amazing love

Good afternoon sisters and brothers,
Today's reading and the verses we'll get the next couple of days are a wonderful summary of the good news. God loves us, and loves us so much that he sent his son Jesus to save us from our sins. We can wonder and debate all day what it means for Jesus to be the "atoning sacrifice for our sins," but I think it's more helpful to think about what that reveals about the amazing depth of God's love. When we really believe God loves us that much, it becomes much easier to love others.


God bless,
Sam


1 John 4:7-16

7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.


10In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.


14And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

heavenly parent

Good morning friends,

Not everyone has good memories of their family, but for many of us thinking of our parents reminds us of safety and care. Paul reminds his readers that God is like a parent for us in all the good ways. God cares for us and wants to build us up. The passage closes by reminding us that God’s ability to work through us is bigger than anything we can imagine. No matter what challenges we face, God is full of surprises.

God bless,
Sam

Ephesians 3:14-21

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. ¹⁶I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, ¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. ¹⁸I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

²⁰Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.    

waters of life

Good morning brothers and sisters,

Today's reading shows us the renewal of Jerusalem and the world through the eyes of Ezekiel. Many of the images in Revelation seem to take their cue from Ezekiel. He envisions the world's renewal, here shown as the streams of the water of life, coming from the temple of God. In Revelation, there is no temple because God's presence will be so obvious such things won't be necessary. 

God bless,
Sam

Ezekiel 47:1-5

Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. ²Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east; and the water was coming out on the south side. 

³Going on eastward with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep. ⁴Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the waist. ⁵Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed.

a battle and a thousand years

Good afternoon brothers and sisters,

In the evangelical tradition there is a debate about whether the thousand years John talks about comes before or after Christ's return. The whole concept is kind of odd. I wonder why Satan is locked up for a thousand years and then released, but that's how John sees it. It's interesting too because once again we see the forces of political power join Satan against God, but God is victorious in the end. No matter what happens or what the future looks like, God is with us and love will win.

God bless,
Sam

Revelation 20:1-6

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. ²He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, ³and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while. 

⁴Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. ⁶Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years. 

praise in heaven

Good evening friends,

Today's passage is strange, and yet one of the more familiar passages from Revelation. John is invited to a vision of heaven to help him understand the visions he will receive about how God will conclude history. Not only is the vision of heaven striking in itself, it is also the key to understanding the book. In our world many powers claim to be in charge: politicians, bosses, other powerful people, empires, nations. That was true in John's time too, especially the Roman Empire. The truth as the heart of our faith is that it's actually God, and no one else, who sits on the throne. God is on the throne and God is love. That's worth singing praise about.

God bless,
Sam

Revelation 4:1-11

After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” ²At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! ³And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. 

⁴Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. ⁵Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; ⁶and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: ⁷the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.⁸And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside.

Day and night without ceasing they sing, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” ⁹And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, ¹¹“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

back to the point

Good evening friends,

Today's reading finishes our story from John. Jesus has healed a man and now faces criticism because he healed on the Sabbath. Jesus faced almost constant conflict from the religious leaders of his time because he didn't fit their expectations. Jesus' words here have a lot to say to the church today. How often do we refuse a gift from God because a person or idea that comes in to the church doesn't fit our expectation? Other organizations or companies need to hear the same challenge. Organizations and people tend to lose track of our initial purpose, so when someone new comes along to call us back to that purpose we resist.

God, bless us with flexibility and faithfulness,
Sam


John 5:30-47

30“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true.33You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.

37And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. 39“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.41I do not accept glory from human beings. 42But I know that you do not have the love of God in you.

43I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.44How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? 45Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”

a house of prayer for all peoples

Good evening friends,

Today's reading is a great reassurance for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or outcast (probably all of us). God's plan in restoring the temple and bringing home the exiles of Israel and Judah goes wider than a chosen people. All people are chosen. Whoever wants to follow God and be part of God's family is welcome. There is a place for everyone.

God bless,
Sam

Isaiah 56:1-8

Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. ²Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.

³Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” ⁴For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, ⁵I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 

⁶And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— ⁷these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. ⁸Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

humbling the arrogant

Good afternoon friends,

Today's reading continues the thought we started yesterday. The idea is that God used the King of Assyria and his army to punish Jerusalem. Assyria, however, gave itself the credit and got arrogant. We need to see ourselves clearly. We are part of the story, but not the center. It is not all about us.

God bless,

Sam

Isaiah 10:12-23

¹²When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride. ¹³For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I have removed the boundaries of peoples, and have plundered their treasures; like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.¹⁴My hand has found, like a nest, the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing, or opened its mouth, or chirped.” 

¹⁵Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it, or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it? As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up, or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood! ¹⁶Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire. ¹⁷The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day. ¹⁸The glory of his forest and his fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when an invalid wastes away. ¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down.

²⁰On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ²²For though your people Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.

who's using whom?

Good afternoon friends,

First, there is a small but important meeting tonight for some folks in Urban Presbyterians Together, the Rochester church consortium we're most active in. We'll be thinking about how we can strengthen each other for ministry. Please keep this meeting in prayer for God's wisdom and creativity to shine through.

Our reading today is both a critique of the wealthy and powerful of Jerusalem and the beginning of a critique of the King of Assyria. God used the Assyrian Empire to punish Israel and Judah for their injustice. But the Assyrians didn't realize they were God's instrument, so they thought they were really in charge. God says Assyria isn't going to get off the hook either.

God bless,
Sam

Isaiah 10:1-11

10:1 Ah, you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, ²to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be your spoil, and that you may make the orphans your prey! ³What will you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth, ⁴so as not to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain? For all this his anger has not turned away; his hand is stretched out still.

⁵Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger— the club in their hands is my fury!⁶Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. ⁷But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few. ⁸For he says: “Are not my commanders all kings?⁹Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? ¹⁰As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,¹¹shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols what I have done to Samaria and her images?” 

study war no more

Good evening friends,

Today's reading is a truly beautiful image of God's coming kingdom. One day the nations of the world will seek peace in God. Instead of fighting over borders or power or religion, all peoples will seek peace and the knowledge of God. It's true that religion, like any powerful idea has often been the cause of war and other kinds of evil, but true faith in God is about love for others. One day that love will free us all from hatred and war. O come Emmanuel: God with us, and save us from our evil ways.

God bless,
Sam

Isaiah 2:1-5

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. ²In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. ³Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. ⁴He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ⁵O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

light in the darkness

Good afternoon friends,

We've talked about suffering, so now we turn to Advent and how Jesus comes to us like light in the darkness. This passage, known as the prologue to John's Gospel, sets the stage perfectly to understand the story of Jesus. Carl will be preaching on this passage tomorrow.

God bless,

Sam

John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

redeemed

Good evening friends,

Today's reading is striking for the images of Israel having been forsaken by God and now redeemed. Even in the deepest darkness, God's love can shine again. 

God bless,
Sam

Isaiah 62:1-9

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch. ²The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. ³You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. ⁴You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. ⁵For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

⁶Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted sentinels; all day and all night they shall never be silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest, ⁷and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it renowned throughout the earth. ⁸The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies, and foreigners shall not drink the wine for which you have labored; ⁹but those who garner it shall eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather it shall drink it in my holy courts.

welcoming the world, part 2

Good morning friends,

Today's reading continues the thought from yesterday about the nations coming to worship in Jerusalem. 

God bless,

Sam

Isaiah 60:9-14

⁹For the coastlands shall wait for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from far away, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you. ¹⁰Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I struck you down, but in my favor I have had mercy on you. ¹¹Your gates shall always be open; day and night they shall not be shut, so that nations shall bring you their wealth, with their kings led in procession.

¹²For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste. ¹³The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will glorify where my feet rest. ¹⁴The descendants of those who oppressed you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

driving out the ruler

Good evening friends,

Today's passage shows Jesus talking with a crowd. He makes a point about clinging to our lives too tightly. We see this in our lives too; if we're too anxious about life, safety, health, money, whatever, we clutch it so tightly we don't really live. Jesus takes it a step further saying that when he is lifted up (on a cross) he'll draw people to him. He also says "the ruler of this world is driven out." This is the part I'll be focusing on Sunday. Jesus here suggests that the world as we know it is (partly, at least) ruled by evil powers, but with Jesus' death that power is defeated. We still see evil very powerful, but we hear a promise that evil's power won't have the last word. Even if we have to be realistic about the trouble in the world, we can also be hopeful that love will win in the end.

God bless,
Sam

John 12:23-36

²³Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” ²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” ³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.

³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. ³⁴The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. ³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.

We've got to serve somebody

Good afternoon friends,

Moses led Israel out of Egypt and gave them God's laws to shape them as God's special people. Moses died on the edge of the Promised Land and Joshua led the people to conquer that land. When Joshua came to the end of his life he put an important choice between the people of Israel. He asked them to choose between serving God and serving idols. As Bob Dylan sings, we've all got to serve somebody, and who we choose to serve makes a big difference in our life. 

God bless,
Sam

Joshua 24:14-25

¹⁴“Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

¹⁵Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; ¹⁷for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; ¹⁸and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

¹⁹But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. ²⁰If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.” ²¹And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the Lord!”

²²Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” ²³He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” ²⁴The people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and him we will obey.” ²⁵So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.

on honesty in church

Good afternoon friends,
As a reminder, we have our church chili supper and Halloween party tomorrow evening. We'll start serving chili at 4:30 so you can get home for tricker treaters, but you can also stick around and enjoy costumes and fun. The chili supper is $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12. If cost is a concern, please feel free to talk to me about tickets and I can help with that. These are great events to bring friends and neighbors!

Our reading for today wraps up the story of Job. We see Job recognizing how small he is compared to God. Even more important, we see God telling Job's friends that Job is right, not them. It turns out our questions and our doubts are welcome; God wants our real, honest selves, not a dressed up, fake cheerful picture.

God bless,
Sam

Job 42:1-9

Then Job answered the Lord: ²“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ³‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ⁴‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.’ ⁵I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; ⁶therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

⁷After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. ⁸Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.” ⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

an answer, sort of

Good morning sisters and brothers,
In today's reading God responds to Job's questions, but not how we expect. God's point seems to be that his knowledge if beyond what we can understand. It's lovely poetry, but as an answer to Job, it's a bit disappointing. Fortunately, this is not the end.

God bless,
Sam

Job 38:1-10

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: ²“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? ³Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. ⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. ⁵Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? ⁶On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone ⁷when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?

⁸“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?— ⁹when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, ¹⁰and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, ¹¹and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?

biblical satire

Good afternoon sisters and brothers,
Today's reading shows us Job voicing his complaint to God. Job is a great book both for the raw emotion and for the poetry and even satire it uses to express that emotion. In this passage we see Job turning several Biblical images upside down.

For instance, Job says, "What are human beings that you make so much of them," which echoes Psalm 8: "What are human beings that you are mindful of them..." In the Psalm, the writer is amazed and grateful that God bothers with people even though we are insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. Job turns that around to ask why God bothers to torment someone so insignificant. Job also calls God a "watcher," meaning in this case that God looks out for ways to accuse him. We see that same idea of God watching over us in places like Psalm 121, where it is a powerful image of hope and comfort. Biblical images are rich and the more we read them and let them sink into us, the greater our ability to feel and express God's love and the breadth of human emotion.

God bless,
Sam

Job 7:1-21

“Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? ²Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, ³so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. ⁴When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn. ⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out again. ⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope.

⁷“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. ⁸The eye that beholds me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone. ⁹As the cloud fades and vanishes, so those who go down to Sheol do not come up; ¹⁰they return no more to their houses, nor do their places know them any more. ¹¹“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. ¹²Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that you set a guard over me?

¹³When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ ¹⁴then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, ¹⁵so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body. ¹⁶I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.

¹⁷What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them, ¹⁸visit them every morning, test them every moment? ¹⁹Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle? ²⁰If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you? ²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

letting our pain out

Good afternoon sisters and brothers,
Job has suffered. So far he's given the "right" responses; the acceptable religious answers about accepting bad from God as well as good. Now, after seven days of silent mourning with his friends, Job truly lets out the pain of his heart. This raw, honest, angry grief opens up the rest of the book for us. No matter how we feel or how we express it, God loves us and can take our most unfiltered feelings.

God bless,
Sam

Job 3:1-10

After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²Job said: ³“Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’ ⁴Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. ⁵Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

⁶That night—let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. ⁷Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. ⁸Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan. ⁹Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning— ¹⁰because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and hide trouble from my eyes.

Satan's second move

Hi friends,
Today's reading we see Satan make his next move. Job's friends come to comfort him as well. Once thing that's fun about Job is that there are lots of suggestions and plays on words. Here, for instance, notice the narrator says, "Job did not sin with his lips," but leaves open the possibility that Job sinned in his heart.

God bless,
Sam

Job 2:7-13

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. ⁸Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes. ⁹Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die.” ¹⁰But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. ¹²When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. ¹³They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.