Valid Identification, Part One

OK.  The title is a bit misleading.  I am not going to discuss the merits of driver’s licenses, passports, and library cards.   Those things are important, and I will probably bring my line of thinking back around to something like ID cards when I circle around to my summary (in Part Two).  But I actually want to talk about identity, not identification; although, of course, there is an undeniable relationship between these terms.  Ya feel me?  [Translation:  Do you identify with (understand) what I am saying?]

Who are you?  There are many factors that contribute to your identity.  Your family heritage, which includes cultural norms and expectations; and also genetic inheritance such as physical appearance, temperament, health conditions, etc.  Your community, which includes the neighborhood where you live, your school, workplace, church, hobbies – basically any individuals or groups of individuals with whom you interact regularly.  Your chosen inputs, like reading material, television, movies, and other entertainment decisions.  Your name, your face, your skills and abilities, your education, your experiences, your fashion choices; all of these and more define who you are, at least in a physical, temporal sense.

Perception is also an element of your identity, from at least four different angles.  First, how do you perceive yourself?  Do you see yourself as strong, calm, intelligent?  Or do you see yourself as funny, talented, spontaneous?  Or perhaps your view of yourself is that you are reserved, cautious, shy?  Your perception of yourself may change over time, and you may take conscious steps to alter how you see yourself, based on the idea that others will accept you more readily if you are someone different.  This internal checklist remains, for the most part, a private matter.  You may not even fully recognize it when you are doing this.

Second, how do you think others perceive you?  What you think others are thinking can be very different from how you see yourself, but it also usually affects your view of you and the actions you take, or don’t take, to try to alter what you think others think.  Ultimately, you cannot completely prevent yourself from having a personal opinion of what you believe to be others’ opinions of you.  But you CAN remind yourself that this will most likely remain speculation.  You cannot, in fact, know what others are thinking.  Odds are high that you will be incorrect about what you think others think about you.

Third, how do others say or demonstrate how they perceive you?  Outside of specifically organized instances when this opinion is solicited or required (e.g., for performance appraisals), few of us are going to have people openly sharing with us their opinion of us.  Often, when people share this type of thing with us, they are intentionally trying to be encouraging or flattering.  This is not to say they are lying, but probably we are seldom going to receive from anyone, directly and voluntarily, what their true and full opinion is of our character, traits, personality, and behavior.  Whether they are trying to pump you up or tear you down, they will not be giving you the full picture of their perceptions.

Fourth, how do others actually perceive you?  As indicated in the previous paragraph, this seems unlikely to be wholly revealed to you by any means.  However, whether you ever truly discover this information is irrelevant to the exploratory exercise in which we are presently engaged.  That is because, at the end of the day, how you are perceived by others is outside of your ability to apply any measurable degree of control.  Of course, you can change your clothes, practice unaccustomed behaviors, use different vocabulary, speak enthusiastically about all of the “right” things – but at that point you are devoting time and energy to an effort that has about as much chance of accomplishing what you hope it will accomplish as a flea has a chance of being adopted by a family of rhinoceroses.

So much for the elements of perception.  Point being: who you are is tangled up in a mostly contradictory and confusing web of perceptions; and perception has a nasty habit of applying tangible impact on the real world.  We need to understand the potential of these perceptions to cause us to forget who we really are.  And the only opinion of who we are that matters is YHVH’s opinion.  This is true whether you believe in YHVH or not.  The fact that some people claim not to believe in him does not cause him to cease to exist.  Since he created you and has had his eye on you throughout your existence, he knows you better than you even know yourself.

What YHVH thinks of you is what matters, especially from an eternal perspective.  It is what we should keep foremost in our consciousness; over and above the contents of our mental and emotional rolodex* that keeps track of all those factors we mentioned above.  Your identity is in him.

By now, if you are in fact still reading this screed, you are wondering, “What on EARTH does all of this have to do with the author’s Hebrew journey?  I mean, this is all very interesting (or not), but I am not making the connection to the processes of exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith.”  The connection is this:  I am convinced that a solid recognition of who we are – our identity – is fundamental to our ability to embark on or continue this journey with unshakeable confidence that we are seriously seeking truth and not just on some kind of distracting frontage road.

So, first of all, know that your identity is in YHVH, and that this pursuit includes him.  In fact, it is about drawing nearer to him.

Next entry:  Fuller explanation of the connection between identity and the exploration of Hebrew roots.

·        *  Rolodex ~ an archaic, hard-copy, static method of organizing contact information; i.e., names, phone numbers, addresses, fax numbers, pager numbers, etc…

Learning, Re-learning, and Unlearning

How willing are you to learn new things?  How about being reminded of something you already know, but have allowed to grow dim in your memory?  Or, to realize that something you have known is more true or more important than you thought it was?  Would you be amenable to consider unlearning beliefs and behaviors that defined your existence for many years?

I have always considered myself to be a “life-long learner.”  I understand, accept, expect, and eagerly seek learning opportunities, which do, in fact, arise every day, as the long-lived saying goes.  Nevertheless, although I generally hold myself open to learn new things, I have encountered some internal resistance to many of the things I have seen, heard, and experienced on this journey of Hebrew exploration.  That is to say, I did not awake one day several years ago and discover that I had fully changed my mind about my faith and my understanding of Scripture.  I have slowly, carefully, and prayerfully considered each point along the way, and a lot of what I have finally accepted was the result of a fair amount of personal struggle.

In fact, if there was a way of accurately measuring what I know and profess regarding my faith, I would venture to estimate that something like 75-80% has remained unchanged.  Maybe more.  Sometimes even I myself feel like I have done a complete 180 – an ‘about-face,’ if you will – and have utterly turned my back on what I have spent decades believing, sharing, enjoying, teaching, and even preaching from the pulpit.  But my core beliefs remain strong and central.  Far from turning my back, if anything, I have come to face my faith more fully with all of my senses on full alert.

For example, taken point by point, I would probably agree with the basic statements of the various common liturgical Creeds proclaimed and confessed by most of Christendom.  Truthfully, I would be more likely to debate the advantages and potential pitfalls of relying on these types of summations of belief than to outright disagree with the content of them.  And that statement in itself may cause more rancor among the brethren than some of my esteemed readers might expect.

What are these categories in today’s title?  ‘Learning’ I am sure you all understand:  something you did not previously know, when it becomes known to you, you have learned something.  ‘Re-learning’ means simply that you already knew something, but have been reminded through fresh vision, context, and import.  ‘Unlearning’ is a term that does not rest comfortably in our heads. 

  

Philosophically, once we have learned something, it is our inclination to cling tenaciously to what we have learned.  It is one thing to forget or temporarily overlook things we have learned, like when we tell ourselves we knew better than to do such and such.  But to consciously examine something we have learned, then set it aside in favor of some new divergent lesson – that is not ‘normal’ for us.

I confess:  I have engaged in some significant unlearning over the past ten years or so.  Some of it seemed to arise in a moment, and I embraced it, voluntarily.  Other aspects of my “previous self” have held on tight and it has been a tug-of-war with myself to land on one side or the other.  Sometimes I have rejected the new idea, and landed solidly on the side on which I started.  Often, I have found certain parts of me to be so thoroughly entrenched they were in effect hidden from my own consciousness.  Some of that ‘baggage’ has been hard to face and almost impossible to overcome.  I do not cherish any illusions that I am done with the house-cleaning in that regard.  Decades of indoctrination* do not yield themselves easily to rearrangement.

One of the central components of the learning/unlearning pattern has been a new appreciation for the distinctions between Greek thought and Hebrew thought.  In some of my previous professional life, I was a student of Asian philosophies, cultures, history, and societies, so I learned long ago about the fundamental origins and differences between Eastern and Western worldviews.  I did not, however, think to apply this kind of sociocultural template to my biblical studies.   Studying the Bible is a spiritual endeavor, right?  And, since it is what “western” civilization is based on, the Bible is necessarily most properly studied from a “western” perspective.  Surely.  That only makes sense.  Yes?

Truly, though, the Bible emerged from an “eastern” sociocultural environment.  Because it was Hellenized (or Romanized, depending on your choice of nomenclature) early in the development of “the church,” western thinking has persisted in most of its interpretation and commentary for centuries.  At a basic level, western (Greek) thinkers tend to apply linear and compartmentalized patterns to textual analysis.  Eastern (Hebrew) thinkers apply a cyclical or circular pattern.  If we unpack Scripture with a Hebrew mindset, the results are almost always revelatory and often astonishing.

Others have treated this topic more thoroughly than I can in this blog, but the concept of approaching the study of Scripture through a Hebrew lens instead of through our accustomed Greek methods is crucial to our ability to strip away faulty translations and interpretations.  [The link above is just one example, albeit a very good one in my mind; but if you google ‘Hebrew vs. Greek’ you will find many treatments of this subject.]

If there is a bottom line to this blog entry, which is lifting up just one tiny corner of a multi-faceted philosophical comparison, it is that one must cultivate an ability and willingness to place long-established beliefs in stasis long enough to consider alternative perspectives.  The idea is not that you take everything you believe and throw the whole thing in the trash and start over from scratch.  What we are doing is building on what we already know.  Along the way, some of what we ‘know’ may turn out to need a fresh coat of paint, or it may need to be replaced completely.  It is okay (and recommended) that you hold on to what you have until you are sure it must be changed or eliminated.

Do not be hasty.  Seek the LORD.  Do your homework.  Study, pray, consider.  If there is anything you need to unlearn, you will know.

·        *  ‘Indoctrination’ has come to be equated with ‘brainwashing’; thus, it has accumulated a sheath of negative connotation.  All of us are indoctrinated one way or another.  We could not live our lives otherwise.  All of your habits and preferences are the result of indoctrination, whether imposed by family, society, or self.

Here is a solid bit of wisdom from a Greek philosopher:

Hebraicity: A Thousand-Mile Journey

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”  So said Lao Tzu, the ancient Confucian philosopher.  And so it is with the renewal of this blog, and also with the life journey I hope to share here.  One step ~ one post that will be followed by many more, describing the progression of a journey.  Well, at least part of a journey.  I could begin the telling of this story at several relevant points – my physical birth, my spiritual birth, or at any one of the many high or low points along the way.  Since the main goal of this blog now is to share my “Hebraic” adventures, the story begins when I saw an open door and stepped through it.  Also, importantly, the journey is not over.  I am still walking.*

Nearly ten years ago I entered into what has come to be known as the “Hebrew Roots Movement” (before I knew it was called that, actually).  In retrospect, I can see various signs arising in my life leading up to that time, which were preparing me for this venture.  Signs reaching back more than forty years.  Signs such as exposure to and appreciation for “Jews for Jesus”; participating in a few Passover Seders here and there; attending events hosted by Christians United for Israel; and more.  Nevertheless, I point to March 2007 as the definite point at which I decisively stepped onto this path by means of a miraculous encounter, which I will recount below.

Besides being a significant educational and spiritual endeavor, this has turned out to be a major construction project in my life.  And the construction is ongoing; i.e., I have not reached anything close to completion or perfection.  Seriously.  Some detractors have accused me of thinking that I have arrived at some pinnacle of elite status.  No.  I am still under construction.  If anything, the lessons I am learning are humbling, and they often cause me to be repentant.  In truth, I have erected some walls that were not part of the plan, and they have had to be taken down.  Hopefully, I am learning more and more to consult the Architect before I add anything to or take anything away from the structure he is building.  (Psalm 127:1)

This is a point I cannot stress enough.  I do not claim to be any kind of scholar or expert, especially as it concerns interpretation of Scripture.  [By “Scripture” I mean that ancient anthology that is known to the world as “The Holy Bible.”]  Certainly, I have come to see many things differently than I previously did, and I plan to address as many of them as I can here on this blog, over time.  A lot of the things I have learned, re-learned, discovered, or re-considered are still coalescing in my heart and mind.

By the way, just as a matter of “housekeeping,” I should let you all know that this blog was begun in 2006 as a vehicle for a particular endeavor in which my wife and I were engaged at that time.  We were visiting churches throughout our area, then reporting our experiences.  We were simultaneously conducting strategic prayer assignments for the community, the churches, the pastors, and the people.  We visited about thirty (30) churches, but I only got twelve or thirteen of our visits posted on this blog.  

I am using this existing blog precisely because it is “existing.”  Rather than launch an all-new blog, I believe there is value in retaining the original posts here.  Some of those earlier posts will be of interest to new readers.  Chronologically speaking, that series of church visits from August 2006 through February 2007 would seem to have culminated directly in our attachment to congregation Har Adonai.**  Honestly, though, we were thoroughly surprised by our discovery of Har Adonai, which led us to explore Hebrew Roots.

The story of how we became acquainted with Har Adonai is nothing less than miraculous.  To tell the truth, I was hesitant to share this story because I know some will scoff at it.  Nevertheless, I am telling the truth.  This is the way it happened.  As I was walking home from work one evening, I received persistent prompting from the Holy Spirit to “call Bob Schultz.”  It took a while for the Spirit to convince me, because I did not know Bob Schultz or his phone number, and my cell phone had died (run out of battery power) several hours earlier.  Finally, I surrendered, I turned on my phone – surprised to see it show plenty of bars - and I punched in a number that appeared in my mind.  I did not know Bob’s number.  I only knew Bob’s name because at our first “church visit” a colleague from my workplace (who was surprised to see me at her church) told me I should call him.  That was six months previous.  So, anyway, it did indeed turn out to be Bob Schultz on the other end, and he and I talked for about a half hour, then we had lunch the next day.

Turns out, Bob and his wife, Ann, had been in ministry for decades, but they had recently begun a fresh endeavor called “Har Adonai.”  We joined the Schultzes and a few others at their home the following Saturday evening.  The very next week the group began meeting in an old theater in downtown Monterey.  We met there for about nine months, then we had to re-locate because the owner sold the building.  We have been meeting in our current location since January 2008.

As I proceed with this blog, I plan to address the various “discoveries” we have made over the ensuing years.  Things such as Sabbath, the Feasts, the calendar, tzitzits, names, translations, interpretations, and many, many other topics, all of which have become central to our faith and our daily lives.

Please join me!

·        *   NOTE:  I will generally use the first person singular in these blog posts, but let it be known:  my wife and I are on this journey together, and all of the first person singulars could be plurals.

·         **  “Har Adonai” means “Mountain of the LORD.”  Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2

Last night in conversation with friends I was reminded of this blog so I encouraged them to come here and check it out.

So... this morning I checked it out myself, just to confirm my memory of the place, ya know?

And what do I find?

My last post here was ten months ago, and it concluded with a teaser implying I'd BE RIGHT BACK to share more of my ruminations on unity in the Body of Yeshua.

In anyone's book, ten months is a long time to be left dangling from a cliff.

Nevertheless, here I am at long last.

I confess that although I have not ceased to ponder the mysteries of "Christian Unity," lately my thoughts on the subject have been persistently coalescing around the biblical theme of ECHAD.

ECHAD is Hebrew for ONE. 

So far, every reference to unity I have found in scripture is either explicitly or implicitly declaring that ECHAD is the condition desired by, mandated by, prayed for by, envisioned by Yahweh.  This means true eternal ONENESS, not superficial, temporary, let's-join-hands-singing-kumbayah "unity."

Psalm 33:1 "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in UNITY" - the word is ECHAD.  So, "...when brothers exist AS ONE."  Deeper, more intimate than our contemporary concept of unity.

John 17: Yeshua prayed that his talmidim (disciples) would BE ONE as he and Father are ONE.  That's some no-kidding oneness.

Unity?  Probably never gonna happen the way our worldly vision conceives of it.

ECHAD? Seek his face. Fix your eyes on Yeshua.  Oneness happens when we worship only Yahweh by the power of the indwelling Ruach ha'Qodesh (Holy Breath/Spirit).

Thanks to 'todrawneargod' for commenting on a previous post - "Church Visit #12"

I think the link will also show my response to her comments.  She asks the questions: Why the church visits?  What have you learned?  - Great questions!!

The church visits themselves took place over a period of about seven-eight months from July 2006 - March 2007.  In total, there were about thirty or so; i.e., separate visits to about thirty (30) different local churches (local to the Monterey Peninsula California area).

'todrawneargod''s questions have got me thinking about what I learned - or didn't learn - from those 'long since' visits.

So... this post is a bit of a teaser.  I'll be back with some ruminations about Lessons Learned.

I've been thinking about the antithesis of unity, which is of course division.  There is no debating the tragically divided condition of "The Church."  This is not a newly manifested thing.  The church began suffering division even in its earliest days, as demonstrated by many passages in Acts and the Epistles, and even the Gospel writers tell us of dissension among the Twelve while Yeshua was still physically with them, for that matter.

So, I'm certainly not going to try to argue that division amongst professing christians is new.  History abundantly and stubbornly belies that assertion.  Our human nature seems to compel us toward categorization and labelling.

However, in meditating on division and considering what the causes are and could be, I came to a very clear realization.  Not really startling or surprising in itself, but I was a bit surprised at myself for having overlooked it for so long.  Like many such realizations, it is something that is actually fairly obvious, but do we not often tend to look right past the obvious in favor of a less threatening alternative?

The realization is this: division is demonic.

Well, of course!  Who else has a vested interest in the debilitation, neutralization, indeed the complete annihilation, of the Body of Yeshua?

The more important realization is the corollary: If division is demonic, why are we not fighting it for all we are worth?  Why do we tolerate division?  Why do we, in fact, seem to CELEBRATE division?

For here is another related realization: "denomination" MEANS "division."  Well, it literally means "to be given a name," but the idea is to apply a unique NAME that will separate us from those with whom we disagree on even the smallest point of doctrinal interpretation and behavior.  When we "denominate" ourselves, we choose division over unity.

See, our determined construction of denominational walls is based on this: imposition of legalistic, narrow-minded codes of conduct structured around our stubborn adherence to worldly standards of interpretation of Yhvh's mitzvot.

I say "worldly standards of interpretation" because we are drawn to measurement and quantification and externally demonstrable evidences of our "holiness."  We want others to see us as pure, so we try to adopt behaviors that can be perceived as "godly"; and we impose our behavioral constructs on others - essentially to feed our own ego.  If they do not behave the way we expect them to behave, we deem them impure and unfit for inclusion in our version of righteousness.

Yhvh gave us one NAME to be called by.  His own.  I'm not advocating creation of yet another denomination that conjures up a moniker based on any particular version of "the name of God."  Plenty of those already around in any case.

I'm advocating brutal eschewance of any man-made NAMING convention.

I'm advocating repentance from our complacent, contented, delirious acceptance of our denominational status.

I'm advocating conscious removal and destruction of our denominational and other traditional baggage because it hinders us from pursuing an intimate relationship with Yhvh, which should be our chief desire.

Joel 2:25

Yhvh promises to "restore the years the locusts have destroyed."

Considering the many ways that various types of "locusts" can steal years of LIFE from us, this is a great and precious promise.

I just read a sermon from pastor Mark Ridley (Christ the King Lutheran Church, Vestal, NY) from a few years ago. I found it as a result of a Google search to find the scripture above. (I'm on the road and do not have an "old-fashioned" concordance with me, and couldn't recall for sure where that scripture is found.) Pastor Ridley's sermon was a good read all the way through, but one line particularly stuck out for me:

"...there is nothing you can lose in this world that (Yhvh) cannot restore..."

HalleluYAH!

and Amen.

I have not given up on the notion - or the apparent biblical imperative - for UNITY among the Body of true believers. But I am increasingly unconvinced that anything much more than occasional, superficial, temporary, localized unity can ever happen in greater "Christendom."

The more I meditate on it, and the more I observe the outward, visible manifestations of what the world knows to be The Church, the more I accept the probability that Ephesians 4:13 is not directed at any hope other than the inescapable spiritual UNITY of all those who have given themselves over completely to unabashed joy in celebrating the sovereignty and the mitzvot of Yhvh.

Portions of The Church have tried in vain to capture and sustain unity based on "central truths" while being tolerant of each others' divergent interpretations of Torah. Focusing on common denominators (what an appropriate term!) will never give rise to the spiritual convergence of Yhvh's people. Only when His people seek Him and yearn for an intimate personal relationship with Him that will motivate them to worship Him in spirit and in truth will we begin to approach UNITY; because when we are all focused on HIM ALONE, we will BE ONE.

MARTY GOETZ

We will be leaving shortly to go see our friend Marty Goetz at the Sar Shalom fellowship. We consider Marty and his wife Jennifer to be our friends, but they live in Tennessee and they are all over the globe ministering regularly.

When Marty sits at the piano and sings, it opens the windows of Heaven! It is one man and one piano, but it may as well be a symphony orchestra and an angel choir. His ministry invariably blesses our socks off, so we always take an extra pair of socks :)

No time to wax eloquent about how much we appreciate him at the moment.

Go here: http://www.martygoetz.com/ to see and hear more.

RESURRECTION DAY!!!

Let's see. Last post published on 23 October 2006. That means nearly twenty (20) months have come and gone since that last post. Hmmm.

So, this is Resurrection Post #1.

Much has happened in those intervening 20 months. More "church visits" happened. But also we settled into a community of worship called "Har Adonai" (Mountain of the Lord), which meets on Saturday evenings, worships and celebrates "havdalah" (the end of Shabbat). A key feature of this gathering is an intentional focus on studying, practicing, sharing, embracing and rejoicing in the hebraic roots of our christian faith.

I cannot overstate the profound impacts this endeavour has had on my perspective, my worship, my faith, my prayer-life, my relationships, my interpretation and understanding of scripture, my worldview, application of scriptural truth to the daily activities of my life, fellowship with the "mishpochah" (family of faith).... It is amazing.

We have not lost or forsaken our passion for UNITY. I still believe this to be a fundamental value for the Body. At this point, I am convinced that true unity is most likely to arise from a simple, humble, unabashed acceptance of the origins of our faith.

Among other things, Jesus (Yeshua) himself was a practicing Jew; and he stated emphatically that he did not come to abolish the Law (mitzvot), but to fulfill it. Also, for example, the Feasts are stated in scripture to be YHWH's feasts, established and commanded to be observed FOREVER (Lev. 23:2). What Yeshua came to establish, and what has been called "Church" and "Christianity," increasingly look like two different things to me. He did not establish "the church" to replace Israel.

Paul teaches us in Romans 11 that we are "grafted in" to the original tree. The original tree was not dug up and discarded, and replaced by us. The original tree still stands and we are a new branch - i.e., a smaller, dependent part of the whole, still drawing LIFE (zoe) from the original tree.

SO MANY statements in the New Testament take on untold light and power when understood in accordance with Old Testament truth and testimony.

For example, the woman with the issue of blood, when she reached out and touched the "hem of his garment" was actually touching the "tzit-tzit" - i.e., the fringe dangling from Yeshua's prayer shawl. These are "the wings" envisioned in the Psalms when they mention being gathered "under his wings" and that he will arise "with healing in his wings." How much more powerful is that simple understanding?

And when the woman was caught in adultery and Yeshua wrote in the dust, it brought to mind a command regarding bringing an accused woman before the cohen to be tested (Numbers 5). Without saying a word, Yeshua was able to remind her accusers that they were operating in a spirit of jealousy.

Such revelations are too numerous to mention. They are practically in every line of scripture.

This is the ancient way, but it is a blessed new path for us.