| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | The story of manna and the meaning of sabbath come together - again, Brueggemann. Now the reason I tell this story is because of a little-known footnote at the end of the narrative: He said to them, "This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord; bake what you want to back and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.'" So they put it asked until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, there will be none." (Exodus 16:23-26) Manna is daily bread for the day only. Only for the day, except for a sabbath special; provision is made because God intends and provides that normal gathering is unnecessary on the sabbath and its it prohibited. It is a day of pure gift in which no energy is to be given to meeting our deficits or our deficiencies. Sabbath requires confidence in God's provision; only the anxious who mistrust violate the day. I am really quite intrigued by this sabbath teaching. What really caught my attention here is Brueggemann's comment: "It is a day of pure gift in which no energy is to be given to meeting our deficits or our deficiencies." What does that mean? Is it right and good to invited people over for dinner simply to have the opportunity to find joy and pleasure in the company of other and to share our live - even if it mean I would be busy fixing the meal. I would say "yes." Especially if it was for the honoring the day 'as gift' by making it a non-anxious time of celebration and joy. What do you think? I know that I often use a day off or a 'sabbath' day to work and get ahead - that is not good. It is not good for me or others. This selection for the day has me tumbling around and really trying to deal with this wonder-filled invitation to rest. Connection: What do you think of the notion of a sabbath (a day of rest) banquet? Sometimes we call the Lord's Supper in worship. Then again, I really mean the regular practice of joyful eating and drinking together in observance of our God's great invitation to trust in God alone. Lord of the Day, you bring us into your rest and call us your people. We long to be there and rest in you alone and be transformed into your stewards of life - bountiful life. Be our encouragement again today. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Today we hear about that 'manna' and what it meant for an anxious people - again from "Mandate to Difference" by Walter Brueggemann. The narrative does not explain the abundance that fell from the sky. Indeed, God's abundance always outruns our expectations and our categories of explanation. But of course the abundance of the Creator is given on the terms of the Creator, as it was even in the first of creation (Exodus 16:16-17). Moses warns his people, even as he feeds them, against acquisitiveness, as their perceived scarcity drove them to acquisitiveness even in the face of divine abundance (Exodus 16:19-20). The gathered in their anxiety, but their anxiety was a contradiction of God's abundance. A surplus of anything gathered in anxiety will contradict God's abundance. It is this last sentence that made me stop right here. I immediately went to the BP oil spill and with that all the anxiety we have about oil and energy and getting what we can without making sure we are taking care of the rest of creation. Our anxiety has stunted the expansion of our imagination. Therefore we will not ask what else can we do to provide energy for or lives as we live within the wealth of God's creation. We don't ask how we can actually augment our sources of energy rather than deplete them in ways we are not able to be responsible stewards. I have no idea what manna was all about but I hear from the story telling that it was enough for everyone. That doesn't mean rationing - it means enough for everyone. Those working throughout the day and needing enough to keep them fit and ready for the next day's word - had enough. The most slight of built person - had enough. The biggest person - had enough. And it was all given as God always gives - as a gift to God's beloved people. It was food for the journey to sustain the people and to offer encouragement in the midst of great anxiety. Connection: Where are we going when we are anxious? I'm not sure. How do we help one another remember God's promise of life even as we are unsure of what is in front of us? Lord of fresh manna, you have given us all that will make our lives flourish within your Reign. And yet, we hesitate to be satisfied and to let go our our anxiety-driven lives that make us less than your stewards of life within your Reign. Continue, O God, to turn us to you alone. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Here's more of Walter Brueggemann writing about anxiety as alternative to sabbath. Exodus 16 is just after the departure from Egypt in chapter 15. In chapter 16, the Israelites cross the water, landing in the wilderness in a place without a viable infrastructure where the assurances of an abundant creation manifestly did not pertain. You know how the story goes. First the desperate people of the wilderness, sensing their scarcity, yearned to return to Egypt (Exodus 16:3a). They could not remember that the alleged abundance of Egypt had come at a very high price. Second they accused Moses of lethal leadership (Ex.16:3b). The good news is that the complaint evokes the abundance of the creator God. The abundance of God overrides the scarcity of the wilderness. And we are told, in anticipation of a later Eucharist, bread was given in abundance (Ex. 16:12-15). Even though the people complained and did not trust what was happening to them as they were led along the way of liberation from the oppressive power of Pharaoh, their God was present and listening and ready to care and sustain. This was to be the beginning of the shaping of a whole new people. These would be the people who would learn to set aside a day for rest because God told them that they need not be anxious about stepping back from a world of goals and production that make us think we control our lives. Sometimes leadership that continues to press on within the call of our God can be seen as being quite lethal. "How can we go that?" "What will become of us if we do that?" And yet, God continues to work to carry us along - even when it is beyond anything we can comprehend. Connection: It is not always easy to recognize how abundance can come in the middle of scarcity. Scarcity bring worry and it is so easy to then turn-in-on-ourselves and try to overcome all things by more and more work. Sustaining God, in and through all times, you are present to set us free from all the anxieties of the world that love to play with us. Keep us empowered by your promises for life. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | In writing about anxiety as alternative to sabbath, Walter Brueggemann interprets four texts. Today I will write out the full comments on the first text. in Genesis 41:14-36, Pharaoh, the Egyptian god who presided over the resources of the superpower, had a bad dream. In the midst of his limitless abundance that is the gift of the Nile, he had a nightmare about scarcity. You know the dream of thin cows and thin years of grain, seven years of famine to come. But do you know the policy that arose from the nightmare of scarcity, as policies are always arising from our nightmares? In Genesis 47, Joseph son of Israel, child of the abundant creator God, signed on for the Pharaonic nightmare of scarcity. He went to work for the interests of corporate acquisitiveness, organized and imperial monopoly, and over a three-year period seized, in the interest of the corporate economy, the money of the peasants, the land of the peasants, and eventually the life of the peasants who were reduced to slavery. This achievement was all accomplished by a true son of Israel who was seduced, as we often are, into the nightmare of scarcity. You may be sure that in this anxiety over the coming famine there was no rest in the surge of confiscation, no time off, no sabbath. The machinery of acquisitiveness worked 24/7 until Pharaoh, by the genius of Joseph achieved total monopoly. That is how our people, by the book of Exodus ended in slavery; one among us believed excessively in the nightmare of scarcity that contradicted the abundance of the creator God. Thus, Genesis 47 stands as a prelude to the exodus narrative and indicates that a mistrust of creation's abundance created the crisis of the exodus narrative. Pharaoh's nightmare of scarcity disrupted creation and eventually evoked the plagues that constitute creation performing like chaos, a massive threat to order and abundance. I have never heard an interpretation like this. Later Brueggmann will connect it to contemporary times. As for this long piece, I was struck by the image of the "nightmare of scarcity." In that storytelling, even as there is eventually food for all, there is food for all because of the anxiety about not having enough. When we think that we will not have enough, we do wild things and attempt to make sure that scarcity will not overcome us. As is usually the case, the powerful are the ones who are able to use the resources and gifts of others in order to secure their lives. This made me think of how we go to war. We often go to war in order to secure resources or gain influence so that we will be able to sustain ourselves. Nothing is to get in the way of our anxiety. Nothing is to stop us from storing up surplus so that we can be masters of our own destiny. In the meantime, we forget about the God who promises life and all that will be necessary to sustain us. It is so easy to let ourselves be led around by nightmares rather than visions of shalom. Connection: Do you have nightmares of scarcity? And when you do - what do you do? I'm embarrassed to say I often attempt to secure myself before I dream about what we can do with and for one another. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | And so, when we do not trust this sabbath rest - where does that leave us. From "Mandate to Difference" by Walter Brueggemann. When we do not trust in guaranteed abundance, we must supply the deficiencies out of our own limited resources. We scramble to move from our sense of scarcity to an abundance that we imagine that we ourselves can supply, all the while frantically anxious that we won't quite make it: - Not enough to be loved
- Not enough to be well liked
- Not enough to advance
- Not enough to secure my family
- Not enough members
- Not enough dollars
- Not enough published articles
- Not enough new clothes, new cars, new houses
- Not enough bombs
- Not enough stocks and bonds
- Not enough freedom
- Not enough purity
- Not enough of our kind of people
It is necessary to erode the holy time of sabbath for the sake of productivity, given our sense of scarcity grounded in distrust. I look at this picture and I know that I am not able to supply my deficiencies - and never will. Just the other day I thought about all the financial stuff that is happening around the world. Instability for most people is "real life." I wondered about what a real "crash" would do to someone like me - how would i deal with losing what has been a part of our plan to make ends meet in the future?! I was struck with how I thought about me and what I was able to do or not do. Even when we are told of a guaranteed abundance, it is not easy to send anxiety out of the room. Here and there, I know that God's breath of life does bring rest. And yet, when I am realistic, I know that I do not let myself go to that place of rest. The "not enough" - whatever that may be for me - is a voice that is working 24/7 to convince me to stay within the illusion that i can be in control. Sabbath is a part of the discipline to break that voice and allow God's word of abundance to settle in - at least some of the time! Connection: Nothing will ever be enough. As Lutherans, we use a phase that is helpful here. It is simply "it is enough." The Word and that little piece of bread with wine - is enough to bring life and hopefulness and rest. Come, Holy Spirit. Come and hold our hands and walk with us when we are frantically trying to win the day. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Here is another interesting way to look at sabbath rest - and anxiety. From "Mandate to Difference" by Walter Brueggemann. The Creator promises and guarantees abundance, and sabbath is the day we luxuriate in that abundance as a gift which we do not need to perform or possess or acquire or achieve....because it is a gift! But of course, we do not keep sabbath, and so violate the inviolate sabbath and so diminish and deplete our naphshim because we do not believe in, trust in, or count on god's abundance. We do not think that creation is abundant, and we do not trust the guarantee of the Creator. The outcome of such distrust, I propose, is a devouring anxiety....just as sabbath is a total antidote to anxiety. For what remains of my comments, I juxtapose sabbath and anxiety. Note well "anxiety" .....not "sin" or "guilt." Well it is obvious that we will be staying with this discussion of sabbath as we move into looking at sabbath and our anxiety. That's good. I need that. Trusting in God is the foundation of who we say we are. Even at the beginning of the words at Sinai, there is our trust in one God alone. All things come from and grow within that reality. It is a reality that is meant to shape the character of our lives. Once we step away from that foundational word of hopefulness - "I am the Lord, YOUR God" - we step into piles of "stuff" that keep making our lives smell with misplaced trust and thus, anxiety over what may or may not happen to us. I find that as I am anxious about what will happen in my life, I become less of a person shaped within the loving embrace of our God. In many and various ways, I will step into action and begin to build the world as I want it and insist that it must be. In other words, I run from the promises of our God and in response to my anxiety enter a living hell that is always being judged and under scrutiny. That's sad. Sabbath call me to rest in what God has promised and I so easily choose to spin within my anxieties - an utter waste of time - all time. Connection: Are you able to catch yourself spinning within the grasp of anxious moments? It can be so deadly. Come, Holy Spirit. Come and open up our lives that we may see how you offer new life and when you offer life it is life given forever and ever. When we are inspired to see that, we are handed a weapon with which we can face our anxieties. Amen. |
| | | | Adventures... in Hope - Redeemer Devotions | | | | | | | Brueggeman comments about when the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished and everything God commanded Moses was done. It is finished! it is constituted! Holy zone where God dwells! Holy time where nephesh sets down! Holy space and holy time, holy life devoted to the presence of God and healing, and a vision of God's glory come among us - full of grace and truth - God's glory which we are to practice and enjoy. This space is unlike any other space. This time is unlike any other time. This life is unlike any other life. It is this space and this time and this life that stand as the wellness center of creation. There is no substitute, no reasonable facsimile, no adequate tradeoff or compensation. An act of restful restoration engages the character of the Creator, even as it is engraved in the life of the creation; imagine, moreover, that we are made in that image to turn from busyness to restfulness and so back to full joyous creatureliness, the kind intended by the Creator, the kind intended by good parents by whom we were first fondled. It is the truth of our life that we are meant for restful restoration. Written into the very center of the community is the reality of being finished - set - refreshed. This is not a time that will renew us so that we might never really be set in our ways - but available for the life that will come after we rest from what has been the labor of our lives. I always appreciate when writers remind us of our creatureliness. When we do not find that we can rest in God, it is so very easy to try and overstep our creatureliness and attempt to be something more. But we are not something more. We are what God created - and that is Good - very Good. To be able to step back and let the promises of God hold us and support us and offer us rest is to be a part of the whole picture of life that comes into being by our 'Creator God.' To be human is to be as much as that means - and no more. When we trust God's commentary on our life, there comes a time in which we can breathe and sigh and rest so that we will each remember our place - our calling - our status for life. Connection: Will there be a time in this day to be a part of "restful restoration"? If not, when? Encourage us to abide in you alone, O God. Too often we are afraid of what will come of us if we do not try to control the world in which we live. You alone can free us from that burden. We must remember this power you hold for life. Amen. |
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