Rev. Reed Lee Pedersen's
Have you ever noticed that sometimes in hymns we sing “Hallelujah” and sometimes we sing “Alleluia”? I am not sure whether it was a case of OCD or nerdiness, but it used to bother me that there were two different words being used interchangeably. I figured they meant the same thing and wondered why both were needed.
Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “It’s all Greek to me.” It is a Shakespearean quote commonly used to say, “I don’t understand.” When it comes to the ‘hallelujah vs. alleluia’ question it would be false (and perfectly ironic) to say, “It’s all Greek to me.” The original language of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) is actually Hebrew. The original language for the New Testament is Greek. Hallelujah derives from Hebrew (haleluya). It translates out to “Praise the Lord.” As the Israelites were ruled by the Greeks and assimilating to their culture and language they decided to translate the Hebrew Bible to Greek. This translation is called the Septuagint. In doing this, they translated heleluya to allelouia. When the Romans took over they wanted to translate everything to Latin. They used the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, rather than the original Hebrew Scriptures to translate. Thus, they translated allelouia to alleluia. The English language derives from Latin, so it adopted the alleluia. As people like Martin Luther looked back to the original Hebrew there was a reclaiming of the ‘h’. This means that any liturgy or hymn written before the 16th century would use alleluia. Any hymn of liturgy inspired by the pre-16th century Christian music would probably use alleluia. Lastly, and most annoyingly, any hymn written post-16th century used hallelujah and alleluia interchangeably. So which side are you on? Do you prefer to praise God with and an ‘h’ or without an ‘h’? Do you prefer to praise God as the Romans did or in connection with our Hebrew brothers and sisters? Either way, we are praising the Lord!
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In a previous rambling I discussed the fact that God has no gender. While it is true that gender and biological sex are created means which God is above, why then do we still call God, “Father”? The answer is pretty simple. We know God as Father because we have been made known by the Son. Jesus, the incarnate Son, addresses God the Father many times like in John 14:6-10: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
Does this not prolong and build up the gender specific way we talk about God? Does this not defend those who seek to use this information to explain why men and women are not equal? This role of Father has less to do with a gender and more to do with a role and more to do with the Triune nature of God (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). What about addressing God as mother? There is no specific Scripture to support addressing God as a mothering God when using Trinitarian language. That being said, Jesus (the one with whom the Father dwells) relates himself to a mothering hen wishing to spread her wings over the people of Jerusalem (Luke 13:31-35). This can lead us to believe that we can certainly address God as our mothering God. If you think of the stereotypical archetypes of father (protector and provider) and mother (birthing life and nurturer) in terms of role rather than gender you will find that God does indeed fit both categories of Mother and Father. Either way I think it highlights a close relationship with God who is near rather than a distant relationship with a supreme being from far away. In conclusion, we address God as Father because that is what Jesus did. This does not mean God is a man. This does not mean God the Father is a man. Instead, God who has no gender is both mothering and fatherly to and for us. Points to Ponder:
Not-So-Crazy Concept: Church is where people should find God. Sad Truth: That’s not always the case.3/12/2019 I was recently at a resourcing event held by our synod. The keynote speaker, Pr. David Daubert, presented on discipleship in the church today. He also presented much of the research he had gathered when collaborating on this topic with others. I will be honest; I had to go to the bathroom during his opening talk in front of the whole conference. I was waiting for him to go down a rabbit hole I had already heard about or to speak of a problem of which I already knew the solutions he would say, so I could go to the bathroom. Instead, I had to hold it because everything he said and spoke of was captivating. It was also full of sad truths about the church today and hope for the church in the future. “When un-churched people visit a church they are looking for God.” This statement was made in light of talking about why people go to church. The truth is that most people who regularly attend church (especially in smaller churches) do so for the people. They love the people who also attend that church and they go to walk through the ritual of worship with them. As for un-churched people or people who have fallen away from regularly attending a specific church, these are people who need a reason to actually try to attend a worship service in the first place. If one of them attends church service they are probably going through something troubling and in deep questioning. This is what brings them to the church. They are looking for God. The sad truth is that a lot of times a person looking for God goes to a church and sees a lot of nice welcoming people. They might even see a nice welcoming pastor, but they don’t find God. They are looking for answers and yet they only see smiling faces. They want to engage God in worship and yet all they see is everyone just going through the motions during service. Pr. David Daubert went on to say that the church (Lutheran Church specifically) needs to reclaim discipleship. It needs to be more intentional with how it approaches following, believing, acting, and speaking about Jesus. It cannot be a place or strictly friendliness. It needs to be a place that intentionally follows Jesus in all facets of life. What might worship and daily conversation look like if the disciples of Jesus lived that way? If you are someone who regularly attends a worship service and you find yourself in a conversation about why people don’t go to church, ask yourself, “Who is Jesus to you? Who is Jesus to them? Why is that important? What are you and your church going to do about it?" Points to Ponder:
There might be a little dust on the forehead, but don't let it fool ya about what's inside.3/6/2019 March 6, 2019, is Ash Wednesday. It is not a day of grand celebration of Christ’s birth or resurrection like Christmas and Easter. Today is the day where we remember our eventual deaths. “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” These words are said as a cross of ash is made on our foreheads. They reflect God’s words to Adam and Eve after they defied God’s command to not eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Out of God’s anger he banishes the two from Eden and gives them different punishments and warnings about their lives outside of God’s paradise. God tells them a truth that we will all return to the ground because that is where we came from. This is not to say God has molded all of us out of clay as he did Adam, but it points to the fact that we are created and mortal. Many people do not like to think about their mortality, but on Ash Wednesday we openly celebrate it as we kick off our Lenten journey. We claim it as reality. We are called to accept the cross of ash, remember our lives on earth have an expiration date, and focus on the one who gives us life beyond death. Eternal life is what truly lies inside of us thanks to Jesus. It is by his grace that our dustiness does not define who we are, but rather we are defined by the one who claimed victory over death for us. As you remember you are mortal and your body has an expiration date, do not forget what truly lies inside each and every one of us. To use the words of David Lee Murphy, “There might be a little dust on the bottle, but don't let it fool ya about what's inside.” Points to Ponder
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AuthorPastor Reed is a first call pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois. Archives
July 2019
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