All posts by Craig Muir

Minister

Precarious Life

Life is a strange precarious thing. We have been made aware of that over the last two years and were reminded in tragic circumstances two days before Christmas. All the plans and hopes we have can disappear in a moment and yet still we invest so much store in them. And so we should, for to look to the future is to assume life is worth living, and it is. 

As I look out my window this morning, I can’t see much further than the houses beyond the back garden. The overnight frost is hanging on even though it is midday and I’m beginning to look forward to some dinner. I love days like today. The harsh frost; the crunch beneath my feet on this mornings walk across the fields; the sharp contrast of the trees against the white background. It is still and beautiful and to be enjoyed. At the same time I’m eager to go over to our house in Burbage and see how the builders have progressed this week. They have been building the outside walls of our new extension and stripping out the existing kitchen and bathroom. We are planning for the future and enjoying this moment, for life is worth living and each moment has to be enjoyed, for we can not guarantee what the future holds. 

The lectionary passages that we will generally follow over the next few months will follow Jesus as he begins his ministry, but always the cross is coming closer. There is a recurring theme as we follow these passages through, “Do not be afraid!.” One day, as I was looking at these passages and trying to do some forward planning, a song came on the radio that seemed so apt I jotted it into my notes. The words that caught my attention were:-

I went skydiving

I went Rocky Mountain climbing

I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu

And I loved deeper

And I spoke sweeter

And I gave forgiveness I’d been denying”

And he said

“Someday I hope you get the chance

To live like you were dying

Like tomorrow was a gift

And you’ve got eternity

To think about

What you’d do with it

What could you do with it

What did I do with it?

What would I do with it?

Tim McGraw, “Live like You Were Dying” 

written by Tim Nicholls and Craig Wiseman

I then turn to the Psalms and read, 

I am surrounded by trouble,

     but you protect me …

     With your own powerful arm

     you keep me safe.

You, Lord, will always

treat me with kindness.

Your love never fails.

You have made us what we are.

     Don’t give up on us now!

Psalm 138:7-8

Amen, be blessed,  Craig

Friday Bible Study Notes

Genesis 22: Abraham and Isaac

Another story that seems horrific. All sorts of questions arise, how does God even ask such a thing? How can Abraham even contemplate such an act? What might God ask of us? 

Bruggemann suggests that our understanding of God is as a tester at the beginning of the text and as a provider at the end, is the frame within which we must read this story. Earlier theologians also struggled, “Calvin says. ‘The command and promise of God are in conflict.’ Luther says, This is a ‘contradiction with which God contradicts himself.”

v1 “Some time later” – Isaac is old enough to carry the wood, and to know what constitutes a sacrifice. 

v2 Ishmael has been forgotten, “only son” 

relationship is recognised “who you love”

v3 Abraham had argued for the lives of the people in Sodom – but here he obeys without any argument. Is this faith or blind obedience?

“God is shown to be freely sovereign just as he is graciously faithful. That God provides shows his gracious faithfulness. That God tests is a disclosure of his free sovereignty.”

v5-9 Is Abraham carrying out God’s orders but excepting intervention? The narrator does not let us in on Abraham’s emotions, just tell us what is happening – the emotion is for the reader to imagine.

v10 Parallels with Job? “Like Job, Abraham is prepared to trust fully the God who gives and who takes away (cf Job 1:21).

“Neither the Joban poetry nor this Abraham story are about evil or the justice of God. Rather, they ask about faith which as Kierkegaard has shown, drives us to dread before the self is yielded to God.”

“It is evident in Exodus 20:20, Deuteronomy 8:16, 13:3,33:8 that testing is a common theme for a time of syncretism, like the Ahab-Jezebel period (cf 1 Kings 17-19). The term testing (nasah) is prominent in Deuteronomy, which faced syncretism most directly. The testing of Israel by God is to determine if Israel will trust only Yahweh or if it would look at the same time to other gods.”

v 11-14 God provides. “To assert that God provides requires a faith as intense as the conviction that God tests… In a world beset by humanism, scientism, and naturalism, the claim that God alone provides is as scandalous as the claim that he tests.” 

“Abraham’s obedience, though difficult to understand at times, is active not passive. He accepts and he responds. He does not initiate because it is God’s plan that is unfolding, not his. If that plan is to be brought to completion, and if Abraham is to play any part in it, he will have to accept the role into which he has been cast and trust the one whose story is being told – and that one is God.” Dianne Berget

v15-19 Promise repeated.

v20-24 a family tree – and Rebekah is introduced. More on her next time.

Friday Bible Study Notes

Genesis 18 & 19: Sodom

Abraham: Friend of God James 2:23

As God’s two companions head towards Sodom, so Abraham and Yahweh stand on the hillside discussing theological ethics.

v23 Abraham asks, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? and we are forced to ask “Is this a God of judgement and retribution or a God of mercy and grace?”

Abraham’s role is the look for the well-being of all humanity. The chosenness (known) of Abraham to be “doing righteousness and justice”  cf Isaiah 5:7, Amos 5:7, 24; 6:12; Jeremiah 23:5, 33:15

“Abraham calls into question the sense of humanity operative in the sinful city and on the part of Yahweh. Yahweh’s sense of humanity is no more acceptable to Abraham than is the practice of Sodom.” Bruggemann p 169

“Besides being individuals in their own right, people are also members of corporate bodies. They share in and contribute to a corporate identity. … they enjoy the common benefits of the group and they carry corporate responsibilities.”Bergant p75

v25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” Abraham haggles with God. Is that what our prayers of intercession are to do?

God is now more attentive to and more moved by those who obey than those who do not. Such an argument questions every caricature of God as the score-keeper and guardian of morality who is ready to pounce and judge and punish. No, God is more ready to celebrate, acknowledge , and credit for all the right-relatedness of a few. 

cf Hosea 11:8-9, Isa 53:5,10, Matt 5:43-48, Rom 3:21-26, Eph 2:14-16

God is not an indifferent or tyrannical distributor of rewards or punishments. Rather, God actively seeks a way out of death for us all. 

Genesis 19

So we reach Sodom, Is this an an old-fashioned story of retribution?  The opportunity for some fire & brimstone teaching?

v1-2 Hospitality

v3 protection

v4 the sin of Sodom is gang-rape

v6 Lot bargains for honour of his guests – although his alternative is no less shocking.

v8 Cf Judges 19 

v9 Another sin of Sodom is xenophobia

v10 Angels react and prepare to save Lot and his family

v12 son-in-law

v16 hesitation

v19 bargaining!

v20 escape

v24 retribution

v26 Lot’s wife – looking back

v29 The remembering of Abraham here is as crucial here as the remembering of Noah in 8:1. This narrator does not permit even remembering Abraham to make a difference to the total narrative. Abraham’s impact is limited to Lot. In that respect the impact of Abraham is less than that if Noah in the parallel narrative. This narrative still waits for a “better” gospel. WB p167

Minister

Liminal

It has become my habit to write a poem for Advent. In doing so, I try to instil something of the mood of the times and to reflect upon themes that seem to be prevalent. This year, the word I keep hearing is “liminality.”  It comes from the Latin limen “threshold, cross-piece, sill” But tends to get used when we cross a sensory threshold or we are in a transitory space. It seems to speak into these times when so much is changing and familiarity is consigned to the past. So, this years Advent poem plays with those ideas. I hope you find something of value within it.

Liminal

On the edge of a moment –

must fear drive the chaos of becoming?

Faced with inevitable loss –

can hesitant doubt be heard as hope?

At the cusp of unknowing –

can we be open to the presence of possibility?

On the rim of fragility –

is truthfulness already broken beyond repair?

Here we are: dissolving into uncertainty,

filling time with inactive verbs

carried by searing winds of destruction.

Here we are: on the edge of blessing,

discovering love amongst woken healers

rejoicing at the threshold of breath.

Craig Muir, Advent 2021

May this Advent be a time to reflect upon all that life reveals and the Christmas season that follows bring an openness to the presence of possibility. 

be blessed, Craig

Friday Bible Study Notes, Minister

Abraham & Sarah, Genesis 18

I’ve jumped passed it. This chapter is attributed to the Priestly source. It is written in a very ponderous, disciplined way and once again finds Abraham doubting (and laughing at) the promise. However it is also the moment when  Abram & Sarai become  Abraham and Sarah – and that is how they are known from now onwards; introduces a covenant relationship and a mark of belonging to this distinctive community through circumcision. 

Genesis 18 comes from the source known as the Yahwahist. It has a far more fluent storytelling style that is ‘“an accomplished work of epic art”: it expects  of the reader a willingness to be told a story. i.e the open-mindedness which can share in the most incidental details and understand latent subtleties and intimations.” Gerhard von Rad, Genesis, 1961.

18:1 YHWH or Angels?  singular Lord, plural three men, singular “My Lord,…” (v3)

a Revelatory encounter. 

18:2-8 The perils of welcome created an intricate ritual. Greeting – offer of shelter – acceptance – offer of food – acceptance – more food available than suggested – acceptance – served by host – creates debt – and ensure no threat to safety. 

urgency of the narrative – saw- ran – bow – brought – wash – rest – refresh – hastened – make ready – knead – make – ran – took – gave – hastened – prepare  took – set it before – stood – ate.

18:9-15 “Where is your wife, Sarah?” impolite!

“your wife Sarah shall have a son” unlike Hagar, the messenger does not speak directly to her.

Sarah laughs (cf 17:7) 

“this radical gospel requires shattering and discontinuity. Abrahm and Sarah have by this time becomes accustomed to their barrenness. they are resigned to their closed future. They have accepted their hopelessness as “normal”. the gospel promise does not meet them in receptive hopefulness but in resistant hopelessness.” Brueggemann

The call of God is nonsensical!

The Lord said to Abraham. “Why did Sarah laugh? … Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?

“I did not laugh”

“Oh yes, you did laugh”

“The laughter of disbelief seems to refute the invitation implicit in the question. Abraham and sarah’s world of possibility has been assaulted. But they have beaten off the attack. the story leaves them thinking their presumed world is still intact”

But not everything depends on their answer. The resolve of God to open a future by a new heir does not depend on the readiness of Abraham and Sarah to accept it” Bruggemann p 160. 

cf Elizabeth, Mary, 

Mk 10:27 “With humans it is impossible, but not with God for all things are possible with God.” 

Matthew 17:20 Nothing will be impossible for you. 

18:16 to set them on their way …

Friday Bible Study Notes, Minister

Hagar: genesis 16

16:1 Sarai as First Wife: “The inability bear children was a grave hardship for any woman in a patriarchal society, since the survival of the clan or tribe depended on the expansion of individual families. It was a particular affliction  or the wife of the patriarch , for it was her responsibility to provide the next leader of the group. Thus, Sarai’s barrenness was both a personal affliction and a condition that jeopardised the entire group. Dianne Bergant “Genesis: From the Beginning”

Sarai blames YHWH & looks to fix the situation  – surrogacy

16:1 Hagar: – alien – slave

“Female slaves were often given as marriage gifts by the family of the bride. Such slaves belonged to the wives and could not automatically be taken as concubines by the husbands.”

“As a slave, she has no power to make decisions about her own life. Without being asked she is given to the patriarch in order to produce a child that will not even be considered hers. the child will be adopted without her consent. She is raised in status from slave to concubine not because of any merit on her part, but because of the child whose she will bear.” Dianne Bergant “Genesis: From the Beginning”

16:3 This language promotes tension between Hagar as maid and Hagar as wife and between Sarai as wide and Hagar as second wife. The vocabulary also recalls the story of the garden. The primal woman “took” the forbidden fruit, ate it, and “gave” it to her man (Gen 3:6) Hagar becomes in effect the forbidden fruit. Like the primal man. Abram eats what is offered without question or objection.”  Phyliss Trible, “Hagar, Sarah & Their Children”

16:5 The pressures of polygamy

16:6 Hagar’s return to slavery – and then acts for herself. 

16:7 Hagar is named, recognised, spoken to directly

16:8 status is recognised – instructions given – a promise received

“Hagar is not frightened but enters immediately into a very candid conversation with this mysterious visitor. Previously, when God confronted Adamwith the question , “Where are you?” (3:9) and cain with the question “What have you done?” (4:10) both men tried to avoid a direct answer. when hagar is asked . “Where have you come from and where are you going?” she provided straightforward answers.” Dianne Bergant “Genesis: From the Beginning”

16:13 [Hagar] names the Lord who sees. “The narrator introduces her words with a striking expression that accords her a power attributed to no one else in the Bible. Hagar ‘calls the name of the Lord who spoke to her” She does not invoke the Lord, she names the Lord. She calls the name, she does not call upon the name. “You are El-roi” [God of seeing] she says. …. Hagar the theologian sees God and lives. Uniting the God who sees and the God who is seen. Hagar’s insights move from life under affliction to life after theophany. Finally they conclude the divine-human encounter in the wilderness.  Phyliss Trible, “Hagar, Sarah & Their Children”

From the beginning, Hagar is powerless because God supports Sarah. Kept in her place, the slave woman is the innocent victim of use, abuse and rejection. As a symbol of the oppressed, Hagar becomes many things to many people. Most especially, all sorts of rejected women find their stories in her. She is the faithful maid exploited, the black woman used by the male and abused by the female of the ruling class, the surrogate mother, the resident alien without legal recourse, the other woman, the runaway youth, the religious fleeing from affliction, the pregnant young woman alone, the expelled wife, the divorced mother with child, the shopping bag lady carrying bread and water, the homeless woman, the indigent relying upon handouts from the power structures, the welfare mother, and the self-effacing female whose own identity shrinks in service to other. Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror: Literary-feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984. p. 28

Hagar is a pivotal figure in biblical theology. She is the first person in scripture whom a divine messenger visits and the only person who dares to name the deity. Within the historical memories of Israel, she is the first woman to bear a child. This conception and birth make her an extraordinary figure in the story of faith: the first woman to hear an annunciation, the only one to receive a divine promise of descendants, and the first to weep for her dying child. Truly, Hagar the Egyptian is the prototype of not only special but all mothers in Israel. Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror: Literary-feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984. p. 28

Friday Bible Study Notes, Minister

Abram & Promise: Genesis 15

Once again YHWH needs to encourage Abram to trust in the promise. But there is another crucial question underlying this narrative. Can Abram trust YHWH?

15:1 “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” This reminder not to fear will become a common greeting through each God-human encounter. But perhaps Abram has good cause, we have jumped over Chapter 14, but it is worth a read as Abram becomes a war leader, but is now trying to carry on his herding life in peace. Is he in fact looking over shoulder at enemies  circling? 

“reward” = ṥkr = can be rendered wage but this usage implies gift and not quid pro quo. Here the reward is not a a prize that is earned but a special recognition given to a faithful servant of the King who has performed a bold or risky service. Abraham and Sarah are called to live their lives against barrenness. The “reward” calls them to live as creatures of hope” (Brueggemann)

cf Matt 5:4615:2-5 “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless,

What is it to be fearful, anxious? How do we respond in such situations.

Revelation, vision, disclosure – faith in the face of uncertainty 

15:6: “He believed!” cf Matt 16:15-17 Romans 4, Galatians 2-4

“the future of God’s goodness is open to those who trust themselves to that future, seeking neither to hold on to the present nor to conjure an alternative future of their own.” 

“The childless Abram will have not only an heir for his estate, but also offspring to numerous to count. Time when we lack what we desire can be discouraging, but only if we have a lost sight of the potential of the Lord to provide” Asshoto/Ngewa Africa Bible Commentary

7-21 Is this an older text? It seems to describe an ancient ritual. Two parties walk between the animals and through the blood. If one breaks the agreement then more blood will be shed.

Binding the commitment – covenant

– the promise will be kept

– the promise will be delayed

– do not fear , it holds from generation to generation

Using fire – it is only God who signs this covenant, gives the land unconditionally

The text of Genesis 15, taken as a unit asks whether Abraham can, in fact, trust. And it asks if Yahweh, can in fact, be trusted. It is faith which permits Abraham to trust and God to be trusted. It is unsure faith that wonders about delay. The issues are set here. The remainder of the Abrahamic narrative explores the question.” (Brueggemann)

Friday Bible Study Notes

Abram & Lot – Genesis 13

Genesis 13:1-5

This is a transitional text, moving the story from one location to another. But it is also transitional in Abram’s relationship with God, if he appeared to lose faith in God’s ability to care for him whilst in Egypt, now he re-discovering his spiritual relationship and returns to former places of worship to reconnect with God.

But for Sarai, there is very little transition. She is again referred to as wife and then disappears from the text whilst Abram and Lot determine the future.

13:5-7

The problems of wealth!

Growing tensions over land and water supply

13:8-13

Claiming the land – what of Canaanites and Perizzites?

Dividing the land. There is some wisdom and courage in Abram solution, the family is stripping the land bare and they need to divide their wealth if they are still to prosper. In doing so he trusts the promise and he trusts God’s abundance.

To trust God’s abundance is to stand in contrast to the ideology of scarcity that is dominant in our times – whether from a Capitalist or Marxist perspective. It is the language of those who fear foreigners, it is the language of those who create scarcity to profit from demand, it is the language of fearfulness – it is not the language of God. cf Luke 12:13-21

Abram’s generosity/Lot’s selfishness

“Lot chose the plains without hesitation and apparently without asking Abram’s advice. In using the beauty and fertility of the plain rather than his relationship with the Lord as his criterion for choosing the location of home. Lot left the land of Canaan and moved to live among the wicked in Sodom. Lot chose the plain because of its potential to multiply his wealth with our regard to the morality of the people he would live among. His choice would prove disastrous in the long term.

Lot’s attitude is common one on our continent. Many believers close their eyes to ethical considerations when they make business deals, seek promotion, or take other actions to advance their prosperity. It is important to take issues of right and wrong into account even as we strive for wealth. A little with the Lord is better than plenty he has not blessed (Prov 15:16; 16:8).”

Assohoto & Ngewa, Genesis, African Bible Commentary

14:14-17

Contrast with lack of faith in Chapter 12

“The two together (and neither alone) present faith the way it really is. Like Abraham, we are strange mixtures of prudence and trust. But in both, the gospel is at work. In both narratives the promise-making, blessing-giving God is at work. The trust of Abraham matters in these narratives. But it does not matter finally. What matters finally is the faithfulness of Yahweh to this family. “

Brueggemann, Genesis

Friday Bible Study Notes

Abram & Sarai- Genesis 12

History, Story or Theology?

History – We can not date Abram & Sarai. Various attempts have tripped over too many inconsistencies. The date of text is anywhere from c750 (Josiah) to c500 (Exile) 

The sources at least 3 different texts that have been combined – each text has own style & emphasis. The text we have is aweaving of earlier text, with editorial control/comment.

Story – uses a storytelling form to create an ancestral history – distinct from the primeval history of Genesis 1-11. These are family stories, to answer the question of “Where do we come from?” But don’t be concerned with use of the word story – these are narratives packed with truth – for people are people.

Theology storytellers and editors want to say something about God’s relationship with humanity through the eyes of a specific people. Commentators reflect their own context and experiences and how these ancient tales impact on their understanding of God

We come at it as 21st Century, western people who have found our way into this church community. What do we learn about God from these texts? What do we learn about ourselves, our relationships with one another and our relationship with God? What do these texts have to say to our context?

Barrenness & Promise

We are immediately told that Sarai is barren, the family line is coming to an end. But hopelessness is the arena for God’s life-giving action

Time for adventure – 12:1-2  – God calls the hopeless ones into a community of promise … calls the fixed ones into pilgrimage 

“with closed eyes … until having renounced thy country, thou shalt have given thyself wholly to me.” (Calvin)

12:4 So Abram went …  setting out in faith –  how does that feel?

Residing as Alien

12:10 residing as an alien – fearful, uncertain, 

Confronting Empire

In Egypt Abram lies about his relationship with Sarai and passes her off as his sister. When God intervenes, Pharaoh is furious and throws them out. At the same time Sarai loses her name, she becomes an object subject to the intrigues of the men and is referred to as “wife”. Yet, “Everything hinges on Sarai, Her condition threatens to negate the future, the continuation of genealogy, even while Yhwh calls Abram to relinquish his past and present. Let there be no misunderstanding Sarai the barren wife is the human pivot in this patriarchal narrative. She counts. (Phyllis Trible in Hagar, Sarah and their Children)

Minister

Open Church

“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7.

I don’t know about you, but I find prayer difficult. Not so much the act of praying, but holding on to a verse like this one. Experience says that we don’t always receive what we ask for. Sometime we can justify that by accepting that what we asked for was inappropriate, but other times the things we ask for in prayer will be worthy, valid, right and still we do not seem to find the response we sought. Some will say, “Ask more”, like a persistent child; or “Ask louder,” and I’ve certainly been in some prayer meetings were I’m convinced everyone believes God is deaf. Some will say my faith is faulty, that even asking these questions means that I don’t have enough faith to receive what I seek from God. Yet I know many with great faith who don’t receive what they seek. 

At the same time I get annoyed when people trivialise prayer, “I needed a car park place, said a prayer and there it was. Thank you God.” No, I don’t think God is your personal Genie, especially when we look around at the brokenness of life and wish God would magic that away as well. 

Yet, I also know that prayer can calm me when stressed, encourage me when disheartened, clear my mind when a million thoughts compete to be heard and can open up opportunities that I would never have thought possible. I particularly believe in people  coming together to pray. It allows us to hear one another’s prayers and get a sense of the things others seek. Sometimes we can hear a prayer and know we are not alone, or be awakened to a need we hadn’t noticed, or realise that we might be the one who can respond to that prayer in some way. Experience tells me that a church that is not praying together is in terminal decline, for we are not listening for God’s voice within our congregation or our community, we are operating in a vacuum and listening to no one but ourselves. It is not a healthy state for church.

So I was glad that we have re-started Open Church on a Thursday and that key to that time is spending time in prayer. In doing so we hold the whole community in prayer and ask questions of ourselves  “What is God saying to us?” Where is God leading us?” “What is the role of this church in this town?” I

It would be lovely to see more people calling in for some of the time and joining us in prayer alongside general chat about the world we live in.

be blessed

Craig