we're in this together

"Get yourself some haverim." What in the world does that mean? Haverim is the Hebrew words which is plural for haver, which means a "friend". Havruta is a gathering of students to study Scripture, or the Torah. This is an interactive gathering divided up into various discussions over the text of Scripture. Sometimes vigorous debate going on as to the meaning and application of the text to life. Challenging questions to think and wrestle through the text are welcomed and encouraged.

Enter our western individualism mindset where my interpretation is as good as yours. Out of that comes some dubious interpretations, not to mention all the factions even within single groups. Though in the postmodern influence of today the differences don't matter. But sometimes they do. We see this when we understand the background and setting in Jesus' day, and his differences and confrontations with religious leaders of his day such as the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Zealots. Jesus amazed the religious leaders in the Temple at the age of twelve with his questions and understanding. And he attracted the crowds with his teaching and authority, even as he ended up repelling them and many of his disciples over his hard teachings which he taught were a fulfillment of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament.

I believe God has been working on me lately to take the time and make the sacrifice to interact more with other believers in gatherings. This is already built into my schedule once a week in a half hour of "devotions" at work, in which we are now working through the book of Ecclesiastes. In this is not only the need to grapple with the text of Scripture, but to grapple with it in terms of our lives, whether or not we're really beginning by grace to live it out. The haver gather in the havruta as disciples. They learn from their Rabbi, or Master Teacher, and then they venture to work out together how that applies to life. This suggests to me that our following of Jesus is to be worked out both in us individually seeking a close relationship and walk with Jesus, and seeking to do so together with others.

And we are to identify with each other in all of life. That includes past and future generations, but where the rubber may meet the road for us, the people we are around and know now. So that we see ourselves in participation with others in some way, at least by being able to identify with them, rather than seeing ourselves as a cut above them, which of course is not really the case.

And there is the need for transparency. Only as we are honest with others about our own struggles and God helping us through them, will they have any hope that God can help them, also. This is about being real and about life. And life in Jesus is meant to be lived out in community with others. And with all our differences, we're to work on the meaning and application of Scripture together. Do we believe we're all in this together, or is it each person for themself?

Do I really believe God wants to work in my life through others? Do I believe that we believers are in this together, each of us having our part? Do I listen well to the stories of how God has worked in their lives? Am I wisely transparent about who I really am and my own struggles? Do I share my own testimony of God's working?

More wisdom than briefly mentioned above is to be found in this chapter and book, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg, chapter 5, "Get Yourself Some Haverim." Next week chapter 6, "Rabbi, Teach Us to Pray."

all Scripture

We are told in 2 Timothy that "All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable." Yes, we need it all.

I'm thankful for how well rounded Scripture is, and how it helps us to the goal of God's kingdom in the new creation through Jesus. Like the people in Scripture we experience many things, and we struggle in many ways. This is why it's important for us to be in Scripture, and all of it.

For me, as I've shared here a number of times, The Bible Experience is a real gift from God in helping keep me in Scripture. And it's important to get into passages and see them related to the whole and how our lives fit in with reference to that. Takes time and an openness which refuses to force anything out of a passage or out of the Bible itself. But an openness which is receptive to whatever God may be saying to us about God's will on earth.

David is a good case in point. A man after God's own heart, who could celebrate with his whole being in the joy and worship of the Lord. Yet who could also sin so grievously in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite. But did repent. Just one example among so many more of parts from "all Scripture" which we need.

Any more thoughts on this?

By the way, Spring is more than in the air here. Quite warm this morning, and we're loving it!

community's place in Jesus

I am enjoying and being edified in reading Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, written by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg who both live in our area (I will review it later). I was hit yesterday by a number of things, but especially by the Jewish insistence, carried on in Jesus' day and continued to this day, that the best study of Scripture is done in group, communal settings. And how, while solitude does have its place, and an important one, community should be the normal rule of life.

Like the authors point out, it's in community that we learn to love and get the rough edges knocked off.

I'm finding this book to be quite an insightful read, and I look forward to reviewing it later. Ann and Lois do a first rate job of helping us back to Jesus' time with a view of how to better read Scripture, and better understand God's call to our lives in Jesus. Written quite clearly, and no fluff.

But back to community. I have studied in seminary, and like to read at least some scholarly (and at times, difficult) books, along with books written for the entire church. But I've noticed time and again how God has spoken to me and to us in a group setting through the words of just any of God's people over a Bible passage, or with regard to God's working in our lives. Sometimes I share, and I think I'm sharing too much. But there have been times when I was mute, or largely so, and have been blessed in so being.

I too have been a part of an individualistic culture, and there's nothing I like more in an evening than being with my wife in the living room while we both read books with some classical music playing softly in the background. This thought was a good, even if a bit jolting reminder to me that I need to be open to what God wants to say and do as I rub shoulders with others in community. We need to think of ourselves as those in community in Jesus, not as individuals in Jesus who happen to engage in community activities here and there.

What would you like to add to this?

good Bible reading and study

Yesterday in Scot's study on James, he pointed out that we need to read the passage which tells us to "consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds," in light of the rest of book of James. Then Scot listed some of the problems going on there, mentioned in the book: essentially about the rich oppressing the poor, even among professing believers. 

While I don't think we have to exclude other trials not mentioned in James, I do think this is an apt example of how we need to read Scripture. We need to read a passage well, in its immediate context, be that a pericope (like a parable, or a story/event of Jesus and his disciples, etc.), or with reference to the rest of the book, and then from there with reference to books like it (example, other books by the same Biblical author, others of the same genre like wisdom or apocalyptic), and from there the same testament whether "old" as in the Hebrew Bible, or "new". Then at last with reference to all of Scripture.

I'm not against Bible promise books, but I think such tend to faciliate reading Scripture out of context. It is possible to miss the point of a passage, or verse entirely, possibly interpreting it concerned about our own interests and according to our own worldview, which may be at odds with the interests and worldview in Christ God is calling us toward.

Again, I commend that study at Jesus Creed. And that we learn more and more to read Scripture, God's word well, in its context. Such a study can help us toward that. It was a good reminder for me.

What would you like to add here?

Scot McKnight's study on James

Let me highly recommend a daily Monday through Thursday Bible study from Scot McKnight, on the book of James, which just began yesterday over at Jesus Creed. And I'm excited about the commentary from Scot, to be released by Eerdmans about a year from now.

reading the Bible as story

One of my excellent seminary professors, Dr. Joe Crawford who taught systematic and historical theology, etc., now with the Lord, had a passion for truth which was infectious. I especially remember the time he got me excited about wanting to read Henri Crouzel's book on Origen. While I was there, Dr. Crawford talked about how reading the Bible as story, revolutionized his theology. He wrote a manuscript on that later. I think it was an evolving, growing process for him. On a lesser scale this is true of me as well. Scot McKnight's new, interesting and I believe excellent little book, Blue Parakeet.

I open this up. Do any of you identify? And what does reading the Bible as story look like, or mean for you and for your understanding of the truth as it is in Jesus? How might reading the Bible as story differ from other ways of reading it? Is it natural to the Bible itself? Is it reading the Bible contextually? And what about places in the Bible which are not narrative, such as wisdom literature (example: Proverbs, Song of Songs), or the book of Romans?

Of course we must read the Bible contextually. Good Bible reading and study should consider a passage, or verse in its immediate context, then in the context of the entire book, and then contextually in books by the same human author, next within the new or old covenant scheme, and at last with reference to the entire Book. Word studies can be helpful as well, as long as we note that the same word will mean different things at times, depending on its context. Good Bible reading and study does all of this either closely or by recall (not that we should think that we have to go through all of this consciously).

To understand any teaching sufficiently it must be put into the whole and in the context of story (Genesis through Revelation), but we take the entire teaching along into the story. We can't just take the part we want and leave the difficult or unwanted part of it, perhaps a difficult part to understand, behind. And it must be factored into the story.

Though it is not necessary for anyone to engage in good Bible reading and study, to have background information as to the world in the day the Scripture was written, with reference to its culture and practices is likewise helpful (an understatement, really, especially with regard to some matters such as women and slaves).

When we do this we avoid what I believe is the error of "bullet lists" to teach a systematic theology. Taken by themselves they can be quite different than when taken up and read with reference to the whole story from Genesis through Revelation. Not that we want to change the meaning in its original context. But that this meaning must be factored into the whole of the story.

One example I posted on recently is predestination and election. If I study the relevant passages on their own, it would appear that many of them are only about assurance of salvation through the work of God, as our good friend Andrew, has so aptly pointed out in his comments on that posting. But considered in the story we find that there is more to consider. Other factors weigh in on that discussion as well, and on nearly any other discussion, factors on which Christians disagree. For example in my case, even though I believe God does a work in Christians to help them persevere, I believe the imperative to make one's calling and election sure, makes it clear that our assurance is dependent on us remaining in the faith, and that a true Christian can apostasize. But in the grace of God in Jesus, as we trust, we can be assured of salvation- in the present and future, based on the work of Jesus.

And aside from the differences Christians have over interpreting the relevant texts, we need to see such teachings in the sweep of the entire story of God. This means predestination and election are not just about one's salvation, as important as that is, but it's with reference to what that salvation entails. That in Jesus, we become a part of God's ongoing work in the world through him, a work that has to do with the new creation, thus touching all of creation, including human culture, as well as helping others come into this new life for themselves. We receive the light and become the light of the world, in Jesus.

This is an overly long post, and for that I apologize. But just a sketch and example as to why I believe we need to read and think through everything with reference to the entire story, and not just within its own immediate context. I am certainly working on this, myself.

What would you like to add here- and with reference to the above questions and thoughts?