by Michiana Covenant | Jul 11, 2018 | Women's Ministry
The first few times I tried reading the Bible through from start to finish, the place where I ran into trouble was the section on the Tabernacle. I could get through the genealogies in Genesis, which only lasted a chapter or so at most, but the tabernacle account contains six chapters (Exod. 25-31) of building instructions and lists of materials, dimensions, parts of pieces of furniture, and so on. These chapters are followed by the story of the Golden Calf, which lasts about three chapters, and then five more chapters (Exod. 35-40) of descriptions of the building instructions being carried out. This raises the question of why the text places so much emphasis on how the Tabernacle was constructed.
Exodus 40:16-33 contains a summary of the chapters about the building of the tabernacle. As you read through this, the climax of the narrative look for the phrase “as the Lord had commanded Moses” and count how many times it appears.
“16 This Moses did; according to all that the Lord commanded him, so he did. 17 In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected. 18 Moses erected the tabernacle. He laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars. 19 And he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 20 He took the testimony and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark and set the mercy seat above on the ark. 21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 22 He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil,23 and arranged the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 24 He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, 25 and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 26 He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil, 27 and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 28 He put in place the screen for the door of the tabernacle. 29 And he set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 30 He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, 31 with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. 32 When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 33 And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.”
The number you should have gotten is seven. Seven is often described as the Biblical number of perfection, and the reason for this comes from Genesis 1. In this famous passage, everything that exists is created in six days, and God rests on the seventh. So seven is associated with the completion of creation.
The number seven is actually all over Genesis 1 if you count how many times certain key words and phrases are used. For example, the phrase “And God saw that it was good” appears six times. A final statement, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good,” brings the total to seven. Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, the phrase appears once each day. What’s so special about that?” The thing is … it doesn’t. Day 2 doesn’t have the phrase “And God saw that it was good,” but Day 3 has it twice to bring the total back up to 7. So when the Tabernacle narrative contains a formula of commendation seven times, it’s a deliberate echo of Genesis 1
If you’re not convinced that the reference is deliberate, note the last verse I read: “So Moses finished the work.” Compare that to Gen. 2:2 “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.”
If that’s still not enough to convince you, let’s go back a little ways from the Exodus passage I read to Exod. 39:43. “And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as the Lord had commanded, so had they done it. Then Moses blessed them.” Here we have the themes of work being done and of blessing after the work, just as God blesses his creatures with fruitfulness after creating them.
In other words, the Tabernacle, God’s presence with His people, is the final part of the creation story. Humanity’s communion with God was the goal of creation. It’s also the goal of the Exodus; God says to Pharaoh, “Let My people go that they may serve Me,” and like their service to the Pharaoh in Egypt, this service takes the form of a building project – but it’s for God, not for Pharaoh.
But the Tabernacle is also dangerous. There are all sorts of warnings in the later instructions on how to move it. The Kohathites, the Levites who are assigned to carry the Ark and other holy objects, are told that they can’t touch or even look at the objects, or they’ll die. The objects are carried on poles that are put through golden rings on the sides of them, and they’re covered with special coverings by the priests so the Kohathites stay safe.
But in spite of this danger of holiness, God still provides a way for His people to approach Him through the system of sacrifices and the ministry of the priests. The High Priest has the names of the tribes of Israel engraved on his breastplate so that when he comes before God once a year on the Day of Atonement, he essentially brings the whole people with him. Now that Jesus has ascended to the throne of God, he acts as that priest interceding for us, bringing us before God, too.
So why does the Bible spend so much time describing the Tabernacle? Well, it’s the goal of everything that has happened so far, but it’s also pointing to a greater goal. As the Golden Calf incident shows, the Tabernacle is not made by sinless people. The Israelites are still not worthy to approach God, except through the High Priest once a year.
When John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the Greek word there is the word for “tabernacle.” Jesus and what He won for us is the ultimate fulfillment of what God promises us through the detailed account of the Tabernacle – that God is with us even as we wander through this broken world, and even when that wandering is our own fault, He provides the perfect offering for sin.
And this is the other reason why the Bible spends so long on the Tabernacle. We have a God who revels in details. God doesn’t relate to humanity in the abstract; he wants to come and have relationships with specific humans. Of course, this is most obvious in the Incarnation, where God became a specific man who lived in a particular time and place. It’s also true in the particular history of Israel, where God was present in an actual, physical location for this one group of people at a particular point in time. And because of that, we know that He also cares about the particulars of our lives.
I’d like to conclude with the rest of Exodus 40, which is the end of the book of Exodus, because it summarizes my main point: That God is with us in our wanderings.
“34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.”
by Michiana Covenant | Apr 28, 2017 | Women's Ministry
By Lena Wallace
Some people think Beauty is
Youth
Perfection
Flawless skin
Shining locks of hair, no gray to be seen
Perfect health
Perfect makeup
Perfect smile
Perfect body, smooth, shining…
Do you know what Beauty is?
I know elderly women
Who wear their gray hair like silver crowns
Their days of youth are over,
Their days of life waning
But they never let that stop them from loving.
They teach students in classrooms,
Gifting their years of wisdom to young minds.
They are no longer young and pretty and full of energy,
But they are venerable queens,
Beautiful, radiant, with smiles that light up a room
And they are loved by all who know them.
Do you know what Beauty is?
I know a woman
A mother of eight
She struggles with teaching her children
Maintaining a healthy weight
Loving her husband
To those who don’t know her, she doesn’t seem much,
But to those who know her and love her
She is flawless, radiant, kind, always willing to love
And help those in need.
Do you know what Beauty is?
I know two little girls
Adopted from China by a loving family
They each have different forms of cerebral palsy
They struggle to adjust, to be brave,
But they are brilliant and loving, incredibly sweet,
And they have radiant smiles for all they meet.
Do you know what Beauty is?
I know a girl
Young and radiant, but insecure about her appearance,
Her hair
Her face
Her weight
But her smile is brilliant, her heart is true, and she is fiercely loyal to her friends.
Her eyes light up when she laughs, and it is dazzling.
Do you know what Beauty is?
I know a girl
Struggling with fear, anxiety, depression
She fears so much, she tries to cover it
She doesn’t sleep much, she hides the dark circles
She loves so much, but she fears to be hurt again.
But when she laughs, her face is radiant, even through the fear and pain.
Do you know what Beauty is?
I know a young woman
Quiet and thoughtful
She doesn’t like attention,
She doesn’t want to make a big deal out of things
But she will talk with you for hours
About life, struggles
Loves and fears
Joys and tears
A mentor to the downcast, with a beautiful heart.
Do you know what Beauty is?
I know a young woman
Small in stature
Plain in looks
But strong in heart
Though she is small, she is mighty
Her smile is dazzling, her voice divine
She is a hard worker and a solid friend
If you fall she will pick you right back up again.
Do you know what Beauty is?
I know a woman
Mother of seven
She often gets exasperated with her children, husband, friends, and for good reasons, usually
But she is always willing to serve
To find someone a place to stay
To cook them a meal
To comfort the grieving, laugh with the joyful.
She gives love to all, and sometimes feels
Overwhelmed
Underaccepted
But she is loved by all, and she keeps her household running and her children safe.
She is my mother, and she is a queen among women.
Do you know what Beauty is?
Beauty is not a perfect face
Beauty is not a flawless body
A person’s worth is not counted by appearance
Value is not measured by
Your hair
Your body
Your mental state
Your physical health
Your skills
Your flaws
Beauty is what one does
Beautiful is what one’s heart is
Beauty is measured by those who love you
Not by strangers
Not by the media
Not by standards too high to reach
Beauty is measured by
Love.
by Michiana Covenant | Feb 14, 2017 | Women's Ministry
By Elizabeth Sunshine
A few weeks ago, for the second time I had the tremendous privilege of introducing a child to my church in Chinese. The Lynn family, who are members of our church, just adopted a daughter from China. Her name is Audrey. Since I studied Chinese in college and used it regularly for three years while working in Taiwan, they asked me to meet with Audrey before her baptism and explain to her what we were going to do.
I met Audrey on a Thursday night about four days after she arrived in the U.S and three days before her baptism. We wanted to recognize her as a member of our church in virtue of being part of a Christian household, just as we do babies born to members of our congregation. But Audrey is 10 years old, old enough to be confused about what was happening. She hadn’t learned anything about Christianity during her time in China. Honestly, I was really nervous about the meeting. Explaining baptism to a child with no background knowledge would be challenging in English, let alone in Chinese. But Pastor Wallace and I agreed that we didn’t need to go into great detail on the theology. Audrey will have plenty of time to learn about God from her family and in Sunday School. Mostly, for now, she needed to know that baptism was the church’s way of recognizing her as part of the Lynns’ family – and ours.
That evening Audrey’s father, brought her and her sister Ava (who was also adopted from China) to the Wallaces’ house. For most of the evening, Ava played with the Wallaces’ two youngest children, and Audrey sat on her father’s lap and watched. It was obvious that a few times she thought about joining them, but she didn’t get up. Pastor Wallace commented, “It’s clear that she’s watching everything and trying to figure out what her place is in all this. And right now, her place is right there, on her dad’s lap.”
Pastor Wallace eventually started talking to Audrey, and I translated. I told her who we were, that she was going to go to church and be baptized on Sunday, and that that was the church’s way of recognizing her adoption. She seemed to be listening, but she didn’t say anything or look directly at me.
Then I said, “The church is another kind of family, and when we baptize you, we’re saying that we want you to be part of our family.”
At that moment, she looked up and gave me one of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen. She understood. That moment alone would have made all the years I spent learning Chinese worth it.
On Sunday, I stood up front with Audrey as she was baptized to explain what was happening. I didn’t try to translate everything that was said; much of it wouldn’t have made sense to someone who didn’t know the Bible anyway. But when the congregation stood up to receive her I told her, “These people are promising to support you, love you and pray for you.” Then I told her, “Your parents are promising to pray for you and to teach you about God.” Then I said, “The pastor is going to baptize you to make you part of our family.” On Thursday I had told her the pastor was going to put water on her head. In retrospect, I should have mentioned that he was going to do it three times. She was a little shocked, but she came away smiling.
That Thursday night, Pastor Wallace asked Ava whether she remembers her baptism. She broke into a big grin and said, “Yes!” I hope that Audrey will also look back on her baptism as the moment we received her into our family and God’s.
I certainly appreciate the reminder that when I hadn’t done anything to earn it, God accepted me into His family and said to me, “You belong here.”
by Michiana Covenant | Sep 25, 2016 | Ginger Wallace, Women's Ministry
This is the question in the minds of many parents of small children as they struggle to parent in the pew. The answer to this question is pretty simple: those parents were YOU at one point. Those children were not born quiet and obedient!
A child’s natural, normal behavior is somewhat like a puppy: everywhere at once, peeing in the wrong places, chewing on the wrong things, barking/talking at the most inappropriate times! And in a similar way, it’s about training, lots of training. And lots of wondering if it’s even worth it…
The difference to keep in mind that it IS worth it, because they were created in the image of God and were baptized into His family, children can praise their Father, they can glorify HIm!
We are created in a beautiful way. Created in the image of our God! But tainted by SIn–But Redeemed by the blood of Jesus! This “sin” thing really messes with us, it twists something beautiful into something messy and hard–for right now. It confuses us and makes us doubt that we can change–or that our children can change. But remember that the promise of deliverance is for you AND your children. And that God gives His Word to all of us for knowing Him, for understanding Him and for Enjoying Him.
A few years ago, I was still struggling through toddlers beside me in the pew thinking ”What’s the point here?”. Why should I have my kids who don’t understand any of this in Worship with me? “Why am I in Worship?” I had conversations with friends, I listened to sermons (well, parts of sermons…I still had to leave during the service for kid-related reasons) and the thought came to me, “We come to hear the Word, we come to know and love God, to respond to His love to us with voices of confession, of thankfulness and of Praise.” All the rest, the sitting still, the snacks/no snacks, the Do-you-really-need-to-pee-or-do-you-just-want-out, the to spank or not to spank, all this was not the point, the point was, “These are children of God, the way that children learn and grow is to hear their Father’s voice so they can be like Him–so they can see His Power, know His love, feel His Grace.”
I actually like to imagine that we are all gathered (ALL the saints–not just MCPC) in a big yard, we are in the sunshine that is perfectly tempered so that each is comfortable, and we are seeing Jesus and hearing His voice. And we don’t want to be anywhere else.
“Yet you are He who took me from the womb, you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.” Psalm 22:9
So here is a thought, if we can focus right now on listening, on hearing the Word — the Word will change us. It will change our children. Our job is to teach them to Listen. God’s job is to change their hearts. When your child talks during the sermon, motion to them to quiet their mouths, and Listen with their ears. (No one can really listen while they themselves are talking…!)
When the congregation is singing, or otherwise responding verbally to God, ecourage your children to do so as well. Expect it of them. We ALL do ALL of this together, corporate worship IS worship together.
If you are going through a time in your training where yor child is having difficulty restraining their tongue, then there are mutiple options available: You can take your child out of the service to speak with them about “listening, not talking”– and then return to service (the Quieting Room works well for this), or you can make use of the Training Room so that you can train your child in a setting that allows hearing of the Word for you/your child, but also keeps your childs voice confined to that room. While we want our children to worship with us and to hear the Word. We also want to be considerate to the rest of the congregation and enable them to hear the Word as well!
And remember: we are all doing this together. Ask those other familes, “How did/do you do it?”. Ask for assistance for during the service. There are teens/families who would love to sit close by to help as needed. I used to have a friend sit with me every Sunday, she would hold the newest baby, and I could train the toddler. This is what family does. We walk through this together.
by Michiana Covenant | Feb 11, 2016 | Women, Women's Ministry
By Elizabeth Sunshine
I was honored to be asked to lead a devotional at the 2016 MCPC women’s tea on the topic of “books.” I asked my dad for suggestions, and he pointed me to Ecclesiastes 12:12. “My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” As a grad student, I can confirm that the verse is very true. In fact, I’d consider putting it on t-shirts for my classmates. But I didn’t think that’s what the event’s organizers had in mind, so instead I focused on the ways books in general and fiction in particular have influenced my life. I chose this because the value of reading non-fiction for spiritual growth can be relatively obvious. The influence of stories is more subtle but no less real.
We get a hint of the importance of stories in the structure of the Bible. Though we think of it as one book, the Bible is actually many books in many different genres. It contains theological treatises (such as Romans), law codes, also poetry, prophecy (in both prose and poetry) and lots of narratives. Stories take up a large percentage the Bible, and while many of them are history, Jesus’ parables are a kind of fiction. God uses this huge variety of forms to communicate to us because different types of writing speak to our experiences in different ways and affect us differently. And if God considers stories a helpful way of communicating truth, so should we.
One of the first things the Bible tells us about human beings is that we’re made in the image of God. We find this out in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible. At that point, all we’ve been told about God is that He created everything and did it by speaking. Authors, like their Creator create using words. So every time we pick up a book we should recognize that God’s image is being expressed. Of course, that doesn’t mean that everything in every book is good. Authors are also fallen, so we need to read any book with discernment. But we should give thanks to God for the amazing privilege of being made in His image and for the joy we gain from seeing the ways authors intentionally or unintentionally reveal His image in them.
Stories can aid our spiritual growth by helping us develop empathy. They let us get inside the head of someone different from us and understand the world as they experience it. This in turn can help us understand the real people who have had similar experiences. When you meet someone on the street, you don’t know what they’re thinking or their backstory. But when you read a book, the author often tells you that, which makes it easier to understand and relate to the characters.
Fiction is also a huge source of encouragement for me, something my parents taught me at a young age. When I was 10, my parents took my family to Europe for several months, and we traveled to Hungary. We took a night train into Budapest and transferred to another train that would eventually take us to the town where we would be staying. The schedule said the train would have a snack car, so my parents planned on eating breakfast on the train. As the train left the station, a blizzard hit our area. It was then that we discovered the train had little to no heat. My brother and my father walked along the train looking for the snack car. Snow blew upward between holes in the floor of the passages connecting different cars. One bicycle car was covered with ice because the door was opened. My dad tried to close it, but it was jammed. To quote my father, “the bathrooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the fall of Communism” (this was 1999). My father and brother reached the end of the train, but there was no snack car. So my brother and I sat in the compartment bundled up in our coats while my mom fed us gummy bears that she had found in her purse. We had been reading The Hobbit as a family, so my dad said, “Bilbo Baggins describes adventures as ‘nasty, unpleasant things that make you late for breakfast.’ That means we’re having an adventure.” Suddenly, I was excited because I was on an adventure. I was still cold and hungry, but I wasn’t miserable because I saw my predicament differently.
I still draw on Tolkien for encouragement and inspiration, especially when life seems overwhelming. Tolkien does a great job depicting both genuine good and genuine evil and helping us recognize the difference. He also shows us ordinary people, like the Hobbits, standing up against this evil and making a difference. Good stories aren’t just a way to escape from the evil in the world. They’re a picture of what we can do, and they can provide motivation to take risks and do things that may be frightening. G.K. Chesterton once said, “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” The problems that face the heroes in fairy tales are symbols of the evil in the world. And when we see characters in stories slaying their dragons, it can encourage us to stand up and face our dragons.
We’re all busy, so I’m sure many of you don’t have much time for reading. But when you do encounter stories, either in books or in movies, I think it’s helpful to think about them and draw lessons or encouragement from them. I’d also like to encourage you to give thanks to God for the gift of books and the way He can use books of all kinds to make us more like Christ.
by Michiana Covenant | Dec 10, 2015 | Women's Ministry
A Facebook post from Rachel Jankovic (12/9)…
I can’t imagine that in 20 years when my kids get together they will look back in joy on the year Mom finally figured out a way to keep the snow clothes tidy. A bunch of adults sitting around, “Remember that year when everything was clean before Christmas? That was the best! I hope we can do that for our kids this year!” Somehow doesn’t ring true, does it?
It is as though when I become stressed about the home, my kids don’t become stressed about the home- they become stressed about me, and any joy a clean home would have given gets swallowed up in that. But when I lay that all aside and rejoice in the mess, in the kids, in the crazy boxes that don’t stop coming from Amazon- my kids rejoice in all that their hearts want to naturally, and in me too.
The kids will remember the diving into new Lego sets and not the little plastic baggie carnage and the random tiny ninja swords that show up everywhere. They will remember eating candy canes without a care and not the tiny shards of stickiness after. They will remember a home full of excitement, and joy, and anticipation over the birth of our Savior. And I hope they remember their mother, in the middle of it all laughing. With a mad baby in the Ergo, trying to pick up laundry with her toes and wrap gifts with her teeth. I hope they remember a Merry Christmas! All of it!
