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This is my practice, and I’ve missed it…. or it missed me— not sure which.



Ezra 3

…the old men who had seen the first house standing on its foundation, wept out loud when they saw this house; while others shouted out loud for joy — ¹³ so that the people couldn’t distinguish the noise of the joyful shouting from the noise of the people’s weeping.

Neither can I. My dog can’t tell whether I’m laughing or crying, either. It doesn’t matter though, because either way, she’ll come over and put her head in my lap. I know how that feels, the irresistible joy-grief that comes over people when they’ve lost something forever and then they see something new being put in its place. It’s as if the new thing, the untried thing, the thing that is coming, is inexorable and pitiless, but at the same time beautiful and good. I suddenly thought that this is exactly a metaphor for the coming of the Messiah. I think it must be alright to weep with grief and shout with joy at the same time. It’s like this— if the old thing hadn’t been destroyed there would be no need for the new thing to take its place. The old thing is worth grieving for, and yet, it’s clear that it’s not good to hold on so hard to the memory of something we’ve lost that there’s no room for consolation or renewal. If we do that, it takes away our freedom, buries our hope, and leaves us bitter. So, I’m going to take a lesson from my dog, and even if I can’t tell laughing from crying, I’m going to get up and go put my chin in God’s lap and wag my tail.

1 Corinthians 16:10-24

¹³ Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, behave like a mentsh, grow strong. ¹⁴ Let everything you do be done in love.

I didn’t like the translation “act like men” from the ESV for obvious reasons. I usually use the CJB anyway, which used the word “mentsh”. So, I went and looked it up online and found a book (which of course I went and bought right away) called “How to Be a Mentsh (and Not a Shmuck)” by Michael Wex. It’s a Yiddish word that means “an honorable, decent person; one who helps you when you need help.” I also looked at the Greek word that Paul uses, “andrizomai”, which can be translated as something like “manly”. A little more research led to the understanding that what we mean today by “manly” was not at all what Paul meant. I went and bought yet another book online in the course of my investigation, called “Valiant or Virtuous” by Suzanne McCarthy. The excerpt I read regarding “andrizomai” reassured me that what Paul is talking about is something akin to moral courage, and so the word “mentsh” is a very apt translation. I have to say, the reason that this part of the passage stood out to me is because I’ve been feeling very doubtful lately, about just about everything. I felt as though Paul was giving me practical, common sense advice about how to conduct myself, regardless of my emotional state at any particular time. “Pay attention, hang in there, be a mentsh, get strong; and do it all out of love.” I thought that Paul put the most important thing last… do it in love. So, if I do a bit of noumenal reverse engineering, I get this: God is Love. In Love we live and move and have being. Out of that Source comes our capacity to “pay attention, hang in there, be a mentsh, and get strong.” There’s no need to try and pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.

Matthew 12:22-32

³⁰ “Those who are not with me are against me, and those who do not gather with me are scattering. ³¹ Because of this, I tell you that people will be forgiven any sin and blasphemy, but blaspheming the Ruach HaKodesh will not be forgiven. ³² One can say something against the Son of Man and be forgiven; but whoever keeps on speaking against the Ruach HaKodesh will never be forgiven, neither in the ‘olam hazeh nor in the ‘olam haba.

I’ve never really understood the distinction Jesus is making here. I took a hard look at the syntax, which implies that not being “with” him means being “against” him, and because of that it’s impossible to “forgive” a person who “speaks against” the Indweller. It struck me that the Greek word “meta” as found in “metanoia” is the word translated as “with”. I doublechecked, and it’s the same word. “Meta” means “with; among; after” and Noia means “mind; thought; understanding.” Metanoia can be translated as “afterthought”, or possibly “with mind” or ‘mindful’. It could also be an instruction, such as “Think again!” I also noticed that the verb “scatters” isn’t present in the Greek. Literally, it says “The one who is not with me is against me, and (is) the one who does not gather with me.” To me, that makes so much more sense! Also the word “aphiēmi”— forgiven— also means to let alone, to pass over; to permit; and to relax. That means that the passage might be translated in this way:

“The ones who aren’t with me are against me, and they are the ones who don’t gather with me. Because of this it’s possible to speak against The Human and be let alone; but whoever keeps on speaking against the Indweller will never be let alone, or be able to relax.”