U is for Understanding Scripture Part 2

In the previous post we noted several ways of understanding Scripture (the "U" in Public Ministry is for understanding Scripture). Scripture is important to becoming a Public Ministry community of faith because Scripture is a record of God’s relationship with the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, the powerless. There is hardly a piece of Scripture that does not show God’s small ones calling for help or the world’s powerful ones being humbled.

Take a look at a couple of those canticles in the Gospel of Luke. Mary’s Song goes

I'm bursting with God-news;
I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
I'm the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It's exactly what he promised,
beginning with Abraham and right up to now.

And then look at the song that Zachariah sang at the birth of the Baptizer:

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he came and set his people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,
and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago
through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies
and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
as he remembers to do what he said he'd do,
What he swore to our father Abraham—
a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world,
made holy before him as long as we live.

And you, my child, "Prophet of the Highest,"
will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people,
the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God's Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.

These two songs serve as a bridge between the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the New Testament. And both speak to the work of God among the poor and powerless. And to God’s undoing the ways of violence and greed. And Public Ministry is working with God, where God works, with the people God is working with.

God scattered the bluffing braggarts,
knocked tyrants off their high horses,
the callous rich were left out in the cold.

God pulled victims out of the mud,
the starving poor sat down to a banquet,
God came and set his people free,
deliverance from our enemies and every hateful hand,
a clean rescue from the enemy camp.

God's Sunrise will break in upon us,
shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
then showing us the path of peace.

But we must read the Scriptures with some suspicion about how we have traditionally understood it. It has become a vehicle for the status quo. It has been understood to be about right belief and being good. Take, for example, the word righteousness. Most of the time this word is given a “moral” understanding. But it is better understood as “justice.”

Approaching the Scriptures with the Suspicion in SPECS is one way. Reading the Scriptures with a “second naiveté” is another way we can avoid falling into the “same old, same old” trap.

U is For Understanding Scripture

The "U" in Public Ministry is for Understanding Scripture.

We have looked at getting the SPECS on Scripture. We have looked at praying with scripture (found in the P Is For Prayer Part 2 blog). In this post we look at reading Scripture as metaphor.

Psalm 48 (last post) was a good example of engaging Scripture as metaphor. Look at it again and see all the metaphors (in bold).

God majestic, praise abounds in our God-city! God’s sacred mountain, breathtaking in its heights—earth's joy. Zion Mountain looms in the North, city of the world-King. God in his citadel peaks impregnable. The kings got together, they united and came. They took one look and shook their heads, they scattered and ran away. They doubled up in pain like a woman having a baby. You smashed the ships of Tarshish with a storm out of the East. We heard about it, then we saw it with our eyes— In God's city of Angel Armies, in the city our God set on firm foundations, firm forever. We pondered your love-in-action, God, waiting in your temple: your name, God, evokes a train of Hallelujahs wherever it is spoken, near and far; your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action. Be glad, Zion Mountain; dance, Judah's daughters! God does what he said he'd do! Circle Zion, take her measure, count her fortress peaks, Gaze long at her sloping bulwark, climb her citadel heights— then you can tell the next generation detail by detail the story of God, our God forever, who guides us till the end of time.

Here are some of the metaphors in this wonderful Scriptural poem.

1. The City:
   

   God-city, City of the World-King, City of Angel Armies, City God set firm

2. The Mountain:

   God’s Sacred Mountain, Zion Mountain, Citadel Peaks, Fortress Peaks, Citadel Heights

3. Directions:
   North, East

4. Earthly Powers:

   Kings, Ships of Tarshish

5. Earthly Powers’ Actions:

   United and Came (got together), Took One Look, Shook Their Heads, Scattered and Ran, Doubled Up

6. Other Metaphors

   Storm, Foundations, Temple, Train of Hallelujahs, Judah’s Daughter, Bulwark

7. God’s Actions

   Smashed

8. Our Actions

   Circle, Measure, Count, Gaze, Climb

But it is not easy for everyone to take a metaphorical approach to Scripture. Sometimes people want something sure (which religious officials will call "truth"). But "truths" are treasures that must be sought for and found. As a religious system ages, it probably moves toward more and more metaphorical approach to its religious stories and writings. But movements spring forth as sects, cults, and even branch-off religions, all wanting a more literal approach.

But God, being God, is beyond the limits a literalist approach would put on God, and on our experience of God. And on the Scriptures God has chosen to use as a vehicle of God's revelation to us. Taking a metaphorical approach to Scripture will open our senses, our hearts, our minds, and our spirits to understandings that are deeper than any that a literalist approach could give.

Getting the SPECS on Psalm 48

God majestic, praise abounds in our God-city! His sacred mountain, breathtaking in its heights—earth's joy. Zion Mountain looms in the North, city of the world-King. God in his citadel peaks impregnable. The kings got together, they united and came. They took one look and shook their heads, they scattered and ran away. They doubled up in pain like a woman having a baby. You smashed the ships of Tarshish with a storm out of the East. We heard about it, then we saw it with our eyes— In God's city of Angel Armies, in the city our God Set on firm foundations, firm forever. We pondered your love-in-action, God, waiting in your temple: your name, God, evokes a train of Hallelujahs wherever it is spoken, near and far; your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action. Be glad, Zion Mountain; dance, Judah's daughters! God does what he said he'd do! Circle Zion, take her measure, count her fortress peaks, Gaze long at her sloping bulwark, climb her citadel heights— then you can tell the next generation detail by detail the story of God, our God forever, who guides us till the end of time. Psalm 48 (Message Bible)

S – Suspicion – How has this passage been interpreted in the past?

As with a lot of Scripture, this psalm has been spiritualized or it has been applied to “church.” This is especially true of the last few lines – they way we have heard it, it is as if you could substitute “heaven” or “church” for the word Zion, so that Zion becomes a metaphor of either of the former (or both). We have heard it say:

Circle the church, take her measure,
count her fortress peaks,
Gaze long at her sloping bulwark,
climb her citadel heights—
then you can tell the next generation
detail by detail the story of God,
our God forever,
who guides us till the end of time.

This look at the passage is set up for us earlier in the words:

We pondered your love-in-action, God,
waiting in your temple:
your name, God, evokes a train
of Hallelujahs wherever
it is spoken, near and far;

Here “temple” has been looked at as “church.”

We pondered your love-in-action, God,
waiting in your church:
your name, God, evokes a train
of Hallelujahs wherever (can’t you picture us singing?)
it is spoken, near and far.

P – Poor – How is this passage good news for the poor?

You smashed the ships of Tarshish with a storm out of the East. We heard about it, then we saw it with our eyes— In God's city of Angel Armies, in the city our God Set on firm foundations, firm forever.

We pondered your love-in-action, God, ...Your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action.

This love-in-action is God actively liberating the poor from oppression (“smashing the ships”). This goodness-in-action is God providing the needs of the poor.

E – Empire – How is this passage a judgment on Empire.

The status quo doesn’t want to see itself in the words,

The kings got together, they united and came. They took one look and shook their heads, they scattered and ran away. They doubled up in pain like a woman having a baby.

”The kings” are “the empire.” Empire represents the status quo, the world as it is structured for the benefit of the powerful, the wealthy, and the famous.

"Globalization can be understood as the worldwide integration of economic, political, cultural, and social systems. In this sense, there are a wide variety of processes of globalization at work, both positive and negative. The United Church 's concern with globalization has focused particularly on ways in which the world's interconnected political and economic systems work to benefit the few at the expense of the many, effectively impoverishing the vast majority of humanity and the Earth itself. Often, these systems are kept in place by violence or by the threat of violence, including military force. These interconnected systems, which are global in scope, can be understood as a modern form of empire —a word with rich biblical and theological connotations (from the United Church of Canada website).

The “ships of Tarshish” is a metaphor for powers. Our world has many powers. It is said that in the age in which we presently live, knowledge is power. In the industrial age, as in the mercantile age before it, capital was power – if you could invest in industry or trade you could see huge returns on your investments. Before that, land was power – both for the production of wealth as well as for political power. Status, political position, even some vocations are means of power. The poor do not have power. They are the overlooked and ignored, the dispossessed and powerless.

The powers of this world cannot stand up to God. Why? For us as Christians, Jesus made it possible for us to resistance the powers of this world. Jesus undermined them. He conquered death. When we no longer fear death, what power does any power have over us?

C – Complicity – How have we been complicit with Empire?

The King James Version read,

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

As one philosopher said,

“God is on his throne, and all is right with the world.”

Clearly not.

We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

The problem with “in the midst of thy temple” and “full of righteousness,” is that we expect, at least in this context, for “righteousness” to be “good church people.” And as everyone knows, “good church people” support the status quo.

S – Solidarity – How can we show solidarity with the Poor.

From our Edge, from the position of being made homeless twice and being on the fringe of our society’s life, overlooked and ignored because we have no visible church, we can read these words in a transitional way, from complicity with Empire to solidly a member of the edge.

The kings got together, they united and came. They took one look and shook their heads, they scattered and ran away. They doubled up in pain like a woman having a baby. We built a kind of “heaven on earth,”
two churches united and ready to keep our beautiful building for generations to come.
But the cost of keeping church-as-usual overwhelmed us.

You smashed the ships of Tarshish with a storm out of the East. We heard about it, then we saw it with our eyes— In God's city of Angel Armies, in the city our God Set on firm foundations, firm forever.

Down they came, first one years ago, and now the second.
We realized in time that our faith’s foundations are not a building,
but faith in God, and God’s work through us together as people.

We pondered your love-in-action, God, waiting in your temple:
your name, God, evokes a train of Hallelujahs wherever it is spoken,
near and far;
your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action.

You have changed us forever.
We need your goodness and love,
which come to us on their way to the poor.
Like a living “hallelujah,” we will do your work in public,
we will be your love-in-action, your goodness-in-action.

P is for Prayer Part 2

The P in Public Ministry is for Prayer. We have written about the importance of prayer for public ministry. One way to structure our meetings so that they become more “prayerful,” so that “worship and work are one,” is to follow a similar pattern from worship. The three main sections of worship are: 1) Gathering, 2) Listening for God’s Word, 3) Responding. Sometimes the third item is subdivided into Responding and Departing.

Gathering is probably easiest to understand. Most meetings have items at the beginning like an opening prayer, adopting the agenda, minutes, and similar. These can be easily seen as part of Gathering. Sometimes meetings will include an opening “check in.” A "check-in" is important, and especially when the “check in” is given some direction. Most meetings should have no more than one major topic of discussion (it is a proven concept that the effectiveness of a group drastically drops when there is more than one big-ticket item on the agenda). So the “check-in” should be related to that big-ticket item. For example, if the item is about incorporating a specific outside ministry, the check-in could be a question like, “When have you experienced someone letting go of something so that it could take off on its own, whether yourself letting go or being let go, or witnessing it? One example could be when you left home.”

The "Listening to God" section will be unusual in a meeting. We have been quite rationalistic in our approach to God. “God gave us minds, now let’s use them.” This reminds me of the Deists, who over a century ago believed that the universe could be compared to a giant clockwork. God created it and wound it up, and then left it to go on ticking on its own. These rationalistic approaches come from a misunderstanding of God and from an insecurity on our part. For our part, we don’t want to be told what to do. And for God’s part, God wants to be with us, present with us. Not off somewhere else while we “use our minds” or while the universe ticks. And God doesn’t want to tell us what to do (or else why would God give us free will – but some denominations believe that God gave us freewill so that we could prove our obedience).

So the second part of our meeting is, "Listening to God," is really “Discernment.” Discerning God’s guiding, God’s wisdom, God’s sense of direction. Prayer is important for discernment. So is Scripture. Every agenda should have some prayerful discernment worked in. There are a number of techniques for this, but my favourite is “praying the Scripture.” Let the Scripture be a vehicle for God to speak to us. Here’s how, and it’s easy.

1. Let’s put ourselves in a frame of mind that says, “Let’s read this as if for the first time. And, let’s read it as if it is contain a specific message from God about what we are discerning at this meeting.”
2. Read the passage; if possible having one person reading aloud while everyone has a copy to follow along with.
3. Ask, “What might God be saying to us in this passage of Scripture about our main point of discussion?” This is conversation, with as many as are willing making suggestions.
4. Are there any places where "our story" (shared during the deliberate "check-in time") and God's story (from Scripture) intersect for us?
5. It is might be helpful to wrap up the conversation with a summary prayer. There is no need to come to a specific decision during this time - that can be saved for the next part of the meeting.

Anyone can lead these steps, either the chairperson or a member of the meeting designated ahead of time by the chairperson. Ministry personnel could help with item 4.

The “Responding to God” section of the meeting can be decision-making conversations following the discernment time. And the closing matters of a meeting are of course included here.

How do we find time for this without extending the length of meetings? Two things:

1) cut reporting time. We are lucky to live in an era of web pages, email, and photocopies. No one should have to read a report. But everyone needs to come to meetings prepared, having read the reports. There will be some that want to continue with written reports (old ways are difficult to put to rest, and new ways are difficult to embrace). Members of a committee or council are responsible for what is reported, so this is not an invitation to ignore reports. And if something in a report needs discussion, any member can ask that it be included on the agenda.

2) There are all kinds of psychological and spiritual reasons for this, but when discernment (which includes a lot of conversation) precedes decision-making conversation, the decision-making time is greatly decreased. So while it seems to add time, in fact it has not been found to increase it very much, and the decisions that are finally made are clearly and rest better with the members.

Most importantly, we are able to sense God’s accompaniment, God’s presence with us, in our meeting, and to sense God’s guidance and leading and direction. Not God’s dictates, but God’s loving presence.

Another way to include prayer in a meeting, especially one in which the members hear a report and are to make a decision based on the report, is to use “gleaning prayers.” Before the report is read, members are asked to keep notes of what we should pray for or about. After the report, the prayer requests are named. They can be understood as prayers even as they are named, or, after everyone has spoken, a summary prayer can be offered. It is also helpful to designate some a couple of people ahead of time to “listen for prayer needs,” especially when this approach is new. The summary prayer could be the words of the Prayer of Jesus: “We gather these prayers together and offer them to God as to our mother who loves us saying, ‘Our Father....’” To be welcoming to new church members of meetings, be sure to print the words of the Prayer of Jesus (Lord’s Prayer). The 23rd Psalm could be used as it is well known to many older members, but should still be printed.

Time Off

Thank you to everyone who reads these blogs, and especially all who comment and respond.

I will be away from the blog until July 5. Check back then. Thanks.

Our Decommissioning & Leave-taking Service

So, yesterday (Sunday, June 14th) we had our service of decommissioning and leave-taking of our current church building. It is to be torn down. We began by gathering outside the building.

We recalled a brief history, a couple of people reminisced, and we listened to the tolling of the toll-bells for one full minute - very emotional. The children helped us launch balloons, reminding us that the balloons represented our letting go of our building.

We heard read a very moving letter from our current chair of our Seaway Valley Presbytery, the Rev’d Elizabeth Bachem. I hope you will follow this link and read it.

Before the choir led everyone in a procession across the street to Central Public School for the remainder of the service, the Rev’d Jim Leland led the people in the following verses from Mark 4:35-39 (The Message Bible).

Jesus said to them, "Let's go across to the other side."
They took Jesus in the boat as he was....
A huge storm came up.
Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it.
And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping!
They roused him, saying, "Teacher, is it nothing to you that we're going down?"
Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, "Quiet! Settle down!"
The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass.

Let us “cross over” to the future into which God is calling us.
The One who controls the storms of life goes with us.

The Rev’d Gail Christy, past chair of Seaway Valley Presbytery, who presided over the earlier part of the service, the decommissioning, preached the sermon. She used John 21:1-19 as her text, focusing on the words

Jesus said, "Throw the net off the right side of the boat and see what happens."
They did what Jesus said. All of a sudden there were so many fish in it, they weren't strong enough to pull it in. John 21:6 The Message Bible

She encouraged the congregation to consider “fishing on the other side of the boat,” in other words, to embrace change.

The Rev’d Jim Leland read the Affirmation of Our Edge.

Many, many people made this service possible. This became a very new beginning for our faith community.

Getting the SPECS on Scripture

Not only for Public Ministry congregations, but for all Christian congregations wanting to carry mission and ministry into the 21st century, engaging scripture is very important. Using Scripture in worship, decision-making, business meetings, studies, proclaiming Jesus, loving and serving others, seeking justice and resisting evil, living with respect in creation, celebrating God’s presence, and throughout the life of the faith community is an important tool for discerning God’s call, God’s leading, and God’s guidance.

Specifications are a set of requirements defining an exact description of an object or process. If you look at the instruction booklet of an appliance, you will likely see a page that says, “Specifications.” Specifications are typically written by and for engineers. They use a short form for specifications, “specs.”

As we engage in scripture, we want to get the specs on the passage we are examining. We can use “SPECS.” I will also include examples from Psalm 20 (The Message Bible).

God answer you on the day you crash,
The name God-of-Jacob put you out of harm's reach,
Send reinforcements from Holy Hill,
Dispatch from Zion fresh supplies,
Exclaim over your offerings,
Celebrate your sacrifices,
Give you what your heart desires,
Accomplish your plans.
When you win, we plan to raise the roof
and lead the parade with our banners.
May all your wishes come true!

That clinches it—help's coming,
an answer's on the way,
everything's going to work out.

See those people polishing their chariots,
and those others grooming their horses?
But we're making garlands for God our God.
The chariots will rust,
those horses pull up lame—
and we'll be on our feet, standing tall.
Make the king a winner, God;
the day we call, give us your answer.

S – Suspicion – “S” is for suspicion. We need to be suspicious of the way Scripture has been interpreted to and for us. Police detectives ask in solving a crime, “Who benefits?” Who benefits from the way we have traditionally understood the passage of Scripture? Often, it is the advantaged, the powerful, the status quo.

Using Psalm 20 as an example, these words have been either spiritualized, or have had its benefits postponed until “heaven.” It gets spiritualized when the words,

That clinches it—help's coming,
an answer's on the way,
everything's going to work out,

are interpreted to mean that God will give us comfort or understanding or courage. Not real, material, physical help, but spiritual help. It gets postponed when we understand them to mean that everything will work out – in heaven!

P – Poor – “P” is for the poor. How is the passage Gospel, Good News, for the poor, the marginalized, those who have experienced loss, those ignored and overlooked by society? Psalm 20 says,

Send reinforcements from Holy Hill,
Dispatch from Zion fresh supplies ...
That clinches it—help's coming,
an answer's on the way,
everything's going to work out...
and we'll be on our feet, standing tall.

Imagine those who have crashed, those who are experiencing the reverberations of the recent economic crisis, reading these words. God wants to help them with what they need, not merely “pie in the sky.”

E – Empire – “E” is for empire. "Globalization can be understood as the worldwide integration of economic, political, cultural, and social systems. In this sense, there are a wide variety of processes of globalization at work, both positive and negative. The United Church 's concern with globalization has focused particularly on ways in which the world's interconnected political and economic systems work to benefit the few at the expense of the many, effectively impoverishing the vast majority of humanity and the Earth itself. Often, these systems are kept in place by violence or by the threat of violence, including military force. These interconnected systems, which are global in scope, can be understood as a modern form of empire —a word with rich biblical and theological connotations (from the United Church of Canada website).

How is the passage judgment for empire?

See those people polishing their chariots,
and those others grooming their horses?
But we're making garlands for God our God.
The chariots will rust,
those horses pull up lame,

This is NOT good news for empire. Chariots and horses are metaphors for the modern global “machine” that “work to benefit the few at the expense of the many, effectively impoverishing the vast majority of humanity and the Earth itself. Often, these systems are kept in place by violence or by the threat of violence, including military force.” The psalmist says, “These things will rust and go lame.”

C – Complicity – “C” is for complicity. We participate, knowingly and unknowingly, in “empire” primarily through our roles as consumers in the global capitalist market system. Complicity is defined as involvement as a partner in wrongdoing, but not always knowingly. How does this passage shed light on our complicity with empire?

As mentioned in the first step, this passage has been either spiritualized, or it has its benefits postponed until “heaven.” When we do not take the passage at face value, but rather see it as a comfort to ourselves, when we spiritualize it or postpone it to “heaven,” we are complicit with empire. The status quo certainly does not want this passage taken seriously!
.
S – Solidarity – “S” is for solidarity with the poor. How does the passage suggest we can show solidarity with the poor, marginalized, and those ignored and overlooked by society?

We are to be the reinforcements from Holy Hill.
We are to be the fresh supplies dispatched from Zion.
We are the help that’s coming.
We are the answer that's on the way.