‘Agree with God, and be at peace;
in this way good will come to you.
Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored,
if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,
if you treat gold like dust,
and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed...

(Job 22:21-24)

You know these words (that were spoken by Job's friend, Eliphaz the Temanite) sound so reasonable and good. Doesn't agreeing with God sound good. But again with all of Scripture it is good to read all around the verses that catch your attention the way these three caught mine.

When I read around these verses I saw that once again Job's friend(s) were telling the sinless Job: 'You were of no use to God because you did not do what was right and that is the reason for all the evil that has come on you (vv. 1-11); you are not to challenge God (vv. 12-20); and you must be worshiping idols! (vv. 25-30).

My message to Job: "Right now don't agree with the god that your friends are presenting. For the true God is a God of love that does not cause evil, that does not desire it to occur, but who when all evil that is in one way or another caused by the human family does happen do receive the instruction from God's mouth. The world calls God's mouth "common sense". Overall, the Church of all denominations has called this "prevenient grace" -- the mercy of God that prevenes over all creation by giving the human family common sense, or a consciousness of what is good.

OK, Lord, when evil comes again, I will listen for your voice. That I say ... that I pray. May you do so as well.

Halloween

Halloween, like quite a few other worldly holidays, was claimed by the Church. Originally, Halloween was somewhat more like what you see nowadays as costumed children go seeking gifts for in ancient times people would dress up to scare away evil spirits on that day.

The Church took this day and turned it into a time to remember the faithful that had died in since the last Halloween. The date of Halloween (also known as "All Saints" or "All Hallows" Day) became November 1.

On All Saints Day in the Arlington United Methodist Church will be remembering our members who have died since last All Saints Sunday.

And we will also be naming those who have joined during this time.

You are invited to be our guest.

Arlington United Methodist Church

1360 Murfreesboro Road

(between Briley Parkway and the airport runway that goes over Murfreesboro Road)

john@arlingtonum.org

Sitting with Job ...

It's Friday. A Friday for Job. In Job 21 he is taking time to reflect over the events of his life and unfortunately at this point he sees a lot of crap. So he is asking his observers these questions:

• "As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals?" (v. 4a);
• "Why should I not be impatient?" (v. 4b);
• "Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?" (v. 7);

And on reflecting on the rich people who are evil, he writes:

• They say to God, 'Leave us alone. We do not desire to know your ways. What is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?' Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement? The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me ... How often does calamity come upon them? ... How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?" (vv. 15-16, 17b, 18).

Job is asking: "Why? Why? Why?" If only he was dealing with an easier question such as, "What might I do for the good of humanity even in my own unjust situation?"

Personally, I have never found a good answer to that "why" question. Hey, Job, stop asking 'why'. Just know in your tragedy that the goodness of God is hanging around. God may, or may not be, in your friends or acquaintances that are hanging around.

Wait. Sit back, take a deep breath, and wait.

Job here speaks again ...

Job here speaks again. Personally, I believe that these words have both anger and hope within them. In a proverbial perspective, such is life. The same angering circumstance can always have a bit of hope. So Job says,

‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
If you say, “How we will persecute him!”
and, “The root of the matter is found in him”;
be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
so that you may know there is a judgement.’
(Job 19:23-29)

God is curious God. He hears prayers of anger. So if you are angry with God, please express it openly to God. God can indeed handle it well.

Where?

Another friend, or I would like to think acquaintance, of Job seeks to reason out Job's suffering as if there are any legitimate reasons for suffering. The friend/acquaintance was 'Bildad the Shuhite'. To the suffering Job he says,

'Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,
such is the place of those who do not know God.’

(Job 18:21)

Implication of course is that Job must be an ungodly man. Such is an easy explanation for suffering like lung cancer coming to a smoker. But what of the cancers, etc, that come because of no logical explanation? Or what of the sinless suffering Job?

John asks, "Job, where are we going in all this mess?"

Ready to give up?

In chapter seventeen of Job he prays for relief. He has been through more than many of us put together and there is no relief in sight. And so he prays ...

If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in darkness,
if I say to the Pit, “You are my father”,
and to the worm, “My mother”, or “My sister”,
where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?’

(Job 17.13-16)

Job's spirit is broken. Full of frustration, grief, anger, and physical pain he is ready to give up but soon he will find that God was with him and if nothing else God kept giving Job endurance.

Suffering and evil ...

Hear me through. It is so tempting to believe in an all-controlling God ... a God who causes it all. But it is too troubling for me to believe in such a God.

Two Christian leaders of the WW II era wrestled with the reasons for evil. One was Leslie D. Weatherhead, a British preacher who lived in Britain, and the other was Jurgen Moltmann, who as a child witnessed homes and civilian lives destroyed in the allied fire bombings of Germany. Later Moltmann would become a significant Christian theologian.

Weatherhead's response was to write sermons during the war that wrestled with evil that would later be published in a book that still sells quite well: The Will of God. In it he makes clear that all tragedies are caused by the human family. And God's will, in my own brief Weatherhead summary, is to give us what it takes to walk through suffering that will, in the end, have victory with God.

Moltmann's response to human-caused suffering has been to write dozens of works about a suffering God who aches over the human family. And, again in my own words, Moltmann's belief is that somehow through the suffering Jesus, the suffering God, healing comes. And it is our responsibility to see that the message and actions of God's healing grace spread across the earth.

Unfortunately, the suffering Job had not yet experienced the healing grace of God. And, again unfortunately, he blames God for all that is evil. Such is clear in his words:

God gives me up to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
I was at ease, and he broke me in two;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy;
he pours out my gall on the ground.

(Job 16:11-13)

Continuing our walk with Job...

Fear of God ...

Fear of God--it is so misinterpreted, not translated well. The biblical 'fear of God' is a respect of God that encourages us to not only receive the love that God has for us, but also to share it with friend, enemy, and self.

Now, one of the friends of Job (who had faced tragedy) says to him in light of the fact that he had faced tragedy and was angry with God because of it:

But you are doing away with the fear of God,
and hindering meditation before God.
For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.

(Job 15:1-3)

For Job, this was a false accusation for in spite of all the tragedy that came upon him he was still at love with God. But his love included an anger with God over all that had occurred in his life.

Again, anger is OK, as long as the expressive acts remain in love.

Arlington UMC (arlingtonum.org)

Free Sunday Breakfast (8:30 AM)

Sunday Worship; 10:00 AM

1360 Murfreesboro Road

(615) 315-8662

between Briley Parkway and the airport runway overpass

Hang in there ...

Have you ever seen people who were down right fussy?

Some are fussy when they are awakening, others are fussy when hungry, or when tired. Others are fussy when they have seen a rough day at work. Job was definitely fussy, but he had good reasons. Indeed, he is willing to have a boxing match with him on one side and God on the other. It is OK to be angry with God. There are numerous Scripture lessons that demonstrate this. Among them are Job 13. What follows are verses one through three and fifteen:

‘Look, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
But I would speak to the Almighty,

and I desire to argue my case with God ...
See, he will kill me; I have no hope;
but I will defend my ways to his face.

Can you imagine Job shaking his fist in God's face? I can. And if you need to I dare you to do so as well. God loves even those angry with God.

Hang in there. Let us sit with Job for while longer.

Enduring ...

In Job 11 and 12, he is having a conversation with a man named, Zophar, who says:

"If you direct your heart rightly, you will stretch out your hands toward him" (11:13).

Zophar is implying to the suffering Job that evidently he is not stretching his hands out to God and the result is Job's continued ailments. Isn't that what we hear all the time? That is we would do the right things, have the right attitude, have the right emotions, the correct thoughts that everything will be OK? If that is really true, then what do you say to the parents of a seven year old who was kidnapped and murdered in Florida? OK, Zophar, what do you say about that?!

Job admits to Zophar,

"With God are wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding. If he tears down, no one can rebuild; if he shuts someone in, no one can open up. If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. With him are strength and wisdom..." (12:13-16a).

Job admits this, but still his suffering does not make sense to him. I am sure Job is asking his neighbors, "So why, on earth or in heaven, does it make any sense to you?"

We humans want to explain everything. At times that is good when discoveries are made that heals and brings good. But there are moments when it is not time for explanations but for just enduring. And, for now, all Job is getting is a bit, a bit, of endurance.

Why?

"Why?" It is a question that keeps on coming up. My first thoughts on it go back to the days when young children are asking it as in,

Grandchild: "Pop, why does the sun come up every day?"
Pop: "Because the earth turns."
Grandchild: "Why?'
Pop: "Because God made it that way."
Grandchild: "Why?"

And on and on the question continues all through life for deeper and deeper reasons. Such Job does of God after all the tragedies hit him: "Why, God, why?"

‘Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
Are not the days of my life few?
Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort
before I go, never to return,
to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
the land of gloom and chaos,
where light is like darkness.’

(Job 10:18-22)

Job does not yet give a clear answer to Job's "Why?" But I will hang around with Job and listen.

... with no justifiable reasoning?

Job, chapters 6 & 7, record Job's reply to Eliphaz's interpretation of Job's suffering as predominantly being the 'discipline of the Almighty'. After Eliphaz's 'attempt to comfort' Job if such was possible at that moment, Job's reply is summarized in these words:

‘Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone wrong.
How forceful are honest words!
But your reproof, what does it reprove?

(Job 6.24-25)

Job, who is described in that book as sinless, sees no reasoning behind his suffering so he will continually challenge those in conversation with him who attempt to 'justify' his suffering. The story of Job will continue.

Does unjust suffering just happen with no justifiable reasoning? That is a big question. But for now I will just ask it as I continue to read Job.

Waiting for the right moment ...

Eliphaz is a long-winded dude. He keeps on talking. In chapter 5 he does make a good argument. He invites the suffering Job to seek after God who "saves the needy". He even tells Job that happiness can come even in tough times. That is true!

‘How happy is the one whom God reproves;
therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For he wounds, but he binds up;
he strikes, but his hands heal.
He will deliver you from six troubles;
in seven no harm shall touch you.

(Job 5:17-19)

But was Job ready to hear this? Was he at the point after losing his family and property to hear such a witness as what Eliphaz gave? These are key questions for those who are seeking to give witness of God.

Job will give an answers to this question whose answer should have been obvious to Eliphaz in chapters 6-7.

Timing ...

A friend of Job, Eliphaz, has taken a while to observe and then he speaks as he observes the suffering Job:

"If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?

But who can keep from speaking?" (Job 4:2).

From my perspective the first question is the most important one. If one is to be heard adult to adult the one who desires to speak must be certain that the other is ready to hear. An imaginary scene I have of this is a supervisor who is working with a staff-person and says a phrase like, "Let me know when you are ready to listen".

For me, the second question of Eliphaz should have not been asked until the first one was answered. Oh well, he was an overly anxious advisor who wanted to come up with quick answers to the difficult problems of Job around the question, "Why did all this tragedy occur to me?"

Who can keep from speaking? In reality, the one who waits to be heard best.

Sitting with Job

Job is a book of the bible that, from my point of view, particulary applies to the people who ask the troubling question: "Why?"

In it a rich man, Job, loses his family, possessions, wife, and health. So he asks, "Why?" I have decided to sit with Job for a while.

They (Job's friends) sat with him on the ground

for seven days and seven nights,

and no one spoke a word to him,

for they saw that his suffering was very great

(Job 2:13).

Sometimes like the friends of Job in this scene all I can do is just to be there with a friend and sit for a while. Such just may be the only friendship gift available called "presence".

Psalm 148

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his host!

Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for he commanded and they were created.
He established them for ever and ever;
he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

Praise the Lord from the earth,
you sea monsters and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and frost,
stormy wind fulfilling his command!

Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Wild animals and all cattle,
creeping things and flying birds!

Kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of the earth!
Young men and women alike,
old and young together!

Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his glory is above earth and heaven.
He has raised up a horn for his people,
praise for all his faithful,
for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!

a short prayer

"Remember me, O my God, for good"

(Nehemiah 13:31b)

It's 'bumfuzziling' that God can do such for all the created each moment. Wow!

by faith ...

This morning's reading included Acts 3. The Spirit of God has fallen upon the believing community whose lives now focused on serving Jesus Christ by proclaiming his good news of the kingdom of God. And now the church is doing the work of Jesus which is to proclaim the kingdom, or rule, of God; and to live under God's rule by teaching the love of God through their actions, by proclaiming the good news of Jesus; and by healing individuals and communities.

And then a couple of Christians are entering the place of worship and as they do so a lame man asks for financial help. They reply by saying, 'We don't have cash on us', but stand up and walk! And that he does. When they are questioned, 'How on earth did you heal that man?' a part of their response is,

And by faith in his (Jesus') name,

his name itself has made this man strong,

whom you see and know;

and the faith that is through Jesus

has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

Acts 3:16

It is amazing what trusting Jesus can give us humans the power to do for the good of God.

A couple ...

A couple of passages grabbed a hold of me this morning. They are from Acts 2, a biblical chapter that tells of the birth of the Church.

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability ... So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:4, 41-42).

God the Spirit gives us what it takes to give testimony for and of God. The Spirit helps us to bridge communication gaps. The Spirit changes lives -- gives the ability, the translation, for understanding, realization, guilt, desire for change, repentance, faith, and devotion. The Spirit empowers the breaking of bread and prayers.

Come on now!

Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
Lift up your hands to the holy place,
and bless the Lord.

May the Lord, maker of heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion.

Psalm 134

Come on now! Go to church! Hear about Jesus and experience changing the world by loving your neighbor and you just might find what you have been looking for!

Arlingon UMC

1360 Mrufreesboro Road

(between Briley Parkway and the airport runway bridge across Murfreesboro Road)

Breakfast at 8:30 AM

Worship at 10:00 AM

Cool ...

He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him. (Ezra 7:6b)

For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel. (Ezra 7:10)

Pretty cool dude.

This evening

This evening I am preparing to be one of the leaders in an Emmaus Walk. Emmaus is a great story of two disciples walking with Jesus down the road to a village named Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). It is a an honor to be asked to lead in this journey. The Emmaus Walk experience is a three day experience that begins on Thursday night and ends on Sunday night. During this time people will walk on a journey of exploration about the love of God. It is a grand experience even to be a part of it again. If you have never been, and want to hear more let's get together. I will even buy you a cup of coffee.

As I was preparing for the Emmaus Walk to begin this night I was reading Psalm 131. I like the imagery of that Psalm. We know that it was one of the song of ascents sung either as you approached a place of worship or as a way to begin worship once you were there.

This is the way it goes ...

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvellous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time on and for evermore.

And so tonight as the Emmaus Walk begins such is my personal prayer.

Blessings...

This morning ...

This morning I was reading from Ezra. He wrote at a time when the people of Israel had once again gone through national disaster. They had been defeated by the Babylonian army who was using new tactics of battle.

And they had also destroyed the central place of the Jewish worship of God ... the Temple where animal, fruit, vegetable, oil and whatever else was sacrificed to God as a visible reminder to love God.

Their rich had been hauled away in slavery to Babylon. And then decades later Persia that had conquered Babylon allowed the Israelites to return home. OK, they have returned, and the Temple had been replaced with a new one that was not as 'glorious'. And even at that scene, Ezra (their religious leader) said:

Blessed be the Lord, the God of our ancestors,

who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to

glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,

and who extended to me steadfast love before the king and his counsellors,

and before all the king’s mighty officers.

I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me,

and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

(Ezra 7:27-28)

See

"Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours"

(Luke 15:31b)

Jesus tells a parable of a loving father in Luke 15:11-32. There are three main characters: a loving father; an "I'll run away from home and find myself" younger son, and an "I'll earn your love" elder brother.

I confess that I relate better to the elder brother. The one who just keeps on trying to earn the free gift already given.

I invite you to also read the story and see to whom you relate best.

OK

Then the master said to the slave,
“Go out into the roads and lanes,
and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:23

First thought ...

The first thought on my mind this morning when I thought of "gift" was a growing up memory. I was about eleven years old and it was Christmas morning. I came down the steps from my bedroom and from the steps I came down quietly because it was so early. And under the tree was a model of the USS Constitution, about a 15-inch hull sailing battleship to assemble.

I recalled that morning as I read ...

Those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord...

(Zechariah 6:15a)

You are invited to be our guest at our 10:00 AM worship hour.

Arlington United Methodist Church

1360 Murfreesboro Road

(between Briley Parkway and runway that goes over Murfreesboro Road)

Nashville, TN 37217

(615) 361-4896

john@arlingtonum.org

Silence

Silence ... such has been a spiritual means to allow God to have conversation with people for eternity. It is so hard to do in today's world. In the city there is the sound of traffic, airplanes, helicopters, radios, televisions, ringing phones, conversations, and on and on ...

Silence.

What I will often do to is sit on the porch of Panera Bread before it opens, or I will sit alone on our patio, or I will arrive at the office early and turn off the phone for a while.

Silence.

At least annually, I will take a week away to read our lectionary lessons together with entire books of the Bible and plan sermons for the coming liturgical year.

Silence.

I would encourage you as well to find a silent time alone to read, reflect and ponder. I love that word ... p o n d e r ...

Be silent, all people, before the Lord;

for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

(Zechariah 2:13)

the finger of God ...

One of Michelangelo's great paintings is of God creating humans. In the painting God is reaching our to touch the finger of a human body to give that person life. God, in the painting, looks like a grandpa figure with white hair and beard as he reaches toward the human. Brentwood UMC has a sculpture of the scene with just the hand of God and the hand of humanity seeking to touch each other.

I thought of those scenes when I read these words of Jesus:

"But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons,

then the kingdom of God has come to you" (Luke 11:20)