Praying for the Unemployed, Pondering the Dignity of Work

On a day when the government announced troubling increases in the numbers of unemployed, statistics about joblessness and the recession were brought more sharply into view for me.

My daughter called from Florida to say that the Curves at which she works on a part-time basis and where she works out, is closing down. (She has a full-time job. So, no worries there, although her hours have been cut back.) The owner of the franchise, a woman who holds two other jobs, simply can't afford to keep the place up and running.

I learned today that a Christian publishing house is closing down all of its retail outlets. There is a general trend away from the overhead associated with physical stores, toward online sales. So, this decision may have been in the pipeline anyway. But it was probably also hastened by the economy. The decision comes as an enormous blow to an acquaintance of mine with more than thirty years with the company.

Over the course of the week, I've spoken with several people who have lost their jobs because of the shrinking economy.

It isn't just the loss of income that's so horrible when one loses a job, although that's worrisome enough. It's also the loss of self-worth.

There's a downside to tying up one's sense of worthiness to a job, of course. As I said here, we're human beings, not human doings.* In God's eyes, we're accounted worthy not because of what we do or own, but simply because we are children of God.

On the other hand, we weren't made for idleness, contrary to the bad rap that work sometimes gets. Some Christians even have the mistaken impression that work is a punishment for sin. Not so. Even before the fall into sin recorded in Genesis, God gave the first man work to do. Work isn't a punishment. It's part of our purpose for living. When it's taken away from us, it chips away at our dignity.

Tonight, I'm praying for all who are without work.

I'm praying too, that the economy not only of the United States, but that of the world, will improve, bringing new opportunities for people.

I'm also praying that once things do improve, we won't forget our vulnerability or our need for God in good times and bad. (See here.)

*The phrase isn't original with me. But I don't remember where I first read it.

First Pass at This Sunday's Bible Lessons (February 10, 2008)

[This may be the only "pass" at the Bible lessons for this week. If so, I apologize in advance. These passes are designed to help the people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, where I am pastor, and me to prepare for worship on Sunday mornings. Because we Lutherans use a version of the Revised Common Lectionary, I also hope that these looks at the Bible lessons will help other Christians to get ready for worship when these lessons will be the focus for most of the Christians in the world.]

The Bible Lessons:
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
Matthew 4:1-11

The Prayer of the Day:
Lord God, our strength, the struggle between good and evil rages within and around us, and the devil and all the forces that defy you tempt us with empty promises. Keep us steadfast in your word, and when we fall, raise us again and restore us through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Some General Comments:
1. The season of the Church Year called Lent began this past week with Ash Wednesday.

2. The forty days of Lent do not include the Sundays. That's because Sundays are always "little Easters," times when we always celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. That's why this will be the First Sunday in Lent. Sundays in Lent then, are outposts of resurrection celebration within a period in which we remember Christ's call to repentance and His death for our sin. Nonetheless, the Lenten movement toward Christ's cross (and resurrection) are marked even on the Sundays of this season.

3. The Gospel lessons for the First Sunday in Lent always revolve around Jesus' being tempted in the wilderness by the devil. (In this year's Gospel lesson, taken from Matthew's Gospel, the tempting power is referred to as the tempter, the devil, and Satan. More on the meanings of those three terms later, I hope.)

4. The other appointed lessons deal with temptation, sin, fall, deliverance, and redemption, hugely important themes. each text worthy of their own full exploration. That won't be possible here.

5. Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7: This lesson recounting the temptation of the first man and woman presents an interesting counterpoint to the Gospel account of Jesus' temptation.

For example, this temptation happens in the comfort of a lush garden in which easy provision is available for the first couple's every need. Jesus was driven by the Spirit into the barren wilderness. (The word eremos in the original Greek of the Matthew text can be translated as wilderness or desert.)

In addition, neither Eve nor Adam evidence any struggle against the temptations of the serpent. Jesus' entire encounter with the devil involves struggle.

In both cases, the temptations involve ignoring the intentions of God the Father.

There are more parallels and contrasts. But those will be addressed later.

6. 2:15: In this verse we see that work was never meant to be seen as a punishment. Only after the fall into sin would futility become part of the human experience of work. But work, in itself, is a good thing. Our capacity to work is part of what demonstrates that we have been made in the image of God, Who worked to create our universe.

7. 3:1: The serpent isn't specifically identified as the devil, although Jesus makes that connection in John 8:44.

Part of the craftiness of the devil, an attribute attributed to him here, is that he doesn't make the mistake of overtly attacking God. He attacks by indirection, asking questions until the time is ripe for making assertions.

(By the way, Jesus also uses indirection to woo people into God's kingdom. His parables are gentle ways of moving beyond our resistance to God's grace and love, engaging us in stories that make us feel what the kingdom of God is like, rather than forcing us on the defensive with religious propositions. That Jesus should employ such methods shouldn't surprise us. After all, in calling His followers to share His call to repentance and new life, He said that they should be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.)

8. Vv. 2-3: The woman accurately reflects God's will. There is no ambiguity about God's will.

9. The perennial question about this tree is, if God was anxious for humans to live in fellowship with Him, why was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden?

Let's do something scientists call a "thought experiment" for a moment. Imagine that you are God. Imagine that as God, you are brimming over with love, so much love in fact that you feel the desire to create living beings to love. But you decide that one being in particular will be sentient, aware of themselves as living creatures and--this is the really important point--capable of loving back.

The only way this ability to return your love will have any meaning is that if your special creatures have the ability not to love you back. Love that is instinctive is, in effect, coerced or forced. But if your creature is free not to love you, their choice to return your love and to live in a fellowship of love with you will be marked with the joy that comes with love that is voluntary.

God allowed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to sprout in the perfect garden wasn't to tempt Adam and Eve to sin, but to make it possible for them to respond to God's love freely and authentically.

9. Vv. 4-5: The truth told in a deceitful way is still a lie. The man and woman didn't die immediately and by eating the fruit, they did see good and evil, as opposed to having only seen good previously. But, of course, being able to see good and evil without the discernment of God is to fall prey to evil's power. The serpent left that part out.

10. V. 6: What tempted the woman was good. The fruit was good. We're never tempted by bad or unattractive things. Sin happens when we take what's good at the wrong time, in the wrong way, for the wrong reason, or in the wrong amount.

11. To merely be tempted isn't a sin. Caving into temptation, even within our minds, is when sin happens.

12. Psalm 32: The first seven verses are addressed to God. Verses 8-11 are addressed to other people. The narrator is one who has sinned, confessed, and experienced God's forgiveness.

13. Sometimes, a good way to try to understand a passage of Scripture is to put it into our own words. Here's a paraphrase of Psalm 32 I wrote earlier today:

My life was hard when my sin went unconfessed, Lord. But when I owned up to my wrongs, You forgave me.

When times are hard, help us find refuge in You. Give us shelter even when times are tough!

I know that even when the flood waters rise, we God-followers won't be swept away. All around me are the glad shouts of people rescued from all that would take us from You and the life You give!

[Looking to our neighbors...]

Having experienced God's charity and care, I will turn to you, my friends, and point out the way of God to you. Don't be stubborn in your egotism, thinking you can get by on your own! Place yourself under God's control.

In the end, things don't go well for those who remain rebels against God. But the endless love of God envelops those who throw the whole weight of their lives--the good, the bad, the ugly, the frightening, the past, present and future--on God's shoulders.

Laugh and fill up with joy, you who trust in God! Give a shout out, all made right with God by the power of His forgiving grace!

This is an exercise you might want to try.

[More tomorrow, I hope.]