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When our son moved to Brooklyn after graduating from college, our family friend, Harry Knox, was living there and he offered to take Sterling under his wing. As part of that friendly gesture, Harry told me, “I will get him out of jail once, but only once.” I wasn’t sure whether to be offended that he thought my son might end up in jail or that he would only get him out once. In the end, I decided to just be grateful for his generous offer! (Thankfully Harry never had to rescue Sterling from the criminal justice system in Brooklyn!)

I have never had to get anyone out of jail. I have never paid bail for anyone. I imagine that the whole process is annoying, frustrating, costly (time and money!), and probably degrading.

In Psalm 107 we are told about God redeeming people. The psalm begins:

O give thanks to God, for God is good;
for God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of God say so,
those whom God redeemed from trouble. . .

For us, the idea of redemption has been overlaid with much theological significance. But at heart, redemption refers to a legal process involving prison. When a person was put in prison, often for debt, a family member was allowed to “redeem” the person; to get them out of jail. To vouch for them and pay a fee for their release. We may think of “redeem” in terms of using a coupon to get a discount, and maybe that translates theologically to God giving us a discount on salvation. But redeem is more closely related to our idea of bailing someone out of jail. And who can we count on for that but family or devoted friends.

When the psalm says that God redeems people in trouble, this implies a familial relationship. It implies intimacy. It implies kinship. It’s almost like saying let those whom God has bailed out of jail, thank God. Let those whom God has gotten out of trouble, thank God. There is the implication of God helping us as one family member helps another in time of need. And, of course, there is the implication that we will get in trouble.

With the familial implications of redemption, I am wondering how we are family to one another. Who would you call if you needed to be bailed out of jail? Who would make that effort for you? Family? Friends? Your pastor? And who would call on you to bail them out of jail? Who do you know that would count on you for that? Who feels that close, that vulnerable, that they would ask you to head to the jail, money in hand, and go through the arduous process of getting them out of jail? So, God is treating us like family, but how are we doing with one another?

As I said at the start, I decided to just be grateful to my friend Harry. If he is ever in jail, I hope he knows that he can count on me!

Prayer
In our troubles we need to know who we can count on. God is there for us, yes, but God needs people willing to help. May we be those that God can count on to do the redeeming in this world, to help people out of trouble. And may we know that there are those we can count on when the chips are down to help us. We are one human family. May we take our familial bonds seriously. Amen.

“Hungry. Thirsty. Lonely.” This is the text that I sent my husband one day after I had foot surgery and had been at home all day in pain and with extremely limited mobility. What surprised me about the time I was homebound recovering was how I missed being out and about and involved with other people. I couldn’t wait until my son got home from school or my husband got home from work to hear about what was going on and just talk. Being home meant that I got a lot of reading and other things done for church that I often put off which was good. But the feeling of isolation and loneliness that I experienced with the reduction in human contact was unexpected.

This week, we are reflecting on Psalm 107. The psalm celebrates God’s deliverance. In one section we are told,

Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to an inhabited town;
hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.

In this loneliness and desolation, the people cry out to God and are delivered from their distress:

God led them by a straight way,
until they reached an inhabited town.

In these verses we see that deliverance is more than food and water. God could have led them to a well for water. God could have led them to edible plants or animals to hunt for food. But God leads them to an inhabited town. Yes, this implies supplies of food and drink, but it also means human contact, community, and social interaction.

Human beings are social creatures and we need one another. We need meaningful relationships and social interaction to be fulfilled and satisfied. This is one of the reasons that church is so important. Church is community, it is family. It is people who care, who are interesting, and who enrich us. And one of the great aspects of being part of the church is that we get to know people that we might not otherwise have the opportunity to become acquainted with. I know I have met people in church of different ages and interests and backgrounds and life experiences who have significantly enriched my life. They have helped me to get to know myself and understand the world, better. And they have deepened my appreciation of God.

As that alarm goes off on Sunday morning, some people may think to themselves, “I don’t need to go to church. I can pray and read the Bible here at home.” But that is ignoring and devaluing our need for community and for social interaction. In the fellowship of the church we receive blessings that cannot be quantified or received at home by ourselves. When people can’t come to church for physical reasons, they miss it sorely because of the social interaction and community and the way it is world expanding. When people who consider themselves Christian choose not to go to church, they may find themselves feeling hungry, thirsty, and lonely.

Prayer
We are grateful for the community, solidarity, and enrichment that we receive from being part of the church. Sometimes we don’t appreciate what the church is embodying for us. Through the church not only do we feel the presence of Christ, but we learn to be the presence of Christ. We need one another to learn these lessons of faith. Jesus surrounded himself with friends right from the beginning of his ministry. He created community among his followers. May we see church not as a chore but as a blessing of friendship and community in Christ. Amen.

Why do we have laws? Some think it is to rein in our baser tendencies. That is, to prevent us from doing harm to others. Laws can also be seen as a way to protect our freedom. Laws mean I can do whatever I want to as long as that does not get in the way of you doing whatever you want to. Laws help to keep our behavior within respectful boundaries. They help to keep society civil and organized. At least, that is a hope. But for all that, I still have an underlying sense that laws are to prevent us from being “bad.”

When our oldest son was in first grade, he had a teacher named Sunny Doxie, and she was true to her name. A very bright person, energetic, energizing, and cheery. At the beginning of the school year as the class discussed the rules, evidently Ms Doxie told the children that they had rules because rules were so that “everyone can have a good time.” Sunny Doxie made the concept of rules something positive. She really convinced the kids that having rules was a great idea and that following the rules would make the year wonderful for everyone. That was probably easier to do over 20 years ago than it is today, but our family has never forgotten her wisdom and we often refer to it.

Ultimately, I think Sunny Doxie is right. Rules are so everyone can have a good time. Or, at least, that’s what they should be. And I think that is what we see in Psalm 19. We see reference to God’s rules, God’s law applying to all of creation and put in place so that everyone can have a good time. That is, so that life can flourish for all people and all species and for the very Earth itself.

The precepts of God help us to make good choices for the human community and thus for ourselves as part of that community. The ordinances of God are lights guiding our way. They illuminate danger. The rules of God are positive leading to a good life, a rewarding life, a purposeful life, a creative life.

The decrees of God are not intended to be punitive. They are not meant as punishment. They are not intended to be chains that keep us bound. In fact, the opposite is true. The precepts of God are designed to be freeing. They encourage our best impulses: our loving, generous, compassionate, merciful nature. They free us from negative tendencies like greed, selfishness, violence, and pride. God’s law is not just intended so that I can have a good time, but so that everyone can have a good time. They are intended to support flourishing life in all cultures, all religions, all eras, and all contexts. The fact that some people in the world choose to follow the guidelines of God as we see them in the life of Jesus should be a blessing to the whole world. It should make the world a better place for everybody. It should lift up the lives of everyone. We follow God’s way because we want everyone to have a good time.

Prayer
May our hearts be filled with gratitude for the guidance of God. May we be especially grateful that we have been given the example of Jesus to show us God’s way. May we let the rule of God free us so that we can truly be our best selves and so that we can make this world a place where everyone can flourish and find joy in life. Amen.

When I was young, we lived in Minnesota and my dad worked with Native American Indian churches. I remember him coming home and telling us about an elder in a church who told him about talking with a tree and consulting with a certain rock. I remember that he did not tell us about it with condescension or disdain, but more with wide-eyed wonder and amazement and perplexity. For my dad, born and raised in New York City, this was new, foreign, and unfamiliar territory in many ways!

In Psalm 19 we hear:

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.. . .
their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
[italics added]

These verses, as the italics indicate, definitely imply speaking or at least communication. We hear the heavens, the firmament, the day, and the night. There is the implication of speech and communication: the natural world doing a lot of talking!

Let’s turn to the New Testament and the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem that we read on Palm Sunday. In the story, the crowds are shouting, “‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven.’ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’” [Luke 19:38-40] In this story, again we hear of the natural world speaking, communicating. The rocks have voice.

In the letter to the Romans, also in the New Testament, there is the declaration, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now.” [8:22] This reference again implies verbal communication from the natural world.

These scriptural verses should have prepared my father for his encounter with the Native American elder. In them we are reminded that creation is the self expression of God, so the natural world communicates God. It proclaims, declares, tells, shouts, voices, groans the will and intentions of God.

I am wondering what the natural world, creation, is saying to us today? What are the rocks, the trees, the air, the waters, trying to communicate to the human species? What divine disclosure is coming to us from the earth and all the life forms that make their home here? Consider taking some time, ideally outside, to listen and to imagine what is being said to you by creation.

Prayer
Creation is an amazing interconnected whole. Its mysteries continue to defy our full understanding just as God in some measure always remains a mystery. While the natural world is sacred, we have not cared for and revered it as we should. We have not given the Earth the respect and value it deserves. Too often, we take creation for granted and ignore our need of it. Yet nature shows us God. May we pay attention to the messages, the disclosures, the revelations that are being communicated to us by the natural world. So may we hear God speaking. Amen.