The Patience of Job...Or The Questions of Job

This week's lead off question is to name a phrase or word that you associate with the book of Job. Our answers included testing, comforters, asking and asking, faith, faithful, learning to live with the questions. I couldn't help but wonder where were anger, indignation, frustration, all those other negative emotions that we aren't "supposed" to name. All those very normal, human emotions that come up especially when bad things happen to good people.

Wouldn't it be great if we could make sense of things that make no sense. If we could identify a pattern of behavior that would keep us safe, immune from bad things. If you do X(go to church) then you will never face Y(God will keep you safe). That is actually the "Enemy's" argument throughout the book. Satan's position is that man (Job) only loves God because of the blessings he gets from God. As soon as the blessing disappear and something bad happens then man will abandon faith in God because God is not worthy of love in and of himself, and humans are not free to believe, faith is just a product of the environment and circumstances.

Well, the book of Job pretty much refutes that argument, doesn't it? Job has faith beyond understanding, until of course we find ourselves in a bad situation. Sometimes I think faith is like insurance or AAA. You never really know how good your coverage is and what it really means until you have to use it. And you really hope you don't have to find out how good it is. When everything is going well you can think you have deep faith and are faithful, but it is times of trial when we fully comprehend the depth of our faith.

So then, what is the point of the book? God wants us to be in faithful relationship with Him, and has given us the freedom to choose that. We choose relationship, behaviors, our responses to bad things. It doesn't matter if we get angry with God, yell at God, question God incessantly. There are plenty of examples of people doing that. What does matter is that we are honest and authentic and choose relationship. God will meet us where we are, even if we are hiding behind a wall of our own making.

Getting the Whole Story

First of all, sorry to be so late in making this post. I think the new format, the new time, and a case of "the-can't-helpits" have all conspired to reinforce and validate my procrastination. Guess I just need to jump in and get it done.

We started out this week by answering this question: What is a short phrase or word that you would use to describe the God of the Old Testament. For me, the first thing that popped into my head was hell-fire-and-brimstone. Some of the others included second chances, forceful, stern, demanding, commandment, militaristic. What would your word be? Does it fall into this same general theme? This has always been a problem for me, how do you reconcile the fearsome, demanding, punishing God of the Old Testament with the God of the New Testament who is all about love and forgiveness? I arrived at a reasonable explanation for myself, but this week I got a new perspective that confirmed and expanded my reconciliation of those images. (Love it when that happens and I don't have to start over again!)

Yancey proposes we look at the entirety of the Bible as one, long, on-going story. Of course, that isn't really the way we learn it, is it? Bits and pieces, stories about individuals, vignettes, parables, but not one long continuous story. And if you do look at it that way what is the plot? Simply stated, God creates the world, the world gets lost, God restores the world. Over and over and over again. There is this dichotomy, ebb and flow, yin and yang, God and not-God. Yancey lays it out in a pretty nice chart (I tend to be visual). In the beginning there is the Garden, then that goes downhill pretty fast. Then you rise intop the Patriarchal Age (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph) and as they descend into "badness" you have they Sojourn in Egypt. Next comes the Exodus and Conquest, Period of the Judges, United Kingdom, Divided Kingdom, Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, the Prophets. I guess you can see it as a rise and fall of civilization.

The one thing that God always asks for, or demands, is for us to choose obedience and relationship with God. Is that why the opposite must exist? So we can make a fully-informed decision to follow God and God's law? And why is that free will choice so important? If we make a fully informed choice doesn't that make us more like God and less like human, imperfect beings? Is it part of the journey, moving us along the continuum? It seems I am left with more questions than when we started...

In closing we considered another question: What new things are you seeing in the Old Testament that you have not seen before? Our answers included free will, God demanding obedience (even in the Garden), man (I) still has a choice, and the infinite patience of God. And all of this dovetails nicely with my own personal belief that God speaks to us in the form most appropriate for our situation and experience. In the Old Testament, in a society concerned with survival God is a "hard task master" in order to protect God's people and bring them together into a cohesive society. In the New Testament love and acceptance is necessary to bring together people from many different backgrounds and traditions into a single, cohesive unit. God gives to and demands from each in the way that they each need. Hopefully that applies to us as individuals too.

A New Beginning with the Old Testament

How many of you like puzzles? I really like the challenge of a good puzzle. I have a strong appreciation for the little discoveries you can make along the way as you connect the pieces to create a more unified whole. This analogy can also be applied to our current Bible study. Most of us read the Bible in bits and pieces. We glimpse the pieces in worship, Sunday School, Bible studies and the occasional devotional. Rarely do we have an opportunity to deliberately put the pieces together. Our group on Wednesday night talked about the ways the image of God was similar and different from the Old Testament to the New Testament. One thing remained clear. God wants desperately to be in relationship with humanity and will go to great lengths to continue that relationship, even in the midst of disobedience, rebellion and sometimes rejection. There are truths that God wants us to know about Godself, life, and ourselves in general. These truths are lived out in the narratives of the Old Testament and then ultimately embodied through his son Jesus Christ. These truths are not disconnected between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus didn't have Paul's Epistles or the Gospels. Jesus used the Psalms, the Prophets, and the books of Moses. That's where he believed his relationship with God the Father was formed and these truths are the basis of all that Jesus taught and embodied.

Transitions

Some of you know this has been a transitional year for us in a lot of ways. Our oldest child graduated in December so she has been transitioning to the adult world. (Quite successfully, I might add!) Our middle child is becoming a "larger" person after studying abroad this summer and learning a whole lot about human nature from her new job - waiting tables. Our youngest went to college this fall so we are adjusting to being a couple again. Part of that adjustment for us is going out and having date nights again. I know, something we should have been doing all along but there was never time, money, babysitters,... whatever the excuse we just didn't do it.

One thing that I have really enjoyed is going out with new people to listen to some really good music, mostly struggling independent musicians. We had a wonderful time one evening this summer with a group of four families, having dinner at a nice restaurant downtown and then a concert at an intimate yet ornate theater. It was so enjoyable talking with the folks who were there, such nice, down to earth people. It was also clear from our short time together that each individual family unit was very tight-knit and loving. We had a great time and I was making that little check in the back of my mind, if we ever have the chance to do anything with them again we need to rearrange our plans to do it. It was just that much fun.

We got back into the regular patterns and ruts again, and I really didn't think about it too much until yesterday. I learned that one of the men, a husband and father and probably a little bit younger than I am, passed away this week. In hindsight I may have thought twice about the daughter who returned home from a great job in New York, but I didn't. And there were probably some other little clues too that I missed. To the casual observer, they appeared to be a loving family, having a great time, in love with life and each other.

I didn't know him or his family well at all, but it really struck me. Maybe because it forces me to confront my own mortality. Maybe because I don't want to imagine a partner leaving someone behind. Maybe because even though his children are in their late teens or early twenties, we all still want and need our dads. Maybe because it forces me to confront the same impending transition for my Mom, or maybe all those things plus a couple more just lumped together and said, "Ha! Try to stand up to us now!"

Well, here it is the next day and I am still standing. My heart is aching for his family and dear friends, who I know are missing him more than words can convey. But they are still standing too. I think it is no coincidence that the devotional I read for my blind friend yesterday had to do with God carrying us through the trials, and being strong enough to support us when we need to be weak. Yes, need. I can stand even though it feels as though my knees will buckle, and they don't. I can cry and be a mess, but still continue on with life. I think it is important to feel the pain, loss, sadness. For me it is like the choice God asks us to make in choosing him, in giving us free will. There is evil and pain and sadness in the world, some people would call that the difference between God and "Not-God." But how can we truly choose God if we don't know what "Not-God" is like? We can choose, but I believe God wants us to make a fully-informed decision.

A full life, well-lived, and faith that the Lord will care for our loved ones makes this transition much easier. Note, I didn't say easy. It is hard and sad and painful and lonely. I am feeling a bit weak today, but asking God to support me and help me carry on. When there is absolutely nothing I can do for someone, whether they are passing or being left behind, I do take some comfort in the thought that God holds the passing in his hands, and is fashioning those of us left behind into stronger, more useful people through our experiences. Now I just have to be brave enough to feel those feelings and maybe become a little bit stronger...

The Practice of Getting Lost

You know, some of us really don't need any help getting lost. Others fear it more than the dentist! Getting lost in unfamiliar territory can be down right dangerous, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. Did you ever notice how much more attention you pay to little details when you are lost? I tend to hang onto them like breadcrumbs, so that if I need them they can at least help me back track.

This chapter isn't just about being physically lost in a new place, though. It talks about how you can be emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually lost as well. It seems to me that all these types of lost have a few things in common. They force you to give up control, or the illusion that you have control. They require you to rely on a force outside yourself. They push you to become more observant, living more in the moment and letting go of all those preoccupations that we carry around with us all the time.

OK, great, sounds good, even like something I truly would like to try. But where do I find the time to be a flanneur, a wanderer? Does it have to be an epic journey, and adventure worthy of recounting again and again. Or can it be as simple as pulling over to spend three minutes looking at the deer and her fawns that seem to have absolutely no fear of traffic? Or maybe just taking a different route home, even if it does add a few minutes to the commute. I'm not sure... guess I had better practice...