A Swift Kick in the Trousers (February 20, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The glory of these forty days we celebrate with songs of praise; for Christ, through whom all things were made, himself has fasted and has prayed. (Hymn from the 6th century; trans. Maurice F. Bell)

…Listening In…

Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love! Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion! Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin! (Psalm 51:1-2; context)

…Filling Up…

With another Lenten Alphabet just around the corner beginning on devotiONEighty on Wednesday, today and tomorrow will be a pair of devos rather than the start of a weeklong set. Lent begins Wednesday, so we’ll take the next two days to talk about why Lent is so important. But first, a reminder about we modern Americans.

Americans are rarely a self-reflective people. We have eyes only for result and effect, caring little for process and cause. We seek to assign blame, caring little for our own culpability. We repeat the mistakes of the past, caring little for the lessons those mistakes teach. Never look back. Never let ‘em see you bleed. Never stop to think or the world will pass you by.

Living in this results-driven world is, at the same time, both exceedingly difficult and quite easy. It’s difficult because true joy, the fuel for any fruitful life, is a scarce commodity. Joy happens during not after, and in a results-oriented society, the during is dismissed as superfluous. But this dismissal is why the results-driven life is also quite easy. You crop half of life away. The journey becomes unimportant: only the destination matters. How easy would a test be if you only had to score a 50% to pass?

Self-reflection makes life hard, but it also allows us to recognize that joy abounds, poised to infuse our lives with meaning. Because we are such poor practitioners of self-reflection and because our culture tells us not to take time for such a revealingly honest enterprise, we need a swift kick in the trousers to boot us from the grasping current of the results-driven half-life.

In the Church, this swift-kick-in-the-trousers is called the season of Lent. And we’ll talk more about it tomorrow.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the source of all joy throughout your creation. Help me to live my life fully in your love so that I may follow you throughout my journey, meeting you all along the way to the destination. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, glad that you have given me the strength and the will to reflect on my journey with you.

The Natural Order (February 17, 2012)

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…Opening To…

I caught a glimpse of Your splendor in the corner of my eye the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And it was like a flash of lightning reflected off the sky, and I know I’ll never be the same. (Third Day, “Show Me Your Glory”)

…Listening In…

Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Human One had risen from the dead. (Mark 9:8-9; context)

…Filling Up…

When God tells the disciples to listen to Jesus, God implicitly commands them and us to rid ourselves of the box labeled “impossible.” If we listen to Jesus and obey him, then we trust that everything he does is the “real” thing – not a parlor trick or smoke and mirrors, not mere charisma or happenstance. He doesn’t bend the rules of a set universe, but he does bend the ones that our dangerously limited understanding has contrived.

Miracles aren’t glitches in the natural order. They are the natural order, the natural order that we dumped into the box long ago. The change, the metamorphosis, that occurs on the mountaintop prepares us for the even greater change that happens when Jesus rises from the dead, when Jesus tips the box over and removes the first two letters from the word “impossible.”

You see, the horizon exists not to limit our senses, but to give us something beyond which our dreams can thrive. The Transfiguration we celebrate on this coming Sunday (in my church, anyway) shines in our lives with dazzling brightness, reminding us of two things. First, there is something wonderful and glorious beyond the horizon. And second, that wonderful and glorious something couldn’t care less about horizons. The dazzling brightness of the Transfiguration foreshadows the even greater brightness of the resurrection, the brightness that rises in one breath of reckless animation. We will celebrate this triumph on Easter, seven weeks and two days from today.

During the intervening time, I invite you to look at the horizon. What do you see beyond it? What sliver of light ripples across the water? I also invite you to look inside yourselves. What have you restored to the box that Jesus once overturned? What change in your life are you resisting? Reflect on these questions. And, at the same time, know that Jesus stands forever before you, beckoning you to see him in all his dazzling brightness, beckoning you to see him with transfigured eyes, with eyes that see beyond the horizon.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you command me to listen to the words of your Son, who constantly speaks life into my being. Help me to rid myself of the box that is labeled “impossible” so that I can fully give myself over to your love. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, knowing that with you all things are possible.

Labeling the Impossible (February 16, 2012)

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…Opening To…

I caught a glimpse of Your splendor in the corner of my eye the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And it was like a flash of lightning reflected off the sky, and I know I’ll never be the same. (Third Day, “Show Me Your Glory”)

…Listening In…

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” (Mark 9:7; context)

…Filling Up…

You could store Jesus’ other miracles in a box and refuse to believe the horizon between God and humanity is more permeable than was originally thought. But this, this transfiguration, this holy event Peter witnesses with his own eyes would never fit in the box, no matter how precisely he might have constructed those three tents.

And why not? In this event, Jesus doesn’t change. He is neither better nor more holy than he was before. But Peter, James, and John are granted the gift of seeing Jesus as God sees him – dazzlingly bright and beloved. The Greek word we translate as “Transfiguration” has been transmitted directly into our own language. The English equivalent is metamorphosis, a complete change in form or shape. So, in this transfiguration, what changes, if not Jesus?

Until the mountaintop, the disciples had seen some things, some miracles, and they thought they understood them. But their small understanding was dangerous because it amounted to just enough to create an unwarranted category labeled “impossible.” In this category, in this box, they stored everything that ran counter to what they thought they knew about the world. They were terrified of the walking on water. Their hearts were hardened about the multiplied loaves. “Who then is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” And yet, Jesus did all these things, and he couldn’t care less what they labeled “impossible.”

The change, the metamorphosis, that occurs on the mountaintop happens when Peter fails to begin his construction of the three tents. A cloud overshadows the disciples, and they hear a voice: “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” Then, all of sudden, they look around and the horizon is back to normal. But nothing would ever be “normal” again. (to be concluded tomorrow…)

…Praying For…

Dear God, in the Transfiguration, you changed the way Jesus’ friends saw him. Help me to look at the world through these same eyes, so that I can see your hand at work around me. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, knowing that with you all things are possible.

Sacred Luggage (February 15, 2012)

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…Opening To…

I caught a glimpse of Your splendor in the corner of my eye the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And it was like a flash of lightning reflected off the sky, and I know I’ll never be the same. (Third Day, “Show Me Your Glory”)

…Listening In…

Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified. (Mark 9:4-6; context)

…Filling Up…

Peter, it seems, cannot handle the raw data, this overabundance of visual stimulation brought on by Jesus’ dazzling appearance and the manifestation of Moses and Elijah. He’s terrified, and understandably so. Horizons seem to exist to limit our sight, and limits are comforting. When the horizons crumble, Peter doesn’t know what to say. But, being Peter, he says something anyway: “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Now, from all those stories Peter had heard, he knew that back when the people of Israel were wandering around the desert for forty years, they lugged about a special portable dwelling, a tent really. Inside this tent, they arranged all of their sacred luggage. The people thought the tent holy because they believed God, while eternal, omnipotent and ever-present, also dwelled in the tent.

So, when Peter suggests constructing a trio of tents, he is attempting to circumscribe the event unfolding in dazzling brightness before him. He is trying to erect temporary horizons, trying to control the situation, trying to jam the impossible back into a box consisting of normal, everyday things.

When Peter sees Jesus’ biological horizon crumble, revealing the dazzling brightness of Jesus’ connection to God, Peter’s first response is to put Jesus in a holy box in order to contain him. Peter had seen Jesus do some impossible things – feed five thousand with one person’s lunch, calm a storm, heal Peter’s own mother-in-law – but this, this transfiguration is something else entirely. You could explain away those other things if you wanted to: persuasion, charisma, being in the right time at the right place. You could store those other things in a box and refuse to believe the horizon between God and humanity is more permeable than was originally thought. (to be continued tomorrow…)

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the one in control of heaven and earth. Help me to release my need to be in control, so that I can trust that you are guiding my life along the right paths. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, knowing that with you all things are possible.

Until Now (February 14, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

I caught a glimpse of Your splendor in the corner of my eye the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And it was like a flash of lightning reflected off the sky, and I know I’ll never be the same. (Third Day, “Show Me Your Glory”)

…Listening In…

He was transformed in front of them, and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white. 4 Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. (Mark 9:2-4; context)

…Filling Up…

After the sun spills out of the distant horizon, something strange and altogether unexpected happens. As the sun continues to rise, you notice the line of the horizon crumbling into the ocean. You see far-flung images as your vision circles the globe. You snap your eyes shut, unable to catalogue the expanse of imagery.

Near as I can tell, this is how Peter, James, and John must feel during the event known as the Transfiguration. With Jesus leading, the foursome hikes up a high mountain, a pastime not unknown to Jesus’ friends, who are always chasing him up hills and through deserts. But this time, at the top, something new happens. The three disciples look at Jesus and, with neither warning nor preparation, they see far past all reasonable limits of normal human vision.

Peter, James, and John look at Jesus with new eyes. And the biological horizon limiting their perception crumbles. Until now, they have been used to seeing only what they expect to see. Until now, they have been lulled to sleep by the monotony of the mundane. Until now, they have looked at Jesus, but have never seen him. Until now.

The horizon of Jesus’ body cannot contain his dazzling glory, and the disciples see him as he really is. The horizon between this life and the next cannot veil their eyes, and they see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah, two of the great prophets they had heard stories about their whole lives. (to be continued tomorrow…)

…Praying For…

Dear God, your movement extends far past my ability to see it. Help me never to forget that my eyes and my faith limit my trust in you, even though your trustworthiness is without bounds. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, knowing that with you all things are possible.

Crumbling Horizons (February 13, 2012)

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…Opening To…

I caught a glimpse of Your splendor in the corner of my eye the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And it was like a flash of lightning reflected off the sky, and I know I’ll never be the same. (Third Day, “Show Me Your Glory”)

…Listening In…

Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them… (Mark 9:2-3; context)

…Filling Up…

Imagine you are strolling down a pier on the cold, rocky coast of Massachusetts. You stop, lean your elbows on a metal railing, and look out at the vastness of the ocean before you. You can feel the impatient energy of morning and smell the sun about to rise. First, the door of the sky opens just a crack and lets a sliver of light ripple across the face of the water. Then, all in one breath of reckless animation, the sun spills out of the distant horizon, red and complete.

Then something strange and altogether unexpected happens. As the sun continues to rise, you notice the line of the horizon crumbling into the ocean. With the horizon gone, the thousands of miles of brooding Atlantic open before you. You see the waves crashing into the northwest coast of Spain. You see skiers flying down the slopes of the Alps. You see oil derricks pounding the banks of the Caspian Sea. Abandoned missile silos in Kazakhstan. Mongolian shepherds driving their flocks. The Great Wall of China. The DMZ. Tokyo skyscrapers. The Pacific Ocean. California a distant speck but growing…

You snap your eyes shut and grip the metal railing. You’re overwhelmed, unsteady on your feet, nauseous. Your brain attempts to catalogue all the far-flung images you just saw. But it shuts down, unable to process this excess of information. After several weak-kneed minutes, your heart rate begins to slow, and you hesitantly reopen your eyes. The horizon has returned to its accepted place at the end of the reach of your vision.

Near as I can tell, this is how Peter, James, and John must feel during the event known as the Transfiguration, in which Jesus becomes “dazzling” in front of their eyes and they see some friends from the Hebrew Scriptures. We’ll be talking about the Transfiguration this week, so get excited! (to be continued tomorrow…)

…Praying For…

Dear God, your Son revealed to his disciples the dazzling beauty of his close relationship with you. Help me to nurture my relationship with you so that when others see me, they see you through me. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, knowing that with you all things are possible.

In Between (February 10, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. (Harper Lee)

…Listening In…

I’m no longer in the world, but they are in the world, even as I’m coming to you. Holy Father, watch over them in your name, the name you gave me, that they will be one just as we are one. (John 17:11; context)

…Filling Up…

On our final day with the New Testament, I’d like to talk about an expectation that the writers of the New Testament had that informed their writing. This expectation is that Jesus was returning imminently; that is, in the writers’ own lifetimes. As such, many of the texts in the New Testament exhibit an “in between” quality, which speaks of a reality that has begun to happen but hasn’t finished happening yet. Often, this reality is rendered in the shorthand as “both already and not yet.”

The expectation that Jesus would return imminently informs many of Paul’s letters. His advice about getting married or staying single has to do with the time being “short” (1 Corinthians 7). There is immediacy in much of his writing because of his conviction that the Lord would return next week some time.

In the Gospel, the “in between” quality finds its way into some of Jesus’ speech. In certain places, Jesus seems to be talking about his being around and his being gone at the same time. Read the verse in the “Listening In” section again. Notice that Jesus seems to be praying while in earshot of the disciples and at the same time while being “no longer in the world.” The coming of God’s reign on earth seems to be overlapping with the finishing of Jesus’ work. In the same way, Paul’s immediacy yearns for God’s reign to come soon, and in so yearning, helps bring it into being.

The “already, not yet” quality of the New Testament reminds us that God is both embedded in our lives even now (“already”) and is also continually revealing the kingdom in new ways that point to even newer ways to come (“not yet”). We can’t have everything figured out because God is always allowing us to discover new paths along our walks with God. The immediate, imminent nature of the New Testament gives us the language with which we can try to interpret God’s movement in our lives. God is here with us, or more precisely, we are here with God. And God is there waiting for us as we continue our journeys as followers of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

…Praying For…

Dear God, I stand for ever in your presence, even as that presence is beyond me. Help me to live my life believing that you are below, above, beside, and within me, always guiding me to the fullness of your glory. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, having faith that you have touched my life with your Word, knowing that I can read it in my heart and speak it on my lips.

Parallels (February 9, 2012)

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…Opening To…

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. (Harper Lee)

…Listening In…

“…We know that a person isn’t made righteous by the works of the Law but rather through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16; context)

…Filling Up…

Day four of New Testament week is upon us, and I want to touch on something about translation. I’ll begin with a short comparison between the Bible and the Koran. One of the biggest structural differences between the two is that the Koran cannot be translated. If you’ve read an English version of the Koran, then you haven’t read the Koran, because it exists in Arabic only. This single language transmission of the text keeps the purity of the original, but creates a barrier to those who don’t speak Arabic. As far as the Bible is concerned (at least since Latin released its stranglehold), the text has been translated into hundreds of languages. This makes for wonderful coverage across the world, but at the cost of having a layer of interpretation between the original and us.

What’s this mean for the New Testament? Well, I’m not going to ask you to become a Greek scholar, but I will invite you to read more than one translation whenever you engage in Bible study. This practice allows you to see the assumptions and choices that different translators make and to choose the one that makes the most sense for you. The Internet has several great websites through which you can compare various translations.

Here’s just one example of what I mean. Read the verse above again (from the CEB), and then read these three parallels from other translations.

“We…know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.” (NIV)

“We know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” (NRSV)

“…Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ…” (KJV).

Notice the CEB and KJV talk about the faith(fulness) of Jesus Christ, while the NIV and NRSV talk about faith in Jesus Christ. The Greek word could be either, and the translators made their choices. But this choice drastically changes the meaning of the passage! Is it Jesus’ faith or our faith in him that is operative? Or both? If you don’t have mastery of the Greek text (and let’s be honest, that’s very few people, and I’m not one of them), then reading in multiple translations is the way to go. It can cause some discomfort when you read a familiar passage with new words. But this discomfort is often where new growth comes from.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you encounter each of us through the Bible just where we are and in the languages we speak. Help me to go deeply into the texts of the Bible to encounter the truth of the word in my life. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, having faith that you have touched my life with your Word, knowing that I can read it in my heart and speak it on my lips.

Sometimes Different (February 8, 2012)

Published on by Adam Thomas1 Comment

…Opening To…

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. (Harper Lee)

…Listening In…

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water,” and they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Now draw some from them and take it to the headwaiter,” and they did. The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. (John 2:7-9; context) (This story appears only in John)

…Filling Up…

Yesterday we talked about how and why the accounts of the Gospel are alike. Today, we’ll talk about how and why they are different. For some, the fact that the accounts of the Gospel differ is a source of consternation: if they are telling the truth, then why don’t they say the same thing, these folks wonder. It’s a good question. For starters, if they all said the same thing, we wouldn’t have four to begin with; we’d only have one account, and we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

But furthermore, the variety in the storytelling is, in my view, a reason to trust the stories, not the other way around. Think of eyewitness testimony of a crime, perhaps on Law and Order or a show like that. If several witnesses all say exactly the same thing, it means they have rehearsed their stories to get them straight and are therefore playing the cops and lawyers a bit false. It is when eyewitness accounts differ on the details but paint the same general picture that the cops and lawyers know they are close to the truth.

The same holds for the accounts of the Gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are written for different communities going through various strains and strife. These communities are made up of Jews or Gentiles, those close to Jerusalem or those farther away, those nearer the time of Jesus or those who live later on. Each of these contexts leads to the story being told for each community in the way that best allows for each to hear it.

Isn’t this the same in our time? We tailor our speech to be well received by the listener. When our messages fall on deaf ears, it is most likely because we didn’t reach the other where he or she lived. The accounts of the Gospel tell the same story to different sets of people, and each is tailored to be heard by that group. This personalized nature of the texts don’t make them false – on the other hand, it demonstrates to us how best to proclaim the good news. We are heralds of the Gospel just like Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were. When we tell the story of the Gospel in our own lives, we share a theme, but may vary the details depending on what hits home for us. This is how the Gospel writers shared the good news: they made it personal, intimate. We are called to do the same.

…Praying For…

Dear God, the witnesses to your Son’s life, death, and resurrection took to heart all that he did and said and then passed on to others what they thought most important. Help me to pass on the good news in the same way. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, having faith that you have touched my life with your Word, knowing that I can read it in my heart and speak it on my lips.

Sometimes Alike (February 7, 2012)

Published on by Adam ThomasLeave a comment

…Opening To…

The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that. (Harper Lee)

…Listening In…

Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.” But they said, “We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people.” (Luke 9:13; context) (also, Matthew 14, Mark 6, and John 6)

…Filling Up…

A question I’ve been asked several times in Bible studies is this: “Why are the Gospels so alike in some ways and so different in others?” When I am asked this, I first do my broken record spiel about there being only one Gospel (Jesus Christ’s), of which we have four accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). Then, when the members of the class are done rolling their eyes at me, we get down to tackling the question. So, why are the accounts of the Gospel so alike and so different?

We’ll tackle “alike” today and “different” tomorrow. The most obvious reason that the accounts of the Gospel are alike is that they tell the same story. Jesus was a real guy who walked around, got his feet dirty, ate meals, and made a lot of people angry and a lot of other people joyful. The children’s education program Godly Play opens its parable stories with: “Once there was someone who said such amazing things and did such wonderful things that people followed him.” This introductory sentence describes the bulk of the Gospel pretty well. Many of the stories are different, but the theme is the same.

Of course, there are some “big” parts that all four accounts hit, the most notable being the events surrounding Jesus’ crucifixion (known as the “Passion narrative”). As each account nears its bloody climax (well, what we think is the climax until the real one with the resurrection), the accounts begin to speak with a voice that nears the unison. Because the events in Jesus’ last week are so important, the four writers each focuses in on telling that part of the story.

But there are other reasons that the texts are so similar in places, especially Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In fact, these three are known as the “synoptics,” meaning “through the same eyes.” Mark was written first, and his style is rather breathless, jumping from one event to the next with an immediacy that precludes much description or dialogue. Scholars tell us that Matthew used Mark as a basis, but expanded it quit a bit to include several long sermons of Jesus. Much of this material comes from a theoretical source called “Q” (which stands for the German word Quelle, which means “source”). Luke apparently also had access to Q, which explains why Luke and Matthew share so much that the other two don’t.

John tends to be the outlier (though John and Luke share some curious similarities) because John is concerned with telling the same story in a different way. All in all, the accounts of the Gospel tell the same story through different eyes – sometimes the story lines up and sometimes it doesn’t. And that’s what we’ll tackle tomorrow.

…Praying For…

Dear God, your Son encountered all sorts of people in his ministry who told us about him. Help me to tell others about my experience with Jesus in a way that is inviting and humble. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.

…Sending Out…

I leave this moment with you, God, having faith that you have touched my life with your Word, knowing that I can read it in my heart and speak it on my lips.