In Touch Quarter 1 - 2012

ETHICS - NOW & THEN
Keren Hannah Pryor encourages us to take a fresh look at ethics
and let love motivate our morality during 2012.
Shalom to you dear reader.
In addition to Halleluyah
and Amen I can be sure
that Shalom is one of at least
three Hebrew words that you
are familiar with. If I were to ask
you what it means, you might
well answer: Peace, Greetings,
Hello, Goodbye, and all would
be correct. I would like to draw
your attention to another similar
sounding word by examining the three root letters of
the word Shalom. The word is Shalem, which means
‘whole’ or ‘perfect’. Each root letter of a Hebrew word
reflects some of the meaning inherent in a word that is
derived from it. In this case:
Shin - Lamed - Mem v l mi
The first letter is Shin v. Notice the three branches,
joined in one, each with a little flame. This letter indicates
the Name of God - El Shaddai - and also His Presence
by His Spirit - the Shekinah.
It, therefore, represents the
invisible dimension of the
spirit.
The third letter is Mem m,
which can represent a womb
that produces physical life.
A word chiefly associated with mem is mai’yim, water.
Also Mashiach, Messiah, God’s Presence physically
with us in His uniquely born Son - Immanuel.
The middle letter is Lamed l. It represents the mind,
and its meaning is lamad or lomed, to study or learn;
from which the word talmid, student or disciple, is
derived. Notice the shape. It is reaching up as if to
connect the physical earthly realm with the spiritual.
It even has a small flame at its crown. Situated as it
is, between the other two letters, it is the bridge that
connects the two. As those who believe that the Bible is
the revealed Word of God, and is the Truth upon which
we stand, we use our minds to study and learn in order
to connect and understand our physical existence with
the eternal realm of the spirit.
To be Shalem, whole and in harmonious balance,
perfectly fulfilled, is what we aim for as talmidim,
disciples of Messiah. We strive to learn, by the Spirit
of God, to live our lives more fully according to His
Word and purposes and to be constantly filled with His
Shalom! Amen? Halleluyah!
It is to this end, to learn and to live more Shalem in
His Shalom, that I have for some months been in quite
intense preparation for the weekly email series that was
introduced on Tuesday January, 3 rd , entitled: Ethics -
Now and Then. (The studies are sent out, without cost,
via email once a week. If interested you can sign up on
the ministry’s website: www.jcstudies.com
That is not intended to convey that we should consider
the matter of ethics only occasionally, now and then,
but rather that biblical ethics, God’s guidelines of how
to live a life pleasing to Him, should be affecting our
lives NOW - today - in the present. Also, on the other
hand, we need to be aware of THEN - both the future,
looking forward to eternity, and looking back to the
past. As Winston Churchill once said, “The further back
you can look the further forward you are likely to see”.
This concept is appropriate to consider as we now go
forward into the new calendar year of 2012 and it poses
at least two questions:
(1) Are we anticipating what lies ahead in faith and in
hope, according to the
promises of God, and
(2) What are we
learning from the
past that will help us
serve Him better in
the present - now?!
We need to know where we have come from in order
to clearly understand the present and to know how to
move forward purposefully toward the future.
I’d like to ask you to consider the word “ethics” for
a moment and see how you define it. Maybe as moral
conduct, decent behavior, rules of righteousness, fair
dealings? Rules of right living are all well and good;
however in the light of the Kingdom of God the question
of ethics, of living a righteous life as a priest or servant
of God, takes on far greater significance. It is not only
about being a “good person.”
Together with the foundation of the Hebrew Scriptures
and the teachings of Jesus and the Apostolic writings,
the basic reference used in the Ethics series is Pirkei
Avot, known in English as the Chapters, or Ethics, of
the Fathers (the Sages of Israel). Apart from the Bible,
Pirkei Avot is considered one of the greatest sources
of teaching on the practical development of character
and the elevation of the spirit in Hebrew literature. It
“God’s guidelines of how to live
a life pleasing to Him, should be
affecting our lives NOW - today - in
the present.”
8 // IN TOUCH