| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | Brueggemann writes that there are 'two commands (that) epitomize the best of Israel's counterpractice." These are from the commands at Sinai - today is #1. First, there stands at the center of Torah commands the practice of Sabbath, the steady practice of work stoppage that makes visible the claim that life consists in being and not in doing or having. I have no doubt that the recovery of this discipline is decisive for the reenactment of this community of emancipation and resistance. I often try to tell our confirmation students how important this command is when we think of how God is trying to make a new community that is not the same as the ordinary ways of the world. It is not easy to trust that God will provide if we stop. And yet, this also means that in the days when we are not at rest, we work. The Sabbath is not made to build a community of sloth. It is to build a community of people who will trust that God shapes us by what God calls us. We are the children of God. That is our status and our life and our future. Even when we have nothing or can do nothing, this status never changes. Within God's Reign - which is the community of God's people throughout all time and in each and every day - we are a named people - a marked people. Yes, the mark is different as we move from the Jews to the Christians - but the claim is still the same - forever and ever as God has made it so. When we talk about Sabbath, I do think we must always watch for the legal aspects of Sabbath that, quite honestly, can make a mockery of the day of rest. That can take us into a many-sided conversation that would be best done when we are together. Connection: Do you give yourself time to rest - to remember that God is Lord of All - Creator of all that is?!? Do you make rest a legalism in your life - or a gift that you treasure? |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | Walter Brueggemann presses on with this community obligation and what it is that is formed as we enter into relationship with our God as a covenant people. Along with liturgical reiteration, this community accepted rigorous disciplines for the sake of alternative community. These disciplines we regularly call commandments or even laws. The emancipating, resisting community, in the imagination of its self-presentation, moved along to Sinai. Mount Sinai, in this tradition, is the mountain of address. There Israel heard the very voice of Yahweh (Exodus 20:1-17), and then they heard the meditation of Yahweh in the voice of Moses (vv. 18-22). In this holy voice and in its Mosaic echo, it heard a voice of summons and of assurance, a voice of demand and of promise, a voice guaranteeing a peculiar identity. And there they listened. Thus emerges the verb shema as the defining claim of Israel's life. In listening, Israel knows itself not to be self-made, self-invented, or self-imagined. In that listening, moreover, Israel knows it must cease to listen to the voice of Pharaoh that defines reality in terms of brick quotas. In listening, Israel comes to the startling, dangerous conviction that its life consists not in bricks for the empire, but in acts of neighborliness whereby Israel replicates Exodus for its neighbors. This piece will find its way back into my telling of our story of being followers of Jesus. We too are a community that is meant to listen. We hear whose we are and who we are before we have done anything at all and in the face of all that we have done. It is a voice of our God we hear through the Christ of God, Jesus. We do not - cannot - invent this story line we call the way of Jesus. It would be foolish to do that. To serve others, to love enemies, to wash feet, to heal without limit, to rescue without condition, and to forgive as though it is our only task in life is nothing but the life of a fool. That be us! Those who want to invent their own lives and make their own lives or want turn the way of our God into a piece of themselves will continue to build nothing but the empire that is Pharaoh - the world as it always has been. I so look forward to Easter Sunday and the renewal of our baptismal covenant and to hear the promises and to see the water fly and to witness the steady burning of the paschal candle and to watch babies getting wet at the font. I like to listen to it all. The laughter that comes with water wildly whipped around the room is the beginning of remembering how the voice of our God speaks to each of us - forever and ever. Connection: This is, like all of our days, a time to listen to our God calling us by name and embracing us with stories of liberation and salvation. Everyday is the day we become the children of the most high God. Take us up and place us at your feet, O God, that we may listen to your Word of Life that will always pull us into the life that it sows among us. When other voices want to claim our attention, be - as you have promised - the voice of unending love. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | This identity of emancipation and of resistance is one that is to carry on beyond what is often seen as a closed community. ....the provisions of Passover make clear that this is a theological-ideological act not contained in ethnic boundaries: "Any slave who has been purchased may eat of it after he has been circumcised....If an alien who resides with you wants to celebrate the passover to the Lord, all his males shall be circumcised; then he may draw near to celebrate it....there shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you. (Exodus 12:44-49)" The offer is inclusive. But it is not casual. One must be prepared to accept a costly mark to qualify for this community of emancipation and resistance. The door to this community is one that is open for all. But if you want to really be about this alternative life - take on this mark. Ouch! And yet, what an important piece of the story telling to take to heart. There is a sign - there is a commitment - there is then one way that will be the way for all. I would imagine that many men thought twice about becoming a part of this story of liberation. To step across the threshold of this story, was to step into a life - real life. Today, the church tries to make participation in the community of saints so easy that a person who comes along the way of the followers of Jesus really does not have to commit to anything at all. In many ways it is nothing more than a cultural adventure or a personal and individual journey. The story telling community of the Church does an interesting thing these days. We are willing to change everything in order to let folks come along the way. That is not all bad - but it does leave us open to letting go of the story and letting it become nothing more than a popular movement of convenience and self-pleasing exercises. I would like to argue that our simple action of marking with cross on the foreheads of the saints carries the weight of circumcision. If you want to walk with us and live with us and turn the world upside down, take this mark. Yes, you can blow it off because it is not visible and you can simply walk away because the mark is one on your heart - then again, it is a never-ending mark - a mark meant to shape - a mark meant to create new life - a mark that is available to all (even the fear-full), and a mark that makes a person a full brother and sister - no questions asked. The mark moves us and makes us a part of the people. We are inspired then - to make this a viable way to live and not just a casual and occasional acquaintance. Connection: We must be a people who are willing to mark our lives - daily. We do not do this to prove a point - but to give us the way of our next steps through this day. Lord of the Wilderness, we are so often being tempted to forget how you have marked us with the cross of Christ - forever. When our mark is one on our heart it, is easy to forget the life it offers us. And yet, your Spirit continues to tap us on the forehead and whisper "come follow me" and we are guided into the way of your Reign. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | At the center of a community of resistance is a common story that is reenacted so that people of today can be brought along and caught up in just such a journey - again, Walter Brueggemann. We do not know the actual "history" of the Passover festival. What we do know is that Passover emerged, is situated in the text, and is regarded in Israel as the occasion and script for the periodic, disciplined, intentional reenactment and replication of the exodus narrative. It is the cultic staging whereby in every circumstance, through every generation, this community sustains and makes visible and unavoidable a distinctive identity of emancipation and of resistance to the pressures of pharaonic culture. I'm not a fan of reenactments - but this is different. I don't like Christmas Pageants or "living" nativity scenes or Good Friday theater. In all of these cases it is nothing more than a show. The storytelling of Passover is an attempt to keep alive the liberated community through having them go through the events of the storytelling. The food and the words and the gathering around in households and remembering the story of the Exodus brings each household into the grasp of that promise and that liberation that took place so long ago. Through this liturgy of sorts, is taught the way to live - no matter who seems to be in control and power. This living is in the face of empire and actually sets people free from the power of empire. From this storytelling, people are to get up and go out into the world as the emancipated ones who no longer are held hostage and in bondage to the ways of empire. If this story does not raise up a liberating and new community, I would suggest they would be nothing more than the powers that oppress. Connection: Resisting the culture is not an easy way to go. And yet, it is the way into the promise of a new reality - a new creation. Come, O God of all Hopefulness. Come and whisper the story of your love and faithfulness to each of your children so that we have the strength and encouragement to live and walk in your Reign even when the reigning powers of the day attempt to own us. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | More on liturgy and resistance. The very process of liturgy thus creates an environment and a community that understands itself to be special, under a special mandate of emancipation from that Holy Power that Pharaoh cannot withstand. There can be little doubt that intentional resistance is rooted in the imagination and maintenance of an alternative world in which ostensive powers of intimidation are narratively discredited and dethroned. I remember reading about Bishop Desmond Tutu preaching in a packed congregation. He was speaking the truth about a world that is free and cannot be contained by any power. He spoke directly and powerfully. Everyone in the room knew the picture he was painting. It was a picture of imagination - a picture that was not yet a reality but part of promise. In that sermon, members of the national police of South African -during the reign of apartheid- came in and were standing against the walls of both sides of the sanctuary. An unholy display of power meant to intimidate Tutu and everyone in the church. Bishop Tutu did not shut down the words of vision and hope and promise and imagination. This is the kind of stuff that can get you killed. And yet, he continued - an act of intentional resistance that did not step back into the power of the apartheid system. Connection: It is important to step up to speak and do what is expected within God's Reign - even when it may not be a safe place. Such a voice and such action is a breath of life that helps to lift others and makes it easier to speak up again. You promise new life, O God. This is to be a life that is real and present and available to all your people. Be our encouragement so that we walk in your promises and surprise the world with the reality of your Reign. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Part three of a liturgical resistance against the power of Egypt becomes our opening devotion for this week - from "Texts That Linger, Words That Explode" - Walter Brueggemann. Third, the payoff of such daring imagination is the dance and song of the women, enacted as a gesture of defiance: "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea." (Ex.15:21) It is clear that this liturgical act - liturgical dance!? - is an act of unadministered, unauthorized freedom, the very freedom of bodies Pharaoh could not permit. There is just something about calling an act - "unadministered, unauthorized freedom. Quite powerful and yet quite frightening for how do we know what will happen next. Who will be upset? What will be the fallout? But they don't care - they dance and sing. Quite some time ago on Easter Sunday, I surprised the congregation by slipping on a pair of tap shoes and - much to everyone's surprise - it was a sermon by way of tap dancing. It is the absolute best day in the church to dance as though our feet cannot stop and the celebration will go on even when it is not appreciated by everyone. I don't think I was ever as nervous as I was that day. No one authorized it. The worship committee was as surprised (stunned) as the rest. There is something about letting go and going forward within a spirit of unbounded freedom. If it was just a act on a stage it would be just an act. But that day, the dancing was part of the whole renewal of our baptismal covenant - the resurrection of Jesus - our participation in the tomb rocking adventure of the church. Since that day, it has been much easier for me to think about dancing in places that are not meant for dancing and singing when voices to remain quiet. Connection: I really think every day is open to acts of unadministered, unauthorized freedom. In fact, that is called life - abundant. Pull us into the freedom of your liberating presence, O God, and teach us to dance within the Spirit of the Lord of the Church. We have so much to fear and yet you remind us to sing and dance and give praise to you alone - and live courageously. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | As the week ends, here is Brueggemann's second point about liturgical story telling. Second, this liturgy dares to off a critique that ridicules established power. Obviously such actions are precluded in the empire, for the maintenance of illicit power depends upon the stifling of dissent. (Brueggman goes on to comment on the recital of the plagues and the weakness of empire) The critique includes the assertion that Egypt "could not," that is, had reached the end of its technological capacity (Ex.8:18).... This liturgy is a scenario of reality that contradicts Egyptian reality. This distinctive community is invited to affirm that the world constructed in liturgy is more reliable and more credible than the world "out there." The purpose of such liturgy is to nurture imagination and to equip Israel with the nerve to act out of its distinctiveness in the face of formidable, hostile power. We build a world in the liturgy. I always think of the way we enter. The simple action of walking in behind the cross. We - in merely walking and following that cross - face who we are and who we are called to be. A simple walk through a common space - and yet it is a contrary walk. That is how we begin. In that action - followed up by so many other pieces of the Reign of God washing over us in the liturgy - their must always be the recognition that we do and we say will ridicule established power. The story of Exodus that is retold is retold so as to make the reality around the people one at which we can point our fingers and laugh and celebrate and dance. We are able to do that because we are telling ourselves that such mighty powers as empire do not rule us. Connection: Listen this week to the story that is constructed in the liturgy. Before us you move, O God, so that we will know the way through the wilderness of the powers of this world. Before us, you go and bid us to follow even when the powers of death attempt to rule us and own us. As we venture out into this day, go before us, as promised. Amen. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
