A true encounter with God and God's word changes us. But it changes us in line with the truth in Jesus and in this world that is missional as well as relational, reflective of humankind made in the image of God and God as Trinity.
The kingdom of God suggests mission when you consider this world and the kingdoms of this world. For the life of me I'm not sure why, at least I think so, that we Christians are so enamored with nations and particularly so here in America, now the greatest of nations on earth. Being a part of the kingdom of God come in Jesus suggests that we are on mission to the world, even as we do submit to God's order in his use of the rulers, authorities and powers of this world.
But back to the main point. When we spend time in God's word it is certainly in a sense private and personal, but if it's a true encounter with God it becomes public and corporate, or relational. It relates to others, wanting to share with them the love of God that is in Jesus Christ.
The focus ends up being on God in Jesus, not on ourselves or on the other person. We seek to help others come into this Presence that is full of grace and truth. This ends up being an important part of what God wants for us, to become a natural part of who we are and what we do. Not always easy, but a part of our calling in this world in following Jesus. And will more and more naturally take place when we have a true encounter with God through his word.
What would you like to add to this? Or any thoughts.
Showing posts with label hearing God's word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hearing God's word. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
the book (other than the Bible) that shaped me the most
Mom read us books as little children and the one she read the most and that I remember most vividly is Kenneth Taylor's The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes (the original of it, 1956- the year I was born). The pictures stood out to me and for me as a child were surely iconic, as the simplicity, clarity and power of the spoken word came through clearly for a child in Kenneth Taylor's (the author of the paraphrase The Living Bible) words, with simple questions at the end of each short entry.
This book surely was the most formidable of all books for me as a child in influencing and shaping my thought and formation, the fruit of it coming forth in my conversion years later. But before my conversion I rarely if ever doubted the truth of the simple gospel, or of the Bible. It's only now, as I look back on it, that I begin to understand just a little the profound impact this book, and my mother's faithful reading of it to us, had on me.
The picture of Jesus hanging on the cross always stood out to me. Also the first picture of the book- of God creating the heavens and the earth, along with a good many others. Each picture was quite important to us, and the words were kept simple and few, with good questions afterwards, just right for a child.
I have many good childhood memories, but this ranks among the best. My guess is that Mom often read several at a time. I can't remember exactly how I felt during such times, but I'm sure it was formational for me and to this day has an impact on what I do in more ways than I can understand. I think what it did tell me is that the Bible is both true and true to life. So that I carried that belief with me, even through my years of rebellion.
There are surely better books out there for children now in expressing the truth of God's word and God's kingdom come in Jesus. But surely there's no better book as to the format that was used and captured me as a child, preparing me for a love for God's word and the story in it, which continues on to this day.
Do you have any similar story? What book or books shaped you the most through your formidable years?
Thanks to Diane, of Emerging Quaker, who both brought up this question to her readers and then asked me to develop my thoughts further.
This book surely was the most formidable of all books for me as a child in influencing and shaping my thought and formation, the fruit of it coming forth in my conversion years later. But before my conversion I rarely if ever doubted the truth of the simple gospel, or of the Bible. It's only now, as I look back on it, that I begin to understand just a little the profound impact this book, and my mother's faithful reading of it to us, had on me.
The picture of Jesus hanging on the cross always stood out to me. Also the first picture of the book- of God creating the heavens and the earth, along with a good many others. Each picture was quite important to us, and the words were kept simple and few, with good questions afterwards, just right for a child.
I have many good childhood memories, but this ranks among the best. My guess is that Mom often read several at a time. I can't remember exactly how I felt during such times, but I'm sure it was formational for me and to this day has an impact on what I do in more ways than I can understand. I think what it did tell me is that the Bible is both true and true to life. So that I carried that belief with me, even through my years of rebellion.
There are surely better books out there for children now in expressing the truth of God's word and God's kingdom come in Jesus. But surely there's no better book as to the format that was used and captured me as a child, preparing me for a love for God's word and the story in it, which continues on to this day.
Do you have any similar story? What book or books shaped you the most through your formidable years?
Thanks to Diane, of Emerging Quaker, who both brought up this question to her readers and then asked me to develop my thoughts further.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
quote of the week: Scot McKnight on letting the Bible be what it is
I have learned that when we take our hands off the pages of the Bible, read and listen to its words, and enter into its story by faith, something happens. It renews and continues to renew its powers. It becomes what it was meant to be, something both more intimate than an old pair of jeans and more unusual than alien creatures, something like a familiar stranger or an unpredictable neighbor or a pet lion whose presence invigorates its surroundings. Something like the glory of the ocean, which on the surface appears gentle and strolling and pleasant to observe, but under the surface there's a vibrant, teeming, swirling, dynamic world full of beauty and wonder. Or perhaps listening to the Bible is like having the most powerful person in the world sit down with you for coffee as a friend and chat with you.Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible, 36,37.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
hearing the word/ the Story of God
I guess one of the most important aspects of my life is simply hearing God's word. It has been true ever since I was a young Christian, listening to my grandmother's well worn small vinyl records of the KJV New Testament being read, and read wonderfully. After a time, I could play long segments of it in my head, it seems, and once in awhile, or at least I used to years later, still do so. Then I got a dramatized version of the NIV, followed years after that with a straight reading of the NIV. Now I've been borrowing The Bible Experience from our public library system.
We need to get a sense of the Story in Scripture- its breadth and depth, the beginning and the ending, and everything in between. As we do so we see that we indeed have a place in the Story. It's God's story, but we all have our parts in it. God is at the center in Jesus. We are to look to that center, and find our place in this story.
There are different places. But there is a place for everyone, no matter what your past or even present. Look to God in Jesus. There is grace for you in Jesus, no matter what sin you may be struggling with. No matter what sins you may have fallen into in your past, with all the devastating results or consequences. I know this by experience. As I look to God through Jesus, and remain in God's word, God moves in my life. I seek to come near to God, and as I do so, God always comes near to me.
A good place to begin your quest is in the word. And a good way to get into the word if you're a person like me, is to listen to it. I like The Bible Experience, because it's not hurried, and comes across more naturally than do some excellent readings of Scripture. A reader of Scripture I've found to be excellent is Max McLean. And I have used and like Steven B. Stevens. But there are other places to look, and you may want to find one from a Bible version you use. And likely something is out there from someone reading your favorite version. But do give it a careful listen before you buy it. And of course you can access this online.
We need to get into God's word, and we need God's word to get into us. And as this happens by God's grace to us in Jesus, we will begin to find our place in God's Story. A wonderful place, wherever and whatever it is. As we look forward to the day when the dynamic ending comes and unfolds in a way in which we find, like C.S. Lewis wrote, that the story is just now beginning. But the beginning is for us, for each of us, in Jesus, now.
What thoughts might you like to share on this?
We need to get a sense of the Story in Scripture- its breadth and depth, the beginning and the ending, and everything in between. As we do so we see that we indeed have a place in the Story. It's God's story, but we all have our parts in it. God is at the center in Jesus. We are to look to that center, and find our place in this story.
There are different places. But there is a place for everyone, no matter what your past or even present. Look to God in Jesus. There is grace for you in Jesus, no matter what sin you may be struggling with. No matter what sins you may have fallen into in your past, with all the devastating results or consequences. I know this by experience. As I look to God through Jesus, and remain in God's word, God moves in my life. I seek to come near to God, and as I do so, God always comes near to me.
A good place to begin your quest is in the word. And a good way to get into the word if you're a person like me, is to listen to it. I like The Bible Experience, because it's not hurried, and comes across more naturally than do some excellent readings of Scripture. A reader of Scripture I've found to be excellent is Max McLean. And I have used and like Steven B. Stevens. But there are other places to look, and you may want to find one from a Bible version you use. And likely something is out there from someone reading your favorite version. But do give it a careful listen before you buy it. And of course you can access this online.
We need to get into God's word, and we need God's word to get into us. And as this happens by God's grace to us in Jesus, we will begin to find our place in God's Story. A wonderful place, wherever and whatever it is. As we look forward to the day when the dynamic ending comes and unfolds in a way in which we find, like C.S. Lewis wrote, that the story is just now beginning. But the beginning is for us, for each of us, in Jesus, now.
What thoughts might you like to share on this?
Thursday, August 07, 2008
listening to "The Bible Experience"- Icons
Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed yesterday had a post on The Bible Experience and I weighed in a few times on it. I'm really enjoying listening to it, and unlike the listening of the Bible I did for years, my wife likes this.
I am in the Old Testament now, and I actually am able to borrow the CD's from our public library system and pick them up within easy walking distance of our house, which is nice. But someday I want to purchase my own, maybe an MP3 version.
You ought to give them a listen. I love certain aspects of them, and have found nothing I dislike, yet.
I like to hear Scripture read, and tend to learn by hearing. This is different in that you're hearing Scripture, but it has a strong element of dramatization in it, as well. Right now I'm hearing a voice for God's voice (in Exodus), and I think it's well done, but imagine how it might reflect more of what we can understand of God from Scripture. A great voice to portray God's voice in quality and manner, but clearly male. But then I realize there is an iconic quality to all of this.
Icons are not the real thing, but they help God's people reflect on the real thing, and press past the images to the reality. Of course icons in Eastern Orthodox are purposively austere and meant only to help the faithful reflect on and enter into the reality behind them.
My own preference is probably still for just a good straightforward reading of Scripture heard from one person. Even then interpretation is inevitable in how they read it. But it's much more text-driven (of course the text from the original, in translation involves significant interpretation). But even with the fine dramatization and all the interpretation that goes into that, we can know it's still just a representation, not the reality. Though it is God's word.
And if we remember that we are iconic ourselves, as humans, "Eikons" (from Greek rendering of the word) as Scot McKnight likes to put it, made in God's image- we certainly are not expressionless. Jesus himself is the perfect Icon and in that in him we find our way back towards full restoration as Icons of God.
So remembering that, I can be happy with the good dramatization, remembering all along that it is representative or a window to move us towards the reality which by faith we can begin to see and understand.
So give The Bible Experience a listen some time. Sampling it is okay, but the best way to appreciate it is to listen more and more to it. And for me, in my recent bout with depression, it's been a good way of getting me back into Scripture reading.
Any thoughts on my thinking here, or on The Bible Experience?
I am in the Old Testament now, and I actually am able to borrow the CD's from our public library system and pick them up within easy walking distance of our house, which is nice. But someday I want to purchase my own, maybe an MP3 version.
You ought to give them a listen. I love certain aspects of them, and have found nothing I dislike, yet.
I like to hear Scripture read, and tend to learn by hearing. This is different in that you're hearing Scripture, but it has a strong element of dramatization in it, as well. Right now I'm hearing a voice for God's voice (in Exodus), and I think it's well done, but imagine how it might reflect more of what we can understand of God from Scripture. A great voice to portray God's voice in quality and manner, but clearly male. But then I realize there is an iconic quality to all of this.
Icons are not the real thing, but they help God's people reflect on the real thing, and press past the images to the reality. Of course icons in Eastern Orthodox are purposively austere and meant only to help the faithful reflect on and enter into the reality behind them.
My own preference is probably still for just a good straightforward reading of Scripture heard from one person. Even then interpretation is inevitable in how they read it. But it's much more text-driven (of course the text from the original, in translation involves significant interpretation). But even with the fine dramatization and all the interpretation that goes into that, we can know it's still just a representation, not the reality. Though it is God's word.
And if we remember that we are iconic ourselves, as humans, "Eikons" (from Greek rendering of the word) as Scot McKnight likes to put it, made in God's image- we certainly are not expressionless. Jesus himself is the perfect Icon and in that in him we find our way back towards full restoration as Icons of God.
So remembering that, I can be happy with the good dramatization, remembering all along that it is representative or a window to move us towards the reality which by faith we can begin to see and understand.
So give The Bible Experience a listen some time. Sampling it is okay, but the best way to appreciate it is to listen more and more to it. And for me, in my recent bout with depression, it's been a good way of getting me back into Scripture reading.
Any thoughts on my thinking here, or on The Bible Experience?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
back to what I'm used to
It may be in part because I'm tired and rather exhausted this week, due in no small part to lack of sleep early in the week for good reason. And with that exhaustion, or as a part of it, I have developed a minor case of depression or a kind of aimless spirit, especially apparent to me, today.
In the past I wrote how I had been reading alot of Scripture but was finding myself in a hurry to get it over with. Not good of course. So I quit that kind of reading altogether for awhile, being in the word some daily, but not at all like the past.
Now I realize I need to get back to my normal course of reading (as well as listening to) Scripture, though modified, and probably not set in stone, yet regular with only exceptional misses. It's back to what I'm used to. Or as David told King Saul, before he was to step out into battle against Goliath, "I'm not used to these," so he set aside Saul's armor and took his sling and five stones which he was used to, and in the name of the Lord, he slew that giant.
And it won't hurt for me to keep working on catching up on my sleep.
In the past I wrote how I had been reading alot of Scripture but was finding myself in a hurry to get it over with. Not good of course. So I quit that kind of reading altogether for awhile, being in the word some daily, but not at all like the past.
Now I realize I need to get back to my normal course of reading (as well as listening to) Scripture, though modified, and probably not set in stone, yet regular with only exceptional misses. It's back to what I'm used to. Or as David told King Saul, before he was to step out into battle against Goliath, "I'm not used to these," so he set aside Saul's armor and took his sling and five stones which he was used to, and in the name of the Lord, he slew that giant.
And it won't hurt for me to keep working on catching up on my sleep.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
imagination
I was recently sharing with a friend about how the voice portraying Jesus' voice in The Bible Experience, in the Revelation in the part of the seven letters to the churches, gives me a sense of the greatness and majesty of God we find in such places as in Isaiah.
While I believe Jesus is God, I like to major on the truth that God is Jesus. That we find God in Jesus as God's final word to us, this Word himself, being God and becoming human in the Son by the incarnation. In doing that we must not lose sight of the full revelation of God we find in Scripture, fulfilled in Jesus himself.
So it's good for me to listen to the gospels, accepting and loving them as they are, and I enjoy that same voice for Jesus in The Bible Experience (and available in mp3) in hearing them. In contrast to the same Jesus, glorified in the Revelation, enthroned and coming back to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, on the new heaven and earth.
Imagination is a wonderful gift from God and never to be set aside. But at the same time, we need to work on being grounded in God's word- in Scripture. That will help us avoid imaginative flights which are our own fancies and not true to God's revelation given to us in Scripture and in Jesus. Doing the hard work in so being grounded, and seeking to do so in a relational, faith-oriented way to God, which means a journey of faith for us as his people in this world and in mission in Jesus to the world.
What would you like to add, here?
While I believe Jesus is God, I like to major on the truth that God is Jesus. That we find God in Jesus as God's final word to us, this Word himself, being God and becoming human in the Son by the incarnation. In doing that we must not lose sight of the full revelation of God we find in Scripture, fulfilled in Jesus himself.
So it's good for me to listen to the gospels, accepting and loving them as they are, and I enjoy that same voice for Jesus in The Bible Experience (and available in mp3) in hearing them. In contrast to the same Jesus, glorified in the Revelation, enthroned and coming back to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, on the new heaven and earth.
Imagination is a wonderful gift from God and never to be set aside. But at the same time, we need to work on being grounded in God's word- in Scripture. That will help us avoid imaginative flights which are our own fancies and not true to God's revelation given to us in Scripture and in Jesus. Doing the hard work in so being grounded, and seeking to do so in a relational, faith-oriented way to God, which means a journey of faith for us as his people in this world and in mission in Jesus to the world.
What would you like to add, here?
Friday, May 30, 2008
"unsurpassable" from John Frye
We now reach the final chapter of John Frye's new book: Out of Print: A Novel. Much has happened in this short story after the disappearance of God's word in every visible form anywhere. A new interest has taken hold all over the world, first among Christians as well as Jews, to recover the missing books by finding those who had committed Scripture to memory. And Christians along with people all over the world actually hearing the word of God spoken out loud in their own language. All kinds of people who previously had no knowledge of God's word because of this phenomenon are able to hear it for themselves and are drawn to Jesus who is really the subject of the Story in a real sense.
In this chapter God's word begins to reappear until it is finally all restored. You begin to see the passages coming back and the people of the story, mostly Christians and a Jewish rabbi, interacting with the meaning of it all. First the Jeremiah 31 passage on the promised new covenant appears. Then the Ezekiel 36 passage that speaks of the same thing. Next John 1:14 appears followed by John 5:39-40, and 2 Corinthians 3:2-3. As the Christian and Jewish leaders are trying to make sense of it all and are coming to some points of conviction on it, then 2 Corinthians 5:15-19 appears followed by John 17:22-23. Afterwards whole books of the Bible come back until at last it is all restored.
A major conclusion that stands out to me from the story and from the Christian leaders (from the Jewish leaders as well, shown by the Jewish rabbi and by the interest in Jesus some Jews were having) in the story is that the word is to become flesh. That is, it's to penetrate into our lives and change us from the inside out. This is done in Jesus, who is the Word made flesh. And all of us in him partake of this reality of the new covenant.
Another major thought from it is that the word heard gives the hearers the sense of wanting to respond to it. The Hebrew words for "listen" and "obey" are synonymous. In our culture of reading silently, the idea is that we're in charge. But when it's read out loud to us we are being acted on, and it's up to us to respond.
To get the impact on people and how this plays out you'll need to read the book for yourself. It is quite a wonderful story to the point that you almost have a hard time thinking it didn't happen! And I love the epilogue and how the story ends. Wonderful picture of God's grace (of course you'll have to have read the story before to get it) and you see the pastor's heart John has in his telling of it.
What about us? When we pick up the Bible day after day what difference does it make in our lives and why? Are we having a relationship with it or with the God of the Bible? Are we entering into the Story of God's word in Jesus for ourselves? Or is it prmarily a book just telling us what to do and not do? And what significance does the word becoming flesh in Jesus have for our own lives? What place does the word have in us and how?
These questions and many more can be asked from the reading of this book. What hits you in your reading of the book or of these posts about the book? What would you like to share here?
1. unthinkable
2. unexplainable
3. unstoppable
In this chapter God's word begins to reappear until it is finally all restored. You begin to see the passages coming back and the people of the story, mostly Christians and a Jewish rabbi, interacting with the meaning of it all. First the Jeremiah 31 passage on the promised new covenant appears. Then the Ezekiel 36 passage that speaks of the same thing. Next John 1:14 appears followed by John 5:39-40, and 2 Corinthians 3:2-3. As the Christian and Jewish leaders are trying to make sense of it all and are coming to some points of conviction on it, then 2 Corinthians 5:15-19 appears followed by John 17:22-23. Afterwards whole books of the Bible come back until at last it is all restored.
A major conclusion that stands out to me from the story and from the Christian leaders (from the Jewish leaders as well, shown by the Jewish rabbi and by the interest in Jesus some Jews were having) in the story is that the word is to become flesh. That is, it's to penetrate into our lives and change us from the inside out. This is done in Jesus, who is the Word made flesh. And all of us in him partake of this reality of the new covenant.
Another major thought from it is that the word heard gives the hearers the sense of wanting to respond to it. The Hebrew words for "listen" and "obey" are synonymous. In our culture of reading silently, the idea is that we're in charge. But when it's read out loud to us we are being acted on, and it's up to us to respond.
To get the impact on people and how this plays out you'll need to read the book for yourself. It is quite a wonderful story to the point that you almost have a hard time thinking it didn't happen! And I love the epilogue and how the story ends. Wonderful picture of God's grace (of course you'll have to have read the story before to get it) and you see the pastor's heart John has in his telling of it.
What about us? When we pick up the Bible day after day what difference does it make in our lives and why? Are we having a relationship with it or with the God of the Bible? Are we entering into the Story of God's word in Jesus for ourselves? Or is it prmarily a book just telling us what to do and not do? And what significance does the word becoming flesh in Jesus have for our own lives? What place does the word have in us and how?
These questions and many more can be asked from the reading of this book. What hits you in your reading of the book or of these posts about the book? What would you like to share here?
1. unthinkable
2. unexplainable
3. unstoppable
Friday, May 23, 2008
"unstoppable" from John Frye
What would it be like to have all the word of God seen on the face of the earth, gone (except for Esther and Genesis)? What impact might this have? In John Frye's wonderful story telling ability we read about what could happen if that was the case in his new book: Out of Print: A Novel.
Again these are very real people, down to earth, and John knows people well, a pastor for over thirty years. After the "unthinkable" had happened, followed by a period when people are at a loss to understand why ("unexplainable") we now see another miracle taking place, but in a different direction. From consternation and fear, we see God's word prevailing through people all over the world who had committed it to memory. In the effort most of the Bible was retrieved, including its original languages of Hebrew and Greek, as well as its translation into worldwide languages. The interest in hearing God's word recited by his people was a phenomenon in reading rooms all over the world. And people who would not have darkened the doors of a church were interested and listening. Even the Islamic scholars, who had suggested that the disappearance of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures was a judgment by Allah, were taken back by what had unfolded before them.
Towards the end of the chapter John describes through the conversation of tthe Christian friends in the story much of what John is getting at in telling this story. That in hearing God's word read out loud, people can begin to hear God's voice to them. And that the word of God and God's work through it is more important than our theological differences as Christians.
In the words of Harold Johnson, the evangelical professor in the story:
I really like what John is getting at in this story and I'm trying to "get it" better myself. And I haven't even uncovered all the themes in the chapter, like the difference between God and the Book of God. And yet how important that Book is as God's word to the world in Jesus.
This chapter alone has plenty of fodder for good discussion, and for a deeper appreciation of this wonderful gift we have from God, in Scripture. And one thing that comes out to me loud and clear is that nothing can stop God's word and his work of love in Jesus and we best get in line with it, and find our place in this Story of God. It is truly unstoppable!
What hits you about this chapter or what is said here or from the book itself? What would you like to say about this?
1. unthinkable
2. unexplainable
Next week: chapter 4: "unsurpassable".
Again these are very real people, down to earth, and John knows people well, a pastor for over thirty years. After the "unthinkable" had happened, followed by a period when people are at a loss to understand why ("unexplainable") we now see another miracle taking place, but in a different direction. From consternation and fear, we see God's word prevailing through people all over the world who had committed it to memory. In the effort most of the Bible was retrieved, including its original languages of Hebrew and Greek, as well as its translation into worldwide languages. The interest in hearing God's word recited by his people was a phenomenon in reading rooms all over the world. And people who would not have darkened the doors of a church were interested and listening. Even the Islamic scholars, who had suggested that the disappearance of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures was a judgment by Allah, were taken back by what had unfolded before them.
Towards the end of the chapter John describes through the conversation of tthe Christian friends in the story much of what John is getting at in telling this story. That in hearing God's word read out loud, people can begin to hear God's voice to them. And that the word of God and God's work through it is more important than our theological differences as Christians.
In the words of Harold Johnson, the evangelical professor in the story:
The Bible simply being recited has become a magnet for human attention. The way Jews are showing an interest in the New Testament and Christians are needing the Jews for the Old Testament is uncanny. Catholic and Protestant scholars are developing a deep respect for each other as they work together to have just the Bible itself accessible. The profound Christian-Jewish, Protestant-Catholic-Orthodox cooperation has caught the attention of the Muslim world. Something truly greater than our differences is causing us to communicate with each other. (p. 66)Another important quote from Pastor Steve in the story:
The watching world is taking note of the love that Christians and Jews have for their Scriptures. The Bible is not being used anymore to harangue and judge and belittle and ostracisize others. It is simply being spoken and lived out by people who deeply treasure it. The Bible was meant to be a lived Book, not just a learened Book. Maybe it's as simple as "A love letter needs to be read in a loving way." (p. 71)There are some parts of the story that need to be resolved. Like all the loving, painstaking work done by the husband and wife team, Hank and Karla. How God used the disappearance of his word in Luci's life and her leaving Wayne, her boyfriend because of that, since he has no interest in what she has found and wants the old Luci back. Some good story lines, and if you get a chance to meet John, you'll see the love and humanness which he has cast in this story and its fictional characters of very real people.
I really like what John is getting at in this story and I'm trying to "get it" better myself. And I haven't even uncovered all the themes in the chapter, like the difference between God and the Book of God. And yet how important that Book is as God's word to the world in Jesus.
This chapter alone has plenty of fodder for good discussion, and for a deeper appreciation of this wonderful gift we have from God, in Scripture. And one thing that comes out to me loud and clear is that nothing can stop God's word and his work of love in Jesus and we best get in line with it, and find our place in this Story of God. It is truly unstoppable!
What hits you about this chapter or what is said here or from the book itself? What would you like to say about this?
1. unthinkable
2. unexplainable
Next week: chapter 4: "unsurpassable".
Friday, May 16, 2008
"unexplainable" from John Frye
Hit with the unthinkable, the Bible's text disappearing everywhere, Christians are left with the question, "What on earth is going on?" This is from chapter 2, "Unexplainable" in John Frye's book, Out of Print: A Novel.
We see a pastor trying to grapple with this problem. His whole ministry was about helping people understand the word of God through his teaching. What would he do now that the entire Bible had disappeared (except for Esther and Genesis 34)? His little five year old son reassures his daddy that he'll be a good pastor, and lets him know that he still prays to Jesus. The pastor feels lost, but in the Sunday service the shaken congregation's faith seems to come alive, as he leads them in reciting Psalm 23. And they find various ones in their midst who have memorized other psalms.
Muslim scholars gather and decide that the best tentative explanation they can come up with is that Allah has done this to judge the Christians and Jews for wrongs done against Muslims through the centuries to this day. A televangelist to keep the money coming in lets people know that Jesus told him that the devil stole the word, relating that to Jesus' parable of the sower where the devil steals the word before it can take root in people's hearts. The seminary professor in conference with other Christian and Biblical scholars simply doesn't know, but casts doubt on the idea that the devil could do something that God promised would never be done.
I wonder about us here in the United States. We have access to so many different translations, renderings and editions of the Bible. What do we do with this great gift we have? What if all the sudden it disappeared, no more words to read of it anywhere? What would we make of that? And indeed something of the same has happened in countries in which the Bible was prohibited. The accounts show many whose faith became strengthened and to whom God's word became more precious than ever. But why? And how? And what is involved in that?
You are left hanging after this chapter, wondering what might come next. Though some light is beginning to break through as people begin to see the importance of God's word, Scripture, being hidden in their heart, in their memory- establishing their relationship with God and life in the world. And how in that Jesus is central, as a small group led by the pastor sings He is Lord .
John knows people well, a pastor for nearly 30 years in one church and pastoring again. These fictional people come to life and are as real as you and me, as well as the problem they face. I'm left intrigued and wondering just what this means for us who often lazily read our Bibles and find the words at times tedious and all too familiar.
What about us? What does the Bible mean to us? What place does it have in our hearts and lives? How might we be misusing the Bible, or missing the point in our use of it? Or for some of us, why do we neglect the Bible at times? Could there be a good time for setting it aside temporarily? Why or why not?
These and other questions we can ask as we ponder this chapter. It's a time of hurt and pain in the story. But often those times are times of needed change.
What thoughts might you have on this, or possible explanations to the "unexplainable"?
We see a pastor trying to grapple with this problem. His whole ministry was about helping people understand the word of God through his teaching. What would he do now that the entire Bible had disappeared (except for Esther and Genesis 34)? His little five year old son reassures his daddy that he'll be a good pastor, and lets him know that he still prays to Jesus. The pastor feels lost, but in the Sunday service the shaken congregation's faith seems to come alive, as he leads them in reciting Psalm 23. And they find various ones in their midst who have memorized other psalms.
Muslim scholars gather and decide that the best tentative explanation they can come up with is that Allah has done this to judge the Christians and Jews for wrongs done against Muslims through the centuries to this day. A televangelist to keep the money coming in lets people know that Jesus told him that the devil stole the word, relating that to Jesus' parable of the sower where the devil steals the word before it can take root in people's hearts. The seminary professor in conference with other Christian and Biblical scholars simply doesn't know, but casts doubt on the idea that the devil could do something that God promised would never be done.
I wonder about us here in the United States. We have access to so many different translations, renderings and editions of the Bible. What do we do with this great gift we have? What if all the sudden it disappeared, no more words to read of it anywhere? What would we make of that? And indeed something of the same has happened in countries in which the Bible was prohibited. The accounts show many whose faith became strengthened and to whom God's word became more precious than ever. But why? And how? And what is involved in that?
You are left hanging after this chapter, wondering what might come next. Though some light is beginning to break through as people begin to see the importance of God's word, Scripture, being hidden in their heart, in their memory- establishing their relationship with God and life in the world. And how in that Jesus is central, as a small group led by the pastor sings He is Lord .
John knows people well, a pastor for nearly 30 years in one church and pastoring again. These fictional people come to life and are as real as you and me, as well as the problem they face. I'm left intrigued and wondering just what this means for us who often lazily read our Bibles and find the words at times tedious and all too familiar.
What about us? What does the Bible mean to us? What place does it have in our hearts and lives? How might we be misusing the Bible, or missing the point in our use of it? Or for some of us, why do we neglect the Bible at times? Could there be a good time for setting it aside temporarily? Why or why not?
These and other questions we can ask as we ponder this chapter. It's a time of hurt and pain in the story. But often those times are times of needed change.
What thoughts might you have on this, or possible explanations to the "unexplainable"?
Next week: chapter 3, "Unstoppable"
Friday, April 25, 2008
imagine
Imagine what would happen if gradually all the words of Scripture disappeared off the face of the earth. What would that be like? And imagine some time passing and what might occur among Christians and in the world after this phenemona. What might we learn from this? And then imagine Scripture gradually and fully reappearing on all the pages and places it had disappeared from. And what the end result might be, or at least the impact on the world at that time.
John Frye has written a recent and interesting short novel entitled, Out of Print. In it he works through this scenario with a number of characters one can identify with. From "ordinary" Christians to a Christian professor, a missionary couple whose painstaking work in translating Scripture into a language for the first time is lost, along with others. It is a good read, and two weeks from now on Friday, May 9 I will post on it to help us think it through. In the mean time you can order your own copy and read it beforehand.
I've had seasons in which I've slacked off in reading the Bible, and interestingly have often sensed more of the Spirit in my life during such times. They've actually been rare, as I've spent alot of my Christian life fairly heavy, relatively speaking I guess, in the word largely through hearing it and now largely through reading it, though I've begun to listen to it again.
A friend of mine thinks I may often be getting in the way of God. That I'm trying to do more than what God has done or is doing in me. Of course we're to work out what God is working in us. I think this friend has a point in what they're telling me. They're not telling me to be in the word less, but sometimes I think the way I'm in the word of God can actually get in the way of God's word getting through to me. It's like a steady drum beat that if one is not careful can become humdrum. I may be in it just to be in it, rather than be changed by it, or by God through his word.
I like to be in the word frequently throughout each day (though I do admit to slacking off often during normal weekends without missing my normal Bible reading for the most part) and in different ways: listening to it, interacting through a passage with others (our weekly team devotions at RBC Ministries), glancing at a passage I'm slowly working through throughout the day at work, use a different translation or rendering such as The Message, even working through a psalm from my small Bible while I'm driving, which you'll be happy to hear I don't do anymore (though Tiffany thinks I drive at least just as well doing that, which I hope doesn't tell you anything about my driving that's bad!).
Anyhow I look forward to thinking through John's novel together. It's stimulating and fun, and hopefully we can bounce some thoughts off each other and learn some things to both deepen our appreciation of the word, and promote its impact on us, or perhaps better put, God speaking into our lives.
What might you like to add to all of this?
John Frye has written a recent and interesting short novel entitled, Out of Print. In it he works through this scenario with a number of characters one can identify with. From "ordinary" Christians to a Christian professor, a missionary couple whose painstaking work in translating Scripture into a language for the first time is lost, along with others. It is a good read, and two weeks from now on Friday, May 9 I will post on it to help us think it through. In the mean time you can order your own copy and read it beforehand.
I've had seasons in which I've slacked off in reading the Bible, and interestingly have often sensed more of the Spirit in my life during such times. They've actually been rare, as I've spent alot of my Christian life fairly heavy, relatively speaking I guess, in the word largely through hearing it and now largely through reading it, though I've begun to listen to it again.
A friend of mine thinks I may often be getting in the way of God. That I'm trying to do more than what God has done or is doing in me. Of course we're to work out what God is working in us. I think this friend has a point in what they're telling me. They're not telling me to be in the word less, but sometimes I think the way I'm in the word of God can actually get in the way of God's word getting through to me. It's like a steady drum beat that if one is not careful can become humdrum. I may be in it just to be in it, rather than be changed by it, or by God through his word.
I like to be in the word frequently throughout each day (though I do admit to slacking off often during normal weekends without missing my normal Bible reading for the most part) and in different ways: listening to it, interacting through a passage with others (our weekly team devotions at RBC Ministries), glancing at a passage I'm slowly working through throughout the day at work, use a different translation or rendering such as The Message, even working through a psalm from my small Bible while I'm driving, which you'll be happy to hear I don't do anymore (though Tiffany thinks I drive at least just as well doing that, which I hope doesn't tell you anything about my driving that's bad!).
Anyhow I look forward to thinking through John's novel together. It's stimulating and fun, and hopefully we can bounce some thoughts off each other and learn some things to both deepen our appreciation of the word, and promote its impact on us, or perhaps better put, God speaking into our lives.
What might you like to add to all of this?
Saturday, April 12, 2008
refreshed in God
Yesterday in hearing "Peter" read 1 Peter and "John" read 1 John in The Bible Experience, I was refreshed on my way to work and on my way home. I think we have to keep after it in reading Scripture. But I also think there are those moments that jump out at us, as we read or hear God's word. Impacting us.
When that happens I want to take note, and see what the Lord may be speaking into my life, specifically. Yesterday I was reminded of the deep love we're to have for each other, grounded in the truth and love in Jesus. At other times I just am appreciative of the words I've read or heard time and time again, over past years. Yet they come fresh to me, and I'm refreshed and invigorated.
Again, I would like to recommend that you look into The Bible Experience. It has grown on me so that even though through various circumstances our finances are rather tight, I want to, down the road, get my own copy. Right now I've been repeatedly going through the New Testament with copies from our public library system, and have asked them to purchase the Old Testament of it.
My wife used to get tired of my continual listening to the Bible being read- and understandably so, since I wasn't open as I should have been to interruptions, but she likes this. I'm even listening to the songs interspersed here and there.
So check it out. Sample it at a bookstore if you can. And let's keep after our reading of God's word, as well as listening to it from The Bible Experience or in other ways- if you like.
Any thoughts here?
When that happens I want to take note, and see what the Lord may be speaking into my life, specifically. Yesterday I was reminded of the deep love we're to have for each other, grounded in the truth and love in Jesus. At other times I just am appreciative of the words I've read or heard time and time again, over past years. Yet they come fresh to me, and I'm refreshed and invigorated.
Again, I would like to recommend that you look into The Bible Experience. It has grown on me so that even though through various circumstances our finances are rather tight, I want to, down the road, get my own copy. Right now I've been repeatedly going through the New Testament with copies from our public library system, and have asked them to purchase the Old Testament of it.
My wife used to get tired of my continual listening to the Bible being read- and understandably so, since I wasn't open as I should have been to interruptions, but she likes this. I'm even listening to the songs interspersed here and there.
So check it out. Sample it at a bookstore if you can. And let's keep after our reading of God's word, as well as listening to it from The Bible Experience or in other ways- if you like.
Any thoughts here?
Saturday, April 05, 2008
what would Jesus do?
What would Jesus do if he were here today? This reminds me of the seven letters to the churches in the Revelation. I think it would be shocking to most of us in some way. In fact I don't think what Jesus would do would be that predictable. After all, Jesus knows just what we need at the time. And what we need today may not be what we need tomorrow. But I'll try, hopefully not foolishly.
I think Jesus would reach out to the gay community, not condoning sin, but befriending them. And I think Jesus would rebuke Christians who spend alot of time trying to legislate against the gay agenda or at least the way in which some often make their point. I think Jesus would rebuke both the religious right and the religious left, here in America. And I think he would challenge churches to be committed to the kingdom of God and the holy nation they're a part of, and beware of a nationalism which puts national interest first, often at the expense of God's kingdom in Jesus.
I think Jesus would have a very sobering talk with me, and I think I would have many tears, yet when it's all said and done, I think I would be most encouraged, knowing of his full love for me. And I would be challenged to follow him much more closely in my life, and to do so more in the fellowship of believers, seeing Jesus in each other, loving each other just as Jesus loved his disciples when he was here on earth, even to the Cross.
The fact is Jesus is with us by the Holy Spirit. And we have the word of God, and we have each other in Jesus. Let's be in prayer that he will speak to us, and move us to know and do God's good will. Let's be open to rebuke, correction and change, from the inside out. Let's commit ourselves to following him to the very end.
I know I'm slack on talking directly about mission here. What can we add to this, do you think?
I think Jesus would reach out to the gay community, not condoning sin, but befriending them. And I think Jesus would rebuke Christians who spend alot of time trying to legislate against the gay agenda or at least the way in which some often make their point. I think Jesus would rebuke both the religious right and the religious left, here in America. And I think he would challenge churches to be committed to the kingdom of God and the holy nation they're a part of, and beware of a nationalism which puts national interest first, often at the expense of God's kingdom in Jesus.
I think Jesus would have a very sobering talk with me, and I think I would have many tears, yet when it's all said and done, I think I would be most encouraged, knowing of his full love for me. And I would be challenged to follow him much more closely in my life, and to do so more in the fellowship of believers, seeing Jesus in each other, loving each other just as Jesus loved his disciples when he was here on earth, even to the Cross.
The fact is Jesus is with us by the Holy Spirit. And we have the word of God, and we have each other in Jesus. Let's be in prayer that he will speak to us, and move us to know and do God's good will. Let's be open to rebuke, correction and change, from the inside out. Let's commit ourselves to following him to the very end.
I know I'm slack on talking directly about mission here. What can we add to this, do you think?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
acclimating ourselves to all of God's revelation
It is important for us in Jesus to work at acclimating ourselves to all of God's revelation given to us. I think particularly here of God's "special revelation" found in Scripture and in Jesus (within Scripture), not to discount God's "general revelation" found in nature, in the world of creation.
This means we have to keep reading through and taking seriously the Old Testament. With all of its conundrums and problems. For example, God's wrath in judgment is quite evident there, though you'll find it in uncomfortable, for us, places, in the New Testament, as well.
There's no use or value in sweeping those hard passages under the rug. Instead, we must take them seriously, if we're really to get the full picture God has given us. We must hold all things together.
An example of what I'm trying to think through and say comes from Miroslav Volf (and my memory, here). In one of his outstanding books I think (or possibly hearing him, recorded), he mentions how Mennonites, who are Christian pacifists like himself, at least some of them, have not liked how he brought in the judgment aspect of the Revelation into the mix of how we Christians today should work through issues of injustice in the world. Of course, as Volf points out (and perish the thought of me speaking for others, and especially for people like Volf, and this is filtered, of course, through me), God's work in Jesus is that of judgment and grace. We see this at the Cross in which Jesus took upon himself God's just judgment, so that it is really God taking the judgment for our sin on himself in dying there for us and for the world. And this judgment and grace plays out in a different and climactic kind of way, in Jesus, in the Revelation, the last book of the Bible.
Certainly this means we have to see a part of Scripture with reference to the whole, that is to the entire Story of God, and start with its immediate context, and then the context of like writings, and the same conjectured author (the Revelation being one of the books of the Apostle John, along with others, as most would agree). Working on the book of Revelation, and hearing it as depicted (and quite wonderfully, I add, if still strange to me) from The Bible Experience is definitely an experience (CD or MP3 CD). Seeing the Revelation as the end of the Story, of course a Story that really knows no end, but the end as found in the Book, is quite helpful, I think. But I need to keep working on it, along with everything else. In my own simple, slow way, crowded in with all the necessities of life.
It's not easy to realize you're not fully developed yet in your thinking and living. But that's important, as we press on to maturity together in Christ. And we do have the Spirit of God along with the word, to help us through, everyday, just where we're at right now, to live in and live out the grace and truth found in Jesus.
What would you like to add to this?
This means we have to keep reading through and taking seriously the Old Testament. With all of its conundrums and problems. For example, God's wrath in judgment is quite evident there, though you'll find it in uncomfortable, for us, places, in the New Testament, as well.
There's no use or value in sweeping those hard passages under the rug. Instead, we must take them seriously, if we're really to get the full picture God has given us. We must hold all things together.
An example of what I'm trying to think through and say comes from Miroslav Volf (and my memory, here). In one of his outstanding books I think (or possibly hearing him, recorded), he mentions how Mennonites, who are Christian pacifists like himself, at least some of them, have not liked how he brought in the judgment aspect of the Revelation into the mix of how we Christians today should work through issues of injustice in the world. Of course, as Volf points out (and perish the thought of me speaking for others, and especially for people like Volf, and this is filtered, of course, through me), God's work in Jesus is that of judgment and grace. We see this at the Cross in which Jesus took upon himself God's just judgment, so that it is really God taking the judgment for our sin on himself in dying there for us and for the world. And this judgment and grace plays out in a different and climactic kind of way, in Jesus, in the Revelation, the last book of the Bible.
Certainly this means we have to see a part of Scripture with reference to the whole, that is to the entire Story of God, and start with its immediate context, and then the context of like writings, and the same conjectured author (the Revelation being one of the books of the Apostle John, along with others, as most would agree). Working on the book of Revelation, and hearing it as depicted (and quite wonderfully, I add, if still strange to me) from The Bible Experience is definitely an experience (CD or MP3 CD). Seeing the Revelation as the end of the Story, of course a Story that really knows no end, but the end as found in the Book, is quite helpful, I think. But I need to keep working on it, along with everything else. In my own simple, slow way, crowded in with all the necessities of life.
It's not easy to realize you're not fully developed yet in your thinking and living. But that's important, as we press on to maturity together in Christ. And we do have the Spirit of God along with the word, to help us through, everyday, just where we're at right now, to live in and live out the grace and truth found in Jesus.
What would you like to add to this?
Thursday, February 28, 2008
assimilation
I like the thought of Eugene Peterson in his book, Eat This Book, that we're not just to be reading the Bible, but eating it, eating the Book. It needs to get into our hearts and the fabric of our lives.
I distrust formulaic Christianity that says, "Do this, and then this will happen." It has truth to it, but the Bible is not a self-help book for us to go to and use for our benefit on our terms. It comes to us as the word of God, yes- for our true good, but on God's terms, as Peterson reminds us.
The Bible, God's word, is meant to change us in Jesus. And this takes time. There are those special times of breakthrough in our lives, contributing to this growth, but most of the growth is not recognizable to us until days and even years after the fact.
But we're actually commanded to grow, as well as expected to grow. To do so, we must abide in the Lord and have his words abide in us (John 15). And we must be eating the Book. Letting the Story of God found there move us so that we become part of God's ongoing Story in Jesus.
Whatever state we find ourselves in, let's not give up and lose heart. Though if we have lost heart, let's come to God as we are that way, as well. Our struggles or disillusionment can help us realize our need for growth. And growth inherently takes time.
We need to see God's truth in Jesus assimilated into our hearts and lives, changing us, changing who we are. Not that such change ever ends in this life, because it doesn't. We need to be growing more and more into the image of Jesus, both in our lives, and together with all others in Jesus. This needs to be our goal.
How have you found this to be true in your own life? Or any other thoughts.
I distrust formulaic Christianity that says, "Do this, and then this will happen." It has truth to it, but the Bible is not a self-help book for us to go to and use for our benefit on our terms. It comes to us as the word of God, yes- for our true good, but on God's terms, as Peterson reminds us.
The Bible, God's word, is meant to change us in Jesus. And this takes time. There are those special times of breakthrough in our lives, contributing to this growth, but most of the growth is not recognizable to us until days and even years after the fact.
But we're actually commanded to grow, as well as expected to grow. To do so, we must abide in the Lord and have his words abide in us (John 15). And we must be eating the Book. Letting the Story of God found there move us so that we become part of God's ongoing Story in Jesus.
Whatever state we find ourselves in, let's not give up and lose heart. Though if we have lost heart, let's come to God as we are that way, as well. Our struggles or disillusionment can help us realize our need for growth. And growth inherently takes time.
We need to see God's truth in Jesus assimilated into our hearts and lives, changing us, changing who we are. Not that such change ever ends in this life, because it doesn't. We need to be growing more and more into the image of Jesus, both in our lives, and together with all others in Jesus. This needs to be our goal.
How have you found this to be true in your own life? Or any other thoughts.
Monday, February 18, 2008
read slowly
I guess I'm not a fan of speed reading, unless you're reading something not all that riveting to you, but having some importance, or else having to complete a heavy academic load. I think here especially of our Bible reading. When we read Scripture do we really let it have a chance, as God's word, to really get hold of us? To do so means more than to just read it, good as that is. I think it involves reading it slowly.
We read it slowly in a receptive manner, to receive it as what it is, the word of God. We may not know exactly what God is saying to us, or how this word is impacting us. But the important thing is that we're there with our Bible, in quietness before God, to let him speak or impact us as he pleases. It's not an issue of whether or not we have to sense that speaking or impact on us. No. We have to proceed by faith and seek to do so with a listening heart as in the words of Samuel, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening."
Reading slow means to read letting the thoughts come to us. Letting the Bible speak to us on its own terms; thus truly opening ourselves up to the word of God and all that can mean for us.
This will take time on our part. Being unhurried. Reading Scripture can become monotonous and I think sometimes we have to fight through times of boredom and tedium in our reading of it. But often this is the case, surely, because we're not giving it the time and place it needs.
For my part, I tend to want to read it in large chunks and quite alot over time. But I'm afraid in doing so I may be running ahead of really letting the word of God speak to me.
I don't want to discount that fact that Scripture plainly speaks to us with mostly words that on the surface are not hard to understand. But it takes more than just an understanding of their meaning, but a work of God by faith, so that we will take in the meaning and reality of the meaning in Jesus, into the very fabric of our hearts and out from that into our lives. We are indeed, to eat the Book (cf., prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and John on the island of Patmos in writing the book of the Revelation).
I am a believer in us reading through the entire Bible from cover to cover, repeatedly. But I also think we need to be willing to read it slowly, and sometimes the same passage repeatedly. And we need to do this regularly, at least as a rule, once a day.
Of course some of us can have it quiet much easier than others. For some with babies and small children, quiet for any certain length of time may be impossible. We just have to do the best we can to get a space somehow, where we can do this, however imperfectly. The Lord looks on our efforts, not on the actual performance.
What help can any of you offer on this? Or anything you might like to say.
We read it slowly in a receptive manner, to receive it as what it is, the word of God. We may not know exactly what God is saying to us, or how this word is impacting us. But the important thing is that we're there with our Bible, in quietness before God, to let him speak or impact us as he pleases. It's not an issue of whether or not we have to sense that speaking or impact on us. No. We have to proceed by faith and seek to do so with a listening heart as in the words of Samuel, "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening."
Reading slow means to read letting the thoughts come to us. Letting the Bible speak to us on its own terms; thus truly opening ourselves up to the word of God and all that can mean for us.
This will take time on our part. Being unhurried. Reading Scripture can become monotonous and I think sometimes we have to fight through times of boredom and tedium in our reading of it. But often this is the case, surely, because we're not giving it the time and place it needs.
For my part, I tend to want to read it in large chunks and quite alot over time. But I'm afraid in doing so I may be running ahead of really letting the word of God speak to me.
I don't want to discount that fact that Scripture plainly speaks to us with mostly words that on the surface are not hard to understand. But it takes more than just an understanding of their meaning, but a work of God by faith, so that we will take in the meaning and reality of the meaning in Jesus, into the very fabric of our hearts and out from that into our lives. We are indeed, to eat the Book (cf., prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and John on the island of Patmos in writing the book of the Revelation).
I am a believer in us reading through the entire Bible from cover to cover, repeatedly. But I also think we need to be willing to read it slowly, and sometimes the same passage repeatedly. And we need to do this regularly, at least as a rule, once a day.
Of course some of us can have it quiet much easier than others. For some with babies and small children, quiet for any certain length of time may be impossible. We just have to do the best we can to get a space somehow, where we can do this, however imperfectly. The Lord looks on our efforts, not on the actual performance.
What help can any of you offer on this? Or anything you might like to say.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
our heart language
What is our heart language, as in how we think, then act and live? It is so easy to imbibe the world's many takes on this, drinking deeply of that just by default. There are many ways opposed to the Jesus way, as Eugene Peterson so wonderfully shares with us, in his recent book, The Jesus Way. And at least by the constant drip of it into our lives, we are affected.
Our heart language needs to be more and more the same heart language given to us from God in the Scriptures, God's word; and in Jesus, God's Word. Of course just knowing the words alone from Scripture and from there of Jesus, are not enough in themselves. Not to say that knowing the Scriptures is not important, because it most certainly is. Jesus chided some in his day, even Jewish leaders, who neither knew the Scriptures or the power of God.
But we must know the heart language of the Scriptures. We must know by faith, the God of the Scriptures. And in so doing, we can come to know more and more the heart of God in these Scriptures. Of course we see this supremely through Jesus, God's final Word. But we need all of Scripture for it. And we need to be in prayer and faith, to really begin to sense this language in our own hearts.
As we read Scripture, or hear it read (maybe from ourselves, as some do) it needs to be more and more natural to us, and of which we seek to drink deeply because the words of Scripture from the Spirit are meant to be personal, from God to us back to God and to the world. And they need to be and inherently are life-shaping. We need to get into the drip, drip of it, as well, by our regular intake.
So let's keep at it. The words in themselves won't do it. It's the God behind those words who will help us hear him- something of his very heart, so that we might imbibe that, and become increasingly, people after God's own heart, in Jesus. Finding in God's Story our story in Jesus, in this present world.
What insight or thought might you have here?
Our heart language needs to be more and more the same heart language given to us from God in the Scriptures, God's word; and in Jesus, God's Word. Of course just knowing the words alone from Scripture and from there of Jesus, are not enough in themselves. Not to say that knowing the Scriptures is not important, because it most certainly is. Jesus chided some in his day, even Jewish leaders, who neither knew the Scriptures or the power of God.
But we must know the heart language of the Scriptures. We must know by faith, the God of the Scriptures. And in so doing, we can come to know more and more the heart of God in these Scriptures. Of course we see this supremely through Jesus, God's final Word. But we need all of Scripture for it. And we need to be in prayer and faith, to really begin to sense this language in our own hearts.
As we read Scripture, or hear it read (maybe from ourselves, as some do) it needs to be more and more natural to us, and of which we seek to drink deeply because the words of Scripture from the Spirit are meant to be personal, from God to us back to God and to the world. And they need to be and inherently are life-shaping. We need to get into the drip, drip of it, as well, by our regular intake.
So let's keep at it. The words in themselves won't do it. It's the God behind those words who will help us hear him- something of his very heart, so that we might imbibe that, and become increasingly, people after God's own heart, in Jesus. Finding in God's Story our story in Jesus, in this present world.
What insight or thought might you have here?
Saturday, December 29, 2007
hearing God's word
I love to hear God's word well read, out loud (of course). And I love to hear it done in dramatic effect, well- not overdone, but giving us a feel for the story or what's being said. After all the Bible is just as human a book, as it is of God. Like Jesus, the Word who became flesh/human, the Bible is a God-human book. Not lessening its status as the word of God. Of course words are first, by nature, heard. They are spoken first and received by ear. Or written down and for most of God's people in Bible times, heard from one reading them out loud.
I used to go through the Bible several times a year by hearing its reading dramatized, or later, read- on tape. I used to drive my wife Deb, herself a lover of God's word- kind of "crazy" in doing so- and I was wrong for not letting her interrupt me the few times she wanted to, so I could catch everything. I grew tired of cassettes breaking and jamming. So I set it aside, after years of doing so, just a few years back.
I've enjoyed reading Scripture now in the conventional way, though I try to read slowly and "out loud" in my mind.
Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed recently had a post that rather excited me. He highly recommended The Bible Experience, a reading of Scripture done by a number of gifted people, done to give one the sense of being present- before the original writer or reader, or before the story itself. And so easily finding oneself becoming a part of that. I once sampled it in a bookstore and was much impressed. Now I've decided I want to pinch my dollars and get it. Though I still intend to keep to my more conventional way of going through Scripture daily- morning and evening. But like going through The Message, as I'm doing now, this will be at least a good supplement, and in itself a dynamic, that may mirror more the way God wants us to approach his word. With our whole human person, as those engaged with other humans and in story, with God and in his Story.
What has helped you in reading or hearing God's word? Or whatever you might add.
I used to go through the Bible several times a year by hearing its reading dramatized, or later, read- on tape. I used to drive my wife Deb, herself a lover of God's word- kind of "crazy" in doing so- and I was wrong for not letting her interrupt me the few times she wanted to, so I could catch everything. I grew tired of cassettes breaking and jamming. So I set it aside, after years of doing so, just a few years back.
I've enjoyed reading Scripture now in the conventional way, though I try to read slowly and "out loud" in my mind.
Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed recently had a post that rather excited me. He highly recommended The Bible Experience, a reading of Scripture done by a number of gifted people, done to give one the sense of being present- before the original writer or reader, or before the story itself. And so easily finding oneself becoming a part of that. I once sampled it in a bookstore and was much impressed. Now I've decided I want to pinch my dollars and get it. Though I still intend to keep to my more conventional way of going through Scripture daily- morning and evening. But like going through The Message, as I'm doing now, this will be at least a good supplement, and in itself a dynamic, that may mirror more the way God wants us to approach his word. With our whole human person, as those engaged with other humans and in story, with God and in his Story.
What has helped you in reading or hearing God's word? Or whatever you might add.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
godly thinking
Have you ever noticed how muddled our thinking can be when reading Scripture or a good book on Scripture and Christian theology? Of course we now "see through a glass darkly" and "know in part" (1 Corinthians 13). But I'm thinking here of our trying to understand God's revelation to us by sheer intellect. We can begin to understand only through "the mind of Christ." We're told in Scripture that we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2). I take this "we" in context to mean believers individually as well as all of us together.
Gordon Fee in his commentary on 1 Corinthians says "the mind of Christ" "probably means the thoughts of Christ as they are revealed by the Spirit." (p 119). Sheer intellect, no matter how high is not going to get the things of God expressed in the word of God. It takes "the mind of Christ" given to us, and it's a mind set on obeying God's will. If we're holding on to sin, and not confessing and seeking to forsake sin in our heart and actions, then we're not really going to understand as we really need to understand the word of God. Of course God in his grace at times will make exceptions to get through to us or others. But this is true as a rule, I believe.
We need godly thinking, no less. And such is found in Christ, as we endeavor seriously to live in Christ, walking in obedience to God in all things in our lives, even in this present existence and world. This starts right where we're at. And there are no exceptions in our lives. I believe that even as we stumble along in trying to live consistently in this way, God will encourage us and help us along.
And we do this with interdependence on other believers as well as full dependence on God. I'd rather hear the counsel of a "simple" believer, than the lecture of a most intelligent person not walking in fellowship with God. Let's not forget that we need each other. This is not an individual endeavor, but a community endeavor, in unity with each other in God through Christ and by the Spirit. The Spirit will confirm whether or not our thinking is godly not just to ourselves, but to other believers who have the same Spirit.
What might you like to add here?
Gordon Fee in his commentary on 1 Corinthians says "the mind of Christ" "probably means the thoughts of Christ as they are revealed by the Spirit." (p 119). Sheer intellect, no matter how high is not going to get the things of God expressed in the word of God. It takes "the mind of Christ" given to us, and it's a mind set on obeying God's will. If we're holding on to sin, and not confessing and seeking to forsake sin in our heart and actions, then we're not really going to understand as we really need to understand the word of God. Of course God in his grace at times will make exceptions to get through to us or others. But this is true as a rule, I believe.
We need godly thinking, no less. And such is found in Christ, as we endeavor seriously to live in Christ, walking in obedience to God in all things in our lives, even in this present existence and world. This starts right where we're at. And there are no exceptions in our lives. I believe that even as we stumble along in trying to live consistently in this way, God will encourage us and help us along.
And we do this with interdependence on other believers as well as full dependence on God. I'd rather hear the counsel of a "simple" believer, than the lecture of a most intelligent person not walking in fellowship with God. Let's not forget that we need each other. This is not an individual endeavor, but a community endeavor, in unity with each other in God through Christ and by the Spirit. The Spirit will confirm whether or not our thinking is godly not just to ourselves, but to other believers who have the same Spirit.
What might you like to add here?
Monday, October 15, 2007
thinking outside the box
I am eagerly reading Scot McKnight's new book, A Community Called Atonement. It is more than well worth the read, and re-read. It is written clearly about a subject that can be revolutionary for us as God's people in this world.
From this comes this thought: we need to be people who are willing to be thinking outside the box. Just what do I mean? First from a faith commitment to God in Christ as well as a faith commitment to Scripture as the word of God to us. And I also include God's working through the centuries through the church, while remembering that unlike God and his word, the church is fallible in its actions and words. Yet the church is what God has chosen to bring his truth and life to this world in Christ.
A Reformation teaching is that we're to ever be reforming. Within the faith commitments I mention above, I want to be among those who are thinking outside of the box. Of course this doesn't mean we're willing to throw truth away. It does mean I'm willing to keep studying and reading and listening to see where I might better understand truth, which means I might better understand how to live as part of those who are in Jesus in this world.
Scot in his book challenges us. And we best take up such a challenge, because this is a worthy attempt to faithfully reflect on Scripture, and the truth and story found in it.
I'm sure at least some of my postings will reflect some of this thinking outside of the box. It must become a part of how we see and read Scripture, hopefully letting Scripture say what it really is saying to us. It then must become a part of who we are as we see God's word changing us more and more into the image of Christ in this world.
From this comes this thought: we need to be people who are willing to be thinking outside the box. Just what do I mean? First from a faith commitment to God in Christ as well as a faith commitment to Scripture as the word of God to us. And I also include God's working through the centuries through the church, while remembering that unlike God and his word, the church is fallible in its actions and words. Yet the church is what God has chosen to bring his truth and life to this world in Christ.
A Reformation teaching is that we're to ever be reforming. Within the faith commitments I mention above, I want to be among those who are thinking outside of the box. Of course this doesn't mean we're willing to throw truth away. It does mean I'm willing to keep studying and reading and listening to see where I might better understand truth, which means I might better understand how to live as part of those who are in Jesus in this world.
Scot in his book challenges us. And we best take up such a challenge, because this is a worthy attempt to faithfully reflect on Scripture, and the truth and story found in it.
I'm sure at least some of my postings will reflect some of this thinking outside of the box. It must become a part of how we see and read Scripture, hopefully letting Scripture say what it really is saying to us. It then must become a part of who we are as we see God's word changing us more and more into the image of Christ in this world.
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