Why we really don't listen...

"Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding...
She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her." Prov. 3:13,15

"Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." Matthew 26:52

Why we really don't listen...
By Rev. William Dohle
The world is united it seems. At least on Facebook.

This past week, my timeline has been covered by South Carolina. Everywhere I look there are prayers and petitions, cries for help and calls for action. Articles on gun control or on the value of such guns. Ignorant statements made by one politician or another. And even some heartwarming stories too.

More than anything else is the call for justice in our country and the call for awareness. If rascism hadn't a face before, it certainly has one now.

And as an ELCA Lutheran, I ponder this deeply. I wonder how the perpetrator could have been one of our own. What happened in this young man between Confirmation and that moment he started shooting? What was said to him as he went through Confirmation and at church? Did he go to services? What did he hear there? And what now should we say to our kids today? What should we tell them about all of this?

A piece of me places the blame on us. We Lutherans have been lax at raising up the goodness and the image of God in everyone, no matter what. Falling back into the "we're all sinners" creed, we forget that we are created by God in God's image. We are beloved by God. We are God's children, adopted into his family through Christ Jesus. We have a right and a duty to look for the good in other people. Even the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, and the imprisoned are reflections of Christ. What we do to them, we do to Christ. We have a duty to see each other, not as poor, miserable sinners, but as beloved children of a God willing to sacrifice everything to save us!

Part of me blames us.

And part of me blames our human nature. Let's face it, we are creatures that ignore warnings and consequences.

Take for instance, a little story from the book of Numbers. Numbers 15:32-36. Most of us probably ignore this passage since it's not a popular story and it doesn't fit in with what we know of the Bible, but this little tale speaks a warning. It speaks a warning to those who would break the Sabbath.

When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day. Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses, Aaron, and to the whole congregation. They put him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him outside the camp.” The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. (Num. 15:32-36)

Now what do you notice about this story? It's a warning! A warning of what could happen to you should you break the Sabbath law. It's a rather graphic tale, one without a happy ending, but it serves its purpose, to tell you: If you break the Sabbath law, you will be stoned. If you break God's law, there will be consequences.

So... why don't we know this passage? Why don't we heed it? Maybe because we really don't believe these consequences will happen. We really don't follow its logic. Despite the text saying in no undercertain terms, "This action has a consequence." We don't believe it.

We're pretty stubborn creatures. Even when Jesus himself tells us, "Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.Those who live by the sword, die by the sword..." we still choose the sword and fill our homes with weapons that kill. We fight for our right to have weapons rather than look at what having those weapons actually does to us.

Why don't we listen? Why don't we change? Why don't we look at our culture that's obsessed with violence and put a stop to it?

Because we don't want to. Because it feels so good. Because maybe those consequences are avoidable. Maybe they're exaggerated. Maybe there is no consequence for our violent ways.

Or maybe it really is sin. Sin that has infected our souls and in lives. Sin that blinds us to our own participation in this culture of violence and death. Sin that divides and subdivides us.

I don't know who's to blame, but I know who's the answer. That answer is God. The God who doesn't leave us to wallow in our consequences. The God who rescues and saves us. The God who is the only hope of transforming our culture and rescuing us from this violent world. That God didn't stand idly by, but took the consequences of a culture obsessed with violence upon himself, suffering death, in order to bring us to a new creation, a new life.

In the wake of this tragedy and in so many others, I pray. May God open our eyes that we may see our participation in this culture of violence. May we be advocates of peace and justice in the world. May we see each other as Christ sees us. And may his kingdom come, here and now. For we need it, more than ever!

Holy God, we cannot imagine the pain that you endure as we blindly participate in our culture of death. Heal us, redeem us, and bring us to the kingdom where swords and guns are ground into plowshares. Amen.

The Most Repeated Command

You and the alien shall be alike before the Lord. Numbers 15:15

The Most Repeated Command
By Rev. William Dohle

"How many times do I have to tell you??"

Oh! Teenagers! My family has two of them in the house now. One just turned a teen and the other celebrated his second birthday as one and believe me...it strains the patience.

For instance...let's say you want them to do the chores that you have arranged for them to do. Countless times you have met with them and discussed exactly what they're to do and how they're to do it. They agree it needs to be done and agree that they shall do it. As you part ways, do you then sit back will they do it?

No!

Instead even after the lecture, they just sit there and stare at you. When you remind them, they say, "Oh sure..." or they groan and moan and then continue to sit there. Or they get up and look like they're going to do it, but they don't. Or they start doing it and get distracted and then leave the job. Or they never get up. Or...

Yeah, getting teenagers to work requires a whole lot of work and a whole LOT of repetition. "Do it...do it...do it...I said do it...if you don't then I'll..."

Shall adults be any different?

No. Adults need repetition too. And the most repeated things are usually the things God wants us to do most.

Of all the commandments in the Bible, there is one which is the most repeated. Rabbi Daniel Boggard often stumps his congregation with this one. The most repeated command isn't anything that we'd think it would be. It has nothing to do with the Ten Commandments or anything that we've ever memorized. No, the most repeated commandment concerns the alien residents among us and sounds something like this:

An alien who lives with you, or who takes up permanent residence among you, and wishes to offer an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord, shall do as you do. As for the assembly, there shall be for both you and the resident alien a single statute, a perpetual statute throughout all generations; you and the alien shall be alike before the Lord. You and the alien who resides with you shall have the same law and the same ordinance.(Num. 15:14-16)

The most repeated commandment is: Treat the alien resident with respect!

This may come as a shock to us given our culture's emphasis on other commandments, but God cares more for how we treat the outsider than he does for anything else! That's the commandment that he repeats over and over again. That's the one we read over and over again!

But why? Why repeat this? Why not repeat the commandment to love or the dietary laws or anything else?

Because, I believe, this is the one commandment that we ignore more than any other.

We're pretty good when it comes to loving our neighbor(as long as we can define that neighbor as the person we like). We're okay when it comes to not doing the things that destroy us(as long as we're not liking those too much either). We'll think about keeping God's name holy and worshiping only him.

But the resident alien? What?!

Think about America in the 21st century. How many God-fearing people quote all the other commandments but ignore the commandment that God gives the most times that says, "You and the alien shall be alike before the Lord?"  How often do we hear one Christian politician or another stand up to speak while showing no compassion to the illegal immigrant? How often have we seen hatred funneled to the "resident aliens" among us?

"Those illegal immigrants..." we say with disgust, as though being from another country in our country makes them somehow less than human.

God is clear "you and the alien shall be alike before the Lord." God doesn't look at our nationality. American or illegal immigrant to America are all the same to him. God doesn't care whether we speak English or not. He's doesn't say the pledge of allegiance. He doesn't salute our flag. God considers us all the same. American and Palestinian, Israeli and Saudi, Russian and German and Irish. All of us the same. There is no distinction.

If we claim to be a Christian nation, shouldn't we look to treating everyone equally, regardless of their nationality or language or creed? If we claim to follow the path God gave us, should we not look to this most repeated law of them all?

God reminds his people too why they're to treat the resident aliens this way. Later he says, "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm..."(Deut. 5:15) In other words: Remember you were just like they are once.

And we were. Each and every one of us. Few people in America can claim not to originate from somewhere else. Our country was founded on immigration and an open door policy. So...why do these immigrants now consider themselves natives? Why do we shut out and shun people who are resident aliens now just as our ancestors were?

It's time we listen and respond. It's time to listen to what God is repeating to us over and over again. It's time to give the grace that has been given us. Let the Holy Spirit change our minds individually. Let him change our perspective on things and together, the mind of our country can be changed too.

God, we are all of us pilgrims on earth. Give us grace that we might see and love our fellow pilgrims whomever they might be. Amen.

While We Wait...

"After you come into the land to which I am bringing you..." Numbers 15:17

While We Wait...
By Rev. William Dohle

Waiting...is not my favorite thing in the world to do. Of all the gifts of the spirit(Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control), I find myself praying for patience most often. Usually my prayer is...

"Lord, give me patience RIGHT NOW!"

Waiting patiently doesn't come naturally to us today. In our world of instantaneous communication and instant messages, we abhor waiting. Think about the last text message you sent where you actually had to wait. Were you thinking to yourself... "Where are they?! What's taking so long to respond!?"  Sometimes I do.

Waiting is hard in the short-run. Imagine waiting for years. Worse than that, imagine waiting for a generation!  40 years to be exact!

That's how long the people of Israel were instructed to wait before entering into the Promised Land.  When God told them "...none of the people who have seen my glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness...shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors..."(Numbers 14:22)  he was telling them that there's going to be a VERY long wait before the promise comes.

So...what do the people do? They start dreaming with God of what that day will be like.

"When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, and you make an offering by fire to the Lord from the herd or from the flock..."(Numbers 15:1-2)

Now you might read this verse and those after it and think, "How boring! It's just more laws!" But these are no simple laws. They're dreams. Dreams of what the world will be like, not for them, but for their descendants! Remember, nobody who is hearing this will be alive to see the promised land. It's out of their reach. But that doesn't mean they can't dream!

And dream they do. Twice God says, "After you come into the land to which I am bringing you..." and twice God dreams with them what that day will be like.

What dreams do you have for the future? And are they out of your grasp?

There's a story about a man who was a stonemason at one of the great cathedrals in Europe. The cathedrals themselves took almost a generation to complete. Many of the workers who began the work never saw it to completion. This stonemason was asked once what he was building. He said, "A great cathedral. Can't you see it!?" He never lived to see the cathedral completed, but he could dream of what it would look like.

We too have promised lands beyond our reach. They are places and times that we'll never physically see. What will the world be like in 2100? What do we want it to look like? We may not be alive to see it, but that doesn't mean we can't dream of it. The seeds we plant today, the dreams and the plans we make, will be ripe then. Just as the people of Israel did as they waited to enter the promised land, we too can dream of the future, put down foundations for it today, and trust God with the rest.

For the God who brought us to the border of the Promise Land will see the next generation into it and beyond.

God of Promise and Dreams, we exist in just a tiny fraction of time and space. Give us vision to look beyond ourselves and to dream of what is to come. Amen.