Greetings! Good to be with you on this Thursday in the Pastor’s Workshop.
Thursday is a “big” day. It’s the highlight of our creative process. We review our notes from Monday-Wednesday, our paraphrase and initial impressions of the Scripture, our understanding of the logic of the passage, and our view of the context into which the text speaks. We seek to discern a message in the midst of our reflections. Then we “write it out”.
This week we started a new series, “Ready to Reopen?” It comes as a question. It asks what so many are considering as we enter into the fall. Are we ready for all that is before us?
The Scriptural basis for our series is found in Judges 6 & 7. It’s the story of Gideon. It’s the account of the liberation of Israel from the oppression of the Midianites.
The specific focus for our message this week comes from Judges 6:1-16. It is the opening of the story of Gideon. It provides the setting for all that is about to unfold in the following chapters. As you read this passage the parallels between the circumstances of the Israelites and our modern situation is striking. As these two stories, ancient and current, overlap we hear words from the Scripture that hold guiding wisdom for us today.
Here are my talking points for Sunday.
The Covid pandemic has been a difficult season for us. There was the initial outbreak, the total shut down, the sheltering in place and the later resurgence of the virus. When you put all of this together it has had a powerful impact on our lives.
And that impact has had consequences measured in lives lost, livelihoods imperiled, educations disrupted, and general well being threatened. To use a phrase from Judges 6, we have been “greatly impoverished”.
This dark season has cast its own cloud over us. Perhaps one of the greatest “shadows” of this cloud is a crisis of confidence.
It is hard to move forward when we are uncertain and insecure about what’s ahead. And yet that is the position in which we find ourselves. And those are the circumstances into which this Scripture speaks.
As you “dive into” this Scripture the parallels between ancient Israel and modern America are striking. The Israelites were also “greatly impoverished”. They were oppressed, not by a pandemic, but by a neighboring tribe, the Midianites. The “sheltered in place”, in caves and strongholds in the mountains. Every time they tried to rise up and resume life as normal, the Midianites would crush them. They suffered. And in their suffering they cried out to God.
God answered their cries in two ways.
First, God sent a prophet to the people. The prophet reminded the people to remember the covenant they shared with God. God is the Lord. The Lord is in control and they are under God’s care. The Lord is a liberator. God is at work to free from oppression and restore to wholeness.
Second, God sent an angel to Gideon. Gideon was a man who was afraid, threshing wheat in a wine press. The angel greeted Gideon with a challenge. God wanted Gideon be a leader in the liberation God was about to work. Gideon didn’t see that potential in himself. Gideon had doubts, questions and fears. Yet God called and commissioned Gideon, not on the because of Gideon’s qualifications but because of God’s intentions. God’s commission summoned Gideon to be about God’s work in God’s world.
As we seek to recover our confidence and move forward faithfully these two truths guide us as well. We remember the covenant we share with God. We recall we are commissioned by Christ to do God’s work in our world. These truths will help us to embrace the future unfolding as we answer the question, “are we ready to reopen?”
These are my thoughts. They will be expanded and more fully developed for Sunday.
What is your message? How did the Spirit speak to your mind and heart through the word of the Scripture found in the story of Gideon? As always, it’s good to write down your thoughts. “Putting pen to paper” (or “strokes to keyboard”) is work that will bless you.
Now that we’ve done a draft, we let it “sit”. As it percolates our minds are still at work. This “space” allows for time for the message to sharpen. It’s an important part of the process and the final “product”.
I’m glad we had this time today. I hope as you work in your writing it will be an exercise in faith which will bless you. In that gift of grace, I’ll let you go to work. And I look forward to being with you on Saturday as we “prepare with prayer” in the Pastor’s Workshop.
Prayer: Gracious God, thank You for the gift of reflection and writing. Thank You for the guidance of Your Spirit which leads us into fresh insights for living from the word of Your Scripture. Even as we come through this difficult season help us to move forward confidently, knowing that You are our Covenant God who has commissioned us to bring Your good news to Your world. In that blessing, we lift this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen