I am beginning an entirely new life as of August 21, 2009–leaving the past behind, pressing on into Scripture, and reclaiming some aspects of my life that have been allowed to grow shallow. Part of this reclamation project is to read through Scripture all over again. I will go slowly and not press the issue of hurrying. I want to hear God’s voice and story all over again with fresh ears and see his words with fresh eyes. I will be going from beginning to end, straight through, and blogging what I learn along the way. I might read more than one chapter a day, but I will be blogging every chapter I read. Part of my transition out of paid ministry is to be recaptured by the Word of God all over again from an ‘unprofessional’ point of view. I need to be refreshed in the Scripture and get my bearings back. This is my first step in that endeavor: reading Scripture all over again for the first time. There’s a lot of hurt that goes along with transitioning from what you have always known to something entirely unknown. I will need food, good food, along the way. I think the Bible is a good place to start. I hope you will care to join me.–jerry
Reclamation Project, Day 1
Genesis 1
It is easy to engage in debates and arguments concerning what Genesis 1 means. I, myself, have argued those lines. It is a no-win battle. What is often not argued is what is stated in the text. That is, let’s try hard not to read into the text our modern arguments, but instead let’s take time to simply read what a typical Hebrew might have read or heard read if they went to a synagogue on the Sabbath. How would they have heard the words?
I think they would have heard about God. There would not have been the sort of debates that we engage in when it comes to Scripture in general or Genesis in particular. They would have heard about God. I think sometimes I have been so ready to see what I think about God in Scripture that I have overlooked what God actually is in Scripture; especially Genesis. So note with me a couple of the more obvious things about Genesis 1 that I never hear anyone debating because they are so consumed with whether or not Genesis is talking about their favorite story of our origins.
First, God is. Genesis begins with God. This means the Bible begins with God. This means that the history recorded in the rest of the Bible begins with God. This means the beginning begins with God. God is. It’s rather simple. I think an original reader would have heard that. God is.
Second, God speaks. All through this chapter there is one voice that dominates the entire cosmos, there is one voice that is consistently heard in the beginning: God’s. We don’t know much about this God who is, but we instantly learn that He is, He is Spirit, and that He speaks. I think this means we should be interested in what he says, we should listen to his voice, and if he speaks in the beginning, does he speak again? What does he say? How does he say it? Why does he say it?
Third, God does. This God, of whom we know little so far, is doing things. He is making worlds. His voice is power to create, power to make, power to do. His voice, the only voice speaking in the entirety of the cosmos—makes worlds. ‘God made’ is heard over and over again in this chapter. His voice is permissive, “let there be.” Only he determined when it was right for these things to be and to happen.
Fourth, God blesses and commands. “God blessed them and said, ‘be fruitful and multiply.’” The work that he has called us to do (he gives the same command to creatures and man, verses 22, 28) is an aspect of his blessing for us. Tending gardens, pro-creating—being given power to make as he made, bearing his image, receiving his creation as our own, all of these things are part of his blessings for us. This God, who is described to us only once, ‘Spirit,’ interacts with his creation. He charges beasts and man alike to continue the work of creation that he started. God shares.
Fifth, God wants to be known. I believe God desires that knowledge of him be made abundantly evident in the creation. Paul says that since the creation, God’s invisible attributes, his eternal power, his divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made (Romans 1:20). I always thought this meant that God could be seen in the trees, in volcanoes, in stars and planets, in rivers, lakes, oceans, and things like that. But look what Genesis says: It is man and woman who bear the image of God. God’s power, his divine nature, his invisible attributes are not best seen in trees and rocks and mountains but in human beings—the ones who bear His image. God wants to be known–and we are the ones to show forth God. He created us in his image which means, I guess, that He has decided what we are to show of him. How will we do?
It was man who was charged with the responsibility to bear the image of God. It is man and woman who are created in the image of God not trees, not lemurs, not badgers, not lumps of coal, not angler fish. God wants his image to be seen on this earth in human beings. In a sense we are the visible manifestation of what is invisible (Spirit). We are to be the ones who make known what is unknown.
I will be interested to see how this story unfolds and what else this God has to say. I will be interested to see if this man and woman will bear his image the way he wants us to. In the meantime, this first chapter of the Bible gives us a great introduction to God even if the picture of God is not yet entirely fleshed out for us.
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“God looks to those who are humble and contrite of spirit and who tremble when he speaks (Isaiah 66:2). He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). Remember, grace means that he is acting in their lives.
“So the humble are dependent upon God, not on themselves. They humble themselves ‘under the mighty hand of God’ (1 Peter 5:6)—that is, by depending upon God to act. They abandon outcomes entirely to him. They ‘cast all [their] anxiety on him, because he cares for [them]’ (1 Peter 5:7). The result is assurance that the mission and the ministry will be accomplished, in God’s time and in God’s way. They don’t need to be the vision, and the goals we set for them are God’s business, not ours. We do the very best we know, we work hard, and even self-sacrificially. But we do not carry the load, and our ego is not involved in any way with the mission and the ministry. In our love of Jesus and his Father, we truly have abandoned our life to him. Our life is not an object of deep concern.”
–Dallas Willard, The Great Omission, 100-101
Been a while since I posted here, but things have been crazy. Now I am ready to start writing again and I have a lot to say.
Since I last posted, I have applied and been accepted into graduate school at Cleveland State University. There I am studying to be a Special Education teacher with emphasis in Moderate to Intensive specialization. I am no longer a pastor/preacher in a local church. I am unemployed. I have no church home. This excerpt, from a longer post at my personal blog, concerns worship. It is based on what I learned as I worshiped with and Anglican church on August 2, 2009.
I will have much more to say. I’m glad Relevant Christian is still here for me to post to. Stop back and visit soon. Blessings. Jerry.
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Do you know what it is like to be killed in worship? Do you know what it is like to have the Word of God cut you to the heart? Do you know what it is like to hear the Word of God declared, proclaimed, and announced and find yourself at the sharp end of a sword?
I know what the Lord is up to, I think. I think the Lord is leading me back to himself, back to the place where I can worship again. But he is leading in a way that only He can lead. I can’t get there on my own because I do not know the way. I’m like Frodo trying to find Mordor: I’m willing to go, but I do not know the way. Thankfully, the Lord orders our steps. Thankfully, he is not willing that we stay out in the desert place. Thankfully, the Lord pitches His tents in Sheol and finds us there. When we arrive, He is already there, waiting, watching, hoping, and loving–loving us back to health and worship. He resurrects us!
One of the last songs my band played on my last Sunday at the church was a song called ‘Floodgate’.
“In the desert my soul waits. For a drop of heaven’s rain. I’m thirsty for you. River of the springs of life, You alone can satisfy. I’m thirsty for you. Living Water, Pour down, Drench this desert, I need you now.”
“Open up the Floodgate, send down your waterfall. Let Your might Spirit flow, down to the desert plains below. Open up the Floodgate. Send down Your waterfall.”
In many ways, this is what worship should be: A place where God’s Holy Spirit is let loose and people humbled by the Spirit, refreshed by the prayer, forgiven by Christ, submitted to the Word are strengthened to go out and…and…wreck it all over again.
Isn’t that what grace is? Isn’t that what grace is about? We don’t worship because we have something to offer God–as if He needs anything we have to offer. We worship because we need something–we need Grace, we need forgiveness, we need mercy, we need love, we need his invitation to come to the table He has prepared. We silly Christians have the expectation that everyone, including the preacher, comes to church on Sunday morning perfect and ready, willing and able to perform an act of worship for the Lord. It’s our duty, after all. It is church to go and meet at the appointed hour and offer something to God—be it a song, a dollar, or a sermon. But ironically, that’s not how the Lord sees it at all.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
Or, if you prefer New Testament lingo,
“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.” (Luke 24:30-31)
You know this don’t you? Worship is not something we offer to God—how can we worship God?! All we offer is faltering lips and stammering tongues, broken and damaged by life and the world. Rather, it is something we are invited in to by God himself. We come thinking we are going to bless Him and instead what ends up happening is that He blesses us, invites us around the table, baptizes us with His Holy Spirit, feeds us with His Word, pronounces us forgiven, and joins our hearts in fellowship!
If worship is something we are merely doing, something we do because we think we have something to give God, I suspect it is something closer to idolatry we are practicing. If we show up at worship full of life and energy, filled with all sorts of humanity, strong and mighty—then maybe we are not ready to worship at all. If we show up thinking that that is religion, that that is Christianity, that that is our pilgrimage–we we really have no idea what we are engaged in at all. But if we show up, if we can, limping in, on crutches, slouched over, beaten, broken, tired, strung out, hung-over from a week of busy and doing—completely undone—then, perhaps we are ready to worship because, then, when we are empty, there is room for God to be, to fill, and replenish. There is room for God to minister to us in His Spirit. Isn’t that what Jesus does? He came to serve, not be served. As if we can; as if that stopped when he ascended into heaven!
I see what is happening. The last couple of weeks I have been worshiping with broken, empty, undone people. And Christ has showed up, almost unannounced because the people didn’t consider themselves worthy of His presence.
I see what is happening. The emptying takes a lot longer when we have so much baggage, but it is not until we are completely empty that God can begin investing in us Himself.
And that is the way worship ought to be. That’s the way church ought to be.
