The View from the West Mesa

The Shepherds' Sending this week was Matthew 21.12-16, the first half of which reads like this: And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." These two statements, "My house will be a house of prayer," and "you have made My house a den of thieves," did not simply stand on their own to those first hearers. Rather, when they heard them, there were two texts that flooded their minds. Taking the second first, it comes from Jeremiah 7: "Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We ar...

Many of us Christians, as many of us humans, seem to think that our time in history is THE time in history. Whatever may have gone before may be useful for learning, but wasn't quite as important as the time in which we live. It may well be interesting to dream of the future but it does not exist and it will be us that create it. This attitude is understandable since we are living now, not living in the past and can't live in the future. This view is unfortunate because living as though our time is the only time that matters tends to separate ourselves from our own histories and separates ourselves from actively participating with people who will come after us. Such thinking adds to an ego-centric and essentially hedonistic life style. This is a dangerous view for Christians not because we know a God that will punish us in the future, but because it separates us from the greater plan of God in which we are both beneficiaries and active participants. Participants though in a di...

Those of us who are Christians are familiar with the idea of being saved, but I remain unconvinced that we really understand what salvation means. To fully grasp the idea of salvation we need to look at what God is doing from God's point of view rather than ours. While that may seem a daunting, even impossible task, doing so will help us understand what God means when He refers to saving a people, or offering salvation to us. We often hear of those who have "come to Jesus," and we often encourage others to "accept Jesus as their savior." Neither of those are wrong as much as they are incomplete at least in the way we routinely practice them. These two phrases are often used interchangeably with "being saved" so that our salvation becomes a single point in time event seemingly divorced from anything that may follow it. We find ourselves referring to people who have been saved but who have not learned (or who are not learning) to live as saved people. S...

Isaiah 58 is a reading for Lent. Buried in this chapter is a discussion of a favorite Lenten practice – fasting. The discussion describes the fasting God expects, and it makes our timid and small efforts at fasting appear pitiful in comparison. Lent isn't so much about fasting – at least the way we usually practice fasting during this season, but is more about self-denial and reflection. Many of us give up something relatively easy to give up during Lent and think this satisfies the perceived obligation, but this sort of fasting isn't the fasting expected by God. Verse 5 describes the kind of fasting, or penitence that we normally consider appropriate during both Lent and at other fasting times. This verse reads: "Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?" (ESV) That sounds like what we often consider fasting and penitence – self denial, and the practice of...

With the waning of Mardi Gras, the Lenten season begins. Lent leads up to Holy Week and the triumphant resurrection of the Lamb of God. This period of self-denial isn't about not eating meat or giving up chocolate or even fasting. The idea behind Lent is to participate in the suffering of Christ, remembering that it is our sinfulness and tendency toward self-fulfillment that required His death, and continue to vividly demonstrate the need for that death. The purpose of this season is not to trumpet what I have given up for this period of weeks as though meeting this seasonal obligation is somehow meritorious. It isn't. What may gain some benefit for the observers of Lent is the personal identification with our Savior and our guilt. This remembering of guilt is not for self-flagellation, but to help us remember our debt to, and toward the end of Lent, our participation in the Life of God despite our sinful tendencies. Throughout history, spiritual directors have highlighted the ...

Epiphany is observed in the Western Christian tradition on the 6 th of January. It marks, generally, another "coming" or revealing of Jesus in the world. For this reason it is often called "Little Christmas." Epiphany as a revealing includes aspects of three events in the life of Jesus. The first is the arrival of the Magi to honor Him. This is the closest of the three to a Christmas relationship for the observance and is likely the reason its other name is Little Christmas and a small gift exchange is often observed on this day. A critical aspect of this day is that in visiting the Babe, the Christ was manifested to Gentiles. This day then marks the fact that Jesus came to the entire world and not just Israel. The second theme in Epiphany is the marriage at Cana, specifically but not limited to Jesus' first miracle. As his first miracle, the changing of water to wine revealed Jesus' power in the world. As such, it serves as another manifestation of Jesus t...

This is the fourth Sunday in Advent, a period when the Christian world anticipates the coming of our God in human flesh as a child. It is important to remember that if we claim to embrace this child, we must also prepare to embrace his cross. The reading for today is John 15.9-14: Even as the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you: abide ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you. This passage has been somewhat challenging for me as I am not sure that people can be commanded to love. We can command behaviors, and so I can command you take out the trash, or wash the car, ...