Remember, We Were Brothers

But Edom said to him, "You shall not pass through or we will come out with the sword against you." Numbers 20:18

Remember! We Were Brothers!
By Rev. William Dohle

Can you imagine taking everything you own that you can carry on your back, cramming it in a suitcase or some other item, and dragging it across hundreds and hundreds of miles? Can you imagine being pursued by a government that wishes to kill you? Knowing that if you stayed where you were that you would likely be put to death? Can you imagine what its like to trust the ocean more than you trust your homeland?

The people of Israel could. They knew what this was like. For years they had been wandering the desert of Sinai, searching for their Promised Land. They had left a land where they were in slavery, where they spent their time making mud bricks. They left that for freedom...or so they thought.

And now they were at the edge of the Promised Land. Just one more land to pass through before they reached their destination, before safety, security, and a land flowing with milk and honey. Just one more land called Edom.

They were pretty confident that the Edomites would welcome them, or at least let them pass through. After all, the Edomites were Israel's brothers! They were descended from Esau. "These are the descendants of Esau)(that is Edom)"(Genesis 36:1). Surely they would see that Israel was their brother!

And so Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom saying:

"Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the adversity that has befallen us: how our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians oppressed us and our ancestors; and when we cried to the LORD he heard our voice, and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt; and here we are in Kadesh...Now let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from any well; we will go along the King's Highway, not turning aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory. (Num. 20:14-17)

Surely, Moses thought, they will help them across their land. Even if they won't help us, surely they will allow them to pass through!

But Edom refuses. "You shall not pass through, or we will come out with the sword against you."(Num. 20:18)

But help was not to come. Edom refused. And Israel had to go around the land of Edom to finally reach the Promised Land.

We too are faced with a refugee crisis in our day. Not since World War II have so many people been displaced. And those who stand at the borders, like Israel, ask for safety. They ask for security. They ask for compassion and hospitality. They ask for brotherhood.

And yet, sadly, more and more, we see us like the Edomites turning them away, from our borders and from our hearts. Maybe we think they're dangerous. Maybe we fear the terrorist in their midst. Maybe we don't understand that fundamentally, we are brothers as Edom and Israel were, and turning them away is turning away a member of our own family. Whatever our thoughts, we are turning them away from us in droves.

Perhaps we ourselves have never been refugees, have never been aliens, and so we can't relate. The experience of rejection from Edom sure changes Israel in a dramatic way. From this moment on, the commandment repeated more times in the Torah becomes "Do not oppress the alien, for you yourselves were aliens." The experience of being a refugee, an alien, has profound effect on Israel.

Maybe instead of worrying about our own safety, we should obey THIS commandment! Instead of worrying about our own resources and becoming hoarders of our stuff, maybe we should think about how we would wish to be treated if we were in their position. If we were Israel, how we would have wished others had treated us...and how we should we treat them knowing they are our brothers.

Or maybe, just maybe, if we are Christians, we should think about how Christ would want us to treat them if he were among them. Because, like it or not Christians, Christ is there, among the refugees, begging for safe passage in and through our land among the least of these our brothers. A homeless, wandering Jew, a nobody in the land of somebodies, an instigator of a quiet revolution. Whatever should we do with a guy like him at our borders?

Compassionate God, help us trust in your goodness. Give us grace to reach out beyond our borders and assist and welcome those in need. Amen.

A Whole New Perspective

"These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord and by which he showed his holiness." Numbers 20:13

A Whole New Perspective
By Rev. William Dohle

Do you know that every story you have ever heard and every story you tell has a central question it's wrestling with?

It's true.

The easiest stories to see this in are the parables of Jesus. Here Jesus wrestles with such questions as: "Who is my neighbor?" and "How does God rejoice over sinners' returning?" and "What does the Kingdom of God look like?" Here the stories are obviously about the questions.

The hardest stories to see this are the stories we tell each other. The fishing story that answers the question: "How much of an outdoorsman am I?" or the story of a date which still leaves us wondering "How romantic is that guy?" Or the story someone tells us which leaves us wondering, "Why did he tell me that?"

The Bible contains stories upon stories. Some stories are original, told just once. Other stories take a story told earlier and change it up, asking a different question, and changing the story forever. As a result you hear a very different story the second time around than you did the first.

Take the story of Israel at the waters of Meribah. This same story is also told in Exodus 15. The same thing happens there that happens here.

The Israelites are thirsty.
There's no water for the congregation.
They come to complain against Moses and Aaron.
God tells Moses to take the staff, assemble the congregation, and find water in a rock.
Moses does it and the people drink.

Same story, right? Well... not quiet. There's just one difference. The question here isn't "How did the Israelites drink?" The question here is: "Why didn't Moses go with the people into the promised land?"

That question leads to the differences in this story. It starts with a change in what God tells Moses. In the version from Numbers, God explicitly commands Moses : "Take the staff...and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water."

In the story in Exodus, God isn't so specific.

Here God commands Moses to talk to the rock. There he's not told what to do with the rock.

But in Numbers Moses doesn't listen to God. Remember the question the story is answering is: "Why didn't Moses go with the people into the promised land." Instead, in Numbers, Moses tells the people. "Listen, you rebels, shall we bring water for you out of this rock." Then he strikes the rock twice with his staff.

What went wrong here? What was Moses' mistakes? The first is... Moses takes all the credit. WE shall bring the water out of the rock, he says, not God. The second mistake, and the one which addresses the central question in this retelling of the story, is how Moses brings the water out. Instead of talking to the rock, Moses strikes the rock!

Not a big difference, right? But one that answers the question. Why did Moses not go with the people into the promised land? Because... he didn't listen at Meribah and struck the rock with his staff.

Is that a good answer to the question? Maybe... Or maybe not. But it is the answer this story offers up.

So we see how the questions we ask fundamentally change the stories we tell. It does in scripture. And it does in life too. Listen closely to your neighbor, when they're telling you the story of their life. Listen to how they phrase their sentences. Listen to how they speak. Listen to what they're proud of, what they emphasize, and what they're not proud of. Listen to who's right and who's wrong in their story. Then you can hear what questions they too are wrestling with.

Are they fearful? Their stories will tell stories of fears realized. Are they hopeful? Their stories will tell positive tales. Are they nervous or confused? Are there questions of faith in their lives? These things can all be found in the stories they tell you.

Just like the story of Moses at the waters of Meribah, our stories change too depending on the questions we are struggling with. But, thanks be to God, his grace and love remain regardless of how we tell the tales of our lives. No matter what questions our stories struggle with. No matter how true or false our telling of them is, our God never leaves us. God never forsakes us.

Let us rest in his grace knowing that, no matter what happens to us, we are his beloved forever.

Almighty God, give us ears to hear the stories of others and discern the questions they are struggling with that we may join along with them, bear their burdens with them, and support them in their life in you. Amen.

Strange Traditions...

"Since the water for cleansing has not been dashed on them, they are unclean." Numbers 19:20

Strange Traditions...
By Rev. William Dohle

Have you ever tried to explain your particular traditions to someone else outside of those traditions? Have you ever attempted to do so?

Take something Christians are familiar with: Communion. What are we doing when we take communion? An outsider would hear words like "This is my body" and "This is my blood" and then watch us eat them and assume we are cannibals! After all, that's what cannibals do, right? They eat another person's flesh and drink their blood? What's up with that, they might think.

Being an outsider raises lots of questions. I had that experience once when I visited a Jewish temple on Rosh Hashanna. There I watched them parade a scroll around the congregation. People, dressed in prayer shawls and such, would touch the scroll either with their book or with their shawl, smiling and singing. I still don't quite understand why they did that. Or why they rocked back and forth when they prayed too. That also made me wonder.

Traditions are strange, especially for strangers. And for outsiders, traditions, especially ones that have been institutionalized and made an essential piece of the religious tradition, can be so confusing and overwhelming that, unless they really grasp what the meaning is, it can turn them away. How do you explain to someone that the bread and wine taken at communion IS the body and blood of Christ, though it doesn't taste like it or look like it? And how can one not address the cannibal question if it truly is what we say it is?

Tradition is something that the book of Numbers is talking about as it describes the most odd way of removing uncleanliness ever! The Red Heifer!

Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish and on which no yoke has been laid. You shall give it to the priest Eleazar, and it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. The priest Eleazar shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times towards the front of the tent of meeting. Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. The priest shall take cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson material, and throw them into the fire in which the heifer is burning.  Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterwards he may come into the camp; but the priest shall remain unclean until evening. The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water; he shall remain unclean until evening.  Then someone who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the Israelites for the water for cleansing. It is a purification offering. The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

This shall be a perpetual statute for the Israelites and for the alien residing among them. Those who touch the dead body of any human being shall be unclean seven days. They shall purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean...Numbers 19:2-12

So... what's up with the red heifer? Well... the Christian in me thinks: "That sounds like Christ! Christ is killed and his blood makes us clean! We are washed in the waters of baptism. Yes!" But then I thought that might be a stretch. Kinda a big stretch now that I think about it.

I think to understand this we need to understand the why. Why is this important? The problem in this passage is uncleanliness. How does one become able to be ritually clean when they've become unclean. When they've touched a corpse or eaten with unwashed hands or done any of the things described in Scripture that can make a person unclean. What happens to them?

How do we make an unclean person clean again?

The answer is ritualistic and simple: "To make that unclean person clean again, wash them in some special water. Make the water with the ashes of a special bull and special spices and set it out so that anyone who is unclean might become clean again."

What a cool way to solve the problem of uncleanliness! Wash and be clean!

We might look at this passage and dismiss it for its irrelevance for today, but I see it as a window to what we do in worship. How do our rituals translate to the stranger? What issues do our rituals address for us?How do we communicate how special they are and what they do for our faith to others who haven't experienced them before? How do we explain their meaning?

In Communion, for me, I think about what happens with the food we eat. How, as they say, "you become what you eat." If that is so that means me eating the essence of Christ means that I must somehow become Christ to my neighbor. In that meal I receive forgiveness of my sins, life, and salvation, but I also in some way become a new person, to serve and love my neighbor as I believe Christ would.

So...what traditions do you have? How would you explain your traditions to someone? What are the whys behind what you do?

Almighty God, help us understand each other and our traditions better. Give us eyes to see our own traditions honestly and help us learn and appreciate those of others. Amen.

A Note from a Wanderer

"Then he led out his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock." Psalm 78:52
 
A Note from a Wanderer
By Rev. William Dohle

I swore it wouldn't happen...but it did. I hoped it wouldn't happen. I wished it wouldn't happen. I thought: "Surely this time it'll be different." But it happened.

I am wandering in the wilderness.

My wandering manifests itself in many ways but has really become apparent in my blog. Five years ago I promised that I would "Blog through the Bible" in an attempt to get through the wilderness of scripture from Genesis to Joshua. I blogged through Genesis with flying colors and Exodus as well. I even hurdled through Leviticus pretty well(Leviticus is always the book I stop on when I decide(as I have before) to read through the entire Bible!).

But then came the book of Numbers.

I love Numbers. I really do. The way it mixes law with story. The way it goes back and forth between Moses' frustrations with the people of Israel and God's instructions. It's really awesome.

But it's also about wilderness and I found myself slipping into the wilderness it describes. It grew harder and harder to post on the text. I found so much in one chapter, but when I was finished with it there was always another. And instead of calling out in me inspirational stories that would touch and encourage others, the text drew out the complaining Israelite in me, always looking backward to the land that I left, always eager for what I don't have. My reflections grew more and more critical until the last one(which I still have unpublished) when I growled and complained my worst. That was when I just stopped writing.

The wilderness was around me. And I was wandering in it.

As I stood there in the middle of my wilderness, I wondering how long that would last. The people of Israel wandered around in that wilderness for forty years the Bible says. I don't know if that number is literal or not, but we are told that it took a whole generation of people before they found their way to the Jordan and across the promised land. A whole generation in the wilderness!

Would it take that long for me? I hope not. I hope it doesn't take that long to escape that wilderness for me. But I know this place. I've been here, wandering this wilderness before. In my personal and professional life, I find its allure hard to resist. The temptation to wander instead of focus, to criticize instead of construct, to complain instead of follow. Those temptations are great here in the wilderness.

Maybe that's why Jesus was thrust into the wilderness by the Spirit. Maybe that's why he met the devil here. Because the wilderness holds temptation that draws you in, that holds your attention. Better to be a wanderer in the desert than to be one who actually makes a difference in the world. Easier to be a complainer of manna and quail than to actually decide to feed yourself.

I've been in this wilderness. It's a familiar place for me. I've been lost in its emptiness before...and I think you have been too.

Wandering in this desert isn't easy. Nor is it pleasant. But I do know this. No matter how lost we become, we're never truly lost to God. Even here God's presence goes with his people. Though the people wander, God never abandoned them. God doesn't leave them at the shores of the Red Sea or at Mount Sinai or even in the middle of the desert when they were bickering and complaining. God still stayed near them.

And I know that whatever wilderness you may be wandering in, and whatever wilderness I may find myself in, no matter however lost you feel right now, God is with you too. And he's with me. Even in the midst of our complaining, arguing, and procrastinating, God is still here.

So I vow that my blog will go on. My devotions will continue. The wilderness will be traversed. It may take a little longer than I anticipated, but that's a wilderness for you! And God will be with us all the way!

God of the wanderers, be near us when we find ourselves in the wilderness. Strengthen us that we may not fall into temptation, but remain faithful. Amen.

Inside the Clergy

Then the Lord said to Aaron: You shall have no allotment in their land, nor shall you have any share among them; I am your share and your possession among the Israelites. Numbers 18:20

Inside the Clergy
By Rev. William Dohle

Imagine taking a job where you are judged by the actions of everyone who had the job before you as well as everyone doing the job around you. Your "good work" puts pressure on others and their good work puts pressure on you to be like them. Their failures became your failures too. Their weaknesses turn on you.

Anytime you talk about your job people see you as weak. "Can't you handle it?" they say. "Why did you get into this profession in the first place?" And of course the classic "Quit complaining!" Quiet suffering is preferable to vocal expression. Either you accept the life you're given...or you get out.

Would you ever survive such a calling?

A friend of mine wrote me last week to tell me he's leaving the ministry. This is the fifth or sixth friend of mine who has left ministry because of the pressure put on pastors. When I heard his news I felt like a bullet has pierced my side. I felt so...alone!

Sometimes I wonder if we actually described ministry right if anyone would follow the call. Would they want to be pastors if they knew that it sometimes involved long hours away from your family at a moment's notice? Could they survive both good comments and negative criticism, the loud noise of the critic and the quiet support of the silent? Could they find joy even when their heart is racing? Could they see the good when others are pointing out the bad?

The Washington Post recently posted an article that makes me shudder. Here it says this:

A new LifeWay Research poll last week says a pastors’ work-life balance is not exactly balance:

• 84 percent say they’re on call 24 hours a day.
• 80 percent expect conflict in their church.
• 54 percent find the role of pastor frequently overwhelming.
• 53 percent are often concerned about their family’s financial security.
• 21 percent say their church has unrealistic expectations of them.

This is not good. With numbers like these, could we re-imagine some things together for the health of your churches, your families and your own souls? 

Maybe we start here: 90 percent of you believe you inadequately manage the demands of your job, and half of you are so discouraged, you would abandon ministry if you had another job option."

Later there are even more frightening statistics:

"The numbers tell us you suffer in private and struggle in shame: 77 percent of you believe your marriage is unwell, 72 percent only read your Bible when studying for a sermon, 30 percent have had affairs and 70 percent of you are completely lonely."

What is most frightening is how scared I am to share these numbers, having been told once I shouldn't be honest about my struggles.

Still, I love my job, don't get me wrong, but I know why it's called a calling. Only by God's call and through God's power are we able to survive the wounds that come with being in ministry.

This isn't anything new. In fact, since the people of Israel were in the wilderness and God was organizing them into tribes, priests have always bore the weight of the people.

"You and your sons and your ancestral house with you shall bear responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, while you and your sons alone shall bear responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood."

Sounds pretty heavy. "Responsibility for offenses"? What's up with that? What possibly could God mean by his priests alone being responsible for offenses connected with the priesthood? And what responsibilities could he mean?

In Moses' time, the priests weren't as responsible for the people's connection to God...but they weren't alone. No priest ever worked alone. They worked as a tribe. The ones descended from Aaron being the High Priests in the tribe and the rest being their acolytes and other priests. This tribe owned no land. They raised no crops. They existed solely on the generosity of their neighbor. They existed because people needed God and they became the link between God and his people.

Sounds like today, huh?

And just like today, the Levites(priests) relied upon the offerings given by others. They shared in the people's offering. Without it, the Levites would whither and die. Thus when the people were faithful to God, the priesthood thrived. But when the people fell away and worshiped other gods, the priesthood suffered.

Sounds familiar too?

In both cases, though, there is one word that stands out. One word that is repeated over and over again in this text. That word is: Gift. And let me tell you, despite all the statistics and the trials of this job, that is what I live for. I live for the gift of...

• Standing around the bedside with the family of someone who dying. The gift of giving hugs and prayers and walking with them during the most difficult time in their lives.
• Holding a brand new baby baptized into the congregation and watching that baby grow up.
• High fives after church...as a couple little girls go by me.
• Seeing God come to life for a middle schooler.
• Hearing the words God gave you in a sermon repeated back positively to you later.
• Being a part of the body of Christ.

God has filled ministry with lots of perks. It might be a dangerous world out there, filled with land mines seen and unseen, but God has given us gifts too and those gifts are worth the risk.

God of grace, thank you for those who minister to us. Pastors, priests, counselors, rabbis, and those who touch our spirit. Fill their lives with your gifts. Amen. 

"Lord, give me a sign!"

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

"Lord, give me a sign!"
By Rev. William Dohle

One of the most frustrating parts of faith is the unseen piece of it. Even though we know that "faith is the assurance of things hoped for and conviction in things not seen" we'd still like to see its fruits once in awhile.

That desire is strongest when we're faced with a tough decision. When a decision presents itself, be it a life-and-death decision or just a life-changing one, we pray for guidance. We pray for an answer to our dilemma. And, most of all, we pray for a sign.

"Just give me a sign, God!"

We'd like God to tell us what we should do and show us the way...just as he did for Aaron and the people of Israel so long ago.

There, in the desert, the question arose: Who's going to be in charge? After complaints arose against Aaron and Moses and their leadership, cries arose for a new leader. So God answered. God decided to give them a sign of the man who he had chosen to spiritually lead his people.

So this is what he said:

"Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff, and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant,where I meet with you. And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you." (Numbers 17:1-5)

So the people did that and what happened? Well...

"When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff." (Numbers 17:8-9)

Low and behold God gave them a sign! Aaron was to be their leader. His staff had put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. A miracle! God had answered their prayer!

Only... the people weren't exactly happy about this. God tells them: "Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant, to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die." and the people tell Moses: "We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost!  Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?"(Num 17:10-11)

What happened? They got a sign right? But it wasn't the sign they wanted! They heard from God but they didn't like what they heard. So the same complaints continued, even after God's sign.

The same happens to us too. If we're honest, we really don't WANT a sign to some of the questions we ask God. Or rather, we want a sign from God to confirm our own decisions and our own choices. We want God to tell us what we want to hear, rather than tell us what we'd rather not hear. Think about it... what if God said...

"I will give you peace as they die" when you pray for a sign of healing for a dying neighbor.
Or... "I think you are great just where you are..." when you pray for a promotion.
Or... "I will help you through this..." when we pray for an end to our suffering.

Sometimes we don't want to hear from God. Sometimes we don't want a sign...especially when we want something specific.

Instead of asking for a sign, perhaps we should ask for eyes to see more clearly. Perhaps we should pray for eyes to see the answer that God is giving us and wisdom to accept that answer too. Perhaps we should pray that God would grant the strength to accept God's choice, that we may have peace in that decision and patience to see it through, and that the love and joy of his Holy Spirit would continue to shower down upon us regardless of our circumstances.

Almighty God, you gave us the ultimate sign of your love: Jesus on the cross. Grant us the grace to see that love and accept it, knowing that it will make us uncomfortable at times, but save us in the end. Amen.

Ancient and Modern Reminders

"So you shall remember and do all my commands..." Numbers 15:38

Ancient and Modern Reminders
By Rev. William Dohle

Ask my wife and she will tell you I am terrible at remembering things.

Someone can tell me a date, a time, an event and if I don't rush out and write it down I will forget it. I write it down multiple places too. I have a traditional calendar(complete with pictures of my family so I remember why I AM so busy). Then I have my calendar on my phone. Just recently I found an app called "Wanderlist" that helps me list out everything I have to do throughout the week.

If I don't have it written in any of these places, I will forget. Guaranteed. Maybe you have a better memory than I do, but I need reminders.

Even as I sit here tonight writing this, my youngest son is reminding me to pay attention to him. With his book in his hand, he is calling me to read to him, to pay attention to him. He's pulling my face to the book to look at him and demanding I take seriously my calling as a father.

I am grateful that God in his mercy has understood that we need reminders too. We are a very distractable, forgetful people. One of the most used words in all of scripture is the simple word: "Remember." God says it. Christ says it. Paul says it. Everyone knows we need help remembering.

One of the first physical reminders for us is given in the book of Numbers. Here we Gentiles can understand why Jews have blue cord on the frindges of their prayer cloak. Here's what is written...

The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the Israelites, and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the fringe at each corner. You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God.  I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God. (Numbers 15:37-41)

God instructs that blue cord be sewn into the prayer shawl to remind the people. But there is more. When you see it you WILL remember and DO THEM. The reminder actually aids in the action. God does not remind us once and then expect us to remember. God reminds us and then helps us obey so that we "shall be holy to the Lord your God."

What an awesome God we have! He understands that we are a forgetful people! Left to our own devices, we would fail and fall and forget. When left on our own, we quickly follow the lust of our own hearts and our own eyes. We care more about us and our family than we care about the rest of the world. But God gives us reminders of his love that help us, so that, through His Spirit, we may become holy.

Communion is done in rememberance of Christ. We wash one another's feet to remember our Teacher's words. And God has surrounded us with other reminders too. Creation itself. Signs of his love all around us.

So...what reminders have you seen? How have those reminders helped you follow his way and his commands? How have they turned you from the lust of your own heart and eyes to God?

Surround us with reminders, O God. Whether it be in the body and blood of your Son or in the people we have surrounded ourselves with, bring us to obedience, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.