Cain and Able?

I have been thinking about the many layers in the story of Cain and Able. I wrote about this sometime back in response to a question and thought it was time for an up date.

Is one sacrifice better than another? Perhaps it is more to the point of the attitude of the one offering the sacrifice. It says that Able offered the “First Fruit” or the best of his crop while Cain brings only an offering from his crop. This beggs the question for us today. "Do we give of our best – first fruits – in our offerings?" It does not matter what kind of offering if it is the best we have.

Able offered a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of his sin, so he did acknowledged his fault before God. We do not know what that sin was and it is not important. His relationship with God was at peace. He died not because of his sin but because of his brother’s sin. I receive from that thought the concept that though my brother's sin is different than mine both our sins are the same before God,

Am I my brother’s keeper? I note here that Cain used that question as a means to deflect God’s question. How often do we dodge the real question about our sin?

Answering a question with a question is an old and well used tradition. Here is a clue to Cain’s problem not wanting to own up to his own responsibility for his actions in the way his offering was made and for the killing of his brother. Cain was selfish and self centered and it corrupted his relationship with God and that is the real issue of the story.

It is important for us that we are more concerned about our own relationship with God than to condemn someone else.

Who Was John the Baptist?

Sunday at Hurstbourne Christian Church Pastor Mike preached about the baptism from the Gospel of Matthew chapter three. The sermon was focused on Jesus but my mind went back forty years to my experience in seminary when I was assigned to write a paper on “Who was John the Baptist.”

At first I thought how am I going to come up with enough information about a wild preacher who eats bugs. I didn't think that there was all that much to know about the wondering preacher in the wilderness. But I was wrong! Between the Bible and Jewish history there is a lot of information for even a long paper. I was soon deep in historical research about John, his family and life. I looked at what all the Gospels said about him and was amazed.

According to to Luke, John came from a long line of priest and high priest of the family of Aaron the brother of Moses and the Hebrew's first High Priest. Even his mother was in the family of Aaron and was a cousin of Mary the mother of Jesus. Looking carefully at the story of John's father Zechariah we find him in the temple serving as a priest and conducting a very specific worship service for Israel. He is described as going alone into the sanctuary of the Lord to make in incense offering while all the others waited outside. That description says volumes for that event takes place once a year on the day of atonement and is only preformed by the High Priest in the Holy of Hollies.

It was then that Zechariah had a vision and was informed that he would have a son and would name him John. The boy would be a Nazarite dedicated to God. As son of a priest John would have been raised to be a priest for he was a priest by birth. Though the Bible does not tell us about his service in the Temple it is safe to assume that he took his turn a few times before he traded his priestly clothes for a coat of camel hair and went out of Jerusalem and into the wilderness.

I had always wondered why so many high ranking people went out to the Jordan river to hear him preach. Now I knew that he was a priest and the son of a high priest who could have become a High Priest who was preaching and baptizing people in the wilderness. Of course they went out to hear him preach in droves as they knew he was sent by God.

I am so glad that I was assigned that paper for it deepened my understanding about John the Baptist.

Christmas Books

I received four books for Christmas and have read two of them. There are four Star Trek books and two historical books, those were the ones I read first. My family knows what I like to read. The two I have already read are “Agent Garbo” by Stephan Talty and “The Aleppo Codex” by Matti Friedman.

Agent Garbo is a really good true spy story and very well written. Garbo was the code name the British gave to a Spaniard named Juan Pujol a Barcelona poultry farmer. He was caught up in the Spanish civil war and developed an extreme dislike for Hitler and the Nazis. He became a double agent in favor of the British and was their mastermind spy during WWII. This is one of those books that is hard to put down once you start reading it.

The central character of the Aleppo Codex is not a person but a book. It is an ancient copy of the Hebrew Bible that resided in the Aleppo Syria synagogue and was smuggled out to Israel after the creation of the Jewish state. It is very interesting though sometimes trying to read. I picked it up and put it down several times.

Now on to my Star Trek books and the world of fantasy.

Entertainment

Last night I was unexpectedly entertained and had a lot of laughs while helping my darling. My Chaplain wife needed to be at one of her companies nursing homes at ten thirty for a blessing of the hands of the late shift staff. I drove her down town for the service and waited in the lobby while she preformed the service.

The company providing security at the health center was training a new guard for the late shift. It was the young man's first night duty shift and an experienced guard was showing him the ropes. As she was quizzing him on the things he was taught it became clear that we was becoming more nervous by the second. Part of his job was to answer the phone with the name of the health center stating that he was security, state his name and ask, “How may I help you?”

That sounds easy enough but as she questioned him he repeatedly messed up one part of the phone message or another. He would ad words or forget the name of the health center. At one point he couldn't remember his name. It became a comic routine that soon had both myself and the trainer in stitches. Our laughter wasn’t helping the young man at all. Finally the trainer said that they need to take a break and come back to it in an hour and she led him on rounds of the building.

As I thought about that young man this morning I remembered that I use to get very nervous taking test and how being new at something is what all of us go through from time to time. I know that once he settles in that he will get everything right and may some day be training some one else for the job.

Exercising our Rights

To exercise our right to agree or disagree with our political leadership is part of what makes America great. Yet to treat leaders with outright hatred and disrespect dishonors our Nation and undermines the values that has made our Nation great.

President Obama and his distinguished predecessors are true Americans regardless of their political affiliations and deserve the respect of having been elected to office. If, on the other hand, some people choose to treat our leaders with hatred and disrespect, they will do more damage to our country than any individual President will ever do.

As an elected leader I am always willing to listen to objections and even expect them. Our form of governance is designed to seek the middle way though expressions of position, discussion of ideas and finding a path agreeable to all. It is not easy and often messy but it is how democracy works.

2014

Here we are January 1, 2014 once considered in science fiction as the far distant future. Today we are blessed to live in a wonderful country with many freedoms and opportunities before us. The economy is improving and life seems good. This new year will be what we make of it by the choices we make regardless of the events of nature or the actions of other people. We can choose to live strong in the face of adversity of cower in fear of what might be. Either way it is our choices that will make the difference for us. I believe that being positive and aware of the advantages that show up every day I can make th4e world around me a better place to live. Being kind to others and helpful will also bring kindness and help to me. If I can see the good in others and encourage that goodness it will overpower darkness and evil. What will you make of your 2014?

Kinetic Sand

One of my Christmas presents is one of the most unusual items I have ever played with. It is a product of Sweden called Kinetic Sand and it fascinates me. Playing with kinetic sand is a near magical experience. This stuff has its own motion and flows like water through your fingers. You don't have to wash your hands because none of it is left on your hands.

I can shape it into all kinds of shapes that feel solid and even hard but squeeze it and it crumbles and flows like a liquid. It is mesmerizing and relaxing. I think I will be playing with it a lot this year.