11.22.2013 PETERSON 3 - taking charge of God

over the centuries, as the christian imagination has reflected on uzzah's death,
one insight has appeared over and over:
it's fatal to take charge of god.
uzzah is the person who has God in a box
and officiously assumes responsibility
for keeping Him safe from the muck and dust of the world.
men and women who take it upon themselves to protect God from
the vulgarity of sinners and the ignorance of commoners
seep showing up in religious precincts.

in this imaginative context we can guess that uzzah's reflexive act
-reaching out to steady the ark as the oxen stumbled
-wasn't a mistake of the moment;
it was a piece of his lifelong obsession with managing the ark.
there were mosaic traditions that gave clear directions
regarding the handling of the ark:
it wasn't to be touched by human hands
but carried by levites using poles inserted through rings attached to the ark.
uzzah ignored (defied!)the mosaic directions
and substituted the latest philistine technological innovation-an ox cart, of all things. I sam.6
a well designed ox car is undeniably more efficient for moving the ark about than plodding levites.

but it's also impersonal-
the replacement of consecrated persons by an efficient machine,
the impersonal crowding out the personal.
uzzah is the patron saint of those who uncritically embrace technology
without regard to the nature of the Holy.
uzzah was in charge (he thought) of God
and meant to stay in charge.
uzzah had God where he wanted Him and intended to keep Him there.
the eventual consequence of this kind of life is death,
for God will not be managed.
God will not be put and kept in a box,
whether the box is constructed of crafted wood or hewn stone or brilliant ideas or fine feelings.
we don't take care of God; God takes care of us.

holy scripture posts uzzah as a danger sign for us:
'beware the God'.
it's especially important to have such a sign posted in places
designated for religious worship and learning.
we enter a church or school to learn God,
be trained in knowledge and obedience and prayer.
and we get what we came for
-truth that centers, words that command and comfort, rituals that stabilize,
work that has purpose, a community of relationships that strengthen, forgiveness that frees.
we find God.
we change our ways.
we repent and believe and follow.
we rearrange our circumstances and reestablish our routines
around what now gives meaning and hope.
we take on responsibilities in the wonderful new world of worship and work.
we advance in the ranks
and before we know it we're telling others what to do and how to do it.
all this is good and right.
and then we cross a line-we get bossy and cranky on behalf of God.
we begin by finding in God a way to live rightly and well,
and then along the way we take over God's work for Him
and take charge of making sure others live rightly and well.
we get the idea that we're important, self important, because we're around the Important.

religion is a breeding ground for this kind of thing.
not infrequently these God managing men and women
work themselves into positions of leadership.
over the years the basics with which they began,
the elements of reverence and awe,
the spirit of love and faith,
erode and shrivel.
finally there's nothing left.
they're dead to God.

uzzah is a warning.
if we think and act as he did,
we'll be dead men and women, soon or late.
dead in our spirits.
dead to the aliveness of God.
Jesus called such people 'whitewashed tombs...full of dead men's bones' matthew 23.27
uzzah's death wasn't sudden; it was years in the making,
the 'dead works' accumulating like dead men's bones within him,
suffocating the spirit of praise and faith and worship.