Buzz King: Grace & Joy thru Scripture

Supposedly, Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon, but in truth it was written 700 years later.  I studied Greek philosophy and literature in college at Occidental, long ago.  Something stuck with me later: Ecclesiastes was probably written in part as a response to the Greek influence on Hebrew culture at the time Ecclesiastes was written - just after the height of the Epicurean age.  We consider the jaded view presented by the author of Ecclesiastes and how in truth, the author is making a very positive point about the frustrations, the "vanity" or "vapor" of the things we grasp in this life "under the sun".  We consider why the author writes from the perspective of Solomon, and we look at the place Ecclesiastes holds in the world of philosophy - and what we can learn from this today.

I used to tease my kids, telling them things that were not real and getting them to believe it, before telling them it was a joke.  This backfired when my little daughter refused to eat an ice cream cone that I told her was safe to eat - convinced that I was trying to get her to eat cardboard.  I had turned myself into a wolf in sheep's clothing, a dad that was not to be believed.  We look at the use of the wolf in the Bible, as a symbol of brutal attack on us physically and spiritually.  We consider various Bible passages, from Jesus' warning about those wolves in sheep's clothing to Isaiah, who predicted a time when we would live with the wolf.  We consider the fact that it is time to do so - despite our society declaring Christians as inherently evil.

Wendy and I once traveled in Ireland with our kids - when they were quite small.  We had some adventures, in particular, a surprise concert at a nearby zoo, by U2.  We look at the book of Ecclesiastes, a very enigmatic and literate book that talks about the difficulties of finding true satisfaction and meaning in life on Earth.  It can be a very jaded read.  But it teaches us some very important points about God's plan for us in this life.  We look at how to grab onto joy, and we also consider how this Old Testament philosophy is strongly echoed in the New Testament.

I met a young man who considered himself a modern "Gnostic" - and I learned about the dire limitations of his faith.  We look at 1st John, a deeply theological letter that strives to set the reader straight on the basic tenets of Christian faith.  We look at issues such as Christ being both fully human and fully man, at the source of love, and the need to recognize the reality of sin.  We see why being fully Christian is so important today.

I visited Israel once, and drove the length of the old Unified Kingdom under David and Solomon: about 100 or so miles.  We look at the history of the 10 tribes of Israel, the United Kingdom, and the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah.  We consider the tiny size and brief period during when the Unified Kingdom existed.  We consider what a couple of Prophets and the New Testament has to say about the coming eternal, universal kingdom.  We also consider how this should impact the way that we deal with the chaos of the world around us.

We consider a couple of prominent Bible passages that superficially seem to back up the "fire and brimstone" sermon that I once heard from a rather strident pastor.  But we look at these passages more closely.  We consider whether God really is vengeful and violent.  We consider an alternative interpretation of these New Testament passages - and see if perhaps there is a common misinterpretation of the message of God, in both the Old and the New Testaments.

We consider an ancient landfill found in Egypt - which contains the oldest known New Testament fragments ever found.  We look at the very negative view that the ancient Jews had of garbage or refuse of any kind and what this means for God choosing to preserve his most ancient New Testament Word in a landfill.  We also consider a man I once met who worked in a landfill and how ashamed he was of his work.  Little did he know that he worked in the sort of place that has become beloved by archeologists and is a primary reason why future generations will have no choice to trust that the New Testament Word of God is real, not faked, not forged - and very dependable.

We consider something that I have had trouble conveying in my church and in my podcasts: how we know that we can relax and depend on God to take care of us.  We do this by looking at the Book of Esther, an ancient Hebrew story (and not really "history") about a woman who saves the entire Jewish people from annihilation.  God is never mentioned in the story.  Neither is prayer, the history of the Israelites, the covenant with God, or theology ever explicitly mentioned.  Yet, we see that this is a deeply spiritual book - and therein lies our secret.

When I was a boy, a girl went missing while playing Hide and Go Seek with some of us.  Her mother ended up offering a prayer, which I later identified, I believe, as the Prayer of Manasseh, from the Apocrypha.  We look at the history of the evil King Manasseh from the Kings and Chronicles Books, and at this prayer which is attributed to him (which he certainly did not write).  From the beautiful, poetic prayer we can learn a lot about why to pray and how to pray.

When I was a young kid in school, I was exposed to a boy who would probably now be called "neurodivergent".  I ended up learning a lot about what it means to be different, but still be made in God's image.  We look at Samson, a sinful, arrogant, corrupt, even laughable man who is manipulated by God to serving despite his apparent desire to dishonor his position as a Nazarite.  We look at the many lessons we learn about what God can do with someone or some situation that seems imperfect.

We look at a story from Judges: the female judge Deborah and how her army destroyed the far more advanced army of their enemy.  In the Bible, it is an epic of the Iron Age of the Canaanites vs. the Bronze Age of the Israelites.  We study both the prose and the poem version of this story.  We see how with God's help, the rag tag Israelite army destroys the experienced Canaanite army which is invading on their iron chariots.  We look at how this applies to us today - and we consider more than just the lesson that we need God's help.

My father served in the Pacific in World War II as a Marine and the leader of a combat unit.  We look at three stories of resurrection, of rising from spiritual death: the return of the exiles from Babylon, the rise of Christ after death, and the growth of the Christian church in very recent times.  We also look at how my sister serving as a foreign exchange student healed my father and allowed him to rise again.

We look at the traditional view of Holy Week, from the triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, to the gruesome crucifixion, to the glorious resurrection.  We note that low point between the ride into the Holy City and the rise of Jesus from death.  But we consider a somewhat different view - that the crucifixion does not break the joy from Palm Sunday to Easter.  We look at Jesus' last words on the cross and how they have been traditionally very misinterpreted.  We see that things are different than we have viewed them in the past.  We also look at an encounter I had as a kid with a family riding donkeys, and how we can see this as a lesson about why Jesus chose to ride a seemingly humble, if not ridiculous, animal into the city of his forefathers.

I once spoke with a highly educated physicist who was a psychiatric patient.  We call her Annie.  She talked to me about the Newtonian misconception of gravity as a force, when it really has more to do with the bending of spacetime.  We consider the biblical story of the invasion of Canaan, and the evidence to counter and to defend the validity of this story.  We then get back to the bending of spacetime - and we see that there is something very deep we can learn about advancing our faith.

I once saw John Wayne in a fancy mens store.  I was a boy, and was with an older volunteer who was buying clothing for a kid whose family had no assets.  We look at her bold behavior.  We consider several passages from the Bible that all tell us how we should behave when living out our faith.  We see that this volunteer, this older woman, truly followed the instructions of God as she approached John Wayne.