Friday, May 28, 2004

Friday, 28 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being” and a section dealing with the vision of the Son of the Man in Ezekiel.



To say that we humans are made in the image of God, male and female, means that we are somehow “like” God in our mundane existence. But we are not yet fully human. For now, we are only promissory notes, hints, intimations. But we are able to become more human because the Human One has placed the divine spirit within us (Ezekiel 37:5, 14), which will remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh (36:26).



We are able to become more human as the Holy Spirit leads us more fully into our humanity. And yet, we must always remember that only as humans do we become the makers of war, the abusers of prisoners, those who threaten to annihilate all things, etc. But that capability within our humanity is not the “fully human” that is being described by Wink. To be fully human as being fully within the image of God is to imagine ourselves being creative, loving, merciful, and peacemakers. Look around and there are hints of humanity’s spirit of wholeness within the lives of people who happen into our lives. Look around again, and there is much evidence of humanity’s inability to live within that image of God. It is as though we fear where our humanity may take us and therefore we run and try to play the part of God. But isn’t it wonderful to see that our God, becomes human in order to reveal all things about being God. Within this mass of flesh and bones and blood is the blessed home of life that God creative voice calls “Good.”



Connection: Our frailty is a gift in which our God is revealed. Do not be afraid to be vulnerable even in the midst of fear. That is a human thing to do…just as it is utterly human, in its fullest sense, to give up our lives for the sake of another.



Take us and make us what we are in your sight, O God. Light a fire of new life within us so that we may approach each day as though your breath fills up our lives and takes us more deeply into our humanity and thus into your blessed image. Amen.

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Thursday, 27 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being” and a section dealing with the vision of the Son of the Man in Ezekiel.



Bill Wylie Kellerman comments:

Human beings are the image of God. Here is an idea so incredibly subversive it may be the most politically loaded claim of all. Who in Babylon, not to mention virtually the whole of the ancient world, was the image of god? The King, of course, who stands in for [Babylonian god] Marduk in the creation pageant, and whose authority is annually legitimated. Who, however, is in the liturgy of Israel? Humanity. Women and men. Human beings in community. This is a subversion and affront to every imperial authority. It’s practically anarchism. In this counter-story, human beings are not from the blood of a murdered god, created as slave of the state. They are made for freedom and responsibility.




Isn’t it odd that the word subversive often has a negative connotation in our society? What is…is too often all that we are willing to accept…all that will be. What a grand disappointment that would be. The people in Israel who were in exile in Babylon were living in a world that said if our army beats your army, then our god beats your god. That’s the beginning and ending of the story line and it is one that would keep on being repeated through history. But our God, the God of Israel and of the Church, is the power of transformation and rebirth and resurrection. What is…may not be and doesn’t have to be what will be. The community of God’s people continues to bring insight into how we blossom into the days ahead because we are gifted with the Holy Spirit who stretches us beyond the limits we love and greets us with a new image of freedom and responsibility that was once not a part of our lives. Subversion is another way to describe growth…it is a version of life that is not the dominant way of the world. That’s why one author looks at the scriptures as a sub-version of life in the world.



Connection: Subversion in everyday life may be as simply as singing another song…whistling another tune…trusting what is said about us by our God rather than what is said by many of the prevailing voices all around us. You are beloved and you may unfold within this day as just that…beloved of God in the middle of the version of life that is toss around and sold in the marketplace of the powers that be.



Most High God, your creative voice brings life in any time…even when we see no time left within this day. Renew us again with your breath of life so that we may be sustained in the middle of all things. Amen.

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Wednesday, 26 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being” and a section dealing with the vision of the Son of the Man in Ezekiel.



So this is not Operation Bootstrap, trying to lift myself into my own potential. We must, it is true, be constantly attentive to the clues being provided, oh so gradually, in prayer, in scripture, in worship, in preaching and silence and dreams and meditation – and, yes, also from our parents, our culture, our mentors and peers and colleagues. And perhaps, above all, from our enemies. So the journey is conceived, executed, and consummated by God’s grace by the promptings of the imago Dei within us; by the nudges, glimmerings, and insights that further that journey; and finally, by the transformative power of God in the revelation of who we really are in the consummation of all things. As one of the most remarkable lines of Scripture puts it, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when the Humanchild [“he” or “it” NRSV] is revealed we will be like it, for we will see it as it is” (1 John 3:2).



Nudges are good. Nudges help us turn our heads and take another look at what we may be missing. Nudges help us lift up our eyes and see things again…maybe through another lens…maybe through the eyes of someone else who is with us as friend or foe. The Holy Spirit – in many and various ways - nudges and pulls us into the domain of God’s gracious Reign. Unfortunately, we do not always want to leave the place in which we like to be and from which we like to perceive the world. Here…this place…is always more comfortable than seeing anew or eating at a banquet feast that is not under our control. And yet, by God’s grace the Spirit never stops nudging us…never…ever…even to the end of all things. And then, the fullness of God’s grace will be seen and we will be greeted with the fullness of love and grace.



Connection: There are people all around you today. They may play a part in helping to nudge you to see the gracious Reign of God even within the ordinary business of the day. We may all be surprised by how the Spirit nudges us…but we may not even know it until tomorrow or next week or…



Inspiring God, nudge us so that we will see and hear your love as it comes to life today. Nudge us, with your grace, so that we may be graceful to ourselves as we stumble and fall and gracious to those who are instruments of your divine nudging. Amen.

Tuesday, 25 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being” and a section dealing with the vision of the Son of the Man in Ezekiel.



As the Sufi poet and philosopher Ibn ‘Arabi writes, speaking of God:

“If then you perceive me,

You perceive yourself.

But you cannot perceive me

Through yourself

It is through me eyes that you see me

And see yourself

Through your eyes

You cannot see me.”

Or, as Elizabeth Howes commented to me, “When I work to become human, is it not God in me that is striving to become human?”




There are, indeed, moments when we catch glimpses of who we are invited to become. This is one of the powerful aspects of parables. Without looking for a picture of ourselves or a mirror into which we might be handed another glimpse, a parable surprises us with a view not requested. That is the power of the living Word. It takes to our heart and begins to shine a light and in the meantime, we may…or may not…be overcome with insights that cause new growth and understanding about the humanity in the eyes of God. These creatures God has created – yes, you and I – continue to be drawn into an amazing adventure that will not settle for what we are…now. Always transforming life, the Holy Spirit bids us to “Come.”



Connection: Never be afraid to face what is being brought out into the light by the One who loves us and continues to call us into a life of fullness and joy even as we continue along our way.



O God, you preside over a peaceable Reign in which all your people are constantly being drawn forward to be more and more expressive of your loving power. Continue to let your peace abide among us so that each day will be an ongoing revelation of your presence for this day. Amen.

Monday, May 24, 2004

Monday, 24 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being” and a section dealing with the vision of the Son of the Man in Ezekiel.



…we are incapable of becoming human by ourselves. We scarcely know what humanness is. We have only the merest intuitions and general guidelines. Jesus has, to be sure, revealed to us something of what it means to live an authentic human life. But how do I translate that into my own struggles for humanness? …what am I to do? Metaphysically speaking, God is the ultimate mystery, but to myself I am an even more impenetrable mystery. Who am I? I have accepted my parents’ answers, my culture’s answers, the answers of mentors and peers and colleagues. But how do they know? What are the exact outlines of my true form? How can I find out, unless God reveals it to me? For who else could possibly know what is stored in the divine image inside me, except that One who is the divine image inside me?



We are not invited into something beyond our capabilities as human beings. Just think of this one – Love one another. We could take that a bit farther – Love one another as I have love you. Wasn’t Jesus saying that as part of how he loved each and every day? Wasn’t that a love that was translated in, with & under human existence that is a real as each one who is blessed to be made in the image of God? It is too easy to sell ourselves short. We are blessed to forgive…to love…to be a witness to life that is merciful, compassionate, just…even to the point of it being the death of us. And yet, there is the life…the mystery of being human…the mystery of Christ in which the grace of God prevails and shapes life as we do not yet know it completely.



Connection: To step beyond where we are and who we think we may be in this day is to step out into a mystery that is beyond our knowing. That is why we are encouraged to breathe deeply and take in that Spirit of life that reveals the power of God’s image to us within the mundane aspects of this day. Go ahead breathe…and again…and again.



Teach us, O God, to be satisfied by the water of life that you bring to us in our baptism. Refresh us this day with your never ending spring of wholeness and healing and love that is the power to stretch us and pull us beyond what we know into the realm of your gracious Reign. Amen.

Friday, May 21, 2004

Friday, 21 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



In a vision in Ezekiel there is something like a throne and seated above it was “something that seemed like a human form” (1:26).

And this is the revelation: God seems to be, as it were, human…

What does it mean to say that God is revealed as human? Why does God turn a humanlike face to Ezekiel? Perhaps because becoming human is the task that God has set for human beings. And human beings have only a vague idea what it means to be human. Humanity errs in believing that it is human. (…also…errs in believing it is divine!) We are only fragmentarily human, fleetingly human, brokenly human. We see glimpses of our humanness, we can dream of what a more humane existence and political order would be like, but we have not yet arrived at true humanness.




Our humanity is a gift of creativity. In the storytelling of Genesis, God draws human beings into the image of God’s self. As God has just created all things and it is all good, we are being shaped into beings that, like God – but not God, have a creativity about us that can bring the fullness and beauty and life sustaining order of creation with us into the movements of our humanity. But as we can all see, we are appear to be only a caricature of the glowing image of what it is to be truly human as created by God. I think our faithful imagination is part of the gift we are given to help us see the possibilities available to us as human beings. We are to imagine what it is to be – here and now – fully human. Imagination that tries to pull us away from here…may not be faithful at all…but it sure sells books.



Connection: We are a part of a wonderful image. We…not merely me…stand before God today and we are given the gift of the depth of grace and love and creativity that is a part of God’s being. How in the world will that move us today?



Lord of the Creation and Inspiring Breath of Life, lift us up to see the beauty of your creation and the gift you have given to us as we simply greet this day as part of a humanity shaped in your image. Continue to open our eyes to your will for us. Amen.

Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Thursday, 20 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is switching to Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



Here's something about symbolic imagery and mysticism.

Ezekiel’s vision is central to Jewish mysticism.

Ezekiel 1 is so overwhelming in its surplus of powerful symbolic images that the rabbis only permitted mature persons to read this chapter, and then only in the company of a person who was older and wiser. A saying, often repeated in Jewish lore, stated that four Jewish mystics succeeded in ascending to heaven and viewing the divine throne chariot that Ezekiel describes. One went mad, one became a heretic, one died, and only Rabbi Akiba returned in his right mind.

…These mystics recognized that these archetypal images and symbols were not just a manner of speaking, but that they were capable of transforming - or unhinging – those who encountered them.




Maybe we all need to see without having to be certain of what it is we see. In that way we are saved from limits of literalism that often produce little more than the same old way things have been. Visions take us beyond what we seem to be able to contain. Visions take us and, without being certain of where we will go, send us out with eyes that have seen more deeply into the realm of God’s creativity that we no longer can settle for closed doors and the fear that keeps doors closed. Maybe Rabbi Akiba, note above, was gifted to see the truth about God as something more than what he already knew and more than he ever would…but for now, something new was being offered for life.



Connection: Do the visions of the Reign of God restrict or open your life? Within the gift of order within this day is also the availability of imagination and insight and vision that will not be contained or ruled by the mere order.



How wonderful is the expansiveness of your Reign and the glory of your creation, O God. Now may our hearts be inspired to enter into the rhythm of your joyous and ever-unfolding life. Amen.

Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Wednesday, 19 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is switching to Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



Wink’s book deals with the biblical title “the Son of Man” which he interprets as “the Son of the Man.” Here are a few pieces to bring us into a longer look at what he calls the enigma of the Son of the Man.



“Son of Man” appears 108 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, 93 of these uses in Ezekiel. Curiously, God refuses to call Ezekiel by his given name, but addresses him solely as “son of man.” No one else call Ezekiel by that name, only God.

The same expression appears in the New Testament some 87 times, all but three cases in the Gospels (Matthew, 31 times; Mark, 14; Luke, 26; John,13).

…Jesus is depicted as avoiding designation as messiah, son of God, or God, though his disciples gave these titles to him after his death and resurrection. But the Gospels repeatedly depict Jesus using the expression “the son of the man,” as virtually his only form of self-reference.




I know, some of you may be saying, “What does this have to do with a devotional piece?” First, it is some needed information as we begin a series of looking at, what I can think is, a powerful way to understand this title…but also Jesus…and yes, in turn, all of us as followers of Jesus. Then, it can be an adventure within our own contemplation to not let words and titles that are spoken among us simply slip by without some reflection that may expand our vision and our call to be followers of Jesus and children of God. Throughout all of this, we must remember that it is not our goal to somehow become divine. It is essential that we become human. That is how God created us. But then again, God creates us in God’s image which may give us a bit of an insight into how we as truly human are to blossom within this day.



Connection: We cannot begin with our own actions and thoughts as the center of who we are to be today. We are always being called to come into being in the shape of the one who calls us beloved. What is the difference between the two as we engage ourselves within the regular events of our lives?



Breathe into us the life that is only given by grace through your creative Spirit, O God. Lift us up to see who we are in your eyes and within that vision grant us power to live as your daughters and sons who love one another. Amen.

Tuesday, 18 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is switching to Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



My deepest interest in encountering Jesus is not to confirm my own prejudices (though I certainly do that), but to be delivered from a stunted soul, a limited mind and an unjust social order. No doubt a part of me wants to whittle Jesus down to my size so that I can avoid painful, even costly, change. But another part of me is exhilarated by the possibility of becoming more human. So I listen in order to be transformed. Somehow the gospel has the power to activate in people that “hunger and thirst for righteousness” of which Matthew 5:6 speaks…

Truth is, had Jesus never lived, we could not have invented him.




Yesterday I spoke about being dried up and how we can sometimes be so dried up deep within ourselves that we know only how to fight…go to war…persecute…hate…and destroy what is not like us. This notion of a “stunted soul” is for me quite like that and only the Prince of Peace can deliver us from that wasteland within us so that our internal and external life will be refreshed by the living water of our God who invites us to be truly human as God created us to be. Jesus takes us beyond what we are able to imagine for ourselves - for I know my imagination is always biased – and lovingly pulls us into a vision for life that we…alone...or in a small group…could never have imagined. For example, who would have thought of a cross as a way to enter into life more fully!?!



Connection: There may be some moments in this day in which the simple task of listening may provide us with the gift of life transformation…and who knows what that will mean for life tomorrow!



Take us up into your domain of peace, O Lord, and deliver us before the gracious throne of our God who calls us beloved and promises to raise us up to new life as God’s children even as we live within an alien time and place. Amen.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Monday, 17 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is switching to Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



Here’s a little piece on how Wink encounters scripture.

I listen intently to the Book. But I on not acquiesce in it. I rail at it. I make accusations. I censure it for endorsing patriarchalism, violence, anti-Judaism, homophobia, and slavery. It rails back at me, accusing me of greed, presumption, narcissism, and cowardice. We wrestle. We roll on the ground, neither of us capitulating, until it wounds my thigh with “new-ancient” words. And the Holy Spirit is there the whole time, strengthening us both.



What a marvelous picture of faithfulness in an encounter. To stand toe to toe with another - in this case the stories of scripture – and dig in and at one another. No intention to destroy the other…but to wrestle with what is present and what is to be and how it is that our lives will be engaged and how we will engage our God as faithful people to our God who sends us whirling into our lives as beloved ones. This is a journey that takes us back in time and simultaneously pushes our faces into the future of promise so that we can be as present within the liveliness of today as God would call us to be.



Connection: I need help with wrestling…do you? Wrestling…like testing things out…risking a word or a move or a gesture. It would be good if we all would help each other wrestle with how we see our God and how we in seeing our God see one another…and still remain in love…forever. That should fill this day.



You remain with us, O God, even when we attempt to run away or find another way or simply want to slip away into darkness. You remain with us and you coax us into your loving presence and we again and again are refreshed by what you have to offer us. Thanks to you for your faithfulness and you never ending love! Amen.

Monday, 17 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is switching to Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



Here’s a little piece on how Wink encounters scripture.

I listen intently to the Book. But I on not acquiesce in it. I rail at it. I make accusations. I censure it for endorsing patriarchalism, violence, anti-Judaism, homophobia, and slavery. It rails back at me, accusing me of greed, presumption, narcissism, and cowardice. We wrestle. We roll on the ground, neither of us capitulating, until it wounds my thigh with “new-ancient” words. And the Holy Spirit is there the whole time, strengthening us both.



What a marvelous picture of faithfulness in an encounter. To stand toe to toe with another - in this case the stories of scripture – and dig in and at one another. No intention to destroy the other…but to wrestle with what is present and what is to be and how it is that our lives will be engaged and how we will engage our God as faithful people to our God who sends us whirling into our lives as beloved ones. This is a journey that takes us back in time and simultaneously pushes our faces into the future of promise so that we can be as present within the liveliness of today as God would call us to be.



Connection: I need help with wrestling…do you? Wrestling…like testing things out…risking a word or a move or a gesture. It would be good if we all would help each other wrestle with how we see our God and how we in seeing our God see one another…and still remain in love…forever. That should fill this day.



You remain with us, O God, even when we attempt to run away or find another way or simply want to slip away into darkness. You remain with us and you coax us into your loving presence and we again and again are refreshed by what you have to offer us. Thanks to you for your faithfulness and you never ending love! Amen.

Thursday, May 13, 2004

Friday, 14 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is switching to Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



I am concerned not so much with whether Jesus actually said something, but with whether it is true, regardless of who said it. If truth is our goal rather than historicity, then revelation is a far more appropriate category than facticity for weighing the impact of Jesus. If a statement is revelatory, if it provides insight about becoming more fully human, if it exposes the Domination System for what it is, then we may call it “true.” But we should not assume that something is true because Jesus said it. Rather, he would have said it because he thought it was true…

But the issue of historicity, while occasionally crucial, is far less significant than consistency with the original impulse of Jesus, whether articulated by him or by his followers later. That impulse was the spirit that drove Jesus to challenge his own religious tradition and those who were it protectors.




I must say I had to pause when Wink said “we should not assume something is true because Jesus said it.” But his next comment that Jesus would have said it because he thought it was true simply had my head nodding in agreement. Jesus would say what he thought was true. Didn’t he agree with the law and the prophets?!? Didn’t he also know and respect the teachings of the rabbis before him?!? Jesus did not go along with the party line or the religious notion of the day simply because of the status it may have held at the time. If it was not about truthfulness, liberation, and the revealing of the Reign of God for all, I would suppose he would not have had a thing to quote.



Connection: That “impulse”…that spirit that drove Jesus…is still the spirit alive this day. Where in the world is it moving you within the unfolding of God’s Reign?



In your light, O God, we see light and begin to look beyond our own lives and out into the gathering of your people in every place and time so that as we live today we may live with your eternal Reign in mind and in heart. Be for us the encouragement to walk with you. Amen.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Thursday, 14 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is switching to Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



I regard a “revelation” as any new idea that bursts upon the world with sufficient force to bring about positive change in people and history. A revelation begins as a private, subjective experience that happens to individuals. But if it has cogency, it becomes a public, historic occasion. What we call a revelation is a positive mutation in the history of thought or being…it was Jesus who exposed the Domination System with such devastating effect and envisioned God as nonviolent and all-inclusive. There were antecedent revelations, of course, but the revelation Jesus brought was so at odds with the world’s power arrangements that we have yet to take it measure.



Revelation changes the way we see the world as it is. I would add that a revelation of God’s gracious Reign is not a picture of some far away place or time. It is, instead, a word about what is at hand….it is about the grace of God at play in a world of tyrants and powers that do not know of such grace. That is why revelation has the power to knock us off our feet and cause us to look again at what is all around us. When we have been bowled over by a revelation of God’s Reign, we are invited to begin to stand up in the face of all the powers of Domination that seem to have a hold on the day. I suppose the question we need to ask is how one determines if the revelation is one of the Reign of God. I would suggest we start with unconditional and eternal love of all.



Connection: If you have the chance, open up the Gospel of Mark and read through the first three chapters (a random suggestion). By what is being displayed here, are you able to tell what has been revealed to Jesus? I suppose you could also do this with many of the stories of Acts…etc.



In this day Lord, be glorified in the life of your people. Open up our lives to the eternal presence of your gracious love so that in our life together, we will witness to the vision that is always beyond what is set in stone. Amen.

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Wednesday, 12 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is switching to Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



Jesus proclaimed the Reign of God (or “God’s Domination-Free Order), not only as coming in the future, but as having already dawned in his healing and exorcisms and his preaching of good news to the poor. He created a new family, based not on bloodlines, but on doing the will of God. He espoused nonviolence as a means for breaking the spiral of violence without creating new forms of violence. He called people to repent of their collusion in the Domination System and sought to heal them from the various ways the system had dehumanized them.



Wink lists a number of forms of domination condemned by Jesus. It appears to be a list of ways we keep the powers of our day in power and those out of power out of power. As is usually the case, we do not see the ways that we are part of that system of domination. In fact, we often do not see how we may be victims of it. If the order of the day insists on and has been groomed on patriarchy, for example, who will say or see that it is not a system that treats all people equal – or with deep respect and honor? In the “already,” the Reign of God invites us into the way of Jesus that is also called the way of the cross because the way of Jesus was and will be contrary to what Wink calls the Domination System.



Connection: It might be good today to take some time to see how many parts of this day carry the mark of what you might call the Domination System. Or…listen to what others may be seeing. Sometimes we see things differently and we can always learn from one another.



Teach us your ways of living within the hopefulness of your Blessed Reign, O God. As we tend to the tasks of this day, open our hearts to the love you have for us so that we may in turn let go of the many ways we try to dominate and control our world and let your love flow from us to others. Amen.

Monday, May 10, 2004

Tuesday, 11 May, 2004

The focus of these devotions is switching to Walter Wink’s book “The Human Being.”



Sometimes, on a whim, I pick up a book and try to wade into it because it had enough with the table of contents to make me want to set forth on another adventure. This book is doing that for me.

In the struggle to become human, I find myself returning over and over to ancient texts that, for me, still contain the original impulse of Jesus. That impulse was the spirit that drove Jesus through the villages of Galilee and ultimately to death in Jerusalem. It was the inner fire that impelled him to preach the coming of God’s reign, the spirit that caused him to cry out, “I came to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49). Even though that impulse may lie buried under the detritus of routinized religion, I am convinced that we can recover priceless rubies among the rubble.




It is a struggle to become human. It is, for example, a struggle for young military police in Iraq to be human within systems of power that often finds the need to degrade others in order to gain something. I would say the struggle is universal to humanity. In Wink’s book, he will take a look at the concept or title known in scripture as “the son of Man.” He seems to call it “the human being.” I find that it is curious that we can be so afraid to be human that we run away and try to shelter ourselves within the language of religion that is still afraid to be what Jesus was – completely and to its fullest – Human. There is a treasure within the scriptures that brings us great gifts for life that are often lost within the religious games we play…games that are not likely to show the beauty of God’s notion of creating humanity in God’s image. I’m sharing pieces from this book, beginning today, because already it has me looking at me and you differently.



Connection: What makes up the vision of being fully human to you? What are the gifts and qualities that give us the power to become linked with others in a realm of peacefulness and hope? How can that begin to take shape in you…now?



By the power of your Spirit, O God, grasp us again and lead us along the pathway your beloved Jesus. Yes, we may not want to go and we may fight in order to go another way to a place and life we would like to have…but grasp us Lord, grasp us and move our hearts along a new and creative journey of hope. Amen.

Monday, 10 May, 2004

Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann in “Inscribing the Text” will be the focus of this series of devotions.



Perhaps only the tenured, the independently wealthy, or those at the end of a career can afford to speak-truth-to-power. Perhaps only the fugitive, the raven-fed, the royally paid, or the clairvoyant among us will be brave enough and detached enough to speak at all. Perhaps we are too well-kept; perhaps security drains us of courage.



It is so easy to be drained of courage and get by on just how things are going along today. If I’m secure, why bother with speaking the truth…is the truth may change the ways things are. And yet, our lives are not fed by nor do they blossom from the secure walls of what is. I find that ordinary people who have much to lose are given the power to step forward and speak the truth when other words are being spoken around us – words with little truth to them at all. Truth-speaking-to-power is a non-violent way to unmask the day and bring some light within an often dark and cluttered life.



Connection: It may take more than one of us to speak the truth to power. It may take a team…a team of encouragement…a spirit led team.



Lord, lead us as we move within this day to witness to the truth. But also empower us to be open to hear the truth about ourselves and not insist on our way as the only truth possible within this time. Amen.

Friday, May 7, 2004

Friday, 7 May, 2004

Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann in “Inscribing the Text” will be the focus of this series of devotions.



A second familiar case of speaking-truth-to-power is Nathan addressing David (2 Samuel 12). This is worth the read.

…David arrives in power after a long winning streak. He is king in Hebron for seven year, then promoted to Jerusalem, where he is settled, safe, prosperous…bored. He is so bored that he seeks diversion and spots it in Bathsheba. She, like everyone before her, does not resist him; the rest…is history… Cover-up. Murder.

Enter Nathan, the prophet on the payroll of the king; enter truth!... The prophet Nathan wisely resorts to a figure of speech, a parable. He employs an artistic euphemism to soften the truth, hoping to divert the king’s attention until the connection is made… Now it is up to the truth-teller to close the deal by unmasking the king. It takes only two words: attah ha’ish (You are the man!) Just two words, but what courage to say them!




In a day when evil is put “out there” as in “one of them,” it is easy to begin to feel as though we are better or even, shall we say righteous before God where others….are not. We must remember that “not one is good”…no not one…not even my side of the story. But truth-tellers help to bring us all to a place in which we are able to look in the mirror and take off the mask behind which we have been trying to live. It is not wrong to have a “dark side” to be evil even when we want to be good. It is real. We can ignore it or deny it as much as we would like…but look around…it is there, and it isn’t only in “them.” Truth-telling brings all of us into the light and there we must begin to live again, by grace…the way we have been invited to live all along by our God.



Connection: Imagine how hard it must have been for Nathan to speak up before David. I can’t. But I can imagine what it may be like to be called to truth-tell within this day. That’s not ever easy…and sometimes there is nothing but silence. I think that is real for many of us.



O God, lift up our voices in praise of your Gracious Reign and in that praise let our hearts rise up to embrace the loving truthfulness we see within the faithful stories of the saints before us. Amen.

Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Thursday, 6 May, 2004

Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann in “Inscribing the Text” will be the focus of this series of devotions.



The truth Moses utters is the truth of YHWH: Pharaoh is penultimate and accountable to YHWH, and YHWH, not Pharaoh, must be glorified and obeyed. The familiar “Let my people go” is in fact an imperative – Send my people! – which YHWH issues through Moses. The king of Egypt is hardly accustomed to hearing imperatives spoken to him, but the truth is the he is out of business. YHWH is sovereign and the power of Pharaoh is dissolved. As a consequence and by product, Israel is emancipated. That is the truth, the truth of YHWH; it is, moreover, the disastrous truth of Pharaoh.



With eyes of the day, Moses words were ridiculous. Truth for Pharaoh would have been more like: “Get out of my face and get back to work…I’m Pharaoh.” But in this voice of Moses, comes the voice of the truth of God’s power and life and no power can resist in the face of such truth. Let us not merely pick on Pharaoh and his inability to hear truth being spoken to him. Any time and any one who steps into try and control the world in which we live often steps beyond the word of truth into something we try to call truth but it is never truth when it is nothing more than our veiled attempts to secure power and place for ourselves. Truthfulness in the face of power is a word that opens up the world and opens up possibilities that are as endless as the possibilities within the swirl of the Spirit at creation. It is indeed an imperative.



Connection: Today simply give yourself the opportunity to listen. Listen to the voices of power and how they cannot see beyond their own domain and rule. It is a bitter experience for within those voices we may find ourselves and that is tough to hear. Then remember the voice of God’s, loving truthfulness.



Your Word, O God, demands wholeness and healing within our lives. Your healing reunites the broken apart so that we may live in peace and share in the domain of your truth for life. Grand us the ability to hear your Word in the midst of all the other voices around us. Amen.

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

Wednesday, 5 May, 2004

Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann in “Inscribing the Text” will be the focus of this series of devotions.



Moses can think of at least four reasons not to undertake such a risky venture as speaking-truth-to-power: (1) he is inadequate; (2) they will want to know who the God is who sends; (3) they will not believe; (4) he can’t talk right. When this reasoning makes no difference, he resorts to begging: Send someone else! But the one who calls and voices truth will not be put off. Truth must be uttered, and finally, in chapter 5, it is: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.



Truth must be uttered and…in time it will be. Our God does raises up voices that will step forward as ones speaking-truth-to-power. And yes, it could be you just as it was Moses – filled with excuses and a list of reasons someone else would do better. But truth is not an intricate adventure. Rather it is a bold adventure in which our God will not forsake us when we venture forward to speak. I find it necessary to speak of love when I think about truth. This is not a love that is simply between several people or within a family grouping or national assembly of like-minded people; this is love as expansive as God’s love that cannot be eliminated. There is no stone, cold tomb that has a rock big enough to keep this kind of loving truth buried. Just as Mary was called to tell of the news on Easter, even after the two disciples could only witness to the truthfulness of death and the bodies disappearance (which is only a half truth…no truth at all), we may find ourselves inspired to speak beyond our expectations.



Connections: When that love that is beyond our comprehension presses into this day yearning for truth to be spoken to the powers that tend to speak less than truth, be prepared for its hearing and its speaking. Let your preparation be as simple as daily prayer.



Come, Holy Spirit, and ignite within us the love that seeks to be spread to all the corners of our lives and…then…beyond to all. Amen.

Monday, May 3, 2004

Tuesday, 4 May, 2004

Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann in “Inscribing the Text” will be the focus of this series of devotions.



The primal case of speaking-truth-to-power in the Old Testament is Moses addressing Pharaoh. As a truth-teller, Moses had as long a preparation for his call as any of us. …It was in his status as a fugitive that he was addressed by this voice from the burning bush who summons, authorizes, and dispatches him to Pharaoh.



It is so important to remember that this call to speak comes when he has been rejected and put out into the wilderness by the powers that be and his own fear. There is no place that can keep us from God’s touch and God’s desire to have the Word of freedom and truth ring within any time or place. As a fugitive…Moses experiences the profound presence of God so that he is moved to turn around and begin life in a whole new way – speaking-truth-to-power. It is not the most pleasant task…but it is necessary when it is placed on us to step forward and enter into the conversation of the day with a word of the truth of God’s Reign in the midst of the reign everyone else expects and demands.



Connection: Rise up O Saints of God! Prayerfully consider the expansiveness of God’s Reign within this day. And yes, you…you, may indeed be asked to speak up in truth. It does and it will happen.



Precious Lord, you do not care about the status of anyone when you call us to follow you and speak of the Good News of your blessed Reign. Empower us to trust your blazing word of truth whenever we think that we cannot possibly be an instrument used within the transformation of this day. Amen.

Monday, 3 May, 2004

Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann in “Inscribing the Text” will be the focus of this series of devotions.



Brueggemann begins one section of this book by noting stories in scripture…

that might construe preaching as “truth speaking to power.” In these classic texts, the “hero,” the one with whom we side in the narrative, is the preacher, the one who has been authorized by call to utter truth that lies outside the horizon of those addressed. His preaching aims to assure by an alternative and to jar by expose. It compels and impels action in a new direction. It is hard work – and no wonder.



“Power” does not need to hear truth speaking. Too often, power makes up the truth it wants to hear and then makes sure that this self-manufactured truth is taken on as the truth within a whole community. Unfortunately, this kind of truth is not truth at all. It may be based on some “half” truths…but that too is not truth. To be set within the life of a community as one who is called to “truth-speak to power” is never a comfortable place to be. But right away we must note that the preacher here need not be the “pastor” or “official spokesperson.” Rather, truth speaking to power is preaching and anyone from the least to the greatest among us may be called to fill that task…and speak up. We can expect to be called to speak the truth within our world that plays with power…or…we may be in the place where that word of truth is being spoken for us to hear. One thing is sure; the truth is often an alternative voice to the one by which we would choose to run our lives.



Connection: Who in your life is someone who speaks the truth to you and/or those around you? Who is it that has been given that gift and uses it appropriately? This may be a person you will learn to treasure…as painful as it can be sometimes.



Lord of Light you bring the voice of love to us through the voices of many around us. That voice pulls us in and draws us many pictures of the truthfulness and eternal presence of your love. When we resist this voice, continue to send your Spirit to open our hearts and walk within the light of blessed Reign. Amen.