Sunday, May 18, 2008

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19

I recently stumbled across these words, attributed to John Wesley: “Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the triune God.” I can certainly appreciate where Wesley is coming from on this one. To proclaim that God is three-in-one and one-in-three is a bit odd. The doctrine, and the Scriptures that support it, assert that God is the Father who sent Jesus; that God is this Jesus who was sent; and that God is the Holy Spirit sent by the Father and the Son who broods over creation and invigorates the life of the church. A rational person would be excused for thinking that this jumbled logic, to put it simply. But the life of God is not a math problem. It is rather the mechanism that gives us insight into the nature of God, by definition relational, communal, and loving. Jesus proclaims that the Spirit will come and glorify the Son, and in him, the Father who sent him. In God’s “threeness” he is community. In the power of the Spirit we have the Son revealed to us; in the Son we see the image of the Father and our restored to newness of life. God opens up the divine life to us, inviting us into his inner life. Which is why, of course, we can have a greater comprehension of the triune life of God than a worm can have of humanity. In grace God has deigned to love us into his eternal truth that we might both understand and live.

Monday, May 19, 2008

“These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways; and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” Job 26:14

I’ve never spent a lot of time in the devotions plumbing the depths of the book of Job, but I thought I’d spend some time with Job today and tomorrow. The plot of the book, of course, involves a man who lost everything. Job is, needless to say, not happy about this. But he does manage to be philosophical about it at times. In our darkest moments, most of us tend to magnify our problems to the exclusion of all else. Job, however, knows that he is not the center of the universe. The universe has a center, and it is the Lord. In beautiful language Job describes being at the “outskirts of his ways,” hearing only a small whisper of the Lord. Job is telling us that there are many things about God that we don’t know and many things that will remain unknowable. But Job is also telling us that God has in grace deigned to stretch out his hands far enough to reach even us. We can’t understand God in all of his complexity. We cannot penetrate to the inner reaches of the divine being. The good news is that we don’t have to; God has come to us with all we need, and we find in his outskirts more than enough to sustain us in even the darkest times.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

“And said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?” Job 38:11

One thing that separates the Judeo-Christian tradition from much other spirituality, whether ancient or New Age, is the simple affirmation that God and the world are distinct from each other. God is not in everything, at least not in the sense people often believe. God created the world and the world is therefore other than God. The world, and all that is in it, are not divine. It is for this reason that the proud waves of our intellect can only penetrate so far into who God is and why God does the things he does. We can only go so far. This has frustrated humanity since the dawn of time, and we have spent much effort trying to go places we can’t reach. Or we simply decide to try to be God ourselves. Neither solution is satisfactory. God and the world are different but are bound together by the divine love of a Creator for his handiwork. Because of that great love, God becomes part of the created world in the person of Jesus Christ. Through the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus the separation between God and the world is healed. This does not mean that we are like God; it does mean that we are back in right relationship with God, so that we can stop our fruitless searching and be what God created us to be.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

“And saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” Mark 1:15

In the Orthodox Christian Church, today is the Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helen, Equal to the Apostles. You have to hand it to some of our Christian brothers and sisters; we sure don’t have any feast days with such elaborate names! Even though we don’t celebrate St. Helena as a foundational figure in our heritage, she remains remarkable nonetheless. Her son Constantine became emperor of the Roman Empire in the early 4th century. She held great power in an imperial court that changed the world’s outlook on Christianity, from an outlaw faith to a sect to be tolerated and, finally, to the official religion of the realm. Near the end of her life, Helena undertook the 1,400 mile trip to Jerusalem, where she found what she believed to be relics of the true cross, both pieces of wood and the nails that were believed to have pierced Jesus. While relics of this sort are not the bedrock of our faith, such devotion to Jesus is admirable. In her powerful role, Helena helped pave the way for millions of Europeans to come to faith in the risen Christ. Faith and empire are always uneasy bedfellows, and many criticisms could be leveled at her son’s regime. Nevertheless, God used that moment in time to do a new thing in our world, bringing Christ to many. We remember St. Helena, and think on how God might be using this moment in world history, too.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

“Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, ‘Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.’” Nehemiah 9:5

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah recount the period of Israel’s restoration. After returning from exile, the people had a lot of work to do! Much of this work centered on exactly what you would expect: planting, building, clearing rubble, getting families back together. But the vital part of their work was focused on rebuilding their relationship with God. Chapter 9 of Nehemiah deals with the corporate confession of a whole nation admitting that it had done wrong. The whole people gathered; all the tribes were present. After making their confession the people were able to stand up and praise God, but only after confession. We, too, live in a nation that has gone astray. America remains, in my opinion, the greatest nation on earth. We have dreams and ideals to offer this world in a way that no one else can. But this does not mean we are perfect. It does not mean that we haven’t sinned or fallen short. Confession is not much in vogue these days; we would much prefer to blame everything on someone else. But what would it look like to gather as Americans and admit what we’ve done wrong? Confession sets us free to move forward in a way that nothing else can do. We can’t be the people God has made us to be, or the nation God desires, without also admitting what we have failed to do. Then, and only then, can we stand with joy and bless the Lord our God.

Friday, May 23, 2008

“In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good – giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.” Acts 14:16-17

One of the most common questions for believers is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” But the opposite question is just as poignant: “Why do good things happen to bad people?” Why are the wicked allowed to prosper and the godless to do well? Why do the faithless often have so much more than the faithful? Barnabas and Paul know the answer to this question, and share it with the crowds in Lystra. The answer is love. Like a parent showers blessings upon children in spite of their shortcomings, so too does God provide basic blessings for the whole creation. Out of love does the Lord give rain and good harvest; out of love does the Lord fill our bellies with food and our hearts with joy. Why? Because God loves to provide, and indeed has provided more than enough for the whole creation. God surely desires that all his children would come to know him more fully through Jesus, but God also desires to provide for his people regardless. So we strive to follow God’s example, serving the needy of this world not because of their good or bad deeds, but because they are children of God whether they know it or not. In this way do we witness to the goodness of the God we worship.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

“God made the two great lights – the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night – and the stars.” Genesis 1:16

Since the dawn of humanity, we have been looking to the sky. For a while, people of many cultures worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. The Israelites, and later the Christians, ascribed the creation of the heavens to God. Calendars were built around the motion of the sun and the moon. And eventually, as the Middle Ages came to a close, we sought to understand these heavenly bodies. One of the most influential scientists to turn his eyes to the heavens was Nicolaus Copernicus, the great 16-th century astronomer remembered by the church today (even if in his time, the church would have preferred to forget him). Copernicus was truly a man of the Renaissance. He formally studied astronomy, mathematics, Greek, Plato, law, medicine, and canon law. To do all of those things today, you’d have to stay in school until your 70s, only to emerge with a bunch of degrees and $1 million dollars of debt. But Copernicus did it. He is chiefly remembered for his work in astronomy. It was Copernicus who put forward the notion, radical and heretical at the time, that it is the sun, and not the earth, that is the center of the solar system. With Copernicus, we remember that the whole universe is the handiwork of God. And with him, we turn our eyes to the heavens, seeking to explore the reaches of God’s creation. In doing so, we gain a greater understanding of our creator. And ourselves.

Devotions – Year Five – Week Twenty

Pastor Dave Lyle