Moving With God

Baby steps of faith, hope and love

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Busted

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Written by: Alyssa
Category: Uncategorized

Oh this heart of mine, so crafty and tricky, dressing up so nice and making me think it is so pretty.

VBS is this week, and I know it will be hard on Matt. He has been working SO hard for SO long, and now he has this five day marathon of ministry dealing with kids and volunteers and families, managing all kinds of schedules and melt-downs and thrills. This is really the home stretch because we are looking forward to our vacation next week, and we just have to make it to Saturday.

Read more: Busted

Blessed to Have My Sister

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Written by: Alyssa
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Esther flew home last night, after a 40-day trip here and in New Brunswick.

It was so fun to have her around and get to hang out, to make a point of doing fun things like spending a day downtown and going to the zoo. It was also such a great visit because it confirmed what I already knew, that I am a lucky girl to have such a rad sister.

The thing is, with four years between us, we haven't always... known each other very well? I think that we have always loved and mostly liked each other, but four years is a sizable gap when you are growing up together, and for most of the time that I still lived at home we were just in different stages of life. Then, when I was almost 18, and she was 14, and things were just about right for us to get along and spend time together not only as big-sister and little-sister but as friends, I peaced out to university.Five years later, she is taller than me, she can crack me up, and we are able to share our hearts together, valuing the similarities and understanding we have for each other, and enjoying learning the differences we have in experience and disposition. When people first met Esther, so many commented on our similarities, and I think the imprint of our family is very strong on both of us, so that makes a lot of sense.But people who think we're the SAME are crazy; we agree on that. And one of my favourite things I learned from this visit was that my sister is a friend who comes pre-programmed to understand so much of me, and I am that for her. One of our shared traits is the recognition that we are more than we seem - that there are bits and pieces of us closed off or hidden away, and we don't even always know what's in there or why. And each of us is in progress, trying to figure it out so we can be the best version of ourselves. Our different selves :)


Connecting

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Written by: Alyssa
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The mission team had their debrief last night, and I was lucky enough to go along! We were hosted by a couple from the church who have a great yard (including pool!) and newly finished basement (so when it started raining we were able to continue inside).

It was really awesome for me to be able to sit in and hear about the highlights and challenges that the team faced, to hear what different people took from their experiences, and it was exciting as each person shared how the trip has changed them or helped them going forward now that they are back home. Many youth realized they can do more than they expected, and many were humbled to realize they may not have everything "together" as much as they thought.

For me though, the biggest impact of the debrief meeting was getting to chat with our hostess, who has been away from church for the last few months recovering from a broken arm and some subsequent poor health. I have known that she isn't well for all the months that I haven't seen her, but spending time together last night it really struck me how hard it is for her to be not only stuck at home but to be to physically limited every day and fight off the discouragement that comes with all of that. Today she is very much on my heart, and it is not because she complained to me or even because things are SO bad that I can't get it out of my mind. It's just that the situation has finally sunk in for me because I saw it instead of just hearing about it.

The Bible says when one part of the body suffers, the entire body suffers, and so it is with the body of Christ. But just like our physical bodies, the only way to share in the suffering or joy of other people is when we are connected to them. Bodies have bones and muscles and nerves that connect and animate different parts of our bodies, and that physical reality is necessary. Just being Christians doesn't move us with each other's pain; living in each other's worlds until they become intertwined in our hearts is needed to forge the kind of relationships that manifest the gospel.

This is what I'm having a glimpse of anyway, and it is still sinking in for me.

Religion Gone Wrong

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Written by: Alyssa
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1 Samuel 4 tells a tragic story from Israel's history that demonstrates the danger of relying on religion for security or power. The Israelites are at war with the Philistines, and when their armies collide the Israelites are defeated and lose 4000 men. This was terrible for the Israelites, and the discouraged people were desperate to know how such a thing could happen. The elders decided that for the next battle, they would take the ark of the covenant (a chest that contained the tablets with the ten commandments, and a symbol of God's physical presence with his people) so that God would be with them and save them.


An envoy was sent from the army camp at Ebenezer to Shiloh (where the tabernacle was for worship), and the ark of the covenant was brought back to the great excitement of all the soldiers. It is interesting to notice that two priests accompanied the ark of the covenant - Eli's two sons. These men have been exposed earlier in the text as self-serving and abusive of their priestly power, so they were probably not accompanying the ark out of concern for this holy relic. Maybe they were hoping for a cut from any spoils of war that might be won, or maybe they wanted to be front and center in the celebration with the ark as it came into the camp. It's not very important, but it definitely ties in to the theme of this chapter of religion gone wrong.

So the ark arrives, and the reaction from the Israelites is "such a great shout that the ground shook." Often when the Bible refers to the ground shaking, it is a natural response to God's holiness, but in this case it is a reflection of the people's emotions and excitement.

The Philistines hear the shouts from the Israelite camp and are terrified to learn that the Israelite god is there. They fight with all of the strength they can muster for fear of being conquered by the Hebrews, and they win. 30 000 Israelite soldiers were killed, the ark of God was captured, and the two terrible priests also died.

All in all, God seems so absent from this chapter, especially in contrast to 1 Samuel 3, where God calls Samuel, makes him a prophet, and continues to speak to him and, through him, to all Israel (see 1 Sam 4:1). So what's the deal?God never promises an easy life for his people, and oftentimes setbacks or disappointments (even crises) test our relationship with him. Can we trust him even if he doesn't intervene? Or do we threaten and manipulate to try to make him rescue us?

It is curious to me that the elders do not think to consult with Samuel rather than march the ark of the covenant off to war. Maybe he was too young to have their respect or to know about warfare. Maybe they really didn't want to know the answer to "why did God bring defeat on us?"; they just wanted to win the battle.

It is also curious to me that the elders think bringing the ark of the covenant to battle will have a greater influence on God than the lives of his people - did they think he cared more about this ark than the soldiers who had been killed? Did they think he must not know the losses they had suffered or he would have intervened, that he needed a front row seat?

When the Philistines speak of Israel's god, they are not afraid of a supreme being, but of a powerful spiritual force that they know based on Israel's history. They know not of Yahweh, creator of heaven and earth, but the "mighty gods... who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues." They are in despair to be up against such a power, but they harness their fear and fight with everything they have, and they demolish their opponents.

When religion goes wrong, it can still stir up powerful emotions, but it is disconnected from spiritual power. Often people want to equate the two, to be moved emotionally as confimation that God is there and cares. However, pursuing the thrill of intimacy with God instead of God himself can lead to confusion and destruction on a much larger scale than we ever saw coming. The Philistines did not defeat God, but they routed the Israelites who thought they could harness Yahweh's power by putting his precious ark at stake.

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