But Naboth replied, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” – 1 Kings 21:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 31, 2013): 1 Kings 21

In the movie “The Good Shepherd” a priest is left with an uncomfortable dilemma. Accused of committing an act of murder, his only defense is found in the betrayal of the confessional. If he is silent, then there is a good chance that he will spend the rest of his days in prison; but if he betrays the confidence of the confessional, then it is his very soul that is in danger of hell. In the movie, even his direct superiors are unable to convince the priest that it may be better to betray the confessional than to spend the rest of his days in jail. But the priest is maybe the rarest of characters. He is a true believer – apparently the only one in the movie that is – and he refuses to betray his soul in order to save his body.

In this unfortunate story of Ahab, Ahab desires a vineyard that happens to be close to his palace. So he tries to enter into a financial agreement with the owner of the vineyard – a man named Naboth. Ahab is willing to give Naboth a better property in a different location, if he can have the one that is close to the palace. But Naboth is also a true believer. And the law of God makes it clear that there is a spiritual connection between the land and the person. Naboth had received the land from his father, and unless extreme poverty had intervened, the law specified that that same land must be given to his son. Naboth was not in poverty, so the only reason for selling the land is not available to him. And Naboth fears God more than he fears the king - and for a king that was obsessed with denying God, Naboth decision cuts him to his soul.

It is possible that Naboth’s decision reminded Ahab of the danger that his own soul was in. In denying God he was able to live his life as he pleased, but as Ahab’s life grew closer to its close, he began to realize that there was a portion of his existence that was beyond his control. Naboth became a reminder of that denied reality of Ahab’s life.

Jesus echo’s the same thought as he instructs his disciples during his ministry on earth. Matthew records Jesus saying these words “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28.) And that truth was exactly what Naboth believed, and Ahab feared.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 22

Wearing sackcloth around their waists and ropes around their heads, they went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-Hadad says: ‘Please let me live.’” The king answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.” – 1 Kings 20:32

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 30, 2013): 1 Kings 20

Samuel Pierpont Langley at the turn of the 20^th century had the inside track on discovering the secret for powered, heavier than air flight. He had everything that was considered necessary to make the discovery. He had the money – he had been paid by the military for his efforts toward the discovery of flight. He had the best university trained minds available to focus on the task of the discovery (and purchased with the military money.) And he had all of the publicity that he needed – the press followed him absolutely everywhere that he went. The Wright brothers had none of the advantages of Langley. They had no money; the expenses for their experiments were paid for by the bicycle shop that they ran. Not one of the Wright team had a university education – including the Wright’s themselves. And the media generally ignored them. In fact, on the day that the Wright’s were successful, there was no one around to see the triumph. So what allowed the Wright’s to succeed where Langley could not. That subject has been debated ever since December 17,1903, but I think that part of the solution to the mystery is the different attitude between the two inventors. For Langley, the process seemed to be all about fame and fortune, but for the Wright’s it was a simple curiosity about the way that things worked. So it should not be a big surprise that the day after the Wright’s succeeded, Langley quit rather than trying to improve on the Wright’s invention.

So much about life is really about the motives that we have when we do things. So many of the excuses we 

make for our own behavior are because we refuse to examine our own motives for our actions. So after the war between Ahab and Ben-Hadad, Ben-Hadad’s attitude has completely reversed. Instead of demanding everything that Ahab had, now he pleads for his own life. Ben-Hadad’s motives are understandable – he is doing anything he can to survive. But to modern ears, Ahab’s response seems to be magnanimous. He seems to completely forgive his former opponent. And yet Ahab’s motive for the gesture is totally for the wrong reason. Two opposite emotions seem to be at work in the King of Judah. The first is a sense of pride. Ahab believes that he has won the war, when the battle had actually been fought by the God that Ahab had tried so hard to ignore. But the second emotion was fear. He gave an incredible honor to Ben-Hadad because he did not trust his own abilities to be able to fight the battle again - or he was afraid of the price that God would ask of him. Ahab would rather welcome his enemy into his chariot rather than be dependent on God.

No matter what the accomplishments of your life may be, it is the attitude that is behind the accomplishments that really matters. Major accomplishments completed with wrong motives are still failures – and failures that will carry our lives in wrong directions, allowing us to be less than we were designed to be. That was a lesson that Ahab never did learn – and that Langley learned late in life.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 21

When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” – 1 Kings 19:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 29, 2013): 1 Kings 19

I still remember a time when we were on holidays that we went sightseeing at night. I know, what a bad time for a sightseeing trip! But that is what we were doing. I am not sure where it was that we were, I want to say California, but we were travelling down a road when the road abruptly ended at a gate. And beside the gate was a gatehouse and inside the gatehouse was an armed official looking (at least to a little kid) man. The man approached the car and then very politely asked us what we were doing here, with a tone that clearly indicated the here was a place we were definitely not supposed to be. As a child, I think I was sure that we had stumbled onto Area 51 (and yes I know that Area 51 is in Nevada and not California.) But the excitement and the clear message were the same.

Having said all of that, I also am a little nervous about finding myself in a  place that I really do not belong. It is the question that I seem to continually ask myself – am I supposed to be here – because as much as I am a very curious person, I am not comfortable in places where I don’t feel that I belong. During my years of ministry I have on occasion been speaking in places where the idea that do not belong here comes back with a force. It might come through in a question or a comment, but in those moments all I want to do is get out. In fact, there is one place where I still speak on a regular basis where that is the overwhelming feeling. I know that I have been asked (repeatedly) to come, but I still feel on some level that I really do not belong.

Elijah has come to a mountain of God. Experts on the Bible have long wondered if this mountain might be the very one where Moses had met with God and received the Ten Commandments – although there are some discrepancies in the text. But Elijah has escaped from his daily life to spend time on the mountain. And the first question that God asks him is “what are you doing here?” And the underlying message is clear – Elijah, you are not supposed to be here. For every person that feels that somehow they have to escape to some special spot in order to connect with God, this passage would seem to disagree. Elijah’s connection with God would never be stronger than when he was in his place of ministry. Elijah has escaped from culture and has come to what might have been the most sacred place imaginable only to find out that he is not supposed to be there.

As we search for the Holy, sometimes it feels like we are searching for Area 51. We are frustrated by the fact that the holy places do not appear on any map – and sometimes even when we think we have finally arrived, the question that have to deal with is “what do you think you are doing here?” As weird as this might seem, the only real place where we can plug into all that God has, is in that place where God has placed us to minister to other people, places where we can do something to alleviate suffering and bring peace – and be “God with skin on” in the midst of all of the turmoil in this world. That is the place where we can ultimately say that this is the place where we truly belong.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 20

I don’t know where the Spirit of the LORD may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the LORD since my youth. – 1 Kings 18:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 28, 2013): 1 Kings 18

The 1936 novel “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell is a historical novel set in American Civil War Georgia. The original title of the book was actually “Tomorrow is Another Day.” But the title was changed to “Gone with the Wind.” The novel’s title is actually spoken by Scarlett O’Hara as she muses as to whether or not she will ever see home again. She wonders about the plantation, Tara, that she had left at the beginning of the war. She wonders if Tara still stands or whether it is “gone with the wind that has swept through Georgia.” In a very real sense, the whole novel is really about the departure of the kind of life that existed in the South prior to the Civil War - the lifestyle of a people that disappeared mysteriously with the wind.

The wind has always been a mysterious phenomenon. No one quite knows where it comes from or where it goes. All we know of its existence is that we are able to watch its effects. Whether it is a gentle breeze or a hurricane force storm, wind changes everything in its path. No one has seen the wind, and yet we have all felt it – for good or for ill.

Elijah and Obadiah meet. They are not strangers. Obadiah has been a student of Elijah, he has known him and watched him, and probably in some ways has patterned his own ministry after that of his mentor. And it is good for Obadiah to see Elijah once again, but it is also a bit of a mystery. After all, King Ahab has had people out searching for Elijah ever since Elijah first disappeared. It was as if the wind had picked him up and carried him off, and now it had carried him back. So when Elijah tells Obadiah to go and get Ahab, Obadiah is not really sure that he should follow through. After all, what if the wind carries Elijah off once again? Everything about Elijah in these recent years has been a grand mystery, and there is no reason to believe that the mystery has ended. So his question for his mentor is that he wonders where the Spirit of God would take him next. The word that Obadiah uses for Spirit is “ruwach” and it could be literally translated as “the wind of God.”

But for Elijah, he knew that the wind of God was about to blow through Judah and it was going to change the landscape, but not by carrying him away and hiding him once again. That part of the story was past. No was the time for a confrontation between God and Ba’al – or maybe better worded as God and Ahab and Jezebel. Elijah recognized that in the act that was to follow, Elijah would be a minor character. Obadiah had nothing to fear. The wind was now in control, and everything that was about to follow was going to happen only because of the presence of the Spirit – or the wind – of God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 19

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” – 1 Kings 17:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 27, 2013): 1 Kings 17

Every week the show opened the same way. The sound of a trumpet, the image of a man riding a white horse through a small gully,  and the familiar words of the narrator - A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty "Hi Yo Silver!" The Lone Ranger. "Hi Yo Silver, away!" With his faithful Indian companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains, led the fight for law and order in the early west. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. The Lone Ranger rides again!” And with these words the viewer was transported back to a simpler time when a masked man on a horse was enough to keep the criminals in a state of fear. The whole point of The Lone Ranger is that he was a man of mystery. No one knew who it was that wore the mask. But no one really needed to know everything about the masked man – only that he existed and stood on the side of what was right.

The story of the Kings of Israel now moves into another Chapter. And with Ahab on the throne of the southern Kingdom, a new character moves to take center stage – the man named Elijah. The two men could not have been more different. It was not just that one was a king and the other a commoner, but rather that one knew his lineage, Ahab was the son of Omri and a descendant of David, and the other seemed without lineage. The familiar proclamation of the prophet being “the son of” is totally missing with Elijah. Even the phrase “Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead” does not give us a precise idea of the heritage of Elijah. The most that we might be able to guess is that Elijah was of the tribe of Gad, or Reuben – or maybe even Manasseh. Ahab was a man of power, surrounded by advisers and officials; Elijah was alone. Even the name Elijah, which means “Yahweh is my God,” is set against King Ahab who repeatedly indicated that he was more interested in Ba’al, the God of his wife. In fact, Ahab wanted nothing to do with this God of Israel. Elijah the Tishbite is really just another way of saying Elijah the Stranger. In the Old West, we might have expected Elijah to ride in on a white horse with a mask that covers his eyes. He is unknown – and unknowable. And his purpose is to set Judah straight once more.

In this Elijah is considered to be of the type of Melchizedek - one who has neither a beginning nor an end; one whose origins are wrapped in mystery, and yet one that God uses in a mighty way. Elijah appears out of nowhere and delivers his message to those who would thwart the plans of God. And then just as mysterious as he appears, he disappears. Maybe there really was a white horse and a cloud of dust just outside the city limits. But the fate of a nation now seemed to rest in the hands of the one probably best called “The Stranger.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 18

He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. – 1 Kings 16:31

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 26, 2013): 1 Kings 16

There is a very familiar degeneration in our thought process. The first time we do something, we often can lay out the reasoning for why we do it – or why this thing is right. We argue with ourselves until the moment when we make the decision, and then we evaluate. But the more that we do the action, the less we think of the reasons why. The action simply becomes one of the things that we do. In organizations, there are a lot of these activities that have become the sacred cows in our midst. At one point they were actions that served a purpose, but somewhere along the road we lost the purpose and they just became things that we do. In the church, we add to this process that these sacred cows are somehow holy and designed by God when the truth was that we were the ones that had designed the behavior – and we designed it for a purpose that has long since been lost.

When I grew up, churches did something called “bus ministry.” Bus ministry was this thing where the church sent out buses into the neighborhoods to pick up kids and it was hugely successful – at least for a time. But bus ministry died, and it died for a very good reason. It became apparent that not all churches could be trusted with the most precious treasure of the society – our children. I wish it wasn’t so, but it is. And the idea that a parent would send a child off on a bus to a place that they did not know and had never attended was almost a form of child abuse. But every once in a while, I still hear the suggestion – we should start a bus ministry. Something that once had a purpose has now become nothing more than a sacred cow idea. We don’t really understand the why anymore, we just know that it worked and so think we should do it again.

Jeroboam had formed two calves and he told Israel that these calves were the God of Israel, the very being that had brought them out of Egypt. But there was a reason behind the tale. Jeroboam was scared that if the people over whom he was king had to go to Jerusalem and the temple that was built there, that somehow the Davidic Kingdom of the south would renew their hold on over the people. And so Jeroboam set up a new and different form of worship, but he had a reason behind his idea. And what he was really saying was this – I will worship the God of Israel, the one that we call Yahweh. But I will worship him in my own way. When Ahab came to power in the Davidic Kingdom of the South, and he said I will follow Jeroboam because I think his way is cool – and I want desperately to get away from the God of Israel. And because of Ahab’s attitude and his lack of a reason for what he did – Ahab was considered to be more evil than even Jeroboam who had started the whole process. It is not that Jeroboam was right, because he was not. But at least Jeroboam clearly understood the why.

We need to evaluate our sacred cows – and we have a lot of them. And some of our sacred cows are just simply actions that do not work anymore – they worked once, but that time has passed. But some of our sacred cows actually have the ability to carry us away from God. And in those unexamined actions we begin to commit the sins of Ahab.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 17

Note: The VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) message "We Are the Church" is now available on the VantagePoint website. You can find it here. 

Asa then took all the silver and gold that was left in the treasuries of the LORD’s temple and of his own palace. He entrusted it to his officials and sent them to Ben-Hadad son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. – 1 Kings 15:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 25, 2013): 1 Kings 15

Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of Britain as the winds of the war to end all wars part two began to blow in Europe. And there seemed to be no real consensus as to what should be done about the impending storm that was building around Germany. Chamberlain’s response, which he defended for the end of his life, was appeasement. His chosen path was to give to Hitler whatever it was that Hitler wanted. Specifically, the policy of appeasement is seen most clearly in the betrayal of Czechoslovakia at Munich in 1938. It was at Munich that the country was handed over to Hitler and Germany – despite the military alliance that they had held with France at the time. Chamberlain would argue that at that moment in history there was absolutely nothing that either France or Britain could have done to save Czechoslovakia. If not for the betrayal of Czechoslovakia in 1938, the British Empire would have been lost.

In 1940, Chamberlain’s detractors finally won the battle against the Prime Minister and Chamberlain resigned. It is said that a young Princess Elizabeth cried during Chamberlain’s resignation speech. He would be replaced by Winston Churchill. Churchill seemed to be the man of the hour. This was the moment in history that he was designed for. He would not have been a great politician in any other circumstances, but here he was great. Chamberlain, who was a great politician in his own right, would be forever remembered by his policy of appeasement and the betrayal of Czechoslovakia. All that he had done well has been forgotten.

Asa was a good king. During his reign he accomplished many good things and he had followed God. But all of the good that Asa had done was put on the line by one act near the end of his life. As so often happens, Asa began to long for peace in his own final days, and so he decided to take the treasures of the temple and give them to the King of Aram so that he could have peace. With the mercenaries hired, the war would end and peace would once more be enjoyed by the people of Judah. It was a good goal, but the action showed a weakness in Asa’s character - Asa lacked trust in God. It was not that the treasures were more important than the people, but rather that the only path to the lasting peace, a path that both Asa and Judah so desperately desired, could be found in a foundational trust of God.

It has been noted that fear is faith in the wrong things or faith in reverse. Asa was a good king, and yet he is remembered more for this one act of fear than for all of the good that he did - because in this moment Asa took the trust that had once resided only with God, and he gave both that trust and the wealth that God had given him and to the King of Aram – hoping that the pagan king would turn out to be his savior.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 16

They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. – 1 Kings 14:23

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 24, 2013): 1 Kings 14

The cry of the heart of every child that I know is this – if all my friends are doing it, why can’t I. Now, I think even as kids we understood that the statement itself was an exaggeration – not all of our friends were doing it. And I think that deep down we also understood that some of our friends were even lying. But that did not stop us from making the assertion – all of my friends. And so, years later, I can still quote my mom’s response – if all of your friends were going to jump off of the bridge, would you like to jump off as well. I never said it, but I know the response that was in my head wanting to come out of my mouth – no mom that is stupid – and maybe more to the point, I don’t want to jump off a bridge.

Peer pressure is an amazing thing. If all of our friends are doing something, we somehow felt that it was our right to do the same thing – especially if it was something that we wanted to do. When I was in grade six, the local professional football team (the North American version of the game – not soccer or futball) won the league championship. The next day the city’s mayor came out on the radio and cancelled school for that Wednesday so that the kids of the town could show up at the local hockey arena and welcome the football team home. But almost immediately the Chairman of the local School Board and overturned the Mayor’s decision saying that the Mayor had no right to cancel school. The result was confusion. With the Wisdom of Solomon, the schools decided to remain open, but not to take attendance. And so the choice of what to do was left in the hands of the students and their parents. I had friends that fell into three basic categories. Some of my friends were going to school that afternoon; their parents were not going to allow the skipping of school even under these circumstances. Some of my friends (actually a rather small group) were planning to take the bus downtown to the arena and welcome the football team. And another group were simply planning to take the afternoon off. I knew about all three groups, but I also knew exactly what I wanted to do – I wanted to go and yell and scream for the football team – so I informed my mom that “all my friends were going.”

Jeroboam is afraid that if he allows the people of the Northern Kingdom to go to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God, then they will fall victim to the propaganda of the Southern Kingdom. So he builds two calves and tells the nation that this is the God that had brought them out of Egypt – come and worship them. And on some level I think that we totally understand that emotion. But the question that we need to ask is what Rehoboam’s excuse was? Why did he follow Jeroboam’s example and begin to set up other gods. Some experts want to blame Solomon, his dad, and the way that he was raised. But from what we know of Rehoboam, maybe a more logical explanation is simply that he followed the actions of his friends. They were planning to jump of the bridge, so Rehoboam would jump as well.

But maybe on the most basic level, Rehoboam simply did what he wanted to do – he followed the desires of his heart. And if we are not careful (and disciplined) the desires of our hearts will always present us with the opportunity for sin. On that day in Grade six, it ended up that all of my friends turned into one other guy that I barely knew. But together we caught a bus and went to cheer our football team home – not really because all of my friends were doing it – but because it was the thing that I wanted to do.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 15

Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. – 1 Kings 13:33

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 23, 2013): 1 Kings 13

During Bill Clinton’s presidency, the President came to a much publicized crossroad. He had the opportunity to admit that he had done something wrong, or deny that the event ever happened. The story is told that at this point Clinton asked his advisers if the polls reflected that the American people would be able to forgive his transgression - whether the people would rather have someone who had committed some sort of transgression at the helm of the county, or a liar in control. And the advice was clear. The people would forgive a transgression that is confessed to them – but a liar would not be tolerated. In spite of the warning, the president chose to lie – and to a certain extent, his presidency has been defined by the lie rather than the good things that he accomplished.

The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once wrote that “if you must hold yourself up to your children as an object lesson (which is not at all necessary), hold yourself up as a warning and not as an example” (A Treatise on Parents and Children). Our reality is that we are a flawed people. It is the one thing that makes the evaluation of public figures a pointless proposition. If we are looking at the actions of life, we will always find the mistakes and sins. We all have something hiding in the closet – not one of us is perfect. The concept of leading by example is often a fairy tale – it can be done to a point, but only to a point.

We need to understand that the reason why this passage is included by the author of Kings is to describe the lengths that God went to convict Jeroboam of his sins. Jeroboam was considered to be evil not because he made mistakes – we all make mistakes. Jeroboam’s problem was that he absolutely refused to learn from them. He continued to deny that there was anything wrong with what he was doing. God spoke clearly, but Jeroboam simply ignored the message.

Our truth is that we usually know when we have messed up. And we have the same choice, either we can ignore the feeling, or we change our behavior. The reality that no one – including us – is perfect might be a hard pill to swallow, but it is a universal characteristic of humankind. And so our only real choice is to admit our shortcomings and learn from them, or to follow the path of Jeroboam and ignore the message. But we also need to remember that Jeroboam’s path will only lead us to destruction – and learning from our mistakes is one of the first steps toward success. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 14

After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” – 1 Kings 12:28

Today’s Scripture Readings (May 22, 2013): 1 Kings 12

Very early in the history of Egypt we find the religious cult of the god Apis. Apis was imagined in the shape of a bull and he was probably considered to be a fertility god. But he was also the protector of all those who had died. The shape of a bull that he assumed was meant to symbolize courage, a spirit that was willing to enter the fight no matter what the odds were, great strength and virility. Those who died well were protected by Apis through all of their afterlife wanderings. But because all of these traits were also traits that made up a good king, Apis came to symbolize the Pharaoh of Egypt. Later another bull god was on the rise in Egypt. His name was Mnevis, and Mnevis was believed to be at work in the physical world. One of the customs was to find a perfect bull – and traditionally a bull that was entirely black – and move him into the temple area. Here the bull was to be worshipped as Mnevis’ bodily presence here on the earth. Eventually the worship of both of these gods would be combined, and Mnevis was seen as just another form of the god Apis.

As the division between Israel and Judah becomes a reality, the political structure of the Northern Kingdom begins to fear the religious structure of the Southern Kingdom. If the people continued to have to travel into the Southern Kingdom to make their sacrifices they would be easy victims of the propaganda campaign of the house of David. And so Jeroboam and his advisers make the fateful decision to create a new religion. Some have tried to argue that this was not their intention, that maybe the two calves were simply the pedestal on which the invisible God of Israel would stand, but there is little to support this viewpoint. In this act, Jeroboam took a step away from the God of Israel. It was a step away that no king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) would ever take in the opposite direction. After this point no king in the Northern Kingdom would ever be seen as a godly king - they are all said to be evil.

As Jeroboam creates his new religious cult, it probably should not be surprising that he picks the calf. The 

calf itself is a step back to the golden calf that Aaron created to be worshiped in the midst of the desert wanderings. But the number and the mention of Egypt would seem to bring the reader back to the Egyptian cult of Apis and Mnevis. In these two calves were placed the hopes of the young nation – and the desire that both the king and the Northern Kingdom would be forever strong, courageous, not willing to back down from the fight and virile. The reincarnation of Apis and Mnevis seemed perfect for the fledgling nation that had now decided to go on without the house of David and their God.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 13

The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. – Ecclesiastes 12:11

Today’s Scripture Readings (May 21, 2013): Ecclesiastes 12

I admit that I am a big Star Wars fan (and for those Trekkies that might be reading, I am one of the weird ones that really likes both franchises.) But I still remember with amazement the first time I saw Star Wars Episode IV. For those who are younger and have become used to all of the special effects that goes into making a movie (or even a T.V. show) today, you probably can’t imagine what a breakthrough the first Star Wars really was. The special effects were great in the movie, but it also had a great story line about a young immature warrior and the gifted knight that had been set over him to teach him and guide him in ways that were right. It was an ancient story of the battle between good and evil, and of the threats that evil holds for those who would be good. Of course, the young warrior was Luke Skywalker and the gifted knight was Obi-wan Kenobi.

I still remember the very first time that I watched the scene where Darth Vader kills Obi-wan. I think the expression on my face was about the same as Luke’s as he watched the battle – this realization that the things we were seeing just couldn’t be. Of course, we also know that something of Obi-wan Kenobi lived on – and the wisdom that he had taught the young warrior shaped Luke Skywalker through all that was to come.

In this closing section of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher wants the the reader to understand clearly that the wisdom contained within these pages did not come from a human authority. In the Hebrew Bible, the idea of the one shepherd is always God – and these teachings are a wisdom that comes only from God. These assertions that we have read are not there to depress us, but rather they are goads that are designed to push us on to what is substantial in life. They are encouragements reminding us that it is precisely because everything is wind that there resides within us the ability to try. If we fail, our failure will just pass away leaving the path open for us to try again. So there is nothing in life to stop us from making the effort.

In a very real sense it is the God role in our life that is illustrated by Obi-wan Kenobi in Star Wars. It is the presence of a wisdom that is beyond us that stretches us; causing us to do things that we may not have attempted in our own power. All of us have this decision to either trust in ourselves and live within our own limitations, or to trust in the God of Wisdom that is pressing us toward different things. For Luke Skywalker, success was found in listening to the voice inside of his head and trusting the “force” as he made his run toward the Death Star. We have a run against the Death Star to make as well, one that we will be successful in only to the extent that we are willing to listen to the wisdom of the one Shepherd who still desires to speak into our lives.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 12

However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the days of darkness, for there will be many. Everything to come is meaningless. – Ecclesiastes 11:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 20, 2013): Ecclesiastes 11

In George Martin’s epic fantasy series “A Song of Ice and Fire” (The Game of Thrones), one of the repeated lines is that “words are wind.” As one person noted, you can’t repeat a phrase as often as this phrase is repeated in the series and expect that the reader is not supposed to take notice. Of course, the obvious meaning of the phrase is that actions speak louder than words. But the meaning of the phrase may even go deeper. In the epic series of books, it seems that everything is wind. Power is only for the moment; it passes from one person or group to another quickly. Life is short. Maybe one of the most disturbing elements of the series is Martin’s ability to kill off the very people that the reader is cheering for – and yet keep the reader reading. Words are wind, but it would seem that everything else is as well. Nothing lasts.

The Teacher continues his theme of meaningless – and sometimes the reader needs to be reminded that his premise that that everything is only a vapor and a breath – literally almost 3000 years ago The Teacher was stressing exactly what George Martin seems to want you to know – everything is wind.

And so The Teacher’s advice is enjoy the life that you have. If everything is really wind, then the reality is that this too shall pass; so find enjoyment in life where you can. He does not minimize the dark times of life, darkness will come. (For Martin these are other repeated themes of the series along with phrases like “dark wings, dark words” and the constant reminder that “winter is coming.”) But even the darkness should be enjoyed for what it is – simply a part of life.

Words are wind – and so is everything else. Or maybe the way the Teacher would phrase it is “Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.” But that does not mean that it can’t be enjoyed. Enjoy today – and the life that has been given to you.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 12

Personal Note: Happy Birthday Michelle

As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. – Ecclesiastes 10:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 19, 2013): Ecclesiastes 10

I am on a campaign against certainty. I had a conversation with a friend last week and he started to wax eloquent on all of the things that he believed. He was quoting Bible verses in support of his position – and then he started to put down everyone in Christendom that held a differing Biblical understanding. I smiled, and let him talk – and very little of what was said did I agree with. In fact, he did not know this, but by the end of the conversation he was preaching against me. He was so certain that he was right, but all he left me with was questions. Was he right? I don’t think so, but maybe. He had all of his verses and interpretations lined up and it was well thought through, but it did not convince me of the truth of what he was saying. The only thing that I was sure of was that I would now question everything that he had to say to me.

The scene is played out and repeated over and over again. We make comments of certainty because we believe that we have to know if we are to be respected. But when we make proclamations of certainty and we are wrong, the respect that we are chasing after goes up in smoke. And over and over again it is these people that whine and complain that no one respects them. The Teacher is right, a little folly (or foolishness) really does outweigh wisdom and honor. And I am beginning to really believe that certainty is the height of folly.

A little more than a year ago, I went on a little trip through the Bible and something dawned on me that I had never seen before. And the subject matter was eunuchs (men who had been castrated for some reason so that they will never have children.) And I discovered that Deuteronomy 23:1 makes it very clear – a eunuch will never enter into the assembly of God. And in Deuteronomy, this is a certainty. And so I could preach this with confidence – God says that if you are a castrated male, then you have no place in the church – it is certain. Except that Isaiah 56:4-5 says that to the eunuch who believes in God he will reserve within his temple – inside of his assembly – a place of honor that is greater than sons and daughters. And in Acts 8, Philip is asked by a eunuch why he should not be baptized. As far as I am concerned the answer to that question resides in Deuteronomy 23:1, but Philip baptizes him anyway.

All of this just proves to me that I know nothing. God moves in ways that I would never have guessed and so any certainty that I have is folly and it lowers the things that God can do through me. And that is an area of my life that I want increased, and not lowered. But I know that to do that I have to leave what I know behind – I have to echo the Apostle Paul’s belief that I know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 11

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. – Ecclesiastes 9:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 18, 2013): Ecclesiastes 9

Things do not always happen in the way that we might expect them to happen. Sport has long been an example of what can happen against all odds. I am currently watching my favorite baseball team, who according to all the experts, before the season began, were going to challenge for the championship this year wallow near the bottom of the league standings. It was not supposed to be this way, but it is. It was not expected, but it is.

I think we all play “what if” games about our own lives. What if something had happened, or had not happened – how different would our lives be? And we all have this dream for our lives that remains unfulfilled, but we often think that if chance had just favored us our lives would have turned out differently. And in this verse, which is one of the most quoted verses of Ecclesiastes, The Teacher agrees with us. Chance plays a huge role in our lives. And chance is the universal condition – all of us struggle with the chances that we have received – and the ones that never showed up. And sometime it is this reality that causes us to believe in fate.

But for the Christian, this idea of fate or chance is a little unsettling. Is it possible that so much of our lives really has to be left to chance? We really do not want to believe that this is the way that it has to be – we want it to be different. Maybe a better way of looking at fate or chance is that God gives to us the opportunities that he has for us – and we all have those opportunities. The real question is not “why God did I not get that chances which would have changed my life – why has fate not smiled on me,” but rather “what did I do with the chances I did receive.” There is no place for bitterness at the things that life has handed to us when we know that we all have left chances and opportunities that were handed to us and have done nothing with them. And that is the question that we really need to deal with.

Napoleon, because of rainstorm, lost the battle at Waterloo (and yes that is a little oversimplified.) But Napoleon’s attack did not happen on time at Waterloo because the field was too wet for the horses to maneuver. The delay allowed his opponents the time to prepare for his coming. The Duke of Wellington made the most of the chance rainstorm and turned the battle to his favor. Napoleon had made the most of other chances, but this one went against him. And there were probably other choices that Napoleon could have made on that fateful morning, but he did not make those choices. King Ahab of Judah was killed by a meaningless arrow aimed at no one – and yet, somehow God’s will was still accomplished. For us, all that we are asked to do is to make the most of the chances that he has given to us – and leave the chance and fate to him.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 10

Note: The VantagePoint message "Living the Furture" from the Series "Surprised by Hope" is available on the VantagePoint Community Church (Edmonton) Website. You can find it here.

All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. – Ecclesiastes 8:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 17, 2013): Ecclesiastes 8

Caligula has become almost a caricature of the insane tyrant of a ruler. He demanded that he be worshiped as a God – sometimes even appearing in public dressed as various gods or demigods from the Roman pantheon such as Hercules, Mercury, Venus and Apollo. He became known for his intense cruelty and his sexual perversion. But it had not always been that way. In 37 C.E., Caligula became sick. And the generous and benevolent dictator that took to his bed in illness never returned. The Caligula that rose after the illness was a deranged version of the one that had started to reign in Rome – and the rest of his reign would be of a totally different character than the one that he had started.

The teacher begins to speak about the obligations of those that rule. And the original writings are a little unclear in this area. This passage could be interpreted as “the ruler who lords his power over others do so to his own (the ruler’s) hurt – or even his own (the ruler’s) destruction.” But the alternate reading, and according to some experts the preferred reading, is that “the ruler who lords his power over others do so to their (the people’s) hurt – or even to their (the people’s) destruction.” But the reality is that it really does not matter which interpretation we follow. Neither outcome is good.

Caligula’s reign ended in a very different way from the way that it started. Many were executed or stripped of their possessions. He expanded the power of the emperor of Rome at the expense of his people – especially at the expense of the senate and the people of power. But there were no people groups that succeeded under the last part of Caligula’s reign. Pain became a natural part of life to a level that was much higher than the normal amount of pain that we all suffer through as we live. And after only four years of his second reign, the portion of his reign that followed his illness, those who were closest to him plotted against him – and planned his assassination. Caligula’s reign had not been good for either the people who he lorded his power over, or for his own personal well-being and destiny.

In the church, I still see people that seem to want and need to lord their power over others. They want to be the ones in control, but we were never designed for that kind of a reality. And when we follow through with that nature, we hurt both the church and ourselves. As much as the experts may want to argue over whether the object of this passage is the ruler or the people, maybe the truth is that the passage seems unclear because it is both. We are designed to simply work together, with no one needing to be the one in control. The only one that we can allow to have that kind of control inside the church is God. There is no one else that can handle that kind of power.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 9

It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. – Ecclesiastes 7:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 16, 2013): Ecclesiastes 7

Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy about the then new constitution of the United States of America. In the letter he makes this comment – “Our new constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Actually, the quote about the certainty of death and taxes did not originate with Franklin himself. It was a quote from a line in a play written by Christopher Bullock in 1757 entitled “The Cobbler of Preston.” The play itself was a farce, but we recognize the ring of truth in the comment. In a world that is filled with constant change (and even 250 years ago, change was the one constant that Benjamin Franklin experienced in life) the only things that are permanent are death and taxes. Both come on us whether or not we are looking for them.

Solomon seemed to know the dangers of the feast. Today we often use the phrase that we want to “drown our sorrows” – to forget, even if it is just for the moment, about the demands of life. If we were honest, most of us drown our sorrows not just with liquid refreshment, but with a constant barrage of activities that allow us to forget the sorrows of life. We wall ourselves in and never give a glance to the unpleasant future that each one of us is walking towards, until that moment when death finally overtakes us. But when that moment comes, often we find ourselves woefully unprepared. 

In ancient times, the body of the deceased person would often be buried quickly, but the “party” of mourning would go on for days. It was a time when friends could come and sit and bring comfort to those that mourned. But it was also a time of reflection, of looking death square in the face and realizing the future destiny that comes to everyone. And it was a time to consider what death will mean to us when it comes.

Today, we are uncomfortable with death. We rarely speak seriously of it even though we recognize the certainty of it. Houses of mourning often are transformed into just one more experience where our sorrows can again be drowned and death, even as it sits in the room with us, can be ignored. But there is wisdom in The Teacher’s words. It is a better thing to contemplate the things that we cannot avoid, in order we can be fully prepared for the moment that we cannot avoid.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 8

A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. – Ecclesiastes 6:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 15, 2013): Ecclesiastes 6

He is arguably the most famous ruler of Egypt – and he died at the age of 19. We have reduced his name to three letters – Tut. His real name was Tutankhamen which means the “Living Image of Amun.” Amun was the chief of all of the gods in the Egyptian pantheon. We remember Tutankhamen probably for two reasons. One is the mystery of his death at a very young age after only a decade of rule as Pharaoh of Egypt. At the time of his death, the young king was had experienced less than two decades of life. Theories about the boy king’s death have abounded and have ranged from a death due to disease (maybe even diseases related to an incestuous union of which the young king was a product) to the idea that he was the victim of a complex assassination plot. Most experts now believe that Tutankhamen died as a result of an accident, possibly the result of an unfortunate fall.

The second reason why we remember Tutankhamen is because we have found his elaborate place of burial – a place which bore witness to the respect that he seemed to have of the people – and the care that was taken to lay the king to rest. So we remember the young king – a king who lived a life that was too short. It almost seems that it might be the young king of Egypt that the preacher is thinking about as he continues his discussion on the meaninglessness of life. If the preacher really was Solomon, than his allusion to a hundred children is not out of the question. Solomon was known to have 300 wives and 700 concubines. Tutankhamen had only one royal consort. If Solomon is alluding to his own 100 children (and that number might be low), for Tutankhamen his only children were two stillborn little girls – he left no heirs to succeed him on the throne. Solomon would die at the age of 69, Tutankhamen at the age of 19. And yet, even without all of those things that Tutankhamen seemed to lack in comparison to Solomon, he is still remembered.

A number of years ago I performed one of the saddest funerals of my career. I did not know the man who had died, but in talking with his family it was evident that very few people would ever miss the man. He had amassed all of the things in life that we consider to be the trappings of success, he had money and children and he lived to be of a considerable age, and yet it amazed me as I talked to the family that no one seemed to have a kind word to say about the man. And this is exactly the point that Solomon is trying to make. The trappings of success that we may find important in this life are really meaningless. The most important thing that any of us can possess as we lay dying is a good memory in the hearts of the ones that knew us. And in those memories, we can continue to live on.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 7

The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep. – Ecclesiastes 5:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 14, 2013): Ecclesiastes 5

A couple of weeks ago a tweet (from Twitter) sent the economic markets in North America briefly into a freefall. The tweet was false, written by someone who had successfully hacked into the account of a media outlet. The media outlet has apologized for the tweet and the hacker has taken responsibility (meaning that they have bragged about doing it) but the action showed us how on edge we are as a society. From the moment of the tweet it took only a few seconds for the market to react negatively to the false news. Because of the swiftness of the reply the considered opinion was that the freefall was not due to computer controlled economic accounts; rather the fall resulted because real life people read the tweet and immediately started to sell their stock. It was only after the first human reaction to the false news that computer driven accounts started to react to the negative downturn by initiating sale orders and driving the stocks even lower.

Our society seems to be existing on the edge of something. The problem is that I am not sure that we know the ‘what’ that we exist on the edge of. But the reality is that the ‘what’ probably is not a poor person’s problem. In our society, we have incredible wealth. I recently had a very real conversation with someone about my retirement savings account. And I mentioned how much I had in the account, which to me was almost nothing – not near what it is that I feel that I need in that account. But the response that came back to me was that this person did not have a retirement account. He had cashed it all in just to try to live. And so the reality is that when the market economic crash comes, it has more of an effect on me than it would have on him. And it would have more of an effect on a lot of people around me than it has on me.   

Now, the reality is that we all need retirement accounts, but with wealth (and we are wealthy) comes its own special problems. And this is part of The Teachers message. We work for the things that we need, but it costs us sleep (and our society seems to be one that is in need of sleep.) Our abundance just gives us more things to worry about as we go through life. And the solution is not necessarily that we need less (we need retirement savings for that time in the future when even we will retire), but rather that we cannot put our trust in our wealth. Trusting in our money will only cost us sleep – and the reality is that our money is a temporary thing that has no real power to save us. It is when we lose sight of that that we really begin to have a problem.

Again, I am not saying that our savings accounts and retirement savings are unnecessary. I do not believe that. I do believe that they are simply one tool among many that we use as we live our lives. It is good to have money – but we can survive even if we do lose it.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 6

Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning. – Ecclesiastes 4:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 13, 2013): Ecclesiastes 4

Nimrod was ancient king in Shinar. He was the great-grandson of Noah. He was known as a mighty warrior and as a great hunter, which is probably the reason he was crowned king. But he is also thought (by tradition) to be the driving force behind the building of the Tower of Babel. Against all of the wisdom of the day, he decided to build a tower that would reach into the heavens. Of course, today we realize how stupid an idea that the tower of Babel really was, but even in his day it was a questionable decision. Therefore, Nimrod became a model for everything that was stupid and short-sighted.

There is no biblical evidence that Nimrod and Abraham ever met, but tradition says that they did. According to tradition, and taking elements out of several other Biblical narratives, Nimrod set himself up as the god over all the earth. This setting himself up as God was part of the reason for the building of the Tower of Babel, that the tower would draw all people to Nimrod their god. But Nimrod sees in the stars the message that there is a great man of the real God that is about to be born in the land of Ur, and so he sends out his men to kill the children of the area. The plan fails, but Nimrod never gives up the chase. Finally he finds the young Abram (later Abraham) and arrests him, and the tradition says that Nimrod had been saving up wood for four years to build the biggest fire the world had ever seen all for the purpose of burning the young boy named Abram. But according to tradition, Abram walks out of the flames and away from Nimrod. Eventually it was the persecution that Abram suffered at the hands of Nimrod that would chase him away from his home into an unknown land where God would make change his name to Abraham and make him like a king. But the message of the story is all about the eventual defeat of all that is evil by those who are righteous - because even the evil (and mighty) king Nimrod is defeated by a young righteous boy named Abraham.

There is probably little truth in the traditions. They grab stories from Moses to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to build the story. But if there is a truth found in the midst of the story it is this, Abraham went on to be revered by three religions as a great man of faith. Nimrod has become a caricature for all that is stupid and short-sighted – in fact, Nimrod is what we call each other when we do stupid things.

And tradition says that this is the story that was in the mind of The Teacher as he wrote these words about it being better to be a wise youth than to be a foolish king. It is better to be able to take advice from wise than to think that you are above the wise – it is all about the ancient battle between a youth named Abraham and king named Nimrod.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 5

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. – Ecclesiastes 3:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 12, 2013): Ecclesiastes 3

I mentioned earlier that I recently watched “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” Actually I have watched it twice – please don’t think less of me. I originally watched it alone, just looking for something on Netflix to watch, and then I watched it with my wife about a week later. And one of my favorite lines in the movie is placed on the lips of the hotel proprietor, Sonny. His mantra throughout the movie is that “everything will be all right in the end ... if it is not all right then it’s not yet the end.” Sonny near the end of the movie is tempted to settle for something that is less than all right. But it is at that point that his friends come around him and remind him that “everything will be all right in the end ... if it is not all right then it’s not yet the end.”

I have to admit that there is something about Sonny’s philosophy of life that I find very appealing. I have friends that would accuse me of just having a Pollyanna attitude, and they are probably right. But if this is not the way the world works, it is the way I wish that the world worked.

The Teacher seems to think that Sonny might have been right. He says that everything is beautiful in its time – everything will be all right in the end. God has created this world and he does not make junk. Everything is beautiful, or at least it will be in its time. I think the message is do not give up on the dream. Everything is going to be all right in the end. But there is a problem. The Teacher also continues to say that God has set eternity in our hearts, he has made us with an eye to eternity, and yet something has stepped in and blinded us from all the good that God wants to do. But the fact that we cannot see it, does not mean that everything will not be beautiful in its time.

The writer of Genesis tells the story of Joseph. Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob. And Joseph was the favorite of his father because he was the oldest son of his favorite wife. And whenever there is a favorite in a family situation, there is trouble. And that was true in Joseph’s life. His brothers became jealous and they decided to trap him and sell him into slavery. He is resold as a slave and finally he gets thrown into prison on trumped up charges and left there to die. He is finally rescued by the king because the king had need of his talents and Joseph was placed in charge over the nation of Egypt and brought them through a time of famine – after all, “everything will be all right in the end ... if it is not all right then it’s not yet the end.” And finally his brothers, the very ones that sold him into slavery, come to him and they are afraid for their lives.  But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Genesis 50:19-20.) They couldn’t see it, but that does not change the reality that everything is beautiful in its time.

Whatever it is that you are going through – everything will be beautiful in its time. And God has set eternity in your heart. And I know that there might be something blocking your vision from seeing the beauty in this moment, but that does not change the reality. Everything is beautiful. Do not settle for less – it is not yet the end.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 4

For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. – Ecclesiastes 2:21

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 11, 2013): Ecclesiastes 2

In 2006, the Oprah Winfrey show told the story of a film director that gave a homeless man $100,000. The money came in a briefcase that had been planted in a garbage bin for him to find. And when he found it, he was speechless – he quite literally did not know what to do. The film director offered to put the man in contact with a financial planner, but the offer was refused. And the film team had a chance to watch what this homeless man would do with his new found wealth.

The first thing the man did was that he went and bought a truck for himself, and then he purchased cars for his friends. And in an incredibly short time he had spent all of the money and was back living on the street again. The study has raised a question about how much good giving money to someone actually does. The reality is that too often given money actually seems to hurt the person. We actually begin to create a dependent relationship with them, rather than allowing them to become independent and healthy. It was never our intention to hurt, but that does not change the reality.

And the Teacher draws us to exactly that point. We work and toil and save and we have acquired an amount of wealth. And we know what it is that we want to do with that wealth, but someday when we leave that wealth to someone else – and there is no guarantee what it is that they will do with our wealth. There is also no guarantee that the money will even be a benefit to them. And in some cases that money can be the source of great misfortune.

Money has the ability to transform, but that transformation is not always for the positive. The list of people who have been winners of lotteries and have lost all of the money that they had won continues to grow. And there is this sense that somehow winning the lottery has robbed them of all of their hope for the future. They had achieved the dream, but in a short time the dream has crashed and left them tight back where they started – and that can be an even worse place to be in when we realize that the same place is a place without hope. What had the possibility to make a difference had been wasted – and often because we just do not understand money that has been given to us because there is no memory of all of the things that we had to do and the things that we did without to get the money.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 3

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” – Ecclesiastes 1:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 10, 2013): Ecclesiastes 1

I recently watched a video interview with Scott Hamilton, the former Olympic and World Champion figure skater. And one of the things that he said that has stuck with me was about the lasting nature of our accomplishments. He said that he asks the up and coming figure skaters what is the pinnacle of the achievement that they hoped to aspire to. And of course the response is that they want everything that Scott Hamilton had already achieved. They want to be the best. The follow-up question that Scott asks is always “what does that mean – does that mean that you will own a piece of history?” And the response is always, “yes, then history will remember me.” So it is at this point Scott launches his next question – “who won the World Figure Skating Championship in 1962?” Because the truth is that the person that was the World Figure Skating Champion in 1962 expected that they would be remembered by history too; but just over fifty years later they have already been relegated to being a footnote in the history books.

The Teacher understood that. The theme of the whole book of Ecclesiastes is that everything in life is meaningless. The Hebrew word used here is “hebel” and it means vapor or breath. The image is that everything that we could possibly accomplish with our lives is like a person’s breath on a cold day. They exhale and for a moment you can see it, but it quickly disappears. Absolutely nothing is going to last.

And that thought can be a bit of depressing. If everything is meaningless, then what is the use? Give me the reason why I should I work hard at anything if it is not going to last. And that is exactly what the teacher wants us to realize. Accomplishments will fade and die. But maybe if we choose to build into other people, build into their accomplishments; that might have the possibility of lasting – at least a little longer.

There is a great story about Mel Gibson when he was at his lowest moment. “The Passion of the Christ” had been a huge success, but personally he was crashing and burning. At the same time Robert Downy Jr.’s (Ironman) star was on the rise. But Downy had also had his own struggles and demons that he had had to deal with. And at an award ceremony Robert Downey Jr. took a moment to talk about the man that had been there for him at his lowest moment, Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson at the time had to rate as one of the least liked people in Hollywood. But in this moment of celebration about Downy’s accomplishments he said this – “When I couldn’t get sober, Mel told me not to give up hope and urged me to find my faith. I couldn’t get hired so he cast me in the lead of a movie that was actually developed for him. Most importantly he said that if I accepted responsibility for my wrong doings and embraced that part of my soul that was ugly – hugging the cactus he calls it – I would become a man of some humility and that my life would take on a new meaning. I did it, and it worked. And all he asked in return was that someday I would help the guy next in some small way. It is reasonable to assume at the time that he didn’t imagine that the next guy would be him or that someday would be tonight. On this special occasion I humbly ask you to join me in forgiving my friend his trespasses and offer him the same clean slate that you have given to me. He has hugged the cactus long enough.”

Maybe not everything is meaningless.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 2

On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. – 1 Kings 11:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 9, 2013): 1 Kings 11

John Milton in his epic “Paradise Lost” writes these words:

First Moloch, horrid King besmear'd with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents tears,
Though, for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unheard that passed through fire

The words sum up the worship of Molek. Molek has probably been known by many names – among them may have been Melqart of Tyre and Ba’al, but the common thread for Molek was this idea of child sacrifice. The children would be thrown onto the fire in front of or inside of the idol and the musicians would play loud so that the screams of the children could not be heard. And all of this became a reality in Israel because Solomon allowed his wives to keep their religions and their gods.

The place of desecration was a hill just east of the city of Jerusalem. And it was here that the worship places 

for these gods were built. It is part of the dark history of both Jerusalem and Israel. And because of these sacrifices, the hill was appropriately named the “Mount of Corruption.” It was a place that seemed to be beyond redemption.

We know the “Mount of Corruption” by another name – it is called the “Mount of Olives” named for the olive groves that once graced it surface. And at the bottom of the “Mount of Olives” is garden called “Gethsemane” and maybe proof that a God whose objective is to redeem can buy back anything. Far from being the site of horrible child sacrifices in its past, the “Mount of Olives” has become the requested burial ground for many people because of a prophecy found in Zechariah 14 that says that that when the Messiah comes, he will come first to the gentle slopes of the “Mount of Olives” – “Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem ...” (Zechariah 14:3-4).

Today more than 150,000 people are buried on the slopes of the Mountain that was once called the “Mount of Corruption.” They are buried there by choice, in hopes that they will be the first to witness the coming of the Messiah (for the Jew) or the return of Jesus (for the Christian.)

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 1

When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the LORD, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. – 1 Kings 10:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 8, 2013): 1 Kings 10

Alexander the Great changed the way that we fight wars. He conquered the known world, but his genius was actually in what happened after he was done with his conquering. Alexander’s genius seemed to be in the area of cultural diffusion. After he had conquered an area, he made it culturally Greek. And he was so good at that task that for generations the places that he had conquered hundreds of years earlier, places that were now subject to a new Roman Empire, continued to be culturally Greek. The Christian Testament is written in Greek largely because of Alexander the Great’s cultural diffusion.

Alexander the Great was student of Aristotle. Often Aristotle is referred to simply as “The Philosopher.” Aristotle, alongside of his teacher, Plato, and another thinker named Sophocles has revolutionized the way that we think. They are the founders of Western Philosophy and have had an impact on all Western Religions.

Later Caesar Augustus, during the early years of the Roman Empire, would build on the thoughts of Alexander the Great and Aristotle and would create a way to rule a vast empire. The Roman Empire of Augustus changed once more our expectations about this world. And there is this thought that while the Holy Roman Empire lasted for centuries, that if those kings that followed in the footsteps of Augustus had only ruled in the way that he ruled; and if many the kings of Rome had not been insane, then maybe the Roman Empire would have been a force for generations longer – maybe even to today.

The Queen of Sheba comes to Solomon. The reality is that from our place in history we really do not know much about either of these people. We know that Solomon was the son of David, and that he was wise, and that he had many wives and concubines, but of Solomon personally we know almost nothing. The Queen of Sheba we know even less about. We do not even know where she was from – today we argue about whether it was Ethiopia or Arabia that she called home. But we do know that she came to Solomon, drawn by the stories that she had heard of him. In Solomon she found a man who seemed to be part Alexander, changing the world culture around him, part Aristotle, changing the way that people thought, and part Augustus, changing the way that an Empire could be ruled.

The test was actually a spiritual one. It was not magic, but whether or not this king possessed just knowledge or whether he also possessed the wisdom to use that knowledge. The idea behind the test was that anyone could pursue knowledge and gain great amounts of information – but true Wisdom to use the knowledge came only from God. We do not know the questions that Sheba asked Solomon, but historical gossip has left us with three possibilities. One possible problem was that Solomon was presented with were real and fake flowers and that he was asked to discern between the two by sight alone. Another was that he was presented with a group of boys and girls, dressed alike and he was asked to discern between them, and the last was that he was asked to gather a cup of water that came neither from the clouds nor from the earth. Solomon’s rumored responses were to unleash some bees and see which flowers they went to, to watch the children as they washed their hands to see which were boys and which were girls, and to run a horse hard, almost to the dropping point, and collect the sweat of the horse in a cup. These may have not been the actual questions, but whatever the real questions were, Solomon convinced this unnamed Queen of Sheba that he was wise – and that was truly a gift that only God could give to a king.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 11