I too have been more and more fascinated by the descriptions of the tabernacle. This slightly naff but detailed video gives another insight into how it may have looked and worked for the people of God under Moses.The Tabernacle scale model
The Greatest Story Ever Told: The Whole Bible – The Grand Finale from St James Church on Vimeo.
Part 4 in the Whole Bible Series. The Greatest Story Ever Told – the Whole Bible: The Grand Finale.
James Leach speaking in Gerrards Cross on Sunday 31st January 2010 in part 4 of a series of four talks giving an overview of the Bible.
We know that the disciples weren’t always the brightest bunch and sometimes that comes as a relief: If Jesus was patient with them, then there is hope for me! But today’s reading from Matthew contains a little bombshell: Jesus re-iterates what God’s plan for marriage is: a man and a woman become one flesh and are committed to each other for life. To which the disciples reply: “Well, if we cannot get rid of a wife in the way that Moses allowed, then maybe it’s better not to get married!”
What a jaded view of marriage! How “modern”!
As Christians we believe in the gift of life-long marriage. We know that by God’s grace we can stay together through ups and downs. The deep love between a couple who have grown old together is one of the most beautiful gifts of God this side of eternity. Not surprising that the Bible often compares the relationship between God and us with marriage.
And maybe it is not a coincidence that the passage preceding Jesus’ teaching on marriage talks about forgiveness: Forgiveness is not an option, it is a necessity – if we want any relationship to endure. Jesus offers us unconditional forgiveness and he is asking us to follow his example – not at all easy and quite countercultural.
Who do I need to forgive today?
When Abraham’s father Terah dies, God speaks to Abraham: “Go to the land I will show you…” (Gen 12:1). Abraham is 75 years old. No graceful retirement after his father’s death, but a new departure with an uncertain destination.
Throughout history, God continues to be creative, to do new things, to shape people’s lives in unexpected ways. When Jesus bursts onto the scene and begins to preach, his teaching is radically fresh and new and challenging: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” (Mat 5). Everyone around Jesus understands: this is new, this is different – whether they agree with him or not.
At the same time, the ministry of Jesus Christ was prepared by God through the centuries and was always part of his overarching plan to bring us back into a relationship with him: “God’s faithful, changeless love is manifested in changing, surprising ways.” (Daniel Migliore)
During these first six days I have already been amazed at how reading the Old and New Testament in parallel helps me to see connections, and I look forward to many more of those moments.
What are the new things God wants to do in our lives and in our church in 2010? Some things we know, others we are beginning to grasp. But there will be many surprises. Are we going to be ready, when God says: “Go!”? Can we say to Jesus today: “I am ready for the new things you want to do in my life this year. I am excited about your plans with me – even if I don’t know where I will be in a year’s time. Bring it on, God!”
And let’s look back with thankfulness, trace God’s activity in our lives and – based on God’s story with us so far – take bold new steps in 2010: He is the same faithful, creative, loving, challenging God that Jesus proclaimed!
Bring it on, God!
I, like so many others I have spoken to this week I am so excited about our Bible In A Year Adventure. I am praying that as we persist throughout the year that we will become what The Message translation of Psalm I says:
“…you thrill to God’s word, you chew on Scripture day and night. You’re a tree replanted in Eden, bearing fresh fruit every month, never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.”
What a great image for a disciple of Christ and for a church!
I love to read Walter Brueggemann. He is an Old testament scholar with a particularly refreshing perspective on the great themes of scripture. His commentary on Genesis has come off my shelf again as we track through this extraordinary book. As James said, Genesis 1-11 is a key section of scripture and then as we meet Abraham and see the covenant relationship develop from Genesis 12 onwards it seems as if salvation history has really got under way.
I would love to share some thematic thoughts from Brueggemann that I hope will be stimulating. They help us understand the deep mystetry of who we are as creatures who live and move and have their being in the God of the eternity revealed in scripture.
Creator and created…
“First, the creator has a purpose and a will for creation. The creation exisits only because of that will. The creator continues to address the creation, calling it into faithful response and glad obedience to his will. The creation has not been turned loose on its own. It has bot been abandoned. Nor has it been given free reign for its own inclinations. But the purposes of the creator are not implemented in a coercive way, not imposed as a tyrant might. The creator loves and respects the creation. The freedom of the creation is taken seriosuly by the creator. Therefore, his sovereign rule is expressed in terms of faithfulness, patience and anguish.
Second, the creation, which exists only because of and for the sake of creator’s purpose, has freedom to respond to the creator in various ways. As the texts indicate, the response of the creation to the creator is a mixture of faithful obedience and recalcitrant self-assertion. Both are present, though the negative response tends to dominate the narrative….”
Science, creation and proclamation…
Brueggemann suggests that Genesis was written to an Israelite diaspora in 600BC and he reflects on how they should and might have read the creation accounts….
“In interpreting this text, the listening community must speak its own language of confession and praise, which is not the language of ’scientific history’ nor the language of ‘mythology and rationalism’. Neither holds promise for hearing this text….[We] must recognise that what we have in this text is proclamation. The poem does not narrate how it happened….Israel is concerned with God’s Lordly intent, not his technique… The text proclaims a newness which places the world in a situation that did not previously exist. It is news about a transaction which redefines the world. The known world, either of chaos or of management, now becomes a new world surging with the mystery of God’s gracious empowering speech. For that reason, it is important to hear this text as a declaration of the gospel….The good news is that life in God’s well-ordered world can be joyous and grateful response.
The revealed heart of God in the story of Noah…
Genesis 6:6 “…shows us the deep pathos of God. God is not angered but grieved. He is not enraged but saddenned. God does not stand over against but with his creation. Tellingly, the pain he bequeathed to the woman in Gen 3:16 is now felt by God. Ironically, the word ‘grieve’ is not only the same as that used for the sentence on the woman, but is also used for the state of toil from which Noah will deliver humanity. The evil heart of humankind troubles the heart of God. This is indeed ‘heart to heart’ between humankind and God. How it is between humankind and God touches both parties. As Ernst Wurthein suggests, it is God who must say ‘I am undone’.”
God expresses his reationship with Noah as a covenant relationship. It is a relationship in which both parties are intimatley intertwined by consent. Genesis 8:22 expresses God’s overflowing covenant heart. He is with us. He is for us. He is calling us back to himself. In the story of Noah we witness the anguish of God, the evil of man, the righteousness of one man through whom salvation may spring, the holiness and power of God and ultimately new hope, redemption and a new promise. All these forshadow the ultimate saving act of Christ who died once, for all. The only spotless lamb who gave himself up and emerged not from an ark but a tomb. He ushered in the new and everlasting covenant in which we have unfettered access to the God who created us by grace and the blood of Jesus.
We read on…!
St James podcasts
One Year Bible-NIV-Compact
One Year Bible-NIV-Compact
One Year Bible-NLT-Compact
One Year Bible-Nlt (One Year Bible: New Living Translation-2) 