Big Numbers

   Clearly the writers of the Book of Chronicles loved big numbers.  We have encountered many of them in our reading this past week.  Quoting King David's account of preparations for building of the temple:
    "With great pains I have provided for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, and bronze and iron beyond weighing, for there is so much of it, . . ."  1 Chronicles Ch. 22, vs. 14.
It is not just about money and supplies; people are counted, too.  In  arranging for the ministry of the Levites in the temple, David accounts for the service of  38,000 men:
      24,000 are assigned to priestly duties,
       6,000 are judges and administrators,
       4,000 manage temple security,
       4,000 are responsible for music, (that's a big choir!)
More big numbers!  Scholars wonder if they are meant literally or metaphorically.  The best answer seems to be both, in different ways and places.


The thirst for numbers also led David into some deep waters:
   "Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to number Israel." 1 Chronicles Ch. 21, vs. 8.
And so he counted over one million, one hundred thousand men in Israel, to the north, and four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah, to the south, who were capable of bearing arms.  That's an impressive military machine even by today's standards.
   But God was displeased with this, we are told.   Numbers have their uses, but when they obscure, or supersede the truth of the Living God, they have strayed beyond their bounds.
   In consequence, seventy thousand of them died before the plague was halted, and David spent six hundred shekels of gold to purchase the site on which the ark of the covenant could come to rest.


   What meaning should we draw from all these numbers?  The lesson David learned was: "All things come from Thee, O Lord, and of Thine own have we given Thee." 1 Chronicles Ch. 29, vs. 14.
   What about you?



Kissing Cousins

We have all heard of, or perhaps witnessed, strange marriages.  Like Jack Spratt, who would eat no fat and his wife, who would eat no lean, some partnerships seem to thrive as a combination of opposites.  At least Mr. and Mrs. Spratt would have had fewer arguments over Sunday dinner.  Wherever love is, there are at least two different personalities.  What is true for us, in this regard, extends all the way to the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three Persons in love.


   Here on earth, differences can also create the potential for conflict, sometimes with those whom we love, such as between parents and children, or husbands and wives, and who hasn't experienced sibling rivalry!  Does it need to be this way?  I can still hear my mother saying to us when we were young, "Why can't you learn to get along?"


   In Psalm 85, we find a song of deliverance from animosity and pain and bitter discord.  In this case the parties are God and His people Israel.  Sent into captivity for their sins, --this has been the theme of the prophet Ezekiel, among others, whom we have been reading lately--they longed to return to the land that God had given them.   Hadn't they been punished enough?
       "Wilt thou be angry with us forever?" they asked.
They longed for reconciliation with God, when
       "He will speak peace to His people, to his saints, to those who turn to Him in their hearts."
The King James version translates this last phrase as " only let them not turn back to folly."  Either way, it works.


   And God gave them their heart's desire, forgiving their sin and bringing them home, so they sang:
      "Mercy and truth have met together."
Two irreconcilables, sinful humanity and a holy God, brought back into harmony with one another, and the beauty was palpable:
      "Righteousness and peace have kissed each other."
Who could do this, and how could He have brought it about?  Well, that is story of a greater Prophet, in a different, New Testament, time.  But here we have the gist of it, two very different children, mercy and truth, sharing a similar lineage, who are indeed, like righteousness and peace, kissing cousins.
  
  

Departure Time

    Most of us are familiar with reading the big screens at airports announcing the details of arrivals and departures.  Who hasn't heard the announcement:  "Flight number so and so, for such a city , is departing from Gate number whatever, in ten minutes."


    With what mixed emotions I hear these words.  As a boy of twelve, being sent away to school for the first time, those words sounded an note of dread in my heart.   But at the opposite end of the school year, with exams done and the long vacation stretching deliciously before me, what rapturous joy the same words evoked.
    Even today, I hear those words with mixed emotions.


    In his Second Letter to Timothy, Chapter 4, verse 6, Paul makes the announcement of his own impending departure:
   "For I am already on the point of being sacrificed, the time of my departure has come."
How did he feel about it?  Typically, he was looking up, and yet he made no effort to minimize his precarious situation. 


     This was his second time of imprisonment in Rome, but unlike the house arrest recorded in the Book of Acts, he was now in chains, facing a trial with one foregone conclusion, his own execution.  On the point of departure, he looked back at his work accomplished:
     "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
He also looked around him, at his companions and the colleagues who had shared in his ministry.  It is a surprising list.
   Demas, "in love with the present world," had left him.
   Crescens and Titus had gone on errands to other places.
   Tychicus had been sent to Ephesus.
   Luke alone was with him.
   There was a warning about Alexander the coppersmith, who had done him great harm. 
   And then there was faithful Timothy, whom Paul urged to come quickly, bringing his papers ("parchments") and his cloak, for winter was soon to be upon them.


   The danger was immanent, but so was Paul's hope.  The very word "departure" is his favorite word  to signify the Christian understanding of death.  A nautical term, it is a testament to his thinking, and means a loosing, a casting off, and setting sail for the open sea.  For him physical death was not an ending, but a beginning.


     The same expression was used by the English poet, Alfred Lord Tennyson, who compared of his own impending departure from this world to a boat leaving harbor at the end of day.  It is called Crossing the Bar   (try reading it aloud.):


      Sunset and evening star
      And one clear call for me!
     O may there be no moaning at the bar,
     When I put out to sea,


He pictures the tide on the move:
     But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
     Too full for sound and foam,
     When that which drew from out the boundless deep
     Turns again, home


As the light fades, it is a time for farewells:
     Twilight and evening bell,
    And after that the dark!
    O may there be no sadness of farewell,
    When I embark;


And it is a time of hopeful expectation:
    For though from out our bourne of Time and Place,
    The flood may bear me far,
    I hope to see my Pilot face to face
    When I have crossed the bar.


 Now that is a departure I am looking forward to.

Tools of the Spirit

   I had a teacher in high school who would ask us, when we had forgotten our books (and our homework,) "What use is a workman without his tools?"


   The greatest tools of the Spirit that we possess are the Holy Scriptures.  In his second letter to Timothy, which we have been reading this week, Paul urged his protégé, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the world of truth." 2 Timothy Ch. 2, vs. 15. 
  How do we handle this great tool of the Sprit, the Holy Scriptures?  The question has several aspects.


   First, do we leave them on a shelf,  or do we take them out, and get the feel and heft of them?  Yes, this means holding them in our hands.  As the old gospel hymn puts it, quaintly but truly, '"Where there's dust on the bible, there's trouble in the home"  And in our house it doesn't take long for things to get dusty!


   Second, when we open them, do we use them?  A power tool, for example, is of no use unless it is plugged in, and the Scriptures are our direct conduit to the Holy Spirit.  As Jesus said to his disciples, "When you no longer see me, the Comforter will bring to mind all that I have said to you."


   Third, this tool of the Sprit requires an open minded and alert operator.  Have you ever hit your thumb with a hammer, or slipped with a pair of scissors and cut something you didn't intend?  Think about it!


   Fourth, do you use the Scriptures intentionally, with forethought?  Who hasn't been comforted by a phrase from the Bible that has leapt off the page in a crisis moment, such as words from the twenty-third Psalm?  But as we know, tools wielded haphazardly are only going to do half the job, or else make it take twice as long.


   Lastly, do you employ the Scriptures for the ends for which they are intended?  A hammer used to drive a screw, or any other misused tool will not only tend to make a mess, it can be dangerous.  The Scriptures used indiscriminately,  like taking a verse out of context--did you know the Bible says "there is no God"? Check out Psalm 14, verse 1, and see for yourself !--or wielded without charity, can do lasting harm, and leave scars that last a lifetime.  Employed with love and charity, however, and with understanding, as Jesus did, builds the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is us, into God's Church.  (See Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, Ch. 2, vs. 22 on this one.)


   How do you handle the tools of the Spirit?

Wheels

"Ezekiel saw de wheel, way up in de middle of de air," as the old negro spiritual sings.


What would you give to see God?
We began reading the prophet Ezekiel this week, whose book opens with one of the most dramatic human encounters with the presence of the living God recorded in scripture.  Like the prophet Isaiah, his eyes were opened to see the very throne of God, "in appearance like sapphire, and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were of a human form."  And that's as close as Ezekiel gets.


He is given, however a detailed view of four living creatures that hover continually, before and around the throne of God.  As he described them in Chapter One:
   "They had the form of men, but each had four faces, and each had four wings."
They moved in unison, with wings touching, facing each direction, but without turning as they went, darting to and fro, he said, "like flashes of lightning."
Underneath were four huge spoked wheels, "and their rims were full of eyes."  And when the cherubim moved, the wheels moved also, "for the sprit of the living creatures was in the wheels." 


Overhead stretched the "likeness of a  firmament, shining like crystal."  And as the cherubim moved, Ezekiel wrote, "I heard a sound like the sound of many waters, . . . When they stood still, they let down their wings." 
It was above this firmament that Ezekiel glimpsed the throne of God, with a likeness of  human form gleaming like bronze, "and there was brightness all round about Him," like the brightness of the rainbow.  Dazzling.
"Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." said Ezekiel, in Chapter One.


Jesus said:  "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."  Matthew Ch. 5, vs. 8.
There are wheels within wheels.

Hay, Paul, this is getting personal!

As I was getting ready to write my blog entry today, I wondered which of the three readings would capture my heart: Ezekiel?  1 Timothy?  a Psalm?  It wasn't long before I discovered that today's passages are not easy to understand.  Chapter 9 of Ezekiel reminded me once again of the nightly news.  Chapter 10  led me down a familiar path.  Whenever I read Ezekiel, I become so eager to figure out what his visions looked like exactly, that I miss the point of his message.  [Google images of Ezekiel's visions sometime.]

I thought maybe I could write from the 1 Timothy passage.  I got through verses 1 and 2 with no trouble. Then smack, verse 3.  What's are " widows indeed?" [KJV]  This will take closer examination.  Honor those who are "truly widows" [NRSV]; honor a widow "who has no one else to take care of her." [NLT]  It was a downhill slide from there.  You see, I am a widow; do I fit any of Paul's categories?  I became a widow in my early fifties, so I missed Paul's cut-off age.  I have children and grand-children, but I don't think it's their responsibility to take care of me.  Maybe I'll change my mind in a few years.  I do place my hope in God, but I would also like to have a little pleasure in life, Paul.  "Well reported of for good works"—that might depend on who you interview and on what day.  "Brought up children," check.  "Washed the saint's feet," check.  "Lodged strangers, " whoops.  I have lodged many, and some of them have been strange, but most have been my own kith and kin.  About the strangest I can think of is my late grand-dog, an English setter who was allergic to grass and feathers.

Since I'm in my sixties now, maybe I have missed the part about waxing "wanton against Christ," marrying, and having more children [bless you, Sarah].  At this esteemed age, I surely wouldn't be "wandering about from house to house," tattling, and being a general busybody, would I?  Maybe I would, however, be guilty of "speaking things which they [I] ought not" including this blog entry!   

Continuing in the chapter, I see that the elders and deacons are coming up next.  I'm off the hook for a little while!   Have fun with your reading this week.  

Habakkuk, a Minor Prophet

   How would you like being considered as "a minor prophet"?  Habakkuk was.  We concluded his short three chapter book this Monday.
   Minor means small or short, as are the last dozen books of the Old Testament.  Each is attributed to a different individual.  The longest is fourteen chapters, the shortest is just one, but most, like Habakkuk, are between three and four. 
   A prophet is someone who foretells, or proclaims the meaning of past, present and future events, as revealed by God.  The world is full of people hoping to tell us about the future, like economists.   Even ancient Israel had its schools of prophets, hopeful wannabees, who often believed it was better to tell people what they wanted to hear, rather than what God wanted them to hear.  In the Old Testament, however, these last twelve books are small time tellers of big time truths.


   Habakkuk is a good example.  We know next to nothing about him, except that he wrote during the height of Babylonian power, the decade between 608 and 598 B.C.  He speaks on behalf of the people of Israel who are crying out for deliverance:
   "O Lord, how long shall I cry to for help,
        and thou wilt not hear,
    Or cry to Thee 'Violence!',
       and Thou wilt not save?"
He also speaks on behalf of God, reminding them that these cruel invaders are nevertheless His instruments, surely not a welcome piece of information:
   "For lo, I am arousing the Chaldeans,
       that bitter and hasty nation,
   Who march through the breadth of the earth,
       to seize habitations not their own."


Habakkuk speaks also for himself, as a watchman waiting for news.
He has a word of warning:  "Behold, he whose soul is not upright shall fail;" 
And he has also a word of comfort: "But the righteous shall live by his faithfulness."
Was that a word worth waiting for?
   Paul thought so. 
In his letter to the Romans it is the gospel in a nutshell. (Ch. vs. 17)
In his letter to the Galatians it sounds the note of spiritual freedom. (Ch. 3, vs. 11)
In the epistle to the Hebrews it is a word of encouragement to persevere to the end. (Ch. 10, vs. 39)


Habakkuk finishes with a  hymn, addressed "to the Choirmaster with stringed instruments":
    "God the Lord, is my strength;
      He makes my feet like hinds feet,
      He makes me tread upon my high places."  Ch. 3, vs. 19
Are your feet secure on your high places?  This Hebrew prophet has scaled some pretty dizzying heights to give us a perspective, a glimpse, into the working of God's hand.  With him, we are like tightrope walkers, conscious of the awful abyss of destruction all around us, seemingly one misstep away, yet with our eyes on the hope set before us.  Habakkuk reminds us that the righteous shall live by his vision of God, if we can keep still enough to see it.
   "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge for the glory of the Lord,
        as the waters cover the sea."


Habakkuk's is a big message for a small book.
Some prophet!


  

Like many of you on this journey, I am reading from the King James Version of the Bible.  I have found several unexpected words and expressions during the course of our reading, and today brings another.  At first, a reader might think there has been a misprint, but no, "froward" is indeed a real word: 31The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.        32The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh    frowardness.  Proverbs 10:31-32

We came across "froward" in one of our Bible studies, and it has appeared several times in these Bible Club readings.  From these verses, we can assume that a "froward" tongue is unjust, and that a wicked mouth speaks things that are unacceptable, but is there more to this particular word than I think? 

Time for a little Internet search.  According to one on-line dictionary* "froward" means "perverse, deceitful and false."  "Deceitful" and "false" seem straightforward.  What about "perverse"?  I kept searching.  Another dictionary** helped me with that: "turning from, with aversion or reluctance; not willing to yield or comply with what is required."  The definition of "perverse" also carries the idea of being ungovernable, disobedient, and even peevish.  Now we are getting somewhere.

When we speak with a froward tongue, we are doing so out of choice.  Not only are we unwilling to comply with what is wise or acceptable, we actively turn away from wisdom and acceptability with aversion.  We are reluctant to speak with other than a froward tongue.  We choose disobedience and peevishness (and the definition of that one isn't flattering either!). No wonder the froward tongue must be pruned!   No wonder Jesus warns us that what comes out of our mouths makes us defiled! 

Is your Bible study leading you on these "birdwalks", too?  I hope so.  They really make our readings come alive, don't they?

*http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/king-james-dictionary/froward.html

**  http://av1611.com/kjbp/kjv-dictionary/froward.html,  

  

 

A Lamentation

This should have been posted on Friday, when we read Lamentations 1 and 2.

 If we are just casually reading our Bibles, it may be hard for us to imagine the destruction of Jerusalem.  Those events seem distant and far away.  Clips from this summer's nightly news, however, give us a clearer picture of what the destruction of a city looks like.  With those images in my mind, phrases like "How doth the city sit solitary" and  "how she is become as a widow"  [Lam 1:1] become more powerful than before.  They take my breath away. 

The children say, "Where is corn and wine?" [2:12] from a mountain top in northern Iraq.  Children and elders, mothers and fathers have "swooned as the wounded  in the streets of the city" [2:12] in Africa, in Syria, in Jordan, in Missouri, and in the Holy Land itself.  It does seem to us as though "the enemy prevailed" [1:16], even though we are not always sure who or what the enemy is. 

The poet tells us that Jerusalem weeps; her friends have been treacherous; her gates are desolate; she is bitter.  When we are grieving, most of us feel much the same.  We need to weep, to question, to blame and to be in distress.  We may feel distant from God and  question what we perceive to be God's silence.

All of this makes me think of Elijah in the wilderness.  He didn't find God in the clash and bang of wind earthquake and fire [1 Kings 19], but in the silence.  Out of the silence, God commissions Elijah to go and do.  What commission do you think God has for us in our grief and  in these times? 

Enemies

   Overheard on the VHF radio band during the annual Cutler Harbor Fourth of July boat race was this:
  "I always knew you was a slipp'ry customer."
Who hasn't had to face enemies?  From sibling rivalries to the bullies we encounter at school, to teenage competition and adult challengers, from what St. Paul calls enemies without, to enemies within, we ask, Why do we have to face such hostility?


   Many of our Psalms lately have dealt with the subject of enemies.  As Psalm 57 aptly describes them, they are like lions, greedily devouring their prey, their teeth are sharp like spears and arrows, and their utterances like sharp swords.  They are often far subtler than we are, laying traps not just for our feet, but for our very souls, and are obstacles to all progress.  As the Psalmist wrote in verse 6 :
   "They dug a pit in my way."


    What did I do to deserve such opposition?  Was it on account of my misdoings and mistakes?  The Scriptures tell us even Jesus found opposition from the devil, and one of his own disciples betrayed him into the hands of sinful men.  What more poignant description of Judas's kiss could we find than these words from Psalm 55:
   "My companion stretched out his hand against his friends,
        he violated his covenant.
     His speech was smoother than butter,
       yet war was in his heart."


   The Psalmist reminds us that we must never forget God is sovereign over all these things, our enemies included.  Sandwiched between verses 4 and 6, in Psalm 57, and repeated at the end, is this wonderful declaration: 
   "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let Thy glory be over all the earth!"
Jesus showed us how to handle our enemies.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Love your enemies, and do good to those who hurt you.  We His servants are to do so also, remembering that, in the end, the victory is God's alone, and that our enemies will become a footstool for His feet.
  

Hearing and Seeing

After reading today's passage from John, I went back into Matthew, the source of recent readings from the Revised Common Lectionary, to review some of the references to eyes and found, among others, these: "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Matt 7:5); the story of the healing of two blind men (Matt 9:30); and "But blessed are your eyes: for they see; and your ears for they hear." (Matt 8:16)  There are also many references to light and darkness, seeing and not seeing, understanding and missing the kernel of truth threaded through these passages about eyes, and the like.


I say this because verse 16 stood out to me today.  So often, we think that all of the Pharisees opposed Jesus; this passage says "some" felt he was not of God because he did not keep the Sabbath day.  Others wondered why a sinner could do miracles.


In every age since the story of the healing of this blind man took place, most of us have gone along, doing our worship of God in almost the same way we have always done it, feeling right about it, feeling comfortable.  And every once in a while, someone or something enters the picture and shocks our vision.  In this case, the upstart itinerant preacher from the Galilee performs miracles on the Sabbath day in the name of the one who sent him.  The villagers, the Pharisees, and even the man's parents were comfortable with the man's blindness.  He was a beggar and outsider, but they were used to that.  They were uncomfortable with his ability to see and how he came to see...some of the Pharisees cast him out. 


Jesus had told the disciples early on in the story that "neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." (v.3)  Jesus was showing all of the characters here a new way to understand and that caused division among the Pharisees (v.16).    It takes courage to see with new vision.


  

Modern Day Jeremiah

   A local group of young church musicians formed a band, calling themselves Modern Day Jeremiah.
   Which raises the question how anyone could regard these hoary prophets of ancient Israel speaking to us in a modern voice.  Wasn't their job over long ago?  And in our fast paced, hard wired, soft-wared, world what could they possibly have to say of any relevance?  Even their metaphors are out of date, as in this morning's reading in Jeremiah, Chapter 18, verse 1: 
   "The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:
       'Arise, go down to the potter's house,
         and there you will hear my word.'"
Jeremiah's obedience led him to do as instructed, and there he watched  a potter working on a revolving wheel, shaping and re-making the lump of clay in his hands.  We read, "And the word of the Lord came to me:
    'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as the potter has done ?"
Like the Master Potter, God asks rhetorically, am I not able to reshape a nation that has not conformed to the pattern I have intended for it?  Jeremiah applies the lesson to Israel:
   "Behold, like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in  my hands, O house of Israel." vs. 6.
If you are unfit and unconforming, intended for destruction, but turn from your evil ways, God says through the prophet, "I will repent of the evil I intended to do."  And if you are well built and well planted, then do evil in My sight and disregard My voice, God says "then I will repent of the good I intended to do."


In conveying these words, Jeremiah had a difficult job to do in a difficult time.  Was his message only for ancient Israel? Or do his words speak to our own time and our hearts also?


Can there be a modern day Jeremiah?

God's Umpire

One of the joys of summertime is baseball.  Happy memories of sandlot games, or watching the big league players, belong to this time of year, and are certainly a part of my life.
   Saint Paul was also attracted to games and athletic competitions, judging from the sports metaphors that run through his letters.  As he wrote to his young protégé, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith," and referring to the ultimate in victory trophies, a crown of laurel leaves,  he continued: "henceforth is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that Day."  Second Epistle to Timothy Ch. 4, vs. 7, 8.
    Another sporting allusion comes in his letter to the Colossians, which we have encountered in our Great She Bible readings recently:
   "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body."  Ch. 3, vs. 15.
Games and contests often require judges or umpires to apply the rules, balance competing claims, and keep the ball moving.  In this passage, the word means literally, "Be umpire"--as in Let the peace of Christ be umpire in your hearts--Let this be the guiding determination in all your actions.
   How do you determine what is the best application of God's word to your life and circumstances?  Often there are competing claims to our attention, that appear equally compelling. What keeps us moving ahead as life swirls around us?
  Paul says here that the peace of Christ--the peace that passes understanding--is our God given guide and umpire to the right course of action.  Finding the peace of Christ in each day's activities is the will of God for you, and his body, the Church.  Let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

What Do You See?

    We have recently celebrated a great national holiday, with parades, fireworks, and in Eastport, the arrival of a big Navy ship, the USS Anzio, named after one of the great amphibious landings of World War II.  These events down east were capped by a summer hurricane that crushed cars, smashed into people's houses, and did untold property damage.
    A similarly unusual confluence of events was described by the prophet Amos, whose book we having been reading this week.  No professional forecaster, he insisted "I am a herdsmen, and a dresser of sycamore trees., and the Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel."  Amos Ch. 7, vs. 14-15.   Amos was called by God to speak difficult words in a smooth season.  In a time of national prosperity, he denounced the nation for its reliance on military might, for grave injustice in social dealings, abhorrent  immorality, and its shallow, meaningless piety.
       "And the Lord said to me:
             Amos, what do you see?
       And I said,
            A plumb line . . . "
In a vision, Amos saw the Lord standing beside a  wall with a plumb line in his hand.  Like a hopelessly crooked wall, the nation had become irreparable, and the Lord said : " I will never again pass by them."  Ch. 7, vs. 8.  Israel would be made desolate, a wasteland dismembered by the sword.
   Again, He said:
       "Amos, what do you see?
    And I said,
        A basket of summer fruit."
Like fresh garden produce, that quickly spoils and becomes rotten, the nation's blooms were about to be swept away:
   "The end has come upon my people Israel,
         I will never again pass by them."
   What could be more desolating than to be overlooked by the hand of God?  And yet, even in the midst of such distress, there is hope:
     " For lo, I will command,
         and shake the house of Israel
             among all the nations
       as one shakes a sieve."
As our trees and gardens were shaken and washed away by last Saturday's storm, God will restore his planting:
    " 'For I will replant them upon the land,
            and they shall never again be plucked up
       out of the land which I have given them,'
              says the Lord your God."  Ch. 9, vs. 15.
On this Independence Day holiday, what did you see?

Pet Heaven?

   We lost our dog this past week, a beagle, who had shared our lives for the last eighteen years.  He is much missed.  And this raises a question that is often asked:  Will our pets be in Heaven?
   It is a natural enough question, given the reciprocated love that can exist between an animal and ourselves.  As one French writer put it, "Who knows, when I am playing with my cat, if my cat is not really playing with me?"


   The Book of Jonah sheds some light on God's relationship with the animal creation.  First, Jonah tells us:
   "God appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. " Ch.1, vs. 17.
Having what we might justly call an insiders view of the situation, Jonah had three days to consider the meaning of this unforgettable event.  Apart from the question of historical verisimilitude--and there are several stories from the Nantucket whalers of sailors being recovered after being accidently swallowed by these gigantic mammals--this great fish was clearly in the right place at the right time, and properly equipped to scoop up the reluctant prophet, and take him in the direction he needed to go.
 
   Secondly, we are told:
   "God appointed a worm . . .  " Ch. 4, vs. 7.
Having fulfilled his mission, announcing the impending doom of the great Assyrian city, Jonah waited to see the results.  As the sun rose, so did his temper, convinced that God would spare the city and spoil the purpose of his trip.  Until, that is, He caused a large plant, (the Hebrew word suggests a castor oil plant,) to spring up overnight and over shade him, helping him keep cool. Then God appointed a worm to consume the root of the plant, which withered as fast as it grew, and prepared to teach the angry prophet a lesson.


   Thirdly, by way of instruction to this overheated Hebrew, God asked him:
   "Do you do well to be angry?"  You feel sorry for the plant, which you did nothing to cause to grow in the first place. . .   "Should I not pity that great city Nineveh, with more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"


   Does not God have compassion on all creatures, great and small--fish, worms, cattle, humanity?
   Is there heaven for pets?


   What do you think?