“We are sitcom people serving the God of epic novels.”
– Jared Wilson, Your Jesus is Too Safe
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“I am has sent me to you”
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
– Exodus 3:13-14
I’m starting a teaching series in College and Young Singles this weekend on the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus in the book of John. I can’t wait and I hope it goes well. I’m going to start with the passage above, as an introduction, with it’s surrounding context.
There’s so much here. So much. Two things jump out at me on just a cursory re-reading of this passage.
1. The people of Israel are truly without a shepherd. They feel abandoned, and they have no foundation, They don’t really know the God of their fathers very well. Moses is concerned, and he needs a name.
Does that speak to you? How alone are you in the universe when God is such a stranger to you? But even in their loneliness and desperation the Hebrews have cried out to the God they barely knew, and He has heard them.
2. In answer to the “What’s your name?” question, God answers “I am who I am”. I don’t have anything very profound to say here, other than just to say that God is cool. And I don’t mean cool in the acid-washed, frosted tips, ipod buds in your ears, shirt untucked, tat with a gotee way. I mean it in the “when I read that, my jaw drops and I say ‘wow . . . that’s cool'” way. God said “I AM”, because what better way is there to describe the eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, creator-God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End? He is. And because He is, we are.
And the sooner we acknowledge that, the better.
I’m looking forward to this.
Redemption Comes Upon You
Blake and I are watching the Chronicles of Narnia. We just watched the scene where Father Christmas comes upon the children and the Beavers in the wood beyond the frozen field.
I’m such a sap . . . I found myself misting up as Lucy looked with joy upon the bringer of gifts. Redemption came upon them suddenly, and in that moment they were granted the tools they needed to persevere. A dagger, a bow, a sword, a horn to bring help, a healing elixir.
That spoke to me.
Beauty that I read today
Nastasya Filippovna turned with curiosity to Myshkin.
“Is that true?” she asked.
It’s true,” whispered Myshkin.
“Will you take me as I am, with nothing?”
“I will, Nastasya Filippovna.”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot
Be Thou My Vision
This is the wonderful hymn Be Thou My Vision in Gaelic.
[Hat Tip: Sherry (who also has a lot more on Be Thou My Vision at her place)]
More wildness
More posts that strike themes similar to my last post:
Russell Moore, as quoted at The Spyglass:
Where the Wild Things Are isn’t going to be a classic movie the way it is a classic book. But the Christian discomfort with wildness will be with us for a while. And it’s the reason too many of our children find Maurice Sendak more realistic than Sunday school.
Too many of our Bible study curricula for children declaw the Bible, excising all the snakes and dragons and wildness. We reduce the Bible to a set of ethical guidelines and a text on how gentle and kind Jesus is. The problem is, our kids know there are monsters out there. God put that awareness in them.
They’re looking for a sheep-herding dragon-slayer, the One who can put all the wild things under His feet.
My friend Danielle, up on her soapbox:
During class we were supposed to get in groups and discuss what we thought kids need to know by that stage in their lives, and honestly, I was kind of appalled by the answers I heard. I mean at face-value they were all okay answers, but they just really struck me as complete garbage.
Here are some of the first ones I heard…
– actions speak louder than words
– how to be a good person
– how to be obedient
I mean seriously, are you kidding me?! One girl had the audacity to call me “harsh” because I said that they need to know that they are sinners. How can anyone have an appreciation or understanding of salvation without first knowing what sin is and that they are a sinner?
. . .
I guess the reason it frustrated me so much was because I was thinking of my own (future/potential) children. I don’t want my ten/eleven/twelve year old thinking that “being a good person” or being “obedient” means anything without having a personal, intimate relationship with Christ. I mean sure, I want obedient children ;), but in the grand scheme of things that would not be on the top of my list.
My group mentioned Jesus once (minus my submissions) . And the one time they mentioned Him, the exact words were “…to know Jesus died on a cross”. Seriously, that was it. No explanation of His life and why He had to die on a cross, no emphasis on salvation or the Gospel…just flat historical facts.
. . .
I’m not saying every church should try to scare their kids, or anything like that, but if the thought of Hell scares them…well, it should! Children can be taught all kinds of things as long as they are taught in love and kindness. Give kids the opportunity to understand, instead of withholding Truth from them. Offer them the whole Gospel, not just cartoons or cut-and-dry facts. I know I probably sound like some hardcore beat-truth-into-them type of lady, but I hate the thought of kids wasting what can be the most influential years of growth on pointless trivia or partial Truth.
I appreciate this on so many levels
A great band, from Supernatural, a superb album.
And this hits me, on so many levels.
(does anyone else pick up the heavy Pink Floyd influence in the bridge?)
My reminder to myself
In Christ alone my hope is found.
Bam!
I haven’t read Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz, but Sherry posted this quote from it and . . . well, Bam!
“The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is a story about me.”
Seeking first
My notes on Matthew 6:19-34 are here. I was privileged to teach on this today.
Being a fully integrated citizen of God’s kingdom frees us from the rat-race that the human race has been frantically running since the Fall. Here Jesus offers a beautiful promise: if we will be about God’s work and Kingdom living, and will make those things our focus, we will be free from anxiety. The Lord will provide.
So true, though it’s tough to live like it.