The Daily Office Lectionary

I'm enjoying reading the daily office lectionary these days (from the Book of Common Prayer). I decided back in December to go with some sort of Bible reading plan in 2011, and looked at quite a few options before settling on the lectionary. I've been reading all the Scripture passages in the morning, but may fiddle with the routine from time to time. Todays readings, fyi, are here.

Caveat Lector

Eugene Peterson said:

The words printed on the pages of my Bible give witness to the living and active revelation of the God of creation and salvation, the God of love who became the Word made flesh in Jesus, and I had better not forget it. If in my Bible reading I lose touch with this livingness, if I fail to listen to this living Jesus, submit to this sovereignty, and respond to this love, I become arrogant in my knowing and impersonal in my behavior. An enormous amount of damage is done in the name of Christian living by bad Bible reading. Caveat lector, let the reader beware.

Humility, wisdom, trust, love, and receptivity

Richard Briggs wrote a book called Reading the bible Wisely. I haven't read it, but I like that title. Most Christians I know struggle to read the Bible, or they read it devotionally (small snippets chosen for their encouragingness), in which case context becomes of no importance, and many passages wind up being misunderstood. [For a lesson on context, see Chaplain's Mike's recent post at the Internet Monk, I am the least of these.]

Anyway, I forget where I read it, but some blogger quoted the Briggs book recently, saying that the Bible should be read with "humility, wisdom, trust, love, and receptivity."

So true. And it occurs to me that the Bible reader continues to benefit from repeated re-reading of the Scriptures because over time the reader, through that process, often grows in "humility, wisdom, trust, love, and [therefore] receptivity."

Saturday Book Notes

I know I've come across Darrell W. Johnson's name from time to time, but it was this video that made me sit up and take notice:



So anyway, I looked up some of his books and was really taken by Discipleship on the Edge. It is a collection of thirty expository sermons on the Book of Revelation, and it is like no other book on that subject I've ever heard about.

I'm going to read this book very slowly and carefully over the next few months, sharing passages here from time to time. There's a very nice 9-page summary of the book here (pdf). For my first quote, the following comes from very early in the preface, as Johnson summarized why it it that if he could choose only one book of the Bible to read for the rest of his life, it would be the Revelation.

[I]n no other book of the Bible do we see Jesus as clearly and compellingly as we do in the last book. That is quite a statement coming from someone who has spent all of his adult life soaking in the Gospel of John! Yet I am convinced that no other book helps us see Jesus as he is right now as clearly and compellingly as the last book John wrote. No other book helps us see Jesus relative to the movement of history the way the last book does. No other book helps us see Jesus relative to "the powers" at work in our time the way the last book does. No other book helps us see him in a way that overcomes our fear and frees us for radical faith.

"You know you're reading the Revelation rightly if in the end you find yourself at the feet of Jesus Christ."

Philippians 4:4-7 Paraphrase

I spent some time yesterday meditating on Philippians 4:4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Here's my run-on paraphrase:

Rejoice in the Lord all the time, since He's near. Take pleasure in the Lord continually, since, after all, He's with you, He's at hand. If that's so, it's the only reasonable thing to do. Therefore, nothing need make you anxious or stressed-out. I mean, if the Lord is near at hand, why are you letting your boss stress you out? Just make your request concerning the issue to God (who is near), giving him thanks for being a nearby, listening God, and you know what? Peace is going to replace the stress and worry. This goes beyond reason, beyond understanding. It's supernatural. It will make you patient, gentle (ESV: reasonable). Peace! And this peace will protect your heart and mind. The thing that was a danger to your heart (the stress caused by the situation with your boss, which provoked in you a heart-response like anger or even hatred), this supernatural peace will protect your heart from this--that is, from its own fleshly conditioning. And it will also protect your mind, because the the same stress provokes in you thoughts that are a danger to you. Perhaps thoughts of self-contempt, or a constant going over in your mind of the same ground again and again as you defend yourself against this self-contempt, trying to justify yourself. Dangerous, that. But this peace of God will protect your heart and mind from the network of thoughts and feelings that arise from the worry, the anxiety, to which your flesh is prone, and which events in the world around you are continually provoking. Bottom line, God is in that world too, and he's near. Near!

Final point. Big point. Most important point. This peace of God which protects your heart and mind, does so "in Christ Jesus." This phrase opens the whole passage up into something big but also very specific. What's it all about? I can't easily paraphrase it. It's really a "mystery" (Col 1:26-27). In Christ Jesus. Our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus, know his nearness and grateful for it (thus, "thanksgiving"); so deeply, profoudnly grateful for it, so glad he's near and glad for the peace that nearness gives, that you can reasonably be expected to rejoice all the time. Amazing!

The Dark Side of Bible Reading

Excerpt:

I am concerned about those who approach the text with their own issues and preoccupations already in mind and ask the Word to magically speak to those issues. I am irritated with an attitude (usually well-meaning and unintentional, by the way) that sounds like: "That's a nice story Jesus, but can you please address my problem with __________?" Or, after reading Paul's monumental Letter to the Romans saying, "Wow, Paul, that was some deep stuff! Can we talk about me now?" And a thousand other variations.

Jesus Creed

Click and Read

I sit here now in the thick darkness of my own goodness.

HT: The Jesus Paradigm.

Controlled by Love (I wish)

[Okay, this is the last of my posts on 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. I've been reading and re-reading this passage, journaling this passage, and just generally chewing on this passage for about two weeks now I guess. I have no illusions that these ruminations are particularly enlightening or "life changing" to anyone else, and so there is no particular reason that I should share them here, but hey, it's what I do.]

As I've been saying all along, the question underlying my fixation on this passage is, how do I get to the place where I too can say with Paul, I am controlled by the the love of Christ? I mean, for Pete's sake and dog gone it, them's strong words! And as I've been repeating all along, Paul says that the reason he is able to say that about himself is because he has an understanding of the world and of people that is controlled by the fact that Christ died for them. If you really get that, you will deal with these people for whom Christ died (that is, all of us), in a way that is remarkably similar to the way that Christ dealt with people. You will be "controlled by the love of Christ."

Well, that's how I read verses 14 and 15 anyway. That's my working hypothesis. Paul says next that having this fundamental understanding of people means that we would no longer regard them according to the flesh. That's verse 16. The HCSB rendering puts it this way:

From now on them, we don not know anyone in a purely human way.

I like that. Peterson's Message renders it:

We don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look.

I would suggest of course that's there's still more to regarding people according to the flesh than that, but those are two primary ways such regarding takes place.

Now, I want to be this way. Like Paul. Like Jesus. I want to have that "same mind" in me. Not understanding people by worldly categories, by appearances, by ethnicity or color, by economic status, or other cultural codes. All "according to the flesh" considerations have been made irrelevant by Christ's death for all. I want to get that and get it good! Perhaps as a matter of focusing my understanding properly I might practice this spiritual discipline. Today, all day, I will remind myself that everyone I meet, everyone that passes into my circle of awareness, is one for whom Christ died and was raised. This will be the first thing I think when I think of them. Holy Spirit, renew my mind!

Okay, that's all well and good. But thinking about people is not loving them. One of Paul's points is that loving people properly is founded on proper understanding, but there is more to loving than thinking lovely thoughts.

Well, where does Paul go from here. Within this passage there are two parallel purpose statements that apply to those of us who are "in Christ."

v. 15b -- that we should no longer live for ourselves but for him who died and was raised.

v. 19 -- we have been entrusted with the message that in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself. This is our ministry.

To be controlled by the love of Christ, then, is to live for him by sharing the message about who he is and what he has done with everyone we meet. This is our job as "ambassadors."

We're talking about having our fundamental understanding of the world changed by reason of what Christ has done, and then having that new understanding well up into action, lifestyle, words and deeds, which convey a message of reconciliation.

That's what Paul is getting at here. Note, it begins in Christ and what Christ has done, and proceeds to a radical change in our understanding of people (a change which, I will add, few Christians are particularly far along in), which then proceeds to the level of message. To try to convey the message without having the understanding is deadly. DEADLY! In other words, to try to convey the message of reconciliation while all the time regarding people according to the flesh is deadly. We should examine ourselves carefully on this matter.

That's it. I'm out of time, and I've said enough anyway. Later!

Still Ruminatin'

[So I'm still ruminating on 2Cor 15:14-21. The previous ruminations are here, here, and here.]

Let's recap. Paul says, the love of Christ controls him. He says the reason for that is because Christ died for all, and therefore all died, and therefore he (Paul) now "regards" people not according to the flesh, but according to the understanding that Christ died for them. There. It's all very simple!

Now, the passage first began plaguing me last week when the question occurred to me, "Do I, like Paul, no longer regard people according to the flesh? All people? Not just really nice people that I like, but everybody I meet?"

To get there, I must remind myself that Christ died for all. And therefore, they died. This may seem a rather daring leap. Paul, how can you say such things? What do you mean, "they died"? Whatever the answer is, it begins with the deepening realization, "Christ died for all." ALL.

To regard people according to the flesh is a kind of spiritual short-sightedness. Our sense of a person is dominated by all the obvious worldly categories. Male or female. Rich or poor. Powerful or powerless. Smart or stupid. Fat or skinny. Dark or light. "Barbarian, Scythian, slave, free." Christ's death for all made all these categories irrelevant. Nevertheless, I believe that, if we are honest with ourselves, we should have to admit that such categories (and many more) impinge more than we would like to admit on how we "regard" people.

But the category that controls Paul's perspective is simply this: Christ died for all. So that the thought uppermost in Paul's mind when he meets someone is, "Here is another one for whom Christ died." This is a perspective that comes with the new life that is "in Christ," which is why Paul sings out,

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. [HCSB]

I used to read this brief passage and think it was all about me. I'm born again, so I'm a new creation! But Paul is talking about how we are to regard others. We are to regard them from God's perspective. That's why I like the Holman Christian Standard translation here. As the next few verses show, he is talking about the world here, the creation! In terms of our regarding, how we see things, the old has passed away. Therefore, from now on (!) "we do not know anyone in a purely human way." Instead we regard people with what I'll call exclamatory sight:

"Look! There is a new creation."

No matter whether that person we are beholding understands him or herself that way. That's how we're to see them. All worldly categories, all that is of the flesh, is now out of our perspective. These matters are no longer definitive. We see with Christ-sight!

And here we come to one of the most important words of this or any Biblical passage. "Reconciliation." From God's perspective, because of the Cross, there is reconciliation between Himself and people. People may be at war with God, but He is not at war with them. Peace has been declared!

In my next post I want to take up this thread again. The question on the table remains, How do I get to the place where, like Paul, I am controlled by the love of Christ? More later.

All have died?

[Caution: the author of the following post is not a Bible scholar, does not know Greek, and has never even dropped out of a Bible college or divinity program. Read at own risk! Also, the same goes for Part 1, and Part 2.]

I've been using this space lately to meander through the words of Paul in 2Cor 15, beginning at verse 14. The reason? Well, when I read verse 14 last week, where Paul says he is controlled by the love of Christ, it simply dawned on me that this was a very bold statement, and at about the same time it also dawned on me that this was a statement that I could not honestly make about myself. Here's the passage in question:

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The shape of Paul's reasoning here is to begin with a statement about the present condition, then to briefly explain how that condition came about, then to further "unpack" the nature of that present condition.

The present condition: controlled by the love of Christ. To explain how this inward disposition came to be, Paul says that he has come to a conclusion concerning the effect of the death of Christ.

"One has died for all, therefore all have died."

Stop. If those words don't bring you up short, then you've probably got that condition so common to Christians, a bad case of taking Scripture for granted. What can Paul mean by these words? All have died! He doesn't say here, we who are believers, sanctified in Christ, have died to self. No, he says, "all have died." And then he goes on to speak of "those who live." That's apparently a smaller subset of "all." All have died, but not all live. But as a consequence of Christ dying for all, those who live can now -- and here Paul comes back around to a restatement of his present condition -- live not for themselves but for him who died and was raised for their sake.

I said that this passage brought me up short because it clearly described an inward disposition that was not my own. Paul's first move, in explaining his bold statement, is to show that it is a consequence of his theology regarding the death of Jesus. Having come to a certain conclusion about that death, he now lives a different kind of life. The kind of life he now lives has thus far been described in two ways:

1. it is controlled by the love of Christ
2. it is lived for Christ, not for self.

Okay, this is all well and good, but for the rest of us, those of us who are not Paul, there often seems to be a disconnect -- no, make that a "chasm" -- between what we believe and how we behave. I believe that Christ died for all, but am I controlled by Christ's love? living for him and not for myself? I mean, let's be real here!

But I'm overlooking the middle piece.

Therefore all have died.

Do I really believe that? Do I even understand it? In other words, perhaps the problem isn't so much a disconnect between what I believe and how I behave, but perhaps I'm not believing correctly. Perhaps my understanding is skewed (won't be the first time!). Perhaps, unlike Paul, I have actually come to the conclusion that Christ died for some, not all, and therefore some have died, but not all.

Behavior, after all, flows from our deeply-held beliefs and understanding. Paul says, I behave this way because I believe these things. When Paul talks about behavior, he always cuts through to the level of deeply-held beliefs and understanding.

So clearly it's crucial for me to come to the same conclusion, at the level of my understanding, that Paul came to. Christ died for all, therefore all have died. How do I get there? Paul's going to unpack all this a little more in the following verses, which we'll wrestle with in the next post, Lord willing.

Further Ruminations on 2Cor 5:14 and beyond

"For the love of Christ constrains us . . ."

Constrained. Hemmed in. The word speaks of a limitation on our choices. We recall that in Romans 6 he goes so far as to call this a slavery to righteousness.

Suffice it to say that I do not feel like a slave to righteousness. But the way that Paul addresses this issue has nothing to do with how one feels. It has to do with our understanding. When he wants to explain why it is that he is constrained by the love of Christ, he goes directly to this level of understanding. "Because I have come to this conclusion . . . "

if One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and was raised.

Although he is speaking of a great mystery (the exchange of Christ's righteousness for our guilt), he says, since I have come to this conclusion, that such an exchange has taken place, I find myself constrained by the very love that such an exchange so strongly implies. That's the only point I want to make this morning. Paul does not draw his conclusions from how he feels, but from what he knows. His assumption is that our behavior, our lives and loves, flow from our understanding. It is to the mind that Paul often appeals in this way, and not to the heart.

In this same manner he says in Romans, "Reckon yourself dead to sin." Reckon up the price God paid in Christ to redeem your sin, and in the final tally you will have to conclude, no matter how often your behavior attests to a different reckoning (a different understanding, a different cost/benefit analysis), that you really are dead to sin.

All this is very strange, and I confess it is difficult for me. If I look at myself, I cannot conclude that I am dead to sin, or that I am constrained by the love of Christ. But if I look to Christ Himself, I wonder how it can ever be otherwise!

That's all for now. Have a fine weekend and a truly restful Sabbath.

A love that presses

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; . . . [ESV]

For Christ's love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion: if One died for all, then all died. [HCSB]

I said yesterday that this verse (and those following) were having a "piercing and discerning" impact on me. That is, of course, what the Word of God does. Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Paul, writing to the Corinthian church and explaining his ministry to them, says that he is constrained, controlled, or compelled (depending on the translation), by the love of Christ.

Take those words seriously. Paul is not simply using high-blown rhetoric here. He's stating a fact. Can I say as much about myself? "The love of Christ compels me...."

All I want to do here is look at that word: control [ESV], compel [HCSB]. Using the Greek lexicon at Crosswalk.com, I discover that the Greek word is sunecho, and is used once by Matthew, nine times by Luke, and twice by Paul.

In Matthew 4:24 it is used to describe people afflicted by or in the grip of illness or disease.

Luke uses the word in a similar context at 4:38 of his Gospel.

At Luke 8:37 he uses the same word to describe people siezed by fear.

At 8:45 he describes how the throng of people pressed in on Jesus, so that he was constrained by them.

At 12:50 the word is variously translated with the verbs "distressed" (ESV, NIV, NKJV), "consumed" (HCSB), or "straitened" (KJV). Jesus is saying here that he is controlled by that ruling purpose for which he came, to undergo the "baptism" of the cross.

At Luke 19:43 we come back to the idea of being surrounded or hemmed in, in this case by an enemy.

And at 22:63 the word is used to describe the way the Temple guards surrounded and beat Jesus from all sides.

We can see from these usages that the word speaks of powerful constraint. In the one other time that Paul uses the word, at Philippians 1:23, it is in the same manner. He is "hard pressed," he says, between two choices, whether to live and go on with his fruitful labors, or whether to die and be with Christ (which is far better).

Back to Paul's use of the term in 2 Corinthians. Paul is saying that he is controlled by only one thing: the love of Christ. The love of Christ rules over him and in a manner powerfully constrains his actions. Because of the love of Christ, his whole perspective is changed, and he regards people -- all people -- differently than he otherwise would have.

Now, if someone were to tell me that he was controlled by the love of Christ, well, I'd probably think the guy was posing. Mr. Super-Christian! But let us assume that Paul is not posturing here, but assessing reality accurately. His understanding and therefore his actions, which after all proceed from the understanding, are controlled by the love of Christ.

I've said enough for one morning, but if you haven't caught the breathtaking grandeur of what Paul is saying here, just ask yourself how often you have been able to say, with Paul, that the love of Christ utterly controls you.

A Brief Reading List for Gospel Centered Hermeneutics

I'd like to put together a reading list of books that will help me to read the Old Testament in light of the New. Graeme Goldsworhty has contributed much in this field of endeavor, of course, beginning with the excellent Gospel in Kingdom. In addition, he wrote According to Plan, which Brian at A Small Faith has been reading. Two more by Goldsworthy: Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, and Gospel Centered Hermeneutics. And Goldsworthy himself recommends these titles:

• Days Are Coming by Mark Strom
• God's Big Picture, by Vaughn Roberts

[HT: Buzzard Blog]

With Amazon to help, I've come across a few more titles to add to the list:

• Him We Proclaim, by Dennis E. Johnson
• Preaching the Cross, by the Together for the Gospel gang
  
• Last Things First, by John V. Fesko
• Preaching Christ in All of Scripture, by Edmund Clowney
• Preaching Christ from the Old Testament, by Sidney Greidanus
• The Ancient Love Song: Finding Christ in the Old Testament, by Charles D. Drew
• Beginning with Moses, by Michael Barrett

There, that ought to keep me busy for a while. Actually, I will probably pick only one or two of these to read, but I wanted to pull together a list to choose from. And maybe this list will even help someone else!

Journaling through John

I've been spending a lot of time in The Gospel of John lately. Journaling through John, I call it. Each morning I read a little, then scribble down my thoughts concerning the passage. Often I stay with a brief passage for several days, but I'm keenly aware that I can never exhaust all that there is to say or think about a passage. Whatever exegetical insights or wisdom I am able to summon up in my journal would probably not seem like much to anyone else. The point is not to impress some imaginary reader, nor is it to compile notes toward a future book or something (such thoughts, I find, are death to a fruitful journaling process). The point is simply to start each day thinking about Scripture, and it so happens that writing your thoughts down is a useful way to encourage clear thinking.

My method is pretty simple. I try to see each passage in its context. I'm pretty rigorous about that part. I try to place myself on the scene, hear the words of Jesus as if for the first time. I try to hang on to recurring themes and strands of meaning that seem to thread through the Gospel of John from start to finish. Often I copy passages down word for word; other times I try to restate them in my own words. Although I'm generally a great fan of Bible commentaries, I never consult them for the text I'm working with (well, with but one exception, as I recall). I try not to satisfy myself with easy or self-assuring applications. I do try to let the passage question me.

On that last point, let me give you an example. Toward the end of chapter 15 Jesus says that if the world hated him, it will also hate his disciples. They will be so closely associated with him that the connection will be undeniable. Those who find in Jesus their rest and peace, will find an echo of those things in his disciples. Those who find in Jesus only their own shame, will probably find in a Jesus-disciple a sense of accusation (no matter how unwarranted). Well, to let this passage question you is simply to ask yourself, is this true of me? Am I a Jesus-disciple of whom it can be said, people respond to me even as they would have responded to Jesus? Is my connection to Jesus that apparent? That real? The answer to these question are a matter for your private contemplation, but you get the point.

In time I may share here at the blog some lessons I've learned from this extended time with John's Gospel, but for now it's a part of my private world, if you will. All I can say is, the process has been very fruitful for me. To journal through the Scriptures in this way you need, most of all, time. A consistent chunk of time each day (no less than half-an-hour, I suppose). It's also helpful to use a notebook and a writing instrument that you feel very comfortable with (something special, not just a drugstore spiral-bound and ballpoint). And of course you need the Helper.

Laurie's Bible

This is Laurie. She's my honey.


This is Laurie's special Bible. As you can see, it's held together by duct tape. I'd say about half the text is underlined. If she got a new Bible she'd have to start underlining again from scratch. Thus, the duct tape.



This is the title page of Laurie's Bible. As you can see, it's the Revised Standard Version, which is no longer published. That's another reason for the duct tape. Laurie can't get a new Bible, because they don't make the RSV anymore. Laurie loves the RSV.


Finally, I want to show you the back of Laurie's Bible. Laurie, as you can see, is very good with duct tape. She's made a duct tape pocket in the back of her Bible, in which she keeps notes to herself, prayer requests, and a childhood picture of yours truly. Isn't that sweet?


Laurie, btw, granted me her permission to show you this.

Tell Me the Story

Reading The Jesus I Never Knew is helping me emerge from a winter-long funk. It's as if I am being introduced to an old friend, someone I once had more than a passing acquaintance with, someone I've been missing for a long time. Yes, Jesus, I remember you. You're the man that once rocked my world. I said I was going to follow you forever . . . but somehow I guess I lost sight of you.

It startles me to think how little Jesus actually shows up in all our Christian yak-yak-yakking. Or how selectively we cite his words and deeds. In my first church, his name came up frequently as a means to illustrate that we were all nothing more than creepy-crawly dung beetles (that's what Martin Luther said, after all) and it was sure a damn good thing that Jesus died for us. That was egregious, yes, but the wider evangelical community, while it is perhaps more charitable, merely uses the life of Jesus, as well as all the Scriptures, as a source of sermon illustrations, intended to help bolster a point that the preacher seems to think we all need to hear.

But what ever happened to simply telling the story? This thought keeps tantalizing--telling the story of Jesus. Which itself is embedded in a larger story--that of the Father's plan to restore His creation. Philip Yancey put it this way (here):

I would summarize the "plot" of the Bible as "God getting his family back." God chose a slow, rather circuitous way to accomplish that goal. First he started with one family, Abraham's family, then a tribe, then a nation, and finally out of the nation brought forth a Messiah for the entire world. The goal all along, as Jesus declared, "Gos is not willing that any shous perish." Isn't that the theme of the prodigal son story? As I mention, the real hero of that story is not the son but the father. Jesus told the story to describe the unfathomable love of a forgiving father. What is true of one son in one family gives a picture of what is true of God's love for the entire world--as Jesus would later demonstrate in the most graphic way possible.

It's a great story, many-faceted, endlessly engaging. It's a triumphant story, and a true story, and good news for the poor, the blind, the weak, the enslaved. It's a story that lifts heads, dries tears, gives life, and provokes joy. It's the Father's grand plan, pursued with passion and persistence and at great personal cost. Jesus Christ, the man from Nazareth, is the foundation and capstone of the entire edifice, the beginning and end, the enduring theme woven throughout this long and alluring text.

Show me Jesus, Pastor. Don't assume I need a talking to about getting involved at church. Don't rifle the Scriptures for items that help you make your point. Take me through the Word, re-introduce me to the Great Story. Tell me about Abraham and how he fits into the grand plan, and Moses and how he does, and all the wild and visionary prophets; show me Jesus in the ancient Jewish texts, and show me the Roman world in which Paul traveled, and who it was that set him to journeying, and tell me what he meant when he said, "Not I who live, but Christ lives in me."

No, we respect the Scriptures far less than we say we do. We mold them to our agendas, cutting and pasting as we see fit, inevitably losing the all-important context. There's no other book that we would treat with such cavalier disrespect. Though the Bible is an anthology of writings, we do not even read whole books within that anthology, and our preachers seldom tell us of them. As a people we Christians are notoriously ignorant of the very book we call the Word of God. We extract Post-It Note promises from it, but we do not read it with integrity.

Pastors, just tell us the Great Story. We need to hear it again.

Build A Bible: The Word as Fashion Accessory

It's pretty easy, and even somewhat beguiling, to scoff at "Christian culture" in America. I don't listen to much Christian contemporary music, go often to Christian concerts, or read Christian fiction, because it all seems rather schlocky to me, and partakes of the same questionable promotional schemes common to non-Christian commercial enterprises.

Nevertheless, as I said, I don't want to make a habit of criticizing all this here at the blog. But (and you had to know that a "but" was coming) I just want to share one particular advertisement with you. It is an ad for something called Build A Bible, put out by Boardman Holman. You've probably already guessed that it's one of those schemes to package the Scriptures in a new, fresh and "comtemporary" way. You know, no more the somber black leather covers. How about a duct tape Bible, a metal Bible, etc. Well, the "Build A Bible" is a "design system" in which you the consumer "customize" your Bible in the color schemes, textures, and accesories of your choice.

Okay, fine, I guess. But here's the actual "copy" from a print ad for this "Bible design system." We have the lovely Jennifer O'Neill holding up a soft green Bible with a brown leather-ish clasp. She's quoted thus:

What I love about my Build A Bible is that it's just so Me! [That's right, a capital M!] It's the perfect fit. Build A Bible lets me personalize my Bible with the cover styles, colors, textures and accesories that make it a statement of who I am and where I am going. Finally, I can change the look and feel of the most important book I own... whenever and where ever I want.

I suppose I shouldn't care. This shouldn't matter to me. But does anyone else feel just a little affronted by this?

New Bible

I've been reading the ESV translation of the Bible for some time now. About a year ago, I suppose, I bought the cheapest edition I could find in order to "test drive" it for a while. Well, I've been consistently pleased with the ESV, and since that cheap edition is now seriously dog-eared, this morning I made the leap and have purchased the Deluxe Reference edition in bonded leather. Sweet! You see, I've reached an age in which I can realistically consider the possibility that this Bible may last me to the very end! I'm not trying to be morose or anything. In fact, it's kind of a cool thought. The point is, I don't see myself leaping to another translation after a couple of years. I suspect that this is going to be my primary reading Bible "from here to hereafter."

Booksnip (1)

I've been reading Gordon Fee's commentary on 1 Corinthians and enjoying it a great deal. On page 87 Fee is commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, wherein Paul is writing about God calling the foolish, weak, and worthless things (in the the world's estimation) to shame the wise, powerful and affluent of the world, for the purpose of bringing everyone to the point of "boastlessness" (my word . . . sorry).

Fee writes:

The conclusion of the paragraph, "no human boasting" but rather "boasting in Christ" through whom God has effected salvation for us, continues (rightly) to play a signifcant role in the church. All of this is quite in keeping with the great cadences of Romans and Galatians, with which the Protestant tradition is so familiar. Unfortunately the means (the cross as the divine scandal) and the evidence for this conlcusion do not always get the same hearing. It is not that god cannot, or will not, save the affluent. But for Paul the glory of the Gospel does not lie there; rather, it lies in his mercy toward the very people whom most of the affluent tend to write off--the foolish, the weak, the despised. Such people do not fit well into the "suburban captivity of the church." This paragraph must serve as a continual warning against our remaking into our own more comfortable images God's distinctly revealed priorities of mercy for the helpless--as part of the evidence that his ways are not ours.