On the Way to Wonder

“Bet you can’t eat just one!”  Do you remember that potato chip commercial?  As I do the eternal dance with dieting, I realize that once I break down and eat “one,” thinking that will satisfy the desire, so often it leads to “two” and the battle is lost.  Perhaps that is the definition of addiction. The third story in our larger epic is the story of Noah, Genesis 6:5-7:24.

         Yesterday we heard about the epic problem, we are separated from God – we don’t walk face to face with him anymore and out actions separate us from each other.  It appears the villain, Satan, has the upper hand. Humanity has put their hand in the bag of potato chips and for sure, one chip did not satisfy!  Today’s story opens with humans separated from God but God is watching them, they just don’t know it.  Society has spiraled downward as people follow “the inclinations of their desires” and live for self. 

         God’s reaction is “grief” and his “heart is filled with pain.”  Parents watching a child make decisions leading to self-destruction understand this pain.  Watching someone we care about suffer whether because of bad choices or because of disease or because of political conflict and prejudice or hunger or whatever, wrenches our heart.  Today government is trying to put an end to repercussions of the Tulsa massacre in 1921, is trying to deal with children refugees on our borders, is trying to deal with environmental problems – just to name a few.  We know this dilemma. We live the pain.

         God, unlike government that deals in laws and wrangles with getting congress to agree on solutions, is able to see the hearts of people and God could see that Noah was willing to listen and obey.  Noah sought to please God and God saw.  God’s “intervention plan” for dealing with humanity spiraling downward and destroying itself was the flood.  Noah and family were saved to start a new world.  The earth was not destroyed.  A new beginning was made possible.  God’s light began to shine again.

         It is always easy to see the shortcoming of the other person when confronted with sin.  But in fact, we all have our hand in the cookie jar, thinking we will only eat “just one.”  There is a God watching and wanting the best for us.  He does see those desires of our heart and knows if we are trying to please him and obey.  Today let us pray for our own areas where an “intervention plan” might be needed and for our world today that needs help.  Name maybe three areas and pray for a few minutes.  Our epic story will continue tomorrow to see how God continues this plot.  Blessings.

Epic stories have epic plots with epic heroes and epic villains and victims caught in the middle.  Our family loves “Apollo 13” about the space flight to the moon and the fulfillment of the dreams of the astronauts.  There is an explosion that compromises the whole flight.  They communicate with control central, “We have a problem.”  “We need the plan.”  Our reading today is Genesis 3.  The problem, the villain and the victims are identified.  We use the word “Sin” with a capital “S” to talk about the event that separated God’s creation from him.  We do not walk and talk with God, face to face, as we were created to do.  We us the word “sin” with a small “s” to talk about those actions we do that separate us from each other, the world, and ourselves.  The villain is named as “the serpent” or Satan and the victim(s) are God’s creation as death now affects all.

         The space flight was to go to the moon and walk weightless.  God’s plan was the Garden of Eden living in relationship with him, creation and each other in open, trusting relationship and not having to carry the responsibility of knowing good and evil.  Satan introduces doubt – did God say?, did God mean?, surely you will not die! – into the minds of the creatures and here we are today, doubting the existence of God, his will and his way. 

         While doing the Bible translation in Kenya with illiterate people we discovered they had a creation story too.  God lived very close to his people originally so people were very careful to not offend him.  They moved their houses on goats as they traveled the dessert looking for good water and caring for the camels God had given them to be responsible for.  One day a woman who was very stubborn, loaded her house on the back of a camel instead of a goat and refused to obey the elders who warned her.  When the camel stood up, the sticks of the house poked God and he moved far away into the heavens.  Interestingly, the story is not dissimilar to the Bible version.

         The result of sin is labor in childbirth and work, guilt and distance in relating to God, pain, sorrow and conflict with others.  Sigh.  Houston, we have a problem.  It does not feel like the light is shining and each Sunday we open our service by confessing: I have not loved God with my whole heart, body, mind and self and I have not loved my neighbor as myself.  But then the pastor shares the words, the plan that is sought from control center of the space program.  The pastor says, “In the name of God, I declare onto you the complete forgiveness of ALL your sins.”

         Yes, we have a problem because we all fall short and none of us now walk face to face with God.  Yes, there is a plan.  We can find forgiveness and peace and return to God but that will be revealed as this epic story continues.  Christians believe the answer lies of the life of Jesus Christ and his work on the cross but like those astronauts we are going to have to gather all the bits and pieces of this and that and make the square peg fit into the round hole.  Truly this is an epic story for us, offering hope and forgiveness.  Blessing.

Some opening lines to stories set the tone of what is to follow and we remember.  “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” opens A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.  “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” opens Robert Frosts’ famous poem “The Road Not Taken.”  “Two households, both alike in dignity…” opens Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”  The Bible opens with, “In the beginning, God created…”  The opening sets the stage that before all is God.  Today we are challenged to read Genesis 1 and 2 that tells of the creation of heaven, earth and all that fills them, including people, animals, vegetation, and matter.

         God’s first words, “Let there be light” gives a theme that will be unfolding in this epic story, how God’s intention is to shine light into darkness.  God creates form: heaven/earth, light/dark, sky/water and land/sea in the first three “days” of creation.  He then filled the forms with sun/moon, birds/fish, animals and humans in the next three days.  All humanity carries God’s image and God’s life. We quibble about seven “days” but the Bible has God creating, filling, and declaring, “It is good.”

         The important place to start an epic is with the realization that there is a pre-existent God who created us in his image, to care for his world, and to bring light.  We are not a mistake no matter what the circumstances surrounding our inception.  We are valued no matter what mishaps have plagued us.  And God desires to fill us with light and life.

         Let us take a few moments to reflect on how we see the creativity of God in the world around us, in the people around us, and how we might be his instruments to bring light into the life of another today.  It may feel like the worst of times but God is working.  We may be choosing between two paths as we journey through the woods of life but we can have the Holy Spirit guiding us.  And yes there are Romeos and Juliets in our love story but we also know there is a God walking through those rough times with us.  In the beginning, God!  Start your day with this reminder.  Blessings.

“An epic is a large user story that cannot be delivered as defined within a single iteration or is large enough that it can be split into smaller user stories.  There is no standard form to represent epics.”  Examples might be Beowulf, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Odyssey by Homer, or Paradise Lost by John Milton.  I remember reading that C.S. Lewis and J. R. Tolkien were trying to write epics as one created Tales of Narnia and the other wrote Lord of the Rings.  To me the epic that has impacted my life the most is the Bible, written over a period of perhaps 1500 years by multiple writers and including multiple genres. 

         In my 30s with five children under six years old and nursing twins, I was becoming spiritually dry.  My husband and I ran across Scripture Union as a daily devotional.  He read while I nursed.  Now he still reads and I do needle work for twenty minutes each morning.  Scripture Union used international writers and at the bottom of each page was a plan to read through the Bible in a year by reading two Old Testament and one New Testament chapters each day and a Psalm on Wednesday.  I loved to tick off doing that reading and of course it took several years to develop the discipline to read through the Bible in a year.  Gradually names and stories began to become more and more recognizable.  Scripture Union has identified what they consider “[The Essential 100] one-hundred readings through the world’s most important book” by Whitney T. Kuniholm.

         I’m curious.  The Bible is an epic putting in print “God’s interaction with humankind (p.1).”  Of the many sub-stories told in the Bible, what might be the 100 most important, I wonder.  The stories are organized in groups of five so in twenty weeks we will have checked it out and pondered.  Sounds like a good challenge.

         Tomorrow we will start so let’s first ponder what stories have formed our lives?  Who are our heroes?  Yesterday for Memorial Day we remembered cultural heroes whose life stories have deeply impacted our thinking.  What makes someone a hero or a personal mentor in your life?  What qualities do you look for that you pray will be growing in your life or your children’s?  Cultural heroes, personal heroes, literary heroes inspire us to be our better self.  Perhaps we can counterbalance some of the cynicism of our day by focusing on these stories.  I’m excited to hear good news!

I just finished watching the “PBS National Memorial Day Concert.”  So many pictures with so many memories.  I remember that morning of 9-11, turning on the TV and seeing the plane fly into the second tower.  We had just returned to the USA, our belongings were now locked in LA harbor, and I was getting children ready for school.  That is a strong memory in my mind.  I have a son in the Army, stationed abroad.  He is always in my mind and heart.  Near the end of the program, the commentators said that the word that sums up Memorial Day that we celebrate today is the word “remember.”  We remember all who have fought to protect the freedoms we enjoy and who are on the field now.  It is not just an American sentiment!

         I love Lion King.  Simba runs to the river and looks in the water and then from the cloud hears his deceased father, Mufasa, tell him “Remember, remember who you are.”  In Psalm 103 the psalmist talks about God remembering his creation,

As a father has compassion for his children,
    so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
 For he knows how we were made;
    he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:13,14)

God remembers that we are dust. We are told elsewhere that our names are etched on his hands.  For those who seek forgiveness our sins are put as far away as the East is from the West.  He doesn’t remember that which needs to be forgotten.  God does not get dementia and forget our names or confuse us with someone else.  Our names are written in his book of life. Our God knows us and remembers us.

         As you remember today people who have contributed to make you who you are today, jot down their name on a piece of paper and write one word next to it that was one of their contributions to you.  Then pray over the list and end by thanking God for remembering that we are dust and need his help. 

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)”  “Devote” is a serious word.  It implies love, loyalty, faithfulness, and enthusiasm.  Those early believers were not immersed in a culture that called itself Christian, nor were they the majority.  They were a group of people whose lives had been transformed by the reality of Jesus in life and now resurrected.  In the face of opposition they were loyal and faithful to what they had experienced.  Teaching, fellowship, communion and prayer were core to their corporate experience.  That’s intense.

         I cannot help but think how life today has been so impacted by the pandemic and the attempts to get us to change our social behavior as it impacts others.  Today it is not a movement coming from ordinary people, fishermen like Peter, James and John but rather we listen to “officials” representing medicine and statistics.  Today we are isolating the sick and hearing testimonies about people who have died “too soon.”  Life has been stolen.  Then people fellowshipped together and shared testimonies of transformation, life enhanced.  Things seem so different and yet today and then culture was and is going through a transformation.

         So what am I devoted to?  For many, family would be high on their list.  Gangs expect loyalty.  Faithfulness is a word we might be as apt to apply in talking about our pet rather than a friend.  Devotion is a hard word when we are trying to maintain control of our lives.  Devotion implies submission to another and willingness to follow their leadership.  The early believers studied together, met together, ate together and prayed together.          Spend a few minutes now asking yourself who or what you are devoted to and how that is expressed in your life.  Perhaps you could challenge yourself to live out your devotion in a specific way today – read an extra piece of Scripture, show love to someone by doing something unexpected, or pray to renew your loyalty.  Devotion is not just a feeling in our heart but a way we live our lives, focus our minds, and spend our time.  The devotion of the disciples changed their world for the better and we would like to do the same!

Yesterday we looked at the gift of language.  Language allows us to communicate with others and with God but what do we want to tell others today?  At Pentecost a violent wind filled the room, a fire that divided into flames above each person’s head appeared, and people were enabled to speak in other languages to communicate with the audience that gathered.  Some bystanders thought the disciples drunk but it was only 9 a.m.  Possible but not probable.  Then an ordinary fisherman, Peter, stepped forward and shared his experience, the amazing events that had taken place in his life since he met Jesus.  He shared about the crucifixion and what it meant in the lives of the audience.  Many people’s hearts were touched and they asked, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37)

         I ponder today how we use the gift of language.  It seems so easy these days to point out the errors of others – the person who cuts us off in traffic or is too slow to respond to a change in traffic light, or perhaps the words that ring out demanding our rights and lamenting the wrongs of our world, or perhaps just passing on the choice piece of gossip about someone.  Language has the power to bless and to curse. The Beatles sang, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love.”  What does the world need to hear now, do you think? Peter shared that there was forgiveness for the evils done at that time.  What might we want to hear today if Peter were to speak to us?  What might we want to share about our experience with God if we had the opportunity?  Not everyone will believe us. But we have a story worth telling.

     Take a few minutes and ponder how you might summarize your experience with God in a sentence or two.  Is there someone who might need to hear your story?  Or, turn that statement of faith into a prayer of thanksgiving to God.  We can never be told  “thank you” enough, right!

As a young adult I was dating a guy who had plans to spend six weeks in the summer at the University of Washington in Seattle studying Bible translation.  I was fascinated and went to the Wycliffe Bible Translators office in Los Angeles to talk to them.  I met a gentleman who had returned from 30 years in the field, leaving a translation, a church, and an educational system.  I asked myself what I would be leaving after thirty more years of teaching junior high mathematics.  And so began a friendship that now has lasted 45 years and a love for languages.  Pentecost was accompanied by the sound of a violent wind, a fire that separated and came to rest on each person but did not burn, and they “began to speak in other languages” so that all people heard the story of God with his people in their own language! (Acts 2:4, 11)

         The ability to read and hear in our own language is the ability to think and decide for ourselves what we believe.  I do not have to wait until someone thinks to share with someone they consider less smart.  I do not have to struggle to understand idioms in a foreign language or ask my husband to translate when I get home.  I can read and think for myself.  I thought it was a wonderful gift.  The men in the tribe we worked with were caring for flocks and herds far away or they went to the capitol to be night watchmen.  Communications within families and friends was a challenge.  This was before cell phones and of course there was no electricity for email.  Being able to hear the words of God in your own language is wonderful.

         As Christians we believe God speaks all languages and desires all to know of his love and salvation.  The language is not holy but the God who speaks it is holy.  So while the various translations and expressions of the Bible may seem confusing and often we fall into the trap of arguing about words but the important point is not the word used but that the God who speaks, speaks to us and desires to be in relationship with us.  We do not need to climb to him by trying to lead perfect lives or by giving sacrifices that would feed our family but in Pentecost, God speaks to us in our language.

         If you could hear one word today from God, what would it be?  I love you?  You are forgiven?  Be at peace?  You are valuable?  God reaches out to us in his Word, the Scriptures to communicate with us and let us know we matter.  Thank you, Lord! 

Did you feel the change of the wind?  No, it is not that Mary Poppins is arriving on an umbrella.  It is not even the wind that tells of a change of weather.  Some “get wind of” gossip floating about from one person to another.  We politely talk about passing wind.  It is none of these.  Yesterday was Pentecost.  “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. (Acts 2:1,2)” The Holy Spirit was present.

         In Genesis, the wind hovered over the void and creation began.  God formed people and blew life into them.  “God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided” in the flood. Wind indicates the presence of God and of change. 

         My heart is touched by several aspects of the Pentecost story.  God’s breath, God’s wind, made God’s communication became understandable in each person’s language.  There is no language barrier between me and God.  I do not have to learn a language or qualify to earn the right to communicate with the God of the universe.  I don’t have to wait in line to speak to God or go to a professional religious leader but can talk with him any time and any place.  Secondly there is a change of focus.  The wind brought communication, not because a miracle was needed for a healing as when people came to Jesus with their sick, but now God was speaking to people in their own language about their lives.  The wind brings relationship with God.  Wind touches me and my friends all at the same time.  I do not have to worry if Jesus is busy healing someone else like the woman with the flow of blood who secretly touched Jesus as he went to the home of Jairus whose daughter was sick.  The wind of Pentecost blew in change.

         Pentecost brought a major change in the understanding of God and our ability to communicate with him and be empowered by him.  The sacrificial system changed.  I no longer bring a burnt offering but a broken and contrite heart.  Before we jump into the Pentecost season, let us spend a couple days thanking God for changes that blew into our lives on Pentecost.  No language barrier, no distance barrier, no subject barrier, and no need to buy a goat.  We can stand in the wind today and say “thank you” to God for his breath working in our lives and all over our world.  And the people of God said, “Amen!”