Sacred vs Secular (Lev 8-15)

Were Holy and Worldly meant to be separate? As I reflect on my personal piety it seems I place this divide between the sacred and the secular. I frame my world into two distinct categories... my quiet time is sacred, but listening to world events on the news is secular. My morning and evening prayers are sacred, but going for a run or letting Jillian Michael's punish me on the video screen is secular.  You get the picture. I would venture to guess, your daily experience is similar to mine, and as it is with my own experience... every once in a while, the sacred breaks into the secular life. Something bursts in and disrupts our regular pattern. You are struck by warmth in the greeting of the cashier at McDonald's, or your child embraces you and says "I love you," or you think about something normal in a new way. All these pull back the curtain just a little and remind us that there is a whole lot more going on in the world than we are aware of. What if our lives were never meant to be so fragmented?

In reading Leviticus I am struck by the level of detail in God's instruction for both the "sacred" ordination of priests, and the "secular" care of regular household items. It would seem that laws to protect people for the spread of disease are placed right next to those that govern the worship life of Israel. It strikes me that God was training his people to live an integrated life. Everything is spiritual. While we have come a long way in understanding hygiene and basic health, we seem to have lost the sense that how we interact with everything and everyone has a drastic effect on our relationship with God and our representation of him to the world around us.

Over the past year,  one of our Mission Partners at Radiant has been reaching out to a Jewish family, Steven and Robyn, that lives across the street. Steven was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic  cancer, one of the worst you can have. Lenny, our Mission Partner, took them one of the stained glass angels we give to those in need of prayer. They were so touched by our prayers that they came to thank us. In an effort to make them feel comfortable among us, I prayed in Hebrew on the Sunday's they visited. They remarked at the sense of reverence I had for our roots in Judaism. Over time, they have come to Radiant periodically for prayer, and with each visit the news got better and better. A few weeks ago they came again with news that his cancer numbers had reached remarkably low numbers and they were going to do a surgery that only one in ten thousand with his type and severity of cancer ever get to. They asked me to come and pray for them at the hospital before his surgery. Again, I prayed a simple Hebrew prayer of healing over him and asked God to heal him in the name of Jesus, who fulfilled the Passover, which was to take place two days after the surgery. As far as I know the cancer is gone and the doctors have called his case a miracle. Robyn left me a messages saying that she knew the prayers of Radiant Church made a difference. 

What if God has wanted us to see the sacred in the secular all along? Steven and Robyn are experiencing an in-breaking of the sacred because Lenny was bold enough to invite them for prayer. I am convinced that scriptures teach us about a God who would have us see every circumstance, every interaction, and every opportunity with eyes and hearts tuned into the sacred. God is inviting us to frame the two together, secular and sacred, in such a way that people see the ministry of God in the authority and name of Jesus through our prayers, words, and deeds. May you break free from a fragmented life today and enjoy what God has in store for you.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen  

Reading Plan:

May 3rd – Leviticus 1-4

May 4th – Leviticus 5-7

May 5th – Leviticus 8-10

May 6th – Leviticus 11-13

May 7th – Leviticus 14-15

May 8th – Worship

May 9th – Leviticus 16-18

May 10th – Leviticus 19-21

May 11th – Leviticus 22-23

May 12th – Leviticus 24-25

May 13th – Leviticus 26-27

May 14th – Day off for prayer

Priests & Portions (Lev 5-7)

Its time for my first evaluation as pastor of Radiant Church and I've been reflecting a great deal on what a pastor does. In my evaluation tool there are questions about my leadership, communication, accountability, etc etc... But the ones I am most interested in are those of a more personal nature; "have you personally felt cared for by pastor Jeremey? How?" "How has pastor Jeremey challenged you in your faith journey?" These are the questions that drive me to do a better job because they are deeply relational. While I share skill sets with many other vocations, it is the heart of my vocation to push beyond the content and into the dynamic of living life with people. Further, my vocation calls me to equip those who are part of the community I serve to do the same. In fact, the best evaluation would be to give those same questions to people in the lives of Radiants (My friend and Vision Team member, Chris, calls our Mission Partners... Radiants). "Have you felt cared for by Chris? How?" "How has Chris challenged you to grow in your faith journey?" 

I wonder what it was like for the priests in the Old Testament? Were they able to be pastoral at all? As I read I notice that there are a ton of rules and regulations for preparing, and making sacrifice. Even more rules are devoted to what the priests get to use or keep. It seems there was a sacrifice for every occasion and sin. This means that, over and above the required tithe (means tenth) of giving to God, a given person would have to make any number of sacrifices throughout the year. A particularly sinful person may end up racking up a small fortune of penalties... Wait, this is sounding more and more like our tax system by the minute. Exhibit A extremely complicated requiring a special class of people to interpret; Exhibit B just when you think you are in the clear you discover you owe even more; Exhibit C it feels like you payments go up in smoke (I couldn't help myself on that one). 

In all seriousness the priests must have spent so much time in the sacrificial system, that they were not able to really care for the people or teach them well. when Jesus called us all to be priests, what Martin Luther called the "Priesthood of all Believers," he tore down the curtain that kept us from coming directly to God...

"And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."
Matthew 27: 50-51 


While much of popular culture views a pastor as a priest, we are not. Many ask me to pray for them each day, often joking that I somehow have a direct line, a batphone to God. As a pastor, my vocation is to train the priesthood of all believers to love one another and reach out to those who don't know that God has torn down every barrier between himself and them. 


Each person who puts their full weight on Jesus is a priest and shares in the portion of his sacrifice. That is why Jesus, when acting as a servant and washing the feet of his disciples, says to Peter "unless I wash you you have no portion with me" (John 13). May we seek to serve the world as priests of Jesus and those who share in the portion of his inheritance. 


In Jesus' Name,
Amen

Ruts (Lev 1-4)

Okay, so I've been in a rut and haven't posted in some time. Now before you say "what, the pastor hasn't been doing his devotions?" let me say that pastors are just like everybody else.  Pastors get into ruts all time. Sometimes its preaching, or leadership, or taking time with their family... In my recent experience the perfect storm of the family flu, Easter, and followup from Easter have taken their toll on my posts. Well, its time to dust myself off and get back into a healthy flow of life. I went for my prayer run this morning, which largely consists of me praying that I survive my prayer run as a gasp for each breath, and I am ready to face a new season.


We are starting Leviticus today. I know what you are thinking.... oh no not the boring laws... there is part of me that response the same way. But from these laws we see Jesus, the need for his death and resurrection, and we gain a deeper understanding how our faith is related to the Jewish faith of those who came before us. Leviticus (of the Levites in Greek) or Wayiqra (and YHWH [God's name] called in Hebrew) is the third book of the Torah (also called Pentateuch) and was most likely written in its final form in the 6-5 century BCE, right about the time that God's people were going into captivity in Babylon. In it we find guidelines on living as the holy people of God, given to the people do frame their relationship with God.  It is largely case law on the first three of the ten Commandments in Exodus 20. In other words, this book is designed to help people be mindful of God in all aspects of life and live in such a way that the cultures around them know that they are different.


Being a father has really helped me understand how God parented his people Israel at this time, and how he parents us as well. My son Gabriel needs a clear set of structures... If he does A, then B will happen. If I don't follow through on B, then there is a whole host of other capital letters conspiring in his little mind to emerge. One need only spend time with any toddler to know that, at the core, humanity is sinful and disobedient. Groups of people grow in similar ways to children. Israel was an infant nation needing clear guidelines on how to live.  God had claimed this people and made it abundantly clear to the world through the Exodus that this rag-tag group of nomads was his. His adopted infant needed to learn what it meant to represent him in the world. This was his plan all along, that this people would be the line through which God would bring the whole world into the orbit of his love through Jesus. 


In Leviticus 1-4 we are introduced to the official sacrificial code. Burnt offerings and grain offerings, fellowship offerings and sin offerings, all sorts of offerings for people to maintain their covenant relationship with God. The bottom line is this. Jesus fulfills all of these in such a way that they never need to be repeated. This system was intended to remind the people of their sinfulness and the need for God's grace and mercy to forgive their sin. The sacrifice of the animal represented an economic reminder that disobedience is costly. As they laid their hands upon the head of an animal and slaughtered it, they were also reminded that they justly deserve death for their wrongdoing. Hebrews 10 is a helpful tool in understanding Jesus role as the ultimate sacrifice...


"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."     
Hebrews 10:1-4


God still wants us, as his adopted children to look different from the world around us. That is done differently today than it was thousands of years ago. There are times in our life when we need the clear instruction to keep us looking different from the world around us. In Jesus we are feed to live past the minimum requirements. We are freed to love God, and our neighbor not by the compulsion of rules, but because of gratitude for the sacrifice made once and for all on our behalf. In this way, it is time for us to grow-up in grace and live outwardly the calling of the Gospel to share God's love with those around us.


In Jesus' Name,
Amen