This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover. – Exodus 12:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 31, 2012): Exodus 12

I have to admit that I am a fast food eater – both in the food that I like to eat and in regard to the time it takes me to eat it. I have never really learned to appreciate fine cuisine – or the patience that I have to invest as I wait for it.  I have been trained well by my culture, I eat too fast, and during the day often at my desk. And it is not that I think that the way that I eat is healthy, but I also do not have the desire to change. And often when I eat at my desk, I do not even fully unpack my meal so that it can be cleaned away quickly if someone walks into my office.

Passover is maybe the advent of fast food. Even though the whole thing was planned, once the eating of the Passover meal started, the process had also begun. It was like a McDonalds stop at a drive through window at the very beginning of a road trip – it needed to be eaten fast and eaten ready to move. The trip was about to begin and the car was already packed.

That first Passover meal was eaten with a sense of expectancy, God was about to move. I think it was a sense that was lost in the celebrations that followed it. The Passover seemed to be more about the ritual then about the expectation of what God was going to do – when the people actually remembered to celebrate the Passover at all.

In the Christian Church, Passover corresponds with our Easter Celebration, but maybe the bigger connection is with our Eucharist remembrance. We celebrate it more than just once a year (well, at least I think we should), but every time we gather to eat it, we should do so with the expectation that God is about to move. Maybe once in a while we should prepare for communion early, but when it comes to taking the elements we should do it fast and without much thought, but with great expectation of the action that God is about to undertake on our behalf.

Judaism and Christianity need to be able to stand together in their anticipation of the movement of God. And we need to be able to approach our feast days ready to move at a moments notice.

       

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 13

The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people. – Exodus 11:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 30, 2012): Exodus 11

One concern that I have with the modern Christian movement is how far we are out of step with our culture. Somehow we almost wear it as a badge of honor when the culture persecutes us. It is as if our suffering is what makes us Christians. Jesus did say that we were blessed when we are persecuted because him, but what he did not say is that we have to be persecuted in order to be blessed.

One of the marks of the Christian community in the first century was the positive way that the secular community responded to them. The love that the church had for each other and the community was contagious. The idea that the church could somehow disappear would have been considered nothing short of a disaster. We have come to believe that the church was highly persecuted in the years following the resurrection of Jesus. But historians really do not tell the same tale. There were short periods of empire wide persecution, but outside of that the persecution was fairly localized. Even the persecution of Nero which claimed the lives of both Peter and Paul (and many other Christians) seems to have been limited to the area around Rome. Maybe part of the reason for the lack of a long, empire wide persecution was that it was really hard to persecute a people that had simply learned to love in every situation. When faced with love, hate seems to have a hard time maintaining itself. Sooner or later, the lies fade as love persists.

As the story of the Exodus continues, a surprising fact emerges. The fight that Moses finds himself in the middle of is really a family feud. The conflict seems to be restricted; the combatants were the Royal Family on one side and Moses on the other. And if we go back to the beginning of the story, it was the family that he had grown up (and spent the first forty years of his life) in. The Pharaoh would have been a boy that had grown up with Moses like a brother. But the hostility did not extend beyond the family. To most of the Egyptian people, Moses was highly regarded.

Yes, when we are persecuted for the sake of the Gospel of Christ, we are blessed. And sometimes that will happen. But it is not a situation that we need to chase down. And if we love, most persecution will ultimately fail. Love still wins.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 12

… that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the LORD.” – Exodus 10:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 29, 2012): Exodus 10

Maybe one of the scariest thoughts is the possibility that God really does walk among us. That maybe the act of being expelled from the Garden of Eden did not mean that God stopped walking with us, but just that we stopped sensing God and walking with him. And part of the reason why this is scary is that it leaves us with some things to try to explain.

One of the perennial arguments against the existence of God is the presence of evil in this world. So if God still walks among us, why does God allow evil to exist. But the question is actually based in a world view that says the pinnacle of our existence is here on earth and that suffering takes away from our ability to succeed in this life. And both thought lines are actually wrong, even though, in the midst of the battle, they do not seem to be wrong.

This life is important, and we are supposed to make the most of it, but if we really believe what the Bible says, then death is a promotion. There is something better and forever (and I know that part of the scary things is that it is also wrapped in mystery) that comes after this life. The pinnacle, wrapped in mystery, is what comes next. But that does not mean that we do not try to make this life the best that it can be.

But the second part was also wrong. When you examine people in this life that we would consider successful, all of them have faced some serious hurdles in their journey toward the goals that they had set for themselves. It seems that the path that we can find through suffering is the path to success – and there might not be another (or easier) way. And we have to find that path, if not for us, then for our children.

There is no doubt that Israel had suffered. At times the appropriate response for the people of God might have been to run away (and actually, on several occasions, they did.) But all of the trials were forming them into a very special people – one that in modern times would allow them to exist without a country for over 1800 years, and at the end of that time to survive an effort by a madman to exterminate them.

And the words of God still stuck with them. Remember to tell your children of how you came through these times – and of the actions that I took on your behalf. And you will be special people – forever. And that is a character trait that we all need to try to emulate.

   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 11

But I know that you and your officials still do not fear the LORD God.” – Exodus 9:30

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 28, 2010): Exodus 9

We learn it early. The first time that we get into something that our parents do not want us involved in, they introduce us to an alternate reality. As much as we want whatever it is that our behavior has carried us toward, they compete with the pleasure by introducing some sort of pain. Whether it is an old fashioned spanking, or a grounding, or the loss of privileges, the idea is that the negative introduced by mom and dad will be make us want to avoid the behavior – that somehow the negative will have a greater avoidance effect on us than the pleasure will have in its ability to attract us. We learn it early and it dominates us for most of our lives.

So even as adults we follow the same principles. It is the reason why secret sins can be found all through the church. We want what we want, and if we can get it without having to pay a price – then why not? The secret is that we pretend that we act according to our principles, but the truth is actually quite different. We are still kids just trying to get what we want and not pay the price. Our development has become morally stunted.

Right now I am dealing with a local company that wants me back as a customer. And they are making me all of the promises that they can to get me to come back. My problem is that I know it is still just a variation of the childhood routine. The goal is the commission they will get by having me sign on the dotted line. And they will do and say whatever they need to say to make that happen. They are not operating according to any moral principal. It is strictly a matter of maximizing pleasure while avoiding pain.

And maybe that is just the way that it has always been. Moses understands the same principle as he talks with the Pharaoh. The reason that the ruler of Egypt is willing to make concessions and give in to Moses has absolutely nothing to do with a major change of heart. It is strictly because of the pain that he is in. But when the painful stimulus is removed, he will return to his old behavior.

As much as we have been trained according to a pleasure/pain principle, it needs to be relegated to the things of our childhood that we have left behind. Maturity is pressing on toward the formation of principles that will guide our behavior. And when principals guide our behavior, pleasure and pain become irrelevant. When we press on toward maturity, all that will matter to us is whether or not we are being true to ourselves and to our long term goals. It is part of what it means to grow up and enter adulthood.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 10

Personal Note: A very happy birthday to my wife, Nelda.

Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in the desert, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.” – Exodus 8:28

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 27, 2012): Exodus 8

Be careful what you wish for. I think it is one of the common mistakes that we make. I remember applying for a job a number of years ago and a variant of that saying was spoken to me by a friend. I was deep in want for the position, but being in deep want I was also not being very objective. I saw all of the good things that the position would bring, but had minimized the bad. All I knew was that my life would totally change if only I could get the job.

Whenever I do premarital counselling, it is the one thing that I am on the lookout for. I hate it when couple’s say that they were “made for each other.” I rail against the idea that someone has found the match that God had created for them since the beginning of time. It is a romantic idea, but I also know the other end of the story – the one that starts with the pressures of life, and diapers and bottles and nights with no sleep. It is into that moment that people often discover that maybe the one they were so head over heels in love with was not the one that was created for them – and armed with their new found realization they begin to look for the one that they were created for someone else. The bottom line is that at some point I wanted the job, or the marriage, but I had an idealistic idea of what that would be like. I needed to be careful what I wished for.

Pharaoh is starting to show some of the same tendencies. At the beginning of the story of Moses, all the King wanted to do was rid himself of a people that was growing strong within his borders. He was asking the same question that I hear asked in our culture – if a war breaks out, who will Israel (or for us it has been the Japanese or the Islamic populations within our borders) fight for. Pharaoh was not sure of the answer, so he decided to take steps to get rid of the people in question. But eighty years later a different king had begun to think very differently. He no longer wants Israel to leave – now he fears a day when Israel will no longer provide for him the cheap labor his projects demand. What his father wished for, the son was worried that the dream just might come true.

Real life situations very seldom come with absolute good or total evil. Usually it is a mixture of the two, and when we get idealistic about a situation we are setting ourselves up for failure. Life doesn’t work that way, and even the good things in life need us to be willing to persevere through the dark times. And often the bad situations of life come with an incredible good, if we will only look for it.

    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 9

Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh. – Exodus 7:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 26, 2012): Exodus 7

I am a second career pastor. It basically just means that I had a real job, or a series of real jobs before I became a pastor. It is a phenomenon that seems to be increasing in frequency. There are more and more of us that have done something else before going to seminary and pursuing a career in the pastorate. In some ways, I lament the delay and wonder what I could have accomplished if I had gone directly to seminary after graduating from school. But, on the other hand, I think those of us who have had other careers bring a fresh outlook to parish ministry. The time that we have spent in other careers has just been further preparation for the task of being a pastor.

In the story of Israel, Joseph rose to power in Egypt in thirty short years. After his education – most of it from the mean streets, he became the second in command of all of the Egyptian empire. And as important as Joseph’s role was, Moses role was even more important. He was not being prepared for a role under the Pharaoh – he was preparing for a role that was equal to – or even over top of Pharaoh. And to prepare him for that role it was going to take just a little longer.

In a world that often seems to value youth over experience, and in a church that often seems to believe that we work hard during our youth so that we can take our last years off, the tale of Moses tells us a very different story. And in a world where people are living longer than ever before, Moses stands as a reminder that God has a purpose and a job for us throughout the whole of our lives – and that everything up until now has been in preparation for the task that God has for us - and is still to come.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 8 

God also said to Moses, “I am the LORD. – Exodus 6:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 25, 2012): Exodus 6

I have a good friend who is relationally challenged. He is a great person and I love to be in his circle of influence, but at times he is a totally destructive influence on his own goals and dreams. If you had a chance to talk to him, you might hear him talk about the negative influence that people have had on his life – and he is right. But what my friend doesn’t realize is that often he is the negative influence. People have a negative influence on him only because they reflect back to him the effect that he is having on them.

I was recently challenged with a self examination exercise. The challenge came in the form of a question that I was supposed to ask those in my circle of influence. The question was “what is it like to be on the other side of me?” You see, one of the constants in everything that I do is me – I am there. And the reality is that because I am there I change the situation I am in. The question that I – and my friend – need to be able to answer is “am I changing this situation for the positive or the negative?” Every situation I walk into is really a neutral situation awaiting my input – and I will be the force that will change the situation either for the positive or the negative. So ... what is it like to be on the other side of me?

As God talks with Moses, he needs to remind Moses of who he is. Moses, I am the Lord. The word used here is significant. It was Yĕhovah or Jehovah. And what is significant is that it would have brought Moses thought process back to something that God had already told him. Yĕhovah rhymed with hayah hayah – I Am that I Am. I Am with you. And Moses, that changes everything.  I am bringing all that I am and investing it into your situation.

And this is the truth that we live with everyday. When we work in harmony with the direction and needs of God, he brings all that he is into our situation. On the other hand, when we go against the direction and needs of God, God sets his face against us – and that is not a place where we want to be.

So God’s message to Moses is – get to know me.  I Am that I Am. I exist and I am with you. And in everything that I am telling you I will bring my presence into that situation. And Moses, if you maintain a relationship with me, then you will know where it is that I am going and where my presence is going to be.

This is why we need to people of the Bible, people who continually seek after God and want to be where he is. It is why we need to live a disciplined life. It is why love is so critical, because it reflects the essential character of God. He is the Lord – and he will be with us.

 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 7

Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? – Exodus 5:22

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 24, 2012): Exodus 5

While we proclaim a message of peace and believe deeply in it, Christianity and Judaism have never fared well in the midst of it. The pattern that history has repeatedly shown to us is that we are easily co-opted into the dominant societal pattern – we tend to begin to look like the culture in which we live. Whether it is in a time of universal tranquility, or simply a time in which we understand what is expected of us, when we find ourselves in those moments we stop struggling against the restraints and we just accept what is.

Karl Marx has often been paraphrased as saying that “religion is the opiate of the masses.” The full quote is that “Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” Marx’s point was that religion was created by man as a way of dealing with suffering. It gave us a way of dealing with the pain of life – it became a replacement for the heart in a world that does not have a heart and a soul in an existence that is without a soul. Marx’s belief was that if we could just get rid of religion, then we would begin to finally strain against the bonds that hold us captive.

But Marx was wrong. It is the culture itself that drugs us. The opiate of the masses is nothing more than a constant expectation placed on us by our society. And it is religion that constantly asks us to go beyond.

Israel had grown accustomed to life as slaves. The dream of something different had stopped. They were content just to exist and live. God knew that. He had heard the prayers of the people, but he knew that they were not in a position where they would be willing to make the effort needed to change their world. And so God sent Moses, and things got worse. But their belief in God would be the catalyst that would drive them toward something that was better. Rather than God simply being a belief in something that would come after this world, it became the belief that this world could be changed for the better.

For the Christian, if we are following Christ than we are being driven away from the status quo of this world and toward a world that only God could imagine. And what our detractors often miss is that the love that we are instructed to show has nothing to do with suffering through this world so that we can exist somewhere else. It is our revolutionary weapon of change and the more trouble that arises, the more we love and the world changes before us.

   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 6

Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” Exodus 4:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 23, 2012): Exodus 4

My church is preparing for its year end meetings. It is the time when the ministries of the church get a chance to report on what they have done in the past year. They also get to cast the vision for their departments in the year to come and maybe encourage volunteers to join their teams. It is an incredibly important time and task for church leaders.

But one of the misconceptions each leader will have to deal with is found in the question of the giftedness of the potential volunteers. Often the reaction of people is that they could never do what the leaders that are encouraging them to join them do. They want to be involved in the ministry of the church, but they don’t believe that they can do it. If God would just gift them, then maybe they could take on the task.

And it often surprises them that often God does not work that way. Often we do not feel confident in our ability to take on a task before we actually start to do it. And there is a reason for that – there is no task that can be accomplished within the influence of the church without a direct dependence on God.

Apparently, this was something that Moses wasn`t aware of either. His comment to God was that when God called him he knew that he was inadequate for the job. And since that time God had done nothing to equip him – he was still inadequate. His expectation was that God would do something to equip him before he arrived to start the job. But God`s plan was different – he was choosing to train Moses on the job.

This penchant of God is the reason why, in the church, I think that we need to get involved in many ministries just to try them out - because for a God who seems to like to train on the job, it might be the only way that you will find out where you really fit.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 5

So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey —the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. – Exodus 3:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 22, 2012): Exodus 3

Sometimes I wonder if there was more to the conversation that Moses had with God at the burning bush. We understand by the description of the conversation that we do have that Moses did not think that he could make a difference with what was happening in Egypt – and we also know that he had good reason for that belief. When he had the power to make a change, he was unable to do the job. And if he could not make the change when he had the power, there was no way that he could make the change now that he was nothing more than an old shepherd.

So, as he stumbles onto the burning bush and hears the voice of God for the first time, I get his amazement. But his amazement isn’t just because God had appeared to him. It was the reason why God had appeared. God steps off of his throne in heaven and appears in a burning bush in front of Moses. And there he tells Moses that he has come because he has heard the suffering of Israel in Egypt, and that he is ready to lead them out of Egypt and into the land that he had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And I wonder if Moses first reaction to God was that he missed. This burning bush wasn’t in Egypt, and the people of Israel weren’t close by. God, your GPS is malfunctioning!

Soon Moses got it, God had appeared to him because he was about to be drafted. And it wasn’t that he did not want to be involved in the saving of Israel - I am sure that some of the prayers that God had heard were prayed by the lips of the man that now stood in front of the burning bush, but Moses knew that he had already failed at the job. Moses wanted God to intervene. What Moses didn’t expect was that God would call him into the process of accomplishing the task.

We want God to step into our situations. We want him to come and fix our problems. But there is a truth that Moses understood well on this day beside the burning bush. Whenever God steps into our timeline, he does so because he needs us to make an impact in the life of someone that is currently in our proximity. I am convinced that God is still hearing the prayers of his people, and I am also convinced that there are still a lot of burning bushes all around us, because God is still calling us to make a difference in the world in which we live. God still steps into our timeline, so that we can step into theirs.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 4

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. – Exodus 2:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 21, 2012): Exodus 2

When I was in college, there was a game that we liked to play. The idea was that we would play a prank on someone, but when we were questioned about the incident, we couldn’t lie. It was all about how the questions that were asked, and the creative way that we chose to answer them. If it was items that we took and hid, it was being careful to mention the things that we didn’t touch, or if it was about where certain personal items were removed to, then we had to make sure that we didn’t know where all the items were so that there was a list that we could honestly say we didn’t know about. The game was all about carefully worded questions, and even more carefully worded answers.

By the letter of the law, there was nothing - except delay – that Moses’ mother did wrong. The Pharaoh had commanded that every boy should be thrown in to the Nile River. And that is exactly what mom does. Except that the Pharaoh’s endgame was to see the boys drowned, but Moses is at least temporarily safe inside his tar coated basket. He is thrown into the river, but not into the water.

What we need to understand is that when God asks us to do something, there is always a way to get the job done. Sometimes we just have to get creative and rethink what it is that we hear God asking us to do.  And the words – we have never done that before – can’t be allowed to stop us. We need the persistence of Moses mom, and the creativity to understand the various ways that a boy can be thrown into the Nile River.

We are the creative product of a creative God. And part of what sin is for us, is the stifling of that creation.

  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 3

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. – Exodus 1:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 20, 2012): Exodus 1

In the movie “Amazing Grace” there is a couple of scenes that have stuck with me. One is the image of William Wilberforce as he speaks to a group of gentile British citizens from a slave ship. He describes the smell of death that hangs around the ship and asks the aristocrats to breathe deeply the foul air. A second scene is the tearful encouragement of John Newton of Wilberforce as he remembers the slave ships that he had commanded – to remember the lives that were thrown away for no other reason than that they were not valued.

In the modern world one of the worst things that we can imagine is life as a slave. To lose the freedom that is associated with the living of life, especially in the west, is a nightmare that is hard for us to understand – the value of all life is something that is at the core of everything that we believe. And to realize that slavery still exists in the twenty-first century is something that is hard to stomach.

But the ancient idea of slavery was a bit different than the modern version. When Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, as the son thinks of returning home to dad he thinks about coming home as a hired man. To the modern reader, the idea of a worker is higher than that of a slave. But for the son, a slave was a valued member of the family. He was highly regarded and treated with respect – more respect than a worker would ever receive. But a slave was a position that the son no longer thought himself eligible to obtain.

The fear that the Pharaoh felt over the nation is highlighted by the way that he treated his slaves. While they were possessions (and we do and should feel the offense of that), they should have been a valued possession. But instead he sets slave master over the people of Israel for the sole purpose of destroying them - all because of fear. Israel should have at least been a valued possession – but instead fear had made them an obstacle to be destroyed.

Fear has that effect on us. One of fear’s effects is that it drives us to destroy what we should value. And the first step in stopping fear, is simply to recognize what it is that it is driving us to destroy.

     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 2

Personal Note: Happy Birthday Michelle.

Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him … Genesis 50:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 19, 2012): Genesis 50

I have decided that it isn’t just Hindu’s that worship cows. The church is filled with Sacred Cows that we just can’t seem to sacrifice. A friend of mine was the pastor of a small rural church, and he told me the story of a photocopier that sat at the front of the sanctuary. It was a strange place to keep a photocopier, but beyond that, the photocopier didn’t even work. So one day he had a great idea. There was a storage room on the other side of the wall that the photocopier leaned up against. And so he moved the photocopier around the corner. The response of the congregation would have been a little softer if he had just told them that he no longer believed in The Ten Commandments. He had discovered one of the Sacred Cows of the congregation.

A Sacred Cow is something that we believe in that is unreasonably beyond question. And we have a lot of them. The difficulty with them is that often the Sacred Cow fulfilled a purpose at some time in the past. For my friend, there was a time when the church didn’t have a photocopier. A lady had passed away and left some money to the church and the church responded by using the money to satisfy the need. They bought the photocopier and it had a purpose, but now that purpose had expired. The photocopier had moved from being a piece of equipment that was needed by the church to a Sacred Cow that was never questioned in the life of the church. It was a ritual that meant something to a few (it reminded them of the one that had died), but nothing to most of the people in the church.

There are three healthy reasons for our involvement in something. The first reason is that we need to be involved in things that are a spiritually necessary. These are the things that God has commanded us to do and to accomplish. The Ten Commandments would fall into this category. But what Joseph did for his dad doesn’t fall into this category, but it does fall into the next two.

The second category is events that are culturally demanded, provided that the action doesn’t violate the first category. There are things that we need to be involved in because the culture demands it and God is neutral on the issue. There was no God demanded burial customs, but in Egypt – there were customs that the culture followed. The custom was that a person (especially one of wealth and importance) would be embalmed in such a way that the facial features were not changed. And this took time. Joseph, even though this was not the custom of his family, calls the Egyptian doctors and starts the process. But the embalming process was also expedient (the third reason why we do things.) My friends photocopier at one point had a purpose. For Joseph, Dad’s body was going to have to survive the journey home, so the Egyptian embalming process was necessary for that to happen.

Success has always been, and will always be, a function of understand these three reasons for doing something. And understanding which policies, procedures and events are not supported by one of these three reasons is probably one of the hardest things we will ever have to learn to do. If it was easy, we would have gotten rid of our Sacred Cows a long time ago.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 1

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. – Genesis 49:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 18, 2012): Genesis 49

The book that solidified my love for Science Fiction was Frank Herbert’s “Dune.” I loved the tale that was both grounded in the things of the future but also with strong elements from the past. Dune tells the story of the battle over the planet of Arrakis – a desert planet that is the only known source of the spice “melange” without which space travel is impossible. And the key character is the son of Leto Atreides, Paul, who is the heir apparent of the House Atreides, the House that is in control of Arrakis and therefore in control of the spice that is found there. But the possession is contested and as the pages of the book open there is an attack and Paul and his mother find themselves on the run. The escape takes them into the realm of the mysterious Fremen, the desert people. And the Fremen are a people waiting for the prophesied one to come who would rule over them and restore to them the planetary rule. Paul is eventually believed to be the one of mystery on whom the desert world waits.

It is an ancient idea. We wait. We sing songs about it, is the hope with every child that is born into the world, it is the essential element of the Christmas story – we are waiting. It is the traditional hope that went along with the coronation of every king and queen and it is the political hope in every election – that the one who comes will be the one who will set the world straight.

As Jacob begins to talk to his sons about what is going to happen, he begins to talk about the one that will come. The word that he uses here is actually Shiloh – until Shiloh comes – and Shiloh adds to the mystery of his words because it is a word of unknown definition. The only thing that we know is that when Shiloh comes, the scepter of rule will belong to him.

Jacob’s words to Judah, spoken in a strange land where the tribe of Jacob existed as foreigners, spoke to a future that would feature a line of kings that would come from Judah. And the royalty would not depart from the line of Judah until the one came to whom the scepter belonged. Jacob tells Judah that his sons would be kings, but the power that they will yield will be borrowed from someone else. And one day, he, the one to whom the power belonged, would come and take scepter back, and he will reign and all of the nations will worship him.

For the Christian, we know that Shiloh has come – and his name is Jesus.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 50

“Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. – Genesis 48:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 17, 2012): Genesis 48

We want life to be fair. We know that on a very basic level it isn’t but I think that also really bothers us. So by our actions we try to restore that fairness that is naturally absent from life. At least, from Jacob’s point of view, favoritism had been a constant part of his life. Favoritism had marred his childhood – his brother was the favorite child of his father while he held that honor with his mother. He worked for years to get the wife of his dreams, only to find himself married to her older sister instead. When he finally marries the wife that he desired, she accused him of favoritism because it was only her older sister that could have children. And none of it was fair.

And if Jacob was anything like a modern day parent, he probably looked at the way that he had lived his life and hoped that it could be different for his kids. He may have even promised himself that the favoritism that had marked his existence would not be repeated in his family. But when Rachael died - the woman that he loved more than anyone else, the one that he had worked so hard for the privilege of marrying, it seemed that almost against his will he is drawn back into familiar patterns. He wouldn`t have probably admitted that favoritism had once more raised its head, but instead argue that by protecting Joseph (and later Benjamin), he was just trying to keep the memory of Rachel alive.

And when Joseph is returned after Dad had thought that his son was dead for so many years, again it didn`t seem fair. And Dad begins to work to set things right. Under ancient law, the oldest son would receive a double portion of the Father’s estate. It was the inheritance that he had cheated his older brother Esau out of. In Jacob’s case that meant that Reuben would receive the double portion. And there is no indication that Jacob was going to go against that tradition, but there was something he could do. While Reuben would receive the double portion that was his by tradition, by taking Joseph’s son’s Ephraim and Manasseh as his own, effectively he was reserving a double portion of his inheritance for Joseph as well – maybe to make up just a little for all of the injustice that he had suffered through.

However, the reality of Jacob’s decision is that when the Promise Land is divided up among the sons of Jacob, it is only Joseph that receives two allotments of the land that had been promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is no tribe of Joseph, but two of his sons receive an allotment reserved for Israel.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 49

Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence. – Genesis 47:10

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 16, 2012): Genesis 47

Maybe the one thing that bothers me the most about the contemporary church is its egocentric nature. We sing the songs, we say the words, we seem to know that it is not about us – but our actions say something completely different. Our actions say that it is all about us.

One of the constant struggles inside the church is the march to be recognized. We want to come and be served. Our worship, instead of being a chance for us to come and wash each other’s feet, seems to be dominated by the need to be entertained. But if entertainment is our main concern, then Jesus will always be absent. He will be the missing element in our worship – and an element that no one else can infuse into our times of devotion.

In the upper room just before Jesus was arrested and crucified, Jesus knelt in front of his disciples and washed their feet. His message was that even though he had every right to expect to be served, that had never been his purpose. He had come to serve. And his direct message to us was – do this – serve wherever it is that you find yourselves. As we gather for worship, our instruction is that we need to be a blessing to those that gather around us. It is the reason why I believe that church attendance is so important for us. We need it as an outlet of our service and our blessing.

I love this passage in the Jacob story. Famine has struck the home of Jacob. He has lost everything. He finds his son in Egypt, and Joseph invites him to come to Egypt to live. Jacob, in a matter of days, transitions from being a land owner in a place that God had promised to him to being a foreigner in a land that belonged to someone else. And because of Joseph’s position in the Egyptian government, he is greeted on his arrival by the Pharaoh – the powerful king of the new home of Jacob. And the conversation between the two men is kind of exactly what we would expect if the situation had arisen today. It is dominated by the normal questions of age and occupation until we reach the end of interview. But at that moment, when we would expect that the reigning king would bless the newcomer, we find the reverse. Jacob blesses Pharaoh.

It doesn’t matter where we are or what we are doing. Our purpose is not to be entertained and served. It is not about us. And our purpose is always to serve and to bless those that we come in contact with. We bless inside the church – and everywhere else our feet might take us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 48

I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes. – Genesis 46:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 15, 2012): Genesis 46

I have to admit that one of the things that I marvel at is how little time that the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) spent in the land that God had promised to them. It seemed that, especially Abraham and Jacob, spent most of their time just passing through the Promised Land. I keep on thinking that if God pointed out a piece of land and said to me – this is the land that I am giving to you – I am not sure what it would take to move me out. And most of the time the leaving of the Promised Land seemed to be very voluntary.

But as Jacob’s life starts to enter its final stretch, God tells Jacob that it was time to leave. The man that God had named Israel left the land that would one day carry his name. But, this time, it wasn’t because of a whim, or because of a promise of greener pastures somewhere else, or even because of sins that he had committed that caused him to leave – it was God that instructs him to leave. The promise is still for Jacob and his descendants, but just as Joseph needed to grow before his dreams could come true, so Jacob and his family would need to develop before they could take possession of the land that God had promised to them.

So God makes Jacob an offer he can’t refuse. Jacob would leave the Promised Land for Egypt. And God would go with him. But the move would not be permanent. God would bring him back from Egypt to the Promised Land. This would actually happen in two ways. First, while Jacob would actually die in Egypt, his bones would be carried back to the place that would be named Israel after him. But maybe more importantly, God would bring Jacob’s descendants back to the land that he had promised to Abraham, Isaac and to Jacob.

It is a repeating message of the scripture. God is in control, and everything that he has promised will become a reality. But, just as it was for Jacob, it will become a reality on his timetable.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 47

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. – Genesis 45:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 14, 2012): Genesis 45

The ancient Hebrew belief is that all things, both the good and the bad, come from the hands of God. The Flip Wilson trademark expression “the Devil made me do it” wouldn’t have occurred to them.  God was all powerful. And if we truly accept that one truth, then we must also accept that whatever situation we find ourselves in – God could have stopped it. And God has the power to move us away from the current situation we find ourselves in - even if we were the ones that placed ourselves in that situation. And if he doesn’t move us, well, he must have a reason.

Joseph had been kidnapped by his own brothers, sold into slavery, had been made the head of a household, and then accused of a sexual sin that he had not committed. He was thrown into jail and, there, he was forgotten. And finally, it seemed that God had intervened in his life and lifted him out of the situation he had been living through and made him second to Pharaoh as the leader of Egypt. But the realization was that God could have done rescued him  at any time, but he waited, leaving Joseph to question what the rest of his life would hold.

The truth was that God knew something that Joseph didn’t. All of the dreams that Joseph had received were true, but the Joseph that received the dreams was not the one that would be able to walk through the door and fulfill the position. There had to be a change in Joseph.

As Joseph stood before his brothers, he was able to look back at his entire life up until that point, and he recognized that what had happened had happened to shape him into the man that God needed in Egypt. It was with a deep honesty that he could say to his brothers that they weren’t the ones that had sold him into slavery. That had been God, and as weird as it sounds, God had sold him into slavery so that all of his dreams could come true.

It is a perspective change that we all need. God, who is powerful, has allowed some things into our lives so that our dreams could come true. Like Joseph, maybe we need to learn humility or maybe a deeper understanding of how our actions affect others. The things in our life that we wish weren’t there - God has allowed to be there - and he has allowed it because there is something else that we need to learn. And, it is something that we need to learn so that we can become the people that God intended us to be – and so that our dreams can come true.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 46

But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.” – Genesis 44:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 13, 2012): Genesis 44

I am not sure that I get the idea of atonement, at least not in the way that most of my friends want to describe it. My problem is that we describe the atonement as an act of God (or more precisely of Jesus) to atone for or pay the price of our sin. In our rhetoric, it is something that only Jesus could do because God required a perfect sacrifice – and we all recognize that the last thing we are is perfect. So Jesus had to die as payment for our sin. But the problem is that the story just isn’t fair.

I recently commented on that at an informal gathering. My point was that the Gospel that we preach is actually inherently unfair because it is based on a single unfair act. Jesus dying on the cross to pay for sins that I have committed is like me going to jail for crimes that my son had committed. No matter how much I love my son, the criminal justice system wouldn’t accept that as a fair punishment. They would press to arrest the real guilty party.

As I finished my explanation, one of the listeners went back into the same old definition of atonement. Didn’t I understand why it had to be the perfect sacrifice – didn’t I understand why it had to be Jesus. But it has never been that I didn’t understand - just that it wasn’t fair.

Joseph catches Benjamin with the cup. The brothers don’t really understand why any of this is happening, but they do recognize that somehow their guilt has caught up to them. They were the ones who voluntarily sold Joseph into slavery. And now, through forces totally outside of their control, they would sell their youngest brother into slavery as well. But this time, they would pay the price for their sin – the sin committed against Joseph.

Except that Joseph isn’t asking them to pay for selling him into slavery. And the only fair price to ask for Benjamin’s apparent sin, Benjamin has to pay. Nothing else would be – well, fair.

Maybe we face the same problem. The atonement isn’t fair, but, like Joseph, God isn’t asking us to pay for our sins. He has already done that. Joseph’s real question for his brothers was not whether they had or would pay for the sin that they had committed in their actions against him. It was whether or not they had truly learned how to love. And that is the only question that we have to answer.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 45

I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. – Genesis 43:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 12, 2012): Genesis 43

Joseph’s current position was all because of Judah’s decision. The story of that day when the dreamer had walked into the field had probably been repeated over and over again when the brothers (excluding Benjamin) had gathered together. On that day it was Reuben that had assumed the role of saving his little brother. Reuben was the oldest of the children of Jacob, and as the brothers plotted to kill Joseph, it was Reuben that had suggested that he be thrown into the cistern. And it had been Reuben that had suggested that they should just leave the boy there trapped. His excuse was that it was one thing to leave Joseph where the animals could come and kill him, but it was quite another thing for them to kill Joseph with their own hands. But the reader is told of Reuben’s real motivation. His intent was to come back after the brothers had moved on to rescue his brother.

But then Judah stepped in, apparently without the knowledge of Reuben. And he suggested that Joseph be sold into slavery. I can just imagine the conversation between Reuben and Judah later. I really believe that the motive for Judah was not for money, but so that his Joseph would not die. But by stepping in he had destroyed any chance (as far as he was concerned) of Joseph being restored to his family. Joseph was lost - forever.

So now, as the famine continues and the house of Jacob once more finds themselves in need of food. But the man (Joseph, but none of the brothers realize that yet) says that they can’t have any more food unless Benjamin comes with them. Benjamin has lived a sheltered life. He was Joseph’s only full brother, and dad had not let him out of his sight since Joseph had disappeared. But now, if the family was going to have food, Benjamin was going to have to make a trip.

And Judah saw an opportunity to at least partially redeem himself. He had sold Joseph into slavery, but now he could be responsible for Benjamin. For Judah, it would be the beginning of a path back to restoration.

We all have failed in a responsibility. And we all need to find a place for the restoration to start. We know that we are forgiven, but for our emotionally healing it often takes a restorative act. Just because we failed once doesn’t mean that we can’t be trusted in the future. The one thing that Judah needed more than even the food that was in Egypt was for his dad to trust him with his most prized possession – Benjamin.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 44

As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied, “to buy food.” – Genesis 42:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 11, 2012): Genesis 42

Our past determines our future more than we really want to admit. It isn’t that we actively define ourselves by what has happened, but sub-consciously we seem to be continually imprisoned by our history. Usually it happens in the voices that ring out – the ones where someone has told us that we are stupid, or that we will never amount to anything and when we are alone we can actually hear the criticisms of long ago as if the people were still standing in the room with us. I have known a number of smart people that have been so handicapped by voices of the past that have convinced themselves that their critics are right.

As we read through the story of Joseph there is one thing that should bother us. When his brothers show up in Egypt he recognizes them and then asks where they are from. They reply Canaan. It is the same place where Jacob had settled after he had come back to meet Esau. And Canaan was just across the border from Egypt. So why, on his rise to power in Egypt, hadn’t Joseph sent a message to his father telling him he was okay?

It is possible that his job kept him busy enough that he simply hadn’t had the time to send the message. But it had been the better part of a decade since he had risen to power. And with that power he should have been able to commission someone to take the message, even if he was too busy to take the message personally.

It is also possible that he didn’t think that he knew where his family was, but that also doesn’t seem all that plausible. If dad had moved, he hadn’t moved far. So why hadn’t Joseph made an effort to contact his dad? Or maybe more to the point, why hadn’t he rubbed his success in the faces of his brothers long before now? Wasn’t that the point of his childhood dreams?

I don’t think that anyone knows the answer to the mystery, but I wonder if Joseph’s life had been so filled with reversals that he wasn’t able to believe the power that he had attained. In his mind, he was still the annoying kid that his brothers had sold into slavery. He was still in prison, and the only ones that could really release him was his family – and he just wasn’t sure that they would. His silence was better than finding out that his brothers still didn’t believe in him.

There are people in our lives that are holding us in prison, and maybe we just need to realize that. But more importantly, there are people that are in prison because of us – and maybe it is time for us to release them.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 43

In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him. – Genesis 41:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 10, 2012): Genesis 41

I dream a lot. And unlike a lot of my friends, not only do I dream, but I often remember what I have dreamed about. And while my dreams are most definitely weird, I can’t say that I really struggle with the meaning. Often my dreams are tied to my emotional state. And frequently I need to be reminded of the things that are bothering me, and my dreams do the work of making me aware of my emotional state.

One of the recurring dreams that I have had is a dream where I am standing on the floor in a cabin of some sort. In dreams, the floor often seems to symbolize my support system. So often dreaming about a floor is a good thing, it is the place where I feel that I am secure. But in my dream, the floor gives way and I begin to fall. And again the symbolism is that my support system is giving way – it isn’t there anymore. Falling is often a sign of insecurity. When combined with the floor giving way, it is a really all about the fear that I might be losing the support system. And so I fall into the basement of the building. I am unhurt, but I find myself on a train track – and as I look up I see the single light of an oncoming train. Again, in a dream the oncoming train, one that is about to hit you, is a symbol that you might be on the wrong path (any path where a train is going to hit you has to be the one to be on.)

So the easy interpretation of the dream is that I felt that my security was giving way. That raised an unusual level of fear in me, including the fear that I might be on the wrong life or career path. And people that know me might look at my life in the past few years and say ‘that makes sense.’ But the problem is that this vivid dream that I remember as clearly as if I just dreamed it last night, was actually one of the recurring dreams from my early childhood. Maybe so early that none of the interpretation of the dream really makes any sense. But the other thing to notice about the interpretation is that it is built on my own emotional outlook on the world as I see it.

Pharaoh had a dream. The assumption was that there was a meaning beneath the images of the dream. The question is this – was this a direct message from God, or was it something that Pharaoh already sensed – and feared? I have a feeling it was a little of both. And Pharaoh’s fear was the one thing that God could use to get through to him.

And it is probably the one thing that God can use to get through to us. I don’t think that every dream is a message from God, but I have to admit that there have been a few times in the past year that I think God has spoken to me through the fears revealed in – my dream. And maybe I need to make sure that I am listening to what my dreams – and God – are trying to tell me.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 42

The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. – Genesis 40:23

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 9, 2012): Genesis 40

Stress makes us think differently. It focuses our attention on just the one problem that is in front of us. Absolutely nothing else matters. It is a different sort of life. Normally we don’t exist in that space. Every day there are so many things that needs our attention, so much that is important. But when stress attacks, our attention narrows. In the middle of the stress situation it is hard to imagine why the things that once occupied our imagination ever held any importance for us.

And then a mysterious thing happens. The stress disappears and all of those things that seemed important, but were wildly unimportant during the time of stress, become important again. And the events that happened during the time of extreme anxiety fade into our distant memory. It is the phenomenon of those late night prayers. God, if you will deliver me from this pain, then I will do whatever it is that you need me to do. But we don’t usually follow through, not because we are evil, but just because the stressor has been removed.

When he was in prison, the only thing that mattered in the life of the cupbearer was surviving and hopefully getting out of the jail. The idea of prison in the ancient world was different than our contemporary idea of justice would allow. In the ancient world, people could be put in prison without a trial, and often could be just forgotten there. It was a living death.

So the cupbearer has a dream, and Joseph interprets the dream. The cupbearer is released and he promises Joseph that he will remember him. But the stress that occupied his being while he was in jail quickly becomes a distant memory. Now so many other things take precedence over what happened there – including making sure that the king is kept happy so that he never had to return to prison again.

He wasn’t evil, but that doesn’t quite remove the guilt. He should have remembered. And so should we. We aren’t evil because we forget, but we should take care to follow through with the commitments we make – our yes needs to be yes even in times of stress. Or maybe we need to be careful about the commitments that we make even when the walls are falling down around us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 41

The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. – Genesis 39:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 8, 2012): Genesis 39

I love Hawaii. Now, in an attempt to be totally open, I have only been there once. And it is probably a little misleading to like a place over a single visit – especially a visit that was made during a vacation. I mean, what places do we go to on vacation that we don’t like? I can think of a couple of places I haven’t liked on vacation and both were weather related reasons. I like the sun and the heat, so anyplace I can go where those two things are present, I am going to be happy. I have even enjoyed my trips to Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario. But part of what I like about Toronto (and Hawaii and Arizona and California and a few other places), besides the weather is that when I am there I don’t have any responsibilities. I can relax, take it easy and do anything that I want to do.

Sometimes I even believe that the quality of my life would change if I could just have a change of location. In this place I could accomplish all of those things on my bucket list that I want to accomplish. And it feels right, but I also know that I am living in a delusion. If I did follow my dreams and move, well, when I arrived I would no longer be on vacation and all of life’s struggles would be back – as well as the struggle to get things accomplished.

I think it would have been easy for Joseph to sit back and simply wish that he was someplace else. If he was back at the homestead with dad and had all of the advantages that money can buy, then he could be successful. But exactly what was it that he could achieve as a slave in a foreign land? God, maybe I could succeed at some other time and in some other place.

But God’s intention has always been for us to “bloom where we are planted.” God’s blessing on us is not dependent on place. Wherever it is that we are, that is where God wants us to be successful. The truth of the story of Joseph is that he was never going to be what God had designed him to be in the place where he was comfortable. But when God made him a slave, then Joseph really began to taste prosperity that God had for him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 40