workspace

I work best with little distraction. And coffee.

he knows if you've been good or bad

It was about 5:15 this morning, after the Prince had been up in the bathroom and had a little fit because he was not allowed neither to get into bed with me nor to get up to play. It was while he was in his bed, yelling about the unfairness of being sent back to bed when, "I am not tired!" Yes, it was about then that I thought, "If you don't be quiet, Santa Claus won't bring you any present." I am a little ashed to write that. I am quite glad that those words stayed in my head and did not cross my lips.

Husband and I do not promote Santa. His least favorite Christmas song begins, "You better watch out. You better not shout. You better look out I'm telling you why." The most offensive part is, to my mind, "He knows if you've been good or bad so be good for goodness sake." No, not for goodness sake, but for the sake of receiving a beautifully wrapped, object of desire on Christmas morning (or a little before or after, depending on your parents' work schedule).

I find it distasteful that we teach our children that Jesus loves them in spite of their naughty, and that there is no cosmic list of good deeds and bad. Yet, Monday - through Saturday in December we teach the children that only those who are deserving get a reward. The radical message of the incarnation gets muted. Last week sometime LittleBear announced that Santa was keeping a naughty list. Husband looked him in the eyes and said, "no one is keeping a list of good and bad. There is no list." (see hes a Lutheran preacher too!)

I am opposed to lying to children. oh, and the idea of a man that we have never met who sneaks into our house in the middle of the night: that is creepy.

I am not a Christmas hater. I love the cultural celebrations at this time of the year: the way people have more patience for one another, the giving of time and money by people of all religious persuasions, the exchange of gifts, the cookies, the cookies. But I won't adopt a cultural celebration that contradicts a deeper truth I seek to instill in my children. Good gifts, great gifts are given even if you have been naughty. This gift looks like forgiveness; its name is grace.

I haven't had the courage of my friend Rachel who just flat out tells her children that Santa is a lie. At our home, we tell the story of Saint Nicholas and remind our sons that Santa Claus is for those who don't have. In our home, we give gifts to one another out of our love for each other and in celebration of God who gives greater gifts.

unbound

Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work -- you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slaves may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.


Luke 13:10-17
^{11121314151617}Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.


keep the sabbath day = remember your freedom. God released you from slavery. God is your master, not the Egyptians. Remember that in the past someone else told you when to come and when to go. Your master bound you to a work that was not of your choosing. Your master made you work each day without ceasing. But the Lord your God has loosed the bonds of your slavery. In your freedom, the seventh day of the week shall be a sabbath. No longer are you bound to toil all of the days, but free to work six days and rest on the seventh, as did the Lord your maker.

This is the practice of Shabbat (the sabbath) - Saturday, the seventh day of the week from sun down Friday to sundown Saturday - this is the Jewish sabbath. The people remember God’s choosing them, their exodus from slavery. And as was and is their practice - go to the synagogue, hear the scriptures and the teachings.

And so it is that read of another sabbath, this time a sabbath recounted in Luke 13. The people are gathered at the synagogue. Jesus was there, teaching. While is at the synagogue he sees a women. She is bent over, terribly bent over. Jesus is moved by compassion for this woman and the ailment that binds her body and binds her life into a shape that is not her own choosing. Jesus touched her. He healed her.
In spite of the commandment to do no work on the sabbath, Jesus does the work of healing. The authorities clearly taught that any work on this day of rest was against the commandment of the Lord. The leader of the synagogue called Jesus on his break with the traditions and the practice of the community of faith. “We don’t do that here. That is not how you show respect for the God who made you.” This leader seeks to be faithful to the scriptures, which teach no work on the sabbath.

And so Jesus teaches. If your ox is tied up, do you not unbind it and lead it to water, even on the sabbath out of mercy and care for the creature? Here, a woman bound up by Satan in her own body for 18 long years, ought not this daughter of Abraham too be unbound and led to living water on the sabbath? Jesus argues from a legitimate allowance of work on the sabbath to argue for the woman’s inherent worth as a daughter of Abraham and healing on the sabbath. Really, is there any day more appropriate for healing and bringing freedom than the sabbath?


The day of rest is for the freedom of God’s people. It is for our healing. For our freedom from all that binds us. Our sins, and the sins of those around us. The powers of the world, the pressures of the job or the search for the job. The bills that keep coming, the demands of parents of children or spouse or teachers or boss or client. The relentless demands of life that bind us so tightly that we can see no way out. But the day of rest is for our freedom. “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day,” Moses taught the people.

As Christian disciples, we have shifted the observance of sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week...we gather on the day that our Lord was raised from death.

We gather, we hear scripture, we remember that we were slaves to sin. The Lord has brought us out of our slavery with a mighty hand and outstretched arms.

She, an outsider... she did not come to the synagogue looking for a miracle. She was there to remember that her people had been slaves. She was there to keep the sabbath holy. A woman, in the middle east in the first century, a lower class of human being. A horribly deformed woman... looked down upon by others. Jesus sees her and knows that she is held captive. He sets her free. Even though it means breaking with tradition. Even though it means behaving improperly in their sabbath service. He is concerned about the woman’s wholeness and her identity as God’s child than he is about and he expands their understanding of what is acceptable sabbath behavior. Is there, in fact, any day more appropriate for healing?

Thanks be to God.
The bent over woman is us.
The bent over woman is us.
Weighed down with the diseases and disturbances of the world; bound up by Satan and crippled by the weight of our sin. “We cannot by ourselves stand upright.”

Jesus sees our need and lays a hand of blessing upon each one of us, and gives us strength and courage to stand up victoriously. He is not concerned with what we believe is proper or our human understanding of God’s word. He is concerned with our healing, our wholeness, our freedom from everything that binds us in slavery.

We follow the One whom Satan could not bind, not even with the strong bands of death. We follow the One whom God raised up so that we too might be raised up. “Child of God, you are set free.”

• Made it through a week of Vacation Bible School. And it was good. 39 students, many many adult leaders. Gave 4 Bibles to students who did not have any.
• Preached mostly off the cuff this morning, with rough outline in my head. I like to be more prepared--but VBS and a funeral took most of my energy.
• Speaking of, I'm going to arrange to cut Sunday out of the weekend following vacation Bible School next summer.
• Afternoon concert with Peder Eide. Excellent.worship. soul filled.
• Nearly two days off, praise Jesus. I plan to clean my house! but first I shall sleep.
  

vacation coming

One week until vacation. and I am sooooo ready!

Life on the run

Life on the run, indeed. I thought, I suppose, that summer and vacation go together. Let me tell you, this is no break. Those two calls I got last week... come quick, my loved one is dying. Thursday and Friday I bury them. Add in a denominational meeting, some visitation, funeral prep, wedding prep, Sunday sermon prep, oh and one brand new T-ball player in my house complete with weekly games and practices. And several hospital emergencies. I am longing for, praying for a quieter week next week. I have perennials sitting on the back porch longing for new dirt. I have a stack of bricks in the backyard desiring to become a low retaining wall. I have a large cross-stitch project that needs finishing by August. I have kids I need to spent time with. None of these things can be done when working 60 hours / week and single parenting. (Hubby is working more than me!) So yes, life on the run. but good, too.

It was a roller coaster of a day. Today there were two calls to come quickly... our beloved family member is dying. I didn't make it in time to the second. To accommodate these emergencies, I needed to cancel an appointment with a parishioner who really needed my time. This long day of ministry ended with a great Bible study. It was my first attempt at a mid-week lectionary study in the parish; we had 8 people and great discussion! I hope it will continue in such a fashion.

Ministry has been wearing on me of late. The funerals have come fast and furious. Some days I feel that the needs of the people are far beyond my ability to bring before God. I'd like to have a professional counselor on church staff... all i can do is pray and hold hands, and it so often feels totally inadequate. and yet...holy stuff, this calling. Its just that I miss my kids these last two weeks.