A Place of Grace

Imagine that you are newly married, starting a family, starting from scratch, and moving into your first house.  What is the first piece of furniture you would buy? Why?


Your answer might have been a TV, a couch, a bed, a dinner table, a desk, a hutch, or something entirely different. What sort of message would each of those pieces of furniture send?


The Hebrew word for a table is shul-chan, closely related to the word shel-chen, meaning “place of grace.” As Rabbi Daniel Lapin says, “Grace is one of those words we all use but would be hard pressed to define” (Buried Treasure, p 65). Take your best shot at it: What is grace?


Rabbi Daniel says, “Chen [grace] is used in [in the Tanakh, i.e. the Hebrew Bible] in two instances: The first of these is when someone in the Bible camps or rests in once place for a while, and the second describes human interaction that generates economic activity” (Buried Treasure, p 65). Look up the following passages and decide how grace—or favor—is manifested in each passage, and decide if you agree with Rabbi Daniel: Genesis 18:1-5; Genesis 19:15-22; Proverbs 3:3-4; Jeremiah 31:1-6.


What sort of idioms do we have in English involving a table? Do any of these relate to blessings of rest or prosperity?


Purdue University produced a study (”Family Meals Spell S-U-C-C-E-S-S”) that concluded:


 shared family mealtime was a greater predictor of academic success than number of parents in the family;


 more vocabulary is learned at a dinner table than during parent-child reading time;


 teens eating 5 or more times a week with their families were 67% more likely to get A’s than teens eating 2 times a week or less with their families;


 infrequent family meals was also a predictor of: tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol use; belligerent and suicidal behavior; poor work habits; negative peer relationships; eating disorders; and poor dietary habits.


Do you have stories of when your family dinner table (if you have one!) has been a place of grace?


The Parable of the Great Banquet:  Luke 14:15-23


When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God." Jesus replied: "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets & alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' 'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads & country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.'”


How is the banquet in this parable like many family meals?


What “dining tables” do we have at church, and what purposes do they serve?


Closing Thought:  Is the last sentence of the parable a judgment, or simply descriptive of what happened?

Learning by Imitation

Rabbi Daniel Lapin says:

In earlier times parents often depended upon their grown children for their very lives. The unspoken social compact called upon parents to raise their children, while in return, during the parents’ old age, those children would care for them. Back then it was perfectly clear that children were literally their parents’ hands. The adult children did all that those original hands were now too weary to accomplish for themselves. (Buried Treasure, p 59)

Tell a story, or stories, of where you have seen this “social compact” at work ...


We learned that the Hebrew word for a single hand is yad. If we stick a single letter in the middle (remember, we only care about the consonants) we get yeled, a Hebrew word for child. The name for that Hebrew “L” is lamed. Curiously, lamad is a Hebrew verb for teach/learn. Lapin says of children’s imitation of their parents:

While growing children certainly want their parents to recognize them as independent people, they also enjoy being considered as “hands.” Just watch how that little girl dresses herself in imitation of her mother’s sense of fashion. See her beg to be allowed to help bake that cake ... She wants to be linked to her mother ... Dads, if you are handy around the home, try giving your young son his own toolbox. Or better yet, earnestly enlist his assistance on some home maintenance project. Even though his help will undoubtedly complicate what may have been a simple task, invite him to participate with you. Be sure to ask for his help in a way that conveys your genuine need for "another hand.” (Buried Treasure, p 60)

Tell a story, or stories, of where you have been a part of this sort of imitative learning ...

Strangely, as much as the Hebrew scriptures use the words yad, yeled, and lamad, they rarely occur in the same verse! Read God’s judgment of Jerusalem in Isaiah 29:13-21. What examples of “bad learning” do you see in these verses?


Now read Isaiah 29:22-24. What conclusions can you reach about hands, children, and teaching in these verses?


What is the significance of the reference to Abraham in v22?


When / how is discipleship like “imitative learning?”


Closing Thought:  Even though our help will undoubtedly complicate what may have been a simple task for God, he invites us to participate with him. Where has he asked for your help and conveyed his genuine need for "another hand?”

A Real Knee-Slapper?

We are doing a lot of reading tonight! We’re skipping through several chapters of Genesis just to understand a single verse:

Sarah saw that [Ishmael] whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking (Genesis 21:9)

Whom was Ishmael mocking, and how, and for what reason?

We begin today’s story when Abram is 85, and his wife Sari is 75.

Genesis 16:1-12 [Note: "Ishmael" means “God hears”]

What sort of person would you expect Ishmael to turn out to be?

Now fast-forward ahead 14 years ...

Genesis 17:1-5,15-22

Notes:
"Abram" means “father of many”
"Abraham" means “father of many nations”
"Sarai" and "Sarah" both mean "princess"
"Isaac" means “he will laugh”

How many reasons can you give for Abraham laughing? How many are wrong or disrespectful?

Just a few days later, the Lord came to Abraham again ...

Genesis 18:10-15

How many reasons can you give for Sarah laughing? How many are wrong or disrespectful?

Finally, a year later ...

Genesis 21:1-10

Rabbi Daniel Lapin notes that laughter is a very human characteristic; no other animal truly laughs. “Laughter is a defining mark of humanity because only humans understand that there are norms in the universe” (Buried Treasure, p 46) ... and humor is the recognition that the norm, the expected, is out of whack! We say that Isaac (or yiTZCHaK in Hebrew) means “he will laugh.” However, the dark side of humor appears when evil ruptures the natural order of the universe; a miTZaCHeK is the one through whom this evil comes: the pervert; the sadistic brute; the wild donkey of a man. Whatever Sarah caught Ishmael doing, he was the miTZaCHeK, and she sent him as far away from her son as she could. Ancient Jewish tradition is that Sarah caught Ishmael committing the three gravest sins: idol worship; sexual immmorality; murder. Definitely not a laughing matter! Armed with what you now know, go back through these passages and look for more evidence of trouble to come. What do you find?

Two sons. Two pictures of TZCHK, a violation of the natural order of things. One, a blessing wrought by the Lord, prompts his parents to laughter. The second, a deviant, is destined to be no end of trouble. Lapin notes, “And should you ever find yourself doubting God, that He exists and that He loves us, the best proof that your doubts are unfounded is not the complicated theoretical proof in which theologians delight. It is the smile and laughter on the face of a newborn baby, and the joy it provokes in all who see it” (Buried Treasure, p 51).


A closing thought: “Laughter” (TZCHK) is related to a similarly-pronounced word for “sex” (SCHK). How many ways can laughter lead to sex, or sex lead to laughter?

Get to Know Me ...

There is a child in the youth group who is very resistant to discussing God (or even being in youth group, for that matter!). For this child—indeed, for most children in youth group—God and Jesus are abstractions, based on stories from Sunday School and without most substance.

Does such a child has a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Is it possible to be saved without knowing Jesus? That is, can you pray a sinner’s prayer to an abstraction and expect the prayer to have any effect?

(Strangely, when we discussed this in the service, most people said, "It's impossible to tell if somebody has a saving faith." However, I submit it's easy to tell if they do not! A saving faith changes how one lives: no change = no faith.)

Two weeks ago we learned that the Hebrew word for a single hand is yad. The Hebrew word for eye is a (which is the Hebrew letter ayin). Together they make the Hebrew word for knowing: yada.

What idioms do we have in English involving learning with our hands or our eyes?

Read 1 John 1:1-4:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.

Circle the places where hands or eyes (or touching or seeing) are mentioned. Based on these verses, what would you want to tell the skeptical kid in youth group?

Rabbi Pain writes, “The Hebrew word for know informs us that when we get to know someone or something, we nearly always do so from a very personal point of view. In other words, we really aren’t entirely objective. After meeting someone for the first time, we may say, “that is a most beautiful woman.” In saying this, we are actually revealing as much about ourselves as we are about that woman ... But the hand-eye them in the Hebrew know tells us much more than that we are subjective in judgment. It also tells us that the criterion we subconsciously use when getting to know someone or something is: “What can he, she, or it do to enhance my life?” (Buried Treasure, p 39) What is your reaction to this statement?

Read 1 John 2:12-14:

I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.

I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father.

I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.

I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Circle the places where hands or eyes (or touching or seeing) are mentioned. Based on these verses, what would you want to tell the skeptical kid in youth group?

(Me, I'd want to tell him of a personal God who has touched my life & whom I have seen at work. I think it is significant that John's words to the fathers are repeated: you have known him who is from the beginning. Let us bear witness to the children around us of what we have seen until they can see for themselves!)