Simchat Torah

Simchat Torah is the last Sabbath of the Feast of Sukkot or Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles is the third and final fall feast (Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah, lit. head of the year and Yom Kippur, lit. Day of Atonement are the other preceding fall feasts). It declares the goodness of God through His abundant provision and care during the wilderness wanderings of the Jews.

I had the privilege of attending Sinchat Torah at a Jewish Synagogue in Portland with a Chinese student from George Fox on this night. Two strangers:  an Irish/German and a Chinese guy walking into a Jewish synagogue --- sounds strange enough doesn't it. But they were very welcoming and gave us directions so as to not offend. 

First, the yamacha's were placed upon our heads. My Chinese friend had really high poofy hair so it looked a little weird on him but it went well with his plaid tennis shoes. 

Next, assigned seating -- men on the leftt, women on the right, separated by a wooden partition with glass at the top - very traditional and happens in many orthodox churches. 

We were given two books. One was the songs to sing as we closed out Simchat Torah and the other as we began the bereishit bara - the new cycle of reading through the Torah again. 

Almost the whole service was in Hebrew. I took this in Seminary and can still read it (somewhat) but it was a whole other experience hearing it spoken and sung. Like any foreign language I wanted to stop the service and say, "Slow down" but since I was a guest I didn't think it prudent. Every once in a while the young rabbi would call out a page number and we faithfully turned - proud that we were able to participate in some small way. 

The service was short - only 45 minutes in total. It was not their full Shabbot service which is 3-4 hours including a lunch. It speaks to community that often is lacking in Protestant churches. There were no instruments in the church - only the voices of worshippers. Not always on key or in timing with each other but they lifted up their communal voices as best they could. I had gift envy. If only the Holy Spirit would give me the gift of tongues I could have sung with them. But alas, the heavenly fire did not fall. 

The sermon was short - maybe 5 minutes. As he began to introduce Genesis he said that it was a book of lessons, lessons about righteousness. "Although a righteous man falls seven times he will rise but the wicked are brought down by calamity," says Proverbs 24:16. Righteousness has to do with a man's ability to rise in the midst of his failures. Righteousness is the obedient pursuit of the law. I wept inside. 

Torah will never be able to make a man righteous. It will make him a good, moral, man, but it cannot make him right before God. Deuteronomy 27:26 says, "Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out." We are all cursed because we cannot carry out all the law. It is why Paul tells us in Galatians 2:13, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree' (Deut. 21:23)." Jesus was cursed not just because he was murdered and hung on a tree like a common criminal (which he was) but because he was an innocent man who, indeed, did keep all the commandments and become our substitution. We were cursed and should have been the one identified as the criminal but he stepped in and deflected the wrath of God by letting it hit him. 

Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us so wonderfully that "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." It's not in deeds that we become right with God but in responding to the finished work of Jesus. 

My prayer is the same as the Apostle Paul - that some day the Jewish people will recognize their Messiah and come to know the true Word, Jesus, as their Lord and Savior. 

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

"Now Cain said to his brother Abel, 
'Let's go out to the field.' And

while they were in the field Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 

Then the LORD said to Cain 'Where is your brother Abel?' 

'I don't know,' he replied, 'Am I my brother's keeper?'" 

I don't think that I have ever been so nervous as I have these last few days regarding the President's adamant decision to strike Syria for atrocities against their own people. I hear our "representatives" giving us "reasons" for spending millions of dollars which we do not have to exact "justice" upon people that we have selectively chosen to deem our "national interest." They tell me that this is about principles. What principles? Is this another "just war"?  Death is death but for some reason chemical weapons are different. Have no mothers, fathers, and children died through bombings and gunfire? Are bullets, shrapnel and falling buildings discriminant? What principles are we really fighting for as a nation? I wish our elected officials would tell us and perhaps we would empathize a bit more with their potential decision. If our President has called our nation a post-Christian nation then what values other than the Judeo-Christian ethic are being considered? What sense of "right" is governing this decision. I just cannot believe that we will do this when the Arab League is condemning this. Europe as a whole is condemning this. Israel is handing out gas masks as I write this and bracing for an all out Middle East explosion, and the Islamist are praying that we give them another reason to exact "justice" upon the "Great Satan". 

Can we please call this for what it is, "Saving face." Would not the most principled thing be to admit that one did not adequately think about the consequences before one spoke?" There are times when strength is found in both reason and humility. But there is no "I apologize. I was wrong. I spoke before consideration." In our great capital there is no humility. And I fear that we shall pay for this action and not recover; not from the Muslim world but from God.
"I resist the proud," God says. He will abandon us to the consequences of our own sins. 

Oh, Church of the Living God, may we be like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel in those chapter 9 prayers of contrition. May we rise up and confess our national sins of pride to a merciful God and find mercy. May godly people stand in the gap and pray for those who are not. Let us pray for the good people who are trying to do the right thing but without the counsel of God. Let us come against the spirit of confusion and delusion. Instead of killing Bashar Al Assad, why are we not on our knees praying for his salvation and the salvation of his people. "If by the sword you live, by the sword you shall die." That not only goes for Syria but for the U.S. as well. 

I was in a suk (sook - a shopping plaza) in Damascus, Syria less than ten years ago. The people were the kindest I have ever met. Middle Eastern hospitality puts us to shame. Time and time again we heard, "We hate your politicians. We hate our politicians. But we love the American people. They are the most generous people in the world." Herein lies our greatest strength - love  through a generous spirit. 

It grieves me to think that many of those friends are now displaced and possibly killed. Families that I once had supper with until midnight...singing, enjoying life...


The Lord speaks to my heart, "Where is your brother?" 

I'm afraid my answer is, "I don't know, Lord. What am I to do but pray and weep for him. His blood testifies against us from the ground."

What to do when worlds collide?

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer." (2 Cor. 5:16)

 I love these words from the Apostle Paul. They have been a source of conviction for me lately. God has been working with me on some personal prejudices for which I am ashamed to say still reside within me. But it is part of my quest to be "the image" of God in Christ and through the transforming power of Christ. 

I have been reading some mentally challenging work as of late and I would like to offer some nuggets of truth to help with a world that seems to be colliding internally. In my world I have to deal with a secular community that is anti-God, pro-whatever-sexuality-you-want, homeless squatters who look as healthy as a good horse but love living off my hard work and tax dollars, etc... I would love to show them what the Bible says about such things but...alas...they don't believe what I believe about the Bible and don't much care what it says. Hence, the collision that is inevitably coming. 

I quote from Lesslie Newbigin and The Gospel in a Pluralist

Society. This is from chpt. 5 - "Reason, Revelation, and Experience.

"In contrast to the long period in which the plausibility structure [in other words, the way a community determines if something can be true] of European society was shaped by biblical tradition, and in which one could be a Christian without conscious decision because the existence of God was among the self-evident truths, we are now in a situation where we have to take personal responsibility for our beliefs. When we do so we are immediately faced with the charge of subjectivity. In a consumer society where the freedom of every citizen to express his or her personal preference is taken as fundamental to human happiness -- whether this personal preference is in respect of washing powder [soap] or sexual behavior -- it will be natural to conclude that adherence to the Christian tradition is also simply an expression of personal preference.  The implication will be that claims to universal truth are abandoned and that we are back again in a relativistic twilight. The only firmly established truth is the truth of the reigning plausibility structure, which is bound to deny the Christian's claim that God has acted in historic events to reveal and effect his purpose for all humankind. 

How then do we deal with the threat of this relativism of consumer-oriented society? It is that one learns to live so fully within both traditions that the debate between them is internalized.  As a Christian so to live within the biblical tradition, using its language as my language, its models as the models through which I make sense of experience, its story as the clue to my story, that I help to strengthen and carry forward this tradition of rationality. But as a member of contemporary society I am all the time living in, or at least sharing my life with, those who live in the other tradition. What they call self-evident truths are not self-evident to me, and vice versa.  When they speak of reason they mean plausibility, but know what it feels like to live in it. Within my own mind there is a continuing dialogue between the two. Insofar as my own participation in the Christian tradition is healthy and vigorous, both in thought and in practice, I shall be equipped for the external dialogue with the other tradition.  There is no external criterion above us both to which I and my opposite number can appeal for a decision. The immediate outcome is a matter of the comparative vigor and integrity of the two traditions; the ultimate outcome is at the end when the One who alone is judge sums up and give the verdict."

To summarize:  What to do when world values and beliefs collide? Seek to understand and live out your Christian faith strongly so that through validated experience you can pass on your tradition of faith. Realize that other people do not share your reality. They don't see God in their lives. They have never knowingly experienced Him the way that we have. Their eyes are "blinded" so that they can only see the reality of this world and not God's. Seek to understand it so that you can live in the two. You cannot appeal to the Bible just as they cannot appeal to...whatever truth base they have. In the end God will be the judge of the true reality. Hope this helps. 

King Lute the 1st

In light of the the Tennessee couple who wanted to name their baby boy "Messiah" I've been thinking about asking my mother if it would be O.K. to change my first name to King:  King Lute the 1st. It has a great ring to it, doesn't it? Actually, I'm going to add it to my name so as to not offend my parents: King Daniel DeWayne Lute, the 1st. And hopefully in three or four months we can add Dr. to it with of course my ordination title: Rev. Dr. King Daniel DeWayne Lute the 1st. Thank God I didn't have this when I was in kindergarten but the thought of having six names is good for my self-esteem. I feel good about myself today. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOCNY9pJ850 

The problem is that Rev., Dr., and King are not first names but titles. They are words of honor given through hard work or through a society's favor. 

Some would argue that Latin American parents have been gracing their male children with the name Jesus for centuries and that would be true. I actually know several European men who have Maria (Mary) as their first or middle name. And we have recorded in Hebrew many children before the time of Christ whose name was Jesus or Joshua in hopes that they might be the actual coming Deliverer, the Jewish Messiah. 

But having the name Jesus and being called Messiah are two different things. It was either presumptuous, ignorance, or insensitivity on the parents part to call this young child "Messiah." In a non-religious context this would be like giving a child the first name "president." Yet another example of parents needing a lesson on social graces. I wonder how many First Nation parents have tried to call their baby boy, "Chief"? Or any Arabs by the name of Allah?

"Messiah" means "anointed one." It is a title given to Jesus as God's one and only Son and therefore is a nomenclature reserved for Him and Him alone in the Christian faith. 

Names do mean something. The Jewish people were careful to give their children names that connected to God or to events. In the book of Hosea we see God actually giving names to Hosea's children that were actually prophetic. My first name, "Daniel" means "God judges." 

These days parents are thinking about how "cool" it would be to give their child a name that will stand out and be unique from every one else (probably because they have such low hopes for their children). News flash! Seven hundred and sixty-two babies have already been named "Messiah." Seven hundred and sixty-two children are going to have to live up to a pretty high standard. 

I guess from a Christian perspective I'm tired of the world highjacking words and titles so that they gut them of their meaning, trivialize the meaning, or...make the word or title something contrary to their original meaning. 

If I were to have kids again I would probably try Dr. Seuss (Thing One and Thing Two) or some bizarre made up name. Perhaps I would try some of the non-letter names like the pop artist Prince chose (?, *,&, $, @) or better yet, just randomly choose something from Wingdings. 

What's in a name? Everything or apparently nothing except "cool". Your kid will have to deal with it for the rest of his or her life. Choose well. Choose with dignity and honor. Choose honorably. Choose graciously. Choose prophetically. Choose reverently. 

This has been a regal word from the Very Rev. Dr. (to be) King Daniel DeWayne Lute the 1st or as I'm known around the corn fields of Indiana, "Danny." Oh...and for those reading this and completely lost...my first name isn't "Pastor."

An Unholy Blemish

"Just as the Lord put aside the riches of His divinity, and by His poverty enriched man, offering to him the 'abundance' of His life and love, so too, man sets aside everything that has become life for him in this world, so as to establish all his being in readiness to be a dwelling-place for God."

In my recent research of evangelism techniques and revivals I have 
been amazed at the statistics the bear out the inflated successes of many of the so called "evangelism crusades" or "revival services." We have denomination records that bear hundreds of thousands of people who "claim" to have accepted Christ but not more than a month later the churches are still as empty. When contacted for discipleship opportunities they are disinterested and even hostile. Denominational cosmetology. 

There are those who will say that they made a decision out of emotional manipulation and others who will say that they honestly accepted Jesus but didn't know the package deal that it came with. In other words, embracing Jesus was simply an addition to the other gods in one's life. They didn't understand that embracing Jesus is not an addition to one's life but a radical replacement of one's life. It is moving from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. It is moving from the walking dead who stumble to the awakened who step with clarity. It is changing one's "make-up."

The more that I study and meditate on the real meaning of being "born again" and systems of thought to convey that meaning I find that I, too, have retained some unholy blemishes that I have sought to cover up. There are areas where I have brought in the gaunt, stillborn child and have not seen the rebirth, the new creation of God. 

I have tried to visualize this for motivational

purposes and it helps me quickly realize that I don't want to look like this in the spiritual realm. It is a mutation of what God desires for me. After all, what is a partially born-again person but one that is self-deceived. As the old saying goes, "You can't be a little pregnant. You either are or you're not." 

Embracing Jesus' wonderful love and sacrifice is the easy part. It is giving up the other gods that tend to be so difficult. It is a willingness to be seen without the cosmetics, the spiritual facades. 

May God grant us an awareness of our spiritual complexion. May we look into the divine mirror and find that which is dead and rotting. Deceived, we still believe that things will change, that we can transform the disease, that the same spiritual cream we've been using will eventually bring about the desired result. But it simply acts as make-up does - to conceal. May God grant us dissatisfaction until we experience the cure - a true change in our "make-up."

Dispassionate

"What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short.  From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away." 

"Dispassion." This is a word that many of my Eastern Orthodox authors use to describe what our goal should be in this world. It is a place where our complete satisfaction is in being united with God. It means that my sole "passion" should be God himself. 

In my study of Eastern Orthodoxy I have also been doing some deep research into the book of Genesis again. From another angle I'm trying to understand the clear teaching of who I am in the sight of God and what I have been created to be. 

One of the teachings of the Orthodox Church is that man is composed of three parts ("tripartite"):  body, soul, and spirit. Man was designed to be governed by the highest part of his composition, the eye of the soul, the mind of the soul, the spirit. This is different than our common reason or intellect. It is the way of seeing all of creation through the Creator's eyes, to understand it through His eyes. It is a Christian worldview and it keeps an ungodly attachment to earthly things from taking place. 

The sin of mankind was that they chose to be "like" God through the lower part of their being. They chose to be "god" through their base intellect, reason, and their lower earthly passions. Eve saw and it was pleasing; it was desirable and...they ate. They didn't view the tree through spiritual eyes. The point of the tree of knowledge and evil was to allow them to see that a tree is not the source for true knowledge but the Creator God who put it there. The tree was not there to meet their needs but to display their reliance on God for such knowledge. 

From the Fall onward humanity now struggles to be what God designed them to be, to see in the way that God sees. They seek but only through base reason and understanding. They desire but only through selfish passions. Think with me about how much of your energy is based on consuming that which does not satisfy or brings short term satisfaction. How many during the Great Depression and even during our recent Great Recession took their lives because they lost their "stuff".  How many are consumed with alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, video games, the stock market, etc...because it is the only reasonable path to satisfaction. Perhaps a reminder from the great theologian, Mick Jagger, would help us. "I can't get no....satisfaction." 

I have been led to memorize 2 Corinthians 5:16 of late. "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer." 

My prayer is that God would continue to restore my mind - not my rational capabilities, but my ability to see things the way that God created me to see them - through His eyes and for His glory. 

Since I have been meditating and rehearsing this verse in practical ways, I have found myself becoming more and more detached from the things of this world. I am becoming less consumed by worldly events and how they will affect me, and I am looking at my world through the eyes of Christ. I am looking at people differently as well. People are not objects of consumerism or passionate lust. They are not created for my sinful pleasure or usage. And my heart grieves for those whom this world still has in its grips. I believe that many who name the name of Jesus should examine themselves in this area even as it pertains to the person of Jesus. Am I passionate about Him or is He simply another object to use for my own personal desire. I am asking the Holy Spirit to give me the gift of wisdom and knowledge to understand my own heart and the times for His glory and honor. 

How can I be used to reach others for Jesus? How will God use my passion for his word and His Word in this dying and decaying world? How am I at present being transformed into the likeness of Jesus so as to present to others a different path, the only Way? 

I must admit that I do not have a clear answer to this question yet. For now God has me in a local church where I get the privilege of teaching and proclaiming the Kingdom of God to those who willfully come, a place where I can work out my own salvation with trembling and fear. To that task I wholeheartedly run but realizing that other spiritual tributaries have not yet been disclosed. 

I am reading Randy Alcorn's new work (a comic Book) called "Eternity." And it is a beautiful reminder that this world is not my home; I'm just passing through." To think of Lazarus running into the arms of Father Abraham...to know that in this world he was simply a diseased beggar but in the next he was a guest of the King...

May we be passionate about being dispassionate regarding the things of this world and let us set our hope on things to come. By the way...I'm not suggesting that we "check out" but that we "check in" and live out our hope of living in the Kingdom where our sole passion is God and that which He is passionate about - His creation. 

Workin' it out

"Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not." 

The words of Fr. Sophrony have been rolling around in my spirit for a number of weeks. 

I've been trying to understand the connection that our repentance has to our becoming the image and likeness of God. 

Fr. Sophrony suggests that our repentance comes on two levels. In the first level we try, in our own strength, to change our thinking and actions and move toward the desires and character of God. This moves us in the right direction but as life will certainly manifest, sin continues to resurrect itself. 

The second level is the grace that God grants us to actually be transformed in the depth of our spirit. The latter provides the needed spiritual healing that brings us into a position of being like Him. 

The quote above is dealing with the first. It tells us to stay in the place where we are constantly being shown the darkness of our hearts. It is a place where not only the blackness of spirit is revealed but it is also the place where the beauty and light of God's holiness is revealed. The more we see and confess who we truly are the more God reveals who He truly is. This is the basis for our humility before God and before man. 

"Keep thy mind in hell and despair not" is a call to all of us who are fed up with this world, who are growing increasingly dissatisfied with what this world has to offer, and who long to be in the presence of God. It is not a morbid death wish. It is the appropriate yearning for a spiritual traveler looking to his final destination. It is a person who has introspectively seen the vileness of his nature and has lifted up his head toward the heavens to his great and wonderful salvation. 

May the present purging of that which is not of God be a reminder of the promise of ultimately being made in His likeness, not detached from this world but looking at it from the place of Jesus. When we finally get beyond our imperfections we begin to see the depravity of humanity from His perspective, and instead of desiring to escape it, we weep for it. We take on the true likeness of Jesus and commit to serving a humanity that needs to "keep their minds in hell, and yet not despair." 

In the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, "...may God grant repentance [to all of us] leading [us] to a knowledge of the truth, and that [we] will come to [our] senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken [us]captive to do his will."