Killing Time

It’s still surprising to me that something that happened 12 years ago can still evoke the same sense of wonder now that it did then. It was right before Christmas, December 17th to be exact, that God suddenly showed up in my life again after a long absence. To this day, I can’t listen to the familiar hymns of Christmas without reliving those first weeks of hearing the words for what seemed like the first time and realizing bit by bit that this was no fairy story as I had long believed, but it had really happened.

Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the new-born King!

The new-born King? King? I’ve been treating him like dirt my entire life . . .

Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!

I remember attending a performance of The Marriage of Figgaro in about 1985. The music was wonderful, but the opera part wasn’t doing a whole lot for me, mostly because it was in another language. Somewhere toward the end, though, everything changed as the music alone just reached right into my soul and pierced all the way through to something I didn’t even know existed. Suddenly my eyes were full of tears and I just wanted . . . . There were no words for what I wanted, but that haunting sense of longing for something I couldn’t even name never really left. What I wanted then, and wandered lost for another dozen years trying to find was what this song talks about – reconcilliation with God.

Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,

I have to admit, I was pretty content with the idea of being worm food after I “passed on.” No need to get all worried about hell or anything nasty like that. All of the sudden, though, the idea of eternity started to make its way into my consciousness.

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;

There’s that King thing again. What have I been doing all my life?

He rules the world with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of His righteousness,
and wonders of His love,

How can righteousness and love go together in the same sentence?

Oh holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

A thrill of hope . . . Is that what’s stirring around in my soul? Hope? Why would that be so thrilling about hope to an optimist like me? But it was.

Fall on your knees

Fall on my knees? Is that what I need to do?

What child is this, who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap, is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing:
Haste, haste to bring him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary!

Haste! Haste! All my life I’ve been running as far and as fast away from this Babe as I can. Lots of ground to cover back in the other direction. Haste! Haste!

O come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
Come and behold him,
Born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O Come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.

Come and behold him . . . O come, let us adore him. This is what gets me. The instant the Christian radio station came on in my car that December day, I knew it was Him that did it, and I knew that what I really deserved was to be squashed like a bug for the many and various ways I had, often deliberately, rebelled against my maker. And yet . . . I knew that this was also someone who loved me enough to bring my headlong rush to destruction to a screeching halt. I have to adore someone like that. I MUST find out who he is and what’s next.

Begotten, not created;

This is God I’m dealing with — no longer a figment. Figments don’t make things happen in the “real” world.

Yea, Lord, we greet thee,
Born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be glory given;
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing

I still relish those words – “Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.” When we did the John study, I thought for sure since I was getting a 3-month head start that I would have the questions all done before we started. Little did I know that I would spend the next three months exploring that one Word that John confronts us with right at the beginning of his Gospel. What a marvellous thing God has done to appear in flesh for us. What amazed and astounded me and still thrills my soul is that except for the flesh part, Jesus is the same Word of God that we see all through the Scriptures. I didnd’t know that then. I just knew it was an incredible thing that I hadn’t even begun to get my mind around. Like dipping my little toe into an infinite ocean and sensing the raw power of the thing even though I’ve only touched the edge of it. Twelve years later, I still get that feeling that I’ve only touched the edge of that great ocean.

While I still suspect that we might be off a month or two on the actual date (check out when Zachariah was actually serving in the temple and do a little math . . . .), and I’m positive that most of the trappings of the season are purely pagan in origin, I love the songs, and I love that God stepped into my life just when these songs were being played on the radio, in the stores, and everywhere – all the time. No wonder atheists get irritated this time of year.

Reading another article at SciAm today – The Moral Call of the Wild: A study suggests that spending time in nature changes our values. The basic gist of the article is a new study has “shown” (I’d have to see more about the structure and methodology of the study to remove the quotes) that people who spend more time in the natural world are more other-focused and less self-focused. They suggest that the trend of our society spending less and less time outside with the birds and bees over the last 30 or 40 years is correlated with us becoming more and more self-focused, and that time spent in nature actually changes our values. Interesting concept.

I’ve always loved being outside. For a time in my teens and 20s, I would get distinctly anxious if I couldn’t spend enough time in the outdoors. I still get mildly depressed in the winter when the light level drops and bounce back again in the spring, but the angst I used to experience has gone away since I became a Christian. What I really found interesting about the article, though, was one of the comments by “Babbin” –

Since when is caring about others more important than caring about yourself?

Wow! Like since the whole of recorded history, dude!

When I decided to officially embrace atheism just after high school, I did my own unofficial comparative religion study (I would do this again later, officially, in college which simply confirmed the conclusions I had come to a decade earlier in my unofficial study). As a result of that study, I concluded that all religion was the result of man trying to explain the unexplainable, and the the various rules and regulations that each of them came up with were what gave society its stability and structure, but there was really no absolute moral right or moral wrong. (Of course, that doesn’t explain the GUT WRENCHING when you hear about a man putting his girlfriend’s kids into a pot of boiling water on the stove.) Also as a result of that study, I adopted as my personal “standard” the one “rule” that seemed to show up everywhere I looked – The Golden Rule – don’t do to anyone else what you wouldn’t want them to do to you.

Oh, wait! That’s not it! The way Jesus put it is a little different. He said –

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

There’s actually quite a bit of difference between the passive version, which a lot of religions have codified – don’t do – and the active version found in Christianity – DO – take the first step – don’t wait for someone else to act first – it’s up to you.

Funny that even though I only had one rule I felt obligated to try and keep, I couldn’t even keep that rule. Why? Because I spent way more time caring about myself than I ever did caring about anyone else. In the last 10 years of walkling with Christ, I’ve found out that there’s only one way to keep that one rule – care more about others than you do about yourself. And the only way I can consistently care more about others than I do about myself is when I care about God first. Jesus said that if we kept those 2 rules – Love God, Love People – we would fulfill ALL the rest.

Reminds me of the song we used to sing in Sunday School when I was a kid:

Jesus and Others and You;
What a wonderful way to spell joy . . .

I hope Babbin discovers that bit of truth someday. Now do like your mom said – Go out and play.

Or, more specifically, what makes a church MY church?

I’ve always enjoyed visiting other churches during my travels. Reasons for choosing a particular church have ranged anywhere from, “I have to get on the road early, and this one has an early service,” to “This one is closer to the hotel than that one.” It’s a little different when you’ve moved to a new city and now you’re looking for a new “home.” It’s still been very enjoyable to scope out the religious environment (at least the Baptist environment) here; kind of like an extended vacation.

But let me back up a bit.

My first contact with Baptists of any sort was related in my “What’s Your Life Verse” post and the follow up. After going to the local Southern Baptist Church with Mr. G and his family for a while, I actually did make a profession of faith and was baptised. Unfortunately, while I might have been sincere about something or other, it certainly wasn’t about any desire to actually love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. After high school, I promptly told God to take a hike and would have done so sooner if I had been allowed to by my preacher folks. But there was something about that family so real that it has stuck with me to this day. (Side note: I caught up with Mr. G twice after high school. In 2004, as I sat down to dinner with he and his wife, he prayed a blessing over me that would have made Abraham proud, and there was a fourth guest at the table that night who was just as real as the three of us – Jesus Christ – and I knew that what I had sensed as “real” in 1980 was still just as real 24 years later.)

After 18 years of atheism, God stopped me in my tracks. Since I had been out of the church scene for so long and had no idea where to start (except that I remembered Mr. G and his Southern Baptist Church), I went to the church of one of the preachers I had been listening to on the radio who had been making sense to me – Parkside Church in Solon, Ohio. That got me off to a great start. In fact the first sermon I heard there after my life of unbelief still drives much of my desire to live as a Christ follower. But that church was over an hour away from home, and there was no way to really connect with other Christians at that distance. So we started looking closer to home.

There were a few visits to churches that were either odd (a foot washing service – something I had never seen before), uncomfortable (don’t know what it was at that church), or flat, we ended up at an Independent Baptist church in Spencer, Ohio, and that’s where I finally realized that whatever other motives I might have had for “accepting Christ” previously in my life – i.e., get out of hell, get mom and dad off my back, trying to turn over a new leaf, etc. – never once was there any desire to actually love God or have him take the first place in my life. That church has been my home and my family for the last 10 years.

Until June. First impression on looking in the phone book when we got one was that there are a LOT of Baptist churches here. The only place I had seen more was in North Carolina where there is literally a Baptist church on every corner (or so it seems ). So with a couple of recommendations and a phone book in hand, I started visiting. I’ll refrain from naming names, but here are my impressions:

Church number one – The people were very friendly. The adult Sunday School teacher was very knowledgeable about the Scriptures and was a very good teacher. The first time I visited, the pastor preached a largely political sermon full of a lot of fundamentalist “hear say” stuff that really turned me off. Because I had determined that I would visit each church at least twice before making a decision, I went back one more time. Again, everyone was very friendly, and the Sunday School teacher gave a great lesson. The pastor started off with a pretty good Gospel message, and then about halfway through got entirely side tracked on the number 7. Now I’m just as capable of going off on tangents as anyone else, and sometimes they’re fun and interesting. But when I go to church, I expect to hear from God – not someone’s half baked ideas about numbers or genealogies (1 Timothy 1:4). I still think A. W. Tozer said it best:

Toward anything like thorough scholarship I make no claim. I am not an authority on any man’s teaching; I have never tried to be. I take my help where I find it and set my heart to graze where the pastures are greenest. Only one stipulation do I make: my teacher must know God, as Carlyle said, “otherwise than by hearsay,” and Christ must be all in all to him. If a man have only correct doctrine to offer me I am sure to slip out at the first intermission to seek the company of someone who has seen for himself how lovely is the face of Him who is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. Such a man can help me, and no one else can. (A. W. Tozer)

Second church – This was one of my less than spiritual reasons for choosing to visit one church over another. I needed to go to an early service, and they had one. A very nice lady took the time to show me around and introduce me to people. Lots of Bible studies going on. The sermon was okay. One comment by the Associate Pastor left me wondering whether the church was more concerned about “projects” than people.

The next church I visited was one I had pulled out of the phone book and driven by and decided I should visit based on my drive by. After doing a little investigation on the Internet, I found out that 1) they were without a pastor, 2) they were Southern Baptists (I did have another memorable encounter with the Southern Baptists during a visit to Gastonia, NC, in 2007.), 3) the wife of the interim pastor was involved with Beautiful Feet. I had gone to the first Beautiful Feet conference at Cedarville University back in 2006, and so I sent her an email. The day I visited for the first time, the serrmon text was from my “testimony” verses – Psalm 40:1-3, and there was nothing goofy or off base at all. I was clearly hearing from someone who knew God “other than by hearsay”. It was also the day the church determined to call their new pastor. That week a loaf very tasty bread showed up on my door. Yummmm. Back on the Internet to investigate the new pastor. I listened to the sermons he had preached as a candidate at this church, then I found the website of the church he was then at and listened to every sermon he had preached there, along with some of the youth group stuff on the site that he had led. Good stuff. He’ll be arriving in August, so I can finish off my list of churches and see what he’s like in person. (Why the focus on the pastor? Because churches tend to become like their pastor, and so I want to make sure this is someone whose faith I want to follow – Hebrews 13:7.)

Next visit – a small church with a big heart. Good preaching and teaching. It was interesting in this church that the pastor “prayed” my testimony verses as he closed the service. I was talking to a friend about this odd “coincidence” (no such thing), and wondering what – if anything – I was supposed to do with that. She very succinctly said, “Maybe God is just telling you that either church will be okay.” I’ve chewed on that but haven’t come to any firm conclusions.

Next church – I arrived late and a gentleman in the hall showed me where to go for Sunday School. I was sitting there feeling very strange and the more the gentleman leading the class talked, the stranger it got. Finally, he said something along the lines of, “All sin has to be paid for before we leave this earth. You have to pay for your sin before you leave earth.” I waited for the next part – “Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe” – but it never came. I’m sorry. If I couldn’t pay for my own sins before I was saved, what on earth makes this guy think I’m going to pay for them now. Jesus has done all that ever needed to be done in order to pay for the sins of the whole world, and there’s nothing you or I or anyone else can do to add to that. I simply have to rely on Him.

So at this point, I can’t wait to just get out of there. I restrained myself until Sunday School was over, by which time I was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic, and then high tailed it out of there – very grateful that no one wanted to stop me and talk. There was a place just a few minutes away where I knew I would hear from people who believed and preached the Gospel, and so I ended up at the “drive by” church. It was like a big tall glass of fresh water to sit in the worship service with them that day, as it has been every other time I’ve gone there.

For a few weeks I bounced back and forth between the two “testimony” churches. One Sunday I drove by another church that I had put on my list. I got there about 3 minutes early for Sunday School, but something just didn’t seem right. The building was a decent size – probably a couple hundred or so capacity, but there were only 5 cars in the lot. As I was driving in, two couples got out of two of the cars, and they were both seniors. As I continued slowly driving through the parking lot, I wondered what a nice looking church like that was doing with no kids for Sunday School. As I drove out, another elderly couple was driving in. I went to one of the “testimony” churches that day.

And at this point, I really feel like I don’t need to visit anymore churches. The Lord led me to two good ones, and now I just need to settle somewhere. I’ve been going every Sunday for a while now to the SBC church, and I’m pretty sure I know why. My last visit to the other church, I left with the impression that both the pastor and the church were “settled.” I could be wrong about that, but it seemed like everyone knew the routine. Their love for each other and the Lord is very real, but I had a hard time seeing where I might find a place there. On the other hand, at the SBC church, the new preacher, though young, is clearly someone who has heard from and is listening to the Lord. The people love the Lord and each other – this is very obvious from overhearing converesations about different people who are going through trouble of one sort or another. I haven’t heard any condemnation or malicious gossip – just a deep, heartfelt desire to care for those who need cared for. And they are moving! I don’t think it’s just the new pastor either. Things were happening before he got there.

Obstacles? It seems like all of the potential obstacles that I came up with have all been removed, so we’ll see if the Lord wants to send any further confirmation or whether I just jump in the rest of the way with both feet.

I was listening to Salman Rushdie on NPR this morning, and the radio host asked him what it would take for him to believe in any sort of God. He stated, “He’ll have to show up.” I’ve said the same myself. It’s interesting to me that the entire weight of the New Testament rests on the fact that He has done just that. For a long, long time I dismissed those claims, but then He showed up in a very personal, undeniable way in my life. At that point, there was no more “god of our many understandings” as Gene Robinson addressed him. There was just that great eternal Presence who quickly convinced me that I wan’t in control of nearly as much as I liked to think I was.

I remember one of a number of jaw dropping moments when we arrived at John 10 in our ladies Bible study. Even though I had read the Old Testament book of Ezekiel before, I had never realized that God had said that he himself would one day come and rectify the situation of a priesthood that was corrupt and abusive. When Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd,” he was making an extraordinary claim. And he was making the claim that God did indeed “show up.”

Tonight I got home and found a Scientific American article in my feed reader about a group of Darwinian theorists from a number of disciplines, including my own of anthropology, who have gotten together in Edinburgh Scotland to discuss the evolutionary orgins of religion. It’s interesting to read these things and remember my own state of mind when I would have agreed with the sentiments expressed and look at the reasons that I no longer can. When someone, like me, whose entire world view is structured around the idea that there is no such thing as God because he has never shown up suddenly begins to run face first into this God who wasn’t there, it calls for a paradigm shift.  Paradigm shifts, both scientific and personal, happen when the observations no longer fit the theory and a new one has to be developed.  The psychological explanations of the article’s author are fine, but they don’t explain physical phenomenon that occur when God “shows up.”  

Still a fascinating subject to me.  I’d like to see some of these guys have their own paradigm shifts.

There are three of us at church who have been getting together about once a month to go out and practice our photography.  It is fascinating to me how all go to the same location and often shoot the “same” shots but come home with usually entirely different pictures. 

An example.  My favorite shot from the covered bridge trip with Jean was this one:

The shot she took which she chose to interpret for her Christmas cards this year was this one:

Another obvious difference of perspective was in our shots of the rusted machinery parts at the mill. My shot:

Angie’s Shot

Is one perspective better than another? Absolutely not! God made each of us with our own eyes with which to see. I have a quote on my Facebook page (now that the election is over, and I can quit griping about people voting for who they think might win instead of voting for the candidate or party that most closely represents them – grumble, grumble, grumble) that says this:

“A photographer’s main instrument is his eyes. Strange as it may seem, many photographers choose to use the eyes of another photographer, past or present, instead of their own. Those photographers are blind.” (Manuel Alvarez Bravo)

If I were to decide that the photographs I take aren’t as good as ______________ (fill in the blank with famous photographer’s name), therefore, they’re no good, I would essentially telling God that He didn’t do a good enough job when He made me (a mistake I’ve been making for most of my life). The first problem is the sheer presumption of telling the potter what he should have done with the clay. The second problem is that this kind of thinking has kept me paralyzed for most of my life because there are SO MANY photographers out there – past and present – who are so much ‘better” than I am.

But – there have been a number of studies that have come to the conclusion that greatness has much more to do with PRACTICE. Native talent only gives most people a head start. If that talent isn’t developed with PRACTICE, people who started off with no talent can quickly overtake them with PRACTICE. I hadn’t put that all together in my head real well until I was reading an article on seeing creatively by a guy whose photography was really unique and creative. As he told the story of his dream of being a photographer, saving all his money and buying boatloads of film, hopping in his car and going on a 6-month long tour of the US, coming home and getting all the film developed, and having not one picture worth saving, I could truly sympathize. I can’t tell you how many pictures of tiny little black dots (birds) in wide expanses of flat blue sky I threw away when we moved last time. Who would ever think I had a photographic bone in my body. Except there was a shot here and a shot there . . .

So I keep practicing. I love the photography trips with Jean and Angie. Beside the good company, I get to go out and practice something I absolutely love. Why do I love it when most of the time no one sees my pictures but me? Because once in a while I actually manage to capture the feeling that I had when I took the photograph, and I look at it and feel that feeling again. The covered bridge shot above is one example. Here’s another to leave you with.

I was listening to the tapes from “Family Camp”, which I didn’t go to this year, but a lot of people from my church did, and in one of the messages the speaker mentioned reading through the Bible in 30 days and how it had changed him, as well as others he knew who had done it. He mentioned that for him it meant reading something like 48 pages in somewhere about 2 hours per day. Not a terribly insurmountable goal, I thought to myself. Hmmmmm….maybe I’ll try it – not so I can say I read through the Bible in 30 days. That would be kind of meaningless. I happen to be a “big picture” kind of person, and so it intrigued me to consider how my view of God might change if I could see the whole scope of history from creation to consummation in that short of a time span.

So I started out today. In my Bible, reading the entire book in 30 days amounts to about 35 pages for a total of 1044. BUT as I was beginning to read page 1, I started to think about all the times as a kid that I had read entire books of 1,000 pages or more – think the Hobbit and LOTR series – multiple times in no more than a day or two. Nothing else got done, of course, and I often read way into the wee hours of the morning in order to finish a book before going to sleep, but once I started a good book, I seldom put it down for any but the most demanding tasks. I wouldn’t even put it down to go to the bathroom (learned how to zip my pants with one hand) or go to school (I was quite proficient at reading while walking.).

What if . . . .

What if I set out to read the Bible in that same spirit – as a book that was so good and so much to be devoured in one sitting if possible – that only the most pressing necessities could tear me away from it. Hmmmm . . . .

Of course, I’m no longer a kid, and there are things like laundry and work, and such that won’t be put off, so I kind of doubt that I would have 48 uninterrupted hours to finish the entire 1044 pages, but we’ll see how it turns out. Not so I can say “I read the whole Bible in x number of days!” but so I can read the greatest story ever told.

I thought that needing to do some maintenance around the house this summer was going to put me out of commission as far as this week’s VBS is concerned. But as it turns out, I may actually have a more important role than ever. Here’s how the conversation went:

B: I want you to know I’ll be praying for you while I’m painting my porch this week.

(A little explanation about why the porch hasn’t been attended to in the 5 years since we’ve lived here.)

K: This year I’m really feeling impressed to pray for 30.

B: (I know what he’s referring to but . . . ) 30 what?

K: (Suddenly thoughtful . . .) I hadn’t thought about 30 what . . . 30 decisions?

B: I tell you what I’ll be praying for this week – 30 followers.

K: 30 followers?

B: Yes, 30 kids who will follow Christ from this day forward.

K: 30 followers it is! Shake on it. (handshake)

B: “If two of you shall agree on earth about anything, it shall be done for them.”

K: Just between the two of us . . .

B: No, between the 3 of us. (pointing up)

B: Manual labor makes for some awfully good prayer time.

So the drive home was interesting. It’s not like this is something either one of us are likely to see visible results in right away, but I almost feel a sense of finality . . . like it’s already a done deal as far as heaven is concerned. Very interesting sensation. I can’t wait to get out and do some painting.

I’m not usually much for “topical” messages, but after hearing about the dismal state of Religion in America, specifically Christian religion, specifically Evangelical religion from the Pew organization this week, this message from Pastor Mullet seemed just a bit timely.

According to Pew, more than 1/4 of Christians, and specifically more than 1/4 of Evangelical Christians aren’t sure that God actually exists. Even worse, more than 50% of religious people in this country don’t believe their religion is the only way to eternal life, and specifically more than 50% of Evanglical Christians don’t believe that their beliefs (specifically belief in Jesus Christ) is the only way to eternal life.

I suppose we’re simply following in the footsteps of Europe, where the figures are much worse.

In contrast, a few reminders from the Word of God tonight:

1) Daniel 2:44 – There is a real heaven and a real kingdom to come.

2) Acts 17:28,31 – God created me, I have my being in him, and I will give an account to him.

3) 2 Timothy 3:16, Isaiah 40:8 – God has spoken (in the scriptures that he has given by his very breath) and what he has said matters eternally.

4) John 3:16 – Without God’s grace, love, and mercy we are doomed to eternal torment.

5) Matthew 25:41,46 – Heaven and hell are real.

6) 1 John 5:10-13 – Jesus Christ, God’s Son died for the sins of the whole world, he has risen from the dead, and he gives eternal life to all those who truly believe in him. You know if you have truly believed in him or not.

7) James 1:22-25 – Only a believer walking in fellowship with and obedience to God will see this world and the next rightly.

Hmmmm. . . I guess that’s 7. I still don’t like topical messages for all kinds of reasons, but I’ll forgive him for this one.

On Wednesday, I’ll likely be tested on my professor’s definition of religion which reads as follows:

Religion derives from the haunting realization of ultimate powerlessness in an inscrutable world, where each person harbors the unquestioning and irrational conviction of the possibility of gaining mystic security by somehow identifying one’s self with what can never be known.

He goes on to both quote and state that it is a “‘never-ceasing attempt to discover a road to spiritual serenity across the perplexities and dangers of daily life’ (Sapir), manifesting itself as a system of symbols which acts as the vehicle for establishing powerful moods and motivations through a) the formulation of conceptions of a general order, and through b) rituals to act them out (Geertz).”

Further:

“The components of the religious experience include a configuration of emotional states: Fear, awe, hope, love, the plea, and belief or faith, and sometimes ecstasy; emotional states that are brought within the context of ultimate values and transcendent truths which generate commitments to certain types of social action oriented to penultimate concerns, THE MOST ULTIMATE OF WHICH IS THE REALIZATION OF THE INEVITABILITY OF DEATH.” (emphasis mine)

I suppose it’s a fine definition as far as it goes. Fifteen years ago, I would have (and did) hop right on board with this and similar sentiments about religion in general and Christianity in particular. So what changed? On this day when the majority of the Christian world recognizes that something truly extraordinary, if not downright impossible, took place some 2000 years ago, what changed is that 10 years ago I ran headlong into a spiritual brick wall named Jesus Christ and became convinced over the course of the next 13 months that he did indeed die for MY sins according to the Scriptures,

and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the 12, after that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once . . . After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles, And last of all he was seen by me . . . (1 Corinthians 15:3-8)

With that in mind, I was reading in the book of Hebrews this morning as communion was being served.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

For both he that sactifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I WILL DECLARE THY NAME UNTO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CHURCH WILL I SING PRAISE UNTO THEE. And again, I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM. And again, BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHICH GOD HATH GIVEN ME.

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; AND DELIVER THEM WHO THROUGH FEAR OF DEATH WERE ALL THEIR LIFETIME SUBJECT TO BONDAGE,

For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. (Hebrews 2:9-18)

And continuing on, in chapter 7, something occurred to me earlier in the course in a discussion of the evolutionary pressures that have affected what males and females find attractive in each other – males – youth and curves and ability to procreate, females – power and ability to bring home the bacon.

If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.

For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest,

WHO IS MADE, NOT AFTER THE LAW OF A CARNAL COMMANDMENT, BUT AFTER THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE.

For he testifieth, THOU ART A PRIEST FOR EVER AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.

For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

For the law made nothing perfect, BUT THE BRINGING IN OF A BETTER HOPE DID; BY THE WHICH WE DRAW NIGH UNTO GOD. (Hebrews 7:11-19)

Lots of quotes, I know. Maybe not the most decisive set of verses that would demonstrate the crucial difference between “drawing nigh to God” and “formulating conceptions of the general order and rituals to act them out”, but I’ve hung my hopes on someone with the “power of an endless life”, and that’s okay by me. Does this “better hope” give me “spiritual serenity across the perplexities and dangers of daily life”? You bet it does. However, unlike my previous state of relative calm in the face of the “inscrutable”, which was based mostly on the assumption that science would eventually provide answers to all of the unknowns and make religion obsolete, this hope is something that I have “AS AN ANCHOR OF THE SOUL, BOTH SURE AND STEADFAST, AND WHICH ENTERETH INTO THAT WITHIN THE VEIL.” (Hebrews 6:19)

Did I ever mention that I LOVE Hebrews? Try reading some verses from there during your communion service sometime.

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