So Many 40’s

We are in the midst of the season of Lent in the Christian calendar.  Lent is forty days long, excluding Sundays which are of Lent but not in Lent.  Last Sunday was the second Sunday of Lent.  I have been thinking of the fact that the number forty (40) occurs frequently in the bible.  If you are familiar with the bible, I’m sure you can think of some of the times when this happens.  Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness after his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.  It rained for 40 days and nights during the flood which God sent to cover the earth.  The Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years after escaping from slavery in Egypt.  Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and night in his encounter with YHWH (God).    That is just a few of the better-known examples of the number 40 occurring in the bible.  However, if we take a bit of a dive into this, we will find there are many more – including some that are rather obscure e.g. the Egyptians spent 40 days embalming the body of Jacob – how’s that for obscure.   

So, is this just a coincidence – or is there a deeper meaning in the number 40 than just a measurement of mathematics or a length of time?  Well, to explore this I did what most people would do these days, I started with a question to AI.  I found out that the number 40 occurs 146 times in the Old Testament and New Testament.  This is the type of question that AI is good at answering. As noted above, there are occurrences where the number seems to be significant and others where it is not so much.

Here’s a few more examples:

·         Jesus appeared to his disciples for 40 days between his resurrection and ascension

·         Elijah traveled 40 days and 40 nights without food to Mount Horeb

·         The first three kings of Israel—Saul, David, and Solomon—each reigned for 40 years

·         Several judges, including Othniel, Deborah, Barak, and Eli, served for 40 years.

·         The holy of holies in the Temple was 40 cubits long 

·         Mosaic Law allowed a maximum of 40 lashes (stripes) for a guilty person

·         Goliath taunted the army of Israel for 40 days before David defeated him

·         The prophet Jonah warned that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days

I will leave it to you to decide if the examples are significant or not – for me some are and some don’t seem to be.  However, taking the big picture view, it seems to me that 40 has a significance beyond just its use as a measurement or in counting.  Looking at the symbolic meaning of the number, we find that 40 can symbolize completion.  Forty can be used to represent a complete generation.  Turning to another source for symbols, the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols states, “the number forty marks the completion of a cycle, ending in a radical change or a passage to a fresh level of activity or of living.”  Symbols can be difficult to tie down their meaning.  However, it does give us a different way of looking at the biblical stories.  For me, the 40 in those stories don’t as much mean a measurement but, rather, can represent the story of completion.  Whether the Israelites were actually in the wilderness for 40 years, rather it was a completion of their time of preparation for entering into the Promised Land to fulfill the promise that God had made to Moses. In the bigger picture, we are not ready to move to the next phase of something until we have completed the current stage we are living in.  That’s why we are not born fully formed – like Athena who came fully formed out of Zeus’ forehead.  We need to grow through the stages of life from infancy to childhood to adult and on.  Hopefully we will continue growing throughout our lives.

Something to consider and pray about in Lent.  May your Lent be a blessed one.  

 

Whose Amazing Grace

I was driving the car last week and listening to a program on CBC Radio 1 – The Next Chapter.  It was an interview with Christina Sharpe the author of Ordinary Notes.  As the on-line material for the program states, the book “explores the everyday complexities of Canadian Black life in her work as a professor and shares those experiences in her new form-defying book.” 

Sharpe provides an interesting and evocative perspective on the ‘black experience’.  One statement that particularly caught my attention was her critique of the song Amazing Grace.  Here is part of Clarke’s critique of this iconic song of redemption discussing Barack Obama singing the song during the eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who was killed in a mass shooting at a Charleston church:

And then, of course, when he sings it’s the opposite of Glover’s tapping. He had to sing “Amazing Grace” because “Amazing Grace” is precisely that unhearable Black suffering. It’s precisely that song of romance and redemption because we know John Newton’s history. We know that he keeps working on the slave ships after his conversion and it’s only later that he writes “Amazing Grace.”

To sing “Amazing Grace” is to mispronounce the song. And it’s always trying to articulate. It is to insist on a romance of salvation in which the grace is for Newton. The grace is not for us. It is to misunderstand the genesis and the subject of the song and the violence that the song never begins to deal with. The song has long elided its origins and attached itself to the fascia of Black spirituality. When we sing this, who is the wretch? Who was lost? Who was found? Who is in need of redemption? It is about Newton’s journey; it has nothing to do with the horrors and terrors of slavery for the enslaved.

Amazing Grace has become the iconic theme for freedom and redemption.  Sharpe’s critique of the song made me figuratively, if not literally, sit up and take note (remember I was driving in my car, so I was already sitting up).  As Sharpe states, the song expressed the redemption of the composer, John Newton who was a slave trader and recognized the wrong he had committed and was redeemed.  It was not about the redemption of black people who had been enslaved.  Sharpe states, the song has “attached itself to the fascia of Black spirituality.”  It has become an iconic ‘spiritual’ anthem in black culture. 

The question that I have when considering this is, can this song be an anthem for black people given that is all about the redemption of the composer who did go on to fight to abolish the slave trade?  That cannot be answered by me, an old white guy.   But it is legitimately for me to ask, is it appropriate for people to use a song which expresses the universal truth of the experience of redemption and forgiveness, if it is written by someone who is expressing experience which is not one you share?  I can think of the Israelites being freed from slavery in Egypt.  I am not Jewish and was never enslaved in Egypt.  Can that story of a people being freed from slavery not be true for me and represent the breaking of metaphorical chains which enslave each of us?  One definition of sin which resonates with me is, the things which chain us to the past.  That is a common experience which people can relate to, and it is, in part, why the story of Moses leading the Israelites to freedom has resonated through the millennia. 

So, was Obama wrong to sing Amazing Grace at the funeral of a black pastor who was murdered in a mass killing?   Can the song legitimately represent the fight against the continuing legacy of slavery in the United States?  It certainly resonated with people and the song, it seems, is the anthem of freedom for black, at least in the United States.  Sharpe gives a thoughtful critique of that event and, by implication, how the song is used more generally.  It is worth deeper reflection on the questions that it poses.

May we be blessed on our journey to have those chains which enslave us broken.

Pining for the Fleshpots of Egypt

Lorna and I took a short trip away from the cottage this past week end.  The purpose of the trip was to visit St Mary’s Anglican Church in Summerside PEI.  The Rector/priest-in-charge was a student in our Parish here a few years ago. 

We had a positive experience worshipping there on Sunday which offered us a choice of using the more modern way of following the service on the screen at the front of the church or using the traditional way of having prayer and hymn books.  I chose the screen and Lorna chose the books.  That is something I may explore at another time.  However, I want to talk about our experience having breakfast before the service.

We had breakfast at the Starlite Café and Dairy Bar in Summerside near our motel.  I was a trip down memory lane with the café being a blast from the past, specifically the nineteen fifties.  The décor which except for its pristine state could have been original.  There was a juke box consul at every table with appropriate song selections for 25 cents (on reflection I don’t think a juke boxes would have cost that much in 1950’s but that’s a quibble). There were adds for Fanta Orange and Grape sodas (we both had forgotten about Fanta Grape).  There was the mandatory poster of Elvis in the army and much more.  There was also two 1950’s gas pumps which neither of us were old enough to have operated back when they were new.  I believe the price for the gas was 67 cents a gallon which was too high but still ridiculously low by today’s standards.  One source I checked on-line (certainly not available in the 1950’s) quoted the price at 18 cents a gallon which sounds more like it.  I would not have been surprized to see the Fonz from Happy Days in the next booth. 

In any case it was a trip down memory lane for both of us (there wasn’t the other infamous kind of a trip generally available until a decade later).  Memory lane was well travelled by almost all of the customers being of an age that would have grown up in the 1950’s and Lorna and I certainly enjoyed reminiscences of the past.  I think we were both a bit nostalgic about those times.  They were idyllic in many ways when fathers worked in jobs that supported the family and enabled us to live a comfortable lifestyle and mothers stayed at home raising the children and you could go out and play in the neighbourhood with friends and not come home until it was time for lunch or dinner.  Who would not want to go back to those times when everything was great or at least seemed that way to those of us lucky to be in the right circumstances.

However, we are also having a viewing experience which gives us another perspective on those times.  We are currently watching the first season on Mad Men on DVD.  Neither of us have seen the series and we purchased the DVD’s of the first season for our cottage viewing, now that we have updated from VHS and have a DVD player which was purchased last year. 

This presents a very different view of these times.  It is actually set in the early 1960’s.  However, most of the cultural values were what can be classed as the 1950s.  The only people of colour are elevator operators or cleaners or serving in similar jobs.  The series is about advertising men (mad men as they called themselves) and it was truly all men.  They women were secretaries, telephone operators and women did stay home and raised the children in suburbia and gave up any thoughts of careers when they got married.  The Mad Men are portrayed with all the worst characteristics of the male; they drink excessively and drive after drinking, they viewed woman as potential sex partners and tried to ensure that the potential did not go unfulfilled.  Gay men were definitely in the closet and lesbian women were also deep undercover.  And everyone seemed to smoke all the time.  It was not something that encouraged nostalgia in either of us.

Both views are, of course, not true reflections of reality.  They are viewed through the distorting lenses of time and selected memories.  However, both perspectives could be something that does make some people hanker for the good old days.  Why can’t we have a time when men were men and women were women and everyone knew their place and accepted it without question.  Why can’t America and even Canada be great again? 

There is a great danger is longing for our fantasies of what life was like and wishing we could remake the world in the image of our selective and distorted memories.  That was what the Israelites experienced on their journey to the Promised Land.  They murmured against the hardships of their journey with the monotony of manna from heaven and the pined for the fleshpots of their former lives in Egypt with its security and familiarity.  They conveniently forgot about the hardship and cruelty they had experienced under the slave masters.  Yes, the grass did look greener back along the banks of the Nile. 

Of course, they blamed Moses who had (mis)led them out of Egypt.  The hero had become the villain.  It seems to be our nature to look for someone who will save us and has the answers to all our problems.  Someone who will point the finger away from us and at the Other who is the source of our problems.  That was what many followers of Jesus was looking for; someone who would feed their bodies if not their souls, someone who would defeat the Romans; someone who would cast out their demons and cure their leprosy. However, his early promise seemed to be a bust.  The triumph of Palm Sunday turned into the despair of Good Friday.  We are still hoping for someone who will take us directly to that triumph. 

The nineteen fifties of our imagination never were but we are still looking for someone to lead us back to the fleshpots of Egypt.  The journey to the Promised Land is long and there are no short cuts but the journey is worth it. 

Those fleshpots never were that good, were they? 

Blessings on your journey

Reading the Bible 38 Genesis 44 – The Test

Joseph again puts his brothers to the test.  He has his servants plant his cup in Benjamin’s belongings and then pursues and catches them red handed with the proof of their apparent dishonesty.  As a result of this the thing that the Jacob and the brothers feared most comes to fruition.  Benjamin will be kept in Egypt as Joseph’s slave.  Judah now steps up to the plate and pleads that Benjamin be allowed to return home.  If he does not return with the brothers he is afraid that it will kill Jacob. 

This action seems unnecessarily cruel on the part of Joseph.  A kind-hearted reader might think that Joseph has put his brothers through enough to pay them back for their treachery towards him.  After all he is aware that they apparently were actors in enabling God’s grand plan for Joseph and his chosen people to fulfill the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  However, this test was to determine once and for all if his brothers had been transformed in the years since they betrayed him.  If Joseph had not gone through the transformative experience in Egypt it might have been reasonable to expect that at least a small part of him would have been pleased to put his brothers through a bit more torment as pay back.  However, I believe that Joseph, being the person he is now, had only pure motives in this act.  Sometimes been soft-hearted is not what is required.  Sometimes we all need a bit of iron in our souls to travel the journey that God calls us to. 

Reading the Bible 36 Genesis 42: 26-36 – A Father’s Love

The brothers have returned from Egypt with the food they sought.  However, Joseph has held Simeon in Egypt as surety for the brothers return with Benjamin.  Here we have the question of fatherly love.  What will Jacob do when faced with the possibility of losing the one remaining son of his true love Rachel and the supposed certainty of never seeing another son – the second born of the unloved Leah?  There is no question in Jacob’s mind.  He vows that Benjamin will never go to Egypt for if he lost Benjamin it would “bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol”; he would die from sorrow.

As a subplot to this inquiry into fatherly love, we have the declaration by Ruben that if he allows Benjamin to return with them and Benjamin does not come back, Jacob may kill Ruben’s two sons.  This amazing declaration by Ruben seems an incredible disregard for his own progeny and his own future as his sons were indeed his future in that time.  Perhaps he hoped that if the worst happens Jacob would never carry out the sentence and kill his own grandchildren.  However, it does illustrate the question about where a father’s loyalty and love resides.  Ruben held his duty to his father and to his brother Simeon ahead of the lives of his own sons.  Jacob certainly held his love for Benjamin above the life of his son Simeon.

This leaves us with the question about how we love our children.  Can it be equal?  We say of course it has to be.  However, some children are easier to love than others.  Modern parenting says that we should treat all our children equally but most, if not every parent of more than one child, knows that this is often not possible.  Some children, as with people in general are easier than others to like and love.  As children we have probably agreed at some point with the eternal cry of Tommy Smothers, ‘mom always liked you best’.   We believe that God loves all His children equally but secretly we hope that He likes/loves us more than the difficult neighbour we have trouble liking much less loving.  That is the challenge of both being a parent and a Christian – to do what seems at times to be impossible – to love one another and ourselves as Jesus loves us.  We are told that with God all things are possible but thank God we can be forgiven our shortcomings and our sins. 

Reading the Bible 34 Genesis 41: 37-57 – The Stuff of Dreams

And it came to pass (as will be said later in this same book) that Joseph’s interpretation of the Pharaoh’s dreams were realized.  The seven years of plenty were followed by the seven years of famine.  The Pharaoh’s discernment that Joseph was the one to lead the country through this time of trial was confirmed.   All seemed to be well – at least in Egypt.  However, there are two points which are almost throw away lines at the end of the chapter that should not be overlooked.  

First we are told that Joseph sold to the Egyptians the wheat that had been stored up in the good years.  Apparently there was no free lunch in Egypt in those days.  The wheat that had I’m sure been taken by the Pharaoh was not given back to the people.  They had to buy it back from their ruler through the auspices of Joseph.  There does not seem to be any question that this is just how things were.  It is not a case of the welfare state.  Joseph, the man who had been looked on with favour because of the gifts that God had given him was quite willing to participate in this act of government control which could be interpreted as being ordained by God.  I’m not sure how this would be viewed by those Christians – usually of the fundamentalist bent al la the Tea Party – who call for less government and fewer taxes.  Would they hold that this was necessary for God’s plan to be fulfilled for the Israelites – God chosen people - at least until the United States was established?  Therefore this inconvenient biblical passage can be overlooked.  Of course I am using historical relativism to judge the situation and of course we have to see that God truth is not the same for all people in all times.  God’s truth is being revealed in new ways in an ongoing revelation.  

The second point is that famine was severe throughout the world. Here we have a chicken and egg situation.  God foretold the coming famine through dreams sent to the Pharaoh.  He also gave Joseph the gift of the interpretation of that message.  Was the famine part of God’s plan?  Was it necessary for God to send a famine on the world to enable His plan for Joseph and the Israelites to unfold?  Or did God just use his omniscience to use the events that were destines to happen?  Was the suffering that was inevitable with a world-wide famine necessary for God to fulfil His intention?  It is easy to read into events our understanding of God’s will when they fit our understanding of how God works in the world and how people who we believe deserve God’s punishment receive it with natural events – AIDS as punishment for Gays comes to mind and even the reaction by some to the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina as punishment for the wickedness of that sinful city a la Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is very easy for people of all stripes to relish when bad things happen to those who we consider bad people.  It is always dangerous to believe that God is on our side and should meet out punishment to those we believe deserve it.  We don’t like to leave punishment in the hands of God as God says elsewhere.