Threads from Henry's Web

Author: henry

  • A Cause – Lamentations 1:5

    A Cause – Lamentations 1:5

    5 Her adversaries have become her masters,
    her enemies take their ease,
    for the LORD has made her suffer
    because of her countless sins.
    Her young children are gone,
    taken captive by an adversary.

    The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:5.

    One of the things my mother taught me was always to look for my contribution to creating a problem. The reason, she told me, was not that I was probably to blame, or was supposed to always load up on guilt, but that those were the only things I could actually fix.

    An underlying theme of Lamentations is that Judah bore responsibility for what had come upon her. That there were actions that had led to consequences. In our verse, it is the LORD who has brought these problems on Judah, yet that is because of their sins. Some people aren’t comfortable with this form of expression. It’s important, however, to remember that in the Bible stories God is seen as the cause of everything. There is little distinction made between things that result naturally and positive acts of God in specific circumstances. All of these result from God, God’s law, and God’s nature.

    Lamentation is a good thing. What is not a good thing is whining. Yes, I do my share of complaining, of blaming everyone else. And I am not responsible by my actions for everything that goes wrong. I’ve had circumstances where I can’t think of what I could have done. But many times there is some action possible.

    There are also those who look on any misfortune and blame the victim. Whatever the problem is, that person should have done something to prevent it. This too is destructive behavior.

    Lamentation recognizes the situation and the fact that it has brought problems, hardships, pain, suffering.

    Our verse today is solid with sorrow. Not a moment of joy. Not even the relief of finding someone else to blame.

    Even so, it’s a step toward a more healthy future.

  • Sacred Feasts – Lamentations 1:4

    Sacred Feasts – Lamentations 1:4

    The approaches to Zion mourn, for no pilgrims attend her sacred feasts; all her gates are desolate. Her priests groan, her maidens are made to suffer. How bitter is her fate!

    The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:4.

    I’m following my meditations in writing these posts, and the second line of this verse caught my attention. The main reason it did so is that it is one thing I hear commonly as a lament. I, and many people I know, frequently complain about low attendance. People aren’t in church. They aren’t in Sunday School. They don’t show up for church educational events or projects. Here we are making “stuff” available to them, and they don’t show up. The church is dying. Start preparing the funeral.

    The situation in Judah and Jerusalem was worse than anything I complain about. The people were in exile. They were gone. But what was happening before?

    I hate, I reject your feasts.
    I will not accept your assemblies.

    Amos 5:21 (my translation)

    When the assemblies were going strong, they weren’t actually going strong. Nobody was lamenting when people were all showing up. Well, God was lamenting and letting the prophets know that things weren’t going well.

    One of the most embarassing moments I’ve had in educational ministry was when, in response to questions around the church, I invited a friend who was a pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. People in our Methodist/Wesleyan congregation were asking me about Calvinists,, and I thought providing them with a Calvinist speaker would meet the need.

    Nobody showed up. Nobody. I was the only one there to meet him.

    He was extremely gracious, and what was more we sat down to discuss ministry, theology, and education, and possibilities for doing more ministry. Here he was, with the person who had invited him to an empty room, and he took up the time to discuss how we, together, could serve the Church from our respective churches.

    We even joked that God must have ordained our meeting. Then we looked at each other and said, “All joking aside, that was true.” Without the numbers I desired, God was still working.

    Here’s a potential problem with lamenting. We can lament the wrong things. When your church or your meeting is empty, provided God has not ordained a one-on-one meeting as a surprise, there was probably something that needed to be lamented before.

    … Christianity was the revelation and the gift of joy, and thus, the gift of genuine feast. Every Saturday night at the resurrection vigil we sing, “for, through the Cross, joy came into the whole world.” This joy is pure joy because it does not depend on anything in this world, and is not the reward of anything in us. It is totally and absolutely a gift, the “charis,” the grace. And being pure gift, this joy has a transforming power, the only really transforming power in this world. It is the “seal” of the Holy Spirit on the life of the Church-on its faith, hope, and love.

    Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World, 45-46 (Schmemann was an Orthodox theologian)

    Maybe we’ve had a feast without the joy, the joy that only God can give. If we thought to lament this, perhaps we would have less physical emptiness to lament.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • No Resting Place – Lamentations 1:3

    No Resting Place – Lamentations 1:3

    3 Judah has wasted away through affliction
    and endless servitude.
    Living among the nations,
    she has found no resting-place;
    her persecutors all fell on her
    in her sore distress.

    Lamentations 1:3 (REB)

    Actual events can be both real and metaphorical. Behind this verse, we can hear the history of Judah, taken into exile by the Babylonians, and then finally returned to their homeland under the Persians. At least, that is to say, a portion returned.

    I’m looking at this history and the lament it produced in this Bible book for ideas as to how each of us can deal with life today. But we shouldn’t forget the horror of the history involved. The Bible records that sorrow in the form of a lament–five chapters’ worth. And we’re on the third verse.

    Many of the nations which were exiled by the Assyrians and the Babylonians lost their identity entirely. The fourth line of the verse tells this story of exile, of removal from your home, family, and everything familiar. It’s easy to lose identity in such a situation. Forgotten, it is easy to forget, to go along with the crowd. One way to get away from persecutors (5th line) is to lose that identity, to become indistinguishable from surrounding society.

    I’ve heard many discussions of why Jews have been persecuted through the centuries, and continue to face antisemitism. One reason is simply that they have maintained their identity. They haven’t faded into the background and become indistinguishable from the rest of society.

    In the New Testament, God’s people are referred to as strangers and exiles (Hebrews 11:13). This is a part of our identity, of who we are. If we want to find a resting place, we’re going to have to do so knowing who we are and whose we are. There’s a put-down in telling someone to know their place. This is used on someone the speaker presumes is getting above themselves, out of their lane, anywhere they don’t belong.

    But we, as Christians have an identity as those who belong to God. Wherever we are we are strangers, but we are also at home with God who has chose us. We are those God has chosen, and we are those who choose to find our identity in God.

    God is, in fact, our resting place.

    What we must fear, therefore, is that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, any one of you should be found to have missed his opportunity.

    The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), Heb 4:1 (Emphasis mine)

    Even as exiles, we too can have that resting place. Can you feel that rest?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI)

  • Alone – Lamentations 1:2

    Alone – Lamentations 1:2

    She weeps bitterly in the night; tears run down her cheeks. Among all who loved her she has no one to bring her comfort. Her friends have all betrayed her; they have become her enemies.

    The Revised English Bible (Cambridge; New York; Melbourne; Madrid; Cape Town; Singapore; São Paulo; Delhi; Dubai; Tokyo: Cambridge University Press, 1996), La 1:2.

    I want to be clear about something as I go through these passages. Too often Christians read the Hebrew scriptures from a platform of judgment. We are looking to see all the mistakes those Israelites made, and that we, being more advanced, have overcome.

    But one of my purposes here is to talk about honesty, particularly honesty with ourselves. When we look at the Israelites with judgment, we are not honest. In their situation, with their knowledge, I doubt we would have done any better. I get this doubt from watching us today. We have the weaknesses of the Israelites, because we both have the weaknesses of humans. As we begin looking at the verses that talk about the reasons why the city, Jerusalem, is desolate, I will bring this topic up more and more.

    So let’s read this book, not as people who are doing well, but as people who have things to regret and to correct.

    This verse brings into focus one of the great problems of lament in the church. The person who is lamenting is very frequently alone. My own experience has been that I have found those who sympathize, those who encourage, and who help in my most difficult moments. I don’t have a personal complaint here. But I have seen many people who were in difficulty, grieving, or suffering who have been left alone.

    The person who weeps is often a very lonely person. As a church, we should be companions to those who mourn, to those in trouble. Those who weep bitterly in the night need our companionship.

    But I need to turn and point to myself again. One of the reasons I have always found people so helpful is that I am so rarely willing to tell them what my difficulties are. My natural reaction to being in trouble is to isolate myself.

    This is a problem with at least two facets: 1) We don’t want to spend time with the troubled person. It’s a great deal of work. It tends to be a downer. 2) We don’t want to be the troubled person, because we know, deep inside, how we might react.

    These things involved an inappropriate judgment. Just as we tend to read Hebrew scriptures from a seat of superiority, one to which we are not entitled, so we tend to see people in trouble from the position of one who’s life is so much better.

    We’ll have more time to discuss this as we read. But there’s one key lesson: God is there, waiting for the person who knows how bad their condition and their situation is, ready to act. In the honesty of lament lies a path to healing.

    (Featured Image Credit: RBompiani Photo on iStockPhoto.com)

  • Deserted – Lamentations 1:1

    Deserted – Lamentations 1:1

    The book of Lamentations sounds pretty dismal. It’s right there in the name. Read a few verses. It’s still dismal. We usually quote Lamentations 3:22-23, “The LORD’s love is surely not exhausted, nor has is compassion failed; they are new every morning, so great is his constancy” (REB). If one hasn’t read Lamentations, one might conclude it is a book of encouraging sayings.

    But it is not. Oh, there is encouragement there, but that is not the starting point. The starting point is devastation, and a lament regarding that devastations.

    Walter Brueggemann laments the loss of lament in Christian circles. You can find some discussion of his words on Alistair Adversaria.

    I would choose a slightly different emphasis. I think the loss of lament has a great deal to do with a loss of self-honesty. You can’t be honest with God if you’re not honest with yourself. And a lack of honesty is going to hinder you both in your relationship with God and in your daily activities.

    Job says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21b). Good for Job! I’m talking here about those who can’t yet get to that “Blessed be the name of the Lord!” part. Often when we encounter someone in that kind of hardship, we say, “Trust in God!” and then moments later, “Are you trusting in God yet?”

    In Lamentations, there are a lot of sad verses between “deserted” and the unfailing compassion.

    In those verses, we see the struggle of Israel. One view of Jesus as the Messiah sees him recapitulating key moments in the history of Israel, and getting it right. We can also see in the struggle of Israel an example of what individual life is often like. I don’t mean getting stuck in the mud. I mean recognizing the mud and recognizing who we all actually are. You will not seek the good unless you recognize the difficulty, even the evil.

    I’m planning to blog through Lamentations. Right now this task seems daunting. It troubles me to spend this much negative time. But I am thinking there may be value in the experience. So tomorrow we’ll get to weeping in Lamentations 1:2. Won’t that be fun!

    And that’s the starting place: Deserted!

    Note: This series will differ from my earlier verse-by-verse series on Psalm 119 in that I won’t always try to keep the message contained in the one verse. I’ll be spending more time connecting the dots with the rest of the book and related history and personal experience.

    Featured Image Credit: Maria de Fatima Seehagen (iStockPhoto.com)

  • The Importance of Studying Together

    The Importance of Studying Together

    Church and Sunday School are two different activities. Both can be valuable in one’s Christian life, but they do not substitute for one another.

    Sunday School has generally been in decline over the last few years, but I think there’s something even more important. Sunday School has too often been a light review of scriptures, taught in a general way and not an education that helps people grow in both faith and action.

    I looked at some statistics for Sunday School attendance, but didn’t find anything that addresses this specific problem. There’s a general decline in Sunday School attendance as opposed to church attendance, but there are many variables.

    My primary question is this: What is Sunday School attendance doing to make you a better disciple and to help you fulfill the Gospel Commission?

    Here are some questions:

    1. How long has it been since you learned something new in Sunday School?
    2. How long has it been since your Sunday School lesson led you to further Bible or other study during the week?
    3. Have you been encouraged to learn something about your neighbors, especially those not like you?
    4. Have you been encouraged to take positive action by something you studied?
    5. Have your beliefs been connected to a way of living in the world?

    These are not difficult questions. But sometimes making your Sunday School and church programs help people accomplish these things might be quite difficult.

    I have frequently encountered someone in Sunday School who has heard the preacher say something about witnessing, or helping those in need, or building up and serving in the church and community. They almost always have the question: How do I do it?

    And that’s where Sunday School should shine. This is a time for people to learn how to put things into action.

    I’m not one who thinks this has to happen on Sunday. Small groups that meet at other times are also good. The problem is to get people involved in such groups and to keep the groups from becoming another “check the box” activity. Small groups of any kind are not to make God like you more. God already loves you. These are to help you thrive in the life you now live by faith.

    Is this your experience? If not, why not? How do we grow more?

  • Mapping the Political Spectrum

    Mapping the Political Spectrum

    My friend and Energion author Elgin Hushbeck and Larissa Munz (audiobook creator) recently spoke about the political spectrum and some of the difficulties with political labels in a two-part series on their podcast, Into the Desert.

    There are those who complain about labeling and wish to live in a world without labels. But communication requires labels. The problem comes in when labels are either vague and confusing or even intentionally used as weapons rather than as a means of communication.

    I appreciate this approach. As with all systems, there are weaknesses, but I find their division much more useful than any of the common ways these terms are used.

    I think the real difficulty is not with labels, carefully applied, but with name-calling, which is really not labeling, but mislabeling.

    Some of Elgin’s Books

    Seeking Truth
    Preserving Democracy

    (The featured image is licensed from AdobeStock. It is not public domain.

  • Flying Words

    Flying Words

    My mother used to quote:

    Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds,
    But you can't do that when you're flying words.

    The poem is titled “Gossip” and the author is Will Carleton

    Some kind caress—some little petting ways—
    Commenced a-staying in on rainy days
    (I did not see’t so clear then, I’ll allow;
    But I can trace it rather acc’rate now);
    And Discord, when he once had called and seen us,
    Came round quite often, and edged in between us.
    One night, I came from work unusual late,
    Too hungry and too tired to feel first-rate—
    Her supper struck me wrong (though I’ll allow
    She hadn’t much to strike with, anyhow);
    And when I went to milk the cows, and found
    They’d wandered from their usual feeding ground,
    And maybe’d left a few long miles behind ’em,
    Which I must copy, if I meant to find ’em,
    Flash-quick the stay-chains of my temper broke,
    And in a trice these hot words I had spoke:
    “You ought to ‘ve kept the animals in view,
    And drove ’em in; you’d nothing else to do.
    The heft of all our life on me must fall;
    You just lie round, and let me do it all.”
    That speech—it hadn’t been gone a half a minute,
    Before I saw the cold black poison in it;
    And I’d have given all I had, and more,
    To ‘ve only safely got it back in-door.
    I’m now what most folks “well-to-do” would call:
    I feel to-day as if I’d give it all,
    Provided I through fifty years might reach,
    And kill and bury that half-minute speech.
    Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds;
    You can’t do that way when you’re flying words.
    Things that we think may sometimes fall back dead;
    But God himself can’t kill them when they’re said.
    She handed back no words, as I could hear;
    She didn’t frown—she didn’t shed a tear;
    Half proud, half crushed, she stood and looked me o’er,
    Like some one she had never seen before!

    Will Carleton, “Gossip” (A good source is the University of Michigan Library)

    I’ll leave application to the reader.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

  • Translating Puns

    Translating Puns

    Dave Black’s intermediate Greek grammar, It’s Still Greek to Me, is scheduled to be translated into Arabic. One of the features of that grammar is some of the humorous headers that are English puns. Dave wonders how those will be handled in translation.

    Anyone have suggestions? (Only humorous suggestions need apply!)

    While I publish many of Dave’s books, this is not one of them. The booklet with a very similar name, It’s All Greek to Me, is Dave’s brief biography/testimony, and I do publish that one.

    (Note: The featured image was generated by Jetpack AI, and one should not consider it to represent any puns, or likely anything else!)

  • Geoffrey Lentz on Wesleyan Bible Study

    Geoffrey Lentz on Wesleyan Bible Study

    On Thursday I had the privilege of interviewing Rev. Geoffrey Lentz, pastor of First United Methodist Church of Pensacola, regarding characteristics Bible study in the Wesleyan tradition.

    Geoffrey and I have known one another for many years, and authored a book, Learning and Living Scripture, which was published, well, a long time ago. As Geoffrey pointed out in the interview, “Back then, Henry, even you were young.”

    In this video we reference the new imprint, New Fire Press, and two new authored or co-authored by Geoffrey, Bold to Say: Learning and Living the Lord’s Prayer and Project Nebo: Empowering the Generations. Energion Publications (my company) produces this artistically and editorially independent imprint.

    Here’s the video:

    (Featured image combines book covers with an image generated by Adobe’s Firefly Image 3.)

    Project Nebo
    Bold to Say