Genesis 37-45; John 13-17

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 9

Israel’s favorite son – dreamer of strange dreams, wearer of colorful robe, nuisance to his brothers – was sold into slavery rather than being murdered by them. So began the connection between Egypt where the slave-traders took Joseph and the people of Israel. Though he served a ruler well, his innocence got him a jail term anyway - served with the chief wine-taster and chief bread-baker to Egypt’s king, Pharaoh. The cupbearer’s dream foretold his head lifted up and restored to his position. The baker’s dream prophesied that his head would be lifted off and his body hung on a tree. Remembered later by the cupbearer for his accuracy in interpreting the dreams, Joseph was called upon to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, one of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine – for which Pharaoh appointed Joseph to prepare his nation. It was the famine which brought Joseph’s brothers to Egypt for food and a feast with the country's second-in-command. After the meal, a cup and some grain precipitated the moment he revealed himself to them as the lost brother they betrayed, now king of all Egypt's resources. He gathered them close, begged them to bring back his father Israel, and told them, “Do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.” And at last the family of twelve brothers and a loving father was reunited.

It was a meal with a cup and a loaf made from grain at which Jesus revealed to his twelve closest friends that God had sent Him to serve and that they must serve too. His words were the culmination of His prophecies that He would be lifted up. And they would soon see for themselves that meant He would be hung on a tree, and serve as a ransom to save many. Through Him, the family of God would be reunited forever.

Father of Abraham, Isaac and Israel; Father of Jesus the Christ; Father of all You have gathered close into Your family, we praise and glorify You. The bread and the grain it was made from sustain us, during plenty and during famine. The dream You share with us of being reunited around Your table in eternity fills us with hope. Thank You for revealing Yourself to us through Christ, through His servant nature, through this bread which speaks of His sacrifice while hanging on a tree. Amen.

God of twelve brothers; twelve tribes; twelve apostles ... we honor You for sending Your Son here as a loving response to our voluntary slavery to sin. Thank You for setting us free from it through His blood. Thank You for this cup which represents it, hidden among our treasures, drawing us back together with You for to save our lives from self; our souls from sin. Help us to leave behind our anger and remorse at our betrayals; help us journey toward Your table in heaven. Lift us up and restore us in Your kingdom. We pray this through the King of all its resources, Jesus: Amen.

Remembering Dad

Norman William Brenton
September 24, 1926 - February 25, 1993
Brazil, Indiana and Indianapolis, Indiana
From his three children, read at his funeral:

In the two and a half weeks since Dad's heart attack, we have often found ourselves commenting on his fine qualities: his kindness, dry sense of humor, love of children and people in general, his efficiency and thoroughness--meticulous and logical in all areas; his gentle spirit. In fact, the "fruit of the Spirit" in Galatians 5:22-24 and the admonition of II Peter 1:5-8 to "add to your faith, virtue, etc." were reflected in his life. Perhaps most often in our thoughts and conversations, the Beattitudes of Matthew 5 came to mind, especially verse 9: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." Certainly our Dad is a son of God.

- Linda

---

Sometimes when things just don't seem right and we see no good in them, we need to stop and remember that God works all things together for the good. In our lives we experience what the Bible calls trials and sufferings, but when we are children of God, we are to consider them great joy. My father loved people like no one else I knew, except for God himself. He will continue to live through those of us who knew him and those of us who learned from his faithfulness to God our Father, and from his patience toward everyone. I pray we all will be worthy, as he was, to see Jesus Christ. He suffers no pain and no sorrow. He's with our Father in heaven and that makes me joyful.

- Christy

---

My father gave me life, of course; but you may not know that on at least two occasions, he also saved my life.

One time, when I was about two years old, I had gotten hold of some hard candy, and had managed to get a piece of it stuck in my throat. Upon hearing me choke, Dad hauled me up by my feet and slapped my back until the candy was dislodged and I could breathe again.

Another time — when I was eight or nine, and we were on one of our vacation trips together — we parked on a lot overlooking Royal Gorge. The lot was marked off by big wooden posts threaded together by a chain. I hopped right over the chain, heading for a slope where some gorgeous quartz crystals had been dumped like fill dirt. The slope was about 45 degrees, and it ended in about thirty feet with a vertical drop of about a thousand feet to the Arkansas River below. The quartz crystals began to give way underneath me as I struggled back to the top. Dad started to vault the chain, too; but I yelled back "Don’t! The rocks won’t hold you."

So, holding the chain in one hand, he stretched himself as far as he could and reached out to me with the other hand. I had to take the next couple of steps myself, but then I felt his hand grasp mine and he pulled me to safety.

Maybe Dad didn’t do anything that any father wouldn’t have done. But he taught me a powerful lesson through those two episodes. He taught me that God saves people in two ways.

One way is when you feel like you’ve been picked up and turned upside down and life is hitting you from behind. That’s God telling you there’s something stuck in your craw called sin and you’ve got to turn loose of it or it will kill you.

The other way God saves us is when he vaults the chain in the person of His Son and, holding firmly on with His hand of Justice, He stretches Himself as far as He can and reaches out to us with His hand of Compassion. We have to take the first few steps on our own; then we feel His hand grasp ours and pull us to safety.

- Keith

Choice of Friends

People Jesus associated with

• soldiers of an occupying army
• poor people
• fishermen
• women with questionable reputations
• a political radical
• a collaborator with an oppressive regime
• a crazy person
• the homeless
• sick people
• blind people
• crippled people
• hungry people
• a woman who would give her last two cents to God
• outcasts of society
• a weird naturalist preacher
• dying people
• a traitor
• a thief
• doubters

People I associate with

• patriotic people
• rich people
• society people
• ministers
• people who, like me, struggle with their generosity
• healthy people
• believers

Do you see a disconnect in my discipleship?

Genesis 33; John 17

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 8

Abraham's grandson Jacob cheated his older brother Esau out of the blessing that belonged to him for the price of a cup of red stew. Before the inevitable reunion of the two brothers, Jacob sent his family away in two groups so he might not lose all to Esau's wrath - then sent gifts to placate him. Camping at a place where he had seen angels before, Jacob prayed for safety and mercy on those he loved, then fought all night with someone who touched his the socket of his hip and made it impossible to run from the one who was wronged, and blessed him with the name Israel - "Wrestler with God." Israel felt he had seen God face to face yet had lived. But the real surprise was yet to come, when his brother Esau ran from a distance to greet him, embrace his neck, and weep together for joy with him.

In an upper room, at a meal to celebrate God's rescue of Israel's descendants from Egypt, Jesus prayed for the safety and unity of those He loved - a few of the many souls throughout time whom He was about to reconcile with God, but at the cost of His life. In a garden, He wrestled with God over what had to be done. When some of Israel's descendants came to arrest Him, they saw Him and did not recognize the face of God - so they struck that face. And lived with what they had done.

Father, forgive us, for we don't always know what we are doing. Yet You let us live with what we have done. Too often we do know what we have done, though, and we are aware enough to dread our inevitable reunion with You. But this feast touches the socket of our reflex to run; immobilizes us with Your passion for us to be reconciled to You; stuns us with the promise of Your embrace. God, forgive us as we remember Jesus and recognize His body in this bread. Amen.

God of Israel, we have often cheated ourselves out of great blessing for little more gratification than some stew. We have alienated ourselves from brothers we love. And we have wronged You. This cup reminds us of the price of our selfishness and foolishness and fear; it reminds us that the blood of Your Son bought our reconciliation with You, and we have no words adequate to express our thanks. Accept our lives, we pray through Him. Amen."

Job 42; Luke 22

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 7

In a single day, the greatest man in all the East - one of the richest, wisest, and most righteous before God - lost it all. He lost his herds and his flocks; his wealth and his dear children. He fell to his knees in mournful worship. Then Job lost his health, crippled by searingly painful boils upon his flesh. And he knew that God permitted it, because God could have prevented it. He flung his question at God as any man would - "WHY?" - but never doubted that God still reigned over everything. He accepted the response that he would not be able to understand God's answer. He never knew that he had been the object of a wager between God and the accuser Satan over his faithfulness - or that God had bet on him. God believed in Job as much as Job believed in God. At the end of the account, God restored to Job all that had been snatched away from him - some of it doubly.

On one early-darkening day, the greatest Man who ever lived lost it all - the respect of those who had called Him "Rabbi;" the companionship of followers, friends, family; His freedom; His dignity; His comfort; and His very lifeblood. Knowing that all of it was coming - on the night before it did - Jesus fell to His knees in mournful worship. Then the pummeling, the crown of thorns, the whip of cords, and the nails assaulted His flesh. And He knew that God was permitting it, because He had begged God to prevent it. He never doubted that God still reigned over life and death. He accepted the response that was God's tortured silence, for He already understood God's answer. He knew that all mankind was the object of a wager between God and the accuser over His faithfulness, and that God was counting on Him to suffer and die - as much as He was counting on God to raise Him up. In the end, God not only restored unending life to Him, but the promise of it to all who would follow ... so great a family that only God could number them.

O God and Father, You comprehend mysteries beyond our grasp: how your justice and mercy are served by the suffering of Your Servant; Your Son. As we try to understand the sacrifice of His body while we eat this bread, we confess to You our shortcomings, our insufficiency, our sin. And we glorify Your Name through His. Amen.

Gracious and Righteous God, we fall to our knees in worship - mournful of our sin and its consequences; joyous for the hope we have through Jesus, the Christ. Though we know very few of life's answers, You have shown Yourself to us through Him, and it is all the answer we need. Bless us in the sharing of this cup as we remember what won the wager and won our souls from endless death: the blood of Your Son and our Intercessor. Amen.

Genesis 22, Galatians 3

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 6

It was a hideously unreasonable request. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his one-and-only son - Ishmael having been banished from the family - as a burnt offering. This was the son born to him in his hundredth year by the Lord's own promise. Scripture does not record God asking anyone to offer anything before; the altars seem to have been built and the sacrifices offered by freewill and in gratitude. After a three-day journey with the boy Isaac, his father's answer to the boy's natural question was prophecy: "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." Yet God tested Abraham all the way to the moment that he took out the knife to slay his child. God's angel called out to halt the sacrifice, passing over this precious son. Then God provided a ram caught by its horns, and a blessing of an incalculable descendency through whom all nations would be blessed.

Hebrews 11 says that "Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death." Galatians 3 urges us to "Consider Abraham: 'He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.' Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you.' So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith." Surely it is next to impossible to reason and believe in such measure, while holding your son's life in your hands. Yet that is what God asked of Abraham. And that is what God himself did: He believed in us enough to reason that it was worth sacrificing His own Son on our behalf. So, within us, God kindles the desire to sacrifice our lives; our selves - to Him.

Because He would never ask anyone to do what He was not willing to do Himself.

Father God, we praise Your name because You truly have blessed all nations of the earth through the sacrifice of Your Son. As we meditate on this bread, we cannot help but picture You, hovering over His body, like Abraham over Isaac, deciding that we were somehow worth what had to be done to credit Christ's righteousness to us. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for this bread, His body. Help us in the moment we share it to sacrifice self and become more like the One who bears this request to You. Amen.

God of supreme mercy and justice, we pause before consuming this cup and remember the blood of Jesus, spilled by fist and thorn and whip and nail and sword, for us who believe. We are overwhelmed by the passion of what You ask us to believe. We want to be able to reason out this unreasonable passion, but it is incalculable. We want to be able to believe Your incredible faith in our worth, but it's virtually impossible for us. We want to have the faith of Abraham, but we are not him. Help our unbelief, we beg through Jesus: Amen.

Who Is This Jesus?

We interrupt the regularly-scheduled programming on this blog for a special announcement.

At a devotional I led Sunday evening, February 1, 2009, I asked the 75-80 folks gathered at my church to write on an index card their personal answer to the question, "Who Is This Jesus?" Without any apparent care in their heads or hearts about the first two quarters of the skirmish between the football teams from Arizona and Pittsburgh, they wrote these answers, and I read them at the end of our worship together:

• This Jesus is God in the flesh, Immanuel, God with us. He is God's only begotten Son. Through Him all things were made, and it was good. But when man sinned, that was changed. Death entered this world, and man was separated from God. This Jesus put on flesh and lived and walked on this earth and died and lived again - to RESTORE that relationship between man and God. He is a Mediator between man and God, the Lord and King, Savior and Friend to all who would believe in Him.


• He rescues me from my stupidity, helps me stand tall, makes my cry when I hear Him say He loves me. More than that, he's the one Lord of my life, or at least, should be. There is no other who saves me, my screw-ups or my relationships. This index card can't describe Him. He means that I don't have to bow to the god of guilt. I bow to the One who took it away. He gives a true and lasting, international unity. How much longer I could go! He's everything to me. He lived with brutal passion and a deep heart. he led - He did not just use "superpowers." He never demanded anything He did not already do Himself!


• Jesus is ... the divine gift above all gifts.


• Perfect - My Lord and Savior; my Savior and Lord -


• Our Savior!


• Who is This Jesus? - He is our salvation - He paid it all - and He means all to me. He supplies all my needs. He is my refuge when I'm afraid. He's my hope, when all seems dark, and I owe all to Him.


• Who is Jesus? Jesus to me is the savior of my soul. Jesus is the Son of God the Creator of Heaven and Earth.


• He is the word of the living God. He is perfect.


• The Son of God. My Savior.


• My Savior. My Best Friend. My Help. My Comforter. The Son of God. The One I can depend on.


• Jesus is Lord and God, who was born as human to save us. Those who are helping, to the least among us, become Jesus in the real life. "Jesus is God's greatest gift" to us on earth.


• JESUS - the most influential figure in all of history.


• Jesus is God. Jesus is Man. Creator and created. Incomprehensible love and compassion. Because Jesus is, we have hope to one day be.


• Jesus is God, the Creator of the universe, become human; and He willingly became human knowing the suffering that awaited Him. The greatest testimony to the value of human life is that He loved us enough to do that.


• Jesus is the only answer to any of man's needs.


• Jesus is my Savior, best friend, and a good leader. He's the only man to lead a perfect life and example for Christians.


• God incarnate.


• My eternal Best Friend.


• Jesus - is the son of God - the living word.


• Jesus is the Son of God, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, my light, my salvation and the stronghold of my life. Without Him I am nothing and can do nothing. Jesus is the image of God's glory and the exact representation of God Himself, sinless, a perfect scrifice for our sins, who reigns at the right hand of God, interceding for me.


• JESUS CHRIST is a peaceful and patient man, a man who was born to show The Way. HE is "The Way" and "The Light" that we are to learn of so that we do not live a lost life. HE is the "The Light" and "The Way" to give us direction.


• God - and he's with us ... Creator, Provider, Sustainer


• Who is Jesus? He is my friend, my comforter, my hope, and my savior. My only hope!


• Jesus is the hope of mankind; He gave himself for us. He set for us the example of service.


• God's Son - My savior, Lord and Master. The Light of my life. Creator / Humble foot-washing Servant. The Word who became flesh. The One who was tempted but did not surrender. The One who tells us the truth about our selves and grieves over our situation.


• He is the one who is there with me:
  
  • when I lose a loved one
  
  
  • when I am alone and have all the decisions to make
  
  
  • when I am hurt and broken-hearted
  
  
  • when I am so happy and want someone to share my joy
  
  


• Jesus is my Savior and my Lord, my perfect model for growing close to God.


• Who is This Jesus?
  
  
  
  1. Savior
  
  
  2. Redeemer
  
  
  3. Living Word
  
  
  4. Intercessor between man and God
  
  
  5. Deliverer
  
  
  6. Shepherd
  
  
  7. Son of God
  
  
  8. Son of David
  
  
  9. Son of Man
  
  
  10. Anointed/Chosen One
  
  
  11. Teacher
  
  
  12. Healer
  
  
  
  


• Jesus, who is He? He is the Son of God. He showed us how to live. Because God loved us, He died for us. But most of all, He overcame death so that we will not die eternally. And to think He is our Ambassador to God, the Father. He is our all in all.


• The one I love and follow


• Jesus is the Son of the Almighty God - He's the Light of the world - He's the Bread of Life, He's the Word - But, most important - He's my Savior.


• Jesus is THE redeemer, MY redeemer. Jesus is the only Savior of the world's human population. Through Jesus I am saved.


• Who IS This Jesus? He is the one who took all my sin upon himself, the sin-eater. He is the one who then showed me how to treat others. He is the one to whom I owe my life.


• He is the one to whom we owe everything. Our life, our destiny and the glory of all we enjoy today. He is our pattern for today and our hope for tomorrow. He is our Savior. He is our God.


• Savior


• Redeemer


• King


• Father


• Teacher


• Healer


• Giver of all good things


• Creator


• My Savior who died for me, so I may go to Heaven. What a Savior!


• My only way to eternal peace!!


• Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Our Savior and Our Lord. Our Redeemer. Our Way to salvation. Our High Priest. Our spokesman between man and God. He is the Way, Truth and Light.


• I love Jesus because He purchased my sins and the church with His blood, and He is coming back to take the church back to the Father in Heaven - He is the only Savior.


• Who is this Jesus? Son of God, Savior, Sacrifice, Sustainer, Comforter, Friend, Sanctifier, Prophet, Teacher


• Who Is This Jesus? Jesus, the Lamb of God, who is all the world to me. Jesus, the Savior of the world, who gave His life for you and me.


• one who was from the beginning


• one who dwelt among us


• one who was tempted in the same way we are


• one who disliked hypocrisy


• Who is This Jesus - LIFE - The Word! - Mine - Overcomer


• He is The ONE who provides my comfort, my peace, my happiness, and my hope of a life with Him forever.

I told them they preached the sermon Sunday night - far more eloquently than anything I could have written or said.

We now return you to our regularly-scheduled programming.

Genesis 14, Psalm 110, Hebrews 7

52 Weeks at the Table - Week 5

Once there was an alliance of five kings who went to war against four kings. They took captive the wrong person - Lot, nephew of Abram. And Abram mustered an elite fighting force, who defeated them and returned the plundered treasures to their original owners. "Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, 'Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.' And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.' Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything." Bread and wine: ancient symbols of hospitality and graciousness. Not too many years ago, a family would be welcomed to a new home by their community with the gift and blessing of "bread, that this household may never know hunger; wine that it may never thirst for joy and prosperity."

Many years after the meal in Abram's honor, the psalmist King David wrote a messianic poem, referring to the incident, prophesying that the Lord God would one day judge the nations through a King who was "a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek." And the writer of the letter to the Hebrews closes the prophecy, declaring that Jesus of Nazareth was that king, that priest ... that bread, that wine.

Lord God of Israel, thank You for Your gift and blessing of bread that we might never know hunger again ... the bread of heaven itself, Your Son, Jesus, the King and Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. May that blessing of His presence rest upon us now as it did those who shared His table then. We recognize His sacrifice and His presence now in bringing You this prayer. Amen.

Lord God of all creation, we give You praise for the blessing of anticipating the feast of your kingdom, purchased with the blood of Christ, present in this cup. May we always give You - not just a tenth - but all, as He gave all for us. He redeemed and rescued us from captivity to sin, and brings eternal treasure to our lives. May this blessing of generosity fill us completely as our appetite for your heavenly table is whetted by this cup. This we pray through the King of Shalom, the Prince of Peace: Amen.