The Book That Won't Be Domesticated

I had an occasion not so long ago to speak about Jesus, using the story of Jesus' resurrection from a tomb, as conveyed by a tax collector known to us now as Matthew. I've been doing what I do for three decades, so I've focused on this resurrection story from the Bible many times. Approaching it this time I thought, "I know this account backwards and forwards; I don't see what could be said about it that hasn't been said before." Then something happened to me that happens quite regularly with the Bible. Something almost leaped off the page that I had never noticed before. As Matthew describes the experience of women who found Jesus' tomb empty and encountered a messenger from God, he says, "So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples." (Matthew 28:8 - New Revised Standard Version.) Every other time I had glossed over the fact that the women experienced both terror and great gladness at the same time. They didn't wait for fear to leave them before they moved forward in faith. I believe the Holy Spirit wanted me to see this, both for my congregation and for me, personally.

That's the nature of this thing called the Bible. It is vibrant and dynamic, and God speaks through it. I never can plumb the depths of it. Just when I think I have parts of the Bible figured out, something like the above happens to blow apart the containing walls I've built around it. When we reduce the Bible to being only a rulebook, when we limit encounter with the Bible to rote memorization, when we use it only as a club to beat up those who don't think like we do, we don't even begin to experience God speaking through us through this powerful medium.

I'm always impressed by durability and vitality. The Bible has endured a lot over the centuries: misuse, disuse, ridicule, dismissal, criticism, proof-texting, minimizing, etc. etc. Yet God keeps using it to speak in ways that break free of human confinements.

In our church fellowship we promote specific ways to take the first steps in hearing God speak through the Bible, and we would be happy to coach anyone who is seeking. I'll see you on down the river.

Adjustment

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. My wife and I just got back from a week long mission trip to the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. We were a part of 350 students and adults from all over our state, who participated in a massive "Volunteers in Mission" workcamp. We worked for and with people in need, while experiencing immersion in a culture different than our own. Teams worked on houses of the poor and elderly, refurbished church buildings, led Vacation Bible Schools, canvassed neighborhoods, and generally joined in whatever was needed by our Cherokee brothers and sisters and their communities.

In addition to the opportunity to serve, I realized that all of us has the opportunity to experience something essential to following Jesus - we had the chance to adjust. Henry Blackaby teaches us that God's invitation to a relationship and God's invitation to join in what God is doing leads to a crisis in faith for us that demands adjustment. Relatively comfortable and privileged church people had to adjust this week in eastern Oklahoma. We had to adjust to crowded conditions; sleeping in school classrooms, twenty persons and more to a room. We had to adjust from video games and television in airconditioned comfort, to sweaty and dirty work in the hot July sun. We had to adjust from agendas we control to work requirements and service that surprised us every day. We adjusted from privacy to mass use of restrooms. We had to adjust from food on demand to military style meals, serving the same thing to everyone, like it or not. We were required to adjust from a faith that serves our personal needs, to a faith that gives up our needs for the needs of others.

It was dirty, grimy, demanding, draining, sometimes out of control, and relentless. And it was the Body of Christ being the Body of Christ. We need to do more adjusting, rather than expecting everything to bend to us. After all, Jesus made the ultimate adjustment of giving up His place in glory, to become human, and to take the form of a slave; obedient even to death on a cross.

I'm going to rest for a bit, but not long. You head on down the river. I'll see you soon.