May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

May God bless you with foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world so that you can do what others claim cannot be done to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

(Source: unknown)

This is my message for the Faith at the End of Your Fork Opening Worship today at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd.  Anna Lappe spoke, and the day was filled with learning about the intersection between faith and the food we eat.  An awesome day!

Psalm 65 (The Psalm 65 translation adapted from Ellen Davis, Sojourners, May 2012.)

…

Jeremiah 17:7-8

⁷Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.⁸They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.

The biblical witnesses testify to our connection to one another and to the earth.

In the first creation story in Genesis 1, God sees all of creation and calls it good.

The seas and land, plants, animals and humans, all are good in God’s eyes.

In the second creation story in Genesis 2, God is a Gardener, planting a garden called Eden, “delight,” and creating Adam and Eve.

Adam means earthling, child of the earth, Adamah.

It’s like our word human.   Human means earthling, one formed from humus, the soil.

Long story short: Adam (human, earthling) gets together with Eve (life), and God gives them a vocation, a calling to care for the earth, to keep and till the garden of creation, to be stewards of the earth.

That is our number one job as human beings, as humus-beings: to care for the soil, the water, and the air, and all the creatures that live therein.

• How are we doing?
• How is our garden growing? 
• How is our world ecosystem thriving? 
• How is the health of our soil, our water, and our air?

That’s what we are here today to find out.

The answer (I fear we will learn) is that our garden is in crisis mode, and we are so alienated from our being as humans, that we hardly notice.

We are also here today to learn what we can do about our global crisis, how we can reclaim our common vocation as stewards of the earth, caretakers of the soil and waters and air and life.

Like much of Scripture, Psalm 65 testifies to the deep connection between God the Creator (the Soul of the world) and all of creation.

God “abundantly enriches” the earth.

We are called to be satisfied with the good God has provided, and to rejoice with the animals and plants in God’s abundance.

We are also called to come before God in silent praise, bringing before the Creator our failure to fulfill our vocation as world stewards.

We repent for the careless way we have treated God’s good world.

We seek atonement – at-one-ment – from and with the Soul of the world.

Our roots are shallow.

Our connection with the earth is weak.

Our global food system is a house of cards.

So when a crisis approaches, fear and anxiety arise within us.

As the heat rises and drought approaches, we keep doing what we’ve been doing, but we have a nagging awareness that there must be another way.

• A way to send out our roots deep into the soil of God’s world.
• A way to live connected to one another, to the earth, and to the farmers who grow our food.
• A way to live more simply and healthily for the sake of our neighbors and the earth – and ourselves.
• A way to fulfill our vocation as keepers and tillers of God’s world garden.

The greatest revelation is God’s book of creation, the world, the cosmos.

Our call and our joy today is to no longer be alienated from the soil from which we came, but to be reclaim our identity as human beings and join with other children of earth in holy living and holy eating – living and eating for the sake of our neighbors – all our neighbors, human and animal and plant.

Amen!

In chapter 27, you see a family conflict.  Isaac prefers his eldest (by a few seconds!) son Esau, the hairy hunter; while his wife Rebekah prefers Jacob, the smooth skinned younger brother.  Rebekah helps Jacob deceive his father into giving him the blessing, instead of Esau.  Esau plans to kill Jacob, but Rebekah hears of it and helps Jacob flee to his uncle Laban’s home in Haran.

One of the best things about the stories of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs in the Bible is how down to earth and honest the stories are.  You see them as they really were, with all their family conflicts, sins, and limitations.

We learn in Matthew 8 something of the difficulty and urgency of following Jesus: we can expect to be homeless and to put Jesus above all other relationships.

Jesus was asleep in the boat.  The disciples were in the same boat, but they were afraid of the wind and the waves.  Where are you in that story?  Are we not often just like those disciples, worried and afraid, all the while our Lord Jesus is in the boat with us?  This reminds me of the most common command in the Bible: Do not be afraid.

I am also struck by the reactions of the Gadarenes to Jesus’ healing of the demon-possessed men.  They ask Jesus to leave.  Are they afraid of Jesus’ power to upset their world by healing the men?  Or are they afraid of losing more pigs into the sea?

Isaac does not get to play a big part in the story of Genesis – he does not even get to go and find his wife Rebekah.  But it seems that he loved his mother Sarah very much, and he grows to love Rebekah too.  It is notable that Isaac and Ishmael together bury their father Abraham after his death.  Rebekah has twins, and had a difficult pregnancy.  Esau was born first covered with red hair, with Jacob gripping Esau’s heel coming second.  In Hebrew, this scene is humorous, since Esau’s other name Edom sounds like the word for red, while Jacob sounds like the word for heel.  Esau was an avid outdoorsman, while Isaac was more of a homebody.  Esau foolishly sells his birthright to Jacob for some red lentil stew.  This sets the stage for an epic family conflict.

Then, Isaac makes the same mistake his father did, with Abimelech.  But God still blesses Isaac and his family, and he grows prosperous and powerful in the land.

The Sermon on the Mount done, Jesus gets to work in chapter 8, healing a leper and a servant of a centurion.  Jesus is amazed at the faith of the centurion, who is a Gentile (a non-Jew).

We learn that Peter has a mother-in-law whom Jesus heals, and thus Peter was apparently married.

When Sarah dies, Abraham purchases land to bury her near Hebron.  Then, Abraham sends a trusted servant to find a wife for his son Isaac from among his relatives back in Haran (modern day Harran in southeast Turkey), and with God’s guidance the servant finds Rebekah.

Matthew 7:1-5 is a major passage on not being judgmental.  Jesus says it plainly: “Do not judge.”  This is perhaps one of the most difficult commandments to follow!

Jesus tells the truth that you know a good tree by its fruits, not its roots.  Though we are saved by God’s grace, and not by anything we do, yet how we live is important.  Jesus calls us to be ‘fruitful’ as we live obediently to God; that is how we build a life on a strong foundation.  You’ll find this emphasis of Jesus’ especially in the Gospel of Matthew. 

Today, I went back and read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) in its entirety.  Jesus casts a vision for a life lived in God’s presence, mindful of our thoughts and actions, living and sharing Jesus in all we say and do.

In Gen. 20, King Abimelech makes the same mistake that the Pharaoh earlier did – but he acted honorably.  God protects Abraham even when he acts poorly.  Isaac is finally born in Gen. 21, and Hagar and Ishmael are sent off into the desert – but God watches over them.

Genesis 22 is one of the hardest passages in the Bible.  God says to Abraham, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.’  What kind of command is that?  After all that time and God’s promise of a son for Abraham and Sarah, what is God up to?  There is no easy answer.  First, we must say that God very specifically prohibits child sacrifice in the Bible.  As far as I know, this is the only time God has asked anyone to do this.  Second, God is testing Abraham, and does not let him go through with it.  Instead, God provides a substitute – a ram.  Third, remember that later God offered his own Son as a willing sacrifice for us and our salvation.  This story may be a preview of things to come in God’s plan.  In any case, when Abraham passes the test of fear of God – honor, respect, and obedience – God blesses him and his descendents again.

God has a sense of humor.  After Sarah laughed to herself when she heard God (she probably did not know it was God) say that she will have a son (18:12), when the son is eventually born, he’ll be named Isaac, which means ‘he laughs’ or ‘laughter.’  It’s worth noticing that when God visits Abraham and Sarah, three people arrive together.   God is a Community.

The sin of Sodom lies especially in their extreme lack of hospitality, which they show by trying to abuse the men (angels?) staying with Lot, Abraham’s nephew.  Here is what Ezekiel says about Sodom’s sin: “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it” (Ezekiel 16:49-50).

Here are some more difficult passages from the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus is calling us to a different kind of life, a life where one turns the other cheek, and loves and prays for one’s enemies.  Jesus also warns us about being “religious” just to impress others.  Faith is a matter of the heart, and we do not need to flaunt our faith in God before others.  That does not mean, of course, that we need to hide our faith.  We can share it, but simply, honestly, and without putting ourselves above others.

In 6:7-15, Jesus teaches the people what we now call the Lord’s Prayer.  It really is a model for prayer.  We begin with praising God, and asking that God’s kingdom come on earth as it already is in heaven.  We ask God for our bread for today, and we ask for forgiveness (the prayer assumes that we are also forgiving others!).  Finally, we pray that God saves us from the time of trial and evil.

Do you fast?  Jesus seems to assume that we do: “Whenever you fast…”  Fasting is going for a time without food, and spending extra time in prayer.  I need to fast more regularly.  How about you?

In the face of our everyday worries about the economy and our financial lives, Jesus has a word to say to us: Do not worry.  Do not let money be your treasure.  Strive first and foremost for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness.  Do not worry about tomorrow.  Live today for others.

More of Christ’s vision for our lives: do not be judgmental; lift up your concerns to God in prayer; follow the Golden Rule.

Update: I just tweeted this: “Jesus clears the Temple in all 4 gospels, but it only appears in the lectionary once – John 2:13-22. Stirring up trouble is not encouraged.”

I am pretty sure that this is accurate – and troubling.  It’s a major chapter in Jesus’ ministry, and deserves to be heard more often.  Why don’t we have Clearing the Moneychangers Sunday each year?

In ch. 16, Abram and Sarai get impatient with God’s promise, and take things into their own hands.  Sarai gives her Egyptian slave to Abram to bear a child for them.  You have to have compassion on Hagar here.  My Bible says that Hagar ‘looked with contempt’ on Sarai after she conceived, but the original may mean more that Hagar saw herself as an equal with Sarai.   Certainly, Sarai’s harsh treatment of Hagar is not justified.  Hagar flees into the desert, and she is met by an angel of God.  God makes a covenant with Hagar, the Egyptian slave!  Her son Ishmael became the ancestor of the Arabs.  Muslims trace their genealogy to Abraham through Ishmael.  This is important to note in the light of the conflicts in the Middle East.  Every war is, ultimately, a family feud.

At the beginning of chapter 17, God makes another important, everlasting covenant with Abram and changes his name to Abraham (‘ancestor of a multitude’) and Sarai’s to Sarah.

The Sermon on the Mount continues.  Jesus does not abolish God’s law.  Instead, in some ways he heightens it.  Following the law is not a matter of just fulfilling the bare minimum of the law.  It is a matter of the heart and our concrete relationships with others; it is a matter of how we live every day.

In chapter 13, God promises Abram all the land of Canaan (which will one day be Israel).

Abram shows himself to be a capable military leader in chapter 14, and then he receives bread and wine (anyone think of Holy Communion?) and a mysterious blessing from King Melchizedek of Salem – probably Jerusalem (which long ago was called Uru-Salim by the ancient Egyptians and others).  Melchizedek is called priest of God Most High.  Abram gives him a tithe, one-tenth of the plunder.

Just so you know, whenever you see “Lord” in the Old Testament in all capitals, the translators are replacing the name YHWH, which sounds something like Yahweh, with the LORD out of respect for God’s name (more on Yahweh in a couple weeks).  In chapter 15, God makes another covenant with Abram, and promises him a son, many descendants, and the Promised Land.  God also prophesies Israel’s oppression in Egypt and the Exodus.

This is the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Wow.  You could write a whole book on the Beatitudes (5:1-12).  Let me just say that, we would all do well to stop and reflect on what character traits Jesus calls blessed, and ask God to grow those traits in us.

Jesus calls us “salt of the earth.”  As someone has said, when you add salt to food, it disappears into the food and flavors it.  In the same way, we Christians are called to ‘disappear’ into the world and add a godly flavor to it – perhaps spicing up the world with the Beatitudes – being poor in spirit, mourners, meek, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted for righteousness’ sake.

Today, I went to the doctor and finally got a flu shot.  Now, I have the flu!  Actually I think I was coming down with it yesterday – it’s going around.

The pre-history of the Bible continues.  In yesterday’s reading, God made a covenant with Noah and every creature on earth, not to flood the world again.  God set down his weapon, his bow (a rainbow), as a sign of God’s covenant agreement with creation.  People begin to multiply again on the earth.

Shem was one of Noah’s sons.  Just for fun, I made a spreadsheet of Shem’s descendents (11:10-26).  The interesting thing is, if you take this passage completely literally, Shem lived for 35 years after his great great great great great great great grandson Abraham dies at age 175.  Here is the spreadsheet:

The point of this genealogy is to make a bridge from the world’s history (and pre-history) to the ancestors of Israel, starting with Abram (whose name will change to Abraham) and his wife Sarai (whose name will change to Sarah).

Genesis 12 is an important chapter.  First, God calls Abram to go to the Promised Land, and God makes a big promise to Abram: ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ²I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’  God promises to make a great nation out of Abram, bless him, make his name great, and bless all the families of the earth through Abram.

Then, in the same chapter, we see that Abram is far from perfect – even though God has blessed him and watches over him, he is a human being just like us. 

Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil for 40 days and nights.  Jesus withstands the temptations of food, of fame, and of power.  After this, and after John the Baptist is arrested, Jesus begins his ministry, proclaiming “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  Jesus also begins to call his disciples to fish for people.  Jesus’ ministry in Galilee consisted of teaching, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing the sick.