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Presbyterians believe in predestination. Many people think that this means that everything that happens is God’s will. This weekend our minister explained that, among other things, it has to do with the nature of time. No matter where we are, no matter when we are, God will already be there when we get where we are going.
This was an especially valuable message this weekend. I had just gotten a message from a dear friend. Her husband had a massive heart attack. He was in a coma in the hospital. The prognosis was not good.
God was there too. He was there with my friend. He was there with her husband. He was there with the medical staff.
I never know what to pray at times like this. I know I’m expected to pray for healing. And that would be really great. People tell me that they are praying for miracles. That’s awesome too.
But is telling God what I want to happen actually prayer? I don’t know. Admittedly, I do it.
I believed all along that God was there with them. But understanding that he was predestined to be there with them made prayer easier. Hold them in the palm of your hand. Ease her heart. Speak into the hearts of the care team. Shield them in love.
Amen.
Even now, as my friend deals with her husband’s passing, I know that God is already there. He is with her. He is with their sons. He is with us all as we cook and clean and sit and listen while she tells stories about this kind, quiet man who will be missed by many.
God is already there.
–SueBE
Does your church seek to be welcoming to others? Or do you set up a dichotomy between members vs nonmembers? This can happen in so many ways, and often it is entirely unintentional.
My community is very Catholic. Whenever a group says the Lords Prayer, they get to “forgive us. . .” and then there is pause. Which will it be, debtors or trespasses? We Presbyterians say “debtors” while our Catholic neighbors go the trespasses route.
Why don’t we say it the same way? The Lord’s Prayer or, as Lori calls it, the Our Father is found in Matthew (6:9-13). In the original Greek, the word is opheiletes which translates as debts. Verse 14 includes the Greek paraptoma which translates as trespasses. Unless you read Biblical Greek, you are reading a translations. As soon as we start to look at who translated what when, we see it bounce back and forth between debtors and trespasses.
- 1395 Wycliff made the first English translation of the Bible. He used debtors.
- 1526 The Tyndale translation followed and he used trespasses.
- 1549 Book of Common Prayer still used trespasses.
- 1611 And with the King James Bible we are back to debtors.
So which word is better? I would argue that they are simply different because . . . they are at least in Engligh. Trespasses means someone has crossed a line. Debtors implies that someone owes you.
My own feeling isn’t that one is better than the other. I think that a lot of which one is used has to do with belonging. If you belong here, you say trespasses. If you belong there, you say debtors. And if you get it wrong, everyone is going to know that you aren’t one of us.
I’m really conscious of this right now because my son’s girlfriend has been going to church with us. I don’t want her to feel like an outsider. Which begs the question, why should anyone feel like an outsider?
Christ ate with tax collectors. He welcomed lepers. He empowered the people who were outcasts and unwanted. I hope we can manage to make people feel welcome whether we say debtors or we say trespasses.
–SueBE
As we cohabitate with another congregation, those of us who were the most active in moving our congregation are finding it hard to turn off. Lately we’ve been eying things that need painting, restaining, and . . . that! That right there! Those weeds need to go.
As is the case with many large buildings, this one has numerous exits. I’m not joking when I tell you that I can think of at least 10. I’ve probably missed a few because not every exit is in use. Part of the reason for this is that the plant-life around a few has taken over.
We were making plans to cut back the weeds that surrounded at least two doors when the silly things bloomed. Black-eyed Susans! I’m not sure who went to the trouble of establishing these particular flowers but it is awesome to look down the length of the building and see them in bloom.
Sure, the area right around the doors themselves needs to be cleared. If someone has to go out that way, they are going to get their foot caught and do a face plant. But think about the hard feelings we would have created if we had helpfully ripped up someone’s flowers!
Yes, our help is needed. But we need to be sure to touch base with people before we get to work. If we don’t, we are likely to step on someone’s toes.
It doesn’t matter what the situation is. When you are the new kid, you aren’t going to be up on the local culture. This might be corporate culture or actual ethnic culture. While being new can make it easier to spot things that need doing, it is just as important to know that your weeds may be another person’s Black-eyed Susans. You may be where God wants you to be, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t there to learn a thing or two from God’s children who are already present.
–SueBE
I’ve always loved this verse. That’s why I made the photo badge to share on our church’s Facebook page. But I love it even more now that our minister has explained it to us.
I don’t know about you, but I know a lot of people who are going through tough times. A massive tree branch fell on a friend’s house and cracked a rafter. Her husband is having surgery today to reconstruct the tendons and ligaments in his ankle. Someone else is in recovery. The ceiling in another friend’s garage collapsed. And the list goes on. And on. And on.
Sadly, we aren’t promised easy times simply because we follow Christ. But we are promised that He will be with us.
That’s part of the promise Christ makes in this verse. He isn’t saying that your yoke will be easy. Or my yoke will be easy. Nope. It is his yoke.
Remember that a yoke links two animals together. It means that the power and the muscle available to do a job is that of not one but two animals. Sometimes one is more powerful than the other and the yoke is fashioned so that the more powerful animal has more of the load.
Think about that for a minute. Each of us is yoked to Christ. Yes, we are directed to do God’s work on Earth, but we aren’t doing it alone. We are doing it with Christ and that’s going to make our jobs lighter. After all, I think we all realize who is the more powerful being in this pairing.
Add to this the fact that Christ was a carpenter. Biblical carpenters didn’t build cabinets or lay floors. They created household goods and agricultural implements including yokes. A yoke had to be carefully crafted to fit both animals. Rough spots needed to be smoothed to prevent injury. Each yoke was handcrafted and custom made.
The yoke that you share with Christ? It was made for you. And Christ is right there alongside you. There will be work. There will be toil. But Christ is right there with us lightening our burdens.
–SueBE
“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1 (NRSV)
On the 4th of July, we often spend a great deal of time talking about freedom. We have freedom of speech. We have freedom to assemble.
But we also have freedom in Christ. Above is one of my favorite verses about this freedom. I especially love that reminder. “Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
According to my reading, Paul was most likely talking about slavery to church law. Not that the laws of God are bad or evil or misguided.
People on the other hand? We are constantly misguided. We take something wonderful, like freedom, and make it into a task with checklists and a burden that is so great we need to be yoked together to shift it.
How do we do this when it comes to freedom? The one way that I can think of is when we make our freedom someone else’s burden. This can happen in any number of ways such as when we feel the need to point out to oh so many people that we think they are wrong. Their ideas are wrong. The way they dress is wrong. Hey! Hey, you! You shouldn’t have said that. It was wrong.
And I have to admit that the more I think about it, it isn’t just them that we are burdening but also ourselves. There’s a reason that Paul warned the people of Galatia about picking up that yoke. It is human nature to want to be right, to fit in, and to belong.
On the 4th, as my back patio is adrift in university students, I’m going to practice hospitality. “Welcome! I’m so happy to see you! Please, get yourself a plate. There is plenty for everyone.”
Whether you make it to my back yarn or not, if you celebrate, have a Blessed Fourth of July!
–SueBE
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