Sudan

The NYT:

The southern Sudanese have fought for independence for decades, and in January, nearly 99 percent of the region’s voters approved a split from northern Sudan in an internationally backed referendum. . . . Southern Sudan will be named the Republic of South Sudan upon independence.

But there are still a number of delicate and potentially combustible issues that need to be resolved before Sudan can peacefully break in two. Conflicts remained over how the two sides would share the south’s sizable reserves of crude oil and what to do about the Abyei region, which straddles the north-south border and is claimed by both.

Mr. Bashir seems to be steering his country back toward war. His troops and tanks violently annexed Abyei in May. Then he sent thousands of soldiers into two other volatile areas, Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, while continuing a crippling blockade of the south, strangling it of food and fuel.

At the same time, renegade southern militias, widely believed to be armed by Mr. Bashir’s intelligence services, have stepped up their attacks, hitting army bases, snatching weapons and stretching southern troops thin as they scramble to meet all these threats, often hijacking United Nations vehicles to get to the battlefield.

But diplomats and analysts believe that, rather than trying to start a major conflict, Mr. Bashir may instead be playing out a carefully devised strategy meant to ensure just one thing: that when southern Sudan declares independence in July, his northern government controls as much oil as possible, or at least is richly compensated.

Psalm 83:13 (NIV)
Make them like tumbleweed, my God, like chaff before the wind.

Pursue Mr. Bashir’s forces with your tempest and terrify them with your storm, O Lord. Oh, that the structure of northern Sudan’s internal security, their armed forces and intelligence services, and the establishment of their alliances would be destroyed, stripped of all power, and completely exhausted. Let it be! Amen.

Numbers 11:10-30

Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and the anger of the LORD was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. So Moses said to the LORD, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? (Numbers 11:10-12)
      LORD, you have laid the burden of the people of this diocese on Bishop Bill, Bishop Dan and Bishop David, and the priests and deacons of this diocese. Have mercy on them as they carry this heavy responsibility. We thank you, LORD, for the faithful shepherds you have raised up in this diocese.

Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now–if I have found favor in Your sight–and do not let me see my wretchedness!” (Numbers 11:13-15)
      Holy Spirit, when our shepherds and pastors are weary or discouraged, comfort them and fill them anew.

So the LORD said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you.” (Numbers 11:16)
      Let the Diocesan Convention be such a gathering of your people, Jesus. Draw to your tent of meeting all the elders of your people so that we may stand with Bishop Bill.

“Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone.” (Numbers 11:17)
      Father, baptize your people afresh at the Diocesan Convention so that we are all filled with your Holy Spirit. Move through the business meeting, workshops, addresses to the convention, the Youth Rally and the ministry to children. Help all of us do our part in bearing the burden of your people.

“Then you shall say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat.” (Numbers 11:18 )
      Holy Spirit, please help us hear the call to consecrate ourselves to the service of Jesus and the proclamation of the gospel.

“You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?”‘” And Moses said, “The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?” And the LORD said to Moses, “Has the LORD’S arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.” (Numbers 11:19-23)
      Jesus, please forgive us for doubting your ability to provide for us.

So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. Then the LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again. (Numbers 11:24-25)
      Holy Spirit, come upon us at the Diocesan Convention. Help us hear and speak what you are saying. Don’t let us cease doing that.

But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” (Numbers 11:26-27)
      Holy Spirit, come upon all of the Eldads and Medads of this diocese who have remained “back in the camp” and fill them as well.

So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!” Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD’S people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:28-29)
      Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification. (1 Corinthians 14:1-5)

And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel. (Numbers 11:30)
      Father, when we return to our parishes, help us take with us the full power and presence of your Holy Spirit.

      Jesus, renew in our day the wonders of your Pentecost. (John XXIII)

      Holy Spirit, come upon us throughout this diocese with your gifts and bring forth in our lives your fruit. Thank you.

A word received: The wounded are all around you — pray for them.

Thursday: 105:1-22 * 105:23-45; Ezekiel 18:1-4,19-32; Hebrews 7:18-28; Luke 10:25-37
Friday: 102 * 107:1-32; Ezekiel 34:17-31; Hebrews 8:1-13; Luke 10:38-42

Albany Intercessor

Eight ascents and descents, part 6

Moses’s ascent-first 40 days on mount (Exodus 24:12-32:14, Dt 9:9) and descent (Ex 32:15-30)
Jesus raises Lazarus (John 11:1-44)

Exodus 29:42-46, The Message (MSG)
“This is to be your regular, daily Whole-Burnt-Offering before God, generation after generation, sacrificed at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. That’s where I’ll meet you; that’s where I’ll speak with you; that’s where I’ll meet the Israelites, at the place made holy by my Glory. I’ll make the Tent of Meeting and the Altar holy. I’ll make Aaron and his sons holy in order to serve me as priests. I’ll move in and live with the Israelites. I’ll be their God. They’ll realize that I am their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could live with them. I am God, your God.”

Theme: I am the resurrection.
Dominant posture: Unwrap the grave clothes and build a dwelling place for God.

The exhaustive detail in the instructions of the construction of the tabernacle is noteworthy. Generally speaking, we in the West tend to be more verbal (left-brained) than visual-spatial (right-brained) in our personal and corporate worship. I think it no coincidence that Jesus was a carpenter.
We see through a glass darkly. The resurrected Jesus could eat and walk through walls. It’s my very limited understanding of string theory and superstring theory that multiple dimensions are necessary for the equations to be mathematically coherent. So, if eleven or twenty-three or however many spacetime dimensions are present, our understanding may be far more limited than we realize. When praying for healing, I suspect one way we fall short is our failure to recognize the “grave clothes” in unseen dimensions. I’m wondering if there aren’t clues to a clearer understanding within Holy Scripture.
Dear Lord, order our worship and our prayers and our study of Your Holy Word, we pray. Amen.