OR Part 1 (click here)
(Check the cross over Neo's head at 1:26 at that click)
----------------------- Part 2: is embedded below..
Check the crosses at 2:00 amd 2:56
What Scripture at 3:15?
An interviewer once asked the Wachowski Brothers, creators of The Matrix trilogy if all the biblical allusions and references people spot in the movies were intentional.
I am guessing many fans were anxious for the (hardly orthodox Christian) brothers to deny or at least defuse such expectations
They said something like:
"Yes, and there are more than anyone knows!"
As examples, just trace the license platereferences,
Christus Victor (Christ the Victor) is a view of the atonement taken from the title of Gustaf Aulén’s groundbreaking book, first published in 1931, where he drew attention back to the early church’s Ransom theory. In Christus Victor, the atonement is viewed as divine conflict and victory over the hostile powers that hold humanity in subjection. Aulén argues that the classic Ransom theory is not so much a rational systematic theory as it is a drama, a passion story of God triumphing over the powers and liberating humanity from the bondage of sin. As Gustav Aulén writes, “the work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil.”[1]
The Ransom Theory was predominant in the early church and for the first thousand years of church history and supported by all Greek Church Fathers from Irenaeus to John of Damascus. To mention only the most important names Origen, Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, and John Chrysostom. The Christus Victor view was also dominant among the Latin Fathers of the Patristic period including Ambrose, Augustine, Leo the Great, and Gregory the Great.
A major shift occurred when Anselm of Canterbury published his Cur Deos Homo around 1097 AD which marks the point where the predominate understanding of the atonement shifted from the ransom theory to the Satisfaction Doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church and subsequently the Protestant Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church still holds to the Ransom or Christus Victor view. This is built upon the understanding of the atonement put forward by Irenaeus, called “recapitulation”.[2]
As the term Christus Victor indicates, the idea of “ransom” should not be seen in terms (as Anselm did) of a business transaction, but more of a rescue or liberation of humanity from the slavery of sin. Unlike the Satisfaction or Penal-substitution views of the atonement rooted in the idea of Christ paying the penalty of sin to satisfy the demands of justice, the Christus Victor view is rooted in the incarnation and how Christ entered into human misery and wickedness and thus redeemed it. Irenaeus called this “Recapitulation” (re-creation). As it is often expressed: “Jesus became what we are so that we could become what he is”. LINK
--
Where else does a "Christus Victor": show up in literature/film?
C.S. Lewis, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" :
The Ransom Theory
The ransom theory is the oldest atonement theory. It is sometimes called the classical theory or the bargain theory. It was developed and articulated by early church fathers such as Irenaeus, Origen, and Augustine. The ransom theory holds that when Adam and Eve sinned, they placed themselves under the dominion of Satan. To free humanity, Jesus gave himself as payment to Satan. Satan agreed to the deal, and put Jesus to death in place of humanity. Yet since Jesus was without sin, Satan overstepped his bounds. Jesus rose from the dead, liberated humanity, and conquered Satan and his kingdom.
matching deceit with deceit, Christ frees man by tricking the devil into overstepping his authority. Christ becomes a “fishhook”: his humanity is the bait, his divinity the hook, and Leviathan [Satan] is snared. Because the devil is proud, he cannot understand Christ’s humility and so believes he tempts and kills a mere man. But in inflicting a sinless man with death, the devil loses his rights over man from his “excess of presumption,” Christ conquers the devil’s kingdom of sin, liberating captives from the devil’s tyranny. Order is reinstated when man returns to serve God, his true master.” (1)
Christus Victor (Christ the Victor)
The Christus victor theory is closely tied to the ransom theory. It was articulated by Swedish theologian Gustaf Aulen. Aulen argued that payment to Satan is not the focus of the classical theory. Rather, the focus is on Jesus liberating humanity from the power of death and sin.
Adherants
The Eastern Orthodox church holds to the ransom view. Many in the Western church find it helpful, but most do not accept it as a stand alone view.
Criticisms of the Ransom Theory:
Not enough focus on God
makes God a debtor to Satan.
Tricking Satan seems to imply deceit on God's part.
Verses Used to Advocate the Ransom Theory:
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:56
You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:20
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many -Mark 10:45
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. -Colossians 1:13-14
Examples in music and literature:
The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis). Aslan tricks the White Witch into giving up her claim on Edmund by offering his life as a ransom in place of Edmund's.
The Champion (Carman) - Jesus defeats Satan in a cosmic battle represented by a boxing match.
We didn't watch this video in class yet, but it should help:
Do you see BOTH Christus Victor and Penal Substitution in this text?:
Colossians 2 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you[d] alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[e]
Christus Victor (Christ the Victor) is a view of the atonement taken from the title of Gustaf Aulén’s groundbreaking book, first published in 1931, where he drew attention back to the early church’s Ransom theory. In Christus Victor, the atonement is viewed as divine conflict and victory over the hostile powers that hold humanity in subjection. Aulén argues that the classic Ransom theory is not so much a rational systematic theory as it is a drama, a passion story of God triumphing over the powers and liberating humanity from the bondage of sin. As Gustav Aulén writes, “the work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil.”[1]
The Ransom Theory was predominant in the early church and for the first thousand years of church history and supported by all Greek Church Fathers from Irenaeus to John of Damascus. To mention only the most important names Origen, Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, and John Chrysostom. The Christus Victor view was also dominant among the Latin Fathers of the Patristic period including Ambrose, Augustine, Leo the Great, and Gregory the Great.
A major shift occurred when Anselm of Canterbury published his Cur Deos Homoaround 1097 AD which marks the point where the predominate understanding of the atonement shifted from the ransom theorySatisfaction Doctrine in the Roman Catholic Church and subsequently the Protestant Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church still holds to the Ransom or Christus Victor view. This is built upon the understanding of the atonement put forward by Irenaeus, called “recapitulation”.[2]
to the
As the term Christus Victor indicates, the idea of “ransom” should not be seen in terms (as Anselm did) of a business transaction, but more of a rescue or liberation of humanity from the slavery of sin. Unlike the Satisfaction or Penal-substitution views of the atonement rooted in the idea of Christ paying the penalty of sin to satisfy the demands of justice, the Christus Victor view is rooted in the incarnation and how Christ entered into human misery and wickedness and thus redeemed it. Irenaeus called this “Recapitulation” (re-creation). As it is often expressed: “Jesus became what we are so that we could become what he is”. LINK
to get the power of HISTORICAL WORLD..
We looked at Matt. 2:1a, and the historical world image of the Herodian fortress, in whose shadow was Jesus). YOU CAN WATCH our VanDer Laan "In the Shadow of Herod" video HERE in two parts:
VanDer Laan writes:
THE MASTER BUILDER
There was another side to Herod. His visionary building programs, his ingenious development of trade with the rest of the world, and his advancement of the interests of his nation are legendary. Many of his building projects were designed to strengthen the loyalty of his subjects, a goal he never achieved. Most seem to have been built to strengthen his relationship with Rome and to establish himself as the greatest king the Jews had ever had. Herod built on a magnificent and grandiose scale. His building projects included:
The Herodion: This mountain fortress overlooked the town of Bethlehem. Standing on a high hill, the upper fortress was round and more than 200 feet in diameter. Originally, it was seven stories high, with an eastern tower that stood more than 40 feet higher. Packed dirt covered the first four stories, giving the upper fortress a cone shape. Inside were a peristyle garden, reception hall, Roman baths, and countless apartments. The lower palace included an enormous pool, a colonnaded garden, a 600-foot-long terrace, and a building more than 400 feet long. The Herodion was the third-largest palace in the ancient world.... ....The visitor cannot help being impressed with Herod's vision and ingenuity. However, all that remain are spectacular ruins, because Herod lived for Herod. By contrast, another builder, a humble carpenter born in Bethlehem, used a different material than did Herod (Matt. 16:18; 1 Peter 2:4-8). Jesus' buildevings continue to grow because He built for the glory of God. Like David (1 Sam. 17:46), Elijah (1 Kings 18:36), and Hezekiah (Isa. 37:20), He lived so that the world may know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is truly God. His construction projects will last forever because He built for the glory of God the Father. -link
VanDer Laan's website is a great resource..it's here.
Matthew 24:6 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father.37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left behind.41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left behind.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.44 So you also must be ready,because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
--
Luke 17
Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.23 People will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them.24 For the Son of Man in his day[d] will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other.25 But first he must suffer many thingsand be rejected by this generation.
26 “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man.27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.31 On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything.32 Remember Lot’s wife!33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.34 I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.35 Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”[36] [e]
37 “Where, Lord? [Where will they be taken?]” they asked.
He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”
--
p
You did ALL your homework in class. So..other than Moodle (usual), NO homework. But you are strongly encouraged to write a draft of signature paper to bring next week
..
The Rob Bell "Drops Like Stars" video on creativity and suffering us below. We watched through the 53 min mark(soap throwing), Will continue next class.
The Art of Disruption
The Art of Honesty
The Art of Elimination,
The Art of Possession, which is not the same thing as ownership.
The Art of "Failure"
Look also for these class themes:
-a Prodigal Son paradoxical hemistiche
-the liminality (see "Radical Loving Care," pp, 82ff) of the hospital hallway
-removal of "insulators"
-removing the boundary (or "box") of a bounded set.
-how "texting" can literally save lives
-the power of unplanned and unscripted interruptions
---
It's nothing compared to the videos. But this is my masterpiece. I hope you like itDave
Dave WainscottWow, this is amazing. and your timing is perfect. I just stopped at Dollar Tree to get some soap for class tonight in Visalia..will show them your pics! It's a pic of me, right?
If you want to see a pic of me...or any of the other 70,000 that were with me... at the Oakland gig,click this. (just X out the popup)...Have fun with the videocam! You can find yourself, and almost anyone who is at any concert of the tour.
This week, the topic is "Worshipping and Singing in Community: Psalms and Suffering"
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PSALMS
PSALMS are the Jewish prayer-book that the early Christians used. What's wonderful, refreshing, honest...and sometimes disturbing (to us in the West) is that they cover the whole breadth of life and emotion. They are all technically songs and prayers.. But note how some weave in and out from a person speaking to God, God speaking to a person, a person speaking to himself. Somehow, Hebraically, holistically, it all counts as prayer.
...And as "song" Note in your Bible that several psalms have inscriptions which give the name of the tune they are to be prayed/sung to. Some seem hilarious, counterintuitive, and contradictory, but again not to a Hebrew mindset and worldview, with room for honesty, fuzzy sets and paradox:
Psalms (click) with the line "Destroy my enemies", "break their teeth!!" ... To be sung to the tune of "Do Not Destroy" !! (Psalm 58:6)
Psalm 22, a depressing ditty about someone in the throes of rejection despair and death. To be sung to the tune of "Doe in the Morning" ??
Can you name contemporary songs where the music doesn't seem to fit the lyric? Down lyrics to upbeat music? Vice Versa? How might that be healing/helpful/Hebrew/holy? and not Hellenistic?
"God is interested in truth, and only in truth. And that's why God is more interested in Rock & Roll music than Gospel... Many gospel musicians can't write about what's going on in their life, because it's not allowed . they can't write about their doubt....If you can't write about what's really going on in the world and your life, because it's all happy-clappy... Is God interested in that? I mean, 'Please, don't patronize Me! I want to go the Nine-Inch-Nails gig, they're talking the truth! -Bono
From a 2003 discussion with New York Times, more audio here
"The Jewish disciples all worshipped Jesus, and some of those worshippers doubted." (matthew 28:17)
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There are several ways to categorize the psalms.
The first is the way the Bible itself does: Psalms is broken down into 5 "books" Hmm, 5...does that sound familiar? Name another book with 5 sections and suggest an answer for "Whats up with the number 5?"
Note the 5 sections are not comprised of different kinds/genres of psalms..but the styles and kinds are "randomnly"
represented throught the book..
kind of like life..
Here is one way to categorize the styles and genres:
note how astonishingly
HONEST the prayer/worship book of the
Jews (and Christians) is!
We'll spend some time on the "three worlds" of Psalm 22, which Jesus quotes honestly on the cross:
Here (click title below) 's a sermon on Psalm 22, which is another amazing psalm to use in a worship setting...How often have you heard "My God, My God, Why have You forsaken me?" Or "God, where were YOU when I needed you!!"
Jesus died naked..but not in Christian art and movies
I am not here to offend anyone unnecessarily.
But I believe Corrie Ten Boom was right and right on:
Jesus died naked.
Even the (very conservative)Dallas Theological commentaries assume this, so this is not just some "liberal" agenda:
"That Jesus died naked was part of the shame which He bore for our sins. " -link
Which means this picture
(found on a blog with no credit)
is likely wrong(Jesus looks too white).
...and largely right (What Jesus is wearing).
I answered a question about this a few years ago, I would write it a bit differently know, but here it is:
First of all, it is probable that (again, contrary to nearly all artwork and movies), Jesus hung on the cross absolutely naked. This was a typical way of crucifixion, to increase the shame factor. Romans might occasionally add a loincloth type of garment as a token concession and nod to Jewish sensitivity; but not very often, it would seem. Of course, once we get past the emotive and cultural shock of imagining Jesus naked, we realize that if He indeed die naked, the symbolism is profound and prophetic: In Scripture, Jesus is called the "Second Adam". As such, it would make sense that He died "naked and unashamed." We are also told that "cursed is he who dies on a tree." The nakedness was a sign and enfolding of shame and token of curse. And the wonderful story of Corrie ten Boom and family, told in the book and movie "The Hiding Place," relates. One of the turning points of her ability to endure the Ravensbruck concentration camp, particularly the shame of walking naked past the male guards, was her conviction that Jesus too was shamed and stripped naked before guards. "Finally, it dawned on me," she preached once," that this (shaming through nakedness) happened to Jesus too..., and Jesus is my example, and now it is happening to me, then I am simply doing what Jesus did." She concluded, "I know that Jesus gave me that thought and it gave me peace. It gave me comfort and I could bear the shame and cruel treatment." continued
This Psalm has 2 parts. The first part is a chiasmus. The second part is not.
The chiasmus has a famous beginning (“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?”), a good center, and a nice end.
Here’s a basic outline of the chiasmus:
A: A cry for help: no answer
B: Israel
C: Personal (an “I/me” section)
D: Bulls, lion, bones
E: Dogs, ‘pierce’, bones
F: A prayer for God’s help
E’: - , sword, dog
D’: – , lion, oxen
C’: Personal (an “I/me” section)
B’: Israel
A’: Cried for help: heard
I particularly like the connections through D2, E2′, E’2”, and D’2” : … think ‘sharp’, as in e.g., ’teeth’, as in ‘open lion’s mouth’.
Interestingly, D3 and E3′ (“bones”) have been left unmatched in E’ and D’. I wonder why? Is it because of the section’s closer association with death? If so, then ‘death’ is absent in the latter sections. … Death is off the table. Life is in play … ?..
The most haunting, devastating, barely listenable (which is why I regularly listen to it, and use it as a call to prayer and honesty)song I know is by Michael Knott, madman-genius-Christian of the voluminous catalog...whether under his own name, Lifesavers Underground, LSU, Cush... Here's the song: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Double
you're sittin' there wondering why is it like this and the whole world's crazy and the earth is sick and someone's yelling from the bathroom door the toilet's overflowing on the floor and the one by the phone says i cannot hear while the one by the jukebox spills his beer and the man on the pinball hits sixteen mil someone ducks behind the counter to pop a pill and you reach in your pocket to see if there's more and the biggest bill falls so you're left with four and you're too gone to look but you still try then you see it in the hand of a great big guy who looks just like he'd kill you fast and you think for a minute you let it pass
and the stool falls over when you set back down it bumps a mean pool shooter from across the town he misses his shot - it's all on you and with your last four bucks you know what you'll do sorry man can i buy you a drink and he shakes his head and says, make it a double
the next thing you know you wake up at home and the little one there won't leave you alone she's awake and hungry she needs some potty help and you remember what happened last time she tried it by herself and your wife says hurry, we're late for church and you can barely see and your head still hurts and the preacher starts preaching and you feel remorse he's got five little kids and a big divorce and your wife looks down and says she don't know how he's been her guiding light for ten years now and his marriage is over, it's barely alive and how in the world will ours ever survive?
The juxtaposing of "church"world and "real world" is too close for comfort...and offers little; as does a pastor's divorce. The sharing and prayer time after the stunned silence that song creates would inevitably be life-changing...
BUT is this version ready for church?
Note the slight (but HUGE) Lyrics change:
--
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For":
"There has never been a more concise theology of redemption, atonement and the substitutionary death of Christ. No clearer proclamation of theGospel has ever sold so many copies...But he hasn't found what he is lookingfor. I remember speaking in Dublin and seeing this rather exuberant Christian atthe front of the hall. I began my address by asking had anyone found what they were looking for. "Amen brother. Yes Hallelujah!" I am not sure how my dearbrother came to earth as he discovered that for the next hour I was exposing that to have found what we are looking for has nothing to do with BiblicalChristianity...So my conclusion is that U2's I Still Haven't Found What I Am Looking For is probably the best hymn written in this century, it has the theology of the cross but is centred in the reality of a fallen humanity and i sabout striving towards a better man and a better world" (Rev Setve Stockman, read it all)
So why do Christians feel they have to change the lyric to sing it in church?:
think Bono said it best, when he exclaimed,“You broke the bonds and you loosed the chainscarried the cross of my shame, of my shame.You know I believe it.“But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Said what best Mike? He didn’t say anything!I mean, that doesn’t make any sense does it?Jesus is what we’re looking for. Right? Well, yes. I remember a particular chapel service at my Christian high school,when a worship band came and sang this song.It was terribly cool at that time to sing a U2 song for worship too,but when it came time to sing the refrain after that verse,they cleverly changed the lyrics to,“and now I have found, what I’m looking for!”It was quite a moment too. Hands going up all over the place,people shouting, flags waving, it was totally amazing.And I remember pumping my fist, and thinking, “yeah! That’s right.What does Bono know? How could he talk about Jesus and thensay that he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for?Not me! I’ve found what I’m looking for! I’m not still searching,I’m not still looking….right? Well, yes and no. Ten years ago I thought U2 was trying to say that Jesus wasn’t really the answer.Now, I’m starting to see that they just understood something that I didn’t.You see, I think Bono was simply reiterating something that theologians havebeen writing about for centuries. He wasn’t making blasphemous statementsas much as he was poeticizing what is commonly referred to as,“the already and the not yet.”And you know, I’d say it might just be the most difficult truth that a Christianwill ever have to wrestle with.The fact that we already have what we’re looking for,and in the same moment, haven’t yet received it,isn’t so easily reconciled as one would hope.link
Once, church, we did complaints/laments colored markers on posterboard.
Photos here, click twice to read and weep...and laugh!:
But most of us do it less officially, and more often,...in prayer, even if unarticulated/wordless.
Complaints/laments/questions have to surface somewhere. So we might as well be honest andelevate them. pray them post them, sing them....prophetically write them on subway walls or church halls.
suggests that an outlet must be found, and can be not only threrapeutic/healing, but evangelistic/missional.
SO It hit me last night, as Rabbi Adam was talking about the Jewish homesickness for the temple,
that no non-Jewish person can know what that feels like.
As he was speaking to our class, I quickly found and projected this photo of some of us in front of the Temple Mount, and it nearly brought him to tears.
.
The rabbi has not yet been to Israel.
(but Israel has been to the rabbi).
Along with Spidey P. and gang, I was a toll collector for a couple of summers.
Not the most exciting job on the planet, but the memories collected are priceless,
and the ground there was therefore hallowed.
Here we are:
But that toll booth complex no longer exists.
It was torn down, and the whole toll system discontinued years ago.
Which means, on a visit the spot where they were, I once felt I had to reach down and actually feel the pavement where so much of my life once happened.
No words for what I felt.
Not even a song of complaint.
UNTIL we interpret all of a scripture as in large part as a lament/grief that the temple..or something/somebody?Somebody is no longer there/here....we miss the point
-
Great column by Carolyn Arends in Christianity Today, especially re:
1) intertextuality, language and culture ...and "getting the reference"
2)Jesus' use of Psalm 22 on the cross (Though amazingly, no reference to another CT article [web only] earlier this year, which surely helped inspired it...the Psalm 22 sections are very similar..probably got edited out).
Excerpt:
......Maybe the most significant reference I've missed has to do with Jesus' final words on the cross. That awful cry—My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?—has
haunted my struggle to understand exactly what transpired (Matt. 27:46;
Mark 15:34). Was Jesus, for a devastating moment, utterly alone and
without hope? How that cry is processed has all sorts of implications
for theology—not least for the way we conceive of the Atonement and of
the relationality of God's triunity. More personally, it shapes the way I
perceive my own experiences of abandonment.
I've known, in a vague way, that
with his cry Jesus was quoting the beginning of Psalm 22, a passage so
familiar to his friends that to utter the first line would have been
tantamount to reciting the entire thing. Psalm 22 is an anguished prayer
of David, spoken as a godly sufferer awaiting deliverance. It's the
most frequently quoted Psalm in the New Testament. And its parallels to
the Crucifixion are chilling:
A band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them And cast lots for my clothing. (vv. 16b-18, NIV 1984)
The psalm is so shot through
with suffering, it's hard to imagine any more appropriate reference
Jesus could have made. But it's essential to know that the only thing in
Psalm 22 that runs as deeply and vividly as the speaker's pain is his
unshakable hope:
You who fear the Lord, praise him! … For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. (vv. 23a, 24, NIV 1984)
Both Matthew and Mark note that some of the onlookers misunderstood Jesus' cry, mishearing the Aramaic word for "my God"—Eloi—as
Elijah. I wonder if, in including that detail, they aren't cautioning
us to pay attention to exactly what Jesus is saying.... - Christianity Today, LINK
when the temptation is to surrender to a defeated numbness."
-Brian J. Walsh, in a discussion of Bruce Cockburn's "Humans" ("If Bono is right, and Cockburn is a psalmist, then Humans is a collection of psalms of lament" ) in terms of BruggeIn this video (and in the new book by Sweet and Viola), Sweet makes the case that"the greatest song ever sung" was Psalm 22.....and the singer was Jesus: (more info, see "The Lord Be With You...Even When He's Not!" and posts tagged "lament" below).
How does Jesus' entrance into human history affect how we read the Psalms?
Since Jesus was raised from the dead, the first Christians understood
that he was the expected Messiah. So their approach to the Psalms had to
be reconceived. We have to assume that as good Jews, the first
Christians were praying the Psalms day by day, but now with this wholly
new and unexpected focus.
It was actually quite disorienting. Instead of the temple, Jesus
is the place where God has decided to dwell on the earth. And since the
Spirit has been poured out upon the church, somehow God's presence is
everywhere, rather than concentrated in one place. The Psalter needed to
be re-read from top to bottom and radically refocused around Jesus and
the Spirit. This made the first Christians newly aware of Jesus'
personal presence in their worship and prayer.
Much of the Psalms, especially the songs of lament, can be unnerving.
What should we make of these raw, brutal pleas? Can we pray, with Psalm
139, that God would "slay the wicked"?
Almost all human beings find themselves overcome, from time to time, by
extreme anger and hatred. It is not that these emotions should
determine how we live. But we must have a way of saying, "Yes, that is
actually where I am right now." And the safest and best place to do this
is in the presence of God. The Psalms offer us a way of worshiping God
amid any and all emotional states.
Also, the Psalms promote a hyperideal hope for the world. They
help us see that God wants a world in which there will be no evil. If
there is injustice, if the poor are being oppressed, then it is right to
pray that God will rid the world of that. Part of our reaction to the
so-called "cursing Psalms" is that we think the modern world basically
has the problem of evil solved. The Psalms bring us up short and say,
"No, evil is real, and some people are so wicked that we simply must
wish judgment upon them. more
---------------------------
As Chesterton had it:
"Every knock on the door of a brothel is a knock on God's door."
Christians usually respond that God had to turn his back on Jesus
because Jesus took on the sin of the whole world, and God can't look
upon sin, so he turned away. We hear this in sermons and worship songs.
"The Father turns his face away." "God can't stand sin, so he turned his
back on Jesus."
On one level this provides a tidy theological answer. But at a more
visceral, emotional level, it's still unsatisfying. In our own families,
when a child has erred, we might get mad at them. But would we forsake
them? Abandon them? Kill them? There was a case last year of parents
with a very strict form of discipline. They thought their daughter was
"rebellious," so they starved her and beat her. They locked their
daughter out of the house in the middle of winter. She froze to death.
We call that child abuse.
Is that what God did to Jesus? Left him on the cross to die?
This also raises the theological problem of the broken Trinity.
Christians are Trinitarian; we believe that God is Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, eternally united in purpose and divine love. But does the
Father break fellowship with the Son on the cross? Are they pitted
against each other?
Cross-Cultural Perspectives
We in the West live in a predominantly guilt-based culture; we tend to
think in terms of guilt and punishment. When someone is guilty, they
must be punished. So if Jesus took on our guilt and sin, the punishment
is death. God's justice must be satisfied, so Jesus must be executed.
It's disturbing, but that's how we understand the story.
But much of the world, including the ancient biblical world, thinks less
in terms of guilt and more in terms of shame and honor. A few years ago
I read the book The Bookseller of Kabul,
about life in Afghanistan. And some of the most disturbing parts were
the descriptions of honor killings. A woman somehow brings shame to a
family, and she is killed to take away the shame and to restore honor.
It doesn't matter if she committed adultery or was raped. It doesn't
matter if she was the perpetrator or the victim. If she has been made
impure, the impurity must be removed to restore family honor. And in
many cases, a father will kill his daughter. Or a woman's brothers will
kill her. It will be described as an accident, but everybody knows what
happened.
So modern objections to Christianity say that this is the essence of
Christian teaching on the Cross. God's son has been made impure, tainted
by the sin of the world. So God restores his honor by killing his son.
This puts us Christians in a bind. If we defend this theology of the
Cross, then it seems like our Christianity does the same thing as honor
killings in Afghanistan. And we lose our basis for saying that those
honor killings are wrong, because our God does the same thing. Does
he?...
...I
find it interesting that Matthew and Mark tell us that some of the
hearers misheard Jesus. That opens up the possibility that the same has
been true for others, and for us. Have we misunderstood this cry from
the cross? The crucifixion narratives do not explicitly tell us what
Jesus' cry meant. Both Matthew and Mark record the cry, but neither
unpacks the meaning. They just let it stand. Neither actually says that
God turned his face away, turned his back on Jesus, or abandoned him.
That's an assumption that we bring to the text. It doesn't come from the
passage itself
.Here's
the key biblical insight that changed everything for me in how I read
this passage. It's a simple historical fact about how Israelites cited
their Scriptures. They didn't identify passages by chapter numbers or
verse numbers. Verse numbers weren't invented yet. Their Scriptures did
not have little numbers in the text. So how they referenced a passage
was to quote it, especially the first line. So the book of Genesis, in
Hebrew, is not called Genesis.
It's called, "In the beginning." Exodus is "Names." We similarly evoke a
larger body of work with just a line of allusion: "A long time ago, in a
galaxy far, far away." or "It was the best of times, it was the worst
of times." That's why Jesus often says, "It
is written" or "You have heard it said." He doesn't say, "Deuteronomy
8:3 says this." No, he says, "It is written, 'Man does not live by bread
alone.' " That's just the way they did it.
So when Jesus says, "My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?" he's saying, "Psalm 22." He expected his
hearers to catch the literary allusion. And his hearers should have
thought of the whole thing, not just the first verse: "I am … scorned
by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl
insults, shaking their heads. … I am poured out like water, and all my
bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax. … My mouth is dried
up … my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of
death. … All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment."
Is Jesus saying "I have been
forsaken by God"? No. He's declaring, "Psalm 22! Pay attention! This
psalm, this messianic psalm, applies to me! Do you see it? Do you see
the uncanny way that my death is fulfilling this psalm?" Jesus has done this before. At
the beginning of his ministry, in Luke 4, he read the scroll of Isaiah
in the synagogue, saying, "The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he
has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Then to make things completely clear, he said, "Today this scripture is
fulfilled in your hearing." That's what Jesus is saying on the cross. When he says, "My God, my God," he's saying, "Psalm 22. Today Psalm 22 is fulfilled in your hearing. I am the embodiment of this psalm. I am its fulfillment."\
A Psalm of Lament and Vindication
Psalm 22 is one of many psalms
that fit a particular lyrical pattern. We call them the psalms of
lament. They usually begin with a complaint to God, rehearsing the
wrongs and injustices that have been experienced by the psalmist. Psalm
5: "Listen to my words, Lord. Consider my lament." Psalm 10: "Why, Lord,
do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"
Psalm 13: "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?" Psalm 74: "O
God, why have you rejected us forever?"
This
is a common pattern in the Psalms. This opening lament usually goes on
for a stanza or two. But then the psalm pivots. The psalmist remembers
the works of God, and the psalm concludes on a note of hope. Old
Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann says that these psalms were
Israel's way of ordering their grief and making sense of their sorrow.
Today, we'd call it "processing." They would recount their troubles, but
by the end of the psalm, they declared their confidence in God. That's what's happening in Psalm
22. It starts out with the psalmist feeling forsaken and abandoned. "Why
have you forsaken me? … I cry out by day, but you do not answer." But
he's not literally forsaken, any more than the other psalms mean that
God was literally forgetting the psalmist forever. It's expressing how
the psalmist felt at the time.
But that's not the end of the
story. Like the other psalms of lament, there's a pivot point. Several,
in fact. Verse 9: "Yet you brought me out of the womb … from my mother's
womb you have been my God." Verse 19: "But you, Lord, do not be far
from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me." The psalm is not
a psalm of forsakenness. It starts out that way, but it shifts to
confidence in God's deliverance. Verse 22: "I will declare your name to
my people; in the assembly I will praise you." And here's the key verse,
verse 24: "For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the
afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to
his cry for help."
Here is a direct refutation of
the notion that the Father turned his face away from the Son. But the
refutation is not as important as the pivot. Jesus is declaring: Right
now, you are witnessing Psalm 22. I seem forsaken right now, but my
death is not the end of the story. God has not despised my suffering. I
will be vindicated. The Lord has heard my cry. Because death is not the
end. Verse 30–31: "Future generations will be told about the Lord. They
will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He
has done it!"
Jesus is not saying that God has
forsaken him. He's declaring the opposite. He's saying that God is with
him, even in this time of seeming abandonment, and that God will
vindicate him by raising him from the dead. The closest modern analogy I can
come up with might be something like this. Imagine that later on this
election year, this summer, the President is on the campaign trail. And
despite his security, an assassin gets in and shoots him. As the
President falls to the ground, he says, " dream." And then
he dies. Now imagine everybody saying, "Hmmm, his last words were 'I
still have a dream.' I wonder what that means. What was his dream? Was
he napping on the campaign bus? What was it about?" No, we'd all
recognize that he was making an allusion to Martin Luther King Jr.'s
speech. He'd be saying that this dream is still alive, that it did not
stop with MLK's death, and it would not stop with his. It's the same
way with "My God, my God" on the cross. It's a biblical allusion, and
the point of Psalm 22 is not about being forsaken. After all, David
wrote Psalm 22. Was David saying that God had forsaken him forever? No.
The literary genre of the psalm of lament shows that David was saying
that he felt like God had forsaken him.
That the odds were against him. That things looked really bad right
then. But that was not the end of the story. David still had confidence
that God would hear his cry. God did not abandon David. And God did not
abandon Jesus. The clearest evidence of that, besides the rest of Psalm
22, is Jesus' final words on the cross, "Father, into your hands I
commit my spirit." The Father had not forsaken him. God was still his
Father. Jesus was still his Son -Link, full article\==
Our church may not go as far as incorporating the "Hymns to Swear By" byPádraig Ó Tuama, (though we probably should be that bold and insurrectionist).
But we will no doubt glean lots from the section of the Rollins' "Insurrection" book ("The Centrality of Absence," p, 175ff in which we are introduced to an example from their catalog. About one song, Rollins comments, "this is not simply a song about suffering and the sense of cosmic homelessness--is is sung from that space (177).
Here's the song, but you are probably not ready to include it next Sunday. Which is precisely why you should.
(P.S. Just tell your team it's called, "Maranatha," ....doesn't that sound safe enough?(:
First of all,become familiar with the "Three Worlds" Conceptwhich comes from your Hauer/Young textbook, see especially chapters two and three, and see class notes.
Here below is how one student summarized the worlds (she has more detail here) Literary World--The literary world of the Bible is simply the text itself, apart from anything outside the text. We mean the world (or, better, worlds) created by the text;the
words on the page, by the stories, songs, letters and the myriad other
types of literature that make up the Bible. All good literature (and
the Bible is, among other things, good literature) creates in readers'
minds magnificent, mysterious, and often moving worlds that take on a
reality of their own, whether or not they represent anything real
outside the pages (Hauer and Young ch 2).
Historical World--The historical world of the Bible isthe world "behind the text" or
"outside the text". It is the context in which the Bible came to be
written, translated, and interpreted over time, until the present. In
studying the historical world of the Bible, we look for evidence outside
the text that helps us answer questions such as, who wrote this text,
when was it written, to whom was it written, and why was it written. We
also probe the text itself for evidence that links it to historical
times, places, situations, and persons (Hauer and Young 2)..
Contemporary World--The contemporary world is the "world in front of the text"or
the "world of the reader." In one sense, there are as many
contemporary worlds of the Bible as there are readers, for each of us
brings our own particular concerns and questions to the text. They
inevitably shape our reading experience. We are all interested in
answering the questions of whether the Bible in general, or particular
texts, have any relevance to our personal lives (Hauer and Young ch3). -Brolin ---------------------
Then, if a specific way to organize your research would help, here is ONE way you might approach your study: You
might envision studying a passage as a four step process, or a three
step process (Observe, Interpret, Apply) with an important interlude
(Correlate). The following outline is from Oletta Wald:
OBSERVATION What does the text say?
INTERPRETATION What did it say and mean to its original readers? What does it mean by what it says?
Don't forget CORRELATION: How does this fit with the flow/narrative/story of the rest of Bible
APPLICATION
How does this apply today? What does it say and mean to us? How
should my life be different tomorrow if I believe this message is
relevant?
------------------------ These three steps parallel fairly well with the "three worlds': OBSERVATION =LITERARY WORLD INTERPRETATION=HISTORICAL WORLD APPLICATION=CONTEMPORARY WORLD.. and in the "one way" article below, CORRELATION=INTERLUDE --- --- Here,
then, below, might be one way to study three worlds. You might follow
this process for your next "Three Worlds" assignment, limiting yourself
to an hour for each world. You would not necessarily show in the
assignment yoall
the work from these steps (though you can), these steps are more for
your study time, and the final assignment you turn in will show the
fruit of this work. It would be helpful to keep this list of 25 steps
beside you as you work on your project, it can be guideline or
checklist. Or it may be most helpful to you tou turned incopy of these 25 questions, guidelines. and enumerare your final notes just like this: ---------------- :
LITERARY WORLD: 1)Pray for wisdom and insight...it's not considered cheating! (: 2)If a text has not already been assigned, decide on the exact parameters of your text; your pericope. 3)Make
a working decision on genre, and who the text seems to be addressed
to. Note if it is addressed to an individual or a group. 4)Re-copy
on sheet of paper (or word document) the text (use NRSV, NIV or TNIV
translation..Find them all in the drop-down box at Bible Gatway here)without paragraph breaks. Ponder it for several minutes, read it aloud several times, listen to it on audio (BibleGateway.com)
and (maybe) even begin memorizing it.. Jot any preliminary thoughts
or questions about what it seems to say and mean. Comment on any mood,
atmosphere, emotion and tone that you imagine. 5)Rewrite/rearrange
the text (or re-organize or reformat it) in a way that makes sense of
the flow of thought and grammar. Even if you aren't familiar with
grammatical terminology, split apart clauses and pay attention to tense
and form. Try some sentence diagramming (exampleshere, here,here,here) (See Oletta Wald, "The Joy of Discovery in Bible Study" for ideas), and David Thompson, "Bible Study That Works).
Indent
new thoughts, even new phases. Make rhymes, parallelisms, and
paragraphs (obvious. Note (maybe color code) repeated words and
ideas. New paragraphs or indentations for different speakers. Do you
spot inclusio? chiasm? Maybe use this chart>> as a checklist. See pp 40-49 of Hauer/Young for lots of help. Try a computer wordle (here) or word cloud (here)of the passage. Outline the passage. Jot down any new insights about what the text seems to say or mean. 6)Chart
or diagram the text in any way that makes sense to you. Make particular
use of arrows/circles/underlining to connect themes, logic, words
literary devices. 7)Do you see any examples of bounded sets? Centered sets? Fuzzy sets? 8)Comment
on the context (the sections just before and after your chosen text.
Are there any thematic or literary connections? Repeated themes or
words? Especially
if your text is a gospel or from Samuel/Kings/Chronicles, locate any
other book where the same story is told (often these are listed under
paragraph headings in Bibles; see a Gospel Parallels charthere;
you can also check BibleGateway.com). and compare/contrast the
accounts. Make tentatative conclusions about your author's viewpoint
and TTP (targeted theological purpose), based on what he/she does NOT
include. 9)Briefly
consider the book the unit is drawn from. Do you know of any themes or
issues it is known to address? Read the introduction to the book here,and check for it in the index of Hauer/Young 10)What would be your working title to your text?
HISTORICAL WORLD
11)Make
observations about which book, which Testament the text is from, and
anything you know about its author, historical setting, and its place in
the broader biblical narrative (See index in Hauer/Young, for example). 12)Are
persons/events/places from other biblical books (or testaments)
mentioned? If so, you might check these names places in your class
notes, Oxford Bible notes, New Bible Dictionary. Erdmans Handbook to
the Bible, Erdmans Bible Dictionary, WorldwideStudy Bible) or on Ray VanDer Laan's website (type the name or term in thesearch bar). Is there intertextualty, hyperlinking? Check resources such as BibleGateway.com (tutorialhere),concordances, cross-references. 13)Read
the section about your text from at least two commentaries (and be sure
to quote then in your final project) If your text is from Matthew, use
the listed "helpful online resources" tab of the course website. If
your text is from a book other than Matthew, you can ask Dave for
suggestions. Either way, theBible Background Commentary(linked
there) is recommended. Don't get overwhelmed with detail, or
understanding everything written, but do make note of anything that
confirms or differs from your findings, and especially any iusight that
is intriguing or new. 14)Read the section about your text from "The Bible Background Commentary' (Old Testament orNew Testament)What "historical worlds" insights are found there? 15)Read any article or datafile below from VanDer Laan about your passage:
INTERLUDE: 16)If
the text is from Matthew, incorporate any insights from class about
the historical world of Jesus day. If the text is not a gospel, how
would it relate to Jesus and the gospels, particularly the Sermon on
the Mount. Watchthis short
video, and ask how your text relates to the "center" of the Bible.
Where does the story fit? Do other passages seem to fulfill,
supercede, bring further revelation to it? 17)Read
the text in two more translations (one being a standard translation
such as NRSV, TNIV, ESV, JB, NASV and one being a looser translation or
paraphrase (The Message, The Voice, Good News Bible). .Find them all in
the drop-down box at Bible Gatway here) Jot down any differences and insights. 18)Summarize your thoughts, findings, feelings and questions 19)Would you modify your working title at this point? Add a subtitle which hints at a sub-theme.
CONTEMPORARY WORLD:
20).
What do you know abut the "contemporary" world of the people in the
text., or the people addressed in the text. Comment on how your
world/our world is different than ours, and note any problems this
causes in application. Review 21)Remembering
your":personal and social inventory," your results on RRWI/EPIC and
the Dan Nainan "What race IS that guy?" video: in what ways does your
faith perspective, culture, class, age or gender help or hinder you in
understanding/relating to/ appreciating and personalizing the text. 22)On
the left hand column of a sheet of paper, summarize your findings,
suggestions and hunches about what then text "means" to the original
readers/ hearers. Then on the right hand column, make corresponding
implications for what the text might mean to us today. How is our
situation/nation/church/world the same or different? 23)Especially
if your text is teaching or parable, how might it be retold in our
day, with contemporary references (culture,k technology, news etc). If
the text is parable (or acted parable, like the Fig tree cursing or
temple tantrum) how might Jesus (or whoever told the parable) tell the
same story to make the same point today? (ex. who are the "Samaritans"
of our day?) How might Jesus (or whoever told the parable) tell a
different story to make the same point today? 24)Incorporate
any insights from areas of skill and knowledge you have (maybe from
different classes you have this semester),especially from disciplines
that may seem unrelated (science, math, music, computers. mechanics).
Think creatively. 25)What is your working summary of the text;s message and meaning,and applications. What does it have to with a contemporary church's life? My life? Craft
a short devotional thought, or a brief outline of a teaching (sermon or
drama) you might offer if asked to bring a devotional or message on
this text in a church setting.
"In one stroke, Jesus erases titles (Matt. 23:8-10). Tagging each other with titles has no place in the upside-down kingdom where everyone stands on equal ground" (226).
"Titles are foreign to the body of Christ. Terms like Doctor and Reverend perpetuate status differences unbefitting the spirit of Christ." Titles pay tribute to position, degree and status rather than to personhood. Members of flat kingdoms call each other, as the sign of highest personal respect, by our first names" (239, emphasis mine)
"We call each other by our first name, for we have one Master and one Lord, Jesus Christ" (256).
First world problems:
Any list of great books on the Psalms would include Eugene Peterson's amazing "Answering God" (see "Eugene Peterson on loud farts"), works by Bruegemann (of course) and....
...did you know David Crowder wrote a book on the Psalms?
It's"Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi"
...and it's a ...well, Crowderesque...devotional on selected psalms.
Here's a hilarious highlight, from the book's conclusion:
The Ancient Chinese Secret - by David Crowder
Se-mi-ot-ics n 1. the study of signs and symbols of all kinds, what they mean and how they relate to the things or ideas they refer to.
I bought a T-shirt in Washington, D.C. It was red. It said
"Ancient Chinese Secret" on the front. Below this statement, it had
writing, which I assumed to be Chinese. Never assume. My sushi friend
Shelley was there when I picked it out. I held it up, and she said, "Oh, that is soooo Crowder."
I put it on that very day. I ate lunch in it sitting across from the
pastors of the church where we were playing music later that evening.
As I made my way across the stage, heading for our bus that was parked
outside, our lighting technician stopped me and said, "Wow. You are brave."
"Yes. Well, brave how? I mean, what do you mean 'brave'?"
"The shirt. You know the secret right?"
"Well, yeah." I nervously responded in an uncertain chuckle. It is embarrassing to wear a shirt and not know what it means. "Wait,
what? You mean you know Chinese? Wow. So, huh, well what does it say? I
don't know the secret. I don't know Chinese. What's the secret?"
"Oh, it's in English."
"What? No! I studied this shirt at the store like a flipping
semiotician. It is most certainly not in English. That I am sure of."
"It is in English. Turn the shirt sideways then read."
It was most definitely in English. Granted, it was intended to be
cleverly hidden in ornate, faux Chinese brushstrokes, but once spotted
it was unmistakable. I was wearing a shirt that said, "Go F#$@ Yourself!"
It was all I could see now. How had I missed this? I am not a
semiotician. I sat across from pastors eating hamburgers, laughing and
smiling, while the whole time this was written on my chest!
Stuff in life happens, and we try to make sense of it. So we look
carefully. What could this moment, this tragedy, this weight, this
mountain, this tearing, this violence, this frenzy that is life be
teaching us? What is being said here? And then someone points out, "Hey, it says, 'Go F#$@ Yourself!'" and you've had it on the whole time.
Se-mi-ot-ics n 2. the study of identifying the ways that various symptoms indicate the disease that underlies them. (Medical)
The real message, the thing that is scribbled barely legible, the thing that's always there, underlying, is—we need rescue.
Things aren't as they should be. When your eyes focus and this
becomes visible, you can't tear your eyes from it. And you start to
see that there are those all around us who wait in begging wonder.
"What is wrong? I am here. I am here, and I need you to notice. At
times I'm waving my arms above my head, screaming it. At times I am too
frightened to move, but always I am here, and I want you to notice.
And in the dark I am afraid. I lie with my hand on my chest waiting for
the tapping to come. Things aren't as they should be. There are
symptoms. You see it in my eyes. I have seen it in your eyes, too.
Come to Jesus
To follow Jesus doesn't remove us from the stuff of life. It is not resolution. It is tension and journey. In 1 John 2:6 it says, "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."
Jesus was in the world, engaged, alive, involved, making a
difference. To follow Him, we must do the same. His prayer for us in John 17 is "Not that you take them out of the world ..." and "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (verses 15, 18).
This is what God has done for us. He has come into our condition.
He has come to bring us back. He has come and embraced us. He has come
and covered us in Himself. Watch this Christ. Watch as He is accused of
being a drunkard, of associating with tax collectors. Watch as He
brings healing to the afflicted, love to prostitutes, forgiveness to
sinners. Watch as He climbs the hill bearing His destruction on His
back. Watch as blood and water flow. Watch as salvation comes to us
all. Watch as glory ascends to come again. Watch and fall in love with a
God who does not resolve, whose rescue is never-ending. Whose prayer
is that you would be that rescue. Who sends you to be that rescue.
Be courageous. Even as you stand there hiding in the bushes,
shaking to the bottom of your toes, frightened of what's to follow,
what consequences will come of it, know that evil will not prevail.
That you are not alone. That you bring the kingdom of God, and there
is hope. There is hope always. And others will walk out of dark places
and see you standing there, arms outstretched, given completely to this
hope.
Praise is response. Praise happens when there is revelation, and
there is revelation waiting for us around every bend, in places we
would not suspect.
Our task is to live with eyes wide open to God's greatness because
when we see the imprint of the creator, our insides will swell with
devotion, our hearts will erupt with thankfulness. You will live,
breathe and radiate praise. The habit isn't in learning "how to
praise"; it is in reminding yourself "who to praise." It is a
remembering of who you are. It is a remembering of your identity.
Praise is redeemed and redefined with rescue.
When you have been found by grace, your identity is swallowed in
Christ. You are enveloped by Him, clothed in His merciful sacrifice. To
live in this remembrance is to bring awareness of Christ into your
every encounter. In this awareness you bring His embrace to the things
you embrace.
You Are Here
There is a sign in my favorite restaurant, 1424,
which happens to be located directly across the street from my house,
that hangs by the bar and states, in black letters on a pale-yellow
background, "You Are Here."
I call often for takeout. I pretend that they are my residential
kitchen staff that just so happens to cook the most flavorful foods on
the planet. The chef's name is Bill, and he knows exactly how I like
my pork tenderloin. We have never discussed it; he just knows. He's
always known. And as I wait for my order to be packed in white
Styrofoam and placed in a plastic bag for transport, I sit at the bar
and read, "You Are Here," and it brings a comfort and solidity to
things. You often hear or encounter inspirational art convincing you to
live as if today is the last, to engage each moment as if it were all
we had, but usually this is married to the idea that it is. That this is it.
There is nothing more than now. All we get is what we suck out of this moment. But I disagree. I read, "You Are Here,"
and I am equally inspired to be fully present in this moment, but it
is not because that is all I have, but because I am bringing something
more. I am bringing the very kingdom of God.
I read, "You Are Here," and I, ignoring the dramatic punctuation of finality, think, "The kingdom of God is sitting at this bar, waiting to bring something better."
We are to be rescue. We are to be redemption. We are to carry the
story of God to the ones waiting. To the ones with their hands on their
chest, begging you to notice that things aren't right. And this is
praise. You are the note sounding in a thousand different rooms. There
are chords and reflective surfaces around you. There is context.
Sometimes life comes at us with the delicacy of a sunset, and other
times it comes with the rawness of sushi and the bitter bite of
wasabi. Sometimes the tears will be because you cannot stand empty-eyed
in the presence of such beauty, and sometimes they will be full of
fire, but notice/know this: You are here. You Are Here! You are here, and you are not alone.
Look me in the eyes. Can you feel the fabric on your skin? It is
woven from the threads of love. Pay attention to the way it folds around
you, sense its softness, brush the hair of your arms as you lift them
toward the heavens in unencumbered declaration.
It is the coverings of rescue that you feel. It is a flood. It is
an ocean. It is a sea that has no bottom, for there is no end to it.
To be fully present in the rescue and recreation of Christ is to
embrace what God does for us, and this is the best thing we can do for
Him.-David Crowder, pp, 152-153 Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi
Our church may not go as far as incorporating the "Hymns to Swear By" byPádraig Ó Tuama, (though we probably should be that bold and insurrectionist).
But we will no doubt glean lots from the section of the Rollins' "Insurrection" book ("The Centrality of Absence," p, 175ff in which we are introduced to an example from their catalog. About one song, Rollins comments, "this is not simply a song about suffering and the sense of cosmic homelessness--is is sung from that space (177).
Here's the song, but you are probably not ready to include it next Sunday. Which is precisely why you should.
(P.S. Just tell your team it's called, "Maranatha," ....doesn't that sound safe enough?(:
A
few years ago I took my kids to a wildlife animal park near San Diego.
As we rode on a tram through the open terrain, a guide pointed out the
unique features of the different species that we encountered. I suppose I
always knew it in part, but I had not come to realize how most groups
of animals have unique names or designations when they dwell together.
With
insects most of us know that bees are called swarms, and ants are
called colonies. Among ocean life, I was aware that whales are pods, and
fish are schools. Cattle are herds, birds are flocks, and if you watch
Lion King, you know a tribe of lions is a pride. If you grew up in the
country, you might know that crows are murders. Maybe the most unnerving
one is an ambush of tigers.
I was surprised to learn that a
group of buzzards waiting around together to feast on leftover carnage
is called a committee. Just this one insight is worth the price of the
whole book. This explains so much of what’s going on in churches—a lot
of committees waiting around to live off human carnage.
Flamingos
are called flamboyants, which for some reason reminds me of TV
evangelists. And the less glamorous owls are known as parliaments. They
do seem sort of British.
But my favorite of all is the group
designation for rhinos. You see, rhinos can run thirty miles an hour,
which is pretty fast when you consider how much weight they’re pulling.
They’re actually faster than squirrels, which can run up to twenty-six
miles an hour. And even then who’s going to live in dread of a charging
squirrel! (Sorry—that was a bit off the point.) Running at thirty miles
an hour is faster than a used Pinto will go. Just one problem with this
phenomenon. Rhinos can see only thirty feet in front of them. Can you
imagine something that large moving in concert as a group, plowing ahead
at thirty miles an hour with no idea what’s at thirty-one feet? You
would think that they would be far too timid to pick up full steam, that
their inability to see far enough ahead would paralyze them to
immobility. But with that horn pointing the way, rhinos run forward full
steam ahead without apprehension, which leads us to their name.
Rhinos
moving together at full speed are known as a crash. Even when they’re
just hanging around enjoying the watershed, they’re called a crash
because of their potential. You’ve got to love that. I think that’s what
we’re supposed to be. That’s what happens when we become barbarians and
shake free of domestication and civility. The church becomes a crash.
We become an unstoppable force. We don’t have to pretend we know the
future. Who cares that we can see only thirty feet ahead? Whatever’s at
thirty-one feet needs to care that we’re coming and better get out of
the way.
We need to move together as God’s people, a barbarian
tribe, and become the human version of the rhino crash. The future is
uncertain, but we need to move toward it with confidence. There’s a
future to be created, a humanity to be liberated. We need to stop
wasting our time and stop being afraid of what we cannot see and do not
know. We need to move forward full force because of what we do know.
Yesterday
Mariah was in a store with her mom. She saw a man working with fabrics,
and for some reason he caught Mariah’s attention. Mariah looked at Kim
and pointed to the man, and she said, “Mom, look at the man. He’s the
loneliest person I’ve ever seen.” Mariah began to weep uncontrollably.
We
may not be able to see what’s at thirty-one feet, but we don’t have to
be blind to what’s right in front of us. There’s a world that
desperately needs God, a world filled with loneliness, hopelessness, and
fear. We have somehow become deaf to a cry that reaches heaven coming
from the souls of men. But God hears.
Erwin McManus
How
does it change your interpretation of the Bible to realize that many
passages are to a "plural you":
Ephesians: 2:8-10, 3:16, 6:10-20 ?
--
We watched an amazing video of Cappadocia.
UNFORTUNATELY> this episode called "Don't Forget Us" is not online
(remember the church 2o stories underground, and the amazing testimony of Rebecca from Sudan?) but some notes on it are here. Also pp. 164ff here.
Here is more on Cappadocia and the underground cities of Derrankuyu"
Dave WainscottWow, this is amazing. and your timing is perfect. I just stopped at Dollar Tree to get some soap for class tonight in Visalia..will show them your pics! It's a pic of me, right?
If you want to see a pic of me...or any of the other 70,000 that were with me... at the Oakland gig,click this. (just X out the popup)...Have fun with the videocam! You can find yourself, and almost anyone who is at any concert of the tour.
Pastor D.J. Criner
Sometimes in a Bible class, I will leave the room for five minutes,
and challenge the students to practice presenting anything they've learned.
It's totally up to them: they can tea- teach it, one person can present etc.
Sometimes I am even brave/dumb enough to say they can choose someone to impersonate (roast/toast( me and my style.
I should have known that with the delightful and daring Pastor D.J. Criner (of Saint Rest Baptist Church) in class, that the class would choose him for that impersonation option (:
It was caught on video ...
I guess I say ":awesome" a lot.
Be sure to catch his whiteboard artwork of me. as well:
Topics: Living in Community: Individual Worth, Status
and Relationships
Preparation Reading:
Reread Genesis 25:19 – 34; 27:1 – 28:5; 37; 41
Hauer & Young ch 13 “The Birth of
Christianity: The Acts of the Apostles” (entire)
Reread Acts 2
Reread 1 Corinthians 12 – 13
Hauer & Young ch 14, “Ephesians: He
is Our Peace” (pp. 301-303 only)
Ephesians 5:21 – 6:9
Hauer & Young ch 15, “The Literary
World: The Pastoral Epistles” (pp.
311-312 only)
1 Timothy 2:8 – 15; 5:3 – 16; 6:1 – 5
Reread Philemon (entire)
Grimsrud, ch 11, “Paul, Missionary to the Gentiles:
Grimsrud, ch 12, “The Book of Revelation – Christianity
Under Fire”
Grimsrud,
ch 13, “Reflections on God’s Healing Strategy
Preparation
Assignments:
1)Complete “The Literary World & the Contemporary World” worksheet (attached to this syllabus). This
worksheet and the worksheet from Week 5 form the basis for the final paper.<YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE THIS IN CLASS< YOU DON"T NEED
![[hhn669508244_1570115_9866.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE3lnYkObe0ekg3tbI8rWbWelyGao1dvZsnSG5EVhQ-MtWrG0HfkRCLoido41N5tx1wrucoAubTI-ga93ypnNhg2Lz39qNldvWOgQw6-N64A3xN2VjTVxtIL6Rum7vwBdpIQ-8o-DI-4w/s1600/hhn669508244_1570115_9866.jpg)
