BibleWorm

This week BibleWorm reads two of the foundational texts of the Hebrew Bible—the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:1-21 and the text known as the Shema in the Jewish tradition in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. We discuss the way that the Shema cuts across the cacophony of voices vying for our attention with a resounding “Listen, O Israel!,” calling us away from the voice of Pharaoh and focusing us on the one God who set us free from bondage in Egypt. We discuss the urgency of the Ten Commandments as the framework for an alternative way of life as God’s people, who love God with heart, mind, and soul and protect the integrity of the community. And we notice the repeated emphasis in this text on sharing the story across multiple generations, paying attention both to those who came before and those who will come after as we remind ourselves of what it means to truly be the people of God in the world.

This week BibleWorm reads Exodus 1:8-2:10 and 3:1-15, a text that seemed to ask us again and again – what is capturing your attention? We see just how little it takes for the situation to turn bad for the Israelites in Egypt. And in this newly roaring sea of people and power that are bent against them, we read stories of individual people who manage to incline their attention somewhere else – who manage to look at the one human being right in front of them and respond in that moment with care. Is it enough, to save that one life when it seems the world is on fire?  We can’t be the judge of that. But we sure do get the sense that what they did was urgently important. 

This week BibleWorm reads the story of Jacob’s midnight wrestle as told in Genesis 32:9-13 and 22-30. We talk about the way Jacob pauses to pray for God’s protection as he prepares to face his brother Esau, first reminding God of God’s past promises, and then asking for God to save him. We discuss the mysterious figure who appears to wrestle Jacob in the night, whom Jacob ultimately understands to have been God. We ponder what it means that Jacob wrestles this figure to a draw and wonder whether God, like the man, is challenged and even changed by wrestling with Jacob and with us. And we notice that Jacob emerges from his dark night of the soul not only with a new name and a new blessing, but also with a limp. We think about how often blessings seem to come with limps and the ways in which we, like Jacob, so often carry the marks of our struggles with us as we emerge into a new day.

This week BibleWorm reads Genesis 18:1-15 and Genesis 21:1-7 – texts that tell us of baby Isaac’s imminent, and then actual, arrival. When the three men come to Abraham and tell him that this baby will indeed be born to these two nonagenarians, Sarah famously laughs. 

We wonder what is going through Sarah’s mind and heart at this moment, and what’s in there when she denies it, and again, when that moment of laughter becomes memorialized in the name of her beloved son. Sometimes the gravitas of trying to have a relationship with the Divine makes things a little serious. But this story made us wonder - what is the role of laughter and joyful surprise in our lives of faith? 

This week we begin the new season of the Narrative Lectionary with a look at the story of creation as told in Genesis 2:4b–25. We marvel at the description of an artisan God forming creation from the clay of the earth in an act of artistic improvisation. We reflect on the fundamentally relational nature of the created world in which humans are meant to be in deep relationship not only with God and each other but also with plants, animals, and the earth. And we wrestle with the concept of human partnership as a helper corresponding to us, one who stands in front of us as an equal and challenges us in healthy and productive ways.

This week we conclude our summer series on The Bible and Economic Justice with a text from John 12:1-8 – not such an obvious text for economic justice, but a really important and challenging one.  How do we hold together Mary’s extravagance toward Jesus with  our moral and practical obligation to use our resources to care for the poor? This text invites us to explore the human need to express a sense of awe and transcendence, and to ask – if we humans could stop amassing resources to ourselves, could we create this beautiful reality of abundance instead of scarcity, where we could give to God and give to each other?

This week BibleWorm continues our series on the Bible and Economic Justice with Matthew 6:7-15, a text known in the Christian tradition as the Lord’s prayer. As we read the prayer through the lens of economic justice, we begin to realize that that Jesus is calling his followers toward a life of simple trust in God. We ask enough food for today, we promise to forgive the debts of our neighbors, we ask to kept away from the temptation of plenty. In this way, Jesus says, God’s name is made holy. In this way God’s kingdom will come to earth—here and now, among us. We don’t need to ask for more, Jesus says, because God already knows this is all we need.

This week BibleWorm continues our series on Economic Justice in the Bible with Luke 4:16-21 and 18:18-30. Why does Jesus tell this man that he needs to sell everything he owns? That’s an awfully high bar. And why is that even harder to do when you are wealthy? We consider the sense of safety and independence that money and material resources offer us, and the ways in which that can block us from ever really, truly needing to trust God or each other. We see the Kingdom of God envisioned here as a life of complete interdependence and mutual responsibility. But boy, do we live in the tension of what this text calls us to do and what we are ready and able to do today.

This week BibleWorm continues our series on the Bible and Economic Justice with Micah 6:6-15 and 7:1-7. Here God brings a lawsuit against the people for treating each other unjustly. They cheat each other with false measures. They bribe judges and officials to render false judgments. They pervert justice to favor the wealthy and the powerful. So what can they do to set things right? Nothing but this: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. It sounded so simple when we sang it in youth group, but in fact Micah calls us to radical obedience to the Torah, creating a just world for the widow, the orphan and the stranger—for the most vulnerable among us. That is what the Lord require of us.

This week we continue our summer series on economic justice in the Bible with Leviticus 19:9-18 and 33:37– a text that asks us to reflect and embody and channel God’s holiness through the economy we create in the everyday world. What if our means of production – our land, our time – isn’t absolutely “ours” in the way we owners imagine? We all know the commandment thou shalt not steal, but what is fairly ours to begin with, and what constitutes stealing? And furthermore, what if this command is not just incumbent upon each individual – How do we create communities where theft doesn’t happen, thereby enacting God’s vision of a holy people? Spoiler alert - it’s not an alarm system.