A word of tree, a whisper of stone

2020/02/27

Divine potter

In Ancient Egypt, one of the oldest deities (as old as five thousand years ago) was a god Khnum (In Egyptian iconography he was portrayed with the head of a ram). Khnum was a patron of the sources of Nile and he also brought the annual floods and with them new clay and thus fertility of the land. But Khnum was also responsible for creating people from the very same clay. He was often depicted shaping humans on the potter’s wheel.

Why do I mention this ancient Egyptian mytheme? Because it is also present in the Bible and can enrich our faith and inform our life. A number of times we hear about God creating or shaping humans out of clay and breathing into them life (Gen 2:7). Then prophets Isaiah (Isa 45:9) and Jeremiah (Jer 18) assert divine authority over human destiny comparing it to the authority of potter over the clay.

And even in the New Testament Apostle Paul (2Cor 4:7) will use this same image while writing about us humans as clay pots to which God entrusted safekeeping of the gifts of faith, light and grace.

I like this pottery image, it connects us with one of the oldest metaphors and with the beginning of our civilization. I love this ancient image because it also reminds us of our connection with earth and all its creatures.

This image also goes back to the very roots of the Hebrew language and its vocabulary: the word for earth (as a substance, as clay) - is אֲדָמָה - ADAMAH and it shares the same root with אָדָם - ADAM which is a name of the first human being but also a generic name for all humans.

In the Hebrew language Adam is phonetically an earthling and thus all of us, humans, are all also earthlings. We are inseparably bound with earth, its soil and all its creatures. This is one of the oldest religious insights, something you might not know about the Bible and something we will embrace and celebrate this upcoming Sunday.

2020/02/14

Living, evolving God

In the Bible God is often called “Living God” in Hebrew 'elōhîm chaiyîm, 'elōhîm chai, or 'ēl chai once or twice even as chai yhvh. That is an interesting epithet. Behind it is the belief that God is not only a source of life, but also sustainer of life.

But there might be more to it, the “Living God” remains a surprising, puzzling expression. You might say that it is just a metaphor, a comparison, but even so - the main characteristic of the “living” is the ability to change with circumstances, the ability to change, respond, adapt and evolve.

Thus the Living God is by definition a God who is changing in response to circumstances.

The Living God is by definition the Evolving God. That is the difference between God of stiff fundamentalists who characterize God as omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, eternal and unchanging. In fact it is even worse than a piece of stone because even granite changes over time.

But the Biblical God, is NOT such a dogmatic monster. God of our faith is the living God. Living God in the relationship with the living world. God is reacting, adapting, changing, evolving.

Join us this Sunday as we celebrate Charles Darwin and his discovery of evolution -

this fundamental principle of life. Join us this Evolution Sunday as we celebrate the miracle of our living, breathing evolving world and our living, co-evolving God.

2020/01/30

True Cyrus

Cyrus' Babylonian Cylinder

How could a major biblical prophet call a pagan emperor the Messiah?!

Well, that is exactly what the prophet Isaiah did (Isa 45:1) when he called Persian Emperor Cyrus the Messiah (הַמָּשִׁ֧יחַ -- the anointed one) of the LORD.

As strange as it might sound, Isaiah had a good reason for it and it was not only the liberation of the Judeans captives from the Babylonian exile and Cyrus’ decree allowing them to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple. Many other nations and peoples also recognized and welcomed this benevolent nature of the Persian rule.
The Persian ethos was summed up by the Greek historian Herodotus (The Histories 1.136.2a) when he wrote that Persians taught their youth these three things: "To ride well, to shoot straight and to speak the truth." It might sound militaristic but it was certainly more than that, it was in essence more tolerant and cosmopolitan.

Join us on this Scout Sunday when we will discern how this triad corresponded with border Persian religious and cultural tolerance and made Isaiah call Cyrus the anointed one of the LORD.
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- And for those who read this far, here is a podcast about an almost identical theme - "I am the chosen one".
-- Another podcast about religious and spiritual influence of Persian religion over Judaism and Christianity - Persia in Jewish/Christian religion.

--- And for instance here is an older column about Jewish Temple in Elephantine in Egypt which stood and was rebuilt/restored during the Persian period - Jewish Temples.

2020/01/16

Gathered to ancestors

When I was a little child, my maternal grandmother Emilie would often take us children for a walk in the cemetery. I hated it ... until I learned that she had lost her mother early on in her life. Then I understood.
            Later I studied theology and eventually received a doctorate in anthropology. And now I visit cemeteries on my own. In any place I live or go, I also try to visit local cemetery. Archeologists famously like to dig burials, but you can learn so much even without breaking the ground! Cemeteries are such a rich resource to learn about the living, about their culture, languages, and their society, about their struggles, their religion, their piety, their values, their lives. Sometimes it is inspiring and sometimes it is profoundly sad.
            When I moved to NYC, I discovered an impressive cemetery in New Jersey, very nicely laid up in an impressive grand scale design. It is called George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus. It was founded in the 1930s and for decades it was operated and strictly enforced as a white only place. This designation was changed only in 1958 after a human rights lawsuit. What a horrendously sad testament about suburban racism!
            But thankfully there are also happier cemeteries founded in and shaped by true and deep Christian faith. I caught a glimpse of it this Christmas in Bethlehem PA. In their God’s Acre - the oldest cemetery in the town - the ancestors of any race rest together side by side. That is for me a dream, a vision and an example showing us through the testament of a cemetery what a true community of faith can be and do!
            Join us this Martin Luther King Sunday when we remember and celebrate an inclusive community of God’s children.

2020/01/10

The Word of God?

This is the Bible I inherited from my paternal grandfather Rev. Emil Stehlik.

It was translated from the original languages and published in MDLXXXVII (1587) clandestinely by Unitas Fratrum (Moravian Church).

It survived the period of harsh contrareformation (1621 - 1781) and while in hiding the title page and several pages of the foreword were damaged and painstakingly redrawn and rewritten.

It is a study bible. It has substantial critical textual apparatus, translation notes and well chosen cross-references. And my ancestors used it for their bible study - there is substantial underlying and even written notes by several hands.

It is only the volume four of a six volume set - this one contains the prophetic books and when I preach on Isaiah or Habakuk I still sometimes look into it for exegetical insights of my ancestors (they can be illuminating).
This family Bible is our great treasure, in its form and shape is preserved an uneasy history of my ancestors but also their theological heritage - heritage of theological thinking and seeking. They clearly treasured their bibles, hiding them from confiscations, hiding them for diligent study. But as valuable as the bible can be, it is NOT the Word of God. Any bible only points towards the true Word of God, which became flesh. And that would be the theme of our worship this Sunday - the preexistent divine LOGOS which became flesh and is shaping nd reshaping the universe through light and life.

2019/12/31

LOGOS

       In the beginning was the Word,
       and the Word was with God,
       and the Word was God.
This is the first verse from the gospel of John. An opening of a famous hymn to the divine Word. Some think it was originally a gnostic poem. Some others consider it to be a beautiful philosophical poem. It is also a beautiful creation story, New Testament creation story.
    What is translated in our bibles as "the Word" was in the original Greek text ὁ λόγος. Proper translation is "the word". But I believe that in this case it should be just transliterated as LOGOS. Why should it be transliterated and not translated? Because Ο ΛΟΓΟΣ was such a potent term in the Greek and Hellenistic mythology and philosophy that any translation would not do it justice. It should become a loanword.
    Think about other loanwords, all of them can be properly translated but there is much to be desired! TATTOO can be translated from Polynesian languages as “poked skin”. GEISHA is literally “an art person” in Japanese. UKULELE is “a jumping flea (instrument)” in Hawaiian language (because fingers pluck strings so quickly). CURRY is just a regular name for “a sauce” in Dravidian Tamil and ZEITGEIST translates from German rather spookily as “time ghost”
    If we want to understand more fully this beautiful biblical poem from the beginning of the gospel of John, LOGOS cannot equal THE WORD no matter how much we embellish it and load it with meaning. Just like curry is not another sauce and when I play the ukulele I do not play a jumping flea.

Join us this Sunday when we listen and discern the ancient enigma word play:
        In the beginning was LOGOS,
        and LOGOS was with God,
        and LOGOS was God.

2019/12/24

Advent podcasts

In Advent 2019 I prepared with Peter Rinaldi these podcasts (Part of our ReligioSanity channel - We primarily upload to SoundCloud but our podcasts can be found also on Apple Podcast and other platforms.)
We always closed ourselves in the Rutgers Presbyterian Library and chatted about Advent and Christmas traditions but mainly about biblical and theological conundrums and provocative questions swirling about these preeminent religious holidays.