"Earth's crammed with heaven. . ."

Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Mon, Mar 16: Whose descendents live in Seir? (Dt 2)
Deuteronomy 2:4 4 Give the people these orders: 'You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful.

And here's the question of the day:
Tues, Mar 17: Who spoke out of the fire on the mountain? (Dt 4)

And here's the reflection of the day:
Moses gives quite a speech here in Deuteronomy 4. It's a "rally the troops" kind of speech, meant to stir the emotions and to touch the heart.

The purpose of the speech is to a) remind the Israelites of who they are, b) remind the whose they are, and c) remind them of the kind of danger they are facing.

The speech comes in two parts: vv 1-20 and vv 21-40. The first part declares that the Lord has made a covenant with the Israelites in the form of the 10 Commandments. Covenants, however, are conditional, and the second part of the speech highlights the conditions of the covenant. This condition specifically surrounds the second commandment, a theme the whole way through the chapter.

Generally, when the Bible talks about "idolatry," it generally means crafting an object and worshiping it as though it were divine, like God. Now, it's not terribly clear why exactly there's such a problem about this. Some scholars suggest, as Clements points out, creating images of God were closely linked to the use of imagery in certain cultic fertility rituals. Apparently, it was too close for comfort for the Isrealites to create images of God because it was too much like the "world" around them.

Besides, what picture of God is going to truly do justice to the Lord Almighty? Moses reminds the Israelites that God, in all of his awe-full glory, had been revealed in the fire and smoke on Mt. Sinai. Clements says, "an image made out of stone or wood could convey nothing of the true majesty of God. It was more appropriate and meaningful to recall the unimaginable glory of fire and smoke filling the heavens than to suppose that a man-made artifact could conjure up divine power."

We certainly think of idolatry a little differently today, don't we? Like Paul, we tend to think of idolatry more as worshiping someone or something instead of God. It's more like the tenth commandment because we "idolize" or COVET things.

I would guess one of the biggest forms of idolatry is actually, as Clements says, "to believe that God can be kept 'in one's pocket.'" When we lose sight of God's transcendence and mystery, God becomes flat and ordinary. Each day, we should be searching, even in the midst of the ordinary, for the sight of God, present with us.

It all reminds me of a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. . .
Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes of his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

If we could just see "every common bush afire with God," I don't think we would EVER forget God's transcendance and mystery.

Keep your eyes peeled for God at work in your life!
Allison

Hello, Monday!

Here's a little music video to start your day off right. I think I've mentioned this song before but only the lyrics. Let's have an "all-sing" to get Monday off right!




Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Sun, Feb. 8- What was the altar for burning incense made from?
Exodus 30:1, “Make an altar of acacia wood for burning incense.”

And here's the question of the day:
Mon, Feb. 9- What process was used to pick Matthias as the 12th apostle?

And here's the reflection of the day:
Part II: The Importance of the Tabernacle (Exodus)
The tabernacle is important for two other reasons. . .

1. The distance between God and the people used to be very far. But with the tabernacle, housing God's presence, the distance is closed. No longer do they have to visit the mountaintop; now, God is right around the corner. (This ties in with what I talked about on Friday and Saturday. Click here to check out those posts: http://frankfortyotb.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html)

2. And now, because of the tabernacle, God's presence will go with them, instead of remaining in one static place. God is now portable, staying on the move with God's people as they travel through the wilderness and toward the Promised Land.

Next thing you know, the Israelites are distracted from the tabernacle construction. Instead of building the tabernacle, they build a golden calf--an idol. Let's compare and contrast the tabernacle and the golden calf:

Tabernacle was God's initiative, and he asked for a willing offering from the people to build it. The details for the tabernacle were painstaking, it was a lengthy building process, and it was build to protect the divine holiness. The tabernacle reinforced the idea of an invisible yet personal and active God.

The golden calf, on the other hand, was born of human initiative, at Aaaron's command. There is little to no planning that goes into this and it was made on the fly. Creating this idol gave them immediate accessibility to a visible god, who actually was a cold, impersonal god.

And remember, the Israelites just escaped Egyptian slavery where they were also constricted into construction on buildings there.

The tabernacle was meant to stand over and above any other building and any other god. It is meant to stand over and above all forms of idolatry. Because their God, and our God, is THE God. God has come down from on high to live among them--"God with us." The tabernacle is a way for the Israelites to exclude idolatrous practices from their worship life.

The Israelites became impatient, waiting for Moses to finish his divine pow-wow with God. They have placed Moses up on a pedestal and think that since he is gone, they are without God's leadership. They have mistakenly made Moses equal with God.

We do that sometimes, don't we? We mistakenly give someone or something God's place routinely. Sometimes it's the minister, sometimes it's a spouse or a job, sometimes it's food or alcohol or gambling. But nothing. . . nothing should or CAN take God's place.

Take time to do a little spiritual inventory today. Does God have the highest place, above all other things or people in your life? Idolatry seems to be our favorite sin, so don't be surprised if He's not. So I guess the question is, how can we rearrange our priorities so that God does come first?

Just something to contemplate on a "Monday, Monday". . . I pray that it's all you "hoped it would be!"
Allison

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday! And happy day before the Super Bowl! I am one of those obnoxious Steeler fans but I'll try to keep the obnoxiousness to a minimum. (However, if you're coming to Frankfort Church tomorrow, it's a dress down day--wear your black and gold! I am, and if the minister does it, that means it's OK for everyone else, right?)

At any rate, back to the task at hand. . . .

Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Fri, Jan. 30: What is the last plague God sends on Egypt? (Ex 11)
Exodus 11:5 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.

And here's the question of the day:
Fill in the blanks: "Woe to you, teachers of the _________ and _________, you ___________!” (Mt 23)

And here's the reflection of the day:
Moses' Seat
As I read through Matthew 23, I found myself turning to another handy-dandy minister type books. In verse 1, it says, "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 'The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.'" And I wanted to know what the "Moses' seat" was.

So, according to Eerdman's Dictionary of the Bible, Moses' seat is "both a figurative office of interpreting the law and a literal stone chair in the front of many synagogues, allotted to an elder, presumably a scholar of distinction" (p. 1177). (And you thought ministers just magically knew everything--why do you think we have lots of books?!)

I'll probably be thinking about this verse tomorrow morning as I sit on my fancy chair in the front of the church. And, if I have a spare moment of thought, I might just wonder to myself, rather guiltily, whether I make my "phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long." (Phylacteries=a pair of small black leather boxes containing parchment slips inscribed with biblical commandments strapped either to the left arm or hanging down over the forehead; tassel=a pendant ornament for clothing or other articles made by fastening a bunch of cords or threads of even length at one end)

Jesus' point is that the religious leaders, with their wide phylacteries and long tassels, LOVE the attention they get from the everyday religious people. Everything they do is for others to see.

This is a passage that always brings with it a little (or A LOT of!) conviction for me. It always makes me think twice about what my attitude is like when I am in church. It is easy for pastors to get drunk on power in the church. And that always has disastrous results for both the pastor and the congregation. And keeping the proper perspective seems to be the key. Pastors are merely instruments of God--gifted by God for the glory of God, and not for the glory of the pastor.

I imagine this is not just a struggle for pastors. I imagine this could be a struggle for anyone. Idolatry is one of our favorite sins--and anytime we take the glory for ourselves instead of passing it along God, we are indulging in idolatry. God has given us everything we have and has made us who we are; to God alone belongs all the credit for the good things we manage to do!

Well, I'm off the shorten my tassels and make my phylacteries a little more narrow! Hope you are too!
Allison

PS Huh. . . I can't believe "phylacteries" was in the spell check for this blog!!