Buzz King: Grace & Joy thru Scripture: Recent Episodes
BuzzKing
We look at the city and history of Jerusalem, from its ancient beginnings, several millennia ago, to the time of Christ, to now. We consider the people who pilgrimaged there from all over the Roman Empire, so that they could visit God's city, and visit the home of God, the Temple. We consider what this means to us today and to the nature and to future of our faith.
I was quite the kid gardener as a boy. Once, I planted pumpkin seeds - a lot of them - in my parents' front yard. It did not turn out well. We look at the story of the withered fig tree, the money changers at the Temple, and the power of prayer. We see what it has in common with the pumpkin seeds. We see that Mark and Matthew tell different versions of the fig tree/money changers/prayer story - and we consider what this means.
I was once at the hospital, with an elderly man who was holding the hand of his dying wife. He had been the founder of an electronics firm that made advanced computer components. He said that computers were the most dangerous invention ever. He expressed, in a more aggressive fashion, that our modern addiction to digital information, in the form of videos, web pages, social media, texts, etc., and our belief that Google can truly enlighten us, is leading us to a new age of Gnosticism. We consider the history of Gnosticism, and what we need today to regain our natural, pure relationship with the true source of spiritual knowledge.
When I was a boy, someone stole a shotgun from a police car - and the only witnesses were kids who all described the thief very differently. We use this as a sort of "negative" analogy and consider the four Gospels of Jesus and what we should think of their differing stories about Jesus, the way they differ in the order of events, and their somewhat different foci. Is this a problem - or is this actually a good thing?
We look at two ancient prayers that are very similar - both are called "Creeds". We consider why they were written, what they mean, and how they differ. We look at the broader issue of differentiating mechanical beliefs from a deep seated, personal, holistic notion of faith and what it means to emulate Jesus. We also consider a very large rat that was living in my garage.
My father's father served in the trenches in World War I - and came home very mentally ill. He proceeded to abandon his family and live on the street (in Quebec) - and commit violent crimes. We look at the millstone metaphor of Jesus'. He told us that it was better to put a millstone around our necks and jump into the sea than draw someone away from a life of faith. We'll look at this story, at Capernaum (where ancient Israel made massive millstones and where Jesus was speaking from), and at why my grandfather thought that he was living by this lesson.
We consider a passage from Isaiah - from three different translations. We focus on one word from Hebrew that is translated alternately as "wait", "trust", and "hope". Which translation is correct? We decide which is the best translation, and from this, we determine that there is a huge lesson in this passage about how Christians should live their daily lives. It tells us what to do when nothing seems to be happening, when God does not seem to be active in our lives. It gives us an opportunity to use our time in the most fruitful and faithful way possible.
We look at the Gospel of John, the thoughtful, literary Gospel, from which we derive much of what we believe. We see that Scripture can be very subtle and can be filled with double entendres. Looking at the foot washing scene in John as a primary example, we consider the depth and the nuances that are often missed by modern readers of English translations of the Bible. We see just how magnificent of a gift is Scripture.
We look at a book that most Christians are not that familiar with - Malachi. He is "the Messenger" from God who tells us that God will refine us like gold and silver. We look how God works to refine us, largely by building our confidence that we can indeed live as godly, good people. We consider what we as Christians look to as our leader through life. We don't have a prophet like Malachi as our Messenger. Who do we have?
We look at the word "logos" ("λόγος") in the Bible. We look at its true, deep meaning, a meaning that is very difficult for a non-Greek speaker to appreciate. We discover that translating this word correctly and looking at the magnificent, poetic intro to the Gospel of John, we learn about our role as the faithful, the reason Jesus came to us, and what we can find in the face of God.
We look at rendering of 3D wireframe images inside a computer into 2D, simulated 3D full color video. We draw an analogy of God rendering us from empty wireframes devoid of color and life into full color living human beings who have been forgiven. We consider Psalm 116, which notes God has rescued the Psalmist from Sheol or Hades, and which asks how the psalmist can render an appropriate act of thankfulness to God. Finally, ask what we can do today to render our thanks to God.
The title of this podcast comes from something my boy, who is 32, said when he was 3. We're going to look at the derivation of the name "Jesus", and learn some intriguing things about it. This will help us understand a parallel between the story of the conquest of Canaan with the story of Jesus. It will teach us something about language. It will also teach us something about what really matters on this Earth.
For a millennia and a half, the Silk Road provided a vast avenue of exchange for trading commercial products, carrying on philosophical discussion and for the transmission of faith. We look at how this might have impacted the development of Christianity. We also look at the new Silk Road - the Internet, and we consider its positive and negative impacts on Christian faith.
We look at the Book of Acts of the Apostles - which is very inappropriately named - and how it tells us of the incredible missionary journey of the Holy Spirit. We learn of the immensely deeper and inspiring sense that the earliest believers had of the Holy Spirit, compared to our modern notion. We see that we do not have to wait for Jesus to return, as the Holy Spirit is already alive, within us. We see just what the Holy Spirit can do to our lives.
We look at the apocryphal book, the Book of Tobit. It is a wild tale in which a man marries a woman who has had seven previous bridegrooms die before the marriage was consumated, a man is blinded by bird crap, and an angel disguises himself as a man. It is also a tale that tells us just what it means to be a Christian. We will also look at how the Grateful Dead apparently named their band...
We look at the Genesis story of creation: many call it a useless myth, and say that we need to focus on the real, scientific way in which we came into existence. We see that there is tremendous truth in the Creation Story, and that in it we see the most critical facts about why we exist and what we are meant to do on this planet. We discover that the myth is truth.
(THIS IS A REPOST. THE ORIGINAL SOUND FILE BECAME CORRUPTED.)
I once had a student in one of my university courses come to my office after not having done any work all semester. Without asking if anything was wrong, I launched into a professorial lecture about how he should have been doing what I told him to do if he wanted a decent grade, and no, I would not give him an incomplete. He would fail. He broke down sobbing - and I learned that something very bad was indeed wrong in his life. We look at the parable of the man who insists on sitting at the seat of honor at a banquet. We look at what it means to live by one of the core beliefs of being a Christian, and that is to be humble.
I once drove to Mexico with my half-Brazilian father. When we drove back over the border, he discovered that he had forgotten to take an ID with him - and of course, he looked like a Mexican. In this podcast, we look at the task of building our church today. We realize that we are judged in very superficial ways - as I was afraid my father would be. We are seen as ignorant and hurtful. They see our church as coming to an end, with no revival possible. But God has a much longer and deeper view of reality...
When I was in kindergarten I decided one day to hitchhike to school. I stood on the sidewalk with my thumb out. Quickly, someone did indeed pick me up. We look at God's grace and how it can protect us, both spiritually and physically. We consider the issue of what our role is in God being able to use his grace to keep us from harm and to limit evil in this world.
I once spoke with a woman who was dying from heavily metastasized cancer. She was worried that she would miss her daughter's wedding. I talked to her about the wedding that really matters, the one that both she and her daughter would be at - the wedding from the parable Jesus told. In this parable, the wedding stands for the final judgement. We look at the way Christians need to be confident that they will get an invitation to this wedding and that they will be honored guests.
I had an aunt who owned a pet ocelot. One night, a man with a gun tried to rob her. That ocelot loved my aunt beyond anything in the world. The ocelot bit off the robber's forearm. God is that kind of protector for us. We do not have to earn that protection with good works. Our faith is enough to ensure that God will always be with us. We look at a couple of the letters of Paul to see just what God's grace - that unearned grace, given through faith alone - can do to transform us.
We look at one of the biggest complaints about the Bible: the brutal massacre of the Canaan people, ordered by God. We take a historical perspective on the Bible, when, by whom, and how it was written. We consider the Canaan story in this historical context. We also look at a buddy of mine who got shot by a farmer with a shotgun. Our goal is to figure out not just the reason for this violent story, but also who we, as Christians are today.
We look at a major issue in our society today: the insistence that people are either our allies, that they completely buy into our priorities and stand side by side with us as soldiers - or they must be considered enemies. We consider a man whom I knew as a boy, a man who married a woman with 7 young children. This man did not live that way. He looked for the good in people. He looked to improve himself. He was a man of faith who walked in the Kingdom of God, and was not trapped in the Kingdom of this world.
We look at a story that was apparently inserted after the fact in the Gospel of John: the story of the adulterous woman. We discover that it is a very complex, multi-faceted story that requires great study. The Pharisees want to stone the woman to death. Jesus writes in the dirt and mysteriously, the Pharisees slither away. Why did they do this? What are the various explanations for this passage? Why should we be glad the story did make its way into the Gospel? And where did the story originate, anyway?
When I was a young man working as a computer programmer in a subbasement office, I met a man who had been badly maimed by a grenade thrown in his tank in World War II. He gave me a perspective of God and our dependence on God that is reflected in a very unusual Psalm - number 37. This Psalm is very much in the Wisdom literature category. It tells us just how God deals with those who do good and those who do evil - and therefore how we should live each day.
The opening of Hebrews tells us about the difference between Old Testament revelation and the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Old Covenant was the ponderous War and Peace, but the New Covenant is the shortest of short stories - and one delivered not by a long series of human prophets, but by the Son of God himself. We look at what that means for us today, in terms of our urgency to live as faithful people. We consider practical things we can do to more fully live our faith today - to live a radiant faith today.
There is tremendous conflict in the Christian Church in the U.S. and in the world today. We look at a letter called 3 John, the shortest book in the New Testament, by number of words, and we get a glimpse of conflict in the very early Church. We see that even at the very beginning of the Church, conflict like we have today arose. In the letter, we see a man named Diotrephes who is apparently the source of conflict, a man who, because of his anger and his impatience, is imitating evil. We look at this in the context of a conversation that I had with a man who wanted very much to make things right, to make it clear to people from his past that he was no longer a man who stirred up conflict...
The Didache is an Ancient Greek document that perhaps should have made its way into our Bible - but it didn't. It could have been written as early as the year 50 A.D., and it might have been source material for one or more Gospel. It was long lost - until it was rediscovered in the late 1800's. We look at its content: the Didache (the "Teaching") tells us about the Way of Life and the Way of Death, as well as how to organize and maintain a healthy church. It is tightly written and easy to read. We consider its relevance today.
We return to the Book of Acts, and to a man who I spoke with, a man who was about to find out if he had cancer. We look at a very powerful theme in the Book, but something that is often overlooked: our ability, if we accept the gift, to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. We see what it did, not just to the Apostles and to Paul, but to ordinary volunteers who worked with the Great Evangelists. We learn how our lives can be radically changed.
We study the Torah - and consider the often talked about issue of it teaming with ridiculous laws, such as not being allowed to wear clothing made of two different materials, like linen and wool. In truth, we discover some very demanding - but valuable - laws, ones that push us way beyond the norms of our nation. We see what it means to put some real teeth in the two great commandments of Jesus, to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls, and to love our neighbor accordingly.
I recently met a man who was confronting a potentially terrifying biopsy result, but who knew that the Spirit was more powerful than any cancer. We consider the often-forgotten Holy Spirit, whom very few Christians fully appreciate. We look at the Spirit from the perspective of the Book of Acts. We see how the spread of the faith from Jerusalem outward to almost the entire known world - the amazing spread of the faith to the Gentiles - was orchestrated not by the Apostles, not by Paul, but by the Holy Spirit.
Tyrian purple dye, which was, in truth, purple snail snot, was extraordinarily valuable in the ancient world - worth three times its weight in gold, at a time when gold was extremely rare. We look at our possessions today, things we highly value, and we ask: will they be the purple snail snot of the future? And what about that other incredible valuable item, given to us by God...?
I once spoke with a woman who had been through at least three major medical journeys. She felt a constant pull between Grace and fear in her life. She desperately need Grace to win the battle within her. We look at one way that has been used to categorize Grace: Prevenient, Justifying, and Sanctifying Grace. Our goal isn't to memorize any particular way to structure the overall notion of Grace. We want to understand what Grace does within us and how it impacts our lives.
A common complaint against the Bible, in particular, the resurrection story, is that the intense symbolism and numerology of the Bible tells us that it is fictional, that it couldn't possibly represent reality. We look at the Easter story, at what is indeed a dramatic resurrection scene, and which introduces one of the most important phases of Jesus' ministry on Earth - and we look at God's story-writing.
We look at Jesus as he approaches the cross and as he is crucified. He gives us two moral challenges, ones that for the world today, are incredibly important. We look at these challenges offered by a dying Messiah.
Matthew focuses on Jesus as the Messiah promised in many Old Testament prophesies - and thus seems to be writing for Jews. Luke focuses on Jesus as a prophet, seeming to address Gentiles. We look at my Scout Master, who was blind, and who inspired me (many, many years later) to look at the Gospel of Luke and consider Jesus as our Prophet. On Palm Sunday, we see just why this is so critical to do if we truly want to understand Jesus' special relationship to us as humans.
I once spoke with a young man whose father had been a corrupt Methodist Reverend - a man who treated young women in his congregations as prey. Before his father was exposed and arrested - when this young man was in high school - the Easter season had been his favorite time of year. We talked about the Gospel of Luke - and the long walk from Capernaum to Jerusalem. In this podcast, we look at that 106 mile long walk and what it meant for the destiny of Jesus - and to our destinies.
We look at the sometimes confusing, and historically controversial, core Christian concept of the Trinity. We we look at how this notion of three Gods in one - but only One God - guides us toward an understanding of the three major gifts that we receive from our God. Importantly, we look at that incredible gift of Sanctification.
We take a broad look at the three "Synoptic" Gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke, and how they portray Jesus as a humble, even meek spiritual Messiah. We compare this to the sometimes outspoken and vocal Jesus in the Gospel of John who declares himself to the the Light of the World. Why is Jesus so secretive about who he is in the Synoptic Gospels? What do we learn from John about the power of the Holy Spirit living within us?
We take a sweeping look at the world of Faith and the history of Faith in the one, loving, and trustworthy God. We look at the history of the manuscripts of the Bible, from ancient oral traditions to the Dead Sea Scrolls to the written story of Jesus. We see that an astonishing, true story is told: the two phase revelation of God, first to the Chosen People, the people of the Covenant of Moses, and then, second, to us, through the life of Jesus Christ. We learn what has changed during these two phases - and very importantly, we learn what has not changed.
We look at a ways in which people have tried to "prove" the Bible, using scientific and historical/archeological techniques, in particular, the Nazareth Inscription, a marble inscription that many say "proves" the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We consider, however, what faith truly is - and the losing battle of trying to defend our faith with science, history, and archeology. We consider just what it means to "believe" and the impact that it has on us.
We look at a book from the Apocrypha: The Wisdom of Solomon. While some Christians consider it to be part of the Bible canon, most Protestants are unfamiliar with it. It was written during the "silent period" between Malachi and the birth of Jesus. It is beautiful, insightful, and argues that wisdom is critical for deep, true faith. We see that while faith demands wisdom, faith also leads us to greater wisdom.
We look at the "silent period" between the words of the Prophet Malachi and the life of Jesus. In particular, we see that a few books that many Christians consider to be "apocryphal", the Maccabee books, give us tremendous insight into what was going on in Jerusalem and surrounding areas during the time of Jesus. We see Jews fighting Jews because some of them had abandoned their God and become Hellenized. We consider the New Covenant, with Jesus ordering us to love God and to love others and to no longer be violent - and how this has not come true. Christians have been very violent over the centuries since the life of Jesus. Why is this? How do we change this?
We look at the Old Testament's description of the Afterlife. We find that it is somewhat different from what we read in the New Testament and from what modern Christians tend to believe. In particular, just what is Hell? We look the teachings of Jesus - and just what he says is the requirement for a joyous afterlife spent with God.
As a teenager, I once drove through a tunnel of fire, a very brief one. We look at the use of natural phenomena, like fire, wind, water, and stars in the Bible, and how they are used to represent the power, pretense, and healing nature of God. We consider why the Bible is so rich in these metaphors - and why they are so valuable to us today, compared the ancient followers of God and Jesus.
We look at the works of the Sages, the wise Israelite scholars who wrote for a very literate audience. But the Apostles were not educated people. At one point, Jesus realizes that since he is about to be gone, and the Apostles will be on their own to spread his Word, it is time to be straightforward and blunt with them. He conveys a message in simple terms that the Apostles must always remember - and that we must always remember.
We look at the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, and ask the question: Is this truly the same God? One seems violent and vindictive. The other preaches love and peace and total forgiveness. How do we resolve this seeming conflict? We discover that it is the same God - but God has different missions in the two Testaments.
Recently, I spoke with a young woman who had survived kidney cancer and who had felt a strong connection with Psalm 16. We look at this Psalm, verse by verse, seeing what it means. We learn that there are a couple of surprises in this Psalm. We also see that Scripture, when it connects with us - and this happens through continuous reading - transforms us. We feel Christ truly within us.
I met a man whose freshman roommate was from Uganda, and who was a Christian living under the ruthless dictatorship of Idi Amin. It was this student from Uganda who taught my friend how to truly value the freedom to sing a silly song in the dark on Christmas Eve. We also hear a beautiful rendition of Silent Night from Musiques Libre de Droit (https://www.musiqueslibrededroit.fr/) from SoundCloud.com: https://soundcloud.com/boo-moo-shoo/silent-night-2.
I had rats as a boy, and one day, my father inadvertantly killed one of them. The next day was Sunday, and my father was sorry that we would have to go to church - and be in front of God - before he could make things right with me. We look at the season of Advent, where we await the arrival of Jesus in our lives. We know that how we treat children, and in fact how we treat all people, gets passed on and on and on. My father showed me love and he always made things right after he had made a mistake. He taught me how to pass on the love and the kindness of Jesus.
The word "Trinity" does not appear anywhere in the Bible. It is a notion that has evolved over time. We look at its history. We look at an addition that was made to the Bible simply to defend the formal definition of "Trinity"! But we also look at the true depth and beauty of this notion as it is revealed in Scripture - and we consider why it is so important to move beyond arguing the semantics of a theological term.
Wendy and I recently visited the "Cave Church" of Cairo, the St. Simon Monastery, where the great recyclers, the so-called "Garbage People" of Cairo practice their faith. We saw a vibrancy there, a joy, and a deep love for God in these incredibly hard-working, welcoming, and devoted believers. The children in particular were truly amazing. It is an intensity that we desperately need in our churches in the United States.
In most Bible translations, there are two words that are translated from the Greek to English as the word "gift", dorea and charisma. We see that the second word means much more that simply something given without obligation or payment. We see that when we believe were are given not just gifts from God, but charismata, and these empower us to live deeply spiritual lives and empower others to do the same.
We consider the ways in which a believer lives their life guided by God: first, with the training that we receive with Scripture, prayer, and Christian training, and second, with the occasional instruction of the Holy Spirit. We look at just how we can learn to encourage and embrace, and be inspired by, the Holy Spirit when we are at a point in our lives when we must make a decision on how to proceed in life.
We take a second look at the miracles of Jesus, this time from the perspective of the Gospel of John. We see that he does not call them "deeds of power", as the other Gospel writers do, but rather as "signs". This tells us John's focus on the miracles - as signs that teach us theological truths about the Kingdom of God and the Messiah, Jesus.
We look at the miracles of Jesus, as they are described in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We see that these "deeds of power", as these three Gospels call them, show that Jesus is the Messiah of the Old Testament - by carrying on with the miracle tradition of the Old Testament. We also look at the question of the reality of the miracles. Are they true? Were they added after the fact by people born long after the death of Jesus, by people who were attempting to take the biblical story and use it to deify Jesus?
We look at the Genesis story of creation: many call it a useless myth, and say that we need to focus on the real, scientific way in which we came into existence. We see that there is tremendous truth in the Creation Story, and that in it we see the most critical facts about why we exist and what we are meant to do on this planet. We discover that the myth is truth.
In the previous podcast, we looked at the parables of Jesus - and we look at them again, this time, with a focus on how Jesus preached using parables. Perhaps because he knew that of all oral traditions due to him, the parable stories would be most remembered, Jesus used them to teach us about the Kingdom of God. They are his summary statements, telling us what is most important to remember about his ministry.
The miracles of Jesus establish Jesus as the Messiah. They speak to his authority. They also show Jesus being deeply humane. But they have another, more important purpose, and that is to teach us about the Kingdom. We look at the parables and what they mean to us as modern believers.
We look at a very practical question: how to strengthen your connection to God, how to make God a tangible presence in your daily life. We look at seven specific suggestions on how to do this. The goal is to introduce easily accomplished, daily practices that will make your faith more real, give you a powerful sense of calm, and lead you to a joyous life on Earth in the Kingdom of God.
We all have an appointment with death, and God will not cancel or postpone that reservation that has been made for each of us. How do we prepare for death as Christians? Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians that our bodies are like flimsy tents that will one day be replaced by "a house not made with hands", one that is "eternal in the heavens." Can we accept the full reality of an eternal life?
Are the "spirit" (with a small s) of the Old Testament and the Holy Spirit of the New Testament the same being? We look at this question, as well as the various ways that the Holy Spirit is described in the Bible. Our goal is to determine just who the Holy Spirit is - and more importantly, what the Holy Spirit can do for us.
We look at social justice and the Bible: is taking up the cause of those who are marginalized simply a natural way of exercising our Christian love for others? Or is there something in the Bible that gives us a clearer mandate to take up social justice - or admit that we are not at all followers of Christ? We look at the Old and the New Testaments, and we discover just what the Bible says. The results might surprise some, especially when it comes to comparing the two Testaments.
Modern TV preachers often want Christianity to sound like a lifetime in Disneyland. Follow Jesus and life will be a self-indulgent pleasure ride. But one of the greatest - and perhaps the absolute greatest - teachings of Christianity is rather negative. Jesus said: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me."We must be willing to live by that command. We look at what this means in the daily life of a committed Christian.
We look at angels in the Bible, who they are and what purpose they serve - and at the non-biblical notion of a "guardian angel". What is the basis for this widespread belief, that we each have an angel watching over us, guiding and protecting us as we move through life on Earth? Just as an angel came to strengthen Jesus on the Mount of Olives as he was accepting the horror that was going to befall him, we, too can turn to this host of Heavenly beings.
Attending church is a public experience: but attending church should be a personal experience, as well. We look at the use of the Greek word "worship" in the New Testament, and this word, "proskuneo" is always used in the context of the state of mind and the responsibilities of individuals, and not on the collective nature of worship. We consider how church can be a truly individual and inspiring experience.
A common - and often very angry - criticism of Christianity is that it somehow promotes violence. We look at war and abuse in the Old and New Testament. We consider the reason these stories are there. We also consider the modern Christian and our relationship to biblical bloodshed. We discover that the modern interpretation of these biblical stories is in many ways misguided. We also discover that we are not bound by biblical violence.
Jesus repeatedly challenged the Sabbath day restrictions, using it as a day of healing when no "work" of any kind was supposed to be done. He is doing this to make a point: the day of formalized ritualism having priority over true faith is over. He is ushering in the New Covenant age - when each of us will focus on our relationship with God, not the "rules" of faith.
In Colorado, we frequently hear of climbers who suffer devastating injuries - or die - while free climbing. We learn from the Gospels that Jesus did not come to this earth to necessarily keep us from earthly dangers, that he did not come here to be a king in this world. But he did come to be our eternal king. While he does not keep us from free-climbing in our earthy lives, he is there to help us from free-climbing in our spiritual lives.
What does it literally mean to mimic the life of Christ, to walk in his footsteps? Jesus performed miracles. Will we? We look at several quotes of Jesus, from the Gospels, and we look at this issue. When we examine the goals that Jesus had for his life of Earth, at the reasons behind his actions and his words, we discover that it might not be as difficult as it would seem to truly emulate Jesus.
Someone recently told me that if you are angry with your spouse, and if you end the night that way by going to bed without coming to a resolution, it's like letting milk sit out all night on the counter. As we are told in Ephesians: "Do not let the sun go down on your anger." You do not want to get up in the morning and chug down that sour milk. We look at the New Life offered every day to the believer, and in particular, we look at the role of anger in that New Life.
When I was a boy, the Monsignor of my parish decided to gold flake the cross on top of the steeple of the church. It didn't turn out well. We look at Ezekiel, who spoke for God when he said: "I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel." We see that a true spokesperson for God talks about the incredible power and devotion of God - not about the glory of humans.
For the Apostles, it was a full-time job to bring the Word to God's people. For us, we don't have to go on the road, giving up our homes and our jobs and our possessions and our families. But being a person of faith is indeed a full-time job. We don't have to be like Paul who emulated the Apostles by becoming a homeless preacher. But we must be like Paul in this regard: we must serve freely and we must serve as as if we are Apostles ourselves.
Recently, while reading a heart-rending article about the civil war in Sudan, the targeted ad system used by ABCnews.com put up an ad tailored specifically for me - for a $3500 virtual reality headset by Apple. We look at the callous nature of our consumer-oriented society. No, I did not leave the suffering people of Sudan so that I could look at the next exciting high tech toy. And, here is the truth: if we can ignore the things of this world, what awaits us are amazing revelations from God's world.
The Imitation of Christ is considered the most influential book in the Christian world, second only to the Bible. In this book, Thomas à Kempis provides, in an elegant, highly readable fashion, advice that is as relevant today - and in many cases, far, far more relevant - than it was in the 14th century. In particular, he tells us how to maintain a clean conscious and how important this is to spiritual health and daily joy. In an uplifting, faith-building fashion, he tells us that there are many things that we must NOT do...
We look at Samson, a Judge of Israel, and a biblical hero with extremely low morals. While he is a very powerful man physically, he consorts with the brutal enemy of the Israelites, the Philistines, and he falls in love with a Philistine woman. We consider the famous metaphor of his hair - and what it really means, especially to us, today.
The one Gospel that was almost certainly written by a first person witness to Jesus' ministry on Earth is the Gospel of John - by the Apostle John. This firsthand account is extremely different from the other three Gospels, which all bear some similarity to each other. John's Gospel celebrates the majesty and power of Jesus Christ, as well as our ability to live in the Kingdom of God right here on Earth. The hope is that after listening to this podcast, you will want to read the Gospel for yourself!
We look at the early emergence of the church system within the Christian faith, and how it mirrors the synagogue system that emerged after the First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. We also look at the many things that Christianity owes to Judaism - and how a better understanding of this extensive relationship can give us a deeper, more intuitive sense of our faith tradition.
We look at the horrors that await today's children: violent TV, captivating and addictive video games that teach hatred and immorality, and social media designed to corrupt them. We make a comparison to an ancient church. In Revelation, John of Patmos makes prophetic pronouncements to seven churches active at his time. One of them is to the church at Pergamum. He calls it the home of Satan's throne. Today live in the home of Satan's throne.
There is a major misconception that the Bible teaches predestination, that those who will spend eternity with God have been chosen in advance. We look at Romans, Chapter 9, and consider just what this chapter truly says. We learn, among other things, that what we do on this earth while we are alive very much matters.
There is much to learn from the Bible - even from what is considered the most difficult to interpret book of the New Testament - Revelation. We look at the letters the author of Revelation, John of Patmos, wrote to seven churches active in his day. They were all clustered in Asia Minor, today Turkey. We consider the question: Which of the seven churches of Revelation most resembles our own personal church today?
We should worship a God who made us in his image, not a god we make in our image. Paul reinforces this when he speaks before the council in the pagan city of Athens. He diplomatically approaches these powerful people, gradually introducing them to the notion of the one, true God. We learn from him how we should address others if we wish to win them over to a life of faith.
Jesus' kid brother told us that if we are steadfast under trial, we will receive the crown of life. He clearly didn't think that any true God would never let us suffer at all - which is what many atheists argue today. It's said that if there really was a God, there would be no hunger, no homelessness, no disease. But we see that in truth when we suffer, we gain empathy for others and we are greatly empowered. Challenges in life help us grow stronger as believers and as humans.
I recently came across a man who was preaching on a street corner. He was abused verbally, but I found his teaching to be perfectly sound. He was a man who had made a big change in his life, fully embracing the modest and dedicated life of a true believer. We look at this man, and at our lives as believers, in the context of Acts, where Peter and the other apostles are judged by the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Peter declares: "We must obey God rather than men."
We're a week out from Easter. Jesus has risen and is walking the earth for 40 days. He has chosen individuals to act as witnesses to his resurrection and to his Word - that that means us. Through the story of Cornelius, the first gentile to follow Christ, we learn our true purpose. We've got another 30 days or so to answer our call...
It is Easter, and not Christmas, that captures the essence of what it means to be a believer. We look at the resurrection and why this is the one Christian belief that non-believers do their very best to argue away. But there is no scientific explanation: the truth is that we, as the faithful, simply have the gift of believing in something that only our intuition and our faith tells us is true. And Easter ushers in a kingdom that, unlike all other kingdoms, has no end.
On Palm Sunday, we go along with Jesus on his journey from Jericho to Jerusalem, beginning on foot and ending on a donkey. We see that Jesus disappoints the crowd who shout "Hosanna!", meaning "Save us," - and they mean "Save us NOW". Indeed, Jesus arrived via Roman roads to usher in a spiritual, not a physical, kingdom.
We look at King Josiah of Israel, a person who is not well known among Christians, perhaps because we have to piece his story together from multiple books of the Old Testament. However, he has perhaps had a very dramatic impact on our faith. Helping the People of God hone their notion of monotheism, which is, of course, at the heart of Christianity, was a major mission of his. For us today, we see how Josiah has helped us come to know our God.
In 1st Peter and in Romans, the authors quote Isaiah, where it is predicted that a cornerstone will one day be laid in Zion. This cornerstone in Jesus. There have been a number of Christian revivals in U.S. history. Today, those of us who are holding to our faith are serving as a critical foundation for the church. We need to be like the early believers, like Paul, like the Apostles, who saw nothing in between being a nonbeliever and being a spreader of the faith. They did not settle for simply believing: they were the foundation laid upon the cornerstone of Jesus - they were builders, not just members era of the church; they were evangelists.
I met a man who has a problem with addiction, in particular, gambling. When he feels the urge hit him, he gets in his car and drives a route in Denver that takes him past a number of place where homeless people are encamped. He hands out food, clothing, blankets. He is like the fig tree in Luke 13, the tree that would not bear fruit. This man allowed God to cover him with grace so that he could turn his addiction on its head and bear beautiful fruit.
In the third Chapter of Zechariah, he has a vision of a trial scene: God is the judge, Satan is the accuser or prosecutor, and Joshua is the first person chosen to be the High Priest for the reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Joshua is the accused. We do not know what he is accused of, but we do know he is found innocent: he (symbolically) goes from being covered with dung to being dressed in fine clothes. We, too, can be cleansed by God: we can be covered with human excrement and then be transformed into the blameless.
Our daughter, when she was perhaps 6, made a bookmark in school. Isabelle put three stickers on it: a leaf, a deer, and a tree. She wrote on it "Safe the trees". In Psalm 24, we learn that God owns the Earth, and all on it, including us. We take a fresh look at our responsibility, as believers, to care for all that God has created - especially us...
In the first chapter of Nehemiah, this average man who is not a priest and was not a prophet, offers up a prayer to God. It is motived by his discovery that despite the Babylonians having been conquered by the Persians, and despite the fact that the descendants of the exiles have returned home, the walls of Jerusalem are still in terrible shape. The city is exposed to attack. He is going to Jerusalem, his journey starting from the capital city of Persia; he will rebuild the walls, enact economic reforms, and aid the poor. His prayer is a request of God to bless him on his many-year mission. He teaches us the proper way to fast, and in fact, the proper way to perform any act of self-denial. He teaches us how to honor God instead of ourselves.
I have been deeply touched and very impressed at how many people who are dying or are confronting a disabling disease express thankfulness for all they have. We look at one such man, who had metastasized cancer. It turns out that many people seem to have taken to heart Paul's advice in 1st Thessalonians, to "Give thanks in all circumstances".
We look at the history of the Christian Creeds, and in detail at the most popular one in the western Church - the Apostles Creed. We look at the meaning of the verses of the Creed. We also look at the need to truly understand what we are saying - and to not let repetition ruin the meaning of a very meaningful prayer.
The Lord's Prayer from the Gospel of Matthew is the most commonly recited passage of the New Testament - by far. We look at the biblical roots of the prayer and at what the Bible verses that make up the prayer truly mean. Many will be surprised...
In 2nd Kings, Elisha appears to be teased by a large group of young boys simply because he is bald. So he curses them and then sends bears to maul them to death. Is the prophet that petty and that cruel? Or is something very different actually happening? What is the real story? And what is the allegory behind the story?
There is a very popular Old Testament verse, from Jeremiah: For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.We see it on coffee cups and on social media. It seems to make an individual promise to each of us, affirming that God is always there to take care of us. But in truth, this phrase is sometimes greatly misunderstood. We look at its biblical context - and the true message behind this verse.
In 1st Peter, we are told:10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.We often do not think that we have anything that we can offer to serve others. As a chaplain, I once walked into a patient's room, a woman who was homeless, dying of cancer, and who owned nothing more than what she could carry on her back. But after she asked if the two of us could pray, I discovered that she had a great gift to offer me...
Hannah, a childless wife in a male-dominated world, found herself with no value in the eyes of her fellow Israelites. She prayed to God, asking God to give her a child. She told God that if he gave her a son, she would give that son back to God. He granted her prayer - and she kept her promise. Hannah shows us that God does not make one-way contracts...
On Christmas Eve, we look at the prophesy of Jeremiah, that there will be a "new covenant with the people of Judah". He wrote this to the exiled Israelites in Babylon, to give them hope that they would one day regain the Promised Land. When Jesus came into this world, this prophesy took on a far bigger and everlasting meaning...
In Acts, Chapter 8, we meet the ultimate outsider: the Ethiopian euncuh. God commands Philip to go find him. The Ethiopian has traveled all the way to Jerusalem to learn about the Israelite God. On his way home, he is trying to study the words of the Prophet Isaiah. Philip teaches him the true meaning of these words - and baptizes him. The seeker will now take his faith home. We are all seekers - and all people are welcomed to the faith.
One of the most significant misinterpretations in the Bible, due to the difference between Greek and English as well as a deliberate modern insertion into ancient scripture, is the passage from Ephesians that seems to be focused specifically on ordering every woman to always subject herself to her husband's will. We take a look at this passage and see what the Greek of Paul's original letter actually says. We might be surprised...
Depending on the translation that one reads, David, in his desperation, with Saul wanting him dead either says, "But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death,"or "But truly, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death."It turns out that the first translation is right: he says "soul", not "yourself live", and indeed, as Christians we know that the death of our soul should be more important than the death of our body. But yes, God nonetheless created us to be afraid of death. There happens to be a very good and very spiritually important reason for this fear ...
Perhaps the most colorful prophetic vision in the Old Testament is Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dead bones rising up and forming a great army. I happened to have recently talked to a homeless man who lived in a tunnel. In many ways, he was like the people of Old Testament times, depending on prophets to lead them to God, depending on God to rescue them in this life. We, as Christians, do not live in a tunnel. We have great peripheral vision. We have an individual relationship with God and can see far beyond this life. We know that spiritually, not physically, and with God's forgiveness, we can rise over and over, like dry bones.
Over and over in the New Testament, we are told to serve others, to let our light shine. But the reason isn't simply so that we can help other people, which is, of course a blessed thing in itself. We have been ordained to bring others to faith, to guide other people into the Kingdom of God. When we are told by Jesus: In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heave, we are being instructed to motivate others to give glory to God.
In Ephesians, Paul tells us to celebrate our faith by singing hymns and other Christian songs. The New Testament does contain fragments of what appear to be early Christian hymns. We celebrate the worship and evangelical impact of music on the Christian church. In particular, hymns like Amazing Grace have hugely influenced converts over the last couple of centuries.
When the People of God were wandering in the desert, in what the Bible calls "the wilderness", God was directing an entire people toward its earthly home. But as Christians, we have a personal relationship with God. We don't have a covenant, like the Old Covenant, between God and all believers; rather, each of us has a personal covenant with God - we are individually led to our spiritual and our eternal home by God. That is the heart of the New Covenant and the heart of our faith.
In the Book of James, the author - possibly written by the kid brother of Jesus - tells us that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above". A woman who had lost all her fingers and toes, except for one thumb, gave me a coloring that now hangs on the wall of my home office. It is without doubt a perfect gift, and one that came from above.
Only twice in the Bible does an animal talk - the voice of Satan coming from the serpent in the Garden of Eden and the voice of God coming from the talking donkey in Numbers. The great Gentile Prophet Balaam proves less godly than his donkey when Balaam proves blind to the angel in his path but the donkey sees the angel. The angel is there to stop Balaam from doing a great evil. Later, Balaam reverses course and speaks of his faith in God. But even later, he waffles again, turning away from his faith. That is how we live, our faith gaining and waning throughout our lives - and we must always be prepared to spot the angel standing in our path, warning us.
In 1st John, we learn much of the basics of orthodox Christianity: to accept Jesus as God as well as a human, to love God, to love people, and to understand that Jesus is our "lawyer" before God. We also learn that we have been given a life in the Kingdom of God, as well as an eternal life.
Scholars count 613 laws or rules embedded in the Torah or Pentateuch - commandments by which the Chosen People lived. These rules were tedious in many ways, but they also kept God in their lives every day - because their daily lives were controlled by God. We do not live that way: we are far freer. We have the great, simple Ten Commandments handed down to Moses by God on the mountain, and then from Moses to God's People. But, as it turns out, Jesus came along and did the Torah and Moses - and even God - one better...
In Paul's letter to the believers in Philippi, he offers thanks for multiple generous gifts offered by these people, both to help his missionary efforts, and apparently to help the poor believers in Jerusalem. But Paul expresses his deepest thanks not for money, not for his support, but for their faith in God. That is what makes them his bothers and sisters: their shared belief. He tells them that the Lord is near - that because of their faith, God is always with them.
There are many examples in the Bible of very simple prayers that were immediately answered in direct, positive ways. The prophet Elisha asked God to prove to the King of Aram that God's protection was more powerful than the Syrian army. God responded by surrounding Elisha with a mountainside full of chariots of fire. But sometimes prayers are not answered so dramatically, and sometimes they are not answered the way we want them answered. Jesus himself prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane to be relieved of his pending crucifixion. God did not do this. We see that often God answers in a way other than what we might prefer...
Today, most Christians who attend a church regularly are older. In past generations, it was left up to younger people to pass the word on to the next generation. Now, older believers are desperately needed: we must make sure that the faith remains alive. As we are told in Psalm 92, the aged "still bear fruit" and "they are ever full of sap and green". Indeed, we must be tall, strong, and with deep roots, "like a cedar in Lebanon".
A very common question that is asked of modern Christians is how we can possibly believe that a kind, respectful, gracious, loving Hindu or Buddhist would end up in Hell. While we often focus on how to get to Heaven, and just who happens to go to Heaven, the truth is that the Bible focuses far more on how to live the way Jesus taught us, how to walk in the Kingdom of God now and for eternity. We look at the Gospel of John for inspiration.
In Paul's first letter to the believers in Corinth (Chapter 14), he tells them that "one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them." But he's not asking the believers there to become prophets. He's telling us to reach for the highest standard when we witness to others, when we support people spiritually: we should strive to come as close as we can to doing what the prophets did - and that is to connect with people in a deep, meaningful way, so that they come to know God, not just know about God.
1st Peter 3:18 tells us that Jesus "never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God." (NLT). From the time of Anselm of Canterbury, circa 1100 A.D., who offered his "satisfaction theory of atonement", we have seen Jesus as having died physically so that we could live spiritually. But what does this mean to us today, as modern believers? Perhaps for us, it is Jesus' example that is so meaningful: he was willing to suffer, to give in the ultimate fashion, as a sign of his love for humanity. What are we willing to do for each other? For our faith?
Chapter 11 of Hebrews - a letter whose author and original audience are both unknown - is famous for its references to the oldest of the Old Testament forefathers. The author inspires the readers - who are presumably Jewish converts to the faith of Jesus - with the courage and the durability of the ancients. People like Noah and Abraham survived so much more than any of us will ever have to face for the sake of our faith. Regardless of whether we accept these stories as literal history or simply as powerful faith stories, they without a doubt lift us up spiritually.
In Exodus 25, God gives Moses very precise instructions on how to build a sanctuary in which God will live. In Ezekiel 11, we learn that God is committed to being a sanctuary for us. We look at the Christian perspective on sanctuaries: Yes, we are uplifted when we meet in a physical sanctuary to share our faith. But we know that God is everywhere.
We look at the Gospel of John and the story of Nicodemus, a seemingly minor character, yet a person who shows us something very important about faith. He is a member of the Sanhedrin, the rabbinical court that ultimately condemns Jesus to death. Through a series of meetings with Christ, he incrementally becomes a true believer, finally ending up at the grave of Jesus, offering the myrrh and aloe to anoint Jesus' body. Thus we see that faith is not an instantaneous all-or-nothing thing, that it grows continuously over years, or decades, or perhaps over our entire lifetimes.
As a chaplain, I have noticed that older patients are often far more worried about the spiritual health of their adult children than they are about their own physical health. To a believer, it can be far easier to accept approaching death if one knows that they are right with God. In Paul's letter to the believers in Philippi, he says that he has trouble deciding between remaining on Earth and serving God's people or "departing" and being with God. The word he uses, depart, is "analysai", in Greek, and it was used to refer to a boat being released from the dock and setting sail. We look at the duality of serving other believers while we are alive and knowing that one day we, too will be released to set sail.
God gave the Israelites land to live on - but it was not the most accommodating land. The Israelites lived under the constant threat of the dangers of the "wilderness" desert. From Moses to Jesus, biblical figures faced spiritual testing in the wilderness. We can live in the wilderness vicariously by reading the Bible. This can prepare us for our own wilderness experiences, so that these experiences grow - and do not damage - our faith.
In 1st Timothy, one of the Pastoral Letters (a letter written by Paul to a pastor, not to a church), Paul tells his protege Timothy that those who believe in Christ receive zōēn aiōnion, or life eternal. As a hospital chaplain and a pastor, I have seen many terminally ill people who have not attended church for many decades turn back to their childhood faith and the comfort of the promise of a life eternal. We look at what these ancient Greek words actually mean. What is zōēn aiōnion? It's not exactly what our English Bible translations would lead us to believe...
In Exodus, Moses' life is broken into 3 poetically perfect periods of spiritual trial, with 40 being a common numerological device for representing a maximal period of testing in the Bible. He spends 40 years living with his people who are slaves in Egypt, 40 years hiding and working as a shepherd in a remote area, and 40 years in the Wilderness leading his people. Through Moses, we see that our goal should be a life of faith, not a life of earthly reward.
We see that the story of Exodus is referenced by Bible authors many hundreds of years - perhaps a millennium after it occurred. In fact, repeatedly, and into the New Testament, Exodus is echoed in Scripture as the ultimate example of God coming to our answer when we find ourselves in an impossible situation. We look at how we can turn to God and ask for our own Exodus when we need God to guide us through a great trial.
The story of Moses continues into Deuteronomy. Moses delivers the Ten Commandments to the generation of Israelites who were born during the 40 years in the desert. We look at the difficulty that we face maintaining moral innocence in an age when we are assaulted with knowledge that corrupts. Only by being wise in handling the knowledge of our brutal, evil world can we remain innocent. Moses faced this very same challenge: how to educate that innocent generation, and at the same time, making them wise, so that they do not become corrupt.
This is the second in a series of messages on the Exodus. When the People of God were in the desert for 40 years, they had a problem with their food supply: there wasn't enough. God blessed them with manna, a sweet white substance that appeared every morning. Manna means "What is it?", and that's what the Israelites said when they first saw it. We look at God's dependency, God's faithfulness to us. Whatever problem we have in life, God will get us through it, just like God got his people through the Red Sea when they had the Egyptian army at their back. Whenever we have a need, God will meet it. God will give us our daily manna.
Christians often talk about "Red Sea moments", times when we are facing a sea, with a mighty army at our backs. We have nowhere to turn, no way to escape. We can only pray that God will indeed keep his promise: to not necessarily make our promises go away, but to definitely step us through to the other side. In our nation and world today, we are all facing one hell of a Red Sea moment, with violence and hatred on the rise, global ecological challenges, and a dramatic loss of faith in God. We look at how a believer should handle Red Sea moments.
In Ecclesiastes, we are told that "a living dog is better than a dead lion". In the Bible, dogs represent the despised, the unclean, the evil enemy devouring the innocent. But lions are like the warrior's heart, like the Messiah. Which would we rather be, a dead lion or a living dog? In our society, we are taught to revere the lions of society, while many of are reduced to the level of dogs. As the faithful, we are far, far better off as live dogs with God walking beside us, than dead, once-powerful lions.
The Bible clearly says that we can sin without intending to do wrong. While ignorance of the law is no excuse in the secular world, it seems harsh that God would judge us as sinful when we didn't intend any harm. We look at Adam's original sin, the command God made of Moses to punish those who sin unintentionally, and the New Testament spin on sin. Our goal is to figure out whether we can indeed sin without meaning to - and if so, how does this come about?
We are told in Genesis that God created everything and God created everything good. We consider the war in Ukraine and the actions of Putin. How did he end up seemingly so evil? How did Satan end up evil? Why do all humans do things that are arguably evil? We look at the Bible for answers. We look at the Gospel of Mark and the difference between evil and mental illness.
Small churches across the country are closing. The two options for new, successful churches seem to be 1) small ones that are established in non-traditional settings, like cafes, pubs, online churches, and in particular, home churches, and 2) very large “destination” churches that people are motivated to drive miles to attend. We look at home churches, and how, in the near future, many smaller congregations may choose to meet in homes in order to avoid the costs associated with maintaining formal church buildings. We examine the history of home churches, through the eyes of the New Testament.
The Israelites developed complex rituals as a way to blend together their faith lives and their daily lives. Unlike Christians today, they didn't think of God only on one morning a week. Christianity has lost much of its rituals. We look at a humorous example as way of examining this issue of pulling God back into our daily lives.
In Paul's letter to Philemon, he is asking Philemon to free a slave in order to allow him to assist Paul in his ministry. In this letter, Paul does not make an unequivocal statement against slavery, despite attempts by modern readers to argue that he does so. However, Paul does show significant empathy for this slave, Onesimus. And Paul tells us to "bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep." Indeed, as believers are required to have unlimited, boundless empathy for all people.
We look at something that Jesus was very careful to do after he rose from the dead: he returned to make sure that the Church would grow and eventually spread around the world. We focus one one particular thing that Jesus did that is often not associated with Easter.
The people surrounding Jesus as he lay dying on a cross did not understand who he was. Some thought that he was a failed Jewish Messiah, a man who was supposed to push the Romans aside and establish a new Jewish theocracy. Others thought that he was a fool who only thought that he was the Messiah. We look at the perspective of those who watched Jesus die. We consider this from our position today.
We look at the reason why Jesus chose to ride a donkey into Jerusalem - as opposed, perhaps, to a horse. To most of us, donkeys are not the most regal way for a king to ride. But Jesus came to this planet to create a spiritual kingdom, and looking at Old Testament passages, as well as references to these passages that occur in the New Testament, tell us just why it is that he chose a donkey.
When Jesus was on the cross he cried out: "My God, My God, why have you forsake me?" Many people have asked why he would ever think that God the Father had forsaken him. But Jesus was actually reciting the first line of Psalm 22 - and many people have suggested that by saying that one line, he was in effect invoking the entire Psalm, which happens to end with an affirmation of God's commitment to always come to our need. Indeed, those standing around the cross are likely to have been familiar with the Psalm if they knew Jesus. We look at several Psalms and consider this question: When we are in need, when we are in crisis, should we do what Jesus did and grab a Psalm?
A warning about growing bitter appears in Deuteronomy; we are told that if we do, we will grow poisonous spiritual fruit. This warning is echoed in Hebrews and Acts. We can become bitter because we have done things that we know we should not have done. We can become bitter quite innocently, simply by failing at something very important to us. Either way, bitterness is toxic. Unlike anger and envy, bitterness digs in deeply. It makes us seethe. It becomes long-lasting, far outliving whatever caused it.
The two Kings books and the two Chronicles books cover a similar period of time - but the Chronicles books clean up the torrid history of the Israelite kings. We look at King Manasseh, the corrupt, idolatrous king who, in 2nd Chronicles, appears to salvage himself morally. We consider the stunning Prayer of Manasseh, which many consider to date from hundreds of years after he lived and to be apocryphal, in which he seeks forgiveness and regeneration.
The prophet Elijah comes under a death threat from Jezebel, the queen, because he urges his people to worship only the one, true God, while she is a pagan who worships Baal. He does not succeed in getting the Israelites to all abandon paganism. He goes into the desert, thinking he is a failure, and wanting to die. But God tells him that a remnant - 7,000 - have come back to worshipping only God, and that 7,000 is all that is needed to save the people. Today, Christianity is under great duress. But we should be thankful to be among the 7,000!
Habakkuk, in his brief Old Testament book, tells us what he thinks of people who use their power to control others: "Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!" I was once a very successful professor, and as a result, have a lot of experience with selfish, brutal people who care only about promoting and advancing themselves. We look at the alternative, and that is rather than seeing our strength as our god, we can get our strength from God. The result, as Habakkuk tells us, is that God rewards us: "God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places."
One of the complaints that people make about the Bible - and use it to argue that it is nothing more than fiction and myth - is that clearly, the Bible has been edited and rewritten, and that much of it was composed from smaller, pre-existing fragments of text. I argue that the Bible we've inherited may be God's "second draft" in some sense, but it is nonetheless a stunning faith book - and exactly the Bible God wants us to have.
Recently, there was a massive fire in a highly developed area north of Denver. A thousand structures, mostly homes, were destroyed. We look at God's command to rebuild the Temple after it was destroyed by the Babylonians - and how the People of God were too preoccupied by rebuilding their own homes after the Babylonians were conquered. But God prevailed and the Second Temple was built. We consider the dual need for people to rebuild their homes in Colorado and again fill their yards with kids and dogs - as well as to maintain our internal Temples, our personal relationships with God.
When I was a boy, my father cashed in his retirement money and went into business with two supposed close friends of his. One of them embezzled from the business and my father lost everything. God didn't to choose to punish that thief the way God punished the evil acts of Abimelech, the son of the great Judge Gideon, after Abimelech murdered his brothers so that he could be king. Abimelech ended up being killed in battle by a woman who dropped a millstone on his head. We look at that age-old question: why does God let evil exist on Earth? So, why didn't God punish my father's "friend" the way God punishes evil in the Old Testament?
Not long ago, I bumped into a man a bit younger than me who had taken a course from me as an older student. It turned out that he was now terminally ill. He felt he had tremendous regrets in life, that he had not done the things he should have done. We talked about Paul - who had once been known as Saul, a very evil man - and who certainly had much to regret, but who was determined to not look at what lies behind.
Television and the Internet are filled with ads for online gambling. We see a man dressed up as Caesar, with thousands of people essentially worshipping him as he proclaims in a loud voice that we should all get on our phones right now, install his gambling app – and start placing bets. I was raised to believe that gambling was evil, and I compare the modern do-it-from-anywhere gambling world to the father of a friend of mine who, when I was a boy, had to drive all the way to Las Vegas to feed his gambling addiction.
Under the Old Covenant there was an agreement between God and an entire people. Under the New Covenant, each of us has an individual relationship with God. We look at the most famous Old Testament blessing: the blessing that Jacob stole from his brother. We compare this to the blessing that each of us gets from God.
When I was a boy, I met my mother's father for the first and only time - and besides him buying me coffee ice cream, which I found disgusting - I learned that he was very anti-Semitic. We look at 2nd Corinthians, where Paul tells us that each of us has an opportunity to leave our old life behind and being a new life. I gently challenged my grandfather on his behavior. Will my grandfather choose to begin a new life?
The New Testament uses the Old Testament heavily, as a way of legitimizing Jesus' role as the Messiah and the last prophet. We look at Moses' statement that a prophet from among the Israelites will rise up - and that we should listen to him. We see that passage echoed in both Acts and the Gospel of Matthew. I take a humorous look at a sister at my Catholic grammar school who caught me not paying attention in class, and yelled at me to listen to her. But the sober truth is that there is only one person to whom we must ALWAYS listen.
When I was a very young teenager I got a job installing a sprinkler system in the desert in the summer. I proceeded to have a massive asthma attack. The reaction of the woman who hired me - and the trust she had in her faith - reminds me of the widow with a young son who gives the last of their food to the prophet Elijah.
We look at the biblical use of a father's blessing for his son (in particular, Isaac's blessing of Jacob) as a metaphor for God's blessing for us. I also remember, when I was a box boy in high school, being sent around town to collect stolen shopping carts, and a woman cursing at me when she saw me hop the wall into her backyard to retrieve a cart, and how she ended up blessing me.
As followers of Jesus, as people who believe in living the way that Jesus lived - with empathy, forgiveness, and grace for all - we inherit the responsibility to act as shepherds for people in spiritual and emotional need. I look at a brief encounter where my wife and I came upon a lonely person displaced by a forest fire.
I stood in an ICU room with a young woman whose mother was dying. She told me about the sacrifice her mother had made. Fifteen years before, her mother had left home, traveled from the east coast to Colorado, to raise the children of her other daughter, who had died. Then, the day before she was due to finally go home to her husband and her other daughter - after fifteen years - she suddenly had a massive stroke and would never awake again.
We are told that those who thirst will be blessed, and if we drink the spiritual water offered by Jesus, we will never thirst again. But how do we remain willing and motivated to search out God in our lives after we have that first, great thirst that is satisfied?
We look at the first gentile who is documented in the Bible as being baptized, and we consider a man who was sick in the hospital and who considered himself a Christian, and yet wanted to finally be formally baptized. We see that in both cases, an individual must make the commitment and go from being a believer to being a fully committed believer.
I grew up in Southern California. When I was young, I tried very hard to learn to surf. I never became much of a surfer: I was tossed around badly by the waves. We look at the Book of James where we are told that our faith must not be weak, like a wave blown by the wind. In Ephesians, we are told that our faith must not be tossed to and fro by waves. We look at the use of ocean waves as a metaphor for the intense power that our faith must be able to withstand.
Many people are turned off to Christianity because they have been taught a narrow, limited "Old Testament" notion of God. They believe that God is punitive, cruel, self-indulgent, even pompous - the ultimate Hollywood celebrity. What these people do not know is that the Christian God is indeed the God of the Old Testament (as well as the New Testament), but that God is both high and low at the same time. Our God will become humble in order to reach down and help us.
My wife and I were recently driving up into the Rocky Mountains when we came across a 700 pound bull elk standing in the road, blocking traffic. He calmly stared down the driver of the first car in a long line of cars all waiting for that elk to move. We must be like that elk in the road, making ourselves seen, showing the world what it means to live like a true Christian.
When Paul and Barnabas were evangelizing in Lystra, they were mistaken for Greek gods - Zeus and Hermes. The people wanted to worship them accordingly. But Paul and Barnabas know that only God can be worshipped, and so despite the fact that this puts them at great physical risk, they refuse to be taken as gods. We look at the issue of how we, today, tend to worship celebrities. They have become our pagan gods.
Paul, before he is shipwrecked on the shore of Malta, tells the centurion who is guarding him that they will all survive - but only if everyone remains aboard. We look at this true story as an allegory: for us to survive as the faithful, we must all remain onboard. Just as Paul remained dedicated his entire life to spreading the Word, we must withstand to pressures of our post-Christian world and maintain our faith.
I came across a man who was suffering from the long term neurological effects of a rattlesnake bite. But this man actually viewed this incident as a very positive event in his life. I use this story, plus the story from Acts where Paul is bit by a deadly viper, to discuss our ability as Christians to use bad situations to grow our faith in God - and our faith in people.
Many adults have grim memories of being raised by alcoholics who were not present emotionally for their children. A common theme among adult children of alcoholics is that they have a very difficult time showing love and concern for their alcoholic parents as they age and become infirm. I use the example of one such woman who was struggling with her relationship with her mother to discuss the freedom we can obtain when we have full trust in God.
When I was a in my early twenties, I had a job as a programmer. We worked in a subbasement. One of the other programmers, Tommy, another young guy, had to have full length casts on his legs for eight weeks. We used to have "Tommy races", where we saw which team of two could carry Tommy up and down the stairs the fastest. I use this story to discuss the joy that we can feel when we serve other people.
Moses delivered the Ten Commandments, but there was more that the Israelites needed to be taught, and this added material that Moses preached to the People of God is called the Book of the Covenant. I use the example of a drug user who died during surgery to motivate a statement made in this part of Exodus, which says that a righteous person should never be put to death.
We look at Revelation, at the promise of a New Jerusalem, where there is no evil and everything is refreshed, to consider this: at any time we want, we can enter the new Jerusalem. This is because God always forgives. God always lets us wipe the slate blank and start totally over. I learned this lesson myself in my life.
A schizophrenic man once told me how to find the entrance to a wormhole. I use this story as a vehicle for talking about the Lord's command to go forth into the world while depending only on God to provide for us.
I talk about two men who were both caring for chronically ill wives, both sick with diseases that would ultimately take their lives. Both men saw themselves as having purposes in life that would be impacted by their obligations. But the two men had very different attitudes about their responsibilities. I discuss the fact that God has a purpose for all of us - but it's God who decides that purpose, not us.
Once, at the hospital where I work, I had a woman who was an atheist become irate when I introduced myself as a chaplain. I use this story to talk about being a "citizen chaplain", someone who is prepared to help anyone they come across who needs help - even if that person has beliefs very contrary to their own.
When I was a young guy I bought my first car with a steering column lock on it. That lock suddenly engaged while I was going around a curve on a freeway at 75 miles per hour - sending me flying off the freeway. I use this story as a vehicle to talk about how we should all handle those moments of panic, and how it's important that we are prepared in advance for dealing with them.
I had a friend who was terminally ill with cancer and who had to make a decision about whether to continue with agonizing chemo treatments. I use this story as a vehicle for talking about the need for each of us to develop a personal theology that guides us through every decision we must make in life.
I look at the issue of New Testament authorship. There are those who say that because Paul might not have written 6 of the 13 letters attributed to him, or that other books were not written by the people to whom we have traditionally attributed them, the Bible is in some sense partly "fake". But what should be the true standard for including a book in the Bible?
When I was in second grade, I got on the wrong city bus on the way home from school - and found myself very far from home. I use this story to motivate two important teachings of Scripture: 1. be kind to others and 2. don't look for acknowledgement or reward.
As a chaplain, I often encounter homeless people who have been cast aside by society and come to the hospital for medical help - but only when they are extremely sick. I talk about a homeless man who was very grateful that I was willing to touch him. I use this to motivate the lesson learned in the story of the woman who was healed simply by touching the fringe of Jesus' garment. I discuss an easy way to learn to connect with God many times a day, very briefly - by touching the fringe of God's garment.
Often difficult events in life can turn into uplifting, even funny moments. I look at the Book of James and the author's command to use "troubles" as a reason to find "great joy." I use a situation where a graduate student from France accused me of hating French people as a stepping stone toward examining this passage from James.
I had a very short Boy Scout career - because I used dynamite to blow up a hillside at a Scout jamboree. I use this story to talk about how a Christian should use their spiritual ears to listen to God. We don't have the benefit that the Old Testament Prophets had: we do not hear an audible voice from God. But if we take our time and use a disciplined approach to praying, we can hear God's voice through our spiritual ears.
When my father's mother, who was a Portuguese speaker, was near the end of her life, she gave me her prized possession, her childhood ceramic-and-leather, hand-painted doll. I use it as a vehicle to talk about giving.
The New Testament does not tell us how Paul died. It also does not answer one of the biggest mysteries of the Bible: Did Paul, as he had hoped, ever make it to Spain, to the edge of their known civilized world? I discuss the evidence surrounding this question, and I relate this question to the corrupt world in which we live. In particular, I talk about my life in the world of arrogant, pompous academics.
In a second story about my time picking citrus as a kid, I use the generosity of the migrant workers I picked with to talk about generosity as a core characteristic of a true Christian. Using a brief tale about my mother, I also discuss the need we all have for our fellow people to acknowledge our kindness.
Jesus taught us to protect those in need, those who are suffering, those who are in danger. God also sometimes will send someone into our lives to rescue us. I use a story about my time as a boy picking citrus with Mexican migrant workers to illustrate this lesson.
I use a story about my mother and her efforts to make sure that I treated all people the same as a way of illustrating that back in ancient times, in biblical times, people were fighting the same moral battles we fight today. In fact, the Bible is certainly no less relevant today than it was thousands of years ago.
I recently met with a man who had a severe form of cerebral palsy. He was ignored and unloved and uncared-for as a child, but he met a woman who deeply loved him. Then, she died. He was confronted with the task of dealing with her death. One of his biggest concerns was that he would not be able to visit her grave, given his disability. I helped him find a solution that would honor her.
There is a story in the Bible where Jesus cures a disabled man. He does it so that the man will never become a victim again. I relate this story to a very elderly man who, very long ago, advised me to remember that I should allow myself to become a victim.
I talked to a man who was dying of cancer. He had had a horrible childhood, filled with deprivation, insecurity and fear. But he had learned to truly trust God. He turned out to be the deepest and truest believer I have ever met.
I recently visited a retired pastor who had a heart problem that was likely terminal. He told me about the thorns in his side, and we talked together about how, like the great evangelist Paul, his thorns, made him weak - but when he is weak, he is strong.
I use an experience I had with a police officer when I was a boy to focus on a fundamental aspect of being a true Christian: being someone who always forgives. We also look at the Lord's Prayer from the Sermon on the Mountain, where Jesus taught us this prayer - which does indeed focus on forgiveness.
Trumpets and cymbals rang out in celebration when the long-awaited Temple of Solomon was opened. I heard and felt the sounds of those instruments when my vision was restored with corneal transplants. It's too bad that many people - like me - have to wait until something this magnificent happens to them before they decide that it is time to give.
I talk about the need to live in a giving way, the impact we can have on children by raising them with faith and a belief in living ethical lives, and the fact that as we proceed through life, God will always be with us. I use a story of a friend of mine and me, along with a Catholic sister from our grammar school coming across John Wayne as a vehicle for delivering this message.
The Israelites traveled through the desert for 40 years, with God providing constant guidance and constant sanctuary. My father was a Marine in the Pacific in World War II. He emerged from that war, where he killed many Japanese soldiers, refusing to be corrupted morally or ethnically by the experience. He then welcomed with joy the news that his daughter would serve as an exchange student in Japan a couple of decades later. We treat all people as our friends - and make sure that all enemies become friends of ours. That is what living in God's sanctuary does for us.
Perhaps the most ignored, critical consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic is the explosion of anxiety disorders and drug/alcohol related problems. We look at developing a spiritual relationship with God as a way of handing off our anxiety, fear, and anger - and being prepared for whatever might happen in the future.
A true, non-hypocritical Christian is one who is willing to care for others, even to the point of taking a risk. Gail, an EMT, was horrifically injured while racing to the scene of an injury accident. Years later, I met her in the chapel of a hospital.
Christians live among humans, but we live in the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom is meant to be full of joy. We don't live simply for some far off promise of an eternal life. God wants us to have fun.