Wesley and Scripture

This is a large excerpt from Bishop Willimon's latest post. I am highlighting his last paragraph!

...So one of the most radical, truly countercultural acts that we perform in Sunday worship is when we gather and then open an ancient book -- written in languages quite unlike our own, in cultures very different from ours - and we become silent, and we listen to the word read and proclaimed and thereby we say to ourselves, “These ancient Jews know more than we.”

John Wesley had a vivid sense of Scripture as a talking book. In his first collection of published sermons, Sermons on Several Occasions, Wesley said that he aspired to be “a man of just one book.” With Wesley we believe that through this collection of ancient writings, God has uniquely spoken to the People of God. And even more remarkable, we believe that God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - speaks to us today through Scripture. John Wesley taught that Scripture is “God breathed,” that God continues to show us divine wisdom and guidance through Scripture.

Though a few confused United Methodists may have been “literalists,” or “fundamentalists” in their reading of Scripture, we have never officially been so limited. We have too much respect for our dependence upon the Holy Spirit in our scriptural interpretation, and a healthy acknowledgement of the distance between Scripture’s originating context and our own situations, as well as a too vivid sense of the reality of a living, resurrected and revealing Lord. We have found that the Bible’s word is enlivened through scholarly study rather than muted and that the word the Bible speaks is always multivocal, thick, lively, relevant and rich. The Bible intends to be more for us than just a book of rules, a repository of helpful principles for better living. Attempts to use the Bible like that are bound to be frustrated by the nature of the Bible’s way with the truth. Scripture is an attempt to construct a new world, to stoke, fund and fuel our imaginations. The Bible is an ongoing debate about what is real and who is in charge and where we’re all headed. So the person who emerged from church one Sunday (after one of my most biblical sermons, too!), muttering, “That’s the trouble with you preachers. You just never speak to anything that relates to my world,” makes a good point.

To which the Bible replies, “How on earth did you get the idea that I want to speak to your world? I want to rock, remake, deconstruct and rework your world!”

So when someone says that Scripture, contrary to the way United Methodists see it, is impractical and unrealistic, tell them that what they probably mean is that Scripture is difficult and demanding. When we read Scripture, allowing it to have its authoritative way with us, submitting to its peculiar way of naming the world, we are being changed, transformed, sanctified in the hearing. God is breathing an enlivening Holy Spirit upon us, Jesus is speaking directly to us, and a new world is being created by the Word. It’s Genesis 1 all over again.

Thus when we read Scripture, we’re not simply to ask, “Does this make sense to me?” or “How can I use this to make my life less miserable?” but rather we are to ask in Wesleyan fashion, “How would I have to be changed in order to make this Scripture work?” Every text is a potential invitation to conversion, transformation, and growth in grace. And, as we have noted earlier, we Wesleyans love to get born again, and again. Scripture is God’s appointed and most frequently used means for getting to us and getting at us and thereby changing us in the encounter.

William H. Willimon http://willimon.blogspot.com

LIVING FAITHFULLY FOR LENT

This will also be the February church newsletter article

A book that I have not read, but have certainly heard about is, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A. J. Jacobs.

Jacobs is a secular Jew who decided to try and live a “Biblical” lifestyle so he grew a beard, avoided mixing wool and linen in his clothing, ate crickets, could not make play-dough objects because that would be a graven image. He tried to follow the ten commandments; Sabbath keeping and kosher food practices. His stoning of adulterers becomes a more symbolic but tense pebble tossing.
The book could create discussion and reflection on what Biblical principles we take seriously and which ones we might not. A good question for Lent would be “How would you do a year of Living Biblically?” Or specifically; how about for the next 40 days? What would that be for you?

We all do our picking and choosing or emphasize some parts of "Biblical living” over others. Some concentrate on personal morality, some underline social justice, some concentrate on piety, of course its all in there!
My reading of the Bible and my lens of Christ is that it would be centered in the value and lifestyle of life changing-world changing love: “Love fulfills the law. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as you love yourself. God is love. Beloved let us love one another.” You might look at how you can more intentionally be Biblical in the Lenten time ahead. How will you love the hungry and poor? Will you embody the Gospel and welcome “outcasts?” Will love be a step toward forgiveness or peacemaking? How do you increase your gratitude and generosity? Will you look at how you care for the earth’s resources, your consumer choices; your recycling? Would a Lent of living Biblically mean more time for soul searching, God listening, Bible study and prayer? Could it be a month without gossip; a month of thank you letters or getting around, purposefully, to that thing you keep avoiding, but know needs to be done?

Our Bishop has also been intrigued with the book’s theme and writes about the Year of Living Faithfully or “maybe Dangerously” in her blog. (http://bishopsallydyck.blogspot.com/).

I will offer something new by posting a special blog entry for everyday of Lent; a brief quote, reflection or prayer, an image or a scripture at http://rorysrambles.blogspot.com/.

We have our Lenten Wednesday evening services, shared with other churches. We will look at the Journeys of Paul. Ash Wednesday service will be at Park Church!
Grace and peace. Rory

How would I be?

Warning.
This will not be in the category of cheery or inspirational thoughts. I had another funeral/memorial service today .The person was 65 years old and had lived with MS for about 40 years. So many people remarked about the person's cheerfulness, or independence. I called it "spunk."
And along with that experience, the other day I was visiting with a person whose spouse is in an assisted living - care center; and the person's spouse some times get depressed, angry, just plain hard to be around. That all sounds normal to me in those circumstances and the spouse is very understanding of it. Just how is somebody "supposed to be" when the body causes pain, or doesn't do what it used to do, and we can't be in our own homes, and we grieve the loss of abilities, freedoms, privacies and pleasures? How will I be, when (if) I get there? I dont know.
I plan to be cranky and grouchy now and then.
I warn my family that in order to keep a balanced emotional life I have to be cranky now, or cranky later, so don't make me put it all off for later!

Maybe this is just a ramble (to distract me from a Sunday sermon I need to finish) on the proverb or cliche about putting yourself in somebody else's shoes - try them on now, because you might be walking in them later?
Maybe that's some of what Paul was getting around to in his Romans 12:15 words about "rejoice with those who rejoice and suffer or weep with those who suffer/weep. " It gets you trying on, what others feel.

I know some people who seemed to cope well with circumstances that I cant imagine myself coping with.
Is this one of those things where "you don't know until you get there."
Does how I cope with anything now, suggest, give clues, of how I might be in such a condition?
How would you be?
Trust me, I'm not looking for blog comments on this one!

Bucket List

I have had two movies recommended to me this week, The Bucket List and Juno, (besides my daughter's current obsession with Sweeney Todd.) The Bucket List is about two men who meet in a hospital; one is rich and one is more like the rest of us, and they start talking about what they still want to do before they kick the bucket. I haven't seen the movie but with the rich man's resources they are able to do some exotic things.

But my point:
It raises a good question - What else do you want to do, accomplish or experience in your life?

I was a hospice volunteer chaplain for three years in Ortonville and that was one of the possible questions I might offer in that setting. Are there things you still want to do or say, that can still be done?
This morning the Brainerd Dispatch also offered the Bucket List question to its readers and will be collecting responses..
So what is on your list? (I will ask myself as well!...yes, I would love to travel.)

Moving it to a Church and spiritual life context, as a follower of Christ do we put anything on the list that goes beyond self centered satisfactions. Does my self enjoyment and life goals and "to do" list, do any good for anyone else?
Or , another twist:
As a congregation, what would be our Bucket List? Try this at a planning or council meeting!
If a church knew it were to close in 5,10, 2o years, what would we hope yet to do?
Would it change the way we do business? (How many of us would still stay in a church if we knew it were closing?)
Would we be transforming our buildings to something very different, would our buildings get the kind of attention they typically get or would we spend and invest our money and time in other ways of ministry and being the church?
We could make a case for continuing on with our rhythms of worship, prayer, steadfast love and being present in the name of Christ; but can we honestly say we would just keep on doing what we are doing in every way?
A church bucket list....hmmm

What do we still want to do....experience...be?
Kinda adds another meaning to the Biblical perspective.... 'now is the time."
Maybe eschatology does have a role in our visioning!

It comes down to who you know

In a fit of extreme rambling, Beth and Sara and I were discussing conspiracy theories, then connections to people and various events, such as the Kennedy assassination. Beth had a second cousin or something who was the captain of the parade color guard behind the Kennedy motorcade in Dallas, then I told about how the Swenson family relatives were responsible for the Mafia because the Mafia can trace its beginnings as a resistance organization against the Norse raiders (our early relatives) who settled in Sicily... then I explained how Dick Cheney is responsible for Beth and me being married because in the summer of1979 I worked on an oil rig in Colorado that also depended on Haliburton services and I have the sticker on my hard hat to prove it, so therefore my employment depended on Haliburton and that employment helped pay for seminary which led to the ministry that took me to Red Bird Missionary Conference where Beth and I met, therefore , I told my daughter you wouldn't be here if it weren't for Dick Cheney! ... the conversation only got worse from there but I was able to vindicate my tangled logic and conspiratorial brilliance by recalling the book title "How the Irish Saved Civilization" and that since we also have Irish heritage... it ain't all bad.
It's all who you know.
And if you read all this ramble..just remember you're making history..and reading history in the making!
Enjoy the day!

Martin Luther King Day

Martin Luther King thoughts.
Not necessarily for your benefit, dear blog reader, just a chance for me to indulge in my own reflections:
Some good pieces are available on TV so take time to watch a few.
Yes, I remember the day his assassination happened; hearing about it at school.
I had a room mate for some of my first year in seminary at BU who personally knew King and worked with him in some of the later events and I did not take the opportunity to hear more of his experiences. Opportunity lost! Coretta Scott King spoke in Marsh Chapel of Boston Univ. when I was there. (Yes, we sang "We shall over come") I hope to never forget it. We could go to the library at Boston Univ. and see whatever letter of his might be on display at the time, and of course there were a few older professors who knew him from his days as a doctoral student at BU.
If you're ever in Atlanta see the historical sites: Ebenezer Baptist Church, the King "boyhood" family home and the King center there; I was there in the early 80s and it had a pilgrimage feel to it. I keep my "souvenir mug," with a favorite quote in the office. Ways to be reminded of something that must not be forgotten....
But most of all, am I/ are we ( a nation , a church, a culture) willing to see that the vision is not fulfilled? The work is still there to do. ..inclusion, justice, "strength to love"....spiritual transformation ...In later work he spoke not only of the racism, but the poverty and the violence of war.
Still have a dream? Maybe it serves to trouble my conscience a bit because I have not had the prophetic kind of voice that I envisioned for myself in seminary and early ministry days. As one of my early DS's put it, my pastoral sensibilities have grown (...but at what price?)

Martin Luther King Jr Day

Some of his words.

The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must
be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an
irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.
, Strength to Love, 1963.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies
hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction
of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of
annihilation.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.

The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of
civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant
animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.
Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, 1967.



Was not Jesus an extremist for love -- "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you." Was not Amos an extremist for justice -- "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Was not Paul an extremist for the gospel of Jesus Christ -- "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Was not Martin Luther an extremist -- "Here I stand; I can do none other so help me God." Was not John Bunyan an extremist -- "I will stay in jail to the end of my days before I make a butchery of my conscience." Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist -- "This nation cannot survive half slave and half free." Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist -- "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice--or will we be extremists for the cause of justice? In that dramatic scene on Calvary's hill, three men were crucified. We must not forget that all three were crucified for the same crime--the crime of extremism. Two were extremists for immorality, and thusly fell below their environment. The other, Jesus Christ, was an extremist for love, truth and goodness, and thereby rose above his environment.

From “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (April 1963)

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.


To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'”

The last citing here is from inward/outward's posting:

By Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.

Let us realize that William Cullen Bryant is right: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.” Let us go out realizing that the Bible is right: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” This is for hope for the future, and with this faith we will be able to sing in some not too distant tomorrow with a cosmic past tense, “We have overcome, we have overcome, deep in my heart, I did believe we would overcome.”

Source: Final speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, August 16, 1967, in I Have A Dream, edited by James Washington

Nice Ice and the Minnesota Spirit

This blog entry is for the benefit of my parents who winter in Arizona, and any other southern blog readers that might check in:
It has been an easy winter so far but it was "something below zero" (-16F) this morning. Here in the church office this afternoon we decided to run less than the usual 200 worship bulletins for the 9:30 service. Its supposed to be colder than 20 below on Sunday (-50 wind chill) and especially since we have quite a few older church members, it might (wisely so) keep a few back home. We know that cold weather creates hardship on stretched-thin budgets with extra heating bills, it strains our cars, stresses animals and those who must work outside. But yesterday I heard that classic, Minnesota line, "It will make "nice ice.'" The woman I overheard is either hoping to get rid of her husband out in the fish house for awhile, or she herself, does the ice-fishing, but it goes to show, we can still choose to look for the sunny side...even when the sun light doesn't make much heat. Does "Nice ice" go along with Minnesota nice?
I thought too, of what other Biblical or theological framework there might be for our Minnesota spirit. Is this a case of I Corinthians 13; ".. love bears all things, endures all things" even a Minnesota winter? Is this in the category of Paul's word in 2 Corinthians 4:8 "We are troubled, but not crushed." Maybe we go to Philippians 4:8 and "put our minds on whatever is good..."

Maybe its just cold and this is Minnesota and there's nothing else we can do about it because we can't all go south! So make the best of it.... Nice ice!
PS That means the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza is on for Jan. 26!