Scent for the King

Song of Songs 3:6 - Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant?

Say three words—gold, (frank)incense, and myrrh—and what do most people think? Yes, magi bringing gifts to the Baby Jesus.

Did you know we also find gold, incense, and myrrh in Song of Songs. “Gold” appears five times, “incense” three times, and “myrrh” seven times.

Of this trilogy, we find “myrrh” most often, so let’s take a closer look at it. The beloved says her lover is a sachet of myrrh. Later she says he smells like myrrh. And then he’s dripping with myrrh. There’s no doubt about it—she definitely associates him with myrrh.

We know myrrh was and is a perfume, but a quick glance through the entire Bible tells us that it appears more often in association with scenting men than women.

“Myrrh” means “bitter.” And myrrh was used for more than providing fragrance on special occasions. It also deadened pain. And people used it to prepare the dead for burial. Jesus turned down wine mixed with myrrh when He hung from the cross. And Nicodemus brought about seventy-five pounds of spices, including myrrh, so he could prepare Jesus’ body before it was placed in the tomb.

Because so many of us read the New Testament a lot more than we read the Old, we may associate myrrh more with death than with life. I’ve heard it said, for example, that the myrrh that the magi brought to the Christ Child foreshadowed Jesus’ death. The person who said it thought the wise men consciously brought a substance associated with death to give to the Baby Jesus, knowing He was born to die.

Now, what would you think if someone gave you a casket or a headstone as a baby gift? Imagine the conversation! “Here, I hope you like it. I brought you some toys, and some booties, and some expensive embalming fluid. We’re all terminal cases….”

The wise men had no idea that Jesus was going to die to save us from our sins. Even His own disciples didn’t get it. Only Mary of Bethany, Lazarus’s sister, who anointed Jesus’ feet before the crucifixion, appears to have understood “before the fact” that our Savior had to die before He would reign as King.

Reigning as king—that’s why the magi brought myrrh. It was a gift fit for a king. Consider Esther, who, before her “night with the king,” spent six months treating herself with oil of myrrh (Esth. 2:12). Centuries later when the magi found Herod, they asked the location of the one born King of the Jews, saying they had come to worship Him (Matt. 2:2). And when they came to the house and found Him, they fell down in worship, offering that King their gifts.

In Psalm 45:6-8 we read, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; from palaces adorned with ivory the music of the strings makes you glad.”

The focus on loss in association with the myrrh brought by the magi to Jesus misses the strong association of myrrh with riches, royalty, and celebration. When Matthew wrote his gospel, he was presenting Jesus Christ as Israel's long-awaited royal Messiah. And the gifts of the magi were gifts worthy of His Majesty--the one coming to reign in glory.

Celebrate His coming and His return!

(Adapted from Solomon Latte, used with permission.)

Giveaway- School Daze, etc.

Our family started school today. The oldest kid has the sniffles, the middle child can't recall how to abbreviate "September", the youngest one flat out refuses to do any learning of any sort this year (she told me so herself), and I'm wishing for just one more month of summer. (I mean, it's only June... isn't it?) Each of us has begun the academic year in something of a daze.

The beginning of school always brings back memories for me. As a child of military parents, we moved a lot, so my first day of school often came with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I was usually the new girl so had to make friends all over again, had to learn a new grading system, had to memorize the layout of an unfamiliar school; all things I dreaded. But I also got new textbooks, a spanking new backpack or lunch box, and had a locker to myself or different art supplies than my last school, so there were things I looked forward to.
I spent many Septembers learning a new school's wayz.

One of my favorite back-to-school rituals was choosing my outfit to wow my classmates on our first day back at school. In 5th grade, we'd just moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico and I was entering the top rung of the elementary school ladder with a bunch of kids who'd known each other since Kindergarten. What better way to win their admiration than to sport a fetching all-purple ensemble? Wine, raspberry, lavender- shades and hues need not match as long as they were some derivative of PURPLE. I begged my mom for a pair of lavender Jordache sneakers that fastened with a funky new invention called, Velcro.
When School Day #1 rolled around... oh yeah, man... I was a fascinating purple haze.


8th grade found me as a new student in Rocky Run Middle School; again, the new girl amidst a bunch of kids who'd known each other since long before my time. I made some new friends and we all looked forward to our lunch break when we could talk about the latest New Wave hair fashion or the cutest boy in our locker row. Fridays, in particular, were popular because the cafeteria served pizza. In my school all of the 8th grade population turned out for pizza day. Long lunch lines snaked around the cafeteria and if you happened to loiter too long in the lobby, you might just miss your chance at some greasy lunchtime goodness. The pizzas were rectangular and always had a puddle of oil surfacing on the top. My personal favorite was pepperoni pizza with a side of French fries.
Fridays in my school were an 8th grade pepperoni pizza craze.


Why am I telling you this? I want to give away a school-themed SoulPerSuit gift.

Here's what I've got:

A vintage school memories 8 X 10 album, completely blank and crisp and ready for you to alter it as you see fit.
I used one of my own yearbooks (from my 8th grade pepperoni year, to be exact) as a "card" for our last SoulPerSuit adventure through Espresso with Esther. It was a nice break from using playing cards for SPS, I could keep all my "cards" contained together in the pages and the larger size allowed more room to work. This blank high school memories book lets you alter a blank album rather than your precious high school memories. (I, however, seem to only be able to remember the greasy pizza and my frizzy New Wave hair, so I didn't object to painting over the faces of the 1986 Rocky Run Woodwind Ensemble.)


A mini set of acrylic paint and brushes. Mini tubes of titanium white, cobalt blue, lemon yellow, viridian (green) and vermilion (red) and 4 mini brushes. Small and self-contained, these will fit in your locker, no prob. Sadly, you'll have to mix your own purple haze but it comes with a mixing tray.

This giveaway is perfect for anyone who is a new student to SoulPerSuit, painting, or altering books. No fear or trepidation on this first day of school. Just come sit at the desk beside me and tell me two things to be entered in the drawing:

1) Your most stunning first-day-of-school outfit.
2) The best food your cafeteria served.

Tell us about the Haze and the Craze from your School Daze.

I'll announce the winner on Thursday, Sept. 11th.

New Church Part 2

Part 1, Part 3

The first time I wrote to you about our new church was last year in May. I think it's time for a little update on what we've been up to.

From my perspective, it didn't seem like we were making any strides. I'd envisioned us doing some sort of service in the community but we've never come together in agreement on anything. I thought that we'd find a common passion that we could explore and claim as our own like prayer or Bible study. Our membership has also dropped. I claim that's not a sign that things are going wrong but that things are going exactly right. But you tend to see affirmation in what you're doing by seeing others clamoring to join you. No one's clamoring.

I was slightly disheartened by all this until last week's meeting.

It was like any other meeting. Currently we're discussing Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. This is sort of a biography of one guys spiritual journey and ruminations. It evaluates the idea of God, faith, and responsibility from various perspectives in spiritual growth. It asks all the hard questions that our group really relishes chewing on.

Last Friday we discussed chapters nine through twelve. A couple of days later, MyGeek asked me what I thought about the discussion. As we talked about it I realized we, as a group, had come to some solid observations in that meeting. Theories or suppositions, if you will. And it wasn't the result of the one meeting but of weeks and weeks of discussion - discussions that have included Velvet Elvis, Premium Roast with Ruth, Espresso with Esther, Mocha on the Mount, and countless on-line resources. As we've considered several view points, our lives, our culture, and the Word, we're forming our own observations about church in the postmodern culture.

It's sort of thrilling to think about, really. We've got our own little think tank going on. It's like discussions that might have gone on between C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the other members of the Inklings on pub night or the students in the mountain community, L’Abri, founded by Francis Schaeffer in the 70s.

Well, sort of.

In future "New Church" posts, I'll talk more about our observations, such as:

As a group

• Everyone is involved in service.
• We are doing what we're passionate about.

Think Tank Observations:

• Church is not in one place.
• Stories are not in one person
• We are finding unusual, unexpected moments of worship
• Everyone has a story

Are you involved in a discussion group or think tank? What have you observed?

Esther Films

While we're on the subject of films, check out and critique these Esther films:

The 2006 flick, One Night with the King has utterly fab costumes, but don't count on the historicity. And don't think the strong romantic elements are reality-based. But enjoy it, anyway.

The classic Hollywood film version of the story is the Esther and the King (1960) starring Joan Collins (can you believe it?) and Richard Egan, and directed by Raoul Walsh.

In 1992 Hanna-Barbera produced The Greatest Adventure series, and as part of that set made a 30-minute, fully-animated video, titled Queen Esther. It features the voices of Helen Slater as Queen Esther, Dean Jones as King Ahasuerus, Werner Klemperer as Haman, and Ron Rifkin as Mordecal.

And finally, there's VeggieTales. They made an animated version of the story titled Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen, in which the girl-of-courage shows up as a young green onion. Bring the tissues.

Babette and Esther: Passions Compared

While our online group is going through Esther, I'm leading our small group, outXast, in a two week study associated with the movie Babette's Feast. I was thinking today about how the two leading ladies lived out their passion.

It might be said that the opulence and isolation of royalty caused Esther to forget from whence she came. Draped in the finest clothes and eating rich foods, how many spa days of head to toe pampering would it take for you to forget? 14? 30? How about 365? Esther adapted - maybe too quickly. At the same time she could never again return to the home she had always known or see the family and friends she loved.

Babette is forced to adapt in an entirely different way. To save her own life she flees Paris amidst the 1871 civil war where he husband and son have been killed. She becomes a refugee in the dreary cold climate of Norway where she knows no one; these are not her people. Here she trades the honorable robes of a master chef for the coarse homemade clothes of a servant. Instead of the finest French cuisine she now has the exact same meal of ale-bread soup for every meal, every day of the week.

Do both women have passion?

It’s awkward to make judgments about all the things not told to us in Esther’s story. But it doesn’t appear that she is passionate about anything because she is lead along by whatever those around her tell her to do.

• She hangs around to be carted off to the palace (2:8).
• She only took to the palace what Hegai the eunuch recommended (2:15).
• She does whatever Mordecai says (2:20).

She never seems to exert her own will. Does she have any convictions? Or is she a cub who hasn’t found her teeth? It’s not until verse 4:16 that she speaks with authority and passion, telling Mordecai what to do!

Babette is nothing if not passionate. She knows food is her gift and she pursues it no matter what her circumstances. Nothing stands in her way. Even in desolate, pious Norway everyone describes what she does with food as spiritual. To know Babette is to know her passion.

So can we argue that wealth ruined Esther, hindered her, or got in the way of living passionately? I don’t think so. Esther had not yet found her passion. Living without passion is to live with fear. Passion is your secret weapon, your super power. No matter what great unknown lays infinitely ahead, the one thing you know completely and surely is your passion.

But more of us are Esthers than Babettes. And we allow a variety of things to prevent us from discovering or living our passion. Time, money, work, family, etc.

Have you found your passion? What is it? And if not, why not?

The Invisible Star

If you're a female, when you were a child, did you ever spin around in a long dress pretending to be Cinderella? Perhaps you watched Cinderella on TV or video. Was it a cartoon version? Maybe a parent or sibling read it to you. Or perhaps you saw Rogers and Hammerstein’s 1965 production starring Lesley Ann Warren. Maybe you watched the 1997 show with Brandy, Paola Montalban, and Whitney Houston. If you’re a big Cinderella fan, perhaps you saw and read all of these and more.

What about My Fair Lady—did you ever imitate Eliza Dolittle singing about the rain in Spain (or the rine in spine)? Did you mentally protest against Henry Higgins when he asked “Why can’t a woman be more like a man?”?

Many cultures have their rags-to-riches stories like Cinderella and My Fair Lady. The details differ, but the general plotline is the same: a poor, plain girl of questionable pedigree rises from poverty to become rich and beautiful, perhaps even the queen of a vast empire.

The Book of Esther is like a Hebrew Cinderella story. Yet some significant differences set this drama apart from fictional stories such as those mentioned above. For one thing, Esther’s story actually happened. The book begins with the same Hebrew word (“wyhy”) that introduces the historical books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, Ezekiel, and Jonah. We are supposed to read Esther as fact, not fancy.

Another key difference is that in Esther, the villain (Haman) is far worse than any evil stepmother or chauvinistic linguistics coach. Haman is out to commit genocide, and the king approves his plan without hesitation.

Yet there’s an even more significant difference: the main character in this Cinderella story is someone other than the woman at the center of the drama. In fact this story’s main character is never explicitly mentioned by name, nor does He appear. An accurate Playbill for this drama would have to have an empty space next to the photo of the one playing the lead. He is invisible, yet we trace His hand through every turn in the plot as the seeming coincidences add up.

William Temple, the ninety-eighth archbishop of Canterbury, was known to have said, “When I pray, coincidences happen; and when I don’t pray, they don’t happen.” The author of the Book of Esther stacks together a long string of “coincidences,” while never mentioning anything religious such as the temple, prayer, or even God’s name. Yet readers without being told know better than to think all the events in the book merely happened due to chance. We are left instead with one conclusion: The only way all these “coincidences” could have happened is if God directed every last detail.

Consider some of the “coincidences” in Esther’s story:

. The king wants his wife to appear, which just happens to set in motion events that will lead to the survival of an entire people group.
. The queen refuses, which just happens to provide the opportunity for Esther to become queen.
. Esther just happens to be beautiful enough to enter (and win) the king’s beauty contest.
. Esther just happens to be received favorably, both by the eunuch over the harem and by the king himself.
. Mordecai just happens to be in a position in the palace that allows him both access to Esther and to overhear a plot to kill the king.
. Mordecai’s revelation of the plot is recorded in the king’s annals (which just happen to be read on the most opportune night some years later).
. The dice or “lots” thrown to determine when the Jews are to be killed just happen to indicate the twelfth month, allowing eleven months for the Jews to seek a means of deliverance.
. Esther’s unexplained delay in having a second banquet just happens to allow the king a chance to have the insomnia that will motivate him to listen to his chronicles.
. The section read to him just happens to be the part about how Mordecai saved his life.
. Haman just happens to arrive at the palace with Mordecai on his mind at the very moment when the king is thinking about how to honor Mordecai.
. The very “gallows” (or pole) Haman installed for having Mordecai impaled (they would “spike” people after killing them) just happens to be the means of Haman’s own destruction.
. The king’s entry into Esther’s room at the exact moment when Haman falls on her couch just happens to make him misinterpret events, resulting in Haman’s death.
. Not one Jew is listed as killed while 75,800 of their enemies just happen to be destroyed—on the very day when the Jews were to face destruction.

This Cinderella story has ramifications that far exceed an “if the shoe fits” scenario. Much more is at stake than a glass slipper and love that ends “happily ever after.” Ultimately, Esther just happens to be in the right place at the right time and of the right nationality to intervene for hundreds of thousands if not millions of people and save them from certain genocide. God uses Esther to make a way, to keep His promise, to triumph over evil in one grand reversal.

And He is still sovereign over every event of our lives today.


Excerpted from Espresso with Esther.

The Miss Persia Pageant

All the girls in my extended family love to get together for movie night when we can watch Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality. The plot goes something like this: Clumsy FBI agent with scary eyebrows and nasty hair undergoes metamorphosis to work undercover as beauty pageant contestant. Subplot: The main character starts out thinking pageants reduce females to their various parts (bad) but ends up believing pageants are positive exercises that emphasize the whole woman—including brains and talent (good).

What do you think of beauty pageants? Do you lean toward the agent’s “before” or “after” assessments?

What you think of beauty pageants might have some bearing on how you interpret the first chapter of Esther. Esther is the heroine of the pro-pageant group; Vashti is the heroine of the anti-pageant group.

The Esther group tends to see a great example of the need for wifely submission. Vashti’s husband wants her to appear wearing the crown, but Vashti refuses. So she gets what’s coming to her: she is deposed and the process of replacing her is set in motion. Bo-o-o, Vashti! Esther later competes in the pageant, wins, and everyone lives happily ever after. Ye-e-ah, Esther!

The Vashti group tends to champion women’s rights. They see Vashti’s actions as good in refusing to allow her husband to degrade her. Some scholars do believe the king wanted her to appear wearing only her crown—a crown which, incidentally, probably signified his sovereignty. And historians sometimes point out that, judging by the date in which the event happened, Vashti may have been nine months’ pregnant, though others think this was the royals’ wedding banquet. The text links the king’s demand with an over-abundance of alcohol (1:10) and Ahasuerus later seems to show a hint of remorse (2:1), so the text is tipped a wee bit in Vashti’s favor. Some in this camp see Esther as a negative example because she goes along with the status quo.

Frankly, both approaches miss the mark. Esther 1 is not about marriage. Nor is it making a case for feminism. The story is not even about beauty pageants. These subjects are “rabbit trails.” The text doesn’t focus on any of these aspects, and neither should we. If we take such approaches to “applying” Esther, we miss the point.

Here’s why I think it happens. The inductive Bible Study method is a good and popular approach to studying God’s word. It emphasizes considering a biblical text first by observing what it says, then interpreting what it means, and finally by making application. This is a particularly fine approach to studying New Testament epistles.

Yet our method must change a bit when we approach Esther and other narratives (stories): we must consider larger blocks of text at one time to find the application the author intended.
If we take the same approach with Esther that we do with the epistles, we might mistakenly “try to apply chapter one” when the entire message doesn’t appear unless we look at the entire story from all ten chapters.

When studying narratives we need to see the whole story put together before we can see the point or points the author is making. The approach (observation, interpretation, application) is good in both cases; yet what changes is the size of the sections we consider at one time.

Think about what would happen if we drew conclusions about the Three Little Pigs before we knew that the brick house stood despite endless huffing and puffing. Drawing application after the first piggy’s house crashes is possible (“wolves can kill you; watch out for them”), but chances are slim that the application we’d take away would be the one actually intended by the author.

A faulty interpretation of Esther, then, is to look at a king giving orders to his wife and her refusal to comply, and then to make any sort of application from that information. The author doesn’t tell us whether the king was wrong or whether his wife was wrong. And it’s probably for good reason: that’s not the point. Such information is background information that lays the groundwork for telling us how Esther got where she did.

So what are the main points of Esther’s story? They’re not stated in a handy summary. But after we read the entire Book of Esther we see them: The God of Israel shows loyal love time and again to His covenant people; the Almighty Lord is sovereign in all His dealings; and the Lord of providence kindly cares for His people despite their disobedience.

And all that is still true of Him today.

He loves you. He is in control. And He cares about you, no matter what you’ve done.

Excerpted from Espresso with Esther.

Esther, Part 1: Coincidence?

Hindsight is 20/20, right? Not always. How many times do we chalk things up to coincidence instead of recognizing that maybe God had a hand in it?

As MyGeek approached his graduation, we discussed what we wanted to do afterwards. Did we want to stay in NC? We made a huge decision to move to TN. I have felt for years that God wanted me to move back there and the time seemed to have presented itself. We packed up a lot of our current household stuff, stored it in TN, and put our house on the market.

Six months later, MyGeek graduates. No offers had been made on the house or on the job front but I wasn't really worried. I knew it would take at least six months to "get into the system". But things were going to start hopping now, right?

Nine months pass. There were no offers on the house and not a single interview or rejection letter! Have we done something wrong? Did I not "read" this right? And other strange things were happening. We met and became close to several new friends and helped start a very exciting, new small group. The longer we stayed, the less we wanted to leave. We had to make a decision. The listing agreement on our house ended in June. If the house was not sold or there were no job offers by then, we'd stay in NC.

Twelve months later. June. The week before our listing agreement runs out, MyGeek gets four phones calls about potential jobs — in NC. Four calls in one day. He said, "Isn't this a weird coincidence?" I don't think it is. Looking back, we had questioned and doubted our decision so much and wanted to know what to do. As clear as a situation like this can be, it appears that God lent a hand in keeping us in NC. Am I happy about it? Sure. Do I know why? No, but I’m o.k. with that.

Please, don't misunderstand. I don't see God's will as a series of signs and coincidences you decipher on a daily basis. If I get up in the morning and see a commercial for McDonald's mini-melts, I don't read that as a sign that I'm suppose to go to McDonald's (although those mini-melts are really good). If I hear a missionary speak and he happens to be from the same hometown as my grandmother, I don't see that as a sign I should be a missionary.

I do believe that God answers prayers and, above all, that He has a long-term plan — a plan for His Kingdom. I am in His long-term plan; I am not His long-term plan. I believe God's will, more often than not, means doing the right thing or, in cases where there's no right or wrong, simply doing something! I will exhaust myself, spinning in place, trying to figure out whether it's God's will for me to work with the youth, write music, or start my own business. Can God be glorified in all of these? Yes. Then glorify Him in whatever you do.

I highly recommend Chuck Swindoll's The Mystery of God's Will if you want to read more on this subject.

Esther, Part One

Tonight I was searching the web for Esther-related things and found this cartoon. It's almost as old as I am!

Announcements: Ta Da!

First things first: The winners of Erin's...what's that? Yes, I said winners. Plural. Yes. Erin got generous and made two sets. Okay, as I was saying, the winners of Erin's two SPS kits are patricia a. boutilier and Kellyn. All taxes are the responsibility of the winners. Void where prohibited. Tax, title and license extra. If the winners will email their snail addresses to sglahn at aspire2.com, Erin will get your stuff in the mail pronto. Thanks, everyone, for participating!

Today marks the official start of the online study in the Book of Esther. If you didn't sign up for the Yahoo group discussion, it's too late for this go-round. But you can follow along with us anyway starting Sunday. Here's how. The instructions for the week begin here or by going to http://www.soulpersuit.com/ and hunting down the Esther study, week one. If you do the artsy assignment for Sunday, feel free to email a .pdf to the email address cleverly disguised above, and we'll get it posted to the SPS site for others to enjoy.

We always love hearing from you, so thanks to all who posted comments.

Free Giveaway: Last but not Least

Ladies and gents, I'm pleased to offer you one last free drawing to kick off our Espresso With Esther summer Bible study. We've already given away two rock-solidly written Bible Study books, an up-and-coming artsy Christian journal, and now...

oh, wait a minute... first things first.

Perhaps you're new to this blog and wondering, "What in the world is this SoulPerSuit thing?"
Please allow me to direct you to our sidebar in which you will find a purple Yahoo! button. If you're interested in the SoulPerSuit concept, click the button to join us this summer and you'll get to experience it first hand. Here are a few details to fill in the scenario:

What: SoulPerSuit is diving into The Book of Esther this summer. We're hosting an on-line discussion group for any and all that would like to jump in. So come on!
When: Registration is closing down on JULY 19. And that is SOON. Click on the Yahoo button if you're thinking you'd like to join us.
More on When: We'll start discussing Lesson One on July 25. The group will run for 5 weeks.
Something New: An added feature this time around is that we're incorporating weekly "live discussions" and "studio nights" during which the SPS community can chat about what they're learning in Scripture and give each other a creative boost to get those concepts out in a visual, auditory or kinesthetic fashion.
It'll be like a cyber-coffee shop. A cyber-art studio. A cyber-recording session. A cyber-farmer's market. (Take your pick, whichever you like best.)


So, without further ado, I'm pleased to present you with our last giveaway in this series.

A SoulPerSuit Starter Kit

This starter kit contains:
- 4 different colors of 4 x 6 cardstock
- a 4 pack of mini permanent markers
- a mini journal for writing and sketching your SoulPerSuit ideas
- a mini mechanical pencil
- a glue stick
- a deck of standard playing cards
- a box of Jelly Belly's (to sustain you during your creative moments)

If you supply your own magazines to cut and paste, this kit contains everything else you need to SoulPerSuit.

Would you like a chance to win it? Here's all you've got to do.

Leave a comment on this post.

Sandi will announce the winner on Wednesday, July 25th. I really hope it's you.

Free Giveaway

We're gearing up to do another online Bible study group, this time going through the Book of Esther. Anyone anywhere in the world who can type in English is invited to join. (Scroll down for the link.)

In celebration of our 3.1.6 journal article and in anticipation of the new cybergroup, I'm giving away two free books from my Coffee Cup Bible study series, Solomon Latte (Song of Songs) and Espresso with Esther. Both books go to one lucky winner.

You could spent about twenty-five bucks buying/shipping them, or you could enter to get them free. All you have to do is leave a comment, and we'll throw your name into the hat for a drawing to be held Tuesday. Your name goes into the hat once per comment ("count me in" is good enough), but we'll throw it in twice if you include in your post your favorite artsy web site or blog.

Published! Party!

To celebrate our feature in 3.1.6. A Journal of Christian Thinking, the SoulPerSuit team is celebrating next week by awarding prizes and doing the funky chicken!

Here's the schedule. Mark your calendars, dust off your keyboard (no lurking!), and get ready to win some very cool prizes.*

July 5 - Sandi has a little something special to give away to our blog readers and SoulPerSuit participants.
Want to win it? Just enter a comment on her post between 7/5 and 7/11.

July 12 - Winner of Sandi's giveaway is announced.
Didn't get your name drawn for Sandi's giveaway? Rhonda starts a new giveaway party today. From 7/12-7/18, comment on her post and toss your name in the hat!

July 19 - Erin announces the winner of Rhonda's giveaway and kicks off a drawing of her own. You can influence the purim a third time from 7/19-7/25 by putting your comment on Erin's entry.

July 26 - Sandi will announce the winner of Erin's giveaway. And put out the welcome mat for our summer SoulPerSuit in the Book of Esther.

*None of the prize awards are funky chickens. Sorry.

************************************************
SoulPerSuit is hosting an on-line creative group this summer!
We're diving into the book of Esther
Start date: July 25th
To join the on-line group, click the Yahoo! Groups Button in the right margin.

What kind of man was he?

With the recent kickoff of our new SoulPerSuit study on the book of Esther, I've been interested in the character of King Xerxes.

I don't know about you, but personally, I am pretty intimidated by the image that comes to mind when I read, "... Xerxes ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. At that time, Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa... He gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present. For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty..." "When these days were over, the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king's palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest, who were in the citadel of Susa."

I think Xerxes' little "fete" had its desired effect- if I am awed and intimidated 2,500 years later, imagine what his invited guests were thinking! I'd venture to say they got his message loud and clear... To the outposts and foreigners: "Mess with Xerxes and you'll get this entire arsenal knocking on your city gates!" To the people in his own backyard: "He's so kind and generous for rolling out the red carpet to little 'ol us, why would we ever want to disobey his commands?" The guy could really work the political spin.

Xerxes appears to be a generous soul who doesn't mind dipping into the treasury here and there to make sure his name is promoted and the underlings know their proper places. He hands his good buddy, Haman, the royal line of credit to do whatever Haman wants. It's only money. No questions asked. Not even ONE. (Shoulda asked at least ONE question, Xerxes!) He seems to appreciate the finer things of life- throwing sumptuous parties, accumulating a harem of women that spend an entire year making themselves beautiful before they can even enter his presence... And he likes to show off all that wealth and finery as well- just ask his party guests and Vashti about that.

But here's what gets me about Xerxes. For all of his generosity, for all of his appreciation of beauty and wealth, for all the might and power of his kingdom, for all the qualities he displays that make him the KING he is, the guy can't seem to make a decision on his own.
Now, I know it's common practice for leaders to surround themselves with a cabinet of experts or a group of advisors, but King Xerxes takes it to a new level.

The water begins to boil when Xerxes gets into a tiff with his Queen. "What should I do about it boys?" (Well, um, she's YOUR wife. And you DID ask her to leave her own party and her own guests (very bad form) so she could come to your party and parade around for your guests (even worse form). His "boys" easily convince him to send her away- a decision Xerxes later regrets.
Next, as he begins to re-think things, ("I'm lonely. I miss Vashti. What should I do?") he listens to some more advice from his "boys" to find a bunch of beautiful young virgins. Gosh, they're really looking out for their king, aren't they?


Then Haman decides he has a bone to pick with a guy named Mordecai, who is "of a certain race."

Haman: By the way, King, there are these people living amongst us who are really weird. They're not normal. Oh, and they don't obey Your Regalness' commands either. We're really better off without this certain race, so if you'll just give me the royal credit card, I'll see to it that they're wiped out. You won't have to worry about a thing.

Xerxes: Hmm? Yeah, ok. If that's what you think we ought to do. My wallet's on the nightstand.


Next, Xerxes wants to honor Mordecai for an old favor. So to Haman, he asks, "What should be done for someone who has found favor with the king?" Xerxes can't decide how to say "Thanks buddy, I owe ya one."


* Finally, we have the ONE decision credited to Xerxes, and it's one we have to applaud him for. * When Xerxes discovers that "the certain race" Haman has plotted to kill is the Jews and then connects the dots to discover that his lovely Esther is a Jew, Xerxes shows his kingly quality, immediately seeing his "friend" for what he is, and decides Haman's fate- death. (Although the poetic justice of hanging Haman on his own gallows must be credited to a palace servant.)

The story wraps up with Xerxes telling Esther and Mordecai to "write another decree in the king's name on behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king's signet ring." Another example of Xerxes' decision making. Or lack thereof.


Taking this cross-section of Xerxes' life brings up many questions for me. It's easy to fault him for being a spineless leader, a doormat or an extreme phlegmatic, but I think it'd be better to take a lesson from him and examine my own life.

- Do I go through life with decisiveness and direction?
- Do I know the laws by which I am supposed to govern "my kingdom"? And the laws I am subject to? (King Xerxes should have known the laws of his land. In fact, a major requirement for Jewish kings-in-training was to sit and copy the Law over and over again so they knew it inside and out.)
- Can I deal with marital conflict (my "king") without running to Oprah or Hollywood to tell me how to handle it?
- How attentive am I to my children (my "subjects") and the direction of their hearts?
- Is my "advisory cabinet" composed of people, books, movies, websites and music that spur me on to love and good deeds?
- Can I manage my household (my "riches") in a way that honors God through what He has provided? Do I flaunt my "riches"?
- Am I equipping myself to make righteous decisions?

In the end, I hope my reputation won't be one like Xerxes'. "Yeah, Erin, she was a great gal. But she couldn't direct her life out of a paper bag."

Introducing Queen Esther

One of the comments we received as part of the lament study was that after so much lamenting, one also feels the need to praise--to notice the divine, the glorious, and celebrate it. Weeping and rejoicing need each other.

For this reason we plan to launch a new study soon that focuses on the Book of Esther. Her story helps us look for God's invisible hand which, we discover with a little bit of black dusting powder, leaves lots of fingerprints.

Frankly, Esther has a few things in common with "Miss Congeniality." (Go with me on this.) I admit to loving that movie--as do most of the girls in my extended family. Call us shallow, but we love to get together to watch Sandra Bullock morph from a clumsy FBI agent with scary eyebrows and nasty hair into an undercover (and believable!) beauty pageant contestant. Subplot: Bullock's character starts out thinking pageants reduce females to their various parts (bad) but ends up believing pageants are positive exercises that emphasize the whole woman—including brains and talent (good).

What do you think of beauty pageants? Do you lean toward the agent’s “before” or the “after” assessment? What you think of beauty pageants might have some bearing on how you interpret Esther chapter one. Esther is the heroine of the pro-pageant group; Vashti is the heroine of the anti-pageant group.

The “Esther group” tends to see in the text of Esther 1 a great example of the need for wifely submission. The “Vashti group” tends to champion women’s rights. They see Vashti’s actions as good in refusing to allow her husband to degrade her.

Frankly, both approaches miss the mark. Esther 1 about marriage? Come on! Making a case for feminism? Naw. The story isn't even about beauty pageants. Such topics are bunny trails. The text doesn’t focus there, nor should we. If we take such approaches to “applying” Esther, we miss the point.

Here’s why I think it happens. The inductive Bible Study method (observe, interpret, apply) is quite good and a popular approach to studying God’s word. It's a particularly fine approach to studying New Testament epistles. Our method must change a bit, however, when we approach Esther and other narratives (stories): we must consider larger blocks of text at one time to find the application the author intended.

Think about what would happen if we drew conclusions about Goldilocks before we knew that the family came home. Drawing application after reading that she fell asleep might leave us with strange principles drawn from the story (e.g., Eating something hot, cold, and just right can make you drowsy). Hmmm. Chances are slim that the application we’d take away would be the one actually intended by the author.

The danger with Esther, then, is to look at a king giving orders to his wife and at her refusal to comply, and then to make any sort of application from that information. The author doesn’t tell us whether the king was wrong or whether his wife was wrong. And it’s probably for good reason: that’s not the point. Such information is merely background info that lays the groundwork for telling us how Esther got where she did.

And therein lies the comparison with "Miss Congeniality." Bushy-browed undercover agent becomes believable pageant contestant; little no-name orphan girl becomes the Queen of Persia. It's all about the big reversal of events. And in the case of Esther, you-know-Who was the one working undercover.

After we read the entire biblical story, we get the point the author is making: The God of Israel shows loyal love time and again to His covenant people; the Almighty Lord is sovereign in all His dealings; and the Lord of providence kindly cares for His people despite their disobedience.

All of this is still true of Him today.

He loves us.
He is in control.
He cares about us, no matter what we've done.

If it's been a while since you created anything artistic in response to Truth, consider making a card that focuses on the unseen hand at work, on providence, on God's protection despite how things appear. Maybe you are the star of a pageant that focuses on spiritual beauty--not because of your own merit, but because of a transformation that has happened to you on the INSIDE.

Why rejoice when life is so hard? We were once lost, but now we are are found! Our names are written in the Book of Life. We were once lonely orphans, but we have been adopted by the King!