Fallen Into Knowledge

Obviously, there isn’t one thing that could possibly define a person. If we imagined there were, however, for my father it would have to be his tendency to take up a “hobby,” become obsessed with it, and then, after a while, drop it. Only to repeat the cycle. My dad picked up, and subsequently dropped, knitting long before it was socially acceptable for men to knit. While this tendency has caused some to roll their eyes, I am here to defend it.
My Father has an active and curious mind. He is engaged in the world, which is a source of endless fascination for him. Not too long ago he was showing me the different ways in which fabric is woven; he has taken up competitive speed skating, and trains hard several times a week; right now he working on his garage / workshop, putting the finishing touches on a workbench.
To find the world endlessly fascinating and worth learning about: If I have widely varied interests and pursuits, it is because of my Father. And if - or when - I have kids it is the lesson I want to model for them, as well. Thanks, Dad.

I have begun retiring certain theologically loaded terms from my vocabulary. I am sad to see them sitting on the bench, for they ought to take a central role an any theological discussion. But, it seems, some words lose their power from over-use. People use them without having a clear idea as to what is meant - or signified - by them. Or, alternatively, because these words can be used in different (and sometimes mutually exclusive) ways, people find themselves talking past each other - conversations never quite connect. Of course, since these words are central to any theological conversation, they have to be replaced with something.

Here are a couple words that I have temporarily retired from my speech, and the words I have exchanged for them:

1. Faith: I am using the word “Fidelity,” or word “Allegiance” in the cases where faithfulness to God’s Kingdom is meant.

2. Grace: I am mostly using “generosity,” or the adjective “graciously”

Are there other theological words that need temporary relief?

Because I cannot resist a book meme, and because responding to the meme gives me occasion to link to Faith and Theology - which is a great site and the location of many others’ responses to this meme, (because of all of that) here is my response:

1. One book that changed your life:

Jesus and the Victory of God, N.T. Wright

2. One book you’ve read more than once:

The Iliad, Homer

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:

In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust (its really long!)

4. One book that made you laugh:

The River Why, David James Duncan

5. One book that made you cry:

Silence, Shusaku Endo

6. One book you wish had been written:

The Matrix of Christian Theology, Volume 3(-6), Stanley Grenz

7. One book you wish had never been written:

Millard Erickson, Christian Theology

8. One book your currently reading:

Exclusion and Embrace, Miroslav Volf

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:

Theopolitical Imagination, William T. Cavanaugh

10. Now tag five people:

No. If you’ve been meaning to update your blog, here is your opportunity. If you don’t have a blog, and want to respond, leave a comment

Several years ago, while in the midst of preaching through Ruth, a gentleman from the congregation came up to me and declared, “I know what you’re doing: you aren’t just teaching us about Ruth, but also how to read the Bible.” While I hadn’t thought about it that concisely, that is exactly what I was doing.
In fact, perhaps all sermons are both about the passage at hand and also a demonstration of hermeneutics - or, a lesson in “how to read the Bible.” Just a thought.

So this week I am preaching again, and I thought that instead of spending all week alone preparing in hopes of delivering a masterpiece of oratory at on Sunday I would post the outline here so others (you!) could give input.

Over the last year or so, we have moved steadily toward a more communal sermon preparation process: at this point the person who preaches gets at least some outside input - input which they aren’t obligated to make use of, but may also freely use. It seems to us that the image of the preach retreating into (usually but not necessarily) his study only to pass the word down - Moses-like - on Sunday runs counter to the New Testament. We have been trying to change that at the Pearl Church. Usually this process takes place among a small group of people, and it will probably continue to do so. But today I would like to throw it open a bit.

So, here is my outline thus far: its rough because its still Monday. That also means that now is when input can be really helpful (as opposed to after I am wedded to to details). There are huge gaps, moves that I haven’t decided upon. But, here it is:

Introduction: “prayer as manifesto”

I would like to start by highlighting a speech that really rallies people together, but all the illustrations (movies, mostly) that come to mind are of a general-figure rallying the troops for battle. I wish to avoid the violent connotations. Perhaps one of Murrow’s speeches in “Good Night and Good Luck.” Words are powerful.

1. Not “how to pray,” but “pray toward this end:”

We have become accustomed to reading The Lord’s Prayer as if it were a “How to” manual, as if it set out the parts one should include in prayer - first this, and then that, and so on. This would be fine (as, having a guide in prayer is also fine), except that formulas run the danger of devolving into “meaningless words” - words without signification - words emptied of their content. If anything, this is precisely what Jesus was talking about in the passage right before The Lord’s prayer.

2. Manna from heaven and jubilee: the kingdom refracted through the torah

A. “Our Father, Hallowed be your Name, Your Kingdom Come, On earth as it is in Heaven”

Much in the same way as the Shema, or the Decalogue, this prayer begins with an affirmation of God’s exclusive reign. Of interest is the proclamation / request that, just as god reigns in / over heaven, he might also reign here.
This is not a “pie-in-the-sky” hope that we might hasten to heaven, but that God’s righteousness would pervade our world and community as it does His own realm.

In this sense, the “our Father” echoes Miriam, Hannah, and Mary’s prayers that God would come with justice to His people.
This “Kingdom Come” also bears echoes of Isaiah – the Day of the Lord.

B. “Give us today our daily bread.”

Two Scriptural echoes here: First, this harkens back to the time when Israel was fed manna, daily, from heaven.

Second, and in lone with our Jubilee theme, A people who are not sowing and reaping have to trust the Lord to provide.

C. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but deliver us from the evil one.”

The significance of Debt forgiveness: Some might say that by forgiving debts, we open ourselves up to be trampled upon - and indeed we are. We have to be “wise as serpents, innocent as doves:” yet we are clearly called to embody Christ’s sacrifice by not maintaining hold of our “rights.”

D. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. If you do not forgive others, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.”

The author of Matthew broadens the scope of the Jubilee language above: not only are we to forgive debts, but we are also to forgive any grievances: You are no longer indebted to me: you are free of the burden. Our freeing of others is directly tied to God’s freeing of us (an inescapable point Matthew makes, however uncomfortable that makes us feel)

3. Prayer as community-orienting activity

The death and resurrection gives shape to life and community for us: it also points toward God’s and our future:

The Raising of Christ is not merely a consolation to him in a life that is full of distress and doomed to die, but it is also God’s contradiction of suffering and death, of humiliation and offense, and of the wickedness of evil. Hope finds in Christ not only a consolation in suffering, but also the protest of the divine promise against suffering. -Moltmann

Portlanders love to hate the Rose Festival, even while showing up at the parades. But, the kickoff fireworks are Portland’s best:

Watching the Fireworks are only half the Fun, however:

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I went today with a group from the church to Dog Mountain. It was a zoo - really, there must have been neighborhoods in Portland that were desolate. BUT, all the wildflowers were in full bloom, which was spectacular. Really. Look for yourself!

Last week a neighbor noticed that one of my fields was getting unruly, and asked if he could let a few horses loose in it so they could eat down the grass. No problem! Well this morning I drove by it and noticed that there were no longer three horses munching away, but four. And one was really small.

Sure enough, I found evidence that it had been born just the night before.

Here is a synopsis of yesterday’s sermon on Matthew 6:1-18, which was completed at the last minute and at great expense. For the full (audio-ized) monty, check the Pearl Church’s site.

“AMERICAN JESUS.”
Last summer a few of us got together and watched some Jesus movies: we did this as a way to help us think about how Jesus and the church shows up in popular culture. In the American films that we watched, the message Jesus preached was about inward transformation: that was to be the essence of Christianity. How are we to be “set apart?” How are we to be seen as distinctive?
On Easter, Mike preached that we, as a people, as a church, are not only to be characterized by the Cross, but also by the Resurrection. Preaching from 1 Corinthians 15, Mike proclaimed that in light of Jesus’ resurrection, we are to be a People of Resurrection, a people characterized - not by sin - but by life.
That’s all well and good, but…what do we do now? How do we live as those who are “alive in Christ?”

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Sorry about the paucity of posts. (Alliteration!)

Read this instead. In short, members of congress were challenged to eat as if they relied on food stamps: they were challenged to limit themselves to $21 worth of food for a week. 1$ per meal. Perhaps all elected officials should experience poverty, at least for a bit.

Ted Kulongoski, Oregon’s governor, also took up the challenge