Introspection: Why I Chose to Be Vaccinated

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Why I Chose to Be Vaccinated

[Jesus] said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Matthew 22:37-39 (NRSV)

---

You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

James 2:8 (NRSV)

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to thee
Take my moments and my days
Let them flow in endless praise

From "Take My Life, and Let It Be"
by Frances Ridley Havergal

Recently there has been a surge in COVID-19 cases in the United States, and, though a vaccine has been available to most Americans for a number of months, many have been hesitant to be vaccinated.  For these reasons, I have decided to share my story of being vaccinated and my motivations for doing so.  I'm hoping that, if you, dear reader, are hesitant to be vaccinated against COVID-19, you might find my experience and my thoughts on the matter helpful.

I received my first dose of the Moderna vaccine in mid March.  At that time, vaccination appointments were scarce, so people were clamoring for whatever was available.  I ended up driving for forty minutes to a pharmacy thirty miles away from my home.  I had to wait four weeks before I could receive my second dose, and a lot changed in those four weeks.  I received my second dose in mid April.  A vaccination clinic was held at my place of employment, so luckily I was spared another forty-minute drive.  I knew that some people experienced flu-like symptoms after receiving their second dose, so I informed my supervisor that I might be calling in sick the next day.

I received my second dose on a Tuesday.  I started feeling a bit poorly that evening, but, on Wednesday morning, I woke up with a fever, a headache, and some body aches.  I had expected such symptoms, and I took them as a sign that the vaccine was doing what it was designed to do and that my immune system was reacting to it as it was supposed to react.  I felt terrible, but I considered my symptoms a small price to pay for the protection the vaccine would give me.  On Thursday, I woke up with a headache.  As the morning went on, I started to feel better, so I reported to work just before noon.

At the end of April, two weeks after I received my second dose, I was considered fully vaccinated.  Three months have passed since then, and I an happy to report that, after experiencing the aforementioned flu-like symptoms when I received the second dose, I have experienced no adverse reactions to the vaccine.

As I've noted previously, my singular New Year's resolution for 2021 was to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as the opportunity presented itself to me.  I wanted to do what I could to minimize my chances of contracting the virus and spreading it to other people, and, at the same time, after spending a year in "lockdown mode," I wanted to be able to safely live my life as I lived it before the pandemic.  I also wanted to do my small part to bring about an end to this damned pandemic so that all of us may be able to safely carry on with our lives.

I want you to know, dear reader, that I did not choose to be vaccinated because someone told me to do so or because I wanted to follow the crowd.  If you really know me, then you know that I don't particularly like being told what to do and that I am not one to follow crowds.  I chose to be vaccinated because I wanted to be vaccinated.

When I was a teenager, my mother subjected me to influenza vaccinations every year.  As I've already noted, I hate being told what to do, so, at some point after I became an adult, I chose to stop being vaccinated.  Everything was fine, until I started contracting the flu.  It could be said that I started 2013 with the flu and ended 2013 with the flu.  I found the disease to be not only painful but also disruptive.  When I contracted the flu at the end of 2012, I was unable to attend a New Year's Eve party with my friends.  I contracted the flu a second time the following December.  Though I recovered before Christmas, I had passed the flu along to my mother's boyfriend, who also wasn't vaccinated, and, as a result, he was unable to spend Christmas with his loved ones.

I did not want to contract the flu a third time, so, in late 2014, I started receiving regular influenza vaccinations once again.  I have not contracted the flu since then, so I have become a believer in vaccines.  COVID-19 has proven itself to be a much more dangerous disease than the flu, so why would I not want to avail myself of a vaccine against it?

Though the COVID-19 vaccine is indeed new, the science behind vaccinations has been around for over two hundred years.  I learned in high school that the first vaccine, which protected people from the deadly and highly contagious disease smallpox, was developed in the late eighteenth century, after Edward Jenner realized that milkmaids who had recovered from the less dangerous disease cowpox seemed to be immune to smallpox.¹  Since then, vaccines have been used to eradicate smallpox and to make other infectious diseases a lot more rare.

Some people seem to think that receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is somehow at odds with their Christian faith.  As a man of faith, I would like to address such concerns.

Some people seem to think that, if they choose to be vaccinated against COVID-19, then they are not trusting in God to protect them.  Personally, I believe that one can trust in God and also choose to be vaccinated.  The first message sent over the first long-distance telegraph line was a quote from the Bible: "What hath God wrought!"²  Samuel Morse, the sender of this message, effectively gave God the glory for the invention of a new means of communication.³  The telegraph paved the way for other forms of communication, which many people consider blessings.  A person can be vaccinated against COVID-19 and give God the glory for the development of the vaccine.  God imparts different gifts to different people, and these gifts include the gifts of knowledge and healing that enabled the development of vaccines.

Some people seem to think that, because God gave them an immune system, they do not need a vaccination.  The truth is that vaccines work hand-in-hand with a person's God-given immune system; in fact, they would be useless without it.  When people are vaccinated, benign material from a virus is introduced into their bodies.  Their immune systems detect it and begin producing antibodies.  If the real virus enters their bodies, the antibodies are already there to fight it.⁴  A vaccine can be compared to intel the military receives about a threat before the enemy has an opportunity to attack.

Some people seem to think that the vaccine might be the Mark of the Beast described in the Book of Revelation.  Though people disagree about what the mark is, it is evidently a mark of allegiance to a power other than Jesus Christ.⁵  If being vaccinated against COVID-19 shows allegiance to anyone, it shows allegiance to Jesus, because He calls us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  Jesus says that this is the second greatest commandment, and St. James says that this is the Royal Law, because it is taught to us by our Lord and King.  By taking measures to minimize our chances of contracting a deadly and infectious disease, we also minimize our chances of spreading it to other people.  By protecting ourselves, we do our part to protect our neighbors.

I believe that the vaccines against COVID-19 are our best hope for bringing about the end of this seemingly unending pandemic.  I cannot make choices for other people, but I can speak of my own choices, tell my story, and share my motivations.  If you, dear reader, have been hesitant to be vaccinated against COVID-19, I hope that reading my vaccination stories and my thoughts on the matter have helped to set your mind at ease.


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: "Vaccine"
2. Numbers 23:23 (KJV)
3. Wikipedia: "Baltimore-Washington Telegraph Line"
4. Wikipedia: "Vaccine"
5. Revelation 13:11-18

The photograph of the Moderna vaccine was taken by Tom Wolf, and it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.

Sermon: From Scarcity to Abundance (2021)

Delivered at Northside United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on July 25, 2021

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

From Scarcity to Abundance

Audio Version

Click here to watch the entire service on YouTube.

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.  A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.  Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.  Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.  When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”  He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.  Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”  One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.  But what are they among so many people?”  Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”  Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.  Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.  When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”  So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.

John 6:1-13 (NRSV)

It doesn't matter what you've heard
Impossible is not a word
It's just a reason for someone not to try

From “What Faith Can Do” by Kutless

A few years ago, feeling that I had become somewhat stuck in life, I began to suspect that maybe I was avoiding things that might be potentially painful.  One day, I decided to confront my pain head-on, so I sat down and compiled a list of all the things that caused me pain over the previous six years.  The exercise was not nearly as painful as I expected it to be.  I actually felt like I was writing more of a confession than a list of grievances.  As I looked over my list, I realized that one thread tying much of it together was the feeling that I was not enough.

I have come to realize that one of the things that holds me back the most in life is the feeling that I am, in some way, not enough – not strong enough, not attractive enough, not talented enough, not accomplished enough, not caring enough, not generous enough, not loving enough, not Christian enough, not good enough.  I tend to avoid things that make me feel inadequate, either because I fear failure or simply because I want to avoid the feeling entirely.  As I worked to overcome the feeling that I am not enough, I learned that changing the way I tend to think and feel about myself will be an ongoing process.  I also learned that, if I want to move forward in life, I will have to practice courage and trust that I have what it takes to do what I set out to do.

I suspect that I am not the only person in the world who feels inadequate at times.  I suspect that most, if not all, of us, at some point in our lives, have felt that we are, in some way, not enough.

---

Jesus has once again found himself at the center of controversy.  It all started one Sabbath day when He healed a man who had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years, saying, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”  The religious leaders caught wind that Jesus not only broke the Sabbath laws by healing someone on the Sabbath day, which is set aside solely for rest, but also encouraged someone else to break the Sabbath laws by telling him to carry his mat on the Sabbath.  When they confronted Jesus about His actions, He said to them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”  The religious leaders became even more incensed with Him, because, in their eyes, He committed blasphemy by identifying Himself with God.¹

Jesus knows that His time has not yet come, so He withdraws from Jerusalem, crosses the Sea of Galilee, and climbs a mountain so that He may spend some time alone with the Disciples.  Because He has earned a reputation as a healer, people keep following Him, and naturally a crowd follows Him to where He and the Disciples have retreated.

When Jesus sees the crowd, He reasons that they will soon be hungry, if they are not already hungry.  He asks the disciple Philip, who happens to be from the area,² where they can go to buy bread for everyone.  Philip crunches some numbers and determines that they would need more than six month's wages to buy enough bread for everybody in the crowd to have just a few bites.  John tells us in his account of the story that there are about five thousand people in the crowd that day.  Matthew, in his account, makes it a point to note that there are “about five thousand men, besides women and children.”³  In that case, if every man in the crowd has a wife with him and if every couple has at least two children with them, then there would be an excess of twenty thousand people in the crowd that day.  This is probably still a rather conservative estimate.

Andrew, another disciple, has found a boy in the crowd who is willing to share the food he brought with him, which consists of five barley loaves and two fish.  It is evident that the boy comes from a family that is not especially well off.  At that time, barley, which is commonly fed to animals, is used to make the cheapest bread.  The two fish, which are likely the size of sardines, are undoubtedly pickled, since there are no ways of keeping fish fresh.  They would serve as a flavorful accompaniment to the dry, bland barley loaves.⁴  Though Andrew has managed to acquire some food, he does not think it will go very far in feeding a crowd of thousands of people.

Jesus tells the Disciples to make the people in the crowd sit down on the grass.  He then takes the boy's loaves and fishes and gives thanks for them, perhaps with a traditional Jewish mealtime prayer⁵ like the following: Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam, hamotzi lehem min ha'aretz (“Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth”).⁶  Jesus then distributes the food to the people in the crowd.  The boy had brought only five loaves of bread and two fish, but amazingly all the people in that massive crowd are able to eat as much as they want.  Once the people have finished eating, Jesus tells the Disciples to gather up the leftovers, and, when they do so, they manage to fill up twelve baskets.  Somehow, they have ended up with more food than they had when they started.

What happened that day was nothing short of a miracle, but what kind of miracle was it?  The Gospels tell us what happened, but they do not tell us exactly how it happened.

I suspect that, when we read about Jesus' feeding the multitude, we typically assume that Jesus supernaturally manipulated matter.  In other words, He changed a very small amount of food into a very large amount of food.  In effect, a sack lunch was transformed into a feast for thousands of people.

That said, there is an alternate interpretation of how this miracle might have happened.  How likely is it that, among the thousands of people who sought Jesus that day, nobody in the crowd thought to bring any provisions whatsoever?  In such a massive crowd, those who had the forethought to bring food with them would probably have felt the need to hide their provisions.  Otherwise, the people around them who were less prudent would want them to share, and they would have less for themselves and their families.  Perhaps, when people saw that Jesus and the Disciples were sharing what little was brought to them, those who were hiding their provisions overcame their selfishness and decided to do likewise, starting a chain reaction throughout the crowd.  In the end, those who feared that there was not enough food to go around see that there was actually more than enough.⁷

Perhaps Jesus performed a miracle that transformed matter, or perhaps Jesus performed a miracle that transformed hearts.

How one interprets this miracle might be affected by one's Christology – in other words, what one believes about Christ.  A person who has a “high” Christology would tend to focus on the divinity of Jesus, while a person who has a “low” Christology would tend to focus on the humanity of Jesus.  The Church teaches us that Jesus Christ is both fully divine and fully human, so both perspectives can be beneficial.  Reading the Gospel with a high Christology is helpful because it teaches us what God is like, but reading the Gospel with a low Christology is also helpful because it teaches us what humanity is capable of becoming.  In Christ, we can see both a God worth trusting and a human being worth imitating.

When I first learned about the less “supernatural” interpretation of Jesus' feeding the multitudes, I wasn't very fond of it: I didn't want to jettison everything heavenly about Jesus, as it seems a lot of people are doing.  Now, I find this alternative reading a bit more compelling.  Nowadays, we typically dismiss stories about transforming matter, but who among us is not inspired by stories of people who work together in difficult times or stories of people who put aside their own safety and well being for the sake of others?  We need such stories of self-sacrifice to remind us that, as humans, we are meant for more than self-preservation.

The 2003 comedy Bruce Almighty tells the story of a man named Bruce who, after a somewhat humorous encounter with God, has the opportunity to do God's job for a while.  At one point in the story, God, who is portrayed by actor Morgan Freeman, says,
A single mom who's working two jobs and still finds time to take her kid to soccer practice, that's a miracle.  A teenager who says “no” to drugs and “yes” to an education, that's a miracle.  People want me to do everything for them.  But what they don't realize is they have the power.  You want to see a miracle, son?  Be the miracle.⁸
It's nice to consider what Jesus was capable of doing as the only begotten Son of God, but we also need to consider what we are capable of doing when we follow His example of self-sacrificial love.  We might not be able transmute matter, but we can affect the hearts and minds of others through the examples we set.

Perhaps we should consider what a miracle is in the first place.  Biblical scholar William Barclay writes,
We must never be content to regard [the miracles of Jesus] as something which happened; we must always regard them as something which happens.  They are not isolated incidents in history; they are demonstrations of the always and forever operative power of Jesus Christ.⁹
Philosopher Peter Rollins suggests that maybe a miracle not some change in the physical world, but rather a change in a person's inner world.  For the one who has experienced a miracle, nothing has changed, yet nothing remains as it was.¹⁰   Perhaps the significance of Jesus' feeding the multitude, however it happened, is that people began to see abundance where they previously saw only scarcity.

This story appears in each of the four Gospels, and each writer offers us different details about the story.¹¹  Only John tells us, in his version, that it is a little boy who brought the loaves and fishes to the Disciples.  If you think about it, only a child would do something so unwise.  Any responsible adult would understand that, in a time of scarcity, one must provide for one's family and for oneself before trying to help strangers.  I've wondered if maybe, somewhere between Bible verses, the boy overhears the Disciples talking with Jesus about how they are going to provide food for everybody and then yells out, to his parents' chagrin, “We have some food!”

Were it not for this child and his foolish innocence, the crowd might not have been fed that day.  Perhaps only people with such naiveté can truly understand the ways of the Kingdom of God.  After all, Jesus once said to the Disciples, “Let the little children come to me... for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”¹²

The story of Jesus' feeding the multitude, like so many stories about Jesus, is a call to repentance – a call to change the way we think and, ultimately, the way we live.  This story is an invitation to look at the world around us and even at ourselves with new eyes, adopting a mindset of abundance as opposed to a mindset of scarcity.  It challenges us, when we are tempted to think there is not enough, to consider that there might actually be more than enough.  When we look at the world through the eyes of scarcity, we withhold what we have out of fear that there might not be enough; however, when we look at the world through the eyes of abundance, trusting that there is more than enough, we are free to be generous with what we have.

There was enough food for everyone who came to Jesus that day, but is there really enough food for everyone in the world today?

Consider these words of David from the Sixty-fifth Psalm:

You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy.¹³

The Psalmist seems to have a theology of abundance: he envisions a God who travels throughout the earth, leaving an abundance of blessings in God's path.  Abundant rain waters abundant grain, and abundant pastures feed abundant livestock.  The Psalmist believes not in a God who provides us the bare minimum required for survival but in a God who provides richly for us.

If we live in a world of abundance, as the Psalmist suggests, then why are there so many hungry people in the world?  The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that, in 2016, around eight hundred fifteen million people – nearly eleven percent of the global population – suffered from chronic undernourishment.  At that time, the prevalence of undernourishment was rising.¹⁴  If there are so many hungry people in the world, then can we really say that there is enough food to go around?  It is estimated that, from 2016 to 2018, there was enough food produced around the world to provide every person on the planet over 2900 calories every day.¹⁵  If you look at the nutrition information labels on the food products you buy, you will see that the calculations are based on a diet of only 2000 calories per day.  We do indeed live in a world of abundance, yet not all people receive the food they need.  The FAO estimates that one third of the food produced in the world is discarded by either suppliers or consumers.¹⁶

There are many factors that contribute to the problem of world hunger, but what I am trying to say is that, though there is enough food to go around, some people do not get the food they need while other people buy more food than they are able to eat.  Think about that the next time you have to clean out your refrigerator or your pantry.  In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that the early Christians shared what they had, and, as a result, nobody in the Christian community went hungry.¹⁷  You who have been richly blessed by God, consider that maybe you have been blessed so that you may be a blessing to others.  Consider what you can do to combat hunger at home and abroad.  Jesus says that, “from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required.”¹⁸

If God created a world in which there is enough to go around, then maybe each of us is enough as well.  Christ challenged the Disciples to meet a need among the crowd.  At first they did not think they had enough, but, when Christ took what they had and blessed it, it proved to be more than enough.  So often we think that we do not have enough time, talent, or resources to do what we think God is calling us to do, but, if we offer what little we have to God, it just might be more than enough.  In the words of N.T. Wright, “It is part of genuine Christian service, at whatever level, that we look on in amazement to see what God has done with the bits and pieces we dug out of our meagre resources to offer him.”¹⁹

Consider what might not have happened if the boy who gave his food to Jesus and the Disciples just assumed that his five cheap barley loaves and two small fish were not enough to do any good.  Thousands of hungry people might not have eaten that day.  Consider what kinds of great things might not happen in our midst if we simply assume that we are not enough for God to work through us.  Barclay writes,
It may well be that the world is denied miracle after miracle and triumph after triumph because we will not bring to Jesus what we have and what we are.  If we would lay ourselves on the altar of his service, there is no saying what he could do with us and through us.  We may be sorry and embarrassed that we have not more to bring... but that is no reason for failing to bring what we have.  Little is always much in the hands of Christ.²⁰

Jonathan Holston, the bishop of the United Methodist Church in my state, likes to encourage people to dream God-sized dreams.  Dreaming big is pointless and even painful if we do not have any faith that those dreams could become realities.  Why should we even dream at all if we do not think we can achieve our dreams?  Jesus says that, with faith the size of a mustard seed, a person can move a mountain.²¹  A person who wants to move a mountain needs a little bit of faith to grab a shovel and start digging, but she will need to exert a lot of sweat to keep going.  She will not accomplish much on her own, but others might be so inspired by her fervor that they bring their own shovels and pickaxes and join her in her efforts.  Perhaps people of means, who have access to demolition machines or dynamite, will take notice and offer their help.  Great things can happen when a person takes a step in faith.

We live in a world of abundance, so there is no reason that we should approach life with a mindset of scarcity.  We can give generously of our resources because there is more than enough to go around.  We can give generously of ourselves because we have more to offer than we often realize.  We might not think that we have much to offer, but God has a way of multiplying our resources and our efforts so that we accomplish more than what we thought was possible.  God can do great things through us when we offer ourselves to God.

Thanks be to God.


Notes:

1. John 5:1-18 (NRSV)
2. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of John, Volume One.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 235
3. Matthew 14:21 (NRSV)
4. Barclay (Gospel of John), p. 236
5. ibid.
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_prayers_and_blessings#Blessing_over_the_bread
7. Barclay (Gospel of John), p. 238
8. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bruce_Almighty
9. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume Two.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 120
10. Peter Rollins.  The Orthodox Heretic and Other Impossible Tales.  2009, Paraclete Press.  pp. 171-172
11. See also Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, and Luke 9:10-17.
12. Matthew 19:14 (NRSV)
13. Psalm 65:9-13 (NRSV)
14. https://www.worldhunger.org/world-hunger-and-poverty-facts-and-statistics
15. https://www.globalagriculture.org/transformation-of-our-food-systems/book/infographics/availability-of-calories.html
16. https://www.fao.org/food-loss-and-food-waste/flw-data)
17. Acts 2:44-45
18. Luke 12:48 (NRSV)
19. N.T. Wright.  Matthew for Everyone, Part 1.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 187
20. Barclay (Gospel of John), p. 239
21. Matthew 17:20

The painting featured above was painted by Juan de Espinal in the mid 1700s.

Sermon: Where Is God? (2021)

Delivered at Zoar United Methodist Church in Greer, South Carolina on July 18, 2021

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Where Is God?

Audio Version

Click here to watch the entire service on Facebook.

Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.”  Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”

But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?  I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.  Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”  Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.  And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies.  Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.  When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.

2 Samuel 7:1-14a (NRSV)

I will swim in the deep
'Cause You'll be next to me
You're in the eye of the storm
And the calm of the sea
You're never out of reach

God, You know where I've been
You were there with me then
You were faithful before
You'll be faithful again
I'm holding Your hand

From “Let the Waters Rise” by MIKESCHAIR

In September of 2007, just a few months after I graduated from college, I began working as a software engineer for a small company that makes video games.  At first, my job might sound like a young programmer's dream, but this company does not make the type of video games in which a player fights hostile aliens or sets out on a journey to save a princess.  No, this company makes the type of video game on which a player might literally waste his or her entire paycheck, hoping to hit the jackpot.  I never thought that gambling was a particularly good use of a person's money, but I figured that, as long as a person didn't wager any more than he or she could afford to lose, it wasn't really a problem.  That said, after I accepted that job, I began to experience a growing sense of shame for working in an industry that profited from people's weaknesses.

At that time, the gambling industry was not a place I would have expected to find God.


The Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle

In the Second Book of Samuel, we read that, one day, while King David was relaxing at his palace, He said to his friend Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.”  Not long before this conversation took place, David brought to the new capital city Jerusalem the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred object that symbolized both the Presence of God and God's covenant with the people of Israel.  In Jerusalem, David set up a tent to house the Ark, but apparently he did not believe this tent was suitable for the almighty Creator of the universe.¹

The Ark of the Covenant was a golden chest that contained the Ten Commandments and other symbols of the covenant.  Atop the Ark was the Mercy Seat, the throne of God, which was made up of two golden cherubim.²  The Ark was originally housed in the Tabernacle, a place of worship constructed by the Israelites while they journeyed through the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land.  The Tabernacle consisted of tent and a surrounding courtyard which was enclosed by curtains.  Within the courtyard was an alter on which the priests offered sacrifices to God and a basin where they underwent cleansing rituals.  The tent itself was divided by a veil into two partitions: the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.  The Holy Place contained an altar for incense, a golden lampstand, and a golden table for sacred bread.  The Ark itself was housed within the Holy of Holies.³

Naturally, if a place of worship was built while the worshipers were journeying through the wilderness, it had to be portable.  The Tabernacle was covered by the Presence of the Lord, which, at that time, was manifest as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  When the cloud rose from the Tabernacle and began to move, the Israelites would dismantle the Tabernacle and follow the cloud.  When the cloud stopped, the Israelites would reassemble the Tabernacle and set up camp, and the cloud would once again settle upon the Tabernacle.⁴


The Temple of the Lord

The Tabernacle was still in use at the time of King David, though the Ark itself was housed in a tent in Jerusalem.  David did not believe it was right that the Ark, which symbolized the very Presence of God, was kept in a meager tent while he lived in a luxurious palace.  Nathan, a prophet of God, could see that David desired to build a temple fitting for God, so he said to him, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”  Later that night, God gave Nathan a response for David, saying,
Are you the one to build me a house to live in?  I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.  Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”
Basically, God said to David, “Why do you want to build a temple for Me?  Did you ever hear Me complain about living in a tent?”

Building a temple was not what God had in mind for David, but I do believe that God must have been touched by his dedication and love.  Honoring his wish to build a temple, God made him a promise, saying,  
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.

The Temple of the Lord, which was built in Jerusalem under the leadership of David's son Solomon, was larger and more ornate than its more modest predecessor.  Like the Tabernacle's tent, the inner sanctuary was divided into the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.  The inner sanctuary was completely overlaid with gold, and the walls of the temple were adorned with carvings of cherubim, palm trees and flowers. Within the inner sanctuary stood two fifteen-foot-tall statues of cherubim, also overlaid with gold.  Surrounding the sanctuary were treasure chambers.⁵  The Temple had an outer courtyard as well as an inner courtyard where sacrifices were offered.⁶

Construction of the Temple required seven years, and, on the day that the Temple was dedicated, the Ark of the Covenant was brought inside, along with the Tabernacle's tent and the objects once contained therein.  The Presence of the Lord, manifest as a cloud, entered the Temple, and the cloud was so think that the priests could not carry out their duties.⁷


A Different Kind of Temple

What if I told you that there are temples described in the Bible that are very different from the Temple in Jerusalem and the Tabernacle that preceded it?

In the Gospel of John, we read that, one day, around the time of Passover, Jesus visited the Temple in Jerusalem.  He looked around and saw people selling animals for sacrifices and exchanging Roman currency for Jewish currency.  Though these activities were commonplace at the time, Jesus was, for some reason, very displeased with what He saw.  He made a whip, started cracking it, and drove everyone out of the Temple, yelling, “Take these things out of here!  Stop making My Father’s house a marketplace!”  When the religious leaders confronted Jesus about His actions, He said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”⁸

John tells us that Jesus was not referring to the temple in which He had just made a scene, as people might have thought, but was instead calling His own body a temple.⁹  John begins his Gospel with a hymn about a Word – a Word that “was in the beginning with God,” a Word that “was God,” a Word through which “all things came into being.”¹⁰  The hymn tells us that “the Word became flesh and lived among us.”¹¹  The Greek term used to describe the incarnate Word's living among us was originally used to describe pitching a tent.  In fact, it could be said that the incarnate Word “tabernacled” among us.¹²  John teaches us in his Gospel that the Presence of God was found in a temple or tabernacle made of flesh and blood, who came to be known as Jesus of Nazareth.  Like a literal word, Jesus is the way God chose to express God's self to humanity.

The good, upstanding religious folk of the day would not have considered Jesus a temple suitable for God.  He was born in a stable under questionable circumstances; He associated with disreputable people; He was in constant conflict with the religious leaders; and He was executed on a Roman cross like a criminal.  Of course, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day, just as He told the religious leaders.


The Temple of the Holy Spirit

Like many prophecies recorded in Scripture, the promise God made to David can be understood in multiple ways.  God promised David that one of his descendants would “build a house for [God's] name.”  Normally we might assume that this prophecy was fulfilled in King Solomon, David's son and successor who built the temple in Jerusalem.  God also promised David that the throne of his descendant's kingdom would be established forever, and that this future king would be like a son to God.  Like Solomon, Jesus was a descendant of David.  To this day, His followers believe that He is the Son of God and that, even now, He reigns at the right-hand side of the Father as the true Lord of this world.

And, like Solomon, Jesus built a temple.

In the Gospels, we read that, one day, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  The Disciples replied with various rumors about who Jesus was, and then Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”  The disciple Simon answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus turned to Simon and said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”¹³

The temple Jesus built is the Church, a community of disciples who are bound together by one Spirit.  As Paul writes in one of his letters to the early Church, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”¹⁴  The Presence of the Lord entered this temple on the day of Pentecost when the Disciples heard a sound of a mighty wind and saw the Holy Spirit descend upon them like tongues of fire.¹⁵  From that day forward, disciples of Jesus Christ all over the world have offered up their lives as living sacrifices to God on the altars of their hearts, which burn bright with the fire of the Holy Spirit.  The Disciples were not perfect, and neither are we, but still we have been chosen to be the raw materials from which Christ builds His Church.  We have been entrusted with the ministry Christ began two thousand years ago, and we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry it out.

So Where Is God?

King David believed that there are some places that are beneath God, like the tent he set up for the Ark of the Covenant, but the different temples described in Scripture show us that God is equally comfortable dwelling in a mobile tent, residing in a temple of gold, sleeping in a manger in a dirty stable, or abiding in and among a community of imperfect disciples.

So where exactly is God?

One day, the apostle Paul found himself in the Greek city of Athens.  When he saw the many idols, altars, and other objects of worship scattered throughout the city, he experienced a bit of a culture shock, having come from a devoutly Jewish background.  There was one altar that stood out to him which was dedicated “to an unknown god.”  At a site called Mars Hill, Paul told the Athenians about the God they did not know.  He said, “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands...”  He went on to tell them that God “is not far from each one of us,” and then, borrowing words from a Greek poet, he said, “In him we live and move and have our being.”¹⁶

The very concept of a temple suggests that God has a place in the world.  At Mars Hill, Paul flipped the proverbial script, suggesting that it is not God who has a place in the world but rather we who have a place in God.  I have heard it said – I have forgotten by whom – that God is like the ocean and that we are like sunken ships.  Though it is true, to a certain extent, that a sunken ship contains the ocean, it is much more true to say that the ocean contains the ship.  Consider these words of David in light of Paul's revelation that in God “we live and move and have our being”:

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.¹⁷

There is no place we can go where God is not to be found, and there is no time in our lives when God is not with us.  No matter how far from God we might feel, God is never far from us.

As I noted earlier, the gambling industry was not a place I would have expected to find God.  The flagship product of the company for which I worked was a video slot machine that had a penny theme.  For a long time, one of these machines happened to be set up near my desk.  One day, while I was looking at this machine, I began to notice the detail with which the pennies had been drawn.  I then realized that sprinkled all over that slot machine, from the video screen to the illuminated glass on the cabinet, was the motto IN GOD WE TRUST.  Written all over that instrument of iniquity, on which people wasted their hard earned money, was a reminder to trust in God.

I considered my taking a job in the gambling industry a big mistake, but my mistake was not big enough to take me outside of God's reach.  As David points out in his Psalm, there is no place a person can go where God is not to be found.  In that dreary office, in one of the most unholy of places, God was right there with me.  In that dark, dismal time of my life marked with shame and despair, God was holding me close like a loving parent.  I've called the gambling industry godless in the past, but God used my time working in that industry to call me into God's work.  It was at that time that I began seeking in my religion the sense of purpose I did not find in my job.  I am not certain that, had I not made the mistake of taking that job, I would still be here, delivering this sermon to you today.

Maybe, like David, who thought a meager tent was not suitable for God, we think that there are places – in the world and in our lives – that are not suitable for God.  What if such places are ironically the places where we might actually find ourselves closest to God?  Shane Hipps once said:
If you want to experience the presence of God, one place you will most certainly find that God is in the dark, shadowy back alleys of the soul and the world – the parts of ourselves that we repress, deny, and disown, that we are frightened of – in that dark back corner room with the locked door.  If you were to go and open that door, what you would find, nestled in among the sin and the shame and the sickness and the sorrow, is the Creator of the universe, reclined and relaxed, completely at home, not the least bit offended, not the least bit surprised, not the least bit fearful – completely at home.  None of it would surprise him.  It's this fascinating phenomenon that the divine dwells in the darkest places.¹⁸

God's love is as inescapable as God's presence.  Paul writes, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”¹⁹  There is nowhere we can stray where God is not to be found; there is no mistake we can make that would alienate us from God's love; and there is no part of our lives – no dark corner of our hearts – where God is not ready to meet us.


The Temple of the Future

Our Bible ends with a vision of the future, when heaven and earth are made new.  The Revelator watches as the holy city New Jerusalem comes down from heaven to earth, and he hears an announcement:

See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them...²⁰

The Greek term used to describe God's dwelling with humanity in the renewed creation is the same term used in John's Gospel to describe the incarnate Word's living among humanity.²¹  In other words, God will once again pitch God's tent or “tabernacle” with humanity.  As the Revelator describes the holy city, he makes an interesting observation.  He notes, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb [Christ].”²²  Perhaps the Revelator is telling us that, someday, we will experience God's presence in such a way that we will finally realize the truth that all space is sacred space.


May you realize that there is no place on your journey where God is not with you.  May you remember that God is never far from you, no matter how far from God you might feel.  May you realize that there is no place in your heart or soul where God is not ready to meet you if you would just step inside.  May you realize that you cannot hide from God and that you do not need to hide from God, because nothing can separate you from God's love.  May you remember that you too are called to be part of the Church that Christ is building, and may you embrace this calling with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Amen.


Notes:

1. 2 Samuel 6:1-19
2. Exodus 25:10-22
3. Exodus 40:1-33a
4. Exodus 40:33b-38
5. 1 Kings 6
6. 2 Chronicles 4:9
7. 1 Kings 8:1-11
8. John 2:13-19 (NRSV)
9. John 2:21
10. John 1:1-3 (NRSV)
11. John 1:14 (NRSV)
12. Blue Letter Bible: “skēnoō”
13. Matthew 16:13-20 (NRSV)
14. 1 Corinthians 3:16 (NRSV)
15. Acts 2:1-4
16. Acts 17:16-31 (NRSV)
17. Psalm 139:7-12 (NKJV)
18. Shane Hipps.  “The God in Nineveh.”  Mars Hill Bible Church Podcast, 02/21/10.
19. Romans 8:38-39 (NRSV)
20. Revelation 21:1-3 (NRSV)
21. Blue Letter Bible: “skēnoō”
22. Revelation 21:22 (NRSV)

The replica Ark of the Covenant is from the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. The photograph of the model Tabernacle was taken by Wikimedia Commons user Ruk7 and is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. The photograph of the model Temple was taken by Juan R. Caudra and is public domain.  Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple was painted by El Greco in 1600.  The illustration of the day of Pentecost is of unknown origin.  None of the artists or photographers are in any way affiliated with this blog.

Perspective: What Happens in the Field

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

What Happens in the Field

A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 18:24 (NKJV)

If the sky above you
Grows dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind begins to blow
Keep your head together
And call my name out loud
Soon you'll hear me knockin' at your door

From "You've Got a Friend" by Carole King

Ever since King Saul fell out of favor with God, he has descended into some very dark states of mind.¹  Multiple times, he has tried to murder David, the young man who will someday become his successor.  Sometimes he sends David out into battle, hoping that their nation's enemies will do his dirty work, but sometimes he takes matters into his own hands and hurls spears at David while he is playing music.²

One day, David meets with his dear friend Jonathan, who also happens to be Saul's son, and asks him what he could have possibly done to make his father try to kill him.  Naturally, Jonathan is shocked to hear that his father would do such a thing.  David insists that his life is in danger and asks Jonathan for help.³

Jonathan then says to David, "Let's go into the field."⁴

As a general rule, when something I read in the Bible reminds me of another part of the Bible that was written earlier, I assume that the author was intentionally alluding to it.  Though I do not really know if the author who wrote about David and Jonathan meant to call another story to mind, Jonathan's suggestion that he and David "go into the field" certainly gives me a feeling of deja vu.  I think it might worth a closer look.

So where have we heard this invitation before?

In the Book of Genesis, near the very beginning of the Bible, we read that one day a man named Cain invites his brother Abel to go into the field with him.  Abel goes with Cain into the field, and, while they are in the field together, Cain attacks Abel and kills him, becoming the first murderer in the biblical narrative.⁵

When David goes with Jonathan into the field, Jonathan promises to find out whether or not his father is really trying to kill him and to protect him if his father does intend to harm him.⁶

Cain invites Abel, his brother, to go with him into the field and then kills him.  Jonathan invites David, who is like a brother to him, to go with him into the field and then promises to protect him.  Jonathan is the opposite of Cain.  In both of these stories, someone invites someone else to go into the field with him, but, what happens in the field differs greatly between stories.  Now, dear reader, you may be wondering why I think these things are worth noting.  Obviously not every invitation to take a walk in a field is extended with nefarious intentions.  To understand the significance of what happens in the field, we must consider what led up to these invitations.

Before Cain invites Abel to go into the field with him, both brothers make offerings to God.  Cain, a farmer, offers some of his crops, while Abel, a shepherd, offers some of his sheep.  God looks favorably upon Abel's offering but not upon Cain's.  Some speculate that God simply prefers one kind of offering to the other.  Others suspect that Abel gives the best of what he has, while Cain gives his leftovers.  The truth is that we simply do not know why God favors Abel's offering over Cain's.  What we do know is that Cain becomes resentful.  God warns him that his resentment is "waiting at the door ready to strike" and that he needs to "rule over it."  Cain does not heed God's warning but rather allows the resentment that has infected his heart to fester until it warps him into a murderer.⁷

As king of Israel, Saul apparently cares a little too much about what his soldiers and his subjects think about him, and this preoccupation causes him to makes bad choices.  Because of these bad choices, God decides to take the kingship away from Saul and his family and to give it to David.⁸  As David enjoys success, Saul can see that God's blessing is upon him.  Having to watch David receive the adulation he so desperately desires eats him up inside.⁹

As the son of the king, Jonathan would normally be the next in line to be king of Israel, but, because of mistakes he did not make, he will never ascend the throne.  Like Cain's sacrifice, he has been rejected by God, but, unlike Cain, he does not become resentful.  Jonathan accepts that he will never become king, and he befriends the man who will become king in his place.  At one point, he takes off his princely robe and puts it on David.¹⁰  In the field, he blesses David, saying, "May the Lord be with you as he once was with my father."¹¹  Later on, while David is hiding from Saul, Jonathan visits him and encourages him, saying, "You will be king over Israel, and I will be your second in command."¹²  Jonathan is not resentful of David; he loves him dearly.¹³

Sometimes we bring rejection upon ourselves through our bad choices, but often we experience rejection for reasons completely outside of our control.  What is always in our control is how we respond.  Rejection hurts, but we must not allow ourselves to become resentful.  The story of Cain warns us that resentment can twist a person to the point that he is capable of killing his own brother, but the story of Jonathan shows us that we can respond with love.

Love is always the answer.


Notes:

1. 1 Samuel 16:14
2. 1 Samuel 18:10-19:24
3. 1 Samuel 20:1-10
4. 1 Samuel 20:11 (CEB)
5. Genesis 4:8
6. 1 Samuel 20:12-13
7. Genesis 4:1-7 (CEB)
8. 1 Samuel 13:1-14; 15:1-16:13
9. 1 Samuel 18:6-16
10. 1 Samuel 18:4
11. 1 Samuel 20:13 (CEB)
12. 1 Samuel 23:16-17 (CEB)
13. 1 Samuel 18:1

The photograph of the road and field was taken by Larisa Koshkina, and it has been released to the public domain.  The photographer is in no way affiliated with this blog.