You shall have no other gods before me. – Exodus 20:3

 Today's Scripture Reading (November 20, 2024): Exodus 20

One of my favorite M*A*S*H characters was Father Mulcahy. I love the episode where his sermon is left undone because he spent the whole Saturday night talking to a patient in the Hospital. Or maybe his drive to be relevant in a warzone and his willingness to take chances. I love his understanding of his call to the priesthood. His naïve way, sometimes never really connecting with the events that were happening around him. His failing efforts to tell a joke; no one laughs when I tell them either. I love how he interacted with the patient who thought he was Jesus Christ, giving him honor while helping to draw him back into the real world. I love his description of Plato's ideal plain, and this sitcom character sparked my interest in Greek Philosophy. But it would be ridiculous for my church board to decide that maybe our church needs to hire Father Mulcahy instead of me. Besides the fact that the Father is Catholic and I am a Baptist, Father Mulcahy is a character on a T.V. show played by an actor named William Christopher. Christopher died on New Year's Eve 2016. Whereas, believe it or not, I am real, and I am here; I exist where Father Mulcahy never really did. 

God told Moses his name was "Hayah hayah," or "I am that I am." Essentially, God is saying that he is the God who exists, so why would we trade him for one who is made of wood or nothing more than a character in a book? God tells Israel, "Because I am, you shall have no other gods before me because there are no other gods to have."

God's invitation is that we would journey with him; he has already made the first move, telling Israel, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (Exodus 20:2). I have already done this. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. Israel, you have already benefited from my grace, so now I want to know if you will honor me and me alone. I did what no one else could do; why would you bring honor to someone else? You shall have no other gods before me. 

This is the story of the Bible; it is the story of our journey with God. And that journey begins with trusting God above everyone and everything else. "You shall have no other gods before me" could also be interpreted as "You will have no other gods in my orbit." It isn't just about prioritizing God among the other things competing to take his place in our lives. The first commandment is about realizing he is the only God; no one else even inhabits his neighborhood. He is the only God, so honor him above everything that is not God.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 21

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. – Exodus 19:16

Today's Scripture Reading (November 19, 2024): Exodus 19

The Ten Commandments is a code of laws that most of us have heard of, and some of us can even list at least a few. But I think that few of us could get them all. By the way, even the experts disagree on the list of commandments because the Bible doesn't itemize the commandments into a list of ten; we have done that. There are two main reactions to this idea of the Ten Commandments. Right now, some of you are ready to fist-bump somebody because it is time we started discussing the rules. Or maybe your skin begins to crawl just thinking about a list of rules. And you aren't standing at the base of Mount Sinai watching the lightning and listening to the thunder, yet you are feeling very uncomfortable. You are not sure you want to keep reading. I am unsure if I want to let you out of that tension.

However, the Ten Commandments have captured our imaginations. Did you know that our culture was built using the Ten Commandments as a guideline? We live in a culture that has been built around the idea of God and this specific set of rules. I am old enough to remember when it was illegal to go shopping on Sunday. Can you imagine a culture that said that we would celebrate the Sabbath and keep it holy? As a result, it would be illegal for most stores to be open. And the reason why was Commandment number four.

Do not steal or murder are automatic in our thinking, but there was also a time in our culture when you simply did not go against your parents; you gave them honor just as automatically as you didn't kill people, and the reason why was Commandment number five.

There was a time when adultery was not just immoral; it was illegal and could be punished by the law courts. That seems almost unimaginable, but the reason was simple: it goes back to commandment number eight. 

When we enter the courtroom and place our hands on the Bible and swear that we will tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God, and that action is based on commandment number nine, which says you will not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Our culture was built around these ten commands, given by God to Moses 3500 years ago on a mountain that flashed with lightning and was covered with a cloud. The mountain was overcome with a power that the people didn't understand. But this moment was essential to all that was to come. The Ten Commandments begin with this thought: I am the one who rescued you. I am the source of everything. The first thing you need to know is that I am God and the source of everything you need. It is enough to make any of us tremble if we really understand everything that this means. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 20

Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. – Exodus 18:20

Today's Scripture Reading (November 18, 2024): Exodus 18

Many years ago, the Christian Band Petra released a song called "Seen and not Heard." The title was a line from the chorus, which summed up the song's message. The chorus stressed, "Sometimes God's children need to be seen and not heard" (Bob Hartman). I remember talking with a teen at the time the song was released, who was offended by the lyrics. She believed she had the right to be heard and had no desire to remain quiet. I agreed with her, but at the same time it was a misunderstanding of the song's meaning. As Christians, there are times in our lives when we just need to walk and don't need to talk. Sometimes, the people who need to hear your words the most will not listen to you until you show them your life.

A few years ago, there was a movie made about a Catholic priest who felt called to go and work among the lepers who had been expelled from Hawaiian society by King Kamehameha V, condemned to living their lives on the isolated Kalaupapa Peninsula on the North Shore of Molokai. At predetermined times, a boat would drop off supplies to the outcasts, and this priest was petitioning the church to allow him to go and minister to this unreached group of people. 

The Catholic church balked at the idea. They knew the dangers and were unsure whether this was the man who should go and be with the people. But they finally allowed the priest to go, and this young priest built a church on the island and started ministering to the people.

He startled them as he reached out to touch them. The priest ministered and brought food, but the people seemed unwilling to respond. Finally, the day came when the man was ready to give up. He sent word to Oahu that they should send out a boat to pick him up and take him back. He also requested that they send someone else out to continue the ministry he had attempted but failed to establish on the island. The story says that as he stood at the dock on that Sunday morning, awaiting his ride back to society, he looked down and saw the white spots that had appeared on his own hands. He realized that he wouldn't be able to return to Oahu. He had become a leper and was no longer visiting the island. This place of the outcasts had become his new home.

He slowly left the dock and walked up a hill toward the tiny church he had tried to serve so faithfully. Two hours later, he arrived at the church and was surprised to find that, for the first time, the church was filled with people. They had watched him and heard the priest teach, but now he was one of them. He was no longer talking to a group of people of which he was not a part. He was one of them; he could show them how to live, and now he was entitled to speak with them about God.

People need someone who will teach them and speak the words they need to hear. But they also needed someone who was one with them that could show them the way to live. So, God's message was that Moses needed to live in front of them so they could see how he lived. Sometimes, words are not enough.

One of the concepts that I strongly believe in is that of the wounded healer. The one who has the right to speak into my pain is the one who has gone through similar pain. We have all gone through stuff, but rather than our past disqualifying us from speaking, those pains are the very things that give us the right to speak our truth. The church doesn't need perfect teachers; it needs people who have walked through the fire, arrived at the other side, and now have become encouraging voices for those still making the journey. 

Moses was the teacher and had the right to speak about life in the desert because he had lived in Midian for 40 years. But he couldn't be the only teacher. Others had more experience with what it meant to live life as a slave than Moses had, and still other people who had suffered different pains. Together, they could now step up and share their ministry with others.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 19

Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." – Exodus 17:4

Today's Scripture Reading (November 17, 2024): Exodus 17

Now that another election season in the United States is behind us, or if you are Canadian, one is just ahead, maybe it is time to remind ourselves that while a President or a Prime Minister can affect significant change in a nation, there are a lot of things that are simply out of their control. I love listening to Jim Carville, but I agree with him on very little. But his quote, "It's the economy, stupid," has to be one of the greatest political slogans in the last 100 years. Not only that, but it is also one of the things that is relatively out of the control of our political leaders. The economy depends on many things, like war, worldwide weather, foreign stock markets, and other things that are often beyond our control. There is a lot that a politician can do that will harm the health of the economy, but there is very little that they can do to improve our economic situation. It really is the economy, stupid, and the one thing I want to know from our politicians, above everything else, is that they won't be foolish and cause harm to the economy. Politicians can make grand promises about the economy, but the best they can hope for is that they will do no harm and that the economic dice roll comes up in their favor.

In some ways, Moses is a prophet and a man of God. But in other ways, please don't be offended by this comment; he is just another politician. God has called him out of the wilderness. Moses didn't want to leave the life he had built for himself after he fled Egypt. God sent the prophet into the presence of Pharaoh and had him introduce a series of plagues that Moses had no control over. Then, he led the slaves out of Egypt following a route that God had chosen, a path that had been selected because it was designed to keep the people safe and not be brought immediately into conflict with some of the minor powers of the area. So far, Moses has written or initiated very little of this drama.

Now, the people are upset with Moses. It is the nightmare of every politician. Moses has done everything right, and yet the roll of the dice has come up against him. And so, he prays to God; these people are upset, and they are about ready to stone him as a heretic. Moses doesn't know what he is going to do.

I get the emotion of the statement, but Moses's reality is that there is nothing he can do. There has been nothing that he could do since the beginning of this journey. Luckily for Moses, God has been in control of rolling the dice. All he could do was do no harm and follow the dictates of his God.

For our political leaders, it is still the hope and the only expectation. Please, "do no harm," and allow God to move in our midst. If that is our truth, then we will be successful in the place where God needs us to be.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 18

When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. – Exodus 16:15

Today's Scripture Reading (November 16, 2024): Exodus 16

It happened one Christmas. My mom has always been the curious sort without the needed will to wait. As a result, Christmas was a time of various trials when I was growing up; Mom trying to restrain her curiosity and refrain from opening her presents before the big day, while the rest of the family attempted to hide her presents in places where Mom wouldn't think to look. The tension between these two desires led to several interesting stories.

One story came out of a time when I was a teenager. I lived 3000 km away from most of my relatives for most of my life. As a result, Christmas presents often started to arrive from our relatives to my displaced family in early December, providing an overwhelming temptation for my mother. One day, I remember getting home from school and finding my mother looking perplexed at the kitchen table. I remember going into the kitchen to figure out what was going on.

My mom admitted that she had opened a present from my grandmother, Dad's mom, for her. I put on my best look of disdain in my reaction to her crime. She admitted that she had rewrapped the present and put it back under the Christmas tree.

My next question seemed logical, at least to me. I asked my mom, "So, what did grandma get you?"

Mom's reply was unexpected. "That's the problem. I still don't know."

I don't know that I ever found out what my grandmother gave to my mom that year. But maybe there was a hint in her answer. The trick to buying my mom a Christmas gift was to buy her something that she couldn't figure out what it was even if she opened the gift. But that was easier to think about than to actually do.

God has promised the Israelites food. Meat would come in the evening, a reality that came with a bunch of quail that Israel could hunt and kill, and then bread being given to Israel in the morning. However, unlike the meat-filled quail, the bread came in an unexpected form. God sent a heavy dew during the night, and as the sun rose and the dew disappeared, a flaky substance was left on the ground. As Israel got up and began to look for their promised bread, they saw the flakes and openly wondered what it was. Moses's reply was that it was the bread for which they had been waiting.

But the question became the name for the substance; manna simply means "What is it?" And "What is it?" was precisely what had been promised to the people.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 17

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. – Exodus 15:22

Today's Scripture Reading (November 15, 2024): Exodus 15

He became the voice of a generation, almost the conscience of a generation. Even if you didn't like his thought process, you couldn't ignore his voice. He possessed two voices: a physical voice and a prophetic one, and neither was to be overlooked. He has been called a poet, the great philosopher, and the folk hero of the Rock Generation. Nobody who followed him seemed to be the same; he had that kind of an effect on the people.

He is the only Rock Artist I know who was booed for coming on stage with a band. The only one that I know of who heard his audience's displeasure when he stepped out on stage with an electric guitar (it happened in 1965). It seemed that his image went beyond who he was. And I'm not sure that even he could live up to the image he had created or was created around him.

His name was Bob Dylan. He was distinctive and known. And he spoke the thoughts of a lot of people. And then something happened. It seemed like overnight we went from protest songs like  

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

to songs with lyrics like

But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Yes, indeed, you're going to have to serve somebody

Well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody

What happened? I know, it's obvious. Somehow, Jesus grabbed the voice and the contemporary prophet. And then, just as quickly, Bob Dylan did a U-Turn. He was just joking with us for two CDs. Dylan had never become a Christian. The only church he had ever joined was the church of Bob Dylan. And once again, the people were left scratching their heads.

Some in the Christian community agreed with Dylan. He had never become a Christian. He had been out trying to get some money from us. However, there wasn't as much money there as he had anticipated so he did his U-turn and returned to what Bob Dylan did best.

But is that really what happened? Did Bob Dylan fake his conversion, or did he make a real change but then slipped out the back door with many other new believers? Was Bob Dylan's salvation real?

We could ask the same question of Israel. In my mind, there is no doubt that the Israelites had been saved. After all, the plagues hadn't affected them. You can't mistake the physical reality of being led out of Egypt, where they had spent time as enslaved people, and into a freedom that they hadn't known for generations. They were alive, but the Egyptians who had chased them weren't. It was a concrete reality. But at the same time, they were willing to give that salvation back for the security of the way things used to be when they lived as slaves.

I have a real problem with people who say Bob Dylan was never saved. The words that he penned seem too real. There is truth in the words. I don't want to dismiss his conversion experience. I think it happened. But the problem is maybe that he didn't develop any further.

We will all walk in the desert, and it is then that our faith will be threatened. Have we done anything to grow our faith so that it can survive the desert? Only you will know the answer to that question. The time to develop your faith is before you begin your journey through the dry wilderness of the desert.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 16

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. – Exodus 14:15

Today's Scripture Reading (November 14, 2024): Exodus 14

It's story time. I admit that I love stories. Many years ago, I was at a conference, and I heard the story of an unnamed woman. This woman was waiting at her local airport for her flight. She had gone through security, and now she was just waiting for the announcement that her flight was beginning its boarding procedure. Sitting in the same area of the airport was an older man in a wheelchair who was also being prepared to board the plane. He was being brought to the front of the line so that he could board first. The man wore pajamas with spilled food on them, and his long hair was a tangled mess. The unkempt look both brought the attention of others in the area and their attempts at ignoring the man. The man just sat there staring into space. The lady was a Christian, and she felt God was asking her to go and comb the man's hair.

I can imagine the conversation taking place between this woman and her God. Are you kidding me? Here in this place? What would people think? God, I can't do that! The airport was crowded and she tried to ignore God's prodding, but God kept on pushing and making the ask. Finally, she gave in, moved over to the older man, and softly asked him if she could comb his hair. Unfortunately, the man was also hard of hearing. God was not going to make this easy.

So, in this crowded airport, she found herself shouting at this man in the wheelchair, "Can I brush your hair?" The man replied, yes. To which the lady had to respond, "I don't have a brush. Do you have a brush?"

The man pointed to a bag stuffed under his wheelchair, and she reached in, pulled out a brush, and softly, just like she had for her daughters many times before, started to untangle the man's hair. As she worked on his hair, she continued to talk to the man and found out that he was being flown to see his wife, who was in another hospital and wasn't expected to live. As she was standing, wondering if she should carry out the plan that God already had in mind, he was sitting in the chair thinking that he was going to see the love of his life one last time, and he looked like an absolute mess.

God tells Moses. Why aren't you moving? Why are you sitting there crying out to me? God isn't trying to say that prayer, or crying out to God, is wrong, but that prayer involves listening. Prayer is a two-way street. Too often, we treat prayer as something we do to get God to see our side. But we are wrong. Prayer involves speaking to God but also listening to God; it involves God changing us so that we are willing to go and brush a stranger's hair.

We don't listen, let me rephrase, I don't listen; at least, not enough. I have my agenda and my wish list. Too often, my prayers are filled with my voice, not God's. We pray like prayer is supposed to be me bending God's will to ours. We even ask the question. Does God change his mind? And if he doesn't, the next question we ask is, "What good is prayer?"

Prayer is always a conversation. Prayer is not me telling God what is on my wish list and then sitting back to find out what God will do. Prayer involves listening and action. We don't serve a God who is simply a symbol in our lives. We serve a God who continuously tries to communicate with us and shape us so that we can be his hands and feet on the earth; so that we will even be willing to brush a stranger's hair.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 15