One of the reasons I enjoy the preaching of Rob Bell is because he digs often deeply into the Jewishness of our faith. Such digging often adds colour and vibrancy to what we are reading in the text. It can inform us of the mindset of the writer, original readers and point us to where God is looking in the story.
What do I mean “where God is looking”? Sometimes when I’m reading the bible I get we just sort of gloss over the bits that don’t quite make sense or are a little jarring. We probably do this mostly in the Old Testament because it’s world is so far removed from ours.
I’m not talking about glossing over simple details and minutia, I’m talking about the gaps that are left behind in the text. For example, when Abraham took Isaac up a mountain, did Sarah know what was happening? If she did, how did she feel about this? The woman that laughed in God’s face when told she would have a child.
Jews have a method and history of appealing to these gaps, the backstory and the confusing parts of the bible called Midrash. Midrash is a way of interpreting biblical stories that goes beyond simple distillation of religious, legal or moral teachings. It fills in many gaps left in the biblical narrative regarding events and personalities that are only hinted at.
As Richard Beck says, and I quite enjoy:
One of the things I like about midrash is how it goes looking for these oddities in the text. Rather than avoiding the strangeness midrash turns the peculiarities of the text into locations of positive theological reflection. Walter Brueggemann says that “the work of midrash is to focus on the ill-fitting element” within a text, perhaps even an element that “might be an embarrassment to the main claim of the text.” By focusing on the “irregularity or misfit” midrash can create fresh readings by “exposing the oddity that destabilizes and questions the main flow of the text.”
So midrash, as a strategy, looks for the “surface irregularities” and “friction” within a text. Why? To keep the text, and the God it describes, from being reduced to a system, an intellectual artifact. A goal of the text is to “resist” and “irritate” the modern mind. The text doesn’t want to be tamed. It actively pushes back. The oddity of the text is like its immune system, its way of fighting off our diseased need turn the text into a syllogism and PowerPoint presentation.
Those ill fitting bits, those confusing bits, those gaps and missing backstory in the Bible help to stimulate our thinking, our theology and to stop us from boxing up our God. Wonderful stuff.
When the church thinks more of her status then of her service, she has taken a wrong path and must immediately retrace her steps.
F.F. Bruce
The hallmark of an authentic evangelicalism is not the uncritical repetition of old traditions, but the willingness to submit every tradition, however ancient, to fresh biblical scrutiny, and if necessary, reform.
- John Stott
If your preaching falls on deaf ears then maybe the preacher is the problem.
I read today (this is my paraphrase) “often preaching is like someone trying to teach swimming on dry land”.
I understand this to mean that there is often a disconnect between the topic being discussed and the life experience of the speaker.
Obviously every preacher has not experienced every high and low in life but they are expected to reflect on most of them and how to bring out the fullness of Christ in their experiences.
This us the intersection of preaching and real life. We stand at the corner seeking revelation with a bible in one hand and a white cane in the other.
Enter hubris, stage right. Many including myself have stood at the corner awaiting revelation in agony because “we are the preacher, we have to bring Gods word this week. It’s my responsibility.” when a great cloud of witnesses sit in front of us with experience abounding.
It reminds me a little of Gran Torino:
Father Janovich: [eulogizing Walt] Walt Kowalski once said to me that I knew nothing about life or death, because I was an over-educated, 27-year-old virgin who held the hand of superstitious old women and promised them eternity.
Walt definitely had no problem calling it like he saw it. But he was right. I knew really nothing about life or death, until I got to know Walt… and boy, did I learn.
It’s ok preacher not to know stuff. It’s ok to leave seminary, college or whatever it happens to be called where you learn theology. It is not ok to pretend that you have lived more, experienced more or have all the answers just because you stand at the front.
If your preaching falls on deaf ears then maybe the preacher is the problem.
Maybe you are swimming on dry land. Jump in, the waters fine and life awaits.
If your church is full of pew warmers then maybe the pews are the problem. They are an encouragement to passivity. Sit down, stand up, sing now, listen up. There is no thinking involved just mechanics.
Is it any wonder we get bored by the church service? We might fill it with shiny trinkets, technology to distract but at it’s core it is the same as it has been for centuries.
Passive.
The church is a body not a building.
Being the church of God should be a relational experience, this is where freshness comes from. Relationships are where innovation in our evangelism comes from, not come to church with me, Sit down, stand up, sing now, listen up and accept Jesus this moment because you have just heard the truth.
If your church is full of pew warmers then maybe the pews are the problem.
Nearly all of Isaiahs words strike to the heart, these are no different.
It’s always important to remember, especially when reading the prophets that their words are not for you, they were to the nation of Israel at a certain time in their history, still we can see the heart of God on display.
As we come to Easter perhaps this vision of a Godly Kingdom will remind and inspire us to greater heights of righteousness and Godliness.
See, a king will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice.
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
The fearful heart will know and understand,
and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.
No longer will the fool be called noble
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
For fools speak folly,
their hearts are bent on evil:
They practice ungodliness
and spread error concerning the LORD;
the hungry they leave empty
and from the thirsty they withhold water.
Scoundrels use wicked methods,
they make up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just.
But the noble make noble plans,
and by noble deeds they stand.
Isaiah 32:1-8
There has been a good deal of trouble in the life of my extended family, trouble that will not go away for a long, long time.
It’s a very difficult time, one where people and relationships are in a state of flux. If I gave it the opportunity then this time could just about ruin me on spiritual and emotional levels.
Maybe that is why the words in the first chapter of Job provide such comfort.
“We bring nothing at birth;
we take nothing
with us at death.
The LORD alone gives and takes.
Praise the name of the LORD!”
(Job 1:21)
Nothing is permanent, not friends, not family, not possessions. Nothing. They all come and go with no input or control on our part. To hold onto them and to try and force the issue is only going to hurt you. They are fleeting and to be enjoyed while we have the opportunity to enjoy them.
I could make a lifes study of these words and their application. The LORD give. The LORD takes away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.
I believe that words have power. This is a common theme of my preaching. That words have the power to build up or to destroy.
Recently I’ve noticed an increasing negativity in my words. Some people whose counsel I guard wisely have pointed out much the same.
The last month or so has been (and continues to be) the hardest period of my life. Words have been spoken that are literally destroying the lives of people around me and these words have been slowly eroding my Spiritual and emotional resilience.
But it is all to easy to place the blame on circumstances when darkness colours our speech.
It is all too easy to say, well life it tough right now and not own the fact that your own words might be causing hurt or pain to those around you. Which is a solid segue into today’s, my favourite Scripture:
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Matthew 15: 10-11
A harsh word is a harsh word no matter who it is spoken by, no matter what is going on in someone’s life when they say it. Words build up, words destroy. Words can add salt to a situation or they can defile.
I own my words. I spoke them, I might still wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment expressed but I do not agree with the tone by which I have been delivering them. Paul says “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt” salt to bring out the full flavour and depth of meaning of what you have to say.
I apologize to you, my words have been lacking in salt.
There is a Christian themed book store down the road from me which I used to visit quite frequently. The closes branch used to be about 40Km’s away so people from my church would regularly make pilgrimages of a sort to visit it.
Perhaps I was blinded to it when it was so far away but now that I can visit it regularly I no longer notice the rows and rows of books, what I notice now is the rows and rows and baskets and baskets of nick-knacks, keychains, bumper stickers, tapestries etc that someone must be buying (otherwise why would they sell them).
Now I dont have an issue generally with such things (unless your house is a shrine to them) it’s just that they seem to be a little light, a little too affirmation only.
You might see something like “Taste and see that the Lord is good” on some plates or coffee cups but when I read or see something like that I do not get the full impact of the verse.
1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
1 Peter 2:1-3
The Apostle John while in the throws of and rapture of an astounding vision of the future starts to speak of the end of all time. He narrates this history of the future giving us all reason for great hope.
In Revelations 20 we learn the fate of the Devil and the dead who have passed. It’s the end of the story. It’s the end of life. It bookends creation, here we have a finish to everything.
… Only, it’s not the end at all. John dramatically reveals our future, a new place, a renewed place, a new Eden where we will dwell together.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
Revelations 21:1-5a
I am making everything new!
