Thanksgiving Day Celebration:

God planted a garden in Eden…

    with all kinds of trees—

Trees that were pleasing to the eye,

    and good for food (Genesis 2:8-9).

The first thing to be said about the “all kinds of trees” that God planted in the Garden is that they were beautiful to look upon. That was before the man was even placed in the garden to look upon them. God, of Himself, has an eye for beauty before we even show up.

The second thing to be said about these trees God planted in the Garden is that they were also “good for food.” John Calvin, the remarkable 16^th century theologian of the Reformation, speaks to us about how God created the world more beautiful than necessary. There was no need to make fruit trees beautiful. What His creatures need from the trees is food. But, out of his freedom, God decided to make these necessary trees beautiful— “pleasing to look upon.”

All God’s creatures need food. It is for us humans, who alone bear the image of God, to notice like God notices, how the trees that provide us with our necessary food are also “pleasing to the eye.”  That is something to celebrate this Thanksgiving Day.

 

 

Owen #6: Inductive Bible Study

 

Jesus stood and read aloud

    from the scroll of Isaiah. (Luke 4)

Dear Owen,

This morning, I was able to read your syllabus on Biblical Studies, Looks to me like a very capable instructor providing a very thoughtful and thorough syllabus. The course description: “An introduction to the principles of the inductive method approach to studying the Bible…;” reminds me that all courses are an “introduction” to new worlds of thought. That is why we go to college—to be introduced to places we have never been.

The course seeks to develop in you “a lifelong commitment to independent, self-directed Bible study.” “Independent” and “self-directed” may give one the notion that of myself I can inductively discover the true meaning of Scripture. That is a modern idea. For one thing, it assumes we all have the printed page, which has never been the case till the15th century. Before then, Scripture was handwritten and rolled up into a scroll. You can’t carry around 66 scrolls. The scroll would be the valued possession of the synagogue to be read allowed to those gathered to hear. Thus, Scripture was experienced communally rather than independently (Luke 4:16:21):

When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” And then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

Like Jesus, one would have to come to the synagogue to read it and to hear it. That is why the first thing the Apostle Paul asks of preachers like me, is that we remain faithful to “the public reading of scripture” (1Tm 4:13). That is the most important thing we do—read aloud the sacred text. When we do it right, it is like Jesus reading aloud from the scroll of Isaiah.

Love, PAPA

 

Epiphany: Priscilla #2

You will be

   my witnesses... (Acts 1:8)

Dear Priscilla,

So, for spring break, you are off to South Padre Island to “share the gospel with students there for spring break.” I can’t imagine. No wonder you ask us “to pray for safety” as you venture into the “party scene.” And, that you and your team will “boldly share the gospel…”

What a courageous witness. Papa prefers his safe space behind the pulpit on Sunday Mornings. So, we will pray for courage, boldness, and safety. Just remember, Jesus calls us to be his witnesses. We can’t, of ourselves, save anyone. We can only tell of the One who can. Once we give our witness, we allow God the Holy Spirit to do what we can’t do—convict hearts (Jn 16:8).

Love and Prayers,

PAPA

Ordinary Days: Priscilla #1

 Jesus opened their minds

   to understand scripture.

   (Luke 24:45)

Dear Priscilla,

Yes, I can understand why you find Psalm 15 disheartening: “…Who may dwell on your holy hill? Those who walk blamelessly…” That excludes you and me and the writer of the Psalm and the singers of the Psalm. In short, it excludes all mortals: “We have all gone astray” (Ps 14:3).

Jesus teaches us to read all scripture in and through him: “Scripture testifies of me” (Jn 5:39). Our resurrected Lord enables us to read scripture: “Jesus opened their minds to understand the scriptures…” (Lk 24:45). As Christians, we can never read scripture apart from Christ.

What if we were to read Psalm 15 in, through and with our Lord Jesus Christ? How would it read? Would it not speak of Him who knew no sin? The only innocent One?

At least that is the first thing to be said. When Jesus says to the Pharisees: “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (Jn 5:39-40); He claims all scripture for Himself.

In that way, we can read Psalm 15 as the answer to Psalm 14: “Our salvation comes from Zion” (Ps 14:7). Not from our own perfection—even from our knowledge of scripture. Scripture itself cannot save us. It points us to the One who Saves from the “Holy Hill” (Ps 15:1).

Love, Papa

Ordinary Days: Anna #1

For the gods of the peoples

    are idols… (Psalm 96:5)

Dear Anna,

I printed out the two papers you sent and read them this morning at the fire pit. Both reminded me of what Lewis and his Inkling colleagues called “chronological snobbery.” Classicists can’t be chronological snobs, can they? You read Ciscero in Latin because you think he has something worth saying to us today, right?

Your big paper critiquing Steven Ozment’s Magdalena & Balthasar: An Intimate Portrait of Life in 16^th Century Europe Revealed in the Letters of a Nuremberg Husband & Wife; I found most interesting. Sometimes a singular personal story told in letters can be a more honest telling of history than grand labels like “medieval” or “renaissance”. Like Sarah and Abraham, we discover that wherever we find them in history, they are above all humans with passions and feelings just like us. Such readings of history encourage “chronological sensitivity.”

Your little paper for art history was more predictable. From your first sentence or two, I could anticipate your concluding paragraph. Why do we destroy statues? The church has struggled with iconoclasm throughout its history—the Catholic Church enjoys all sorts of images while the Protestant not so much. With some wisdom, the church decided it is okay to use statues and images so long as it is for the purpose of instruction. Thus, all those stain glass windows retelling the Biblical story with images.

Is it better to tear down statues or to leave them up for instructional purposes? When we practice “chronological snobbery” we judge all that precedes our time as falsehood.

Just musing with my granddaughter…

Love, Papa

17th Sunday after Pentecost: Owen #5.

You shall not take

   the name of Yahweh

   your God in vain. (Exodus 20:7)

 Dear Owen,

That is the third commandment—that we might misuse the gift of God’s Name; that we would drag it into our own agenda; that we might think we have some magic power at the utterance of the Divine Name; etc. Because of this, the old people of God, held the name in such awe that they couldn’t even speak the Name. Instead, they simply said “Lord” which is how we tend to translate it to this day: “Lord.”

In deference to our Jewish cousins in the Faith, and partially because I think they may have a point, I try to be careful about speaking the Divine Name. “Jesus” is our Divine Name. The very name, Greek for Joshua; means, “YAH is salvation;” or “Yahweh is our Salvation.” That works:

If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. …The same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. (Romans 10:9–12)

Love, Papa

Ordinary Days: Owen #4

I am Yahweh,

   and I will set you free…

   (Exodus 6:6)

Dear Owen,

How do we get the name “Yahweh” from “I AM WHO I WILL BE”—the Divine Name given to Moses at the burning bush (Ex 3:14). Comer, our author, knows that this will be tough going:

Okay, stay with me, this is a little technical. Okay, it’s really technical. But strap in tight, because there’s a huge payoff if you can survive the next page or two…” (pp 048-049).

I’ll let Comer do the dense stuff. The sum of it is, we can’t say “I AM” because we are not God; but we can say, “God is who he chooses to be.” That is the meaning of the Divine Name. God has revealed himself to us as the God who IS and who DOES—Y-H-W-H.

So, the Divine Name, Yahweh, means something like “God is who he will be.” The God who makes himself known to us is the God who IS and who DOES. He is known by his “mighty acts, …wonderous works, …awesome deeds, …and abundant goodness” (Ps 85:4-7). The God who IS, is about to DO:

I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will set you free from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with mighty acts: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and ye shall know that I am Yahweh, who will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will bring you in to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am Yahweh. (Ex 6:6-8)

It is the name that is ever present, yet ever new—always up to something big. Hang on, God is saying, watch this. We come to know God by his action. The rest of the Bible will fill us in on his “mighty acts, …wonderous works, …awesome deeds, …and abundant goodness” (Ps 85:4-7). The God who IS “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and bounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6); is the God who, out of his absolute freedom, is about to act—to make things happen.

Love, Papa