Pass it Along (February 8, 2013)

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…Opening To…

If you look at a window, you see flyspecks, dust, the crack where junior’s Frisbee hit it. If you look through a window, you see the world beyond. Something like this is the difference between those who see the Bible as a Holy Bore and those who see it as the Word of God, which speaks out of the depths of an almost unimaginable past into the depths of ourselves. (Frederick Buechner)

…Listening In…

Listen, my people, to my teaching; tilt your ears toward the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a proverb. I’ll declare riddles from days long gone—ones that we’ve heard and learned about, ones that our ancestors told us. We won’t hide them from their descendants; we’ll tell the next generation all about the praise due the Lord and his strength—the wondrous works God has done. (Psalm 78:1-4; context)

…Filling Up…

The fifth word that we say quite often when we talk about the Bible is “Scripture.” We call it Holy Scripture or Holy Writ. Each of these words carries the connotation of “something written down.” And, of course, the Bible is written down. There’s very little chance it would have survived as long as it has if it weren’t written down somewhere.

That being said, large chunks of what became the written Bible did exist for quite a long time without being written down. People passed the oral tradition from parent to child. The dinner table, the campfire, the farmer’s field – these were the places the story of God and God’s people was told. Because of this type of transmission, the story went through a kind of survival of the fittest type of evolution: the most important parts remained, while the less important parts faded away.

Writing the Bible down on paper (well, the ancient equivalents of paper, at least) followed a common pattern: things aren’t written down until people start realizing that the folks who know the story best are dying off. In the years following Jesus’ death and resurrection, his story followed the same pattern as those older parts of the Bible, except in a much shorter span. The Gospel was not written down until a few decades after the events because the people who lived through the events began dying off. There was a scramble to preserve the story from the perspectives of eyewitnesses.

So, just because we think of “Script-ure” as something written down, know that the Bible didn’t always exist in that way. It was passed through word of mouth. And you know what: that’s still the best way to pass it along.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the presence standing behind the words of your people found in the Bible. Help me to be a part of the great story of your movement in the lives of the people of this world. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, endeavoring to learn more about you, learn more from you, and learn the best ways to be your child in this world.

One Hundred and Fifty (February 7, 2013)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

If you look at a window, you see flyspecks, dust, the crack where junior’s Frisbee hit it. If you look through a window, you see the world beyond. Something like this is the difference between those who see the Bible as a Holy Bore and those who see it as the Word of God, which speaks out of the depths of an almost unimaginable past into the depths of ourselves. (Frederick Buechner)

…Listening In…

Save me, God, because the waters have reached my neck! I have sunk into deep mud. My feet can’t touch the bottom! I have entered deep water; the flood has swept me up. I am tired of crying. My throat is hoarse. My eyes are done with waiting for my God. (Psalm 69:1-3; context)

…Filling Up…

The fourth word that we say quite often when we talk about the Bible is “Psalm.” The 150 psalms in the Hebrew Scriptures account for some truly exquisite, gritty, jubilant, despairing, and whimsical poetry. The whole gamut of human emotion runs throughout the psalms. The “psalter” (book of psalms) is one of the greatest human achievements of all times, not to mention being the most complete compendium of human encounter with God in one compiled source.

All that being said, you can’t really take the book of Psalms all at once. It’s too big. (Unless you’re a medieval monk who recited the whole thing everyday. The whole thing. Every day. Wow.) Whoever compiled the Psalms must have known this because the book breaks down into five large sections, each ending with special verses praising God.

You can further break the psalms into two main categories: praise and lament. Just by the numbers, there are more verses of lament than praise in the book of Psalms, but in church we read more of the verses of praise. You can explain this with the simple assertion that we’d rather be happy than sad. The problem here is this: when we censor a book like the Psalms, we remove from it the example it gives us of how to grieve or to be angry in the midst of prayer to God. We sweep under the rug the scriptural instances in which people made themselves vulnerable to God, accused God of negligence, wept in God’s presence, and disclosed their inability to praise God in the current moment. I’d be willing to bet each of us has felt this way at some point. Reading the lament psalms can help us cope in these times.

So the next time you are so joyful you can’t contain it, go read the psalms and find a reflection of your joy. And the next time you are so sad that you don’t think you’ll ever recover, go read the psalms and find a reflection of your grief. Lift up both your joy and sadness to God, who encompasses all in all.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are with me even when I’m not with you. Help me to remain in relationship with you even when things aren’t going so well. Help me stick with you when I want to run away. Be my constant in a changing world. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, endeavoring to learn more about you, learn more from you, and learn the best ways to be your child in this world.

One Side of a Conversation (February 6, 2013)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

If you look at a window, you see flyspecks, dust, the crack where junior’s Frisbee hit it. If you look through a window, you see the world beyond. Something like this is the difference between those who see the Bible as a Holy Bore and those who see it as the Word of God, which speaks out of the depths of an almost unimaginable past into the depths of ourselves. (Frederick Buechner)

…Listening In…

From Paul, called by God’s will to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, and from Sosthenes our brother. To God’s church that is in Corinth: To those who have been made holy to God in Christ Jesus, who are called to be God’s people. (1 Corinthians 1:1-2; context)

…Filling Up…

The third word that we say quite often when we talk about the Bible is “Epistle.” This is a fancy word for “letter” (the kind you put in the mailbox, not the kind on the keys of your keyboard). The bulk of the New Testament after the accounts of the Gospel is letters from various early followers of Jesus to various other early followers of Jesus. Some letters are written to specific individuals, others to communities. Here are a few things to know about “Epistles.”

First, in the ancient world, letters followed a particular format, not unlike the modern email convention of “Recipient, Sender, Subject, Body.” The Apostle Paul identifies himself first in his letters, then he names his recipients, then he presents a glimpse of the subject of the letter in the form of a thanksgiving to God for the recipients, and finally he gets on with the balance of the text. Knowing this standard formula helps interpreters like you and me discern when letter-writers break the formula, thus giving us a clue into the writer’s intentions. For example, Paul’s letter to the Galatians has no thanksgiving paragraph because Paul is really mad at his recipients.

Second, we only have one side of the story that the letters tell. We have two of Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth, but we have no letters from the church in Corinth to Paul. Interpreting the letters is akin to listening to someone on the telephone. You hear only that person’s responses to the caller on the other end of the line. It falls to you to piece together what the other party says.

Third, Paul and the other writers of the letters in the New Testament had no idea they were writing “Scripture” when they penned their correspondence. We get little bits about preparing a room to stay in and sending along the coat I left at your house. These little human touches are great, and they make the letters more accessible than if the writers were consciously writing the Bible.

These letters were written when the new church and the Christian faith were in their infancy. They give us clues to what the early communities of Jesus’ followers were struggling with, what they were worried about, and what they were celebrating. As we read them nearly 2,000 years later, our own struggles, worries, and celebrations are reflected in theirs because the same God makes the letters alive for us, animated through the power of the Holy Spirit.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the catalyst behind the human desire to connect with one another. Help me to maintain my connections with friends and loved ones, even those who live at a distance. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, endeavoring to learn more about you, learn more from you, and learn the best ways to be your child in this world.

Truth to Power (February 5, 2013)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

If you look at a window, you see flyspecks, dust, the crack where junior’s Frisbee hit it. If you look through a window, you see the world beyond. Something like this is the difference between those who see the Bible as a Holy Bore and those who see it as the Word of God, which speaks out of the depths of an almost unimaginable past into the depths of ourselves. (Frederick Buechner)

…Listening In…

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.’ (Jonah 3:10—4:2; context)

…Filling Up…

The second word that we say quite often when we talk about the Bible is “Prophecy.” This is possibly the single most misunderstood word in the English language when it comes to Biblical interpretation.

Prophets are not fortune-tellers or predictors or spiritual meteorologists. Prophecy is not about predicting the future. Prophecy is about telling the truth of the present in order that the future may change. This last sentence is the one that will be on the pop quiz, so let me say it again: Prophecy is about telling the truth of the present in order that the future may change. Prophets call people back to God and hope that those people will listen and change their lives.

The story of Jonah illustrates the true nature of biblical prophecy. People usually remember the bit about the fish, but there is more. Jonah goes to the city of Ninevah and says, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” He says this to shake them out of complacency, to get them to turn back to God. And they do: the city isn’t destroyed! Does this make Jonah a false prophet because his words didn’t come true? No. Quite the contrary: Jonah succeeds as a prophet because the people listened and changed. (What’s funny is that Jonah himself gets a little sour with God for not destroying the Ninevites. Jonah didn’t understand his own Job!)

“Prophecy” is about telling present truth, especially telling present truth to the powerful, not about predicting the future. Martin Luther King Jr. was a prophet. The Nostradamus was not. Telling truth to power doesn’t just happen in the big places of the world — in government, society, religion. You can be prophetic today at school or at work. If you see an injustice happening, speak out. And in a way, you’ll be following in the footsteps of the prophets.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are merciful and you abound in steadfast love. Help me to recognize the situations I find myself in during the present so that I may make good decisions about the future. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, endeavoring to learn more about you, learn more from you, and learn the best ways to be your child in this world.

Insulting the Romans (February 4, 2013)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

If you look at a window, you see flyspecks, dust, the crack where junior’s Frisbee hit it. If you look through a window, you see the world beyond. Something like this is the difference between those who see the Bible as a Holy Bore and those who see it as the Word of God, which speaks out of the depths of an almost unimaginable past into the depths of ourselves. (Frederick Buechner)

…Listening In…

The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son, happened just as it was written about in the prophecy of Isaiah: Look, I am sending my messenger before you. He will prepare your way, a voice shouting in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight.” (Mark 1:1-3; context)

…Filling Up…

Continuing the Biblical theme of the past few weeks, this week we are going to look at five words we say quite often when we talk about the Bible. These five words are used so often, in fact, that we probably don’t spend too much time thinking about their meanings. Rather, we just say them and forget that the words don’t actually define themselves.

The first word is “Gospel.” Gospel is a pretty word. It rolls off the tongue and retains its pleasant sing-song, Old English quality. Gospel means “good news.” (There’s a cool scene in Tolkien’s The Two Towers, when the antagonistic crony Wormtongue names Gandalf “Láthspell,” which is the opposite of “Gospel.” Gandalf was bearing, at least from Wormtongue’s perspective, “ill news.”)

The four accounts of Jesus’ ministry take the name of “Gospel.” As far as scholars can tell, the writer of the New Testament, including the writer of the Gospel according to Mark, snatched this word out of contemporary parlance and used it as a mission statement for Jesus’ ministry. Until that time, the Greek word for “Gospel” was used for royal proclamations and military victories. “Good news: the emperor had twins!” “Good news: the legions have conquered a new bit of Gaul!”

Mark takes the word away from its original context and uses it for the “good news” of God’s kingdom breaking into the world. In a sense, Mark thumbs his nose at the authorities of the world when he steals their word. He uses the word to show the world the true meaning of “good news.” For followers of Christ in today’s world, it is our duty and joy to make sure our proclamation of the Gospel is still “good news.”

…Praying For…

Dear God, you continue to shower us with the good news of your grace in our lives. Help me to proclaim that good news through both my words and actions to everyone I meet. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, endeavoring to learn more about you, learn more from you, and learn the best ways to be your child in this world.

A Prayer Sandwich (February 1, 2013)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

We say we read to “escape.” …A book so excites our imagination that we “consume” it… What would it feel like to consume the sacred book? Or to be consumed by it? To eat it, chew it, swallow it, digest it, to make it a part of you? (Roger Ferlo)

…Listening In…

Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord! Be happy in your hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer. (Romans 12:11-12; context)

…Filling Up…

The fifth thing you should do when you read the Bible is pray before you do it and after you do it. This is the model we have in church. In the Episcopal Church experience (my faith background), the four lessons from the Bible happen near the beginning of the service. But before we read scripture, we pray for God to cleanse our hearts. Then we praise God in song. Then we “collect” the theme for the day in a special prayer right before the lessons.

Afterward the lessons (and the sermon), we recite the Creed, the church’s historic affirmation of faith, which is really another prayer in disguise. Then we pray the prayers of the people, in which we pray for our own needs and for those of others. The four lessons form the meat in a prayer sandwich.

In our own Bible study or that which we do in a group, following this example is a good idea. Reading the Bible is a prayerful experience, and so bookending the reading with dedicated prayers makes sense.

Begin your reading with a prayer of openness: ask God to encounter you in a surprising way during your reading. Ask God to show you something you’ve never noticed about the text or about yourself. End your reading with a prayer of thanksgiving: give gratitude to God for being with you all the time and especially when you engage the text. Thank God for God’s presence in your life, remembering that you are in God’s presence always. Reading the Bible helps us hold on to this fundamental truth of our existence.

…Praying For…

Dear God, I am in your presence all the time. Open me to receive your word in ways I might not expect. Thank you for being with me when I read the Bible. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, gladdened by the prospect of meeting you in the Bible.

More Sets of Lenses (January 31, 2013)

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…Opening To…

We say we read to “escape.” …A book so excites our imagination that we “consume” it… What would it feel like to consume the sacred book? Or to be consumed by it? To eat it, chew it, swallow it, digest it, to make it a part of you? (Roger Ferlo)

…Listening In…

You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. (Galatians 5:13-14; context)

…Filling Up…

The fourth thing you should do when you read the Bible is to read it with other people. Reading the Bible alone is a fine practice in itself, but when you read the Bible in a group, you will hear perspectives different from your own, which can help you go deeper into the text. This practice is the human equivalent of reading several translations at once.

Another person might read a sentence with completely different emphasis than you have. Another person might gravitate to a different place in the text than you have. Another person might affirm your interpretation or challenge yours with one of her own. In all of these instances, the other people with whom you read act as more sets of lenses through which you view the text.

Here are a few suggestions for you if you are going to begin a Bible study group. Agree amongst yourselves never to put one another down for voicing an opinion about a text. Always accept feedback in a positive manner. Always listen to another fully rather than forming your own thoughts while he or she is speaking. Always wait for your turn to speak. And most importantly, always pray before and after your study. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you gave us each other in order than we might learn how to find you in each other. Help me to rely on others in order to come to a better appreciation of your grace in my life. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, gladdened by the prospect of meeting you in the Bible.

Cluttering the Page (January 30, 2013)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

We say we read to “escape.” …A book so excites our imagination that we “consume” it… What would it feel like to consume the sacred book? Or to be consumed by it? To eat it, chew it, swallow it, digest it, to make it a part of you? (Roger Ferlo)

…Listening In…

Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up a mountain. He sat down and his disciples came to him. He taught them, saying: “Happy are people who are downcast, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” (Matthew 5:1-3; context; the three chapters that make up the Sermon on the Mount have 22 headers in the Bible I’m using for this. Thankfully, most are fairly neutral.)

…Filling Up…

The third thing you should do when you read the Bible is ignore several things that clutter the page you’re looking at. None of these things is original to the text and so you will read more authentically when you fail to notice them. (That being said, the English language, paper, spaces between words, and in some cases vowels aren’t part of the original text either, but you’ll get the idea.)

First and most important, ignore the section headers. These are the bold or italicized phrases that purport to tell you what you are about to read. Sometimes, these are quite neutral, such as “Jesus says some stuff” or “Moses goes up the mountain.” Other times, the headers can sway your reading before you do it. A section might be headed, “Jesus says why some folks are bad” or “Moses is angry because of what Aaron did.” These types of headers act like the names of pieces of orchestral music: you read the name and then the music makes you think of whatever the name described. If the music had no name, you’d be free to come up with your own imaginative description of the music.

Along with the headers, ignore the chapter breaks and verse numbers. These were added much later to make it easier for people to find stuff in the text, not to set off little bits of it at a time. (I talked about this last week.) When we let the chapters and verses break up our reading, we sometimes artificially shorten the writers train of thought, and that’s not a good thing.

Finally, ignore the red text. In many editions of the Bible, Jesus’ words are set off by the use of red ink. Now, please don’t misunderstand — don’t ignore the words printed in red text. Rather, ignore the fact the red ink is used at all. The red letters set off Jesus’ words from the rest of the text, making them seem more important. Remember, however, that the entire Gospel is Jesus’ Gospel, not just the words he speaks in dialogue. His actions and the reactions of his followers and opponents are just as important as the words he says.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you put the spark of creativity within me. Help me to interpret the Bible in ways that promote my creation and my continued growth in you. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, gladdened by the prospect of meeting you in the Bible.

The Creative Voice Within (January 29, 2013)

Published on by Adam Thomas1 Comment

…Opening To…

We say we read to “escape.” …A book so excites our imagination that we “consume” it… What would it feel like to consume the sacred book? Or to be consumed by it? To eat it, chew it, swallow it, digest it, to make it a part of you? (Roger Ferlo)

…Listening In…

[The Ethiopian eunuch] was reading the prophet Isaiah while sitting in his carriage. The Spirit told Philip, “Approach this carriage and stay with it.” (Acts 8:28-29; context)

…Filling Up…

The second thing you should do when you read the Bible is to read it aloud. In the passage above, Philip knew that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from the prophet Isaiah because the eunuch wasn’t reading silently to himself. He was reading aloud – to himself. This may seem strange to you and me, but this was the way people read in the ancient world. There was no such thing as “silent” reading.

So read your passage out loud. I know you are reading a translation, but the beauty and rhetorical power of the Biblical texts do not necessarily suffer in an English treatment. When you read aloud, you will notice oratorical patterns and cadences that the Biblical writers employed to make recitation easier and listening more captivating.

Besides appreciating the oratorical flair of Biblical writers, reading aloud gives you the opportunity to engage the drama of the Bible. A good chunk of the text is narrative and a good chunk of the narrative is dialogue. Now, we have no audiovisual documentation of the conversations recorded in the narrative, so it falls to us to interpret how the dialogue sounds.

A trained musician may be able to “hear the music” when she looks at a score, but most of us cannot comprehend music’s beauty and power without hearing it played. Similarly, the Biblical text soars when it is read aloud. In Genesis, God speaks creation into being. When we read the Bible aloud, we access that creative voice within ourselves and use the breath and the bodies that God created.

So, read the Bible, yes. But don’t just read it. Speak it. And don’t just speak the Bible. Proclaim it.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you spoke and creation happened. Help me to breathe my life into the Bible just as you breathe your life into me. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, gladdened by the prospect of meeting you in the Bible.

Greek to Me (January 28, 2013)

Published on by Adam Thomas1 Comment

…Opening To…

We say we read to “escape.” …A book so excites our imagination that we “consume” it… What would it feel like to consume the sacred book? Or to be consumed by it? To eat it, chew it, swallow it, digest it, to make it a part of you? (Roger Ferlo)

…Listening In…

One of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Christ). He led him to Jesus.  Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). (John 1:40-42; context)

…Filling Up…

Last week, we discussed five things you shouldn’t do when you read the Bible. You can probably guess what we are doing this week. You’re right! We are going to discuss five things you should do when you read the Bible. I’m not saying you must do these things, of course, but I think your Bible study will benefit from them.

First, you should probably read the Bible in its original languages.

Woah, wait a minute, you say. I don’t know Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic.

That’s okay. I don’t really know them that well, either (and good for you for knowing all three languages the Bible is written in). Barring your extensive study of ancient languages, how can you approximate studying the Bible as it originally was? For most of us, this approximation lies quite far from the original, and that’s okay, too.

Rather than taking several graduate level courses in ancient Greek, I’d suggest either amassing several English translations of the Bible or logging on to a website that has several translations on file (like this one or this one). Then, when you begin studying a passage, read it in several versions. Note the important words that versions translate differently. What do you suppose accounts for the variation? What are the shades of meaning of a word of the original language that you notice when three or four different English words are used to translate it? Which makes the most sense to you? These are great questions to ask when studying the Bible because they can help deepen your understanding of the text.

Adding this step to your Bible study will also help you avoid one major pitfall – forgetting that the Bible was not written in English. This seems like a silly thing to warn against, but it’s a remarkably easy thing to forget. You don’t need to read in Greek to know that English-speaking scholars funneled the text into our language. But always keep in mind that what you are reading is not the original. Remembering this can keep us humble as we seek to understand the English text, just as the translators sought to understand the original languages.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you speak your words of life to people of all languages. Help me to interpret the Bible in ways that lead me to accept of your life-expanding grace. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, gladdened by the prospect of meeting you in the Bible.