44713 :: Headlines

I will be the first to admit that I do not keep abreast of current events. I used to. I used to tune in to the radio and various talk shows all morning long when I worked at the preschool kitchen, back in the day. I used to keep a list of stores and organizations that I needed to boycott "to send a message." I was able to converse intelligently on who was who and what was what, and could probably have solved most of the world's problems, had anyone cared to ask my opinion.

And then I stopped. I figured out that my voice was really not making any difference in the scope of anyone's life. Furthermore, no one really gave a rip if I shopped at Target or used a certain brand of shampoo. Honestly, these were real issues to me, and I'm sure there are some people out there who still keep track of such things. 

These days, I have a different mindset. The reality is, no one really cares about my opinion but me. Arguing with someone will not change their mind. LISTENING to someone, on the other hand, will show respect and possibly earn me the right to be heard if my opinion is sought out.  

What I think about gun control, school shootings, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, or the Russians is immaterial in the scope of eternity. On the other hand, how I live my personal beliefs and how I treat others in the process goes a long way toward showing others what I think is really important in this life.

I do not protest or wear knit beanies shaped like lady parts, I do not riot to bring attention to someone's perception of injustice or inequality. I do have my own opinion on hot topics and will share them when asked - unless it's apparent that the other person in the conversation is only interested in brow-beating me with their point of view or intent on belittling my point of view. 

These days I am more interested in living a life that reflects my goal of being a person whose actions are in line with the faith I subscribe to. That does not mean shoving my lifestyle, gender identity, or choice of coffee beans down anyone's throat or harassing them if they do not act like I do. The only thing required to live a life of honesty is to be unapologetically real and give honest answers when someone wonders what I am about. 

You don't have to agree with someone to treat them with respect. 

I do not always get it right, but that is the journey I am on.

Do This... Not That

Recently, a good friend asked if I could sit down with her sometime and share my faith journey and how I have landed in the "Hebrew Roots" stream. As I thought about it, I did what I normally do - jotted down some thoughts, took a look at how others have processed their own journey, and came up with these points:

Do This:

• Read the Bible
• Trust that God loves us and knows what's best for us
• Find out what Jesus said and did
• Question "tradition"
• Imagine what it looks like to do life in obedience to God's word

Don't Do This:

• Tell other people how they have it all wrong
• Think you have it figured out
• Argue about how to pronounce YHVH
• Get all weird about doing everything perfect
• Try to "act Jewish"

To borrow some points from hebrewrootsmom,

* Few Christians are familiar with Jewish culture. Understanding or even practicing Jewish feasts and festivals brings rich meaning to the Christian faith. Most Christians believe in the authority of the Old Testament but reject Jewish culture because they either don’t understand it or don’t want to compromise their identity as those who recognize the Messiah versus the Jews who don’t. Because of this, a huge divide has formed between the two groups... Over the years, some Christians have realized that the two faiths weren’t meant to diverge so drastically. They take Jesus literally when he says that he fulfilled the Torah (or Law – Matthew 5:17) but didn’t abolish it.

* In the Hebrew Roots, most “members” are Christians, who recognize their need for Jesus as their savior from their sins but desire to enrich their faith by incorporating biblical Jewish customs... the Hebrew Roots Movement differs from Messianic Judaism in that its constituents are not Jewish. When a person of Jewish heritage recognizes Jesus as their Messiah, they are then referred to as Messianic Jews. Gentiles are non-Jewish and stay non-Jews even when they embrace Jewish customs.

* The main source of doctrine in the Hebrew Roots Movement is simply the Bible itself – both the Old and New Testaments... It is practiced differently in every Hebrew Roots family I know but they all have one thing in common: They seek to mature their faith and pass it on to others by illuminating the Gospel and the God of the bible through practice of Jewish customs.

* While there are many ways the Hebrew Roots Movement is presented, I have yet to meet a constituent that believes that salvation occurs from keeping the Torah. We fully embrace salvation through Jesus as the sacrifice worthy of payment for our sins. Since we’re unable to earn our salvation because of our sin, we embrace Jesus, who kept the Torah to the letter, as our only way to approach a Holy God. Following the laws of the Torah is a result of our devotion to and love for our God and our Messiah.

With the exception of calling The Feasts "Jewish feasts", as so many people do, (scripture calls them God's appointed times - they are GOD'S feasts, not the sole property of Jewish people) I would say that I couldn't have said it better and I really think that about sums up where I'm coming from.

Do I have it all figured out? Oh, please... I don't even have today figured out, but I take one step at a time as I begin to grasp the concepts of trust, love, and obedience.

Goodbye to River Life

Life consists of seasons. 

We had a season at the river and never did we think it would last forever, and every day we were so thankful for the opportunity and blessing we were given.

If we have learned nothing else in our 50+ years together, it's not about where we are but who we're with.
..."for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content"... is a good motto to live by.

And now, it's time to say good-bye and find out what the next season holds for us. 

Thank God I'm a Country Girl

As we begin to pack and declutter (once again!) I want to take a minute to reflect on some of the peaceful scenery we have enjoyed since we have been here...

Another thing I will miss is people that stop to ask if you need help when you are parked at the side of the road taking pictures.

Still a Party Pooper

In case you've been here for awhile, Yes, this does sound familiar. I posted it in 2013, and with a few revisions am posting it again. Because it is still what I believe.

I am resigned that I am not normal, and I am fine with that. What I am not fine with is people acting shocked or scandalized when they learn I do not do life the same as everyone else.

I am not rude about it: when people say, "Merry Christmas!", I smile and say, "Thank you, same to you!" or “Enjoy your holiday!” When people ask if I am ready for Christmas, I smile and say, "Ready as I'll ever be!"

I do not even bother explaining that I do not celebrate Christmas (unless they ask “what plans do you have for Christmas?" In which case I will usually tell them "we haven’t decided if we will go skiing or go to the movies.") 

I do not give them a lecture about dubious traditions and the commercialization of quasi-religious practices, nor do I rant about the use of phrases such as "It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas" or "Let's keep Christ in Christmas" being a façade of man-made practices taking the place of what was originally intended to be the celebration of Emmanuel, God with us. (The fact that the date is wrong is not even worth arguing about. People honestly don’t want to hear about the early church’s co-opting of pagan practices... And besides, I already ranted about that a couple of years ago.)

Really, what is the point? They would not appreciate my bashing of their cherished traditions any more than I do when they do the same to me. Besides, as I have long said, you do not change people's minds by winning an argument. And I am not so sure I would win any here, because people are comfortable with what is familiar.

I found it to be enough of a challenge to reconcile my own thinking with the revelations about many of our beloved “Christmas traditions”, and I have no reason to expect that anyone else would feel otherwise. And anyway, it has been my observation over the years that tradition so often trumps the truth.

Pre-COVID and the resulting paranoia surrounding being in close proximity with other humans (family, or not), I did my best to compromise and keep peace in my family when it came to celebrating family times. I just asked that we keep the commercial separate from their so-called sacred. In that vein, it was our tradition to exchange gifts and have a family get-together on a day other than 12/25. We started that practice that many years ago (pre-in-laws and pre-grandkids), and we found it to be the least offensive to everyone involved. These days, I am just happy to find a day when we can meet in a parking lot and exchange gifts to be taken home and opened alone. (Talk about "party pooper.”)

But I can still have a little fun with a friend who persists in texting me every year first thing in the morning on 12/25 with "A Merry Christmas to you!" by texting back: "Enjoy your Saturnalia Celebration!" 

So, What's About Sabbath?

Even though my first question upon reading the Bible for myself (lo, these many 60+ years ago) was "why don't we observe the Sabbath on Saturday?", the truth was mis-represented to me for years. (Not on purpose, I'm sure. It was simply a matter of believing what we are told and repeating that misconception.)

It's easy enough to blame it on the Catholic church or the Emperor Constantine, and while there is truth in that, the reality is that we each have a brain and a conscience, and we should be coming to our own conclusions, based on scripture and not on any one else's tradition or interpretation.

Yes, it is historically true that Constantine mandated a "Day of Rest" based on his personal practice of sun-worship. To debate that would be less than honest. Call it what you may, but the very definition of the Hebrew word "sabbath" means "rest." Even good old WikiPedia has that information readily available:

On March 7, 321, Roman Emperor Constantine I issued a civil decree making Sunday a day of rest from labor, stating:
All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable day of the sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the fields, because it frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for planting the grain in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time perish.

As the "church" became less Jewish and more gentile, followers began (for various political reasons) to distance themselves from the Jewish tradition of observance on the 7th day. By the second century, some church fathers were already admonishing their followers to abandon certain practices such as circumcision and Sabbath observance, lest they appear to be "too Jewish" and bring down the wrath of the government upon the church.

Some may claim that the Catholic church had no hand in this, but the historical documents speak for themselves:

The Sunday law was officially confirmed by the Roman Papacy. The Council of Laodicea in A.D. 364 decreed, “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day..."

The Catholic church itself has confirmed this in their own publications: “The Catholic Church, … by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday” (The Catholic Mirror, official publication of James Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893).

And, that begs the question: Why - at the Protestant Reformation - did the Protestant faction not return to sabbath worship on the 7th day? The Catholic church goes so far as to reference this fact, claiming that by so doing:

“Protestants do not realize that by observing Sunday, they accept the authority of the spokesperson of the Church, the Pope” (Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950).

It does make one wonder, does it not?

I have even heard it said, by way of excusing oneself from Sabbath observance, "Well, Jesus is my sabbath rest so I can rest any day I want." Sounds good, doesn't it? Yes, scripture does say that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. You will hear no argument from me on that point. (To deny that would be to deny the truth of scripture in Matthew 12:3-8.) But to say Jesus Himself has somehow replaced the gift of Sabbath observance is to completely miss the point of Sabbath! Not the very least is the fact that scripture cannot contradict itself, and it has already said in Deuteronomy 13 - You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.

Read the whole chapter and you will see that the premise is that anyone saying anything different is a false prophet. If Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah, he can't also be a false prophet. So that argument does not fly with me, for obvious reasons.

The BibleProject gets it mostly right when they say:

As followers of Jesus, we aren't required to follow the laws given to Israel by God exactly. These were given at a specific time to a specific people group for a specific purpose. Yet the wisdom of those laws is enduring, and the law of the Sabbath is pure gold. It is not a commandment we are bound to; it’s a promise we’re invited to.

I would disagree with "we aren't called to follow the "laws" given to Israel," because if we claim to be a follower of God, then we are also called to be "set-apart", and "a light to nations", just as Israel was back at Sinai. After all, it is 1 John 5:3 that we show our love for Him by our obedience, and goes on to state that His laws are not a burden... 

And that's in the New Testament, folks.

Random Thoughts on leaving "The Church"

Several years ago, a family we had known for quite some time informed many of us - via email - that they were leaving our local congregation to attend a different local congregation. (Not exactly a surprise, it happens regularly. We have joked about installing a revolving door in the sanctuary.) Actually, their email was sent after the fact; in reality, they had already left. The reasons they listed were many.

(Three years later, I actually just left... without saying anything to anyone (other than my husband, of course), reasoning that I did not want to sow seeds of dissatisfaction or dissent. And now, as I have pondered this post, the irony is not lost on me.)

Their email read, in part:

I have examined this over and over in my mind and heart and came to realize that we have gone to [a certain local] church for 28 years without leaving....but the church has "left" us.  [My daughter] said it pretty clearly...when she said something about looking around and not feeling like it's her church anymore...that is how I was feeling, too.  I was still in the same "place" but the place wasn't the same.  I asked myself: if I was moving into town for the first time, is this where I would choose to fellowship.  The answer, sadly, was no.

Upon reading their whole letter, my initial response was frustration and betrayal (and, let's face it: Entitlement.) After all, we had fellowshipped with this family for 20+ years. We had been in several small home studies with them. We had worked side-by-side on the same ministry teams. We had attended the same Christian education classes. Oddly enough, after complaining that "so many of [their] friends" had left, they chose to inform those of us who remained by a blanket email. Were my feelings dented? You bet they were. So, in order to process my feelings in a way that was meaningful for me, I wrote out my response, filed it, and kept my thoughts to myself. 

Their letter generated several days' conversation at our house, and probably for reasons most people do not consider.

• "The church has left us."
• It's not "their" church anymore.
• "I'm in the same place."
• "The place wasn't the same."

First, I'd like to address my initial reaction: The place is NOT the same. And I say: THANK GOODNESS for that, who wants to be in a stagnant rut where no one grows or changes? And, yes – a lot of other people have “moved on.” Let's just speak out the truth here. Many people leave a certain local congregation because they don't really grasp what "church" is supposed to be about. Our culture has fallen into a cultural trap of thinking that "church" is the sanctified religious equivalent of a country club, complete with instant friends, instant social connections, instant entertainment... So when their friends leave, they feel justified in saying "I don't know anyone", or "it doesn't feel like home"... I have heard dozens more excuses, but I think the bottom line is that we bring our expectations for self-fulfillment with us when we come to church.

PEOPLE!!! That is not what church is for!!! 

(Ack! I’m sorry, but this really annoys me.)

Be that as it may, the question begged to be asked: What did [the writer of this email] personally bring to the table to make church a welcoming place? Right or wrong, this has been my observation: Many people come and sit in the First Touch Café by themselves and don't bother to invite others to their table. They come in late for worship and sit all together, just their little clan, and don't interact with anyone else, not even during the "meet and greet" stretch before the sermon. When someone comes over to say "hello" to them, a typical response is frequently "Hmmph!"

The whole concept that "I'm in the same place" struck me as tragic. If they have been in that church for 20 years and have not grown, I have to wonder what they are doing with their time. One would hope that 20 years of instruction and mentoring would result in some changes and greater maturity.

But, I have left my "pettest" peeve for last: 'This is not THEIR church anymore.' OK. I think I know what they were trying to say, but do they even realize what they really said? No, this never was THEIR church. Hopefully, it will continue to be God's church. And maybe whoever compared this Exodus to the thinning of Gideon's army was right. But I for one continue to be a little dismayed when I see who is being "thinned out". But I am NOT dismayed when I consider that God knows The Plan He has for [our local congregation], and they are plans for good and not for evil. So I am going to continue to trust Him.

Micah 6:8: what does the LORD require of [me]? … to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with [my] God.

As I reflect on it, I think that’s all I should have been concerned about.

There is a daily Jewish prayer which some scholars believe corresponds to the part of the “Lord’s Prayer” ‘Thy will be done as it is in heaven’ that reads:

Return us, Adonai, to your teachings, draw us near our King to serve You. Restore us to Your presence in complete repentance. Blessed are you Adonai, who desires repentance.

Seriously, can I just pray that and live it? In the end, I can only be responsible for myself and making sure I have the right response to others.

I wrapped up my thoughts this way, and again I can't help but reflect on the irony of my wounded words, given my current personal lack of corporate church attendance:

I do not personally agree with how church is "done" in our culture, but that is just a product of where I am at with the Lord and what I have walked through in the past 40+ years; it has nothing to do with [our pastors] and the words that are coming from the front. I truly believe they are seeking the Lord for wisdom and are listening to Him and doing their best to edify the body. 

Bottom line: Is the truth being taught? Is Christ being lifted up? After that, the rest is more about what I bring to the table.

I guess I'm really not done thinking about this.