The Breath of God

For Saturday, December 6th Exodus 14:21-23 Ruah (Hebrew) and pneuma (Greek) both translate spirit or Spirit, but their root meaning is breath. In today's reading ruah translates wind. The Scriptures paint a picture of struggle against the waters and the power of a wind from God to overcome them. This theme recurs throughout the Bible. In the opening verses of the Bible we find the formless earth covered with chaotic waters but surrounded by the ruah elohim, the breath-wind-spirit-Spirit of God. In our reading today the qadim ruah, the east breath-wind-spirit-Spirit pushes back the water so the Israelites can escape. "But wait," someone says. "In this reading it must mean wind because it doesn't use elohim for God." Then we read on and Exodus 15:8 says this ruah comes from God's nostrils. Before I get to my point I want to look at one more occurrence of the breath-wind-spirit-Spirit and water. In Matthew 3:16 Jesus comes up out of the waters of baptism and the pnuema tou Theou, the breath-wind-spirit-Spirit of God, pronounces him the delightful Son of God. So, what's my point? Let me ask a few questions. What do the waters of baptism represent? Death/burial. What did Paul say occurred when the Israelites passed through the Red Sea? Baptism. (1 Cor. 10:1-2) And didn't life come out of the waters of chaos as the Spirit moved over them in the beginning. We have ended this week in a crescendo of hope! For some of us the economy looms dark on the horizon. Others, unsure about relationships or threatened by failing health struggle to find a promising future. Take courage. Hope comes with your next breath. Close your eyes and envision your present darkness. Take a deep, deep breath and as you let it out, pray this prayer. God, breathe your Holy Spirit into my life. Bring order from chaos, safety in the presence of danger, and a blessed affirmation of your presence in my lonely world.

A Man of the Soil

Thursday, December 4th Genesis 9:8-13, 20 I'm not usually a big fan of reading one verse out of context. But sometimes that's good for us because it focuses our thoughts. Sometimes it sends us into the context a little deeper. In the book What Color Is Christmas? that we offered to our families this Christmas, today's reading focuses on the rainbow promise in verses 8-13. Then it mentions that Noah planted a vineyard to prove God continues to give life. When I read verse 20 I started thinking about how Noah planted this vineyard, made wine from it, got drunk and passed out naked in his tent. In my mind I rushed to what I knew was... the rest of the story. But since I had just that verse up on my computer screen, I took a second look. Then I noticed how it described Noah. A man of the soil. I think that's a compliment. Adam was a man of the soil. God seems to be fond of men of the soil. I like Ted Johnson and he's spent many years in the soil. This reminds us of God's goodness and his gift of life, for sure. But it says something about Noah too. It says that after he did this big job for God he went back to what he knew, maybe even what he was made to do. All of humanity was gone. He had lived through greatest tragedy of all of history. What would he do? Live. Cultivate. Grow. I think farmers must be the most hopeful people in the world.

Into the Great Unknown...

Genesis 6:5-8; 7:13-16 Its been a long time since I really thought about the story of Noah. It is a fun story about a man and his ark. How does he get all those animals on that boat? Did it smell? Was it loud? Even if you can explain to me then how they all fit...where did he store all the food? Those questions aside, I also wonder if Noah knew what he was getting into? We have seen the scene over and over again as people make fun of Noah for building this "ark" and yet he continues to build. I have to think there was doubt in his mind. Even as the animals start coming to him and his family enters the boat, he has to be thinking what he is doing is crazy. But he closes the door, settles in, and begins to ride the wave. For me there is room for doubt when it comes to this season of Advent. What if? That question creeps into my head a lot more than I would like to admit, but slowly I'm beginning to be okay with that. I have to think Noah was "hoping" he was doing the right thing. Just like Anna was "hoping" one day to see the Savior. And like I'm "hoping" a lot of things. Noah wasn't a robot with no feelings, there had to be some questioning and a whole lot of hope.

That Crafty Serpent

FOR TUESDAY EVENING DECEMBER 2nd Genesis 3:1-5; 13-15 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals... Isn't that an interesting word? Crafty. The NIV, TNIV, NASB, and NRSV all use it. Others use shrewd or cunning or clever. The NET Bible notes say that the Hebrew word 'aram basically means clever but it can be used in a positive sense meaning something like prudent. Proverbs uses it this way. Or, it can mean something negative like cunning or, more interestingly crafty. The American Heritage Dictionary says crafty comes from an Old English word meaning skilled. The serpent's got skills! And it seems Adam and Eve are powerless against them. And no one after them has done any better. Quite frankly, for thousands of years our situation has seemed hopeless. But there, in the second half of our reading God offers hope. The serpent is cursed to crawl on his belly and he is promised that a descendant of Eve would crush his head. That descendant is, of course, Jesus. With all of humanity we await his birth as the sign of Satan's certain demise. And, with all of humanity we await Jesus's return to deliver the final crushing blow. No more of his tricks. Doom for that crafty deceiver.