An Interview with Lois Tverberg

By now it should be pretty clear that learning about the Jewishness of Jesus has impacted my walk with the Lord in positive ways. One of the first books I read on this journey was Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg.

I’ve recently had the privilege of being part of the launch team for her latest offering–Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus.

I’m posting an interview with Lois about the writing of this book and her interest in learning to put the sayings of Jesus back into their cultural context. The interview questions aren’t all mine. (Only one.) They’re the work of other members of the launch team. The cool thing about that is Lois answers questions I would have never thought of.

Please enjoy and learn from this terrific interview with Lois Tverberg. (Here’s a gorgeous picture of Lois too.)

You’ve written a couple of other books before this one that have similar titles – Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus and Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus. How do they relate to your new book?

Sitting at the Feet was about the Jewish customs that deepen our understanding of Jesus’ life and ministry, like the biblical feasts, the Jewish prayers, and the relationship of rabbi and disciple. Walking in the Dust was about the Jewish context of Jesus’ teachings. Many of the things he said make much more sense when you know the conversation that was going on around him. Disciples are supposed to “walk in the ways” of their rabbi and obey his teaching. So I chose some of Jesus’ teachings that are especially practical for our lives and have a Jewish context that sheds light on their meaning.

My newest book, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus, pulls back a bit and starts by looking at cultural issues that get in the way as we read the Bible in the modern, Western world. Among the things I asked myself as I wrote were, what cultural tools can I give readers to read the Bible more authentically? How does a lack of grasp of Jesus as a Jewish Middle Easterner cause us to misunderstand his words? Ultimately, my goal was to equip the average Christian to read the Bible more like first-century disciple.
In your new book you talk about cultural differences that get in the way of understanding the Bible and suggest that we need to grasp how the Bible “thinks.” What do you mean by that?

I started the book with a story about when my five year old nephew arrived in Iowa from Atlanta for Christmas. He had never seen snow before, so he asked, “What do you do with the snow when you have to mow the lawn?” He couldn’t imagine a reality where people didn’t mow their lawns year round, so he assumed it was universal. In the same way, many of our problems with the Bible come from misunderstanding its cultural reality and projecting our own onto it instead. We need to grasp how the Bible “thinks” – the basic background assumptions that biblical peoples had about life. Often these were very different than ours today. It’s also important that we don’t mix these two worlds together inappropriately, like mixing lawnmowers and snow.

 

You mention an acronym, “WEIRD,” that psychologists coined for the ways that that American culture is unusual compared to the rest of the world. How do you think this comes into play in reading the Bible?

The acronym “WEIRD” stands for “Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic.” All these traits tend to characterize Europeans and especially Americans. We live in an educated, Western culture that values scientific thought above all else. We are industrialized, so that our world does not revolve around family and clan, but around work and business. We are relatively rich, so that many basic worries are simply not on our radar screens. We live in a democracy and dislike all hierarchy and authority.

I point out that these same characteristics tend to set us apart culturally from the Bible, so that major biblical themes, like farming and kings, simply do not resonate. I explore these and other cultural difficulties that modern readers (especially Americans) have with the Bible.

 

There’s a chapter titled “Greek Brain, Hebrew Brain” where you discuss the difference between Western vs. Eastern thought. How does this influence how we read the Bible?

Western thinking is very analytical, theoretical and focused on abstract concepts. It began in Greece in the 5th century AD and has deeply affected European-based cultures. We see it as the essence of mental sophistication and have a hard time imagining that anyone could think any other way. Much of the Bible, however, communicates in a more ancient way. It speaks in concrete images and parables rather than abstract concepts and argumentation. In this chapter, I show that brilliant ideas can be expressed this way too, and to give readers some basic skills to bridge the gap between East and West.

 

Another chapter is called, “Why Jesus Needs those Boring ‘Begats.’” In it you point out that many people wonder why the Bible contains so many meaningless lists of names. What is significant about genealogies, culturally? Why were they included?

In the Bible, family was central. Even if you don’t agree with it on every issue, you have to grasp how it “thinks” in terms of family as the center of reality in order to follow its most basic themes. The growth and relationships of a family were the core of how societies functioned. The main theme of the biblical story is God’s promise to Abraham to give him a great family, and the covenant that God makes with that family, Israel. Every time genealogies are listed it shows how God is fulfilling his promise. Even in the New Testament, whether or not believers in Christ needed to be “sons of Abraham” (Torah-observant Jews, who lived by the family covenant) was a major issue.

 

How does our perspective change if we read the Bible as a “we” instead of merely as an individual?

Americans are very individualistic, and we tend to focus on the Bible as a series of personal encounters between individuals and God. We also assume that the ultimate audience for Bible reading is “me.” We miss how often the Scriptures focus on the group rather than the individual. When Jesus preaches, he’s almost always addressing a crowd. When Paul tells his audience that they are a temple of God, we hear it as about how “my body is a temple.” But Paul is actually talking about them all together as God’s temple, not to each of them individually. In this chapter I point out many places where things make more sense when you see them in light of their communal implications.

Here’s another example of how “we” is important. People talk about Jesus is “my personal savior” and struggle to find the gospel in the Gospels. That’s because the biblical imagery is actually about Christ saving a group of people. Jesus is the “Christ,” God’s anointed king, who has come to redeem a people to be his kingdom. When we “accept Christ” we are submitting to his kingship and joining his people. The imagery of a “kingdom” is inherently plural, so it passes right by us.

 

You tell about a Christian scholar who theorized that Paul knew his Scriptures by memory. Christian scholars were very skeptical, but Jewish scholars strongly agreed with him. Why was this story important to you?

When I first started hearing about Jesus’ Jewish context, I was skeptical about whether it could be of use to Christians. I was also skeptical of ideas like that Jesus and Paul likely knew their Scriptures (our Old Testament) by heart and expected their listeners to be very familiar with them too. I was told that they would hint to it and drop in little quotes often in their teaching, and these hints were often quite important to grasping the point.

At first, I absolutely didn’t believe this. But as I studied more about traditional Judaism, I discovered that even since the first century, rabbinic sermons have been overloaded with hints, quotes and subtle links to Bible passages. Memorization has been strongly stressed. I laughed when I read about a scholar on Paul’s Jewish context who spoke about this at conferences about twenty or thirty years ago. Christian scholars would all poo-poo him and say, “highly unlikely” or “totally impossible.” The Jewish scholars in his audience, however, would all nod their heads in agreement and say, of course he did!

In the last section of the book I go into more detail about how Jewish teachers studied their Scriptures and alluded to them in preaching. Most importantly, I talk about how some of Jesus’ boldest claims to being the Messiah, the Christ who God sent as Savior, were delivered in this very subtle Jewish way. There are a lot of skeptical scholars who have said that Jesus was just a wandering wise man whose followers exalted to a divine status. But they know nothing about Jesus’ Jewish habit of hinting to his Scriptures, so they miss some of his most powerful statements about being the Son of God.

 

What started your interest in the Jewishness of Jesus? Was there a particular event that piqued your interest?

I was raised in a devout Christian home. I’m not Jewish and my overall interest is in understanding the reality of Jesus and the Bible, rather than Judaism per se. A little over twenty years ago I signed up for a seminar on ancient Israel and the Jewish culture of the Bible at my church, thinking it would be just some dry historical information. But all of a sudden Bible stories that were foggy and confusing became clear and deeply relevant to my life. I started hearing the words of Scripture through the ears of its ancient listeners, and it made all the difference in the world.

My background was originally in the sciences, and I have a Ph. D. in biology. I was teaching as a college biology professor and my background in research compelled me to dig deeper. Over the years I’ve traveled to Israel several times to experience the land and history in person and to study the language and the culture. Every time I come home I’m newly inspired, because in the past few decades scholars and archaeologists have unearthed enormous amounts of information that clarifies the Bible’s stories, particularly the Jewish setting of Jesus.

 

Why do you think that so many Christians are unaware of their Jewish heritage? All of the disciples were Jewish, and the New Testament was written almost entirely by Jews. But within only a couple centuries Gentiles became the majority in the church, and many were hostile to its Jewish origins. Even in Romans Paul warned the Gentiles not to be arrogant toward the Jews, but his words went unheeded. One reason was that early Christians needed to establish their identity as a new movement, and they defended their faith by focusing on their differences with Judaism. Through the ages there has been occasional interest by Christians in understanding their Jewish roots, but for much of its history the church has struggled with anti-Semitism. And Jews who had felt the persecution of Christians were understandably less than interested in helping them understand the roots of their faith. It’s only been in the last century that Christians have become avidly interested in the topic. One reason for this is because we mingle so much more. Jews and Christians now have relative freedom to discuss their beliefs, and both groups are curious about how the other reads their common Scriptures.

These excellent questions really make you want to read the book, don’t they? You can order it from any book retailer such as these:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-A-Million

Christianbook.com

Target

 

Running Where Jesus Walked – Day 2

The Dan Panorama Hotel certainly sets a good breakfast spread. Lots of fruit, yogurts, cheeses, eggs, and breads. My favorite part was fresh squeezed orange juice.

After breakfast on Monday, we went to Yaffo near Tel Aviv. Yaffo (also known as Yaffa, Jaffa, and Joppa) is one of the world’s oldest ports. We visited the museum there and saw a cool presentation about the history of Yaffo. And, yes, this is the same Yaffo (Joppa) that Jonah, of whale fame, was from. Rabbi re-told the story while we looked out over the Mediterranean.

 

 

Later we saw Simon the Tanner’s house, but we couldn’t go inside because it’s owned by Muslims. We also saw an ancient map of the world with Jerusalem at its center, as it says in Ezekiel 5:5 (CJB), Here is what Adonai Elohim says: “This is Yerushalayim! I have placed her in the middle of the nations; countries can be found all around her.”

Simon the Tanner’s house

Map of the World – Jerusalem is at the center

The Eretz Israel Museum had tons of cool artifacts including a Byzantine wine press (replica), numerous pagan statues (which were kinda creepy), death masks (also creepy), ossuary (strangely, not creepy), and glass bottles. Many of the glass jars and bottles were in remarkably good shape and gorgeous.

 

Ennion’s Blue Jug 1st Century C.E.

 

Group of ointment bottles typical of finds from a necropolis near Akko. 1st century C.E. (So the ointments used to anoint Jesus’ body may have been in bottles like these. Wow!

The Palmach Museum is dedicated to Israel’s war for independence. An interactive movie tells of the war by following a small band of fighters, men and women, who fought, were injured, and some died for freedom.

Carmel Market

We took a walk through Carmel Market on the way back to the hotel. During our walk, we witnessed a fight breaking out in the middle of the aisle. Bill’s hand gripped my arm and he went from condition yellow (a moderate level of situational awareness) to condition red. I noticed several other men doing the same thing. He later explained that a fight made a good cover for theft or other criminal activity. A few days after we got home, a terrorist attack occurred not far from that market. It was rather eerie to realize just how close we were. We had the afternoon free for swimming on the beach, but we couldn’t because of red flag warnings. That didn’t stop us from walking on the beach though.

Strawberries – Our First Fruits

We recently harvested the first strawberries of the season. Strawberries are really the only thing I can grow very well. I think it’s because they don’t need a lot of attention.

We planted a new strawberry pyramid this year. I like these because they’re compact and come with a sprinkler system. We’re pinching off any blossoms we get this year so that the plant will put all its resources into root production. Consequently, we won’t get any strawberries off of these plants until next year. That’s okay by me. We get lots off the 50 plants we already have.

In years past, we’ve had a bunch of difficulty with raccoons and birds eating our strawberries before they get ripe. Last year, out of sheer frustration, I designed and built (with Bill’s help…okay, I helped him…) this handy method of netting the strawberry pyramid.

 

I love it because I can, singlehandedly, remove it for harvesting, weeding, and repositioning the daughters. It does a great job of keeping the coons and other critters away.

Our supply list was:

½” PVC pipe

6 T-fittings, ½”

Cable ties

Netting

All-purpose cement (a solvent-based cement)

Regarding the building process, I think the pictures are pretty self-explanatory.

The amount of PVC pipe would depend on how big an area you need to cover. (Hey, geometry really is useful!) I think this idea could easily be modified for a rectangular bed. Not too big, or one person couldn’t move it. I plan to try it on our blueberry bushes which are covered with blueberries. (I recently started pruning them. What a difference!)

As soon as the harvest is over, I plan to fertilize the plants. I don’t think we’ve ever done that, and my soil tests show the plants could use a little help.

So, strawberry growers! Any tips and tricks for the Young Family Farm?

Running Where Jesus Walked – Day 1

I wept when I first saw it. The land of Israel.

Traveling to Israel has been on my always-wanted-to list since forever. After Bill got cancer in 2014, we realized we weren’t guaranteed 20 more years together. If we wanted to do some traveling together, we needed to make the time right now. The opportunity showed itself to us the next September. Through a random online search, I ran across a local Messianic Jewish congregation who had a tour going to Israel in May 2016. We jumped on it. Several setbacks threatened to get in the way, but by God’s mercy and grace, we persevered.

So, there we were. In Tel Aviv, ready for a sixteen-day whirlwind tour of nearly 99 sites. It’s been a year now, and I’m ready to get those notes back out and journal a few things. Facts, yes. But also feelings and lessons learned.

 

Day 1

We landed in Tel Aviv on Sunday, May 22. (We’ve never been good at selfies.)

Before we even left the airport, we had a mini adventure. This was my first time to travel internationally, so I was a little skittish. We went up to the @ and I had a conversation that went something like this:

“Lora Young?” The young man in the booth had dark hair, olive skin, and bushy eyebrows.

“Yes.”

“Reason for traveling to Israel?” Very matter-of-fact.

“Tourism.”

“What do you do for a living, Ms. Young?” Looking over my passport, checking my picture against my face.

“I’m an author.”

His eyebrows raised a fraction.

Uh-oh.

“What do you write?”

“Historical mysteries.”

Silence as he fiddles with something on his desk.

Great. Why didn’t I say ‘housewife’? Now they’re not going to let me in!

He looked up again. Holding his phone, he says, “Is this you?”

There, on his phone, was a picture of my first book, Malicious Mischief. He’d looked me up on Amazon! Hahaha! “Yes, that’s me!”

“Welcome to Israel.”

Whew! It’s a funny story now, but I seriously thought I’d blown my dream trip and that Bill would get to go without me.

A few minutes later, we were welcomed by our Orthodox Jewish guide with wine and matzah. I don’t think it was planned this way, but our first day in Israel was also Pesach Sheni, the second Passover. God made provision for those who were ritually unclean on the 14th of Nisan (Passover). He gave Pesach Sheni as a day when they could observe this important festival. Traditionally, even those who observed Passover on the 14th will eat unleavened bread on this day. So in a way, we got to observe Passover in Israel. Pretty cool, huh?

After this, we stopped at Independence Hall to watch a movie of Israel’s battle for freedom and recognition as a nation. We’d learn so much more about this in the coming two weeks.

Then went to the hotel, Dan Panorama Hotel, for a much-needed night of sleep. (It’s amazing how tiring it is to travel.) This was our view. The Mediterranean.

When Characters Won’t Cooperate

This gorgeous young woman is the face of a fictitious heroine. She’s Eleanor, the heroine of Book 3 of the Katy Railway Mysteries.*

Eleanor has given me troubles galore. I’ve had readers ask when Book 3 would finally be out. Well, I don’t know. And you can blame Eleanor for that.

Actually, that isn’t true. Poor Eleanor is simply reacting to the untenable situations I keep putting her in. Given her personality and the boxes I’ve placed her in, she has only two choices:

#1 Act in ways that make me not like her. (I.e. ways that are ungodly and completely out of character.)

#2 Walk out of the story entirely.

Well, I’m not a fan of choice #2. If she does that, I have no story. And I’m not a fan of choice #1 either. So, what’s an author to do?

It’s been said that in our story world, authors are like God. We create people and place them in situations, hoping they’ll choose the way of righteousness. In this particular instance, I’ve not been a very good creator.

Now you could say that my characters should be able to handle anything I can throw at them, and perhaps you’d be right. But I’d like to submit a different idea.

When God created me, he gave me a certain personality and placed me in a specific family. Those were decisions I had nothing to do with. That combination of personality and family life, in concert with events I had no control over either, made me the person I am today. They, along with conscious decisions on my part, shaped the way I think and the way I’ll react to any given set of circumstances. (This is the psychological argument of nature vs. nurture—which, in my opinion, isn’t an either/or proposition.)

Here’s the deal though: God, for whom all times are Now, will not place me in the predicament I’ve put Eleanor in. He wouldn’t give me only two choices—to act unrighteously or to walk out of the story. He knows me better than I know myself. If I rely on Him, He’ll give me whatever I need to make right choices. Strength. Peace. Trusting faithfulness. He always gives me a way of escape from any temptation.

I feel so bad for Eleanor. Think I’ll take a page out of God’s book (pun intended) and re-create Eleanor and her situations, so that she has a way to make the choices I want her to make—eventually. Like my God, I’ll choose to be a forgiving creator who gives the creation exactly what she needs and exactly when she needs it. And like I’m learning to trust my creator, I’ll hope Eleanor can trust me.

 

*At least, that’s the plan. The final decision will be up to the cover designer. (Who is amazing, btw.)

Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Gardeners

What’s the first gardening task for a warm, spring day?

Well, our first official garden workday got off to a stumbling start on Sunday afternoon. Son and daughter-in-law have already started tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli indoors. Sunday, the younger Young/Roberts ladies planted spinach and lettuce. Including the youngest two–the one whose little toes you can see peeping out of the stroller, and the other who is still invisible to our eyes, but not to God’s. The grandgirl cheered Mama and Aunt along (“Ba! Ba-ba! We’re not sure exactly what that means, but she’s very enthusiastic about it.)

We chose an area near the fencerow so the cool-weather plants would have adequate shade. (It also happens to be near our propane tank. Not very esthetically pleasing perhaps, but we hope it will be nutritionally pleasing.)

The Young/Roberts men focused their efforts on building a new raised bed. We had one last year and were impressed with its success. My only complaint was that it was crooked. The men measured and adjusted, making sure the new bed was exactly a rectangle. Unfortunately, when I complained of the old bed being crooked, I meant it wasn’t level. They did nothing to level the new bed, so it mimics the old one in this regard. Just goes to show—words matter.

I asked the son-in-law (pictured holding the fence posts) why he was moving all the gardening stuff away from the garden. His answer? “I don’t know. I just do what I’m told.” Hahaha! Love him. The answer would be so that we could mulch around the raised beds.

What did I do during all this hard manual labor? I tested the soil for our apple trees, blueberries, and strawberries. It was kinda fun. I felt like a real chemist—mixing solutions and shaking the test tubes.

(Hahaha! Anyone who knows me totally gets why that’s so funny.)

I discovered that our poor plants have been doing their best to survive in hostile environments. We will get the proper soil amendments to feed and nourish our plants, so they can feed and nourish us.

All in all, we had a productive and enjoyable day!

What are your first gardening tasks in the spring? Please help this reluctant gardener succeed!

Context is King!

 

Over years of Bible studies by Kay Arthur, I’ve had that phrase drummed into my brain. CONTEXT IS KING! And it’s true.

However, sometimes we have to dig deep to find that context. For example: the book of First Peter. 1 Peter 1:1 says, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen” (NASB) So we know four things:

#1 The letter is from Peter.

#2 Which Peter? The Peter who is an apostle of Jesus Christ.

#3 The letter is to those who reside as aliens in five different areas.

#4 They are chosen.

Of all those things we know about the letter called 1 Peter, I’d like to concentrate on who the letter is to: those who reside as aliens. According to the Strong’s Concordance, the word alien also could be translated sojourner or foreigner. That seems to indicate that Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia aren’t home towns. These people are from somewhere else. Where else? 1 Peter 2:11-12, gives us a clue. It says, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles…” There’s that word again aliens. And Peter even clarifies by calling them strangers.

But look carefully at verse 12. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles. Hmm…so Peter’s audience isn’t the Gentiles. By process of elimination, that leaves the Jews. Peter’s entire letter was to the Jews living outside the area of ancient Israel, their “hometown.” (Granted, it wasn’t the nation of Israel at the time, since the Romans occupied the area, but you get my drift.)

Was Peter’s entire audience Jewish? Probably not, given the fact that first century Gentile believers met in synagogues with the Jewish community. So, to be even more accurate, his audience was a mixture of Jewish and Gentile believers–probably more Jew than Gentile, given the way the letter is addressed.

Okay, so that’s established. But why is it important? Because whatever Peter says to this group of Jewish believers applies to Jewish believers. Not that the Gentiles were excluded. They just weren’t singled out for these words, the way Paul’s letters were. (Most of Paul’s letters were to a primarily Gentile audience with a  few Jews sprinkled in–exactly the opposite of Peter’s audience.)

I’m a Gentile. Does that mean I don’t need to read Peter’s epistles? Not at all. Since we’re grafted in to the commonwealth of Israel and into the covenants,  his words apply to us too. But it’s so wise to read his words within the context of understanding who his primary audience was. That will help us understand what he’s truly saying and what he’s not saying.

Thoughts? Come. Let us reason together…in the comments.

The Secret Sin

This week’s Torah portion starts Leviticus. <sigh> I always get bogged down right here, but I’ve asked the Lord to help me learn something new and applicable in every Torah portion.

Exodus finished with the Tabernacle being finished and God’s presence descending. His holiness was so palpable, even Moses (who had spent considerable time on Mount Sinai in the presence of God) couldn’t go in.

God’s holiness is so pure…so completely other, that sinful man can’t stand in His presence without being destroyed. (I always picture the scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Belloq’s head explodes.) Consequently, the book of Leviticus starts with the details of various sacrifices. The burnt offering. The grain offering. The peace offering. The sin sacrifice. The guilt sacrifice. The need for sacrifices is clear. We can’t stand in God’s presence without them. Sacrifices, in part*, purify us from sin and allow us to be in the presence of God without exploding.

Three things struck me: First, not all the sacrifices had to do with sin. (More on that another time.)

Second, is that there is no such thing as secret sin. The Scripture uses a common refrain that goes something like, “If a person commits a sin inadvertently, when the sin becomes known to him, he shall offer this sacrifice.” (See Lev. 4: 3, 13, 22, and 27.) The sin may be in secret, but the recovery is pretty public. After all, the Tabernacle was a public place. The priests were involved. The sin sacrifices look different from the others. Any observant by-stander would be able to say, “Oh, that’s a sin sacrifice. That guy broke one of the commands.” Not that the by-stander would know details, but he’d know sin had been committed.

That struck me as not such a bad thing. How many times do we watch our language when someone is around, but cut loose in the car, all alone, when someone cuts us off? How many times do we sneak the candy or cookie when no one is looking? How many times is our behavior different at home than it is at church? Would we behave differently if we knew that we’d have to make a public acknowledgment of our sin? Hmm… Food for thought.

Third, the sacrifice came after confession to God and reparation to whomever they sinned against. Only then, did they bring the sacrifice to God to make reparation there and return to a state of purity. The sacrifice wasn’t the key to forgiveness. Confession and repentance was. Hmm…that sounds just like what we have today. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (NASB)

The Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) puts it this way: “If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing.” I like that translation because it uses the word purify, which is exactly what the sin sacrifice accomplished.

Of course, Yeshua’s death and resurrection is the sacrifice that we identify with in order to return to a state of purity after sin. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.

 

*I’m learning more about the sacrifices and will probably do a post about what I learn soon.

Is the Church Really Pro-Life?

I’m pro-life. Staunchly pro-life. But I find myself using words and phrases I don’t really mean.

For example, mother-to-be. One who is a mother-to-be is one who isn’t pregnant yet, but that isn’t how we use the term. If there’s a baby already growing inside the mom, she’s a mother. Right at that instant of conception—even if she doesn’t know it. She’s definitely a mother when she begins to behave differently for the sake of her baby. When she gives up caffeine or meat with nitrates or starts doing yoga stretches to help with childbirth. Even when she starts reading What To Expect When You’re Expecting. That woman is a mother. And that man is a father.

Somehow, even in the church, we don’t mourn the loss of an unborn infant through miscarriage the way we would mourn a three-month-old who died of SIDS. We tend to dismiss women who’ve suffered the loss of a child as not-yet-mothers. “You’ll be a mom one day?” Why is that?

I believe it’s because we’ve been tainted by the world’s values for so long, we don’t even realize that we’ve not completely picked up God’s heart for children and for life.

Jeremiah 1:5 says that God knew us before we were in our mother’s wombs. If he knew us before we were conceived, He definitely knew us while He was forming our inward parts. Psalm 139:16  talks about planning our days before we were born.

Our God believes in LIFE! That’s what He’s all about.

Shabbat is about life.

The commandments about how to treat others is about life.

The sacrifices (oddly enough) are about life.

Jesus clarified God’s commitment to life when He reminded the Pharisees that if a life is at stake, it’s permissible (even God’s idea) to break a commandment.

So, how do we get that commitment to LIFE deep within our beings?

Perhaps we should begin to change our definitions. A pregnant woman and a woman who has lost a child she never got to hold—both of these women are mothers!

Perhaps, on Mother’s Day, we can honor mothers who don’t get to hold their children—mothers of children who have died.

Perhaps we can commit to mourning pregnancy loss as much as we do the deaths of children we can see.

Perhaps we can even talk to the babies inside the womb. (I’m sure the moms would rather we do that than to rub our hands all over their bellies. [One of my pet peeves. Sheesh! How rude!])

Perhaps we can get rid of the idea that, hey, babies have been born for millennia–no big deal. It is a big deal! Every single birth. Every single baby. It’s LIFE!

As believers in the God of Israel, the God who created us all, we should be living out what we believe in this area. We should be as excited about life as God is.

All those “perhaps we” statements above? I’m committing to them. It isn’t about avoiding offense. It’s about making sure our core values go deep. Anyone with me on this?