So the Israelites allotted to the Levites these towns and their pasturelands, as the LORD had commanded through Moses. – Joshua 21:8



Today’s Scripture Reading (December 12, 2015): Joshua 21





Our Granddaughter Emilina in 2014 looking at the now
broken Christmas Tree



tOur Christmas tree is broken. That probably means that it is time to go and buy a new one (we gave up trying to find the perfect real ree a couple of decades ago). But the problem is that we kind of like this tree. Some of that is probably just sentimental attachment, an irrational attachment of that tree with some significant Christmas family events, but knowing that does not make the change any easier. The problem is that the tree has lights built into it, but now the lights in one section refuse to work. And what good is a Christmas tree with a dark section in the middle.

Our solution, at least for this year, is to hide the dark section by placing a string of extra lights on the dark section of the tree; lights that are left over from the days when we had to put the lights on the tree ourselves every year. And that works, as long as you don’t look too closely and see a bunch of useless dark lights sitting on the branches of the Christmas Tree. But lights are useless if they refuse to shine.

The placement of the Levites in Israel was ingenious. The Levites, who were responsible for the Tabernacle, and then after the time of Solomon, the Temple, were not given their own piece of land. They also were not placed in tight formation around the Tabernacle so that they could be close to the dwelling place of God. Instead, they were spread throughout the nation of Israel. No tribe would be left without their light and their influence. God had built in the Christmas lights on the Christmas Tree that was Israel. All they had to do was shine.

Within Christianity, this idea is carried out through those of us who dare to call ourselves Christian. We are the lights, spread throughout the countries of the world. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus called us salt and light.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16 NIV).

We were never intended to be gathered in one place just as salt is sprinkled all over your food, or lights, especially on a Christmas Tree, are intended to be spread out all over the branches so that no one spot would be left in the dark. Instead we are spread throughout our cities and countries. And all that is left for us is to shine.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 22

They are to stay in that city until they have stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then they may go back to their own home in the town from which they fled.” – Joshua 20:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 11, 2015): Joshua 20

If you are counting it down, we are now just two weeks away from Christmas. As a child, Christmas Day was my favorite day of the year, and two weeks could feel like an eternity. There was magic in the night that went before and the day that came after. I can remember standing on my little sisters bed on Christmas Eve looking out at the night sky (my parents thought we were both asleep) looking for a plane with a flashing red light that I could convince her was Santa and his sleigh. I know, some frown on the idea of telling stories about Santa to children but, to be honest, I still like to hear them – and tell them. There is magic in the story, and Christmas wouldn’t be the same without the Jolly Old Elf.

But the real story is just as magical. It tells the story of the birth of a baby who would change and shape the way we think and live. This was his entrance into our failed world, because that is all that this world is – failed. How can we, even for a moment, believe that the world is a success when gunmen enter into a Christmas Party and kill more than a dozen people - as happened just over a week ago in San Bernardino, California? How can it be anything but failed when at this moment people are fighting over things as inconsequential as land and power? How can a world where we have forgotten how to love our neighbor as our self ever be termed a success?

Jesus entered into the world in a manger. It was not the entrance we would have thought for a king. But as he grew, he became a place of refuge for the weak and marginalized around him – because he knew what that felt like first hand. In a world ruled by law, the law breakers found safety in his presence. I think that might have been the reason why his followers seemed to grow so quickly. It didn’t take long for them to realize that with Jesus they were simply safe. He was their city of refuge.

The Book of Hebrews calls Jesus, this child of the manger, our high priest. And one day, this celebrated baby died as a man on a cross. The High Priest was dead. And all of those who found safety in his presence were released to their own homes – where they would tell the story of how the baby of the manger grew up to release them from their own failure. The death of the High Priest meant that they didn’t have to run anymore. He had seen to that. But everyone released went back with a story of the one who had been born in a manger, only to become in himself a City of Refuge, and that when he died he permanently took care of all that had made them guilty in the first place – even though our guilt could never have been called accidental.

And that is truly magical.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 21

When they had finished dividing the land into its allotted portions, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them … - Joshua 19:49

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 10, 2015): Joshua 19

Rudyard Kipling’s “If” is a leadership lesson that I think we all need to learn. The first stanza simply says -

If you can keep your head when all about you

                        Are losing theirs and blaming it on you

            If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

                        But make allowance for their doubting too;

            If you can wait and not be tired by waiting

                        Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies

            Or being hated, don’t give way to hating

                        And yet look too good, or talk too wise:

I admit, I have to constantly remind myself of the words. I don’t like being blamed, or hated, or lied about, but it seems to be a constant reality. There always seem to be those who want nothing more than to capitalize on my mistakes (and unfortunately I have made my share) and refuse to give real forgiveness. All they want is to make the offender pay.

But, if you will lead, these are the things that will happen and to which we must not react. And that is a hard lesson to learn (I am still trying.) So Rudyard Kipling’s poem continually draws me back in. If you can keep your head … If you can trust yourself … If you can wait and be lied about … if you can ignore the hating. If you can realize that all that is going on is simply not about you, then you are ready to lead.

Joshua seems to be all that Rudyard Kipling was speaking out in the poem – and maybe more. He seemed to be able to keep his head, even in the midst of things that refused to go his way. He trusted not just himself, but his connection with God giving him a confidence that no one else had. He kept his critics at bay, listening but never allowing the lies to shake him. And, in the end, he was humble enough to take care of everyone else before he received his own inheritance, taking hold of the things that were promised to him. He avoided the trap of thinking higher of himself then he was – and setting himself up for a fall.

This is the mark of a true leader – they are willing to delay the gratification of their own desires in favor of those they serve.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 20

So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you? – Joshua 18:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 9, 2015): Joshua 18

After World War I, steps were taken to make changes to the way that the world did business. One of those changes was the development of the League of Nations. Of course, the League failed and failed on a grand stage that resulted in World War II. And while the League had several weakness, maybe the biggest weakness was its inability to attract the United States into its fold, despite the fact that it was President Woodrow Wilson who was one of the League’s architects. For the United States people, it seemed impossible to imagine a global village of which they were an integral part, but rather they insisted that they were insulated by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from any activity that might be taking place in Europe and Asia. And had the Japanese not bombed Pearl Harbor during the Second World War, that way of thinking may have persisted long after the conclusion of World War II, a war that jut might have been won by Germany.

But the Japanese did bomb Pearl Harbor, and they woke North America up to the fact that the world had grown much smaller. Happenings in faraway places like Europe, the Middle East and Africa now had a significant effect on what was going on at home. And somehow North America had to understand where they fit into World events – something that to be honest we are still trying to do. We have made mistakes, and will likely make more. But the world has changed. The United States, the British Empire and other European nations must figure out when they need to be hands on, and when they should leave things alone. This is the New World lesson that we have yet to learn. Events like the shootings in San Bernardino last week consistently teach us that the world is even smaller – and the conflicts happening a world away have very real consequences in our own backyard. We must figure out the change that has taken place in our world if we are going to be able to find our place in it.

For Israel, the world had changed. The nation had existed as a nomadic group of tribes that had lived together, competed for limited resources and yet met the conflicts of the world with a combined army made up from the twelve tribes. That was no longer the world in which they lived. But for almost all of the inhabitants of Israel in Canaan, it was that nomadic lifestyle that was the only life they had ever known. Now they were being instructed to do something very different. They were given specific pieces of land. They were instructed to form their own armies in order to secure the land, to end their nomadic life and begin to build homes and gather in towns and cities. It was a new world, and Israel had to figure out how to live in it.

For some, it was simply overwhelming. What they wanted was to go back and live like they had always lived. To return to their nomadic lifestyle and a dependence on each other for survival. The desert had been tough, but they had lived through it – and in many ways excelled. And the shift to living in a new world was simply scary. But the problem was that they couldn’t go back. So Joshua reminds them of their responsibilities in this new world – and their need to figure it out.

We sometimes need the same reminder. We would to go back to the world that we used to live in, but the truth is that it simply doesn’t exist anymore, except maybe in nostalgic books and movies. We live in a New World which has become a global village. There is nothing that happens on this planet from which we are automatically immune. And this is the place where we need to figure out how to live.

Welcome to our World.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 19

But Joshua said to the tribes of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—“You are numerous and very powerful. You will have not only one allotment … - Joshua 17:17

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 8, 2015): Joshua 17

The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen recently wrote an opinion piece entitled “Obama, the President Who Lost his Voice.” The article spoke of the changes that have occurred over the past seven plus years in Barak Obama. Some, like his older appearance and the grey hair that has sprouted on his head are to be expected. But the president has also forgotten how to talk. The problem is that it was his voice that earned him the White House in the first place. But that passionate eloquence that won the elections is now long gone. It has been replaced by short bitter comments on the life that exists around him.

Cohen specifically mentions the President’s response following the Paris attacks.

Obama’s self-inflicted predicament was apparent in the statement he issued following the Paris terrorist attacks. Unlike many other mass killings, this one was broadcast in real time — unfolding on TV as it happened. It left the United States both shaken and horrified. Yet Obama spoke coldly, by rote — saying all the right things in the manner of a minister presiding at the funeral of a perfect stranger. (Richard Cohen)

The tragedy is that it simply didn’t have to be this way. But Barak Obama seems to have proven that he is a President who is afraid to lead. His fear might be that if he tried to lead no one would follow. In the early days of the presidency, he may have feared that what was necessary to lead would not get him re-elected, but in the midst of his refusal to lead, especially on the world stage, he lost his voice. He could have been the passionate voice of change. He was intelligent enough and emotional enough to have been a great leader of the world. But he opted for the safe road, the easy road, and because of that, the phenomenal potential of his presidency was never realized.

The descendants of the sons of Joseph come complaining to Joshua about their land allotment. It was not enough. They were a populous people who deserved more. They seemed to ignore the fact that they had received much of the choice land. What they had received was not enough. And Joshua response was that their land actually had few limits, because they had been given the hill country as well. With their superior numbers, they could clear the land that needed to be cleared, and they could push aside the inhabitants of the land. What Joshua had handed to the sons of Joseph and phenomenal potential. Joshua was emphasizing that once again they were being placed in the position of being a leader of Israel. They could set the example for the rest of the nation – they could go beyond the minimum and capture the land.

But, unfortunately, this they were unwilling to do. And as a result they too would begin to lose their voice and their position as the leaders of the nation to another tribe who seemed willing to pay the price and set the course for Israel. That tribe would be Judah. But the job probably should have belonged to Ephraim and Manasseh – If they had not abdicated from the task that had been set before them.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 18

The allotment for Joseph began at the Jordan, east of the springs of Jericho, and went up from there through the desert into the hill country of Bethel. – Joshua 16:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 7, 2015): Joshua 16

The story says, and it hard to know how much of it is true, that the Father of Erik the Red was banished from Norway for manslaughter. The man wandered west and finally settled in Iceland and began to grow his family there. Later, his son would suffer the same fate in Iceland. Erik the Red would be banished for three years from Iceland for some killings that he had committed in 982. Erik would continue the westward journey started by his father and eventually settled for a time on the Southern tip of Greenland. This was all happening during a warming trend in the North Atlantic, and Erik dreamed of building a settlement in this new land. According to the story, he called it Greenland, because it brought visions of fertile pastures that would be attractive to new settlers looking for a place to live. In reality, while there are fertile sections, most of the Island exists in ice

But there are other theories behind the name of what is the third largest country in area in North America. And one of the suggestions is that the name of Greenland was actually an Icelandic invention and ruse – and partially as a defense of the small Island nation in the North Atlantic. I mean, who would want to seek out a country called Iceland (which is actually a green oasis in the middle of the North Atlantic) when there is a place called Greenland to be conquered (which is actually a place dominated by ice.) Whatever the reason, there seems to be a switching of names between the two island nations, and it would be easy to suggest that someone got the naming of the Islands totally wrong.

Joshua continues his description of the land that was to be given to each tribe, but there begins to be some notable differences to the way that the report is written up. First, the most detailed of the land allotments goes to Judah. Conservative theologians argue that this is to be expected because God knew that Judah was going to be the main player in the future history of the fledgling nation, including the tribe from which both her greatest king (David) and the Messiah would be born. Liberal theologians use the detailed description of the land of Judah as being proof that the book of Joshua was not written or at least gathered together until after the fall of the Northern Tribes to Assyria - and maybe even after Judah had been exiled into Babylon.

But on the other hand we have a really scant description of the land allotted to Ephraim and Manasseh – the sons of Joseph. In giving the land to Joseph sons, Jacob was effectively giving the “double portion” of the inheritance to Joseph. But the borders of this double portion are drawn fairly lightly. In fact, to really understand the borders of the land we have to look at the borders of the land that were given to the tribes around them. But in the end, we know this – the sons of Joseph were given the fertile lands in the center of the nation. This was essentially the Oasis in Israel, the breadbasket for the nation. They were the choice lands given to the sons of Joseph – Jacob oldest son of his favorite and really only true wife, Rachel.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 17

And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage. – Joshua 15:16-17

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 6, 2015): Joshua 15

Last week, President Obama urged the world to take climate change seriously. He commented about his recent visit to Alaska where the Glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate, where the sea level is rising drowning towns out of existence and the permafrost thaws and the tundra burns. In his words, something must be done. What we do today will have a profound effect on the way the world looks in the future. “One of the enemies we will be fighting at this conference (on climate change) is cynicism. The notion we can't do anything about climate change,” Obama said. But not only can we do something, we must if the world is going to be able stabilize politically in the future - because climate change is a destabilizing force that will bring with it refugees, war, famine and a fight in many parts of the world to simply survive.

Christians have traditionally been slow to hear the clarion call with regard to climate change. Recently one Christian scientist argued that climate change was essential, that carbon release had to be maintained in order to produce a healthy ecosystem. The argument is that the amount of carbon available in the atmosphere was so low that it was a threat to all plant life on the planet. That plants need carbon dioxide to survive and before the advent of man and the release of the carbon that had been captured and buried with our fossil fuels, the planet seemed to be on a downward spiral that would eventually reach a tipping point and all of the plant life on earth would die. And man does exist without the plants that maintain and clean our atmosphere. The result is that we should be thanking ourselves for the salvation of the planet, for the increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that has steered us away from that low carbon tipping point.

So who exactly is telling us the truth? Unfortunately the answer is probably both. It is the realization that there is a very narrow window in which life on this planet can survive. If the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere gets too low, the plants die and so do we. If the carbon dioxide gets too high, the plants thrive, but there is less room for us to live and breathe. But there is also a chain reaction that is set in place for a rampant greenhouse effect to continue out of control – and that will kill everything. And we know this for sure because we have an example of our future possibility lying just next door. The hottest planet in the Solar System is not Mercury which circles closest to the sun – it Venus which has suffered its own greenhouse catastrophe. Venus is the perfect example of what happens when the Greenhouse effect runs out of control – the atmosphere gets hotter and hotter and life simply cannot exist. Fourteen of the hottest years on record have occurred since the year 2000 – and 2015 is set to be the hottest year yet. Obama is right, the climate change discussion is about the world in which we will force our children to live. The only question is whether anyone is listening to the words of a President that is on his way out of the presidency.

The true mark of a leader is never found in what he does and the power that he controls – it is always measured by the way that he inspires others to act. The story of the taking of Canaan reveals an image of Caleb as a powerful force of a man. He is man of faith and he trusts God with every decision. But here we also find that he is a great leader. He has the ability to inspire others to do great thing – and Othniel is one of them. Caleb inspires Othniel to go ahead and capture one of the cities within Judah’s area of responsibility. But the story of Othniel does not end with the taking of one city. After the deaths of Joshua and Caleb, the last of the Mosaic leaders, Othniel would become the first Judge of Israel – the first leader that God would raise up to lead Israel through a time of trouble. And Othniel was up to the task because he had learned under the teaching of Caleb – a leader who was not concerned with just doing the task himself, but concerned about inspiring others to be great leaders and to continue the task when his time was through.

My hope is that, even in the last days of his presidency, Obama proves to be a leader like Caleb. That he will lead others to continue on with the fight with regard to climate change even after the Obama presidency is finished.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Joshua 16