FCC Men’s Bible Study –September 18, 2012

1 Q. What to focus one’s direction and intention upon. Master message is “Love God and seek after Him with all your heart; love your neighbor as yourself,” but there are so many other things highlighted in NT as important messages and guidelines, too.

A. The foundation for all other thinking and feeling and action is Fear God in the sense of awe and glory and belonging. Based on that heartfelt grasp then the rest falls into place.

2 Q. Perhaps the weekly gathering and wrestling (literal meaning of ‘Israel’ is L god + Isra wrestling) with the Bible lines *is* the destination we strive for; in other words, we have already “arrived” at the place where we are aiming for.

A. The relationship to the collective Body of Christ, his hands and feet in the world is a living and ongoing one, rather than something to enter into and check off as “git ‘er done.” So you never actually arrive at a complete and full understanding of God’s Will. Instead you keep your ears and eyes open, actively seeking and reflecting and acting. On one hand you seek answers and guidance. On the other hand you make some conclusions and decisions (a working, “draft” comprehension of the whole matter of relating and growing the connection to God and his children). This cycle of looking for answers, but then having some (temporary) answers is exactly what the Tuesday bible study circle allows: asking and answering, then coming back the next week to do the wrestling again. As such, this perpetual state of seeking and (temporary) knowing *is* the living and pulsing condition that is optimal; it *is* what a person who actively cultivates a relationship does.

3 Q. Facing God with a “fearful” heart (awe, joy, glory) is the core that all else follows from: Love, relationship, drawing near, mercy, and so on. So how can we understand God’s enduring love for his children, but also his OT vengeful impassioned fear that He causes in us?

A. This open-ended, ambivalent condition *is* the basis for a living God that cannot be defined or stuffed into a simple box of our own minds. At the same time we unconditionally love him but we hesitate from anxiety about his power. We know him but we can never encompass him. He is here now personally in and of us, but also he is every place and every time. None of this fits into mortal logic and words, but it is God and is alive and in motion, never to be pinned down or confined with tidy labeling. This God is not tamed, but instead is wild.

4 Q. How are intention, words and deeds connected in someone who is tuned into God’s will?

A. We fulfill the intention/awareness by trusting in the authority granted by God to do his work. Faith without works is an incomplete expression of one’s live relationship with God. We consummate the interaction by deeds. However “clanging like a gong” for going through the motions of a good deed, but without one’s heart in it fails, too. Serving others by giving one’s time, talent, money and so on must also include presence of heart and mind, too. Empty words and empty deeds are just that; absent of value.

5 Q. What is the difference between a beginner and a person long practiced in wrestling with the Word of God? After all, both hear the same text and neither can expect to comprehend the meaning in total.

A. Much like the person deeply invested in a hobby or a person who has traveled the path the most often, so too the person who returns again and again to the Word of God. She or he has a wider base of experience and examples to incorporate. The big picture is ever more complete in a finer and finer gradation, and the boundaries are ever wider. The result is the wise person now has such a broad canvas and so many subtle color shadings that the picture is increasingly detailed and vivid. What once were shadowy outlines now are well defined. What once seemed frozen in time now can be seen processually as something that began modestly and grew and grew, but which will once day be discarded and of little absolute or eternal value. In summary, the mind of experience can see the many parts and how they work across time to form the whole. Neither the beginner nor the old-timer can take their worldly accumulations or their intellectual gains with them when they die. But to strive to know God better and better still is worth the effort, because the person of experience produces a better vision to guide personal and group decisions and ongoing governance.

6 Q. We live in a pagan [possibly god-fearing, possibly god-denying, possibly god-agnostic] world and share the minority status of persecution from public acknowledgement and respect in a small way that the early Christians did; not to the point of being fodder for the lions and amusement for the worldly power-holders, but yes in the sense of losing the best seat at the table and being dismissed to the periphery of the feast of life. How to respond to this challenge of our time?

A. This is an open question but includes responses such as the Emerging Church movement of the past 20-30 years: getting back to basics, simplifying the clutter and prerequisites in order to satisfy the more important message and functions of worshiping together. Clues might come from other persecuted groups in this society: African-Americans/civil rights, Suffragettes (women’s rights), Religious communities (Mormons, Shakers/Quakers), Gay rights people, ADA-disabled people and so on. Now it is Christians who need to “come out of the closest” and publicly declare with pride and self-worth who they are.

why revisit the Bible; why seek truths in sermon?

Weekly men's bible study prompted this question:

The message is so simple (Love God; Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself). But no matter how many times we 'study' the Bible, it seems that we never figure it out, as we might expect of other books, whether novels or non-fiction. So perhaps "study" is the wrong way to consider the repeated Bible Study experiences. And perhaps the form of binding into book form and chapter organization misleads us to consider what is found there to resemble other books that we have known. Instead the revisiting of the stories, teachings, examples, parables and so forth is more akin to a living relationship: what you bring to it across the life course will alter the relationship and what you are capable of seeings/knowing and what is hidden from plain sight. In sum, getting to know the Bible and the path is lays to God is like that old image of The Vine: as long as you are attached in this relationship you will live/thrive. But when cut off then you whither and die.

Caution when opening a Bible:


For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, and able to judge the reflections and thoughts of the heart. (Heb 4:12 LEB).

[taken from preface, http://lexhamenglishbible.com/preface/ ]

...the reader should remember that any Bible translation, to be useful to the person using it, must actually be read. We encourage every user of the LEB, whether reading it alongside the original languages text or not, to remember that once we understand the meaning of a biblical text we are responsible to apply it first in our own lives, and then to share it with those around us.

habits of heart, Bible study 8/28/2012

The struggle to keep focused on God and doing God's work is won in small spaces and fleeting moments as much as in the Great Works and big plans.
Guys around the table gave several related illustrations of this moment of meaning when one person can touch another person for the good of God:
 
C. said: When talking with person he listens with his heart -not what the person is telling or asking, but just how they are being; what their overall place in life seems to be; if they are hurting in some way.
 
J. said: Some people do not lie down for bed or get up in the morning without praying as a reminder of what is uppermost amid the details of one's life.
 
A. said: He likes to hold the door and urge a person inside with the phrase "beauty before age" and that surprising gift of praise sets a person off balance sometimes, causing a smile that is authentically felt and given back.
 
These examples reminded me of the power of a small phrase learned in a parenting class: when a child makes a demand or objection, "that may be so" is a small but redirective phrase that works like judo by taking the energy of the person and steering it out of the way. Similarly a small decision or incident or unexpected turn of events can have far-reaching unintended consequences that set a project or relationship off course: the phone call that comes in just as you prepared to leave the house caused a momentary delay in departure and therefore a road accident or avoidance of one further in the sequence of events that followed, for instance. The well worn historian's illustration of the loose hoofnail leading to the king's horse throwing a shoe and altering its performance on the field of battle is another example of a small action, word or look that can redirect things.
 
By being aware of such small ways all around us, we can materially shape ourselves and those around us. This much, at least, is in each person's hands; while the Big Works may be out of one's reach.
Somehow one has to break the compartmental week so that God is everywhere and everyday.

men's bible study 31 july 2012

All about "love is..." as Paul tells the people of Corinth (I Corinthians 13).

1. The original Greek was written or dictated to the faithful/seekers/curious of sin-city Cornith who knew Greek.

2. The original term was ('karitas'?/charity=grace; as in King James: these 3 remain - failth, hope, charity) AGAPE (not philos, eros, or the 4th one)

3. Since "God IS love" then God is AGAPE (love for strangers in all shapes and sizes, all faiths and experiences of worldly fame or ill repute; love of family on a par with love of enemies and strangers now dead and those yet to be born). And therefore, if the object of Bible study is to wrestle with the Word, including the Word Made Flesh, then we English speakers need some exercises and aids that will help to untangle AGAPE-God's-love from all the other uses, especially that love we crave in the eyes of family and friends (respect, dignity, significance that one's words and life example matters in some small way). In sum, to grasp "Thy Kingdom... on earth as it is in heaven" we need to understand this AGAPE Love.

4. One of God's 99 (or more) names is "I Am" and so if the core of God's character and stuff is this Ground of Being (IS 'ness) consists of AGAPE Love, then by definition all that EXISTS is thrumming with IS'ness and that hum IS Agape love. God is. God is love. And so the simple command that each child of God is to Love Your God (to return that one-way Agape Love) and to love your neighbor as yourself [extend the Agape Love equally to oneself and to others: bathe one and all in a full-body BEING and goodness] now comes down to (1) awareness of the surrounding climate of love that we all swim in equally, and (2) that as the hands and feet and face of God during our brief three-score and ten years on the planet, that we should echo and express that same surrounding climate of love, extended to all.

5. In order to establish habits of heart that make the highest priority this Agape Love (awareness of it and also expression/enacting of it), we need to help one another to stay on track (not to 'sin' off course). Many varieties of Intentional Communities, including the long and wide line of Anabaptists, Shakers, and the monastic withdrawl from The World (as well as those "in The World but not of it") have tried to make a scaffolding to help build Thy Kingdom... on earth as it is in heaven. And yet things somehow don't work: is Agape Love best in small flashes of glory and spontaneous expressions? Does it wither in an intentionally cultivated community?

Bible Study on May 29 - Paul/corinthians

Men's Tuesday morning Bible study, May 29, 2012

<> The marvel of transmission of books, letters, gospels, etc. from the time of 1^st century A.D. until NT (and OT?) canon formed at Council of Nicaea. Some was on paper/papyrus/velum, but other via oral tradition among house-churches. Somehow the Word spread, was wrestled with, was recited, was interpreted for meanings that applied to people of the particular place and time, and comprised part of the personalized relationship to one's brothers/sisters in Christ and to one's maker.

<> Doing right by peers (audience/point of reference: what will people say or think of me; at least I'm a little better relative to so-and-so; wanting to meet so-and-so's expectations of me/make merit in their eyes) versus doing right by The Creator. Your integrity should strengthen your relationship (mutual respect and aid; concern and effort made on the other's behalf; getting to know the other) to God. And so when there appears to be a conflict, think first of doing right by God and in so doing things will eventually be right with peers: ask, "Who is my audience; who am I trying to impress and find favor with."

<> "The Way" of Jesus as 'a promotable brand' in the marketing language of today: one can often be most effective as God's hands and feet in the world by standing up for integrity and righteousness (but not self-righteousness or lording one's feeling of moral superiority over someone else). In other words it may be that the greatest influence is one on one, rather than publication or public speaking opportunities. By being true to one's relationship to God, actions and words will follow. It is a personal struggle (one's Jihad in the basic sense) to stick to the relationship to one's maker. It is not a political plank of one's promised platform. It can be declared or come out as the answer to questions being thrown in one's path. But one does not lead with this badge of identity. One is first of all a child of God (looking there for direction and comfort) and then also a brother/sister in Christ. To be spokesman for God is a rare thing, indeed, not an everyday position.

<>Paul's letters perform a spiritual audit among the several churches that he knew and nurtured. He diagnoses or addresses specific wrongs in each congregation. Today, too, there are hierarchies among some denominations that have a similar functionary to point out the shortcomings and to help to restore the right way. Surely this pastoral role of the flock continued from Paul's time to our own time. But the writings we study are limited to the decades around the time of Jesus the mortal Christ. This spiritual audit is something needed then as it is now, but when we study the Bible, it is as if those Biblical Days were different to now and only in those decades would such assessment and guidance be possible.

schizophrenia of worship vs. work week

Men’s Tuesday morning Bible study, May 22, 2012

<>Paul’s letter to the Corinthians: These are the answers, but what were the questions he was responding to? Since his words appear in the Bible we give special weight to them, but unlike the prophets and other Wisdom Books, The Laws, The Histories and so forth in the OT; and unlike the words attributed to Jesus, these writings of Paul are less directly part of God the creator. Instead his words are closer to our own: we strive and proclaim, we praise and give thanks, we fellowship and guide one another. In this sense these epistles and other elements of the Bible are more like a workbook than a holy object of veneration and instruction. In other words, rather than to take the attitude that the Bible is composed of sacred pages of uniform truth value and origins, instead we should adopt a position in which we are free to wrestle with the meanings and actively interrogate the messages. The uses of the Bible are living and suited to each generation, as well as fitting to each person’s chapter of life. While the word does not change, what each person and each historical moment brings to the text will affect the meanings understood. So we should not put the Bible on a pedestal. Rather, we should wear it out by repeated use. It is not meant to be honored only. Instead it is meant to be consulted and questioned; it is meant to live in our daily relationships with believers and with strangers. We are Paul in the sense that we, too, have the interests of our fellow Christians in mind. We, too, should declare and pronounce the message. It is not enough that we quote or refer to it. Moreover we must own it and author our own meanings from its unchanging message.

<>Segregating spiritual and worldly lives. Perhaps there never was a seamless oneness of secular and sacred habits and awareness. Before science and technology gave mass consumers a feeling of mastery and omniscience, the line between worldly and supernatural divinity was blurred and not confined to moments of life crisis or the cycle of holy days. But in our time the lines seem rigid and impermeable. And within one’s own biographical lifecourse, not everyone has opportunity or motivation to walk a spiritual path. Among those who do, will the majority or the few break down this wall that separates the dominion of God from the dominion of Caesar? Surely there seems to be a set of parallel splits: (1) one’s heart vs. one’s external responsibilities and ambitions, (2) one’s private concerns vs. one’s public persona, (3) Sabbath/Sunday vs. the other days.

machine for living... machine for praising?

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright was quoted as calling his house design "a machine for living;" that is, the physical facts of location and line of sight, conveniences or barriers to flow, gathering, communication and so on will cumulatively allow its residents to live well or to live at a disadvantage. So there is bound to be a consequence between physical conditions, environment; social ecosystem and one's interior, mental and spiritual life. In the same way, perhaps one can speak of the physical and programmatic structures and rhythms in a church of believers are helping or hindering the strong development and expression of one's spiritual heart; of one's opportunities for mutual dependence (fellowship), praise and giving thanks. Where does your community of belief fit along this spectrum: more of a supporting framework, or a series of active distractions? Indeed, is your worship life a "machine for praising"?

men's bible study 15 May 2012

<>God's power… wisdom… discernment. How do these things differ? Discernment is an ability to receive and perceive the core of a matter and to know its significance, including consequences that follow. That is probably a prerequisite to Wisdom since the distillation of knowledge and circumstances depends on perceptiveness and then the courage and decisiveness to take action, ideally proactively rather than after the thing occurs. Knowledge is to anatomy as wisdom is to physiology and  ontogeny. In other words, building up a picture of a subject in one's mind is knowledge. But then understanding the developmental phases and crucial timing (and rhythm and harmony) of matters is an active, living, personal and context-filled matter; not something abstract and frozen in time.

<>Epistles: general message vs. personal response (or the first in a series of correspondence for which we have only this part of that chain). Philemon is a personal letter all about the matters concerning the writer and reader. But the circulating, general epistles like those to the church/eklesia at Corinth, Thessalonica, Ephesus and so forth were written as an open letter with messages in general, not limited to specifically named persons and gatherings. So it is fair today to seek deeper or wider meanings that just the layers between immediate writer and reader(s).

<>Writing to the Greeks at Corinth, Thessalonica, Ephesus and so on. Paul was fluent and learned in Greek so he could use their own medicine (worldliness, guru model of philosophy, search for esoteric  knowledge as key to higher consciousness or eternity) against them. But what about letters to non-Greeks: Persians, Zoroastrians, Jews, Egyptians, Carthaginians, Phoenicians, etc? Would those (general, circulating/open) letters also speak in the terms that preoccupied those readers/hearers? Example?

<>Gutenberg's crutch: we depend on printed Word of God instead of memory/learning by-heart. Does this externalize the Word from our hearts? In time of crisis, do we have a few verses to call on by heart, or must we reach for a (printed) Bible? By deliberating passages and looking of word usage/roots, are we brought closer or deeper to God's heart, or on the contrary do we insert more and more minutia that introduces distance from God's will and His creation.

early May 2012: wisdom, social justice, God got out of the box

<>Caution – this God is alive and untamed and won't stay in the box where we keep him

What if the entrance to the worship space contained the following sort of consumer warning: This God is alive and wild. You may be subject to awe or terrible glory. Flights of rapture have been reported. The music is not just music of beauty or pleasure. It could reveal unexpected insight, joy or disorientation of routine habits of thinking and living. Enter at your own risk. Your relationship to God is serious and could change your life forever.

   Such an odd framework to a weekly routine and taken-for-granted habit could put the people on guard and change the expectations looked for and hoped for. In this way the minds and hearts are (pre)disposed to hearing the message and seeing the worship: not as an act of honor that one feels obliged to continue indefinitely in exchange for the fellowship and respect of one’s peers and the possibility that the whole promise corresponds to some reality. Instead one shifts from passive honor the virtuous status of Religion to an emphasis on”paying worth” (worth+ship =worship). So the motion changes from spectator to participant. The perception changes from invoking God to come to our place of worship to the reverse: inviting ourselves to focus and still ourselves and be on the lookout for God among us, as ever He abides, but which we are insensible of.

<>Intersection of The World and Thy Kingdom Come on Earth & Heaven: vote for God

We read “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s” and “following God’s way is foolishness in the eyes of The World.” So is one meant to retire from The Game of Life where all the rats are racing? Or is one meant to be in the World but be not of the World (God’s witness here and now). The message of Social Justice, “helping the least of these” and “speak Truth to Power,” has a long history. The record of intentional communities (Shakers but also the Anabaptists: followers of Menno, Hutter, Amos and so on) testifies to various ways of applying God’s Word to the small and big cares of daily social relations and livelihoods.

     The OT gives a formal structure by which God and his people are obligated to each other. The NT is not a formal, external scaffolding, but instead begins in each person’s heart. The object is to give oneself to God (his Word, his actions, his nature of being) and by not straying from that dedicated focus all sorts of things become possible and within one’s reach as authorized by God. So there is probably no specific way that the relationship each person develops year by year can be transposed into a formal, organizational set of guidance or rules. There could be an OT “app” (smartphone software application) to help one to judge a situation and its best responses. But the NT convenant is a living, individual thing that expresses itself from the inside out: by the things in one’s heart come the words, thoughts, attitudes and actions that are external and touch The World. But the influences go in both directions: the external habits and environment affects what is inside, too (birds of a feather flock together).

     In sum, things like “Christian Democrats” or “Catholic Socialists” appear to apply the Word to governance, rule-making and judgments, but owning to the “inside à out” basis of NT, it is unlikely that any organized group could adequately give form to the Spirit of the Law. Politics and Religion occupy the same public spaces and enter discussions (explicitly or implicitly), but they are not extensions of each other: God’s love does not have a political party, despite the concept of “socially conservative voters” acting as a voting block (moral majority or minority). However, it surely makes sense for voters to search their hearts individually and cast a ballot according to conscience. And if a pattern emerges whereby a sizeable group of people from diverse walks of life all choose one candidate, then so be it. But any sort of party platform built of planks from the Top Down is by definition a betrayal of the personal and individual relationship to one’s God. To be cued by party and not by one’s own searching heart is wrong.

<>IQ, EQ, CQ but also Spiritual Quotient?

In recent years the idea of ranking a person’s intelligence has become more specialized to show a person’s quotient is not only Intelligence, but Emotional and Cultural. So perhaps we can also speak of the cycle of maturation spiritually; a “Spirituality Quotient” or S.Q. Observers of human development have pointed out the idea that “Ignorance is Bliss” (one’s reach and grasp is very small, so it takes very little to gain the feeling of mastery and confidence), and the idea of “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing” and “Knowledge is power” (but also that “Power Corrupts” so perhaps then knowledge, by extension of power, also is corrupting or at least a source of vain pridefulness). Finally there is the observation that “the more one knows, the more one knows how much more is out there to know” and thus comes the realization that the further one travels the path of learning the wider grows the awareness of one’s relative ignorance.

     According to these observations one begins as a baby with very little information, knowledge and wisdom. The first few steps give a false sense of Know-it-all because the scale of the field of knowledge is small. But sustained growth expands the size of the field of knowledge, revealing how very little one actually does know. Even as the pool of information, knowledge and wisdom deepens and widens the trajectory only results in a much bigger universe of possibilities. Taken to the logical extreme, the wisest person will be the most certain of their humility and ignorance. To put this into Bible study terms: one begins with the heart of a child (trusting, ignorant, with little judgment or prejudice), then sets out to cross the ocean of learning and understanding and comes to realize how vast things are (infinity is pretty big), and finally nearing the opposite shore the person may hope to regain the heart of the child –ignorant and trusting once more, but this time through voluntary hard work instead of involuntarily by reason of inexperience and youth.

     In conclusion: there is value in Bible study, analysis, interpretation and splitting of hairs –not for its own sake or to set one apart from peers, but for sustaining a relationship with the Word (cling to the vine and then bear fruit). And by learning enough, one can achieve a realization of one’s true ignorance and humble standing (still authorized to do God’s righteous work, but without a shred of self-righteousness). Probably a direct, unspoken, incoherent and unarticulate grip on God is the most pure form of relationship of God. But most people tend to rely on words to think, express, respond and  communicate to others. So the only way to overcome the false sense of containment/comprehension of God is to learn enough through verbal means to that one’s ignorance rises into mind.

too much knowledge; the Joneses; leading early house churches

Tuesday Bible Study May 1, 2012

<>How much knowledge of Bible [Torah, Qu'ran, sutra or other holy book] is enough? Perhaps the value is not so much the command of detail and the heights that one climbs to gain an overview of deeper patterns and relationships. Instead the value comes in time and repetition: by going to the Book with a question or curiosity, the simple fact of active engagement (imagery of clinging to the vine to sustain growth) is what matters, not whether one gets to the bottom of the matter in any final sense. And yet the question remains: by deferring actions because one needs first to know more Bible, then nothing is accomplished outside of the garden of one's mind. The opposite extreme is to put all effort into deeds, without periodically going back to the Word. Best of all, perhaps, is to discover a productive cycle between incomplete knowledge and imperfect actions in the World. In other words, one should intend and hunger for better comprehension of the Word, and one should intend and hunger for tangible results in the World. But one should also accept the unending and imperfect condition under which the cycle rolls along during one's lifecourse, and then across one generation to the next, and over the course of one historical era to the next.

<>Status preoccupations. The urge to "keep up with the Jones" and to benchmark oneself to those taken to be peers, either measuring oneself as a little worse or better than those reference points. Although each follower is on a different road and has different burdens and vehicles to travel the road, in God's eyes we all are equivalent; none can claim absolute moral superiority. Sin big or small (by Worldly measures) is no different in separating a person from God and from the habit of seeking to be holy; whole; healing. By sheer repetition we tend to judge how well we are doing not in reference to God's will, but in reference to family or friends.

<>Early (primitive) church [eklesia: those called out from the others; saints in the World]. How would traditions be reproduced from site to site and from one generation to the next? Would there be squabbles over who is an authority; who is authorized to dictate a course of action, or who could perform wedding, funeral, baptism, communion, laying on of hands, exorcism, etc? With no written text (unless copied by hand of the OT set of Wisdom Books, Laws, Histories, Pentateuch/Septuagint), all scripture would be oral tradition. Certain itinerant experts of one or more books would reside for a time to tell all about these; sometimes also writing it all down. But with little institutional momentum to carry the small grouping forward, and some degree of external persecution connected to the rumor mill/grapevine of the day, it seems like the likelihood of small house churches rising and falling would be common. And yet those first 300 years it all did persist somehow.

<>Distractions and dissipation of modern times. Where once information was scarce and imagination filled in the vast spaces where information was unavailable or in a form unusable, now there is "more information than there is shit to know about." [quoted from movie, Apocalypse Now]. Where once hunger to learn more prevailed, now there is resistance to spend one's attention on the myriad versions of Bible and proliferation of titles and authors. The essential message and the teachings it comes from remains unchanged, but perhaps it is harder than ever to keep a firm grip on it. There are as many paths to that message as there are different kinds of people; a sort of modern day Tower of Babel. And yet paradoxically, this superabundance may drown rather raise us. What to do? The analogy of the Internet rate of information doubling may suggest an answer: algorithms that track the information that actually is accessed and used is one kind of filter. Word of mouth (social tagging and 'buzz' about certain content) is another filter.

several reflections, April 17 men's Bible study

also from Sunday's sermon and the youth group meeting before the worship service of April 15.

-We wrestle with the teachings of OT and NT in an effort to form a clearer picture in our minds of the descriptions and meanings of the teachings so that we may be a little holier (not to claim moral superiority, but just for the satisfaction of feeling, thinking, seeing and acting closer to our creator). And yet these feats of logic and memory are unlikely to lead to Truth Breaking Forth in any but partial and fleeting flashes. So then, is the exercise futile? No, much as the image of the fruit and the vine, the effort to engage and wrestle with the Word fills our waking minds, and to that extent excludes the fluff and noise of everyday concerns. In and of itself, daily visits to the Word have meaning, therefore. In addition, as we travel life's road, it is helpful to bring questions and anxieties to the Word since it is unchanging. For if we rely on internal reasoning and the acrobatic powers of rationalization, then anything we do can be self-confirming, self-authorizing, self-validating, self-righteous. Only be going to an external point of reference like the life of Jesus and his followers, as well as the foundation of OT that he lived in can we expect a better compass.

-All right, so we are forgiven by the atonement paid in Rabbi Jesus of Nazareth. But the power of this forgiveness of sins big and small for all time comes by accepting that gift. It is given to us, but until we accept it, acknowledge it, and return thanks for it, then the full value is unrealized. This is the Love (caritas) of God and the spirit from the Holy Ghost (numous; numinous breath of life; animating force). But then to do wrong; to go against life and what is good in the knowledge that one can seek forgiveness by remorse and repenting –this is an abuse of the relationship. To love one's enemy, to wish peace upon one and all, to turn the other cheek when insulted –these things say, in effect, in God's creation "it is all good," warts and all. In other words, this Love of God is a power that makes all of life and the world a one-way, one-size fits all, all is blessed phenomenon (love 'em all: the washed and the unwashed, the pure and the polluted, the friend and the enemy –and hardest of all, perhaps, the uncaring). Even Lucifer and his minions are in this creation and have a place in it; otherwise God would disallow it.

-Where "the rubber meets the road" in our relationships to God and to each other, Christian (fulfilled 'Jews' covenanted at first by the OT) or otherwise, is in one's heart: right(eous) thinking and feeling/intention leads to right(eous) actions and goals and course of events. And so the effort of Bible study and reflection, haggling over meanings and cross-connections, patterns and relationships recorded is valuable in a few different ways: it occupies one's mind, it ties what may appear random events into functioning connections, and it gives guidance or counterpoint to the bedlam of one's mind. And yet there is no moral superiority to claim in any prideful polishing of one's knowledge. It is significant only to the extent that it strengthens or develops one's heart: that place where love of one's God and one's neighbor begin.

-Living in the model and going forth authorized by Jesus to be God's hands and feet, ears and eyes means that we are living for God and for one's neighbor, not for oneself or one's (self) justification. By definition, then, we become connected to matters beyond our own personal concerns; thereby enriched by playing a part in bigger things.

-Suppose that the unit of discipleship, development in spiritual maturity and path of holy intent is not the worshipping congregation but instead is the individual person. Then our time together is important but temporary, while our relationship and learning of and through and for God is enduring. From this standpoint, then, the decision and organizational difficulties, clash in feeling or respect or personalities are trivial, much as they irritate or give pleasure. The pangs are urgent and hard to dismiss, but these are not what endures between the person and her or his maker.

-Gospel of John: he is selective in the episodes he gives so that we may glimpse something of the lessons to learn. But as a result, we have no fixed doxa or dogma to proclaim. We have questions and possibilities and to the extent that we wrestle with these meanings, we also construct the learning in our own historical moment and lifestage. In other words, the knowledge is built, not transmitted ready-made.

-About breaking break & cup of communion: while Jews of the time and also today have the custom of wine at Sabbath and pesach/Passover, and also the bread will be blessed, Rabbi Jesus does something novel by putting these elements into the hands of his followers to be his proxy: the bread his body, the wine his life. And while we are living and thus form one piece of earthly creation, this act of communion is a way of accepting (the all important step of acknowledging and returning thanks for grace; love; forgiveness) Jesus and by extension the things he stands for in his lived example and spoken teachings. Thus to take the communion is to subscribe to his story; the story of forgiving all of everybody. We are inside of God's creation, but in communion that creation (Jesus, Son of Man, heir to fallen world and holy striving) is now inside of us.

What gospels? Paul on the move

The OT was much in evidence in multiple copies around the time of Jesus, with peripatetic rabbis who created copies where they went. But the events of the NT including the gospels must have started in oral form, eventually taking form in Greek, the common language around the Mediterranean basin at the time. Looking at online estimated dates for the various NT books, it is likely that the path Paul took in the letters he wrote would have been one without any hardcopy; just word of mouth retelling the story of Jesus' life and teachings. Neither would there be chapter and verse references or the concept of a bundle of related books to comprise a NT. When did someone coin this term, in distinction to, but of equal weight to the OT?

Question: how different would things be in an all-oral worship tradition? No publishers and editions and translations. The focus would be on the thread of the teachings and stories, with variations that crept in along the retellings across generations. There would be no liturgist as such, although there could be someone reciting the stories. And if the OT were still written, but NT simply oral, then like the synogogue, a reader would still bring the printed word to life for congregants.

small group, week 4 of 7

Six of us on Thursday: we talked about the theme for this week's "least you need to believe," which was That God Uses You and Me to Do His Work in the World.

The Jesuits vow to differ from other monastic orders by getting out from the cloister in order to "be in the World but NOT to be of the World." We, too, are agents of God; we are on-call to do his business in the world and are authorized to act as his presence on the ground; on site and "live."

During our small group discussion these three things came up or were triggered in my own mind.

(1) Prayer experiences by several in our circle were shared in which some result was noticable, although not always as one hoped or expected. Reflection: perhaps the act of praying clears one's mind and places one is a correct posture in order to perceive and receive what is already present, but because of one's anxiety or preoccupations has been invisible. In other words, God's solutions are all around us; the past and the future merge into one place (the seed and the flower coexisting).

(2) Loving God and loving one's neighbor (as oneself) is a two-way process involving a giver and a receiver. Sometimes it feels harder to accept another person's offer of help, kind words or other expression of love. And yet by allowing that person to express their love, in fact both parties gain.

(3) Striving for more of the World (status, power, wealth, respect) versus living in the moment, sufficient with what is in one's hands right now: reckoning the value of one's earthly life, merit or worth in God's eyes is not based on mortal logic, so perhaps a kind word or helpful deed is just as valuable as creating a social service or community joy. Perhaps the one-on-one accomplishment is as valuable or more valuable than the headline goodworks like Carnegie Libraries donated to towns across the country. After all, the story of the Widow's Mite (2 pennies in the money plate) teaches that significance is scaled to the person. Therefore no matter how small the kindness, when scaled to the individual spirit and heart, these opportunities to do a kindness should be seized upon.

Later in the week, I began to reflect on the premise of the book's title, What's the least you need to believe to be a Christian. On the one hand the state of being a Christian is a persisting condition that you are immersed in. So, yes, you have arrived at a "destination." But perhaps more importantly you never arrive there since it, like Faith itself, is a dynamic condition that is always in process; emergent; soon to be, however not yet. Accordingly, a better title might be ...to believe to BECOME a Christian.

Taking a different angle to rewriting the title, the "need to" gives one the feeling that this bar is set low, and that to jump over this bar will yield the full reward. Alternatives include:

"What's the least I should/would/could/must believe to be a Christian"?

Each of these variations shifts the emphasis or focus:

--should means that it is strongly advised, although not necessarily required.

--would means that I myself can define the boundaries according to my will and commitment.

--could means that I take an experimental approach [could as 'hypothetically']; a related meaning is could as 'capable of doing' within my own limitations.

--must means that it is imperative; as essential as food and water are required to live.

"spiritual but not religious"

today on the radio, also to replay online or download as mp3 file, 

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2012/03/01/leaving-religion-behind 

"Spiritual but not religious," is the box that an awful lot of Americans are checking these days.  Into God, as they define God.  Into soul.  Into spirituality.  But not, very often, in a house of worship.  In church.

Big church historian Diana Butler Bass as been watching the trend, along with a whole lot of worried church-goers, for many years.  Now she's ready to call it, in her faith and beyond.  The end of the old.  The birth of something powerful and new.

This hour, On Point:  God after religion.  The end of church, she says, and the birth of a new spiritual awakening.

author of the new book Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening.

Feb 28, 2012

Pray for right relationship, then the rest will follow

"His will be done." That comes from striving for the right heart (+spirit +mind +strength/body): so long as you reach toward Holiness and the giving heart of God's 'karitas' (love), then whatever actions follow, and the responses to whatever circumstances are presented to you will result is "His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Maybe the analogy of golf works here: with proper posture, grip, habits of swing and correct frame of mind (un-preoccupied; fully present), then as a natural result the ball will travel where it should. So, too, the habits of one's heart and the discipline (re+ligare) of being fully present when engaging with others, fully open to God's will, and fully vigilant against Ego interfering will produce the best fruits of one's efforts.

There is an apparent conflict of driving in the direction of Holiness on the one hand, and going to places that appear unholy and Worldly. How best to reconcile these different destinations?

Jan 24, 2012

religion as discipline; simple but complicated; wrong questions to ask

reflections on last week and this week at the round table of morning men's Bible study:
 
<1> Seeking answers from The Creator, sometimes we may well be asking the wrong question and thus be looking in the wrong direction for the answer to come. Or perhaps the general question is all right, but the nature of language (determinate, mortal, specific rather than open-ended and similar to the infinite) forever holds to poorly formed questions - right direction, but weak execution of the matter.
 
<2> Simple but complicated. On the road to relating to The Infinite, there are many useful details to seek after and fit into one's expanding understanding. As a result there is much clutter, useful or not, though it may be. So it is worth regularly retuning the key message and purpose: Stay Engaged, wrestle with The Word. Seek the will of God and once you grasp hold of something definite, continue with a strand of (self) doubt to question if the source is one's will or that of the Almighty.
 
<3> They say that religion is a sort of training, habit of the heart and body, or discipline (re+ligare; ligaments over and over again). But that does not mean demonstrating one's conformity to the 613 rules that preoccupied the Old Testament times, nor enforcing the literal interpretation of the scripture to prove one's ferventness. Instead the discipline lies in forever wrestling with God's Word (literally Is Ra El, where 'el' or 'al' signifies The Omnipotent).

Dec 18, 2011

Praise & Thanks --vs-- Peace and Justice

How does the experience of participating in the varieties of Protestantism differ to that of Anabaptists like the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Amish or followers of Menno Simons (Mennonites), to name some of the more widely known groups? Take Congregationalism: worship each week normally gives attention to both Old and New Testament readings and interpretation. Private or small group Bible study may take place during the week. There is belief in the Trinity aspect of God, combining both the human manifestation in Jesus of Nazareth and the Holy Spirit, along with God the Creator of all. Watchwords are "praise and giving thanks" when engaging in worship of God each Sunday morning, or when praying alone or with others.

By comparison, the watchword for Mennonites and Quakers seems to be "peace [on earth] and social justice." So the attention and efforts are focused on doing the example shown by Jesus. The Praise/Thanksgiving element is not absent or anathema, but the emphasis is on right thinking and right actions; being mindful in the choices to act or intentionally not to (re)act. So the Kingdom of God is in one's own heart, but also in one's actions. The Old Testament God is not very evident, nor is the Jewishness of Jesus and those related teachings. Experiences of God by Quakers, according to one online video by the Watford (England) Friends, describes how each person understands the Creator in individual terms, images and meanings which change over the course of one's lifetime of growth and direction. As a worshiping group, it is not important to define God for all to follow. Instead the power of shared worship is mutual support, aid, respect and hearkening to the Inner Light as something of the Holy Spirit to lead one's life.

In conclusion, are these two ways of understanding God's story, presence and direction contradictory or mutually exclusive of the other? Surely they connect to one another, but the point of emphasis and the number of things to juggle when trying to understand the whole matter and then resolve to respond is different. With the Quakers and Mennonites, the emphasis is on action and individual understanding of the Word of God; it is forward directed. With the mainline Protestants (northern Europe's roots for Lutheran, Presbyterian, Congregational, Methodist, perhaps Baptist –if not allied instead with the Anabaptist roots) the emphasis is divided between understanding God of the OT and God-on-Earth of the NT. Order of Worship, familiar music making, and the Church Year go round and round giving comfort and repeating structure to worshipers across their lifetimes as their interest and capacity for faith waxes and wanes. The church body rather than the individual seems to be the main subject among the Protestants, compared to the Anabaptists. As a result the group members come and go, but the organization sails along with a feeling of unchanging equilibrium.

Nov 29, 2011

Christmas season 2011, Gospel John's angle

Men's Bible study circle this morning at 7 totaled 10. That's a lot for a 4 person round table! After last week's run-up to Jesus in Luke, and the week before in Matthew, we took John's perspective. The big words and subtle meanings seem to speak to a specialized and knowledgeable audience, probably ones able to read and write.

On the subject of literacy, among the disciples probably only Matthew (tax agent) and Thomas would be most educated and literate. Of course, too, Jesus was considered a rabbi, whether formally credentialed in the Old Testament, or not.

Whereas the synoptic gospels of M, M, L are descriptive of the events, John goes beyond this to weigh the significance of those events and interpret what they may mean to those who come later. So much of the annual cycle of church events dwells on the advent of the christ (Christmas season) and then the closing chapter (Easter season; passover/pesach), that the smooth flow of events before His time and after His time is out of focus. Yet this is when John is writing: very likely the religious and governmental authorities will have considered the hubbub disposed of with the execution of The Nazarene, but events continued to develop with followers of this rabbi growing in the hinterlands and in Jerusalem itself the Zealots were becoming bolder against the Roman authorities. Finally, the insurrection culminating with the massacre at Masada and the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70 resulted in the end of Temple Judaism and rise of synagogue worship instead. So those Pharisees and Sagicees from the days of Jesus will have lost their prominence in the civil society of the time. In this setting John composed his gospel for learned readers and listeners.

Nov 25, 2011

worshipping outside one's routine church

Tuesday before Thanksgiving a neighboring church was this year's host to the annual Community Thanksgiving Worship Service.
Even though it is mainstream Protestant like the place I normally attend, the differences in music style, the order of service, and the community-pitched style (ecumenical) caused me to pause and briefly examine each novel element to the service.
 
It occurs to me now that the old question of Form versus Content is present here: while the experience of expressing praise and thanks to God should be the same anywhere, anytime, in fact our mortal minds dwell on the small things on of the surface details. Things like the meter and mode of music, the lighting of the worship space, how the mix of strangers and acquaintances are dressed and exhibit worhiping behaviors, the manner in which the clergy speak to the Word and to the congregants --all these things crowd the senses and distract from the purpose and the message. And so there is an good argument to be made for routine and familiarity that lets the mind concentrate instead on the message and work of expressing praise and thanks as unselfconsciously as possible. There is another interpretation of my estrangement experience in the flow of this ecumenical service in a space I've attended just a few times before. Instead of concluding that familiarity is a good thing; that Form should be subordinate to Content, the other lesson could be that it is precisely this comfortable routinization that we look for each Sunday. When things are routine, then we feel content and can refresh ourselves to face the next 6 days of the week. So which is it: we desire routine or we require routine in order to reach greater heights of spiritual wondering, growth and commitment? Perhaps both at the same time: comfort and challenge?

Oct 25, 2011

Bible study 25 Oct 2011

<> About the attitude when approaching the Word of God: is the object (ink and paper, gilt edges, red lettering for Jesus speech) something of awe? Should one hold one's heart in keen expectation and reverence, or just listen hard to the details translated to modern English, 80 generations from the New Testament events?

----The critical result should be living interpretation and engagement in the words found there, not in its packaging or other outward details. Yes, the form and content are tied closely together, so one should be warned of the surplus and deficit meaning that arises in the process of translation. But to coddle, or gild or encrust with precious stones does not accomplish the inner work of the heart the same way that wrestling with the stories and examples does. Likewise the hall of worship or Meeting Space: this is not holy of itself; rather, it is the act of worshippers gathering and praising that accomplishes this fact.

<> About the layers of practices, customary events and manner of conducting a service of worship, much of what we signal or express comes from the trappings and expectations of our civilization and its methods, including the dominance of the consumer model in place of the steward model. So by comparison to the Primitive Christian Church, whether Jews, God-fearers or Pagans who constitute it, those of us today are distracted by the details of our habits in the annual cycle of readings and activities. Very little of what we recognize for Christianity would be part of those early house churches living in the shadow of persecution. It would be worth excavating those roots to know what, if any, of our routines echo those original ways.

<> Revelatory exercise #1 to try: pull out not just the 'red letter' passages attributed to the Christ, but divide into narrower categories, too, in order to distill patterns:
- list of parables (and context of each)
- list of miracles (and context of each)
- list of actions (for us to emulate in our modern setting?)
- list of declarations or doxa about what is Godliness; holiness
- list of those he engages (sociological categories: women, men, children, lame, power holders, rich…)

<> Revelatory exercise #2 to try: column 1 for Jefferson Bible (just JC words), column 2 from The Message (conversational rendering of the Bible for those same passages).

<> dvd (2007, South Korea) Secret Sunshine includes a scene where young widow discovers Christianity and decides to confront the murder/kidnapper of her young son. But when she gets there he says that he is sorry and has repented to God, thus has been forgiven. She wants to forgive him, as well, but feels trumped by his reply. Emotions and ancient human responses can't fathom the ways of God.

Sep 6, 2011

Men's Bible Study, 6 Sept 2011

Imagine if Jesus (yeshua) were here in 2011 USA and specifically our town:
 
1. What personal habits, organizational life, and calendar of practices would he advocate in order to fulfill his (Jewish) relatioship to God the creator: to love God & one another?
 
2. Where is the balance of spend now, vs. build an endowment for ongoing perpetuation?
 
3. What do "poor in spirit" look like?
 
4. How best to strike a balance between worldly demands and opportunities on the one hand and spiritual exploration, expression and development on the other?

Aug 24, 2011

radio conversations: St. Paul was not a Christian; 5 Questions; Jews & Jesus

recently heard on public radio:

=-=-=-= Science and the Search for Meaning: Five Questions
http://ttbook.org/book/science-and-search-meaning [5 part series]

1.What is Life? >Scientists can now explain virtually every stage of the evolutionary process. But there's a basic question that still mystifies even the best scientists: How did life first begin on Earth?
2. What Does Evolution Want? >Is the evolution of intelligent life inevitable, or a biological accident? We explore the question "What does evolution want?"
3. Does the Soul Still Matter? >Is the soul real or is it just an outdated myth? Some think it can be explained away by new insights from neuroscience and evolutionary biology.
4. Can Islam and Science Coexist? >Islamic culture was once the center of the scientific world. Today the Islamic world lags far behind the West in science and technology. What happened?
5. Can Science Be Sacred? >There's a growing movement of secular scientists who revel in the awe and wonder of nature. In fact, many consider this a religious experience – without God.

=-=-=-= Interfaith Voices, http://www.interfaithradio.org/ >>>Listen to the full interview

Jews, Jesus and the Stain of Deicide

In early March, the Pope published a book renouncing the idea that the Jewish people are responsible for the death of Christ. Though the story has been officially rejected by the Catholic Church since the 1960s, it never quite went away. Much of the myth derives from one line in the Gospel of Matthew, attributed to the Jewish crowd at the trial of Jesus: "Let his blood be on us and on our children." For those who read the Bible literally, it casts a stain of deicide — of killing a god — on Jews for all eternity.
To explore the roots of this story, and its consequences, we turn to James Carroll. He's one of the world's leading scholars on anti-Semitism and he has written the definitive book on the topic. Our story first aired in March 2011.
>>> James Carroll, author of "Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews: A History" and "Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World"

Paul the Jew

Begins at 22 min 30 sec

Many people trace the roots of anti-Semitism back to a single moment: St. Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. That's when, according to traditional teachings, Paul rejected his Judaism for the new, improved version: Christianity. Bible scholar Pamela Eisenbaum says this interpretation of Paul is not only wrong, it's dangerous. She spoke to Laura Kwerel in October 2009.

>>> Pamela Eisenbaum, author of "Paul Was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle"

Project Conversion: Muslim Edition

Begins at 31 min 36 sec

Becoming an honorary Muslim - during Ramadan no less - was a hard at first. No food and drink during a heat wave in his hometown of North Carolina. Praying fives times a day. And growing out a beard - despite the objections of his wife- to follow the example of Muhammad. But he also experienced a profound, radically different understanding of what it means to be Muslim in America.

>>> Andrew Bowen, creator of Project Conversion

Aug 19, 2011

invocation, sanctuary, and other frames to focus our attention

Invocation at the Worship Service (but also the opening prayer at Tuesday Men's Bible study) is not so much to call God to the gathering, but the reverse;  to call ourselves to be present in the moment and to hearken to the abiding presence of God. In other words we address ourselves to God, but in fact it is we who need addressing; thus the calls are to our fellow worshippers and theirs to us.
     Similarly, the space for praise and prayer has no inherent supernatural mystery or capacity to bridge our workaday lives to the world of the divine. Instead that bridge is built with the gathering of the believers and those wanting-to-believe. The material trapping and arrangement of color,  symbols, textures and substances, sound and light may well frame or support the flesh and blood components of the undertaking, but these physical "props" are just that --place holders that point us in the right direction. Polytheists may well say the same of idols: these are not immanently divine. They are visual devices to hold the attention of the aspirant. What is the creative and living force cannot be set in stone or metals.

Jul 21, 2011

social sea changes - fatherhood fast forward

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a four-term U.S. Senator, had some very provocative thoughts when it came to fatherhood:  "From the wild Irish slums of the 19th century Eastern seaboard to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: a community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families ... never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future – that community asks for and gets chaos." [my emphasis added]

Thinking about the asynchronous, anywhere anytime mobile lifestyle of our Internet times, the old boundaries about who to communicate with, where, when and how are dissolving. What then remains firmly fixed? If family definition is fluid and social obligations and supports likewise are fluid and flexible, then does the observation above merely compound and magnify the effects? Is the age of "easy come, easy go" and "whatever" drowning our dignity and humanity, substituting new rudeness for old humility, and swapping new shockvalue for old humor?

Jul 19, 2011

fcc 19 July men's Bible study

The "living God" comes up at NT Matthew 16. Is this different to "Word made flesh" and (living) "Word of God"?

Disciples as formative to who Jesus-on-earth turned out to be? In other words, did He need them as much as they needed Him? Or was the (public) ministry of Jesus fore-ordained so that it did not much matter that there were 12 or that they were "dropouts" from the hustle and bustle of the time? If the parables and miracles were rehearsed with them, then perhaps this shaped the choice of words and images subsequently used?

Worship service of Sunday morning, July 17: which segments are directed to God, which focus on minister, musician, liturgist and so on?

-prelude [music to hear]--musician to God
-announcements & greetings =FELLOWSHIP, one to another
-call to worship <>GOD
-HYMN [music to sing] <>GOD
-Lord's Prayer <>GOD
-Prayer response [music to hear]--musician to God
-Children's story [story to hear]
-Lessons OT and NT [story to hear]
-Gloria Patria [music to sing] <>GOD
-Anthem [music to hear]--musician to God
-Sermon [story to hear]
-HYMN [music to sing] <>GOD
-Silent and Pastoral Prayer <>GOD
-Giving offering [music to hear]--musician to God
-Doxology [music to sing] and Prayer of dedication <>GOD
-Benediction <>GOD
-HYMN [music to sing] <>GOD
-Postlude [music to hear]--musician to God

Jul 12, 2011

Tuesday Bible study July 12

Connection of see (vision) do (actions): if we can visualize something, then it becomes possible to take steps in that direction.
Hence the request during this morning's closing prayer, "to open our eyes to see things before us as you would have us see them; not as we customarily see them."
 
 
The Disciples of Jesus today (us) vs. at the time, 100 generations ago:
Them: The Word of God as oral tradition (Old Testament + live, unfolding Gospel events within living memory)
Us: print, translation, splitting hairs and stumbling over the chapter/verse breaks in flow.
So maybe the printed Bible, ubiquitous as it is in so many variations, is an impediment to understanding God's way.
 
 
Jesus' rebuke (Matthew 15+ parable of Clean/Unclean)... "are you so dull?" he retorts to his disciples.
--is that the teaching style of a Rabbi of that day? Surely it is not the modern-sounding sarcasm that we hear.
 
 
The balance of comfortable routine and uncomfortable themes: while it is wrong to preoccupy yourself with externals like Worship Service Decorum and Appropriate Degree
of Churchiness (tone, texture, rhythm and pacing), it also is wrong to belittle such formalities because to depart too far from accustomed ways can be a distraction. There is
performance anxiety for those speaking and making music, as well as among those paying attention who may worry for those focal persons in case they should make a mistake or
misstep.
 
 
Imagine a real-time instrument to see how many Christian followers at any given moment are dwelling on externalities and not on the temperment or tone of their hearts. Time and
time again Jesus says not to dwell on the formalities of the Old Religion, but to fulfill the spirit of that law and thereby draw closer to God. Suppose, for example, that only 5% of the
aggregate Christians at a peak moment are able to dispense with distractions and focus well and deeply on the heart of Karitas. The same question could be scaled to the personal level, as well: during a weekly or annual cycle, how well are YOU focused on your heart and following the commandment to Care for One Another (love thy neighbor as thyself).

Jul 10, 2011

Reflecting on the July 10, 2011 early worship service

1. Aramaic: seek out online (audio) clips of Bible passages or sayings spoken in the text, grammar and rhythm of the original Jesus speak. Audio is often easiest to search at altavista.com and archive.org

 

 

2. Life is like music: at the moment of performance it fills up the space and has real presence, but once it stops, there is little that endures. The same of Shakespeare's imagery "All the world is a stage…." Therein lies the paradox: so very compelling and strong, yet so fragile and impermanent.

 

 

3. Week by week the sermons hold up the mirror to our faulty paths and the many ways a person falls short of Loving God; Loving one's Neighbor as oneself. So imagine a real-time indicator of the empirical situation: at any given moment how many people are ON TRACK with God's wishes; or how many are aware of the shortfall and are actively seeking ways to get back on track again? Scaled to the individual level, what moments in a person's life come closest to matching the ideal mindfulness of God-filled living and working? In what ways does this look different to the person's ways before reaching that peak performance?

 

 

4. Pray without words, phrases, intonations (theme or rheme); but instead proffer images or directional flow (praise upward, request flow of right alignment and constant focus)

 

 

5. Imagery for earnestly seeking answers in worship and fellowship inside and outside the church and surrounding town: headlamps beaming into the dark to find the path and chose the best fork in the roads. However, rather than moving together as a herd and only the front guides actively searching, instead this front position should rotate to all involved.

 

 

6. Letter to the church at Ephesus (Ephesians 3:14-19), about how to pray well:

-..he may strengthen you… >>POWER/authorized to go forth in co-mmision
-..He may dwell in your hearts; grounded; roots… >>ABIDING Presence
-…We may hold on tightly… >>TOTAL Commitment 360
-…Filled to the measure… >>DIRECT Line/undiluted

Jul 6, 2011

on July 5 - Mens Bible Study

<> Sea change of the fast paced, morning commuter traffic on the streets leading to the church parking lot, on the one hand, and passing through the open door leading to the assembled small group of men gathered around the table with coffee and treats, ready to hear God’s Word and to connect this to each of our understandings of the meanings. How rare a feeling to know that each week at this place and time the 2,000 year old message can be heard and known. And even though in the quiet and supporting space of that weekly get-together we talk about the modern-day meanings to us and sometimes also the (unstated) implications of those meanings, still it is hard to hold on to those ideas after leaving the circle and disbanding to our separate paths outside.

<> Accounting for the best human efforts to follow the example of Jesus in the world: as far as anyone can tell, what was the Golden Age among Jews; that is, if ever there was a time when a sizeable proportion of believers actually hungered after God’s Will and carried out the 10 commandments, and so on, then what differences in human society followed from this? After the coming of Rabbi Jesus and the core of His message circulated widely, is there a time or place when a sizeable proportion of followers actually succeeded in holding Him in the front of their minds, or preoccupied themselves with the idea of “What Would Jesus Do”? As a result of attaining some degree of Heaven On Earth, what differences in human society followed from this? On the other hand, if this question only makes sense at the level of individual relationship to God, rather than at the society-wide scale, then what real-life examples (especially of our time) are there to examine and see what difference in the person’s deeds, words, viewpoint and attitude follows from this? In short, making the supreme effort to actually fulfill God’s Word, what difference does it (empirically) make? Or is this the wrong question to be asking?

<> Does Faith displace Fear (mutually exclusive); does Good displace Evil? Or can there be instead a sliding scale of overlap (like the Yin-Yang image) whereby the mixture tips at a given moment from a preponderance of the one or the other?

<> Peter calls, “Lord, if it is you, call me to come to you on the water.” The group took a few things from this episode and choice of words: (1) that any expression of Faith should be connected to Jesus/God/Holy Ghost (not a solitary, solo experience of one’s own volition), (2) that it is prudent to seek evidence that God is the one leading one’s heart (not another motive or source) by requesting Him to call us.

<> Translation theory: from time to time the group wants to know the source word or phrase of the Greek. Early translations were formal or literal, but the opposite approach seeks “dynamic equivalence” and permits idiomatic and conversational rhythms of spoken (educated, college or at least 9th grade level, American) English. An example of this is Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message. And yet the facts of translation remain, translating across scores of decades; across ethnic differences and material conditions of living; across language structures and senses (ethnopoetics and grammar boundaries; connotation and denotation shifts). The upshot is that Original Language (such as the Q’uran, frozen in 7th century written-style Arabic) becomes harder and harder for moderns to grasp beyond the surface level. And the Bible’s approach of allowing vulgates into all human languages, even those lacking a writing system, means that deeper, older, stranger meanings are dropped, out of focus or streamlined to fit the particular language style and flow. Either way the result is the same: a gap grows between each new generation and the fixed source texts. Readers impose surplus meaning by projecting modern experiences onto the original words, or the words of today simplify and flatten out the rich flavor and depth of the original, turning parts of the text from Technicolor to sepia; turning parts from three-dimensions to cardboard cut-outs. Expert editorial processing gives smooth reading to modern ears, but mischaracterizes some of the source. What is the remedy –short of bundling a hodge-podge of original texts into a folder, learning to read each century and genre on its own terms, and calling the resulting packet The Bible? Surely the smart people of past generations and the software wielding scholars of today have come to conclusions about how big or small this fact of translation is to knowing the Bible and seeking the meaning of God’s actions and declarations as recorded in the miscellany of writings we now call The Bible. [I wonder when that term came into common usage? New Oxford English Dictionary gives no date found in written materials, but shows the roots of the word itself: Middle English from Old French from Greek from semitic.]

Jun 27, 2011

grace in a cup of cold water on a hot day

Notes based on the 8:30 a.m. summertime service  26 June 2011 
 

(1) Hard times is when we sorely FEEL our need for God.

But in good times, too, the need is great but this is hard to feel.

 

(2) Cover illustration of the church bulletin is a pen-and-ink drawing of a New England clapboard church with a rising sun with prominent rays and a small group of silhouetted people moving toward the front doors. My mixed impression: Great Intentions and High Hopes, but very little follow-through or fulfilled actions when heading home again a few hours hence. In other words, words and music raise us up, but it is up to the individuals to provoke, invite, then encourage and support to make any results of those good intentions.

 
(3) The essence of Grace: Matthew chapter10 tells about "offering a cold cup of water" to a person.
 

Not premeditated, not calculated for self-glory, not a big expense of time or money or discomfort.
Substitute a kind word, a knowing smile or an understanding look in a person's eye for similar effect.
Fulfilling the teachings is a fluid and quenching thing like the Cup of Water; it's not Rule Conformity.
It is direct, personal and mindful; not impersonal and business-like, indirect or conceptual, or unthinking.
As such this expression of oneself into the path of another person is dialogic (not one-way communication) and includes the possibility or risk of oneself being changed as a result, too. It may work like a "peak experience," a formative moment, or function something like the temporary "imprinting" stage of hatchlings when they truly open their eyes for the first time and what they see before them becomes the most important thing to pay attention to. In sum, the image of offering a Cup of Water to a person embodies what Grace (karitas) is: Love for another person, expressed in a direct and personal way –nothing more, nothing less.

 

(4) Early worship service on week 1 and 2 numbered about 30 in the vast worship hall, but now in week 3 only a scant dozen spread themselves here and there among the church pews. As such it was impossible to "blend in" or proceed in praise "on autopilot." Worship with such small numbers made the whole undertaking more deliberate and fresh, maybe like the small numbers of Christians in venerable but mostly empty houses of worship in Western, Central and Eastern Europe; or in the house churches of China. In short the separation blurred between worship leaders "on stage" and those spectators respectfully sitting in quiet attention. With such small numbers the experience was personal and every voice was heard and every person was felt.

 

(5) What is the culture of Christianity?
Thinking about a definition of a culture, the main elements go from the material environment to the social structures and manner of talking, as well as the intangible matters of style, ideals and mental categories or felt connections between things. In a word, culture is what shapes our lives. It defines what does and does not matter. To speak of Christian culture could mean the ideas, customary relationships and actions during the day, year and lives that are Christ-like. But as creatures of our historical horizon and national environment it is easy to blur what is American and what is modern life what is Christian. To be clear, though, some of the things we see and do and imagine as belonging to the Bible, the relationship to our Creator and Word Made Flesh are not exclusively Christian; there are values and customs that may overlap or intersect Christ's Ways. Filtering out our modernism and our Americanism gives a truer grasp of the things in our traditions that do belong to The Son of Man.

 

 Nowadays: Are the teachings of Christ and the relationship to God background to we as protagonists living out the lifestory we have? Or instead is it God's Will that is the active force and we who are the background to that story; we who conform, react and respond to The Way in order to fit in its wake? To "be" a Christian under these circumstances involves filtering out the many distractions and glut of material wealth that floods our attention and stewardship instincts. Somehow individual persons become placeholders, 2-dimensional cardboard cutout tokens, or less urgent a call on our minds than bills, deadlines, paperwork, online hotlinks and voicemail messages.

 

Civil War aftermath (c1870-1890): Mass consumption and production of the industrial infrastructure and its connected markets. Perhaps the preoccupation of people professing and pursuing Christianity was, like today, divided between those concerned with the Show (looking proper and reproducing the outward appearance of A Christian Life) and those concerned with the Tell (disregarding outward appearances in favor of hearing God's Voice and Speaking His Will). In other words, there were Mainline Churches run like corporate bodies with officers, minutes and committees. But there were also searching souls alone or together who did not cleave to the Mainline Church routines and benchmarks. Lots of great hymns date from these days, as well. So the shared experience of worship under a roof or at a revival tent must have been powerful enough for the Vale of Tears then.  To "be" a Christian under those circumstances would be a struggle between The Word powerfully brought to life by skillful speakers and the visual pomp of Polite Society that many took to be the mark of Respectability in God's eyes and in one's Neighbor's eyes.

 

Frontier times west of the Mississippi (c 1885-1920): Small habitations and so many uncertainties (hostile and aggravated Native Americans, distant federal services and fashions; weather and growing animals or plants for sale, multiple ailments and ways to meet early death) may have made families, strangers and individual souls feel less cultural padding or comfort to separate themselves from The Creator. To "be" a Christian under those circumstances must have involved a degree of "make do" resourcefulness; do it yourself Rites and readings, and so on.

 

Nonconformity times of the Puritans and others (c.1610-1670): Similar to frontier times, uncertainty and death were common companions. So daily intercession of God would be keenly felt and responded to. For non-believers there were distractions and self-medications of the day. To "be" a Christian under those circumstances could be a life-threatening thing since the Act of Worship was prescribed in manner, time and place and authorized edition of the Bible.

Jun 7, 2011

"drawing closer to God" (prayer phrase)

1. We (start and) end the weekly Bible Study with prayer and among the phrases that sometimes arise is "...may we draw closer to God."
So I asked what does this mean if real life: exactly how far CAN a person draw close to God without actually being God?
Put another way: What does it look like when a person is close to God or in daily and hourly relationship with God?
Is this quantity (number of minutes per day when one's mind is filled with such things) or quality (depth, breadth, flavor); or maybe both?
 
Answer emerging from that conversation: much like the difference between "knowing" (in your head) about a matter versus knowing the same thing (by dint of experience, not just book knowledge), so too the God community is not just distinctions, connections, terminology but has to involve experience; knowing in this second, bodily way.
Drawing ever closer to God means, then, to identify in His world; His kingdom; His works and tasks for we His hands and His feet. And yet how seldom we actually glimpse our own identities at a given moment, let along over the process of growth and change. Self-awareness of identity sticks out when one is out of the taken for granted routines and comfortable, convenient environment. Identity is shaped by experience, not by head-knowledge alone; adversity and responding to it is another influence (adversity tests one's true character; "a friend in need is a friend indeed").
 
2. I reflect on the parable channel of Jesus' teaching and the rabbinic mode of Midrash (overstate a case in order to see it more clearly as it truly is).
Although the stories are persuasive by logic and emotion and example/deeds, still the message exceeds our finite minds. So it is sort of ironic that syntax and words and teaching is conveyed by logic and yet the subject of Faith by its essential character is without boundaries, definition or fixed shape and patterns of logic. It is a matter of the heart - sort of like the story, "The Little Prince" [Le Petit Prince by Antoine St. Exupery]: "It is only with the heart that one can truly see" [or ...that one can see truth].

May 31, 2011

bible study 5.31.2011 - unity? diversity?

Continuing in parallel with the lectionary (Matthew's Gospel), we came to the point of confrontation between Pharisees and Jesus, who is healing the lame man's hands On The Sabbath. The discussion came up: why are the (schooled/achievement-based expertise) Pharisees so reactionary (hereditary Saducces were learned and held religious special status, but they are not reported in confrontation with Jesus in the same way that Pharisees do)? The solution seems to be that the Pharisees were a relatively recent group at the time of Jesus' life. They rose much in reaction to the encroachment of economic and cultural dominance of the Romans. So while the heyday for classical Greece was around 400 B.C.E. for the Romans the rise to prowess began with the Punic wars in the 200s BCE. That's when the Palestine (Levant) encroachments began and the Pharisee tradition arose.
 
Next question: when did a universal church rise up (compared to the ancient, primitive house-churches that Paul tends over with their diverse contexts and cultural baggage)?
Answer: it arose in coincidence with Constantine III declaring the empire to support and follow Christianity. Since Rome was the cultural capital, it was natural to expect prominence equally among religions: the biggest and best also would be in Rome. And yet forever --primitive times and since then to now today (include E/W schism, reformation "separated bretheren), there has been discord and disagreement, as well as variance in interpreting the scriptures.
 

Mar 9, 2011

book, Jerusalem Jerusalem

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/03/08/james-carrolls-jerusalem-jerusalem-the-earthly-and-the-heavenily-the-mundane-and-the-imagined

[radio interview show; excerpt follows, sample passage from book also posted there]

For years before the Arab uprising, author James Carroll has been studying Jerusalem. Not just the city today and its divisions and tensions. But the city over thousands of years, as a symbol and locus of the sacred, the sublime, and the violent. As a spark point for modernity, and a portal to antiquity.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Blog Archive

• ▼  2025 (4)
  • ▼  April (2)
    • Questions big and small in the arc of church devel...
    • Holding lightly to The Law in order to know God be...
  • ►  March (1)
  • ►  February (1)

• ►  2024 (10)
  • ►  October (1)
  • ►  June (2)
  • ►  May (1)
  • ►  April (1)
  • ►  March (3)
  • ►  February (1)
  • ►  January (1)

• ►  2023 (3)
  • ►  May (1)
  • ►  February (1)
  • ►  January (1)

• ►  2022 (12)
  • ►  December (1)
  • ►  November (1)
  • ►  October (1)
  • ►  September (1)
  • ►  August (1)
  • ►  June (1)
  • ►  May (2)
  • ►  April (1)
  • ►  February (2)
  • ►  January (1)

• ►  2021 (12)
  • ►  December (1)
  • ►  November (2)
  • ►  October (2)
  • ►  September (2)
  • ►  June (1)
  • ►  April (1)
  • ►  March (1)
  • ►  February (1)
  • ►  January (1)

• ►  2020 (12)
  • ►  October (2)
  • ►  August (2)
  • ►  July (1)
  • ►  May (1)
  • ►  April (2)
  • ►  February (1)
  • ►  January (3)

• ►  2019 (8)
  • ►  December (1)
  • ►  October (3)
  • ►  June (1)
  • ►  March (1)
  • ►  February (2)

• ►  2018 (14)
  • ►  December (1)
  • ►  November (3)
  • ►  October (1)
  • ►  August (1)
  • ►  June (1)
  • ►  May (3)
  • ►  April (1)
  • ►  March (2)
  • ►  January (1)

• ►  2017 (5)
  • ►  December (1)
  • ►  November (1)
  • ►  May (1)
  • ►  April (1)
  • ►  March (1)

• ►  2016 (24)
  • ►  November (1)
  • ►  September (2)
  • ►  August (3)
  • ►  July (4)
  • ►  June (4)
  • ►  May (3)
  • ►  April (4)
  • ►  March (2)
  • ►  February (1)

• ►  2015 (22)
  • ►  December (1)
  • ►  November (2)
  • ►  October (1)
  • ►  September (2)
  • ►  August (2)
  • ►  July (1)
  • ►  June (4)
  • ►  May (1)
  • ►  April (3)
  • ►  March (1)
  • ►  February (3)
  • ►  January (1)

• ►  2014 (28)
  • ►  December (3)
  • ►  November (2)
  • ►  October (1)
  • ►  September (2)
  • ►  July (2)
  • ►  June (3)
  • ►  May (4)
  • ►  April (2)
  • ►  March (2)
  • ►  February (4)
  • ►  January (3)

• ►  2013 (32)
  • ►  December (2)
  • ►  November (1)
  • ►  October (4)
  • ►  September (3)
  • ►  August (3)
  • ►  July (7)
  • ►  June (3)
  • ►  May (3)
  • ►  March (1)
  • ►  January (5)

• ►  2012 (25)
  • ►  December (3)
  • ►  November (2)
  • ►  October (3)
  • ►  September (3)
  • ►  August (1)
  • ►  July (1)
  • ►  May (6)
  • ►  April (2)
  • ►  March (2)
  • ►  February (1)
  • ►  January (1)

• ►  2011 (20)
  • ►  December (1)
  • ►  November (2)
  • ►  October (1)
  • ►  September (1)
  • ►  August (2)
  • ►  July (5)
  • ►  June (2)
  • ►  May (1)
  • ►  March (1)
  • ►  February (3)
  • ►  January (1)

• ►  2010 (15)
  • ►  December (3)
  • ►  October (1)
  • ►  September (2)
  • ►  August (1)
  • ►  July (2)
  • ►  April (3)
  • ►  March (1)
  • ►  January (2)

• ►  2009 (3)
  • ►  December (1)
  • ►  May (1)
  • ►  April (1)

• ►  2008 (4)
  • ►  November (1)
  • ►  February (3)

About Me

GPW

View my complete profile