And the LORD shall...

 (One reason that reading other pastors' sermons is encouraging to me is that they often reflect back what their respective flocks needed to hear on that particular Sunday. It is a refreshing reminder that people everywhere are... people. Thank God for those who faithfully exhort the flocks that they so dearly love. They know the way out of the doublemindedness and carnality to a richer life and peace for all. They only want the best for all of us.)

“And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” (Isa 58:11)

In Spanish, the verbs here appear individually in future tense: shall pastor, shall satisfy, shall make, shall be. The message conveyed is not that some day you will be able to count on things that you do not have today. God is giving you words of consolation and encouragement by assuring you of His unconditional presence, whatever happens later.

Neither "for" nor "to"...

(back from Spanish again, a topic that reflects the confusion that compounds our grief just when a clear word of hope is most needed.)

To lose a child or grandchild is unspeakable grief. It does not seem natural or fair to us that they should go before we do.

In the abyss of anguish into which we have descended, the Word of God offers us hope and consolation.

In the Old Testament, at the end of the famous narration about David and Bathsheba, we read, “...the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.” (2Sa 12:15)

What did David do? He "besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.” (2Sa 12:16) And that is the way he stayed until the seventh day when the child died.

Why have you forsaken us?

(CLARIFICATION:Translating back from Spanish, and it sounds like it... sorry.
       This was not intended to be a "one-size-fits-all" answer for every situation. Where there is a bona fide, spiritual leadership, then, yes, this addresses an underlying rebellion that every believer should be mindful of. However, my hackles raise when I hear a similar tone used by self-protecting authoritarians who only intend to continue with their manipulative agenda. Some folks are trapped in a place where they need encouraged to walk away. The following does not apply to them. Thanks for reading!)

Someone might think that I am about to rant against God because of something that has happened to me or because He has not delivered yet on the thing I keep asking Him for. Look at us! My, how ready we are to believe that something has happened that God promised would never happen:

“For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.” (1Sa 12:22 AV)

Even with lexicons and dictionaries at hand, much care is needed in the way we exposit the Scriptures. That said, I think I see a lesson based on the specific use of one certain word that, taken in context, warrants its exposition and meditation.

The passage in question:

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Heb 10:25 AV)

And the word in question: "forsaking"

Religious tolerance...

“27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest:” (Mt 13:27-30a)

I confess to being near the top of the list of those who have at some point extracted a meaning from a parable that Jesus never intended. The devil is in the details. In the case of parables, he is often in the striving for too much detail. Here, however, I fear that I have not done justice to the obvious.

"There can be no question but that the great principles of freedom of conscience, separation of church and state, and voluntarism in religion, so basic in American Protestantism and so essential to democracy, ultimately are derived from the Anabaptists of the Reformation period,"  from Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church, by Ruth A. Tucker Kindle edition, location 6805.

Ya gotta love a quote like that from a non-Baptist historian!

They found my God spot, but I'm not epileptic...

Is This Your Brain on God? :NPR  (Quoting from Part 2: The God Spot)

During epileptic seizures, sufferers often claim to hear the voice of angels or of God. Some epileptologists believe that many of the great religious figures, such as Moses and St. Paul, had epilepsy. Now neurologists believe they've found the sweet spot for spiritual experience -- in the temporal lobe. Some scientists say the temporal lobe, which is associated with emotion and memory, is the seat of spirituality. It's also where epileptic activity takes place.

How does the capacity for reasoning, present in us all, produce such varied perceptions and conclusions? One would assume, with all that we share in common as human beings, that our individuality and deep moral/spiritual convictions emanate from choices arrived at via personal experience, culture and learning, combined with the exercise of our own wills.

Life in someone else's shadow...

  November 29, 2011, Richland County, Wisconsin... the only daughter of Joseph Stalin died. Quoting from a Time.com article marking the passing of LANA PETERS:

Lana Peters

In an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal in 2010, Peters revealed the psychological impact of some of the cruelty her father had inflicted upon her. “He was a very simple man. Very rude. Very cruel,” she said. “He broke my life.” [...]

“Wherever I go,” she said [...], “here, or Switzerland, or India, or wherever. Australia. Some island. I will always be a political prisoner of my father’s name.”

I wish that it had been different for her; I would like to think that she found a life out from under what had to have been a long, oppressive shadow.

The journey and the quest...

Hmmm... I wonder who will not be seeing "The Hobbit" when the movie comes out in 2012? One of my favorite lines in the story appears about 2/3 of the way through. After an arduous, adventure-fraught enterprise for Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves:

"They were at the end of their journey, but as far as ever, it seemed, from the end of their quest. None of them had much spirit left."

They had already been through so much, but the thing that they had set out to do was just now barely upon them... and it looked to be the most daunting task of any that they had faced.

I'm not overly concerned about the outcome of a superbly written fantasy. I am concerned that I might be closer to the end of my journey than I am to the end of my quest. And, honestly, sometimes I don't feel like I have much spirit left, either.