kevin baker

husband, father, grand father, teacher, lover of books, coffee, people, and Jesus.

[kevin baker @revkevbaker]

@JD_Vance_Q1 D

[Rev. Benjamin Cremer @Brcremer]

I just don’t think we Christians realize how fragile we make Christianity look when we act as though our faith is threatened by every political and cultural shift.

When we act as though our faith needs a political party and an authoritarian president in order to survive.

[Chad Bird @birdchadlouis]

Our Life in the Wilderness

The Bible begins in a garden (Eden) and ends in a city (New Jerusalem). In between, there’s lots of time in that dry, desert territory known in Hebrew as the מִדְבָּר (midbar).

The midbar is usually translated as “wilderness” or “desert.” Israel spent 40 years wandering in this midbar. David was driven into the midbar by Saul. And Jesus spent 40 days being tempted in the midbar by the devil.

The Hebrew name of Numbers is Bamidbar, “in the wilderness,” taken from the opening sentence, “The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness [bamidbar] of Sinai…”

We’ve talked before about the theological nature of the biblical landscape. Rivers, deserts, mountains, seas, valleys, and fields are (what we might call) “Geographical Dogmatics.” Israel even puts sin on the map at times, such as Massah (“Test”) and Meribah (“Quarrel”) in Exodus 17:7. At other times, they put divine grace on the map, such as at Gilgal (“Rolling”), where the Lord “rolled away” the reproach of Egypt from them via circumcision (Joshua 5:9).

Sometimes a map is just as helpful, if not more helpful, than a commentary when reading the Scriptures.

The midbar/wilderness is iconic of a place of deprivation, suffering, want, and need. It is the anti-Eden, the godforsaken place, where the children of God undergo testing in life. In the wilderness, the Lord humbled Israel, testing them, letting them hunger and feeding them with manna, that they might know “that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:2-3).

This is why Jesus, as Israel-reduced-to-one-man, endured his temptation in the wilderness, where he too hungered and quoted to the devil this verse from Deuteronomy.

And the wilderness is where we, with painful frequency, sojourn in this life. When surrounding us are the hot, desert sands of anxiety and fear. Where we see no green grass of joy but lots of sharp rocks of grief. Where day after day, we spy no oasis of hope but only a horizon of despair. Here, too, is the place we enter when we rebel against God and think we’ll create our own utopias out of the raw materials of greed or lust or power, only to find our souls are full of sand.

That, too, is one reason that Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. He knows the place where you are. He’s been there, hungry and thirsty and attacked. And he is there now, with you, in whatever wilderness you might find yourself. To bring you a cup of the sweet water of hope in the drought of your despair. To lead you out of the heat of fear and into the shade of peace. And gently but firmly to guide you away from your failed utopias of sin and into the paths of forgiveness and righteousness.

Jesus is the God of the garden, the city, and the wilderness. Wherever you are, he is close at hand, ready and eager to heal, love, forgive, and sustain you.

[Fleming Rutledge @flemingrut]

CNN has just posted this letter from the rector of the largest Episcopal congregation in the US, St Martin's in Houston. If only other leading pastors in red states would be as courageous.
https://t.co/NqcqkTHXY9

[Beth Moore @BethMooreLPM]

Want you guys to know something. I’m trying hard not to add to the angry noise here but it’s taken every bit of self-discipline I have to keep my mouth shut these last weeks. If a democracy can be defined by its REPEATED choices of leaders & its stomach for corruption, deception, financial fraud & violence, America is virtually amoral. This era will prove to be a cautionary tale of 2 corrupt kings & a populous chanting, “Lie to me!” “Steal from me!” I cannot fathom that these are our choice leaders. Dear God.

That’s all I got. I’ll go back to grapevines and dogs.

[Shane Claiborne @ShaneClaiborne]

Today is the anniversary of the murder of Oscar Romero in El Salvador. On March 24, 1980, he was killed as he served communion.

Although he began as a conservative archbishop, opposed to the progressive liberation theology that was popular among those seeking to help poor farmers in El Salvador, Oscar Romero was deeply impacted when his friend, a priest, was assassinated as a result of commitment to social justice. Through weekly homilies on national radio, Romero advocated an end to the repression of the people in El Salvador, thus making himself an enemy of the government and the military. He was not successful in ending the violence: more than seventy-five thousand Salvadorans would eventually be killed, one million would leave the country, and another million would be left homeless. Because of his prophetic witness, Romero became a target of assassination. As he was saying Mass on March 24, 1980, he was shot and killed. “A bishop will die,” Romero had said, foreseeing his own fate, “but the church of God — the people — will not perish.”

Romero said, “It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts: it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is the Lord’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No sermon says all that should be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. That is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that affects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very, very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the Master Builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own.”

Lord, we know the world will kill your prophets. Nevertheless, give us words to convict, to heal, to raise up others for justice, and to offer forgiveness for those who harm us. Amen.

[Andy Stanley @AndyStanley]

There is no win in comparison.

[Skye Jethani @SkyeJethani]

I'm pretty sure the "road not taken" outlined in this article is the one Jesus described as "narrow."
https://t.co/r409TBxRrg

[kevin baker @revkevbaker]

@Brink_Thinker Son of a nutcracker!

[kevin baker @revkevbaker]

@KaitlinCurtice Hi

[Skye Jethani @SkyeJethani]

This may be the most un-American thing I have ever seen. Intentionally slow, relational, & designed for the well-being of society's more vulnerable members? Most American churches don't even do that, nevermind our supermarkets!

[Shane Claiborne @ShaneClaiborne]

Seems like a good quote for today…
And every day.

[Leonard Sweet @lensweet]

The bigger Jesus is in your life, the smaller everything else becomes . . . all the problems, all the pressures, all the perplexities, all the anxieties, all the disappointments, all the losses. #BigJ

[Shane Claiborne @ShaneClaiborne]

Raise your voice…
And sign our petition:
https://t.co/KiQz2E5OJ7

[kevin baker @revkevbaker]

@mbird12 Yes it is!

[kevin baker @revkevbaker]

@emilykmay 9w6

[kevin baker @revkevbaker]

@kkdumez @Peter_Wehner @mbird12 Yes, he likes to "tea" it up a bit, doesn't he :)

[kevin baker @revkevbaker]

@BethMooreLPM Had to put my "Bella" down a couple months ago. I believe this is how she will be waiting for me when I get to heaven. Sitting on top of a round hay bale waiting and watching for me. :)