The eye roll ...

Never aggravate an old bear!

Last week someone rolled their eyes at me. Not just a quick arc of the eyes from one corner to another, this eye roll had a Stevie Wonder head sway with it. It was as if his eyes couldn’t roll significantly enough on their own; they needed some help from the neck.

At the time, I was serving as a guest lecturer in Dudley Chancey’s Introduction to Ministry class at Oklahoma Christian. I enjoyed it. Thirty young men and women sat in the class, alert and taking notes (their quiz grade for the day was based on the quality of their note taking). It was a good opportunity to talk with them about the challenges of working with at-risk children, and their questions were interesting and insightful.

Toward the end of class, Dudley interviewed me about various aspects of ministry. After several questions, the topic shifted. Because Dudley was aware of several ministers who had lost their jobs in the last couple of weeks over sexual issues, he asked me about ways to maintain sexual fidelity as a minister. I gave a couple of suggestions which stirred no more reaction than a few pens moving over a piece of paper. But when I got personal, and talked about a personal practice I find helps me keep my heart right, I saw a young man in the back row give the eye roll. I don’t think that he really meant for me to see it, but I did. After all, you see a lot when you teach a class. When his eyes finished their half orbit, my eyes were there waiting on his.

Now, I didn’t get mad, but I wasn’t exactly amused either. Someone asked me a question and I gave an answer. If you don’t like my answer, okay. If you don’t want to practice the practices I practice, then don’t. I’m good with that. But don’t minimize me with an eye roll. Don’t minimize an issue like sexual fidelity by not considering simple, every day practices which can help prevent it.

I didn’t say anything to embarrass him, but a point which I would normally make and move on now required me to hammer it home. The annoyed young man thought that I didn’t get it, that I don’t understand contemporary culture, that I wasn’t aware of the world as it really is. I hammered the point because the young man didn’t get the fact that sexual sin could kill his marriage and ministry, that contemporary culture is oversexed, and that the world seems to expect us to live like hormone-driven animals instead of spiritual creatures making free-will choices with their intelligence.

Afterwards Dudley and I shared lunch. “They think we’re just a couple of dirty old men,” Dudley said. “They just don’t get how quickly this stuff can bring anybody down.” I think that Dudley is right. A couple of them just didn’t get it.

The whole episode reminded me of what happened in 2 Kings 2:23-24:

He went up from there to Bethel; and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, "Go away, baldhead! Go away, baldhead!" When he turned around and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two she-bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

I need for you to understand that I had no hopes for a bear to come along and maul the young man listening to my lecture. No finger pointing. No curses. Perhaps it would be better for that to have happened, though, and for him to have learned something from it, than for him to go blithely on and find out the hard way, ten or fifteen years into a marriage, that he isn’t sexually invulnerable after all. Our sexuality, after all, is more powerful than we can manage on our own. Never think, “It couldn’t happen to me.” Only with the help of God, through persistent spiritual disciplines, and hopefully with the partnership of a loving spouse, can we be holy people.

May God help us to learn from those who walk alongside us. May their wisdom and insight help us, guide us, and shape us so that we don’t have to learn everything the hard way.

Grace and peace,

Ron

The ocean in its place ...

Hear the word of God:

Rejoice in the Lord, good people!
It is only right for good people to praise him.
Play the lyre and praise the Lord.
Play the ten-stringed harp for him.
Sing a new song to him.
Play it well and sing it loud!

The Lord's word is true.
You can depend on his teachings.
He loves goodness and justice.
The Lord's faithful love fills the earth.

The Lord spoke the command, and the world was made.
The breath from his mouth created everything in the heavens.
He gathered together the water of the sea.
He put the ocean in its place.

Everyone on earth should fear and respect the Lord.
All the people in the world should fear him,
because when he speaks, things happen.
And if he says, "Stop!"—then it stops.
The Lord can ruin every decision the nations make.
He can spoil all their plans.
But the Lord's decisions are good forever.
His plans are good for generation after generation.

Great blessings belong to those who have the Lord as their God!
He chose them to be his own special people.
The Lord looked down from heaven
and saw all the people.
From his high throne he looked down
at all the people living on earth.
He created every person's mind,
and he knows what each one is doing.

A king is not saved by the power of his army.
A soldier does not survive by his own great strength.
Horses don't really bring victory in war.
Their strength cannot help you escape.
The Lord watches over his followers,
those who wait for him to show his faithful love.
He saves them from death.
He gives them strength when they are hungry.

So we will wait for the Lord.
He helps us and protects us.
He makes us happy.
We trust his holy name.
Lord, we worship you,
so show your great love for us.

Psalm 33 Easy-to-Read Version, Revised Edition

Blessings,

Ron

Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh ...

Hear the word of God:

Moshe said to God, “Look, when I appear before the people of Isra’el and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you’; and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”

God said to Moshe, “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh [I am/will be what I am/will be],” and added, “Here is what to say to the people of Isra’el: ‘Ehyeh [I Am or I Will Be] has sent me to you.’” God said further to Moshe, “Say this to the people of Isra’el: ‘Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [Adonai], the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz’chak and the God of Ya‘akov, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered generation after generation.

Go, gather the leaders of Isra’el together, and say to them, ‘Adonai, the God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, has appeared to me and said, “I have been paying close attention to you and have seen what is being done to you in Egypt; and I have said that I will lead you up out of the misery of Egypt to the land of the Kena‘ani, Hitti, Emori, P’rizi, Hivi and Y’vusi, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ They will heed what you say. Then you will come, you and the leaders of Isra’el, before the king of Egypt; and you will tell him, ‘Adonai, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the desert; so that we can sacrifice to Adonai our God.’ I know that the king of Egypt will not let you leave unless he is forced to do so. But I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do there. After that, he will let you go. Moreover, I will make the Egyptians so well-disposed toward this people that when you go, you won’t go empty-handed. Rather, all the women will ask their neighbors and house guests for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, with which you will dress your own sons and daughters. In this way you will plunder the Egyptians.”
Ex 3:13-22 - CJB

People worshiped many gods in the time of Moses. Was Moses (Moshe) really confused about which god he was speaking to, or was he just imagining the struggle of telling other people that he has been conversing with God? I think the latter. So God gives his name, YHWH, or I am/will be. He then connects his identity with the ancestors of the Israelites who have worshiped him: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

At this time, many people believed that to have the name of a person was to potentially have power over that person. God did not fear this. But such was the respect of the people of God for the holiness and otherness of their God that when they encountered these four characters that they would not pronounce them, but instead would say, “Adonai,” which is Hebrew for Lord.

May we practice a reverence for the name of God, and teach our children a respect for the name of God, that is commensurate with the holiness, the otherness, and the mystery of our mighty God. Language is powerful, and although the language we use about our God cannot change who he is, it can change the way that we understand or relate to that God. Let us be holy people before our holy God.

Grace and peace,

Ron