Carnival Rides and Meaning in The New Year

Some of us experienced a roll coaster ride in 2011. In January the cars crept up that first agonizing hill with a menacing “clank, clank, clank” your anxiety growing with each “clank.” Nervous giggles were swallowed whole by panicked shrieks as the front cars vanished over the apex dragging you with them. Your freefall toward the ground is broken at the last possible second by a series of multi-g generating turns, climbing, falling, your body lifted hard against the shoulder harness then mercilessly shoved back into the seat an instant later. An eternal twelve months later December is rolling to a stop and you find yourself right where you started.

Or perhaps your year was a carousel ride. The January bell rings, your horse lurches forward but quickly smooths into a steady up and down rhythm. A delightful breeze caresses your face as the world around you passes by with a comforting regularity, filled with smiling faces, and the encouraging waves of surrounding friends. Any pre-ride anxiety you may have had melts into a languid sense of well being.  A too quick twelve months later December glides to a stop and you find yourself right where you started.

As you look back on 2011 your year may have been brutal and breathtaking, or serene and bucolic. But regardless of how the last year was, every new year begs the questions: “What’s the point?” “Where am I going?” “Does my life have meaning beyond the dispassionate, inexorable cycle of another trip around the sun?”

It may encourage you to know that great people whose lives have left an indelible mark on history struggle finding meaning in life, even Moses. Perhaps it was at the end of a roller coaster year that he cried out to God for himself and his fellow riders, “So teach us to number of our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) and “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and confirm for us (give permanence to) the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands.” For Moses the search for life’s meaning is inescapably linked to God. With God we find meaning, what Moses calls “a heart of wisdom”, a meaning that exists beyond our last carnival ride around the sun.

As 2011 rolls to a stop and 2012 nudges forward, don’t settle for another meaningless trip that leaves you right where you started. Seek God, who alone gives the wisdom that brings meaning to life.

Jews demand signs and Gentiles look for wisdom, but we preach Messiah crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, Messiah the power of God and the wisdom of God. For, the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength… It is because of him that you are in Messiah Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption, just as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”[1]

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[1] 1Corinthians 1:22-25, 30

Hanukkah Hassles and Christmas Chaos

I never thought I would hear the words. Sitting across from each other at the kitchen table Cynthia looked at me and said, “When I think about decorating for the holidays it makes me tired. I just don’t have the desire to do it.” I went dumb with disbelief. She loved decorating our home for the holidays. No Christmas tree mind you, but a tasteful garland splashed with ornaments representing both Hanukkah and Christmas, an array of crèches and menorahs, and well-worn childhood holiday crafts created by our now-grown children.

My confusion grew with the ensuing silence. Was this a test to see if my own long-standing ambivalence-boarding-on-antipathy toward the practice had changed? Was she subtly trying my willingness to be a supportive husband? Was it just the exhaustion of a long day?

Those of you who know Cynthia, please do not be alarmed; her lament not withstanding we did indeed decorate. Why? Because Cynthia was not wanting for physical rest. Nor was not renouncing the very real and joyful pleasure of making our home a symbol of all that is real in Hanukkah and Christmas, or the joy of gift giving as tangible expressions of our affection for others…

Cynthia was longing after the reality behind the traditions. Like a child beauty queen whose natural beauty is hidden by layers of adult makeup, the true beauty of Hanukkah and Christmas may be obscured and lost under layers of  tradition. Our cherished religious traditions, apart from the reality they were meant to serve, will always leave us longing.

If your heart resonates with Cynthia’s you too may be longing for reality. As we approach this often hassle-filled and chaotic season set your heart to press past the traditions to their reality. But, remember, this reality is not an idea, activity, or a religious observance. This reality for which we long is a person, the One in whom all of God’s ancient promises are fulfilled for our good, Jews and Gentiles alike, the One of whom the prophets foretold:

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will be on his shoulders;
And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father,
Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with
justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. [1]

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you one will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity. [2]

[1] From the prophet Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6-7, written ca 700 BCE.

[2] From the prophet Micah chapter 5 verse 2, written ca 750 BCE

Your Halloween Life

Step, step, step, JUMP, step, step, step JUMP! Our advance down the steel steps amplified into Bam, bam, bam, BOOM, bam, bam, bam, Boom as it echoed mercilessly through the cement-walled stairwell. With gleeful greedy efficiency we made our way down the twelve stories of our apartment building—eight apartments per floor, “Ding Dong” followed by “Trick or Treat!” 96 times… by the time we reached the ground floor our costumes were wrecked, our faces streaked with sweat, but the weight of our trick or treat bags filled our hearts with inexpressible joy. We were rich! We struck the mother lode!

This frenzied excitement of Halloween led to a anciet mystical battle. Parents sought to limit candy consumption, and kids pressed to cast off all restraint. Regardless of whose will prevailed the results were eerily the same year after year— within a few days of our celebration all we had left were an empty candy bowls, and a gnawing desire for more.

According to the Chicago Tribune, in spite of “a moribund economy,” our nation is expected to spend an average of $72.31 per person on Halloween in 2011, including a total of $1 billion on children’s costumes and $1.2 billion on adults’ costumes. The scariest thing about Halloween is that after paying for costumes, candy, pumpkins, food for parties, decorations for haunted houses, we have made a multi-billion dollar investment in empty candy bowls and a gnawing hunger for more.

Halloween should spook us because it is our lives in microcosm. From the dawn of self-consciousness we don costume after costume trying to be something we are not, desperately hiding our truest selves. At the same time we begin devouring one brightly colored, fabulously decorated “sweet” after another hoping that “this one” will finally satisfy. We find ourselves haunted by the creeping fear that this is all there is to life— an infinite line of see-through costumes and ultimately empty candy bowls. But, it does not have to be this way.

The way of escape is found in the frightening yet freeing act of owning who we really are. Messiah Yeshua said it this way, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”1 As long as we clutch at costumes and candy, convinced that we have everyone fooled, we place ourselves among the “healthy” who seek no help for their condition. But, at the moment we do the scary thing (the very thing we desperately, religiously, pride-fully, and frantically avoided) and own who we really are, we take our place among “those who are sick…sinners” and the Divine Doctor calls us to freely receive His loving and redeeming care. At once we find ourselves costume and candy free and graciously clothed with Messiah’s righteousness, satisfied by His grace.

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God;
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”2

1. Luke 5:31-32
2. Isaiah 61:10

Fear of Fire

Two twelve year old boys[1] jostled a box of chemicals down a steep hill and set up their lab on a deserted private beach. With the nonchalance of blissful ignorance they mixed a haphazard amalgam of charcoal powder, sulfur, potassium nitrate, potassium chlorate, zinc powder, and magnesium powder, pouring it into a thick-walled mortar. A match was lit and pointed toward the silver-black pile of chemicals. But while still inches away the match and its flame were instantaneously engulfed in a column of white-hot flame so intense that it split in two the mortar from
which it rose. Upon realizing that they were uninjured, the boys’ bewildered wide-eyed expressions gave way to the embarrassed grin of those having just escaped a disaster of their own making. The carefree atmosphere of the boys’ descent was gone as they gingerly carried their box back up the hill. In the future they would be much more circumspect in their experiments.

The boys learned an indispensable life lesson: a right fear of the right things frees us to enjoy a long and healthy life. The corollary is also true: failing to fear the right things condemns us to live out the haphazard, deadly consequences of our own ill conceived amalgams. This is the lesson our people were to learn from their experience with fire at Mt. Sinai.

Fifty days after exiting Egypt, our people stood at the base of Mt. Sinai.[2] Looking up, transfixed and trembling, overwhelmed by deafening thunder, blinding flashes of lightening, billowing smoke and the blaring of an unseen trumpet, they cried out, “…do not have God speak to us or we will die!”  Just then Moses delivered the life lesson they desperately needed to hear, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” The right fear of the right thing would set our people on the path of a long and healthy life.

Each of us fears many things, which in turn control the quality of our lives. By nature, all of us fear the wrong things leaving us to experience the deadly consequences of our own amalgams. But, the good news is that the right fear of the right One sets us on the path of a well-lived, eternal life. May Shavuot find you living the life of reverence to which God calls each of us and for which Messiah died and rose to provide.

Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in His commandments.[3]
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.[4]

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[1] Their names are withheld to protect the author’s reputation. [2] The feast of Shavuot, also known as the Feast of Weeks and Pentecost, takes place 50 days following Pesach, and celebrates the first of the grain harvests, and by tradition, Israel entering into covenant relationship with God, and the giving of the Torah. [3] Psalm 112:1 (NASB95) [4] 2Corinthians 7:1 (NASB95)

The Singularity

The month of May leaves me feeling like the proverbial fiddler on the roof. On the one hand the grief of Yom HaShoah[1] feeds my fear that our current enemies’ cry, “Do It Again” is a real, imminent threat to our survival. On the other hand the joy of Yom Ha’atzma’ut[2] confirms my confidence in “Never Again,” and our people’s ultimate survival. Why this drastic swing? Paradoxically, the answer is rooted in one singularity.

Neither the Shoah nor Yom Ha’atzma’ut are adequately explained by the psychological, sociological and historical disciplines. The pernicious, millennia-old hatred of our people is unique among humanity’s weaknesses and history’s atrocities. It appears among the ignorant and the intelligentsia, the working classes and the wealthy, the strictly secular and the saints of spirituality. It is unique in space and time, crossing international boarders and spanning four millennia. Likewise, the explanation for Israel’s rebirth as a sovereign state transcends historical analysis. What explains the nightmarish mosaic of history that set the stage for the grudging yet miraculous international sanction of a Jewish state on the ancient land of our fathers?

One singularity[3] explains both this unique hatred and miraculous survival of our people. The Accuser and his human subjects desperate to release themselves from God’s restrictive hand, have worked relentlessly throughout history to prove God a liar by destroying what He swore to preserve. Yom HaShoah is one fruit of that millennia-old rebellion. Yet, the same singularity explains and guarantees our survival. In spite of our national unbelief, rebellion, infatuations and dalliances with the gods of our neighbors, God’s promise is steadfast and our survival secure. Like Yom HaShoah, Yom Ha’atzma’ut is a fruit of the same singularity.

Perhaps May will find you on the roof fiddling between fear and confidence. If it does, do not despair because our good rests on God’s glory.[4] Confidence wins out when we choose life in Messiah[5] by responding to God’s promise as Abraham did, who “’believed God, and it was reckoned it to him as righteousness,’ and he was called the friend of God.”[6]

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[1] Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed annually on the 27th of Nisan,  May 2^nd this year  [2] Israel Independence Day (Hebrew: יום העצמאות‎), celebrated annually on 5 Iyar, May 10^th this year  [3] Gen. 12:1-3, et al, God calls Abram (Abraham) and unconditionally promises him a land, people, and blessing  [4] Ezekiel 20:44, 36:22
[5] Deuteronomy 30:19-20, John 8:51  [6] James 2:23 which quotes and comments on Genesis 15:6

Lambs

“Child, let him go right now!” “No, it’s not fair!” shrieked Avrom, his tender fingers digging deeper into the lamb’s curls. His own heart torn, Betzalel lifted his son’s face until they were eye-to-eye and gently whispered, “My son, he must die for your sake and mine.”

The outer battle mirrored an inner turmoil: “Was it really necessary? Would it work? What difference could it possibly make? I’m a craftsman, not a theologian. How am I supposed to know?” Yet, for Betzalel and his family, the events of the last few weeks proved that Moses was no charlatan. And, it was he who sent the order about the lamb and its blood.

The dimming sky ended Betzalel’s inner struggle, forcing its traumatic conclusion. Fingers empty and trembling uncontrollably in his mother’s embrace, Avrom watched helplessly, blind to the love that moved his father’s hands. In a moment the desperate bleating stopped. The silence finally gave way to the scraping of blood-soaked hyssop over wood and stone.

Betzalel handed the dead lamb to his wife and gently took his own into his arms as they passed under the blood-stained door back into their home. Comforted by his father’s embrace and soothed by the smells of his mother’s cooking, Avrom remained in his father’s arms through dinner and into a peaceful sleep. As quiet returned, so did Betzalel’s doubts nourished by the darkness.

As doubt degenerated toward despair, Betzalel noticed an unusual sound; the wind was weeping. Before long the weeping turned into a gale of grief like nothing heard before. It took him only a moment to realize the wind carried the mourning of the Egyptians as they discovered that without the lamb, God’s judgment had fallen on every single home. At the same moment Betzalel’s lingering doubts were disbursed like chaff by the quiet rhythmic breathing of his first-born, peacefully asleep in his arms. It was then he finally saw his own need and the love that provided the lamb.

“And when your children say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ you shall say,
‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt
when He struck the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’” (Exodus 12:26-27)

^“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;
but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth;
like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
so He did not open His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:6-7)

Coincidence?

I sometimes wonder if Albert Einstein had the story of Esther in mind when he said, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”[1]

Esther’s life had taken many unexpected turns. Her parents’ death left her to be raised by a cousin. A queen’s rebellion, a king’s pride and her natural beauty elevated her to Persia’s throne. But, this last turn topped them all. Would the events of her life make her a savior of her people, or one in need of saving? Imagine her struggle as she pondered her cousin’s challenge: “And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?[2]”

Who knows, indeed? Not Esther, nor her cousin. Were the events of Esther’s life mere coincidence or Einstein’s coincidence? What evidence did they have for the meaning of Esther’s life? None, other than what we assume they knew from history, and the sacred writings of their people. They knew that greater kings and kingdoms had risen and fallen, and that threat after threat to their people’s existence had been neutralized. And, they knew why. The One whose name is conspicuously absent from the story, the One of whom neither Esther nor her cousin speaks, this not-seen yet always present One keeps His promises.

Who knows if the seemingly random turns of Esther’s life have not been His work from the beginning? Esther’s choice may seem like a blind leap of faith to some, but, to me, it was the only rational choice. Not because she knew the answer to her cousin’s question, or the ultimate outcome of her choice, but because she knew the character of the anonymous One at the heart of the question.

Where have life’s unexpected turns placed you? Are you responding as an object of coincidence or a subject of the King? It could be a life and death issue.

 “I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness
and will not turn back, that to Me every knee will bow,
every tongue will swear allegiance.”[3]

 

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[1] The World as I See It, by Albert Einstein

[2] Esther 4:14

[3] Isaiah 45:23, Philippians 2:9-11

Don’t Wait to Be Pushed

A terrified child stands glued at the edge of a pool, deaf to the loving encouragement of her mother standing chest-deep in the water. Arms outstretched, her mother sweetly coaxes, “Jump sweetie! I’ll catch you. I promise. You’ll love it. It will be fun!” Minutes pass marked by the rhythm of dueling wills, “Jump, sweetie, jump.” “But I’m scared, I’m scared.” 

Consumed by dread, the child doesn’t sense the quiet presence of her father standing behind her. Suddenly, with a whisper of encouragement in her ear, and a gentle but firm push he sends his child sprawling into the water, right into her mother’s arms. Shocked but safe, her fear dissolves into transcendent joy and she squeals, “I did it! I did it!  Can we do it again?”

 This is a picture of my life from day to day. I stand immobilized by fear at the edge of some obedience whose outcome is uncertain, whose execution is distasteful, or too much effort, or simply not what I feel like doing at the moment. Through His Word the Lord calls to me from within the dreaded act, “Jump, my beloved child. I’ll catch you. I promise.” My heart pounds its reply, “I’m scared,” or “It will hurt,” or “It will kill me,” or finally, “I can’t” (the coward’s way of saying “I won’t.”) Sometimes I jump, and sometimes His love compels Him to push. Either way, once immersed in the act, I find myself buoyed by God’s grace, thrilled by the plunge.

 Real life begins only when we leave the edge of the pool: “By grace you have been saved through faith…”[1] and daily abundance is found in trusting the outstretched arms, “…let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”[2] Jump into God’s grace; don’t wait to be pushed!

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[1] Ephesians 2:8

[2] Hebrews 4:16

Hope for A Happy New Year

It was a quintessential five year old’s fabrication. The Rosensteins were giving me a ride home, and the conversation in the front seat turned to broken fan belts. From the back seat I confidently proclaimed as only a five year old can, “My dad has a fan belt. It keeps him cool all day.” To which the Rosensteins kindly replied, “Oh! That’s nice Danny.”

My caretakers neither chided me nor corrected my confident yet totally misguided assertion. But, neither did they buy into my understanding of what a fan belt is and what it does. It would have been foolish to listen to a five-year-old who had never seen the inside of a engine compartment and lacked the ability to accurately comprehend the mechanical intricacies of an internal combustion engine. Yet, this is how many of us are living our lives.

What we often fail to see is that we are cute but ignorant five year olds when it comes to answering life’s big questions: “Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Is this all there is? What happens when we die?” Our five senses are tuned perfectly for acquiring accurate insight into the matter that makes up our lives, but are totally inadequate for discerning why our lives matter. Living our lives based on inaccurate, sense-bound insights into the big questions is akin to the Rosensteins allowing the five-year-old in the back seat to shape their understanding of fan belts, but with disastrous and deadly results.

Hope for a happy new year is found in escaping the confusion and despair of senses-bound insight and the hubris behind it, and humbly entering into the loving instruction of the One Who sees what we cannot see, knows what we cannot know, and graciously reveals it to all who seek Him. May this new year find us seeking, seeing and savoring why life matters.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Revere the Lord and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your body
And refreshment to your bones.
(Proverbs 3:5-8)

Hanukkah’s Irony

 Hanukkah’s early arrival this year[1] will illuminate a great irony and elicit sheer panic and euphoria in homes throughout the land.

 Those of us who are parents will tend to panic. Our post-Thanksgiving tryptophan-induced reverie will devolve into an adrenalin-pumping panic the instant we realize, “There are only five days before Hanukkah begins! Where did we put the menorah? Will the stores have any candles left? What about potatoes for latkes? Oy, and don’t forget the presents!” Sadly, this panic will deepen with the realization that three of the five days will force us to endure the insanity of “Black Friday” weekend sales. Pity the poor parents.

 Children will tend toward the opposite reaction. The instant they realize, “There are only five days before Hanukkah begins!” they begin floating on a cloud of expectation-euphoria, “I can’t wait to stuff myself with latkes. I wonder what I’m going to get? Will I get the bicycle the first night or the video game console?” This euphoric state deepens with each glimpse of packages carefully wrapped and sequestered from prying eyes.

 The panic and euphoria induced by Hanukkah’s imminent arrival hold a profound irony—they expose our preoccupation with the temporal and material in celebration of a holiday dedicated to the surpassing satisfaction of the eternal and spiritual. The heroes of Hanukkah fought and died to reclaim a physical building—the temple. Why? Because they valued the transcendent worth of a relationship with the One whose worship the building allowed. How ironic that we celebrate their genius by majoring on the material.

 In light of our nation’s current economic woes, please do not end your gift-giving tradition. But, while you gather to kindle the menorah, and exchange gifts, choose to end the irony. Get a copy of Olive Tree’s free Hanukkah booklet (offered on the home page[2]). It will help you illuminate the darkness by focusing on the heart of Hanukkah—the surpassing value of a personal relationship with the King of the Universe.

 Then Yeshua again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life…. I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.[3]

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[1] Hanukkah begins at sundown on Dec. 1^st
[2] www.olive-tree.org
[3] John 8:12 and 12:46