Golden Memory

"...and the chiefs offered offerings of dedication of the altar on the day it was anointed; and the chiefs offered their offering before the altar."  Numbers 7:10

Golden Memory
By Rev. William Dohle

I have a challenge for you...

Next time you're in church, count how many "Memorial plaques" you can see.  Memorial plaques are usually rectangular in shape.  Gold in color.  They have engraved on them a name(or many names) and above them it usually says, "Given in Memory Of..."

Every church has them.  Sometimes in the strangest of places.

The altar may have one.  The piano may have one too.  The baptismal font is often given in memory of someone.  And the stained glass windows may have one next to them too.  Occasionally, especially in older churches, you'll find one on the back of the pews too.

In our church they can be found on the benches outside, on a rack that holds prayer shawls, on the podium, the player piano downstairs, and on a candle set used in lent.  (And I'm probably missing a number of them too!)

So...why do we have these things scattered around our churches today?  Why are memorial plaques important to us?  Why should they matter?  Especially when, often, the family doesn't attend church much anymore and, sometimes, the people mentioned on the plaque have long been forgotten.  Why are these little metal pieces important?

Perhaps the answer to this can be found in the book of Numbers, chapter 7.  Here we read about some ancient offerings and how they were recorded.

"And the Lord said to Moses, "They shall offer their offerings, one chief every day, for the dedication of the altar."(7:11)

Now, the text could have just stopped there.  God commanded every chief to bring their offering to the Lord.

But...no... the text continues.

"He who offered his offering the first day was Nihshon, the son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah.  And his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense, pone bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; one male goat for a sin offering; and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old."(7:12-17)

So...why does Numbers insist on listing every single one of the things they were commanded to bring?  And why does it insist on doing this, not just for Nihshon, but for every other chief of every tribe of Israel.  All 12 of them!?  Why?

Perhaps the reason for this mention is the same reason we place golden plaques on things we give as memorials.  Because we want to be remembered!  No one may know any of the tribal chiefs, but their names and what they gave are recorded for all time in the text.  We may not remember who they were, but we carry their names around with us in our Bibles.

In the same way, we may not remember those we memorialize on our little golden plaques, but their impact to our community can still be felt.  We still use the pieces their family donated.  We still read their names occasionally and wonder about their lives.  We still remember them.

As much as we speak about heaven and sing about our glory after we die, truth be told, every one of us wants to be remembered in this life as well.  We want others to think about us and remember us.  We want to have an impact here.

These plaques tell the world that THESE people aren't forgotten.  Somehow they live on.  In the piano that is played in church.  In the benches that sit out front.  In the candles that sit upon the altar.  These people are still apart of us.  We remember them.  They made an impact on this place.  And they still impact our lives.

That remembrance and memory is a little piece of eternal life.  It's tangible eternal life and claimable.  It's something we can see and touch.  It's not based on faith as much as on sight.  We can see it.  We can touch it.  Though others may not remember who we are, at least they can read our names and wonder what impact we made here and why this community remembers us so.

So, here's the questions I'll leave you with.  Why do we desire this little piece of eternal life for our loved ones as we do?  What does that say about our faith in God's memory?

God of Memory, you remember us in our low estate, both in this life and in the world to come.  Be our memory when we have forgotten, that the world might one day be remembered in you.  Amen.

The Dream of Shalom

"So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel and I will bless them."  Numbers 6:27

The Dream of Shalom
By Rev. William Dohle

"I have a dream..." Dr. King said.  And a nation listened.

Reading Dr. Martin Luther King's speech this morning made me think of dreams and how we think about the future together.

If someone asked you, "What are your dreams?" you would probably respond in a personal way.

You would tell them about your hopes for your family or your vision of the future.  If you were a younger person, you might mention what you want to become "when you grow up" and the career you'd like to pursue.  If you're older, your dreams would surely include your family, your hopes and wishes for them as they grow into their future.

But all of those "dreams" would be personal.  They would be YOUR dreams.  And they probably wouldn't take into account or reflect the dreams and hopes of anyone else but you.  They are YOUR(singular) dream, YOUR(singular) hope, and YOUR (singular) vision for the future.

But what about the others around you?  What about them?  Are they included in your dream?  Is there a dream that we can truly say we share with others?  Or are our dreams just for us?

The words from Numbers today carry with it a dream.  The dream of Shalom.  These words are said in Christian churches and in Jewish synagogues to this very day.  They carry with them a dream for the future...God's dream!  In English they read this...

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.     (Num. 6:24-26)

It's that last word...peace...that is the key here!

The word for peace in Hebrew is Shalom and it carries with it more than we think.

Shalom doesn't just mean "the end to violence" or "quiet" or even "rest" as we might think with our English word "peace."  Literally the word means...

...to "restore" in the sense of replacing or providing what is needed in order to make someone or something whole and complete. 

To restore... not just to stop fighting.  Providing what is needed to make something whole and complete again.

It's not rest.  It's not "peace and quiet."  It's certainly not only the end of violence.

Shalom has the sense of wholeness and completeness.  Shalom comes after you place the last piece on a puzzle and you say, with a sigh, "It's finished!"  It is the feeling a painter has when he's finished his masterpiece and after a writer has after she has submitted her manuscript.  Shalom is the completeness that comes after one has graduated from high school.  Shalom is the finished product.

Shalom is the dream of God shared with humanity.  As such Shalom is our dream, our dream together!

It is not like other dreams which are ours, singular.  This dream we share with all of humanity.  This dream, passed down through the ages from our ancestors, is truly OUR dream TOGETHER!  Our dream, shared by God, for a completeness and wholeness.

We shall never achieve Shalom in this lifetime they say.  There are always more things to complete and more projects to finish and more "last pieces" to lay.  Creation itself will never be finished.  Not in our lifetime.  Possibly not ever.

But we pray for that shalom.  We pray for that completeness.  And as we hear the words of the Aaronic blessing said to us in worship, we join in a dream that is larger than we are.  A dream that Dr. King, Gandi, Jeremiah, St. Francis of Assisi and countless others have shared.  A dream that we shall see the fulfillment of Jesus words, "It is finished..." and experience true shalom.

Blessed are you, O God, King of the Universe, for you empower us with your Holy Spirit and call us into your dream of Shalom.  Complete us that we might experience the wholeness that you have promised.  Amen.

The Special Question

The Lord spoke to Moses saying: "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When either men or women make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate themselves to the Lord..." Numbers 6:2

The Special Question:  Are some people more special than others?
By Rev. William Dohle

What does it mean to be "special?"

The dictionary defines special as being "better, greater, or otherwise different than the usual."  But is that it?  Is that what it means to be special?  And who falls into this category?

I've wondered that as I look at my kids.  My kids are special kids...at least that's what I believe.  Each of them are unique with their own talents and gifts.  They are all special, I believe.  They are "better, greater, or otherwise different than the usual."

But no one child is more special than any another child.  They are each special.  They are each unique.  They are each different from the usual.  They are each special, right?  Just like your kids and your kids and the kids next door to you?

I grew up thinking and believing that everyone is special.  Nobody is more or less special than anyone else is.  Everyone is different from the usual, special in their own right.

But is that what special means?  And by making everyone special, aren't we saying that no one is special?  Aren't we taking that distinction away?

The book of Numbers talks about setting one group of people apart from the rest.  That group being the "Nazarites."  Most Christians probably dismiss or avoid these passages, but they are relevant, especially with the old familiar story of Samson from the book of Judges and Samuel from the book of 1 Samuel.

Nazarites were set apart in a very simple way.  They made a special vow to the Lord.  After taking such a vow, they were instructed to do the following...

• They must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. (Num. 6:3)
•  No razor may be used on their head.(6:4)
• The Nazirite must not go near a dead body. ⁷ Even if their own father or mother or brother or sister dies, they must not make themselves ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of their dedication to God is on their head. (6:6-7)

Thus the Nazarite became "special" to the Lord, set apart from all the others, and different from the usual Jew.  This role or designation wasn't often a lifetime one.  They became this way because of a vow taken, either by them or by their parents.  The chapter goes on to talk about how this vow can be broken and what must happen should it even accidentally be violated.

Though this vow offers us some insight into Sampson(this is why he couldn't drink wine or cut his hair...it had nothing to do with his strength!).  I think this passage leads us into another question: Can some people become "more special" than others?  And what do they do with that specialty?

I struggle with that because, as you know, I am an ordained pastor.  Some clergy(not me) claim that these vows set you apart from the rest of the world.  That, like the vows taken by the Nazarites, ordination vows make the ordained different from the ordinary, everyday Christian.  Some Christians, Catholics particularly, make ordination a sacrament, a rite ordained by God to change Creation.  Thus you could say priests and deacons and the like are special in the eyes of God, set apart from the usual and the ordinary believer.

So is that true?  Are pastors and priests more special than other Christians?  Can anyone be set apart as more special than anyone else?  Or are we all just usual, everyday people with nothing to separate us from each other?

Perhaps we can answer this question by looking at what those who are special are to do with their specialty.  Special people are set apart to serve others!  Look at the Nazarites in Scripture.  Samson is sent to be a judge for his people, serving them and rescuing them from the Philistines.  Samuel did the same thing as both prophet and judge for his nation.  They were not set apart for their own glory or so they could feel special.  They were set apart to serve.

In fact, if you look closely, you'll see that those we consider and deem to be special are those who are our greatest servants!  Martin Luther King, the Pope, Mother Theresa, Gandi.  These people are special.  They are set apart from the usual and the ordinary person.  And their specialty is a call for service, for sacrificial service in most cases, serving the needs of the world for the betterment of humanity!

That's what it means to be special.  To be called to serve.  No one shows this more clearly than Jesus Christ himself who, special as he was, was the greatest servant of all time!

Maybe that's how we should measure specialness too.  "How special are you?  How much have you served your fellow human today?"

Electing God, you have set up apart to serve and love and care for our neighbor.  Break us out of our shell that we might be your special servants, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.