I’ve been writing. Though you couldn’t prove it by my blog postings of the past month. The blogs that aren’t. I had the brainstorm that I’d write each week following our Bible study in the book of Hebrews on Thursday nights. Though I’ve been studying the book along with our group for the past several weeks, a few verses at a time, chunks of thought we chewed over in our discussions—which have been good—I never sat down afterwards and wrote about them. Now weeks later I will not recap to fill white space on the page. You’ll have to do your own study. But that is not a bad idea.

I’ve read the book of Hebrews many times over the years but when I began digging into the sections of verses, paying closer attention to details, I’ve had some enlightening moments. Or would that be enlightened moments? Moments of enlightenment. When you start using words, you start to pay closer attention to their meanings, not just what you think they mean. The dictionary becomes your friend.

So it is with studying the Bible. Reading and rereading a book of the Bible allows one to get the feel of the book, where it comes from and where it is going. Then, digging into the words using scholarly tools left for us by those who did the greater part of study into the original languages, brings enlightenment. Truths there all the time, not appreciated except by closer scrutiny, come to light, and make themselves known to our conscious minds. This is the value of Bible study. That is, if we act on it.

I’ve had a few of those moments in our study of Hebrews. Personal insights which I had not seen before. And, of course, powerful verses that stand out continue to resonate with me, even though I know I haven’t plumbed their depths, verses such as:

For this reason we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? (Hebrews 2: 1-3a, NASB)

“For this reason” is like “therefore”, you have to look back and find out what in the world it is there for. In this case, it is because we need to listen to Jesus with rapt attention since God has spoken through him in these last days and it wasn’t for the sake of the angels he spoke. No indeed. What Jesus said and did was for us, not them. Angels, of whom Jesus is their creator and not one of them, are “ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation”, according to the verse just before Hebrews chapter 2 opens with the quoted verses above.

We must listen attentively to what was spoken, this good news of God through Jesus Christ, for in Jesus God has spoken finally and forcibly. He has spoken once for all in a lived out drama of flesh and blood. Of death. Of power through suffering and humiliation … and resurrection. Of Exaltation and the promise of all knees bowing in acknowledgment of His living “speech”, one day yet to come.

Not yet. One day. We live in this between day, in the echo of Jesus’s life speech. His voice, his gospel, resounds and will not be stilled. Listen!

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation         [appeasement, atonement] for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2: 14-18, ESV)

In this Today of Jesus’s echoing Voice, resonating within the hearts of those who come to him in faith, we have not only salvation—the forgiveness of sins and freedom from slavery to the devil and to fear of death—we have One who understands us and can speak on our behalf before the Holy and Righteous God! Jesus Christ, our great high priest. We can trust in him. We can come to him.

Listen to what he says.

(How’s that for non-recap?)

“Why do I love reading the book of Hebrews so much?” I wondered. I found that every time I read through this book in the New Testament, my heart would swell with emotions I couldn’t quite identify. What I read made me happy, so happy I felt I was bursting inside. Sometimes I had such a deep sense of gratitude that tears filled my eyes. Now, I know I am an emotional person, but other books of the Bible didn’t affect me quite the way this book always seemed to. What was it about Hebrews that moved me so?

I’m not a natural analyst. My husband is; I am not. But I think that because of being around someone for so long who is that way, some of his analytical skills rubbed off on me. You know, learning by osmosis. Or maybe it has more to do with observation. I learned to step back and look at things in an objective, as opposed to subjective, manner. It is sort of like stepping aside, out of oneself to look at what you had been looking at from inside yourself. That little shift in perspective can be very enlightening.

And that is what I did one day. As I thought about the totality of the book of Hebrews, considered overall what it is saying, stepping a little to the side of my normal perspective, I realized in a flash— it’s all about Jesus! More than that, it magnifies Jesus. That is why I loved the book of Hebrews so much. It puts Jesus up before our eyes in a “total package, what you see is what you get, and it’s all good” way. Other books of the Bible say some of the same things about Jesus but here all those things are laid out together as though on a beautifully decorated banquet table: a feast for our souls.

Hebrews has been for some time my favorite book of the Bible, but I realized not many others felt that way, so I was both pleased and surprised when our weekly Bible study group chose to study the book of Hebrews! I’ve never done a study, per se, of the book; I’ve just read it a number of times and looked up various words and items of interest, read other books based on Hebrews. Now I will be going deeper and I’m looking forward to it!

Our first actual session was last night covering the Introduction to the book of Hebrews in the study guide we’ve chosen to use[1] as well as Hebrews 1:1-3. Have I mentioned Hebrews can send me into raptures? These first three verses are among, or maybe the most, beautiful in the whole Bible! I currently use a NASB which puts it quite adequately, but I confess I love the flow and crescendo of the prose of the King James Version. It layers and builds, like a giant wave off the north shore of Oahu in Hawaii in November, peaking to the magnificence of the crashing curl. Listen:

 

            God,

            who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

            Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,

            whom he hath appointed heir of all things,

            by whom also he made the worlds;

            Who being the brightness of his glory,

            and the express image of his person,

            and upholding all things by the word of his power,

            when he had by himself purged our sins,

            sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

!!!!!!!!!

I’m in tears! No surfer ever had a higher high surfing a giant wave. The majesty—words fail me—of these opening words to the book of Hebrews stand like an eternal monument to the glorious Person of Jesus Christ.

And we’ve only just begun.

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[1] Wm. Barclay The New Daily Study Bible: The Letter to the Hebrews, 3^rd edition,  Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, KY 2002

I am part of a ladies' Bible study at my church, The Bridge Bible Church here in Bakersfield, California. We meet at Table 10. It is a round table like all the others in the church auditorium. It is a tight squeeze when all twelve of us show up on Wednesday mornings! Naomi is our table leader. She is also the leader of our Abide women's prayer group.

Marj is the hospitality leader for the ladies of Table 10. She also happens to host the Abide women’s prayer group Monday mornings (every Monday morning) in her lovely home. She delights in doing special things for her friends and today she treated us, whom she calls “His Girls of Table 10”, to a gourmet luncheon at The Guild House[1] in Bakersfield, the beautifully refurbished historic Barlow House. Shortly after we moved to Bakersfield last year I read about the Guild House and have driven by it several times and thought it would be nice to someday visit it, and today I got to. I love old houses and architecture.

Naomi and Janna, our table co-leader, went out early this morning to get all the little items needed to make up 12 gift bags, one for each lady at the luncheon. It was to feature a cookie from Sweet Surrender, Bakersfield's iconic confectionery. I'm talking gourmet cookies here.

Nothing worked out right. Everything Naomi attempted in her pursuit of assembling the perfect gift for the ladies, to be presented at the luncheon hosted by Marj at The Guild House, fell flat. All the while Naomi kept hearing a little voice in the back of her head to do this other thing.

So Naomi, telling us all this as we sat around our table at The Guild House feasting on Chicken Dijon and wild and white rice, got up and reaching to pick up something from the table behind her, said that instead of gourmet cookies for us, she wanted to use that money so some little girl might have a life. She turned back and surprised me by reaching across the table and handing me an envelope. "She Is Safe"[2] was written on the front.

Of course, I immediately got choked up, knowing that inside that envelope was the money that instead of buying gourmet cookies for us well-fed ladies, would now go to buy a goat for a family in Nepal. I praised God through my tears. In fact, we all praised God that Naomi listened to that little voice in her head, as she proceeded to tell us about the little girls in Nepal who are sold into sex slavery by the time they are 12 years old because their families are too poor to feed them, and how a goat can be the means to rescue them through the ministry of She Is Safe as they partner with a Nepalese ministry to rescue these girls.

Naomi believes that goat is needed more than we need gourmet cookies. She's so right.

When I got home from the luncheon I put She Is Safe’s address on the envelope, stamped it and the mailman picked it up on his rounds.

Happy birthday, Jesus. May You have one more jewel added to your crown.

(The names have not been changed. These are real people and I am privileged to call them my sisters—and my friends.)

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[1] The Guild House serves gourmet lunches at the historic Barlow House to raise funds to support the Henrietta Weill Memorial Child Guidance Clinic. (Taken from the Guild House website.)

[2] www.SheIsSafe.org

I realized this morning a mistake I made in my blog posting of yesterday. Pastor Saeed Abedini is in an Iranian prison, not in Iraq. Sorry for that slip. Those doggone “I” words. You can learn about and follow his plight, and have opportunity to do more at http://aclj.org/

I had said Randy and I found several means to learn about needs of our brothers and sisters around the world suffering for their faith so I thought I’d send a few links to websites which we use for informing ourselves about the persecuted church. I’m sure you have others.

Randy recently posted an article on facebook from the Compass Direct group and here is their website: http://www.worldwatchmonitor.org

I recently signed up to receive prayer alerts from Voice of the Martyrs at iCommitToPray  Their web address is https://www.persecution.com/ Voice of the Martyrs has been around for a long time.

Another which is not so much a persecution watch organization but a partnering ministry with believers ministering in “the hard places” reaching women and girls especially, and from whom we learn of great needs for which to pray and a means to get involved: She Is Safe, ‎ http://sheissafe.org/

I pray we will be blessings to others in many different ways this year and always. You have encouraged me. Thank you.

Several years ago we began the tradition of lighting a candle on December first and praying every day in December for the persecuted church. We find there is plenty of information available to us to pray both in general for believers in different places in the world who are being ill-treated for their faith, as well as quite specific prayers for individuals, interceding for them by name. 

“Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.” (Hebrews 13:3)

How I have failed in this area of “remembering the prisoners as though in prison with them” and the “ill-treated”. And what does it mean to remember them? What are the implications of the word remember?

First, I notice Paul says to remember them as though I was with them in prison. And he adds to that, “since you yourselves also are in the body.” Since I would not like to suffer incarceration, I must consider that they don’t either. Since I wouldn’t like being treated badly, are they any different than me? No. No one likes being treated unjustly. It also may point to the idea that the readers could have the same things happen to them. You and I are as vulnerable to ill-treatment as others.

Paul told the Colossians to “remember my imprisonment” (Col. 4:18). Certainly he meant for them to pray for him. He also indicated in the book of Philippians (4: 15, 16) that few churches sent material or financial gifts to him to meet his material needs. He wrote that it was a great blessing when those believers sent whatever it was they sent to Paul to meet his needs when he was in bonds in Rome. They, at least, hadn’t forgotten Paul. Their act of remembering him moved them to action and even though they were not wealthy, in fact, were in poverty, they gave to alleviate Paul’s needs.

Certainly to remember those in prison and those being ill-treated/persecuted for their faith in Christ means we need to keep them before our minds, not forgetting about them. Certainly to remember those in prison as though I were with them means praying for them because if I were in prison, I’d be praying for myself and I’d sure hope others were praying for me too.

Remembering those in prison and persecuted starts with prayer for them, but there are times when we have the opportunity to do more, and we need to be ready to seriously consider what we can do.

I recall back around 1979 or 1980 when Randy and I were a young married couple with little children (now we’re an old married couple with grandchildren), my parents became sponsors for a young Ethiopian man, Kiros, to come live in the United States because as a Christian his life was endangered there in Ethiopia. He came and lived with my parents and became a part of our family for the time he was there. That Christmas our family portrait included all four biological children of my parents, our spouses and children, my two adopted Korean brothers, and Kiros, our new brother from Ethiopia. A way to remember those persecuted for their faith.

We only need to remain open, listen and watch for the opportunities to present themselves, and be willing and ready to extend ourselves as need and opportunity and our ability to meet those needs converge.

But what got me thinking and writing this blog was Psalm 138: 7, 8. As I read it, I imagined this as a prayer of someone who is being persecuted, perhaps thrown in prison for their faith in Jesus:

            Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your      hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me. The LORD will             accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD, is everlasting; do not forsake the works of Your hands.

It just sounded like something someone in such straits might pray. The other day when I read Psalm 142 I thought of persecuted Christians praying the same kind of things:

            I cry aloud with my voice to the LORD; I make my supplication with my voice to the       LORD. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see; for there is no one who regards me; there is no escape for me; no one cares for my soul.

            I cried out to You, O LORD; I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the     living. Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of my prison, so that I may give thanks toYour name; the righteous will surround me, for You will deal bountiful with me.

 When I read these Psalms I thought of Saeed Abedini, an American pastor in a prison in Iran. I thought of others imprisoned for their faith and still others who live every day in fear and uncertainty because they are Christian.

We do not see persecution as Christians as God’s will for us, yet the scriptures are full of evidence to the contrary[1]. We tend to think of God’s will as something that will make us secure and safe, happy and fulfilled. Yes, I know the verses that say we should pray for all men, including our government leaders, “so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (I Timothy 2:1, 2). This kind of life is certainly to be desired and we need to pursue peace as much as we can at all times. But though we resist the idea of suffering for our faith, Jesus warned of it and the other writers in the New Testament tell us not to be surprised at it. Paul even goes so far as to say to the Philippian believers, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me” (Philippians 1:29, 30). He told Timothy that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

The more I think of it, the more scripture references come to mind! The New Testament was written to churches which were intimately acquainted with persecution. If we open our eyes as we read, these verses jump out at us and we see color and meaning to the words of Holy writ we never saw before. So then keeping before our minds’ eye the suffering believers around the world puts flesh and bone to suffering for the faith we read of in scripture, which from our ivory towers can seem like a far removed theory.

(I am so convicted as I write these things. In fact, usually whenever I write something it is from a sense of God teaching me some aspect of truth. It is very personal and when I write it down on paper—and it takes on a life of its own and sometimes takes me places I didn’t know we were going—I am preaching to myself! You just get to listen in.)

We can be very grateful that our culture has been greatly influenced by the Bible. Many things we take for granted and enjoy as rights in our country slowly permeated the cultures because of the influence of Biblical values which over centuries became ingrained in western European civilization. No country has ever fully expressed God’s kingdom and no human government ever will. Only when Jesus Christ comes and sets foot on earth again we will see God’s kingdom truly and fully lived out.

But it is just because we have had so many benefits that we must guard against the complacency Jesus and the writers of scripture warn against. We have had it easy but we must become alert, be on our guard and learn to stand against the encroaching evil. Jesus said to work the works of God while it is day, because the night comes when no man can work (John 9:4).

Night is coming. Night has fallen in some places in our world. So because we live in these bodies and understand our limitations, we should be able to relate to our brothers and sisters whose lives are made difficult by persecution, and remember those who are now suffering for their faith, both those in prison and those who wake up every day and face every level of abuse, discrimination and persecution because they name the Name of Jesus Christ. We need to embrace their suffering as our own. My own (I’m preaching to myself).

So I light the candle and remember ….

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[1] Matthew 24; 25:31-46; Acts; James 1:2-4; I Peter 1: 6-9; 2: 13-25; 3:8-17; 4:12-19; 5:8-11

What is the responsibility of the church to elderly women among their numbers? To widows? To  fatherless children? To foreigners/aliens in our midst? The list could go on: the needy, the disabled both within and outside the church.

The question is: what is our responsibility to those around us, especially to the family of God, those of “the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10), who are the most vulnerable and dependent, those unable to care for themselves?[1]

This question is, for us, not academic, not theoretical. We have been staring at it for several months and it has a face and a name. “Kay”[2] is a sister in the Lord, now in her seventies, a real person, not a hypothetical example. She is now well past retirement age, though she has kept on working as long as she had good health, which, for most of her life she has enjoyed. Now through a confluence of various circumstances she has been facing frightening realities: She is alone in the world, never married, no family to care for her as she ages, with health problems hindering her ability to work and provide for herself as she has been accustomed to. Unfortunately, in our society age discrimination is also against her employability. Her savings are dwindling and she is afraid she will lose her little one bedroom condo in the retirement village in which she has lived for 25 years. She imagines herself on the street. We protest: this will never happen as long as we are here.

“We” are the members of our weekly small group Bible study affiliated with our large church. Randy was asked to take over leadership of this struggling group not long after we became members of the church. We take this pastoring and teaching responsibility seriously. We are a “church within the church”. We are called to “be the church” to others.

So what is our responsibility to our sister, a single lady, who is facing such dire straits, who confesses to going through a “crisis of faith”? First, we listen to her. She feels safe enough among us to be vulnerable and share her fears.  We pray for her, laying hands on her and beseeching God to intervene on her behalf to meet her needs as He sees fit, as has another prayer group from church of which I am also a member. But we know we cannot stop there, for God works through His people. We are sometimes the answer to our own prayers. Some of us have looked into options in housing for her. We have assured her that if the worst happens (i.e.: she loses her home) we would take her in. And we mean it. Dear “Agnes”, 80+ years old, who lives in the same retirement village, was the first to say it. For at least six months we have besought the Lord for wisdom and direction for this particular situation.

The scriptures admonish us to bear one another’s burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). That law is the one commandment Jesus gave His followers (John 14:34, 35). It is only one commandment because love is the fulfillment of the Law of God; all the other commandments, as well as the rest of scripture, are summed up in that one decree (Matthew 22:36-40). And it is that by which the whole world will know we belong to Jesus Christ, this love for one another—love lived out.

We meet on Thursday evenings for our small group Bible study. Last night Kay shared an answer to prayer. We listened as she told of a couple, longtime friends, who visited her and made the commitment to pay her mortgage. God had blessed them financially and they wanted to use His blessing to bless others. They are also paying another lady’s mortgage.

Were we rejoicing in amazement? Were we clapping our hands in joyful expressions of thanks and praise to our God? You betcha! Randy called us to worship our Lord for His great goodness, for His faithfulness to His child, for hearing our prayers for our sister. We worshiped with tear-filled words of gratitude and love for this God who is Love. What a way to start a Bible study (the prearranged topic of the evening being the importance of the local church and discipling)!

The couple who stepped out and made this commitment (legally drawn up) is “being the church” to these ladies. Their act is producing much praise and thanksgiving to God (II Cor. 9:12-13). We, too, in our small group, are being the church to our sister in our small ways. Indeed, we are the church, the body of Christ, to one another. And to others outside our group, outside the church.

We are reaching out to a homeless couple, expecting their first child next week ….

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[1] Acts 6:1-7; I Timothy 5:3-10, 16; James 1:27; Deuteronomy 14:28, 29; Deut. 15:1, 7-11; II Corinthians 9; Titus 3:14

[2] Names changed for privacy

Who would have thought it? We go away for the weekend and come home to this! Sort of creepy, but you learn something new every day.

We had headed for the coast for a few days over the Labor Day weekend, a good time to go there to escape the heat of the central valley of California. Randy was told at work he’d probably see half of Bakersfield in Morro Bay, since so many do the same escape routine! The coast being only 2 ½ hours away and 30 degrees cooler than inland, it makes perfect sense in summertime.

The weather was perfect and we enjoyed connecting with friends, not Bakersfieldians after all, but Georgians (the Pacific is a long way to go to escape Georgia heat!) and a couple from Cambria, up the coast from Morro Bay. The house we rent has fantastic views of the ocean which I took in as much as possible.

Now, when we leave home we do not keep the air conditioning on in the empty house. For thousands of years people lived without it and for generations from the time of its founding, no one had it here in Bakersfield either. It is hard to believe that people actually carried on normal lives without air conditioning in this climate! What wimps we are today. Nevertheless, I am not sorry we can take advantage of it. I would be on extended siesta time otherwise. But we also try to save money where and as often as we can, so we leave the air conditioning off while we are away.

When we got back from our perfect three day get away to the cooler clime at the ocean, I opened the backdoor of our house and was hit with a blast of heat. Three days of baking in the sun had worked its work alright. But I almost stopped in my tracks when I reached my desk, for there was a sight I had never seen: a candle feeding in a bowl rose petals? What?! Wait. That can’t be right!

I believe that if candles could speak they’d say, “Please leave the air conditioning on.” But my reply would be, “Show me the money, honey.”

(I can replace the rose petals for free from all the roses in my front yard.)