Easter Devotional - Day 10

"You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well. Do you remember the day you stood in Yahweh's presence at Mount Sinai? Yahweh said, 'Moses, bring the people of Israel here. I want to speak to them so they will obey me as long as they live, and so they will teach their children to obey me, too.'" Deuteronomy 4:9-10

We often forget that storytelling is a Biblical mandate. We get caught up in good things like Bible study and rehearsing the canonized stories of faith. We forget that there is a whole other sequence of faith stories. They are our own stories. They are the stories of how God has dealt with us and brought us through our own experiences of redemption from Egyptian bondages.

Moses commanded the Hebrews wandering in the desert to rehearse their stories of God's intervention in their lives. They were to talk with their children of how Yahweh had been present in their lives from bondage in Egyptian captivity to the transit through the Sea of Reeds, providing manna in the wilderness, water from the rocks of an arid land, and standing before the presence of Yahweh on the holy mountain of God. This was the Bible they were writing—that God was writing in the experience of their lives. It was a personal message of personal redemption and relationship with Yahweh, God of Israel.

Generations after were to rehearse the stories as well. As the Jews still celebrate redemption from Egyptian bondage in their Passover Seder celebrations, so we likewise rehearse what God has done for us at Calvary. This is the focus of our Holy Week and Easter celebrations. God has come to earth to live as one of us, to die at our hands, that he might offer redemption, forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love. It is because of those events two thousand years ago that we have new life in Christ.

That misses the point of Moses' words, however. As important as were the events surrounding Calvary, there is another story we are supposed to tell. It is not the story of Jesus Christ on the cross and leaving the empty tomb. It is not the story of leaving a life of bondage in Egypt through the muddy Sea of Reeds. It is the story of God's presence and action in our lives today.

It is the story of God providing for me and my new wife during lean years as seminary students. It is the story of God supplying medical care for delivering a healthy child during a birth wrapped in trauma. It is the story of Christ using a two-year-old boy to open doors of ministry with neighbors. It is the story of a gift of $5000 awaiting me on return from discussing a need for four basic libraries for the seminary extension program I coordinated—a need that could be fulfilled with $5000. It is the story of a poor Brazilian church depending upon God rather than gifts from rich Americans to rebuild a crumbling sanctuary. It is the story of God providing help through Christian and non-Christian friends when we were forced to make an international move in a span of 16 days. It is the story of the presence of Christ Jesus touching my life through others and flowing through me to touch lives around me.

In telling our own stories of God, we are reminded that faith is just stories of long ago, but of a risen Lord who is alive and well today. What are the stories you should be telling?

Write down or tell someone else a story of God's presence in your life.

"Lord, remind me of your presence and action that I might call others to see you present still."



—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Gospel Is Not Conservative

Image
Fundamentalism and conservativism are intrinsically averse to change. They are tied with conserving a status quo or moving back to a former era. They seek a safe place, a respite from change and transformation in the world around them. They are threatened by new ideas. They fear that the foundations on which they base their lives will be uprooted, causing their view of reality to fall apart. Growth depends on change. Life requires change. Survival depends on responding to changes in our environment. It requires new ideas. It requires new answers to old questions, as well as new questions with even newer answers. Jesus was by no means conservative. Jesus challenged the status quo. He fought against the groundwork of much of the religious thought around him, as well as the structures erected to empower its values. He called out those who benefited from social, religious, and political power. He demonstrated God's love, forgiveness and grace to those deemed una...
Read more

God in the Hands of Angry Sinners

Image
Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” set a very poor direction for much of Christianity in the Colonies. His Puritan tradition presented God as an essentially angry deity whose desire was to condemn and torture. Grace or mercy existed simply in regard to how long God waited until calling down judgment upon sinners. That is not good news. It never was. Such is not the message of Jesus whom the gospel writers claim as good news. They echo the words of the celestial messengers declaring Jesus’ birth as good news of great joy to all peoples. Rather than look to Jesus as the clearest example of God’s identity, character, and will, that tradition surrounding Edwards began with an altogether different understanding that could not account for what Jesus actually taught. The Puritan perspective began with angry sinners and projected that upon God. Anger begins with fear, uncertainty, discomfort, and the inability to control one’s environment, ot...
Read more

Our Language of Choice

Image
I woke up this morning and decided to be a woman. I really like the idea of earning less money on the job. I like the idea of being passed over for promotions. I like that I will be held more accountable for the care of my home and familial responsibilities than any of the men around me. I’m looking forward to having my expertise ignored. I like that I’ll more likely be treated as a lower-level assistant to male colleagues than an actual colleague. It should be a good experience to live as more of a target for domestic violence and abuse. It will be so freeing to let go of my bodily autonomy and place it in the hands of men who will not understand me. With so many voices in our society shifting back toward the attitudes of 70 years ago, I am really looking forward to setting aside all trappings of male privilege and power to live as a second class citizen whose voice and opinions are essentially irrelevant. Just look at all the advantages women have! They get t...
Read more