Sunday, February 7

Oof. We certainly did not observe the Sabbath today. Jilly and I have been hanging curtains and baking/frosting cookies since 12:00 this afternoon. And when I say Jilly and I, I mean she has been baking and I have been keeping the dog from walking into the oven. But still, it's 10:30 and we're not in bed yet! Outrage!

Reading for February 7
Exodus 26:1-27:21
God keeps doling out the specifics here. This entire section of text contains the specific instructions for Moses to build the Tabernacle that will house the ark of the covenant. God spec'd that out last time. Anyway - none of this is terribly interesting, though a thought did cross my mind here.

I went to Italy a few months ago and was fortunate enough to visit the Vatican. I remember there being a strong dichotamy of feelings when I entered - on one hand I was blown away by the beauty of the place. The stained glass, the sculptures - I mean freaking Paul is buried there. Paul - the guy who wrote the majority of the New Testament, it's hard to not feel awe when something like that is within 50 feet of you.

On the other hand, I thought, "The amount of money used to construct and maintain this palace could have been used to help the poor and starving people of the world." I imagine that this could be debated for an enternity, but I don't want to chime in - just wanted to bring it up.


Matthew 25:1-30

A couple of parables
This first parable is one that my pastor, Christian spoke about last summer in a series called "Images of God in the stories that Jesus told". I can't find the link on the site - but let me see what I can remember. So back in these times, when a couple got married, they had the ceremony and then went and visited people's homes individually throughout the day to celebrate their marriage. As the day went on, the people of the town went to the place where the big party would be. But no one ever knew when the bride and groom would show up because of the time it took to visit everyone individually.

OK - now there's ten virgins who are waiting for this party. They all have lamps because in those times a woman was supposed to carry a light around at night, and if she was without one it meant that she was up to no good. So now the ten of them are waiting for the party to start, but only five of them brought enough oil to keep their lamps lit the entire night. When the bride and groom finally showed up, the five "foolish" virgins had to go buy more oil, but when they came back to the party, the groom said "I don't know you" and shut them out.

This parable is further elaborating on the "thief in the night" thing that Jesus is going to do. And its scary because it basically says that there will once again be a point where the God of the New Testament reverts back to the God of the Old Testament.

The second parable in this reading seems to be unrelated. It is the parable of the talents. A talent is an amount of money that is about $1000. So a master gives one of his servants 5 talents, another one 2, and the last servant one talent. The servants who receive the 5 and 2 go out and double them, but the one who received one goes out and buries it until his master returns - oh, there's the connection to the previous parable. Anyway - the ones who doubled their talents were rewarded, and the one who buried his talent was punished.

My interpretation of this is to not hide the gifts or "talents" (get it?) that God has given you. God expects you to go out and use your talents to multiply the blessings and praise that you can give to God.

Psalm 31:1-8
Nothing really stands out in this one. Kinda more of the same. Save me from my enemies and such.

Proverbs 8:1-11

 ¹⁰ Choose my instruction instead of silver,
       knowledge rather than choice gold,
 ¹¹ for wisdom is more precious than rubies,
       and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Hey, alright. I am exhausted. I must thank my friend Olivia for continuing to read this thing day after day and sending me some encouragement. Thanks Liv!