Doug Van Pelt

Going back to Kansas

Was listening to more of that Kansas Live album on the way to work this morning (it's a double disc ... and I have almost finished one of them). I was impressed by the great job of storytelling that Kerry Livgren did with the song "Closet Chronicles." I've long loved the poetry of that song, but I realized that this writer did a great job of telling a story in the space of one (what is it) 8 minute-long song. I found myself caring for this king in the story. I was bummed that he had become a "refugee of a family" and how he was to die a lonely death. I mourned the fact that he would never hear the sound of children's innocent laughter. I could hear that sound as I contemplated what it would be like to never hear it again. So sad. And then when the king disappeared, he "left us all to follow through his maze." Did he leave a mess behind? Why didn't anyone read his "chronicles?" Such a good story. So many details. I found myself following along and engaged in the details. Well done, Mr. Livgren.

I battle a sore back that makes my neck stiff. I guess I'm really a stiff-necked person now! I hope to get some massage therapy. I have some exercises to strengthen the muscles and I try to interrupt the position I'm in and the posture I keep in front of the computer. I've got a lower tray for the keyboard and mouse, which I think improved how I sit a lot. Yet it doesn't seem to be enough. I think I compound my problem each day. Maybe with continued exercise and some massage I can move past this. I hope so.

My daughter made me sign a contract that promises I'll be home in time for her birthday party on Friday. As crazy as that sounds (like I would be late for that), the underlying message is clear: somehow she's become worried about my ability to arrive on time. I better step it up in that department.





Here is a photo of my champion cereal boxes. They've been decorated and awarded little Chiquita and Dole banana stickers for heroic deeds and fantastic play on the field. Some of those open field tackles have made the other cereal boxes explode, with cereal flying up in the air and evoking roars of approval from the stadium's crowd. Wow. The coffee is really good, too. A chocolate covered peppermint from Altoids adds just the right finishing taste.

Wow, in reading Exodus 32 this morning, I see that "stiff necked" description again. It's not a good label, trust me. God is alerting Moses to a situation down the mountain, calling the people worshiping a golden calf a stiff necked people. God tells Moses, "Now leave me alone," and promises to make him a great nation ... just as soon as he destroys these people.

Before we talk about Moses' response here, I want to go back and discuss the error of the man in charge. Not Moses, mind you. He delegated Aaron, I believe, to handle things while he was up on the mountain with God. I assume that's how it was set up. Regardless of those details, the people came to Aaron. They told him, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."

Now, while it's a scary thing to align oneself to these "stiff-necked" people, I do sympathize with them. They probably didn't know any better. Maybe there was a still small voice inside that resisted their idea of making some gods; but perhaps a bigger issue was that these people didn't really know God. Moses was walking with the Lord in a way that could be described as a "relationship." These people were apparently confused and weren't sure what or Who they were worshiping. Aaron, however, being the man in charge, seems to have made a huge blunder. I'm not sure God shouldn't have told Moses, "Wait here while I go destroy Aaron. He's a terrible priest that's just done the unthinkable for his people."

When asked to make a god, Aaron should've used that request as a platform to launch into an educational sermon about Who God is and how He is greater than anything created. However, it's possible that this time on the mountain, where much of that "education" and law was given from the Lord to Moses (possibly a very long 40 days) was a time of great learning for one but offering nothing (yet) for the many below. Perhaps it was later that they were to learn how wrong those kind of actions were. Perhaps it was after the Law was given that they could discern better the difference between idolatry and worship of the one true God. Either way, I'm not totally sure you can blame these guys for what they did. Now, with the knowledge from Scripture that I have (limited though it may be), I could not make the same mistake and claim ignorance. I know that idolatry is wrong and misplaced enthusiasm.

Now, Moses here acts like a messiah. Verse 11 describes him as seeking the favor of the Lord. Moses brings up how "the Joneses" might think (you know, the Egyptians) about God "delivering His people just so He could kill them in the wilderness. He also brought up His promise to Abraham. We're not sure what it was that convinced God (if it was any mere words at all, for that matter), but God did relent and did not carry out His threat.

When Moses came down from the mountain, he had a great piece of art with him. It was the two tablets, which were engraved on each side by the hand of God. In anger he threw them down at the foot of the mountain and broke them. He took the golden calf and burned it and ground the remains to powder. Then he made the Israelites drink it. Yuck. What a graphic and sensory way to make a point! All this burning and grinding and drink mixing took time, which must've been tense.

Aaron basically tells a big lie to Moses, trying to get him to believe that when he threw the gold into the fire that, "Poof!" out came a golden calf. Give us a break, Aaron! Moses drew a line in the sand and asked all who were on God's side to come over. All the Levites rallied to him. Then he basically told them to go through the camp and kill "each his brother and friend and neighbor." It was a terrible, terrible day. I can see why the singer from HIM describes the "God of the Old Testament" as vengeful and wrathful. I think he's terribly mistaken to read this big difference between the two sections of the Bible, but I understand how he could come to this conclusion.

It's kind of sad that Moses interceded on behalf of his people and then he got mad at them and killed a bunch of them. About three thousand of them died. I hope that Moses wept while this was going on. This was sad, sad stuff. The people were described as "out of control." Perhaps there is a spirit involved with idol worship that, like evil, is a possessing, demonic spirit that can't be casually glossed over or ignored. The Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf.

I wonder how Aaron dealt with this failure. I mean, as a priest, how do you deal with failure -- when it means so many consequences for your people? I wonder if he or Moses felt isolated from the people like that king in "Closet Chronicles?"

Posted by Doug Van Pelt at June 3, 2008 10:28 AM