I Was There!!

Here's a clip from a 1986 Van Halen concert at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. I was in the audience on the main floor very close to the stage!!

Small Groups

Tell me what you think of establishing a small group structure in a church. I know there are arguments pro and con. Although I'm mostly for small group structures, I'd like to hear what you think about them. But first I'll tell you why I'm for them.

I see small groups as a way of extending Christian care and kindness to people who are already members of the church, as a way of helping new members get acquainted with the congregation, and as a way of bringing people to the church. I'm aware of the danger of small groups turning into "cabals", which is why I believe small groups should have a definite structure and purpose to them. I don't believe in "freewheeling" small groups, doing whatever "churchy" things they desire. But I do think that small groups can be a way of unifying a congregation if the structure is conducive to such unity. I also believe that small groups should be structured to multiply naturally. Breaking up is hard to do, even for small groups. But small groups don't have to "break up" necessarily. Small groups can "birth" other small groups while remaining intact themselves. It's almost like a pyramid scheme, except no money is exchanged, and circles of friends can be widened for those who desire such a big circle of friends.

What do you think?

Born of a Virgin

Was Jesus born of a virgin? Of course he was! However, I don't think you can use Matthew 1:23 as support for this. But we are so accustomed to doing this that we miss the greater message that Matthew is trying to convey, and that is, Jesus is "God with us". Matthew is not as concerned about biology as he is about the significance of Jesus' identity. See my previous post on "hook phrases".

I view Jesus' birth as the beginning of the re-creation of Israel embodied in one person. And from this one person God will reserve and preserve a remnant of others who see in Jesus exactly what God was up to. In other words, beginning with Jesus God will reconstitute His chosen Israel, raising God's children from the dust and ashes. St. Paul will make the bold claim that anyone who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation.

Many do not believe that Jesus was virgin born. And while I respectfully disagree, I don't believe that it's a point worthy of debate. I'm not downplaying the significance of the event. I just don't think that it's worth getting into a tizzy over because when we do we miss out on something that is so wonderful and profound. And while the virginal conception (which is a more correct term than "virgin birth") could be considered miraculous, the greater miracle is that God never gives up wooing God's people back to God's embrace.

Hook Phrases

Whenever the New Testament quotes a passage from the Old Testament, the intent is to "hook" the story of Jesus and his followers into the larger narrative of Israel. The message of the New Testament author is the same as that of the Old Testament author. Here's an example.

Isaiah 7 is a chapter in which the prophet deals with King Ahaz of Judah as he struggles with the oncoming invasion of a Syria-Israel coalition. Isaiah tells Ahaz not to worry because the coalition kings are just a couple of nobodies. He then tells Ahaz to ask the Lord for a sign. Ahaz refuses. Isaiah then informs Ahaz that he's going to get one anyway:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (7:14)

Before this boy knows how to choose the good and reject the evil, the two aforementioned coalition nations will be reduced to rubble. God will protect Ahaz and Judah from the Syro-Ephraimitic invasion because "God (is) with us", and the boy will serve as a reminder.

When St. Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 in the context of Jesus' birth, the message is the same-- God is with us, and he will protect us from the enemy! In fact, the enemy will be reduced to rubble.

The Impossibility of Meeting God Halfway

Many believe that God did his part in sending Jesus, and it’s up to us to meet God halfway. It sounds right to our ears, but how is it possible to meet God halfway? How far is “halfway”?

In this scenario, God is often portrayed as a kindly gentleman who stands around and waits for us to sojourn to where he is.

Sorry, but I don’t see this in the Scriptures.

Jesus had this habit of approaching people with the invitation, “Follow me.” That doesn’t sound like meeting Jesus halfway. That sounds like Jesus meeting us and inviting us to go where he’s going. Now, we don’t have to follow. Quite honestly, most of us refuse occasionally. But Jesus doesn’t stand around and wait for us. He goes to do what he does.

If we don’t follow, he doesn’t strand us where we are. He comes back in order to invite us again to walk with him and follow.

Jesus never said, “Prepare your own agenda for me to enact and meet me halfway.” He did say, “Take up your cross (his agenda prepared for us) and follow me.”

How Does It Fit?

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter who wrote the books of the Bible or when they were written. Theologians argue to no end about whether a certain book of the New Testament was written prior to AD 70 or after. And I don’t care. They can discuss and disagree about the authorship of 2 Timothy. Some of them say it was not written by Paul; some say it was. And I really couldn’t care less. And what about the Pentateuch? Was it authored by Moses, or was it a cut-and-paste job from various sources? How many Isaiahs were there? These are the kinds of questions that next to no one is asking anymore.

Who? When? Where? These inquiries waste too much energy and brain power. I’m not concerned if Jesus actually said what was written, or if he may have said something similar, or if he even said any of this at all. I don’t even care if Jesus actually existed or not. (I believe he did, but I’m not going to stand around and argue with someone about it.)

Here’s how I see all of this. We have this thing called the Bible. Right? It’s a very ancient book. Agreed? Obviously the books that are contained in the Bible “made it”. Why? My guess is that, politicking and power-brokering aside, they fit into a narrative scheme that is unmistakeable. We can spend all sorts of time arguing about whether such-and-such actually occurred, or if the Bible is applicable to our time or not, or whatever. These discussions are irrelevant to me. What I want to know is: What’s the story here? How does this passage, or book, or incident, fit into the larger canvas of the sweep of the Biblical narrative?

The pages of the Scriptures are all we have to work with, so my assumption is that it all fits together somehow. The interpretive task for our day may quite well be to answer the question, “How?” or “What’s the story here?” or “What is the author (whoever it is, and I don’t care who it is) trying to say here about the story of the Scriptures?” It’s apparent to me that the Biblical authors (whoever they were, and I don’t care who they were) were very knowledgeable of the Story and did the very best they could to maintain the integrity of their received texts and traditions.

What do you think?