Unfortunately I am unable to be present for the discussion this week as the group talks about Philippians 2:1-11 and the Article 2 - Jesus Christ, Son of God, Prophet, Teacher, faithful High Priest, King & Savior of the world.
According to Leonard Beechy (p28, Dig-In, MennoMedia 2013) the context for the letter to the Philippians is conflict within the church - or more specifically between two women who were co-founders of the congregation. Each had a clear vision of what was right, of the way to follow Christ - they just didn't agree with each other. How often does this happen in The Church and in various churches throughout history? Why do you think there are as many denominations and as many versions of denominations as there are?
We understand things differently. When someone speaks with authority, like the Church leaders from Jerusalem who truly believed a person had to be a Jew in order to be Christian, many feel inspired to follow. They speak with logic and passion and make it seem so right. It is no wonder many follow. But when the opposing argument is presented or has been presented with equal authority, logic and passion, by someone like Paul, who truly believed that Christ was enough - that Jewish religious rites were not required - many will also believe that. When the authorities and political powers that be around you have a different view yet - and power to physically intimidate - that plays into the discussion as well. The argument that you just go to Scriptures doesn't always help because, in spite of what some believe, we always read with the filter of our lives and experiences and existing beliefs and biases. Many times all these factors combine to make both arguments seem sound. So when you have earnestly discerned and come out with different answers - what is THE answer?
Paul's answer (ignoring the fact that he would know that he was obviously right) is that we are to have the mind of Christ who allowed himself to be humbled, even to death on the cross. This is so opposite what we see in history with leaders talking over and even yelling at each other, not to mention excommunicating and/or, even persecuting each other to death. Even in this day and age and continent we have preachers condoning violence to people who believe differently. Greg Boyd, Pastor of Woodland Church, in his message "From Baptist to Anabaptist"(The Meeting House, June 23,2013) speaks of how it is a greater blasphemy/heresy to kill a heretic than whatever heresy s/he was promoting. This does not appear to be commonly accepted. How do we have the mind of Christ? How do we make decisions within a church or congregation (or other group) when opposing ideas are seen as absolutely right by different people within the group?
Well I don't see an answer in the material. The focus of the lesson is not decision making but treatment of each other. The focus is developing the mind of Christ. Christ could have chosen to force his views on others. He could have rained down fire on the court that sentenced him to death - or risen to heaven in defiance of their authority. He had the power to do that. He chose, instead, to allow the others to ridicule and humiliate him. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross (the lowest of the low). We are called to stay true to what we believe - to what we have been called, but not to force it on others or bully others into agreeing with us. Jesus actually did know he was right, yet he let those in authority beat him up and even kill him because they didn't agree. He didn't give in and agree with them, and he didn't bluster his way through. He quietly and constantly held what he knew was true and allowed the authorities to bluster and bully,
How do we develop the mind of Christ? How can we imitate Christ? How do our lives reflect Jesus'? Often society's notions of power & influence are so different from the humility displayed by Jesus, how can we make a difference while remaining humble? I hope there are some answers in the group - right now I just have more questions.
Friday, 25 October 2013
Thursday, 24 October 2013
October 21 - A Road Less Traveled
This week we looked at Mark 8:27 - 9:1 - a story where Peter seems somewhat of a hero by being with it enough to proclaim Jesus as the messiah - then almost immediately somewhat of a villain (Satan?) for rebuking Jesus for talking about his upcoming suffering. Isn't that the way it goes sometimes? You think you finally have something figured out and WHAM - you find out you didn't quite get it. Even though Peter had all that time with Jesus, in person, he still had remnants of the cultural expectation that the Messiah would be a conquering hero - not a suffering servant. He still was stuck in cultural expectations. But Jesus basically tells Peter to continue to follow - don't tempt me, don't lead me astray from my purpose - but get behind me and follow me and learn.
I wonder how often we need to learn that. How often do we think we have it figured out - then others come along and point out how we have missed the point. Think of Martin Luther, Menno Simons, John Calvin and all the other reformers through history. They saw the way the church was going and called them to stop and follow. Today we have a new set of reformers - In my limited sphere I hear Bruxy Cavey and Shane Claiborne and others calling us to follow Christ not religion. We have new communities (who don't want to be called churches) springing up in an effort to be true to the teachings of Christ.as they read them. How do we follow? How do we "pick up our cross"? Can we avoid following the crowds of religious people and just follow Christ?
The two people on the dvd had very different stories. Marisa told the story of her father who took the suffering involved with cancer treatments in stride as he continued to minister through the pain and the discomfort caused by the cancer and the radiation treatments. He taught his daughter that pain and suffering, denying oneself the luxury of self indulgent recovery was all part of life - especially life following Christ. So she has learned to look to the blessings found living to follow Christ, instead of looking enviously at what some others seem to have. Shawn runs a home for people recovering from addiction. He knows first hand how wanting instant gratification led him to a road of misery and substance dependence. He, too, sees that learning to lean on God's power, God's timing God's being in charge, helps him keep going without needing the chemical help.
We questioned what it means for God to be "in charge". Does this mean we have no say in what happens - that all is foreordained? What is "God's plan"? Is it a script we have to follow? If we don't hear/follow our calling does that mean we've permanently missed out? That the rest of our life is 2nd best? We were given an image of a fenced pasture - the fence being the will of God and the pasture being loving and following God. Within that pasture we can make many choices yet still be within God's will and loving & following God. I'm sure there are limitations to the allegory but it was helpful to ponder.
We also looked at two short excerpts from Shane Claiborne's book. The one was a challenge not to be the type of Christian who goes about daily life like everyone else and just fits in a bit of Jesus now and then. The other was a story of a woman who they offered a warm, safe place who saw that they were Christians, not by their surroundings or language, but because they shone. So we asked - what does it mean to shine? Do we shine? Does our following Jesus change us so people can actually see a difference?
There were many other topics that we touched on, which is not surprising since we were talking about how our Christianity is influenced by our culture and how we are called to be different. We decided our homework for this week (with a check in next week! - keep track ladies!) was to shine - to try for at least one week to keep what was coming from our mouths positive. Bluntly that means no bad mouthing people or plans or events. It sounds so simple but sometimes we just get in the habit of pointing out the negative, or, when things irritate, or even hurt, us so much, we allow the pain to spill out in negativity. This week we are going to look for the good side - especially of people. Let's try to truly shine, whatever crosses we have to bear this week.
May we discover what it means to truly follow, truly serve as disciples of Jesus Christ.
I wonder how often we need to learn that. How often do we think we have it figured out - then others come along and point out how we have missed the point. Think of Martin Luther, Menno Simons, John Calvin and all the other reformers through history. They saw the way the church was going and called them to stop and follow. Today we have a new set of reformers - In my limited sphere I hear Bruxy Cavey and Shane Claiborne and others calling us to follow Christ not religion. We have new communities (who don't want to be called churches) springing up in an effort to be true to the teachings of Christ.as they read them. How do we follow? How do we "pick up our cross"? Can we avoid following the crowds of religious people and just follow Christ?
The two people on the dvd had very different stories. Marisa told the story of her father who took the suffering involved with cancer treatments in stride as he continued to minister through the pain and the discomfort caused by the cancer and the radiation treatments. He taught his daughter that pain and suffering, denying oneself the luxury of self indulgent recovery was all part of life - especially life following Christ. So she has learned to look to the blessings found living to follow Christ, instead of looking enviously at what some others seem to have. Shawn runs a home for people recovering from addiction. He knows first hand how wanting instant gratification led him to a road of misery and substance dependence. He, too, sees that learning to lean on God's power, God's timing God's being in charge, helps him keep going without needing the chemical help.
We questioned what it means for God to be "in charge". Does this mean we have no say in what happens - that all is foreordained? What is "God's plan"? Is it a script we have to follow? If we don't hear/follow our calling does that mean we've permanently missed out? That the rest of our life is 2nd best? We were given an image of a fenced pasture - the fence being the will of God and the pasture being loving and following God. Within that pasture we can make many choices yet still be within God's will and loving & following God. I'm sure there are limitations to the allegory but it was helpful to ponder.
We also looked at two short excerpts from Shane Claiborne's book. The one was a challenge not to be the type of Christian who goes about daily life like everyone else and just fits in a bit of Jesus now and then. The other was a story of a woman who they offered a warm, safe place who saw that they were Christians, not by their surroundings or language, but because they shone. So we asked - what does it mean to shine? Do we shine? Does our following Jesus change us so people can actually see a difference?
There were many other topics that we touched on, which is not surprising since we were talking about how our Christianity is influenced by our culture and how we are called to be different. We decided our homework for this week (with a check in next week! - keep track ladies!) was to shine - to try for at least one week to keep what was coming from our mouths positive. Bluntly that means no bad mouthing people or plans or events. It sounds so simple but sometimes we just get in the habit of pointing out the negative, or, when things irritate, or even hurt, us so much, we allow the pain to spill out in negativity. This week we are going to look for the good side - especially of people. Let's try to truly shine, whatever crosses we have to bear this week.
May we discover what it means to truly follow, truly serve as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Fall 2013 - late start
It has taken me a long time to get back into writing this blog. First there was not much controversial or new that came out of our study of James in spring, then I went on an amazing tour and spent time pondering the apostle Paul and his journeys and teachings - but somehow didn't get around to writing about them - then summer came with numerous trips and visits and weddings and this and that - and then fall came and has flown by. I am having trouble recognizing that it is already nearing the end of October!
This fall I have been doing some interesting reading. Some relevant - like Shane Claiborne's book, Irresistible Revolution: living as an ordinary radical, and some less so - like Dan Brown's Inferno. It is fascinating how various unrelated readings seem to tie together in my head to create blow-your-mind ideas - and how difficult a time I have expressing them - so don't expect to be blown away!
As a Bible Study group we have chosen to follow the "Dig-In" study put out by MennoMedia in answer to the question, "How do we read the Bible in this age and...How can the Bible guide us as we navigate difficult questions of how to live and how to be the church for our time?" (p4). Each lesson draws on a short Bible passage and one of the article of faith from Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (copyright 1995 by Herald Press, Harrisonberg, Virginia). We have had a lot of meaningful discussions, and, I hope, have had thoughts rumbling around our heads for us to ponder during the week. We've even had homework on occasion.
The first lesson focussed on John 1:1-18 - The Word in the Flesh. We looked at the articles on God, Jesus, and the creation and calling of human beings. We looked at the question "What can Jesus' way of coming into the world teach us as a Christian Community about our own call to serve the world?" As it was a few weeks ago now, I don't recall specifics of our conversation but we did talk about how we can know God understands us because, as Jesus, God has experienced the limitations of being human, the trials of being bullied, the joys of being loved by friends and family. It is so easy to not want to pray about something because it seems too trivial for God to understand why it matters to us. It is so easy to get frustrated because thing aren't going the way you think they should - it's obvious that if God is in control then God just doesn't get it - right? Maybe we're the ones that don't get it. It is a challenge to recognize the humanity of Jesus and how much God gave in order to help us know that we are understood, and loved.
The second lesson focussed on Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and article 1(God) Love God Love God's Words. We spoke of Shema! - and how orthodox Jews actually take these words from Deuteronomy and bind them to themselves and have them on their doorsteps etc. How do we keep God front and centre? How does loving God in this way affect our lives? Does it? So we challenged ourselves to have a sticky or some other note where we would see it often in our day - reminding us to Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our might. Some of us have kept the sign around, others probably haven't. But it was interesting to try having this concrete reminder in sight at various times during the day.
The third lesson focussed on 2Timothy 3:14 - 17, Article 4 (Scripture) - A Story to Pass along. It was interesting to consider the part the Bible plays in our lives. Do we have time to read it regularly? Do we know it well enough that, if Bibles were taken from us we could still remember and learn from it and draw comfort from its promises? It is interesting to think about how different people come to such very different conclusions about issues based on words from the very same book. It is really hard to know if we really have it right when we look around and so many different groups are so sure they have it right - yet disagree with each other. The challenge this week was to read the lectionary passages sometime during the week - and the blog Donita has been writing about them. Let's try, for at least one week, to make reading the Bible a priority. Maybe it will become a habit!
The fourth week we looked at Isaiah 53:1-12, Article 17 (discipleship) - Suffering Love. We talked about suffering - and how suffering from a disease like cancer was different from suffering at the hands of bullies or suffering for taking a stand. Are all these kinds of suffering useful? Could we ever say they were God's plan for us? The guide calls us to look at suffering through a "multi-focal lens" so we can see different facets. I think we can agree that we often come out of suffering having learned something or maybe being stronger - but we have trouble seeing this as God's plan as much as it is God's bringing some good out of the awful. We did not really pose a challenge for this week - but left considering suffering and God's plan and how they worked together.
And now we are caught up. I will try to ponder future lessons more deeply. Tomorrow we are again speaking of Discipleship. There is so much to consider - How do we react when the church and/or the world and/or our own reading of scriptures disagree? How can we truly follow Christ in our day to day lives? So much to consider yet so important. Come back for more on our views on it.
This fall I have been doing some interesting reading. Some relevant - like Shane Claiborne's book, Irresistible Revolution: living as an ordinary radical, and some less so - like Dan Brown's Inferno. It is fascinating how various unrelated readings seem to tie together in my head to create blow-your-mind ideas - and how difficult a time I have expressing them - so don't expect to be blown away!
As a Bible Study group we have chosen to follow the "Dig-In" study put out by MennoMedia in answer to the question, "How do we read the Bible in this age and...How can the Bible guide us as we navigate difficult questions of how to live and how to be the church for our time?" (p4). Each lesson draws on a short Bible passage and one of the article of faith from Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (copyright 1995 by Herald Press, Harrisonberg, Virginia). We have had a lot of meaningful discussions, and, I hope, have had thoughts rumbling around our heads for us to ponder during the week. We've even had homework on occasion.
The first lesson focussed on John 1:1-18 - The Word in the Flesh. We looked at the articles on God, Jesus, and the creation and calling of human beings. We looked at the question "What can Jesus' way of coming into the world teach us as a Christian Community about our own call to serve the world?" As it was a few weeks ago now, I don't recall specifics of our conversation but we did talk about how we can know God understands us because, as Jesus, God has experienced the limitations of being human, the trials of being bullied, the joys of being loved by friends and family. It is so easy to not want to pray about something because it seems too trivial for God to understand why it matters to us. It is so easy to get frustrated because thing aren't going the way you think they should - it's obvious that if God is in control then God just doesn't get it - right? Maybe we're the ones that don't get it. It is a challenge to recognize the humanity of Jesus and how much God gave in order to help us know that we are understood, and loved.
The second lesson focussed on Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and article 1(God) Love God Love God's Words. We spoke of Shema! - and how orthodox Jews actually take these words from Deuteronomy and bind them to themselves and have them on their doorsteps etc. How do we keep God front and centre? How does loving God in this way affect our lives? Does it? So we challenged ourselves to have a sticky or some other note where we would see it often in our day - reminding us to Love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and with all our souls, and with all our might. Some of us have kept the sign around, others probably haven't. But it was interesting to try having this concrete reminder in sight at various times during the day.
The third lesson focussed on 2Timothy 3:14 - 17, Article 4 (Scripture) - A Story to Pass along. It was interesting to consider the part the Bible plays in our lives. Do we have time to read it regularly? Do we know it well enough that, if Bibles were taken from us we could still remember and learn from it and draw comfort from its promises? It is interesting to think about how different people come to such very different conclusions about issues based on words from the very same book. It is really hard to know if we really have it right when we look around and so many different groups are so sure they have it right - yet disagree with each other. The challenge this week was to read the lectionary passages sometime during the week - and the blog Donita has been writing about them. Let's try, for at least one week, to make reading the Bible a priority. Maybe it will become a habit!
The fourth week we looked at Isaiah 53:1-12, Article 17 (discipleship) - Suffering Love. We talked about suffering - and how suffering from a disease like cancer was different from suffering at the hands of bullies or suffering for taking a stand. Are all these kinds of suffering useful? Could we ever say they were God's plan for us? The guide calls us to look at suffering through a "multi-focal lens" so we can see different facets. I think we can agree that we often come out of suffering having learned something or maybe being stronger - but we have trouble seeing this as God's plan as much as it is God's bringing some good out of the awful. We did not really pose a challenge for this week - but left considering suffering and God's plan and how they worked together.
And now we are caught up. I will try to ponder future lessons more deeply. Tomorrow we are again speaking of Discipleship. There is so much to consider - How do we react when the church and/or the world and/or our own reading of scriptures disagree? How can we truly follow Christ in our day to day lives? So much to consider yet so important. Come back for more on our views on it.
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