All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
To sustain a journey of faith, an ongoing interaction with scripture is essential. Yet it is hard for us to stay engaged with the Bible. It was written so long ago by a people who understood the world differently than we do. It is full of fantastic stories and strange literary conventions. It is hard to know how to approach it. Should we operate by our modern minds 95% of the time and then shift into a pre-modern mindset when we read scripture or come to church, so that we can somehow affirm a six day creation and believe that Jonah survived in a whale? Is 2 Timothy ruined for us as a spiritual authority if we acknowledge that Paul, though his name is on it, probably didn't write it, but rather it was written by one of his disciples or maybe even someone who just knew of his life and figured that if Paul were writing to Timothy now, this is what he would say? Should we consider this book fraudulent? In what way can we say that the Bible is true?
Think about these questions. I'll be addressing them in the sermon on Sunday. Also think about your own conversation with scripture. Is it satisfying? Is it nurturing your faith? What could make it better?
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
This Might Take Awhile--Jeremiah 29:4-5
Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce.
My eldest daughter, who is doing urban mission work in Chicago, called last week and asked some questions about the Book of Leviticus. Seems she is reading through the Bible and has gotten bogged down amid the Levitical Code. No surprise there. I tried my best to explain who Moloch was (pagan deity, I believe). What I really wanted to advise her to do is to just move on. Skip it. But I didn't, realizing that maybe even Leviticus might have some soul-edifying content. If nothing else, it's a good discipline.
I'm no Old Testament scholar but I know enough to recognize that the two game-changing events in Israel's history were the Exodus and the Exile. This text from Jeremiah is part of a letter written by Jeremiah, who was still with a remnant of people in Jerusalem, to the recently exiled Jews in Babylon. Apparently, the recently exiled were being told by other prophets that their exile would be brief and that they would soon return to Jerusalem. They tended to believe this optimistic perspective. They kept their bags packed.
Jeremiah's message is that they should reconsider because this might take awhile. They should build houses, plant gardens and pray for the people and the city where they reside. God has put them in Babylon, and God would bring them out when God was ready. God's wasn't ready yet, apparently. It would be another 70 years or so before they returned to Jerusalem.
Are you in a place you'd rather not be? Is God saying to be patient because this may take awhile? Here's a cliche for you straight from 6th century BCE Babylon: Bloom where you're planted!
My eldest daughter, who is doing urban mission work in Chicago, called last week and asked some questions about the Book of Leviticus. Seems she is reading through the Bible and has gotten bogged down amid the Levitical Code. No surprise there. I tried my best to explain who Moloch was (pagan deity, I believe). What I really wanted to advise her to do is to just move on. Skip it. But I didn't, realizing that maybe even Leviticus might have some soul-edifying content. If nothing else, it's a good discipline.
I'm no Old Testament scholar but I know enough to recognize that the two game-changing events in Israel's history were the Exodus and the Exile. This text from Jeremiah is part of a letter written by Jeremiah, who was still with a remnant of people in Jerusalem, to the recently exiled Jews in Babylon. Apparently, the recently exiled were being told by other prophets that their exile would be brief and that they would soon return to Jerusalem. They tended to believe this optimistic perspective. They kept their bags packed.
Jeremiah's message is that they should reconsider because this might take awhile. They should build houses, plant gardens and pray for the people and the city where they reside. God has put them in Babylon, and God would bring them out when God was ready. God's wasn't ready yet, apparently. It would be another 70 years or so before they returned to Jerusalem.
Are you in a place you'd rather not be? Is God saying to be patient because this may take awhile? Here's a cliche for you straight from 6th century BCE Babylon: Bloom where you're planted!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Love of Money
1 Timothy 6:6-10
Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into this world so we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
In the state of Washington, one of the biggest news stories is the list of those who are lining up for and against initiative I-1098, which would create a 5 percent tax rate on annual income exceeding $200,000. Among those who are helping to bankroll its defeat are Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, and Jeffrey Bezos, founder of Amazon. No big surprise there, I suppose. These guys are billionaires and stand to fork over more of their income to the government should this initiative pass. No one relishes paying taxes. Why should they?
More interesting are those backing the initiative. It is well known that Bill Gates Sr. helped write the initiative, and just the other day it was publicized that Bill Gates Jr., the world's richest man, supports it. He stands to lose a nice chunk of change if it passes.
How do you feel about the initiative? Should the rich pay more than the rest of us to help our fiscally beleaguered state?
Have you ever had the sense that your desire for money has plunged you into ruin and destruction?
Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into this world so we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.
In the state of Washington, one of the biggest news stories is the list of those who are lining up for and against initiative I-1098, which would create a 5 percent tax rate on annual income exceeding $200,000. Among those who are helping to bankroll its defeat are Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, and Jeffrey Bezos, founder of Amazon. No big surprise there, I suppose. These guys are billionaires and stand to fork over more of their income to the government should this initiative pass. No one relishes paying taxes. Why should they?
More interesting are those backing the initiative. It is well known that Bill Gates Sr. helped write the initiative, and just the other day it was publicized that Bill Gates Jr., the world's richest man, supports it. He stands to lose a nice chunk of change if it passes.
How do you feel about the initiative? Should the rich pay more than the rest of us to help our fiscally beleaguered state?
Have you ever had the sense that your desire for money has plunged you into ruin and destruction?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Being Quiet and Peaceable
1 Timothy 2:1-2
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.
I just read in the newspaper this morning of Ernest C. Withers, a photojournalist who was in the inner circle of civil rights leaders in the 1960s. He was in Martin Luther King's room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on the night King was killed. Turns out, Withers was a FBI informant, paid to keep tabs on the movement and report to the government. He died a few years ago, but his photos are famous.
The civil rights movement in the 60s was probably the most visible and successful act of civil disobedience in America in our lifetimes. In large part, it came out of the churches, so it was immersed in prayer for leaders, as the writer of 1 Timothy urges. And it was, for the most part, peaceable, thanks to Martin Luther King Jr., the other civil rights leaders and their spirituality. Yet it was by no means quiet. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, she may not have said a word, but her actions were loud and they threatened southern whites.
It may be that when 1 Timothy was written, probably in the early part of the 2nd century CE, the Roman rulers were allowing strange sects, like Christianity at the time, to exist as long as they didn't stir up trouble. Maybe the church leaders appreciated this freedom from direct persecution and wanted to maintain it. The best way to do that would be to pray for the emperor and try not to get caught up in any kind of resistance to the government. Laying low and staying out of sight might have been their best strategy for surviving.
What do you think these words from 1 Timothy mean for us today?
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.
I just read in the newspaper this morning of Ernest C. Withers, a photojournalist who was in the inner circle of civil rights leaders in the 1960s. He was in Martin Luther King's room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on the night King was killed. Turns out, Withers was a FBI informant, paid to keep tabs on the movement and report to the government. He died a few years ago, but his photos are famous.
The civil rights movement in the 60s was probably the most visible and successful act of civil disobedience in America in our lifetimes. In large part, it came out of the churches, so it was immersed in prayer for leaders, as the writer of 1 Timothy urges. And it was, for the most part, peaceable, thanks to Martin Luther King Jr., the other civil rights leaders and their spirituality. Yet it was by no means quiet. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus, she may not have said a word, but her actions were loud and they threatened southern whites.
It may be that when 1 Timothy was written, probably in the early part of the 2nd century CE, the Roman rulers were allowing strange sects, like Christianity at the time, to exist as long as they didn't stir up trouble. Maybe the church leaders appreciated this freedom from direct persecution and wanted to maintain it. The best way to do that would be to pray for the emperor and try not to get caught up in any kind of resistance to the government. Laying low and staying out of sight might have been their best strategy for surviving.
What do you think these words from 1 Timothy mean for us today?
Monday, August 30, 2010
Divine Examination Psalm 139:1-6
O Lord, you have searched me
and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
The 19th-century French contemplative Therese of Lisieux said: "Our faults cannot hurt God. Nor will our failures interfere with our own holiness, for genuine holiness is precisely a matter of enduring our own imperfections patiently."
Hmm, I always thought that holiness was the absence of sin. The more perfect in thought and behavior you could be, the holier you were. Perhaps, as Therese suggests, holiness is not the pursuit of perfection but rather a matter of bearing with yourself, even the more distasteful parts of yourself, your sin.
First though, awareness is necessary. This patient enduring can only be accomplished by those who are aware of their imperfections. Holiness requires self-honesty. You can't sit patiently with that which you deny exists. Simple enough. But really, who wants to sincerely probe the dark recesses? Self-examination is difficult work. As distasteful as it sounds though, self-examination is much more tolerable than being examined by another.
The psalmist, in Psalm 139, speaks of being searched, or examined, by God. Read through those six verses. Do they make you feel comfortable or uncomfortable?
and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
The 19th-century French contemplative Therese of Lisieux said: "Our faults cannot hurt God. Nor will our failures interfere with our own holiness, for genuine holiness is precisely a matter of enduring our own imperfections patiently."
Hmm, I always thought that holiness was the absence of sin. The more perfect in thought and behavior you could be, the holier you were. Perhaps, as Therese suggests, holiness is not the pursuit of perfection but rather a matter of bearing with yourself, even the more distasteful parts of yourself, your sin.
First though, awareness is necessary. This patient enduring can only be accomplished by those who are aware of their imperfections. Holiness requires self-honesty. You can't sit patiently with that which you deny exists. Simple enough. But really, who wants to sincerely probe the dark recesses? Self-examination is difficult work. As distasteful as it sounds though, self-examination is much more tolerable than being examined by another.
The psalmist, in Psalm 139, speaks of being searched, or examined, by God. Read through those six verses. Do they make you feel comfortable or uncomfortable?
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
If Jesus Came to Dinner--Luke 14:1-14
Jesus went to dinner at the house of a Pharisee and "when he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by the host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'give this person your place,' then in disgrace you would have to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher;' then you will be honored in the presence of all those who sit at table with you."
If you threw a dinner party and invited Jesus, where would you set him? Next to your loquacious but boring aunt? Between your two nihilist cousins? Would you leave it up to him to choose his place at the table? Wherever he sat, you can be sure he would have stirred things up, probably offending you and your other dinner guests.
It is hard for us to imagine how his words here can have any more impact than some advice on etiquette by Miss Manners. The words "disgrace" and "honor" should clue us in that he is speaking a language that was more meaningful for the people of his day than for us. All of relational life revolved around avoiding shame and gaining honor. How you were held in the community's regard meant everything.
How does this text speak to you? In what way might God be calling you to the lowest place?
If you threw a dinner party and invited Jesus, where would you set him? Next to your loquacious but boring aunt? Between your two nihilist cousins? Would you leave it up to him to choose his place at the table? Wherever he sat, you can be sure he would have stirred things up, probably offending you and your other dinner guests.
It is hard for us to imagine how his words here can have any more impact than some advice on etiquette by Miss Manners. The words "disgrace" and "honor" should clue us in that he is speaking a language that was more meaningful for the people of his day than for us. All of relational life revolved around avoiding shame and gaining honor. How you were held in the community's regard meant everything.
How does this text speak to you? In what way might God be calling you to the lowest place?
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Family Values?
Luke 12:49-52
I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in a family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.
This is one of Jesus' "hard" sayings. It seems to go against the healthy relationships other scriptures call us to. Jesus seems to be saying that even our closest, most stable relationships are affected, not always positively, by his coming.
The fire Jesus is referring to is the kingdom of God. Jesus was convinced that in his own person and mission a new phase in God's plan for the world was beginning. The kingdom of God was coming.
In view of this, Jesus doesn't diminish the importance of the family but instead points to the primacy of following Jesus. Even our most valued attachment's take a secondary place to the call of God on our lives. Jesus wasn't promoting strained relationships; he was saying that sometimes divisions are inevitable for disciples.
So Jesus came to bring fire. Where is the fire in you, that fire of purpose that launches you outside yourself and your piddly needs to a larger, more meaningful existence in God's kingdom? The fire of calling. The fire of following that call. Has the fire been smothered by other concerns? Time to consider anew God's destiny for us.
I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in a family divided against each other, three against two and two against three.
This is one of Jesus' "hard" sayings. It seems to go against the healthy relationships other scriptures call us to. Jesus seems to be saying that even our closest, most stable relationships are affected, not always positively, by his coming.
The fire Jesus is referring to is the kingdom of God. Jesus was convinced that in his own person and mission a new phase in God's plan for the world was beginning. The kingdom of God was coming.
In view of this, Jesus doesn't diminish the importance of the family but instead points to the primacy of following Jesus. Even our most valued attachment's take a secondary place to the call of God on our lives. Jesus wasn't promoting strained relationships; he was saying that sometimes divisions are inevitable for disciples.
So Jesus came to bring fire. Where is the fire in you, that fire of purpose that launches you outside yourself and your piddly needs to a larger, more meaningful existence in God's kingdom? The fire of calling. The fire of following that call. Has the fire been smothered by other concerns? Time to consider anew God's destiny for us.
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