FIRE:Connecting with God--by Linden Malki

The first mention of fire in Scripture is in connection with worship: the instruction given for the offering that God required of Noah after the flood.  We can see several points of it's being a "burnt offering"; one is that it is destroyed in the process, and the smoke rises upwards toward God. In some cases, the roasted offering became food for the priests and for those celebrating Passover.  We can probably assume that the original Passover celebrations, if any, happened at Shiloh or Jerusalem. After the split in the Kingdom, there appears to be a revival of Passover celebrations at the time of Hezekiah and later, Josiah. It appears that the celebrations were observed more regularly after the Second Temple was built under Nehemiah. A central part of the celebrations was the sacrifice of the Passover lamb (or young goat) until the destruction of the Temple in 70AD.

It is interesting that this tradition lasted up through the whole of the Old Testament period, until the second Temple was destroyed.  The decision was made by the Jewish leadership to discontinue the offerings until the Temple was again available. When the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, was recovered in the 1967 war, a small organization of religious  Jews began preparing for the reestablishment of the sacrifices and other traditions, even though the Temple area is still under the control of the Muslim authorities and not available to Jews.

The traditional Passover sacrifice, however, is not dead. When the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 700 BC, there were still Samaritans living in the original area of the cities of Samaria and Nablus, maintaining their old traditions. At their largest, under Roman rule, it is estimated that there were about  million Samaritans still holding to their traditions, similar to but not identical to the Jewish communities.  There are about 800 left now, overlapping the line between Israel and the Palestinian West Bank.  Their annual Passover celebration still maintains the tradition of  sacrificing a young sheep or goat per family in a communal fire pit as part of the Passover meal. They also attract visitors interested in observing this 3600 year old celebration.   
                                                                                                                 
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We may Hide, but God Seeks--by Linden Malki

The first reaction to the first breakdown between God and His creatures is that they hid. Why they thought that would accomplish anything is not clear--it seems like such a trivial thing. They knew, however, that the bite of the fruit wasn't the point--the issue at hand was obedience.  This was also the point of the offerings that Cain and Abel made--Abel had made the effort of doing what God had asked, and Cain apparently didn't bother, and then took it out on Abel--and then tried to avoid admitting it,  and was banished; he was marked and then banished from God's presence.

There were times that God hid Himself from people; in cases where people had rejected Him the relationship was destroyed.  Most often, though, it was God who chose  the people who He had plans for: Noah, whose contemporaries were so disobedient to God that He made that separation permanent; and the Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph who were called to be the ancestors of a nation. God revealed Himself to Moses and Joshua, and they were called to lead God's people out of captivity to a Promised Land (with a few glitches on the way). The next few centuries were tough, as the people were learning to become a nation; there was a century where the tribes did build a thriving society, and then it fell apart. The Northern tribes rebelled. and were absorbed by the Assyrians and a whole string of later empires, and only a few Samaritans kept a thin thread of knowledge of God alive to this day.  The Southern Kingdom, where the royal line of David lasted a few more centuries, with their relationship marked by high and low times; to a point where the words of God that had survived in hiding were found in the Temple, and kept the traditions and laws alive. What is amazing is that as forgetful and evil that people have been, God has never allowed them to be totally lost, without hope. The survival of the Jews through the Greek and Roman centuries and then exile for 1900 years, and the survival of the Church from a few followers who spent various stretches under persecution to a community that has touched a good percentage of today's world, are reminders that God has not forgotten His people, no matter how rough times have been. 

We need to remember that God has never forgotten, even when we as human beings have treated each other badly and have been forced into hiding, both as communities and as individuals. It may be tempting to just lay low, not make waves; and that has been appropriate in some times and places. In this past century, both the Jewish community and the Church have been driven into hiding in some times and places; but it looks like God's not through with us yet. 

Seeking His Perfection in an Imperfect World --by Linden Malki

Even Jesus had to deal with people who hated him--so we shouldn't be surprised when people are unhappy with us. Sometimes everybody knows why somebody has it "in" for us; sometimes we have no idea what the issue is.  There was a girl in our high school youth group that I had been good friends with for several years, and somehow I started hearing from other people that she was trying to sabotage me for no good reason that I could ever find out.  At a recent high school reunion she was my friend again..  This seems to be life in this world; we can't please everybody all the time.                                                                                                                           

There are different attitudes behind different people.  There are some people who have no idea of right and wrong; and if we get in their way we can't predict the result. Sometimes we can apologize and clear the air; sometimes there is no way to explain why something is unacceptable to someone who doesn't have the concept. About all we can do is stay out of the situation as much as possible and pray hard (and privately)against the evil we see.  And of course be open to the other person to mellow out and listen--it can happen. One thing that doesn't help is arguing--this sets up a defensive reaction that can make things worse.                                                                                                               
                               

Another kind of person we can have to deal with is someone who does "know the rules", but is determined to do it themselves. On one hand they can be very judgmental about other people, but convinced that they've got it all together by themselves and don't need anything from anybody--not even God. (Remember those Paul mentions in Galatians 2 who were so sure they could be justified by the Law?) Sometimes we find these folks inside the church, so sure they know what everybody should be doing; and sometimes we find them on the outside;,convinced that they don't need us.

What makes the difference between the self-sufficient believer and the one who is truly justified in Christ is accepting the knowledge that we cannot live the "good life" on our own; that it requires our dependence on Christ and the presence of the Spirit to forgive each other and truly know His forgiveness. Yes, we are still living in an imperfect world, and will be imperfect on occasion, but we have the answer in Jesus's sacrifice and the power that we have in Him to truly seek forgiveness for our own missteps and to truly forgive those who have tripped us up. 

Memories of Groups in my Church Experience--by Linden Malki

I grew up in an American Baptist church in Spokane, Washington, and the first group I recall specifically was a 6th grade Sunday School class, taught by my mother. She had been a teacher before she married, and she was really determined that we should memorize basic Scripture passages. I had no choice-and Psalm 23, the nativity passage in Luke 2, the Easter passage in Matthew 28, and the Beatitudes,  are still with me.  The other group experience from that church is high school Baptist Youth Fellowship, which was basically run by us kids; we had adult advisers, but the studies, activities, music, and mission projects were our responsibility. At that time, there was an active local interchurch youth group that did fellowship events and local projects, one of which was a community Easter sunrise service in a large park. This was organized and run by a bunch of us high school kids (we did draft a local pastor as the main speaker) with minimal adult supervision.

When I came to San Bernardino, it was with a brand-new husband who was already attending what was then Calvary Baptist Church, and the associate pastor at that time turned out to be a pastor who had been in Spokane before I was born, and one of my father's best friends. This was when the Sierra Way facility was just being finished, and my older daughter was one of the first babies dedicated here.  This was before the Children's building and Fellowship Hall were built, and the offices and nursery facility was in the quadraplex at the north end of the property. Child care was done by a rotation of moms and volunteer high school girls, and a good way to get to know each other. I also got involved in a women's weekday Bible study group, which lasted several years until one summer when most of the moms moved or had other life changes. 

When my kids were in grade school, I was asked by Betty Jo Graves, then Sunday School Superintendent, to teach a third grade class, which led to becoming involved in children's ministry and youth ministry for some years; teaching, drama, and music, up through the years that my younger son and Chris Reinhard were in our high school group. Pastor Paul Reinhard came back from a sabbatical in 2005 with a vision for small-group ministry, and we developed a program of home-based Life Groups, which have now become the Sandals Community Group ministry. The group that I am currently involved in grew out of the midweek worship service we did before the Sandals merger, and is a valuable resource for keeping on track with God's vision for our church family.     

God's School for His Children--by Linden Malki

Jesus was basically raised "in church".  He went to  synagogue regularly, and the major pilgrimage holidays most years. He collected a group of students/mentorees at the beginning of his ministry, and after his resurrection, he spent time with the "family" he had developed. His last words to his followers, when he was preparing them for his return to his Father, were for them to first, spend time in prayer with each other, and then to build a fellowship to continue his mission on this earth. This is the pattern for what became the "church" as his Word broke out of its dependency on the Jewish community.

We can see the plan--the Jerusalem church stayed centered on a core of people from the Jewish community. We can see the kicking and screaming as the Peter and Paul and Barnabas and others brought reports of the Gospel breaking out of its kindergarten.  One thing that happened is that James, Jesus' brother and the heir to the leadership of the community, was pushed off of a parapet of the Temple and clubbed to death at the bottom. Then when the political situation in Jerusalem was getting rough, that little group remembered Jesus' warnings about the disintegration coming, and followed the instructions to get out of town.  Where they went was Pella, a Greek city on the other  side of the Jordan valley, one of the Decapolis cities. Religiously, it is said to have originally had only the Gospel of Matthew, and was known for its care of the poor. It was conquered in 635 by a Moslem army, but as late as 2002 there was still a Roman Catholic bishop there (that part of Jordan had a fairly large minority of Christians when I was there in 1963, but I don't know how they have done since. That area has always been somewhat isolated from the mainstream church).

We also can watch the stories of the spread of churches throughout the world--this has always been a major connection that God has made with His children. We need the support of others on the same path; to keep each other accountable and engaged. It can be easy for a church to get off track; pay more attention to the surface piety of the people but don't see the reality in attitude or real life. We are part of a global family, but we need to be connected with the realities of growing spiritually in a world that does not support healthy relationships with each other and with the most important Relationship  in our lives.                                                                           

Dealing with the Power of Evil--by Linden Malki

The Apostle Paul says a scary thing in his discussion of sin and death in Romans 7: that even when we know God and His Law we are still subject to the possibility of sin.  In fact, he goes on to say that the Law itself brings knowledge of sin, in that we become aware of it as something that we are responsible for but will still fail in our own efforts.
This is when we find ourselves in a situation where we are aware of the laws that we still find ourselves on the wrong side of, but we can recognize that we do have His Spirit available to make us aware of both the nature of sin and that we have the power available to overcome it. Even when we don't live up to the Law, we do have the recognition of where we have messed up, and the knowledge that we are forgiven.

We are supposed to recognize evil when we see it, and to recognize that we are not called to overcome it on our own. Step one is recognition: what we don't recognize we can't deal with. We can get ourselves in trouble because we are not even aware that the problem exists, and it's a battle that we lose because we did nothing.  The next step is awareness that the Law gives us a tool to recognize it. If we deal with it with our own best efforts, we may make some progress in dealing with it. and it may even lead to pride in our efforts. We are still dealing with it on our own strength. There is another step: recognizing the evil power that may be involved, and this means it  needs spiritual power.If we don't have a relationship with a source of spiritual power, we are helpless.  Evil wants us to think that we are helpless. If we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our life, we have a source of power to call on, but if we don't apply this power, we're still behind the curve. What will answer the question is to stop trying to deal with it on our own, admit that we are powerless on our own, and give it to the Spirit that can handle it.

Sometimes we forget that evil is real; temptation is real, and sometimes the best answer is to not try to handle it on our own; walk away and leave it alone.

God's Freedom--by Linden Malki

It sounds simple. When the idea of "freedom" crosses our mind, the the first thing we think of is being able to do whatever we feel like doing. The problem is that we don't have control over everything that is involved with what we do.  This was brought home one afternoon about ten years ago, one fine afternoon one of my nephews jumped on his motorcycle to visit a cousin in the Hemet area. What he didn't know about was the truck in a dip on Hiway 74, and the effect of a few drinks on his reflexes. He never made it home.

The subject of "freedom" is more complex than it seems.  If we are not free to do whatever we want without consequences, is there a "freedom" that is worth seeking?  I think there is, and it is related to our last few weeks' studies.  We know that God offers us a relationship with Him that offers us freedom from sin if we accept it.  One of the benefits of this relationship is the presence of His Spirit in us; and this offers us opportunities to serve and witness in ways that we can't do on our own. This gives us the freedom from the limitations of our human strength, and the power to love people--and God--that we can't do on our own. and the wisdom to avoid the pitfalls that we could trip over on our own.

The underlying gift here is one that is often referred to as "moral freedom"--the gift that transforms our human, limited  will into one that is based His perfect will--so that we can truly "will as we ought." His Will offers us security as well as freedom; like the gate to the complex where I work, open and welcoming for the most part, but if required it can be secured against the problems of the world.