Soften Your Heart

Biblical Text: Mark 10:2-16 (Parallel Matthew 19:1-15)

Of all the ethical teaching of Jesus, this is probably the most consistently rejected throughout all time and space. And not because it is false, but exactly for the reason Moses felt moved to regulate it – “the hardness of our hearts.” The text in Mark and the Matthew parallel are first about divorce, but in Jesus’ teaching about divorce you have his entire sexual ethic. And he doesn’t ground it in any petty legalistic scheme or regulation. Jesus is not getting pulled into our Overton Window fights. His response is so far outside of acceptable opinion that even Jesus adds the note of despair, “Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

What this sermon attempts to do is build the case for receiving it, even if it convicts us. Grounded as it is in natural law it is part of the deep magic of this world. And the law is good and wise. If we conform ourselves to this, things go better. But that is still the law. Why we should receive it, even if we cannot keep it, is because the gospel itself is unthinkable without it. Marriage is the image, the icon, that is given of Christ and the Church, of God and his people. And Christ loves the church with his steadfast love, his covenant faithfulness. We don’t want a world where God can divorce his love. And we do not have one. Receiving this teaching is receiving the invitation to the eschatological wedding feast. We may never live up to it, we might be cracked icons, but the icon is always imperfect. The perfect itself will come.

Lessor and Greater

The New Testament Book of Hebrews has an interesting argument.  Coming off of St. Michael and All Angels it is fitting. In the intertestamental period, the time between the Old Testament and the appearance of Jesus, Jewish religion became infatuated with angels. If you wanted to see an example you could read an apocryphal work by the name of 1st Enoch. (Just google it and you’ll find multiple copies on the internet.  Our age is not so different.  Both ages that felt something in the air that wasn’t quite there yet.) The Jews had named a bunch of angels.  They had created entire celestial hierarchies. They had job descriptions for all of those hierarchies. The closest analogy for the role these angels played in that time frame might be the role of Saints in the medieval church. You sought them out and asked for their assistance. The first argument of the book of Hebrews is the many ways that Jesus, the Son of God, is higher or better than the angels.  These angels you so admire and fixate upon? Turn your eyes and prayers and worship to the greater one – Jesus.  That kind of argument – from the lessor to the greater – will continue throughout the entire book.  The author of Hebrews, who we don’t really know, starts off with angels, but proceeds with Moses, the Priesthood, the offerings and many of the staples of Jewish religious life.  All of these have been fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus.

The church and the world around is always drifting off into these esoteric and gnostic forms.  Now I’d bet that you might not understand those terms – esoteric and gnostic – but if I described them the lightbulb would go on immediately.  Esoteric means slightly hidden.  Agent Mulder in the X-files had his poster “the truth is out there.”  That is an esoteric belief. There is truth.  You must find or uncover the way to have it.  And that search usually leads to all kinds of practices we might call witchcraft or similar: tarot cards, amulets, psychics, horoscopes.  These are all esoteric ways to knowledge.  The gnostic usually pairs with the esoteric.  The gnostic is someone who believes in a spiritual reality, but it requires knowledge to access it.  The most modern Gnostics might be those who are using ayahuasca, ketamine or other psychedelics, like QB Aaron Rodgers or most of Silicon Valley.  They take part in shamanic rituals.  They hire spirit guides.  All in the pursuit of some greater knowledge. Esoteric or hidden practices lead to gnosis or knowledge. And the church and the world are both always drifting off into things like this because who doesn’t want to know.  And God can always seem so frustrating in not giving us knowledge.  He doesn’t answer the why too often. The intertestamental Jew would summon the angels. The modern Christian goes on a vision quest retreat.

The author of Hebrews tells us, “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it (Hebrews 2:1).”  We might desire that esoteric knowledge, but the true stuff has already been given to us.  God in his wisdom has chosen to reveal himself in His son Jesus.  And Jesus has been proclaimed by the apostles, the church and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Proclaimed freely and openly. Why would we “neglect so great a salvation? (Hebrews 2:3)” Why would we turn away from this deep and true knowledge which God “bore witness by signs and wonders and miracles? (Hebrews 2:4)”  Why would we neglect Christ proclaimed to play with trinkets?  Why would we accept a lessor knowledge, when the greater has been given to us?

While right now we might feel lessor.  And that lack makes us chase everything that promises knowledge now.  Jesus himself was “for a little while made lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:9)” but through his suffering and death was crowned with glory. So also us.  Our salvation is made perfect in Christ and the sharing of his sufferings (Philippians 3:10).  “This is why he is not ashamed to call us brothers (Hebrews 2:11).” Now we might feel lessor because we walk by faith, not by knowledge.  But salvation only comes by faith through the one who is not ashamed to call us brother.

Dispatches from the Battlefield

Biblical Texts: Daniel 10:10-14, 12:1-3, Revelation 12:7-12, Luke 10:17-20, Colossians 1:16

The day on the church year was the feast of St. Michael and All Angels, so we get to talk about the church year a bit and angels a bunch. For me, St. Michael’s Day is a report from the battlefield so that you might understand the terrain as you traverse it. And this sermon has three broad points about that report.

We live in a Spiritual reality – an invisible creation – some of which has been corrupted and remains at war with the true authority.

That true authority – Christ – has triumphed.  That true authority loves you and has tasked his faithful officers, great and small to guard you.

Know that the time is short. Understand the Word. This battlefield world is passing away.  And the peace of the world to come is coming into being. Rejoice that your names are written there.

Important things to remember.

Feasts and Festivals

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. – Romans. 14:5

Of the Worship of Saints they teach that the memory of saints may be set before us, that we may follow their faith and good works, according to our calling – Augsburg Confession Article 21

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. – Colossians. 2:16-17

Christians have been arguing about calendars since Apostolic times.  And those arguments never really stopped. Hence the two opening quotes. And when you argue about calendars you are arguing about piety, practice and remembrance.  You are arguing about what people think is important.  Many such arguments can simply be settled “you respect yours, I respect mine.” You can hear that argument in the Apostle Paul. But calendar arguments, because it is hard to keep your own calendar, often become group defining.  “We are going to remember this date.”

The very first of those definitional dates would be over the Sabbath. The Apostles, being Jews, kept the Sabbath, on Saturday.  They then met together on “the Lord’s Day” or Sunday, the day of resurrection. For example Paul is searching for the local Jewish gathering “on the Sabbath day” (Acts 16:13), but at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 there is no mention of telling the gentiles to keep the Sabbath. And by the time of John’s visions in Revelation, they come to him as “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10).”  You can hear those arguments in that third quote at the start.  Paul telling his gentile audiences that Sabbaths are a shadow of the substance of Christ. Meeting on Sunday is good and proper.

I’m talking about Calendars for two reasons. The first is that this Sunday gets a special name – St. Michael and All Angels. The church calendar that we follow has a general structure – the large seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost.  For half the year we follow the life of Christ, and for the other half we emphasize the life in the Spirit.  We gather on the “the Lord’s Day”. We are the people of the resurrection. We remember that substance of Christ weekly.  Within that general calendar there the “feasts and festivals.”  The actual dates never change.  All Saints is always November 1st. But some of them, like All Saints, we move their observance to the nearest Sunday.  We have deemed their witness and memory too important to skip, yet we do not feel compelled to gather on the odd Tuesday Nov 1st. Most of those festivals we observe occasionally, which means when their day falls on a Sunday naturally, so due to leap years every 6-14 years. St. Michael and all Angels is one of those days. It is always September 29th.  When September 29th is a Sunday, we remember the angels.   There are also some feasts that honestly, we just don’t remember.  When I served St. Mark’s in West Henrietta, I tried to observe April 25th, the feast day of St. Mark.  At Mt. Zion there is no such special connection.

And that gets into the second reason I’m talking about calendars. I tend to think that our everyday lives and most of what takes place in them is designed to flatten everything. The World does this in two ways. If anyone saw the original Pixar Incredibles movie,  it has one of the most subversive lines I can remember.  “And when everyone is super, no one is.”  There is something about our age that reacts against “the memory of the saints being set before us.”  Our world wants equality or even equity. The acknowledgement that someone – a saint – lived it better is subversive. So it levels all days, and days it can’t level it elevates everything to obscure the remembrance of the saint. But I just don’t think that is either reality or the needs of true humanity.

We need things to strive for.  Every Olympic athlete ponders how can I break the world record. The memory of the saints is so that we may follow their faith and good works. We need feast days like we need fast days, and ordinary time (another name for the season of Pentecost).  Because life is not flat. We need days to remember St. Michael and the angels, because we need to ponder that creation includes “things visible and invisible”. And that those invisible things do impact our existence.  When the world wants to flatten everything, the Christian needs to hear the distant triumph song.  There are things the world wants us to forget that we need to remember.

What Happened?

Biblical Text: Mark 9:30-37

For me I feel like this sermon is slightly different. Sermons are this cycle of meditation from text to life to text to life. Most of mine start with the text. Back at the start of the week I translate everything. Try and discern what the text is talking about in some platonic way. This is always a little false because the bible, the sacred text, isn’t some hermetically sealed away thing. The text itself springs from some lived reality. But I try and answer the general drift. And then I start asking question of how does this intersect with life right now. It is in that intersection that dogmatic or theological questions can help shed light and be asked fruitfully. How is the law felt here? How does the gospel come to us? And eventually I have to move to preaching it. My general outline, which can be mixed around, but I tend to think the standard works best for preaching flow is the ancient four-fold meaning: Literal Text (which bounds things), Christological (what does the text say about Christ and how does it intersect with us), Moral (How then shall we live), and Eschatological (Where are we heading, or what is the promise we are living into). I usually craft an introduction last. Hopefully an artful open door into the meditation that follows.

But this sermon started with a conversation. The introduction is not a conclusion, but an honest inquiry. Hence it is a bit longer. And what follows is an attempt to give an honest answer. And that answer implies both moral and eschatological charges to those who would believe. The question was simply: What Happened? Longer: Why did the American church seem to break between the boomer and the X generations and continue to break continuity? That is tied into fears both in the current about viability and in the future about my kids and the faith. This sermon is an attempt to answer.

Wisdom of James

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. James 3:13

We’ve been reading through the book of James – our Epistle readings in September – in Sunday morning Bible Study.  And the book of James is a unique book within the New Testament, although I would argue not within the entire bible.  The word I’m going to be talking about is genre. What is a genre?  In film you would talk about Westerns or Action or Horror.  In novels: mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, literary. A genre is a recognizable grouping that usually has the same characters, plot or conventions. Westerns have dry towns, citizens, guns, horses, outlaws, savages and sheriffs. The story is always the sheriff or the man who stands between the citizens and the outlaws or savages. The man who is on the border of each belonging to neither. And the tools are the tools of violence and transportation. Which is why the Western Genre can capture things like Space Westerns. The books of the bible largely fall into recognizable genres. The gospels are ancient biographies. Paul’s works are philosophical essays attached to letters dealing with specific instances of living the philosophy often called casuistry or case history. Acts is a work of ancient history, a narrative of people, places, acts and speeches. Revelation is an apocalypse, a work of unveiling the deep meaning of reality.  James may look like one of Paul’s letters, but it’s arguments are not long enough to be essays, nor are its cases real events in a real life (like the Corinthians getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper), but they are generic examples (where do fights come from). James is unique in the New Testament, but if you read it alongside the Old Testament book of Proverbs, I think you find its genre. James is a wisdom book.

And what is the genre of wisdom book? I come up with four key things.  1) Wisdom books are typically written by the mature for the naïve. You could say by the old for the young, but that isn’t universal. Timothy at 20, as the son of Eunice and grandson of Lois, was a third generation Christian from the cradle. Paul was constantly reminding the young Timothy that he was the one mature in the faith compared to many of his older flock. 2) Wisdom books are written for those who believe. This is why Luther didn’t much like James.  Wisdom books assume the gospel. They are speaking to the person living a life of sanctification. 3) Wisdom books are descriptive and not prescriptive. Prescriptive would be the 10 Commandments.  You must do this.  You must not do that. Descriptive describes how things usually work.  The mature person has enough store of experience to say “this is how the world usually works.”  Does it always work that way? No. Your particular experience may be outside the realm of this wisdom.  But, it is always good to ask, “am I really the exception?” They are words a man might live by if he is not so foolish as to think himself special. 4) Wisdom books are meant to be pondered.  As no experience is ever really repeated, how does this wisdom apply to me and my situation?

And this is the great weakness of wisdom and also its strength.  It is meek. It invites instead of commands. It desires not your compliance, but for you to make it your own. Mom wants the 3 year old’s compliance about not sticking things in the power outlet, but 3 years olds typically need at least one zap to make that wisdom their own. Lady Wisdom desires that you might learn from her by means of words, but more often those words are things remembered after the fact.  After we get zapped we might turn to Lady Wisdom for the other nuggets she has.

One nugget buried in the middle of our epistle today (James 3:13-4:10) is about quarrels. James rightly points out quarrels come from our uncontrolled and unmet desires. It is almost Buddhist in its recognition.  You suffer because you want. But the wisdom of James is not to kill the want.  The wisdom of James is to ask, and to ask rightly.  “You do not have, because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. (James 4:2-3)” Oh Lord, won’t you buy me, a Mercedes-Benz?  Probably not.  But why do you want a Benz?  What passion is unfulfilled? How better would that passion be turned? Those are the mature questions of wisdom.

God Revealed

Biblical Text: Mark 9:14-29

The text is something of a famous one for the cry of the Father who has brought his demon possessed son to Jesus. “I believe, help my unbelief.” Springing off of that a couple generations of preachers obsessed over doubt. But I think most of those sermons were dramatically off in their focus of doubt. They typically accepted a materialist de facto atheist – an enlightenment project – framework and apologetically argued for God. The problem with all of that was they were arguing for the hidden god, the god we know nothing about. And honestly, if the choice is between a hidden god and no god, no god wins every time. But if you are preaching about doubt from this text, it is not about the existence of god. God exists. And he is on your case. In a million different masks he tells you that you are nothing. The hidden god is the god of power and majesty and we are but grass. The doubt is that god could ever care about grass. But the entire text is about the revealed God. Jesus came to reveal the heart of the Father. And that heart is that we are his children and he saves us from the fire. You would never ask the hidden god. But the Father of Jesus bids us ask, because he wants to demonstrate his love for us. And that is what the father does, “have compassion on us.” And Jesus does driving out the demon. And his summary to the disciples is “this kind only comes out with prayer.” It is not exorcism technology. It is getting the hidden god off our backs. Pray. Ask the Father of Jesus. You will see.

Talking About Money

Talking about money in church is always an interesting conversation, interesting used in the ancient Chinese curse sense. It is not that Jesus doesn’t have some pointed and meaningful things to say about money.  Things like “and I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. (Lk. 16:9 ESV)”  Neither is it that our use of money isn’t an expression of Spiritual values.  For it explicitly is.  “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:21 ESV)” The interesting part is that talking about money in church feels like making public what we’d rather be private.  It is shining the light of the gospel into areas that we’d rather keep in darkness (John 2:19, 12:46).  The apostle Paul’s final direction in regards to money is that each one must decide in his heart how much to give.  And not to give reluctantly or in response to pressure, but cheerfully (2 Cor 9:7). But doing so means that our giving has to be intentional. You don’t decide in your heart on a moment’s notice.  And it is that prayerful consideration that shines the light on our own hearts. It is that prayerful consideration that we are attempting to form this year.

Pastor’s Corner in the coming weeks is not going to be given over completely to monetary things, but over the next couple of months there will be at least a couple of stewardship related meditations. From what I’ve been told, the pastoral office at Mt. Zion has never talked about stewardship, nor has there ever been some of the practices (pledges) that we intend to introduce this year.  What the rest of this Pastor’s Corner is going to run through is some information, a calendar on important dates, and a start on the spiritual purpose.

Some information.  The numbers I am using all come from our treasurer and have been accepted by the church council. Over the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 the church income (mostly from offerings) has been between $221K – $246K.  The expenses for those years have been between $246k – $279k.  Mt. Zion has run a consistent $24k deficit.  Mt. Zion was able to do this because of a generous bequest. And my understanding is that this pattern has been typical in prior years as well, with refinancing of the mortgage occasionally being used.  The trouble is the current year. Our deficit for 2024 is already at $34K.  And this deficit is not caused by running over budget. Expense wise we approved a budget of $268k.  Over the prior 12 months (Sept 23 – Sept 24, not the budget timeframe but a full year) we have only spent $248k.  The trouble is that our offerings over those same 12 months have only been $204K.  There are some concrete reasons for that.  There are also some understandable background reasons.  But the light that is shining I believe is two-fold.  We as a congregation can’t operate with that type of deficit indefinitely. The timing on such a deficit would be a couple of years maximum.  And what that brings up is a question. Do we want to be a congregation?  Or maybe more specifically, do we want to be a congregation that looks roughly like what Mt. Zion has historically?

With that question, I’m going to turn to the calendar.  The council has reviewed a proposed budget and on Oct 10th will meet to give its final collective approval to present it to the congregation.  The Congregational budget meeting will be on Nov 17th.  We will publish some form of that budget well prior for your consideration.  But as the council agrees, there are no gold bricks hiding the budget.  Nobody is vacationing in Tahiti. It represents the costs for the utilities, insurance, upkeep, the mortgage, and your Pastor.  Over that same timeframe that we as a congregation are setting aside to think about the proposed budget, we are going to pass out pledge cards on Oct 20th and collect them starting Nov 10th for three weeks.

Finally, a bit about spiritual purpose.  The big question stated above is do we want to be a congregation that looks roughly like we do?  A vote for such a budget should also come with a pledge to support that budget.  But following the apostle’s advice, I do not want your pledge given in response to pressure. If you read the fullness of 2 Corinthians 9, the context of Paul’s advice, he is putting forward the collection for the Jerusalem church. The opportunity to support the work of the gospel done by Mt. Zion is what is being presented. Maybe your heart’s answer is that Mt. Zion should look substantially different. Maybe the answer in your heart is your current support is what you can give.  Maybe you can cheerfully support at a higher level.  We the council hope that enough of you might answer yes.

I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but Mt. Zion monetarily has been something of a minor.  It has been graced with a building and substantial contributions from those largely taught the way elsewhere and from those maybe little known to the current congregation. I don’t think I am trespassing on anything recognizing the generosity of Gene Ockrassa, but there are others. But all minors must eventually become adults. And that is the question of this budget and pledge call.  Are we collectively willing to come into our inheritance as a congregation of Christ? Are we willing to accept both the gifts of his grace and the responsibilities?  And are we able to take them on cheerfully?  The Kingdom of God will certainly come without our help, but in this we are being offered it amongst us in a bountiful way (2 Cor 9:6).

Salvation: Vengeance and Recompense

Biblical Text: Isaiah 35:4-7

“Say to those with an anxious heart…”. That is how the text starts. And I think that is just about everyone. We start off with a background level of anxiety. Like background radiation. It is just there. But we all have our own specific anxiety. And here is a word from God to exactly those with an anxious heart. And that word is “Be Strong! Fear Not!” The immediate response from the anxious heart might just well be “why? tell me why I should fear not?” And the text gives us one of God’s rare answers. God will come and save you. God will come and save you with vengeance and recompence. And that is what this sermon preaches. What is a salvation of vengeance and recompence.

The Writing on the Wall

[This was a sermon delivered this morning at chapel at Valley Lutheran High School (vlhs.org)]

Then they brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. 4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone. 5 Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote. 6 Then the king’s color changed, and his thoughts alarmed him; his limbs gave way, and his knees knocked together. 7 The king called loudly to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the astrologers. The king declared to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing, and shows me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.” 8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make known to the king the interpretation.  – Dan. 5:3-8 ESV

Introduction

This is the way I usually describe the book of Daniel.  The first six chapters are a catechism for life as a faithful Jew in the midst of Babylon. The last six chapters are the ones that prove nobody understood the first six.  Those last six are apocalyptic, and so the natural question is always “What does this mean?” And the shelves are full of books that don’t get it. Written by enchanters, Chaldeans, astrologers and the wise men of Babylon.  

Text

Those first six chapters used to be staples of Sunday Schools everywhere. But those were the days when Sunday School was near universal and three out of four weeks. I’m old, so forgive me the nostalgia. Today I can’t assume that you’ve heard the story of “the writing on the wall”.  You might have heard the phrase.  And you might know that the writing means nothing good.  But unless you’ve seen the best Heath Ledger movie – A Knight’s Tale – you don’t know what it means. (Even my references are old, sorry.) That handwriting itself is an interesting puzzle. That’s a rabbit hole you could go down for a day. What exactly was the writing that so puzzled all the King’s advisors?

I’ll leave that to you, because my interest today is in the run up.  “They brought in the golden vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem…and drank from them.  They drank wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood and stone.”

I said that the first six chapters of Daniel are a catechism for faithful Jews in the midst of Babylon. As such they are also a catechism for Christians in the midst of this world.  There is an iron progression in everything the world does.  First the world blasphemes the real, the God who created. Belshazzar the Babylonian King – even though his great predecessor Nebuchadnezzar had proclaimed the wonders of Daniel’s God – Belshazzar thinks nothing more of that God’s sacred items than to get drunk and have an orgy. And why not, we conquered the Jews and took down their temple. Even if the man who did it would praise that God, ignore him, he’s old and dead.

So turned away from the creator to blasphemy, the World then worships the creation. “They praised the gods of gold and silver” and all the way down to humble stone. Idolatry takes many forms.  The human heart is an idol factory. Oh we think we are much better than the ancients.  We don’t build a temple or find a grotto and stick a statue in it and call it God.  No, if you are old like me, you install on you wall the largest image creator you can, and 24/7 play the stories of the gods – whether of politics, or money or fate or love. If you are your age, you carry that talking image in your pockets. And we are all addicted to the feed, to knowing what is happening with the gods.

And the final step of the world – from blasphemy, to worshipping the creation, the final step is ignorance. “Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or make know the interpretation.” The most important thing to know is written on the wall, and nobody can read.  Nobody knows what it means. They can see the signs, but not understand them.  They had given up the eternal for the temporal.  And so their understanding was darkened.

Eventually the queen – who might be getting a dig in at her wastrel king – reminds him of Daniel and they call the faithful Jew in who is able to read the handwriting on the wall.

Application

What does this mean?  That’s a good Lutheran question that you might recognize if you have memorized the Small Catechism. A good exercise even if you can call it up on your pocket device. Luther asks that question over and over and gives a short answer.  What does this mean?

Let me offer up three things.

First, as Christian in the midst of this world, the opportunities to Blaspheme and Worship idols are ever present.  Now being the King’s enchanter, Chaldean, astrologer or wise man might seem like the best thing.  All your parents want you to succeed and success is usually defined in worldly terms.  We don’t call them those things anymore.  We might use words like the doctors, the economists, the technicians and the advisors. But the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  If your success is based on technique, there is always a new technique that you will not be able to read. The idols always offer technique. But the way of the LORD is wisdom. And only wisdom can discern the correct technique. Only wisdom brings our things old and things new from the treasury.

Second, as a Christian in the midst of this world, you don’t have to fear anything you study. It was all made by God and it was made for you to understand. Daniel was never afraid to be a faithful Jew in the midst of Babylon. Now being that faithful person might mean having to dedicate yourself to excellence. Daniel was always better than the rest.  Excellence is always in short supply. It is always needed, even if it produces envy that might scheme to throw you into the lions den. But as much as the world might hate it, this world is God’s and he makes things work for his people. Study what you want. Dedicate yourself to excellence. Remember the LORD.

And last, but maybe most important. You are getting a chance here at Valley that Daniel never did. You are getting a chance to study under those who can help you answer “what does this mean?” You are studying with faithful teachers full of wisdom. Soak it up.  Apply yourself to learning and excellence. I think you will find in life this chance you have is rare and fleeting. So seize the day. Don’t find yourself later puzzling out the writing on the wall.  Because then it is too late.