Hopewit

Grasslands Psalm 24 The earth is the Lord ’s , and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters . . . Psalm 24 follows that iconic Psalm that most of us who grew up in a church know by heart: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want . . . etc.” Psalm 23 sings like a lullaby, an assurance of protection, of safety, “still waters” and “green pastures,” and tables laden with abundant food. Many have survived hard times with help from the assurances of Psalm 23. But Psalm 24 paints the God of the Hebrew people as king, not as shepherd. A triumphal hymn of conquest and praise, it presents a different image of the God of Jacob, and Abraham, Noah and Moses: “Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” Why the contrast? Or is it a contrast? You and I are not the first to attempt reconciling the “Lord strong and mighty” with the gentle shepherd. Some hav...

"He owns the cattle on a thousand hills . . .." The earth is the Lord ’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. (Psalm 24: 1 & 2, NIV) Psalm 24 is a song in praise of the only, one true God of the Hebrew people. If the earth is the LORD'S, then none of it can be claimed by any of the phony gods of their idolatrous neighbours. Ergo, then there is only one God. Read in a 21 st Century context, it can give pause to reconsider how we divide that same earth into pieces and patches and declare and claim ownership of its parts. If the earth truly is the LORD'S, then people can individually only borrow, lease, the land that they occupy. “The earth is the LORD'S,” after all, is an expression of ownership, isn't it? Land . I grew up on a farm; the farm was comprised of 800 acres or so of what we called “land.” We grew food on that land and it made...

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5: 19 & 20, NIV) The passage above appears in a section of II Corinthians 5 under the heading, “The Ministry of Reconciliation.” At this time at Eigenheim Mennonite, we’re tackling the concept of reconciliation in light of the Truth and Reconciliation movement. It seems necessary to me that we do some thinking and talking about what it is we actually mean when we use the words. Concretely put, what do we do and what do we say when engaged in a “Ministry of Reconciliation?” It’s not as clear cut as, say, a “Ministry of Feeding the Homeless.” Paul’s plea to the Corinthian church is that they see themselves as agents of Christ who reconciled them to God, i.e. that they act to reconcil...

Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salt ed? (Matthew 5 :13, KJV) Local churches have committees, generally. They’re composed of three or four elected people and their role is clarified by their committee’s names: trustees, education, music, hospitality, worship . . . and service & mission, the last name implying that the congregation needs to extend its good will, talents, faith and resources to the world around it. There’s plenty of Biblical foundation for this. In a time of shrinking participation in church —numbers wise—it’s not surprising that there’s considerable hand-wringing and self-examination going on. What are we and what ought we be? What are we doing and what ought we be doing? How can we do what we need to do with fewer numbers? Expansion, growth are the normal thermometers of success in most every institution, after all; it’s hard to feel good about one’s community, organization, club...