Month: April 2013

What is the Bible?

The congregation I am serving on an interim basis decided, to their credit, to have a once-a-month worship service as a “Family Service”, in which the children would stay present instead of having their own time after the children’s time in the service.

We had, as the topic of this service this morning, “What is the Bible?”

We recognized that the Bible represents some contradictions, or at least seemingly so:

1. As a collection, or library, of books, yet telling one story, of God’s renewing creation.

2. As a variety of kinds of writing (poetry, history, letters, etc.), yet setting our God’s Word (human words, divine Word).

3. The Bible is old, yet the subject of renewal in understanding and application today.

4. The Bible is not simply a set of rules, yet does set out high expectations for us, as those who are part, already, of a new creation.

In sum, the Bible is the story of each of us, as we are being created anew through God’s Word, through our own chaos and darkness, toward new creation and life.

Boston Bomb Victims’ Hidden Injury – Hearing Loss – NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/us/boston-bomb-victims-hidden-injury-hearing-loss.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

And to think this hidden injury is multiplied the world over, where bombs go off on a daily basis. I, for one, would not have thought of this without something happening closer to home, to people more like “us,” whatever that means.

Revealing (apocalypse of) Good

Thoughts drawn from yesterday’s message at St. Andrew’s Ajax:

The message was the second of two recognizing the reality of evil in the world,how Christ has dealt with this, and how he has offered to share with us what he has done. Yesterday the main point was that not only is evil real, but its effects are intensifying. At the same time, however, God is working good that is “gooder” than the bad is “badder.”

The message was drawn from a book that is criticized, understandably, as portraying God as one who deals with the violence of the world only with violence, in the extreme, of his own–The Revelation to John. With that very charge in mind, I pointed out the parallel, or rather contrast, between the rider on the white horse of chapter 6 with the rider on the white horse of chapter 19. The first is the rpresentation of conquest, leading to war, famine (or disparity), and death. The other, in chapter 19, clearly is meant to be Christ, “the Word of God” (19:13). On the charge of resolving things violently, it is to be noted that his sword is not wielded in the hand, but proceeds from his mouth.

So what if we see the violently powerful depiction of the defeat of what is against God as indicating the power and decisiveness with which God acts (and ultimately will act to defeat all evil), but not the form it takes? Seeing it that way, instead of the rider-on-the-red-horse of war of chapter 6, we have the rider-Word of chapter 19 producing community; instead of disparity/famine (black horse in chapter 6), the the sword-Word further brings a spirit of abundance, and life instead of death.

Community and a spirit of gracious abundance are both products of the Word lived, and are much needed parts of a lived out witness to God’s devastatingly powerful love, shared in a fearful, stingy, violent world.

Recognizing the Reality

Thoughts out of my message yesterday (April 14) at St. Andrew’s, Ajax. Audio of the message will be available at www.standrewsajax.ca.

Since there is a power that seems to try to destroy our happiness when we most have it, I decided to address the reality of evil in the wake of Easter celebration. As evidence and example of the reality of evil, I referenced the sickeningly disturbing recurrence of girls being gang-raped, subjected to further humiliation through cyber-bullying, resulting in their suicide. As I make these notes, there has been news of bombs at the finish of the Boston Marathon. We do not just have social “ills” and global “issues.” We face evil.

Arguably, the book of the Bible that most obviously (or at least most grapnically) deals with evil is the Revelation, or Apocalypse, to John. The context of the book is the brutal persecution of early Christians at the hands of the Roman Empire. As with what they faced, symbolized (chapter 13) by the beast from the sea and the beast crom the land, with the authority of the “dragon” behind them, there are forces coming together todsy, as in every age, to try to deceive us and rob us of union and peace with God. The deception today plays especially on our insecurity, and tries to convince us that we are not smart enough, pretty enough, good eough, or even worth while persons, without what the powers of influence have to offer, having instilled the “need.” It is curious today that as “brand” (think of cattle) names have come to be considered critical (who instilled this?) to our credibility, attractiveness, and success, so a “mark” was required in the vision of John for people to engage in commerce and get on in the world.

But as chapter 20 conveys, when we are joined to Christ, Satan is bound and unable to deceive us (the completeness of the 1, 000 year symbol), even while Satan is still loose in the world and wreaks havoc until all is fulfilled (the significsnce of the “little while” time period symbol). Whatever the language in chapter 20 may convey about future events, it always has this basic meaning for us, whatever the times.

Evil is real. That was underscored again today in Boston, as it is underscored every day somewhere. It has power to destroy and cause misery in this world, and we must spare no effort to limit its power and effects. But we will never destroy evil itself. We must place our trust for that in one who has already demonstrated his power over it. “Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5 nrsv).