New Rules

So – with more screens in the house and more options for screen time, this is an outline of some basics as to how to access that screen time.

Aside from the regular rules about jobs around the house and limits on time … there is a new rule being instituted for access to screens.  You gotta’ write!  That’s right – you gotta write!  An online “blog” has been opened for you.  Each day you must write between two and five pargraphs (or more if you choose) to gain screen access.  If you do not do so, you will lose screen priveleges the following day.

Some suggestions as to what to write …  Write about your day – what did you like, not like.  Write about a favourite song or show.  Write about a funny incident.  Write about a sports team or athletic competition.  Write about something in the news or something you saw coming home from school. 

If your writing is particularly impressive, that is, if you can creatively express what you have experienced, what you feel or if you can craft a great story – you will be rewarded with extra screen time.

You must write at least 5 days per week.

Here is how you access your blog.

Go to www.wordpress.com  – choose “login” - enter username “wiebelog” and password “icedogs”.  Aidan choose blog “slider99.wordpress.com”, also called “Leave the Room”.  Matthew choose blog maxsqueek.wordpress.com, also called “maxsqueeks”.  Write your daily contribution in the “post” area, check it over and then click “publish”.  Your blog will be checked for posts each evening before 8pm.  If a post is present then screen priveleges will be available for the following day.

SEE YOU ONLINE!

NEW BLOG Topics

As we move into 2009 … as all kinds of change happens in the United States, as the world faces economic uncertainty … as the Christian church finds its way in this new landscape …
We are changing the focus on this blog …
We will still be delivng into Scripture, but we will do so within the context of a larger consideration of culture. That is, we will work in line with some of what is happening in services and messages at Sutherland Church. Right now at Sutherland we are considering the question – what does it mean to have faith in Post-Christian World (culture)? We have entered into this question with an examination of the time of the exile in Christian Scripture. You can begin to consider our approach by taking a listen to some of the sermon material on this website and starting next week we will have on this blog, further scriptural reflections.
For now, consider the concept of a Post-Christian world. What we have been saying at Sutherland is that faith in such a world need not be anemic or hostile. Rather, we have this opportunity to live a renewed faith without being annoying or weird. So, as we begin this consideration, take some time to notice expressions of faith around you and in the media. For example, did you hear the two prayers from the Presidential Inauguration earlier this week? How did they differ? How did they reflect an awareness or lack thereof of the culture today? For reading, you might want to read any or all of 2 Kings 25, Lamentations 1 and any or all of Isaiah 40-48. We will be delving into some of this material in this blog.
Take Good Care,

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/many-nods-to-jesus-and-one-to-non-believers/

 

Todd

The Saddest Verses

Genesis 6
The Flood
1 When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with [a] man forever, for he is mortal [b] ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

9 This is the account of Noah.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress [c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. [d] 16 Make a roof for it and finish [e] the ark to within 18 inches [f] of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Genesis 7
1 The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven [a] of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

5 And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. [b] , [c] 21 Every living thing that moved on the earth perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

It is good, I suppose to read the entire story of Noah and the ark – much of it is here, though some of the best parts are in verses that follow. Even after finishing the story, though, it is hard to forget the section near the beginning of chapter 6. Verses 5 – 7 of chapter 6 may just be the saddest verses in all of Scripture. God saw the wickedness of humanity, saw that the human heart had become inclined to “only evil all the time” – and God’s heart was filled with pain – and God was grieved that he had made humanity.

How tough can it get? I think that these verses dispel the myth that things have become so much worse now than ever before. However bad things might be right now, I don’t think we can yet say “only evil, all the time”. Also – our concept of the character of God is challenged – here we see God as moved. God, we are told, is experiencing pain. This is the saddest part of the section, but the most hopeful, too.
As I write this we are right in the middle of the Christmas season. I see, the connection between the pain God felt then, and the response not in the flood onlly, but more than that, in Jesus Christ himself.
Once again – once we have seen the first Christmas, we never have to wonder again what God thinks of us.

How old?

So, give a quick read of Genesis 5 and into chapter 6 (I won’t paste it here, you have to find it yourself). Questions, right? Adam – 930 years, Seth 912, Enosh 905, Kenan 910, 895, 962 – and then a 365. Did Enoch who “walked with God” get a bit of a raw deal living almost 600 years less than his predecessors? At the end of the chapter there is this note that bridges us to the Noah’s ark story … “After Noah was 500 years old he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.”
If you look ahead into chapter 7 you see that it wasn’t until 100 years later that the ark was built. Noah was 600 years old. How do you draw 600 years old when telling the story to kids?
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
I ask myself whether anyone would want to live for 962 years – when is retirement? How huge would the RRSP’s have to be to save for 898 years of maintaining the lifestyle that you are used to?
Some hints at the big questions …
God says that he will limit the number of days for people on earth – to 120 years – which, as it turns out is pretty much still about as long as anyone gets these days.
I am reminded as well that the first 11 chapters of Genesis are what has been referred to as “pre-history” – in other words, not quite like things are now – the time frames, the years, all of that – it is pretty tough to draw equivalents to today. Anyway, next time – on to the flood.

From Cain to Noah

^{GE 4:13} Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴ Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

^{GE 4:15} But the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

^{GE 4:17} Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

^{GE 4:19} Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. ²² Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

^{GE 4:23} Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;

wives of Lamech, hear my words.

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for injuring me.

^{GE 4:24} If Cain is avenged seven times,

then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

^{GE 4:25} Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” ²⁶ Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD.

The very first family and so far what we have is murder, deceit, loss and pain.  As I write this in local news we heard about a family who lost two young boys in a car accident.  The Mom was driving a minivan that broke down in the HOV lane.  A car (with only one person inside) ran into the van and the two young boys were rushed to hospital and later died. 

I read about Eve and see that with Abel’s death and Cain’s exile, she is left without her two boys.  And then we hear of Seth later in the chapter.  So how, again do we see God’s goodness here?  The whole thing seems to have started out of trying to please God, but ends up with murder and exile.  God, does demonstrate some mercy in not exercising an “eye for an eye” in the very first capital case – this is at the least, interesting.  And then, in the end, Eve speaks of God’s goodness with the birth of a child.  Maybe we will withhold judgement and just keep reading.  Maybe after the list of generations in chapter 5, chapter 6 will be much easier to understand ….   maybe?

Why does it have to get so sad, so early?

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel

 1 Adam ^[a] lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. ^[b] She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth ^[c] a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
      Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” ^[d] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
      ”I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

 10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

 13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

 15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so ^[e] ; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, ^[f] east of Eden.

 17 Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

 19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of ^[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

 23 Lamech said to his wives,
       “Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
       wives of Lamech, hear my words.
       I have killed ^[h] a man for wounding me,
       a young man for injuring me.

 24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
       then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

 25 Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, ^[i] saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
      At that time men began to call on ^[j] the name of the LORD.

 

Sure, this chapter ends okay … “At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord”.  There is so much before that, though, that is troublesome and sad.  Right after the chapter on the fall, on sin coming into this world, the judgements that God spoke – now we have this.  I suppose that it is important to remember that without sin, this chapter would not be here.  WIthout sin Cain would not have killed Abel.

What makes me so sad, though is not only the distrust and hatred and murder.  What makes me sad is that little note early in the chapter where we are told that the Lord had no regard (no favour) for Cain’s offering.

I see the place that this leaves us in – if we feel that we are abandoned or rejected by God.  What do we do then?  How was Cain to respond to this situation?  I hear his question – “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  and I think of how strained, how impossible it was for either Abel or for Cain to know what responsibility or care meant.  Abel tried, I suppose, to care for Cain when he cautioned him against sin.  And Cain’s sin is not Abel’s fault.   Put it this way – I am glad that this chapter is not the last word on sin, judgement or forgiveness.  If this chapter was all I knew of God, well then …

But it is not all I know of God.  My first understanding of who God is comes through a consideration of who Jesus is.  This chapter – truth be told, could stand a little bit of Jesus.

Maybe then things would be different.  People started to call upon the name of the Lord, but the call and the name even, for me at least, can only be clear in the light of Jesus Christ.

The Kindness of God

22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side ^[a] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Right after the hard words, the outlined consequences of sin, God cares for Adam and Eve.  Eve is given a name, “mother of all living”, and then God makes garments for Adam and for Eve.  I see the way of things here.  This is not the way it is supposed to be, yet in this fallen world, God is caring for them, loving them.  In this act, God is entering the fallen-ness of humanity already.  And in this we see the pre-figuring of Jesus Christ.

So this day, I consider how in an imperfect, fallen world, God is expressing his love and care for us.  Even in the midst of our stubborness, our self-centredness, God shows his love.

Some questions from the text as well …  There seems to be another instance of the trinity in focus here in verse 22 “the man has become like one of ‘us’”.  Aside from the notes on the knowledge of good and evil, this is interesting in and of itself.  Indeed, there is a lot packed into these three verses.

Not the Way it is Supposed to Be

Back Blogging …  and now we will pick up the pace as we move through Genesis …

Today’s Reading … Genesis 3:13-19

13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said,^(A) “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 14The LORD God said to the serpent,

   ”Because you have done this,
   cursed are you above all livestock
   and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
   and^(B) dust you shall eat
   all the days of your life.
15I will put enmity between you and the woman,
   and between your offspring^[a] and^(C) her offspring;
^(D) he shall bruise your head,
   and you shall bruise his heel.”

 16To the woman he said,

   ”I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
   ^(E) in pain you shall bring forth children.
^(F) Your desire shall be for^[b] your husband,
   and he shall^(G) rule over you.”

 17And to Adam he said,

   ”Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
   and have eaten of the tree
^(H) of which I commanded you,
   ’You shall not eat of it,’
^(I) cursed is the ground because of you;
   ^(J) in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
   and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19By the sweat of your face
   you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
   for out of it you were taken;
^(K) for you are dust,
   and^(L) to dust you shall return.”

 

This is, to be sure, a tough passage of Scripture, the result of the fall, the consequence of sin.  It has the feel of pain, strained relationship to it – the whole passage describes things as they were not supposed to be.  When I read it words stand out to me, words like “enmity”.  There will be enmity between the snake and the woman, and this is not the way it was supposed to be – enmity between creation and humanity.  God says “I will increase your pangs (your pains) …”  How are we to take this?  I don’t at this point, try to figure it out, I hold it in my thoughts – I mourn over it.  This is not the way it is supposed to be.  Even the ground is cursed because of the sin of the people – that is plain to see – then and now.  And work becomes “toil”.

This is truly the fall, and we see the consequences then and now – we will see them in the stories that follow in this book.  The promise, though, is – that if we read this passage with Christ in mind – we can begin to see again how it WAS supposed to be.  Those words, “enmity”, “desire”, “rule over”, “toil”, … they all change in light of Jesus.

AMEN

It Really is ALL Your Fault

^{GE 3:8} Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

^{GE 3:10} He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

^{GE 3:11} And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

^{GE 3:12} The man said, “The woman you put here with me–she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

^{GE 3:13} Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 

As long as I can blame someone else, I keep them at a distance – relationship is hindered then, intimacy is impossible.  This scene in the garden is played out everyday in every home, every work place and to the highest halls of power.  It is elegant in its destructiveness.  “My problem is your fault.  My choice is due to your manipulation.”  Thinking politically this week in history – “It is the fault of the godless liberals.” or “All of this is because of the stupid Christian Right”.  It is a cautious line we walk because sometimes my desire to have someone else see their culpability in their own situation is not actually virtue.  I need to consider how I am so quick to blame others.  Sometimes after a lunch meeting with a friend or a conversation about things that matter, I can think to myself sarcastically – “There.  Now we’ve solved all of the problems of the world – and the problems are all due to other people.”  Our conversation can be like this.  Think today of how many times you have pointed out to a friend, family member or co-worker just how something that is wrong in the world is the fault of someone else.  Welcome to the garden after the fall.

 

Next post next Wednesday or Thursday.

The first separation

Read – Genesis chapter 3

The fall of humanity.   We were supposed to be higher than sin and blame and separation – this is truly the fall of humanity.  But the story seems so simple, and even trite.  Don’t get thrown off by that.  The sorrow in this story is immense.  Notice where a breakdown of relationship is marked – God speaking to Adam and Eve, but the relationship has deteriorated due to the decisions of Adam and Eve.  Mark this sorrow, hold this sorrow, even pray over this sorrow.  Sure, we are in many ways very far removed from this scene, but the truth of it is still everywhere around us – this is not the way it is supposed to be.  We are supposed to be in perfect relationship with one another and with God, but brokeness, distrust, blame and lies are all around and are too often present in our own lives.  We seek to protect ourselves often at the expense of others.  We live afraid of God, hiding – rather than finding life in relationship with Him.