Week 11

Alright, folks.  I've finally closed "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" and finished up the big three-day murder mystery.  This week I'm performing Shaw in Barrington and Bristol, but I should be back on track with writing the blog.  I hope I haven't lost too many readers by not posting in a while.  I assure you I've been doing the readings, and I hope you have too.  Feel free to comment on anything that caught your attention in the readings, and here are the reading assignments for Week 11:

Monday - Deuteronomy 19-21, Psalm 59, Luke 17

Tuesday - Deuteronomy 22-24, Psalm 60, Luke 18

Wednesday - Deuteronomy 25-27, Psalm 61, Luke 19

Thursday - Deuteronomy 28-30, Psalm 62, Luke 20

Friday - Deuteronomy 31-33, Psalm 63, Luke 21

Saturday - Deuteronomy 34, Psalm 64, Luke 22

Bible Challenge Day 57

Numbers 21-23, Psalm 47, Luke 5

Catch up time.  Again, my apologies for falling behind, but I'm all caught up on reading now.  I don't think I'll comment on the end of Mark since Holy Week just ended and we've all got that part of the story on the brain.  It was covered pretty well in church.  If you didn't attend church this Holy Week, well, there's an incentive for next year.  It's actually quite fun.

I love, love, love Psalm 47.  It's not only joyful, but actively joyful.  I think that's what God wants from us.  Action.  It begins with clapping hands, shouting, and singing.  And why?  The very next line sums it all up:  "For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome."

Luke's gospel reads a little more easily than Matthew and Mark.  Mark is an older text, and it seems clunky to me in places.  I'm of the mind that Luke seems more accessible to me because Luke writes to a Gentile audience.  He explains things in detail and doesn't assume we already know things.  The narrative reads much more like a good book or novel.  We have the imagery of the angels singing to the shepherds.  The drama of the baby John the Baptist leaping inside his mother when Mary visits her cousin.  These are exciting and dramatic moments.

In the story of Jesus meeting Simon Peter and James and John in their boat, we get a much more fleshed out story.  Jesus fills their nets with fish to the point that the nets are breaking.  This makes the idea of being fishers of men far more meaningful for me.  You see, when the fishermen fished on their own, they were barely getting by, but with Jesus' help, they have great abundance.  Evangelism is a word that scares me.  I think it's scary to many of us in the older traditions of Christianity (i.e. Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, etc.) because we strive to not be like the "Evangelical" churches.  But Jesus calls all of us to evangelize.  To spread the Gospel.  Like the first followers of Jesus, our nets will come up empty.  But when we call on God to help us, they will overflow.  And we need our friends to help:

"they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.  So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.  And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink...and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken...They left everything and followed [Jesus]."  Luke 5:6-11

Readings for this Week

Monday- Day 57 - Numbers 21-23, Psalm 47, Luke 5
Tuesday- Day 58 - Numbers 24-26, Psalm 48, Luke 6
Wednesday- Day 59 - Numbers 27-29, Psalm 49, Luke 7
Thursday- Day 60 - Numbers 30-32, Psalm 50, Luke 8
Friday- Day 61 - Numbers 33-35, Psalm 51, Luke 9
Saturday- Day 62 - Numbers 36, Psalm 52, Luke 10
Sunday- Day 63 - Enjoy hearing the Scriptures read aloud in church

Bible Challenge Catch Up--Days 47-54--Numbers

Numbers 1-17

So here we are in the book of Numbers.  It's been a while since I've had the time to write, so there's a lot to cover.  This entry will just focus on Numbers, and then I'll write more posts to cover Psalms and Mark.

The Book of Numbers has it difficult parts (namely, the parts full of numbers), but at least it returns to more of a narrative structure than Leviticus.  Coming from a theatrical tradition, I much prefer a linear plot.  I find many of the passages in Numbers quite difficult to swallow.  In particular the story of the Revolt of Korah found in Chapter 16 and the trail by ordeal found in Chapter 5.  I'll start with the Revolt.

Communal punishment is an idea quite prominent in the Old Testament and quite removed from our modern, American idea of each individual being responsible for his own actions.  It seems quite harsh to us that the whole of Korah's family is obliterated.  God has the wives, children, and families of the rebels stand outside their houses and literally has the earth consume them.  They are sent alive to Sheol.  That seems harsh.  I remember in Sunday morning Bible study discussing how God will punish generations for the transgressions of their ancestors.  It's an idea that's difficult for me.  I like to look at it from the opposite side, though.  By living in a community where everyone is responsible for everyone's actions, we have a built in support system.  We never have to go it alone.  There are standards and laws and expectations for the community, and when one community member fails, we all fail.  By like token, when one member succeeds, we all succeed.  I see some comfort and strength in that.

I find the story in Chapter 5, though, incredibly difficult.  It's not one I've ever read before.  I guess my Sunday school teachers as a child didn't think it appropriate for children.  Better yet, maybe, like me, they just don't know what the heck to make of it.  It's a truly awful, disgusting, unjust, ignorant, disgraceful way of dealing with anyone.  To summarize, if a woman is even suspected of unfaithfulness (and notice it's only for a woman--there is nothing to try an unfaithful man), She's forced to drink a poison that will cause her uterus to discharge and leave her sterile.  It's painful, messy, violating, and humiliating.  All because her husband was suspicious.  Note that this is if there is no witness and they are unsure if she's guilty.  If she fails, she's left humiliated and sterile.  If she is unaffected by the poison, it's still painful and humiliating.  What the hell?  This is the law sent from God?  I don't think so.  If that's really divine law sent from God, I don't want to serve that God.  It's sick.  More than anything I've read in the Bible, this passage proves to me that the Bible cannot be taken literally.  This is clearly the writing of a male dominated society that sees women as nothing more than possessions using the name of the Lord to do their own will.  The same logic that's used today by crazy zealots who kill people or humiliate people in God's name.  It's a direct violation of the commandment to not use the Lord's name in vain.

So what do we take from this?  Do we discount the entirety of the Old Testament?  I don't think we can.  I cannot, and will not, defend this sick-o passage from the Bible, but I also can't throw out the baby with the bath water.  Without justifying or defending the cruelty of ancient peoples, I must see it from their world view.  The discerning reader can find, through reason and the Holy Spirit, the truth in Holy Scripture.  That means we must, to some extent, pick and choose what we think is divinely inspired and what is crap.  And the crap must stay intact with the scriptures so that we can understand how they were written.  These were laws and stories written at a specific time in history for a specific audience.  It's our job to discern what that means for us today.

In the Episcopal Church we talk about the three-legged stool of faith.  I think I've written about this before on this blog.  God gives us Holy Scripture and Tradition to guide our faith, but he also gives us human reason.  The ability to think.  To discern.  To know it's wrong to poison a woman who might maybe have cheated on her husband, even though I have no proof to that end.  I lean heavily on that third leg of reason.  I wish more people did.

Bible Challenge Readings

Please, once again, forgive the lack of posting.  I've been keeping up with the readings, but with performances and Holy Week, my schedule is a little tight.  I'm performing tomorrow in East Providence, so it may be Tuesday before a new reflection.  Feel free to comment below with your own thoughts, though.

Here are the readings for next week:

M- Day 50 - Numbers 4-5, Psalm 41, Mark 15
T- Day 51 - Numbers 6-8, Psalm 42, Mark 16
W- Day 52 - Numbers 9-11, Psalm 43, Luke 1
Th- Day 53 - Numbers 12-14, Psalm 44, Luke 2
F- Day 54 - Numbers 15-17, Psalm 45, Luke 3
S-Day 55 - Numbers 18-20, Psalm 46, Luke 4
S-Day 56 - Enjoy hearing the Scriptures read aloud in church 

Bible Challenge Day 46

Leviticus 25-27, Psalm 38, Mark 13

Both the Psalm and the passages from Leviticus today share the idea that God rewards those who follow his law and punishes those who do not.  Leviticus seems much more severe on this matter, but the Psalmist says he is sick "because of [his] foolishness".  It's an interesting idea that we don't really hold to any more.  I can remember the disgust I felt when people suggested that the September 11th attacks were due to the sinfulness of the American people.  I just can't believe that's true.  I do see healing and hope and well-being in following God, though.  I think that when we follow God's commandments and study His Holy Scriptures we become closer to Him and can better deal with the challenges of life.

Jesus reminds us of this in Mark's Gospel.  It's the famous passage about the end of times.  It's often quoted to silence the crazies that predict the end is upon us.  Jesus tells us that only the Father knows when the last days are coming, but he urges us to "Keep awake."  I think that's great advice.  It's that old joke to look busy:  Jesus is coming.  We don't know when Jesus will return, so we should live every day as if he were coming.  I don't think that means living in fear or hiding things.  I think that by living in God's law, and following Jesus' teachings we actually live fuller, richer lives that not only prepare us for the joy to come, but make this life bearable.  Joyful, even.


***Update****
I think I got my readings from Mark mixed up.  This may be about Ch. 12

Bible Challenge Day 45

Leviticus 22-24, Psalm 37:19-42, Mark 11

Reading the story of Palm Sunday again (since we just read it on Sunday), I was really taken by how humble Jesus' story is.  Here's the son of God riding in on a Donkey.  The great Messiah the people were waiting on should have entered the town on a great steed followed by riches and armies of might.  Here's a man on a borrowed baby donkey.  In stead of a red carpet, he relies on the generosity of others who lay down their cloaks and leafy branches.  That seems to be Jesus' message, though.  Glory is saved for God in heaven, not for man here on earth.  There's also a strong sense of relying on one another.  To quote Blanche in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers."  That could be Jesus' mantra.  He relies on a borrowed donkey.  To connect that to the Leviticus reading, I noted the law saying in Leviticus 24:22 "You shall have one law for the alien and for the citizen."  We are all God's children and all share in responsibility.  Although God chooses Israel as his holy people, they are not to lord themselves over others, but to share in doing God's will.

Bible Challenge Day 44

Leviticus 19-21, Psalm 37:1-18, Mark 10

The story of James and John makes me uncomfortable.  Not because I'm astounded at their boldness as to request to sit at the left and right of Jesus, but because I know I've asked the same.  Here are two men who left their father and mother, left their trades, left their lives at home to follow Jesus, and now they want their just reward.  I think that's how we all function.  I know I do.  I go to work, I do a good job, I show up on time, and I demand a raise.  Seems fair, right?  But God's will on earth is not like running a business.  It's not as easy as I did what was required, now give me my eternal life.  Jesus states very bluntly that "whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all."  It's not about doing the list of chores so we get a reward.  It's about honestly serving God and serving his people.  I think that's why it's "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."

Leviticus 19:18 is the first place we hear the Golden Rule:  "...you shall love your neighbor as yourself"  Most of the laws in this reading from Leviticus deal with our relationships to one another.  Even the alien resident among the people are given rights and must be respected.  I particularly like the section about leaving parts of your crops for the poor and the hungry.  God commands us to live with one another and to care for one another.  When we don't, we are acting against not just our neighbor, but against God.

Bible Challenge Day 43

Leviticus 16-18, Psalm 36, Mark 9

"38 John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone^* casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’³⁹But Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me.⁴⁰Whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward."

We hear a lot of people accusing Jesus and his followers of breaking Holy Law and breaking Caesar's law, but I think this is one of the only times where Jesus' own disciples falsely accuse someone of blasphemy.  This unknown Christian acts apart from the physical presence of Jesus, yet his miracles are just as powerful, and Jesus condones his behavior.  Even though the incarnate Christ can be revealed to us spiritually through Holy Communion, through prayer, through singing, and through a thousand other ways, we don't experience the presence of Christ in the same way the disciples do.  I am reminded of the prayer from the BCP:

Be present, be present, O Jesus, our great High Priest, as youwere present with your disciples, and be know to us in thebreaking of bread; who live and reign with the Father andthe Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

Even though the prayer asks Jesus to be with us as he was "present with [his] disciples", it's a very different reality we have.  I think that's why Jesus has such harsh words for Doubting Thomas.  In this passage from Mark we are reminded that all of us have the power and blessing, and I would say commandment, to love one another in Jesus' name.  

Bible Challenge Days 39-41

Leviticus 7-15, Psalms 33-35, Mark 6-8

Once again I find myself behind in the Bible Blogging.  Once again I'm issuing a sincere apology.  Once again I'm blaming the crazy schedule of Grey Gardens.  The show is over now, but I'm in rehearsals for Picasso at the Lapin Agile, so who knows when I'll get behind again.  If it's any consolation, I have been keeping up with my readings.  There's a longish section of Act Two I'm not in, so that became reading time.  You wouldn't believe the onslaught of "You're reading the Bible?!?" heard in the dressing rooms.  Especially at a Catholic University.

But enough about me...

Leviticus continues to baffle me.  I don't get it.  I get bored.  It seems so archaic.  Why do I need to know this stuff?  Is anyone else grossed out?  I'll admit that once I get through all the text, I do find some of the ceremonies quite interesting, but I still don't completely get it.  I find it hard to reconcile the idea of things being "unclean".  If I'm understanding the text correctly, "unclean" has little to do with sanitary and more to do with holiness.  How is something God created "unclean"?  I can see from a anthropological standpoint how things that would lead to sickness or disease would be discouraged by the religious leaders in order to sustain the community.  For example, in his HBO special Live on Broadway, Robin Williams has a bit where the Israelites ask Moses why they must be circumcised, and he answers, "We're a nomadic people.  You don't want sand in there."  Even though it's a joke, I imagine there is some truth to that.  I had a college professor explain the shellfish conundrum by noting that shellfish go against the natural order set forth by God in Genesis.  He created the animals that swim to live in the water, the animals that fly to live in the air, and the animals that crawl to live on the land.  But a shrimp crawls in the water.  That's contrary to God's orderly creation and therefore is unclean.  Ok.  I kinda see that.  Kinda.

Anyway, I don't understand Leviticus.

I think Jesus directly addresses this confusion in Mark 7:14.  The Pharisees are attacking Jesus and his followers for not washing their hands before eating.  (I'll admit, I might do the same, but less on religious grounds and more on the grossness factor.)  Jesus says,

"Listen to me, all of you, and understand:  there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

I don't think Jesus is talking about poop here.  Although that, too, can defile.  I think Jesus wants his followers to know that how we live our lives matters more to God that what we eat.  Or how we eat.  All those crazy rules in Leviticus seem less important now.  Jesus further explains the parable by saying,

"whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer...For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come...they defile a person"

Coming Up:

Monday - Leviticus 16-18, 

Psalm 36, Mark 9

 Tuesday - Leviticus 19-21, 

Psalm 37:1-18, Mark 10

Wednesday - Leviticus 22-24, 

Psalm 37:19-42, Mark 11

  Thursday - Leviticus 25-27, 

Psalm 38, Mark 12

Friday - Catch up, 

Psalm 39, Mark 13

Saturday - Numbers 1-3, 

Psalm 40, Mark 14