The Feast of Tabernacles, Heaven, and Butch

On the 15th day of the 7th month, the practitioners of Judaism celebrate the "Feast of Tabernacles (Booths)."  In the olden times, their celebration involved thankfulness for two things: 1)the fall harvest; and 2)the liberation from Egypt.  The tabernacles were small tents or booths which represented the living conditions from the 40 years in the dessert.  For 8 days, the Jewish people live in these booths as a means to foster remembrance of God's deliverance of them.

At the "Transfiguration," Jesus had gone up the mountain with three of his disciples.  Jesus' appearance was transfigured--He shone with a holy light.  His disciples saw Jesus talking with Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (prophecy).  Not only was Jesus transfigured, but he also appeared with two of the Jewish patriarchs--Moses and Elijah--and He was speaking with them.

The disciples' response seems unusual to us--they wanted to erect tents for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.  They wanted to celebrate.  They had just seen further confirmation that Jesus was possibly the Messiah, and they saw that their patriarchs still lived on in relationship with Jesus.  That would certainly be a call for celebration.  If one believes the New Testament, this seems to be significant evidence of life beyond our earthly lives.

One of my best Jewish friends believes that heaven is a concept created by Christians to try and make people act right.  I have to admit that, in some churches, the concept of heaven is used in this fashion.  But the concept of heaven (put aside for a moment whether it's real) is a much more radical concept than merely a "carrot" to change people's conduct.  The concept of heaven is based upon a concept of a loving God that wants to be in relationship with His created beings.

I was re-reading the creation account in Genesis recently.  The author of Genesis saw God as having a direct relationship with His created beings--walking with them in the cool of the day.  No other religion has such a gracious concept of God.  In other religions, the gods may use humans for sport, or the gods may be disinterested.  But the concept of a direct loving relationship between man and God is unique to Christianity (and its Jewish heritage).  If God's disposition towards man is as described in the Bible, then certainly God would want to be in relationship with man for eternity, because God (by definition) is an eternal being.

So, as we eat our turkeys in thankfulness for this country, we can have confidence that our deceased loved ones are in relationship with God.  This Thanksgiving will be our first without my children's godmother, Butch, who died last Saturday.  Butch was such an integral part of Thanksgiving that we even contemplated canceling Thanksgiving.  One of my children asked: "What do we have to be thankful for?"

We are thankful for the fact that she was a loving part of our family for 22 years, ever since Debbie and I moved in next to she and her husband, Roy, on Gran Avenue.  We are thankful that she loved Debbie and me and our three children unconditionally (and that's a huge thing--especially as to me).  She and Roy adopted us into the wonderful Smith clan--they have four children and eight grandchildren that they love dearly, and they treated us no differently.

We are thankful for her being there when our children were young, and Debbie needed help.  We are thankful to she and Roy for being there for "Grandpal's Day" in elementary school.  We are thankful to her for attending endless sporting events for our children.  Just last month, she and Roy drove to Decatur to see James and Mathis play soccer.  The week before James had asked whether Butch made it to his game in Birmingham.  Since she hadn't, they drove to Decatur.  After his game, James wanted to stay with Roy and Butch in Decatur for Mathis' game rather than ride home with me  (James doesn't usually attend Mathis's games, so it's obvious that he wanted to be with Butch and Roy).  We came to find out that James had been discussing some issues with her that he had not discussed with us.  

I could go on and on about Butch's contributions to our family (and to other families).  (In fact, she was so involved in our lives that virtually all of our friends knew her.)   But her most important characteristic was that she knew Jesus.  Butch came from a difficult childhood.  With the love of Christ, she soared beyond her upbringing and distributed to others the love that God gave to her.  So, as we experience our first Thanksgiving without Butch, we do take comfort knowing that she is in direct relationship with the loving creator of the universe--she is walking in the cool of the day with Jesus.  Praise God!

The grace of losing--Moses and Saban

We are so fortunate that Moses wasn't, and Saban isn't, perfect.  If they were, the results would be disastrous for them and for us.

I am so thankful that Moses didn't make it into the Promised Land.  At first glance, Moses' being kept out of the Promised Land for striking a rock seems grossly unfair.  At second glance, God's purposes become clear.  First, God was gracious to Moses.  The entry into the Promised Land was marked by war upon war.  Moses didn't have to endure this.  Moreover, eternity with God is obviously superior to the Promised Land even had there been no wars.

Second, God was gracious to the Jews.  If Moses had not sinned, Moses would be an exemplar--someone to whom the parents and preachers could point to urge the people to good works.  (It is noteworthy that many preachers and parents do so anyway--they point to David as an exemplar for defeating Goliath.  This is fallacious preaching given that only a few chapters later in the Bible David commits adultery and murder.)  We already are innately under the burden of perfection--thank goodness there is no human exemplar in the Bible to further burden us.  Furthermore, even though Moses had sinned, God still hid his body so that the people couldn't build a shrine and worship Moses.  God was protecting the Jewish people from the demand of being perfect and from idolatry.

So, thank goodness that Alabama lost to A&M.  This removes Saban as an improper exemplar, but makes him a proper exemplar.  A proper exemplar is one who is faulty, but who perseveres.  That is what we are called to do as humans, as Christians--to recognize that we are faulty and to persevere.  Sometimes, in fact always, it takes a loss to teach us this.