Children and the Baby--by Linden Malki

Somehow, children and Christmas go together. We all have memories of Christmases when we were children; most of them good, sometimes not so good. But whatever they are like, they are usually a big part of our mental landscape. If we have children, we usually try to give them good Christmas memories. After I moved to California, I was surprised at the Christmas lists some of my friends were working on for their children. I remember getting one nice but moderate gift from my parents, and then a few small stocking stuffers.  I don't forget the time an acquaintance--a sister of a friend--asked me if she could borrow $500 so that her "kids could have Christmas." I felt sorry that she had been raised to equate Christmas with going overboard into debt for "stuff", and that she couldn't imagine "having  Christmas" otherwise.

I hope that our children are touched by the Christmas story not because of "stuff". but because of a Baby.  God created the human race to grow by families bringing children into the world with love.  We are created with a "soft spot" for babies; but sometimes that goes bad. A baby is the start of a whole life, and our attitude is colored by our expectations for that life.  Mary and Joseph, Simeon and Anna, the shepherds and the Wise Men saw in the baby whose birth became Christmas the Promise of God and the Hope of His People. What Herod saw was  a threat to his political position, and his reaction in fear was to order the killing of any child who might be this rival.

Most children are fascinated with babies. Most children gravitate towards other chldren if they can. When God "moved into the neighborhood" as "The Message" translation puts it, He came as a baby; grew up through a normal childhood, and became an amazing young man. We can tell from the story of Jesus'  return to Nazareth after He left the woodworking business for His Godly calling, that they  remembered Him as having been an ordinary kid.  (Mark 6:1-4) The writer of Hebrews tells us that He took on human nature, that He knows what we are like from the inside.

This is part of the miracle of Christmas: that even a child can recognize that this little Baby in a manger was a baby, just as they were, and a kid, as they are.  This year we added the song "Little Drummer Boy" to the NCF Choir caroling outreach. We'd had a number of requests for it, and I think one of the reason people resonate with this story is that the little drummer boy was told this was a newborn King, but what he said when he saw the Baby was "I am a poor boy, too".  And he offered the only thing he had: he shared what he  could play on his drum. His thanks was the only thing a baby has to offer: His sweet smile. And this is what we want our children to appreciate most about Christmas: that this Baby with the sweet smile grew up to be a Savior Who loves them.

Hope at Work--by Linden Malki

Joseph was a child of his father's hope--but his jealous brothers destroyed this hope, and almost Joseph himself. How often are slave traders the bringers of hope? When they are a piece of a puzzle God is putting together! Judah insisted saving Joseph's life. And, as been said since ancient writers put it, "where there's life, there's hope."

We are told that Joseph knew and served God. Jacob may not have been wise in the way he discriminated among his sons, but he had taught Joseph about his God. Joseph's faith--his knowledge of God--was the bedrock of his hope.

We also see that Joseph's faith and hope were not just lazy, wishful thinking. His actions gave his hope "boots on the ground." He didn't just kick back and do just enough to evade the worst; he proactively used all of his strengths--his faith, his intelligence, what he had learned growing up watching his father run a good-sized family business, his determination. 

At one point his character and self-discipline got him into trouble. This is not uncommon; there are people out there that will retaliate if you do not wallow in their muck. (People haven't changed much in 4000 years!) But again, he made this new crop of lemons into lemonade. Patience and hard work fueled his hope, even when he must have felt forgotten.

And it paid off. Not only did he gain the recognition and position beyond his hopes, but he recognized what God was doing all along. We see him telling his brothers that "God sent me here before you, to make sure of survivors in your land, and to save your lives..So it was not you who sent me here but God." (Genesis 45:7-8)

We see the fulfillment of his fondest hope--made possible by his faith and the use of all the strengths God had given him. He was reunited with his whole family--the brothers whom he was able to forgive, and his father and young brother whom he loved.

And the rest of the story: we saw Judah insisting on preserving Joseph when the other brothers talked of killing; and we see Judah also taking the responsibility for Benjamin's safety when they had to take him with them on their next trip back to Egypt. (Genesis 43:8 ) In the subsequent history of the Israelites, it was the tribe of Judah that became the royal tribe of David, and later of the Christ, the hope of mankind.

The Baby who is the Hope of the World--by Linden Malk

There was an old man with a hope--his name was Simeon, and his heartfelt prayer was to see the Messiah.  One day a family came to the Temple in Jerusalem, bringing  their firstborn son to offer the redemption sacrifice commanded in the Law.  Simeon was told by the Holy Spirit that his hope was fulfilled--this baby was the Promised One, the Light to the World.  He blessed God, and the little family, prophesying that this child would bring both great joy and salvation as well as great sorrow.  There was also an old lady there in the Temple that day; her name was Anna, and she also had for many years waited for the One who would bring deliverance to Jerusalem-- praising God with all who shared her hope.*

Babies are little packages of hope. We look at a baby with hope, wondering what life holds for this little person.  The celebration of the birth of the greatest Baby ever born has taken over the world-even in places where the full reality of Him is not understood.  The enduring image of Christmas is that of the baby with Mary and Joseph, often with shepherds, angels,  wise men, and animals.  The first known living Nativity scene was the centerpiece of a Christmas Eve service in Greccio, Italy put together by St Francis of Assisi in 1223. The idea spread across Europe and later the Americas--we see it everywhere at this time of year:  live; made of every medium and artistic style you can imagine; pictures large and small. Everyone loves a baby!

Thirty-three years later, at the other end of his life, we see the One who had been this baby walking along a road,  talking with two men who told of the hopes they had had that Jesus of Nazareth was the one who would set Israel free.  They thought their hopes had been dashed by his betrayal and crucifixion, but when they recognized the living Jesus, they were more joyful than ever.**  Jesus the Risen Christ is a reality beyond our most fervent hopes!

*Luke 2:22-40 **Luke 24:13-35

Emmanuel--God is With Us!-by Linden Malki

The angel that came to Joseph with an explanation of Mary's impending child described Him first and foremost as the One who would save us from sin, using a word God had given to Isaiah: He shall be called Emmanuel: God with us.* As we see the upcoming Christmas season all around us, we need to thank God for coming to be with us. As we heard last Sunday morning, what is "Christmas" without Jesus?

What does it mean that Jesus is "Emmanuel"? Anytime we see a name with -el in Scripture, we need to know that it refers to "El" , one of the names used for God; this is a person who is intended to show something about God. Isaiah's prophecy describes the child whom God will send as not just a replay of King David but "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Is 9:6-7) This is more than a description of a human being, but of God Himself.

The writings of John unpackage this for us: First, Jesus is the Word of God, who was the creative side of God and the physical universe. When John reports a conversation at the very beginning of His ministry that uses both "Son of God" and "Son of Man", we see Him as being a connecting point between God and Man. We see Jesus defending the sanctity of what He describes as "My Father's House". We see Him describing God sending His Son to save the world. We see Him healing the sick and raising the dead--reversing the normal progression of human life. We see Him claiming to have seen Abraham, and even existing before Abraham, using the God-Name "I AM".

And yet He was fully human; did all those things that we do to live our lives. He even died as human beings did; bloody, in pain. Unlike human beings, though, He didn't stay dead, and as Peter told a festival crowd in Jerusalem: This Jesus, whom you put to death, is both Lord and Christ.

It is interesting that the two human beings who perhaps knew Jesus on earth better than anyone else, Peter and John, both understood Him to be the eternal Son of God. The Church has wrangled with the meaning of this since the beginning; we as human beings cannot fully understand it on this earth. We can know, as we celebrate the birth of a human baby, that it is God Himself showing Himself to us.
　

*Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23

BREAKOUT! by Linden Malki

The walls were broken by  70AD. There are mentions in several of the Old Testament prophets that the calling of Israel was to bring the knowledge of God to the world, but the original followers of Jesus were still Jews.  Jesus' last message to his followers was to take the message beyond the incubator, to the whole world.  In the book of Acts we see the response to Peter's sermon at Pentecost among local Jews, and Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism from the wider Greek-speaking world.  With persecution from the traditional Jewish authorities in Jerusalem and the travelers and traders in this amazingly mobile society, the Word spread into the wider Greek and Roman world.  We see patterns of rejection and acceptance--followers of the strict historical Jewish law rejecting those who were "outsiders", and those who wanted to follow Jesus but rejected the narrowness and limitations of the traditional law as it had developed in first-century Judea.

Outside of Judea, another acceptance/rejection pattern was developing--the relationship with the Roman government, which demanded a ritual offering to Caesar as a god.  Following Jesus meant rejecting the demands of Roman idolatry; both the official demands and the pervasive pagan culture. The Christian message was itself often rejected in the name of the older Roman or Jewish traditions.

This three-cornered situation came to a head in Jerusalem in 65 AD, when rebellion against the Roman occupation broke out in Judea.  The political Messianic hopes that Jesus faced and refused, as well as other failed attempts, were energized by the hope that God would step in if the Jews took the initiative in faith.  At the same time, the Temple authorities continued to try to suppress the other threat to their dream: they had the head of the Jerusalem Church,  Jesus' brother "James the Just", tried and assassinated. Church tradition tells that the church community saw in this maelstrom a fulfillment of Jesus' warnings in Matthew 24 and fled to Pella, a Greek city on the east side of the Jordan Valley.  Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman army in 70AD, and the surviving Jews scattered or were taken as slaves by the Romans.  It was later rebuilt as a Roman city, called Aelia Capitolina, forbidden to Jews and eventually became a Byzantine Christian city under Constantine in the 300's.  That church has since been through controversies in the Eastern Greek  churches of the 5th & 6th Centuries, and conquest by Moslems,  Crusaders, Turks, British, and Israelis. 

My father-in-law grew up Syrian Orthodox, and I recall going to a wedding in Los Angeles of a couple from his home village.  This church describes their services as following the original St James liturgy from that first-century Jerusalem church.  The home territory of this church is now in the area threatened by the radical political situation in northern Syria; despite persecution, rejections, and conquests but like its ancestors, it  has broken out into the wider world. 

The Real Leader--by Linden Malki

The Real Leader

We do not do Reality well.  Jesus does;  He is the most real person there is.

After they had had several years of literally following Jesus, He asked his crew who people thought He is.  Basically, people were wrong.  When He asked them what they thought, they got the words right.  The next question is:  What does it really mean? He explained that the answer had been around for a long time: Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 had it nailed.  Peter's response (Mark 8:31-33) showed how little he was dealing with the reality of Jesus.

Jesus kept trying--after the Transfiguration experience, He tried again (Mark 9:30-32), and the guys didn't get it, and Jesus found them arguing about their own "greatness".

The third recorded try was after the discussion with the rich young ruler who said he wanted "eternal life" --but not on Jesus' terms.  As they continued walking to Jerusalem, Jesus was telling them what was really going to happen next, and again, they had their heads full of their own dreams. Mark 10:35 describes James' and John's wish; Matthew 20:20-23 brings in the Jewish mama who wants the best for her boys, and Luke 22:24-27 depicts everyone getting into the act.  But still, they are having a problem with Jesus' reality.

Finally, Jesus shows them what His calling to leadership really is. The last time they are together before Jesus' prophecies become reality, we see Him kneeling on the floor with a basin of water, washing their feet. (John 13:4-15)  It goes back to His picture of the shepherd--the shepherd is in charge of the sheep; but the sheep are not capable of taking care of themselves. The shepherd leads them by serving them; knowing better than they do what they really need.

We still struggle with reality. We want what we want;  but the best leaders know how to serve in the way that truly has our best interests at heart. Jesus spent his efforts leading His followers where He knows they needed to be; and they changed the world.  Can we recognize Jesus' fundamental reality?

Freedom to Do It Right by Linden Malki

If you were to ask most people inside and outside the church, what a "Christian" was like, you might get answers like:judgmental, narrow-minded, hypocritical, naive--you know them all.  On the other hand, you might get: nice, generous, gentle, kind, helpful. We would really hope for:  loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, good, faithful, forgiving  (Galatians 5:22 et al). We can look at a list like this and know we cannot do this very well. First thought: suck it up, bring on the will power, and try, try, try. Now add the practical applications of all these, and it really gets overwhelming.

It's easy to understand the principle if we look at the negative side. We all know how hard it is to maintain the will power to avoid overeating, addictive behaviors, anger, gossip, selfishness, etc--we know what these are as well. Knowing right from wrong is important, but only the first step. The Israelites  had the commandments for 1500 years, and never got it right. Doing right and not wrong on our own is hard.  Doing it joyfully and gracefully on our own is impossible.

We usually think of freedom as being able to do what we want. The question then becomes what we want.  It has been said that true freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the will to do what we ought. We usually don't have the power to want what we know is right--that is what philosophers call "Moral Freedom" and it requires not our own will power but sacrificing our own selfish will.

I used to wonder about Jesus' statement in Matthew 11:28-30 that His burden is light--it looks hard. The reason that our burden is light that He stays in the harness with us, and carries the load. All we have to do is stay in harness and go in the same direction. In other words, follow His leading, stay on His path.

But just going with Him is not enough  Judas was a fellow traveler, not a Jesus follower. He apparently liked being part of Jesus' entourage, but kept missing the point of who Jesus was and what he was doing. When the going got tough, he got out.  Are we willing to give up our own will and take His will and follow it?

The Danger of Success--by Linden Malki

An Egyptian Coptic Christian friend once told me that Christians in Egypt have spiritual strength because they do not have political or social standing. This is what the early Church found.  They faced discrimination and often severe consequences for their determination to follow Jesus.  Of the eleven disciples that Jesus left with the responsibility to spread the Word, we only know of one that wasn't martyred--killed for who they were.

Almost every follower we find mentioned in the New Testament found truth in Jesus' statement that "In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome with world." (John 16:33)  There were three Emperors in particular who used them as political scapegoats and tried to wipe them out, but by the grace of God the church survived. In fact, it not only survived, but grew and gained influence.
 
When Constantine first put out the Edict of Milan in 312 which made it legally acceptable to be Christian, and then in 323 AD when he gave the church imperial sponsorship and standing, it must have seemed like a dream come true. Legal recognition, however, was far from an unmixed blessing. What came with that was the tempation of power. The dream of unity and mutual care was shattered by disputes that involved struggles between the major church power centers, and even the Emperor himself got into the act. Where the church has power, it tends to attract people who want to use that power to further their own agendas. The Eastern, Greek-speaking church split into three major factions, and at least six separate organizations. Three hundred years of quarreling left them unable to withstand the challenge of Muhammed, who had known Christians--but his preaching shows that what he had heard was not the whole story; in fact, far from it. The Western Rome-based, Latin-speaking church also became very heavily politicized, to where it blew apart over a thousand years. We are still living with the fallout of those times; with a legacy of rivalry and exclusiveness.

And it still survives. Not only survives, but has spread to where a large part of the world (but still not all!) has heard at least a little bit of the Good News. There are Christians and churches today in a suprising number of places. In fact, there may now be more Christians worshipping God outside of traditional "Western Christiandom" that inside. This recent statement is from a Chinese Christian: "The paradox, as they [Chinese church leaders] all know, is that religious freedom, if it ever takes hold, might harm the Christian church in two ways. The church may become institutionalized, wealthy and hence corrupt, as happened in Rome in the high Middle Ages, and is already happening a little in the businessmen's churches in Wenzhou [a large, prosperous city in southeast China with many churches and one of the highest proportion of Christians]. Alternatively the church, long strengthened by repression, may be come a feebler part of society in a climate of toleration. As one Beijing house-church elder declared, with a nod to the erosion of Christian faith in western Europe,'If we get full religious freedom, then the church is finished.'" *
After centuries where the Church in our part of the world has had power and acceptability, the real numbers in many of these countries are falling, and our influence is falling as well. Faith which costs nothing may not be worth much, if anything.

This weekend is the Internation Days of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. We need to remember those who are suffering for their faith; that they will have strength and wisdom in witnessing to the Word of God, that they may continue following their call, and that their persecutors will be changed by their witness.

*http://www.persecution.org/2014/11/05/rapid-spread-of-christianity-in-china-forces-official-rethinking-on-religion/

SILENT WITNESS--by Linden Malki

Imagine living in a society where you cannot talk about your relationship with God and Jesus. Millions of people are in this position today--in countries that officially  do not allow free practice of faith, officially recognize only a different religious tradition, and discriminate against other believers.  We are fortunate here in America. Many of our immigrant ancestors over several centuries came here because of religiously intolerant home countries; even  state or majority Christian traditions that did not tolerate differing practices or interpretations. Some are strict Muslim societies in which other "people of the book" are allowed to exist, but only on conditions that include that they not build new churches, repair old churches, or talk about their faith outside of their own community. Most of the old Communist countries closed churches, tried to suppress worship; even today, in China,  although an amazing number of Christians were found there when the pressure eased after the most radical Maoists were out of power,  worship is either underground or under the critical eyes of bureaucrats.

First, of course, we need to pray for all of God's followers, wherever they are, but especially for the ones that live in places hostile to them.  Their challenge is to live their lives in such a way that God is recognized and honored without causing unnecessarily violent reactions.  Of course there are times when confrontation is unavoidable; pray that those in such situations will have the guidance and strength to do the right thing.  Through the history of the Church there are have been many times that Christ-followers faced hard choices; Jesus warned that saving your life at the cost of your soul was a bad bargain.

We are blessed to live in a society that does not often face us with that difficult choice, but it has happened.  In general, we are free to say what we believe, and sometimes we are called to do so.  We, however, find it too easy to overdo the talk.  Could we live in such a way that without saying anything, our choices, our behavior, our attitudes,  our values will speak for us, both when it is easy and when it would be easier to "stay under the radar?"

Note: The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is Sunday, November 10.

HISTORIC CHRISTIANS--by Linden Malki

Many people are surprised by the news reports about the plight of Christians in Iraq and Syria--wondering where they came from and why are they living in "Moslem countries." The answer is that they've been there all along, particularly in the northern, more remote parts of those countries. Some years ago, they were about 20% of the population of Syria and Iraq; they are now estimated at 5-10%.  Moslems often say that Christians and Jews have always "lived in peace in in our countries"; what they don't mention is the restrictions and the fragility of their lives. We do not know what will happen--how many will survive, how many will escape, how many will not.

It was in Antioch of ancient Syria that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians, and this was one of the five major Patriarchates of the early church, along with Rome, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Constantinople. The Gospel spread from there through the area that is now Syria, eastern Turkey, and Iraq. They have survived the controversies within the early church in the fouth through sixth century; the Moslem conquest of the 600s, the Crusades, the Mongol conquests of the 1200's, the massacres of Armenian and Assyrian Christians during and after World War I by Turkish and Kurdish nationalists, and increasing emigration over the last century.

My father-in-law was born in southeastern Turkey, just north of the border between Syria and Iraq, in an historically Christian town. As a  young man, he and one brother escaped a massacre of Christians in the 1920's; another brother and their father were killed. Practically everybody I have met from their people have a horror story of loss and survival. I had not known a lot about the Eastern Churches before marrying into this subculture, but have found it a fascinating study. There are remnants of at least six traditions that survived; I have been to weddings and funerals in several different churches, one of which claims to use the original "St James Liturgy" of the first-century Jerusalem church.

What can we learn about following Jesus from those who have lived out Jesus' warnings that things would not be easy in this world?
These are some of the things that we need to know:
Hard conditions can give us the time and motivation to spend time with God, to know Him, and gain strength.
We do not know what God is doing; we are not on the planning level.
Weakness is an opportunity for God to change us and use us.
We should pray to stay strong; bad things happen but we can honor God through our response.
We can be enabled  to forgive and love on a deeper level than we ever thought possible.
Prayer is the ultimate fellowship--we should pray for all of those on the same Road we are on, wherever they may be.

https://www.opendoorsusa.org/persecution/theology-of-persecution

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GOD's Open Doors--by Linden Malki

The classic definition of insanity: Do the same thing, expect different results. There  is an exception: if you add one new thing to the mix, the results will be amazing--one way or another. Add a new ingredient to your soup, it may taste better, it might not.  There is one new ingredient that can make all the difference: God.

Fifteen years ago this month we came to worship on a Sunday morning to find a charred ruin where our sanctuary had been the day before. Two years later we discovered that the insurance company responsible for our rebuild--then about half-done--had gone into liquidation after the disaster of 9/11.  We were able to get financing to finish; the loan officer for our credit union told me that he had never before taken in an application with such a high "faith factor", but 40 months after the fire, we rededicated and moved back into a beautiful new worship center.  However, there were financial stresses that led to a need for change.  We were approached by a ministry needing a larger facility, and by the Elks Lodge needing someone to fill an available  rental slot: Sunday mornings. 

Now, four years later, our tenant at Sierra Way, who has been looking at another expansion, has found a building and is planning to move  the first part of next year.  Our attempts at finding a buyer have not succeeded. But add God to the mix: we were led to a minister who is involved with charter schools and counseling centers, and who was led to look for space in San Bernardino, knowing the spiritual needs of this city. 

A tenant moving on; a new tenant for part of the facility--what's the missing piece? Our Pastors and Ministry Board have put in a lot of prayer, and a lot of email and text  and personal conversations with the other parties in this situation in the past week, and it may mean our congregation moving back into the Sierra Way location.  First reaction: been there, done that, are we crazy to think of doing it again?  What are the new ingredients? One: a God-led, financially responsible, experienced, independent charter school, with leadership that we have already worked with successfully.  Two: a ministry team that has grown spiritually and professionally, led by a pastor who is within sight of successfully completing a Doctor of Ministry degree. Three:  A congregational family of leaders and people who have spiritually grown together and work together in an awesome way. 

During the height of these conversations,  Pastor Paul said that he wanted to make sure that we were operating with clean hands and a pure heart. I was amazed to find on Friday morning that the NCF Daily Bible reading was Psalm 24(chosen for that day a week earlier), which is the source of Paul's statement; and which also talks about opening up the doors for the King of Glory to come in.  I got a vision of God opening doors not just for us, but doors that He Himself can come in.

 God's Open Doors

The classic definition of insanity: Do the same thing, expect different results. There  is an exception: if you add one new thing to the mix, the results will be amazing--one way or another. Add a new ingredient to your soup, it may taste better, it might not.  There is one new ingredient that can make all the difference: God.

Fifteen years ago this month we came to worship on a Sunday morning to find a charred ruin where our sanctuary had been the day before. Two years later we discovered that the insurance company responsible for our rebuild--then about half-done--had gone into liquidation after the disaster of 9/11.  We were able to get financing to finish; the loan officer for our credit union told me that he had never before taken in an application with such a high "faith factor", but 40 months after the fire, we rededicated and moved back into a beautiful new worship center.  However, there were financial stresses that led to a need for change.  We were approached by a ministry needing a larger facility, and by the Elks Lodge needing someone to fill an available  rental slot: Sunday mornings. 

Now, four years later, our tenant at Sierra Way, who has been looking at another expansion, has found a building and is planning to move  the first part of next year.  Our attempts at finding a buyer have not succeeded. But add God to the mix: we were led to a minister who is involved with charter schools and counseling centers, and who was led to look for space in San Bernardino, knowing the spiritual needs of this city. 

A tenant moving on; a new tenant for part of the facility--what's the missing piece? Our Pastors and Ministry Board have put in a lot of prayer, and a lot of email and text  and personal conversations with the other parties in this situation in the past week, and it may mean our congregation moving back into the Sierra Way location.  First reaction: been there, done that, are we crazy to think of doing it again?  What are the new ingredients? One: a God-led, financially responsible, experienced, independent charter school, with leadership that we have already worked with successfully.  Two: a ministry team that has grown spiritually and professionally, led by a pastor who is within sight of successfully completing a Doctor of Ministry degree. Three:  A congregational family of leaders and people who have spiritually grown together and work together in an awesome way. 

During the height of these conversations,  Pastor Paul said that he wanted to make sure that we were operating with clean hands and a pure heart. I was amazed to find on Friday morning that the NCF Daily Bible reading was Psalm 24(chosen for that day a week earlier), which is the source of Paul's statement; and which also talks about opening up the doors for the King of Glory to come in.  I got a vision of God opening doors not just for us, but doors that He Himself can come in.

WHAT ARE YOU FOLLOWING?--by Linden Malki

We are all following something. It might be a person, it might be an idea, it might be a philosophy, it might be a fashion, it might be some sort of wishful thinking.  We can see the results of this around us.  Right now we are seen horrific pictures of people following someonr claiming to be the rightful Caliph (successor to Muhammad) and intending to bring the world in line with Islamic law. Actually, there are a number of followers of Muhammad, each following a slightly different tradition of Islam, each offering a leader, a cause, a way to better follow the Koran.

Modern media has brought us a great number of things we can follow.  For example, there are musicians, each appealing for followers to listen and buy their music. We have technology that allows continuous soaking our brains with music in a wide variety of styles, each with their own attitude and influence, and their own group of followers.

There are sports teams with their own followers--the leagues and their teams are designed to encourage followers who will buy tickets to their games, merchandise with their logos, and stuff advertised by sponsors paying lots of money to advertise on the coattails of the games. We are currently seeing the team organizations struggling with the behaviors of the players, asking how much responsibility they have for the examples set for their followers.

There are politicians looking or followers who will buy into their visions of the ideal societies, each with their own motives of power, money,  influence. Some of them want to point their followers to what they claim is a better way of life; some of them use their vision for their own enrichment or power trips.

There are writers and artists creating heroes and villains for fans to follow; books to buy, movies to see, games to play, alternate realities to soak up our time and money.  How do we judge the health of these examples for us and our children?

Every day we choose what examples we will follow; what we will wear, what will we eat, where will we go, what will we do. Every culture from the village to the world has leaders and followers. Almost everything people follow has human beings at the back of it.  Where else can we look?

Billions of people believe that there is a power in the Universe larger than human beings. What does this look like? We believe that the Creator of the Universe has made Himself known to us, and that He has provided ways for us to know how to follow Him. There have been many people in the history of the world who have claimed to be speaking for a supernatural Power.  We as Christians believe that God Himself has come to us, lived with us, and died for us, and we can have a relationship with.Him. We are engaged in life-long effort to understand Who He Is, and what it means to follow Him.

Go for the ORIGINAL--by Linden Malki

When we read Scripture and find that it demands something of us,the first thing we need to know that it is authentic, that it comes from a reliable Source. The first step is to believe that God exists, and rewards those who earnestly seek Him. (Heb 11:6) How do we know He exists? St Paul tells the Romans that "Ever since God created the world, His everlasting power and deity--however invisible--have been there for the mind to see in the things He has made." The writer of  Hebrews also goes on to the historical evidence--the many people who had seen or done amazing things through the power of God. He will demand more than we can do on our own.

'We believe--on good evidence--that the God of the Bible is the authentic, original manufacturer of the universe we live in, the basic source of everything. We find God and His obedient followers in Scripture. What else do we find?  We find people and experiences that do not live up to what is needed; some that do not have a connection with the true God; and some who found or made false gods for their own reasons. Do we recognize what is going on here?

Looking at the stuff I deal with every day, I see some parallels.

The first question my customers often asks about a part we offer is "Who made it? "  "Is is original?" Some of what we have available is original, in a genuine factory package.  We have some parts that are "original equipment supplier" items, made to factory specs by companies that deal with the original factories. In our Christian life, we have available the experiences and wisdom of people who are connected with the Creator and live according to His specifications. In my world, we get some things are from outside sources, not connected with the original factories. They are only as good as their fidelity to appropriate materials, original specs, and quality workmanship. In the church world, there have always been people  who put out a more or less good imitation of godly wisdom, and can be anywhere from "right on" to barely recognizable. In the business world, there is cheap junk, made who knows where, intended for those who are easily satisfied with cheap and close enough. Often this will have a brand name designed to mislead: "First Equipment Quality" or "Genuine". And there is counterfeit--lookalike packaging, fake logos, designed to fool customers, just as we find folks who peddle imitation spirituality and counterfeit gods.

I've always been "picky" about what I sell; to find the best combination of as close to original as I can at a fair price.  People are nice enough sometimes to let me know that something they got from us fixed what they needed. If we are in a saving relationship with God, we need to understand He is the genuine Maker of the Universe, learn as much as we can from the best sources and our best connections with Him, so that He can fix the broken stuff in us, and we can become the people we were created to be.

SEQUEL 2: The Word is Spread to the World--by Linden Malki

More than half of the New Testament books are "Epistles" (letters), many of them written by Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee who became Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. He is a good example of how God chooses special people for special jobs. He was born into a Hebrew family,  in the Greek city of Tarsus on the Mediterranean coast of what is now southeastern Turkey, and was also a Roman citizen. He had a Greek education as well as having been a student of Gamaliel, one of the most respected scholars in Jewish tradition.   He was a Pharisee, with great zeal for Jewish law, and originally judged the followers of Jesus as heretics. Read his story in Acts 22; how he was called to serve God by preaching the message of the Gospel to first, his fellow Jews, and then to the outsiders, the Gentiles. We have many of his letters, to churches he founded and others to people he had mentored, dealing both with the meaning of Jesus' life and death and the practical issues and problems that came up in the churches. This gives us an amazing real-time snapshot of the development of the  early church, as well as supplying advice and instruction to 2000 years of Christians.

The letters were written (in order of their appearance in the Bible, not geographically or chronologically) to Rome, Corinth (a seaport on the isthmus between mainland Greece and the peninsula that is the southern half of the country), Galatia in Asia Minor (now Turkey), Ephesus (a seaport on the east coast of the Aegean Sea). Philippi (on the  northern coast of the Aegean in Macedonia, north of Greece), Colossae (in eastern Asia Minor), and Thessonika (now Salonika on the northwest corner of the Aegean, the second largest city in Greece.) In addition, we have letters written to Timothy and Titus, mentorees of Paul who became church leaders, and Philemon, a personal letter to a friend.   The letter to the Romans is Paul's most scholarly presentation of the Gospel; The two letters to the Corinthians deal with the problems of a rambunctious group of folks in a very pagan city; and the letter to the Philippians was written from prison but expresses eloquently the joy of knowing Christ.  More than one psychologist has recommended reading this small book for encouragement and mental health.

We also have letters from other major followers of Jesus.  The next one is the Letter to the Hebrews, by an unknown writer who is obviously inspired and respected by the churches.  Some older Bible translations give Paul as the author, but the more I read Paul's letters and this book, the more aware I am that the style is different and the writer comes to the story of Jesus from a different direction--aimed directly at a traditional Jewish community.  The other letters we have are from James (the leader of the original Jerusalem church and brother of Jesus), Peter, John, and Jude (brother of James and another brother of Jesus).

The final book is the "end of the story." It is a form that  was popular in this period, a vision of the final triumph of God in human history.  Jesus Himself is the "star" of this one.  It is a series of visions that John had when he was confined to the prison island of Patmos, in the western Aegean Sea. Amateur and professional scholars have analyzed it in many different ways, which is not surprising when we realize that there are references and coded descriptions for which we no longer have the key, as it was circulated underground among churches who were being persecuted.  A surprising amount of church music is based on passages from this book. The  important thing to remember is that even  though there are different ways to interpret it, there is one overarching message: at the end, we will be with God forever!

ean coast of what is now southeastern Turkey, and was also a Roman citizen. He had a Greek education as well as having been a student of Gamaliel, one of the most respected scholars in Jewish tradition.   He was a Pharisee, with great zeal for Jewish law, and originally judged the followers of Jesus as heretics. Read his story in Acts 9; how he was called to serve God by preaching the message of the Gospel to first, his fellow Jews, and then to the outsiders, the Gentiles. We have many of his letters, to churches he founded and others to people he had mentored, dealing both with the meaning of Jesus' life and death and the practical issues and problems that came up in the churches. This gives us an amazing real-time snapshot of the development of the  early church, as well as supplying advice and instruction to 2000 years of Christians.

SEQUEL: The Promised Messiah Comes!

Human beings have been created with an insatiable desire to retell stories and write them down.  By the time of Jesus, in the Roman Empire of what we now call The First Century AD,  the Jewish Scriptures were in wide circulation across the empire.  Jesus and His followers assumed a familiarity with them in their audiences. As the teachings of Jesus spread, they were written down; fragments have been found that have been dated to within a generation of Jesus' death and resurrection. Like the earlier Jewish Scriptures that we now call the Old Testament, this is a collection, not a single narrative.  

We find four different kinds of literature in this collection.First, the “Gospels” (Good News), the story of Jesus, the fulfillment of God’s Promise, from four different angles. 

 

"The Gospel of Matthew" written by a well-educated Jew with a thorough familiarity with the traditional Scriptures; refers constantly to examples and prophecies.

"The Gospel of Mark", Jesus in action. This is considered by many scholars to be Peter's preaching as collected and retold by John Mark, a young man from a good Jewish Christian family in Jerusalem, who was later associated with Peter, Paul, and Barnabas.

"The Gospel of Luke", written by a Gentile to a Gentile friend. Luke is considered by many scholars to be a first-rate historian. This is the first of two writings by the same author. It was written for a wider, Greek-speaking audience, and  includes more of Jesus’ parables.

These three are referred to as the Synoptic Gospels, because they share a framework and chronology, and may have drawn on a common source, although each has material unique to itself.

"The Gospel of John"  appears to have been written later, when the Synoptics were in wide circulation. John does not repeat them, but gives more material and spiritual truths that go deeper, and which shows the uniqueness of  Jesus, within the Jewish tradition but not limited to it. 

The second type of writing is historical. "Acts of the Apostles", the continuation of Luke’s Gospel, carries the story of Jesus through the first generation of the early church. Luke traveled with Paul in his later missionary journeys, and spent several years in Galilee when Paul was in prison in Caesarea while the various authorities tried to figure out what to do with him. It is likely that Luke took this opportunity to visit people who had known Jesus and the apostles and collected their recollections.

(to be continued next week: The Epistles (Letters), and the final drama.)

BOOK OF BOOKS by Linden Malki

The Bible is not "a book."  It is an anthology, a collection of writings that grew over a thousand years before the time of Jesus, and later, another hundred to compile His story. It is unique, I believe, among foundational literatures of spiritual communities, in not being a reflection of only one or two leaders and not more than one or two generations. Its chief derivative and rival in today's world is the Koran (or Quran), which is based on the story and teaching of one man and was compiled in its final form less than 30 years after his death.  Most other major religions are also the legacies of single individuals, such as Buddha, Confucius, and Zoroaster.

The Bible is also not a single continuous story. The Old Testament begins at the Beginning--Creation--and ends with the last of the recognized prophets who wrote around 400BC.  However, it consists of three major types of writings, which are arranged in what I see as five chronologies (with some overlaps). 

            First, of course, is the record of God's calling and dealings with a specific group of people.  The first five books, in Jewish tradition called the Torah, are the basic stories of the covenants of God with Adam, Noah, Abraham (c2000BC), and Moses (c1500).  Next we have the history of Israel--the descendants of Jacob--from Joshua to the united Kingdom of Saul, David (c1000BC) and Solomon, then the separate Kingdoms of Judah in the South and Israel in the North, the Assyrian invasion (726-712BC) and conquest by the Babylonians (596BC) at the end of 2 Kings. 

            The second chronological section overlaps the first: 1 and 2 Chronicles retell the history of the Israelites, focusing more on the southern Kingdom of Judah, followed by Ezra and Nehemiah with the return from Babylon (539-445BC), the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple; and Esther, in the exile community in Persia.

            The middle section is often referred to as "Wisdom Literature" or "Writings"--Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. These are poetic writings, of which Job is very ancient, and the others are collections, mostly attributed to David and Solomon, in fairly chronological order.

            The last two sections are the Prophets: "Major Prophets", the longest prophetic writings: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations (a short collection of poems attributed to Jeremiah), Ezekiel, and Daniel, from the time of the Assyrian invasion to the exile in Babylon and Persia.

            The "Minor Prophets" are a dozen short writings. Hosea is one of the earlier prophets, from the period of the two parallel kingdoms, and Malachi the latest, after the return from Babylon, but the others are otherwise not necessarily in historical order.

These were assembled into one collection by about 200-150BC, and translated into Greek in Alexandria (Egypt). Most of the OT quotations in the New Testament are from the Greek version, known as the Septuagint, from the tradition that it was done by a team of 72 Jewish scholars. In the last century, a number of copies and fragments of these writings have been found, dated from the first and second centuries BC, and which are virtually identical with the versions we have today.

 Next week we’ll look at the New Testament.