Creation and Covenant: The Story of Scripture

The Following is a story I wrote for a class I took called, Reading the Scripture in the Church. I hope you enjoy it.

Creation and Covenant: The Story of Scripture

Timothy Wenger

BTS 5310

2015-04-10

Prologue: Creation and Sin

In the beginning was God the Creator.

And the Creator spoke into the nothingness and created light. The Creator loves light.

The Creator spoke again and created sky. The Creator loves sky.

The Creator spoke again and created land and sea. The Creator loves land and sea.

The Creator spoke again and created plants. The Creator loves the plants.

The Creator spoke again and created the sun and the stars. The Creator loves the sun and the stars.

The Creator spoke again and created fish and birds. The Creator loves fish and birds.

The Creator spoke and created animals for the land. God loves animals.

The Creator spoke and said “Let us make humans, who can care for what we’ve created. They will be our face on creation.” So the Creator created humans, and they were given the earth to care for. The Creator loves humans.

So the Creator had created, and created a way to care for the creation. When this was all done, the Creator rested.

But the humans didn’t care for creation. They wanted to be more than just the creator’s face, they wanted to be creators.

They created separation from the Creator by not obeying the Creator

They created enmity with each other through violence

They created destruction of nature by building cities

The Creator still loved the Creation, and so the Creator creates one more time: The Creator creates a Covenant.

Act 1: The Covenanting God

Act 1: Scene 1 Covenant with the World

The Creator mourned the hurt caused to creation, and looked at the humans and saw that there was one left who had not participated in this destruction. This human was Noah.

God spoke to Noah and told him that God was going to create a fresh start for creation. The Creator told Noah to build a large boat to hold all of the different birds and animals. Noah obeyed, and when he finished building the boat, The Creator brought all of the different animals to the boat, once the animals were on board, Noah and his family entered the boat as well. Then the Creator sent rain and flooded the earth.

            Noah and his family waited on the boat until the water receded. They found themselves on top of a mountain. Noah thanked God for saving them and all of the animals.

            Because they were created in God’s image, God told the humans that they cannot kill each other and that though they were now allowed to eat animals, they must drain the lifeblood out of them as a sign of life’s importance. In return Creator made a covenant with Noah and all of creation, that God will never again destroy the earth. As a sign, God placed a rainbow in the sky, so that all would remember the covenant God made with creation.

Act 1: Scene 2: Covenant with a Family

            So Noah’s descendants populated the world. But rather than spreading out and allowing the land to sustain them, they created a city, with a massive tower as a challenge to God’s authority. So God forced them to spread out by making them speak different languages, but the humans still did not understand their proper relationship with God, the land and each other.

            There is a man named Abram, who was married to Sarai, God called them to leave their home and come to a land that God would show them. God made them a promise that Abram’s family will become a great nation, that will be prosperous, and that will bless all peoples. So Abram and Sarai and their household left their home. God showed them the land of Canaan, and told them that though there are people living there now, one day Abram’s family will possess the land. God makes a covenant with Abram that Abram will father many nations, changing Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s to Sarah, God promised to give the land of Canaan Abraham’s descendants’ and to be their God. God tells Abraham to circumcise all of the men in his household as a sign of God’s Covenant with Abraham. This covenant is God’s plan to help all people come back into a proper relationship with God, the Land and each other.

Act 1: Scene 3: Covenant with a Nation

            Sarah gave birth to Isaac, who in return had a son named Jacob, and God made this same covenant with them, that they would become a great nation, be given land, and be a blessing to all nations. During a famine, Jacob and his family moved to Egypt thanks to his son Joseph.

            But after Joseph’s death, there was a new Pharaoh of Egypt who did not know about Joseph. Jacob’s family had grown exponentially into a people group called the Hebrews. The new Pharaoh was worried that they might take over Egypt. So the pharaoh enslaved them, making them build many projects. But the Hebrews remembered the covenant that God made with their foreparents, and cried out to God to save them.

            God heard them and remembered the covenant that God had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A Hebrew named Moses was hiding in Midian after killing an Egyptian. His father in law, Jethro, was the high priest there, and Moses tended Jethro’s flocks. One day a sheep wandered away from the herd and Moses had to go after it. The Sheep climbed up a mountain, and went into a cave. Moses followed after it and found a bush that was on fire but was not being consumed.

            And The Creator God spoke again. God told Moses that the God of Abraham has heard the cries of God’s people. God chose Moses to free the Hebrew slaves from Egypt and lead them to the Land God promised to their foreparents.

            Moses was unsure that he could do this. God gave him another name for God to tell the elders of the Hebrews: “I AM WHO I AM.” This is a promise that God’s identity will be revealed to them through God’s actions.

            Moses returns to Egypt, and tells the Pharaoh that God wanted the Hebrews to be free. Pharaoh refused, and makes the Hebrews work even harder. In response God sent 10 Disasters on Egypt, demonstrating that the great I AM controls all of Creation. But it took the final disaster, the death of all the first born sons of Egypt for the king of Egypt to allow the Hebrews to go free. After the Hebrews had left, Pharaoh decided that he had made a mistake and wanted the Hebrews back, so Pharaoh’s army was sent to recapture the Hebrews. Moses and the Hebrews were caught between the Pharaoh’s army on one side and the Red Sea on the other. God told Moses to put his staff into the water and the sea parted for them to walk across. Once they got across, the sea crashed down onto the Egyptian army and the Hebrews were safe.

            Moses led the Hebrews through the wilderness. When they were thirsty, God gave them water, when they were hungry, God gave them bread called manna and quail. Moses was very busy with leading the Hebrews when his father in law came to visit him. When Jethro saw how busy Moses was, he told Moses that Moses was supposed to be the Hebrews’ representative to God, and that he needed to delegate his judging duties so he could focus on teaching the Hebrews what God wanted them to do.

            Shortly afterwards, they arrived at Mount Sinai. Moses climbed the mountain and God made an offer. Since God had saved the Hebrews from Egypt, if they kept God’s covenant, then God would make them into a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation. They would demonstrate to the world how to be in right relationship with God. Moses brought this offer to the Elders of this new nation, Israel, and they accepted. Moses returned to the top of the Mountain, and God gave him the 10 Commandments that made up basics of the covenant. On top of that, God gave more instructions about how to be in right relation to God, others, and the creation. Include instructions for a tent that God could meet with them.

Act 2: Israel living under the Covenant

Act 2: Scene 1: The Land of the Covenant

            Moses led them to Canaan, but when Moses sent in spies to examine the land, while they saw that the land was fertile, most of them were afraid of the inhabitants of the land, only Joshua and Caleb believed that God would hand them the land. Because of this, God made Israel wander in the wilderness until the generation that did not trust God passed away. Before Moses died, he taught the new Generation about the Covenant that God made with their parents. The people recommitted to the Covenant with God, and God allowed them to enter the Promised Land.

            God then chose Joshua to lead the people of Israel. As they approached the City of Jericho, Joshua sent spies to examine the city. They were almost caught, but a prostitute named Rahab let them hide on her roof, after the city officials escape, they promised Rahab and her family safety.

            When Israel came to Jericho, instead of attacking, God told them to walk around the city. After seven days of walking around the city, the priests blew their trumpets and the walls came tumbling down. The Israelites killed everyone except for Rahab and her family. Israel swept through Canaan, God conquering town after town for them. Once Israel had taken over, Joshua gathered the People of Israel at Shechem and they renewed the covenant they made with God.

Act 2: Scene 2: The Cycle of Covenant

            But once Israel got into the land, they fulfilled their part of the covenant for a while, but eventually they would stop living in right relationship with each other and with God. When this would happen, God would allow the remaining inhabitants of the land to oppress Israel until they called for help. God would raise up a Judge who would lead the Israelites to freedom, they would renew their covenant and live faithfully for a while, but eventually sin again and repeat the cycle.

            One such Judge was Deborah, who rallied Israel and defeats the Jabin King of Canaan, another was Gideon who led Israel against the Midianites. When Gideon rallied thirty thousand soldiers, God told him to send home 29700 of them so Israel could not think that they did it by themselves, rather they needed to rely on God.

Act 2 Scene 2: A Love Story

            During the time of the judges, an Israelite named Elimelek went to Moab to escape a famine with his wife and two sons, while there his two sons married Moabite women. But by the time the famine ended, both Elimelek and his two sons had died. His wife Naomi, was left in a foreign land with two daughters in law, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi decided to return to Israel. She told her daughters in law to go back to their families, but Ruth refused saying that she would stay with Naomi. They returned to Israel. Because they did not have any way to make money, Ruth would go to a nearby farm and pick up the shafts of wheat the laborers left behind. One day as she was picking up wheat. The owner of the farm, Boaz saw her and fell madly in love with her. Boaz told her that instead of walking behind the labourers, she could pick alongside the women who worked for him. When Ruth returned home with the extra food, she told Naomi what had happened. When the harvest was finished, there was a big party, and Ruth slept with Boaz. Boaz tells her that he loves her and they get married, and Naomi was invited to live with them.

Act 2: Scene 3: David’s Covenant

            Several years later, there was a Judge named Samuel. Even though the people knew that God was supposed to be their leader, they wanted a king like the nations around them. Samuel and God tried to dissuade them, but the people were adamant. God relented and allowed them to have a king, as long as God got to choose it. God’s first choice, Saul, did well initially, but eventually became too power hungry, so God chose another, David, the youngest child of a shepherd, the grandson of Ruth.

            David turned out to be a better King. He brought peace to the kingdom and even though he committed significant sins, he truly desired to obey God. When David tried to build a temple for God. God refuses to allow David, a warrior king to build God’s Temple, rather God makes another covenant. God will make David’s name great, and David will always have an heir to the thrown in Jerusalem.

Act 2: Scene 4: Kings and Prophets

            God allowed David’s son Solomon to build God a temple. Solomon spared no expense as he built a home for God. God lived among the people. But after Solomon’s death, his son forced the people of Israel to build too many projects. As a result the Nation of Israel split into two, the northern ten tribes became Israel, while Southern two tribes became Judah, David’s heirs remained king in Jersusalem, but their kingdom was diminished. God continuously called both kingdoms to remember the Covenant they had made with God. But while they would follow covenant for a while, eventually they would fall into idol worship, and injustice. When this happened, God would send a prophet, who would bring them back to the Covenant. The prophets warned Israel and Judah that eventually God would eventually lose patience with their ignoring the covenant and would eventually remove them from the land of the covenant. During Hoshea’s reign in Israel, Shalmaneser, King of Assyria conquered the northern Kingdom and sent the people of Israel into exile.

            Judah continued in this cycle for a while. When Josiah was King, they were cleaning out the temple and found a copy of the Covenant. Josiah had it read to the people, and they made a new covenant with God that they would obey God’s teachings. However, later kings brought the people back into idolatry, and God eventually allowed Babylon to conquer them, destroy the temple and send the people of Judah into exile as well.

Act 2: Scene 5: Exile and Return

            God did not forget God’s people though. Even though they were sent into Exile, God continued to send prophets, who told them to settle in to where they were and care for the wellbeing of their new homes. Eventually Babylon was defeated by Persia, and Cyrus allowed people in exile to return to their homes. A few of the People of Judah (or Jews) returned home, but because they had been in exile for so long, many decided to stay where they were. The Jews that returned home rebuilt the temple. There was a sense in which the exile had not ended because so many Jews were still outside of the land of the Covenant.  

Intermission: Scene Change

            Many years later, Rome has taken over a large part of the world. They had control of the Jewish homeland, and taxed the people heavily. The Jews wished to be free from this oppression. Many believed that God would send a leader like the prophets and judges of old who will save them. Some people, who called themselves the Pharisees thought that they needed to follow every commandment in the covenant to the letter and began building traditions around the Torah to keep them from breaking actual Torah, they hoped that when they did it good enough, God would send the leader. Others, called the Essenes believed that the world is too sinful and hid in the wilderness, waiting for the leader to come and lead them to battle to liberate the Jews. Others, called the zealots, believed that if they started the revolution, God would send the leader to them. The last group was the Sadducees, who did not necessarily like Rome, but Rome kept them in power so they wanted to keep the status quo. The common people also hated Rome, because they were taxed so heavily and hoped that the leader would come, but did not necessarily have a vested interest in how it would happen.

Act 3: Jesus and the New Covenant

            God did not forget the covenant, Israel was supposed to be the way in which the Creator reformed the world into the way it should be. With God, Humans and the rest of Creation all in right relationship with each other. It was time for the Jews to become the People of the Covenant. To do this, God needs to challenge their understanding of what it means to be a people of the Covenant. God sent part of Godself, the Son, Jesus to Earth, not as a warrior, but as a baby. Jesus is born a Jew, of the line of David, but he is also the descendent of Ruth and Rahab, non-Jews who were welcomed into Israel.

            When Jesus had grown up. God sent a man named John to prepare the Jews for the coming of the long expected leader. John told them to repent, John told them to take care of each other, sharing their possessions with those who had done, and to be baptized as a sign that they were becoming truly a part of the Covenant.

            Jesus one day came to where John is preaching, and told John to baptize him. When Jesus rose out of the water, a dove appeared in the sky, and God spoke saying “This is my Son, who makes me pleased.” From there, Jesus went into the wilderness where he was tempted to lead through social programs or acts of power, but Jesus passed the test. Jesus then began to call people to follow him.

            Jesus climbed the side of a mountain and taught those that followed him how to follow the covenant. It sounded different than how they remembered Moses teaching them about the Covenant. They had to love enemies. They had to set aside their own justice to bring others back into community, into right relationship.           

Jesus traveled around performing miracles, telling everyone that God was in charge again. He healed people who were not allowed in the community. He welcomed non-jews to live the way God wants humans to live. He challenged the status quo, telling the rich to not oppress the poor, and the religious leaders to not be hypocrites.

People listened to him, some of his followers were Zealots ready to fight, the crowd wanted to crown him King. When Jesus entered Jerusalem during the Passover, people said “blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”.  It looked like he was going to free Israel from the Romans.

During the last night of the Passover, Jesus met with his followers. He washed their feet, and served the traditional Passover meal. But when he picked up the bread. Jesus said “This is my Body, broken for you”. Then when he picked up the cup of wine, he said “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

Then Jesus got arrested. His rocking of the status quo and challenging the religion of the day pissed off both the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They brought him before the Roman authorities and said that he tried to cause an insurrection. Jesus was crucified, the penalty for rebellion.

Jesus’s followers were shocked and confused. What about restoring Israel so it could be the blessing for all nations? What about bringing God, humans and creation back into right relation?

            Jesus didn’t stay dead. God raised Jesus up, and Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary mother of James met him outside his tomb. Jesus was Resurrected. Jesus met with his disciples and told them to spread the good news that God is Charge to all nations. Jesus has completed his mission and ascended into heaven, promising to come back.

Act 4: The New Covenant

Act 4: Scene 1: The New Covenant Spreads

Jesus’ followers obey his commandments. God’s Spirit descends on them, and they preached that there was a new Covenant open to all. God is in charge, and that everyone should be in right relationship with God, fellow humans, and creation. Their message started in Jerusalem, spread to the rest of Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. As the message spread, groups of people, called churches, started to form who tried to live out the Covenant as best they could.

Church leaders started writing letters to distant congregations to help them understand what it means to live in the new Covenant. One of these leaders was Paul, who traveled a lot starting many new churches. As non-Jews joined this new covenant. The church realized that they need not be bound by the physical symbols that the old covenants used, as long as they only follow God, and love their neighbours.

Act 4: Scene 2: The Church Today

            The story doesn’t end there, today the Creator God calls us to enter into this new Covenant. The world has not had all of its relationships healed yet, so we need to continue to do that. We need to Follow Jesus’ teachings loving God and loving neighbour. We can look at the story that has happened before us, and learn from it.

            When we see oppression, we should remember that God saved the Israelites from oppression in Egypt and with the Judges, and that we are called to act for justice.

            When we see the poor, we should remember Ruth and Naomi who were welcomed back into the community through Boaz. When we see sexism, we should remember Rahab and Deborah, women whose action saved Israel. When we see racism and xenophobia, we should remember that Jethro, a Midianite, taught Moses how to lead his people, and that Rahab and Ruth were outsiders welcomed into the people of God.

Act 5: Return to Right Relationship with the Creator

            One Day, God will finish the work of the Covenant. Jesus will come back, and we will be in right relationship with God, and the rest of Creation. It will be like the beginning when God the Creator made everything. There will be no separation. Gender, language, and ethnicity will not be barriers. There will be justice for all. God will be in Charge.

Pendulum Swing: From Faith to Social Justice

Over the past year, I have heard several people say that every 500 years or so, there is a major shift in Christianity. Constantine's reign in 306 CE marked the church moving from a fringe religion, to eventually being a state religion. The Great Schism between Rome and the East in 1054 CE left scars in the Global Church that are only now beginning to heal. The Reformation in 1517 resulted in many divisions within the Western Church. Each of these events impacted the world in huge ways.

 Many people are suggesting that we are again in a major, the most recent example I've experienced was at Mennonite Church Canada's National Assembly. During a Young Adult Event, MC Canada Executive Director made reference to this shift, and has outlined some of his thoughts on the topic here. To help navigate this shift, the national church has assembled the New Directions Task Force to look at what the future of the MC Canada will look like, and we had some good discussion during the Assembly about it.

In a recent podcast, Willard and Dan Dyck talked about the future of the church. Willard suggested that the future of the church will be one where the church engages in issues such as Aboriginal Justice and Climate Change, and I agree, the Church needs to engage with social justice issues. It needs to in order to stay relevant, but it also needs to in order to stay faithful to the people who God is calling us to be.

From the creation of the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, God has called a people to show the world around us how to live differently. The Lex Talionis Law in the Torah (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth) was a demand for equality under the law. Where other cultures allowed those in the upper classes to severely punish those in lower classes for any infraction, the Torah limited retaliation to an equitable punishment.

With Jesus, the people of God became open to all, not just the Jews, but also the Gentiles. The message was do not conform to Rome's morals, of greed, and violence, but make Jesus your King. Peace, Justice and Love became the law written on our hearts.

As history unfolds, we see a pendulum swing. From the weakness of Christ to the Strength of Constantine, from ritual in the middle ages, to faith in the reformation, etc. But we often swing too far. When the pendulum swung towards faith in the reformation, we began to lose the importance of action. Martin Luther wanted to remove the Canon of James from the Canon, thinking that it wasn't relevant to our faith. We swung to a place where faith resulted in inaction.

The Anabaptists always spoke out against this, showing how Faith in Christ requires us to love our neighbors, remember Menno's Famous quote: "True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant. It clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all people." As the world realizes that faith requires action it begins to swing in the other direction. We can't just pray about an issue, being a follower of Jesus means going out and fixing it. 

However, I have cause for concern about this swing. At some point we can/will/have swung too far. Sometimes our concern for social justice becomes more important than the reason why we seek it in the first place. Sometimes I see Mennonites go from being Anabaptist to Secular Humanists. I see us as being more concerned about the ends and not the means.

I see us neglecting our prayer lives and bible readings, casting them aside rather than realizing that they are the reason we seek after justice.

My Social justice concern comes out of my love for Jesus. I care for the other because I see that they are made in God's image. We need to remember that it was the Prophet Amos, a man who was calling Israel back to following God, who said "Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" (Amos 5:24). As we shift towards a Christianity that is a voice for the downtrodden, let us also remember that we believe in prayer and faith.

1 Kings 19: I, even I only am left.

[The Sermon below was written for my preaching class at Canadian Mennonite University, This is the first sermon I wrote for the class, so it is less polished than some of the sermons I've written since (see A Transformed People of God, or Psalm 137:9 A Hard Beatitude), however it's a message of hope for those suffering from ministry Burnout, something that I'll talk about in more depth in the future]


When we look at 1 kings 19 we read a story of Elijah struggling.
Elijah, the mighty prophet of God who had defeated 450 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel
Elijah, the mighty prophet, who's God answered his prayer with fire from heaven
Elijah, the mighty prophet of God who ran after Ahab's chariot, taunting him all the way back to Jazreel
Elijah, the mighty prophet of God, was broken, and tired, and confused
After the events at mount Carmel Ahab went and told his wife Jezebel about Elijah
Jezebel responded by sending her messenger to the mighty prophet, telling him that by the time the day was finished, she would have him killed the way he had killed Baal's prophets
Faced with opposition that can't be stopped by a show of force, Elijah is unsure of himself
So what does he do?
[pause]
He runs.
The Mighty Prophets runs
Within three verses He leaves the northern kingdom, and he travels all the way down to Beersheba, a town right where the southern Kingdom meets the wilderness.
Elijah is afraid for his life, he's dropped everything and he ran
The Mighty prophet has become a refugee
When he gets to Beersheba, he leaves his servant behind, and spends a day walking in the wilderness. There he crashes down under a tree and cries out to God, "It is enough, Oh Lord, Take away my life for I am no better than my fathers."
He has abandoned all hope
He is saying that he's failed, that he should be dead and in his tomb like those that went before him.
Jezebel's threat is the end of his ministry

Like Elijah, you might be tired
Maybe you are tired because Everytime you share your faith with your friends you get ridiculed
maybe you are tired because you've been strong for too long
Maybe the program you volunteer for isn't reaching as many people as you'd like
Maybe you are ready to give up
to give up on serving God
to close your door, and give up on hoping that people will respond to the ministry that you do
It's easy to experience burn out, with papers piling up around, tests and exams coming it's easy to forget that you are here because this is where God wants you to be.
Like Elijah, you might be unsure of yourself, maybe you felt God leading you into ministry, but now that you are here, you are no longer sure
Like Elijah, you might not have the strength to carry on.
Elijah, sitting in the desert, goes to sleep,
while he sleeps, an angel woke him up and feeds him
Elijah doesn't get it, there's an angel feeding him, and what does he do? he goes back to sleep, He's completely given up.
But the angel isn't finished, he wakes Elijah up, and feeds him again, telling him that he has a long journey ahead of him.
Elijah gets up and the food feeds him for fourty days and nights as he travels in the wilderness.
Eventually he gets to Mt Horeb
Now Mt Horeb is another name for Mt Sinai, the mountain where God met Moses and Commissioned him.
God is going to commission Elijah again
This is what's called a Theophanous commision story. A story where elijah is given  the power to prevail over institutional rivals, enhancing belief in prophetic authority to challenge usurpations of God's Supremacy.
but this authority comes in a peculiar way.

Elijah enters a cave on Mount Sinai, and God asks him "what are you doing here, elijah?"
Elijah's response is one of dispair "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, , and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away"
Elijah's seeking pity, he thinks he's the only one left, he thinks that everything is going to hell in a handbasket
And he wants a sign, he wants God to respond dramatically, to show that God is powerful  but God's response is not power.
God takes him outside the cave, and Elijah sees 3 powerful things
He sees the wind blow past so fast that rocks are breaking
He sees an earthquake shake the earth around him
and he sees a fire, like the one used in the previous chapter to defeat baals prophet
God could have been present within any of them, but God isn't
Instead of these acts of power, God chooses to reveal Godself through the sound of a low whisper.
and again God asks "What are you doing here Elijah?"
Elijah gives exactly the same response "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, , and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away"
God responds with a command and a message of hope
The commmand is to go back and continue his work,
God has recommissioned Elijah to go back and annoint Hazael as King of Syria, Jehu king of Israel, and Elisha as his own successor.
Elijahs doubts will cease when God puts him to work
He needs to continue the struggle against Baal. He needs to put people into power who will stand up for whats right. It's not going to be easy, but Ahab and Jezebel's dynasty will fall, and Israel will return to the Covenant.
God's message to Elijah, is that he isn't alone, God still has 7000 people who haven't bowed before Baal.
The numbers 7and 1000 both symbolize wholeness and completion. God has enough people to get the job done.
Elijah isn't alone.

Likewise you aren't alone
You have a community of faith that surrounds you
When you are weary, there are people there who will support you
There are people who will care for you and walk with you
Elijah thought that he was the only person who was Jealous for God
but there were others
God doesn't always act in Giant flashes of miraculous power
This doesn't mean he can't or he won't
but more often then not we need to listen for that still soft voice
God will guide you
Elijah thought he had won at mount carmel, and wasnt ready for resistance
We will also face resistance as we seek to live out the gospel message in the world today
but in the moment of doubt, God will give you the strength to face the day
Elijah's story doesn't end in complete and utter victory, Ahab is still king for three more chapters, and maybe it's okay if ours doesn't either
instead maybe we just need to continue to be faithful to the plan that God has for us, and follow what God tells us to do.

A Transformed People of God

This is a Sermon I originally gave Pentecost Sunday (May 19th, 2013) at Steinmann Mennonite Church.

Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples were gathered together, waiting, in Jerusalem for a gift that Jesus promised that God would send them.

while they sat waiting, Jews from all around the world were gathering in Jerusalem for Pentecost. Pentecost, or Shavout, as it was known in hebrew, was one of the pilgrimage festivals that Israel Celebrated, marking important points within Israel's story, and responding with an offering

50 days ago we celebrated Easter, Easter took place over Passover, another of these pilgramage festivals. Passover remembers the story in exodus when during the last Plaque, God sent the Angel of Death to Egypt to kill the firstborn children, but because the Hebrews killed lambs, and marked their doors with the blood, the Angel of Death Passed over them, and they were freed from slavery.

The Easter Narrative parralels this story. The entire world was in Bondage to Sin, so God sent his Son Jesus, to die so those who are covered by his blood would be protected from death, and are free from bondage.

But after they were freed from slavery in Egypt, the Hebrews weren't really a nation. They were just a collection of loosely affiliated tribes, following Moses into the Sinai desert. The Jewish holiday of Pentecost remembers the day that, at Mount Sinai, God formed them into a people, fullfiling his promise to Abraham:

"Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him."

God turned the 2 Million Hebrews, Abraham's descendants into Israel, by giving them a gift. A gift that would teach them the right way to live, a gift that would govern their lives, and define them as a people. Something that to this day Judaism regards as more important than anything else on earth: Torah

Torah, or The Law was gift given to the newly formed People of Israel as a way to bring them into right relationship with God. By following economic, policical, dietary, and lifestyle patterns that were different from the people around them, the formed a national Identity, which protected them from cultural erosion by their myriad of neighbours. And even though, as we read on in the Bible, Israel failed at following the commandments, it always served as a rallying cry. When Israel didn't obey God's commandments, and became like their neighbours, worshipping Idols instead of God, God through the prophets call them back to the Law, to relationship with their creator. The Jewish holiday of Pentecost Marks the Birth of Israel, a great and powerful Nation, the Children of God. A nation defined by their heritage as Abraham's Descendants, and by the Law.So now lets return to the Disciples, here are 120 or so people, in the upper room, praying and waiting, Outside, there are Jews from all over the world who have gathered together to celebrate the fact that even though they are scattered accross the known world, they still have the Law, the cornerstone of their Identity.As the Disciples wait, tongues of fire descend on their heads, and they are filled with the Holy Spirit. They begin to pray. At this point they must have left the upper room because they are now in the streets, with the community of Israel, proclaiming the Mighty Works of God.As Peter explains, this is the fulfillment of Joel, the Holy Spirit has been poured out to all people, Young and Old, Rich and poor. The Last Days are here, and everyone is welcome to join in.

God is transforming the People of God.

Now instead of Torah telling us what we have to do to be in right relationship with God, God has sent the Spirit to show us how to Live, to lead and guide us, to walk with us and comfort us.

Israel's mission was to demonstrate to the world the way of Life God has for us, by living according to the law, they demonstrated that God, the creator of the universe wanted them to live differently:

in other Ancient Near east countries, the justice system allowed those more powerful to lord it over those under them. If a member of a lower class somehow took out the eye of someone in a higher class, the injured person could take out both of the perpetrators eyes, as well as I don't know, break their legs and sell their wife and children into Slavery

For Israel, the law is clear, that regardless of what class you are in, the consequences for your actions were are the same. An Eye for an Eye. Israel and it's Laws showed the world around them another way of living

At Pentecost, when the disciples recieved the holy spirit, they, and us by extension, were called to embody a new, transformed world, where we are no longer slaves, captive to a spirit of fear, but rather we are free to choose  today, and every day, to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, guide us, shape us. The Holy Spirit empowers us to do God's work, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet. Whether it be relief efforts in Syria, or having coffee with a friend and being that shoulder to cry on.

We are empowered to live differently than the world around us, to show God's love to our neighbours, and to invite them to join us.

When we do this, we are adopted into God's Family, we become children of God, we become heirs with Christ. An Heir cares about their Parent's work because they know one day they will be responsible for it. They are going to inherit that farm, or inherit that factory, and so they work now at making it the best it can be. When they are younger they look to see what their parents do, and find ways of helping out, because they know that their continued well being is dependant on it. We need to look to see what God is doing, and find ways of partnering with God to make the Kingdom of God the best it can be.
While the Jews waited, hoping for a restored, geographically located Israel, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit shows the transnational nature of this transformed people. No longer are we restricted to one place. People from all over the world were hearing the mghty works of God in their own languages. The Kingdom of God is available for you regardless of where you are.
We are called into a new people, God's beloved community. In a world dominated about what's important to me, about what I can do, or what I can get, we are now in a global community of believers, who choose to follow God the creator of the world, Whose primary commandments are to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ and to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ It is only together as a united people of God that we are able to do this fully. It's only as a whole that Steinmann Mennonite Church is able to do what we do.My very first day here, I was taken to two organizations that you have supported. I visited the Wilmot Family Resource Centre, which started as a toy library, and now has more programs to build strong healthy families than I would believe possible. I then visited the Interfaith Counselling, an organization that sees the deep wounds that traumatic events cause in people and guides them thro ugh the healing process. I've also seen the work you do at Nithview Mennonite Home, and at the MCC thrift store.

Sure, you can make a difference individually, but because of the network of people that makes up this congregation, we are able to more than what 424 individuals could do by themselves. And even if you don't specifically volunteer somewhere, does not mean that you aren't a part of this group, by supporting those who do, through prayer, finances and fellowship, you enable the church as a whole to do it's work. So continue to find a way that you can support the church to do God's work.

Communion is a way that we act out our unity as the church, when denominations resolve their differences and recognise each other's validity, it's referred to as entering into community with each other.

 In receiving the elements of Holy Communion with faith and prayer we are truly joined to God in Christ and the Spirit, we are truly united with our fellow members in the church in this act of worship, we are truly joined with believers of all times and places who have celebrated the bread and wine in the past. We join together in doing the work of God.


I invite all who wish to be part of this Transformed people of God to join me in the Lord's supper.

Originally posted online at SMChurch.ca