Tag: #bible

Telling Our Story

Published by mhelbert on April 22, 2020

I remember well a particular moment in seminary. One of my professors included in our syllabus a book by a guy named Brian McLaren. The book was titled, “A New Kind of Christianity:Ten Questions That are Transforming the Faith.” The reason that he assigned this particular book was because he knew that some time in our ministry we would run across the kind of heresy that McLaren advocated. He wanted us to be able to recognize it and to refute it.
So, I read the book.
And, it changed my life.
I recognized myself in those pages. A questioner. A skeptic. A thinker.
Instead of preparing me to do battle against this post-modern heresy, McLaren provided me with language to understand what I was already thinking.
For me, knowing that there were others like me out there, this was a moment when a lock on the chains that had me bound to abusive religion clicked open.

If that sounds like a pitch for the book, ok, it kind of is.

However, as I’ve grown and reflected on my faith there is at least one area of McLaren’s book where I take issue.

In the book he provided a couple of images that contrast two views of how the Bible is read and understood.
The first way is how many people in Western evangelicalism understand it.
For them, the Bible is like a Constitution of a nation. It contains the rules of government and the laws that people must follow. For many, like me, this distills to the Bible simply being a Users’ Manual or a rule book. It contains the do’s and don’t’s that make humans somehow palatable to an angry God. Follow the rules and you win. Break them and, well, just don’t.

McLaren offered an alternative image.
He wrote that the Bible should really be taken as a library. In it are 66 separate books that contain the stories of God’s interaction with humanity. Especially, God’s love for us. These books come in all shapes, sizes, and genres. There are legal books. There are stories to titillate our senses. There is poetry and narrative and correspondence. When we read each according to the genre we may glimpse a bit of God’s heart. We may begin to understand the love and pathos that God “feels” toward the Cosmos.

That was just what I needed to hear at that point of my journey in faith. It opened up a whole new way to think theologically. In fact, as I wrote a couple days ago, I had some new encouragement just to “Think”!

Now, however, I’m beginning to view the Bible in a slightly different way. Not to say that McLaren was mistaken. No, I see the point that he made and don’t totally disagree with it.
I’m just not sure that he took the idea far enough.

Long before I went to seminary, I was becoming convinced about the error of reading the Bible as a rule book. That idea just didn’t sit well with me. I considered it more as story.
Specifically, a love story about Yahweh’s love for us. I couldn’t articulate what I was thinking exactly. Mostly because I wasn’t sure of what a ‘story’ actually was.
I did know, however, that I liked me a good story!
From the Three Little Pigs to Tokien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, I loved immersing myself in the worlds that these stories inhabited.
Now, having learned more about the craft of writing and doing a bit of writing myself, I’m more convinced than ever about the Bible’s coherence as Story.

From Genesis 1 to Revelation there is One story being told.
This story has a protagonist: God.
God is the main character throughout the entire story. God is responsible for all of the action. The Creation story is all about God acting to bring order from chaos and build a world in which every creature could thrive and grow.
God’s activity contains act of power. A flood; a crumbling tower; plagues.
Eventually, God’s greatest act of power was through God’s own love for the Cosmos. This was shown to us through the life, death, and resurrection of God’s own Son, Jesus.

The story also contains the necessary antagonist. And, it’s not who you may think.
The true villain in this story is Sin. He shows up early in the story and stands in opposition to God and God’s purposes on virtually every page.
Now, you may have thought the antagonist was that guy we call Satan. Well, this character is there, for sure. He is better known as the adversary. But, Sin is the one who actually calls the shots. Satan only exploits what Sin has already done.

There is a coherent plot to this story.
In the beginning there is an idyllic world where all of God’s creatures lived and thrived in peace. God chose humanity to be God’s helpers in caring for this world. However, this plan was turned upside down by the entrance of the antagonist, Sin, using the Adversary as the means of disruption.
The entire rest of the story is about God’s plan to set things right.
Yeah, you read that correctly.
THE ENTIRE REST OF THE STORY!

As every good story goes, there is a time when an apparent solution is presented. This shows up by way of the giving of Torah to the people who God chose to work with, Israel.
This turns out to be a false solution. Torah, as good as it is, could not restore humanity or the creation to the way that God intended.
Through many subplots and characters the condition of the Cosmos seems to spiral toward a nasty and messy end. In fact, it appears that all hope is lost. God cannot make things right.
Nothing takes our hope away and dashes it on the rocks of despair more than when the story introduces a new character…Jesus.
It seems that maybe this guy can be the One who finally performs the miracle of restoring the Cosmos. Yay! Look at him healing people and talking about God’s Kingdom peeking over the horizon signalling a new dawn of hope! Again, order coming out of chaos.

But, then, the story does what a good story must. It shows us that, alas, all hope is indeed lost. This new character, the One who seemed to be able to bring God’s good creation to fruition,
Dead and buried.

This would have been a pretty sad story if it had ended here.
Darkness and despair defeating Light and hope.

But, the story didn’t end there.
We find out that Jesus really was God’s Person of the hour.
God’s faithfulness to God’s Purposes and Covenant was vindicated.
The new creation had, in fact, begun.
And, the Good News of all of this is that all of humanity, already part of the story, can join with God in order see this new creation grow and prosper.

Ok. I can read the papers, too.
The world is not a new Eden.
It is still a horrible mess.
And, it will be until the time when we all get to the end of the story.
And, no, I don’t know what that end will look like.
I do know what it won’t look like, though.
There will not be a mass escape by humans who think that God is going to rescue them before God completely destroys the World. That idea isn’t in the book. In fact, it goes against everything else that the story was trying to build.
It won’t be a theocratic dictatorship where everyone walks around bowing in obeisance to some glowing deity sitting on a huge throne somewhere.
And, it definitely won’t be a place where smug survivors smile and say, “At least I’m not like those ‘sinners’ who got fried”!

Yeah, the Bible is a long story of God’s faithfulness to the Cosmos. There are a lot of twists and turns along the way. There is drama and tragedy. There is love and war. There is despair and hope. And, lots of action.
All elements of a good story.
So, rather than reading the Bible like a rule book or a collection of different and disparate books in a library, maybe we should begin to read it as One Story with many chapters. Although there are many different subplots and characters coming and going, it is still the same story.

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Spirit is Spirit

Published by mhelbert on July 9, 2019

Listening to the news and current events can be disheartening.

Conflict rages all around the globe.

Corporations fight other corporations and governments in order to guarantee themselves a bigger slice of the economic pie.

Religious groups wage holy war against other religions and even factions within their own religious communities.

Conservatives and liberals line up in battle lines much like our ancestors did. Firing rounds indiscriminately hoping to hit someone on the opposite side.

It’s an understatement to say that we, as fellow inhabitants on this planet, have become polarized.

What is even more disheartening for me is the way in which those of us who chose to follow Christ are divided.

We kick and claw at one another.

“No, you’re wrong!” says one faction.

“How can you say that? The Bible is clear that YOU are in error!” screams another.

“I belong to Apollos!”

“I follow Paul!”

“No, you’re both wrong! Peter has the true way!”

It seems that this thing called the Church is not only vulnerable to all of the forces of human nature, it is also quite fragile.

It breaks and fractures easily.

The broken pieces crash to the floor and scatter every which way.

It’s almost impossible to not become discouraged and lose hope.

So, I did the only thing that I could think of in order to wrap my head around these things.

I prayed.

I asked God to put those of us who follow Christ in the shadow of God’s wings. Not to protect us. But, to empower us.

For what?

I’m glad you asked!

To empower us to be the Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation that the Scriptures claim that we should be. To be harbingers of the Reign of God in this world. Here. Now. Just as Jesus of Nazareth was 2 millennia ago.

Not, however, as so many people who lay claim to christianity do.

Recently, I’ve been studying Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia. In it, Paul had some interesting things to say about the state of affairs in that church. After Paul and his friends had established the young community and moved on to other places, it appears that some other folks came in to stir things up a bit. These others were, according to the text, teachers of the Jewish Law who also followed the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. They claimed that in order to be Real True Christians, the people in Galatia had to conform to Jewish rules that set them apart from other people. These so called works of the Law were male circumcision, dietary restrictions, and observation of the Sabbath and other Jewish Holy days.

The Galatians were confused. But, they listened to their elder brothers in Christ and began to embrace these requirements.

When Paul got wind of what was happening he just about burst a blood vessel. He wrote a rather pointed letter in which he called these later teachers, “Accursed!”

No, he wasn’t happy at all.

He then spent the rest of the letter explaining what the problem with these practices were and why they were so dangerous.

The underlying point to all that he wrote was, “What makes you think that what was started in the Spirit could possibly be completed in the flesh?”

To clarify, Paul’s usage of the term “flesh” in this entire letter refers to conforming to the Jewish rules of purity that those other teachers had insisted be followed.

And, to be equally clear, one of the most egregious results of following those rules is that they erect barriers that separate people from one another. And, in Paul’s argument, they can also separate people from God.

Ok, so what does any of this Paul stuff have to do with why I feel disheartened and in need of God’s empowering?

Because, many in today’s church follow the example of those Jewish teachers way back when. They say that they follow God and God’s Spirit. But, in reality they lay obstacles in the path of people who need God in their lives.

“You can’t follow God if you’re gay!”

“If you don’t stand for the national anthem, you can’t possibly be Christian!”

“Abortionist! Murderer! Not Christian!”

I could go on and on with the works of law that many people require of any Real True Christian.

That’s not what I see Paul saying to the people who were trying there best to follow the Way of Christ.

“What was begun in the Spirit must be completed in the Spirit.”

While that seems a simple statement, it requires the empowerment I wrote about earlier.

It requires people who take the idea of Royal Priesthood and Holy Nation seriously enough to realize that the rules and laws that so many people try to enforce simply have no place in the Kingdom of God.

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A Living, Vibrant World

Published by mhelbert on July 3, 2019

In May my parish Priest asked if I’d be willing to lead an adult Bible study. He had led one in the weeks before Lent. Some people seemed to enjoy that and asked if it could be revived. So, he came to me. (Scary, I know!)

I agreed to take on the project. Not so much as a ‘leader’ or ‘teacher.’ But, rather as a facilitator. I would be someone who could add context and color to the study. There was no way that I would presume to tell people what the ‘Bible says,’ or ‘this is what God said.’ That’s not study. That’s at best preaching. And, at worst, bullshit.

Anyway, as I prepared myself for this role, I spent a lot of time quietly in God’s presence. That’s a good place to be, by the way. I was considering where this study would take those of us who joined together for it.

And, I was not disappointed. God did reveal a snippet of Grace that illuminated a path that could be traveled.

For years, (and years), I had been told by those who supposed that they knew what they were talking about, that there were “nuggets” of truth hidden in the pages of Scripture. We needed to dig deeply into the text in order to find and unearth these precious bits of God’s will for our lives. It was hard work being a miner. And, the payoff, while precious, was always just a ‘nugget.’

But, in the quietness of God’s presence I saw something different.

Far from being a dark, dirty mine from which we needed to crawl into in order to find a bit of blessing, I saw the Scripture as a vast, living, and vibrant world. It was a world where the sun shone brightly on fields of ripe grain. There were trees laden with fruit just waiting to be picked and eaten. Birds were flying in the sky. There were mountains and oceans. It was a world where we could pick the grain for food, or distill it for our happiness and enjoyment.

This IS the world of Scripture. This IS where the Spirit of God dwells. This is the world that I wanted to open to those who came to listen.

So far, the study has gone well. I think. At least the same people keep coming back every week. ;o)

I hope that together we can develop a passion to wander in this Living World of the Bible. A passion that will make us better readers of it, for sure. But, also will allow us to pick some fruit and sit under a tree in God’s World.

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The Nativity – Revisited

Published by mhelbert on December 20, 2018

Here’s the annual repost of my take on Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem. If you have read my blog you know that I do not hold to the whole “Away In A Manger” story. That story really has nothing at all to do with 1st Century Palestinian life. I believe that this story is a better representation of that. Read with an open heart and mind. Perhaps, we may find a greater understanding of who Jesus was and our part in His family.

The caravan moved slowly up toward Jerusalem. It had been a long journey from Galilee through Samaria. We could not travel very fast because of the young, pregnant woman. Most of the caravan stopped in Jerusalem. We, however, had a few more miles to go to get to our ancestral home of Bethlehem.

We entered the town and located the home of Joseph’s cousin. Entering, we greeted those already gathered. “Shalom! Baruch hashem Adonai!” “Peace! Bless the name of the Lord!” Unpacking our donkeys, we noticed that there were a lot of people already present. It seems that the whole clan had answered Caesar’s demand that we return for this census. Joseph helped Mary up to the living quarters while I got fodder for the donkeys. As I turned to climb the stairs I saw Joseph gesturing angrily.

“No guest room?! My wife is going to give birth at any moment! You must make room for her and the child!”

“No, we cannot. There are too many people. We cannot have one room given to her alone.”

“Wait,” one of Joseph’s aunts said. “We can fix a place for her down below. There is plenty of fresh straw. And, we can put blankets down to help make her more comfortable.”

Mary, being young and new to the family looked at Joseph and nodded. She was already suspect, being pregnant already. She did not want to give the family any more reason to look down on her.

Evening came. Mary was having contractions every few minutes. One of the aunts acted as midwife. They made Mary as comfortable as possible.

Joseph was upstairs with the rest of the family. He was pacing the floor. One cousin scolded him, “Sit down and relax! Everything will be fine. This is not the first child ever born!”

But, everyone knew that many first pregnancies did not end well. Especially, when the mother was as young as Mary. In addition, both Joseph and Mary were anxious about the child. That strange man that had appeared nine months ago had said some very strange things about this child. As the birth drew near, the young parents wondered what kind of creature was about to enter their world.

It seemed as though Mary had been laboring for hours. With a final push the child arrived. With a cry, the child took his first breath. The midwife lifted the child and tied off the umbilicus.

“It’s a boy!”

Joseph gave a sigh of relief. The others began to pour bowls of wine and a party celebrating the birth of a first-born son began. They sang and danced and drank. When Mary was cleaned up and the child wrapped in clean cloths, Joseph was summoned to come down. He looked compassionately at Mary. She was so strong and brave…no longer a child. Joseph reached into the feeding trough in which his newborn son had been laid. He picked him up.

“My son, Yeshua!”

A little later I looked up and saw a small group of people entering the house. By the staves that they were carrying I could tell that they were shepherds.

“Who let this rabble in?” I thought. Shepherds were not usually welcome among respectable people. They walked over to where the child lay sleeping.

“We were out in the field tending the sheep. Suddenly, there was a great light in the sky! We feared that something was going to take our sheep and harm us! Then, we heard a voice saying that a child had been born…here…in Bethlehem. The voice said that this child is the Messiah who we have been waiting for!”

Another shepherd spoke up saying, “Then there was a great host praising God! They gave God glory and said that peace was to reign between God and those whom God favors!”

We poured bowls of wine for the shepherds and continued to celebrate throughout the night.

However, Mary had a puzzled look on her face. She said nothing!

May God Bless you all and Merry Christmas

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There is Hope

Published by mhelbert on December 14, 2018

Ok, I’ve been a bit hard on Evangelicalism recently. And, with good reason. The theology that this particular brand of Christianity preaches is toxic. Like I wrote yesterday, Evangelical theology is rotten. The whole root is rotten. It needs to be yanked out of the ground and burned on the garbage heap.

That being said, I really need my readers who are Evangelical to know that I don’t begrudge them their faith. I wrote yesterday that these folks really desire to follow Jesus faithfully. But, I don’t believe that they are being given that chance. They are locked into a system that cannot accept any kind of question or dissent. For Evangelicalism to survive it must enforce a “my way or the highway” mentality.

It’s very clear that many religions deal in binaries. That is, everything is either right or wrong; black or white; good or bad. That’s the primary way in which they determine who is in and who is out. (Another binary.) Perhaps more importantly, these binaries assure ME that I am right. Evangelicalism provides this kind of hope to its adherents. By making a “decision” to “commit my life to Jesus” and be “born again,” I place myself on the “right” side rather than the “wrong” one.

And, this produces a real feeling of security for a person. It allows them to see themselves as part of a large family.

It also places them within a theocratic bubble.

A line is drawn that separates my new family from everyone who is NOT a member of that family.

This is problematic. Mostly because, unlike Paul Simon’s wish to be a Rock or an Island, humans are not isolated like that. We are all members of humanity first and foremost. That, my friends, isn’t wishful thinking. It’s an empirical fact. So, even if Evangelicalism provides a mechanism to divide Us from Them, this is at best a false dichotomy. People become lulled into thinking that all the stuff that those people “out there” are part of or produce is somehow tainted. “We can’t be a part of that!”they say. Or, “Those products are part of that world. We can’t use them! Let’s make our own!”

Walls go up. Divisions become set in stone. Dislike and disdain grow steadily until their natural fruit, “Hatred,” is ripe.

I hope that you can see where I’m going with this. Evangelicals are all good, well-meaning people. But, they have been duped into believing a false narrative that positions them in opposition to EVERYTHING ELSE!

This is not the Way of Christ. Never has been; Never will be.

The Way of Christ is one where the playing field is level. There is not male or female; slave or free; black or white; gay or straight; us or them. There isn’t. There just isn’t.

It’s wrong whenever people build walls to keep the ‘Other’ out.

It’s especially egregious when they use God as the mortar to build those walls.

That is exactly what Evangelicalism does. It is Evangelicalism’s only raison d’être. It’s sole purpose to exist. From the beginning this theology was designed to separate people. It is past time to put a stake in it and move on to a better Way.

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Is There Truly Only “One Way”?

Published by mhelbert on December 10, 2018

If you have known me long enough, then you know that I question pretty much everything. Yesterday at church the Priest stated that he was a “good little rule follower.” As I sat in the pew I thought, “Oh, you poor, poor man.” You see, I’ve never met a rule that didn’t really, really want someone to come along and push against it. I know, it’s a tough job. But, someone’s gotta do it.

So, it’s know surprise when I push back against theologies that claim to be “the only, true way.” To be honest, most religious sects do make those claims. But, I’m only really familiar with neo-Calvinism. I was well-steeped in a theology that made/makes truth claims that, well, simply cannot be sustained. There are other ways to look at “Truth.” I have provided a link to a podcast with Pete Enns. Pete is a kindred spirit and someone whom I respect as a scholar. Pete’s guest in this episode is someone who came out o neo-Calvinism and landed in Eastern Orthodoxy. I’d encourage you to take 42 minutes to give this a listen.

Here is the link to “The Bible and Orthodox Faith”

Again, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. And, click on ‘Subscribe’ in the sidebar if you would like to receive notifications from this blog.

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