The Buck Stops Here

I just read a bunch of passages in Exodus, follow up passages to the Ten Commandments, that are nothing but pages of rules.  Rules about everything.  Rule about how the people of Israel were to live together.

As I read these I found some I agreed with, some that made me almost laugh, and some that were, well, scary. 

The first thing I thought about, as I read these verses was that sections like this  illustrate profoundly how much we “cherry pick” the Bible.  How much we  pick and choose.  We insist on keeping, to the letter, literally the 10 commandments.  We hang on so hard to some of Paul statements about gender, and sexuality.  But we totally ignore a whole lot of stuff found in these passages, and in Leviticus and elsewhere.  How many of us will hold literally to the idea that if a person “curses” his or her parents they should be put to death?   Most of us wouldn’t have made it out of Jr. Hi.   Do we literally take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a bruise for a bruise.  No, of course not.

It really is all about the big picture ethically when it comes to the bible.  That even Jesus approached the rules that way and made, for example the 10 commandments two.  Pointing to the spirit of the law, which he knew to be the most important.

So what is the spirit of these three chapters?  I would put it this way.  The buck stops here.  Or, perhaps, to put it another way… I am responsible… specifically, I am responsible to care about, to be careful with, the people around me.  The people who come in to my life.

Responsibility is a big word.  Lots of people have talked about responsibility

Responsibility is the price of greatness. -  Winston Churchill

Responsibility is the price of freedom. -  Elbert Hubbard

Responsibility walks hand in hand with capacity and power.  -- Josiah Gilbert Holland

What a man does defines him, not what is done by others.  - William Golding

I see all of the rules in these chapters as talking about some basic responsibilities we have for one another

First  ,  we have a number of related laws regarding taking responsibility for the safety of others. We are to take steps to prevent injury or death to people or animals. We are to make sure our oxen are well behaved.  That we don’t strike others with violence.  That we keep our anger under control.

We are responsible, in other words, to do what we can to prevent damage to others. OK, watching out for my ox doesn’t say much to me, since I don’t have one.  But I there are many ways I can protect others, or fail to do so.  I can choose to be “non violent” and control my anger.  I have a car.  I can drive carefully.  I can not drink or text and drive.  As God’s people we are called to be careful with the people who we work with, who come to our homes, who are in our business

But wait, there is more.  There is a quite a bit in these verses about our responsibility to “make it up to” the person we have harmed.  We should make restitution for the losses and hurt we have caused.  It is interesting to me that the Hebrew word translated “make restitution” is shalam. It’s root meaning includes the idea of making peace. When someone causes a loss, they make peace by restoring what was lost.

 It takes more than confession of guilt for an offender to make things right; it also demands effort on his or her part to make amends to the people who were hurt. Only then can the torn fabric of relationships be mended. Making restitution helps heal relationships.

Do you have someone we you have harmed?  And there are so many ways we can create harm.  By what we do.  By what we don’t do.  How we act.  What we say.  We all harm others.  When we do we are given the responsibility to “make peace” if we can.  As I thought about this issue I thought about the 12 step program.  Listen to these task…..

1.            Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

2.            Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

3.            Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

4.            Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

5.            Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

6.            Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

7.            Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Can you think of one person with whom you might “make peace” this week?

OK, yet another.  This has to do with our responsibility to show respect to those around us.  In these verses it is mostly about respect for authority.  The big examples given in the passage relate to respect for parents. – In 21:15 it says, “He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.” The word translated “strikes” means “to strike, smite, hit, beat, slay.” Here, it probably does not mean to strike to death, but it refers to any kind of striking that would bring injury. Then in v.17 God says, “And he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death” (cf. Lev. 20:9).  So here is an example of our responsibility to treat others with respect.  Parents of course make a great example.

Many suggest this concept should be applied to anyone in authority.  The President.  The law, such as policemen, judges, and the like.  Probably bosses…. I like that!  Its not that we have to have blind obedience.  It does mean that when we disagree we still act respectfully.

But I would like to push it just a little further.  If we are responsible for, and in a sense accountable to everyone God puts in our path, then respect is something we should be offering to everyone.  We should never be people who disrespect those in our lives.  There are .lots of places this can play out.  Think about men and women.  Whether it is easy to admit or not, this is a fact -- males minimize women in our society, a lot.  They marginalize them, erode them.  They use them.  Treat them as objects.  According to a recent poll women are paid 77% of what men are paid for exactly the same job. 

Respect means equal pay.  Respect means not treating a woman as an object.  Respect means not cutting to woman down, manipulating her, controlling her.  It means taking what she wants and treating it as seriously as you would your own wishes.

Ok another example.  Go to the internet.  Read an article related to politics.  Or a blog.  Then go to the comments section.  Wow!  You have people calling people stupid, and evil.  You have people demonizing other people.  Is this respect?  Is putting out misinformation about Muslims, if you are a Christian, or spewing hatred toward Christians, if you aren’t, because you don’t agree with their way of thinking, respect?  We would have a much better chance to deal with the ills in our country, if we treated each other with respect.

Next, I want us to consider our responsibility toward the vulnerable.  In this passage all kinds of vulnerable people are mentioned.  Widows.  Orphans. Slaves.  Pregnant women.  And yes, immigrants.  In 22:21 God says, “You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were

strangers in the land of Egypt.” The word translated “mistreat” also means “to oppress, treat

violently.”  

So how are we doing?  As a nation, I think right now, not so good.  We are in fact writing and enacting laws that will mistreat and oppress, essentially violate the vulnerable in our country.  And I am not even going to go into territory of immigration law, or voting laws. 

I am thinking about how we think about health care programs, aid for students, programs to support those with mental illness.  As a nation, as states we are throwing the vulnerable under the proverbial bus.  We talk about being a Christian nation, but I think we will have a lot to answer for about how un-Christian we in our attitudes toward and care of the poor, minorities, immigrants.

I people talk about entitlement and the responsibility of the people in these programs to “work hard”, to make their way.  Ideally yes, although many really can’t. But if we think about the parables of Jesus, that whole concept of whether people deserve to be taken care of and treated in a way that enables, and empower and supports is a non-starter.  Non-Christians can play that game.  We can’t.  We must take care of “the strangers”…. Expand that to read, the poor, the ill, the children, the mentally ill, the immigrant, in our midst – no matter what

Now I have laid out some pretty heavy stuff here.  Bleeding heart stuff, some of you might say.  But I would like to point out that as far as Jesus was concerned, even all of this was not enough.  He said time and time again, and said it in the passage we heard today.  “You have heard it said…..”  but I say…..

You have heard it said, don’t murder… I say don’t get angry

You have heard it said, eye for an eye… I say, so not resist and evil person… if they strike you on the cheek, turn to him the other also.  If someone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat as well….love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you…

Wow!  Martin Luther really got it.  In 1520 he began his “Treatise on Christian Liberty” with two propositions.  1. The Christian is a perfectly free, lord of all subject to none.  2. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all

Its election season

We are being asked to define our values

The value that shouts at me from these pages in Exodus

Is we ARE responsible for each other

We are to be the servants of all, responsible to all

It is not about me, or you

It is about US

Being responsible for one another….In a radical way.

The Problem Inside the Solution

I was reading in Richard Rohr's wonderful book "Falling Upward"

This passage caught my attention

"The genius of the Gospel was that it included the problem inside the solution

The falling became standing

The stumbling became the finding

The dying because the rising.

The raft became the shore."

The paradox of faith is always centered around what God can

around that "great reversal' most clearly seen in the cross

where defeat became victory

and death became life

The are times when life seems defined by words like 

falling

stumbling

dying

failing

sinning

And yet the promise of God is this

that with Christ those were are not the totality

of experience

There is always

 standing

finding

living

succeeding 

grace!

There is always hope

and the grace of God

which goes beyond all understanding

It was a day

Sometimes Lord

I think you have a really warped sense of humor

I started today

tired

a little frayed at the edges

ok

ragged

and it was day

full of death

and goodbyes

full of incredible hurt

and pain

people who wondered whether

you even exist

for if you existed 

how could life be so unfair?

 

It was a day to think

to listen

a day for compassion

a day to look inside

and wonder

 

to look at my own stuff

and be humbled

at how wounded this 

healer is

 

and yet

at the end of the day

there are the mountains

the sun

the trees waving in the breeze

the brilliance of black eyed Susan's

a mother doe

with twins

 

it was a day

 

House of Joy

Mirrors are interesting things
What we see there
Can change

Simply because of the eyes
we look through

When our eyes are tired
worn down by a tired soul
we see a gnarled face
full of wrinkles and spots

But when we look with eyes
that realize
that we are the keepers of a great treasure

That in us dwells
all that is sacred
and good

That God is there
and love
and grace

We would see
for all the wrinkles and spots
a "most beautiful face"

and we would smile

_____________________________________________________

If you knew yourself for even one moment,
if you could just glimpse
your most beautiful face,
maybe you wouldn't slumber so deeply
in that house of clay.

Why not move into your house of joy
and shine into every crevice!
For you are the secret
Treasure-bearer,
and always have been.
Didn't you know?
-- Rumi

Kiss me, now!

Hey beloved [God], my soul is a raging volcano of love for you!

You’d better start kissing me, or else!

                                                Hafiz

God

You are so amazing

You love us with the love of a passionate love

And all you ask

Is that we love you back

Perhaps our problem is we don’t really know how to love

Not very well

We are seekers

Graspers

Takers

We demand and complain

And expect

And seldom

Listen

And respect

And give

We seldom even ask for what we need

Instead we send indirect clues

And hopes

And then resent it when

We do not get what we think we want….

We are not very good lovers Lord

Of you

Or of those whom you have placed in our lives

Or of those you have simply put in our paths

Lord, teach us to love!

Silence is deafening

Sometimes

silence is deafening

there is something special about being connected with another

to have them there

on the the other end

of that invisible bridge

that binds us one to another

across that bridge

come many things

Some are not pleasant

anger

hurt

And yet across that bridge
that tether

come love, and hope

sometimes even faith

sometimes even God

that connection is 

feed and nurtured

by sharing

of time, and energy

love and talk

but sometimes

there is silence

and when the tether still exists

that silence is deafening

it is like

God

or love

or someone we are tied to by history or heart

has simply hung up

and there we are

still on the line

listening to the crackling silence

it may be death

or merely a rendering that feels like death

that leaves us hanging there

in that silence may I hear

the still small voice 

of God

and know that I am not alone

Hope against hope

In the quiet of the morning

I sit

and watch the sun

inexorably conquer the shadow

slowly

persistently 

assaulting the darkness of the woods

it is a time to think

of life

and love

this day

I look at myself and wonder

whether I am still viable

I look at my heart

and it feels like there are pieces missing

as if parts have been pulled away

leaving something incomplete

barely capable of beating

of filling me with llife

my soul is tired

and my

mind is swirling chaos

of things done and left undone

a tumultuous chaos

of names and tasks

fears

and hope?

I dare not hope again

and yet the sun

once again rises

and once again marches

into the darkness

perhaps this tattered life

held together with 

spiritual duct tape

and bailing twine

this fragile

disintegrating

being

can walk through one more day

and see the sun rise

again

and feel the darkness

fade

_________________________________________________

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed   Romans 4:18

To my girls

I was wandering through my head the other day

It is a specialty of mine

These treks through the tangled jungle of my mind

It is easy to get lost in there

and to lose

what is out there

right in front of me

They say that life can be lost in the living

It is certainly true

That one can wander through the day

and never once make contact

Never engage

with the moment

with the task

with the person

never "be"

Thank God for little girls

who pull you out of yourself

and make you smile

and bring you back to the world

and to yourself

_______________________________________________

to my laughing little granddaughter

Mara

and my wonderful daughter 

Erin

Traveling Light

I thought I had stripped down

To only the essentials

A slightly portly

Aging man

Looking much like

A marshmallow on toothpicks

Ready to dance in the rain

Or at least cavort in the sprinklers
with baggy shorts and spindly legs

But alas

The lightness isn’t there

Apparently

I carry things in my heart

I cling to things

My soul

That have weight

And keep me earth bound

And still my dancing feet

Lord help me to

Travel light

Reflections on holding a granddaughter

Mara
Tiny toes
perfect nose
the smallest fingers
gripping mine
holding on as if life itself
depended on it

Life is simple right now
eat
sleep
cry a little
poop

they do it all again
life
interlaced with chronic snuggling

its not all smiles
there is that gas thing...
that hunger thing
that heat rash thing
that need to be held thing

but being held
ah
what bliss
burrowing into mom
curling up with dad
even I get to hold
her balled up little body
as she peers suspiciously up at me
with eyes barely open

I think God
I can learn some lessons here
about how beautifully you made me
the miracle of life itself
the grace of being able to cling
to the one who made me

and I think in the joy I feel
as those little fingers latch on to mind
and that little body snuggles
and relaxes
and then rests

suggests, however inadquately
the deep contentment you must feel
when finally
for at least one moment
I cling to you

ah sacred love

Sometimes

Sometimes

you just can't sleep

oh I know

it is good to sleep

I tell those I work with

get your sleep

but sometimes

you just can't sleep

life intrudes

your mind goes crazy

and so there you are

on your computer

early in the morning

not surfing

not reading the political news

how depressing is that?

just wandering around

looking for a place to land

 

sometimes reality sucks

sometimes 

realizing who you are

what you life is like

sucks

 

you can pretend

you can practice denial

a specialty of mine

 

but at 3 or 4

in the morning

pretense dies

and you must look in the mirror

 

and see

How did I get here?

How did I get here?

I have been scrambling up this trail for so long

fighting over boulders

through bogs that at times threatened

to suck me down

into the depths

I have fought my way through brush so thick

I could not see more than one step in front

Always I believed,

Always I sensed my guide

was leading me on

to the right place

It all seemed to fall in to place
it could not be coincidence
all those opportunities, those moment

I seemed that I was going

to where I needed to go

to where I was meant to be

but here I am

at trails end

there is no way to go further

dark walls tower above me

looming

casting deep shadows over me

obscuring even the sky

until I cannot see

even the trail behind me seems vague and obscure

so here I am

how did I get here?

I guess I will just sit for a while

and wait

and see

____________________________________________

There are always choices, always paths from where we are to a better place. To be alive requires choices every second. There’s no such thing as the absence of choices. It’s only our lack of awareness that blinds us to all the possibilities. Even choices that appear undesirable could turn into a key experience that reveals hidden paths. We may never know in advance where a path will lead us or how long our journey will take. Only our inner wisdom knows the journey we are supposed to be on. 

Look for the next right choice 

The 10 Commandments

I just finished reading the 10 Commandments

The 10 Commandments are a force on the landscape of American Christianity.

They promote controversy

They are placed everywhere

There is a copy of “the tablets’ on a rock outside my local grocery store.

And on set of stones outside a church in a neighboring town.

A lot of Christians put a lot of emphasis on the Commandments.

But what are they all about?  Really?

We know they are a set of rules.

But is there something more?

Look at the opening commandments

2 I am the LORD your God…

3 you shall have no other gods before me.

4 You shall not make for yourself an idol….

7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God….

8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

All those commandments have to do with honoring God—loving God.  Not forgetting to make the sacred a critical part of life. 

The later commandments, the one a lot of people seem to be fixated on, have to do with honoring those around us.  Or rather, honoring God through the way we live with others.

When I first thought about honoring God and honoring the people around us, I couldn’t help but think of the man who came to Jesus asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  Jesus replied,“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus took the Ten Commandments and redacted them down to two:   We can please God if we do two things. Love God! Love our neighbor! It's that simple!  But what does it mean to love God? If we loved God, what would that look like? What would we do? Well the Ten Commandments offer us one picture of what that might look like. 

• If we truly love God, will put no other gods before him. We won't let money be more important than God—or sex—or hobbies—or entertainment—or food—or drugs—or friends—or even family. We will not let anything be more important than God.

• If we truly love God, we will not make any idols. We won't worship idols made of word or stone.  What does it mean to worship?  To put something first in our lives.  We worship that into which we invest our time, money and energy. We can worship people.  Sports.  Our work.  Things.  Its scary how many things can become an idol.

• If we truly love God, we will not use his name disrespectfully. In our culture, that has come to mean not using the words God and damn together. But honoring God's name means much more. We are God's children. When we take the name of God, claim to be God’s, and call ourselves Christians, we honor his name when people can look at us and say, “There goes a Christian.  They claim God, AND….. they live God’s love.  They are kind, compassionate, given.  If we claim to be Christians, to be God’s, and don’t love, that is using God’s name disrespectfully.  What is even more disrespectful is to do what is hateful, or greedy, or hurtful in God’s name.  And that seems to be happening a lot these days.

• If we truly love God, we will rest from our labors on his day—not easy to do in a world that demands that we work days, nights and weekends.  We will rest.  And reflect.  We will connect with our God.  We will allow ourselves to be fed, re-created so to speak.

Love God! Love your neighbor! What does it mean to love our neighbor? What would our lives look like if we loved our neighbor? The last commandments tell us that: 

 If we truly love God, we will honor our father and mother. God calls us to honor our Heavenly Father, but he also calls us to honor our earthly fathers and mothers.  This means caring for them.  Respecting them.  Listening to them deeply.

If we love our neighbor, we will not murder him or her.
If we love our neighbor, we will not cause hurt in their relationship.
If we love our neighbor, we will not steal from them.
If we love our neighbor, we will not tell lies about him or her.
 

If we love our neighbor, we will not allow ourselves to be jealous, want what they have in a way that creates pain for them, or us. 

In his book True Love, Thich Nhat Hanh (Tik · N'yat · Hawn) says that love involves just a few things, and two statements.

1. Being present to the other and sayinig, “Dear One, I know you are here”

2. Being there in the other’s suffering and saying,  “Dear One, and I am here for you” 

3.  He also suggests that if we love we have to overcome our pride and allow the other person to be there in our suffering.  “Dear One, I am suffering, I need your help.” 

I love the way what he says lines up with the commandments of Moses and the commandments of Jesus

But I have to admit I struggle with commandments - A lot.  I don’t always do that well in living them.  And I am pretty convinced that these commandments, and the two offered by Jesus were not rules God ever really expected anyone, post fall, to be able to live up to.  We all know, painfully, that we just can’t do it.  We try, but like Paul often find that what we want to do, we can’t do.  And what we don’t want to do… well we do that very thing.

So people talk a lot about what role these commandments play.

Some say they are God telling us, this is what you SHOULD be like.  If you don’t live up to them you are BAD, and you are just DARN LUCKY that Christ came and died for you.  In other words they drive us to grace.  I suppose there is something in that, but it doesn’t seem quite right.

Some really do believe that if you violate a commandment you are toast.  You might as well start looking forward to hell, because God hates you for your failure… In short the commandments are there to essentially scare, or guilt us, into heaven.  I am convinced there is nothing in that.  Fortunately there is the cross, and all that it implies.  I believe that God doesn’t hate us, even when we goof up, but loves us and sees us as beloved children.

What I think is that the commandments of Moses, and even more so the two commandments of Jesus are meant to give us a glimpse of the kingdom.  In the 10 commandments we see what the kingdom will look like.  It will be a place where people are connected to God, and reflect that connection in the way they live.  Same thing for the two commandments of Jesus.

And I think we get an enriched picture of kingdom living in another powerful set of statements.  What we call the beatitudes, or the ‘blesseds”

Blessed are those who are…. Its kind of a cool shift.  In the beatitudes it is less a matter of what we should DO to how we should BE.

Blessed are the humble

Blessed are the compassionate,

Blessed are the meek,

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice,

Blessed are the merciful,

Blessed are the pure of heart,

Blessed are the peacemakers,

Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice sake,

Richard Rohr laments the fact that many Christians are so focused on the law and the ten commandments, and functionally neglect the 8 beatitudes.  He asks why we fight to have the ten commandments posted on walls of schools, etc, but never fight for the eight beatitudes to be posted on the wall? Interesting question.

And this brings me to an important point.  I think that at the highest level, not only the beatitudes, but also Jesus commandments and the 10 commandments are relational.As I look at these powerful teachings I see a progression.  I see a movement from a rigid approach of the 10 commandments, to the broader and softer two commandments of Jesus with their focus on love, and ultimately to the Beatitudes. 

They all go together in my head… as the development of a theme…. Kingdom living, from a concrete set of rules (which we often turn into something rigid and guilt producing, into weapons that crush and defeat ourselves and others) to a powerful principle of love of God and love of others, to the laws being fleshed out again, in a new way, in a New Testament way, in the Beatitudes. 

The 10 commandments the kind of rules we set for kids.  The commandments of Jesus, perhaps we could see as the rules for young adulthood.  And the beatitudes?  Those we start living out as our faith matures and deepens.  We can follow the 10 commandments at a shallow, legalistic level.  You can’t be the person of the beatitudes in a shallow way.

 I would like to close with one last story. A businessman, notorious for being ruthless, once commented to Mark Twain,

Before I die, I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.

Mark Twain thought for a moment and responded, I have a better idea!  You could stay home in Boston, and work at living them!

We have the laws, an early glimpse of what kingdom living is like

We have Jesus summary of the law, his more compassionate, and in many ways more powerful simplification… where the focus is not right and wrong, but love

And we have the Beatitudes, which in my mind may be the ultimate expression of kingdom living

Let us not spout laws

Let us not give lip service, even, to love

Let us simply do the best we can, in the power of God’s Spirit
To live the Kingdom, in our life with God, and our life with others

When love is there

When love is there

You can make it through anything

When love is there

You can let go gracefully

When love is there

You may want to grasp and pull

But you may find the strength to open your hands

And let the other fly

When love is there

You goal will be to make them happy

And in their happiness find joy

When love is there

You heart may hurt

And be joyful at the same time

When love is there

You will expect much

Perhaps too much

But be joyful in what you get

Love is

The cross

Love is, putting the other first

Love is, being there

Love is, listening deeply

Love is, being present in the others pain

Love is, sharing your own pain

And humbling yourself

Saying “help me please, I need you”

Love is not

A feeling you feel when you feel like you are going to get a feeling you never felt before

Love is not

Sex

Love is not peace (just the opposite)

Love is not using another to get what you want

But love is

a gift

special
and rare

when you find love,
never let go
 

Morning in the Soul

deep darkness

a world undefined

black

overwhelming

then there,

yes, right there, 

a hint of a tree

a stone

then a sliver

just a hint 

of gold

and soon the darkness

befuddled begins a slow

and confused retreat

light grows

and dances through the trees

leaving splashes of color in its footsteps

purple and yellow flowers leaping to greet it

and so the world comes alive

inch by inch

moment by moment

sometimes my heart is filled with a darkness

that seems to blanket my soul with blackness

impenetrable

conquering

leaving me frozen

no next step

no next choice

just nothing but that blackness

In this void

I wait

as my heart is torn open by the weight 

of all the griefs I have so carefully collected

and created for myself

I wait for the darkness to retreat

before the sun

I wait for God's love to shine 

through the tears in my heart

a lamp in the darkness

illuminating my path

one step, on breath at a time

I wait for morning in my soul

it takes all of us

In Exodus 18, Moses has a problem….

He is totally overwhelmed

He is tired

Fall asleep at the desk tired.

And in real danger of implosion )  (13-18).

What’s the problem?

Moses thought he was indispensable!

Moses had become a one person show…oh, yeah, Aaron helped a little, as the “mouthpiece”

But essentially everything went to Moses, and through Moses.

And so Jethro, exercising that great freedom an authority that comes with being a Father-in-Law comes to Moses and lays it on the line.  “Moses, this isn’t working”  you have to do it differently.

Now at some level we may wonder why this was such a big problem

Let me point out a ‘few” things that occur to me

There were a number of reasons this wasn’t working.  First Moses was working from the principle that if he didn’t do it, it wouldn’t get done.  See any problem with that?  Moses was one person.  One single person.  All around him were other people.  Smart people.  Qualified people.  Some people who probably had skills he didn’t have.

Is it not a matter of simple math?  It is pretty obvious that 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 people can get more done than one.  So essentially what was happening was that Moses was becoming a bottleneck…  Jethro points this out.  Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" (14). 

The line to see Moses was like the Queue at Disneyland to get on Space Mountain.   I would guess that some people stood in line all day, and never did get to talk to “the man”. 

A scond problem.  Moses was burning himself out!  Note some of the phrases in the passage

1) "Morning until evening" (13).

2) "You will surely wear out" (18a).

We joke about burn out, but it is no joking matter

One researcher who reviewed over a 100 articles on Professional Burn Out (PBO) and regularly treats impaired professionals with chemical dependency and other components of PBO, believes a diagnosis of  burnout can be made on the basis of three main symptoms:

1. Detachment (especially from clients and staff)

2. Exhaustion (physical and especially emotional)

3. Loss of satisfaction or sense of accomplishment.

Think about that.  How effective is a dissatisfied leader who has no energy and can’t connect with people?

A third issue.   Moses was doing the people of God a disservice.  First, he wasn’t being effective.  But Jethro in verse 18 suggests he is not only wearing himself self out, but the people as well.

But more important was the fact that there were all these people standing around, with nothing to do!  No role, no purpose.  It was like the people were starving, while all the time a veritable feast was sitting unused in the refrigerator.

A very wise mentor of mine once suggested that to keep people engaged in a church you need to do three things.   First, you need to help them be engaged in the mission.  They need to believe in what the organization or the church is doing.  Another way of putting this would be to say they needed to have faith.

Second, people need to have connections.  They need to be connected to the people around them.  They need to have friends.  Or be part of a group.  In the church that group might be the adult Bible Study, or the choir

Third, people need to have a task, a role.  They need to have a purpose.

Moses was robbing people of purpose.  He was doing it all.  Everyone else was just a spectator.

There is a wonderful old joke in which a famous football coach, or commentator, I can’t remember which, was ask to define football.  He said “football is 22 men running around on a field, desperately need of rest, being watched by 70,000 people desperately in need of exercise.”

That is the basic dynamic going on here with Moses.  Not a good thing.

A final issue.  I suspect that for Moses the sense of being indispensable was kind of addictive.  It feels good to be needed.  Appreciated.  It feels even better to feel as if you are REALLY important to another.  As if you are the reason they are alive.  That they can keep going.  To feel as if you have been the person who has really made the difference in a person’s life.

Ministers, counselors, physicians.  We all get trapped by this.  It is seductive.  And soon our helping becomes not about the other person, but about us.  We are helping, yes, but we are helping because it gives us identify.  It makes us feel better.  It gives us as sense of value and worth.

I certainly go to this place.  And it is sad to admit this, but almost any time I get together with pastors, what I hear is a litany about how worn out, but also how critical they are to the people in their churches.  They have a sense of being burned out.  But there is pride in that.  They like being “suffering servants”  Being martyrs

As if they are the super heroes of the faith.  They are the ones who ‘give it all” for the Kingdom

They gain their identify from helping, but more from going into this unhealthy territory of being the suffering, overworked servant of God

Jethro has a solution for all these issues .  Use other people.  Jethro called for shared responsibility.

Forget the idea of a one person show, he said.

Spread the responsibility around

Use the people around you well

And everyone will benefit.

We see this same truth echoed by Paul in I Corinthians 12 as he is talking to the early church.  Many gifts.  All needed.  Many parts.  All necessary.  No one is unimportant.  No one can be a spectator.  No one is without purpose.

In fact, the people who often thing they are unimportance, paul suggests, have critical important…

Pretty obvious isn’t it?

The work of God is not about me, as “the pastor”

It is not about the session

It is about all of us

As your know I am a little busy with other things

That is good

As some of you know, I am just a normal person, no saint

That is good

Because for this church to work, it takes all of you

You can’t lean on me

You can’t lean on the session

You can’t say, I am “just a spectator”

I can’t do it all

I shouldn’t do it

It takes all of us to make the church work

To make the church the church

The body the body

The body of Christ would look pretty funny without an arm, a hand, a leg

So the question we all need to ask ourselves is simply this

What can I do?

What can I do, to make this body functional?

I am going to be honest

I am going to try to do it on my own.  That is how I am wired

I am going to make all the mistakes of Moses

I am going to be stretched thin and vulnerable…..

Don’t let it happen!

Put me in my place

Remind me, that it is not about me

It is about us… all of us

And then let us be

The hands, the feet, the voice of Christ

In this place