Rest

I needed to hear these words today, as I prepare for the Sabbath:
"God gave his people rest. Not one word failed from all the good words God spoke to the house of Israel. Everything came out right."

We hear reforming words today. These are not words for us to internalize as a check list of things that need to be done. If we simply accept God's Spirit moving in our lives, the changes that need to happen will happen. Everything will come out alright.

Jordan - Joshua 18

These people could have really benefited from Google Earth.  Think of how short these chapters would have been if they could have just looked at the satellite images of the land as opposed to surveying it and writing down every physical landmark.

Effective Structures

I have started a conversation with the Mutual Ministry team about how to spread the burden of responsibility around more among the leadership of the church. To one member of the team, it seems like a mis-placed conversation.

That is until you pick up the Bible and there is talk of surveying the land and dividing it up among the tribes.

It's essentially the same issue. God works in the exciting and the mundane.

Jordan - Joshua 17

The fictional Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street famously quotes:

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind..

And here, the Tribe of Joseph whines that their inheritance is not enough and that they need to steal more of the land from the Canaanites.  Greed seems to be shaping the lands in Joshua.  Why be content with what you have when you can get more and make others miserable in the process?

But really, I can't really complain about this while I type on a computer made in china and wear clothes from bangledesh.  The byproduct of my greed just isn't as obvious as Joseph's claim for more land...

The son

Today's reading of the will regards Joseph, the golden child. Levi gets God as his inheritance, so Joseph's two sons each get a share of the land. You would think that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have continued the lineage of Jesus straight through Joseph and the younger of his two sons, which seemed to be the trend (see Jacob and Esau...Joseph himself was the 11th born).

If you look in Matthew's gospel, you see that the line goes through Judah. More amazingly is how we get in on the deal. This Sunday in worship, we hear that classical line, "If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed."

The funny (and culturally appropriate) thing is that the lineage, although it includes four questionable women, goes straight down to Joseph, not Mary. Jesus' daddy was God (through the Holy Spirit). Joseph was merely his step-dad and is out of the picture before Jesus is 30 (presumably he died, as life expectancy at the time wasn't exactly 80).

Mary was chosen by God to be a faithful servant. So are you. It doesn't matter where you came from. What matters is who claimed you.

Jordan - Joshua 15

This chapter and a few chapters before it end with "to this day."  Its a constant reminder to me that these are fabled stories of the Jewish people.  They capture a history through spoken word and the exaggerations likely grew with each story teller.  Yet, with an oral tradition, its amazing that all of the specific towns and cities and names of kings are captured.  I think the art of story telling has really been lost.  When was the last time you heard an orator in the park?  Wouldn't that be awesome?

Totally

"Joshua blessed Caleb and gave Hebron to him as an inheritance, because he gave himself totally to God, the God of Israel."

What would it mean for you to give yourself totally to God?

What would it mean for Faith as the body of Christ in this place to do the same?

We talked today at the first communion retreat about being re-membered as the body of Christ for the sake of the world.

It's like the mission statement of the church I was baptized in, appropriately named Grace Lutheran: gathered to grow, sent to serve.

If we give ourselves entirely to God, his Spirit will move us to do his will and not our own. We will give ourselves to worship, learning, and fellowship for the sake of welcoming our neighbors. Then we will keep our eyes open all week as to how God can use us to reach out to others in the community. We will literally be at the mercy of God's nudgings.

Thy will be done on earth as in heaven. Amen.

Inheritance

"Levi was the only tribe that did not receive an inheritance. The Fire-Gift-Offerings to God, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, just as he told them."

"Moses gave no inheritance to the tribe of Levi. God, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, just as he told them."

We often hear about the priests and Levites. In today's culture, there are very few people "in the family business," other than funeral directors and farmers. I am not a pastor because my father and grandfather and great-grandfather were. God called me "out of the crowd" to be among you for a purpose.

But what happens to churches in a culture where the vast majority of people don't see tithing as a realistic option? What happens to the priests and the Levites? Many congregations are struggling to keep a full-time pastor.

What happens to outreach? ISS donations from churches are down 35% this year. Father Bill's is shifting from sheltering the homeless to housing them, but is lacking resources. The synod is on the brink of launching some major ministries in Boston and on the South Shore that could turn around the decline in our congregations, but they need support.

Please pray with me that God would give us direction and inspire us with the abundance model of thinking.

Jordan - Joshua 12

Not much to see here.  This chapter lists the kings that Joshua and Moses conquered, 31 kings in all.  Wonder if someone has tried to calculate the number of lives lost during this conquest.  Its probably hard to swallow.

Strike first, strike hard, no mercy, sir!

The above line is from Karate Kid (the old school one), but it could just as well come from today's reading.

No survivors.
Holy curse.
Total destruction.

This is not a happy story to read, even if God's people are prevailing. Everything we read in the Bible needs to be placed in its original context and then interpreted for ours.

At Convocation, we talked about care for creation...and not just the people. In our reading today, God's people take plunder, but destroy creation and kill all of the "other" people. This would not fly in 2010, no matter if the victors said that God was behind it.

I was thrilled to see so many gay pastors serving our synod. The hatred of gays and lesbians in our culture needs to stop. We are way past that point in today's culture. We all have gifts to share for building up the kingdom. Let's work together, doing God's work with our hands.

Rock on, God!

"God pitched huge stones on them out of the sky and many died. More died from the hailstones than the People of Israel killed with the sword."

In this case, it was obvious that God was fighting on behalf of his people.

A bunch of pastors who attended Bishop's Convocation in Leominster the past few days have the sense that God's spirit is blowing in Boston and down the South Shore. We're praying about the development of four ministries:
1. Sanctuary Lutheran in Marshfield, partnering with the Methodist church there.
2. An African-American ministry in Dorchester.
3. A young adult living/learning center in the metro area.
4. A Chinese ministry in North Quincy.
It would be nice if some confirmation that God was moving us in these directions would fall out of the sky.

Who will post our 600th blog? We'll see...

Wicked Local (www.wickedlocal.com/quincy) would like to do a story on this little journey we're on!

Jordan - Joshua 9

These people, the Gibeonites, save themselves by tricking the Israelites into thinking that they are travelers.  That is just genius in my opinion.  What were their options really?  Sit back and await death or cheat death and become the servants of the Israelites.  Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time.  The book doesn't really say that the people occupying the holy land were bad people.  Its not a Sodom and Gomorrah story, it is just God's people violently claiming what God has promised them. 

Jordan - Joshua 8

History is written by the victors and here, God's people gloat at the destruction of a city by their own hand.  The strategy: draw the men out, burn the women and children and slaughter the men.  12,000 people in all.  Archeologists can't really determine if Ai existed in the same manner as this story.  A walled city of 12,000 people would likely have left some sort of mark on the landscape.  Its possible that over time, this story grew from the defeat of a small unprotected city to the well coordinated slaughter of a fortified population.

Who knows really.  I don't think this story really means anything to me.  Folk lore of this nature is glorified because of the difficulties that the people of Israel encountered for generations beforehand.  Does it tell us anything about God?  It certainly tells us about these people.  Angered enough to slaughter a city, but devote enough to read the laws of Moses once things have quieted down.  I wonder if everyone felt a pang of guilt when that one about murder was read?

Bait and switch

It seems like the God of the Old Testament is too simple for our complicated world sometimes. I understand that there are consequences for your actions, but 36 of Israel's 3,000 troops fell because one of them, Achan, was greedy and didn't follow God's instructions to not take plunder.

In order to have victory in battle, the community had to punish Achan by stoning him to death in front of his children.

Now taking plunder and killing 12,000 of Ai's men and women--all of them--in an ambush is okay. Really?

Josh and the Big Wall

The first Veggie Tale Heidi and I ever saw was called Josh and the Big Wall. It was about this story. My buddy Josh, a pastor from MN, arrived today and went to the Seussical with us at Eastern Nazarene College. Incredible imagination! I've asked him to guest blog tonight:

Thanks, Matthew! With my name I guess it is fitting that I get the Joshua text as a guest blog. The words "Be strong and of good courage" that God gave to Joshua were important to me in preparing for the first trip I took by myself (to Europe when I was 17). Now I'm on a new trip and the story of Joshua still inspires me. While I am waiting for a call, I've been driving across the country, connecting with ministries, friends, and churches that help me get perspective on my own calling. I share ideas, hopes, and concerns with the new friends and old friends I meet on the way. It's a bit of an updated mission journey (you know like from the New Testament!) and I've also called it a "people pilgrimage." So far it has been amazing and I am excited to be in New England now to visit with Matthew and friends I met on my last visit here in July.

As I've been driving I have passed through many cities and I cannot say I have wished for the destruction of their walls or any other part of them (maybe less traffic sometimes). Instead conversations with ministries in the heart of cities like Detroit, Indianapolis, Toledo, and Fort Wayne have made me think about what Christians with faith like Joshua could do if they applied the same faith that destroyed the walls of Jericho to rebuilding the industrial cities of the "rust belt" that have seen so much poverty and destruction. The leaders of places like Englewood Christian Church come to mind as people that have faith like the Israelites, to see new life in a community that had the highest foreclosure rate in Indiana. They walk around their neighborhood many more than seven times with eyes to see God's work in that reality, tearing down walls of separation so they can truly call themselves neighbors and brothers and sisters of those they meet.

Give us faith to see Jesus in our midst, in our city, in our neighborhood. Give us strength and courage to tear down the walls of distance and differences that separate us from each other, and vision to see your mission alive in the love we share.

No more manna

Joshua, Caleb, those men 40-60 years old, and all those born in the wilderness now bear the sign of the covenant God has made with them. For their faithfulness in following God, even through their wanderings in the wilderness, they are now able to eat from the fruit of the land.

No more manna. They have eaten only that and a little quail for 40 years! 16 years ago, I ate pizza for 180 meals in a row while I was homeless. No matter how good the manna tasted, I can't imagine eating it for 43,800 meals in a row.

How they must have enjoyed that first feast! Communion for us is a foretaste of the feast to come. It'll be very much like the shift from manna to the food grown in the Promised Land.

What's with the stones, dad?

This text speaks for itself:

God instructs Joshua, "Select twelve men from the people, a man from each tribe, and tell them, 'From right here, the middle of the Jordan where the feet of the priests are standing firm, take twelve stones. Carry them across with you and set them down in the place where you camp tonight.'"

"When your children ask you, 'What are these stones to you?' you'll say, 'The flow of the Jordan was stopped in front of the Chest of the Covenant of God as it crossed the Jordan—stopped in its tracks.'"

"God, your God, dried up the Jordan's waters for you until you had crossed, just as God, your God, did at the Red Sea, which had dried up before us until we had crossed. This was so that everybody on earth would recognize how strong God's rescuing hand is and so that you would hold God in solemn reverence always."

Crossing over

"You've never been on this road before."

Joshua used to be an associate pastor, but Moses died and he was chosen for the task of leading God's people with the help of Caleb.

Today they take the Chest of the Covenant, God's very presence among them, and cross the Jordan. God is on the move and Joshua is leading the pack.

Up to this point, I have spent my career, the last 16 years of my life, doing youth ministry. While I will be attending Winter Hammo and our two Think 25 events (fast and mission trip), I'll be handing that mantel over to Sue. Please pray for a Christian Ed Director to rise up to take her place by Jan 1st.

I'm going to pastor the whole church. I'll be a generalist, not a specialist. The bishop has asked me to focus on something the synod is doing called A Renewal Effort. I am honored to step into it, but will be leaving some things behind.

We can't undue our past, we can only learn from it and move forward. I'm on a spiritual quest. I hope you are too.

I apologize!

Work has been absolutely nuts and I was away for wedding in Philadelphia this weekend.  I really hope to get back to this by tomorrow.

Two spies

Remember Jesus' lineage from Matthew? Boaz, who married the foreigner Ruth and went on to be the great-grandfather of King David...well, guess who his mother was: Rahab, the prostitute.

The key is not that her life was spared, so that she could be a part of this line, but that she saw what God was doing in her midst and acted on it. Everyone else was freaking out, fearing the worst. She realized that God was the main character in this story and got on his team.

And God took her just as she was and made something beautiful of her life.

The same thing happened with Joshua. I wonder, when he sent out the two spies, if he thought about the time 40 years before when he and Caleb went out. They knew with confidence that God could take the land, even from giants (this is obviously pre-David and Goliath, but they did have the memory of the Red Sea escape). The apostles went out in twos also.

There seems to be something about life and faith that requires us to pair up and conquer the world...for God. We are to love God and each other or this thing doesn't work. Our Jewish friend, Jodi, got married on Sunday. She and Kevin are taking their faith on the road. I hope God blesses their adventure in the same way he has blessed ours.

Be bold! Be strong!

For the Lord your God is with you!

I love the intros to each book in The Message. This spoke to me in particular:
"God's great love and purposes for us are worked out in the messes, storms and sins, blue skies, daily work, and dreams of our common lives, working with us as we are and not as we should be."

Moses was human and sinned against God by not trusting him to bring water out of a rock with a word, so he slammed his staff down on it twice and it gushed. God's people would no longer thirst, but Moses and Aaron would also not enter the Promised Land either. Joshua and Caleb would, along with those 60 and under (they were children and teens when they started wandering in the wilderness). The rest had to die off before the land would be given to the next generation, due to their constant complaining. They would rather be slaves and have the food they were used to in Egypt than go on an adventure with God, sustained by daily bread (manna).

Joshua and Caleb were the only ones among the dozen spies sent out to explore the land who thought they could take the giants who lived there. That's because they saw the fruit and knew that God was fighting for them. It gave them courage.

Moses, their great leader, is gone. The new guy, Joshua, tells the tribes who will be settling on this side of the Jordan that they need to fight alongside their brothers until everyone gets the land God has promised them. They have been slaves or wanderers for nearly 500 years. Here is their response: "Everything you commanded us, we'll do. Wherever you send us, we'll go. We obeyed Moses to the letter; we'll also obey you—we just pray that God, your God, will be with you as he was with Moses. Strength! Courage!"

God is with us. We can be strong and courageous as we go into the future God has for us.

Jordan - Zechariah 10

Many people have leadership qualities as part of their makeup, others acquire these skills and others just assume leadership roles or have them thrust upon them.  Regardless of how one becomes a leader, their role is vital to the health of that group.  In this chapter, God recognizes the failure of the community leaders of the time.  In fact its as if there are no leaders and certainly no righteous ones.

Over the next year, I have a goal to become a stronger leader in my day job.  That doesn't mean leading more forcefully or getting a better job title.  I want to learn about what it means to be an effective leader.  What I have noticed over the past couple years and what I can see coming through in this chapter is that leadership is only successful through those you lead.  Here God isn't saying that God will do this and God will do that.  God will do things through us.  We are the intruments of change and God is merely the musician.

Like sheep without a shepherd

Today's reading can be summed up:
"People wander like lost sheep. God will step in and take care of his flock. God will use them in his work of rebuilding, working as one."

"Even though I scattered them, they will come back. I'll make my people strong, God-strong! And they'll live my way."

Since I don't preach this weekend, I decided to do two things with my time this week:
1. Study ahead for my sermon on the 17th.
2. Call my flock, especially the Faith seniors and those who aren't connected right now.

The Scriptures I studied led me to three main ideas:
1. Read the Bible
2. Pray
3. Repeat

Then yesterday, Heidi and I attended the 5th annual Boston area pastors' appreciation lunch, where we found out something shocking. Of our regular worshipers, only 8% of them are reading the Bible. That means of the 150 folks at Faith on any given Sunday, a dozen have been in the word. In order to have growth and vitality, we need to get that number closer to 37 (25%). So far, 12 people have attended our Bible Study. We'd like to have that number at 25 soon.

The Word, Jesus, is our shepherd. If we are to know how to follow him, we need to be in the word. We were given a book called The Story, a trip through the Bible in 31 weeks, without having to read the whole Bible. Max Lucado's church test ran the book study and experienced a 23% growth that year.

Maybe to figure out God's desire for our church's future, we just need to find our place in The Story.

Jordan - Zechariah 9

"Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before."

As usual, I first grimace at the gore in this chapter.  But then, I try to find the symbolism.   The Oracle talks of waging war on the enemies of God's people.  This isn't just any war though, it is a strange war where bows, arrows and swords are made out of people (v 13).  The leader of this war enters into battle on a donkey (that rings a bell, doesn't it?)  so obviously this isn't some blood-thirsty avenger.  Maybe the extremes of this chapter are telling us about the extremes that Christians need to take to spread the good news?  Its a stretch, but if God is using us as weapons, I can only imagine that God is doing so in a way to bring others closer to his kingdom.

War!

I love Confirmation! The kids are loud, but wicked awesome. Our life connection was about the difference between what the media sells and what God's will is for our world. I asked what the core message the media was trying to get across is, what it is teaching us about what is most important. I expected answers like money and looks, but the first answer from our youngest student was war.

The war has been going on for so long, I get kind of numb to it. But it was on this kid's mind.

Then we hear this from God, "Nobody is going to hurt my people ever again. I'm keeping my eye on them." Really? We're going to a Jewish wedding this weekend after my grandmother's funeral. Aren't the Jews God's people?

Then we read about this humble king, riding on a donkey, "No more swords and spears. He will offer peace to the nations."

Last night, I taught the kids about "now and not yet". We know that when God's kingdom comes in its entirety at the end times there will finally be peace. It is certain, just not yet.

Jordan - Zechariah 8

The sign of good times are older people walking and talking in the streets and boys and girls playing.  It is a universal symbol that people are safe and properous enough to enjoy life and its simple pleasures.  That lifestyle is elusive to most in the world and many even in our country.  Many of us at Faith know this free spirit intimately.

God brings us this image of Zion in stark contrast to the previous chapter where a group of people refused to listen to his simple rules:
1) Render true judgements
2) Show kindness and mercy to one another
3) Do not oppress those less fortunate
4) Do not devise evil plots againt one another

God shook those people up and scattered them "and a pleasant land was made desolate."  Noone was laughing in the streets anymore.

 When I apply this to my life, I don't know which side of the picture I am on.  Am I living the life where I am just not listening to God?  Destined to be shaken up at some point?  I don't think people are grasping at me to find God, so I can't be at the other end of the spectrum.  Where am I?

Shouldn't we try to get in on this?

Whenever I read about God's people rebuilding, I think of Faith. We are rebuilding our church for the future.

In today's reading, we hear about how God cares and is involved in our lives. We see that just a few people can make a difference.

God says, "We've come through a hard time." We have.

God says, "From now on, you're the good-news people. Keep a firm grip on what I'm doing." That's what we just talked about in Bible Study yesterday: keeping a firm grip on our mustard seed of faith, on the sound teachings we have received from God.

We are told to keep our lives simply and to be honest.

Ahnna Rose has another middle name: Emmanual to remind her parents and us that God is always with us. God is actually within us! Working together and keeping our eyes on God, we can be the good news people for Quincy and the world.

You're interested in religion

God is very straightforward today, "You're interested in religion, I'm interested in people."

He gives us a short list of things to do (#2 really sums it all up):
Treat one another justly.
Love your neighbors.
Be compassionate with each other.
Don't take advantage of widows, orphans, visitors, and the poor.
Don't plot and scheme against one another.

Notice the inreach and outreach that's involved. How would the world change if we just consistently did these five things?

On a side note, I'm interested in the Red Sox and Twins winning this afternoon and the Devil Rays losing. Phily's got it all wrapped up, so Jordan's happy.

A life of responsive obedience

"Put your minds to a life of responsive obedience to the voice of your God."

What most interests me about the last verse in this chapter is that minds is plural. In America, we tend to think if each of us individually can put our minds to living the way God wants us personally to live then it will all work out. The truth is that God doesn't want us to live individually, but in community. Love God, love your neighbor...one command.

I have my first garden wedding today. Mike & Nicole are using a unity candle to symbolize their coming together as one flesh. While they are not blowing the individual candles out, they are doing something bigger together.

Each of us has a light, but unified it becomes a torch. We are a light house up on the rock, but if it's just me or Jordan, it's like swinging a flash light.

The last page of blogs have been from the perspective of two young guys with little kids. I'd like to hear from others who are very different from Jordan and me. It creates a fuller picture.

In November, our Council is going on retreat. I hope we talk about how we all have different spiritual styles. Knowing this about each other allows us to learn from one another, appreciating our differences, finding value in them.

Jordan and I are across the circle from each other in regard to spiritual styles. Sue and I are closer. Heidi and I are opposite. Again, I hope all 9 styles are represented by our leaders. I'd be surprised if there is another person with my style, as I am across the circle from where most Lutherans and Catholics are.

Together we are better. God is speaking, sometimes in a whisper. Are we still...and close enough to each other to hear it as one body?

Jordan - Zechariah 5

Finally, some visions that are a little more obvious.  A list if names that is 33x15' long that captures thieves and false witnesses.  Depending on the size of God's handwriting, that is room for a lot of names.  Alright, so this is pretty straightforward.  God makes a list, but doesn't even need to check it twice.

Then, there is a basket of wickedness.  Oddly enough, wickedness personified is a woman, who knew?  And what do we do with wickedness?  Well, we shove it back into the basket and go stick on a table in Babylon.  I don't really get the fact that it is a woman.  My Lutheran Study Bible tries to say something about the fact that many pagan Gods were women or something.  But if the point was really about the removal of wickedness from the holy land, why not make it a snake or a cat?  Was Zechariah single?