He’s making a list and checking it twice, gonna find
out whose naughty and nice…..do-do-do-do-do-do-do
He sees you when your sleeping, he knows if your
awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake…oh…you
better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why,
---do-do—do--- is coming to town.
In
my rendition of this Christmas song you will have noticed that I left out who
“he” is referring to. The song of course
is a Santa song --- but, is this not how many Christians have been taught to
understand God?
God
is making a list; a list of names written in a book that determines whether or
not a person goes to heaven or hell. Those who are righteous and faithful and
good, bearing good fruit, will have their names recorded in the Book of Life –
and this means eternal life in paradise. That’s how you remember the teaching
of the church, right?
The
readings for today skirt around the topic of “what next.” The texts –other than
the John the Baptist narrative where he is quite curt and does speak of the
separation of the repentant who become fruit bearers and those who bear no
fruit and are to thrown to the fire or as chaff in the wind --- are very
happy. The words from Zephaniah, Isaiah,
and Philippians concentrate on rejoicing, praise, joy, and restoration.
What
we miss are previous chapters that tell of struggles, the people having gone
astray and returning to God.
This
morning I am going to rewind the Philippians passage to examine whence the
rejoicing and peace of God comes.
Reading
from Philippians:
I urge Euodia and I urge
Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask
you also, my loyal companion,[b] help these women,
for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with
Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
The
“Book of Life” is generally understood from later reading in the book of Revelation,
where it is written:
And I saw the dead, the great
and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another
book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the
things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Early
Christian literature had a very matter of fact way of understanding judgement
and the end of days. This understanding carried on into the writings of early
church fathers. It carried through the
Reformation, as seen in the summary of Lutheran understanding --- found in the Book of Concord---- here the
Book of Life is expanded and used in broader definitions as in meaning Jesus and at other times the
Gospels, the Good News that points to Christ.
Yet,
the Hebraic way of hearing the “Book of Life,” has a different connotation; one
that I feel illuminates a deeper understanding.
The
first mention of the Book of Life takes us back to the Exodus: Exodus 32: 31-32,
which flows the narrative of the people of Israel making a golden calf to
worship when Moses was gone a long time, up the mountain talking with God. When Moses comes down from the mountain he is
furious.
Exodus
continues:
On the next
day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. But now I will go
up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your
sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin; they have made
for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will only
forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of the book that you have written.” 33 But
the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against
me I will blot out of my book. 34 But now go, lead the people
to the place about which I have spoken to you; see, my angel shall go in front
of you. Nevertheless, when the day comes for punishment, I will punish them for
their sin.”
Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf—the one that
Aaron made.
Notice how Moses
referred to God’s book, blot me out of
the book; from this understanding names are not added to the book ---
everyone’s name is already there.
The Psalmist
reiterates the same theology. Psalm 139
says:
When I was made in secret,/And
embroidered in the depths of the earth . . .
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance,/And in your Book they were all written:
The days that were crafted for me.
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance,/And in your Book they were all written:
The days that were crafted for me.
I
heard a rabbi once speak about the Book of Life – that the book is not just a
holding of names, it is pages that get written as one lives their lives; it’s
not a name, it’s the essence, the character, of the person that is inscribed-
so that nothing good in a person’s life is lost.
It
is not a book where names are added based on merit or good works ---- the book
begins full.
Does
it change how you think about the book, to think that everyone’s name is
already there – not added, but, rather only a potential to get removed?
The
Exodus story of the calf says something about removal –the blotting out--- as
well. Although the people had made and
worshiped a golden image, their names were not blotted out, rather judgement
according to the narrative came as a plague.
The narrative from Exodus alludes to the compassion of God, judgement in
this case – was not the blotting out of names.
In
my studies over the years I have had occasion to delve into manuscripts.
Ancient manuscripts – the kind that are ink on papyrus--- are unique. Papyrus reeds are cut into strips, soaked,
and then placed horizontally side by side to the desired size, another layer of
papyrus is placed on top of the first layer- strips placed vertically. Writing is put on the papyrus with ink ---
papyrus is not an easy surface to write on as the reeds have a texture to them-
little ridges and bumps. This type of paper was in short supply and there are
instances where it is reused for writing other texts. Sometimes this is done by
writing on the reverse side – which is more difficult because the grain of the
paper is not conducive to taking ink in the direction the pen moves; then there
are instances where the papyrus has been scraped or washed and another texted
placed over top. Blotting out the first
text, so as never to be seen again, is impossible; the letters left an
indelible mark on the papyrus. Many
ancient texts have been recovered as “ghost or shadow” writing, found preserved
under new text. Blotting out is very
very difficult.
How
would we live if we understood that from the beginning of time everyone’s name
was written in the book of life? How would we live if we understood that the
book of life is not a list of names –determining the naughty and nice- but a
record of life; of one’s life; of the goodness and fruit found therein? In the
end if there is nothing written – it is because there was nothing worth
recording.
There
is a prayer that I use at funerals, taken from the Anglican Book of Alternative
services:
God of grace and glory, we thank you
for N, who was so near and dear to us…
We thank you for the friendship (he/she)
gave and for the strength and peace (he/she) brought.
We thank you for the love (he/she)
offered and received while (he/she) was with us on earth.
We pray that nothing good in this
(man's/woman's) life will be lost, but will be of benefit to the world; that
all that was important to (him/her) will be respected by those who follow' and
that everything in which (he/she) was great will continue to mean much to us now
that (he/she) is dead.
We ask you that (he/she) go on
living in (his/her) children, (his/her) family, and (his/her) friends; in their
hearts and minds, in their courage and their consciences
The
prayer is a reminder to us of the book of life, written during a person’s
lifetime. It is also a reminder of God’s
grace and glory, first and foremost --- a God who wrote the names knowing the
difficulty it would be to blot names out after the fact. The list of fruits in the prayer –
friendship, strength, peace, love, goodness- bring us back to the Philippians
passage. They read like the words of
Paul. In this letter he has expounded on
the book of life being written by the Philippian’ lives through the way they
follow the incarnate Christ; embodying Christ and God’s grace to spread the
Good News to each other and the wider world.
Paul
doesn’t spend time focusing on whose name is and isn’t in the book of
life. He speaks about living Christ in
the world--- writing God’s grace and love and light and life with every breath
one takes.
Paul
continues to commend the Philippians to their task as baptized Christians whose
names have always been written in the book ---
Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say
rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to
everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but
in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
