ON this date in 1799
Dear First Pres SLO Family,
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus the Messiah, the one who came and lived and loved and spoke to us in language we can understand. That may be one of the most important gifts he gave us.
The Rosetta Stone was discovered on this date in 1799. Now if your high school history is failing you today, the Rosetta stone is a large slab of rock with a bunch of writing on it. The inscriptions on the stone remain one of the most significant discoveries ever made.
There are three languages on the Stone: Greek, Egyptian Demotic, and Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the Greek inscription identifies it as an announcement of a law from an ancient ruler, and also that all three inscriptions say the same thing, only in different languages.
With me so far?
Greek and Demotic were languages that were already known, but for 2000 years the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs were lost…that is, until the Rosetta Stone gave scholars a tool for translation. This single discovery unlocked the history of Egypt, of the Pharaohs, and the entire Mediterranean region.
Why is that important?
Apart from the benefits to historians and language scholars, the Rosetta Stone reminds us that sometimes our message gets lost over time. We can get so busy doing other things that the reason we do them can get buried or covered or hidden from our view. When that happens, we find ourselves going through motions that don’t have any meaning.
I think that happens in churches.
That’s why we try to stay close to the central messages of the Bible, and it’s why we place the highest value on the words of Jesus. The things that Jesus says are most important are the things that are meant to be most important to us. We remind ourselves of his words and teachings as a way of staying focused on who God has called us to be as individual followers of Jesus, and as the church.
When those teachings get buried or covered or hidden from our view, it’s our job to rediscover them—to read them and reflect on them and to make sure that our actions aren’t just going through any motions, but are focused on the purpose of sharing Christ’s love with our neighbors.
And so we read the Bible, we listen to teachers and even preachers (just seeing if you’re awake). We do what we need to do to keep the message of Jesus from being lost in all our business and busyness. We do all of that in order to be faithful disciples of the one who shared the message of the gospel with us in the first place.
The Rosetta Stone unlocked a language and culture which had been lost for centuries. I’m thinking it would be better if all that history hadn’t been lost in the first place. The same is true for us and for the gospel of Jesus.
Rediscovering it is great. Not losing it in the first place is even better.
Let me encourage you as we enter into the heart of the summer season, to reflect on the message of our faith. Familiar passages like John 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 get at the heart of the message. One of my seminary professors summed it up this way:
“The ‘gospel’ then is the message that God acted in and through Jesus Messiah, God’s anointed one, to effect God’s promise of shalom, salvation, God’s reign.” Robert Guelich
If you’re in the mood to wrestle with a sentence for a while, you could do a lot worse than that one! Spend a little time with it—maybe keep it and commit it to memory.
Whatever you do, hold on to the message of the gospel—however you understand it. Let me know what I can do to help you or encourage you in that discipline—this is a vital part of the journey we’re on together.
Blessings to you and yours,
Pastor John