jesus, we're no closer to You than the priests who had to walk through all the purification rituals.

So is that really the problem with sustained presence? Would it really kill me like it could to the Old Testament priests? Be so overwhelming that I couldn't stand it? God one other thing that I've learned over the course of this forty days is how powerful and strong You really are. But my prayer is that I can see that power that is being used not necessarily to humble people, but for overwhelming good. There I hope that my community can join You and be on the forefront of seeing the power of God pouring out on the people, places and communities that need salvation. Salvation from poverty, terror, homelessness, whatever it is. I really want to be where You are, the center of Your will.

So where are You right now? How do I connect my heart to Yours? Can You open my ears to hear You more? Can I receive the privilege of action alongside of You? I sit with these questions this morning.

Put Your Feet on the Floor

Lord, You've responded like You always do to my request of a reply. You've given me one straight away, and honestly, it's something old and something new. You are genuinely the greatest teacher ever, and I love to see You fulfill Your Scripture and Your words right in front of me. Over the last 24 hours, I feel like You've been instructing just exactly like Matthew 13:52 says, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." Your instruction has been bring out old understandings and freshening them up with bold, new words and several new ideas.

The best thing was listening to Sister Victoria on a Mars Hill sermon yesterday as she spoke about "Resting in God's Presence." It was a sermon from a year ago, in Mars' Lent series. I listened to most of the rest of those last year, but had never heard this one. Now I know why... You were saving it for me to hear now.

Sister would talk about the Word and then invite everyone to calm down, "put your feet on the floor," and then rest in God. The last part struck me so hard. It was about simply holding things before You as we forge right through the problems. I am guilty of trying to find ways, levers, answers that get me around life's problems. I realized now that You want me to hold those problems in You, as we wade right through the middle of them.

I also was instructed yesterday about salvation. It's not only about me and heaven, or escaping hell. It's about every part of me. Some parts of me are alive and living in Your kingdom, other parts still need to be saved. My mind, my purity, my time, and more are still in need of Your salvation.

So that's what I come before You right now to do. To put my feet flat on the floor, to acknowledge Your love, to hold myself and others worries before You, and to ask for Your salvation come to all our stuff. Rest with us God. Amen.