The Cost of Forgiveness

 If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible.  Leviticus 5:17

Forgiveness' Price
By Rev. William Dohle

I want you to do something... This week, I want you to count how many times you hear people say: "I forgive you."  When you need to apologize or when someone apologizes to you or when you overhear someone apologize to someone else, I want you to count.  How often do you hear "I forgive you" spoken.

I bet you hear it very VERY few times this next week or the weeks and months after that.  Why?

It's not because people are getting any better.  Sins abound in our lives all the same and they ain't going away.  So it can't be because we don't need forgiveness.

Nor is it because people aren't apologizing anymore.  I can't say it's because we don't hear "I'm sorry" on the streets.  In fact, I hear "I'm sorry" a lot, especially in my house.

No, I think the reason why you won't hear "I forgive you" spoken is because, deep down people know how costly forgiveness is!

Forgiveness requires a sacrifice on someone's part.

Most of the time forgiveness costs the forgiver the most.  They give up the right for retribution and for repayment.  If someone says: "Your loan is forgiven" it is the one who forgave the debt who took a loss.  If someone says: "You are forgiven" regarding a wrong you have done, they have sacrificed their right for vengeance.  They have said, "You owed me for that...but I have given debt up.  I will not hold it against you."

Forgiveness always costs the forgiver but sometimes forgiveness costs the one asking for forgiveness too.  Absolution in a catholic confessional, for example, has certain requirements.  "Say 5 Hail Marys and 5 Our Fathers".  Every action has its consequences and these consequences are passed down to the one asking for forgiveness.  They still must suffer loss for what they have done.

It is this second model of forgiveness that we see demonstrated in the book of Leviticus.  In this chapter, sin offerings are described for everything from intentional sins of the priest that affect the entire congregation to unintentional sins committed by the assembly to intentionally unintentional sins committed by individuals.

For an entire chapter, we are told what sacrifices to make in order to be forgiven.  Bulls, lambs, and doves are killed and chopped up, their bodies given to God in a certain way, and, in the end, the same refrain plays over and over again...

In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.

I wonder sometimes... why such graphic detail?  Why describe the sin offerings in this way?

Christians borrow much of our language for Jesus' blood atonement directly from Leviticus.  It is here we see sacrifice atoning for sin.  The biggest difference, however, is that intentionally these sacrifices were not human ones.  Israel existed at a time when sins were atoned in other cultures by human sacrifices.  Somebody had to be killed in order to appease the gods.  Israel's laws changed that.  By sacrificing an animal you eliminate the need for a human sacrifice.  You take a loss...but not in human blood.

Details aside, though we realize through this reading that forgiveness is costly.  Very costly in fact.  The consequences for sinning against God and against each other, even though unintentional, still remain.  Someone must suffer the consequences of sin!  Someone must suffer.

Though very few Christians read these passages as anything significant, we still believe the world view they assert.  We still think that forgiveness is costly...not to us so much but to God, to Jesus the Christ.  In Christian thought, Jesus ransoms us from sin, death, and the devil with his blood.  He is lamb of God sacrificed for the sake of the world.  Despite our sweamishness at these passages, the sacrificial system itself remains intact for Christians...animals have just been replaced by Jesus Christ himself.

Though we'd like to think we can get rid of these passages and avoid them, truth is these passages make up the heart of much of Christian theology.  Getting rid of them would rid us of the need for a sacrifice for sin and, in many minds, the need for Christ himself.  Christ comes to forgive our sins through his blood on the cross.  That image is straight out of this text.

But, as Christians, we must realize too that forgiveness doesn't stop with God either.  Though God may have forgiven us, we still must pay the consequences of our sin and that is often very difficult.  It requires us to repent to others and humble ourselves in their presence.  It requires, at times, a sacrifice of time and even resources to truly say "I'm sorry."  It requires a price, smaller than the price paid by God, but a price nevertheless.

God help me forgive others as freely as you forgave me.  Give me strength to pay the cost of repentance, even as you paid for my sins.  Amen.

Come and eat with God!

It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.  Leviticus 1:9

Come and eat with God!
By Rev. William Dohle


A year ago or so, a member of my congregation, having gone to France just a month before, invited my wife and I to a grand feast.  Food that she had sampled in France was reproduced before us to eat and share.  A glass of wine began the meal followed by appetizers followed by a meal that still makes my mouth water.  Six of us were invited to such a feast.

It was one of the most intimate and enjoyable experiences I have ever had!

There is something to be said for eating with someone.  Entering into their home.  Sitting down for a meal prepared by them.  Smelling the food.  Tasting the wine.

There is no closer experience.  To this day, I covet such experiences, enjoying the closeness such sharing can bring.

But how would you reproduce these events and invite God?  What would you cook?  How would you fix it?  What would you need to bring and prepare?  And how would you prepare it?

Such questions are at the heart of these first chapters in Leviticus.

Upon first glance, the sacrificial portions of Leviticus seem barbaric.

"You are to cut it into pieces, and the priest shall arrange them, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is burning on the altar. You are to wash the internal organs and the legs with water, and the priest is to bring all of them and burn them on the altar." (Lev. 1:12-13)

Such language often can make us shudder!  Why would God command his people this way?!

We wonder what a barbaric people the ancient Israelites were that such things were commanded by God!  And we thank God that such sacrifices are not done today!

But, before we dismiss this entirely, perhaps we should look at the reason WHY these sacrifices were made.  We are apt to think that ancient Israelites sacrificed animals to APPEASE God.  But that's not the case at all!

Ancient Israelites sacrificed animals to gain intimacy with God.  Literally to eat with God!

If you wanted to prepare a meal for an unseen, almighty deity, what would you make?  What could God possibly want?

Perhaps a bull... but how would you prepare it?
Or a bird...but how would you slice it?
Or perhaps an offering of grain and bread?

And what would be the occasions for such a feast?  When would you be expected to throw a dinner for God?

For an ordinary meal with God... what would you bring?
If you're thankful to God... what should you give?
If you have sinned against God, either intentionally or unintentionally, how do you say "Sorry?"

All these are questions that Leviticus answers in detail.

Do they apply to us??  Well... yes and no.

We do not literally sacrifice anything, bulls or otherwise.  Nor do we need instructions on where to put the fat on the altar and what to do with the carcass.

But...

Leviticus does point to the why of sacrifice and the need to give back to God.

Sacrifice was never done to appease God.  The aroma was said to be pleasing to God, but it was never meant to stop God's wrath or anger.  That was never the purpose of sacrifice in the first place.  The people sacrificed to God to gain intimacy with God and to obey his commandments.

We may crave this too... but we cannot sacrifice or worship God as they did.

Still... we need to give back to God.  We need to celebrate with God.  We need to give of ourselves when times are good, in thanksgiving for what God has done.  We need to give of ourselves when we are sorry, as a way of repenting for what we have done wrong.  We need this give back more than God does.  And the more ways we give back.  The more ways we sacrifice what we have to celebrate with God, the more connected we will feel we are to God.

And the aroma of our sacrifices will be pleasing to God too!

God you give everything to us and hold nothing back.  Give us sacrificial hearts too that we might give back to you what you have first given us.  Amen.

To Keep or Not To Keep

These are the commands the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.  Leviticus 27:34

To Keep or Not To Keep
By Rev. William Dohle

It's amazing what laws are still on the books...even though they are rather ridiculous!

Take a few laws from my home state, Utah.

• In Salt Lake County it is illegal to walk down the street with a violin in a paper bag.
• In Trout Creek, Utah it is illegal to cure a cold with gunpowder.
• It is a felony to persistently tread on the cracks between paving stones on the sidewalk of a state highway.
• It is illegal to hunt whales in Utah.  (By the way, Utah isn't even close to the ocean!

In Illinois, where I live now...

• The English Language is NOT to be spoken.
• Law prohibits eating in a place in Chicago that is on fire.
• It is forbidden in Chicago to fish while sitting on a giraffe's neck
• In Galesburg, no one may keep a smelly dog.
• And in Kirkland, IL bees are not allowed to fly over the village.

Google Outdated laws yourself and see what you find.

The funny part is that...these laws are STILL on the books.  I wonder sometimes if anyone has been caught breaking these laws.  What would they do to them?

The Bible too is full of outdated laws.  Whole books of them in fact.  Many are obvious.  Some not.  Laws, for instance, that concern the treatment of slaves do not apply to a society without slavery.  A Templeless religion has no need for instructions about burnt offerings and priesthoods.  And a society that gives the right to kill to the state has no need of laws with corporal punishment.

But how do you decide?  How do you choose?  How do you know what laws to keep and what laws not to keep?  How can you tell?

The book of Leviticus is itself a book of laws.  With few real stories within it, Leviticus was written to aid God's people to walk God's path.  It exists to help design Israel into the the people that God would be proud of.  It contains commands on what to eat and not to eat, how to clean your home from mildew, rules on the various festivals that are celebrated among other things.

It was written thousands of years before Christ, but its words still sting today.  Many of the Bible's worst critics and strongest allies quote from Leviticus to bolster their arguments.  The best known passages, like the ones about sexual behavior which only constitute one chapter of the book, are thrown around so much that we might think they were written yesterday for us and not to another people thousands of years ago.  Many laws in the book are ignored while other laws are held up as models of what God wants.

So... how do you decide what to keep?

As I come to the book of Leviticus in my journey through Scripture, I am sorely tempted to skip the book altogether.  It would be easy to put it behind me and focus instead on the narratives in Numbers and the passionate discourse in Deuteronomy.  Anything to keep from dealing with Leviticus!

But something compels me to look deeper.  The Spirit of God perhaps.  Something calls me deeper into the book... to wrestle with the laws that disturb me and to celebrate the laws that invigorate me.

So... join me through the season of Easter, as we explore the book of Leviticus further and understand the laws that the Jew, Jesus of Nazareth, knew by heart.  And God help us on the journey!

Your word, O Lord, is full of disturbing and uncomfortable commandments, many of which I don't follow.  Give me eyes that I may see you through the words on the page.  Amen.

New Promise? Old Promise? Or Renewed Promise?

"The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin..."(Ex. 32:6-7)

New Promise?  Old Promise?  Or Renewed Promise?
By Rev. William Dohle

It's amazing how your childhood affects your adulthood!

As a child, I was promised many things.  Some of them were fulfilled.  Others not.  And I'm sure I promised my parents in return many things as well.  Some were fulfilled... others not.

So, as a parent I have tried VERY hard NOT to promise my kids anything.  My favorite word is "Maybe"...which they usually cheer about because they think it means "Yes"...but what it really means is "Probably yes, but I'm not going to promise anything."

Promises have a weight about them.  When a promise is kept, all is well.  Nothing changes between us because the relationship is secure.  In fact, promises kept are seldom remembered long.  But when a promise is broken...the weight of expectations lands on your head.  You start to question your relationship.  You wonder if you should believe them or not.  You take their word, as a suggestion and a maybe, rather than a certainty.

Scripture is full of promises.  Covanents they are called.  Promises made by BOTH parties for the good of their relationship.  These covenants are binding...as long as both parties remain faithful to their word.

In Exodus, a covenant is made, broken, and renewed all while the people are on Mt. Sinai.

It is made when God says: "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery..."(Ex. 20:2) and the people respond : "Everything the Lord has said we will do."(Ex. 24:3)

It is broken when the people turn away from God, saying, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."(Ex. 32:4)  and God says "Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them." (Ex. 32:10).

And it is renewed when, after making new stone tablets, Moses proclaims, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin..."(Ex. 32:6-7)  And God says, "I am making a covenant with you."(Ex. 32:10)

Promise made... promise broken... promise renewed!

This pattern is repeated again and again in all of Scripture.  Promise made...broken...and renewed.  Sometimes I wonder if God ever thought NOT to promise things to a people who can never keep their promises.  But God didn't.  Instead, God tries again and again to help us live up to our promises and live as God's people.

This pattern is even taken into the New Testament.  Only there we see the renewed promise in Jesus Christ.  Jesus isn't a new promise, eliminating the old.  Rather Jesus is the old promise renewed by God.  In the old promise, God says God will never leave us or forsake us.  In the old promise renewed, even death itself cannot separate us from God's love.

In this renewed promise, we see God's promising again to be the God of Sinai...only not just for Israel but for the entire world.  The God who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love is the God alive and at work in Jesus the Messiah.  God renews in Jesus the promise to be the God he was at Sinai...to everyone this time, not just to the Jews, in Jesus Christ.

We live in that renewed, expanded promise.  Our prayers depend on God's faithfulness to God's promise.  Without those promises, we are lost.  With those promises, we are able to approach God's throne of grace boldly and with confidence.  "Standing on the promises" is exactly what we do.  For without them, we have nothing to cling to.

So... be bold!  Stand on God's promises!  God has promised to be "compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin..."  take him up on that promise!  Ask forgiveness with bold confidence in God's grace.  Present your requests with certainty that God hears.  Be bold!  For God has promised to be good...and God doesn't go back on his promises.

As you renewed your promises to me in Jesus Christ, renew my own commitment to you, Lord, that I may mirror your love and faithfulness in my own life.  Amen.  

Thank God for Artists!

I have chosen...and filled him with the Spirit of God.  Exodus 31:1

Thank God for Artists!
By Rev. William Dohle

A few years ago, I asked a young woman from our congregation to design and draw the covers for our worship bulletins.  It was a first for me, having a bulletin cover designed like that.  I've always relied on the art of others and the skilled eye of a publishing house to give us the necessary graphic.  But this time we asked it of these young ladies...and we were not disappointed.  The picture to the side is just one of four pictures she drew for our bulletins that month.

During church, I would often see her sitting in the back pew, her head down on her latest doodle.  I learned early on that, just because an artist isn't looking at you during your sermon, doesn't mean they aren't paying attention to you.  Artists are notorious for doodling, especially when someone else is talking.  They are different from most, who stare at the presenter or preacher as they are speaking.

Her work reminds me of other artists who craft our worship space.  At St. Paul, the space we worship in is filled with symbols.  The sanctuary itself is designed like a rose garden.  The stained glass represents the light shining from outside while the solid pieces represent the rose branches.  Even the altar and pulpit area are designed in this theme.

Artists are important to worship.  They bring to life what is only spoken about.  Stained glass artists especially are known the world over at picturing God's work in a way that others can understand and comprehend.  The words from the page jump to life as the light shines through them.

Perhaps that is the reason why God himself trusted the work of the tabernacle to artists.  Two artists to be exact.  A man by the name of Bezalel and a man by the name of Oholiab.

See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of crafts. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. (Exodus 31:1-6)

The average Israelite wouldn't have a clue how to make what God had instructed them to make.  They couldn't understand the plans.  They had not the vision.  But these two were filled with the "Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all kinds of skills."  Their artistic ability had been given to them by God to be used in fashioning art for the community to worship with.

I can only imagine what they made!  Reading all the blueprints for myself in Exodus, I can only imagine what they must have looked like.

It's interesting to me to note that, the only ones who were authorized to touch the ark and all the holy things, were the priests...and the artists!  It was the artists who fashioned all the articles of worship to begin with.  It was their eyes who saw in their head what God was intending.  It were their hands which fashioned and created it.

I often marvel at how artists such as these touch the holy among us, even today.  For my part, I can barely draw stick-figures and have them look human.  I am no good at wood working or other art either.  But I appreciate what other artists have done in seeing the holy and bringing it to life.  They have a gift.  They are blessed.  They have the Spirit of God upon them!

Bless the artists you have placed in our midst, Lord, that they may be emboldened to envision the work of your Spirit in new ways.  Amen.

Face to Face

The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.  Exodus 33:11

Face to Face
By Rev. William Dohle

To know someone, to really know them, you've gotta see them and, in our world of instantaneous communication, that can be difficult.

You can chat with someone over the internet who appears to be one person and turns out to be someone completely different.  A woman can pretend to be a man.  A man can pretend to be a child.  Things are not always what they seem to be when it comes to the internet.

Though we promise to have just one account on Facebook, many have more than one, acting as one person in one account and another person in another.  In fact, most the internet pushes us away from face-to-face conversation, encouraging us instead to create pseudonyms for ourselves and alternate identities to protect our real one.

The only problem with that is...it's not real!  It's not real because there's no face time!

Face time is important.  Very important!  Couples who meet on the internet through one dating service or another need to find a time to actually meet.  Only then will they discover if their connection is real or not.  Face time is essential to keeping a relationship alive.  I shudder to think of a relationship based on more time apart than together.

Face time with God, though, is a bit complicated.  On the one hand, we are told that "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend."  We are told that, after speaking with God, Moses' face would shine so brightly that they would need to put a veil over it to keep him from blinding others!

Talk about face time!

But then, in a curious turnaround, it would seem that Moses had no face-time.  When Moses asks God to show him his glory, God says:

"I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, The LORD, in your presence...BUT you cannot see my face for no one can see me and live." (Exodus 33:20)

So... what's up with that?  Why would it say earlier that the Lord would speak to Moses face to face and then later say that Moses cannot see God's face and live?  Is the Bible contradicting itself?  Did Moses see God face to face, as verse 11 claims, or did he not, as verse 20 says?

I'm not sure, one way or another, but I do know this.

As Christians, we see God most clearly in Jesus Christ.  Christ Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John:

"How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?  The words I say to you are not just my own.  Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work."(John 14:9-10)

For Christians, face-time with God isn't with an incorporeal being.  It doesn't involve an old man in the sky or a bright light or anything like that.  For Christians, face time with God is face time with Christ.  "No one has ever seen God;  But it is God the One and Only who is close to the Father's heart has made him known."(John 1:18)

So the next time you need face-time with God.  The next time you need to see God's face and know who God is and what God is like.  Find a cross and meditate on Him there.  Because, in the man who hung from that cross and now lives, we see God!

Show me your face, Lord God, in Jesus Christ and in all those around us who need the gifts you have poured into my life.  Amen.

Compassion in Consequence

"And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made."  Exodus 32:35

Compassion in Consequence
By Rev. William Dohle

The family gathered around in a circle, holding hands.  Their husband, father, grandfather had just suffered a massive heart attack.  Chances of him surviving the night were rare.  As we gathered in a circle to pray, a brother called out a question...

"Why did this happen, doc?  What caused this?"

The doctor took a swig of his ice tea drink.  "Too many McDonald's hamburgers, that's what."  The family muttered amongst themselves.  "No," he said.  "Seriously, the plaque in his arteries was caused by eating too many fatty foods."

This might sound extremely insensitive on the doctor's part.  It did when I heard it.  I wondered how someone could be so uncaring to a family's needs in a time like that.

Problem is, though, that he's right.  It's true.  Heart attacks are caused by plaque and plaque is caused by too much fatty food.

In other words...
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
It's called Newton's Third Law of motion.  Basically stated...

The size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the force on the second object. The direction of the force on the first object is opposite to the direction of the force on the second object. Forces always come in pairs - equal and opposite action-reaction force pairs. (From a website here)

We like to think that this isn't true.  That our actions have no consequences.  We like to think that we act in something of a vaccum, where what we do has no physical, psychological, or spiritual consequences.

Problem is... we're wrong.  Every action has a reaction or a consequence to it.  No exceptions...

Consider what consequences look like across the spectrum.

• Physically speaking... you smoke for 50 years.  From age 20 on...and at 70 years old discover you have emphysema.  Is this disease a punishment?  No.  It's the consequence of your behavior.  It's the reaction to the action of your addiction.

• Psychologically speaking... You bury yourself in entertainment, anything to stop thinking about what's on your mind, when someone comes into your life you really wanting a real interaction with.  Problem is... you have nothing to offer them because your life has been consumed by that one thing...escape!

• Spiritually speaking... You think that you have plenty of time to get to church.  Nothing is rushing you to find some faith community.  So every Sunday you get into the habit of doing nothing about the emptiness inside...until your father dies and you realize that you have nothing and no one to turn to.

The list goes on and on.  All of them are consequences.  Not punishments.  Every one was a reaction to an action.  A Newton's Third Law of Motion sort of thing.

These consequences extend into Scripture too, though there the people attributed them more to God's punishment or God's wrath than to natural consequences.

For instance, after the golden calf incident, where the people of Israel worship something other than God, we read: "And the Lord struck the people of Israel with a plague because of what they did with the calf..."

Was this a punishment?  Maybe.  In seen in one light it certainly was.  But I think this was more of a consequence for their behavior.  A natural reaction to idolatry.  If you decide to worship something other than God...a plague of sorts will come upon you.

Paul says it like this:

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.  The one who sows to please the sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." (Galatians 6:7-8)  We see this law true in life as well.  All around us, people are plagued by things that come as a consequence of worshiping something other than God.  We might even find ourselves trapped in these consequences.

The Good News, though, comes afterward.  In Exodus it peeks out after the plague has struck.  For there we see that God doesn't abandon his people because of their sin.  Nor does he leave them alone in their consequence, but he stays by them the whole way.

"Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob...I will send an angel before you..."(Ex. 33:1)

Later God says...

"My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." (Ex. 33:14)

God never leaves because of what we do.  God never abandons us to our fate or to the consequences of our behavior.  We might act ourselves into a ditch.  We might do terrible things and find ourselves paying for them for the rest of our lives...but God will never abandon us.  Nor will he leave us.  But God, our God, will always be with us.

I knew a 70 year old woman, dying of ephasema, say this.  "I know why I'm dying.  I smoked all my life.  But I also know that God hasn't left me either."

That promise is for you, for your children, and for your children's children, no matter what reactions you or they or anyone are suffering.

God, on the cross Jesus took the eternal reactions for our sins, leaving us with the temporal ones.  Give us strength to deal with the consequences of our behavior, knowing that you are always with us, forgiving and strengthening us.  Amen.