Archives For bible

Can Humans Absolve Shame?

Chris —  February 26, 2015

The following is an excerpt from a recent talk I gave at Austin Mustard Seed for the first week of Lent.

In you, Lord my God,
I put my trust.
I trust in you;
do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
who are treacherous without cause.
Psalm 25:1-3

The Poet begs that God deliver him from shame.

I find it interesting that he does not ask outright for success. He doesn’t beg God for a win. He says don’t let me be ashamed.

The Fear of Shame

What is it about shame that is so terrible it sends us begging for God’s help?

What he’s describing here is a public humiliation. Think Hawthorne’s The Scarlett Letter, where the protagonist Hester Prinn gets pregnant out of wedlock and is marched down the street with a red letter A sewed to her bodice. Perhaps a more relevant example comes from dogshaming.com.

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The No Pants Gospel

Chris —  February 28, 2014

Perhaps we should have titled the Ecclesia National Gathering “The No Pants Gospel.”

Kingdom Pants

Scot McKnight is on a tirade right now, trying to get people to slow down and think through what they mean when they say “Kingdom.” He pointed out two, somewhat generational definitions of the word.

For the “Skinny Jeans” crowd, there is “kingdom work” which more or less means doing social justice (ie – Tom’s Shoes, wells in Africa).

For the Pleated Pants crowd there are “kingdom moments” where something miraculous happens (ie – healings, reconciliation, victory over evil systems)

This can be pretty offensive to people giving their life for their definition of the Kingdom. But Scot has a point. Skinny jeans leave the church for their wells. Pleated pants use the church to manufacture experiences.

No Rule Book

McKnight went on to team up with Bill Webb (of Slaves, Women and Homosexuals infamy) to radically reenvision how we read the BIble.

Looking at the “divorce texts” they showed how the gospel writers and Paul each framed Jesus teaching a little differently. They made three points:

  1. There is no “ultimate ethic” reflected in a single verse of scripture.
  2. The Bible is full of stories of discernment, applying ethics to culturally bound circumstances.
  3. You can see incremental movement throughout scripture toward a redemptive ethic, found most clearly in the teachings of Jesus and embodied in the Church.

In other words, the Bible is a great story, but it makes for a lousy rule book.

The No Pants Gospel

Mandy Smith answered the lingering question, “how then do we read the Bible?” Mandy’s answer: “let the Bible read you.”

If the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing bones and marrow, we should treat God’s Word like a surgical tool.

We cannot approach the Bible to justify our personal need to be involved in social justice.

We cannot approach the Bible to justify our personal need for an exciting, life-changing experience.

We must approach the Bible as the Word of God, carrying the authority of God. We must set aside our own agendas and approach it naked of our hopes and dreams.

How do we read the Bible? Only with the expectation that learning to live in the Kingdom where God reigns will hurt.

Here’s a saying to keep in your back pocket:

The only thing worse than organized religion is disorganized religion.

The fact is, all groups of people find ways of organizing, and the church must as well.  However, there is a tendency to simply use the tools we have laying around in our culture.  For instance, many churches use the “Pastor as CEO” model, while some use some sort of parliamentary procedures.  Some cultural influence is unavoidable.  But if the church is the body of Christ, a unique people in the history of mankind, then even our model of organization will be different.

The following is an excerpt from An Introduction and Example of Appreciative Inquiry, which I wrote for the MAGL. It introduces three inspirations for the unique approach to Christian organization.

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How should we read stuff like this?

Give up on innovation. “Nothing under the sun is truly new.”

Give up on justice. “What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered.”

Drink beer. A lot. “So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work.”

Rethink your stance on abortion. “But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born.”

Solve your sleep problems by getting a blue collar job. “People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.”

Stop complaining about your job. “To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God.”

Blog less. “The more words you speak, the less they mean.”