Another Look: Sacramental from the Beginning

A March dawn in the Kentucky hills (2014)

Note from CM: I recently read two other perspectives that, to some extent, critique evangelicals’ attraction to — but fuzzy understanding of — sacramentalism as an answer to living in a “disenchanted” world. I encourage you to follow these links and read Jake Meador’s comments on Derek Mishmawy’s post.

• • •

…the mysterious character of all created reality lies in its sacramental nature.

• Hans Boersma

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Many of us have grounded our theology concerning the sacramental nature of life in this world in the Incarnation, when God took on flesh and walked among us in Jesus Christ. The Infinite clothed himself in the finite, and gave human beings access to God by means of their senses.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have gazed at, and our hands have handled [emphasis mine] — concerning the Word of Life! That life was displayed, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and we announce to you the life of God’s coming age, which was with the father and was displayed to us. That which we have seen and heard we announce to you too, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the father, and with his son Jesus the Messiah.

• 1 John 1:1-3, The Kingdom NT

Although the Incarnation is the ultimate act of God identifying himself with material creation, this concept is present and active from the beginning of the scriptural testimony.

In God and World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation, Terence Fretheim observes that the “God who gets his hands dirty” is present at the outset of the biblical story, especially in Genesis, chapter 2. In this text,

God is tangibly involved with this earth and its creatures. More generally, God, by creating in such a way, has made room in the divine life for the very earthy creatures that God has brought into being…

Fretheim notes how Genesis 2 portrays God as one who breathes, forms, plants, and constructs. God is the Gardener who designs and plants a royal park, the Potter who forms humans from the clay, the Surgeon who touches and heals human bodies, the Builder who constructs physical forms. As the text proceeds, God walks in the garden, God’s voice is heard, God enters into conversation with the humans, and God designs and makes garments for them. “In these texts God comes into the closest possible contact with material reality, with the stuff of earthly life.”

Terence Fretheim warns us against allegorizing, spiritualizing, or otherwise discounting these images. Even if this is a “mythic” portrayal of God, it is communicating something about the nature of God as understood by the Hebrew people. God gets his hands dirty. God interacts intimately with the material creation. God “walks among us.” God speaks, acts, and relates to and within the “stuff” of this material world.

The testimony of Genesis 1 to the goodness of all forms of material reality undergirds God’s tangible and tactile engagement with the creatures in Genesis 2. Not only are finite, material realities capable of being “handled” by God (see Ps 95:5, “and the dry land, which his hands have formed”) without compromising God’s Godness, they are capable of actually bearing God bodily in the life of the world [emphasis mine]. And, in some sense, the reverse is also true; as God breathes God’s own breath of life into the nostrils of a human being (2:7), something of the divine self comes to reside in the human—and in an ongoing way.

…God is tangibly involved with this earth and its creatures. More generally, God, by creating in such a way, has made room in the divine life for the very earthy creatures that God has brought into being…

This brings us next to Hans Boersma and his concept of “sacramental ontology.”

In his book, Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry, Boersma argues that Christians should once again consider the older view of creation as a “mystery.” Such a view goes beyond merely recognizing that there is a link between God and the created world, or that this link is exhausted in the Protestant understanding of “covenant,” with its emphasis on agreements between parties. Boersma argues that the connection between the Creator and creation is deeper than simply a relationship between separate beings.

A sacramental ontology insists that not only does the created world point to God as its source and “point of reference,” but that it also subsists or participates in God. [emphasis mine]

Hans Boersma asserts that the connection between God and creation is not simply external or nominal, but real and participatory. In some sense, God is really present in his creation and we participate in the divine reality. Creation, as he puts it, is a “sharing in the being of God.” Many of us tend to think of “real presence” only when discussing the Eucharist, but Boersma suggests that we need to think of the Eucharist as a particular instance, a special intensification of Christ’s real presence in the midst of a world in which he is everywhere really present.

“In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28) and, in Christ “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).

With approval, Boersma cites C.S. Lewis, who writes about how understanding and engaging creation in this way can fulfill a deep longing in the human heart:

We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. (The Weight of Glory)

Transfiguration: Worship is for life, not life for worship

Glory on the mountain, fog in the valley

Transfiguration
Worship is for life, not life for worship

If worship is a retreat, in other words, it is not a retreat from the world but a retreat in order to come back to the world in love, mercy and grace.

• David Lose

Today we conclude our series on “Why We Worship Like We Do.” And I can’t think of a better Sunday than Transfiguration Sunday on which to do that.

Today’s Gospel text from Luke puts two scenes in front of us. The first is the story of the Transfiguration itself. It takes place on a mountain. The text says this took place on the eighth day after the previous story. In early Christianity, “the eighth day” was one of the phrases believers used to describe Sunday, the day of worship, the day of resurrection, the first day of a new week and the first day of the new creation in Christ.

In this narrative we see the disciples and Jesus together. They have withdrawn from the crowds, and gone to a sacred place of solitude to pray. Here they see the glory of Christ. They witness him interacting with the story of Israel as he talks with Moses and Elijah. The focal point of their conversation is the death that Jesus is about to die on the cross. Then God’s own voice speaks directly to the disciples and instructs them to listen to Jesus.

In other words, what we have here is a picture that looks a lot like Christian worship.

Like the disciples, we come together on the first day of the week to meet with Jesus. We come from our homes, workplaces, schools, neighborhoods and communities, leaving our daily lives behind for awhile. We come to a sacred space, one that has been dedicated for meeting with God. Here we sing of God’s glory and we give God praise. Here we pray. Hear we learn the story of the Bible and how it leads us to the cross — the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. Here God speaks to us, points to Jesus, and says, “Listen to him.”

Worship is an experience of wonder and joy. An experience of fellowship. An experience of hearing God’s words and learning about God’s beauty and power. Worship here in the sanctuary is a kind of retreat, a pause we take every week to go up the mountain with Jesus and take in a bit of heaven’s glory.

Now I know it doesn’t always seem like that. What happens here in worship is often quite mundane. Frankly, sometimes it’s boring and uninteresting. We don’t always sing well. We trip over our words in the liturgy and the readings. The pastor makes mistakes. The pastor preaches an unintelligible sermon. We laugh. Sometimes people get offended. We get distracted. Parents of young children wonder if it’s worth it when worship feels more like a wrestling match than a divine encounter. We get older and we don’t always hear everything clearly. Plus, we all have things on our minds from our daily lives that keep us from paying attention.

Yet most of us keep coming back, don’t we? Somehow we understand that there is something different about this place and what we do here. Something that doesn’t depend on us getting everything right and doing everything perfectly. There’s glory here, even if we only get a glimpse of it now and then. The disciples didn’t always see it either, even when they were right there, beside Jesus every day. But then, every once in awhile, the glory shone through.

And then, you will notice, there is a second story here. Jesus and the disciples came back down the mountain. When they did, what did they find? Immediately they were immersed in the crowds again. And then came a man with a concern about his child, and we read about illness, and the power of evil, and the struggle we all have with knowing how to deal with it. Then we see Jesus acting to overcome the powers that bind people and setting the oppressed free.

As David Lose says, “…the retreat to worship and the time to listen to the Word, be immersed in the cross, and be gathered in prayer leads inevitably to a return to the ‘everyday world’ of human need where Jesus heals the sick and opposes the forces of evil. If worship is a retreat, in other words, it is not a retreat from the world but a retreat in order to come back to the world in love, mercy and grace.”

So once again we see here again the challenge that we have talked about in this series: Gathering and worshiping on Sunday is designed to equip us for what we will face between Sundays. We don’t leave Jesus behind here in the sanctuary or up on the mountain, we follow him out into the affairs of everyday life, back down into the valley. In worship we leave that world for a time, but then we move back into it, having been nourished and strengthened by seeing God’s glory and hearing God’s word together.

This week I visited a 35 year-old man and his family. He is dying of leukemia. At age 35. He and his wife have 3 young children. They are members of a church where they worship on Sundays. But that has been only one part of their involvement with that church family.

This man has been going through treatments and clinical trials for a few years now, and his family’s entire life has been disrupted. There is a couple in their church that work with the youth. The woman has a condition that confines her to a wheelchair. She and her husband adopted a child because they can’t have children of their own. And yet they devote themselves to the children and young people in their church. But that’s not all.

As this family that I visit has been battling cancer, these friends from church have decided to virtually adopt their 3 children and care for them so that he can get his treatments and travel for his clinical trials. They have even set up rooms for each of the kids so they have their own place to sleep in their house when needed. They care for them several days a week while the man’s wife works. They have become “God parents” in the truest sense of the term.

If we get anything out of this series, I hope it is this. Worship is for life, not life for worship.

Our gatherings on Sunday are extremely important, but they are meant to be part of a larger rhythm of life. Like the disciples in this story, we follow Jesus up the mountain for the magnificent experience of being with him and hearing him and seeing his glory. But this is inevitably and always followed by going back down the mountain into the valley where daily life is lived.

And guess what? Jesus is there too, smack dab in the midst of this life’s ups and down, in every season and circumstance of life. And this is where we are called in worship to “Go in peace, and serve the Lord.” Thanks be to God.

The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: March 2, 2019 — Season Finale

Spring Dawning

The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: March 2, 2019
SEASON FINALE

This will be our last Saturday Brunch for a time. In honor of a primary traditional discipline in Lent — fasting — we will abstain for the next seven weeks from our weekly buffet. I promise something spiritually nourishing will take its place, though I’ve yet to finalize exactly what that will be.

The Lenten season starts this coming Wednesday, March 6, when the Western Church marks Ash Wednesday. I think Richard Beck’s recent post on the Ignatian practice of “indifference” describes well the attitude we take during this season.

Indifference, as I’ve come to understand it, isn’t about not caring about the world or being apathetic about the world. Indifference is a pause. Indifference isn’t about a emotional resignation and detachment. Indifference is about discernment.

Indifference is about creating a pause, a season of discernment, between the world and our response to the world. To be sure, some emotional control is required to create this space. In that sense, indifference can look stoical and ascetical. But the goal isn’t to stand stoically before everything in the world. Christians believe the world was created good. The world is full of the gifts of God. And we should receive and delight in these gifts. Indifference is, thus, the pause that allows us to discern if what stands before us, what we are currently craving and hungry for, is drawing us toward or away from God.

All that to say, don’t be put off by the word “indifference.” Indifference isn’t about not caring, detachment, resignation, or apathy. Ignatian indifference is a pause, a season to survey our hearts, creating the time and space to think about how things in the world are drawing us either closer or further away from God.

• • •

A GALLERY OF MARDI GRAS TREATS…

Before the fast, of course, we feast! Here is a gallery of some of the mouth-watering southern and Cajun-style dishes recommended by Taste of Home to help us all celebrate Fat Tuesday. Go to the link for recipes. Click on each picture for a larger image.

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UNITED METHODISTS STAY THE TRADITIONAL COURSE…

Christianity Today reports:

The United Methodist Church (UMC) voted Tuesday to maintain its traditional stance against same-sex marriage and non-celibate gay clergy, bolstered by a growing conservative contingent from Africa.

The denomination’s “Traditional Plan” passed, with 438 votes in favor and 384 against (53% to 47%), in the final hours of a special UMC conference held this week in St. Louis to address the issue of human sexuality.

…The Traditional Plan preserves existing UMC positions and adds further accountability measures for those who violate them by performing same-sex ceremonies or ordaining gay clergy.

It was not the outcome many Americans, including most UMC bishops, had been praying for. In the States, a large portion of Methodists wanted to see the church accommodate LGBT ceremonies and clergy, as other mainline denominations have done in recent years. One poll through Mainstream UMC reported at least two-thirds of US delegates supported the more-inclusive “One Church Plan” instead.

But the growing global presence among the 12 million-member denomination held more sway. Methodists from outside the US, who favor more traditional positions on sexuality, made up 41 percent of the general conference’s 864 delegates. A full 30 percent were from Africa.

• • •

CHRISTIAN SCANDAL UPDATES…

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  • Willow Creek: The Independent Advisory Group found accusations against Willow Creek founder and pastor Bill Hybels proved credible and would have been sufficient reason for church discipline had Hybels not left the church.
  • Southern Baptists: The Southern Baptist Convention is struggling to find unity in knowing how to deal with the sexual abuse scandal recently revealed in the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. SBC President J. D. Greear made some bold recommendations last week, only to see them rejected by the SBC’s Executive Committee.
  • Gospel for Asia: After three years in court, Gospel for Asia announced that it would pay $37 million and a board seat to settle a class-action lawsuit. GFA had been accused of sending only 13 percent of its donations to the field instead of the 100 percent they promised. The class action originally asked for $376 million.
  • Harvest Bible Chapel (James MacDonald): With reduced offerings and an outstanding debt of $42-million, an auditor has predicted very difficult financial going for HBC. It is reported that Lawrence Swicegood from Gateway Church is involved in assisting Harvest.

•

From Religion News Service:

America Media and Spoke Studios present “Deliver Us,” a podcast about the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church.

Will the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis ever end? That’s a question everyone has been asking since the wave of news in summer 2018. In “Deliver Us,” host Maggi Van Dorn is a Catholic committed to healing the church from the inside. She wants to know: How did this happen? And what, if anything, can we do to help? Hear from experts, advocates, and survivors to learn what the church can do to move forward. Because you can’t fix something until you know how it’s broken.

The season launched Wednesday, February 13, 2019 with new episodes premiering weekly. The most recent episode investigates two theories behind the sex abuse crisis: gay priests and celibacy.

To listen, visit: americamag.org/deliverus

• • •

BYE, BYE BRYCE…

The dog formerly known as Bryce

We have a cat named Wrigley. Obviously, she is named in honor of the ballpark my beloved Chicago Cubs play in. Fans do silly things like that. But sometimes, things just don’t work out.

The Caskey family are Washington Nationals fans. They have a Goldendoodle named “Bryce,” after the now-former star of the team, Bryce Harper. Harper signed a historic 13 year/$330 million contract with the Nationals’ competitors, the Philadelphia Phillies, this week. The Caskeys couldn’t bear the pain of constantly hearing the name “Bryce” around their house any longer.

So, the dog formerly known as Bryce has been renamed “Max,” after Washington’s star pitcher, Max Scherzer. Scherzer has three years left on his contract, so Bryce/Max may be safe a little while longer from another name change.

But, you never know…

• • •

SPEAKING OF… OUR FRIEND RICHARD’S BASEBALL BOOK IS HERE!

Richard Hershberger’s new book, Strike Four: The Evolution of Baseball, will be released on Friday, March 8. Richard will have a guest post for us this next week. Here’s the poster advertising Strike Four. Note the special offer if you pre-order from the publisher (follow the link above and use the offer code on the poster).

• • •

SUBLIME NEW MUSIC…

Mandolin Orange is an Americana folk duo out of Chapel Hill, NC, consisting of singer-songwriter Andrew Marlin and multi-instrumentalist Emily Frantz. Lately I’ve been enjoying their new album, Tides of a Teardrop, which was released on February 1.

Here’s a sample, a sublime and poignant song about loss, Golden Embers. The group’s website explains the background to this song and a main theme of the album:

On Tides of A Teardrop, Marlin wrote the songs, as he usually does, in a sort of stream of consciousness, allowing words and phrases to pour out of him as he hunted for the chords and melodies. Then, as he went back to sharpen what he found, he found something troubling and profound. Intimations of loss have always haunted the edges of their music, their lyrics hinting at impermanence and passing of time. But Tides of A Teardrop confronts a defining loss head-on: Marlin’s mother, who died of complications from surgery when he was 18.

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Election Cycles and Social Media

We have a Federal election coming in Canada on October 21, 2019. Technically there a few things that could happen that could make it happen sooner, like a non-confidence vote in the Government, or the Prime Minister advising the Governor General to call it sooner, but since way back in 2009, elections have been “the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the previous poll”.

As for the election campaign, there is a legal minimum length of 36 days. While there is no maximum length, 2015 saw the longest election campaign in Canadian history, an excruciating 78 days.

So I had to laugh a bit on Monday, when our Open Mic post had a discussion about Democratic Candidates for a U.S. election that was 616 days away. By the way, the oldest manuscript of Revelation, Papyrus 115, has the number of the Beast at 616 (not 666 as it is more commonly known), making me wonder if such such a discussion was truly Satanic. (Who started that discussion thread anyway?) [removes tongue from cheek].

Living in Canada we tend to be dominated by the American news cycle, so we have the distinct disadvantage of living through extra election cycles, our own, along with our neighbors to the south.

I have been on Facebook now for nearly 12 years. In that time I have experienced 13 election cycles. (Three Presidential, three midterms, three Prime Minister, four Provincial Premier) In each country’s cycle I see the rhetoric on social media get ratcheted up several orders of magnitude, but never returned to the level at which it was prior to the election. I haven’t got a graph to prove this, but if anyone knows of one I would appreciate a link in the comments.

To be honest, I find it all very overwhelming and stressful, and spiritually draining. I grow weary of those who feel they have to comment about Trump, or Trudeau, or Ontario Premier Doug Ford, every. single. day.

My strategy has been to unfollow people like that that at the start of the election cycle. Typically I don’t add them back after the election.

But I think it may be time for me to take another social medial hiatus.

As usual your thoughts and comments are welcome.

Faith Across the Multiverse, Parables from Modern Science- Part 4, The Language of Computer Science, Chapters 12- Mutatis Mutandis By Andy Walsh

Faith Across the Multiverse: Parables from Modern Science

Part 4, The Language of Computer Science, Chapters 12- Mutatis Mutandis

By Andy Walsh

We been blogging through the book, “Faith Across the Multiverse, Parables from Modern Science” by Andy Walsh.  Today is Chapter 12- Mutatis Mutandis with which we will wrap up our review.  Chapter 11 is titled BASIC Actions Simulate Infinite Complexity and was a discourse in the math and computer science behind movie graphics.  Walsh does have a tendency to wander around a bit and stretch the metaphors to near breaking point sometimes.  He just lost me in Chapter 11, so we’ll skip it.

The purpose Walsh had for writing this book was to read the Bible and science together in a way that enriches both.  So far, in the book he has not touched on evolution.  He says:

When I first conceived of this book, evolution was not included.  Creationism, intelligent design, and evolution have been discussed ad nauseum in a variety of books, videos, podcasts, debates, freshman dorms, and sarcastic memes.  I felt like there was plenty new to say about science and the Bible beyond the first three (or eleven, since Noah’s flood often gets dragged in as well) chapters of Genesis.  And evolution is so challenging for many Christians that the word itself can shut down a conversation effectively enough to warrant its own corollary to Godwin’s law.

By the same token, though it is the topic; neglecting it altogether would be like Star Trek without time travel, a Marvel movie without a credits scene, a version of Sherlock Holmes without any mention of the women, Irene Adler.  If we are going to develop the church body as a place where the science literate and the science enthusiastic are welcome, then we need to deal with evolution credibly and not just hold it at arm’s length.  We also need to respect the reality of the Christian community and appreciate that this elephant cannot be swallowed all at once.

His solution is to explore evolution the way he tackled every other topic; as a model, a parable, a useful idea independent of its accuracy as a description of reality.  He thinks by the last chapter he has established his credibility to discuss evolution’s metaphorical potential in a way that he feels is biblically sound and scientifically rigorous.

First, several of the illustrations he has used actually demonstrate one or more mechanisms of evolution. Proposing theorems and proving them true or false?  That’s variation and selection.  The body’s immune system T-cell training is another form of selection.  The divergence of Mac and PC software?  That’s speciation.

Second, many of the concepts that he’s discussed come into play in evolution and could be derived from evolution.  Like fractal algorithms, evolution is an iterative process involving simple mechanisms.  There were several major cooperative milestones that expanded evolutionary potential significantly.  These include the combination of individually replicating genes into chromosomes, the combination of individual cells into multicellular organisms, and in social organisms the combination of multiple organisms into colonies, hives, and communities.

Like compilers, evolution employs just-in-time adaptation to keep up with a changing environment.  Like ant colonies and possibly consciousness, evolution starts from the bottom up.  It can be fruitful without a defined end goal or a central planner.  Like our bodies, evolution is a balance of cooperation and defection.  As with infectious diseases, there will always be the possibility for conflict, imbalance, and the few to exploit the efforts of the many.  Like a developing body, evolution relies on varying contexts to provide shades of meaning and interpretation that facilitate diversity.  As a process of chemistry and life, evolution is a balance of information entropy and information storage.

Like momentum and velocity, evolution is relative and depends on the specific features of the biologic space in which it operates.  Fitness is not an absolute scale but is always assessed in relationship to the present environment, and always in relationship to other variations.  Like photons, evolution challenges our existing categories.  Like chaotic dynamics, evolution involves freedom and grace.  The nature of the genetic code for translating DNA into proteins is such that it allows for some deviations in genetic sequence with change in protein sequence.  This is a first level of grace, where multiple variations can lead to the same end result.  Similar graciousness exists at the level of protein function and metabolism.  There are even multiple ways to achieve high-level functions like vision and flight.

Like an optimization search, evolution is subject to multiple constraints and there are consequences for choosing different paths.  Therefore the results of evolution are not guaranteed to be optimal by any single criterion because of the other constraints involved.  Like proving theorems from axioms, evolution is an exploration of a space defined by starting assumptions.  Before we can even get to living organisms, the laws of physics and the properties of chemicals put constraints on life.  Just like some theorems are true and some are false relative to particular axioms, some organisms are viable and some are not.

Well, Andy Walsh has shared his personal interest in the Bible, in science, and in science fiction and he tried to harmonize his passions into a coherent narrative.  Did he succeed?  Did he define abstract ideas like faith and sin and grace in terms that make sense to nerdy, funny scientists?  Walsh strongly feels that there is fruitfulness of using science to discuss the Bible, because it speaks of the common authorship of the two.  It pains him, and it pains me (and maybe it pains God); the fact so many feel they need to choose between science and the belief in the God of the Bible.

Overall, well done, Andy Walsh.

How the Bible Actually Works (2)

How the Bible Actually Works (2)

Today we continue blogging through Pete Enns’s new book on the Bible.

As I’ve said in our recent posts on The Bible and the Believer, one of my tasks this year will be to work on answering two questions that Pete raises regularly in his writings and podcasts:

  1. What is the Bible?
  2. What is the Bible for?

It is that second question which this book addresses. Countering popular notions of why God gave us the Bible and what it is designed to do in our lives, Pete offers an alternative vision of how the Bible actually “works.”

Rather than providing us with information to be downloaded, the Bible holds out for us an invitation to join an ancient, well-traveled, and sacred quest to know God, the world we live in, and our place in it. Not abstractly, but intimately and experientially. (p. 10)

Rather than providing “clear teaching” that leads us to indisputable “answers” (a notion easily dismissed when one considers the variety of contrasting interpretations the Bible has produced) or a “rulebook,” or an “instruction manual” that give plain, unambiguous guidance for the many situations with which life presents us, Enns’s reading of scripture leads him to suggest it is designed for another purpose.

The Bible is designed to lead us to wisdom.

Wisdom is about the lifelong process of being formed into mature disciples, who wander well along the unscripted pilgrimage of faith, in tune to the all-surrounding thick presence of the Spirit of God in us and in the creation around us.

…the Bible is a book of wisdom rather than prescripted answers, and inviting us to accept the sacred responsibility of pursuing wisdom and thereby learning to live well in God’s creation. (pp. 11-12)

This means, to use an illustration from the book, that God is not a “helicopter parent,” giving us the Bible as an exhaustive information source and instruction manual and then hovering over us every second to make sure we are following its clear directions. And solving every little problem for us along the way so that we stay on the right path.

If God were that parent, the Bible would not look and act at all the way it does.

When we are too committed to harboring and sheltering our familiar false expectations, the Bible itself has a wonderful knack of disrupting those expectations, challenging our categories, and, if need be, agitating our complacency. And the Bible does this simply by—I will say it again—being its ancient, ambiguous, and diverse self, oblivious to our expectations, so ill-suited as a field guide for faith, so reluctant to be co-opted by our questions and the agendas that drive them. (pp. 15-16)

As Pete Enns reminds us, God has given us the Bible “to invite us to explore, ponder, reflect, muse, discuss, debate, and in doing so work out a life of faith—not to keep that hard work from happening.” (p. 20)

Tuesday with Michael Spencer: Can You Study This Book Too Much?

Tuesday with Michael Spencer
From 2008 and edited by CM

I’m not a literature scholar, but I play one in the classroom several hours a week. That is, when I’m not teaching the Bible to kids from all over America and the world, I teach AP English. Mostly Shakespeare and poetry. The interaction of the two brings some stimulating questions to my mind from time to time.

For example, can you study a text too much?

Let’s say that you came to my house and I had 1500 volumes of books, almost all on Hamlet and related subjects. Extensive reference materials. Everything ever written about the play. Interpretations and commentaries and more interpretations. A small ocean of Hamlet.

You noted that I read Hamlet systematically every day. You noticed that I gave talks on Hamlet and wrote may pages of articles and comments of my own on Hamlet.

One day you begin reading some of my work on Hamlet, and after a while, a thought crosses your mind. Eventually, you look me up to ask me the question that’s presented itself.

Do I believe that everything I see in Hamlet is really there? Or, by studying Hamlet to the extent that I have, do I run the risk of having a lot more to say about Hamlet than is actually in Hamlet? Have I studied a text to the point I’ve lost the perspective of simple, direct meaning in pursuit of what only scholars can know?

In other words, if Shakespeare came into my library, read my articles and listened to my lectures, would he say “Spot on. Keep at it?” Or would he say “Huh? You’ve got to be kidding? Where did you come up with this?”

Can you study a text too much? Too deeply? With too much background? Too much insight? Finding way more than is actually there in the text?

Here’s another turn of the screw for me. I teach Bible Survey, and it’s a four quarter class. That’s basically 36 weeks, five hours a week. 180 hours. Now many of my students are absolute beginners. (The ones that aren’t are given the option of an advanced class.) Many are from other religions and cultures.

I don’t need 180 hours to teach the basic story and message of the Bible to my beginners. I could do it in 9 weeks. I could do it in two weeks actually.

Sometimes when we’re off in some of the less relevant parts of the Bible- the various goings on in David’s family for example- I am genuinely concerned that the main message is getting obscured in all the other material I am teaching. I’d love to teach that “seminar” and keep the main thing the main thing. The rape of Tamar is a fine story and it’s part of our sinful history, but do my Buddhists need to know it in the same course with the gospels?

I have other concerns as well. Preachers find things in the Bible all the time that I don’t think are there. They call them “principles,” and they look great in a book or PowerPoint, but I’m just not very convinced.

Into this I can throw a lot of other people who pull rabbits out of the Biblical hat for a living.

Does the Bible say all those things that people say it says about politics? Environmentalism? Morals? Raising kids? Success? Prosperity? Health? The future? Global warming? Sex? Scheduled infant feedings? Pokemon? Harry Potter?

Some say that the Sermon on the Mount approves of civil unions between gays. Really? I’ve heard it said that there’s a “Jesus diet” in there. Hope it works better for me than it did for them, by the looks of things.

Is all that theology I keep hearing from the theological types really all there? I don’t mean there in some form that you can remix, cook, stir, add, microwave, season and serve as whatever dish you want. I mean is what the prosperity teachers see in all those books really there? Do you need Barth’s dogmatics to explain the Bible?

Are all of our political and social agendas really in the Bible? All the psychology of Biblical counselors? All the science of the creationists? All the distinctives of the various denominations?

Now I have as much admiration for lifelong Bible study as you can have. I’ve given the study of the Bible years of my life and the major portion of my education and energies.

I know it has riches and transforming power. I know it is a full library of doctrine and a wonderful collection of law, literature and liturgy.

I believe it is God’s inspired word. It’s authoritative for my faith.

But I suspect we’ve looked too closely, and seen a lot that’s not there. I believe we find, arrange, display, demonstrate and defend a lot that isn’t really plainly taught in scripture. I am afraid the Bible is a Rorschach test for many people, and what the see isn’t clouds. It’s rabbits and a train and…..

I believe that if we take the Bible as literature, we would be able to say something like this:

The Bible is an extensive collection of literature that, when taken together, presents the story Christians call the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christians believe this book is inspired by God and interpreted by the Spirit of God, but it remains a book written by human authors and understood primarily in the obvious ways we approach any literature. The message of the Bible answers the biggest, most important and most vital of life’s questions and proclaims God’s saving message to all persons. The rich literary contents of the Bible can occupy anyone with much study, but in its basic message- its essential, Christ-centered message — there is a remarkable directness and brevity. You do not have to be an expert on first century Judaism or the sociology of sacrificial systems to understand the Bible. The message is ably summarized in the Gospels and elsewhere in the New Testament. Even a child can understand it, believe it and live it.

If we leave the impression that the Bible needs an army of PhDs, thousands of brilliant preachers with multiple degrees each or a library of commentaries to be understood, proclaimed and applied, we’re distorting the truth.

Thank God for all the knowledge we have about the Bible, but we’re not gnostics looking for the “secret message” in between the lines. It’s a book, with a plot, a story and characters. Read it — or skim it with some help — get the New Testament message clear, and you are good to go, grow and live.

In fact, what we need is more reminding, recollecting and repeating of the Bible’s message, and less addition to that message.

Study it less? Maybe. Maybe live it, live out of it, communicate it and teach it more. But what we’re looking for in the Bible is fully and completely there in the one Paul said he always preached — Christ Jesus: the crucified Lord.

February 2019 Open Mic

Open Mic
February 25, 2019

We haven’t had an Open Mic in awhile, so let’s open the lines today and let you folks choose the topics.

I would especially love to hear from those of you who may be new, or who rarely comment.

And, of course, I would appreciate if you would follow guidelines of respectful conversation. If you have any question about the rules around here, you can always access our FAQ/RULES page.

Welcome to the Great Hall. Enjoy your time together today.

Epiphany 7: Daily and Weekly Worship

Sermon: Epiphany 7
Daily and Weekly Worship

Life has its rhythms. Last time we talked about the annual rhythm of the Church Year.

From November to June, we live in the story of Jesus — his coming at Advent and Christmas, his life and ministry through which he revealed God’s glory in Epiphany, his call to take up our cross and follow him in Lent, his suffering and death in Holy Week, his resurrection and ascension in Easter, and his gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

From June to November, we live in the story of the Church — learning what it means to live the new life of faith, hope, and love in Christ, saved by grace through faith, filled with the Holy Spirit, and called to fulfill our vocations in the world, planting seeds of new creation and shalom.
In this series, we have also spoken about the rhythm of gathering and scattering, of coming together on Sunday to worship and then being sent to serve the Lord between Sundays.

Worship itself also has a rhythm like this. We gather to worship as a church family on Sundays, but our worship does not end when we depart. Worshiping God also involves a weekly pattern, a rhythm.

  • There is Sunday devotion and daily devotion.
  • On Sundays we worship together as a church family. Between Sundays, we worship as individuals and with our own families.
  • Sunday is public worship. Between Sundays, we practice private worship and devotion.
  • We hear God’s Word read and preached from the pulpit on Sundays. Between Sundays, we read the Bible for ourselves and ask God to teach us.
  • On Sundays, we pray together for one another, for the Church, the world, and all who are in need. Between Sundays, each of us maintain a conversational relationship with God in prayer.
  • On Sundays, we seek God’s presence here, together, and meet with him through the Word and at the Table. Between Sundays, we “practice the presence of God” every-where we go, walking with God and trying to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit in our lives and relationships.
  • On Sundays, we say our prayers together. Between Sundays, we try to do what the Bible encourages us to do — to “pray without ceasing.”

We are not called to be “Sunday-only” Christians. Worship is for every day. It follows a rhythm that flows between public and private, between corporate worship with each other and private worship and devotion, when we meet with God as individuals and families.

We have two great resources to use in helping us worship, not only on Sundays but also throughout the week. Both of these resources were emphasized by Martin Luther and the other Reformers as God’s gifts for all people.

  • The first, of course, is the Bible. We encourage daily Bible reading as a way of hearing God speak to your life every day of the week.
  • The other is your hymnal. You may or may not realize it, but our Lutheran Hymnal contains materials that are designed not for our Sunday worship, but for your daily worship at home in private and with your families.

On page 1160, for example, you will find Luther’s Small Catechism. Martin Luther wrote this so that families might learn and pray together between Sundays in their own homes.

And if you will look at page 1121, you will see that our hymnal contains the Daily Lectionary, which contains Bible readings for every day of the year. Each week, here in church, we hear readings from the Old Testament, the Psalms, the New Testament, and the Gospels. The Daily Lectionary contains readings like that too.

Our hymnals also contain daily prayers (330-331), and all the Psalms (335).

I would love to see every individual and every family in our church have a hymnal at home, so that you can use it between Sundays as well as on Sunday.

Why do I encourage this today?

  • Because our life with Jesus is a daily walk. Being a Christian is not just about what happens on Sunday. It’s not just about “going to church.” It’s about living a life with God every day of the week.
  • This life is a conversational life in which God talks to us through Scripture and we speak to God in prayer. This doesn’t just happen when we come together. God desires that we know God’s presence and the leading of God’s Spirit each and every day.
  • Our life as Christians is also a life of growing faith, in which we worship Jesus daily as Lord of all and follow him. This is how we are formed to become more like Jesus. This is how we learn to develop in faith, hope and love. This is how we learn to love our neighbors better. This is how we learn to grow up in Christ and become fully formed and flourishing human beings who bring God’s gift of shalom to the world.

Psalm 1 says that the truly blessed person is the one who meditates on God’s teachings day and night. It’s not just about Sunday. It’s about practicing the presence of God every day.

The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: February 23, 2019

The IM Saturday Monks Brunch: February 23, 2019

• • •

OUR LONG DARK NIGHT IS OVER…

Major League Baseball teams reported to Spring Training this week. Here are a few shots from Mesa, Arizona, where the Cubs train. Few things in life bring as much hope as the beginning of baseball…

• • •

BIG WEEKEND FOR THE UNITED METHODISTS…

Today is the day when the United Methodist Church meets for a special General Conference, where they will hold a critical vote on whether to ordain openly gay clergy and allow individual churches to conduct same-sex marriages.

At First Things, Dale M. Coulter outlines the three options being put before the UMC:

Last July, the Council of Bishops offered three possible plans for moving forward: the One Church Plan, the Connectional Conference Plan, and the Traditional Plan. The One Church Plan calls for removing language from the Book of Discipline that upholds traditional teaching on sexuality, and allowing individual churches and conferences to decide on the basis of conscience whether they will permit same-sex unions or homosexual bishops. The Connectional Conference Plan calls for completely reorganizing the regional conferences around shared beliefs rather than geography—in other words, creating traditionalist and progressive conferences and trying to hold them together. The Modified Traditional Plan calls for upholding the traditional teaching on sexuality and then offering an exit path for any local churches or conferences that disagree.

Even though the bishops offered three plans, most have come out in support of the One Church Plan, even creating a website to push it. They hope this plan will preserve the denomination’s unity by allowing individual churches and ministers the freedom to follow their own theological convictions. Most of the traditionalists urge adoption of the Modified Traditional Plan—traditionalists that include organizations like the Wesleyan Covenant Association and the Africa Initiative Group, which represents many African Methodists.

RNS tells of a prayer journey undertaken this week by Helen Ryde, who “began a 600-mile pilgrimage from the North Carolina mountains to the America’s Center Convention Complex in St. Louis, site of the meeting. As she travels through Tennessee and Kentucky and Illinois, she planned to stop in dozens of United Methodist churches to say a prayer and pin an envelope containing her prayer to the door of each congregation.”

“Holy God,” her prayer read, “may every LGBTQ person who has ever been baptized, confirmed, attended or served this church know how fearfully and wonderfully made they are.”

A married lesbian, Ryde works as a regional organizer for the Reconciling Ministries Network, a group that encourages Methodists to embrace LGBT equality.

But the bigger issue is survival of the denomination itself. Dale Coulter sees an inevitable schism.

This is a war for the soul of the UMC. People on both sides feel strongly about their positions, and I don’t see how they can live together any longer. Progressive and traditionalist churches are pledging to leave if the outcome does not go the way they want. This includes significant churches like Mt. Horeb UMC in Lexington, South Carolina, the largest church in the state conference. The One Church Plan feels like a shotgun wedding when what is really needed is for both sides to walk away. The recent history of the TEC, ELCA, and the PCUSA on this same question suggests that the best way to avoid either a scorched-earth campaign or a slow death with a steady stream of churches departing is to agree to separate amicably.

• • •

I’M SORRY, I HAVE TO LAUGH…

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett staged a racist, anti-gay attack on himself because he was unhappy about his salary and wanted to promote his career, Chicago’s police superintendent said Thursday. (NBC News Chicago)

Ever since this happened, there has been a hot and heavy firestorm about the supposed assault on Jussie Smollett in Chicago. Folks on the left immediately latched on to the idea that the actor was a victim of a hate crime motivated by racism and homophobia. Folks on the right immediately blamed the “left-wing media” of blowing the story all out of proportion and using it to further their radical agenda of identity politics.

And guess what? Now we find out that none of this was actually about racism, homophobia, or any political agenda. AT ALL!

This was an example of PURE CAPITALISM.

This was about an actor using his talent in a devious way to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes so that he could make a few more bucks and get a little more fame for himself. This was an all-American story of greed and self-aggrandizement. This was about a guy marketing himself, taking advantage of the spirit of the age, to climb the success ladder. We may be liberals, conservatives, or moderates, but together, in this great land, it’s all about buying and selling when it comes right down to it.

Come on, America. A hand for the entrepreneur!

It was a good old fashioned grift. And a lot of us fell for it.

Cue the timely P.T. Barnum quote.

• • •

OSCARS, ANYONE?

Tomorrow night is the Oscars. I can’t remember a year when I was less invested in the Motion Picture Academy Awards. In fact, the last time we even went to the movies was two Christmases ago. It seems I get less and less interested with each passing year. Not sure why, but part of it is probably just due to the season of life we’re in. Add to that the variety and content available on our TV screen at home, and I guess I’ve become a going-to-the-movies dropout.

What about you? Here is a list of some of major categories up for awards this year. Any favorites?

BEST PICTURE

Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
A Star Is Born
Vice

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Christian Bale, Vice
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Willem Dafoe, At Eternity’s Gate
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Yalitza Aparicio, Roma
Glenn Close, The Wife
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

• • •

R.I.P. PETER TORK OF THE MONKEES…

By Probyn Gregory at the Washington Post:


It may be difficult to imagine now, but there was a time in the 1960s when a pop band, in a single year, outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined — and not even a real band at that. Really, the group was four strangers thrown together on a TV show about a band all living in an imaginary group house. Both the band and the show — the Monkees — were instantly and wildly popular among a certain set of American kids.

Those kids are now in late middle age (or older), and that band is finally going home. In 2012, lead singer Davy Jones, at 66 years old, was the first to die ; on Thursday, 77-year-old Peter Tork died from a rare form of cancer. Along with Mike Nesmith, Tork was one of the two real musicians in the quartet. (Stephen Stills had recommended Tork for the role after being passed over for being too snaggle-toothed.) The other two Monkees — Jones and drummer Micky Dolenz — were actors.

The most technically skilled in the group, Tork had trained classically and played guitar, banjo and French horn and was particularly talented on keyboards, though he was best known on the TV show as the band’s bassist. Nesmith has been quoted as saying that Tork, not himself, should have been the band’s main guitarist.

…How to explain the Monkees’ unlikely staying power, their stalwart presence on oldies radio? I think many baby boomers, obviously, found them accessible and relatable, certainly unthreatening. But more importantly, Tork once said the band had real chemistry — not just any four young men could have done what they did. I think there was a sense of vindication they shared among themselves that critics had turned up their noses at the supposed ineptitude of the Prefab Four and were proved wrong — in which case, all among us who are judged and found to have come up short still have a chance.

Most of all, there are the sounds of those hits, pristine in their peculiar moment, which when matched to those particular voices, still succeed. They form a part of the soundtrack of many baby boomers’ lives, a validation of their memories, making believers of us all.