The View from the West Mesa

As the church year begins anew, Advent engulfs our thoughts, our imaginations, and our horizon. The first Sunday reminds us of hope. This sort of hope has various nuances including those of weariness, of questioning, of desire, of want. All these are expectable human responses to a God who seems not present, aloof, disengaged. We have heard the hecklers even in Scripture when they ask, “it’s been a long time; where is your God?” Those who would be the people of God may be excused for these feelings that border on despair and threaten their trust in the God they seek to follow. This hope though, also includes remnants of that trust and leads to stronger trust in a God who is not seen but who has demonstrated His presence and power in the past. Advent hope, fully exercised leaves the negative nuances behind and chooses not to look at them. Rather, this hope recalls the promises, recalls the past faithfulness, and leans into it once again. God has promised a messiah, a savior, a ...

The glory of YHWH is humanity fully alive. This sentiment, ascribed to Irenaeus and echoed by Dallas Willard is a succinct statement of the greater enterprise. The Creator crafted human beings in His image and established them on the planet, in the midst of the greater creation on purpose. That purpose? Full life, right here, right now. The gracious God of creation loves to bless; loves to be gracious. Creation itself is the playing out of that essential goodness. We are told that people are made in the image of God – you are that image of Divinity. Many theories of Christianity tell us that the image has been marred, in some cases beyond recognition or reclamation, but these theories are wrong. As the Genesis writer reminds us, the reason God requires life for life for any creature that murders a human is that people are the image of YHWH. We are told this in chapter nine, well after the description and affects of the Fall. Adam’s failure – and Eve’s – has not changed the reality tha...

Our coming to God - the opportunity and invitation is at the free and unencumbered will of YHWH. Sometimes this opportunity looks like an over-powering presence of God in the life of Israel - He leads them from Egypt, He raises Cyrus to release Israel from Babylon, He sends her Redeemer into her midst without asking. But, and this is key, every time YHWH inserts Himself directly into Israel's history, His action demands a response from Israel; from those who would be His people. YHWH does lead Israel from Egypt, but is Israel who must walk; must not complain; must not shrink back. YHWH does raise Cyrus to facilitate Israel's return to Judah but is Israel who must once again walk and rebuild. YHWH does come to Israel as her savior in the first century, but is Israel who must recognize and follow Him. There is no coercion in absolute terms used by YHWH to who Israel back to Himself. Yes, being blinded while riding a donkey seems a bit overwhelming, but the rider was neither ...

Throughout the Jewish Scriptures, and with echoes in the Christian writings there are direct statements, reminders, and urgings given to the people of God about YHWH's desire to have His people truly be His; reminders that YHWH would rescue, would redeem, would restore His people to Himself and greater blessing. This is always in the context of YHWH's prerogative and is based on two aspects of divine Love - steadfastness and mercy. There is nothing in the narrative that suggests either that YHWH is constrained by an outside force to remain faithful to or redeem Israel. His movement is both uncompelled and entirely willfully free. YHWH redeems Israel because He wants to; because of who He is and for no other reason. YHWH often complains about Israel's unfaithfulness, depravity, and intransigence toward Him. The basis of these complaints is repeated as based upon Israel's very existence as a nation. It was YHWH who chose Abram, who uttered the promises, who had previ...

Sin. Such a small word but with huge ramifications and not really understood. There are various definitions of sin available for various purposes ranging from "missing the mark," to "breaking the Law." All the available definitions are appropriate in their contexts but all are themselves a bit off the mark. If we are made to be cosmic, world-class, YHWH-image Lovers, then sin it seems at its core, is not-Love. In other words, anything that is done (intentionally) against the wellbeing of the other, against the building up, the glorifying of the other is not-Love or sin. To get a better picture of sin, we can look at its opposites in YHWH's revelation. We are told that the fruit of the Spirit is akin to a laundry list of good character attributes. We might start in Galatians 5, but that is not the only place we find the fruit of the Spirit. So then, patience, kindness, gentleness, even self-control are descriptors or evidence of the sort of Love we are after...

John tells us that YHWH is Love and Jewish Scripture reiterates that that He as and extends steadfast love toward people, especially those who He has called to be His people. This love though is not what we often call love. It isn't romantic, emotional, or even familial love as we know them and yet, it is all of them. To have divine Love is to express that Love and to do so willingly and fully. Love, even as we experience it in its specific essence is self-giving for the good, the benefit, the building up of the other. Love in its positive, self-giving aspect is to glorify the other person. When we say that we are to glorify YHWH, we mean that we are to laud, to give ourselves for Him, to point others to His Love, mercy, and kindness. We glorify YHWH by the ways we live, the reasons we give for what we do, the value He has in our lives and the potential He has in others' lives. YHWH's complaints about Israel is that she has not done this, routinely. She not only has ...

Israel was intended to be the image of her God in the world, the bearer of blessing and good news for all the nations. Her history with YHWH was at best an inconsistent witness to this image. The Law, the leading of YHWH, His protection and blessing of Israel was not for her alone, but as a witness to the entire world of what faithful discipleship to YHWH could mean for every country. Every country, every nation could be caught up in the gracious mercy and blessings of YHWH if they would simply heed what Israel was supposed to have demonstrated - what she was supposed to have become. Israel was to be the very embodiment of YHWH and as such become a priest for the world until the world itself could become one with YHWH. Being the image of YHWH wasn't a secret; we are told in Genesis that YHWH made Man(kind) in His image. There have been various ideas about what being the image of YHWH means, including being spirit beings or having souls; being able to use logic and critical...

A cursory reading of the Jewish Scriptures reveals that YHWH is concerned about two primary topics. The first is Israel's fidelity to Him. It was YHWH who called Abram and YHWH who called Israel from Egypt. Finally, it was YHWH who had mercy on Israel and brought her from exile in Babylon. There are a number of reminders of these realities throughout the Jewish Scriptures. He has been faithful to Israel and He expects she would be faithful to Him. Fidelity then is one topic that is recurring in Jewish Scriptures. The second recurring topic is the kind of people Israel was supposed to be. The expectation is that they would reflect their God, His character in their relationships with each other. Of particular importance to YHWH is the behavior of Israel's leaders - her kings, prophets, judges, and other organs of the state. The behavior of the populous is as important, but the maladies affecting Israel are routinely placed at the feet of those in power.Two recurring themes fi...

YHWH has come for those who would be His people. He has come to rescue, to recover, to reconcile first Israel and then all of humankind to Himself. He has done this more than once in the history of the world. YHWH has come for His people out of His own initiative, not because those He seeks to find are guiltless or morally deserve His rescue, but as an act of grace. This grace, freely offered by YHWH and arising from His steadfast love for Israel and all people, is freely exercised. Paul will tell us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Before we had faith, before we repented, before we had come to our senses, YHWH effected the death of Jesus for the entire world. The intent of this reconciliation offered first to Israel and then to the nations, is the same intent - to form and shape a people of YHWH who would be the name by which they are called. This people would both be faithful to YHWH and embody His character among the nations and each other. Their lives and messa...

Christians are not fond of the designation, “People of God” and it hardly ever appears in connection with the church or Christianity in general. This is unfortunate because our loss of this name has helped play havoc with our identity and understanding of God and salvation wrought by Jesus. Salvation, despite repeated claims that it involves some sort of personal relationship with Jesus, is all too often understood as a legal exchange wherein God moves your attendance peg from “Lost” to “Saved.” There may be some aspect of salvation that approaches that concept, but it is far from being the primary definition or even consideration for salvation. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. The People of God is not a designation of a group as much as it is a descriptor of the people in that group. It describes a few things which are interrelated. First, it describes possession yes, but more a connection. These people described in the Jewish Scriptures enjoy a particular relationship ...

This post is the second in the series, On The Gospel ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first century events that have come to be known as the gospel of Jesus Christ are not the first time God has come into the world. Called the Old Testament in Christian circles, the Jewish Scriptures are often over looked. In fact, the history of Christianity has had its share of what looks like anti-Judaism, perhaps best exemplified by Marcion who rejected both the Jewish Scriptures and a number of what would become New Testament books because they were too Jewish. While this seems odd to some Christians today, the impact of thinking like Marcion’s has resulted in an avoidance of the Jewish Scriptures or at least their sidelining in favor of a much restricted study of the New Testament documents, with Paul’s epistles forming the central teachings of the Christian community. The Jewish Script...

This post is the first in a short series looking at the gospel and its relative simplicity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On one hand, the gospel is rather simple. The gospel is simply that God loves you. There it is; it is that simple. God loves you. There are a number of concepts and realities bound up in that phrase but that truth is the basic, life-validating truth we call the gospel. Those concepts and realities are characteristics of the context of the gospel events related in the Gospels of the New Testament. The coming of Jesus as YHWH incarnated, to live among us and to die for us is surely the quintessential coming of God into the world, but it isn’t the only time God has come for His people. Christianity, rightly so, has focused on this coming and dying of Jesus as its central event. We are told that it is Jesus who has reconciled people to God; that it is Hi...

When I first heard the reports that the White House had not watched and didn’t plan to watch the Planned Parenthood videos, I was somewhat amazed. I mean, who hadn’t watched the videos or read the transcripts? Seemed somewhat far-fetched to me. Then I thought that maybe this was the Administration’s way of buying time and deflecting any need for initiative. Maybe, I thought, this was another of those, “the President first heard of [fill in your favorite crisis] when he turned on the news,” or some such. They probably only watch CNN and that network didn’t exactly trumpet the contents of the videos, so maybe the whole thing just slipped passed them between the latest Trump joke and blaming Bush for ISIS. Could be. Then I realized that it must be somewhat hard to explain to those two girls that their parents nor the federal government considered them real people before they left the hospital. I wonder how that realization comes about – that you were entirely optional to them; no...

Perhaps one of the most unsettling realizations for disciples is that being a disciple does not require much of the trappings we have come to associate with being a disciple. Structure and objective, concrete rules provide psychological safety and their stripping away causes confusion and anxiety. And so we cling to them and assign them value and gravity for their own sake, crafting intricate explanations for their existence and the critical places they fill in our personal and common lives. We come to believe that these are constituent parts of being a disciple and so perpetuate their existence and necessity, defending them against detractors of all sorts. If we could let go of them without going crazy, we could see and live the true simplicity of being a disciple. We could learn and experience life as a disciple, coming to realize that discipling is about life; real life lived day by day.

I wonder what it was like for a 19 year old, or a young father of 23, or maybe even a grandfather crowded into a landing craft with no roof, wearing thirty pounds of gear, being tossed up and then sideways by the water, hearing but not being able to see the explosions, the machine guns, smelling the diesel and the salt, and hearing the muffled prayers and Hail Mary's around you in the close quarters. And then to hear and feel the craft's bottom scrape against and stop atop some hidden sand, stopping with a surge of bodies trying to stay themselves inside this now very small topless box. To hear but not quite see the ramp of a door that has been in front of you the last several minutes, disappear in front of you, exposing a view of several meters of water and then a narrow ribbon of beach. To hear "let's go!" and be part of the collective push out into the now exposed air, to step off the ramp and sink ankle, knee, neck, or deeper into the water, struggli...

A day to remember. To remember smiles, laughter, and loves; To remember sacrifice. Lives given for us. A day to remember. Young men, mature men, and older men; Sons, and dads, and granddads; And women. Daughters, and moms, and grandmoms; Husbands and wives; And lovers. Lives given for us. A day to remember. Flags, and flowers, and salutes; Bagpipes and bugles; And Taps. Tears, and hugs, and crepe; Deep breaths and sighs; And sobs. Lives given for us. To remember lives given to us. A day to remember. To hold, to cherish, to love; To release, to let go, to lose. For something greater, something deeper; For me, for you, for all of us. Lives given for us. To remember sacrifice. To remember smiles, laughter, and loves. A day to remember. A day to honor. Lives given for us.

In the Western Christian tradition, Pentecost marks the reception of the Spirit by Jesus' disciples following His ascension. He had told them to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, which would include power. Jesus had told them that He would go to the Father but that He would not leave them as orphans. Rather when He had gone, He would send the Spirit who would remind them, empower them, and give them words to say when they needed them. Once they had received the Spirit, they were to be His witnesses and messengers to the entire world. This then is often considered the beginning of he church, but it isn't really. He church, or the called out people of God, had been in existence for sometime. Rather, this day is the empowering of the disciples to now fully and boldly proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God to all comers, and to take the message to all peoples. Part of the church's mission is to tell the world of the Life God wants for them, secured and ex...

Jeremiah 30-31 provides the hope – the promise that YHWH will come to claim Israel as His; He will call them and collect them from the far ends of the earth. Here, in this book of doom and certain destruction and exile – which Israel have to endure – are these chapters full of promises of redemption. In these two chapters it is clear that YHWH, despite bringing judgment on her, has every intention of gathering her back together. Why? Because He has promised to be God, and He will be. He is steadfast in an eternal sense, never losing sight of her no matter what. If you’ve ever raised kids, you know this place. Sometimes the frustration and disappointment is such that in the moment you’re ready for the cops to come get this kid. But even then, underneath, and certainly after the smoke has settled, it’s OK. Having the kid with you is more important than focusing on the poor behavior. Good parents don’t give up on their kids, even when it might see...

This Sunday's sermon text was the short story of the firey serpents in the wilderness. This is another in the long litany of Israel's failure to fully trust her God and her God-given leaders, in this case Moses. Again. Prior to this chapter we have had the story of Moses getting fed up with the whining and in turn whining to YHWH about the whiners. Moses wants to know why God has saddled him with these people. He argues that he didn't ask for this, he didn't birth these people, so why in the world is he being expected to be responsible for them?! God's response is a rather benign, "OK, pick yourself some helpers and let them help." Later, YHWH will Himself become fed up. So much so that he says to Moses, "Tell you what, how 'bout I wipe these folks out and start over with you as the Father of the Nation?" Moses is being offered Abraham's place! We might think that Moses would jump at the chance, given his previous complainin...

The Ten Commandments are the epitome of "the Law," and the Law we are told was done away with when Jesus arrived. No more Law, just the grace offered by God through Jesus. Often then, we simply avoid or read over these sorts of passages, relegating them to a bygone age that is no longer applicable to the church. We are wrong to do so. The Exodus version of the Law comes shortly after Israel's escape from Egypt. But not just that. It comes after complaints and the provision of food and water by God, and after the battle with Amalek. During this battle, Israel gains the upper hand as long as Moses' hands are held up. If he lets them down, Amalek gains the upper hand. This is an odd arrangement, but it is intended to demonstrate that it is Israel's God that wins this battle. And it must be because Israel is not a cohesive nation. She is simply been led out of captivity and fed in the wilderness; she does not have fully trained army and cannot defeat Amalek on he...

Second sunday in Lent -- we are a quarter of the way through this period of reflection and reorientation. How are you doing? The text for this Sunday from the Jewish Scriptures comes from Genesis 17, YHWH's reiteration of His promise to Abram. Abram and Sarai have been waiting for a quarter century and have made at least two mistakes along this journey. So YHWH decides the time has come despite these less than faithful episodes and He is prepared with three new names. Abram will be called Abraham and Sarai will be called Sarah. He doesn't ask them to try on these new names to see if they like them. He just announces them. The third new name? God's. Maybe because of their doubting, God here says his name is El Shaddai - God Almighty. Usually we think of a mighty god at the head of an army, or causing earthquakes, or striking people with plagues. Not here. Here, this mighty God is going to use His might to keep His promise and grant a child to an old man and a barren old wo...

Lent can remind us of our mortality and sober our thinking and attitudes that we allow slack during other parts of the year. But the realization of our mortality need not be morose or defeatist in its affect on us. Indeed, if noticing our own mortality helps us to stop and refocus on God, we can instead rejoice, grasp, and look forward to the Life immortal that He has given us and promised forever. Acknowledging our mortality prepares us to let go of impermanence, of deterioration, of illness and even of death. We can let go of death as a threat, as something to be feared and avoided at all costs. Rather, we can accept it knowing that it is but a beginning. A beginning to Life, real Life that will have no end. A Life with and in God in an even more perfect manner than we can experience in our current bodies.This anticipated transition, of becoming and not ending, has formed the basis of faith for more than one disciple in the history of the church. It has consistently brought ...

While in therapist school one of the exercises involves crafting your own timeline. You are asked to include major milestones, family members, significant events, and whatnot. This timeline isn’t just a history rehearsal, but is carried into the future – projected milestones and deaths of important people and family members. The idea is to review the people and events that have shaped your history, and then to “look into your future” and anticipate other shaping events. Writing down the actuarial expected dates of others’ deaths can be eye opening, revealing both their mortality and the relatively nearness of that mortality. This interest in mortality is not limited to therapy students however. The Christian tradition, especially the monastic schools also appreciate acknowledging and accepting death – one’s own. This has a number of affects. One is that we must face our mortality and grasp it as real. No matter how well we may feel at the moment, or how well life is working for us...

John's writings have common threads whether we speak about his epistles or his gospel. Certainly, one of those is love - the love of God for the world, and the expected reciprocal love of God by people. Perhaps the most famous of his statements is that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son for the world to save it. But there is another thread common among his writings but it is not overly explicit. That is a corrective narrative against what appears to be the beginnings of what would become what we call Gnosticism. Specifically, a dualistic view of Creation. This view, arising from Greek influences argued that the physical world was corrupt and imperfect; destined for destruction. On the other hand, this view held that the spiritual life, or that of the mind was that which was to be perfected and leave the coarse physical reality behind. This view infiltrated the church such that some would teach that what we did in or with our bodies was of no consequence. Our bodi...