Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. – Luke 1:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 7, 2017): Luke 1

The colloquial phrase “The Devil is in the details” was originally phrased as “God is in the details.” I am not sure why a shift in supernatural personality was made, but both phrases indicate that the details of whatever it is that we are studying, are important. It is a fact that mystery writers and readers know well. As we read the story, we may not understand why the author has included certain salient facts, but as the story progresses, the importance of every fact becomes apparent. Sometimes when I am reading a well-written novel, I will stick a bookmark in the place where I am reading and go back in search of facts that I am afraid I might have missed. Sometimes I find them, and sometimes the meaning of the story’s components remain hidden until the author wraps up the tale in the final chapter.

The idea that “God is in the details” is important as we begin to read through Luke’s story of Jesus. Luke is a well-educated, Greek physician trying to tell the story of Jesus to a man who is likely some kind of Government official. Luke’s document begins in elegant and precise Greek phrasing. But the language quickly changes and becomes more drenched in Hebrew traditions and psychological attitudes. Some have argued that Luke was likely using some other document as he wrote these words. But there is another solution. This well-educated Greek had taken the time to interview the people involved and has had heard the stories first hand. The story teller was not just writing down the rumors of the day.

So as Luke describes Zechariah’s encounter with the angel, the details are more than just that Zechariah saw an angel and this is what the angel said to him. God is in the details. Luke notes that the angel did not saunter into Zechariah’s presence, he simply appeared. And Zechariah looked and saw that the angel was standing on the right side (north side) of the altar of incense. It is these details that give us a sense that Luke knew the facts that he was declaring to Theophilus. Maybe he had sat down with Zechariah and listened intently as Zechariah told his story or, since we know that Zechariah was significantly older at the time that his story took place, Luke sat down with someone who was intimately acquainted with the story of Zechariah. Later, we are convinced that Luke sat down and talked with Mary as she remembered the days of Jesus birth. But the details argue that Luke had spoken with those involved in the tale that he was attempting to tell and that he allowed himself to be emotionally involved in the story.

God is in the details that Luke tells. And Luke wouldn’t have it any other way.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew 1

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. – Malachi 3:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 6, 2017): Malachi 3 & 4

He wants to “Make America Great Again.” I am just not sure that it is something he can do. Don’t get me wrong; this has nothing to do with power or intelligence. I just don’t think it is the prerogative of one man to complete that task. It will take a nation, and as I look out on our global village, it may take the world to complete the promise. The time of nation building is over; we are too interconnected for that kind of dream to actually work.  Besides, what does it even mean to be great? Is my version of great and your version of great the same? Or is there a difference. Does a great Christian nation look the same as a Great Muslim nation, or even a great Atheistic or Agnostic nation? Would Bill Maher and Franklin Graham dream of the same America? (Disclaimer: I am not sure I would want to live in the world that either of these men might wish to build.)

Does greatness come in isolation? On that last one, for me, the answer is no. Greatness is a position of influence and making a difference in our ever widening circles of acquaintance. I also think that it takes great discipline on the part of the people to build a nation or a world that is great, not intent on the part of the leader. If the people of the world want to be great again (because this should not just be a national slogan but rather a global desire), the path to greatness is found in leaders who will lift up the ideal and in people who will discipline themselves to achieve that ideal. When John F. Kennedy declared that the United States would land a spacecraft on the moon by the end of the decade (the 1960’s), he was not inferring that he himself possessed the technical expertise to get the job done. In fact, it was going to take a number of people working incredibly hard and a nation willing to spend money on space exploration to accomplish the task. Kennedy, unfortunately, was not even alive for most of the journey that the United States took to the moon during that decade. Today, space exploration is a global initiative; it takes us all. But Kennedy did give us a real target toward which we could aim. That is what leaders do.

In some ways, this passage in Malachi is strange. The people of Israel wanted the Messiah to come. The average person on the street would have probably said that they were ready for the Messiah to come. What was there for which they needed to prepare? But the problem was that they were not really ready. What they wanted was a leader who comes to “Make Israel Great Again,” returning the nation to the prestige that had been experienced during the days of David and Solomon. What they didn’t understand was that greatness was something that would emerge from the people willing to follow the Messiah, a greatness defined in terms of mercy and grace, forgiveness and an attitude of service. The people desired military conquest. And before the Messiah came, they would get a taste of that conquest in the Maccabean Revolt. But that conquest would not be Messianic.

But the Messiah and his forerunner would have a different idea of greatness. And the forerunner (John the Baptist) would call the nation to a time of repentance before the Messiah would come and defined greatness in an entirely unexpected way.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Luke 1

“The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the LORD Almighty. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful. – Malachi 2:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 5, 2017): Malachi 2

Jennifer Weiner in “Fly Away Home” makes this comment; “Divorce isn't such a tragedy. A tragedy's staying in an unhappy marriage, teaching your children the wrong things about love. Nobody ever died of divorce.” I am not sure that she is right. Some have died because of divorce, and although that death may rarely be physical (suicide brought on by depression that has a cause that is found in divorce may be rare, but it is not unheard of), there is often a death that takes on economic, mental and spiritual forms. The pain of divorce is intense, and sometimes the ones that pay the highest price are the children caught in the middle of the fight. While an amicable divorce may be better for a child than a fight-filled marriage, the truth that we don’t want to hear is that vicious divorce is often worse than a bad marriage when it comes to the effect that marriage and divorce have on the children. Divorce leaves a parade of deeply hurt people in its wake, and that is a message that we are simply not hearing in our contemporary culture.

Malachi, however, desires to raise the stakes. He seems to label divorce as “abuse.” According to Malachi, violence has been done to the very person who we have sworn to protect. Malachi directs his words at the man, which is to be expected in a male dominated society that regarded women as property, but that does not erase the meaning in our egalitarian society; it broadens it. We need to understand that divorce does violence to the other person in the marriage, male or female. It causes intense mental, spiritual and even physical pain. It changes life trajectories and rarely is that change a positive one. And all of the violence, both intended and unintended, is focused on the ones that we have promised that we would support and protect.

Marriage was never about us. If you are getting married because he or she makes you a better person, then break the engagement. This is not about how our partners make us feel. Marriage is our commitment to stand beside someone else throughout the hurricane force winds of life. And marriage is for life. Real marriage can never be viewed as a temporary commitment. Divorce breaks the promise that we have made. If children are present, that break in commitment is multiplied.

By the way, this idea of life commitment and protection is why the Christian church holds the idea of marriage as a sacred concept. If this is not what you are looking for, then opt out for a lesser form of commitment. But please don’t call it marriage, because anything less than a lifetime commitment to support and protect the one we are committing to is not the definition of marriage. It is something else; something that can only be less.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Malachi 3 & 4

When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty. – Malachi 1:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 4, 2017): Malachi 1

A true gift cost’s something to the one who gives it. Regifting, taking something that has been given to us and giving it to someone else is not really gift giving because the gift didn’t cost us anything and, as evidenced by our willingness to give it away, we don’t want the gift in the first place. Maybe the practice is the equivalent of leaving an old T.V. on the sidewalk outside our house with a large printed label that says free. The actual gift giver might be the one who carries the T.V. away, saving us a trip to the local eco-center.

This principle is at the heart of the story about David attempting to buy a threshing floor so that he can build an altar to make a sacrifice to God. The owner of the threshing floor, a man named Araunah, offers both the threshing floor and the oxen that could be sacrificed to David for free (as a gift) so that David can make his sacrifice to God (maybe we can call that regifting). But David’s response is clear. “The king replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing’” (2 Samuel 24:24).

The story of David and Araunah echoes the complaint that Micah holds against the priests. By offering as sacrifices defective animals, they were actually giving to God things that were worthless to them. They had no use for the animals; therefore there was no value in them. These animals were the old T.V.’s left by road with a note begging somebody to pick them up and save the owner a trip to the dump. And because there was no value, there was also no gift – and no sacrifice.

What we give to God should cost us something. Maybe not only should it cost us something, but the cost should make us feel uncomfortable. If it doesn’t cost, then it is not the gift that God is searching for from us. After all, he gave all that he had so that we might live. A small offering back to him is more of a bargain on our part than an actual recognition of all that God has given to us as a true gift – one which cost him a very high price.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Malachi 2

Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.” – Nehemiah 13:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 3, 2017): Nehemiah 13

In Southern Alberta, Canada there is a small town called Vulcan. The town, which was incorporated as a village on December 23, 1912, and then as a town on June 15, 1921, was named after the Roman God of Fire, Metalworking, and the Forge. Initially, the town administrators had kept with the theme by naming its streets after the gods and goddesses of the Roman world. But the reality is that our contemporary culture has lost its connections to the stories of these classical gods. So, on September 8, 1966, something happened, totally outside of the Town’s control, that would change the identity of this small Canadian town. That something was the airing of the first episode of “Star Trek: The Original Series” with a central character who was said to be from the planet Vulcan.

Over the years, the town of Vulcan has left its Roman God roots behind to embrace the imagery of the science fiction world of “Star Trek.” The tourist headquarters is space themed and displays Star Trek memorabilia, it provides fans with unique Star Trek photo opportunities and even hosts an annual Star Trek Convention known as “Spock Days.” This is the chosen identity of the town; they want to be the planet Vulcan on Earth. (Picture: Star Trek Enterprise Model in Vulcan, Canada.)

Trying to establish a unique identity is not a new phenomenon. Towns and companies struggle to find the thing that will set them apart from the others and give them an edge in marketing. It also can set the priorities for an organization; it is a statement that declares “this is who we are!”

Israel was always imagined to be a theocracy, a nation defined by their belief in the one true God. But a number of their practices were essentially hidden from public view. But one of the outward practices that characterized the nation was the idea of the Sabbath. Israel was country that placed their trust in God rather than in their own abilities and resources. And because of that trust, they were willing to give up a valuable resource that they had at their disposal – time. One day a week, while the rest of the world worked to get the resources that they needed to live, Israel paused in a celebration of their God and rested from their labor. This was who they were as a people – this was their identity.

As Christians, we no longer celebrate the Sabbath, but we still maintain this idea of giving up one day of our time to God knowing that our trust and our identity is only found in him. For us, we have substituted the eighth day in place of the seventh. The eighth day is the day that Jesus rose from the dead, and every Sunday gathering is a celebration of his defeat of death – every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday and a confession that we are a resurrection people who serve the Messiah who even death could not defeat.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Malachi 1

When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall. – Nehemiah 12:30

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 2, 2017): Nehemiah 12

Alexander the Great once remarked that “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.” The reality that Alexander the Great seemed to understand is that we are often not defined by our individual abilities and tendencies, but rather that we will allow ourselves to conform to the tendencies and deficiencies that our leader possesses. An army of lions, despite their power, will change into sheep if they view a lamb as their leader. In the same way, an army made up of passive sheep will grow ferocious if they believe in the leadership of a lion. Whatever characteristic you think is most important, that is the characteristic that the one who leads you must possess. We will never surpass our leadership. Leadership then releases in us things that echo the leader’s tendencies, and in the same way limits us in areas where the leader is weak. This is one of the reasons that the choice of a leader is so important. An economically strong leader who is morally weak will never build a moral organization or nation. He may build a strong economic one but is likely to create that financial strength by making a series of weak moral decisions. So, at some point, we have to choose which is most important to us. And if morality (or any other characteristic that the current leader does not possess) is deemed to be most important, the only way to truly achieve those goals is to choose a different leader.

As this new chapter in the life of Judah begins, it starts with a consecration of the nation from the top down. I suspect that there is a step missing in the description of this purification, but it is evident the dream of the future of the nation was a moral one. Most of what Judah viewed as their painful past had resulted from ethical missteps. And so they gathered together to start again. The priests, the ones whose ancestry had been verified by Nehemiah and his staff, began the process. They ceremoniously purified themselves – a recognition that nothing moral could come from corrupt leadership. Then, and what is missing in this text, I suspect that the priests moved on to the secular government of the nation – Nehemiah, his staff, and any others who were seen as leaders in Jerusalem. A moral nation would begin with a moral priesthood, but the priest would need to be supported by moral secular leadership. After the leaders had been consecrated, then the priests moved on to the people in Jerusalem. And finally, they blessed the walls and the gates themselves, purifying them and setting them apart; giving them an active role in God’s plan for the city and the nation. The purification of the walls was a reminder that it was not just the Temple in Jerusalem that was holy, but rather Jerusalem herself was intended to be “The Holy City.”     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 13

The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. – Nehemiah 11:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 1, 2017): Nehemiah 11

In George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Fire and Ice,” the story on which the T.V. show “Game of Thrones” is based, a wall defends the kingdoms of men from the horror’s that exist in the North. The wall is long, almost 350 miles or just over 550 kilometers, in length. And it is up to the Sworn Brothers of the Night Watch to defend the wall against anything that might want to breach it and threaten the Kingdoms south of the wall. But by the time that the Epic story begins, the Northern Wall of the Night Watch has fallen into disrepair, and the once honored Sworn Brothers are finding it difficult to find enough people willing to be numbered among those who guard the north to make a defense of the wall possible. Of course, the reason for this lack is two-fold. It is likely that the potential dangers of the North had receded in the mind of the people and given way to the present reality of the danger that already existed inside of the realms of men. But, maybe the more important factor was that becoming a Sworn Brother meant a permanent sacrifice of the pleasures of life, and of doing the things that could make a person wealthy. The comfortable life was out of reach of those who volunteered for the Night Watch. All that existed for the Sworn Brothers was the reality of danger from the north; a life spent guarding a wall in the cold, the brotherhood of those who had embraced this kind of life, and the honor of the people of the realms. Now, the honor was dwindling. Maybe, in days past, when these men on the wall were honored, the sacrifice was worth it. But now, it was simply easier to do something else.

The walls around Jerusalem were not as long as the wall for which fictional Sworn Brothers were responsible, but the four miles of wall around Jerusalem would still need to be guarded. The problem was that life was going to be easier outside of Jerusalem’s walls. There, crops could be grown for food and houses could be built to care for the family. As well, the focal point of the enemies of Judah had been focused on Jerusalem and its walls. If there were an attack coming, it would not be focused on the small farms and villages that had grown up throughout Judea. The attack would focus on Jerusalem.

So, at this point, outside the walls of Jerusalem was the place that the people wanted to live. But inside the walls was where at least some people needed to live. Here, the sacrifice would be made to keep the city and the temple, as well as what had once been the heart of the nation and would hopefully become the heart once again, safe and secure. Safety and comfort existed outside the walls. The rule of Persia maintained peace throughout the empire. But inside the walls lived the hope for the future.

And just as was once true for the fictional Night Watch in George R. R. Martin’s tale, the people honored those who volunteered to leave comfort and keep the heart of the nation safe. These were the honored guards of the wall – and the emissaries that would usher in a new future for the nation and would keep the country safe for all those who lived outside of the walls.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 12