The more I listen to people talk about being Christian, and what is the Christian thing to do, and all about Christian values, the more I am convinced that there are a number of different ways to abuse the Scriptures. The first way that many people who are speaking publicly about being Christian abuse the scriptures are to never read them. Those are the Christians who claim we ought to follow Christian family values as defined in the Scriptures, but they do not say whether we ought to follow Abraham and his two wives and two concubines, David and Solomon with their many wives, Jesus who was single, and Paul who says he thinks it would really be better not to marry. There are the Christians like Glenn Beck who claims that Christians ought to avoid “social justice” and thereby given evidence of never having read the prophets, never having read Jesus, and never having read James where the constant focus is on caring for the widow, the poor, the stranger and the orphans. If you are going to claim to be a Bible believing Christian you ought,at least, to read the Bible.
The second way many Christians abuse the Bible is to read just the words. It is like pretending to know a song when all you have are the words. You do not get to feel the emotions of a song until you hear the music. If you look at a painting and all you see are colors, you miss the whole experience. You cannot get the power, the joy, the message of the Bible if are you have are the words on the page. You have to listen to the agony of the psalmist. You have to hear the courage of Jeremiah. You need to confront the anger of Paul when he denounces the hypocrites in Galatia. It is like reading satire without realizing it is satire. It is watching a sit com on TV. Without the sound. You have to listen to the whole story and catch the mood, the emotions, and the human interaction.
The third way to abuse the Scriptures is used by most of us. It is to only listen to the few passages we like. We have our only little set of verses that appeal to us and we seldom range outside those verses. This canon within the canon is a very common method of Scripture abuse among the liberal Christians. The work of taking the Scriptures seriously is really very hard work. We all ought to try it some time.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The Spill Over
In my retirement I have ventured into the world of female young volleyball. I have taken up the occupation of Volleyball official. It has been an interesting experience. I had no idea that there were this many people doing this kind of thing every Saturday for about three months. These volleyball sessions go all day Saturday. Most begin about 8:30 a.m. and the last is not over until 8:00 p.m.
A few Saturdays ago I was working a match in a "14 and under Nickel" competition. "14 and Under" means that every girl is 14 years old or younger. They have them divided into levels of skill by metals. Nickel, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum. Nickel means that these young girls are playing at a very elemental level. This is not Olympic volleyball. The set I was calling was very competitive. Most games go to 25. This game ended up with a 34-32 score. It was a very exciting set. When the score was about 28-28 the captain of one team came up and complained that the parents were saying some very "rude, crude and socially unacceptable things" to the girls while they were trying to serve. I assured her that I would listen for it and would act if I heard it. I did not hear anything and the match conclude.
As the teams switched sides and one of the coaches said something to me about it, the other coach simply said that their girls had been getting the same thing from the parents on their side. Later I was told more about what was being said to them, and I had to tell the girls that in the larger picture they were going to have to learn how to block out crowd noises and crowd insults as they play in other sports and other places.
Since this is my first year, I do not know if this is new or not for volleyball. I do know that over zealous parents have been a problem in most youth sports for as long as the youth programs have been organized by adults. But the things that were reported to me that were said made me think about the kind of things that were said in the public rallies against health care reform bill. These comments to these girls at this age were sexual, racial, vicious attacks on them. They had the same mean hostile spirit that the anti-health rallies had. One just has to wonder if there is some kind of carry over. Acceptance of that kind of yelling in public in one places makes it acceptable in another. I don't know in which direction the carry over would go.
These kind of comments coming from people who would probably call themselves good people is just another example of the basic Christian affirmation that there is evil in us all. That it slips out, erupts, shows up in all kinds of ways. In the way we can become a mean and nasty cheering section for our side and ready to hurt and demean others just for a moment of success. Try telling that 14 year old girl who is trying to learn how to serve in a very close game that the people who are yelling at her are basically good people. She probably would have no trouble believing that they too are sinners.
A few Saturdays ago I was working a match in a "14 and under Nickel" competition. "14 and Under" means that every girl is 14 years old or younger. They have them divided into levels of skill by metals. Nickel, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum. Nickel means that these young girls are playing at a very elemental level. This is not Olympic volleyball. The set I was calling was very competitive. Most games go to 25. This game ended up with a 34-32 score. It was a very exciting set. When the score was about 28-28 the captain of one team came up and complained that the parents were saying some very "rude, crude and socially unacceptable things" to the girls while they were trying to serve. I assured her that I would listen for it and would act if I heard it. I did not hear anything and the match conclude.
As the teams switched sides and one of the coaches said something to me about it, the other coach simply said that their girls had been getting the same thing from the parents on their side. Later I was told more about what was being said to them, and I had to tell the girls that in the larger picture they were going to have to learn how to block out crowd noises and crowd insults as they play in other sports and other places.
Since this is my first year, I do not know if this is new or not for volleyball. I do know that over zealous parents have been a problem in most youth sports for as long as the youth programs have been organized by adults. But the things that were reported to me that were said made me think about the kind of things that were said in the public rallies against health care reform bill. These comments to these girls at this age were sexual, racial, vicious attacks on them. They had the same mean hostile spirit that the anti-health rallies had. One just has to wonder if there is some kind of carry over. Acceptance of that kind of yelling in public in one places makes it acceptable in another. I don't know in which direction the carry over would go.
These kind of comments coming from people who would probably call themselves good people is just another example of the basic Christian affirmation that there is evil in us all. That it slips out, erupts, shows up in all kinds of ways. In the way we can become a mean and nasty cheering section for our side and ready to hurt and demean others just for a moment of success. Try telling that 14 year old girl who is trying to learn how to serve in a very close game that the people who are yelling at her are basically good people. She probably would have no trouble believing that they too are sinners.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
A bit of evidence
It has often been said that the great proof for the existence of God is the church. And it has not been said in a positive way. Those who know Church history; those who know Church politics; those who know Church theological debates; those who know the reality of the local congregations; say it because they believe that no organization like the church could have continued to exist except by the grace of God. Why would people put up with so much fighting, so many controversies, so many petty arguments and insults and personality conflicts? Something besides human power and gifts have to be at work, they claim, to keep an organization, an institution, a denomination, a political power as dysfunctional as the church survives.
While I have seen my share of evidence for the truth of all that has been said, my time in retirement in the visiting and preaching to some of these small and collapsing churches has driven this point home with even greater force. What and why does a rural church with five members, most of whom are members of the same family, continue to hold services? They hold joint services with another small church for the major religious events: Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and other special days, why don't they just close one door and worship with another congregation? The other congregation has a super musician and the one with five members has an elderly woman who only knows how to play about thirty hymns.
Another one I preached at began the service with four people in it. Two of them had parts in the service, each was scheduled to sing a solo. At this congregation the organist called at the last minute and announced that he would not be there. We had to sing without an help. One of the solos was by a senior woman who must have had a beautiful voice thirty years ago and she still thinks it is worthy. The other solo was by an El Salvador resident who sang in Spanish. I think there were seven people by the time we got to the passing of the peace by 11:40 a.m. But that was the remarkable thing. Somehow this little church with no pastor, about seven members on the roll has managed to provide Christian fellowship to an El Salvadorian community in the area and been a place of Christian love for these strangers. How they managed to do that I cannot imagine except that there was present some other power, spirit, grace that was at work in them that has no earth origin.
I have often quoted a short poem that I heard a radio evangelist give. "To live above with the saints in love, Ah, that will be glory. To live below with the saints I know, well, that is a different story." Another person once suggested that volunteer church work is hell on earth, and prepares you for heaven where indeed, you will spend eternity with people you did not like and did not know on earth. Certainly it is no hard proof of the existence of God, but it is a reality that it is hard to explain the survival of the local congregation and the world wide church without some kind of supernatural help.
While I have seen my share of evidence for the truth of all that has been said, my time in retirement in the visiting and preaching to some of these small and collapsing churches has driven this point home with even greater force. What and why does a rural church with five members, most of whom are members of the same family, continue to hold services? They hold joint services with another small church for the major religious events: Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and other special days, why don't they just close one door and worship with another congregation? The other congregation has a super musician and the one with five members has an elderly woman who only knows how to play about thirty hymns.
Another one I preached at began the service with four people in it. Two of them had parts in the service, each was scheduled to sing a solo. At this congregation the organist called at the last minute and announced that he would not be there. We had to sing without an help. One of the solos was by a senior woman who must have had a beautiful voice thirty years ago and she still thinks it is worthy. The other solo was by an El Salvador resident who sang in Spanish. I think there were seven people by the time we got to the passing of the peace by 11:40 a.m. But that was the remarkable thing. Somehow this little church with no pastor, about seven members on the roll has managed to provide Christian fellowship to an El Salvadorian community in the area and been a place of Christian love for these strangers. How they managed to do that I cannot imagine except that there was present some other power, spirit, grace that was at work in them that has no earth origin.
I have often quoted a short poem that I heard a radio evangelist give. "To live above with the saints in love, Ah, that will be glory. To live below with the saints I know, well, that is a different story." Another person once suggested that volunteer church work is hell on earth, and prepares you for heaven where indeed, you will spend eternity with people you did not like and did not know on earth. Certainly it is no hard proof of the existence of God, but it is a reality that it is hard to explain the survival of the local congregation and the world wide church without some kind of supernatural help.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Redemption
Somehow I got to be chairperson of an Administrative Commission of Presbytery to close and dispose of an old church. The deed of the property dates back to 1868. The church was a black Presbyterian church which meant that it was a church built by the Northern branch of the Presbyterian Church in the South right after the Civil War. Obviously the white Presbyterians in the South had not been very good about helping the black citizens establish their own churches. In fact all over North Carolina there are schools, hospitals, and churches for African Americans that were started by the Northern branch of the Presbyterian Church.
This church has been at that corner since l868, but its distinguished history did not translate into active members. It shrunk till it could not afford its own pastor. Then it had to make do with pulpit supply preaching and nobody to do the calling and caring that was necessary to build it up. So about March of 2008 the last few people just closed the doors and walked away. They all joined other churches in the area. One Sunday they just had services, had Communion and walked away. There are still empty communion cups in the pew racks.
So we have been trying to sell the building. It has not been an easy task. Part of the reason the few who had been members walked away was because the building was needing major roof repair and they did not have the money. It has been estimated that around $50,000 would be needed to repair the building if done by a contractor. So they just left and the rains came. The snows came. The water poured in. The mold, mildew, rot, sheet rock got soaked and has fallen off the walls. The insulation is all hanging through the ceiling. But we have found another black congregation and we have made them a very attractive offer and they are taking it. They have some members who know how to do things.
I was watching them walk around and examine the building. I started thinking about how much work they would have to do and how hard it will be. But then I started thinking that this kind of redemption has been a part of the black community for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, they have been forced to take the old cars and make them run. Finding junk air-conditioners and fans and fixing them has been their only way to have coolness in the summer. Getting the run down old shack and trying to make it livable has been required of them. It has always had to be part of their faith and confidence that something old, dirty, disgusting can be taken and redeemed. Certainly as a people they have had much more experience, I suspect, with the whole reality of restoration and redemption than many of us in the middle class.
Dr. King once remarked that the white church had a lot they could learn from black Christians. I think what is involved in this notion of redemption and renewal is one of those things.
This church has been at that corner since l868, but its distinguished history did not translate into active members. It shrunk till it could not afford its own pastor. Then it had to make do with pulpit supply preaching and nobody to do the calling and caring that was necessary to build it up. So about March of 2008 the last few people just closed the doors and walked away. They all joined other churches in the area. One Sunday they just had services, had Communion and walked away. There are still empty communion cups in the pew racks.
So we have been trying to sell the building. It has not been an easy task. Part of the reason the few who had been members walked away was because the building was needing major roof repair and they did not have the money. It has been estimated that around $50,000 would be needed to repair the building if done by a contractor. So they just left and the rains came. The snows came. The water poured in. The mold, mildew, rot, sheet rock got soaked and has fallen off the walls. The insulation is all hanging through the ceiling. But we have found another black congregation and we have made them a very attractive offer and they are taking it. They have some members who know how to do things.
I was watching them walk around and examine the building. I started thinking about how much work they would have to do and how hard it will be. But then I started thinking that this kind of redemption has been a part of the black community for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, they have been forced to take the old cars and make them run. Finding junk air-conditioners and fans and fixing them has been their only way to have coolness in the summer. Getting the run down old shack and trying to make it livable has been required of them. It has always had to be part of their faith and confidence that something old, dirty, disgusting can be taken and redeemed. Certainly as a people they have had much more experience, I suspect, with the whole reality of restoration and redemption than many of us in the middle class.
Dr. King once remarked that the white church had a lot they could learn from black Christians. I think what is involved in this notion of redemption and renewal is one of those things.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Date for a Prom?
I am forever amazed at what people in positions of leadership and authority do to try to protect something and yet by their decisions make a mess of it. What is the big deal about one girl bringing another girl to the prom? So they want to claim it is a date? They now claim they are lesbians. So what?
When I was in high school I can not remember how many times the boys would go to the dance together and the girls would go together. Girls who did not have dates with boys would show up together. There was dating where boys and girls came paired but there were lots of girls who came either in groups or as friends. And the dancing, wow, more often than not it was girls dancing with other girls and the boys sitting on the side looking and talking. So the sight of two girls dancing together would not be something new.
So the people in authority decide to call off a whole prom because two girls want to come together? I must be missing something? I only read the story in the paper, but all I can see is that that decision has made another person in authority look stupid. Certainly "authority" has lost a lot of respect in that school. The publicity the story has caused is massive and negative for the most part. The publicity will certainly help to bring into discussion the whole human rights of homosexual people to their benefit the way water hoses on black helped to move the civil rights movement forward.
It seems to me that there is wisdom in the book of ACTS that is valid even if you do not accept the Christian faith. There is a line from a Jewish leader in a trial, that advises that if this be of God we cannot stop it, and if it is not ordained by God it will soon pass away. Some times authorities ought to follow that advice. If the giving of full human rights to homosexuals is a fundamental right, it will not be stopped. If it is a passing fad, then why give it help by trying to prevent it?
When I was in high school I can not remember how many times the boys would go to the dance together and the girls would go together. Girls who did not have dates with boys would show up together. There was dating where boys and girls came paired but there were lots of girls who came either in groups or as friends. And the dancing, wow, more often than not it was girls dancing with other girls and the boys sitting on the side looking and talking. So the sight of two girls dancing together would not be something new.
So the people in authority decide to call off a whole prom because two girls want to come together? I must be missing something? I only read the story in the paper, but all I can see is that that decision has made another person in authority look stupid. Certainly "authority" has lost a lot of respect in that school. The publicity the story has caused is massive and negative for the most part. The publicity will certainly help to bring into discussion the whole human rights of homosexual people to their benefit the way water hoses on black helped to move the civil rights movement forward.
It seems to me that there is wisdom in the book of ACTS that is valid even if you do not accept the Christian faith. There is a line from a Jewish leader in a trial, that advises that if this be of God we cannot stop it, and if it is not ordained by God it will soon pass away. Some times authorities ought to follow that advice. If the giving of full human rights to homosexuals is a fundamental right, it will not be stopped. If it is a passing fad, then why give it help by trying to prevent it?
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Names not Joe
I remember reading a story about a man who was going to a NFL game. He parked his car and was walking towards the ticket counter when he heard somebody yell, "Hey, Joe." The man stopped and looked around and could not find anybody he knew yelling so he walked on. There was a second yell, "Joe!" The man stopped and looked around again. Nobody he saw waving at him. He was almost at the entrance when a third time he heard a shout, "Hey Joe." This time the man stopped, turned around and yelled as loud as he could, "My name is not Joe."
I thought of this story while I was talking to a friend about an email we both had received. The email was a mass email to about 200 people. There was a request on this email that the sender needed help in a distant city and would somebody be able to go and work there. My friend was telling me about the email, and he said, "She sent me this email asking me to go to this town, but I told her I wasn't going to go that far to work." The whole tone of my friend was that this was a question directly sent to him. It was a general request to the whole list and since I was not able to go I did not consider it a matter that I needed to respond to. But he reacted to it as if it was directly put to him.
We tend to operate as if the whole world revolves around us. It is our tendency to take everything personally. Our operational focus is "me." The whole world is yelling at us. The mass email is sent just to us. The red lights are operated just so we are stopped. The teacher doesn't like me.
The Old Testament story about the Temptation in the Garden reflects the moment in history when Adam and Eve decided to put their own concerns ahead of the creators. The story of the Fall is the story of the moment when it all began to focus around "me" and not the good of the Garden and keeping the limits of the Maker.
And it seems to me that the heart of most religious teachings is the moment of enlightenment when we can by some act of grace step out of the center and see the world from the perspective of others. That we can allow the hurts of another, the concerns of others, the larger world to be at the center of our thinking and have the same passion for that center as we have when we are the center of our thinking.
"If you're name is not Joe, why did you stop?"
I thought of this story while I was talking to a friend about an email we both had received. The email was a mass email to about 200 people. There was a request on this email that the sender needed help in a distant city and would somebody be able to go and work there. My friend was telling me about the email, and he said, "She sent me this email asking me to go to this town, but I told her I wasn't going to go that far to work." The whole tone of my friend was that this was a question directly sent to him. It was a general request to the whole list and since I was not able to go I did not consider it a matter that I needed to respond to. But he reacted to it as if it was directly put to him.
We tend to operate as if the whole world revolves around us. It is our tendency to take everything personally. Our operational focus is "me." The whole world is yelling at us. The mass email is sent just to us. The red lights are operated just so we are stopped. The teacher doesn't like me.
The Old Testament story about the Temptation in the Garden reflects the moment in history when Adam and Eve decided to put their own concerns ahead of the creators. The story of the Fall is the story of the moment when it all began to focus around "me" and not the good of the Garden and keeping the limits of the Maker.
And it seems to me that the heart of most religious teachings is the moment of enlightenment when we can by some act of grace step out of the center and see the world from the perspective of others. That we can allow the hurts of another, the concerns of others, the larger world to be at the center of our thinking and have the same passion for that center as we have when we are the center of our thinking.
"If you're name is not Joe, why did you stop?"
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