| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | We continue this week with more about that group of faithful folks who emerged from Babylon telling stories of life.
This simple narrative construction made theological sense and coherence out of a deeply incoherent historical experience. The story line offered by these Jews provided a theological case (punishment by YHWH) for Torah obedience, a task to practice Torah in a foreign land in order to maintain a holy people uncontaminated by alien context, and a hope for return home. The sequence of case, task, and hope is reflected in the tenacious insistence of Psalm 137, a song of the deportees that keeps the energy of the community sharply focused on Jerusalem: By the rivers of Babylon - there we sat down and thee we wept, when we remembered Zion --- If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither! Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. (Psalm 137:1, 5-6)
In some ways, this psalm is like the music we hear coming from oppressed people everywhere. The great lyrics of gospel hymns are like this. Full of an understanding of the facts on the ground and also filled with a vision for what can and will be. Always moving toward hope with an understanding that the present day demands faithfulness in the promise of God to be the saving one who has a history of rescuing God's people even when it looks impossible. And yet, the songs are sung and encouragement is offered and hope springs from tears. It is the work of the poet to expand the vision and make for a reality that is beyond what is.
Connection: The days at hand are filled with possibility. More and more we must be able to hear from the voices of old and those of the day a story of freedom and hope. This is not always easy - but those voices are around us.
O God, you lead us into your future and we give you thanks and ask for the wisdom to see the way unfolding before us and the courage to take that way. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | The critical time of exile became the shaping point of a whole people.
....it is the deep fissure of this sixth-century disaster that has given Judaism it primary form, so much so that Jacob Neusner can judge that the theme of exile and return has become paradigmatic for all Jews for all time to come: "The vast majority of the nation did not undergo the experiences of exile and return. One part never left, the other never came back. That fact show us the true character of the Judaism that would predominate: it began by making a selection of facts to be deemed consequential, hence historical, and by ignoring, in the making of that selection, the experience of others who had a quite different appreciation of what had happened - and, for all we know, a different appreciation of the message. For, after all, the Judeans who did not go into exile also did not rebuild the temple, and the ones in Babylonia did not try."
Again, the ones who tell the stories have an opportunity to shape the character of those who are listening. Therefore, defeat can be overcome. Death can be pushed out of the way. Hope can rise up when there is nothing about which people can hang their lives. This all takes eyes that can expand what is so that what is becomes a part of the wonder-filled possibility of God's power to bring life and sustain a people. Prophets have a way of doing such things. They look out and they can envision the Reign of God and they paint it within the framework of what is. Sometimes people will laugh at them because it does not fit what can be seen. At other times, their words and actions shake our foundations and help us turn around and look again at who God sees in us when God looks upon us. It is empowering to be called the beloved of God when you are not feeling loved or cannot see the fruits of love around you.
Connection: We need that voice among us. We need someone to cut through the boxes in which we attempt to live so that we can begin to dance to the themes of God's domain.
O God, Lord of the Dance, teach us to move to the beat of your vision and the tune of your graciousness. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Today we will continue with Brueggemann's comments about the 'intentional, intense group' that took up the task of interpretation the facts on the ground in Babylon and beyond.
This cadre of interpreters opined about the causes of the destruction, the way of coping in the displacement, and the prospects for ending the displacement and returning home. All of which is only to say that the dominant narrative account of Jews in the sixth century is not an objective, disinterested report, but rather one that bears the ideological fingerprints of the group that created this particular interpretation of events that is appropriate to those who offer the interpretation. Perhaps inescapably, this account of the crisis of the sixth century draws all of its meaning close to this community of interpreters, that is, close to the deported elites in Babylon who understood and presented themselves as the faithful carriers and embodiment of true Israel in the future.
We all create our own stories in so many ways. We see ourselves in ways that fit the way we view the world. We tell ourselves those stories (wherever they come from) and those stories shaped - for good and for not so good. This reminds me of the book Lies Our Teachers Told Us. So many of the stories of the early years of the US that have become the patterns of thought for so many of us - are not all that accurate. They produced an image that still guide and shapes us - even though many of the events never took place - or even took place along a story line that is nothing we would be proud of at all. Here we are able to look to Israel and see how this "in between" place that is continually run over by bigger powers, becomes a power in its own storytelling. And -- it is a story that has lasted and continues to create a community of people who follow its line of thought as though it is a saving light. In many ways, it is. What power storytelling can have among us!?
Connection: So what is the storytelling that pulls you into the day? What gives you the gumption to move on in the face of anything that might be thrown at you. Stories have the power to lift us up. Think about the story of resurrection and unbounded love - where does that put you?
O God, you are at the center of our storytelling and we pray that you will be the power of new life that will lead us by the hand in and through all things. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | I find that Brueggemann opens up the way I look at what we have been handed by the faithful of other times and places. Here is the first taste.
It is not difficult to summarize these 'facts on the ground.' What requires careful attention, however, is the additional 'fact on the ground' that the story told about these events amounted to a vigorous, sustained interpretation by a determined interpretive community. That community produced an ideological explanation that came to be constitutive for the ongoing community of Judaism. Among those Jews carried off to Babylon, a small, intentional, intense group seized the interpretive initiative and established the governing categories for how the destruction and deportation were to be understood.
For some, this could put people off. Here is this community - coming up with the stories. These are the stories that so many people take as 'television 21st century history in the making' - factual, with videotape included. And yet, wrapping up a few bits and pieces of what can be held up as falling in line with what we know of the historical setting of the ancient middle east, there comes this grand, faithful storytelling. These stories are then held up as the foundational stones of so many people who count on the God of the Scriptures to be a powerful presence even now. I think that is wonderfully wild. This storytelling can thus be defining in the sense that it give a place and a purpose and a grounding to life that is not making of the powers of the world. Rather, it shows that faithful storytelling within a community, can shape and make a people come to life.
Connection: One thing I like to ask little children when they show me a picture or something they found or something they made is simply: tell me about it. It is then that the stories emerge. Their faces come to light and they begin to give voice to their creative side. It shows some of their personality and their grounding. And - it is simply great fun. Faithful storytelling can also be great fun - meaningful fun.
O God, who makes the day and delivers us into the next, you take us wherever we may be and you remind us to be - to be the beloved even if no one loves us. You give us faithful imaginations that save the day and turn us then into your power of love. We give you thanks. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Today is a brief introductory bit that will be expanded upon later - it is enough to simply have Brueggemann note a few pieces of information about the time of this Babylonian experience.
For all of the historical stuff going on during this empires rules....The biblical evidence is terse....The evidence of the "facts on the ground" concerning the Babylonian destruction is not in doubt and is readily summarized. What remained, however, was an enormous interpretive task, a task that evoked Israel's best imagination that in turn resulted in the production of much of the material that now constitutes the Old Testament.
Though Brueggemann throws in the bits and pieces of this biblical evidence, it is most important that though it is 'terse', there is a whole creation that takes place during that time within the life of Israel. As he notes here, much of what is in the OT comes from this time. Some would argue that the first chapter of Genesis comes to life in this time as a counter-creation story that speaks of the one God that is the only God in the midst of the Babylonian powers and their god. Does that mean the story of something like Genesis loses its 'weight' among the faithful? Not at all. I would argue the opposite. This bunch of beaten folk emerge from this place of exile with a creation story that truly continues to create - even out of nothing. It is a story of hope and power and identity that gathers a remnant into a people and into the eternal embrace of the God that abides with them and takes them into new life - always!
Connection: We need such imaginative minds and hearts as a people who are called to live a life that is quite contrary to the prevailing powers that attempt to rule the day. We need to be able to say "you do not rule here - you do not rule us." And then, we need to live in the way of the liberating stories that come to light with a faithful imagination.
O God, within the stories of our lives, we long to weave your love and creative power into the days at hand. The truthfulness of these stories are grand for they show us our depth as a people and the power that comes to life within stories that are not molded by the culture and the influence and the brutality of the day. Grant us the vision to hold such stories close to heart. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | We continue with 'facts on the ground' in Out of Babylon by Walter Brueggemann.
The great geopolitical fact for ancient Israel in the sixth-century BCE was the Babylonian kingdom located in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. To some extent the kingdom of Egypt to the south of Israel functioned in the sixth-century, as it often did, as a counterweight to the great northern power. There is no doubt, however, that Babylon was the defining, generative power in international affairs, and so constituted an immediate threat to Israel. Babylon was a very ancient kingdom with advanced cultural and scientific learning. It experienced an important revival in the sixth century with the founding of a new dynasty.... The new dynasty presided over by two kings - father and son - had enormous expansionist ambitions, and so pushed relentlessly to the west. The dynasty came quickly to a sorry end through a series of ineffective leaders, culminating in the defeat of the Kingdom at the hands of Cyrus, the rising Persian power to the east. Thus this Neo-Babylonian dynasty was only a brief episode in the long history of the ancient Near East.
A bit of history is good. Our biblical storytelling is filled with the images of Babylon. It was for the Jews a formative time because it was in this brief reign of Babylon that the people, Israel, were devastated -separated - defeated. Expansionist powers have no care of those they choose to incorporate into their domain. What will come from this rule will be the storytelling and poetry that will become the cornerstone of the Jewish people and - by that - a part of the storytelling for all of us who consider ourselves followers of Jesus. It must be noted that the one who defeats the Babylonians while many of the Jews were in exile in Babylon was Cyrus. In the bible, the word used to describe this Persian king was - savior - messiah - deliverer, because he let the people go back to establish themselves in their homeland. Yes, that is the same word used for the messiah we call Jesus.
Connection: When rulers expand over and into the lives of others, it is at a great cost to both those who become occupied and those who have chosen to be the ones who can occupy the lands and lives of other. There are all sorts of reasons for empire to occupy the lives of others. Most of those reasons sound just and right at the time. Then again, over time, they are all still placed in one category - imperial expansionist.
O God, deliver us from any attempt we make to rule over other as though it is our right and duty to do so. Save us from ourselves so that we will always remember that you alone save all people. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Well, for the first time in almost 10 years, I took a break without it being vacation. I think I needed to refuel and re-view. Today will begin a series with a new book by Walter Brueggemann -Out of Babylon. It is going to be a good companion to go along with the Sunday bible study at Redeemer - The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Themes of empire will swirl in the air. The first section is called: "The Facts on the Ground"
"If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy." (Psalm 137:5-6)
These verses from the Psalter voice a passionate Jewish commitment that could not be silenced or nullified by the imperial power of Babylon. These verses succinctly encode the power relationship between the hegemony of Babylon and the defiant, pathos-filled resistance of Jews who continued to hold to their "local tradition" in spite of the power and requirements of the empire.
There must be a voice that brings life in the middle of powers that try to control all things. For the Jews, there were words of hope written and spoken that attempted to remind the people of a truth that was beyond the conditions that prevailed around them. How does one hope within the domain of hopelessness? We listen and we wait and we tell of the power that rules all things. Faithful imagination springs forth to make the people shake the foundations of the lives of God's people. It is to be a shaking that turns heads and hearts and helps the faithful to stand and be recognized so that others may also stand and resist the powers that will always try to overcome us with the simply methods of accommodation. Continue on is the cry that must be heard and most of all it must be spoken so that the gathering of God's people will one in which there is support and encouragement.
Connection: It may not take much to turn our heads and our hearts to see a whole new world. There is no magic - no exact formula. There is always a word though. A word that is the power to raise up even dry bones.
O God, surely you will lead us and deliver us - surely. Amen. |
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