In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” – Joshua 4b-7

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 31, 2018): Joshua 4

Early in World War II, Germany was quickly gaining control of Europe. The fighting in France had begun, and even then there were serious questions about how long France could remain outside of German control. The United States had not yet entered the war, and the United Kingdom could see the day coming when they would stand alone against a Germany that had gained control of all of Europe. In the midst of all of this, the United Kingdom had elected a new Prime Minister. His name was Winston Churchill, and he led the nation as the leader of a multiparty coalition government. Churchill believed that the United Kingdom had waited too long to confront the danger that Germany presented to the rest of the world. The delay had only left the United Kingdom and the world in a bad situation that was decidedly worse than it might have been if they had acted earlier. But none of that really mattered. The important question was “what can we do now?”

It was less than a month after Winston Churchill rose to power that he stepped up with his famous address to parliament. The address was not recorded until after the war (1949), although many misremember hearing the address being played on the radio in 1940. The address contained the words “We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be.  We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; We shall never surrender.” Apparently after the speech, Churchill added an addendum to the speech that was spoken more privately; "And we’ll fight them with the butt ends of broken beer bottles because that's bloody well all we've got!"

But underneath the words was one thought.  Remember who you are. The United Kingdom stood for something.  It was at this moment in time the people were beginning to wonder if their principles were worth it – or if they should bow before Hitler. Churchill was making it clear that this moment of seeming defeat would not define the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom and the Commonwealth nations would be defined by its character and morals. And so we will fight.  And we shall never surrender.

As Israel collects the rocks from the middle of the Jordan, they are reminded that the rocks are intended to be a memorial for the generations that would follow. And the message was to be two-fold. The stones were a reminder of who they were as a nation and a reminder of the God who brought them through the flooded Jordan River.

Maybe one of the hard realities of life is remembering who we are, and remembering how God has brought us through the trials of life so far. Let me speak your reality over you. You are the chosen of God, so you need to find your stones to set up them up so that when you look at them, you will remember who you are. You are a child of the King. And as we close the doors on one year, and begin the new challenge of the next, this is the one thing that we must never forget.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 5

Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’” – Joshua 3:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 30, 2018): Joshua 3

In his lecture entitled “Walking” or “The Wild,” Henry David Thoreau comments “I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.” I understand what Thoreau means. I am a walker. And something seems to happen to me when I get outside and just start to put one foot in front of the other. It gives my body and my spirit time to exist in the same place, and a space to contemplate what is important at that moment in my life. But there are times when my spirit does not seem to catch up with my body, and I find my feet walking while my mind and spirit remain trapped in the mundane stresses of the day. And that reality is alarming. I want my spirit to exist in the places where my feet are taking me.

As Israel begins to prepare to enter the Promised Land, they begin to receive his instructions on how the next step is going to happen. God tells Joshua to place the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant at the front of Israel’s move into the land. The rest are to follow at a distance behind. But the Promised Land existed on the other side of the Jordan River. So the nation will be marching toward a river and one that happens to be at flood stage.

When the priests carrying the Ark reach the edges of the water, God’s instructions are that they should keep on walking. It was a moment in their journey when they needed to be sure that their faith and their spirit existed in the same place as their bodies. I can imagine the emotions that flooded the priests as they walked closer and closer to the edge of the Jordan. Their eyes would have revealed the dangers that were lying ahead of them in the river, and every moment and every step brought them closer to that danger. This was not a race. They would have been walking at a consistent, steady pace with each step bringing them slowly closer to the river. But when they reached the banks of the river, their bodies and spirits needed to be in the same place, because the next step was not just a physical step into the water, it was a step of trust and faith into their future.

The truth is that our lives are walked and each day contains steps that carry us toward our destination. Sometimes that destination seems to be a place that we are not sure that we want to go. But it is in these moments that we need to make sure that our bodies and spirits exist in the same space, because there is no doubt that some of our life steps will be steps of faith and trust, carrying us someplace we need to go, but maybe are scared to go. And we need to know that when we reach our Jordan, God is stepping with us into the water – and will be with us as we cross its flooding depths.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 4 

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there. – Joshua 2:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 29, 2018): Joshua 2

Some years ago I sat in a courtroom with a friend waiting for his case to reach the docket. One of the cases I had the opportunity to watch during our wait involved an older man trying to get out of a photo radar ticket. And he had a number of reasons for why he should not have had to pay his fine. First, he blamed the radar equipment, but that attempt failed. But from there, his defenses went downhill, including an attempt to argue that speeding was a necessary action in this case because he was a diabetic whose blood sugar level was out of whack and he had forgotten his medication at home. (Yep, this is exactly what we need, sick people moments away from passing out speeding down our city streets in an attempt to get to their medication.) And with every comment from the judge, I sat a little lower in my seat, wishing that the accused would cut his losses, end his embarrassing excuses, and just pay the fine. The fact was that his excuses not only did not get him out of his ticket, but it actually opened up the possibility that he could be charged with more serious allegations. The judge, to his credit, seemed to ignore all of the crazy stories and eventually just told the man to pay the fine.  

I admit that sometimes people can be embarrassing. Some of us have the innate capability to insert “Too Much Information” into our conversations – including me. Embarrassing moments dot my life, some because of my own words, and sometimes there have been cringe-worthy moments that have been produced by the people I am with, and often I have felt like I did in that courtroom, just wishing that my friend would stop talking.

Sometimes, the stories we read in our Bible’s can be embarrassing. One of the embarrassing stories of the Bible is that of Mary Magdalene. I mean, how is it possible that a prostitute could be so integral to the story of Jesus. Critics through history have tried to save the reputation of Mary and have said that there is no direct evidence that Mary was a prostitute (and they are right). But there is ample superficial evidence that Mary was a prostitute. And, I believe, the situation might be even worse than that. Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great) might have been the first to argue that Mary was a prostitute in a sermon preached in the late sixth century (500’s). But he didn’t stop there. He argued that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany, Martha’s younger sister, were actually the same person. So if Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, so was Mary of Bethany. And I think that Pope Gregory just might have been right.

Mary’s counterpart in the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible was Rahab. And we have the same argument surfacing about her life and profession as we do with Mary. Maybe it is embarrassing that it is a prostitute that helps Israel to scout out Jericho. So maybe she was an innkeeper except that her life as a prostitute might have been the perfect cover for the spies. The truth is that we are uncomfortable with the story of Rahab, but that does not mean the God sees the story our way.  

I believe that there is something incredibly comforting about the possibility that Mary and Rahab were prostitutes because that means that God sees my embarrassing story and loves me in spite of it. I get to play the role of the accused standing before the Judge making my embarrassing excuse, and I know that he is on my side anyway. And sometimes I wonder if our defense of Rahab, and Mary, reveals more about the limitations we place on God’s forgiveness than it does about our need to defend these uncomfortable ladies of the Bible.

Maybe we should just be okay with who they are, knowing that God is okay with who we are.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 3

No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. – Joshua 1:5

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 28, 2018): Joshua 1

Albert Camus in “The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays writes that “there is scarcely any passion without struggle.” But struggle often takes a toll on us. There is a price to be paid for our fights, even if the fight is good and the war is won. The reality is that when we emerge from a time of struggle, we are seldom ready to go back into the fight, at least not right away. We need a time of rest.

Consider the life of Moses. We can roughly divide the life of Moses into three sections. The first section was Moses’s life in the palace in Egypt. For the most part, this section of Moses life was dominated by privilege. Here he did not live as a slave but as a Prince. He was not forced to work making bricks for the building projects of the Pharaoh. Instead, he was well-educated and lived in the comfort of the palace. But at the end of this section of his life, there was a struggle. He began to pick up the fight of his people. He didn’t do it in the most productive way, but he did become active in the struggle, and as a result, lost the comfort that had dominated his life.

The second section of the life of Moses was spent in the wilderness. This section was dominated by Moses the family-man. He got married and had children, he took care of the sheep and led a life that was far different from his life of luxury in the palace. There was a struggle to living, there always is, but it was different than what he had experienced back in Egypt.

Then, as the third section of Moses’s life began, God invites him back into the struggle in Egypt. At first, Moses is not interested. He had tried when he was a Prince; there was no way that the Shepherd he had become was going to be more successful than the Prince had been. He had been in the struggle, and he did not want to go back. But, eventually, Moses says yes to God and goes back into the struggle. And in the struggle, Moses once more discovers his passion.

Personally, on some levels, I struggle with the reign of Joshua. While Moses prepared Israel for the day when he would no longer lead the nation, Joshua did not seem to have the passion to do the same. It is not that he was without passion. If we divide his life into three sections, during the first section of his life, we see him active in the struggle to stay alive as a slave in Egypt. During the Exodus, his involvement in the struggle to form a nation and the passion that resulted placed him in a position of leadership, eventually becoming Moses’s most trusted confident, and the one to whom Moses would pour himself into as Joshua developed as a leader.

But then, something changed. Joshua seems to lose the passion. He does not develop a leader to follow him. He does not seem to have the passion needed to take the Promised Land. And maybe the secret is found right here at the beginning of his story as leader over Israel. While the promise that God will be with us and will never leave us is important, it can sometimes, if we let it, remove us from the struggle. Joshua had struggled, and now he decided to do the minimum necessary. He seemed to feel that he needed a time of rest. He would take the minimum land needed and take the easiest route possible toward settling his people into Canaan. Joshua left the struggle, and at the same time, he seemed to lose the passion.

God still promises to be with us, but that should encourage us to attempt the impossible. It is always tempting to want God to give us the easy path, but the reality is that the easy path, the path without a struggle, is also one devoid of passion, and it is passion that makes life worth living.

God has promised to be with you, so don’t settle. Go and attempt the impossible for him.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 2

Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the LORD showed him the whole land … - Deuteronomy 34:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 27, 2018): Deuteronomy 34

Inspirational writer Shannon Adler argues that our goal should be to “Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” The reality is that those who have made an impact on my life are not remembered because their name exists on a stone somewhere. They are remembered because of the difference that they made in my life. It is not that tombstones don’t serve a purpose. There are people who I do remember only because of the tombstone. For me, at least, it is exciting to walk up to a tombstone with a name carved on it that I recognize as being part of my own ancestry. But these are people that I did not know; people who died before I existed. But for those who I knew and had a relationship, these people are alive in my heart. I tell their stories. For the really important ones, like my grandparents, my mother and father-in-law, and my brother-in-law, there is seldom a day that passes when I do not have a moment of remembrance. Something will happen, and I will see my Grandpa Baker striding confidently across a building site, or hear the clear baritone voice of my Grandpa Mullen. These memories are deeply personal and often explode on my consciousness without warning. The last time I saw their tombstones was at my Grandma Baker’s hundredth birthday celebration in 2015, three years ago. But their memory remains fresh in my mind, and the act of remembering remains a daily experience.

Moses was not going to be buried by human hands. Tradition holds that God would send an angel to deal with the remains of Israel’s lawgiver. There would be no tombstone that would bear his name. At the age of 120, he would climb a mountain, and God would show him a land that he would never enter, and yet a nation would possess this land only because of his willingness to follow God and guide them there.

There would be no tombstone. But Moses would not be forgotten. The stories of Moses would be told by a grateful nation. And those stories are still told. Scottish Theologian described the “Ten Commandments” as the universal foundation of all things and the law which makes nationhood possible. The first proposed seal for the United States included a picture of Moses crossing the Red Sea with the caption “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God” referencing Moses opposition of Egypt and slavery as being similar to the United States’s rejection of the British King and his empire. The Second President of the United States, John Adams, actually told us why the constitution of the United States relied more on the teachings of Moses than Greek philosophy. "As much as I love, esteem, and admire the Greeks, I believe the Hebrews have done more to enlighten and civilize the world. Moses did more than all their legislators and philosophers.”

The stories of Moses still resonate around us. And we do not need a stone carved with his name to remember him. His legacy is sure, both in our hearts and in our minds.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 1

This is the blessing that Moses the man of God pronounced on the Israelites before his death. – Deuteronomy 33:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 26, 2018): Deuteronomy 33

On October 22, 2018, Eugene Peterson finished his long obedience in the same direction. His last words were apparently “Holy, Holy, Holy” and “Let’s Go.” According to his family, the last few days of his life were spent in a thin place where heaven and earth meet. He was having conversations with people welcoming him to the other side. Eugene Peterson was a “shepherd’s shepherd.” He was a man of encouragement and love who spent his last days in hospice care, suffering from heart failure and dementia. And yet, in the end, he knew his purpose – and blessed us once more before he left this plane. Author Winn Collier shared these words on his Twitter account. “My dear friend and pastor Eugene Peterson has died this morning. The lantern is out, but the joy he carried with him to his final breaths endures. Eugene is now with the Triune God he has loved his entire life. Memory eternal.” To the very end, Peterson was the image of faith, and he encouraged the rest of us with his joy that carried him throughout the entire length of his long obedience.

And this might be a very appropriate description of Moses. No, we know of no heart condition – and Moses did not seem to be suffering from dementia. But he knew that he was not going to be entering into the Promised Land. This was the end.

So, with his final breath, be blessed Israel. He had had a relationship with the Holy One of Israel; he was the one who had walked with God. There had been times of frustration, and times when he wondered if this stiff-necked people God had placed under his leadership would ever get to the place God had directed them to go. But now they had arrived. Moses was not going to able to enter the land with them. But his blessing could go with them.

Moses wanted to remind Israel exactly who they were; they were chosen to be the blessed of God.

Blessed are you, Israel!
  Who is like you,
     a people saved by the Lord?
He is your shield and helper
    and your glorious sword.
Your enemies will cower before you,
    and you will tread on their heights” (Deuteronomy 33:29).

And I can almost hear Eugene Peterson’s words coming out of the mouth of Moses. “Holy, Holy, Holy. Let’s go.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 34

There on the mountain that you have climbed you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people. – Deuteronomy 32:50

Today’s Scripture Reading (Deuteronomy 25, 2018): Deuteronomy 32

Bethlehem. Established 3400 years ago, the town once existed at the emotional heart of the nation. Situated just a few kilometers south of the Jerusalem, Bethlehem is the burial place of Rachel, the favorite wife of Jacob. Her tomb is located at the northern entrance of the city. Bethlehem is the birthplace of David, Israel’s most celebrated king, and it is the birthplace of Jesus.

Philips Brooks had visited the town of Bethlehem in 1865, at that time the town was part of the Ottoman Empire. Depressed and on a leave of absence, Brooks had come upon the town and had written the lyrics to the Christmas Carol we now know of as “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

Three years later, musician Lewis Radner was asked by Brooks to put music to the words of the poem for the 1868 Christmas service. He did. Radner admitted, years later, that neither he nor Brooks believed that the song would ever be sung past that 1868 service.

Once existing at the heart of Israel, Bethlehem now symbolizes the divided nature of the area. While Jerusalem exists on the border of Israel and the area governed by the Palestinian Authority, Bethlehem is solidly within Palestinian held territory, and to go from Jerusalem to Bethlehem involves crossing a border checkpoint.

Moses, the lawgiver of Israel, died before the nation stepped into the land that had been promised to them, and the land to which Moses had faithfully guided them. He never stepped into Canaan, but instead, his body was abandoned can just on the other side of the Jordan River.

But Moses’s death contrasts with the birth of Jesus who came to fulfill the law. As Moses dies on the outskirts of the nation, Jesus is born in its heartland. Moses gave his life so that Israel could inherit a land. Jesus would give his life so that Israel could truly live in the land Moses had given to them. While Moses taught of endless sacrifices that had to be made at the Tabernacle for Israel to live at peace with God, Jesus would become the perfect sacrifice and the one that would render the sacrifices of Moses irrelevant.

And while Deuteronomy 32 mourns the death of a great man, today we welcome God who steps down into our existence; the one who was born in Bethlehem, and the one who came to forgive us of our sins. 

Have a Merry Christmas Day!

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 33

For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster will fall on you because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD and arouse his anger by what your hands have made. – Deuteronomy 31:29

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 24, 2018): Deuteronomy 31

There are no surprises anymore. There is no course of action that no one has ever thought to follow, and no lament that has never graced the tongue of those who have gone before us. The course of history just might be set, because we are unwilling to learn and change our ways. And so we repeat the errors of the ones who went before us, not because we actively make that choice, but because that choice is easier; and we like what is easy.

Moses looked out over the people, and it was not hard to see the future of the people that he had led. They had been rebellious for forty years, in spite of his attempts to teach them a different way. He understood that his absence was not going to change the situation. Moses would die, and the people would continue in their evil ways. Oh, there would be bright moments of good that would be contained within the coming days, but in the end, his people would face disaster for no other reason than they would continue to choose what was evil over what was good. The course of Israel’s history was set before they even set foot in the Promised Land.

The future would hold great Judges and not-so-great ones. Good kings and evil ones. There would be both victories and defeats. And finally, there would be an exile and the end of the independent, free nation that these slaves were about to plant in the land that had been promised to them. There would be prophets that would connect the unpleasant reality of the nation with the evil that they had chosen during the nation’s history. Finally, a group that would be called the “Pharisees” would rise up and teach that God would come and rescue them if only all of Israel would choose what was good and right even for just one day. But that kind of morality always seemed to exist just out of the reach of the people. Moses was right. This was a stiff-necked nation who could not help but do evil in the sight of God.

And as Moses spoke these words in the days before his death, God already had a plan. He would send his son to rescue the nation and help them do good. He would not send him to a corrupt palace, but his son would be born in the midst of the people whom he was sent to rescue. He would know what it was like to be poor and not have enough. He would be trained to be a common carpenter. He would be King, born of the line of the greatest of the kings of Israel, and yet not experience life as any other king would.

He would be a shepherd. His life would echo that of a shepherd and poet-king who, from Moses point of view, would not be born for centuries. And yet all of this was already set. The people would choose what was easy, and because of that reality, they would need a David; and a Jesus.

Tonight we celebrate the birth of the one that Moses did not know, and yet knew would be needed. Tonight we journey to Bethlehem with a scared, pregnant little girl and the man to whom she is engaged. Tonight, the resting place is cave just outside of birthplace of David where tomorrow a baby will be born.

Tonight we echo the words of expectation spoken by another Christmas hero. “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.” Because tonight, God’s answer to our rebellion becomes our reality.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 32

The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. – Deuteronomy 30:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 23, 2018): Deuteronomy 30

Rob Bell says that “Jesus is God's way of refusing to give up his dream for the world.” Too often we seem to have this idea that God wants us to live our lives with the brakes on; that somehow God is the killjoy to all of the fun that we want to have, and that fun can only be present in our lives if we disregard him. But that isn’t the truth. God has an understanding of this life that we don’t possess. His hope for us is not that we will live our lives with the brakes on, but rather that we will live our lives with abandon, experiencing all that this life has to offer, but doing so without experiencing regret. I have to admit that the times of my life that still bring regret are the times when I disregarded him. God’s dream for us is more than we could ever imagine if we will just trust him with our future.

Circumcision was a mark, placed on the body of a male, that reflected a commitment. Usually, it was the parent’s commitment to God, or even to the Jewish way of life since the mark was placed on the body of the child when he was only eight days old. But it was just an outward mark or symbol. Nothing inside the child changed. Circumcised men have, since the beginning of the practice, committed atrocities in the world. They have often been the source of hurt for other people in the world.

But circumcision of the body was never the dream of God. Sometimes we mistakenly believe that the circumcision of the heart was a dream that began after the ministry of Jesus and with the teachings of Paul. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Even in Moses closing address to Israel, Moses speaks of the ultimate dream of God: the circumcision of the heart.

Circumcision of the body does nothing to change our behavior. But circumcision of the heart allows us to live our lives loving God, and others, with abandon. His desire is not necessarily to restore us physically, but rather to give us a spiritual restoration that allows us to truly live a life of service without regret. Ezekiel gives us a marvelous image of the restoration of the body in the valley of dry bones, but the spiritual restoration that Moses is speaking about gives us the ability to truly be an agent of change the world by being the presence of God wherever it is that we go.

And that is really what Christmas is all about. God presence in the world begins with a baby born in Bethlehem, continues through the death and resurrection of that child on the cross, and is put into practice when God’s Spirit is poured out on all of the people at Pentecost. And this is the real cause for our celebration this Christmas Season.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 31

You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. - Deuteronomy 29:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 22, 2018): Deuteronomy 29

My grandfather was a great storyteller. I loved to sit at his feet and just listen to the stories he would tell — and most of the stories I heard more than once. And some have stuck with me. I remember the day when he went fishing with a friend on a lake in southern Ontario, Canada. I can see him in that small boat, out on a lake, enjoying a quiet day with a good friend catching some fish. But, as often happens on southern Ontario lakes, and testified to by the number of ships that lie on the bottom of any of the Great Lakes, storms come up fast. On this quiet day, a storm came up. The pair of friends were rocked in their small boat, and finally, the boat capsized. It was the last time that my grandfather saw his friend. My grandfather’s friend was lost somewhere beneath the waves. As for my grandfather, he was able to cling to the upside-down boat, hanging on for his life to the capsized boat as the storm continued to rage; desperately crying out for help, but knowing that in the midst of the storm there would be no one to hear his cries.

Storms on the lakes of southern Ontario can come up fast, but they also finish and blow past. And as this storm blew past, my grandfather continued to cling to the capsized boat and continued to cry out for help. A couple were walking past the area on the shore in the aftermath of the storm and heard the noise. One said to the other that the seagulls were fairly noisy on this day. But they soon realized that it wasn’t gulls causing the noise. It was my grandfather. And the beginning of a rescue attempt was underway. Every time grandpa told the story, there was a little hitch in his voice as the tears threatened to come as he remembered the friend he lost on that day.

I remember that day. My grandfather died in 2002. The events of that Ontario day took place long before I was born. I couldn’t even tell you the date, but I a carry a picture of that day in my mind through the story of that day and storm about which he repeatedly told his grandson. It is almost as if, somehow, I was in the boat on that day, or maybe I am walking along the shore.

Moses, speaking to the people of Israel says “You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt.” But they didn’t. Not really. Except for Moses, Joshua and Caleb, none of those who gathered to listen to Moses speak on this day had ever lived in Egypt. But they had heard the stories. They were told around campfires, they were the bedtime stories of their childhood, and they had heard them repeatedly as they grew up. No, they had never lived in Egypt, and yet knew full well how they lived in Egypt through the stories of their parents and grandparents.

It is the effect that stories have on us. A well-told story can take us to places that we have never been, and let us feel like we were there. And as we gather to celebrate Christmas, may I remind you that we have a story to tell. Take the time to tell it well!

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 30

The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. – Deuteronomy 28:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 21, 2018): Deuteronomy 28

A job website insists that we don’t really work for some corporate machine or an unconcerned boss. We work for ourselves. We give our time to our employers in exchange for money and time so that we can make the best decisions for our family. The advertisement for the website feeds into a basic desire that rises from deep within us. Ultimately, we want to be in control of our future. We want to work in a space where we are treated as people with something important to offer those who have hired us, and not as servants being instructed to dance to the whims of those higher up in the chain of command. We all want to be the boss, even if it is just over the task that we are performing.

The end of the dream is that we will somehow find financial independence, which is the idea that our investments will provide all of the income that we need. We can lose our jobs, or the government can eliminate our pension payments, and we will still be okay because we are the ones who are in control of our lives.

This is also the promise of God to Israel if they will obey his commands. Israel has the possibility of being leaders in the world. And the promise of economic success offered in verse twelve, along with the command for the nation to be lenders and not borrowers, is tied tightly to this idea that they can be the influencers of the nations and not the followers; or in the words of Moses, Israel is to function as the heads and not the tails.

In good times, this was exactly what happened. The obedience of David resulted in the Queen of Sheba coming to David’s son Solomon to view the success of this small Middle East nation, and she credits the God of Israel for their success. During this time of Israel’s history, following the reign of her favorite Son, Israel’s obedience made them major influencers in this area of the world. They enjoyed both economic and political success. But the further that they got from the reign of David, we see that influence begin to lessen, most likely as a direct result of the country’s reduced reliance on God. This reduction in influence reached its lowest point when they were eventually taken into captivity, the Northern Kingdom by Assyria, and Judah by Babylon. Since then, the national dream has always been that Israel would be able to reclaim the kind of influence that they exercised following the reign of David.

As contemporary nations, we sometimes need to be reminded that the extent of our influence goes along with our willingness to follow a moral standing. Even for those who reject the idea of God, there is historical evidence that things go best for us when we speak truth to power in the world and stand up for the rights of the weak and the stranger, things that Israel was commanded to do. And when we do these things, we have the potential to be influencers in the world. And according to Moses, we will be on top, and not on the bottom.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 29

And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. – Deuteronomy 27:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 20, 2018): Deuteronomy 27

Feuds can make us do some very foolish things. Sometimes we view events differently. Often we ascribe intentions to the one with whom we are fighting that just are not really there. It can even cause us to remember things differently as time passes, changing the facts of the situation.

There is a controversy over this passage that actually involves an ancient feud. And the problem originates a little earlier in the Book of Deuteronomy. Moses tells Israel “When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses” (Deuteronomy 11:29). The good, the blessings of God that will come to you, are to be proclaimed from Mount Gerizim. But if you fail to follow God, the curses that will follow you will be proclaimed from Mount Ebal. As a whole, the Law of God itself is thought to be a blessing. Consider these words from Psalm 1: “Blessed is the one … whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). So the question becomes why would an altar containing a copy of the Law of God, a blessing to Israel, be placed on Mount Ebal or the mountain of curses. The Samaritan translation of the Torah reverses this passage and says that Moses commanded for this altar to be built on Mount Gerizim, not on Mount Ebal. And there is a logic to this altar being placed on Gerizim and not Ebal.

Which leaves us with another question. So why does the Jewish Torah specify that this altar is to be placed on Mount Ebal? The easiest answer is that it instructs this alter to be built on Mount Ebal because Moses, for whatever reason, commanded it to be built there. Moses’s command does not have to make sense to us. But there is an intriguing second possibility. And the second possibility involves a feud that exists between the Jews and the Samaritans. Rabbi Akiva, a prominent first-century Pharisee, argued that “the ten tribes [the Samaritans] will have no share in the life of the world to come.” The Samaritans, who are essentially the mixed-race descendants of the ten tribes, were to be totally excluded from all of the blessings of God.

The problem is that Mount Gerizim is considered to be a holy site by the Samaritans. So the argument is that some scribe moved the altar from one mountain to the other as a direct result of the Jewish – Samaritan feud. Is there any truth in the argument? No one knows. But Jesus had a ministry impact in Samaria, and would later argue that “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain [Mount Gerazim] nor in Jerusalem ... A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth” (John 4:21, 23-24). Our reality is that our blessings do not come from a mountain, but directly from the God that follow. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 28

He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised. – Deuteronomy 26:19

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 19, 2018): Deuteronomy 26

Once upon a time, there was a people. The people were insignificant, except that they really believed that God had chosen them. This belief was encoded in the stories that they told each other around the campfires at night. When they developed the ability to write, these facts were written down. Stories that were once known only as they were passed down from generation to generation were written onto scrolls and, in the case of one scroll which is most likely the book of Deuteronomy, the scroll was hidden away behind a wall in the Temple, only to be found much later in the history of this people.

There is very little that is new in this story. Many cultures have stories that maintain that they are the chosen people of their gods. But maybe one of the most significant differences, in this case, is that there was a purpose behind the decision of God to favor this people. And that purpose was told in the stories and written down onto scrolls.

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3).

It is the grand difference. I will bless you, and in that way, you will bless all of the nations. My blessing will pass through you to the world. I will set you apart and make you holy so that all of the world will know that I am God.

Here, Moses reiterates this purpose. God will bring you fame and honor, just as he promised to Abraham so that you will be in a position to bless the world. The problem is that that has not always been true of the Jewish people. It has not been true of the Christian people, chosen to bless the world alongside our Jewish brothers and sisters. We have been selfish, sometimes reacting to the world around us as spoiled and entitled children, missing one of the most basic ideas of our faith; that we are blessed so that we can bless. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).

We are called to be a blessing and have a positive influence on the world. All of us who claim to be descendants of Abraham, either biologically or by faith, share in the task that God has set before us. We are blessed to be a blessing.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 27

Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. – Deuteronomy 25:13-14

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 18, 2018): Deuteronomy 25

Friedrich Nietzsche argued, “I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.” We live in a culture where we seem to expect that people are going to lie to us and, therefore according to Nietzsche, we should no longer believe them.  And maybe this is most prevalent in the world of politics. We expect our politicians to lie. Not just to shade the facts a little, we expect them to tell us things that they know are not true so that we will vote for them. What makes this confusing is that a politician, if they are doing their jobs right, in one position where honor and the ability to be able to believe what they are saying would seem to be very important. Our politicians, the ones who represent us in government, should be people that we can trust.

This passage is in direct contrast to what seem to be our cultural priorities about the truth. In a culture where lying was expected, Moses insists that that is not who they were. Much like today, often a sale was made according to the weight of the product being bought or sold. Unlike today, the weight of something was not included on the packaging. (It might be interesting to know whether that big bag of potato chips that you just bought really weighs 255 grams.) Israel was not to be a people who used different weights, either too heavy for things that you are attempting to purchase, or too light for things that you are trying to sell, in order to get the best deal for you. That might be the practice for other people. But it can’t be the practice for those who fear and desire to follow God. God demands truth in every area of our lives.

Our honor should be our most valued possession. My hope for those that I cross path with is that I will not have done or said anything that would cause you not to believe me. But beyond that, we need to put truth-telling at the top of the things that we value. A leader, or a company, who can create financial value for us through lies and deceit needs to be avoided. Because even if we are truthful, but we align ourselves with people who are not, then their failings will color our character. And no matter how much money they might make for us, the price of doing business with people who are less than truthful is too high.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 26

If the neighbor is poor, do not go to sleep with their pledge in your possession. – Deuteronomy 24:12

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 17, 2018): Deuteronomy 24

There was a time in our history when business could be completed with a handshake rather than a contract. The handshake was an acknowledgment of the agreement that had been made, and it was enough. Earlier this month (December 2018) I have to admit that I enjoyed watching the Bush family come to the Capitol Rotunda as the patriarch of the family “lay in state” in that grand room. I am not sure if the people knew that the family would return to pay their respects to Dad and Grandpa, but what impressed me was the way that the family interacted with the others who had come to pay their final respects to George Herbert Walker Bush. And as the family moved around the room, there was laughter and hugs, and plenty of handshakes. It was as if they were acknowledging and agreeing about the greatness of the man lying silently at the center of the room in his eternal bed, snuggling under the American Flag.

A handshake spreads love and respect as nothing else can. A handshake says “I value you, and I trust you. I know that what we do, we will do together.” But in business, the handshake belongs to an age long past. Today we live in a world dominated by lawyers and contracts. Even within the church, we governed by manual’s, job descriptions, agreements, and responsibility charts; we are directed by the cold dictates of business. And while all of that might be necessary, I miss the handshake agreements that convey value and trust in the relationship.

Moses reminds Israel that essentially they are to operate on a handshake. He stresses that if the person receiving the loan is poor, that they are to take a pledge, but return it before the sun went down. Two things need to be noted here. First, the vast majority of people who would have needed to make a loan would have been poor. The ancient world was not a place dominated by a vast consumer credit culture that loaned money for everyday things. If you needed to borrow money, that meant that you were, by definition, poor.

Second, the pledge, often a cloak or a blanket which was one of the few possessions that the poor could offer the lender, was symbolic, much like a handshake. In the giving of the pledge, the borrower was making a promise to abide by the details of the agreement. By returning the pledge, the lender was communicating a message that said: “I value you and trust you in this matter.” This act of giving and receiving transmitted the same message inherent in the shaking of hands.

But Israel did not always follow Moses’s instruction. The prophet Amos chastised Israel for their violation of these instructions arguing that the lenders in Israel “lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge.” Those who lent money violated the rights of the poor in the very presence of God, and for that, they would be judged by the God they professed to serve.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 25

Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you. – Deuteronomy 23:7a

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 16, 2018): Deuteronomy 23

Bilbo Baggins probably sums up our understanding of family pretty well in the opening scenes of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.” Bilbo remarks to those gathered in his home that “I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” (I know my family tolerates me at Christmas time.) But sometimes it is the way that we feel when we sit down in a room with the people with whom we are related. Often we don’t know the people in the room as well as we should, and if the stories that I often hear are true (I have to admit that I have a pretty great family) we like them less than we should.

Herod the Great plays a large part in our Christmas Story. Matthew says that the Magi or Wiseman first went to Herod before searching for the infant Jesus in Bethlehem. Herod was a bloodthirsty king who did many unseemly things to try to keep his reign intact, including the killing of his sons. So, even though historically we cannot verify the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem under the reign of Herod, the act of commanding those two or under in the vicinity of Bethlehem to be killed is totally within the character of King Herod. Herod the Great is one of the great villains of the Bible, equally hated by everyone.

But Herod also worked hard to try to earn the respect of the Jews who lived under his reign. He embarked on some great building programs to earn the respect of the Jews, and the greatest of these projects was an expansion of the Temple in Jerusalem. When the Second Temple was built to replace Solomon’s Temple, which was destroyed by Babylon, the reduced grandeur of the Temple caused many who remembered the First Temple to break down with weeping (Ezra 3:12). Herod’s goal was to make the Second Temple, the Temple that would eventually bear his name, so grand that it would banish from the memory of the people the stories of the Temple that Solomon built. He hoped that they would revere him because he gave them the Temple that they deserved.

But none of Herod’s building projects were enough to prompt the people of Judah to love him. Maybe it was because of the vast character defects of the power-hungry king that the people hated him. Or maybe the division was partially racial. Notwithstanding the command of Moses, Herod could never be King of the Jews in the eyes of the Jews, because Herod was not a Jew. He was an Edomite, a descendant of Esau. Moses stressed that the Edomite’s were cherished relatives of the Jews; after all, Esau was the brother of Israel who was formerly known as Jacob. But within the pages of the Christmas story, we have the best known Edomite in the person of King Herod and his family. But while Moses taught that the Edomites were to be loved as family, there is no doubt that the Edomite on the throne of Israel when Jesus was born was despised.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 24

If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner. – Deuteronomy 22:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 15, 2018): Deuteronomy 22

Early in the morning of March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and murdered outside of her place of residence in New York City. Two weeks later, The New York Times released an article that claimed that there were at least thirty-eight witnesses who had either watched the attack take place or heard the noise created by the attack, and yet none of them came to her aid, or even bothered to call the police. In sociopsychological circles, this “Genovese Effect” is called a “Diffusion of Responsibility.” The idea is that when there are many witnesses, we tend to think that someone else will make the call. And so we shrink back and hide, allowing the mysterious and elusive other to come to the aid of the person or make that call to the police.

We have all taken part in the sociopsychological phenomenon. Have you ever been on a busy highway and encountered a traveler in trouble? Often our reaction is to shrink back and hide, with the sure knowledge that someone else will stop and come to the aid of the one in trouble. While the murder of a young lady in New York is not equal to an elderly couple stuck on a major highway with a flat tire on the way to their holiday celebrations in the severity of the outcome, the underlying reasons for the noninterference are the same.    

Moses instruction to Israel here takes direct aim at the sociopsychological phenomenon of “Diffusion of Responsibility” or what we who live after the rape and murder of Kitty Genovese might refer to as the “Genovese Effect.” It doesn’t matter how big or small the situation might be; we are not to be the ones who fade into the background and leave the action to someone else. If you see your neighbor’s ox or sheep somewhere where they shouldn’t be, don’t hide or pretend that you are unaware. Step up and take control of the situation and return their property to them. No situation is too small, or too large, to override your responsibility to care for your neighbor and the property of your neighbor.

Jesus would reaffirm this command with his parable of the Good Samaritan, and in doing so would also define the question of the identity of our neighbor. For Kitty Genovese, the ones who witnessed her murder were those who lived close by to Kitty in the neighborhood of Queens, New York. For Moses, it is your brother who lives next door, or maybe a little further away (Deuteronomy 22:2). Even your lack of knowledge of the person does not excuse you from taking action. But Jesus took it a step further and argued that if the person crosses your path, then they are your neighbor. They may not look like you or believe what you believe, but that does not matter. They are your responsibility. And it also does not matter if it is their person who is under attack or just a loss of property. Those who believe in God will not hide; we will step up and take responsibility whenever trouble of any kind arises within our circle of influence.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 23

Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they shall declare: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. – Deuteronomy 21:6-7

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 14, 2018): Deuteronomy 21

Ty Hutchinson tells a fictional story of a serial killer in Detroit in his novel “Cork Town.” In the subplot of the story, the various police chiefs and officials in the area are accused of hanging the murders on one man who was subsequently convicted of the crimes. But the police chiefs also know a different story. The first is that the man who is accused and convicted of the murders is guilty of murders he committed during the commission of a bank robbery. The second thing that the chiefs know is that he is not the serial killer. They believe that the real serial killer was killed by the robber during the commission of his crime, a bank robbery where the robber killed most of his hostages. And this belief is bolstered by the cessation of murders after the killings at the bank. Until, seven years later, the killings begin again and the police chiefs begin to become afraid that their lie is about to be revealed.

With the story, Hutchinson latches on to a truth of our culture. While our police forces are very good at their jobs and solve many crimes, cold case files do exist, and sometimes the crime just can’t be solved. The only place where all the crimes come with a satisfactory conclusion is on our televisions sets, the movies we watch, and in books like those written by Ty Hutchinson. And when a crime is not solved, the investigation tends to die slowly, with a whimper and ends up in a judicial version of a dead letter office. The evidence is boxed and then filed with the distant hope that maybe, someday, more evidence will be found that will lead to a solution to the crime. The decision of the police chiefs in Hutchinson’s novel is probably the ultimate in unsatisfactory solutions to a cold case, because not only does the perpetrator get away with the crime, the investigation is stamped as “solved” and there is no further attempt to find the perpetrator.

Moses gives instructions on what to do when you encounter a serious crime that can’t be solved. After an investigation that has yielded no leads or witnesses, and there is no place to go for further analysis, the leaders are to gather in a field and make a sacrifice. Then they are to wash their hands over the sacrifice and make a solemn declaration before God. Their declaration is twofold; they will declare that they did not commit the crime and that they did not see with their eyes the one who did. The second part of the declaration would probably include that their investigation also has not revealed anyone else who had seen the crime being committed with their eyes.

The ceremony would accomplish two important goals. It marked the crime as an important moment in the life of the nation, and it honored the one who had died, recognizing that the death should never have happened. The crime was going unsolved, not because it was unimportant, but because every effort had not yielded a solution to the criminal activity.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 22

Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God. – Deuteronomy 20:18

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 13, 2018): Deuteronomy 20

As we remembered George H. W. Bush’s life earlier this month (December 2018), one thing that shone through was that he taught us right things. Stories are told of his note writing to people, the value that he placed on tradition, his humility, and his desire to get things right – even if that meant doing things the hard way. He was a leader who reached beyond his following to others who may not have held the same values. And maybe one of the most important things about the former President was that George H. W. Bush had an uncanny ability to make anybody that he met, his friend.

While George H. W. Bush may be best remembered for what some considered a lie (“read my lips, no new taxes), the reality is that Bush 41 probably taught us more about the truth than many other leaders who preceded or followed him. Just as an aside, it is interesting that the two political leaders that I think have had the greatest connection to the truth, George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, were unable to win a second term as President. Maybe that tells us something about our own regard for the truth. We would rather have someone lie to us and tell us pretty stories than to have someone tell us the hard truth.  

Whether we want it or not, the reality is that we need leaders like George H. W. Bush who will teach us, through their words and their actions, right things. And it was this concern that led Moses to instruct Israel to destroy the inhabitants of Canaan. He feared that if that didn’t happen, if Israel just became an inhabitant with the others already inhabiting the land, then they would fall under their leadership and be taught wrong or, as Moses says, detestable things. Our reality is that we tend to follow the behavior of our leaders. If it is okay for the (King, President, Prime Minister, Governor, Pastor, etc.), then the behavior must be okay for me. Deep down we want to be able to hold up the behavior of our leaders as an example for our children to follow. We need leaders like George H. W. Bush who will lead us into right things.

Moses was right. History would reveal that Israel tended to follow the religions and choices of those who lived in the land. And what made this tendency even worse, was that they developed a practice of learning wrong and calling it right, and proclaiming detestable behavior as something that a God-fearing person would do. Maybe the best example of this is found during the reign of Jeroboam just after the nation split into Israel and Judah. Jeroboam was made the king over Israel. And “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). Jeroboam led his people into wrong and detestable things and called them good and godly.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 21