Weekend Gratitude: The Bread & Wine of Jesus and Melchizedek

Dear friends,

Our little church, Lake Baldwin, celebrates communion on the first Sunday of each month.  There is much variety in how churches do this: in many liturgical churches (Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Orthodox, etc.) the Eucharist (meaning "good gift") is served each week, usually with each congregant walking to the altar to sip from the goblet and take the bread from the plate.  Luci Shaw, an Episcopalian writes: 

"At the altar for Eucharist, no matter our political leanings or past history, we meet in the presence of the one who draws us together as parts of one body -- those who have died, those with whom we live and work, and those yet to be born -- we're all part of the family -- the communion of saints.  Christ's body and blood become the food and drink of life and growth.  And in turn we become his fingers and his feet." (Breath for the Bones: Art, Imagination and Spirit, p. 145)

In most of the churches I have ever attended, platters are passed around the pews with pieces of matzoh (or other communion cracker) and small plastic cups of juice.  At Lake Baldwin, a PCA church, there are three lines at the front of the church, two with juice and one with wine.  We pull off a piece of bread from the loaf and dip it in the cup as the pastor or elder reminds us, "The body of Christ broken for you, the blood of Christ poured out for you."  The bread, the wine, the words: we see, smell, touch, taste, and hear these potent sensory reminders of the sacrifice of our Savior and the community of loving believers.  I am grateful for that this weekend.  Lake Baldwin has been a healing refuge for me, and the people there -- my brothers and sisters in Christ -- so kind.

I found it interesting this morning that this week's sermon from Genesis 14:17-24 was about Melchizedek offering Abram a feast of bread and wine and then blessing him in the name of God.  Who was Melchizedek?  He was the king of Salem.  Salem is a variant of the word shalom which is peace, and was probably in the vicinity of the city of Jerusalem. Besides being king of Salem, he was "a priest of the Most High God." His own name means "King of Righteousness."  So, in a sense, you could say he was a priest and king of righteousness and peace.  Does that sound like someone else in the Bible?  Yes, and not by accident! Melchizedek was a foreshadowing of the messiah Yeshua (whom most English speakers know as Jesus), our high priest and our king of righteousness (flowing from God's justice) and peace (flowing from God's mercy).  God's justice demanded penalty for sin and his mercy paid that same penalty for us.  Where?  At the cross of Christ!  In the New Testament, Hebrews 7 makes a clear connection between Melchizedek and Jesus.  It gets even more fascinating, especially if you know anything about the Jewish priesthood and sacrificial system! 

~*~*~

¹ This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, ² and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” ³ Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever. 

 ~~~ and ~~~ 

¹⁵ And what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, ¹⁶ one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life. ¹⁷ For it is declared: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”  ¹⁸ The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless ¹⁹ (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.  ²⁰ And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, ²¹ but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”  ²² Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.   ²³ Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.  ²⁶ Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 

I have always loved the entire book of Hebrews for how it lays out the story of Jesus as not only our high priest, but also as the sacrifice lamb.

As I wrote in my Advent poem "The Paradox" many years ago,

Come, see where He lays,
Good Shepherd and Little Lamb
King of Kings and Servant of All
Prophet and Prophecy Fulfilled
Physician and Wounded One
High Priest and Atoning Sacrifice
Counselor and Rejected One
Builder and Foundation Stone
Righteous Judge and Condemned Prisoner
Ancient of Days and Newly-born Babe
God and Man

Our pastor Mike Tilley drew a contrast between Melchizedek, king of Salem, and an unnamed king of Sodom who tried to bargain with Abram over the bounty of a recent battle.  Abram refused this other king, saying, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’"  He knew that when you take "stuff" you give away power over your own life. Mike asked us to think about what we want to shape our life stories: the blessing of God or the bargaining power of what this world has to offer.  If we want true righteousness and peace, we must recenter our lives around Jesus and not things.

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. ... Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God... Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation... How much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." Romans 3:22a; 5:1-2, 7-11, 17b

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ... And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.... And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:2, 9-11; 4:7

~*~*~

I guess that's been quite the mix of Old Testament and New Testament theology today!  When I get going with the Bible, one thing just leads to another...

And it started with a picture.  The communion cup photograph at the top of this post will be my entry this coming Friday for the P52 photo project.  The theme this week is "Drink It Up!" and I seriously couldn't think of anything more fitting than Communion!  In case you are wondering, the bread is under the red cloth on the plate.  I would have liked to have taken a good photo of that, but it was covered up until communion time and I couldn't get a clear picture then without interfering.  I took the cup photo when they released the children to go to Sunday School.  My previous P52 entries, some on this blog and some at www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com: 

• Week 5: Shimmer and Shadow
• Week 4: Self Portrait
• Week 3: I Dreamed a Dream
• Week 2: Made with Love
• Week 1: Resolution

Besides P52, this blog post will also be linked to Ann Kroeker's meme, Food on Fridays.

In addition, it is part of my own meme, 

Weekend Gratitude.

For righteousness and peace,

Virginia Knowles

www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

"Shimmer and Shadow" (A Poem, P52 Photos, More)

"Shimmer and Shadow at the Blessingway"

Shimmer and Shadow

I.

Epiphany dawns to blaze of day

Fiery sun and cooling shade

Then sunset glow

Seeping dusk

Star sparkle, honey gold of moon

Obscuring haze of deepening dark

Dark deep

Wait

Rest

Heal

Epiphany dawns

Hope rises on the horizon

II.

My life is shimmer and shadow

Shadow and shimmer

A chiaroscuro portrait, clear and dark

The Artist draws and draws

Draws me into scenes of day and night

Draws me to himself in glimmerings and glimpses

There is still life

I am still here

I am here and so is He

In shimmer and shadow

~*~*~

"Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." Psalm 139:12

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you." Isaiah 60:2

"I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.   My eyes stay open through the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promises." Psalm 119:148

"He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns blackness into dawn and darkens day into night… the Lord is his name." Amos 5:8

"Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars." Psalm 148:3

"My heart is steadfast, O God' I will sing and make music with all my soul.  Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn." Psalm 108:1-2

"On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.  Because you are my help,  I sing in the shadow of your wings." Psalm 63:7

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Psalm 23:4

"… because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." Luke 1:78-79

"But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings." Malachi 4:2a

~*~*~

I wrote most of "Shimmer and Shadow" in my head while lying in bed in the wee hours of this morning, then tiptoeing out into the still chill dark, awaiting the sunrise in my SHINE nightshirt.  

It is 6:36 AM now, and dawn has not yet come, but I know it will.  I am still waiting.

Over the past several months, I have been reading from Luci Shaw's Breath for the Bones - Art, Imagination and Spirit: Reflections on Creativity and Faith. (See also here: Is My Head in the Clouds? and Ivory and Gray and Books I'm Reading in 2012) Luci is a poet and her book helps me write.  (I even borrowed the words chiaroscuro and epiphany from her.) Of course I was amused yesterday to open to the next chapter: "Understanding the Shadow Side of Creativity."  She writes what I know by experience: that God sometimes seems hidden, life dark.  She knows this too, and continued to write from the shadows after the death of her husband Harold, a Christian book publisher. Christian contemplatives of centuries past have written of "the dark night of the soul" and "the Cloud of Unknowing" and "the winter of the heart."  This is so. 

 "And we are supposed to trust our lives to this enigma? … We yearn for union with God, for the sense of safety and belonging.  What we often experience instead is frustration and aloneness."  p. 151 

"Often, however, art is veiled -- couched in clues and symbols, a shadow that touches reality, that gives us a glimpse of the indescribable, that invites us farther up and farther in.  It will not always show all of itself or the whole truth at one viewing, nor will it preach a four-point sermon.  But if we are willing to gift it our full attention, art will being to open our inner eyes." p. 154  

"But truth isn't always pleasant.  Christians who practice art must not always feel bound to produce sweetness and light.  We have to recognize the darkness and shadow as well as the light, and realize that God is not dark and evil, but he embodies mystery.  Sometimes God withdraws and leaves us in the dark -- and we can learn to view it as an instructive and salutary phase of life.  It's not pleasant, but we discover things in the dark that we couldn't find in the light." p. 161

In the back of Breath for the Bones is a suggested reading list.  I find on it The Weather of the Heart, a poetry book by Madeleine L'Engle, the beloved author of the novel A Wrinkle in Time.  By happy happenstance it already is on my shelf, a serendipitous find that I wasn't seeking.  (While Christmas shopping for my children, I bought it for my sister, a lifelong L'engle fan, and I haven't yet sent it for her birthday this month.  It has been waiting.)  I look on the dedication page: "To Harold and Luci."  Published by Shaw.  The first poem, page one:

"Within This Strange and Quickened Dust" 


O God, within this strange and quickened dust
The beating heart controls the coursing blood
In discipline that holds in check the flood
But cannot stem corrosion and dark rust.
In flesh's solitude I count it blest

That only you, my Lord, can see my heart
With passion's darkness tearing it apart
With storms of self, and tempests of unrest.
But your love breaks through blackness, bursts with light;
We separate ourselves, but you rebind
In Dayspring all our fragments: body, mind,
And spirit join, unite against the night.
Healed by your love, corruption and decay
Are turned, and whole, we greet the light of day.

~*~*~

It is 6:56 now, dawn here, sun rising, mourning doves cooing.  "We greet the light of day."

~*~*~

  

"Shadows" is the theme of this week's P52 photo project, so I have been photographing them for the past several days.  Looking makes you aware.

My first tries, from Mary's Blessingway (baby shower) celebration (see Weekend Gratitude: Blessingway for Mary).  I love the shimmer and the shadow of light through the prism of the punch bowl reflecting on the lace table cloth.

The rest from nature.  Again, Luci Shaw: 

"While creativity sometimes begins with seemingly random moments, it also sometimes begins with moments of epiphany. For me, this has a lot to do with being in touch with the creative world, where sometimes, I am almost literally lifted out of myself… There is something about green and growing things that absolutely clutches at me; nature becomes like a second Bible."

Pink Sunrise

Pink Sunrise Clouds and Silhouette of Trees

Daytime Clouds: Shimmer and Shadow

Sunset with Clouds and Palms 

These tree photos were taken at the east end of the soccer field at Metro Life Church, where our home school co-op meets.   We had taken the 1st-3rd grade science class out for recess. I immediately e-mailed the photos from my iPod camera to my laptop and showed them to my 7th-8th grade English class during the next period.  I encouraged them to be aware of their surroundings and let God's creation be an inspiration for their writing.

Up and Up

Leaning against the trunk
looking straight up at the fanning branches, sun glow

The light shimmering through the needles
makes me think of a fiber optic Christmas tree

Spanish moss 

Bare branches except at the tippy top tuft

Branches Cast Shadows on the Trunk

Red leaves

Same Tree Close Up, Hollow Trunk

Roots (Looking Down Instead of Up)

Down Again:
Even Blades of Grass Cast Shadows

Shadows on drain pipe

At home again

Cracked Stepping Stone in the Side Yard

Melody with Long Shadow

Shadow Play

Grace in the shadows, my friends
Virginia Knowles
www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com

Books I'm Reading in 2012 -- A Small Start Anyway!

Dear friends,

Many of my friends and fellow bloggers have posted their 2012 intended reading lists.  Last year I posted a 2011 reading list but didn't read them all.  Maybe someday I should compile a list of the books I actually did read (all or in part) last year, but I've completely lost track of them.

I can't predict all of the books I'll read this year, since many of them come to me unexpected and I just enjoy them as they come. Nevertheless, here is the start of my reading list, though some of these books I am already reading and just need to finish them.

You can click on the book titles to see (or order) them at Christian Book Distributors or Amazon.

Inspiration:

Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way 
by Shauna Niequist

My friend (and favorite author) Gary Thomas has recommended Niequists's book Cold Tangerines on FB many times, so I asked my husband to get it for me for Christmas. I loved the book and so did my daughter Joanna.  Right now, my daughter Julia is reading it.   I already mentioned it in this post on one of my other blogs: Friday Favorites: Recalibrating for the New Year. I found the sequel, Bittersweet, at my favorite used bookstore, Brightlight.  Any book with a picture of chocolate on it has to be good. It's got short essays about the Christian life based in stories from her own life.  I seriously don't know how people can write like that.  I am insanely jealous.  She is a bit more liberal than I am, I think, but still quite worth the read.

The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God
by Dallas Willard

Gary, who specializes in Christian contemplative classics, also told me to read something by Dallas Willard to recover some of my lost joy. The Divine Conspiracy looks like a good one, and I think I can get it from the public library.  It's a thick one, though, so I may have to renew it once or twice!  Hopefully, it will renew me, too.



Orthodoxy (free on Kindle)
by G.K. Chesterton 

Chesterton was a contemporary and friend of C.S. Lewis.  "Witty" and "profound" are the two words that come to mind when I think of the writing style of Orthodoxy.  You have to think about this book, which is a Christian classic.  I particularly appreciate his kind words about those of us who think more poetically than logistically.  Chesterton reminds us to break out of our airtight little circles of rigidly "rational" thinking and stretch our brains and our hearts to a larger life. I like that.

Breath for the Bones - Art, Imagination and Spirit: Reflections on Creativity and Faith  
by Luci Shaw

Another one on my "halfway through but need to finish up" list!  I've already blogged about it in these posts: Is My Head in the Clouds? and Ivory and Gray.  If I get really brave, I might take a breath and dip my bones into the book Studying Poetry by Stephen Matterson and Darryl Jones, both of Trinity College Dublin.  I don't know where I got it, but I think someone passed it along to me recently.

Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just

by Timothy Keller

I already blogged about this one here: Just Beauty and Even More Weekend Gratitude.  It shouldn't take me long to finish!

Parenting & Education:

Going Public: Your Child Can Thrive in Public School
by David & Kelli Pritchard

I've been home schooling my 10 kids for 20 years, but now I have two in public school: a junior who started in her sophomore year and more recently my third grader who started just before Thanksgiving.  Both are doing very well, and I'm confident we made the right decision. This book is a field guide for Christian parents who want their kids to thrive in public schools.  


Life Skills for Kids by Christine Field



This is one I need to plow into -- one of my weak areas as a mom and a home manager!  I bought it used at a home school curriculum sale last spring. I. Will. Read. This. Book. (Eventually.)





Grace Based Parenting
by Dr. Tim Kimmel

I've actually been writing a series of reflections about this book on www.ComeWearyMoms.blogspot.com, so I won't write more about it here.  Needless to say, I've already finished a good chunk of it!





Fiction: 

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett 

My daughter Joanna took me to see the movie at the dollar theater a few weeks ago, and I enjoyed it so much that my daughter Mary gave the book to me. I have a strong interest in social justice, and the Civil Rights era is one that I have always covered in our home schooling.  I've read plenty of kids books on the topic, but this is the first grown-up one.  (Yes, I admit, I've never read To Kill a Mockingbird.  Maybe I should add that to my list, too.)  The book is written from the points of view of three women -two black maids and one white journalist - living in Jackson, Missisippi in 1963, which, by the way, is the year I was born.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
by C.S. Lewis

I'm reading this one with my kids.  It's been a while, and I don't think the younger ones have ever heard it even though they have watched the movie.  There are so many other books I want to read to my kids this year, but I can't even get started on that list right now!  I haven't been doing as many books with them lately since we are in the home school co-op, but for next year I am thinking of doing another "read through our shelves" year with world lit.  It's been tough getting motivated with home schooling this year. Am I up for that?  I'm actually thinking I could get some of my zest back that way.  Hmmm.  I guess that will be a matter for prayer and research!

So I know that's not everything I'll read this year, but I suppose it's a representative sample!

What are you reading?  Share it in the comments!

Virginia Knowles
www.VirginiaKnowles.blogspot.com