An Interlude on Faith

"These were commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised."  Hebrews 11:39

We Interrupt this life...
By Rev. William Dohle

What has interrupted your life lately?

Good or bad, interruptions come to all of us, disturbing us and challenging us, moving us in ways we never expected.

Some interruptions are good.  A newfound love where love wasn't expected.  The surprise birth of a new child.  The interruption that comes when family arrives for the holidays.

And other interruptions aren't so good.  These we wish had never come because, after the interruption happens, life is never the same.

That was my day last week...and the week before that day as well.

It all started with my son saying loudly in the narthex: "There's a tornado warning!"  And it all ended with the news that a large tornado had hit the communities of East Peoria, Pekin, and, most of all, Washington, Illinois.  As pictures appeared, the worry started.  Who was affected by this tragedy?  How might they be handling it?

That, in retrospect, wasn't the beginning of the interruption but rather the continuation of it.  It began before the tornado when we heard news that a member of the congregation lost her two infant twin girls.  It began when I heard how she and her family held their two little girls in their arms until they passed away later that evening.  The interruption began with that sad news.

And like all interruptions...it disturbed the routine.  Coming to work on Monday after the tornado seemed ridiculous.  How could I continue to work as if nothing had happened knowing that others were suffering just miles away?  Writing a sympathy card, being supportive, seemed hard for me as well.  What could I say to this family that would help?

I really struggled with the interruption.  "Why, God?" I prayed.  "Why has this happened now?  Who is affected by this tragedy?  How will they cope?  What will this do to their faith?"
Of course that does nothing but exasperate the interruption, for interruptions thrive in such questions.  Why questions fuel the interrption's power over our life and immobilize us.

Often we try to answer these questions with our own personal prosperity gospel.  If we are faithful and good enough, (and we always think we are) God will be good to us and nothing bad will happen in our lives.  I've already heard their voices and the estimation of the tragedy has just begun.  I've already heard of the family who cries to the heavens, "I can't pray or believe in a God who would do this to us!"

That's the prosperity Gospel at work there.  That's one answer to the question.  We all have a little bit of that.  It's truly a human response.  We all want some sort of resolution or answer to our problem. Someone to blame always gives us just that.

But that way doesn't lead to any resolution.  It only leads to despair.  The only way to face the interruptions in our life is, not to ask why they happened to us, but how we can get through.  And the only way to get through is through faith.  Our faith may not protect us from all of life, but our faith can carry us through.

The book of Hebrews speaks of faith this way:

"And what more shall we say?... Women received back their dead, raised to life again.  Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection.  Some faced jeers and flogging, while others were chained and put in prison.  They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword.  They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated--the world was not worthy of them.  They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.  These were all commended for their faith."  (Hebrews 11:32, 35-39a)

What these verses are saying is:  Faith doesn't guarantee life.  Some were stoned and sawed in two and put to death for their faith, not because they didn't ask to be released but because, sometimes, that's where faith gets you.  Sometimes the end result of a faithful prayer is the same as it would have been had you not prayed.

Two people experience a tragedy.  One has faith.  The other does not.  Both have experienced the same thing, but each looks at it in a completely different way.  One looks beyond the tragedy.  One focuses solely on the event.  One sees the country ahead.  The other looks solely at the country they are in.  One deals with the present.  The other strives for the future.

That's faith.  Faith gives you eyes to see beyond your current situation.  Faith is the means by which you patiently hold out for something you cannot see or experience or taste or touch, but something you know is more real than the tragedy you are experiencing.

Faith is what Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego had when they responded to King Nebuchadnezzar this way: "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods..."(Daniel 3:17-18)

Do you hear what they said, "...even if he does not."  That's faith right there.

Faith realizes that sometimes prayers are not answered in the way we think they should be answered.  Tragedy comes upon us all.  And yet, faith asserts that, despite the evidence at hand.  Despite God being quiet, we will still worship.  We still still hold on.  As one amazingly faithful mother said upon the death of her twins, "God is good."

May God grant us such faith that we too might, even in the face of death and destruction, might boldly say, "But still we shall live!"

Faithful God, you have surrounded us with such a cloud of witnesses who held on to you in life and death.  Give us faith that we might trust, not in what we see, but in who you are.  Amen.

Being There

"See I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way to bring you to the place I have prepared."  Exodus 23:20

Being There
By Rev. William Dohle

They say the greatest gift you can give someone is your presence...and I think they're right.  The most treasured thing we have, the one thing we must give away some each day, is time.  It is our greatest treasure.  Those we spend our time with we hold in the highest esteem.  They mean the most to us.  Those we spend less or none of our free time with don't really matter in our lives.

Sadly I believe many people forget this fact.  Especially couples.  Time is precious and what we spend that time on matters.  Of course, we must spend some time apart.  Work and other obligations must be met.  But our free time is ours to do with as we choose and sometimes even that is misused.  The time we have is precious and we must treat it as such.  In my ministry, I have seen many couples choose to spend their free time in separate places, away from each other.   One leaves for a weekend without the one here.  The other goes away for a weekend without the other there.  One decides to vacation at this place.  The other that place.  It isn't long before the two of them are living completely separate lives which, unfortunately, often leads to divorce.

The same thing goes with our children too.  As parents, we only have a short time with our children to be with them in the home.  The goal of parenting is to raise independently minded, loving, faithful adults, but the time we have to do that is so short.  It saddens me when parents too will spend so much of their free time alone or apart from their kids.  They are only here for a short time.  We need to treasure that.

Thankfully, God knows the value of time.  In fact, we are told in Scripture, that God never leaves us.  He doesn't go away from us or abandon us.  He doesn't go off and do his own thing for a weekend someplace else leaving us to our own devices.  Instead, God is here with us the whole way.

In the center of Exodus, right at the heart of God's law, comes the promises that God will be with Israel...and likewise us.  God is with them, not in some detached way, but in a real, active way.  Here's what God is going to do...

...I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way...
...I am preparing a place for you...
...I will wipe out your enemies...
...I will take away sickness from among you...
...I will give you a full life span...
...I will will make your enemies turn their backs and run...
...I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the [other nations[ out of your way.
...I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines(from Ex 23)

 These are all God's actions for God's people.  This is the result of God's being there.

We can look at that list today and marvel at what God did for the people of Israel then.  And we can look at that list and see what God does for us now.

Few of us know or can even comprehend what we are protected against.  We just don't see it.  When we claim God has left us, sometimes I think it is our perceptions that are at fault.  We just don't see what God is doing.  That's how good he is.  Like an expert magician, God hides much of what God does for us.  He just does it!

In the course of the day, God protects us from all kinds of evil.  He heats our homes and warms our hearts.  He opens our eyes to the needy and gives us the courage to reach out to those who are wanting.  God convicts us our sins and forgives us of them too.  He loves us through our friends and family and strengthens us along the way.

That's only a small list.  God does so much more too!  God is constantly at work all around us, doing what he does unseen, all because he's here.  Because God doesn't take a vacation away from us, his family, he is able to walk with us, beside us, on every step of life's journey.

God never leaves us nor forsakes us.  Maybe because God knows how precious time is to us.  After all, we are like the grass which is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the fire.  Maybe God knows this...

But I think it has something to do with how much God loves us.  God loves us so much that he sent His Son to live, die, and live again all for us.  God loves us enough to say, in effect, life isn't long enough with my people.  I want them with me forever.

May we spend our time with our families as God spends his time with us.  Lavishing what little time we have with them on them.

I am on earth but a short time.  Give me wisdom that I may count my days and invest them wisely in those around me.  Amen.

p.s.  If you are struggling with time management, particularly in your relationships, talk to someone, a pastor or a councilor.  Someone who can help.  Silence is the quiet killer of relationships.

Not So Cut and Dry

"Be careful to do everything I have said to you." Exodus 23:13

Not So Cut and Dry
By Rev. William Dohle

There's a song I just loved growing up.  It has the most familiar tune to it too and sometimes, if you've had even just a smidge of Sunday School, you'll sing right along with it.  It's words go like this...

Jesus Loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him be loved
They are weak, but He is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.

I love that song!  It really hits at the heart of our faith as children.  Jesus loves me...so all can be right with the world.  And I know it because the Bible (and most of the time Mommy and Daddy and that nice guy or gal who stands up front in church) tells me so.

That simple faith, based on the Bible, can be found too in a popular Fundamentalist bumper sticker too.  It reads:

"God Said it.  I believe it.  That settles it!"

Unfortunately, read through that book called the Bible, the book we claim God wrote, and we come across a number of things that we don't believe and, quite frankly, don't follow at all.

Take, for instance, some of the laws we find written in the book of Exodus.

Anyone who attacks his father or his mother must be put to death. (21:15)
Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. (21:17)
If a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from my altar and put him to death. (21:14)
Do not allow a sorceress to live. (22:18)
Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed. (22:29)

All of these have the penalty of death attached to them.  No exception.  If we are to do what the Bible says.  If God said it and we believe it and that settles it, shouldn't it also settle that we are to kill our children if they attack us or even curse us?  Shouldn't that settle most murder cases?  Take them out and kill them, according to this reading of Scripture.

Of course, even if you agree and say we should follow these statements, there are still other politically charged statements to consider like...

"Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt."(22:21...concerning immigration)
Or...
"Do not take advantage of a widow or orphan."(22:22...concerning possibly welfare?)
Or...
"Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people."(22:28...even if you disagree with them?)

The list goes on and on.  How do you handle these statements if "God said it...I believe it...that settles it?"  It's hard to reconcile an unwavering, uncritical view of Scripture with these statements that we clearly do not follow.

There is, though, another way of looking at it.  One described in the graphic above.  That way involves taking the text and interpreting it.  Here you take what is written and ask yourself, "What am I hearing in this text?  How does it speak to me?"

For example, the rabbis of old would often interpret the texts concerning capital punishment this way.  If the Torah(Bible) said it once, it was a warning.  If it said it twice, it meant that punishment should ensue if the commandment was broken.  And every(or nearly every) instance of capital punishment could be resolved with a monetary fine.

Christians often do the same by ignoring the sections of the Bible that don't speak to them.  We dismiss them as ancient laws and rules of a by-gone era.  We hold the first ten sacred, but fall off when it comes to following the rest.  Martin Luther interpreted Scripture through Christ.  A "canon within a canon" was what he called the pieces of Scripture that spoke of Christ the clearest.  The rest could be discarded if need be.

So, how do you read Scripture?  What do you do with these texts?  Instead of coming up with a iron-clad rulebook, I think it might help if we follow a process.  First we read what is written.  Not what we think has been written.  What is actually there.  Then we read before and after it to take in into context.  We look further into Scripture to see how others have interpreted this passage.  Then, with tradition and the words of the saints, you work through what you feel this passage might mean now for you.  Not for others, but for you.  You apply the words you read first to yourself and your life.  Then you turn to the community of faith, the church, to ask them what they think of your interpretation and what modifications need to be made.  And then you apply said interpretation, bring these words to life through your example.

If we're honest with ourselves and really attempt to follow what God in all of Scripture has taught us, through the Holy Spirit we may slowly become more loving, graceful, and forgiving of others.  We may work for justice for the poor, the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner in particular.  We may see God's big plan for the world being, not condemnation, but benevolent salvation.  And, ironically, we may begin to look more and more like his Son, Jesus the Messiah.

Just a thought as you are reading through the best library of religious writing ever compiled.  The one and only Bible!

I am confused, Lord, most of the time I open Scripture, and yet I come to you with an open heart, asking you to speak to me through the words written so long ago.  Amen.

True Religion

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

True Religion
By Rev. William Dohle

A few weeks ago, in a conversation around "Give us this day our daily bread" I sat our Confirmation kids down to show them just how blessed they truly were.  In a video made by Bread for the World, they watched as pictures of children, all starving and suffering from malnutrition, were paraded on the screen.  Each of the pictures seemed worse than the previous one.  And I watched their faces drop and their shoulders slump.

In the end, I asked them all what they thought of what they saw.  They had a few questions, mostly about whether it was real or not.  I explained how children throughout the world suffered from starvation and gave them some of the startling statistics.

World Hunger Statistics
Total number of children that die every year from hunger	1.5 million
Percent of world population considered to be starving	33%
Time between deaths of people who die from hunger	3.6 seconds
Total number of people in the world who suffer from hunger and malnutrition	800 million
Total number of people who do not have enough to eat	936 million people
Total percentage who do not have enough to eat who live in developing countries	98%
Total percentage of world’s hungry that live in 7 countries	65%
Number of people who died of hunger today	20,864
Total number of people who will die of hunger this year	7,615,360
Total percentage of U.S. households that are at risk of hunger	11%

Sadly the video only highlighted the children and the impact hunger had on them.  Most videos go that direction, showing pictures of the children rather than the adults.  Unfortunately, hunger and poverty affect all ages.  No one goes unscathed.  Parents who are hungry raise children who are hungry.  And the cycle continues.

The Bible takes on this cycle head on.  Not only are widows and orphans, the two groups at the bottom of the biblical social scale, mentioned specifically by God to be cared for.  But their cries are the cries God hears most.

"Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan.  If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.  My anger will be aroused and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

"If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest.  If you take your neighbors cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body.  What else will he sleep in?  When he cries out to me, I will hear for I am compassionate."  (Exodus 22:22-27)

 This is not the first time, and certainly not the last time, orphans and widows are specifically mentioned in the Bible.  Care for them is absolutely important.  Commanded by God in fact.  When the poor cry out, God hears them.  God shows compassion for them.  And God acts to turn the world around to care for them.

We too are to join God in his care for the poorest among us.  According to St. James, this is what true religion is.  Caring for the orphan and widow.  That's it.  That's what it means to be a Christian.  To be "Christ-like".  We are to care for the needy, as Christ did.  As Christ fed the multitudes, so we are to join him in feeding the multitudes.  As Christ reached out and touched the untouchable, so we too are to touch those our society deems untouchable.  As Christ healed those who could not repay him, so we too are to heal those who have no power to repay us or anyone.

Is that what True Christianity is?  Caring for the orphan and widow and not allowing ourselves to being polluted by the world?  What if that's it?  It seems so easy and yet so hard.  In church circles, we pride ourselves with things like converting or church planting.  We secretly look up to those with the biggest church, the best car, the largest home, and those who invoke God's name the most.  If we are to take God seriously in Exodus and St. James seriously in his epistle...we're going to need to change our ways some.

What if every "Christian" politician was to produce a record of deeds done to the least and the little and the lost before we believed they had faith?  What if every church was measured by their acts of mercy to those around them?  What if we looked up, not to the congregations and pastors with the largest attendance, but with those who had done the most good in their communities?

We may not be saved by our good works...but we are still called to produce them.  Faith without works is dead, another kernel of wisdom from St. James.  Caring for the least and little is what it means to be a Christian.  That's what it means to have faith.  And if every person of faith in every land reached out to just one widow or orphan, the world could turn around one widow and orphan at a time.

Your eye, O God, is on the widow and the orphan, the hungry and the alien, the wanderer and the outcast.  Open our eyes that we might see them through You.  Amen.

Bending the Rules

"If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him." Leviticus 24:19

Bending The Rules
By Rev. William Dohle

Ahh!  My children are getting too smart now!

They have learned that sometimes when I give them a rule I will break that same rule myself a little while later.  Like...

I tell them to stay out of the cookies...but I sneak a cookie when they're not looking.
I tell them to pick up their stuff from the floor when they come home...only my stuff is all over the floor too.
I tell them to clean up their room...when my room is a mess.

The list goes on and on.  Invariably, it seems, there is always something that I'm doing(or not doing) that my kids should(or should not) be doing.  It just works that way.

They've tried to point it out to me.  They say, "Hey!" and "But you don't...".  I try to shrug it off and still keep the rule firm...but I think they're starting to catch on.  You see...

Rules are not as absolute as we think they should be.

This thought applies to biblical rules too, or so it would seem.  Take, for example, that one we know so well quoted from the book of Exodus.

"...if there is serious injury you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise." Exodus 21:23-25

We usually know this rule as the "Eye for an eye" rule.  It says, in a sense, "Do to others what they have done to you."

The rabbis quickly point out that this rule is not meant to be taken literally.  It refers to a monetary fine imposed on people for the injury.  A "just" fee for injuries sustained.

And Christians will point out too that Jesus addresses this very command in the book of Matthew.

 "You have heard it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'  But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person."(Mat. 5:38-39)

And so we both assert: The rule doesn't mean what it says it does.  Either Jesus has thrown it out or we should just take it metaphorically.  One way or the other...the rule doesn't apply.

But still the rule is there.  "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth..." And we face the question: do we ignore it?  Do we dismiss it?  Do we make it into a metaphor?  How do we handle this?  People all over the world still live by this rule.  Do we adopt it as truth?

I think it should be said first that when this command was spoken it was one of grace.  In a society where an offense might not only get you, but your whole family and clan killed, a limitation on the punishment afflicted is a gracious one for the victimizer.  Only what is done to the offender may be done back.  Their family and their clan must be left alone.  Everyone pays for what they do themselves.

So the rule is good in some ways...but not good in others.  As Gandi has rightly pointed out, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind."  Even this commandment cannot apply in all situations.  For who of us have not offended our neighbor somehow?  Who of us have not burned them with our words, abused them in our thoughts, or hurt them with our actions?  If we were to take this command literally, each one of us should be left blind and hurting.

Even this command from God needs its exceptions.

Forgiveness is the exception to this command.  Forgiveness breaks this commandment in pieces.  It says: "You owe me an eye, but I will not take it from you.  I will forgive you the offense."  Forgiveness shatters this "eye for an eye" principle in pieces.  It refuses to take restitution, though it is owed it.  It refuses to punish, though it can.  Even a gracious punishment is unthinkable to forgiveness.  An eye for an eye goes unclaimed in forgiveness, for it is the grand exception to the rule.

If this is the case, then the greatest rule breaker of them all is God!  For we believe that in Jesus Christ, God forgives the world of its sin.  God forgives every single person.  God doesn't take an eye for an eye, a life for a life, or any other form of restitution.  Instead, God says: "I forgive you!"  God sets our sins from us, as far as the east is from the west we are told.  And God refuses to exact punishment upon us for them.

All thanks to Jesus Christ, we get to keep our eyes, our hands, and all our members because he is forgiveness in the flesh!

You gave the law at Sinai, Lord, and we struggle to understand and keep it.  Help us see and experience your forgiveness so that we may forgive others, instead of inflicting upon them the pain they have inflicted upon us.  Amen.

God of the Itty-bitty Details

I will never forget your precepts for by them you have preserved my life.  Psalm 119:93

God of the Itty-bitty Details
By Rev. William Dohle

I like details, especially in school.  I like to know what the teacher expects, when they expect it, and how they expect it to be presented to them.  I like to know the formatting, how they want things to be cited, and what things should be cited how.

I have learned how important instructions are to me as my children grow into more complicated assignments.  It's often they come home to say, "I need a poster board for a project..." but they don't have any details about the project or what is expected of them in completing it.

Details... that's just where it stands.

One of my favorite college teachers was a guy named Dr. Tonsing.  Tonsing(or Tonz to the students) was a religion professor at California Lutheran University.  Tonz was known to have a very specific way he wanted things presented to him.  He wanted them in an outline.  Each point in the outline had to have so many sub-points and every sub-point had to be documented in a specific way.  Every paper in his class would look exactly alike.  That's just how he liked them.

I remember one of my fellow students struggling with that formatting.  She would leave his class disappointed in her grade.  "Why did he give me this?" she'd say.  Looking over her paper, I knew exactly why.  She didn't format it right.  When the professor says, "Do it this way with these details" you listen to him, especially if you want a good grade out of his class.

Details.  That's just where it stands.

God too is notorious for details.  Small details.  Itty-bitty details even.  Scripture is jam packed full of details of how he wants his people, Israel, to live, and what they are to do in every situation, down to the last detail.  Here are a few of those detailed passages from the book of Exodus...

If men quarrel and one hits the other with a stone or with his fist and he does not die but is confined to bed, the one who struck the blow will not be held responsible if the other gets up and walks around outside with his staff; however he must pay the injured man for the loss of his time and see that he is completely healed.(Ex. 21:18-19)

If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows.(Ex. 21:22)

If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull must be stoned to deaqth, and its meat must not be eaten.(Ex. 21:28)

If a man grazes his livestock in a field or vineyard and lets his animals stray and they graze in another man's field, he must make restitution from the best of his own field or vineyard.(Ex. 22:5)

There are more.  Many more.  Check out Exodus 21 and following for many many more detailed instructions.

As Christians, we might feel tempted to skip over these passages.  I know I do.  I want the "good stuff", the stories and things out of Scripture.  As far as these little itty-bitty detailed laws of God...I'll call them artifacts of the past.  They have no relevant meaning for me today...right?

But what if they did?  What if the Word of God was present just as much in these little itty-bitty details of how to live a good life as the Word is in the Gospels or the Epistles?  What if these laws have something to say to us today?

I think they do.  I think they tell us a little about God himself.  I think they remind us that God is a God of the details, even the itty-bitty ones!

Our God, the King of the Universe, cares about the details of life just as much as he cares about the big picture.  Many of us might be "big picture" people or just "detail orientated" people.  Our God is both.  He cares for the cosmos in the big picture, our galaxy in the big picture, our solar system and even our world in the big picture, but he also cares just as much about the details of our lives.  How we live.  How we walk through life.  What we say or do not say to our neighbor.  How we care for the environment.  Even what we do in the privacy of our own home.  God cares about all of this!

And these laws prove it.  God could have left his people with the beginning of the law, the part we call the Ten Commandments, and let THEM sort it out.  "There you go!  I've said all I need to say.  You figure out the rest..."  But he didn't.  God got involved in the details of law.  He jumped into the details of his people's lives.  And then he jumped, with both feet, into our flesh in Jesus Christ!  That's a God of the itty-bitty, teeny-weeny details for you!

Thank you for caring for how we graze our livestock, how we quarrel, and even how we live our lives in our most private moments.  Help me see your hand in all the details of my life.  Amen. 

Of First Concern

These are the laws you are to set before them... Exodus 21:1

Of First Concern
By Rev. William Dohle

I love to laugh and am always looking for something that makes me chuckle.

Of the things that make me laugh, David Letterman's Top Ten takes the cake.  Something in his lists always makes me chuckle.  Here's one I can relate with having children(and an infant that will soon be crawling...).

Top Ten Unsafe Toys
--------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Junior Electrician Outlet Patrol
 9. Hasbro's Slippery Steps
 8. Black & Decker's
 7. Roof Ranger Paratrooper Outfit
 6. Ramco's Pocket Hive
 5. Traffic Tag
 4. Will it Burn? from Parker Brothers
 3. Chimney Explorer
 2. My First Ferret Farm
 1. The Hold Your Breath Game by Milton Bradley

Of course with any Top Ten list, the most important one isn't the first one listed.  It's the last one.  The #1 is usually the funniest and the most appropriate answer to the question.  Usually we start with #1...but they push you through 10 through 2 so that the most important one gets the most laughs.

The book of Exodus in its list of the laws of Israel and describing God's concern for God's people, does not start with the least important one and work to the most important.  It starts with the group that is most important to God and works the other way.

And the group that is most important to God?  The ones who are #1 on God's list.?  Are they the rich?  The wealthy ones?  Are they those who have the power?  Maybe the priests at the time?  Well... the group that takes the cake as far as God's concern are...

(Drum roll please...)

The slaves!

What?  No reaction?  Did you hear me right?  Let's try this again.  The first ones that God is concerned about are...

(Drum roll again...)

The slaves!

That's right.  Those who are at the bottom of the chain of command.  Those without the power.  Those who are, in many cases, property of someone else.  That's who's God got on his mind.

Here's what God has to say about them...

"If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve you for six years.  But in the seventh year, he shall go free..."(Exodus 21:2)
"If a man sells his daughter as a slave, she is not to go free as menservants do.  If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself he must let her be redeemed.  He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her.  If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter.  If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing, and marital rights.  If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money."(Exodus 21:7-11)

Now perhaps you've tuned out by now...or skipped ahead.  Perhaps you think this has nothing to do with you and why should you care how slaves were treated back then.  Maybe you don't have much of a reaction to this passage because it's not the most important thing to you.  Or maybe you see the seeds of slavery in our own world here and wonder why God didn't take a stronger stand against slavery instead of working through the institution.

Despite all this the fact remains: slaves are important to God.  Very important!  The lowest ones among us and their welfare is first on God's mind.  Make sure they are treated well.

Today, according to the New York Times, there are 24 million slaves across the globe, more than there were in 1860.  To purchase a slave, all you need is $140.00!  Slaves work in a variety of areas, for textile mills to brothel houses.  And, what's more, most slaves are not bonded willingly but either kidnapped or because of debt.  Most slaves will never see freedom in their lifetimes.

The book of Exodus does more than illustrate God's concern for the slave.  It actually demonstrates compassion as well.  True, it does not condemn the practice, what many abolitionists in the 1800's wished it would do, but it does talk about respect and compassion and the ability to be freed at some point.

And more than all of this, it illustrates God's concern for the slave.  They are the first ones to be named specifically for laws concerning their condition.  Before the role of the priests are described.  Before we the book of Leviticus with its rules and regulations.  Before all of this.  The first concern of God is...how we treat the lowest ones among us.

Maybe that should be our concern too.  Looking out at the world, perhaps we should put on our "God glasses" and look for the lowest, the least, the little, the lost, and the dead.  For, in finding them, we will find God standing beside them in solidarity, inviting us to join the cause of peace and justice in the world.

We are blind at times, Heavenly Father, to the lowest who are all around us.  Open our eyes that we might see them, embrace them in love, and work for justice and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.