So if through Jesus Christ we are left with only two Commandments, and if through Jesus Christ the law of death was removed so that we are saved by grace through faith, then what is the deal with all these rules? There has to be a reason why Deuteronomy and Leviticus have been made a part of the canon (official Bible). There has to be a reason why Paul, hater of the law, creates rules for the churches in crisis to which he writes. What is the deal with all these rules?
Now this is the commandment--the statutes and the ordinances--that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, so that you and your children and your children's children, may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.
From Deuteronomy 6 (Proper 26b) we get two answers to this age-old question about rules. First, the rules exist so that all might fear the LORD. Much has been written regarding the right understanding of "fear the LORD", suffice it to say that a fear of the LORD is a right understanding of the one who is entirely other. God is so different from us, all loving, all knowing, Trinity, etc. that to understand God is to misunderstand God. So, we are left with only an understanding of the ambiguity of God, and ambiguity makes humans uncomfortable. To fear the LORD is to allow for the uncomfortableness of God in our lives. The rules result in fear of the LORD in that they point us to what is important to God - ultimately the second reason for rules - "so that our days might be long."
God loves his Creation. God loves the earth, the stars, plants, and animals. God loves humans too. God did not intend for humans to taste death, we did that to ourselves. So, with that in mind, God gave us rules to prolong as long as possible the inevitablity of death. At the second coming, with the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, rules will no longer be necessary, for we will once again be restored to a life without death, but for now, in order that we might live long in the land, long in God's Creation, we are given the rules.
Still, I struggle with the rules, espeically with how they were redeemed through Jesus Christ, and how some were specific to Churches in crisis. My church, the Episcopal Church, is dealing with these struggles in spades. What does God say about homosexuality? What does God say about the ordination of women? What does Jesus mean by love your neighbor as yourself? All of these questions lead us to interpretation. And since the enlightenment we trusted our interpretation to reveal the Truth of God's Word. Today, we aren't so sure we can find that Truth, but maybe, if we're lucky we might find a piece of it. Is my piece of truth a rule which are all to follow? Or, rather is it the first half of a sentance of God? See, I've talked myself back into a corner again.
What is the deal with all these rules anyway?
Friday, October 27, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
you are not far from the kingdom of God
I get my scribes, Saducees, and Pharisees mixed up, but it seems to me they all had one thing in common; they focused too much on doing the right liturgy and having the law memorized and they missed everything else their faith called them to. So it is so amazing to me that this Saducee in Mark 12 (Proper 26b) seems to get it all right, down to his last words to Jesus, "this is much more important that all whoe burnt offereings and sacrfices."
When asked by this man "Which commandemnt is the first of all" Jesus didn't run to the 10 (or 11 depending) commandments of Exodus. Instead he recalled for those around him the words of Moses on the edge of the Promised Land, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Within this one commandment, this Great Commandment, is a whole set of doctrine that defined for the Israelites, and still us today, what God really wants.
Hear, O Israel - Israel is the name given to Jacob after he wrestled all night with the god-man at the river. Israel came to be the name of Jacob-Israel's tribe, his family, his nation. To be called the People Isreal is to be called a people unafraid to wrestle with God. Although, here they are called to "hear" they are forever expected to come back to God with the hard questions.
The Lord our God - to claim the Lord as "our God" is to understand God's deepest desire; to be in relationship with His creation. The Lord our God is the direct correlation to we, God's people. We are called, each by name, to be in relationship with the Lord so that he might be our God.
the Lord is one - monotheistic religion is a radically new concept at the time of the Exodus. For this group of ragtag people to cast of the majority belief of the rest of the ancient world is, in fact, quite a statement. The Lord is one is the basis of the Nicean concept of Trinity (of one being, begotten not made, proceding from the Father...). To worship one God, to recognize only one God is to make a giant statement about the nature of that God.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. - this is not a little expectation on the part of God. To love God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength is not an easy endeavor, but to know that God loves you before, in fact whether or not, you love him back makes it all the more easy. Note that this Great Commandment, when uttered by Moses, is after God has saved his people from bondage. It is as they prepare to enter the land promised to them by God. God didn't wait for Israel to love God to save them, but rather saved them, loved them, from before.
These imdedded statements of doctrine are not, by anymeans, the exclusive understanding of our relationship with God. They are however, the beginning of an understanding that right liturgy and memorized law are not the way to meet God. It is rather in the act of naming God and loving God that relationship begins. It is this relationship that Jesus spoke about when he told the Saducee, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."
Of course the other half of the kingdom lies in the second commandment. See my friend Peter's post on loving your neighbor as yourself for some great insights (and some good sarcasm).
When asked by this man "Which commandemnt is the first of all" Jesus didn't run to the 10 (or 11 depending) commandments of Exodus. Instead he recalled for those around him the words of Moses on the edge of the Promised Land, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Within this one commandment, this Great Commandment, is a whole set of doctrine that defined for the Israelites, and still us today, what God really wants.
Hear, O Israel - Israel is the name given to Jacob after he wrestled all night with the god-man at the river. Israel came to be the name of Jacob-Israel's tribe, his family, his nation. To be called the People Isreal is to be called a people unafraid to wrestle with God. Although, here they are called to "hear" they are forever expected to come back to God with the hard questions.
The Lord our God - to claim the Lord as "our God" is to understand God's deepest desire; to be in relationship with His creation. The Lord our God is the direct correlation to we, God's people. We are called, each by name, to be in relationship with the Lord so that he might be our God.
the Lord is one - monotheistic religion is a radically new concept at the time of the Exodus. For this group of ragtag people to cast of the majority belief of the rest of the ancient world is, in fact, quite a statement. The Lord is one is the basis of the Nicean concept of Trinity (of one being, begotten not made, proceding from the Father...). To worship one God, to recognize only one God is to make a giant statement about the nature of that God.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. - this is not a little expectation on the part of God. To love God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength is not an easy endeavor, but to know that God loves you before, in fact whether or not, you love him back makes it all the more easy. Note that this Great Commandment, when uttered by Moses, is after God has saved his people from bondage. It is as they prepare to enter the land promised to them by God. God didn't wait for Israel to love God to save them, but rather saved them, loved them, from before.
These imdedded statements of doctrine are not, by anymeans, the exclusive understanding of our relationship with God. They are however, the beginning of an understanding that right liturgy and memorized law are not the way to meet God. It is rather in the act of naming God and loving God that relationship begins. It is this relationship that Jesus spoke about when he told the Saducee, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."
Of course the other half of the kingdom lies in the second commandment. See my friend Peter's post on loving your neighbor as yourself for some great insights (and some good sarcasm).
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Loving thy Neighbors
And, so we quote this greatest commandment quite a lot ...
"you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
I hear these words very often, and they seem to be at the root of much of our Christian Ethics, as I guess they should be. Loving our neighbors as we love our selves.
Well, it gets tricky here ... ours is a culture that lifts up the self, we have magazine racks and self-help sections of bookstores full of advice for our "selves," and we hear the advice that we should be "Getting the Love we Deserve," and that we should be proactive, stand up for ourselves, advocate for our best position - salary and all that ... In the church, we hear these terms of "self care" which, to me, is a good thing - clergy, and everyone, should take care of our selves - however, the tricky thing is that when we privilege self-care, we forget that what Jesus called us to do is to not only love our selves, but love our neighbors as our selves. LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS, as we love our selves. Here is where the bookstores are of little help, there are no sections on "How to care for your neighbor," "How to offer hospitality to the stranger," "How to do small things for others," "How to transform your self-orientation to an 'other-orientation.' "
Actually, there is a book that outlines some of these practices, and it is a very old book, telling the Old Old Story of God's hospitality to the Israelites in the Desert, God's gift of a covenant, God's gift of the Law, God's gift of making a People, rather than individuals. It is a story of God's love that so overflowed that God sent his Son as a gift to the world. And, this son perhaps practiced some self-care in going to the desert to commune with his Abba (father), but Jesus spent far more time doing "other-care" than "self-care," ... and far more time hanging out with a group of loyal (mostly) but clueless (mostly) followers, and hanging out with those in society that were no one's neighbors.
As I look at this passage, I wonder if churches could take a whole season - perhaps Advent (when too much focus can be on commercialism), and just preach, discuss, and act on this saying - love the Lord, Love the Neighbor, Love the self (in that order).
Naaah, I am talking crazy ... ( Jesus must have been talking metaphorically. ;))
"you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
I hear these words very often, and they seem to be at the root of much of our Christian Ethics, as I guess they should be. Loving our neighbors as we love our selves.
Well, it gets tricky here ... ours is a culture that lifts up the self, we have magazine racks and self-help sections of bookstores full of advice for our "selves," and we hear the advice that we should be "Getting the Love we Deserve," and that we should be proactive, stand up for ourselves, advocate for our best position - salary and all that ... In the church, we hear these terms of "self care" which, to me, is a good thing - clergy, and everyone, should take care of our selves - however, the tricky thing is that when we privilege self-care, we forget that what Jesus called us to do is to not only love our selves, but love our neighbors as our selves. LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS, as we love our selves. Here is where the bookstores are of little help, there are no sections on "How to care for your neighbor," "How to offer hospitality to the stranger," "How to do small things for others," "How to transform your self-orientation to an 'other-orientation.' "
Actually, there is a book that outlines some of these practices, and it is a very old book, telling the Old Old Story of God's hospitality to the Israelites in the Desert, God's gift of a covenant, God's gift of the Law, God's gift of making a People, rather than individuals. It is a story of God's love that so overflowed that God sent his Son as a gift to the world. And, this son perhaps practiced some self-care in going to the desert to commune with his Abba (father), but Jesus spent far more time doing "other-care" than "self-care," ... and far more time hanging out with a group of loyal (mostly) but clueless (mostly) followers, and hanging out with those in society that were no one's neighbors.
As I look at this passage, I wonder if churches could take a whole season - perhaps Advent (when too much focus can be on commercialism), and just preach, discuss, and act on this saying - love the Lord, Love the Neighbor, Love the self (in that order).
Naaah, I am talking crazy ... ( Jesus must have been talking metaphorically. ;))
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
it is more than the law...
For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
I am in no way insinuating that I consider myself a "high priest", but I am, at least, on the road to the priesthood. In the olden days it was the law that appointed priests, now it is the Holy Spirit which that calls us to the priesthood. Be it the law or the Holy Spirit doing the calling, it is still human "who are subject to weakness" being called.
As I write this I am painfully aware of my own weakness. Its the end of the quarter, and I've handed in my paper for Church History and my Student Body Report for the Board. I'm tired. I've done work in the evening for the first time in over a year, and it really took its toll on me. I'm about to begin a class session at Wesley which I HATE!!!! HATE HATE HATE!!! (sorry).
Anyway, its the weakness part of this letter to the Hebrews that I'm relating to today. And its in much excitement that I look at the Son, "who has been made perfect forever" offering intercession for me, for my sin, for my weaknesses.
I am in no way insinuating that I consider myself a "high priest", but I am, at least, on the road to the priesthood. In the olden days it was the law that appointed priests, now it is the Holy Spirit which that calls us to the priesthood. Be it the law or the Holy Spirit doing the calling, it is still human "who are subject to weakness" being called.
As I write this I am painfully aware of my own weakness. Its the end of the quarter, and I've handed in my paper for Church History and my Student Body Report for the Board. I'm tired. I've done work in the evening for the first time in over a year, and it really took its toll on me. I'm about to begin a class session at Wesley which I HATE!!!! HATE HATE HATE!!! (sorry).
Anyway, its the weakness part of this letter to the Hebrews that I'm relating to today. And its in much excitement that I look at the Son, "who has been made perfect forever" offering intercession for me, for my sin, for my weaknesses.
Monday, October 23, 2006
The Shema
Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone
שמצ ישראל יהוה אלהינך יהוה אחד
This poor approximation (my first attempt at Hebrew unicode) is the Shema (שמצ) of Isreal, the words bound on their hands and on their doorposts. The key to understanding the relationship between God and his people. Hear O Israel, The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.
It is a reprise of this ancient saying that Jesus gives as the Great Commandment. This statement of fact, that the LORD is God and that the LORD is one is the key to understanding the New Covenant - between God and man through the godman, Jesus of Nazareth.
Whether Jew of Christian the entreaty of Moses remains for us both, "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
שמצ ישראל יהוה אלהינך יהוה אחד
This poor approximation (my first attempt at Hebrew unicode) is the Shema (שמצ) of Isreal, the words bound on their hands and on their doorposts. The key to understanding the relationship between God and his people. Hear O Israel, The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.
It is a reprise of this ancient saying that Jesus gives as the Great Commandment. This statement of fact, that the LORD is God and that the LORD is one is the key to understanding the New Covenant - between God and man through the godman, Jesus of Nazareth.
Whether Jew of Christian the entreaty of Moses remains for us both, "Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
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