Sunday Stretch: Vol. 86

Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ...

Hi Readers,

Running a bit on empty as I write to you earlier in the week, but as you’re reading this on Sunday morning - hopefully I’ll be feeling a lot differently! We have one little guy not feeling well at home right now, right as summer vacation starts this week!

(Hey Readers - I wrote this earlier and sadly my little guy is still not feeling good. I ended up having to cancel my trip to speak to Baptist women in North Carolina, and we are at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital. But hoping that by Sunday afternoon (today, if you’re reading this Sunday morning) - we will be on our way home and on the road to recovery!)

For now - let’s get to the renewing and Spirit-filled Bible texts and prayer!

Bible Stories

Job 38:1-11

Job 38:1   Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

² “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

³ Gird up your loins like a man,

I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

Job 38:4    “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

⁵ Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

⁶ On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone

⁷ when the morning stars sang together

and all the heavenly beings^a shouted for joy?

Job 38:8    “Or who shut in the sea with doors

when it burst out from the womb?—

⁹ when I made the clouds its garment,

and thick darkness its swaddling band,

¹⁰ and prescribed bounds for it,

and set bars and doors,

¹¹ and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,

and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?

I’m also preaching this morning (for my final time of sabbatical coverage) at Bethlehem Lutheran Twin Cities’ Minnetonka campus, at 9:30 a.m. The text we’re using there is 1 Kings 19:1-15a. It’s reminiscent of this one, because God is reminding us (and reminding Elijah and Job) that our view on the world is often limited and noisy, crowding out the voice and expansiveness and love of God.

(Also sadly - had to cancel preaching today. Thanks to my colleagues at Bethlehem for pitching in and covering last-minute. I’m sad I wasn’t able to be with all the Bethlehem Minnetonka folks today to round out my sabbatical coverage).

In both texts, God calls Elijah and Job out of the “whirlwind.” I think that word, whirlwind, is often a pretty good description of our world today. And sometimes, Christian leaders and would-be prophets seem to bring God into the whirlwind of our angry and violent world. But these texts speak quiet into the whirlwind, reminding us that God sees and creates beauty, and longs for us to join God and one another in that peace and beauty and faith.

Questions to Ponder

Do some of God’s words seem mocking here? Why or why not?

Look up wisdom literature, to learn about the context of the book of Job in particular and why this book of the Bible may have been written in this style.

Do you notice the language of birth in this passage? Do you see mothering images of God in that text? What do you think of that?

2 Corinthians 6:1-13

2Cor. 6:1    As we work together with him,^a we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. ² For he says,

“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,

and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! ³ We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, ⁷ truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

2Cor. 6:11   We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. ¹² There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. ¹³ In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.

This is a passage I return to again and again, especially in the work of ministry and public theology. I believe I even had it read as one of the three texts shared in my ordination service.

Which part?

Well, this rousing one: “We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, ⁷ truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

I think I return to this text because it for me exemplifies the difficult but central truth of the Theology of the Cross: that the returns of goodness and righteousness in this world are often not measured in worldly gain. Instead there is afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger …

Does any of this ring a bell? I can say for me, even in the midst of so many wonderful gifts of ministry, that some of it also does (especially that part about sleepless nights). And I know this is true for all of us who try and follow Jesus, not only those who serve in church ministry. So the Apostle Paul’s words give me encouragement and reassurance, that even though it may feel like we are on the wrong path: we are not.

To be “treated as impostors, and yet are true - as unknown and yet are well known; as dying, and see — we are alive; as punished and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”

Gosh. These words sure sound a lot more true to the life of the typical small church parish pastor, or parent, or ordinary working person, or senior, or health care worker, or teacher — fill in yourself here - than they sound familiar to the celebrity megachurch pastors so often in the news who claim that following God brings wealth, power, and proximity to political office.

What might Paul mean when he says: Do not accept the grace of God in vain?

Now is the day of salvation! Paul says, and then goes on to list all the travails of the apostles and those who followed Jesus. How can both things be true?

Can you relate to any of the descriptions Paul gives for his life in following Jesus? How so? How do Paul’s words of solidarity make you feel?

Mark 4:35-41

Mark 4:35   On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. ³⁷ A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Oh boy, looks like all three texts are extra-relatable to me personally this week. How fitting. (And isn’t it beautiful when God works in those ways, just when we need them most but are also sometimes least inclined to believe God is speaking directly to us?)

In trying to nurse my sick son back to health this week, I can relate to that feeling of the disciples.