exile is the beginning

Good afternoon friends,
We read on Sunday about the defeat of Judah and the exile of the people. Scripture has a bunch of lamentations about that defeat; in many ways it was a devastating ending to the dream that had been Israel. Today we read the story in a different light, as the introduction to the Book of Daniel. God didn't abandon his people in exile. Things changed, but God didn't change. Daniel is a fascinating book that starts with six chapters of mostly funny stories about how God blessed and used Daniel and his friends to testify to God's love and power in Babylon. It ends with six chapters of visions that are often understood as visions of the end of time. Today's story has a special place in my heart as a vegetarian too. I hope you enjoy.

God bless,
Sam

Daniel 1: 1-13

In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ²The Lord let King Jehoiakim of Judah fall into his power, as well as some of the vessels of the house of God. These he brought to the land of Shinar, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his gods. ³Then the king commanded his palace master Ashpenaz to bring some of the Israelites of the royal family and of the nobility, ⁴young men without physical defect and handsome, versed in every branch of wisdom, endowed with knowledge and insight, and competent to serve in the king’s palace; they were to be taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

⁵The king assigned them a daily portion of the royal rations of food and wine. They were to be educated for three years, so that at the end of that time they could be stationed in the king’s court. ⁶Among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, from the tribe of Judah. ⁷The palace master gave them other names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.

⁸But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine; so he asked the palace master to allow him not to defile himself. 

⁹Now God allowed Daniel to receive favor and compassion from the palace master. ¹⁰The palace master said to Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king; he has appointed your food and your drink. If he should see you in poorer condition than the other young men of your own age, you would endanger my head with the king.” ¹¹Then Daniel asked the guard whom the palace master had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: ¹²“Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³You can then compare our appearance with the appearance of the young men who eat the royal rations, and deal with your servants according to what you observe.”

creation, part 3

Good morning friends,
Today we won't be meeting for our book group; Maggie and I will be at a graduation dinner. This time of year we celebrate many graduations; we give thanks for the growth and development of our young people and their opportunities to use their gifts to create a better world. That's what this passage is about too: not graduation but our gifts and calling to serve and guide the world. God made human beings in God's image and God told those first men and women to rule the earth. We're called to govern the world so that all creation can thrive. We haven't always been faithful to that calling. Too often we have thought only about our own comfort instead of the well being of the plants and animals entrusted to our care.

I don't want to make too much of it, but I would like to point out that in the beginning God gave us only plants to eat. With the work of creation finished, God rested on the seventh day. Later God commanded us to rest on the seventh day as well. That's the one of the Ten Commandment's I most often disobey. Sabbath rest is a gift and blessing because it heals us and helps us remember we are not just our work.

Blessings on your day,
Sam

Genesis 1:26-2:4a

26Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.



2:1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

4These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.