A Place to Live

This arrived in my email today. I've read it before; I've co-taught a class based on the book. Even so, it struck me today as a great passage:

Father Damien was a priest who became famous for his willingness to serve lepers. He moved to Kalawao, a village on the island of Molokai in Hawaii that had been quarantined to serve as a leper colony. For sixteen years he live in their midst. He learned to speak their language. He bandaged their wounds, embraced the bodies no one else would touch, preached to hearts that would otherwise have been left alone. He organized schools, bands, and choirs. He built homes so that the lepers could have shelter. He build two thousand coffins by hand so that when they died, they could be buried with dignity. Slowly, it was said, Kalawao became a place to live rather than a place to die, for Father Damien offered hope.

--John Ortberg, God is Closer Than You Think

In a world where we see death, violence, destruction, illness and sadness, the coming of Christ has transformed it as a place of hope. Our world is no longer a place to die; it is a place to live.

Because of Christmas, we do not move from day to day in a world in which we are dying. We move day to day in a world where we live -- living until we live with God.

The world is changed. We are changed. Alleluia.

Our Wednesday Evening Book study completed our fall session last night with the last chapter of Ortberg's God is Closer than You Think. The last chapter challenges us to pray the prayer, "God, please make up there, come down here." In other words, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Make our world like heaven, and use us to get it done.

As I was thinking about that yesterday, I thought that perhaps this was the crux of the book. If God is closer than we think, then what difference does it make?

I think that the difference it can make is that if we know God is close, then we realize that he is working in our world. If we love God, and if we are willing to trust and obey him, then he can make a difference, through us, in our world.

If we trust him, then we will be willing to say, "Make up there, come down here, and use me to do it." It's kind of frightening. Do we have enough courage to say that, because if we do, and if we mean it, we will be transformed, and through us, our world will be transformed.

It's the crux of the book.

Crux. It comes from the Latin for cross. This is our cross. When Jesus says, "Pick up your cross, and follow me," this is what he means, I think. He means, we should say to God, "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." And use me to make it happen. It's the crux of the matter -- it's the cross that we are asked to pick up and carry. It's the difference that God will make in our lives and in the world. He will transform us to be more Christ-like, and he will, through us, transform the world to be like heaven. He's here. He's not just up there. He's closer than you think.

Image: Trees at VA

Climbing trees

Take a look at these verses from Luke 19:2-4:

A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.

As I read this, what caught my attention is Zacchaeus' persistence. He can't see over the crowds, so he climbs a tree. He didn't let obstacles block his way.

Do we do that with our faith? Do we put any effort into becoming close to God, or do we just sit around and wait for it to happen? Do we climb any trees to get closer to God?

We must believe in order to see

Everyone, I'm sure, has heard the phrase, "You have to see it to believe it." I was watching a commercial this evening for a movie about a magical toy store. The catch phrase was "you have to believe it to see it."

Is our faith sometimes like that?

Are there times when it is necessary to believe before we can see?

One of the things we talked about in class tonight was the idea of surrendering our failures. As JtM said, our failures can paralyze us -- either as an individual or as a church. We have to surrender them to God. I think we have to believe that he will grant us grace and restore us to a relationship with him. We have to believe it as an individual, and we have to believe it as a church, in order to see what God is doing in our lives.

In order to feel close to God, in order to develop a relationship with him, in order to see him, is it necessary that we must first believe in him? Must we believe in the idea that he IS closer than we think in order for us to see that he is?

Images: Matt's camp fire as Asbury Woods on Sunday evening.

Spiritual Pathways

Tonight in class we talked about spiritual pathways. We are each created differently, and we each have different ways to reach God. Part of the purpose of the chapter and of the class was to help us to explore which spiritual pathway is our own.

I found a quiz online at the Willow Creek Community Church web site. I haven't taken it yet. I thought I would list here what I think my pathways are, then take the quiz, and compare.

1. Intellectual -- I think this is one of my major pathways to experience God. I love to read, to study. My books are full of stars and underlines where I find things that say, "YES" to me.
2. Relational -- I'm conflicted about this one. I do find God through conversations with other people, and I count on certain people to remind me of God -- to help me to find him. This idea conflicts, though, with Ortberg's assertion that relational people do not like solitude and don't enjoy time on their own. I do like time on my own so I'm not sure about this one. Maybe this is just a case of me being different from Ortberg's definition.
3. Worship -- I have moments of worship when I can feel close to God. It's rarely an entire service - it's usually just pieces of one.
4. Activist -- This is probably the pathway that I most rarely, if ever take.
5. Contemplative -- I can do this -- I do like time on my own, and I can feel close to God in this way -- most often in the car or during quiet time at church. I don't crave long time of prayer, but I have experienced them, and can enjoy it.
6. Serving -- This would be one of my lesser ways to God. I do think service is necessary, and can be joy and closeness to God. I was wondering today how each of the pathways could result in service.
7. Creation -- I do sense God in nature. I don't crave time outside. This is one of the pathways that I think I have devleoped because of this blog -- watching for pictures.

Off to take the quiz. I'll report back.

OK, I'm back. Quiz results:

Relational: 10
Intellectual: 15
Worship: 7
Activist: 6
Contemplative: 6
Serving: 7
Creation: 11

I'm surprised that contemplative turned out so low, as low as activist. I am not an activist, and I feel that I am somewhat contemplative.

God's response

I'm still thinking about Jacob.

Here we have a man who is not honest and who has not developed a relationship with God. He tricks his brother out of his inheritance and he has to leave home. Even so, God desires to be in partnership with him. God wants to bless him. God has hopes of him being a blessing.

So at Bethel, Jacob comes face to face with God. God makes promises to him:

13And the Lord stood beside him and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; 14and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. 15Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ Genesis 28:13-15

How does Jacob responds? He bargains with God and practically throws his gift of grace in back into God's face. Does he show evidence of transformation? Would we say that this meeting with God at Bethel has changed him? I'm not sure that we would.

We talk in class about God being close. He passes by, and we feel the breeze. God is closer than we think. Does that always make a difference? When we feel God's breath, are we always changed? Or are there times, when, like Jacob, we recognize God, but close ourselves off from the change.

So how does God respond to this?

How did God respond to Jacob? Did God turn his back in a huff, saying that Jacob deserved whatever he got? No. God keeps his word. He stays with Jacob. In fact, in one of the lectionary readings for this week, God wrestles with Jacob (Gen 32:22-31). God decides that Jacob is worth the trouble, even if Jacob turns his back on God.

Does God do the same for us? I pray he does.

How close?

I was reading the Adult Bible Series lesson for Sunday. It is based on the story of Jacob and the ladder. You've probably heard the song -- "We are climbing Jacob's Ladder." The scripture is Genesis 28:10-22.

I've read that before, several times. This is the first time I've seen a few points which were brought out in the lesson. In fact, I would never have called this a "God is Closer than you Think" lesson, except that as I read it, I realized that this author is calling on some of the same themes as John Ortberg.

Look at this scripture:

There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. (Verse 14)

Note that God is not at the top of the ladder. Our concern is not to climb the ladder. God is standing down where Jacob is. "God is Closer than Yout think."

Note also that this is not some special place. This is just on the side of the road -- a place to stop when he needed to. And there he found God. He found God at this place because God was already traveling with him.

And next, look at this, Jacob's response to God's many promises.

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God's house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth. (Verses 20-22)

God has offered Jacob promises. God doesn't ask anything in return. Even so Jacob feels the necessity of bargaining with God. So he makes a vow. God doesn't ask for it. Jacob cannot accept a promise which he perseives as free. It's grace, and Jacob turned it down. "Wait. Let me buy this from you."

Image: Sunrise this morning coming off the high school hill.

Voice of God

Our "Closer" class is mainly a discussion class. Once the outline is established (thank you very much, JtM), I take it and work on preparation. As part of that, I read the questions, and try to answer them myself.

One of the questions that we discussed this week in class was "Did you hear God in the voices of the people around you?" When I went through the lesson, my answer was, "I haven’t been listening very well lately. I’m afraid I don’t have many examples to share, which just means that I have been inattentive." But later today, I found that I had a different answer.

Starting last night, through the night (although I slept fine), into the morning and through lunch, I was in what I would call a "mood." Have you ever been in a mood? There are different kinds, as I am sure you attest -- angry moods, tired moods, and more positive moods. This one was sad. Not horribly sad (lest you worry). Just sad.

Most Wednesdays, if I can find the time, I take my lunch to church, and my laptop, and spend some time working on the Wednesday evening lesson. Part of my Wednesday routine is to spend a little time in prayer for class -- praying for the class members, for my co-teacher, for me and for the class itself -- that God would use it for his purposes. At lunch today, though, I couldn't do much in the way of prayer -- not in my usual way. So instead, I asked God to lift away this mood.

Lunch was over, so I went back to work. When I got there, I found an email. There was nothing remarkable about the email, but something about it set to work. As I wrote the reply, I could feel the mood lifting. Something about what God had prompted this person to write -- and I'm convinced He had a hand in it -- and the response I was writing lifted my mood. I realized after I sent the reply that I was feeling amazingly better. And better. And better. A little while later I realized that the mood was gone. I was no longer sad -- not in the least -- and I was back to feeling like myself (and I'm usually pretty chipper!).

Class felt right, and on the way home, Josh and I were singing in the car.

Christ, working through one member of the body to answer the prayer of another. Have I heard God in the voices of the people around me? Yes -- often -- but today sticks in my mind.

God-Sparks

I was driving to work this morning, passing a large machine shop that is near our house. They usually have their garage doors open on the shops so that you can see the work going on. This morning, a man was cutting metal (I think, or doing something with it) and sparks were flying everywhere. Fascinating to watch. Kind of pretty. I wondered, though, how he kept from setting himself on fire as the sparks flew around him. It seemed like they had to be landing on his pants and on his shoes.

Chapter 5 of Ortberg's book God is Closer than you Think is the one that we discussed in class this week. In it, he says, "We all hear voices. … Some of them are distorted and destructive; they speak to me thoughts of envy and resentment and fear. Some of them are healthy and strong they speak words of love and truth. The ones I listen to shape my life.”

He was talking about having a beautiful mind -- a mind open to the whispers of God. Our minds are shaped by what we listen to, by who we are close to, by the circumstances of our lives. Sometimes I think that we think we can be near the fire -- near the sparks -- and not be affected by them. I have a feeling that is a wrong assumption.

I've never been a person who easily uses what people euphemistically call "four letter words." That's not a statement of morality or of judgment -- it's just truth that I don't often think to use them. When I was in college, I was often around people who did, so I started doing it, too. It wasn't a deliberate change; it was just sparks. Now, I work in an environment where I am often alone. The people I do see during the day are working -- the sparks here are different than they were in college. It doesn't mean that I never use those "four letter words," but I'm not picking them up from the people around me. Now, when I do, I can only blame myself.

That's a simple and silly example of what I am talking about. If we are often around people who don't speak about God, we will hesitate to do so. If we are near people who speak of God and faith, who walk with God, then we will be drawn closer to Him. Don't you think that as our faith in strengthened in this way, that when we are around people whose faith is not strong, that we can move them closer to God? Can we be God-sparks?

Image came from here.

The tale of two trees

I was teaching class on Wednesday, and we were discussing the idea that one of the important steps in recognizing that God is close is believing that he is – opening our minds to the possibility that he is walking with us. We will not recognize him if we do not have faith that he will be there.

I borrowed a story from JtM as an illustration. JtM was leaving the house one day. He backed out of the garage, shut the garage door and had to wait while something mechanical happened with the door. This unwanted delay lasted just a minute or two, and then he was on his way. On the main road, as he was driving, a tree branch fell and crashed into the road, just in front of his car. If he had not been delayed, his car would have been struck by the branch.

God involved? My point in telling the story was that we can believe that God was involved. We can make that choice.

At the end of this story, an older gentleman in class said, “But what about the opposite of that?" He told us about a young woman in Florida who had been walking down the street on a clear, bright day. A tree fell over, and crushed her to death. They didn’t even know she was missing until they were cleaning up the tree and found her. Why didn’t God stop that from happening? Did he make it happen for some reason of his own?

I have no good answer. I stumbled through the discussion in class, and I’m still thinking about it.

Is God involved in life? Does life just happen, and he lets it?

My husband drove home from training yesterday. I prayed for his safe travel. I have friends flying home from a conference today (JtM and MT), and I pray for their safe flight. My mom is having surgery on Tuesday and is suffering from high blood pressure. I pray for her healing. I pray that my son will be safe traveling to his band competitian today, and I prayed that I would make it home from work and that my aunt who has lung disease will live a long and happy life.

Does God answer those kinds of prayers? Only sometimes? Never? Is it all just chance?

It’s a question as old as Job, and I don’t pretend in any way, shape or form to have the answer. There are, however, a few things that I know.

• God loves me (and you, too). He cannot NOT love. It is his nature. It is his driving force. He doesn’t just love his creation – humanity. He loves ME with an unending, unimaginable love. And you.
• He is trustworthy. I will not believe that he is guilty of doing something which I would call horrible sin in someone else. I do not believe – will not believe – that he would drop a tree on a young woman and kill her. It would be contrary to his nature.
• He has given us freedom of choice. I was listening to a sermon by Louie Giglio, in which he said, “God gives us freedom of choice, but he is always in control.” Think of the cross. Men chose to kill the son of God. Horrible. And yet God brought the most amazing and wonderful act of love into the world through this horrible choice that men made.
• God understands what suffering is like. He watched his son die on a cross, and he didn’t stop it. He knows.
• We are made in the image of God. When a mother loses her child and feels the horrible pain of it, God understands. He not only understands, but he is feeling the same pain. She is not alone in her pain; God grieves with her. Remember, he loves us with unimaginable love, and he grieves when bad things happen to us.

I still don’t have an answer, but this is what I believe – this is what I think. What I wanted to say in class, but didn’t, is that sh*t happens. Bad things do happen in the world. I think we make a mistake when we believe that God engineers evil. I think that we try to “sugarcoat” bad things by telling people that the horrible event which just occurred in their lives is the will of God, as if that makes it less horrible. I think we make a mistake when we don’t trust the love that God has for us enough to know that he would not do that which we would condemn someone else for doing. (That’s Weatherhead, The Will of God, and everyone should read that book.)
He loves us, and he grieves when we hurt, he aches with our pain and he is doing everything that can be done to rescue us from sin. He has not abandoned us in this world; his grip is unbreakable. He understands it when we are angry, when we hurt, when we doubt, when we cry and suffer, because he made us in his own image, and he has felt all of those reactions. It’s even OK if that anger is directed at him. He “gets” it.

I continue to pray for safe travels, for healing, for help because God has told me to do that. Is it good and right for me to believe that the JtM’s garage door was delayed so that he wouldn’t be hit by a branch? Yes. What about the woman in Florida, killed by a tree? Bad things happen. Do I have the answer to that contradiction? No. I leave it to God. He is God, and I am not. I will trust him enough to live with the unanswerable questions.

When you come to the end of Job, that was Job’s answer from God.

Images: Sky at VA on Friday morning

Is He Close?

I was working on a sermon about discerning God’s vision, basing it on the idea that when we work with God, in his will, it is like spreading our wings and flying, kept aloft on the wind of the Holy Spirit. After the idea had begun to form in my mind, and I had bounced it back and forth with a friend, as I was coming back from lunch, three “flying” songs were on the satellite radio – three in a row.

Working on the advent to epiphany devotional, we ended up with exactly the right number of volunteers for the number of devotionals we needed. If I had set the calendar a day earlier, that would not have been the case.

Driving the van, turning around a corner, there is a brilliant sunrise, and my first thought is that God painted wonderful images in nature which remind me of his presence. As often happens, these nature images come when I need them. I am reminded of God’s presence, his hands working in the world, just at a moment when I need to be reminded.

Three moments – three small coincidences – are for me “God-moments.” As my friend MT called them last week, “rainbow moments.” Anyone looking at them, though, could doubt that – could think that perhaps they are truly just coincidences.

Driving to work this morning it occurred to me that one of the main steps that we must all take to realize that God is closer than we think, is to believe it.

We must approach life with an open mind, eyes which are open to see the presence of God. We must make the choice. Will I be willing to believe that these coincidences in life are truly God moments? Will I have the faith to step past doubt, and believe without proof? Or will I only believe that God is close if he makes himself so obvious that I cannot deny it?

Will you be open to the idea that when you are standing in a field on a mountaintop, with a group of youth, and the wind blows past, that what you feel is the touch of God? His Spirit moving past in pleasure at touching you?

Will you be willing to believe that when – for two years in a row – you prepare the exact number of crosses needed for a prayer vigil that it is the hand of God, leading, or will you believe that you are just a good number guesser?

Will you be like Thomas, needing to touch the scars, or will you be like Andrew, trusting that as you come to Jesus, or bring people to him, that God will take care of the rest?

Will you choose to open your eyes to possibility, or will you keep them closed tightly, refusing to risk the possibility that you might be wrong when you say, “I think God is close.”

Image: Grass at the VA.

Rainbow Moments

Part of what I do at my church is to help to coordinate our devotional ministry. Members of our church write devotions which we compile into an booklet for the Advent season. Every year, something happens which reminds me that God is involved in this ministry. I was telling a friend about this year’s reminder, and she said, “That sounds like a rainbow moment.”

We had talked in our book study class earlier that week about “rainbow days” – those days when God seems to be right in front of you. He’s easy to see, easy to notice. As we discussed that in class, we came to the conclusion that sometimes rainbow times don’t last an entire day.

I thought my friend’s (MT) description of what happened was perfect – a rainbow moment.

Class tomorrow will be about Chapter 4 of the Ortberg book God is Closer Than You Think. I was re-reading the chapter today in preparation to teach. It is about the sacrament of the moment. I was struck by the idea that if we try to live in the past, we will lose our life. If we try to live in the future, we will lose our life. Our only chance to meet God – the only place God can be found – is in this very moment. God is present for us right now, in this time. This is as much of a rainbow moment as any moment can be.

So why is it that we live our lives waiting for tomorrow? Why do we insist on putting up with the absence of God, waiting until tomorrow to have the time to look for him, to make the effort to join with him in his work? Why do we waste this rainbow moment in the hopes of finding one tomorrow?

Make a movement

I was trying to capture the look of the sunrise this morning as it came through the trees at the VA. It was really pretty, creating some beautiful sun rays.

It's hard to catch rays of the sun sometimes, and I wasn't having a great amount of luck. Until I moved. Once I moved a little bit down the parking lot, I was able to get the picture of the rays.

Do you notice that sometimes God seems far away? Are there times when you miss his presence. There are for me.

When I moved through the parking lot, and was able to capture the sun's rays, my view changed. The sun didn't move; I did.

Could it be that same way with God? Could it be that we need to move, just a little? Do we need to move from skipping devotionals to making time for them? Do we need to move from rushing through prayer to finding time for prayer? Do we need to move from home to church for worship? Do we need to walk down the street to work in service to others? Does changing our position sometimes mean that we can catch the son's rays?

Sometimes this doesn't work. There are times when we just need to wait patiently for God. But other times, what is needed is for us to make the effort to move, just a little, in order to see God more clearly.

Lucky Isaiah

What stands between us and God?

If our goal is to move closer to God, what prevents us?

Do we sometimes think that our sinful nature, the mistakes which we have made, our guilt, or our sense of guilt are enough to keep us out of God's presence?

It works that way with people. When we do something wrong, when we hurt someone, it can be painful enough that the other person would not want to be around us. It makes sense, doesn't it, that our relationship with God would be the same? It makes sense that perhaps if we behave better, if we try harder, that God would desire to be near us more than if we sinned.

Makes sense. Except it's wrong.

Read this:

And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ Isaiah 6:5-8

Isaiah knew that he had sinned, but so did God. God doesn't send Isaiah away from Him, telling him to go practice being less sin-ful and then to come back.

Instead he does something which purifies Isaiah. God takes an action to remove the soon to be prophet's sins.

Great! Lucky Isaiah.

He does the same thing for us. He has done the same thing for us. When Christ died on the cross, he removed our sins. The ones we have committed already, and the ones we have yet to commit. The things that have not yet done wrong are already forgiven.

And we are invited, every day, to come into the presence of God. He moves to make us clean, to take away our sin.

That's grace, and no wonder they call it amazing.

Closer

JtM and I were working on the class outline for this evening. One of he scriptures he pulled to include in the lesson was the ending of the walk to Emmaus passage. First, look at this verse:

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:30-32)

They recognized him in the breaking of the bread. That has always reminded me of communion. See this verse:

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." (Matthew 26:26)

But, even though it does remind me of communion, there is another scene in the Bible when Jesus breaks bread:

And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. (Matthew 14:19)

What is it that brings us closer to God? When do we feel his presence most clearly? Could these two instances of breaking of bread, which are echoed in the Emmaus passage, offer us a clue? We will encounter God in Communion -- when we are loving God, and in service -- when we are loving our neighbors.

Remembering the Sabbath

What is a sabbath? What does it mean for us to remember the sabbath and keep it holy? Do you do that?

Think about the Luke 13 passage that I discussed on Monday. Jesus heals on the Sabbath. He takes a women who is "broken" and heals her, returning her to wholeness.

I was reading the RevGalBlogPal's Tuesday lectionary musings today. One of the commenters listed the things that she "does" on the Sabbath. She admitted that this wasn't resting, but that it made her feel whole.

Do we use sabbath time to make us feel whole? What kinds of things bring you wholeness? To be perfectly honest, sometimes it's a nap. Other times, it's hard work, but the sense at the end of it is wholeness.

Worship? Does that bring you wholeness? Times of prayer? Reading? My needs are often different, and different practices can be my sabbath.

What about working on Sunday? I don't mean at my job, but what about those of of who volunteer on Sundays at church? During the school year, I am on the youth leader team at our church. That's far from resting, but it does bring me wholeness. I am also an adult Sunday school teacher -- there are times when that brings me wholeness.

Don't get me wrong. Sometimes the best thing to do is to rest -- just rest. Sometimes that is what is needed to bring wholeness. I read in the Ortberg's Closer book that getting enough sleep can even be a spiritual discipline. Maybe that's one that I need to practice.

My point in this rambling is that not-working is not the only way to keep the Sabbath holy. Sometimes it can be doing something which makes us whole. Or at least a little closer to it.

Images: Pictures of weeds. I have no idea what they are. They were near the VA parking lot, but I really like these pictures.

Logos -- Jeremiah 23:23-29

One of the lectionary readings for this week is
Jeremiah 23:23-29. Take a look at these verses:

Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.

I was reading Ortberg's God is Closer than You Think. He says that one of the ways that we miss seeing God is through spiritual hiding.

Two of the most famous spiritual "hiders" were Adam and Eve. Think back to the beginning of Genesis. After Adam and Eve ate of the tree that they were supposed to leave along, they became aware of their nakedness, and they hid in the garden.

How do we hide from God when we sin?

• Are we hiding from God when we try to deceive ourselves? Are we hiding when we rationalize, make excuses, blame others for what we have done wrong?
• Are we hiding from God when we avoid prayer? Are there times when it is easier to not pray than to encounter God in true conversation?
• Do we ever avoid the other people in our community of faith because we know that God will speak to us through the other members of the body? Do we avoid accountability measures when we sin?
• Someone said to me once, "I don't understand why people keep the radio turned up loudly -- when I do that, I can't think." I told her that there were times when I didn't want to think. Most of the time, when the radio is turned up, it's because I just want to "experience' the music. Are there times, though, when we distract ourselves from self-examination when we know that the results would not be pleasant to encounter?

Why do we fool ourselves into believing that we can hide from God? Do we not understand how big God is? How he surrounds us, lives with us, and is never far away? I wonder if we remembered his continual presence, if we would avoid these hiding traps.

Image: Squirrel from the park today. These are very brave squirrels. They walk right up to you, glaring at you, and trying to convince you that you should give them your snack.

Life or Death

JtM taught our Sunday school class day, using the Adult Bible Series Curriculum. The lesson was based in Ezekiel 18. Take a look at these versus, in the Message version (Verses 26-28):

If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die. But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life. Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die.

What does that mean? At first glance, we read it, and it says that those who sin will die, and those who do not sin, will live. But we know that, from our experience, sinners live or die and the same can be said for the righteous. It's not always the case, but usually length of life is not related to our relationship with God.

But JtM said that Ezekiel only spoke when he was speaking the word of God. As a sidenote, this is a pretty interesting Rule of Life. I would like to invite some people I know to follow it. Anyway, if Ezekiel only spoke the Word of God, then this word, above, must be true.

I was sitting in class thinking about it. The Word of God, spoken through Ezekiel. What does death mean to an eternal God who offers his children eternal life? We talked in Sunday school that life and death in this passage most likely do not mean physical life or death, but spiritual instead.

We worry alot about physical life span, and not so much about our spiritual life status. To God, though, do you think that a physical death is not very important? In the grand scheme? To God, spiritual death -- separation from his created children -- us -- might be a much larger and more important matter. Ortberg, in his book God is Closer than You Think, says that "The story of the Bible isn't primarily about the desire of the people to be with God; it's the desire of God to be with people."

God has struggled through the millenia to bring us life. Not the breathing, heart-beating kind of life, although surely that is a gift as well, but the kind of life which is abundant. Which is joyful. Life live close to God, so that his breath becomes our own.

I don't think God pulls away from us when we sin. I think when we sin, we pull away from God. We die a spiritual death. Grace is the fact that God chases us when we leave him. Grace is the fact that God offers us release from spiritual death.

Grace is that God is closer than we think, and that he offers life.

Image: We had lunch at the Boston Beanery today. Our sons and nephews were climbing on the train, and G was climbing a little too much, too high, so I gave him my camera, set for close ups and said, "Go find a flower and take its picture." That's his photo above.