Well, this week we’re back to the Book of Exodus. And specifically, we’re back to Exodus 23:10-19, the tail end of the Book of the Covenant, which lists the laws, obligations, stipulations, etc. that God was placing on His people. Now it’s easy to read this kind of text and find yourself agreeing with the noted journalist, cultural critic, and scholar, H.L. Mencken, who once mocked the Puritan – by which he meant simply the Christian who takes the teaching of the Bible seriously – as “a person with a haunting fear that someone, somewhere, is happy.”

The world finds Christian seriousness a heavy thing. But then the world is not thinking seriously about the law of God; it doesn’t reckon with the impending judgments of the Lord; it has no expectation of divine wrath falling upon sinners. On the other hand, as Christians, we should be the first to confess that sometimes we don’t demonstrate the other side of Christianity: the Joy of the Lord. Surely, there should be no one in the world happier than Christians for there’s no one with a better reason to be happy. The knowledge of God, the love of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, the fellowship of the saints, high purpose in this life, and the hope of the next life in heaven with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ — these are indeed reasons to be happy!

What does all of that have to do with Exodus 23? Quite a bit, I think. The law, and in particular, the Feasts of the Lord, demonstrate the balance the Lord is seeking between the Fear of God (seriousness) and the Joy of the Lord (happiness). These detailed, complicated, passages are designed to teach us how to do both. How to live life in such a way that we take God much more seriously than we take ourselves. So how, and more importantly, why, should we live in a way that’s both thoughtful and joyful? Let’s work through that together this Sunday. I hope you’ll be there! Dr. Dave

PS – Please be praying this week and next as the Session interviews our final three candidates for the Assistant Pastor position.