Simply the Title Page

Sometimes the words just don't come.

As I sit here tonight trying to come up with some words to share with you, I find that I'm struggling with the fact that the intensive part of this project is ending in a rather non-climactic way.

(Interesting side note:  The song that woke me up on the first day of this project, woke me up again today.  I'm very curious about what it will be tomorrow on the last day.)

Going into this I had high hopes to raise awareness and make a difference. Even though I'm not seeing the "fruit" of this project, I know that I planted some seeds. I pray that some of them landed in some fertile soil.

As for me, this experience has affected me in many ways.

For example, (and this was completely unexpected) I find that I am disgusted by the waste and excess in our culture. I am particularly offended by shameless boasting about that abundance. There are so many unmet needs out there in the world.

How do we reconcile that in our own minds? I can't.  How will we reconcile that with God? Well, God, I just really, really wanted that $75,000 car and $500,000 house...and knew you would understand that my wants should come before the needs of others.

Really? Will He?

Take a look at Matthew 19:16-26:

Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”

“Why do you ask me about what is good?”Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”  (Here Jesus is pointing out to the young man that he doesn't even understand what "good" is! The whole Old Testament proved to us that nobody can be "good" enough.  We are all sinners...even the very best of us fall way short.)

“Which ones?” he inquired.

Jesus replied,“‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” (Ha! This young man thinks pretty highly of himself!)

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  (Oof!)

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. 

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Notice that Jesus points out that it is impossible for a rich man to save himself...however, he also makes it clear that "with God all things are possible".  Yes, all Christians have been blessed by the gift of grace...even the rich ones.

However, if you have treasure here, it will still be right here when you are gone. But, if you give it away now, you will have treasure in heaven.

As Christians, shouldn't we be blessing others with our gifts?

Yes. Sacrificially.

Our time here is short...simply the title page of the book. All of your treasure is worthless as of page 2 if you don't use what was entrusted to you to help others.

Day of Atonement

My hunger was manageable today.  That's really saying something considering that I worked out this morning and the rest of my family "oohed" and "ahhed" over homemade fajitas tonight for supper. (It probably helped that I was in meeting while they ate.)

I've been doing some research on the festivals, feasts, and celebrations in the bible. Today I was reading about The Day of Atonement...more commonly known here as Yom Kippur.

This day is the holiest of day of the Jewish year. But is also very solemn because it is about atoning for the sin of the people. The ritual is elaborate and you can read about it in detail in Leviticus 16.

However, it's been on my mind because it got me thinking about the fact that Israel was concerned not only with personal sin but also with the sin of the nation. They obviously took responsibility for the sin that was committed corporately by the people.

Wow. We are so not like that. The western world is all about independence and personal choice.

We are lucky to find people in our culture who will take responsibility for themselves much less the choices of our government and the "people" as a whole.

What makes this particularly ironic is that we live in a democracy where our government represents our choices. This would not have been the case back in those ancient days.

What would a Day of Atonement look like for us? If Americans rose up together to accept responsibility for the wrongs that we have done as a nation (internally and externally), what would that look like?

Yes, I know we've also done great things! And I believe that we have taken the time to pat ourselves on the back many, many times for those things. I am a grateful American and so glad that I live in this country, but we fall way short of being perfect.

Do we have too much national pride to admit that we have even done any wrong?  Do you see the excesses here and the poverty and suffering that pervade many areas of the rest of the world? Or is this not your problem...not our problem?

In fact, how many Americans don't even realize that our pride is sinful? Instead we celebrate our pride like it's a good thing...a great thing.

Once upon a time were the people of Babylon or Greece so full of pride? What about those who were part of the Roman Empire?

We've been warned.