cairns

I keep reading and seeing writings by American Christians about the gifts of God. They aren’t wrong… completely. God loves to give and everything that exists does so by the continuing gift of creation and grace of God.

But, there is a bottom line. No other gift compares to it in any way. And it should not be transformed to sound like any other gift by verbal gymnastics. To do so is nothing less than sacrilege.

God’s greatest gift is God.

not God’s healing, saving, blessing, wisdom, church, supposed war power, affluence, poverty, transforming love……………………….. or even life

God’s greatest gift to us is God.

But, God is by definition beyond our definitions, our grasp, our full comprehension even as revealed in Jesus. I am grateful that God is revealed in all other true gifts — the creation, the face of our loved ones, the face of strangers, when we do not blind ourselves even in the face of our enemies.

But, we must not confuse those glimpses as the ultimate, final, all transcending gift of God. I can do without many things. But, my only hope for tonight, tomorrow, or eternity is that God blesses me with God.

peace

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Another bad theology I have often heard in sermons laying out the case for a crime and punishment view of separation from God with its outline of  need for punishment met by the sacrifice of Christ in our place iff we are among the elect — is a statement that God, being holy, cannot look upon sin.  I have searched the Bible and found many verses to the contrary, but so far none supporting this contention on what the “Almighty” cannot do.  In fact the Bible often speaks of God viewing the transgressions of man.

I think the strongest argument against this silly view is attributed directly to Jesus in the story of the prodigal.  The types mentioned above always stress the need for the son to turn toward home in repentance.  I just don’t see it.  The kid is hungry and remembers that the servants at home are at least provided for, so he is thinking through an apology that will get him back from the brink of starvation, maybe as a servant.  I do not see any true “repentance” in the story.  And nowhere in the account is there punishment meted out, or compensation made for the family fortune and name squandered by the wayward boy.  (In fact believing this should happen seems more in line with the description of the older brother which Jesus seems to be using to ask the Pharisees whether they will continue to deny the true nature and commands of the Father!)

The Father doesn’t wait for punishment, payment, or even apology as He sees His son and proceeds to break the rules of decorum by actually running down the road to greet him and bring him home to a great party and celebration.

That just doesn’t match with a God sitting in heaven like a shaming parent saying, “I can’t even bear to look at you.”  I think I will trust the view of God attributed to Jesus in Scripture over the ideas of American syncretists.

peace

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I have been thinking more about how God shows up in the person of those who serve.  First I want to clarify that I mean “shows up” as in “becomes visible or tangible,” not as in arrives.  I believe God is always there.  Then I was thinking about writing this cutesy, “She is already there,” kind of statement and it hit me in two steps.  First if service were equal, half of the time God would be physically embodied in us as a female.  But, it isn’t even equal.  As a male, I have to admit that the female half of our race, especially in my Western experience, is far more likely to assume the role of loving service.  If my previous thoughts on God’s tangible presence miraculously expressed in us are true, then most of the time God looks more like my wife than me.

peace

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Actually, a bunch of lambs’ heads!  The butcher was very proud of his shop and gave us quite the tour.  Yes, people really buy the heads.  But, my mental imagery will never be the same when somebody starts speaking in poetic words or tones about the slain lamb.

No wonder folk from a religion which sees God as all powerful and unreachable have so much trouble when we start talking about God willingly dying, let alone using images like the slain lamb.

By the way, the local lamb dishes were delicious!  I am making arrangements to go back soon with a small group of friends to help with camp, love the kids, visit with people when appropriate, and eat some more shwarma and falafel!

peace

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Genesis 9:9 “I am now making my covenant with you and with all of your children who will be born after you. 10 I am making it also with every living thing that was with you in the ark. I am making my covenant with the birds, the livestock and all of the wild animals. I am making it with all of the creatures that came out of the ark with you. I am making it with every living thing on earth.

Hosea 2:18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.

Colossians 1:23 ..if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Revelation 5:13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

peace

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A few more thoughts on the ark. Maybe they should be obvious, or maybe others will disagree. But, these seem like part of what would become a sermon.

I have also read a lot of nonsense about what gave the ark its special powers. One even claimed that it was a nuclear device because of something in the tablets Moses brought down from the mountain. The text says the power was the holy presence of God.

So with everything they remind us of and cause us to contemplate;

the wood — nature, the power of earth — is not the power,

the gold — wealth — is not the power,

the law — instruction in the ways of God — is not the power,

the manna — souvenir and memory of God’s provision — is not the power,

the presence of the angels — the aid of powerful warriors of heaven itself — is not the power,

the mobile nature of the ark — moving, doing, serving, the work of heaven (so easy for me to mistake as the goal!) — is not the power,

only the presence of God; witnessed by the glory, the cloud, the fire; but not the glory, the cloud, or the fire — the very presence of very God brings the power. Because God is the power.

Compared to the presence of God, the rest is an intriguing antique.  When we meet, do we bring each other into that presence?

peace

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I am still exploring something of this that is beyond my grasp.  How do I go out into the dark to seek others if the fire travels with me?  Does the light shine out where I go?  Is that determined more by the power of the light or my degree of transparency?  How does my small frail self hold the Light of All Lights?

Sunday the song “Come to my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.”  Really?  If I go beyond sentimental meanings of “Y’all come now Jesus,”  room?  seriously enough room in my small heart for the Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, Restorer and Lord?

This is a great mystery I am exploring, not trying to solve.  I’m not looking for simple verses or easy answers.  I am just blown away by the immensity of what we claim so casually!  And yet, in some ways, it is the same mystery I was describing earlier in my little heresy post.  In the moments when I am unable to perceive light, when the darkness of this world and age loom largest, when the educated of the world including theologians proclaim that the God I know is dead, I find Him right there in me!

I do not know how that can be.  I do not know how His own earthly body could contain Him. 

But, I know it is true.  He said it.  I have met Him there on the border of hell speaking out from within me.  I have found Him on the mountain top bringing me home to work again. 

What I am musing about here are the questions which draw me to understand how much bigger, other, beyond — and at the same time close, intimate, and available He is.  What a great wonder that all present light is darkness compared to the full understanding of Him, and my darkest days are pure light compared to life without Him.  I am exploring mysteries in great gratitude.

peace

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