Every time I log into my blog I see those numbers in the right-hand column staring back at me, mocking me, telling me, “You’ve given up on this, too.” Eleven posts in September, and just three so far in October. But why?

The truth is I’ve been really busy, and blogging doesn’t make it to the top of my priority list. Perhaps if I were paid to do this…. But this week alone I have to write a sermon for the high school fall retreat (done), study the historical books for an e4 session I’m teaching next Tuesday (not done), finish reading Surprised by Hope by NT Wright (done), prepare for a preaching meeting because I’m preaching at my church the last weekend of November (half done), prepare a session on Isaiah (not done), and prepare a session on John (not started). And I’m sure I’m forgetting something. Please God, don’t call for a video this weekend!

I was reading through Psalm 51 this morning and I was struck by the absolute filth and wickedness that lies behind it. This is the song that David writes after Nathan confronts him about his affair with Bathsheba and the state-sanctioned murder of Uriah, her husband. It just doesn’t get much worse than what David did to that family.

I feel weird when I read
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
   and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
   or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
   and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
I just am, like, dude, you stole this guy’s wife and then you had him killed. And this guy trusted you. He paid you honor and you’re over here using your power as king to take his wife as your own. God didn’t take his Holy Spirit from you, you kicked the Holy Spirit out!
Bathsheba must have despised him. He destroyed her family. He killed her first love. She must have hated him. But what could she do? He was the king. What a mess!
On the other hand, these are words of desperation. It seems arrogant of David to ask God to save him from this horrendous sin, and yet I would do the same. I, too, would be on my face. At least David knew that what he had done was evil, and he was owning up to it. 
There is so much evil and corruption today for which there is no repentance. And it’s not just out there in corporate America or government, it’s here in my heart. We would all do well to say
Have mercy on me, O God,
   according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
   blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
   and cleanse me from my sin.
You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
   you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
   a broken and contrite heart,
   O God, you will not despise.

Like many people, the recent economic turmoil has me anxious. I’m not afraid of losing everything because I don’t have anything to lose–no investments, no home, etc. My only debt is on the credit card, and the amount is significantly less than the average American household’s debt. But I’m terrified at the prospect of going through another Great Depression. I’m not afraid of many things, but that is one of them. A lot of that fear stems from a consistent theme in my life of unemployment and the inability to get the job. For whatever reason, I just don’t get the job. It’s a miracle that I have a job now! So, now that I have a family to feed, this fear has been elevated from frustration to HOLY CRAP WE’RE ALL GOING TO STARVE TO DEATH!!!

I woke up this morning thinking about the economy. I wanted someone to blame for all this, as if that would make it go away. But that’s just politics. So I resigned myself to pray for the leaders of this country, which, to my shame, is something that I haven’t done very often. But that resolution didn’t ease the fear in my heart.

I’ve been reading through the Psalms lately, and yesterday I stopped reading after 45. That means that, when I came into work this morning, I opened my Bible to Psalm 46.

God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
   God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
   he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come and see the works of the Lord,
   the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
   he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
   he burns the shields with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
God is our refuge. God is our strength. God is present. God is with us. Therefore, we will not fear. 
I’ve been doing a lot of devotional writing at work lately, and I figured it would be nice to post a sample here. So I did. Below. Right…there. No, that’s not it. Just keep reading and you’ll come to it. No, on the computer. You have to look at the computer! Just scroll down! What? I don’t know. What are you–what does that even mean? Just scroll down and read! Sheesh, it doesn’t have to be this complicated. It’s a blog. Welcome to 2008.

John 2:12-25

After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”
His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

Passover would have attracted Jews from all across the world who wanted to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship. Because of the long journey, they would not have been able to bring the appropriate sacrifices with them—hence the availability of cattle, sheep and doves, and the presence of the money changers in the Temple. These people were providing a way for Jews to make the right sacrifices to Yahweh.

But you can’t buy worship. You can’t purchase God’s favor. Jesus was upset not simply because these money changers may have been extorting their fellow Jews; no, he was upset by the whole process of buying and selling going on at the Temple. It wasn’t merely the injustice of extortion that raised Jesus’ ire, it was the commercialization of God’s House.

In fact, by clearing the Temple, Jesus is pronouncing his judgment against it. Jesus is judging the Temple and condemning its way of worship, and he is replacing it with something else—himself. The authorities asked him, “What right do you have to clear these people out? Who are you to say that all this is wrong?” Jesus responded by saying, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” The disciples only later understood that Jesus was referring here to his own body.

By clearing the Temple, Jesus is judging the Temple and its place in Jewish life, and he is setting up an alternative Temple—himself. Jesus claims to replace the Temple as the place where heaven and earth collide. Jesus is now where we go to meet God. The Temple was destroyed less than 50 years after Jesus condemned it, and it has never been rebuilt. Jesus is the new Temple. It is through Jesus, at his cross, that we go to meet with God.

After jumping in the WayBack Machine, I’ve brought back another old Unbound video. I’ve got to admit, I get hypnotized by Corey’s fleshly gyrations.

Unbound Dance Video from Andy Holt on Vimeo.

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