Saul's Donkeys

All of us geeky seminary types like to point out the imagery of David shepherding sheep before he came to shepherd the people. We think its cool. He fought lions, bears, and people to take care of his sheep. No wonder he became king. Saul, on the other hand tended donkeys.

In I Samuel 9, we find Saul on the hunt for his father's wayward asses. He takes along some "boy" to help and they can't find the donkeys. They search all over Israel for them, but they're gone. Saul is ready to go home, but the "boy" instructs him to seek counsel from Samuel. Saul doesn't think this will work, but what the hey, he was out of ideas. And abracabra, Saul is king. Of course, there's more to the story, but that's how Samuel and Saul met.

Compare that story with chapter 16. Saul is no longer in good standing and Samuel is instructed to go to Jesse's house to anoint the new king. David isn't there. He's the youngest, but he's out tending the sheep. David didn't seek out Samuel. Samuel found David and waited for him.

Donkeys versus sheep. I'm not sure of the biblical imagery of the donkey, but it seems that the author(s) of Samuel are making the point that Saul was just doing what he was told. David was obedient, and he was faithful. He actually found his sheep and defended them while Saul gave up and headed home when he couldn't find his donkeys.

I have no deep, theological point here. I'm just a seminary geek that noticed something pretty cool about something I just read.

Isaiah 46.1-4

Bel crouches, Nebo cowers;
their images have gone to beast and cow.
The things you carry are loaded as a burden on the weary.
They cower, they crouch together; they are unable to deliver the burden;
but they themselves go into captivity.
Listen to me, house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
those who have been carried from the womb,
those who have been borne from the belly,
until old age I am he,
until gray haired age I will bear.
I made, and I will carry;
I will bear, and I will deliver.

In this passage, the prophet Isaiah is describing the labor that people would have to endure to carry their gods (Bel and Nebo) with them when they are taken captive and deported. He then compares those gods to the God who bore them and carries them.

John Oswalt says it much better:

"In moments of catastrophe, the human and animal sufferers have to give time and energy to delivering the gods from harm's way. In contrast, it is God who has been carrying Israel from the beginning and will continue to do so until the end...His main point is that these beautiful images...are now a matter for oxcarts and donkeys."

A New National Anthem

I went to a baseball game last night. OK, it was a minor league game, but we all had the opportunity to sing the national anthem. I don't think any one of us did. Here's why:

1. The lady singing the anthem chose to sing at the highest glass-shatteringest octave she could muster. I heard dogs barking behind the stadium.

2. No one really knows the words. What's a rampart? What comes first, "rockets red glare, or bombs bursting in air"?

3. Our national anthem...brace yourselves...stinks.

It sounds harsh, but you all know its true. The arrangement is all over the place. Highs and lows are living together right next to each other. Its crazy. The tune may have worked 200 years ago, but it doesn't now. Do you find yourself humming the tune during the day? I didn't think so.

But I do find myself humming "O, Canada". I'm not even Candadian, but the tune rocks. I caught Alanis Morrisette singing both anthems on TV the other night during the Stanley Cup finals in Ottawa (if you want to watch it, click on the title of this article). Of course no one sang along for our anthem. But when she started "O, Canada" everyone (and I mean everyone) sang along. It also helped that it was acapella. Just her and 20,000 Canadians. At one point she even stopped singing and pointed her mic at the crowd and they carried the tune. I got chills. And I'm not Canadian. The tune works, the lyrics are timeless (sort of) and everyone gets into it. Our anthem was penned in a prison during a battle. It sounds like theirs was conceived in a bar with a bunch of drunk people. It's awesome.

I know they have toyed with the idea of changing ours to "America the Beautiful" or "Enter Sandman", but after this week, I am pushing for a new anthem. What are your thoughts? Do we need to change it, and if so, to what?

Trophy Found In Cleveland - Authorities Are Stumped

I heard on the news that a trophy was misplaced in Cleveland this weekend. The police figured someone from out of town lost it downtown and left no forwarding address. Actually, they had a very difficult time identifying the object as no one had seen a trophy before. An old man at a nursing home vaguely recalled seeing a trophy at some point in his life and identified the object as such. It took a while for authorities to come to grips with the fact that this thing was actually for a team from Cleveland. We're still trying to figure this one out.

So the Cleveland Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference Finals this weekend. We're the Eastern Conference Champions. We're in the NBA Finals. For the first time ever. Hmmm. Sounds weird.

I mean, its just not that often that you hear the words "champions" and "Cleveland" in the same sentence. Unless that sentence reads something like, "Eventual World Series champions Atlanta Braves beat Cleveland four games to two", or "The Denver Broncos are the champs at beating Cleveland no matter what", or "Michael Jordan sure beat Cleveland like a champ."

We're just used to losing big games and always being the underdog. That's just how we roll in Cleveland. We don't win championships, we help other individuals and teams in their pursuit of a championship. We like to think of it as a ministry. Where would Michael Jordan be without Craig Ehlo and the Cavs? Nowhere. The Braves would never have won a World Series without us. The Broncos would never have had to rise from the ranks of the laughingstocks if they had let us win just one AFC Championship game. Just one.

But now, we are the champs of the Eastern Conference of the NBA. And yes, we will probably lose big time to San Antonio, but really, who cares? We won something. We got to hoist up some trophy with a shiny basketball, for cryin' out loud. Let us have this moment. They don't come that often to the city of Cleveland.