But Honey...
Stories
Contents
"But Honey..." by C. David Mckirachan
"Protectors of the Ark" by Frank Ramirez
* * * * * * *
But Honey...
by C. David Mckirachan
2 Samuel 6:1-5,12b-19
In his book on the Apostles’ Creed, William Barkley says that faith is personal, but it’s not private. That my friends is a fine line, and fine lines tend to cause cuts, paper and razor. Often the enthusiasm and ecstasy of an experience of the imminence of our Lord leads not only to misunderstanding, but to division and downright ugliness.
Michal was David’s partner in crime, in life. She was his shield mate as much as a female companion. There was more going on here than her prudishness. She was jealous. David’s faith lifted him to a place where she had no experience. Her world was bounded by more stringent and limited lines of behavior and understanding. Her reach was too short, her sense of self too small, her metaphysics too materialistic to let her hero do the tango with a god that had no visceral meaning in her universe. She was out of her league and David had waltzed away from her. She didn’t understand, and her only fall back was a rigid propriety that left her literally barren.
We’ve all run into this in our congregations. The last time you danced in a speedo before communion table? You know what I mean. When in the high times, we are lifted and filled with the gifts of the Spirit and someone not only complains about the length of the service, but criticizes us for scaring people with too much volume. Sometimes I feel like Paul, writing to the Corinthians or the foolish Galatians. Don’t you get it you boobs? God is here! Let go, will you! But shouting will do no good. In fact it might cause more trouble. They don’t get it. And we are bound to love them. Even though they live small and barren lives, while the Spirit invites us all to dance.
I had a wife once (how’s that for weird) who stopped coming to church because she didn’t like to see me doing my ‘shtick.’ She knew it was an act and I should get a grip before I started believing that it had any sort of meaning. I kid you not. I would try to explain the whole thing to her and proceed to dig myself deeper into the mire of a world without God’s presence. This passage helped me through that one. I learned to pray for her, not to stop being so rough on me, but to get a taste, an inkling of the glory, the wonder, the joy of being touch by the Spirit. She was jealous and angry and chose loneliness over communion.
I think that’s our job with our brethren. Rather than judging them or defending ourselves, we are called to be instruments of grace. And once in a while I think it’s not inappropriate to dance. I’ll let the Lord instruct you about wardrobe.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. Two of his books, I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder, have been published by Westminster John Knox Press. McKirachan was raised in a pastor's home and he is the brother of a pastor, and he has discovered his name indicates that he has druid roots. Storytelling seems to be a congenital disorder. He lives with his 21-year-old son Ben and his dog Sam.
* * *
Protectors of the Ark
by Frank Ramirez
So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. (2 Samuel 6:15)
The feast of the Epiphany is a three day event in Ethiopia. It’s held around half a month later than it is in the Western world because the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, like some of the other Orthodox churches, has not adopted the calendar reforms instituted in most parts of the world, the result of the fact that the year is not quite exactly three hundred and sixty-five and one quarter days. That means the extra day of Leap Year every four years almost but doesn’t quite make up for the slightly incorrect length of our year.
Regardless, once Epiphany comes to this part of the world people don immaculate white robes and process joyfully through the streets. Believers are blessed with water from a cross-shaped pool as they celebrate what they call Timkat. Park of this Epiphany observance is meant to echo and celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan.
But the festival also venerates the sacred Ark of the Covenant, which held the the original tablets known as the Ten Commandments. So models of the sacred Ark of the Covenant are carried by the most venerable priests, each copy draped in cloth because even though these objects are not the true Ark of the Covenant, they are still considered too sacred to look at.
There’s a reason that Ethiopian Orthodox Christians place so much emphasis on the Ark. They believe the real Ark of the Covenant, the one that David led in a joyful procession into ancient Jerusalem, came to reside in Ethiopia -- and resides there still. The Ethiopian church is considered one of the most ancient Christian fellowships. The Ethiopians themselves claim to have been Jewish for a thousand years, and Christians the past two thousand year. They heavily emphasize the Old Testament, and still practice many laws and customs from the Torah.
So that’s the question. Does it reside in Ethiopia? Although scripture makes it clear that this sacred ark, which traveled across the desert for forty years as God’s people took a circuitous road to the Promised Land, entered into Jerusalem when King David began to reign over a united kingdom, and for which his son King Solomon built the Temple to house it, the Bible has less to say about what eventually became of it.
Was it taken to Babylon as part of the spoils of war after 586, when the Temple was destroyed? No one knows. But the Ethiopians believe that years before Queen Sheba of Ethiopian was impregnated by Solomon. She bore him a son, the Ethiopians remind the rest of the world, who was named Menelik. He in turn stole the Ark after visiting his father, and, they say, Menelik brought it back to Ethiopia.
Or at least that’s what is said in the Kebra Negast, an ancient Ethiopian history of its royal house. Over the centuries it was housed in different places, and hid from invaders. Now, according to their beliefs, the Ark can be found in a church in the city of Aksum, in the northern park of the country.
But don’t ask the leadership of the church what the Ark looks like. They will Even the honored members of the Ethiopian Orthodox church have never the seen the Ark, which is considered too holy for even the most venerated clergy to see.
The Ark, said to be hidden in a simple church, is seen only by one special guardian who, once chosen, will never leave the compound where it is stored. If this individual happens to come to the gate of the church he might speak about it, but he won’t describe it. It is against his job to do so.
Could it be that the Ark really be housed in Ethiopia. The Ethiopians themselves have no doubt about it. Despite the fact that virtually no one else will ever see what is in that ancient looking church, not even the Ethiopians themselves, its presence in their country is fact beyond doubt.
Books filled with intrigue, suspense, and skullduggery examine these claims and sometimes scoff at this claim, or other experts suggest that there may be something to the story. Because it cannot be examined or tested by outsiders it’s a matter of taking it all on faith, not science.
And perhaps that is okay. The belief that their nation has been entrusted with this ancient artifact strengthens their faith, and carries with it an important sense of responsibility. Maybe it doesn’t really matter. Maybe what matters is the joy that accompanies worship centering on the Ark of God.
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, July 12, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"But Honey..." by C. David Mckirachan
"Protectors of the Ark" by Frank Ramirez
* * * * * * *
But Honey...
by C. David Mckirachan
2 Samuel 6:1-5,12b-19
In his book on the Apostles’ Creed, William Barkley says that faith is personal, but it’s not private. That my friends is a fine line, and fine lines tend to cause cuts, paper and razor. Often the enthusiasm and ecstasy of an experience of the imminence of our Lord leads not only to misunderstanding, but to division and downright ugliness.
Michal was David’s partner in crime, in life. She was his shield mate as much as a female companion. There was more going on here than her prudishness. She was jealous. David’s faith lifted him to a place where she had no experience. Her world was bounded by more stringent and limited lines of behavior and understanding. Her reach was too short, her sense of self too small, her metaphysics too materialistic to let her hero do the tango with a god that had no visceral meaning in her universe. She was out of her league and David had waltzed away from her. She didn’t understand, and her only fall back was a rigid propriety that left her literally barren.
We’ve all run into this in our congregations. The last time you danced in a speedo before communion table? You know what I mean. When in the high times, we are lifted and filled with the gifts of the Spirit and someone not only complains about the length of the service, but criticizes us for scaring people with too much volume. Sometimes I feel like Paul, writing to the Corinthians or the foolish Galatians. Don’t you get it you boobs? God is here! Let go, will you! But shouting will do no good. In fact it might cause more trouble. They don’t get it. And we are bound to love them. Even though they live small and barren lives, while the Spirit invites us all to dance.
I had a wife once (how’s that for weird) who stopped coming to church because she didn’t like to see me doing my ‘shtick.’ She knew it was an act and I should get a grip before I started believing that it had any sort of meaning. I kid you not. I would try to explain the whole thing to her and proceed to dig myself deeper into the mire of a world without God’s presence. This passage helped me through that one. I learned to pray for her, not to stop being so rough on me, but to get a taste, an inkling of the glory, the wonder, the joy of being touch by the Spirit. She was jealous and angry and chose loneliness over communion.
I think that’s our job with our brethren. Rather than judging them or defending ourselves, we are called to be instruments of grace. And once in a while I think it’s not inappropriate to dance. I’ll let the Lord instruct you about wardrobe.
C. David McKirachan is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Shrewsbury in central New Jersey. He also teaches at Monmouth University. Two of his books, I Happened Upon a Miracle and A Year of Wonder, have been published by Westminster John Knox Press. McKirachan was raised in a pastor's home and he is the brother of a pastor, and he has discovered his name indicates that he has druid roots. Storytelling seems to be a congenital disorder. He lives with his 21-year-old son Ben and his dog Sam.
* * *
Protectors of the Ark
by Frank Ramirez
So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. (2 Samuel 6:15)
The feast of the Epiphany is a three day event in Ethiopia. It’s held around half a month later than it is in the Western world because the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, like some of the other Orthodox churches, has not adopted the calendar reforms instituted in most parts of the world, the result of the fact that the year is not quite exactly three hundred and sixty-five and one quarter days. That means the extra day of Leap Year every four years almost but doesn’t quite make up for the slightly incorrect length of our year.
Regardless, once Epiphany comes to this part of the world people don immaculate white robes and process joyfully through the streets. Believers are blessed with water from a cross-shaped pool as they celebrate what they call Timkat. Park of this Epiphany observance is meant to echo and celebrate the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan.
But the festival also venerates the sacred Ark of the Covenant, which held the the original tablets known as the Ten Commandments. So models of the sacred Ark of the Covenant are carried by the most venerable priests, each copy draped in cloth because even though these objects are not the true Ark of the Covenant, they are still considered too sacred to look at.
There’s a reason that Ethiopian Orthodox Christians place so much emphasis on the Ark. They believe the real Ark of the Covenant, the one that David led in a joyful procession into ancient Jerusalem, came to reside in Ethiopia -- and resides there still. The Ethiopian church is considered one of the most ancient Christian fellowships. The Ethiopians themselves claim to have been Jewish for a thousand years, and Christians the past two thousand year. They heavily emphasize the Old Testament, and still practice many laws and customs from the Torah.
So that’s the question. Does it reside in Ethiopia? Although scripture makes it clear that this sacred ark, which traveled across the desert for forty years as God’s people took a circuitous road to the Promised Land, entered into Jerusalem when King David began to reign over a united kingdom, and for which his son King Solomon built the Temple to house it, the Bible has less to say about what eventually became of it.
Was it taken to Babylon as part of the spoils of war after 586, when the Temple was destroyed? No one knows. But the Ethiopians believe that years before Queen Sheba of Ethiopian was impregnated by Solomon. She bore him a son, the Ethiopians remind the rest of the world, who was named Menelik. He in turn stole the Ark after visiting his father, and, they say, Menelik brought it back to Ethiopia.
Or at least that’s what is said in the Kebra Negast, an ancient Ethiopian history of its royal house. Over the centuries it was housed in different places, and hid from invaders. Now, according to their beliefs, the Ark can be found in a church in the city of Aksum, in the northern park of the country.
But don’t ask the leadership of the church what the Ark looks like. They will Even the honored members of the Ethiopian Orthodox church have never the seen the Ark, which is considered too holy for even the most venerated clergy to see.
The Ark, said to be hidden in a simple church, is seen only by one special guardian who, once chosen, will never leave the compound where it is stored. If this individual happens to come to the gate of the church he might speak about it, but he won’t describe it. It is against his job to do so.
Could it be that the Ark really be housed in Ethiopia. The Ethiopians themselves have no doubt about it. Despite the fact that virtually no one else will ever see what is in that ancient looking church, not even the Ethiopians themselves, its presence in their country is fact beyond doubt.
Books filled with intrigue, suspense, and skullduggery examine these claims and sometimes scoff at this claim, or other experts suggest that there may be something to the story. Because it cannot be examined or tested by outsiders it’s a matter of taking it all on faith, not science.
And perhaps that is okay. The belief that their nation has been entrusted with this ancient artifact strengthens their faith, and carries with it an important sense of responsibility. Maybe it doesn’t really matter. Maybe what matters is the joy that accompanies worship centering on the Ark of God.
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, July 12, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
