Taking the Bible Challenge

Almost everyone wants to be recognized when they are doing the right thing. Even people who claim that they don’t want to be recognized have been heard complaining that no one appreciates them. This is part of human nature.

In today’s reading from Luke, Luke chapter 19, we see some of this. Zacchaeus who is a nasty tax collector is selected by Jesus for a visit. Probably everyone who had gathered to see Jesus would have liked him to pick them out of the crowd as a person of interest, a person to be graced. Who wouldn’t? Of course, Jesus couldn’t go to everyone’s home, but if he had picked someone higher up the “good” ladder, then everyone might understand. But he picked Zacchaeus! Doesn’t he know that he’s a “bad” one and WE are the GOOD ones?!? The people are dismayed!

Jesus came to save sinners, not reward the righteous. He seems to have a special desire to save the sinners whose sins have put them outside of the family. He prefers to spend at least some of his time with what we might call notorious sinners! It isn’t fair!

Well it isn’t fair. It is GRACE. Grace is be definition unmerited and unearned. It seems obvious, but it sticks us all the time. If it is unearned and unmerited – we can’t earn it. For those of us who consider ourselves to be followers of Jesus, whose sins are the acceptable kind (or hidden even from ourselves), this can be difficult. We long for the recognition, for the reward for the temptations avoided, for the love of God.

We cannot earn what we already have. Today, do not wait for a miracle or a sign to praise God, but spend time with Jesus who loves you already. Celebrate your membership in the family of God and rejoice when another child of God finds salvation!!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

A Day Late, but God was there!

The Bible Challenge has begun! In our church I invited people to begin this journey of reading the Bible through in a year. Like some of the other clergy in the diocese we decided to begin on the 7th, the first Monday. Of course, some churches in the diocese started in Advent, others on the First of the Year, and I bet more start in Lent. It doesn't matter when you start; just that you do.

I started a day late. Somehow I managed to start the year out by being sick and I just didn't get started yesterday. So I started today. I'll read both of the first two days before I go to bed tonight. All will be well. This is not a challenge that becomes ruined if it is done imperfectly. The only thing that matters is to be willing to read with an open heart and to listen for the truth.

Today I read the first three chapters of Genesis. I've read them a million times! (OK, slight exaggeration, but you know what I mean.) I wondered anew at the moment when Adam and God are talking about that piece of fruit. I was thinking about the "size" of the sin compared to the consequence. I wondered about the legality of the thing. Then, without warning, the story shifted. Then it was in my gut.

You know that feeling, that moment of discovery, when you know that you have done something that will break the heart of someone else? That is what that conversation is about. It doesn't matter who told or why Adam broke his word, it only matters that he did. He can't face it. It is too sad, too heavy, and too irrevocable. It is done and he has done it. The relationship, perfect in its creation, is now broken. Nothing will make it completely whole again.

This is the world we live in. We hurt others, sometimes accidentally, sometimes carelessly and sometimes intentionally. Perhaps we did not even consider the consequences in our eagerness to taste the new fruit. But then there is the moment of revelation. We are naked and we know it! The consequences are terrible and we only wish that we could stay hidden. Paradise is lost and we are kicked out!

But we are not dead. There is still love. We can know forgiveness. All is not lost.

This is where we begin. We are out in the wilderness East of Eden. May we again find our story in the story of God's people and may we again find our way home.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Preparing for the Challenge

The Bible Challenge begins with the commitment. Without the commitment the possibility of reading the Bible through in a year is slight indeed. With the commitment there will be obstacles and difficulties, without, so many more!

This week 14 people from the English speaking services (15 if you count me) and 5 people from the Spanish speaking service made the commitment. They said “YES” or “SÍ” to the challenge. It was a good start for the first week of asking for a commitment.

As we prepare to begin this journey together, this is the time for preparation. It is time to get the Bible you want to use. It is time to start thinking about what time of day you will use for this commitment. Something in your current use of time will have to give, or shift. Right now you are using all of the 24-hours you have. Where will this new activity fit? Will it take the place of something you are currently doing? Will you wake up earlier, or turn the TV off at some point? Maybe you’ll get an audio Bible and listen in the car on your way to work.

Our plan is to begin the Challenge on January 7^th, 2013. You are welcome to join in, will you be ready?

Thursday, December 13, 2012

The Bible Challenge - an Introduction

It started a long time ago. Many people, many churches, lay people, priests, ministers, deacons, elders, bishops, questioners, doubters, and who knows who else thought, “I’m going to read the Bible.” Of course, some were successful, some have done it time and time again, but others, and I think most, got somewhere in Exodus, or Numbers, or Deuteronomy and gave up the ghost! Many got through Genesis because it is a collection of stories. But getting through the description of the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus or the counting of the tribes in Numbers is a lot harder.

This Bible Challenge started with an Episcopal priest in his own living room sitting in front of his fire. He felt like his own reading of scripture was missing something. He studied, he was learning to read scripture in Greek and Hebrew, but for all of his efforts, no one said, “WOW! Your preaching is really getting better and helping me more!” So he said what so many have, “I’m going to read the whole Bible.”

What made that moment different from other, I believe, is that he then invited others to join him. He found church members, other clergy, and friends from his golf club also wanted to read the Bible through. They read all of the books in the Old and New Testaments through in a year. This priest, the Rev. Marek P. Zabriskie, found that this exercise made a significant impact on his life.

This past summer, the Challenge took a big step forward when the General Convention of the Episcopal Church voted to approve The Bible Challenge - Directs the Church to extend an invitation to members and the wider community to read the Bible in 2013. Now Episcopal Churches across all of the provinces are taking up the challenge.

The Rev. Marek P. Zabriskie has given us some great tools to help with the process. They can be found at their website, http://thecenterforbiblicalstudies.org/. There you will find resources in English and in Spanish to help with the process. There is a daily reflection on the readings with questions and challenges. There is a scheme for daily reading, using only six days a week, to accomplish this goal within a year. I hope that you will take up the challenge. I hope that you will decide that this is the year when you will read all of this wonderful word of God in 2013. If you are in Miami, I hope that you will join us at St. Luke’s and find someone to do it with. www.stlukethephysician.org

May God bless you as you prepare for the Bible Challenge!!