Sermon for March 15th, 2015 - Revision history

Iraneal: /* Leviathan on the Weather Channel */

2015-03-15T08:24:54Z

‎Leviathan on the Weather Channel

Iraneal: /* Leviathan on the Weather Channel */

2015-03-15T08:23:49Z

‎Leviathan on the Weather Channel

Iraneal: /* Fishing for Leviathan */

2015-03-15T08:21:34Z

‎Fishing for Leviathan

Iraneal: /* Fishing for Leviathan */

2015-03-15T08:20:15Z

‎Fishing for Leviathan

Iraneal: /* Fishing for Leviathan */

2015-03-15T08:17:53Z

‎Fishing for Leviathan

Iraneal: /* Fishing for Leviathan */

2015-03-15T08:13:41Z

‎Fishing for Leviathan

Iraneal: /* Fishing for Leviathan */

2015-03-15T08:11:30Z

‎Fishing for Leviathan

Iraneal: /* I Caught a Fish and it Was This Big */

2015-03-15T08:05:50Z

‎I Caught a Fish and it Was This Big

Iraneal at 08:04, 15 March 2015

2015-03-15T08:04:19Z

Iraneal at 07:52, 15 March 2015

2015-03-15T07:52:38Z

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 ====Leviathan on the Weather Channel====
-There is an aspect of God that we don't like to think about.  It's the wild, untamed, terrifying side of God, which is somewhat reflected in us, his creation.  But it is magnified to an exponential degree.  The aspect of God represented by Leviathan is the God who creates earthquakes, volcanoes, thunderstorms, and just this week, [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/cyclonepam1.jpg Tropical Cyclone Pam]--which has, ironically, been dubbed the "Vanuatu Monster" for all the [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/cyclonepam2.jpg destruction] it has caused in the island of Vanuatu.
+There is an aspect of God that we don't like to think about.  It's the wild, untamed, terrifying side of God, which is somewhat reflected in us, his creation.  But it is magnified to an exponential degree.  The aspect of God represented by Leviathan is the God who creates earthquakes, volcanoes, thunderstorms, and just this week, [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/cyclonepam.jpg Tropical Cyclone Pam]--which has, ironically, been dubbed the "Vanuatu Monster" for all the [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/cyclonepam2.jpg destruction] it has caused in the island of Vanuatu.
 There was a time (less frequent now) when terrifying weather events like these were called "Acts of God."  I think that expression reflects a period in our history when we had no other way of understanding such powerful and destructive forces except by connecting them to monsters or deities.  We still can't control the weather, although despite our protests we are much, much better at predicting it than we were a century ago.  It's kind of like the ancient maps I talked about a few weeks ago...when you actually explore the uncharted places, the "monsters" disappear from future maps.  Today, we're more likely to call earthquakes and hurricanes "natural disasters" than "Acts of God."  They are no less destructive, no less terrifying, but most of us no longer see them as divine punishment for our sins, or as evidence of some cosmic battle between good and evil.  They are simply one aspect of God's creation, one frightening aspect of God. We want God to be a God of order, but he is God of order and chaos alike.

@@ Line 97: / Line 97: @@
 ====Leviathan on the Weather Channel====
-There is an aspect of God that we don't like to think about.  It's the wild, untamed, terrifying side of God, which is somewhat reflected in us, his creation.  But it is magnified to an exponential degree.  The aspect of God represented by Leviathan is the God who creates earthquakes, volcanoes, thunderstorms, and just this week, Tropical Cyclone Pam (image)--which has, ironically, been dubbed the "Vanuatu Monster" for all the destruction it has caused in the island of Vanuatu. (image)
+There is an aspect of God that we don't like to think about.  It's the wild, untamed, terrifying side of God, which is somewhat reflected in us, his creation.  But it is magnified to an exponential degree.  The aspect of God represented by Leviathan is the God who creates earthquakes, volcanoes, thunderstorms, and just this week, [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/cyclonepam1.jpg Tropical Cyclone Pam]--which has, ironically, been dubbed the "Vanuatu Monster" for all the [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/cyclonepam2.jpg destruction] it has caused in the island of Vanuatu.
 There was a time (less frequent now) when terrifying weather events like these were called "Acts of God."  I think that expression reflects a period in our history when we had no other way of understanding such powerful and destructive forces except by connecting them to monsters or deities.  We still can't control the weather, although despite our protests we are much, much better at predicting it than we were a century ago.  It's kind of like the ancient maps I talked about a few weeks ago...when you actually explore the uncharted places, the "monsters" disappear from future maps.  Today, we're more likely to call earthquakes and hurricanes "natural disasters" than "Acts of God."  They are no less destructive, no less terrifying, but most of us no longer see them as divine punishment for our sins, or as evidence of some cosmic battle between good and evil.  They are simply one aspect of God's creation, one frightening aspect of God. We want God to be a God of order, but he is God of order and chaos alike.
-Job, faced with calamity after calamity, cried out, asking where was God in the midst of his suffering?  When disasters strike, natural or otherwise, we often ask the same question. It is hard for us to see God in the face of Leviathan. But I think God actually showed up long before the whirlwind, long before the monster speeches.  Sometimes we're so paralyzed by the big scary divine monsters that we miss what God is also doing through the people all around us.  Fred Rogers, the creator of Mr. Roger's neighborhood (and an ordained Presbyterian minister) put it this way:
+Job, faced with calamity after calamity, cried out, asking where was God in the midst of his suffering?  When disasters strike, natural or otherwise, we often ask the same question. It is hard for us to see God in the face of Leviathan. But I think God actually showed up long before the whirlwind, long before the monster speeches.  Sometimes we're so paralyzed by the big scary divine monsters that we miss what God is also doing through the people all around us.  Fred Rogers, the creator of Mr. Roger's neighborhood (and an ordained Presbyterian minister) [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/mrrogers.jpg put it this way]:
 "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."

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 Fast forward to Anglo-Saxon England during the medieval period, where the giant fanged mouth of Leviathan, described in Job 40, gets mixed together with the Norse legend of Fenrir, also a god of Chaos who, incidentally, also swallows the sun ([http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/fenrir.jpg 1908 drawing by W.G. Collingwood]).  Fenrir morphs into Leviathan to become "Hellmouth," his jaws depicted as the very gates of hell. ([http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/hellmouth.jpg Winchester Psalter of about 1150]).  Images of Hellmouth become popular throughout Medieval Europe ([http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/bourgesjaws.jpg Bourges Cathedral, ca. 12th century]) and right down to our own day ([http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/sarlacc.jpg Sarlacc from Return of the Jedi])
-John Calvin and other 16th century reformers speculated that Leviathan was a whale.  Herman Melville, in his classic novel Moby Dick, unsurprisingly does the same. Thomas Hobbes named his famous book about civil government "Leviathan," and the original book cover quotes Job 41:24 (image).  Other modern interpreters (including the footnotes to the NRSV) have concluded that Leviathan must be a crocodile, generally on the basis of the verses in Job that describe the creature's scaly back. Creation-science advocates point once again, implausibly, to the dinosaur.  Of course, neither crocodiles, nor whales, nor dinosaurs (or any actual creature) are known to breathe fire, so all attempts to classify Leviathan are somewhat problematic. In fact, I think it's quite intentional that Leviathan defies classification.  Isn't that the point of the poem--that Leviathan cannot be captured or comprehended?  What is classification, if not a 20th century way of capturing something?
+John Calvin and other 16th century reformers speculated that Leviathan was a whale.  Herman Melville, in his classic novel Moby Dick, unsurprisingly does the same. Thomas Hobbes named his famous book about civil government "Leviathan," and the [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/hobbes.jpg original book cover] quotes Job 41:24.  Other modern interpreters (including the footnotes to the NRSV) have concluded that Leviathan must be a crocodile, generally on the basis of the verses in Job that describe the creature's scaly back. Creation-science advocates point once again, implausibly, to the dinosaur.  Of course, neither crocodiles, nor whales, nor dinosaurs (or any actual creature) are known to breathe fire, so all attempts to classify Leviathan are somewhat problematic. In fact, I think it's quite intentional that Leviathan defies classification.  Isn't that the point of the poem--that Leviathan cannot be captured or comprehended?  What is classification, if not a 20th century way of capturing something?
 ====He Alone Is Lord====

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 So Job (not God!) is the one who first asks for Leviathan to be roused, to come forth and swallow the light, plunging the world (and Job) into complete darkness and chaos.
-Fast forward to Anglo-Saxon England during the medieval period, where the giant fanged mouth of Leviathan, described in Job 40, gets mixed together with the Norse legend of Fenrir, also a god of Chaos who, incidentally, also swallows the sun (1908 drawing by W.G. Collingwood).  Fenrir morphs into Leviathan to become "Hellmouth," his jaws depicted as the very gates of hell. (Winchester Psalter of about 1150).  Images of Hellmouth become popular throughout Medieval Europe (Bourges Cathedral, ca. 12th century) and right down to our own day (Sarlacc from Return of the Jedi)
+Fast forward to Anglo-Saxon England during the medieval period, where the giant fanged mouth of Leviathan, described in Job 40, gets mixed together with the Norse legend of Fenrir, also a god of Chaos who, incidentally, also swallows the sun ([http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/fenrir.jpg 1908 drawing by W.G. Collingwood]).  Fenrir morphs into Leviathan to become "Hellmouth," his jaws depicted as the very gates of hell. ([http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/hellmouth.jpg Winchester Psalter of about 1150]).  Images of Hellmouth become popular throughout Medieval Europe ([http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/bourgesjaws.jpg Bourges Cathedral, ca. 12th century]) and right down to our own day ([http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/sarlacc.jpg Sarlacc from Return of the Jedi])
 John Calvin and other 16th century reformers speculated that Leviathan was a whale.  Herman Melville, in his classic novel Moby Dick, unsurprisingly does the same. Thomas Hobbes named his famous book about civil government "Leviathan," and the original book cover quotes Job 41:24 (image).  Other modern interpreters (including the footnotes to the NRSV) have concluded that Leviathan must be a crocodile, generally on the basis of the verses in Job that describe the creature's scaly back. Creation-science advocates point once again, implausibly, to the dinosaur.  Of course, neither crocodiles, nor whales, nor dinosaurs (or any actual creature) are known to breathe fire, so all attempts to classify Leviathan are somewhat problematic. In fact, I think it's quite intentional that Leviathan defies classification.  Isn't that the point of the poem--that Leviathan cannot be captured or comprehended?  What is classification, if not a 20th century way of capturing something?

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 ====Fishing for Leviathan====
-There is a serpentine sea-monster in the mythology of just about every ancient culture. In Norse Mythology, it's [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/jörmungandr.jpg Jormungandr], the serpent who rings the world, and eats his own tail. In Egyptian and Greek Mythology, it's [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/ouroboros.jpg].  In Mayan mythology, it's [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/quetzalcoatl.png Quetzalcoatl].  Notice the similarity between this and [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/ambrosianbible.jpg last weeks image] of Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz from the Abrosian Bible. (images)
+There is a serpentine sea-monster in the mythology of just about every ancient culture. In Norse Mythology, it's [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/jörmungandr.jpg Jormungandr], the serpent who rings the world, and eats his own tail. In Egyptian and Greek Mythology, it's [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/ouroboros.jpg Ouroboros].  In Mayan mythology, it's [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/quetzalcoatl.png Quetzalcoatl].  Notice the similarity between this and [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/ambrosianbible.jpg last weeks image] of Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz from the Abrosian Bible. (images)
 There's another mythological strand that connects even more closely to the Biblical Leviathan.  In Egyptian mythology, the monster [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/apep.jpg Apep] is the embodiment of Chaos.  Each day, Apep lies in wait just below the horizon and swallows the sun god, the bringer of light. Light is associated with order, and darkness with chaos.

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 ====Fishing for Leviathan====
-There is a serpentine sea-monster in the mythology of just about every ancient culture. In Norse Mythology, it's Jörmungandr, the serpent who rings the world, and eats his own tail. In Egyptian and Greek Mythology, it's Ouroboros.  In Mayan mythology, it's Quetzalcoatl.  Notice the similarity between this and last weeks image of Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz from the Abrosian Bible. (images)
+There is a serpentine sea-monster in the mythology of just about every ancient culture. In Norse Mythology, it's [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/jörmungandr.jpg Jörmungandr], the serpent who rings the world, and eats his own tail. In Egyptian and Greek Mythology, it's [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/ouroboros.jpg].  In Mayan mythology, it's [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/quetzalcoatl.png Quetzalcoatl].  Notice the similarity between this and [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/ambrosianbible last weeks image] of Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz from the Abrosian Bible. (images)
-There's another mythological strand that connects even more closely to the Biblical Leviathan.  In Egyptian mythology, the monster Apep is the embodiment of Chaos.  Each day, Apep lies in wait just below the horizon and swallows the sun god, the bringer of light. Light is associated with order, and darkness with chaos.  (image)
+There's another mythological strand that connects even more closely to the Biblical Leviathan.  In Egyptian mythology, the monster [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/apep.jpg Apep] is the embodiment of Chaos.  Each day, Apep lies in wait just below the horizon and swallows the sun god, the bringer of light. Light is associated with order, and darkness with chaos.
-There's also a Native American legend about a snake swallowing the sun. (image)
+There's also a Native American legend about a [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/nativeamericansnake.jpg snake] swallowing the sun. (image)
 At some point in his development, Leviathan takes on similar characteristics.  Listen to Job's words in chapter three.  This is the first of Job's speeches after he loses everything:

@@ Line 60: / Line 60: @@
 [http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/bigfish9.jpg 9]
-You might say that Job chapter 41 contains the biggest fish story of all time:  God's big fish, Leviathan. The Hebrew word לִוְיָתָן (Livyatan)is from an even older word that means garland or wreath (think twisted coils).  This is how he sometimes appears in early art ([[http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/byzantinemanuscript.jpg Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Codex Gr. 749]).  Unlike his counterpart, Behemoth, Leviathan shows up a few other places in scripture.  Isaiah 27 describes the day (in the future) in which God will punish Leviathan and slay him with a sword (however, this may be a coded reference to a foreign nation that Isaiah is prophesying against) (Dore Illustration).
+You might say that Job chapter 41 contains the biggest fish story of all time:  God's big fish, Leviathan. The Hebrew word לִוְיָתָן (Livyatan)is from an even older word that means garland or wreath (think twisted coils).  This is how he sometimes appears in early art ([[http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/byzantinemanuscript.jpg Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Codex Gr. 749]).  Unlike his counterpart, Behemoth, Leviathan shows up a few other places in scripture.  Isaiah 27 describes the day (in the future) in which God will punish Leviathan and slay him with a sword (however, this may be a coded reference to a foreign nation that Isaiah is prophesying against) ([http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/doreleviathan.jpg Dore Illustration]).
 Psalm 74 describes the day (in the past) in which God killed Leviathan, breaking his heads (plural) into pieces and feeding him to the people.  And Psalm 104 describes Leviathan as God's creation, which he made to play with in the sea. In the Jewish Talmud, God plays with Leviathan three hours each day, as a break from judging people and feeding the world.  So is Leviathan God's future enemy, past enemy, God's friend and playmate? None of these descriptions quite match the others, and unfortunately, Leviathan's extensive treatment in Job doesn't help much, either.

@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 ==Job: The Monsters and the Critics - Leviathan==
 ====I Caught a Fish and it Was This Big====
-Every fisherman has a big fish story.  And they all start with the words, "I once caught a fish this big..." I thought today I might show you a few famous ones you probably didn't know about. (funny big fish pics here).
+Every fisherman has a big fish story.  And they all start with the words, "I once caught a fish this big..." I thought today I might show you a few famous ones you probably didn't know about.
-You might say that Job chapter 41 contains the biggest fish story of all time:  God's big fish, Leviathan. The Hebrew word לִוְיָתָן (Livyatan)is from an even older word that means garland or wreath (think twisted coils).  This is how he sometimes appears in early art (Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Codex Gr. 749).  Unlike his counterpart, Behemoth, Leviathan shows up a few other places in scripture.  Isaiah 27 describes the day (in the future) in which God will punish Leviathan and slay him with a sword (however, this may be a coded reference to a foreign nation that Isaiah is prophesying against) (Dore Illustration).
+You might say that Job chapter 41 contains the biggest fish story of all time:  God's big fish, Leviathan. The Hebrew word לִוְיָתָן (Livyatan)is from an even older word that means garland or wreath (think twisted coils).  This is how he sometimes appears in early art ([[http://mrlocke.net/Job/Leviathan/byzantinemanuscript.jpg Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Codex Gr. 749]).  Unlike his counterpart, Behemoth, Leviathan shows up a few other places in scripture.  Isaiah 27 describes the day (in the future) in which God will punish Leviathan and slay him with a sword (however, this may be a coded reference to a foreign nation that Isaiah is prophesying against) (Dore Illustration).
 Psalm 74 describes the day (in the past) in which God killed Leviathan, breaking his heads (plural) into pieces and feeding him to the people.  And Psalm 104 describes Leviathan as God's creation, which he made to play with in the sea. In the Jewish Talmud, God plays with Leviathan three hours each day, as a break from judging people and feeding the world.  So is Leviathan God's future enemy, past enemy, God's friend and playmate? None of these descriptions quite match the others, and unfortunately, Leviathan's extensive treatment in Job doesn't help much, either.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ==Job 41:1-34 (INL)==
 Before I read the second scripture passage, I feel like I need to make a few comments on scripture translations.  That's because the translation we're using today is my own, directly from the original Hebrew.  Some of you may be wondering, "What's wrong with the NRSV?" It's what we use most weeks, it's what our pew Bibles are...and some of you may even be wondering, "What's wrong with the good old fashioned King James version? After all, if Jesus and his disciples spoke King James English, it ought to be good enough for us!
@@ Line 47: / Line 48: @@
 ==Job: The Monsters and the Critics - Leviathan==
 Every fisherman has a big fish story.  And they all start with the words, "I once caught a fish this big..." I thought today I might show you a few famous ones you probably didn't know about. (funny big fish pics here).
@@ Line 53: / Line 55: @@
 Psalm 74 describes the day (in the past) in which God killed Leviathan, breaking his heads (plural) into pieces and feeding him to the people.  And Psalm 104 describes Leviathan as God's creation, which he made to play with in the sea. In the Jewish Talmud, God plays with Leviathan three hours each day, as a break from judging people and feeding the world.  So is Leviathan God's future enemy, past enemy, God's friend and playmate? None of these descriptions quite match the others, and unfortunately, Leviathan's extensive treatment in Job doesn't help much, either.
 There is a serpentine sea-monster in the mythology of just about every ancient culture. In Norse Mythology, it's Jörmungandr, the serpent who rings the world, and eats his own tail. In Egyptian and Greek Mythology, it's Ouroboros.  In Mayan mythology, it's Quetzalcoatl.  Notice the similarity between this and last weeks image of Behemoth, Leviathan, and Ziz from the Abrosian Bible. (images)
@@ Line 73: / Line 76: @@
 John Calvin and other 16th century reformers speculated that Leviathan was a whale.  Herman Melville, in his classic novel Moby Dick, unsurprisingly does the same. Thomas Hobbes named his famous book about civil government "Leviathan," and the original book cover quotes Job 41:24 (image).  Other modern interpreters (including the footnotes to the NRSV) have concluded that Leviathan must be a crocodile, generally on the basis of the verses in Job that describe the creature's scaly back. Creation-science advocates point once again, implausibly, to the dinosaur.  Of course, neither crocodiles, nor whales, nor dinosaurs (or any actual creature) are known to breathe fire, so all attempts to classify Leviathan are somewhat problematic. In fact, I think it's quite intentional that Leviathan defies classification.  Isn't that the point of the poem--that Leviathan cannot be captured or comprehended?  What is classification, if not a 20th century way of capturing something?
 At the very beginning of Job's long speeches that span most of the book, he asks that Leviathan be summoned.  Later, he demands that God appear before him as well.  At the end of the book, both God and (through his words) Leviathan show up. God's speech to Job has three movements.  In the first, God speaks of creation--the earth, the sea, the snow, the rain--and then he goes on to describe several lesser animals--the lion, the mountain goat, the donkey, the ox, the ostrich, the horse, the hawk.  If we were going to include whales, elephants, crocodiles and hippos, I would think this would be where they might fit best.
@@ Line 83: / Line 87: @@
 Job says, right after invoking Leviathan, "Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning." God, through Leviathan, is responding directly to Job's request when he says, "He sneezes and light bursts brightly forth; He blinks as the break of dawn."  In other words, "You summoned me, Job.  You summoned Leviathan to snuff out your light and plunge you into darkness.  But Leviathan doesn't do that.  I'm bringing you light instead."
 There is an aspect of God that we don't like to think about.  It's the wild, untamed, terrifying side of God, which is somewhat reflected in us, his creation.  But it is magnified to an exponential degree.  The aspect of God represented by Leviathan is the God who creates earthquakes, volcanoes, thunderstorms, and just this week, Tropical Cyclone Pam (image)--which has, ironically, been dubbed the "Vanuatu Monster" for all the destruction it has caused in the island of Vanuatu. (image)