Daily Lesson for January 10, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Genesis chapter 4 verses 1 through 7:

Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.’ 2Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. 3In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. 6The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.’

Many have made much of this story, wondering why it was that Abel’s offering was accepted while Cain’s offering was rejected. Some have noted that the Scripture says Abel’s offering was “brought of the first firstlings”, while nothing is said of which portion Cain’s offering was given — first, middle, or last.  Perhaps there is something subtly indicative in that, at minimum revealing a certain faithful trust in the LORD’s provision on the part of Abel which perhaps Cain lacked.

On the other hand, we might well read this and conclude nothing is wrong with Cain’s offering itself and take its rejection as a sign not so much of God’s displeasure with Cain’s sacrifice, but rather with Cain himself. For while we do not know that anything was wrong with the offering, we do know there was something terribly wrong with the one making the offering. There was murder in his heart.

Perhaps the anger in Cain began at seeing his brother give so freely and full of trust. Or perhaps all the anger was already there in him, before either of the brothers went out into the field to bring back their sacrifice. In any case, those who live in darkness hate the light and the corrupt despise the pure. There was hatred and contempt in Cain’s spirit, that is the real reason his offering was rejected.

“Why are you angry?” the LORD asks Cain in the story. It is a question not only for Cain, but for all of us. Why are we angry at our brothers and our sisters?  Why do we despise? Why is there such contempt in us?  Why this bitterness? Do we see this thing called hate in our own-selves? Do we see that sin lurks at our own doors also?

For yes, this is a story about Cain and Abel; but it’s also a story about us. 

Daily Lesson for January 9, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Genesis chapter 3 verses 21 through 24:

 21And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’— 23therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

There are Adam and Eve, naked and ashamed and hiding pitifully behind fig leaves they’ve tied together with a vine from the Garden. Necessity is the mother of invention and so here is homo faber — humankind making tools, making use, making do. Here also is homo peccator — humanity disgraced amidst the consequence of its shameful sin.

But just as it is woefully homo faber, here also is Deo faber — God making something new, garments of skin to clothe the couple in. 

The rabbis wondered from whence the skins came. One sly rabbi answered it must have been snake skin. Regardless, a life was given.

The hide must have been tough, tough enough not only to hide the shame on the inside but also to bear weather on the outside. For the sentence would soon be passed and the punishment would be exile. The couple would be cast out of Eden.

Yet even there in exile there is grace. Eden is lost forever. They cannot go back. But the LORD God has clothed them for the journey ahead.  The LORD God has clothed their shame in sacrifice, the first of many. 

A trespass is made. So too a sacrifice. One lays down his life for the sake of others. It is the end of the story hidden in the beginning. 

Daily Lesson for January 8, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Genesis chapter 2 verses 4b through 7:

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— 7then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.

Before the earth was even tilled or watered from above, it was already preparing itself for life. The stream would rise by the force of the wind or moon and wet the ground, readying the dust of the earth to be shaped and to be formed into a human being. 

The old theologians would call this Prevenient Grace — the grace that goes before us to prepare our way.

God is already at work in the earth now, preparing what is necessary for our journey ahead. God is already making provision for what and who we are to be. The earth is being watered now that who we are to be might be made possible.

Paul Tillich called God “the ground upon which all beings exist”.  This “ground of being” is the power of life within all being.  It is the power animating history to some end — life and life everlasting. 

The forces of non-being are strong and mighty and have the power to destroy us as persons and as a planet. To think on this without hope is to despair — literally to be “without breath”.  But we do not live without hope. The ground of being dwells preveniently in us and in the world, and God has breathed the breath of life into our dust.

So there is always reason to hope. For there is always life. And there is always within us then the will to live. 

And though we are dust and to dust we shall return, the ground of our being reaches out to grab and take of breath and life and shall not let it go. 

This is what it means to “choose life” — to chose to find a way to go on living today no matter if the rains never fall and the earth is never tilled.

Daily Lesson for January 5, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 17:

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

This is a word from the LORD for such a time as this.

We live in a time of war. It is a time of spiritual war — a war not so much of flesh on flesh, but spirit on flesh. We are all under attack by and victims of the same spiritual forces — forces of enmity, hatred, chaos, and evil. And like all wars, the first of all the victims of this war was Truth.

Now is the time to stand strong, to live with courage, and with conviction, and to fight the good fight. Now is the time to put on the armor of God.

And the armor begins with Truth. Reclaiming Truth is the first step. We must speak truly and without deceit.  We must stop the aiding and the abetting of people and institutions which do speak lies.  We have to stand for Truth.

The breastplate of righteousness belongs to us. It is not our own righteousness we stand in. It is the LORD’s. This means we should be humble towards others — not supposing we are any more pure in our own selves than our enemies. The righteousness is Christ’s. It’s been given to us. We offer it to the world.

This is why we’ve been given shoes on which we bring Gospel of peace. It is peace and not enmity we bring. We seek to convert our enemies to peace, not to destroy them.

We go with the shield of faith — for it protects us from the lies which shall be cast upon us. The shield of faith protects us from all dismay.

Finally, we bring the sword — God’s word of hope, and book of life. We’ve read the book. We’ve read all the way through to the end. We know who wins. We know God wins. We know God’s saints win. We know Love wins.

Now is the time.  Now is the time to put on the whole armor of God. Now is the time to put it on, wear it, and stand firm in the strength of God’s power within us.

Daily Lesson for January 4, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Joshua chapter 3 verses 14 through 17:

14 When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people.15Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, 16the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing towards the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.

The old rabbis used to say that when the Israelites came to the Red Sea and began to cross over the waters did not part until they were in over their heads. 

Such is life. God seems again and again to rescue us — to make a way out of no way, but only after we realize we can’t make it ourselves. God calls us to rise up and go; but we are in over our heads before deliverance comes. The Lesson we learn is to keep walking. 

A generation after the Israelites crosses over the Red Sea, the next generation crossed over the Jordan River. The Scripture says it wasn’t until the priests came into the water that the waters began to heap — and then only a long ways upstream. One way to read this is like the Rabbis on the Red Sea story — to say the Israelites would not yet have seen what God had done upstream because the water was still flowing where they were attempting to cross over. 

We just don’t know what God is doing upstream from us. We don’t see the whole picture. We don’t have the design on the whole plan for deliverance. We don’t know how in the world the way will be made. 

But when we are called to do something, we go.  When we are called to rise up and leave some oppressive Egypt or cross over and make some new and more hopeful Promised Land, we go. By faith, we go. And we trust that God is doing something upstream to work it out. 

And when the waters rise up we keep walking. And when we get in way over our heads, can’t go on ourselves, that’s when the LORD is sure and mighty to save. 

Daily Lesson for January 3, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 19 verses 9 through 16:

9At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ 10He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’

11 He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ 14He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ 15Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.

Elijah is in the cave.  

The cave is the place of loneliness.  It is the place of isolation and despair. It is the place where we go for fear of the world and all its coming to. It is the place where we run when after all our efforts Ahab is still king, Jezebel is still queen, and the world appears lost and without hope. The cave is the place of hopelessness. 

And then a voice calls to Elijah.  “Go out, stand on the mountain, the LORD will speak to you.”

And then the elemental spirits — earth, wind, and fire — rail.  Who would go out into such terror?  Who would dare to rise up and step out from the cave into the world of such evil and dread?

And then silence. The sound of sheer silence. Something is stilled, quieted. Was the terror outside? Or was it in? In either case it was real; but it was quieted. It was calmed. It was tamed. It was overcome. Silence calmed and overcame it. 

Then Elijah wraps his face in his mantle and rises up to stand at the mouth of the cave, to walk out again into the world, to stand on the mountain, to wait for the LORD.

And waiting for the LORD upon the mountain, Elijah hears the voice: “You are not alone.  There are others. Go back down into the valley. Find them. Find and anoint them. Find and throw your mantle upon them. Find them and know that I am still God and this is my world.”

Daily Lesson for January 2, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 34 verses 18:

“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and will save those whose spirits are crushed.”

Leonard Cohen song Anthem ended with this beautiful lyric:

"There is a crack, a crack, in everything

That's how the light gets in”

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted.  For a broken heart is the only one that can be mended. The wound is the place where healing happens. 

The gift of our healing can only come to the broken. It’s not only in spite of but indeed because of our brokenness that the light of healing enters into the dark places. 

Only the crushed spirit knows the miracle of a single, life-giving breath. This was the first miracle, and the last, and the one to come. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, this is the hope of the dead — the next breath. 

The LORD does come near.  With gentle hands He remakes us from the dust we are, and then with tender lips she breathes yet again the spirit of life into our mortal flesh.

The hole is where the breath moves through. 

The crack is how the light gets in.