The Most Ancient Blessing--by Linden Malki

God's heartfelt desire is to bless His people!  We are coming up to our celebration of Thanksgiving,  which echoes the ancient fall harvest festival of Sukkoth, the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles.  God created a world that blesses us each year with harvests of food for our bodies and celebrations of worship for our souls.

 As Moses was preparing to dedicate God's Tabernacle, the very first house of worship,   "The LORD said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons,this is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:  Yahweh bless you and keep you; Yahweh make his face shine upon you , and be gracious to you;  Yahweh lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:22-26; YHWH is the Name told in Exodus 3:14)

Ketef Hinnom is a series of rock-hewn burial chambers based on natural caverns, SW of the Old City of Jerusalem, adjacent to St Andrews Church.  It was thought to be previously emptied of artifacts, but in excavations in 1979, a  13-year old assistant to University of Tel Aviv archeology professor Gabriel Barkay dug out a collapsed ceiling and found over a thousand objects from the time of the end of the First Temple period, about 650BC. Among these objects were two small rolled silver scrolls,  amulets probably worn on a chain.  It took three years to unroll them, and they were found to be inscribed with ancient Hebrew lettering.  In 2004, a team of researchers at USC using  advanced photographic and computer enhancement techniques has confirmed the 600BC dating and translation.  What they found is the oldest known quotation of a Bible passage:
..May be blessed by YHWH the warrior/helper and the rebuker of evil : May bless you
YHWH keep you. Make shine YHWH his face [upon] you and grant you peace.

As we thank God for the world He created, and prepare to celebrate the coming of His Son for our salvation,  let us open our hearts to receive and accept His Blessing!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/28/science/28scro.html?ex=1097474721&ei=1&en=21605add0f9cbea9&_r=0

Bring On the Children! by Linden Malki

One of the most memorable stories about Jesus is His welcoming of children when His disciples wanted to "save" Him from their bother. The Roman and Greek cultures which surrounded them did not value children; however, we see even in the earliest Scriptures an ideal of parental love. We see Jacob's love for Joseph and Benjamin; Moses' parents hiding him and being willing to having him raised by strangers to save his life; Samuel dedicated to the service of God; Joash being hidden by his aunt and uncle from a murderous grandmother. We even see God Himself describing His love for His people as a father loving His children. Although Moses commanded the Israelites to teach their children the story of what God required and had done for His people, we read of too many parents whose children were not raised wisely.

Jesus not only welcomed the company of children, but set a child front and center and said, "Whoever shall receive this child in My name receives me, and whoever receives me receives Him who sent Me, for he that is least among you shall be great." On another occasion He said about children, that "of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."

We often think of the character of a child as innocent, but anyone who has raised a child knows that they are self-willed from the beginning. Fortunately, innocence is not the requirement for salvation. Even small children are also surprisingly capable of cutting to the heart of the Gospel. The majority of adult Christians originally accepted Jesus as children. The evangelist D.L.Moody once described a meeting where there had been "two and a half conversions." The response was "Two adults and a child, I suppose?" "No," said Moody, "two children and an adult. The children gave their whole lives. The adult had only half of his left to give."

We are given the awesome responsibility of nurturing children wisely; of being kind of people that show our relationship with God in ways that encourage others to learn from us as individuals and as families, both in blood and in faith. Jesus also said that anyone who causes a "these little ones" harm is subject to judgment. Again, we are responsible for each other!

Remember--What??-by Linden Malki

To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples. Then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants, and we have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?" (a)

Jesus was talking to people who were well-educated scholars of Torah, who had grown up with the yearly observance of Passover. Their ancestors had been told by Moses to "Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten." (b) They did remember that only unleavened bread be eaten during the festival, but Jesus had often pointed out that they were experts at the small stuff of the Law but missed the main points. They had apparently forgotten that yes, they had been slaves in Egypt, and were delivered by the strength of God's hand. They didn't seem to realize that without the saving hand of God, they were still in slavery to sin. 

We find all through Scripture the command to "Remember!" God repeatedly promised to remember the covenants made first with Noah, then Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then Moses. In turn: "In days to come, when your son asks you 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With His mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.'" (c) "You shall remember all the way which the LORD thy God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments, or not." (d)  We find the call to remembrance throughout the Psalms and the prophets. 

Jesus called his followers to remember something even more important than what God had done in the past--what He was preparing to do: sacrifice His own body and blood to so that our sins and failures could be forgotten. The writer of Hebrews remembers the promise to Jeremiah: "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and wil I write them on their minds...Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." (e) And he adds "And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin." (f)

And this is what we are to remember: "Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of Me. In the same way, He took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you." (g) We are to remember not just the bread and the cup themselves, but that we were once slaves to sin but through a new covenant have been made His redeemed sons and daughters. 

(a)John 8:31-32    (b)Exodus 13:3  (c)Exodus 13:14   (d) Deuteronomy 8:2  (e)Jeremiah 31:33-34  (f)Hebrews 10:18   (g)Luke 22:19-20

God's Tour Guides--by Linden Malki

A child who was afraid in a dark and stormy night was reminded by her parents that God is always with her, to which she replied that on a night like this she wanted somebody with skin on. We are created to need each other; even in the perfect environment of Eden God said that it is not good for man to be alone.

In a fallen, broken world, it is even more important to care for each other. There are even scientific studies that show that people who have caring connections with others are heathier than those who don't, even with similar physiological test results. When we are facing tough situations in our lives, the first step to recognize our limitations. The apostle Paul learned to be grateful for an unspecified physical disability that made him aware of his need to depend on God rather than himself. When we learn to ask, He can work through us, lift us up and use us to in turn help each other. When we are lost on an unfamiliar road, the best help is a caring "tour guide", someone who's been there, done that. I find that I can relate in a special way to widows since John's passing. A friend with hearing loss is led to opportunities to work with children with hearing problems.

God is the ultimate guide! He offers us strength not only from a position of great power, but He also knows what we experience from the inside--knowing humanity not only as our Creator, but as our brother who has been here, done it all, and suffered more than any of us can imagine on our very worst days. But the suffering was a necessary step on the road to the Resurrection, the ultimate victory.

We've asking some hard questions the last few weeks; learning more about ourselves, each other, and God. This is the path we find in Hebrews 11:6: we can know that He IS, and that He rewards those who truly seek Him.

The Miracle of Healing by Linden Malki

Bad Stuff happens. We may never on this earth know all the reasons, but we see it all around us. Even in Scripture, we find great stories of God's power, and also disasters. Sometimes we do it to ourselves, very often we do it to each other (I'm convinced that we are responsible for each other!). Sometimes we get in the way of the universe we live in. There are spiritual powers out there that do not have our best interests in mind; evil is real. We like to read about the "happy things" in the Bible, but there are a surprising number of unhappy things and unhappy people. An amazing number of the Psalms are God's servants asking "Why, God??" or "When are you going to fix this, God?" This tells us that we can ask God the hard questions, and complain; and that God can handle our frustrations and pain. After all, He knows what we are thinking better than we do ourselves. And He may tell us to do something about it, but we need to be sure we are doing what He calls to do, not what we may want.

"Instinctively, we want to clean up our feelings in our prayers, but perhaps we have it all backwards. Perhaps we should strive to take all our worst feelings to God ... I see the cursing psalms as an important model for how to deal with evil and injustice. I should not try to suppress my reaction or horror and outrage at evil. Nor should I try to take justice in my own hands. Rather I should deliver those feelings, stripped bare, to God. As the books of Job, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk clearly show, God has a high threshhold of tolerance for what is appropriate to say in a prayer. God can "handle" my unsuppressed rage. I may well find that my vindictive feelings need God's correction--but only by taking those feelings to God will I have that opportunity for correction and healing." *

The Bad Stuff is not the end of the story. God heals! Our bodies heal, the natural world heals. Societies can heal. Jesus and the early Church performed healing miracles as a demonstration of the power of God, but His miracle of healing has always been part of His creation. I have just now experienced an example of this. Ten days ago, I was on my way to work and was sideswiped by a car that suddenly veered into my lane. My airbag went off, and my face and neck became a painful, bloody mess. As of today, all there is left is one small bruise on a cheekbone and a small bump on my neck. Healing is a paradox; all medical practice is simply intervening in a way that enables God's healing process. We not only heal physically, but mentally and spiritually as well if we get out of our own way. Even societies and cultures can heal if they are willing to give up whatever is unhealthy. I've heard televangelists say that God wants us healed, and we just need enough faith. It's not that simple: God made the healing process, but healing in this world is never permanent. If it were, Abraham would still be alive! The final stage of healing, if we allow it, happens not in this world but in the next.
* Philip Yancey, Prayer, p173

Not a Tame Lion--by Linden Malki

The Lion of Judah is one of the most striking Messianic symbols in the Old Testament .In Revelation 5, he is identified with the Lamb of God. He is a figure of power, not under man's control. C.S. Lewis, in the  Chronicles of Narnia, uses a Lion,  Aslan, as an image of the Messiah. All through the books, Aslan is described as “good ”, but not “safe”--after all, he is “not a tame lion.” One writer on Lewis expands this concept to our understanding of God: “When the realization of the finiteness that makes up humanity hits, the proper response should be one of thankfulness that God cannot be tamed or called at personal bidding. If the characters in The Chronicles of Narnia had been allowed to control Aslan and have him do all the things they thought best at the time, Narnia might be a very different place.”*

When we are tempted to judge God, we need to remember that He is much more complex than we can imagine. He has placed us in a world that Lewis describes as ““Enemy-occupied territory”-that's what this world is.” ** Life on this earth is not perfect; we don't necessarily get what we want, even though there are promises that prayer will be heard. However, we are not at the planning level. We cannot know the long-term implications of what we want, but He does.

Prayer is not an easy concept. Our prayers may conflict with those of others; they may conflict with His nature, they may conflict with His ultimate plans. He has given us the challenge of facing the reality of Evil. Because we live in territory occupied by the Enemy, we cannot expect everyone else to have our best interests at heart. We live in a place that has its own rules, which we can learn to use but do not control. We are all responsible for each other, and we often fail or others fail us. There will come a point when we will all be faced with the responsibility for how our lives have affected each other. Meanwhile, He has created us with challenges beyond our human strength, both for good and for evil. The ability to use our potentials properly is available, but we have to ask and be willing to accept His sovereignty. He is not tame and under our control; He is not safe—we will be challenged to our limits; but He is Good—in a wider sense than we can understand on this Earth.

*Raven Richardson, Temple University Colloquium on C.S. Lewis, 2004
**C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

A Great Sunday Meeting New People! by Pastor Paul

This past Sunday I had a great experience.

In fact I had three of them!

The singing was great and I truly enjoyed preaching on the topic of WHY!

But the best part of the morning happened after the benediction.  I snuck to the back of the room during the closing prayer and eagerly awaited the opportunity to shake some hands, give some hugs, and say goodby to our congregation.  That is when it happened.

The first lady told me that she was the guest of her friend,

and had really understood the service.

The next lady told me that a member of her family

had invited her to come and worship.

Then a great gentleman on his first visit told me he would see me again.

Acts chapter Two tells us the early church "worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—  all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved"

My experience this past Sunday was right out of Acts Two, and I loved it!

See you Sunday for "WHY" sermon three.  

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE?

See you there,

Paul