The Field

A certain farmer was a devout Jew. He was careful not to reap his fields to the edges, but he always left a little in the field for the poor to glean. He always paid his laborers on time their wages as promised. He never permitted his laborers to work or his animals to be worked on the Sabbath; moreover, he himself did not work on the Sabbath even when his fields were full and the produce might rot in the ground.

One day an esteemed holy man came to town. He was a humble and wise teacher who had nothing but an old tunic and exhausted sandals to wear. The farmer too was in town, selling his produce. He could not quite make out what the man was saying to the crowds as they stood between his cart and the teacher. Late in the day the crowds went away, and the itinerate preacher was left famished. The farmer himself was about to leave for home when he saw the man. He shouted to him, "Teacher, I have these two pears and some bread left. Would you like any of it?" The teacher stopped, came up to the cart and said, "Yes, I would, but I have not a cent to give you." The farmer replied, "Just tell me what you told the crowds, and I will be satisfied to give you all that is left in my cart. It will be payment enough." "Very well," said the teacher, "Go, sell all you possess, give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven." With that the farmer placed the items into his hands and said, "Thank you, Rabbi." The holy man blessed him, and the two parted ways.

As the farmer traveled home, his heart became heavy. "How can I give away all my possessions??? I am no holy man like that prophet. It's all too much for me." Very much grieved, he at last came to his home and was restless all night.

The next morning, he took a hammer and stake out to his field. He pounded the stake into the soil and placed on it a sign which read, "FOR SALE." He told no one what he was doing or why. But upon discovery, his wife and and all the workers became quite worried, then upset. Angry and angrier, the more they thought about it.

The next day, a disciple came knocking at the door seeking to acquire the land. Indeed the offer was not much, but the Jew was generous of heart and agreed to the terms of the deal. The transaction was set to be finalized on the third day.

Though his workers were enraged and his family livid, the farmer slept that night with an indescribable sense of peace. On the day of the transaction, he woke straight up at four in the morning. Bright and radiant was his room and the holy man stood once again before him. "What are you doing, you foolish farmer? Your buyer is no apostle of light. That wicked man will strip the fields bare so that poor have nothing to glean. He will withhold payment to the laborers till the end of time. Moreover, they will be worked night and day till the Sabbath becomes only a distant memory. The animals will be used up, and the land worn out. And you would sell him your inheritance at half price? You have already secured your treasure in heaven. Truly you have given to the poor. Truly you are selling all you possess, but never sell your birthright. Go this day into your inheritance and cultivate your field."

God, the first materialist

Of what use to God is transcendence? God delights in the physical universe, especially through the creature's sense of taste, touch, smell, hearing and sight. Don't think it's all about the humans. The creator was content to roam the earth with the dinosaurs for millions of years. This is no second-rate creation, a mere shadow of a far greater reality. God was the first materialist, the first naturalist, the first evolutionary biologist. There is nothing to escape, only the illusion that there is something to escape. Perhaps we may be blessed with eyes to see the whole earth is God's holy hill. In this savage temple we meet. God looks at us through every living eye.

Smile, you are a mystic

Mysticism comes in little doses. Gather it like morning dew. Every time your heart says, Ah, this is God, you are a mystic. Every time you say, Where are you?, you are a mystic. Whenever you know the passion of creation, the loveliness of a soul wherever or in whomever you see it. Whenever awake to the preciousness of this moment, this life, this breath. Whenever you wonder, you dream, you explore. Whenever you grow, blossom or fade. Whether in darkness or light, in love or abandonment, in accepting things as they come or raging against all that takes its toll, in illumination or obscurity, doubt and confusion. It comes when you feel lost, it comes when you feel found, it is when you are lost all over again. Whether life comes together or things fall apart or pretty much stay the same. Smile, you are a mystic! It is said that Enoch walked with God and was no more. So walk each step.

the window

there is a window, an opaque window, to the heart
where secret things pass between my lord and spirit
i will wait at the window and watch for perfume
it is good just to know that love is the room

The Playground

Once a faithful believer died. A kind radiant being welcomed him warmly and led into a great temple shot through with light. Upon entering he found himself in the middle of an abandoned field not far from where he was born. He turned to look back to Jesus, but he was not there.

As time passed, he became increasingly agitated. Jesus, where have you taken me? I believed in you. I don't understand. Is this heaven or hell? Darkness covered the sky. Large, thick clouds burst into rain and smoke. The believer wept, then raised his fist in anger.

From a distance, a small boy ran toward him laughing. You don't know who I am, do you? Heaven or hell, eh? He pulled out a slingshot and parted the sky. Down with a thud came two large stone tablets. On the first was written, "Tag. You're it!" On the second, "You choose."

So what did the faithful believer do?

He buried both tablets in a secret place, sold everything he owned, and set out to test his resources in the fabled port city of his land. Never again did the little boy chase after him. No playmate did he find.

Indeed, the playground had passed away forever. Port City was an anxious place. The young man took a room in a boarding house on the waterfront. It was operated by two elderly men: one, dour and fastidious; the other, congenial but sly. Heaven withdrew into an oyster in the bay. Phantoms decorated themselves with novel powers.

And so the years passed, each day no better than the first, and no worse than the last. Decades came and went, centuries left no trace. Until upon the last moment of the last hour of the last day of the last year of a thousand, he had half the sense to shake himself and say, "Kill me at last, you fiend, you rogue."

There was only silence. He looked at himself and started to laugh uncontrollably. And he heard, off in a distance, a little child laugh, too. He thought to himself, I've heard that somewhere before. Just as he started to remember, a voice blurt out, "Na-na, na-na, boo boo, you can't catch me!" Immediately, he shot up and came to his senses. He left everything in search of that field.

Before he got far, the two landlords caught up with him and demanded payment. He was detained for quite sometime as he had nothing to pay them with. The little boy whispered, "Look in your pocket." So he dug in his pocket. Finding a slingshot and two stones, he pulled them out and shot both of them in the head. The dour, fastidious man he killed with the first stone, and the congenial but sly man with the second.

By stages, he made his way back to the playground. Light and laughter led him all the way. Til at last, he caught up with the little boy. Slapping him on the back, the believer said, "Now, you're it." And the whole field erupted in giggles with children all around. And they served, cookies and punch.


By James Hilden-Minton and Jim Belcher. Oh, yes, and Jesus wanted to add the line: "And Jesus wept, for had he only become a little child, he would have never left the playground." But we thought that might be a bit too preachy.

Who will say, I am the LORD's

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty ~ Revelation 4:8

A new video. I've had this song for years, but have not shared it publicly before.

Gathering Song: Open way into presence

Mad creation

All the creation is the radiant garment of the Holy One. Working from the deep recesses of the subatomic world, you knit and weave us into being until life and intelligence emerges. Mad creativity at play, algorithmic evolution searches out your most fierce designs. You peer out through each order being from the most basic stuff of energy and matter, molecules and planets, star dust and the chemistry of life, genomes and ecosystems, birds and songs, laughter and the games children play--you peer out as through a veil, your blinding loveliness hidden to all but your beloved.

We with long faces cry out, where are you? I cannot find you in all this misery. All our hidden cravings point to you, but we are alone. Surely this world is accursed and all that is in it. Surely you hate us, you are disgusted with us. Yet all is as it should be, time and chance creating and destroying, the chaos of fragile existence.

We imagine you. We create you. We dress you in words of delusion, projections of fear, fancy and self-importance. We layer you over with gold and greed, precious stones and the lust for power. We place you on a throne and subdue the earth in your name as our own booty. Finally, we put you in outer space far beyond the temporal domain, an exalted exile. Satan grins in our direction. Money, stature, and baubles are all within our reach. But not you,

...you wait in stillness beyond our reach, hidden and free. You say nothing, for you had said it all. In time the design will come around. If for but one brief moment, we may know that you are holy.

The Importance of Being Jewish

It may be curious that a Protestant Christian should write an essay on why it is important to be Jewish, but I believe it is in the heart of Yahweh for me to do so. Perhaps it should be more curious that a largely gentile religion should come to worship one particular Jew. But that is another topic for another time. Today I would like to consider why it’s important for Jews to be Jewish.

In Exodus 19, the God who heard the cry of his people captive then in Egypt, in a house of slavery, the God who reached out with a strong hand to rescue them and lead them into a land long promised to them, that God, Yahweh, for that is his Name, instructed Moses to speak these words to the house of Jacob, to all the children of Israel:

Exodus 19:4-6b You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.

With these words at the base of Mount Sinai, Yahweh was preparing his people to receive his most precious gift, the Law, or in Hebrew Torah, meaning also teaching or instruction. God was calling this people to a sacred covenant to be his treasured possession among all the nations. Their call was to be a royal priesthood and a holy nation, a call that continues to this day. They are called to render priestly service to Yahweh and to bear his abiding presence among all peoples. This is no slavish duty, but an honorable, dignified, and free faithfulness, a calling to life and fullness of blessing as ones call to a peculiar holiness before God.

In every age and locale on this shared planet, Jews have been called and challenged to live out this faithfulness to Yahweh, and there is no less need for faithful Jews, wherever they may be found, to render this prophetic and priestly service in the midst of a faithless generation, a world awash in the misery of slavishness to the powers and entrapments of a global struggle for dominance, a system that renders every detail of our lives to economic transaction, to be bought and sold as human commodities. Whether we are consumers or workers, our wants, needs and desires are increasing monetized into revenue streams for endless capital formation. We even offer up our children to this relentlessness.

Having a call is one thing, but living up to it at each moment is quite another. The Bible chronicles times of prosperity and times of adversity for the children of Israel, times of faithlessness and times of painful winnowing of a righteous remnant, times of temptation and times of exile, and times of restoration. Always the call of the prophet is to repent and return in faithfulness to your Lord, always to walk in noble humility with your God, always to be a holy nation, priestly and prophetic, always to bear the hope of Moshiach, the messianic reign of the servant of Yahweh.

Between the Old Testament, or Tanakh, and New Testaments, there is a body of Jewish literature written in Greek. These texts, the Apocrypha, are retained in the Catholic and Christian Orthodox cannons. I would like to focus on 1 Maccabees. This text recounts a painful history of Israel in the midst of the Greek empire. This was before Rome would come to dominate the area and occupy Israel as was the context of Jesus and his early followers. Because these texts are missing from the Protestant and Jewish Bibles, I will quote at length. These historic documents give us a glimpse of what it meant to be a faithful Jew in the Hellenic world.

1 Maccabees 1 After Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated1 King Darius of the Persians and the Medes, he succeeded him as king. (He had previously become king of Greece.) 2 He fought many battles, conquered strongholds, and put to death the kings of the earth. 3 He advanced to the ends of the earth, and plundered many nations. When the earth became quiet before him, he was exalted, and his heart was lifted up. 4 He gathered a very strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and princes, and they became tributary to him. 5 After this he fell sick and perceived that he was dying. 6 So he summoned his most honored officers, who had been brought up with him from youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive. 7 And after Alexander had reigned twelve years, he died. 8 Then his officers began to rule, each in his own place. 9 They all put on crowns after his death, and so did their descendants after them for many years; and they caused many evils on the earth. 10 From them came forth a sinful root, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus; he had been a hostage in Rome. He began to reign in the one hundred thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.1 11 In those days certain renegades came out from Israel and misled many, saying, "Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles around us, for since we separated from them many disasters have come upon us." 12 This proposal pleased them, 13 and some of the people eagerly went to the king, who authorized them to observe the ordinances of the Gentiles. 14 So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom, 15 and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil. 16 When Antiochus saw that his kingdom was established, he determined to become king of the land of Egypt, in order that he might reign over both kingdoms. 17 So he invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and elephants and cavalry and with a large fleet. 18 He engaged King Ptolemy of Egypt in battle, and Ptolemy turned and fled before him, and many were wounded and fell. 19 They captured the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and he plundered the land of Egypt. 20 After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred forty-third year.1 He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. 21 He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils. 22 He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. 23 He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures that he found. 24 Taking them all, he went into his own land. He shed much blood, and spoke with great arrogance. 25 Israel mourned deeply in every community, 26 rulers and elders groaned, young women and young men became faint, the beauty of the women faded. 27 Every bridegroom took up the lament; she who sat in the bridal chamber was mourning. 28 Even the land trembled for its inhabitants, and all the house of Jacob was clothed with shame. 29 Two years later the king sent to the cities of Judah a chief collector of tribute, and he came to Jerusalem with a large force. 30 Deceitfully he spoke peaceable words to them, and they believed him; but he suddenly fell upon the city, dealt it a severe blow, and destroyed many people of Israel. 31 He plundered the city, burned it with fire, and tore down its houses and its surrounding walls. 32 They took captive the women and children, and seized the livestock. 33 Then they fortified the city of David with a great strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel. 34 They stationed there a sinful people, men who were renegades. These strengthened their position; 35 they stored up arms and food, and collecting the spoils of Jerusalem they stored them there, and became a great menace, 36 for the citadel1 became an ambush against the sanctuary, an evil adversary of Israel at all times. 37 On every side of the sanctuary they shed innocent blood; they even defiled the sanctuary. 38 Because of them the residents of Jerusalem fled; she became a dwelling of strangers; she became strange to her offspring, and her children forsook her. 39 Her sanctuary became desolate like a desert; her feasts were turned into mourning, her sabbaths into a reproach, her honor into contempt. 40 Her dishonor now grew as great as her glory; her exaltation was turned into mourning. 41 Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, 42 and that all should give up their particular customs. 43 All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath. 44 And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the towns of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, 45 to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and festivals, 46 to defile the sanctuary and the priests, 47 to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and other unclean animals, 48 and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, 49 so that they would forget the law and change all the ordinances. 50 He added,1 "And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die." 51 In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the towns of Judah to offer sacrifice, town by town. 52 Many of the people, everyone who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land; 53 they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had. 54 Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year,1 they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding towns of Judah, 55 and offered incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. 56 The books of the law that they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. 57 Anyone found possessing the book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the law, was condemned to death by decree of the king. 58 They kept using violence against Israel, against those who were found month after month in the towns. 59 On the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar that was on top of the altar of burnt offering. 60 According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, 61 and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers' necks. 62 But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. 63 They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. 64 Very great wrath came upon Israel.

Before the decree of Antiochus Epiphanes to eradicate Judaism, there was a favorable view of Hellenic culture among many leaders in Jerusalem. They sought peace and prosperity by covenant with gentiles, making the best of current political and economic circumstances. Maccabees 1:11 refers to these leaders as “certain renegades”. (“In those days certain renegades came out from Israel and misled many, saying, "Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles around us, for since we separated from them many disasters have come upon us." ) The writer of Maccabees is critical of this period of cultural assimilation. (Verses 14-15: “So they [the renegades] built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom, and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covenant. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil.”) Meanwhile, Antiochus grew in power and subdued Egypt. After he and his army had defeated King Ptolemy of Egypt, they returned and went up against Israel. Chiefly they defiled and plundered the Temple in Jerusalem. Verses 22-24: “He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. 23 He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures that he found. 24 Taking them all, he went into his own land. He shed much blood, and spoke with great arrogance.” Two years later he returned and plundered Jerusalem a second time, further desecrating the Sanctuary of the temple with bloodshed and taking women and children into captivity. They made Jerusalem a fortress for the expanded empire. The writer of Maccabees laments this as a great dishonor to the Sanctuary, which is personified in feminine form. Verse 40: “Her dishonor now grew as great as her glory; her exaltation was turned into mourning. Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, 42 and that all should give up their particular customs. 43 All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath.” The earlier temptation to assimilate had now turned into tyrannical law. Every aspect of Israel’s religious customs was to be dismantled at pain of death. Verses 57-58: “Anyone found possessing the book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the law, was condemned to death by decree of the king. 58 They kept using violence against Israel, against those who were found month after month in the towns.” However, the faithful among Israel, and particularly the women, resisted this and became martyrs. Verses 60-53: “According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, 61 and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers' necks. 62 But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. 63 They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die.” Later the Maccabees formed a successful military revolt and dove out this tyranny, but no doubt the firm resolve on the part of faithful Jews to observe Torah laid a moral foundation for resistance, whether armed or fully vulnerable.

I would highlight that three specific institutions of family piety were attacked: circumcision, Sabbath observance, and kosher diets. Why is this important? This was the cultural survival strategy that had enabled Israel to persevere as a distinct people with a holy calling over many centuries. Circumcision, Sabbath and kosher diets served as distinct markers of the community. Many Israelites had assimilated into Babylonian culture, but there remained a “righteous remnant” that held fast to Torah and the Covenant of Sinai through three generations of exile. While in exile, Judaism had no Temple to serve as a focal point for worship. The festivals could not be observed in the same way. But this was a formative moment for Judaism. The former glory of the Temple and the Kingdom of David could be remembered in the institution of family piety and the gathering of sacred texts. Sabbath became a holy temple in time indestructible by armies, and Torah study took root among the people. It was during the Babylonian exile that the Tanakh, or Old Testament, largely came into the literary form that we know it today. In this time the beautiful words of Isaiah 40 were penned,

Isaiah 40:1-5 1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries out: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Though they had taken out of the Promised Land, the promise was not forgotten, not by God and not by faithful Jews. Among them were those who actually returned from exile and rebuilt Jerusalem. Yahweh had comforted and restored his people, his treasured possession. The true purpose of Israel is a priestly calling, that “the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed, and all the people shall see it together.”

But what would have been the outcome if Israel has simply succumbed to the pressures to assimilate into the dominant society? The unfulfilled words of Isaiah would have been lost to history or never even spoken. Indeed all the words of Moses and the prophets would have become nothing but a curiosity to archaeologists, if that. Where would be the witness of a people to a God who vindicates the poor and checks the arrogance of tyrants? Wherein would Yahweh’s glory ever be revealed among all peoples? Christians, in particular, should ponder that had Jews set aside circumcision, Sabbath and every other observance of the Law, there would have been no Christianity, at least, nothing apart from whatever power religion Rome or some other empire would have served up. There would have been no one to take up a cross for having proclaimed the kingdom is at hand.

For me the inescapable conclusion is that the Suffering Servant in Isaiah is not one singular person, but the entire collective of all faithful Jews wherever they have refused to profane the covenant is the Suffering Servant. God has heard every lamentation, every cry. Moshiach is present in each tear and in each act of kindness. The law is not a curse or a burden too heavy to bear; rather, Torah is a blessing, a blessing that has preserved a people in each generation. And when Jews observe Torah, they sanctify the Name of God, as priests before the nations. The heart of Yahweh beats in each act of faithfulness, and this is the importance of being Jewish.

Isaiah 41:8-10 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off "; 10 do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.