The Bible Part One

 

Beginning this week, our church is discussing David Lose's book, Making Sense of Scripture.  It is one of my favorite books and honestly addresses such questions as, "What is the Bible," "Is the Bible true," and "How Can I Read the Bible."  My interest in the Bible is really two fold:

First, with the History Channel's recent mini-series on Scripture, there is a renewed interest in talking about the good book.  Yet, as interested as we are, the reality is also there is a passivity when it comes actually to reading the Bible.  A recent study suggests the average American household owns 4.4 Bibles, yet rarely reads any of them. 

That is not said to make you feel guilty!  The Bible is complex, confusing, and even frustrating.  Churches have not always done a great job of helping people get into the Bible.  In fact, pastors can occasionally give off the vibe that you need a seminary degree in order to understand Scripture by the very fact that we get to preach on the Bible week after week.  The cumulative effect, and null message to the People of God sitting in the pews, is that the Bible is to the pastor like the Medical textbook is to a doctor. 

Yet, the truth is we are living in an era when the word "expert" has lost its shine, because the truth is we all have bias, brokenness, and make mistakes.  In fact, the reality of wikipedia and open source sharing reminds us that there is a blessing in collective wisdom and dialogue.  That is true when we approach Scripture.

My other interest in the Bible is that so often it is thrown around as proof for a certain position or understanding or interpretation. When people distance themselves from the Bible, we distance ourselves from the story of who we are and whose we are.  We distance ourselves from the story that tells us about an unconditional grace and unceasing love for us, not just our ancestors.  We are the People of God and this is our story that defines and reminds us of our relationship with God. 

In the midst of trying to wade through the story, it is easy to get off track.  And so we need others, we need companions, in the midst of reading the Scripture.  As Diane Jacobson says, "We hear the Good News from others."  So often we try to go at the Bible alone.  And when we do, we would be wise to heed the wisdom of Revelation 10 when John of Patmos ate the scroll, while it was sweet like honey to his tongue, it caused a stomachache.  How many of us sometimes feel like the Bible causes our stomachs to churn and our minds to swirl and our hearts to beat faster?  Part of the reason is we believe that we should already know this.

But, the truth is, I don't!  I still get mixed up and need help of others to share the Good News of certain books, chapters and verses.  I hope you will read David Lose's book.  And more than that, I pray you will join with others in reading Scripture.  In future posts, I will continue to reflect on Scripture. 

For now, perhaps you can find your Bible from your childhood and my prayer is these posts will help rekindle the promise, hope, and joy we find in the Word.

May the traces of God's grace move in your life as Spring awakens around us.

Blessings!

Easter

May the mystery and joy of Easter Sunday sustain you for weeks to come.  May the resurrection light awaken hope within you.  May the love of God's emphatic "YES" to life echo within your life.  

As always may the traces of God's grace be with you.

Alleluia blessings~ 

Silence of Saturday

How do you deal with silence?

When you have to strain to hear the still small voice of God.

Last night at the Holy Friday service, the pastor referenced words written by a Jewish prisoners at a Nazi Concentration Camp:

"I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there's no one there.
And I believe in God, 
even when he is silent."


On Saturday there was silence among Jesus' followers.  Grief hung heavy in the air.  Chaos of thoughts raced around their minds.  And they wondered, where is God in all of this?  How could the One we follow, the One who taught, healed, laughed, ate, and shared his life with us, be dead?

Most of us deal with enough grief in our lives, perhaps we'd rather the church not talk about it.  Yet, I think, our faith offers us a profound insight into grief that we thirst for.  The church offers not a solution, but an invitation.  An invitation into community.  We need not suffer alone.  We need not grieve alone.  On this Holy Saturday, I invite you to think about your faith community or the one you will be worshiping with tomorrow.  Pray for the people in the pews beside you and the pastor who will be leading the service and the choirs who will be singing and the brass that will playing.

Even when God is silence, we can trust in God, because of each other.  May that be a trace of God's grace.

Blessings~

Atonement - part 2

Yesterday's post concerned the most popular understanding and answer to the question, "Why did Jesus have to die on a cross?"  The usual answer is one of substitution, sacrifice, and satisfaction.  Jesus serves as a substitute for our sin.  Jesus serves as a sacrifice for our brokenness.  Jesus action on the cross satisfies God's need for justice.  In this theory of atonement, God's justice trumps God's love.

Yet, I think God's love trumps God's need for justice.  The above oversimplification has those two qualities of God in the opposite order.  In substitution, sacrifice and satisfaction, God's justice holds the trump card over love.  I think it is the other way.  God is willing to be in relationship with us, not because of what Jesus did, but because we are incarnate in the image of God (Genesis 2).

Jesus' birth and baptism reflects that truth.  God claims Jesus as beloved, just as God still claims each person baptized today.

Jesus life sought to share God's love, peace, hope, and justice with those in power and those on the fringes of power.

Jesus faced death...as all of us who are incarnate will.  More than that, I think Jesus faced death earlier because of the way he shared God's love, peace, hope, and justice.  People just could not stand it.  So, they hung him on a tree.  The cross is our actions, the cross is directed at us, and we today still put people in places of death by our words, actions, and systems.  You hear people today belittle those who need government assistance.  You hear people today use fear when talking about gun control or people of other races, genders, religious, and sexual orientations.  You hear people today still treat others as less than fully created in the loving image of God.  There may not be physical crosses in our world, but there are plenty of places we still cause each other pain and even death.  The cross looms large in those moments today.  And on Holy Friday we are invited to be honest about that and about our participation in those moments.

So, if the cross is directed at us, does that mean the other theories of atonement are wrong?  Perhaps not.  Maybe you still find the one I described yesterday more meaningful because it is the one you grew up.  To say the cross is an event that happened and is still happening is a different understanding.  But I also think when we see the cross as directed at us, rather than at God, it opens the door wider for the need for resurrection.  In some ways for those who find the substitution/sacrifice theory helpful, once Jesus dies on the cross, Easter is somehow...just not as important.  It is neat.  It is a cool trick God plays.  But, really the gospel could end with Jesus' death and taking the substitution atonement to its logical conclusion, that should be enough. 

BUT that is not where the gospel ends.  The gospel ends with an empty tomb.  But more on that tomorrow!

I pray you will take time today to ponder the mystery of the cross.  And when you look at the cross, what do you see?  How do you make sense of this Holy, roller coaster of a week?  May the traces of God's grace sustain you and give you strength to be open to all the truth of God's presence on this holy day.

Blessings~

Atonement - take 1

The Death of Jesus

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land[l] until three in the afternoon, 45 while the sun’s light failed;[m] and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. 47 When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.”[n] 48 And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49 But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Tomorrow is Good Friday.  Of course, we only call Friday "good" living on the other side of Easter. The women who stood at a distance from the cross saw nothing good as they watched Jesus die. They could not hold his hand.  They could not comfort him.  Death makes all those around feel helpless, how much so when you are at a distance?

One of the biggest questions in Christianity is, why did Jesus have to die?  Before directly answering that question let me affirm two things:

1).  There are countless theories that seek to answer this question...not just one!!  No matter what other pastors or other theologians want to say, there is more than one response to that question.  And always has been throughout Christian history.

2).  Because these are theories, they have all the human blessing and brokenness within them.  No one answer can fully answer this question.  This is good.  If you ever think you have God all figured out, I think you should go immediately to hang out with people who you disagree with...
               do NOT pass go
                      and do NOT collect $200.
I would rather have a faith that is bigger than my human imagination and mind than one small enough for me to comprehend fully.

These theories are called "atonement".  Atonement is a word we like to toss around to show that the piece of paper from our seminaries means something.  Atonement is basically God becoming "at - one" with us.  There is a problem, a gap, a distance...that the women at the cross surely understood... between us as humans and God.  What exactly that gap is...is for another post, another time.

The most popular theory of at-one-ment is that Jesus had to suffer because humans are such miserable sinners that we could not save ourselves.  There is no way we could build a bridge between us and God.  The gulf was too wide for humans to respond to.  So, God came in the flesh (incarnate) in Jesus to suffer on the cross to bridge that gap.  Essentially, God's sense of justice was so offended by our mistakes and brokenness, someone had to suffer in order to satisfy God.  The cross is directed at God as an offering.

Just because something gets repeated, does not make it so.  Just because a theory gets popularized by hymns, does not make it so.  Just because people get angry when you question the logic of this theory, does not mean we all need to fall in line.  Because I wonder, how in the world if God wants justice from us, could humans hanging Jesus on a cross count for us and NOT against us?  How could one devastating decision to hang Jesus on a cross actually appease an angry God?  Killing God's Son somehow makes everything better?

I know people argue that God's justice is different than our justice.  But, I confess, I don't get it.  The God I worship is the Prodigal Father who races out to embrace the son who wandered away AND goes out to calm the brooding older brother.  The God I worship is the Mother Hen who longs to gather all of us under her wing.  

And what is more...there are other theories of at-one-ment...and those I will post on tomorrow.

Blessings and may the traces of God's grace found in the bread and wine of Maundy Thursday service continue to linger as we gather to worship on Holy Friday.

Blessings.

Communion - Part Two

At communion, we taste God's grace not only through the broken bread, but also through the cup of forgiveness poured out.  If Jesus had only offered his friends...who would desert him, deny him, and betray him...the broken bread, it would make sense.  After all, these people are suppose to be his friends, but perhaps feel more like modern day frienemies!

But Jesus doesn't only talk about brokenness as the darkness and shadows of the night fell upon the Last Supper table.  Jesus also offered hope.  In some ways giving these disciples a cup of forgiveness is wonderfully mysterious.  Jesus offers forgiveness and hope hours before most of the disciples (perhaps save Judas) really knew they would thirst for that hope and forgiveness.

So it is with us.  How often do we really think we need hope and forgiveness?  We'd rather get caught up in believing we've got everything under control and taken care of.  Thanks anyway, Jesus, but I really think this new ipad will quench my thirst.  Thanks anyway, Jesus, but I want to stay mad at my co-worker; family member; that person who caught me off in traffic and if I drink the same cup the disciples drank from then I might just have to forgive them.

The cup is counter-cultural.  The cup challenges our ways with God's ways.  The cup is, for me, what make communion a sacrament.  To affirm God is in our brokenness would be enough to make it a sacred moment.  But the fact that a cup is poured out with what we need most, even before we know we need it, is where God's grace intersects our lives.

The cup is also what makes us a community.  I often prefer that we take the bread when the Spirit moves us as individuals, recognizing our own brokenness.  But I love drinking the cup together, remembering that we are the body of Christ together.  We need each other.  I can't solve my brokenness on my own.  My bias and clouded way of seeing means that I can't get myself out of the problem on my own.  But others can help me see clearer.  Others can help me notice the errors in my thinking and inconsistencies in my actions.  Others can also create brokenness...let's be honest here.  Life in a church, community of faith, is not all chocolate rivers.  But, community is part of communion and that makes it a sacrament.

I pray you will taste not only the broken bread on Maundy Thursday this week, but also the cup that is poured out for all.  It is an overflowing cup with the promise of Easter.  It is in tasting the fruit of the vine that gives me the strength to face the cross.  If there was only broken bread, Holy Week would be way too somber.  But the cup offers us a glimpse of Easter.  The cup affirms God's presence.  The cup is a trace of God's grace.  I pray you taste that when you gather around the table tomorrow.

Blessings!

Communion - Part One

The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

14 When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it[a] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.[b] 21 But see, the one who betrays me is with me, and his hand is on the table. 22 For the Son of Man is going as it has been determined, but woe to that one by whom he is betrayed!” 23 Then they began to ask one another which one of them it could be who would do this.

There are many words to describe what happens when Christian communities gather around the table:
Communion - which emphasizes community;
Eucharist - which means thanksgiving in Greek or giving praise;
Remembrance Meal - which is both about recalling the event recorded above, but also about "Re-membering" - or reconnecting to each other as the living Body of Christ.
Lord's Supper- which emphasizes the One who is the host everything we break bread;
Or Last Supper - which reminds us that this was the last meal Jesus shared with his friends.

No matter what we call the time we gather around the table where Christ is the One who invites us and welcomes us, what remains the same is that it is a sacrament.  A sacrament is a visible and tangible sign of God's grace.  The bread and cup can be seen, touched, tasted on the tips on our tongues, smelled, and becomes part of who we are. Just as as Jesus was God incarnate, in the flesh; so we eat the bread and it becomes part of us. God's grace, which often can feel ineffable, for a moment becomes something we can actually wrap our hands around.  God's grace becomes embodied in our very person.  Yet, it is fleeting.  No sooner do we touch the bread and small cup of juice than are we invited to, "Take and eat, remembering Christ."  Even when God's grace is held in our hands, we realize that we cannot hold onto that grace forever.  Eventually, the service will end and the Pastor will want to turn off the lights and ask us politely to leave.  There are traces of God's grace in our lives, and communion is one of them.

Communion is grounded in Maundy Thursday (Maundy meaning "commandment" and references how Christ tells the disciples of a new commandment - to love one another!).  And so on this Holy Week, we gather around a table, remember Christ did the same thing.  We gather with broken bread, remember Christ did the same thing.  Broken bread holds three significant truths:
First - it reminds us that God's grace is everywhere, even in the broken parts of our lives.
Second - it reminds us that Christ's life was broken by the betrayal, denial, and desertion of so-called friends, known as the disciples.
Third - it reminds us that, if the Church is the living Body of Christ, that we won't always get it perfect.  As the body of Christ, we will say things to each other that cause brokenness.  That happened with the community of Jesus' followers, they caused brokenness right after eating this meal with Jesus.

Within my life of faith, I long for communion as much as possible.  I know some who don't like to celebrate communion too frequently because it might make it less special.  I do hear that.  But I also know that I can hear my wife and kids say they love me every day, it does not make it less special, it is a wonderful affirmation and reminder.  So, it is with God's grace.  But that is one perspective.

This week Christians from around the world will gather around the table.  For one fleeting night, the table has many extensions in it, stretching all around God's creation.  There is wonderful diversity.  We break bread not only with people we see in Church, but with the People of God from every race and country.  I give thanks that this week youth from our church will bake the communion bread with youth from the Lutheran church in town.  The bread we break with our Lutheran brothers and sisters will be made ecumenically by our youth proclaiming the Good News in their very action.  That is a beautiful image.  It is one that embodies Jesus' prayer, "That they may all be one."  For one night we are interwoven together.  But it, too, is fleeting, just like the taste of God's grace in the bread and cup.  But it is also enough, a glimpse of the promise of God in our lives.  I pray you will find a community of Christ to break bread with this Thursday.  It sustains us and gives us the strength to face the cross on Friday.

May the traces of God's grace be felt every day this week!  Blessing!