If you are still making your way through the Old Testament Readings, you deserve a great big HURRAH! It's not easy to make your way through Leviticus. In this book we find lots of directions to the priests (sounds more like directions to butchers, doesn't it?) and every little detail of this and that law. No wonder we find only one text from the Leviticus in the entire 3 year Lectionary cycle (those passages suggested for preaching each Sunday). Aren't you glad that the cross did away with the need for all sacrifice? Maybe that's the very best reason for reading parts of Leviticus --- to make us even more thankful for the cross. But I do think I found a few things from today's readings that were particularly meaningful for me. The first few verses of chapter 18 were kind of a summary where God explains why he is setting out so many specific details for the Israelites. "The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'I am the Lord your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees." Remember, these are a people who have been slaves for generations. They do not know how to be a people. Without very careful guidance, clear parameters, specific boundaries, they will revert to what they know which is how those around them live. God's people can never do that and remain faithful to their call. That's every bit as true today as it was then. When God's people begin living like those around them, when you can't tell the difference between a Christian and a non Christian ... then you can be pretty sure that God's people are no longer honoring God's decrees. Do those who interact with you know that you are a Christian? Can they tell by your behavior, your language, the choices you make, how you spend your time, your money? God expects His people to be different, distinctive, set apart, holy. And, here's the important part we sometimes miss. It's not because God wants our lives to be hard. It's because God wants our lives to be good. God's laws make for a good life. In the words of a TV commercial from my youth: Try it; you'll like it! 1