Seventh Day of Christmas Reflection December 31

Many wonderful moral lessons have been drawn from Mary and Joseph’s presumed search for a place to stay in Bethlehem crowded for the Emperor’s census. Compassion and justice for homeless folk and refugees. Hospitality to strangers. Welcome to the poor and needy. Even encouragement to open your heart to invite Jesus in. Many children’s Christmas pageants revolved around the holy couple going from door to door, only to be refused by often surly homeowners and innkeepers. Sometimes even the one who let them stay in the stable out back, perhaps at the urging of his kindly wife, gets short shrift as missing the opportunity to host the birth of the Son of God on earth. In much of Latin America, this search for a room is the nine day religious observance of Las Posadas, which is a major feature of the Christmas season. Now, anyone who knows me, is well aware that I am an advocate for justice and compassion for homeless folk, refugees, and the needy. We have plenty of Biblical support for such a priority. And I have no interest in altering the well-loved Las Posadas traditions. I think acknowledging its imaginary development enhances the Christian mandate to care for the homeless and refugees.

My concern in this whole series is to get us to read Luke 2:1-20 (and on into 21-40) and Matthew 1:18-25 (and on into 2:1-18). So as you read Luke’s and Matthew’s accounts of Jesus’ birth again today, pay attention to exactly and only what is actually written there. Nothing suggests Mary and Joseph were wandering the streets of Bethlehem desperately seeking a place to stay. By whatever means, the home whose guest room was occupied welcomed them to stay near the manger, even if that might have been in the kitchen and not a stable. Though Matthew’s account of the flight into Egypt does properly evoke sympathy for political refugees fleeing violent despots, he does not say anything about whether they had an easy or hard time finding short or long-term lodging with the Jewish community in Egypt or along their way.

So how is your impression of Mary, Joseph, and infant Jesus’ stays in Bethlehem and Egypt enriched as you reread Luke and Matthew aware they do not mention a search for lodging?

Sixth Day of Christmas Reflection December 30

So I’ve already prompted you to think of an alternative to the stable. Now for the inn. This is a bit more complex because even the most recent, established translations use the word inn in Luke 2:7. However, the NIV got it right: “She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” Yes, the word translated inn really means a guest room. There was another word for a commercial inn, which Luke used in the story of the Good Samaritan (10:34). The guest room is the same word as the upper room where Jesus had the Last Supper (22:12). For more detail on this, I again refer you to Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey (IVP Academic, 2008). My point is not to get you to read Kenneth Bailey, but to read Matthew, and Luke especially today, with fresh eyes.

I suggest reading today in the New International Version so you don’t see the word inn. If you read exactly what Luke wrote, what do you imagine about where Mary and Joseph were staying in Bethlehem when Jesus was born?

Fifth Day of Christmas Reflection December 29

I already mentioned that Luke makes no mention of an innkeeper (or innkeeper’s wife). I’ll still get to the question of the inn, but as you read Matthew and Luke today, recognize that neither of them say anything about a stable. The idea that a manger would be in a stable did not come from the Gospel text, but from European farm villages. Jews in first century Palestine would not have had stables out behind the house, as is often pictured. People of wealth and royalty had large barns for storage and stables for horses (King Solomon’s horse stables/stalls were famous - 1 Kings 4.26). Rather, a lower level than the first floor of the house would have protected the family animals from the elements and thieves. An open space at the end of the kitchen area on the first level would have had a manger so kitchen scraps could be fed to the animals. I don’t want to get into too much detail here. If you are interested, you may want to read Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey (IVP Academic, 2008). His insights about the inn will come another day.

What I want you to do is read Matthew and Luke carefully for what they actually wrote. Neither of them use a word for stable and Matthew specified that the Magi came to the house where the child Jesus was. As you read, noticing the absence of a word for stable, how is your mental picture of Jesus’ birthplace modified?

Fourth Day of Christmas Reflections December 28

This artistry by my good friend and college housemate, Woody Dahlberg, uses the star to bring together incarnational theology of Matthew, Luke, and John to point ahead to the cross of redemption, rather than a narrative feature.

 

Even well loved, long treasured, traditional Christmas Carols can befuddle how we view Matthew and Luke’s narratives. The First Noel is particularly confused (in contrast with the theologically substantive Hark! The Herald Angels Sing), what with shepherds keeping their sheep on a cold winter’s night that was deep, presumably in snow, and seeing the same star the wise men did, just before them. I mention this, not to get into Christmas Carol analysis and criticism, but to get us to read the Matthew and Luke accounts afresh.

How many nativity displays show a star pointing down to the stable? Or the angels gathered around a star above the shepherds. The star, that is such a ubiquitous Christmas symbol, doesn’t show up until the Magi mention it to Herod in Matthew 2:2. They came from the east and saw the star in the east. The translation “at its rising” suggests it appeared in the early morning just before the sun came up right behind it. It was an astrological sign of a king of the Jews, not a laser pointer of the path to follow. If the Magi saw it as they journeyed west toward Jerusalem, the star would have been behind them, though Matthew does not say they saw it on their journey until it reappeared in Jerusalem and guided them to the house (not stable) in Bethlehem. Matthew left that mysterious function of the star unexplained.

Luke makes no mention of a star at all in his telling of Jesus’ birth. Presumably, angels called the shepherds to the manger at night shortly after Jesus was born. Also, despite all of the musical productions to the contrary, Luke does not say that the angels sang to the shepherds, (I suppose they could have, but Luke doesn’t say that.) but they spoke and praised God as they made their announcement to the shepherds. To be sure, shepherds and Magi were not at the manger simultaneously. The Magi would have to have come later, but that’s for another day’s reflection.

If you read how Matthew and Luke describe how the Magi and shepherds were summoned to the infant Jesus, without conflating the stories, how do you know God’s drawing you to Jesus?

Third Day of Christmas Reflections December 27

I am suggesting reading the Gospel nativity stories each day of the Twelve Days of Christmas paying attention only to what Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:1-20 purposely dismissing the distracting accretions that have attached themselves to these accounts over the centuries. Today, pay attention to the people actually in the Gospels.

Any number of imaginary characters have found their way to the infant Jesus’ manger, though they are not in the Gospels. We know that there were no drummer boys (or girls), as much as we like or dislike their song. Though midwives were very common in those days, neither of the Gospels mentions one. However, an innkeeper crops up in popular imagination again and again. He is often the one holding the lantern in nativity sets, whether to give light to whomever was delivering the baby or to illuminate the newborn Jesus in the darkness. But you will search the Gospels in vain for any hint of an innkeeper. Nor will you find an innkeeper’s wife who came to the aid of a young woman giving birth for the first time.

Despite the Three Wise Men traditions, perhaps suggested by three gifts, Matthew does not specify a number, though being plural at least two must have come. Some scholars have speculated on a large number, which might be possible, though too many would have had a hard time escaping Herod’s soldiers, especially if they did have camels (which are definitely not mentioned).  One fascinating if distracting note here is that in a time of the flourishing of painting in Europe, masters would sometimes have their apprentices paint a nude camel handler in the inconspicuous background of a painting of the Visit of the Magi. This was as a learning exercise and had nothing to do with the portrayal of the event. The traditional names for the Magi are not in Matthew (Balthasar, Melchior, Gaspar), nor the implication that they represented three racial identities. There have been cute stories of “the other wise man” who missed Jesus but helped a needy person. The opera Amahl and the Night Visitors imagines a young boy meeting them. Some of these creative additions teach wonderful moral lessons, but they are not part of Matthew’s telling of the birth of Jesus.

If you pay attention only to the people whose presence is recorded by Matthew and Luke, whom do you meet?

Reflections for the Second Day of Christmas December 26

Now that all the hoopla that builds up to Christmas is over (quite a contrast to the anticipatory mood of Advent in which we prepare to welcome the child Jesus), we are ready to contemplate at leisure that wondrous simplicity of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth in Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:1-20. As we get closer to Epiphany (January 6) we can also appreciate the Visit of the Magi in Matthew 2 (and the attendant tragedy of the Slaughter of the Innocents) and Jesus’ circumcision and presentation in the Temple in Luke 2:21-40.

All sorts of imaginative accretions have attached themselves to the nativity accounts in the Gospels that can distract us from their elegant power. I suggest that we read each of the Gospel stories each day with a view to only, exactly what is in the words of Matthew and Luke. Leave behind the images of songs, paintings, videos, and church pageants. I will try to point out something to focus on each day. I am not suggesting that imagination and tradition are wrong, but believe the stories themselves speak eloquently.

Today, as you read, pay attention to the absence of animals in the Gospel accounts, though they are conspicuous in popular imagination. No, we are not told that Mary rode a donkey either to Bethlehem (Luke) or Egypt (Matthew). That doesn’t necessarily mean she didn’t, but that is not in the Gospels and seems unlikely to me. The shepherds were keeping their sheep in the fields, but the Gospels do not say they brought them to Jesus. Perhaps some sheep ate from the manger where Jesus lay, but the Gospels don’t say so. (Thinking about the manger will be for another day.) Matthew does not indicate the Magi brought camels, though Isaiah 60:6 does mention camels in a prophecy that gets associated with the Magi because it names gold and frankincense, two of the Magi’s gifts. If we are not distracted by imagined animals at Jesus’ birth, what comes into focus?

Failure of Imagination

Lydia Dyck
sophomore biology major
Goshen College

For the last couple of years Candy and I have been receiving, with appreciation, the Advent (and Lenten) devotionals written by students, faculty, and staff of Goshen College, in anticipation of our move to Wisconsin and sharing life with Milwaukee Mennonite Church, though that anticipation was not always intentional. The one that came today clearly articulated something I have been fully convinced of for over 50 years. It was written by Lydia Dyck, a sophomore biology major from Durham, Ontario. I was marveling at the insight of someone so young, and then realized that was about the age that this idea came into focus for me. Her comments are based on Matthew 1:18-25.

“In literary terms, a dilemma can be defined as a situation where the hero or heroine must decide between one of two bad outcomes. Now, you’d think that in fiction the hero could say, “Now wait just a minute, I don’t want either one of those. I don’t want to jump off a cliff or battle this evil villain to my death. Instead, I’m going to pull out some of this chocolate cake I’d been saving and share it with the aforementioned villain, and we can discuss the coolest sword moves of the age.” If we take a step back from this scene, we can see that the hero did not actually start with a two-option choice, the situation presented him with hundreds of possibilities, but the difference was that the hero had enough imagination to see them.

“Take Joseph as an example. A righteous, hardworking man who sincerely tries to be a good person all his life. When a culturally disgraceful situation arises and Mary is suddenly with child, he plans to do the best thing possible in this dilemma; to dismiss her quietly. Joseph’s failure in this situation is that he doesn’t use his imagination. If he had thought past the dilemma and been creative, maybe asking Mary what really happened, he might have seen the situation in a different way.

“How often are we blinded by binary choices like Joseph? How often have we gotten caught up in the simplistic or overly complicated options that our society gives us about the trends we must follow or the ways we must act. We need to realize how special a gift creativity is. Let’s try to think past the limiting options that dilemmas wave in front of our faces and be the creative human God made us to be.”

I am convinced that much of the violence, hostility, and fear in our world is the product of a failure of imagination. These sorts of cultural slogans are blatant acknowledgments of failure of imagination.

·         The only protection from a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

·         Criminals and enemies (North Korea, Iran, ISIS) only understand violence, so we must answer them with violence.

·         If you want to protect your family, you must buy a gun and learn how to use it.

·         We have no choice but to use military or the threat of force to secure peace in the world.

I have long believed that essential to the call and mission of the followers of Jesus in our world is to refuse to go along with such fatal, catastrophic binary thinking as a failure of imagination, but to stimulate and insist on the hard work of greater imagination when it comes to addressing these serious threats in our world. If Christians become co-opted by the advocates of violence and force, we lose our witness to the real power of the Prince of Peace. I suppose, I have just given away my Anabaptist perspective that long predates my participation with the community of Milwaukee Mennonite Church. So be it.

I Shudder to Pray these Lines

In this time of seemingly daily revelations and accusations of misconduct by people in positions of power and public responsibility, I was challenged and shaken by the prayer of Psalm 17:3,5. “If you (God) try my heart, if you visit me by night, if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me; my mouth does not transgress. … My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped.” As much as I aspire to live a righteous life as a faithful disciple of Jesus, I am all too aware that my voice, steps, and heart are not in full congruence with Jesus. As I long for the confidence to dare to pray these lines, I shudder. Nothing was so abhorrent to Jesus as self-righteousness.

Out of the sordid messes that are being exposed, seems to be coming at least a remote possibility of a cultural shift that no longer gives prominent people a pass on living by the standards of decency we should be expecting from ourselves and those all around us. The sense of outrage is understandable and justified. Having said that, I am wrestling with how to express and affirm outrage without plunging into deadly self-righteousness. I am seeking to discern the boundaries between passing thoughtless, casual words and acts and persistent patterns of misconduct. I am puzzling over what kind of repentance and penance could precede restoration. Most of all I agonize for a path to healing and wholeness for those who have been wounded.

Public attention is focused on sexual misconduct at the moment, but careful attention to each instance exposes abuses of power and manipulation of money. I remember reading Richard Foster’s 1985 book Money, Sex, and Power and his observation that the ancient monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience were antidotes to the lure of these traps. That sexual abuse is more about power than sex is axiomatic. Sex is reduced to a weapon for demeaning and oppressing those who are considered weak and inferior. Not far below the surface of all of these recent revelations is a tangled web of money, sex, and power.

When a prominent figure we disagree with gets caught in this web, we are prone to gloat and assume it grows from their worldview. When a prominent figure we have respected get caught in this web, we are prone to regret and rationalize and hope for restoration. The reality is that hypocrisy runs rampant in all ideological, political, philosophical, and theological camps. Conservatives violate their own loudly proclaimed calls for traditional moral rectitude. Liberals violate their own loudly proclaimed calls for the rights and dignity of women, children, and the poor and weak. No profession or social identification is immune. Not government or politics, not sports or entertainment, not business or community service, not religion or education. I have had way too much experience with money, sex, and power misconduct among my clergy colleagues.

I wish I could offer a satisfying conclusion, but I cannot. Instead, I come back to being prompted to pray from Psalm 17 this morning. While I cannot, dare not, pray those lines as though I had somehow achieved them without falling into self-righteousness, I am praying that my stumbling steps to follow Jesus will bring me to an ever closer approximation of what they affirm. Yes, and a gratitude that, as Paul wrote in Romans 5-6, by God’s grace the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to me. I also pray for both the people around me every day, and those in faraway places of prominence, that they, too, will aspire to such a prayer. “If you (God) try my heart, if you visit me by night, if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me; my mouth does not transgress. … My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped.”

Not “Whom can I trust?” but “How can I be trustworthy?”

Psalm 12:1-2,4

Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly; the faithful have disappeared from humankind. They utter lies to each other; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. … those who say, “With our tongues we will prevail; our lips are our own—who is our master?”

These words that started my Psalm prayers yesterday morning jumped out at me shouting about the flood of sexual harassment accusations, confessions, and revelations that has recently been unleashed. Indeed, it seems now there is not anyone who is godly, not on the right or on the left, not in sports or entertainment, not in politics or business, not even in religion – religion that loudly proclaims exaggerated moral rectitude. And I join the Psalmist by screaming, “Help, O Lord! Can anyone be trusted? Does anyone have even a modicum of decency?”

The ones we are hearing about are considered to be stars, or at least think they are stars. They have all lived as though they believed that since they are stars, their victims let them do it, as though coercion and intimidation were consent. Is this a societal sea change in which the victims will no longer be silent and blamed, or is this only a momentary peek behind the curtain of domineering power?

I am all too aware that I cannot distance myself or the ordinary people around me from vulnerability. I cannot blame the stars for fostering an atmosphere that excuses me or anyone else from culpability. Along with Shakespeare, I recognize that a too vigorous assertion of innocence arises from guilt. “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” is not limited to Lady Macbeth. That I do not think I ever said or did anything inappropriate with a girl or woman, does not excuse me from inappropriate things I have thought or seen, which may have slipped out unguarded. I am also aware of my flaws as a child and youth. Each month, when I pray Psalm 25:7 “Do not remember the sins of my youth,” with proverbial tongue in cheek, I have regarded age 25, like the number of the Psalm, as the boundary for the sins of my youth. Now that I am in my 70s, I speculate about moving it up to 40, 50 or even 60.

To be sure some of the accusations and incidents go back years, even decades, beyond the legal statute of limitations. Begging the question whether time heals, whether they have been repeated, whether the perpetrator has made a change, whether the motives for bringing the accusations are pure? While I certainly know I have grown and changed since I was an adolescent, hopefully for the better, I continue to wrestle with some of the same issues I did then, hopefully with more insight and maturity. Yet, when these old allegations are dismissed, all too often more current improprieties are exposed. I would suggest that brushing them off as obsolete is inadequate. They must be acknowledged and a suitable attitude of penitence and evidence of having made amends and embarking on a healthier path.

As a follower of Jesus, I certainly affirm forgiveness, second chances, and restoration. Nevertheless, the consequences of some things rightly persist through life. In my pastoral experience, I support the lifetime prohibition on contact with children for those who have molested or abused children. Similarly, I think those who have abused the unique position of pastoral care or counseling to take advantage of a vulnerable person should never have the opportunity to be trusted in that setting again. So where are the boundaries for resuming service after sexual misconduct? I don’t have an answer, but I would err on the side of caution in limiting opportunities and in setting up supervision and accountability. Presuming on grace in an unwise way sets up the prospect for repeat offenses. Yet, I do believe that with appropriate penance and candid confession, offenders may find new, protected roles in which they can serve.

I am very aware that the current highly charged environment false, unverified, distorted accusations can be made for political, revenge, or malicious motives. But asserting “fake news” is not vindication. More often than not, initial denials must be recanted or “modified” or are simply proven wrong. Blaming victims, the media, or political or business opponents is not exoneration. Those making such accusations also need to be held accountable for both the veracity and motivation for their claims. I know people who have paid dearly when they have been wrongly accused. Nevertheless, power people, stars if you will, are accustomed to diverting attention from their own culpability by attacking victims or the bearers of bad news. Recognizing the troubles that typically descend on those who accuse a prominent person of sexual misconduct, the benefit of the doubt goes to the accuser unless or until the veracity of their claims has been honestly discredited.

The misconduct of prominent people makes the news, but Psalm 12:1 despairs that any are left righteous. We have debated whether celebrities (entertainment, sports, etc.) should be considered role models. We are aware that even disowning that role, celebrities do influence the tenor of the culture. This is perhaps even more apparent for those who are in positions of public leadership in government, business, and religion. Some ordinary folk, even subconsciously, take a cue from the culture and in effect say to themselves, “If it’s OK for them, it’s OK for us.”  So does anyone who feels they have power over another feel permitted to abuse that relationship? While I know there are some women who are sexual predators, this is largely a male phenomenon. That it is more about power and dominance than sex is axiomatic. That is not to say anything about the relative righteousness of women and men, only to observe the unhealthy, ongoing impact of male power dominance in our society (The US is not alone, but we need to address ourselves and not divert attention to someone else).

As painful and grotesque as this season of sordid revelations may be, perhaps it does offer something healthier for our society, in which victims are taken seriously, in which women and children are respected, in which power people are held accountable, in which the unspoken acceptance of dominance and abuse is exposed and discarded, in which we can embark on a journey of rebuilding trust.

The Psalm and the current social environment beg the question, “Can anyone be trusted? If so, how do you know whom you can trust?”  We have too many examples of those who have abused their positions of trust to count on saying, “I trust my pastor, or president, or doctor, or therapist, or favorite news reporter.” The closer we have been to someone who has betrayed our trust, the harder it will be to believe we can trust someone else, even if we have known them well to be trustworthy for a long time.  No blood or urine test will tell us whom we can trust. Repair of trust is a prolonged, arduous journey.

My suggestion is to ask a different question. Rather than asking “How I can know whom I can trust?” we should be asking, “How can I be and signal to those around me that I am someone who can be trusted?” The answer does not come in a formula or prescribed program or set steps to follow. It is, as Eugene Peterson describes it, a long obedience in the same direction. 

Thoughts and Prayers

The recent church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas has again prompted many public officials to offer their “thoughts and prayers” for those so tragically affected. As this has become an all too commonplace ritual the chorus of “no more prayers, we need action” is reaching a crescendo. Some religious folk have pushed back, defending prayer and attacking some as anti-Christian. I have no illusion that adding my voice will make any difference in this divisive cacophony, but as one who has focused on cultivating my own prayer life for decades, I feel compelled to at least articulate my perspective. Perhaps because I feel somewhat misunderstood if not slandered by all of these voices.

First, I want to acknowledge that for many, many people, church going, religious people, to say “I’ll pray for you.” is a polite and mildly pious way of saying, “I care about you and what you are going through right now.” A perfunctory prayer invoking God’s blessing may be said  and even repeated at times of routine ritual. I don’t want to denigrate this practice, only recognize it as a courteous gesture in some circles.

Second, I want to say a bit about what I believe is a common but immature and limited understanding of what prayer is. I have often observed that if you listened to much of public prayer, and I am sure plenty of private prayer, you’d get the idea that we think God is stupid and needs to be informed by us about what needs divine attention and what to do about it. Jesus said, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:8)

This attitude betrays a couple of further flaws in our typical thinking about prayer. I am uncomfortable, at best, at the various assertions that “prayer works” as though prayer was something instrumental by which we enlist or manipulate God into doing what we want. I have no objection to enlisting others as partners in our prayers, but I do not believe, as seems to be implied all too often, that if we can amass enough people praying about something, we can compel God to act on our behalf.

To somehow demand that God comfort those who have been wounded by something as tragic as these mass shootings and not also demand that God prevent people who are angry or mentally ill or whatever from obtaining and using guns or any other means to perpetrate violence is at best hypocritical and exposes the flaws of an instrumental understanding of prayer. This goes to the deep and insoluble dilemma of why God permits evil at all. Theologians and philosophers have explored this deeply for centuries, and though the insights may be correct enough, we are left puzzling in some anguish.

I remember well a very helpful series of articles on intercessory prayer by Roberta Bondi in The Christian Century several years ago. She built them around understanding God’s relationship with us as a friendship, but not in a superficial, flippant way. Prayer, then, is conversation between friends about what is important to both of them, and about seemingly trivial daily details. Friends might also ask for each other’s help, but not in term of demands or coercion. I think this two way interaction is at the core of maturing prayer.

Third, my experience and conviction is that by praying I am purposely getting close enough to God to begin to see the things that concern me through God’s eyes and to get God’s perspective and priority that may direct my attention somewhere totally different than I was thinking about in the first place. So I don’t pray to change God but to invite God to change me. We learn to pray in this way from the prayers that are in Scripture. I have prayed through (not just read) the Psalms every month (5 a day) for over 45 years. I pray through the prayers in the New Testament Epistles twice a month. I practice lectio divina which prompts me to pray with the Scripture passages I am meditating on each day. These practices continue to stretch my prayers into territory I would not explore on my own.

I suggest contrasting the Lord’s Prayer and some of the classic prayers of the giants of the Church with our instrumental, self-oriented, limited prayers. Jesus prayed for the glory and kingdom of the Father to come to earth and for delivery from evil (“the evil one” which can rightly be understood as a person who perpetrates evil) . The prayer attributed to Francis of Assisi prays that we will be directed to the hurting people around us rather than our own interests. The prayer of Richard of Chichester  (which you may know from the song in Godspell) asks that we better see, love, and follow Jesus.

God’s perspective includes stimulating me to take action based on what I believe is from God, trusting the Holy Spirit to nudge me as I go. One cautionary word here, this is not an instrumental use of prayer either, as we post-Enlightenment, pragmatic Westerners are prone to. It is not that God sends me a Mission Impossible tape with my assigned mission. Praying (without ceasing - 1 Thessalonians 5:17) to be sensitive to these nudges and to watch and listen for them from unexpected sources. Even deeper, such prayer shapes my heart to be increasingly congruent with the heart of Jesus. It changes who I am toward a closer approximation of the mind of Christ.

If I may connect this with prayer prompted by tragic events such as the shooting at the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, I would suggest that we start by asking to have God’s perspective on the victims and those who remain to grieve, and on the shooter and all of the people and forces that brought him to this horrific point, and on the medical, social, law enforcement, political and all other folk affected by this event. Then begin by asking for God’s perspective for what can be done about this trend in our society. That may move me to seek out someone who is grieving to comfort them, as I pray that those closer to these victims are doing. That may move me to reach out so some I know who is angry, violent, or having mental health challenges to encourage and support them in getting help before they are drawn into violence. That may move me to get involved in local, regional, and national efforts to reduce violence of all kinds. That may move me to advocate for legal actions that would reduce the risks associated with all sorts of weapons and instruments of violence. These things are not actions as opposed to prayers, nor are they only outgrowths of prayers, they are prayers!

With all that I have written here and taught and practice about prayer for decades, I still must confess, as the Apostle Paul did in Romans 8:26, that “we do not know how to pray as we ought.” I am frequently aware that the churnings in my heart that urge me to pray are just too deep for words. Exploring that is beyond the scope of this piece, but I would say that daily I am thankful for the Holy Spirit’s groaning intercessions.

Knowing God Face to Face

The last few weeks the Lectionary readings from the Hebrew Scriptures has taken us through the career of Moses. This coming Sunday, we read that Moses died at the Lord’s command (Deuteronomy 34:5). Then comes this amazing summary of Moses’ life, “Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” (v. 10).

Let me get out of the way one of the least important puzzles in this line: the timing of the writing of Deuteronomy, as scholarly debates over timing and Mosaic authorship have been a battleground and test of theological pedigree for generations. Taken at face value (literal interpretation for those who insist on that terminology), this means at least that Deuteronomy took the shape we know after Israel had accumulated some history with prophets with whom Moses could be compared. If that line was written after the Exile or Return to compare Moses to Elijah or Elisha, Isaiah or Jeremiah, Ezekiel or Daniel is remarkable. I don’t wish to get sidetracked into the arguments about Deuteronomy, except to point out the supreme uniqueness of the Lord’s face to face relationship with Moses that set him above all of the writing and speaking prophets with all of their revelations and visions and explore what Jesus meant when he said that the pure in heart would see God (Matthew 5:8) and what kind of relationship Jesus’ disciples can expect today.

Also, let me be clear that I know we are talking about metaphorical language. Psalms 115:4-8; 135:15-18 mock pagan idols with their anatomical body parts. From creation and the burning bush to Pentecost, the presence and power of God are compared to wind and fire (those images are worth pursuing all by themselves) which are real but mysteriously untamable – both benevolent and dangerous. Even with all we know today about meteorology and chemistry, they evoke mystery. Often (especially in the Psalms) the face of God is used as a way of speaking of God’s attention and protection for the covenant community. But the Lord’s face to face relationship with Moses was singular.

One of the conundrums here is that in Exodus 33:18 Moses asked to see God’s glory, and God responds by saying that “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” (v. 20) Yet with anthropomorphic images of hand and backside (v. 23), God’s goodness passes by Moses. When Moses came down from the mountain with the second tablets of the Law, his face glowed after having been in the intimate presence of God. (vv. 29-35). Apparently this phenomenon recurred whenever Moses went to speak before the Lord (often assumed to have been in the Tabernacle, though that is not specified in this passage). Interestingly, somewhat in contrast to the tone of Exodus, 2 Corinthians 3:13 suggests that Moses wore a veil on his face so the people would not see that the glow was fading, rather than in awe of the unapproachability of God’s glory.

 As I prayed through Psalm 27 yesterday, I came to verse 8. “‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, do I seek.” And I remembered Psalm 42:2. “When shall I come and behold the face of God?” These seem to me to express a deep longing to for intimate encounter with God that goes beyond the way the face of God is used to indicate God’s attention elsewhere in the Psalms. While Jesus didn’t use “face,” his Beatitude from Matthew 5:8 also expresses the intensity of this yearning. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” In his book Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing, Søren Kierkegaard explores this in great depth. Purity of heart is not some moralistic achievement but to have a heart in which the will to see God has purged all other desires. Such pure hearted folk will see God.

This yearning to see the face of God is at the core of all Christian mysticism and contemplative life. Spiritual disciplines and practices do not achieve a glimpse of God’s face. They only prepare us to recognize it when God’s face is turned to us. So what do we see? Some have ecstatic visions such as described by Teresa of Avila and portrayed in Gian Lorenzo Bernin’s sculpture. Others, such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta looked for God in the faces of suffering people. Father Peter Sylvester of the Society of the Divine Word (Bordentown, New Jersey), was my personal spiritual director from 1992 to 1997. He encouraged me to get a standard wall calendar and write in each day’s block a line or two at the most identifying when I was most aware of the presence of God that day. I have continued that practice, though now I add it as a note in the calendar on my phone.

This has been a beneficial tool for keeping me alert to God who is present and active whether I am paying attention or not. While I am hardly a Teresa of Avila or John of the Cross, occasionally I am overwhelmed by an ecstatic awareness during the silence of my centering prayer. At other times, thinking back over a day’s events surprises me with the realization that God was right there in the turn of ordinary activities. Each day I do ask if God has brought someone who is in pain to be an icon for me through whom I can see Christ. More often than not, I am aware of the merciful God forgiving my failings and protecting me from my own foolishness and desires that contaminate the purity I long for in my heart.

I don’t know what Moses wanted or expected when he asked to see God’s glory in Exodus 33:18, but it must have been spectacular that left him glowing, which glow was refreshed when he went to speak with God (vv. 29-35). Deuteronomy 34:10 suggests that this was unrepeatable. Yet, Jesus suggested a real seeing of God to the pure in heart. And even the usually coolly rational Apostle Paul had his own ecstatic vision that he was not to describe (2 Corinthians 12:1-7) and he wrote of the Spirit interceding for our inadequate prayers with sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:26). But most of the time, even for the great mystics, we see may the face of God in the ordinary present moments of our lives. Jean-Pierre de Caussade described this so eloquently in The Sacrament of the Present Moment (originally titled Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence). He used the word “sacrament” in the sense of revealing the presence or reality of God or Christ. He suggested that if we focus on some glorious past experience, either historical or personal, or if we concentrate on anticipating something coming in the future when conditions will be more amenable, we will miss seeing that God is present to us in the present moment. So, don’t live with nostalgic longing for some time in the past we thought was better than now or with regret and shame for a past that still haunts us. And don’t live as though something better will come along before the eternal Kingdom, as though the present is too mundane or corrupt for God to be here. No! Live in the present moment, and be alert to how God will come to you, maybe even surprise you.

Just a last note. I know some of my Protestant friends will be uncomfortable with my allusions to Roman Catholic mystical and contemplative thinking. My experience suggests to me that many if not most Roman Catholic folk are as uncomfortable as Protestants are. We have all been shaped by the rationalism and empiricism of the Enlightenment that robs us of the wonder of mystery. Most of my relationships with others who share my contemplative aspirations are Protestants, though I have found great spiritual fellowship with many Roman Catholic folk. In our time many Protestants are writing and teaching along these lines. Having said that, just as monks and nuns preserved the manuscripts of the Scripture through the darkest centuries of the Church’s history, they have also preserved the classic literature of Christian contemplative living, for which I am deeply thankful. Theological disputes will go on, and all expressions of Christianity are susceptible to distorted, corrupted thinking and practices. I must say I grieve what seems to me to be a loss of integrity in much of the Evangelical tradition in which I was raised and educated. Nevertheless, I am finding joyful, authentic followers of Jesus in diverse Christian traditions, and we grow stronger as we recognize and affirm each other.  Again, as with the scholarly issues around the timing and authorship of Deuteronomy, I do not wish to get sidetracked into arguments about which Christians are safe to relate to, but to encourage and nourish all of us who long to see the face of God and experience the presence of Christ.

For Whom Are You Thankful?

In my meditation on the Epistle for this coming Sunday from 1 Thessalonians  2:1-8, the warmth of Paul’s affection for these folk in verse 8 (and continues through the chapter). “So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.” This is characteristic of the thanks for people that permeates the prayers of the New Testament Epistles. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s I Loved this People echoes this theme with which I have resonated for every congregation I have served in pastoral ministry, most poignantly in time of pain.

Now in my “retirement” as I pray each of those prayers, I am prompted to remember those with whom I have served with great gratitude. In this time of my life, I am particularly thankful those who have shaped me through the years. Each day’s parade seems altogether too fragmentary a sample of those who have left their mark on me. I’m not going to attempt to make public a comprehensive list, but I have collected some stories that strike me as having been of remarkable significance.

Those of you who have been following me for some time know that I have prayed through the Psalms monthly since 1970 or 71. (the date +30, +30, +30, +30, skipping the lengthy 119 and using it by itself on the 31^st) Having used the prayers of the New Testament Epistles to guide congregations in praying for the church, this past year I added them to my routine. As I have an inventory of 15 such prayers, I get through them twice each month. I have found that to be an exceptionally stretching for my prayer life in this transitional time of life (“retirement,” moving to Wisconsin, caring for Candy with her Alzheimer’s).

For your convenience, I have copied the prayers of the New Testament Epistles here with the dates I use each one each month noted. Notice how often God is thanked for the people to whom the letter was written. How might this shape your relationships with people dear to you?

Romans 1:8-10                                                                           1, 16

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. ⁹For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, ¹⁰asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you.

Romans 15:5-6, 13                                                                     2, 17

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, ⁶so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 1:3-9                                                                    3, 18

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind—⁶just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you—⁷so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Corinthians 13:7-10                                                                4, 19

But we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. ⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. This is what we pray for, that you may become perfect. ¹⁰So I write these things while I am away from you, so that when I come, I may not have to be severe in using the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

Ephesians 1:15-23                                                                      5, 20

I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason ¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. ¹⁷I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, ¹⁸so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. ²⁰God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. ²²And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 3:14-21                                                                      6, 21

For 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.

Philippians 1:2-5, 9-11                                                                7, 22

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³I thank my God every time I remember you, ⁴constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, ⁵because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.

⁹And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight ¹⁰to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, ¹¹having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Colossians 1:2-12                                                                       8, 23

To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

³In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel ⁶that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. ⁷This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, ⁸and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. ¹¹May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

Colossians 4:2-4                                                                         9, 24

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. ³At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, ⁴so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-5                                                               10, 25

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly ³remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake.

1 Thessalonians 3:10-13                                                           11, 26

Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

¹¹Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. ¹²And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. ¹³And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

2 Thessalonians 1:2-4, 11-12                                                    12, 27

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. ⁴Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.

¹¹To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, ¹²so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, 5                                                           13, 28

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere, just as it is among you, ²and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people; for not all have faith.

⁵May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

2 Timothy 1:3-4, 16-18                                                             14, 29

I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. ⁴Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.

¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain; ¹⁷when he arrived in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me¹⁸—may the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day! And you know very well how much service he rendered in Ephesus.

Philemon 1:4-7                                                                          15, 30

When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God ⁵because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. ⁶I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. ⁷I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.