“Many Hands Make Light Work.”

It sounds like, it seems like it’s in the Bible somewhere. A great proverb, perhaps, or the teaching of Jesus after telling a parable. The closest idea would be St. Paul’s image of the body: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Cor 12:7).

“Many Hands Make Light Work.” Though the ancient Greek idiom first made its English appearance in John Heywood’s book Proverbs, which was published in 1546, it is ever-new as we witness it’s truth before our eyes again and again.

Case in point — the pew shuffling game that’s been going on the last two Sundays. We have sung God’s blessing to one another, enjoyed one last reflective postlude moment, and then rolled up our sleeves and gotten to work. Both Sundays have clocked us in at under ten minutes to do a job that would take two unfortunate folks hours! And many of us whose backs could not handle the full job could take one or two turns, or help organize the bibles and hymnals. The point is that many hands make light work.

(One important reminder here…we need to come together this Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to put them back into place on our freshly cleaned carpets. And this column is dedicated to the three folks who did this hard work the first time around last Thursday…you know who you are!)

This is a most important ministry technique! We come together to accomplish what we would be unable to do on our own. It’s always such an encouragement and brings a palpable energy when we come together to give, to serve, to go, to eat, to worship, to support whatever it is that needs our attention.

And what needs our attention now is yet another opportunity to come together in a powerful way.

This week a letter requesting help came from pastor David Washington and Kingdom Covenant Church. We are one of a few churches that have partnered in their support as a church planted five years ago in Chicago’s Roseland community. After five years of budgeted support, Kingdom Covenant is now working on sustaining itself. But as many churches have experienced, Kingdom Covenant has lost some members and giving during the pandemic time of the last years. And to begin with, times are tough in the Roseland community, where the median household income is 37 thousand dollars (as opposed to Wilmette, where median household income is 162 thousand dollars, four times greater).

Pastor Washington is planning out of need to move to Bi-Vocational ministry.

How about we come together in the “many hands make light work” way and stop that from happening? What more exciting and worthwhile use of our dollars could there be? Instead of a “card shower” we undertake when someone is grieving the loss of a loved one, how about we have a “giving shower” and see how we can come alongside Kingdom Covenant in their critical gospel work?

Pastor Washington gives us the invitation: “We need individuals who are willing to become new financial partners to walk with us over the next twelve months as we plan for sustainability.”

A crazy idea and goal — could 50 of us go to http://www.kingdomchicago.org/give and get on that train? Imagine what an encouragement this could be, and how again in this case “many hands make light work.”

We’ll talk more about this on Sunday, when we gather to chew on Jesus’ latest parable:

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’ And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’ 

Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’

———————

Let’s come together and give with a flourish to the work of God’s Kingdom and our sisters and brothers in need. Let’s go for fifty of us! You can participate in some way. If you will, just let me know you have, and I’ll keep a running tally to see how our challenge goes.

See you Sunday!

Peter Hawkinson

The late Episcopal priest Robert Farrar Capon is well-known for his books on the parables. Always one to push the theological envelope, late in his life he penned a little treasure called The Astonished Heart: Reclaiming the Good News from the Lost-and-Found of Church History. (Eerdmans, 1996). Every open space at the front is filled with delicious quotes from the small tome that I have collected, evidencing it’s deep resonance with me. I’d love to simply share them with you, in hopes that maybe you’ll want to stop by and talk about them, or better yet borrow the book or buy it and see for yourself. Here we go!

“The Church is not a transactional agency through which God designs to reward the cooperative with his cooperation; rather, it is a simple fellowship of trust in the universal work of God who has promised to include everybody.”

“Faith is not a gadget by which I can work wonders. It is trust in a person who can– and who has promised me he already has.”

“The Gospel, at its root is immoral, not moral. It lets scoundrels in free for nothing. It’s an outrageously unethical offer not to count anybody’s sins at all, because the Lamb of God simply stopped counting when he drew everybody to himself on the cross.”

“Religion is always a transaction— always something that people do for God in order to get God to do something for them. But since the Gospel is the proclamation that God has once and for all done everything that needs doing, Christianity as a religion is always at odds with the Gospel…this is one of the biggest problems we now have. Christianity is not a religion; it’s the proclamation of the end of religion. Religion is a human activity dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to self. The Gospel, however — the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ — is the astonishing announcement that God has done the whole work of reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. The essence of any religion is the promise that, if it is followed diligently, God will smile on its practitioners. But the Gospel with which the church is entrusted says that God has already smiled on the whole world in Jesus.”

“Defending the boundaries of a religious institution is the church’s fastest way to forget that the God it represents is genuinely concerned with the world beyond the institution.”

“The world has long been convinced that the church’s main business is sin prevention, and that the salvation we proclaim is a matter of getting people to straighten up and fly right. We ought to think two-hundred-times twice before we risk throwing salvation by grace alone into the angelic trash more than we already have. Our two thousand-year love affair with excommunication — with the expulsion of sinners, heretics, and troublemakers– has been a disaster for the Good News of free grace.”

“The common life of a people is defined not so much by their doing the same thing at the same time (20 million Americans watching a rerun of ‘NYPD Blue’ are not a community) as it is by bearing in their bones the astonishing story of who they were and what they are.”

and the book’s concluding words:

“The church is not a club; it is a divine Mystery — the body of him who fills all in all and who, when he is lifted up, draws all to himself. We are in dance of desire over which we have no final power to throw a wet blanket. The thirst of the astonished heart lies at the root of all thirsts, however trivial, and it is the thirsty, therefore — and the hungry, the last, the lost, the least, the little, and the dead — who are the sacraments of the church’s hope. Only fools, of course, willingly embrace these conditions. But the Divine Fool who dies and rose needs only one of them — himself– to bring the dance to its wild conclusion. Even if all the rest of us are tripping over our own feet to the end of time…. even if we never get the dance of desire right, God never gets it wrong. Resurrection reigns wherever there is death; and with it comes the joy of the really Good News: the dance into the New Creation in Christ will always be alive and well. Desire, however we manage it, can always explode into astonishment.”

Love from here, to you wherever you are, and however you are!

Peter Hawkinson

Truth be told, I have an off and on fascination with the minimalism movement.

I really love watching shows on tiny houses, seeing people build two hundred square foot spaces that fit all the essentials and use space efficiently. I’ve watched a couple of documentaries on minimalism, people who gave up all their belongings to be more free to travel, to pursue work that pays poorly but is full of meaning, to gain financial freedom. I’ve watched and read all about the Marie Kondo method, which encourages keeping only things that spark joy (plus, I think, the necessities of life). I go back on forth and my own dramatic cleanouts, but then get suckered in at the kitchen goods section of a rummage sale.

So when I heard that a local author from Evanston had engaged in a year-long project with her family of not buying anything, aside from urgent needs (food, utilities, basic clothing) – I had to read her book.

More or Less by Susannah Pratt is a wonderful read, not just because it speaks to this interest I already have, but because it taps into something most of us are dealing with: the massive economy of our stuff.

And Susannah does not offer an easy solution – like I said in my sermon yesterday, I LOVE a good step-by-step DIY program – but she reflects, thoughtfully and powerfully, on what it’s like to live as people who are consumers but also much more than that.

Of course, I don’t recommend reading this book right before Prime Days hit, as I did. But it’s good nonetheless.

She writes about the amount of time we spend sorting, organizing, cleaning, caring for our stuff – and how much that might take us away from other things.

She reflects on how disposable our stuff has become – just hop online and order another – and how this doesn’t just have inevitable environmental implications, as our landfills grow and grow, but it also changes our relationship to our things. We have fewer of those cherished items that have been through our lives, and lives of others, offering continuity, memories, and value – and more and more things that we throw away or forget about.

Our stuff also takes us out of relationship with other people – when we can easily buy what we need, why bother asking a friend or neighbor if we can borrow theirs? Why engage in alternative economies, swapping houseplants for fresh bread, or chicken eggs for a kombucha scoby, when we can just hop online and click away?

A few weeks ago, I had to come up with a children’s message on Luke 9; where Jesus sends the disciples out to share his news without any extra provisions:

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, ² and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ³ He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey: no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. ⁴ Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. ⁵ Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” ⁶ So they departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

(Translation courtesy of BibleGateway)

I thought about why Jesus would offer such strange instructions to his disciples. And I reflected with the kids on all the stuff we carry, and how we can trust in it more than God.

We can trust in our cell phone battery backup, and our pantry full of canned food, more than in God’s provision or neighbor’s kindness.

Susannah’s book has me contemplating that all over again.

As with any good and challenging thing, it has me restless but uncertain. I don’t have a pathway set out, or twelve steps, but I am thinking more about my relationship to my things.

I’m thinking more about community, more about meeting needs and sharing, more about sufficiency and trust. Less about my shopping cart. I’m thinking about where I put my trust, in a home and a life full of stuff.

I hope you’ll read the book, and let me know what you think too.

-Pastor Jen

THIS IS A RE-POST OF CARL BALSAM’S BLOG YESTERDAY, WHICH WAS OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE READ AND ENJOY THIS!

During the depths of the Covid hibernation, I adopted Psalm 46 as my “go to” Psalm. [I commend it to you]. At the same time, in January and February (2020), the WCC men’s group studied the life of Jacob (via Zoom). I knew the basic story of Jacob but had never spent much focused time looking at his life. Learning again and reflecting more seriously about Jacob’s behavior, I pondered why he had the honor of having his name juxtaposed with God’s name in refrains such as the one above.? [Psalm 46: 7]

Jacob cheated his brother out of his birthright for a bowl of soup – he couldn’t even share a little soup with a famished Esau without, first, exacting an enormous cost. (Quite the sibling rivalry!) Birthrights were a big deal in the ancient world. Jacob was a selfish sibling! Then, Jacob schemed with his mom to steal his father, Isaac’s, blessing. Isaac was near death and nearly blind. Jacob, dressed in animal skins so he would feel and smell like his brother, Esau, a hairy hunter and man of the fields. The masquerade succeeded. Isaac, intending to bless Esau, was fooled and blessed Jacob, thereby robbing Esau of his rightful inheritance as head of the family clan (it was his right as the oldest son). Esau was stiffed twice. WOW!! I would not have picked Jacob to be on my team!!

However, my judgement is wrong, dead wrong. God picked Jacob. Jacob took his place in the pantheon of Israel’s patriarchs and became incorporated into their psalms and hymnology: “the God of Jacob is our fortress.” Why did God pick Jacob? I have no idea!!

But, wait. If I read on…there certainly are redeeming moments in Jacob’s life. Jacob loved deeply and steadfastly. He slaved for seven years in the field to gain the hand of his first love, Rachael, in marriage. But his uncle Laban gave Jacob some of his own medicine when he deceived him and required that he, first, marry his older daughter, Leah, whom Jacob did not love. It would require an additional seven years of field work to satisfy Laban and grant Jacob’s marriage to Rachael. Wow, fourteen years! What incredible love! [There is only one woman in this world that I would work fourteen years to marry but it only took two years of courtship to get a ”yes” from her Dad. So, I got off easy.]

Jacob also had some bizarre, yet defining, encounters where he demonstrated a genuine reverence for and sensitivity to God’s sovereign rule. Jacob had an Augmented Reality experience long before the Meta headsets were available (the well-known Jacob’s ladder vision – with ascending and descending angels). During this bizarre dream, God’s promise of blessing, previously given to Abraham and Isaac, was now confirmed to Jacob. (Gen 28) “All the families of the earth will bless themselves in you and your descendants.” Jacob’s response was to consecrate an altar, and he assigned it the name, Bethel, “House of God.” Jacob understood that he had had an encounter with the Almighty.

Later, Jacob was also humbled and received a “new name” through an encounter that changed the course of his remaining life. “(Gen 32) He wrestled with an unknown man – called an angel – Jacob would not relent but, in his struggle, his hip was struck and maimed by the opponent; Jacob refused to let go even with the pain of his injury and he begged for the man’s blessing. Jacob limped in pain the rest of his life, a daily reminder of this struggle. Jacob was both broken and blessed by this encounter. Jacob understood God to be present — no need to steal the blessing this time! Jacob said “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story.” The blessing included the change of Jacob’s name to “Israel.” God’s legacy promises to Jacob were repeated — through him God’s eventual blessing would extend to the whole world. We don’t understand encounters like this but this does speak to Jacob’s openness to God’s plan and why Jacob becomes revered by the Jewish nation (Israel).

Despite these encounters, Jacob, though blessed and commissioned, continued his blunders through his remaining years. In fact, the very next day, after the night of struggle, Jacob was to meet Esau after many, many years to reconcile with him for Jacob’s earlier deceit and treachery. Hoping that Esau’s anger had subsided after all this time had passed, Jacob still was a schemer: “with fear and distress” he divided his largesse of family and livestock and sent half of the animals, men, women and children in a procession to meet Esau to test Esau’s intent. If Esau was still angry at Jacob, he would need to thrash through the flocks, family and servants to get to Jacob who hoped that he and the other half might flee to safety before Esau could reach them. Not exactly an act of confidence or bravery after the promises made to Jacob by God the prior night.

What does of all of this mean for us? I have reflected on the Jacob narrative and other scriptures that reference this narrative and although I have more questions than answers, I have a few reflections. Jacob was selfish to a fault, capable of great and vicious deceit, yet capable of great love, sensitive to his encounters with God and, eventually, chosen by God to be a channel of blessing to the world. And… he continued making significant blunders even after those promises had been repeated. We are like Jacob; we repeatedly make bad choices and our hubris makes us think we are right. We have “mountain top” experiences (think of youth camp or special moments where we sense God’s call on our life) — only to return to “our life” and fall back into some of the “same ‘ol, same ‘ol behaviors.” The apostle Paul talks about this struggle in Romans 7:19, “For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.” We are fallen people. God lavished his uncompromising love on Jacob despite his repeated sinful actions; God chose Jacob even though he did not deserve it — that is called “grace.” And, God does exactly the same for us, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” (Eph 2:5)

So, I’m beginning to soften a bit to Jacob. Why? Because I see much of myself in him and I see much of others in him as well. We are capable of great acts of grace and integrity and, at the same time, great deceit, treachery and trampling on the truth. We don’t always love our neighbors as ourselves. Don’t you feel that tension? I certainly do. This conflict of grace and sin pervades families (like Jacob’s clan – and maybe yours?), churches (maybe even WCC?), schools and universities (yes, NPU) and every kind of group or organization that you can name. Our world is unhinged with conflict and poisoned by deception. But, we can take heart, because as the apostle John tells us “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (I Jn 4:4) There is a role for committed followers of Christ, who wish to see kingdom values modeled in our world. We pray it every Sunday, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”

I have never heard anyone use the descriptor “the God of Carl.” But wouldn’t it be wonderful if our lives were so soaked in God’s grace, so steeped in integrity, so gracious in disagreement and so affirming of each person’s common humanity that someone might see God in us and actually think of assigning a tagline like that. If God can transform and bless a compulsive cheater, like Jacob, then he can bless us and work in our lives and families and church and world, in and through us. We, too, are told that we are chosen, just like Jacob, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” [I Peter 2:9] We are called as “little Jacobs” to continue God’s line of blessing to our world. The last mention of Jacob in Scripture is found in Hebrews (11:21). “By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshipped as he leaned on top of his staff.” Recall Jacob’s favoritism for his son, Joseph – his focused love and gift of a special coat, custom-made for Joseph to the exclusion of the other brothers. [You may have thought Jacob would have learned his lesson by then about the impact of favoritism – NO!] This preferential treatment of Joseph resulted in Jacob’s other sons’ sibling hatred of Joseph, selling him into slavery in Egypt where Joseph encountered mistreatment and imprisonment. Through unusual circumstances, Joseph rose to a level of substantial responsibility in the Egyptian government and was in place to save his father, Jacob, and his brothers and their families from a devastating famine. In the Hebrews reference, quoted above, we see Jacob, about to die, struggling to stand because of the ravages of old age and favoring that painful hip as a reminder of his struggle with God and, no doubt, recalling his missteps of the past. He blessed all of Joseph’s sons – no more scheming, no more favoritism, simply blessing “all.” Let’s be like “this Jacob” and be a blessing to all whom we encounter.

“The Lord Almighty is with us, the ‘God of Jacob’ is our fortress.” May we be energized by this promise.

Today’s guest blogger is Carl Balsam. Thank you, Carl!

Others, please send your thoughts along!

“The Lord Almighty is with us, the ‘God of Jacob’ is our fortress.” (Psalm 46 refrain)
During the depths of the Covid hibernation, I adopted Psalm 46 as my “go to” Psalm.
[I commend it to you]. At the same time, in January and February (2020), the WCC
men’s group studied the life of Jacob (via Zoom). I knew the basic story of Jacob but
had never spent much focused time looking at his life. Learning again and reflecting
more seriously about Jacob’s behavior, I pondered why he had the honor of having
his name juxtaposed with God’s name in refrains such as the one above.? [Psalm
46: 7] Jacob also had some bizarre, yet defining, encounters where he demonstrated a
genuine reverence for and sensitivity to God’s sovereign rule. Jacob had an
Augmented Reality experience long before the Meta headsets were available (the
well-known Jacob’s ladder vision – with ascending and descending angels). During
this bizarre dream, God’s promise of blessing, previously given to Abraham and
Isaac, was now confirmed to Jacob. (Gen 28) “All the families of the earth will
bless themselves in you and your descendants.” Jacob’s response was to
consecrate an altar, and he assigned it the name, Bethel, “House of God.” Jacob
understood that he had had an encounter with the Almighty.
Later, Jacob was also humbled and received a “new name” through an encounter
that changed the course of his remaining life. “(Gen 32) He wrestled with an ​
unknown man – called an angel – Jacob would not relent but, in his struggle, his hip
was struck and maimed by the opponent; Jacob refused to let go even with the pain
of his injury and he begged for the man’s blessing. Jacob limped in pain the rest of
his life, a daily reminder of this struggle. Jacob was both broken and blessed by this
encounter. Jacob understood God to be present — no need to steal the blessing this
time! Jacob said “I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story.” The blessing
included the change of Jacob’s name to “Israel.” God’s legacy promises to Jacob
were repeated — through him God’s eventual blessing would extend to the whole
world. We don’t understand encounters like this but this does speak to Jacob’s
openness to God’s plan and why Jacob becomes revered by the Jewish nation
(Israel).

Jacob cheated his brother out of his birthright for a bowl of soup – he couldn’t even
share a little soup with a famished Esau without, first , exacting an enormous cost.
(Quite the sibling rivalry!) Birthrights were a big deal in the ancient world. Jacob was
a selfish sibling! Then, Jacob schemed with his mom to steal his father, Isaac’s,
blessing. Isaac was near death and nearly blind. Jacob, dressed in animal skins so
he would feel and smell like his brother, Esau, a hairy hunter and man of the fields.
The masquerade succeeded. Isaac, intending to bless Esau, was fooled and
blessed Jacob, thereby robbing Esau of his rightful inheritance as head of the family
clan (it was his right as the oldest son). Esau was stiffed twice. WOW!! I would not
have picked Jacob to be on my team!!
However, my judgement is wrong, dead wrong. God picked Jacob. Jacob took his
place in the pantheon of Israel’s patriarchs and became incorporated into their
psalms and hymnology: “the God of Jacob is our fortress.” Why did God pick
Jacob? I have no idea!! But, wait. If I read on…there certainly are redeeming moments in Jacob’s life. Jacob loved deeply and steadfastly. He slaved for seven years in the field to gain the hand of his first love, Rachael, in marriage. But his uncle Laban gave Jacob some of his
own medicine when he deceived him and required that he, first , marry his older
daughter, Leah, whom Jacob did not love. It would require an additional seven years
of field work to satisfy Laban and grant Jacob’s marriage to Rachael. Wow, fourteen
years! What incredible love! [There is only one woman in this world that I would work
fourteen years to marry but it only took two years of courtship to get a ”yes” from her
Dad. So, I got off easy.]

Despite these encounters, Jacob, though blessed and commissioned, continued hisblunders through his remaining years. In fact, the very next day, after the night of
struggle, Jacob was to meet Esau after many, many years to reconcile with him for
Jacob’s earlier deceit and treachery. Hoping that Esau’s anger had subsided after all
this time had passed, Jacob still was a schemer: “with fear and distress” he divided
his largesse of family and livestock and sent half of the animals, men, women and
children in a procession to meet Esau to test Esau’s intent. If Esau was still angry at
Jacob, he would need to thrash through the flocks, family and servants to get to
Jacob who hoped that he and the other half might flee to safety before Esau could
reach them. Not exactly an act of confidence or bravery after the promises made to
Jacob by God the prior night.

What does of all of this mean for us? I have reflected on the Jacob narrative and
other scriptures that reference this narrative and although I have more questions
than answers, I have a few reflections. Jacob was selfish to a fault, capable of great
and vicious deceit, yet capable of great love, sensitive to his encounters with God
and, eventually, chosen by God to be a channel of blessing to the world. And… he
continued making significant blunders even after those promises had been repeated.
We are like Jacob; we repeatedly make bad choices and our hubris makes us think
we are right. We have “mountain top” experiences (think of youth camp or special
moments where we sense God’s call on our life) — only to return to “our life” and fall
back into some of the “same ‘ol, same ‘ol behaviors.” The apostle Paul talks about
this struggle in Romans 7:19, “ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I
do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ” We are fallen people. God lavished his
uncompromising love on Jacob despite his repeated sinful actions; God chose Jacob
even though he did not deserve it — that is called “grace.” And, God does exactly the
same for us , “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God.” (Eph 2:5)
So, I’m beginning to soften a bit to Jacob. Why? Because I see much of myself in
him and I see much of others in him as well. We are capable of great acts of grace
and integrity and, at the same time, great deceit, treachery and trampling on the
truth. We don’t always love our neighbors as ourselves. Don’t you feel that tension? I
certainly do. This conflict of grace and sin pervades families (like Jacob’s clan – and
maybe yours?), churches (maybe even WCC?), schools and universities (yes, NPU)
and every kind of group or organization that you can name. Our world is unhinged
with conflict and poisoned by deception. But, we can take heart, because as the
apostle John tells us “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the​ world.” (I Jn 4:4)

There is a role for committed followers of Christ, who wish to see
kingdom values modeled in our world. We pray it every Sunday , “your kingdom
come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”
I have never heard anyone use the descriptor “the God of Carl.” But wouldn’t it be
wonderful if our lives were so soaked in God’s grace, so steeped in integrity, so
gracious in disagreement and so affirming of each person’s common humanity that
someone might see God in us and actually think of assigning a tagline like that. If
God can transform and bless a compulsive cheater, like Jacob, then he can bless us
and work in our lives and families and church and world, in and through us. We, too,
are told that we are chosen, just like Jacob , “ But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” [I Peter
2:9 ] We are called as “little Jacobs” to continue God’s line of blessing to our world.
The last mention of Jacob in Scripture is found in Hebrews (11:21 ). “By faith,
Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshipped as
he leaned on top of his staff.” Recall Jacob’s favoritism for his son, Joseph – his
focused love and gift of a special coat, custom-made for Joseph to the exclusion of
the other brothers. [You may have thought Jacob would have learned his lesson by
then about the impact of favoritism – NO!] This preferential treatment of Joseph
resulted in Jacob’s other sons’ sibling hatred of Joseph, selling him into slavery in
Egypt where Joseph encountered mistreatment and imprisonment. Through unusual
circumstances, Joseph rose to a level of substantial responsibility in the Egyptian
government and was in place to save his father, Jacob, and his brothers and their
families from a devastating famine. In the Hebrews reference, quoted above, we see
Jacob, about to die, struggling to stand because of the ravages of old age and
favoring that painful hip as a reminder of his struggle with God and, no doubt,
recalling his missteps of the past. He blessed all of Joseph’s sons – no more
scheming, no more favoritism, simply blessing “all.” Let’s be like “this Jacob”
and be a blessing to all whom we encounter.

“The Lord Almighty is with us, the ‘God of Jacob’ is our fortress.” May we be
energized by this promise.

Carl Balsam

When I turned my calendar page to this week, on Sunday after church, I saw that today I would be writing to you.

And I thought it would be some kind of reflection on patriotism and criticism, on the complicated feelings I have right now about being an American; someone who deeply loves the place where she lives and also holds that love in tension with deep grief, sadness and anger about some parts of America’s past and present.

That would have been hard to say in 500 words (it’s hard even to summarize here), but I never thought it would be replaced by another reflection altogether.

Another crisis.

Another shooting.

I never thought I would have to grapple with what to say today specifically because of a mass shooting in our neighborhood.

But here we are. The day after. And I am still largely without words.

I have feelings – boy, do I have feelings. Feelings for days, as one of my friends would say.

I am devastated that six people lost their lives in Highland Park yesterday, and that countless more had their lives changed forever.

I am grieved that people from little babies all the way up to grandparents had to run for cover, and some of them didn’t make it.

I am sad for everyone who is feeling the ripple effects of this trauma today.

I am exhausted. Tired of this grief, which never seems to end; it just changes course as new days bring new headlines and new reasons for sorrow.

But I am also furious.

I am enraged that this keeps happening.

I am livid, that after two years of not being able to celebrate this day together, the year when parades and fireworks were set to resume again got disrupted because of this horrific episode.

And I am angry down to my toes, that it is an episode that keeps repeating itself. Keeps wrecking more lives. Keeps undermining our sense of safety and peace, everywhere from church to school to the hospital to the grocery store to the parade route.

A few weeks ago, I preached about something called the Ecosystem of Sin. I first heard about this concept from Dr. Max Lee of North Park University, at this spring’s Central Conference Annual Meeting.

To summarize what was a very detailed and compelling presentation into a few sentences, ecosystems of sin look like this:

First, individuals make the choice to sin.

Second, their choices combine and contribute to a system where sin is justified and perhaps accelerated.

Third, a “hive mind” takes over those individuals and the system, leading to a cosmic or collective sinfulness, which leads to more sin.

And so on and so forth.

The point being: individual choices matter. But so does the system. Because when someone sins, the system either absorbs it and tolerates it, or comes down hard so that it doesn’t happen again.

I think you can gather which kind of system we live in.

But also, you can see where we have to go, to stop the cycle from repeating itself.

What we have to do differently.

Dr. Lee’s incredible presentation focused on how Jesus defeated sin at the highest level of the ecosystem – the cosmic or collective. But it still left me grappling with what we do on the lower levels; the levels that haven’t perhaps felt their ultimate defeat, but keep getting on just fine for the time being.

These are the levels that we have to work with. The ones we can make a difference at.

Levels of individual choice, and of response.

I trust that many of us do not choose violence as a way to make our point and settle an argument. But what do we do when someone else does? Do we shake our heads, say “that’s one bad apple,” and move on? Or do we lean in, try to learn, and make a difference? Do we advocate for policies that are proven to help prevent gun violence? Do we donate to organizations that are helping? Do we try to connect with others who we don’t agree with, and create connections instead of animosity?

What do we do, in the places where we can act?

I don’t have answers, but I have these questions, and I hope they are some of the right ones to ask.

At any rate, it’s something to think about today.

And tomorrow. And the day after.

yours,

Pastor Jen

P.S. If you need someone to talk with (or take a walk and not talk with!), especially as you process the events of yesterday, please be in touch.