“Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God.” Leviticus 19:14

"This command reveals something profound about the character of God and the way He expects us to treat those who are vulnerable.

The deaf person cannot hear the insult;

the blind person cannot see the obstacle placed in his path.

In other words, God forbids us from taking advantage of another person's limitations simply because they cannot defend themselves or even know what has been done to them.

The command reaches beyond the deaf and blind to establish a broader principle:

God expects His people to protect those who are vulnerable,

not exploit their vulnerabilities.

A person's disability, weakness, confusion, or inability to protect himself must never become an opportunity for cruelty, deception, humiliation, or NEGLECT.

Notice also the reason God gives: “but shalt fear thy God.”

The person who cannot see what we have done may not know;

the person who cannot hear our words may never hear them.

But God sees and God hears.

Our treatment of the vulnerable is therefore ultimately an act of worship—or an act of rebellion—before God.

The principle is especially important for those who live with or care for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Such individuals may depend upon others

to advocate for them,

protect them,

guide them,

and sometimes even speak for them.

Scripture places a solemn responsibility upon those with greater strength and understanding:

never use another person's weakness as a reason to diminish his dignity. Instead, use your strength to protect his dignity.

Leviticus 19:14 therefore gives us more than a prohibition against cruelty.

It gives us a picture of biblical justice:

where another person is vulnerable, we are to become more careful,

more compassionate, and more protective—not less."

The Gospel of the Wounded Church

The wild Messiah

is not done walking.

But now

he limps in the Body.

Here is the Church—

the Body of Christ,

broken.

She is the Bride—

covenanted,

called,

blessed to be a blessing,

light of the world,

a city on a hill.

But this Bride

has scars.

Some wounds are holy—

from washing feet,

bearing burdens,

serving the unseen,

kneeling where no king kneels.

But not all wounds are holy.

Some are self-inflicted—

scars from crusades,

stains from scandals,

the sword grasped

when the cross was forgotten.

And sometimes—

these seasons of 

faithfulness and failure

happen at the same time.

She breathes in mercy

and inhales empire.

She touches the untouchable

and yet turns away.

A complicated Bride.

A Bride in need of healing.

Yet even now,

this broken Body

is still His Body.

Christ is not ashamed

to wear her wounds.

Even the scandalous scars

are gathered into grace.

For this is the wounded Church

sent into a wounded world—

a world unravelled by greed,

choked by climate breakdown,

teetering on the edge of collapse.

She is cross-cultural,

multi-lingual,

a global mosaic of mercy.

Here is a village chapel—

wooden benches,

a fragile choir

singing with hearts on fire.

Here is a grand cathedral—

stone arches,

candles lit,

ancient prayers

echoing in stained glass light.

Here is a corrugated iron hut—

the Spirit moves

as hands are laid

on the sick and the suffering.

Here is a city storefront—

where addicts and artists

gather to sing psalms

that break in unexpected hallelujahs.

Here is a protest march—

banners raised,

tears in the streets,

as songs of justice

rise into the tear-gas air.

Here is a quiet home—

an elder’s hands

cradling scripture,

as grandchildren

learn the stories

that shape the soul.

One Body,

many wounds.

One Gospel,

many accents.

The Church’s fractures

may yet become

the cracks

through which light gets in.

At her best,

she weeps with those who weep,

names the silenced,

stands interruptible in the crowd,

interrupting the machinery of death.

At her worst,

she forgets the Wild Messiah,

and the blessing becomes a blight.

But still—

the Spirit broods over the waters.

Still—

mercy rises from the margins.

Still—

the Lamb who was slain

leads her home.

Let the Church be like this—

honest about her fractures,

humble in her witness,

wild in her mercy.

Not a museum of saints,

but a field hospital of grace.

Not a fortress of certainty,

but a covenant people,

wounded yet sent.

The Gospel was never clean.

It still smells of sweat and sorrow,

rupture and resurrection.

It will not be televised.

It will be whispered

at the edges.

It will be sung

by the ones who stayed.

Let the Church be like this—

wounded,

wild,

and faithful.

Amen.

And amen again.

- Rev’d Jon Swales

 

About 65% of the Bible is directed to both sexes. It is, for the most part, "Gender Neutral." There are verses that specify sex regarding marriage, widows, child rearing and other gender specific verses like - Prohibition against a woman wearing men’s clothing or a man wearing women’s garments (described as an abomination). Deuteronomy 22:5 

As well as instructions on modest apparel and avoidance of certain external adornment directed particularly to women. That's the subject I ran across today in Isaiah 3. 

In Isaiah 3:16 the Lord begins his warning because some of the women of Israel were haughty, proud and had some serious attitude, and "dressed to the nines." The Lord strongly chastised them for their ostentatious dress and attitude. He mentions things like -  Proud attitude, woman walking with mincing steps, head held high and very seductive eyes,

And tinkling bangles on her feet, beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, nose rings, bracelets, headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets, elaborate finger rings, nose rings, festal robes, outer tunics, bright and flashy clothing colors. 

Now this seems gender specific, but the principle applies to both sexes, although, no doubt, women have a far wider assortment of beautifying products than men. 

I asked A.I. to create an imaged based on the passage. 

In the jail service, as we made our way to verse 6,

“Don't cast your pearls before swine.”

The Holy Spirit startled and struck a 27-year-old woman with a barbed arrow that pierced her to the core.

She has spent ten years in a marriage where she poured herself into her husband but he took all she had to give, but never gave an inch.

Now he is in addiction, her 4 children have been placed in a family members care, and she has a restraining order against her.

Of course, these stories are huge and we just get a peek into them,

but this verse hit her hard.

She began to try and explain but was absolutely overcome with anguish and sobbed and cried as she helplessly asked,

"How can they tear your own children from your arms? How can they do that?"

And her inner pain was violently expressing itself in her body as she writhed under the grief.

I felt her pain to my core and the six women there did as well.

You know, I guess I always think the women tell their stories to one another, but not so, no one there knew her story but the sympathy poured out from every heart and mouth there.

I was in CHURCH!

Every person there had experienced, to some degree, this anguish and loss.

To watch this group of women that came in distant strangers, turn into the caring and consoling arm of the church left me in awe.

Each woman took a turn to do their best to encourage her, while all the time Stardust, with uplifted hands, was repeating

“HOLY SPIRIT, HOLY SPIRIT” as she prayed continually.

The tears flowed so much, by so many, a few of them had to leave just to compose themselves, and then they'd return again.

We emptied a box of Kleenex!

As I left, I was in that kind of melancholy surreal state where my soul feasted on what God had done all the way home.

 

I read these interesting thoughts on whether we should go to church or withdraw and worship privately.

Apparently, this was a discussion during the seventeen hundreds

as it is for some today.

"Human nature makes us seek the approval or sympathy of others in every significant act or event.

Religion is personal—

like marriage,

the birth of a child,

or the death of someone we love—

yet we still mark these publicly.

We neither laugh nor weep alone;

why then should we pray alone?

Religious feelings are among the most contagious we have.

If devotion really exists in the heart of each individual,

it is morally impossible it should exist there apart and single.

If genuine devotion exists in individual hearts,

it almost inevitably spreads and merges into a shared flame.

Public and private worship each have clear strengths,

so both are valuable.

Public worship is livelier and more energetic;

private worship feels more intimate and tailored to our personal circumstances.

Most criticisms of one apply equally to the other:

superstition, wandering thoughts, dullness, and selfish requests

can appear in either setting.

Public worship has distinct advantages.

It teaches people how to pray

who would otherwise struggle,

and it trains us to pray as members of a community

rather than for purely private gain.

Public worship has another advantage over private worship:

it helps guard against both spiritual coldness

and unhealthy enthusiasm.

Without the encouragement of shared worship,

many people struggle to maintain devotion

in silence and solitude.

Yet if a person's sense of spiritual realities is especially strong,

prolonged isolation can also lead the imagination

into mystical extremes

and the overheated mysticism

that can arise from unchecked solitary brooding. (I found that interesting.)

Public worship helps preserve a healthy balance,

avoiding both indifference and excess.

For worldly minds, solitary devotion is too weak;

for weak minds, it is unhelpful;

for passionate minds, it is unsafe." Anna Lititia Barbauld.

 

I love Jeremy Taylors sermons! Bold, shocking and colorful illustrations of sin and its deception and allurements.

Taylor is considered the "Shakespeare of the divines," this is one example.

I put the original at the bottom.

"Learn to despise the world;

or, better yet, learn to truly understand it.

It is a deception all the way through.

Its head is a rainbow,

its face is flattery;

its words are charms, and all its stories are false.

Its body is a shadow,

and its hands knit spiders' webs.

It is an image and a noise,

with a hyena's lip and a serpent's tail with a scorpion’s sting.

It was given to serve the needs of our nature,

but instead it craves strange appetites

and nourishes thirsts and fevers.

It brings care and worry,

corrupts our nature,

and rewards all our labors with shame and death.

Our nature is a disease,

and the world nourishes it;

but if you refuse to feed on such unwholesome fare,

your nature returns to its original purity

and becomes receptive to the grace of God."

Here is the original unabridged --

"Learn to despise the world; or, which is better compendium in the duty, learn but truly to understand it; for it is a cousenage all the way;

the head of it is a rainbow, and the face of it is flattery;

it words are charms, and all its stories are false;

its body is a shadow, and its hands do knit spiders webs;

it is an image and a noise,

with a Hyena’s lip and a Serpents tail with the sting of a scorpion;

it was given to serve the needs of our nature, and instead of doing it,

it craves strange appetites, and nourishes thirsts and fevers;

it brings care and debauches our nature,

and brings shame and death as the reward for all our cares.

Our nature is a disease, and the world does nourish it;

but if you decline to feed upon such unwholesome diet,

your nature reverts to its first purities,

and to the entertainment of the grace of God."

“The Christian walk requires more than 

skill, 

use, 

experience, 

and reason—

though these help, they are not enough. 

It must be wrought by a new principle: 

the Spirit of grace. 

Human nature and reason alone cannot do it; the proper cure comes by 

inviting, 

cherishing, 

getting, 

and yielding to God’s Spirit. 

When we have pursued these means, we may count ourselves sufficiently instructed for repairing our breaches and reforming our evil nature.” Jeremy Taylor, 1600s

 

The response I get most often from non-Christians is how they've picked and pieced together from all the different religions what they like and consider to be truth. I applaud all who seek, I always have faith they will find. This quote by Alexander McLaren addressed that --

There are people like the merchant in the parable

who went all over the world seeking goodly pearls,

who, with eager longing to possess light, truth, goodness, or rest,

search up and down and find it nowhere

because they are looking for it in a hundred different places.

They expect to find a little here and a little there,

and to piece it all together to make one all-sufficing restfulness.

Then, when they are most eager in their search—or when, perhaps,

it has all died down into despair and apathy—

the veil seems to be withdrawn, and they see Christ,

whom they have been seeking all the time,

and knew not that He was there beside them.

All, and more than all, what they sought in the many pearls

is stored for them in the one "Pearl of great price."

The ancient covenant stands firm today as ever:

“Seek and you will find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.”