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Touches of Eden

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 26  Read: Song of Songs 2 Listen: (2:15) Read: Psalms 70-71 Listen: (3:29)

Scripture Focus: Song of Songs 2.2-4

He

2 Like a lily among thorns 
is my darling among the young women.

She

3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest 

is my beloved among the young men. 

I delight to sit in his shade, 

and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

4 Let him lead me to the banquet hall, 

and let his banner over me be love.

Reflection: Touches of Eden

By John Tillman

Scriptures often mean more than one thing.

Isaiah’s prophecy about a “virgin” (literally “young woman”) who would give birth to a child as a sign of blessing was both about a normal child, born during the siege of Jerusalem in Isaiah’s lifetime, and about Jesus who would be born centuries later. (Is 7.10-17; Matt 1.20-25)

Jesus’ teaching about the “end of the age” was both about the fall of Jerusalem that would occur in a few decades, and about the time of his second coming which we still await. (Matt 24.15; Mark 13.14; Luke 21.20)

Similarly, Song of Songs is both about physical and emotional love between a royal groom and bride and about God’s love for his people that is best pictured in Jesus.

The lovers in Song of Songs find each other remarkable.

There are other women. But not like her. There are other men. But not like him. Other women are thorns instead of lilies. Other men are fruitless trees like the one Jesus cursed (Mark 11.12-22), instead of fruitful trees that provide both shelter and sustenance.

This comparison is not primarily a romantic exaggeration like saying, “All women are ugly compared to you,” or “All men are monsters, except for you.” They see in one another a spark of Eden.

Outside of Eden, the ground naturally produces thorns, but she, among the thorns, is a beautiful, soft, and pleasing flower. Outside of Eden, food comes by toil and sweat, but he produces fruit in keeping with righteousness and shelter from heat and labor. They find in one another a touch of Eden’s blessings.

Reading this into our human relationships doesn’t mean insulting other people to “compliment” our loved ones. It means seeking and building relationships that bear the fruit of Eden and the blessings of God. This should be true in both our romantic and platonic relationships. We should be soft and beautiful in a world of harshness. We should create space that is safe and nourishing in a world of selfishness.

Reading this into our spiritual lives, we realize that we can only share the fruit of Eden by sitting under the shade of Jesus’ tree, the cross. He transforms the thorns of his crown into lilies. He transforms the toil, sweat, and blood of the cross, a tool of oppression, war, and death, into the true tree of life, blessing, beauty, love, rest, and peace.

His banner over us is love.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; knit my heart to you that I may fear your Name. — Psalm 86.11

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Musical familiarity enhances understanding of music…familiarity with scripture enhances understanding of biblical author’s “samples.”

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I went to that rock of refuge again and again. And from that continual, enduring, and reliable source of refuge, I found hope.

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Suffering Servant Psalm

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 25 Read:  Song of Songs 1 Listen: (2:16) Read: Psalm 69 Listen: (4:04)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 69:7-12

7 For I endure scorn for your sake,
    and shame covers my face.
8 I am a foreigner to my own family,
    a stranger to my own mother’s children;
9 for zeal for your house consumes me,
    and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.
10 When I weep and fast,
    I must endure scorn;
11 when I put on sackcloth,
    people make sport of me.
12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,
    and I am the song of the drunkards.

Reflection: Suffering Servant Psalm

By Erin Newton

Of the many names and epithets given to Jesus, the title “Suffering Servant” is one of most cherished. We often think about the community’s rejection of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah:

13 See, my servant will act wisely;
    he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
    his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
    and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations,
    and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
    and what they have not heard, they will understand. (Isa 52:13–15)

We also reflect on his suffering:

4 Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:4–6)

Likewise, much of Psalm 69 sounds familiar to the Gospels’ depiction of Christ. This psalm is a lengthy petition to God with a series of verses (vv. 7-12) that can be categorized as those of a “suffering servant.”

On the cross, Jesus was scorned, disgraced, and shamed. While on the cross, “they … gave me vinegar for my thirst” (Ps 69:21). The eagerness for God’s household is echoed by Jesus.

Though many similarities are found between Psalm 69, Isaiah’s Suffering Servant passages, and the Gospels’ depiction of Jesus, this is more than just a psalm about Jesus. Because of the suffering of Christ, we rest assured that he sympathizes with our own suffering. This psalm seems to foretell of Jesus’s complex grief and hardship, but it also resonates with our own.  

While we recognize Christ throughout the psalms and see how all God’s word points to him, we also understand that being made in God’s image and Jesus being incarnated to share in our humanity means that we can apply these psalms to our own lives. We grieve like Christ grieves. We weep; we cry out; and we hope just as the psalmist and Christ did.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

And yet my people did not hear my voice, and Israel would not obey me. — Psalm 84.11

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

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The Song should encourage us to apply holiness to our intimate sexual relationships.

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You watch not only the sparrow, but you see us too.
And your hands guide us all the way.

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Meaning in Remembrance

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 24  Read: Ecclesiastes 12 Listen: (2:38) Read: Psalm 68 Listen: (4:26)

Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 12.6-8

6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, 

and the golden bowl is broken; 

before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, 

and the wheel broken at the well, 

7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, 

and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 

8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.

“Everything is meaningless!”

Reflection: Meaning in Remembrance

By John Tillman

After many failures on a new kind of electric battery, an associate of Thomas Edison expressed dismay at having no results for their labor. Edison shot back, “We have plenty of results. We know several thousand things that won’t work.” Edison is known to have expressed similar sentiments throughout his career.

Ecclesiastes, in a way, is a journal of failed moral experiments and reads as if it was written over a long period, perhaps a lifetime. It begins, not with idealism but with a jaded, youthful cynicism. The teacher sets out, armed with wisdom, to solve the meaninglessness he sees. He makes himself both moral scientist and test subject. (Ecclesiastes 2.1)

In his experiments, the teacher of Ecclesiastes, like Edison, finds several thousand things that won’t work. Here at the end, we find the teacher still struggling with the problem he set out to solve. He never comes to a conclusion that fully satisfies him, however, there is a spark of light: “Remember your creator,” he says. “Remember your creator.”

Remembering is not just the recall of facts. Remembering is powerful. God often commanded the people to “remember.” Remembering can be an experience in which all the emotions, and even senses and sensations, participate. Passover was one of those times when remembering involved all the senses. The point was not for Israel to remember the facts of what God did, but to remember God’s identity and their own.

At the last Passover Jesus observed, he reoriented the meal around himself, saying, “do this in remembrance of me.” Then on the cross, a few hours later, the thief asked Jesus to “remember” him.

The light bulb moment of Ecclesiastes never quite comes, but the spark of hope lies in doing what God has already commanded us to do—remember him. 

The aged teacher’s exquisite closing poem pays poignant tribute to the realities of life and death and the importance of remembering God in youth, not just in old age. 

Remembering is a lifelong task and not merely a mental exercise. If we are to remember as Jesus commands, our remembrances must be both acts of testimony and demonstration. How do our remembrances testify and demonstrate God’s identity and our identity in him?

Let us remember Jesus. Remember him to ourselves. Remember him to our family and friends. Remember him to our community.

In this remembrance we find meaning.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for me. — Psalm 66.14

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

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We are part of a great company charged with proclaiming the good news. Let our reenactment spill out of the sanctuary.

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Redeeming “Blessed”

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 23 Read:  Ecclesiastes 11 Listen: (1:40) Read:  Psalms 66-67 Listen: (2:42)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 67.1-2

1 May God be gracious to us and bless us 
and make his face shine on us—  
2 so that your ways may be known on earth, 
your salvation among all nations.

Reflection: Redeeming “Blessed”

By John Tillman

“Live, Laugh, Love” is an example of meaning being lost through overuse followed by commercialization. ”Blessed” has followed the “Live, Laugh, Love” trio on the path to meaning melting into marketing.

Stores catering to Christian customers plaster these phrases on decorative driftwood, doormats, dog bowls and anything else that might take up space in the kitchen, or on mantles, side tables, shelves, or walls.

“Blessed” needs redemption.

“Blessed” is contaminated by messages of grinding work, competition, and winning. Cultural Christianity made “blessed” a brag, a curse of pride and greed. To use it, we must intentionally detach it from those meanings. To redeem and reclaim “blessed” remember and express what it means and doesn’t mean. Psalm 67 can help.

How are we blessed?

We are blessed by grace, not because we deserve it. (v. 1) We are blessed by God’s presence, not by wealth or achievement. (v. 1) We are blessed by obeying God and praising him, not by “grinding” and not by “gains.” (v. 2-3)

Why are we blessed?

We are blessed to help others, not ourselves. (v. 5) We are blessed to make God’s ways and his salvation known. (v. 2) We are blessed to make nations glad and joyful. We are blessed to create a world of equity and wisdom. (v. 4) We are blessed to cultivate, not harm, the earth. (v. 6) We are blessed to create respect for God to the ends of the earth. (v. 7)

God’s purpose for blessing us is to bless the world through us. If that isn’t happening, we are neglecting or misusing our blessings.

In the Asia Bible Commentary on this psalm, Federico Villanueva reflects that his nation, the Philippines, is the only Christian nation in Asia, yet is the poorest in the region with corruption that directly perpetuates poverty. Filipino overseas workers bless other nations by sharing the gospel, but at home, corruption, instead of blessing, dominates their lives.

Villanueva longs for his nation to live up to their potential to be blessed and bless others: “Let us pray that the Lord will bless us so that God’s ways may be known among our people. This is my own prayer for my country.”

Don’t say “blessed” like culture means it. Echo Villanueva’s prayer for your country. Ensure that our use of the word “blessed” reflects God’s purpose and definition.

If you aren’t blessing, you aren’t blessed. When you say “blessed,” say it like God means it.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Bless the Lord, you angels of his, you mighty ones who do his bidding, and hearken to the voice of his word.
Bless the Lord, all you his hosts, you ministers of his who do his will.
Bless the Lord, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. — Psalm 103.20-22

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Jesus is the Blessed One, whose leaf does not wither. We are merely grafted in branches…

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Meaning out of Meaninglessness

Links for today’s readings:

Mar 20  Read: Ecclesiastes 8 Listen: (2:41) Read: Psalms 60-61 Listen: (2:27)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Mar 21  Read: Ecclesiastes 9 Listen: (3:13) Read: Psalms 62-63 Listen: (2:44)
Mar 22  Read: Ecclesiastes 10 Listen: (2:33) Read: Psalms 64-65 Listen: (2:39)

Scripture Focus: Ecclesiastes 8.9-14

9 All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt. 10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless. 

11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. 

14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.

Reflection: Meaning out of Meaninglessness

By John Tillman

At my church, I help lead a doubter’s “book club.”

Our “book club” is designed for those without Christian beliefs or those with significant doubts about one or more orthodox teachings. Our agenda is often shaped by their questions and we often read books, listen to podcasts, or watch YouTube videos to aid our discussions.

Solomon, whom we assume is “the Teacher” of Ecclesiastes, often sounds like members of this group. Our “book club” attenders struggle with seeing some of the same things the Teacher calls “meaningless.”

The Teacher saw wicked people praised in the sanctuary after their deaths, as if they didn’t do awful things that everyone knew about. (Ecc 8.10) He saw a justice system too slow and cumbersome to deter wrongdoing. (Ecc 8.11) He saw career con-men and criminals live long, successful, and celebrated lives. (Ecc 8.12) He saw good people treated as the wicked deserve and wicked people treated as the righteous deserve. (Ecc 8.14)

One member recently echoed the Teacher’s frustration with slow justice when a convict on death row died of natural causes before he was executed. I balanced his frustration with one of mine: many spent decades on death row only to be proven innocent. For them, justice almost moved too fast. The joy of people exonerated before execution is erased by the horror that we have certainly executed innocent people. This echoes the Teacher’s frustration with the righteous being treated as the wicked deserve. This too is meaningless.

When the teacher calls things “meaningless,” he’s using a metaphor of insubstantial smoke or mist. A column of smoke looks like you could reach out and touch it, but there is nothing to hold onto.

This frustration points to an important truth—things ought not be this way. We ought to find justice reliable. We ought to see the righteous rewarded and the wicked fall. Words like “ought” express moral ideals and standards that should be firm and substantial, yet when we reach out for these things, we grasp at smoke.

Despite everything, the Teacher trusts justice will be done, even if he can’t grasp it today. We continue to work for today’s justice, even if it seems like grasping at smoke.

We do so remembering that ultimate justice and our salvation depend on Jesus, the righteous one, who was treated as we, the wicked ones, deserve. Jesus’ death and resurrection bring ultimate meaning out of meaninglessness.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. — 2 Corinthians 4.6

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

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