tagged 
imagination, scripture
imagination, scripture Entries from April 1, 2011 - April 30, 2011
Monday's Meditation: The Color of his Eyes
Monday, April 18, 2011 at 10:59AM 
At the close of William Sampson’s wonderful book, Meeting Jesus, he asks, “What was the color of Jesus’ eyes?”
The literal-minded person will immediately answer, “The Bible doesn’t tell us. We cannot know. At best we can only presume that because Jesus was born to Jewish parents blah, blah, blah.”
Sampson’s answer is more compelling: “No color is mentioned. But they were not colorless, like Little Orphan Annie. They were human eyes. And that they were human and could be looked into like any human eyes can make a big difference in getting to know Jesus.”
It’s like the stuff of a romantic comedy when the unappreciated girl traps the smooth-operating guy with a question as they talk on the phone: “Oh, you think I’m great? Really? What color are my eyes?” Long silence: the smooth operator is busted. He doesn’t really know her, he simply likes the idea of wooing and winning yet another conquest.
Can you imagine looking into the face of Jesus? Have you brought your imagination into the service of following him? In my experience too many Christians are taught to avoid subjective experiences with God.
Sometimes unbelievers grasp the power of imagination and Spirit more freely than cautious believers. In his play Joan of Arc, George Bernard Shaw--an infamous critic of Christianity--depicts a scene where Joan is questioned by church authorities for the heresy of hearing God’s voice. Her critics tell her the voice comes from her imagination, and Joan replies simply, “Of course. That is how the messages of God come to us.”
Joan would still be considered a heretic today, burned at the modern stake of the blogosphere. True, the Bible is our anchor. In the happy phrase of the King James translation it is our “more sure word of prophecy,” yet that implies there are other means of hearing his voice. I believe we were meant to engage the scripture in all the particulars--even the ones not mentioned, right down to the color of his eyes. It does not matter that we get the answer “right.” It matters that we enter into the real world of the scripture. As William Sampson says, “We do not know the particulars of his life, but we know it was filled with particulars . . . Jesus lived out his life as we do--from one concrete setting to another, one choice to another.”
To imagine Jesus in this way is to position ourselves to live from one concrete choice to another with a chance of making the choices Jesus would have us make. For this week’s meditation, can you imagine the color of his eyes? Why not spend some time alone with him and gaze upon his face?
Guest Post: Why I Chose to Leave My Home Church
Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 07:42AM Based on the post “Do You Need to Go Home?” I invite you to tell your stories of leaving your home church. In this guest post my younger friend Kathleen Smith Manning describes the process that lead her away from the church-home of her youth.
I left home at twenty-three. Not from my parents’ home, from which I’d moved away at eighteen, but from my church, which had been an anchor since fifteen years of age. Eight formative years, including the last two years of high school in the church school. There was lots of history, familiar faces, personal turf. It was, for the most part, a comfortable place.
The decision wasn’t easy, and took over a year to make. It was predicated by several events and the realization that there were other great, God-fearing churches out there. A good number of people had left, and some were chatting it up with those of us who stayed, trying to influence us that it was time to go. Not wanting to deal in innuendo or gossip, I (and many others) made attempts to avoid them.
More credible allegations of spiritual control and manipulation ran rampant, but I’d been spared much of the abuse by sound-minded parents and a profoundly influential mentor couple. My question was more forward thinking: Where was I going? If God would show me the way to move ahead within this congregation, I was willing to do that. Lots of prayer later, it seemed right to have conversations with people with whom I had anchoring relationships. Some of them knew why; some did not. There was both grace and heartache in that dialogue. And ultimately, there were more reasons to go than stay.
And so I left and started the search for a new home. Unexpectedly, there arose an uneasiness that revolved around my own spiritual walk. Some people who’d parted ways with our congregation had fallen apart. A nagging fear moved in: Was my love for Jesus simply rooted in my church culture, or did I really have some spiritual depth? Never, never did I want to be a floating, rootless Christian, unbonded from community. After a somewhat awkward search, my landing place was a large denominational church where I had some acquaintances. It was a setting for new relationships, healing, and deep affirmation.
Years later, as a pastor’s wife in a loving smaller church in the Midwest, I have perspective from the other side of the coin. Yes, people get offended, sometimes at things that are frankly ridiculous or simply misunderstood, and leave, taking their open wounds with them. Failing to work it out can be sinful, and often is. But there are others that need to leave in order to deal with life as God leads them. At a reception when our church in Texas was sending us out, an older retired pastor told us “When people leave, don’t take it personally.” We try not to.
Stay home if you can. Work it out if you are at all able. But if you are so inclined, get into a conversation with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to show you your place where you are. And if He leads you to do so – no, only if He leads you to do so – leave home.
Thanks, Kathleen! Do you have a story about leaving your home church? I'd love to hear it. It doesn't have to be posted on the blog--I'd just love to hear your story. Drop me a note at Ray dot Hollenbach @ gmail dot com.
What Makes God's Word Living and Active?
Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 12:05PM 
In Monday’s meditation I suggested it’s not enough to read the scripture with our mind, because we are body, soul, and spirit. Hearing God requires all of our being. What makes God’s word “living and active?” I’d like to suggest it’s something more than our intellect.
We’ve explored what it means to bring our imagination to bear in narrative portions of scripture, but what about those didactic letters of Paul and his friends? This is where so many theologians like to live: defining words, developing systematic theology, and generally being the smartest guys in the class. May I speak plainly, and perhaps heretically? I have a basic distrust of systematic theology. I don’t like either word at all. Put them together, I find myself in full rebellion. Count me in the camp with Thomas a Kempis: "I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it."
I want to read the scripture with my heart: engage the Word body, soul, and spirit. I want to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength without allowing my intellect to dominate the other three. I joyfully put myself in the camp of emotionalism because the Creator of the universe is never impressed by our intellect, but he is moved by our heart and our faith.
Here is a passage from Paul’s letter to the Colossians:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ~ Colossians 3: 12-14
I’d like to suggest five ways to engage this passage imaginatively, and, should I say it? Creatively.
1). There’s a ghost in the book. In fact, the Ghost wrote the book. The first step in imaginative reading is to ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. It’s no mere formality: Paul, Peter or James may have written the New Testament epistles but behind the human agency is the loving heart of God. John, the disciple Jesus loved, wrote these amazing words to his followers: As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. (1 John 2: 27) Amazingly, John was dealing with the issue of false teachers in the church, and his solution was remarkably subjective! The same Spirit that hovered over the waters of creation is available to hover over us as we come to God’s word. Does this mean we are infallible interpreters of the word? No. But it does mean we have a loving guide.
2). Feel the love: this passage in Colossians opens with the description, “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.” You may not need to go beyond these seven words. If we are dearly loved, shouldn’t we feel it? One of my friends engaged in this exercise: he sat alone in his office and expressed his love to the Father, then waited for the Father to answer. He quietly spoke the words, “God, I love you” and sat in silence, attending to the Lord. A moment later he felt a subtle physical sensation of God’s presence--a still, small voice or the subtle movement of a draft upon his skin. Too mystical? Too subjective? Perhaps we’ve been trained to avoid the experience of his presence: if the text directs us to the love of God, why wouldn’t he respond lovingly?
3). Clothe yourselves: why not extend the metaphor? He presents us with the image of someone preparing to move from private to public. No one leaves home naked! He invites us to extend the metaphor and see ourselves preparing for the day. How do you get dressed in the morning? What decisions do you make? No one puts on every article of clothing they own, but rather they select the clothing appropriate to the day’s tasks. Infants and toddlers must be clothed by others, Paul calls us to the mature response of clothing ourselves. It takes imagination to extend the metaphor into a practical vision for the day. There, in my prayer closet, I ask in advance: Where do I need to show compassion for the day? What kind of compassion will I need? Compassionate tears or compassionate sweat? How should I dress my heart? How can I prepare to meet the needs of others?
4). Imagine what the text does not say. I know: this is dangerous: every Bible scholar tells us not to make “the argument from silence.” Except I am not coming to the scripture to argue: I’m coming to hear the heart of God. Paul provides a representative list of what we need for life together; compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. But not necessarily intelligence, wit, or smarts. By imagining what is not on the list I understand that character trumps intelligence. That God desires mercy, not education. The Holy Spirit might even remind me that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
5). Finally, I’m invited to consider the mysteries of incarnation. As one friend commented on Monday’s Meditation, “I'd say the life in these passages is all from the same source: Jesus. Who is the Word; Who is Love; Who is Life. I think I'll remember this every time I'm thinking, What will I wear? I am putting on Christ.” I love this observation because it started me thinking about what it means to put on Christ each day. I started me wondering how Christ put on his humanity, and whether we can put on divinity in return. In short, it started me thinking of how I can be like him.
Some will think I am against using reason and intellect with the scripture. But I’m truly not. I only want to ensure that what comes into my mind will also travel 12 inches to my heart. How about you?
Why Run with Only One Leg? A Review of "Half the Church"
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 12:04PM 
The winners of the book give-away are, appropriately, two women! Stephanie wins the "clean" promotional copy of "Half the Church" and Adrienne wins my review copy, "dirtied" with pencil marks and notations. Stephanie and Adrienne: please contact me at Ray dot Hollenbach at Gmail dot com with shipping addresses and I'll send you your books!
Christian books for women usually fall into one of two dreadful categories: either a North-American evangelical perspective that sees women as little more than a marketing niche within Christendom, or a feminist-driven perspective that contains a Rosie-the-Riveter “I’ll show you” subtext. Books about the role of women in the church usually fall into a dreary debate between highfalutin words like complimentarianism or egalitarianism. Carolyn Custis James’ Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women falls into “none of the above.” That’s refreshing.
Christian books for women usually fall into one of two dreadful categories: either a North-American evangelical perspective that sees women as little more than a marketing niche within Christendom, or a feminist-driven perspective that contains a Rosie-the-Riveter “I’ll show you” subtext. Books about the role of women in the church usually fall into a dreary debate between highfalutin words like complimentarianism or egalitarianism. Carolyn Custis James’ Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women falls into “none of the above.” That’s refreshing.
James invites North American Evangelicals to lift our eyes and see women’s issues in global and Biblical perspectives. “I was determined to find out if God’s message for women was universal,” she writes, “encompassing the full spectrum of every woman’s life regardless of her demographics or circumstances.” In fact, much of our gospel presentation--beyond gender issues--would benefit from James’ perspective. Is the good news good news for everyone? Prosperous or poor, socialist or capitalist, male or female?
Half the Church challenges the comfortable reader to think not only globally, but Biblically as well. While avoiding the tiresome debates over whether the opening chapters of Genesis are meant to be “taken literally,” this book focuses instead on the meaning of the creation account, especially the meaning of how humanity bears God’s image. “[God] gives both male and female the exact same identity--to be his image bearers. He gives both the exact same responsibilities when he entrusts all of creation to his image bearers.”
Even if creation is broken (and it is) God’s purposes and methods remain unchanged, and we would do well to excavate the foundations again. James does so by challenging traditional interpretations of the phrase “suitable helper” found in Genesis. She points out that the problem is not with the Biblical record, but rather the meanings we have attached to these words, applying culturally-bound meanings to what should be culture-changing revelation from God.
James borrows heavily from the work of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn, creators of the Half the Sky movement. Kristof and Wudunn would never fit into an Evangelical mold yet they are about God’s work, sometimes to the shame of the prosperous North American church: “Like quarreling siblings,” she writes, “we are arguing over how to divide a pie so everyone gets their fair share while the neighbor’s house is on fire.” The fire she describes is the systematic negation of the value and role of women around the world, and the opportunity wasted by Christians, who possess a universal answer. James is aware of the debate over women’s roles in ministry, but refuses to allow herself to be pulled into that swamp: the world of the church is too big for both men and women for us to ignore our missional call while settling matters of doctrine--especially doctrine that is secondary to the mission God has given us. She calls for a “Blessed Alliance” of the sons and daughters of God, who will focus on their creation-mandate instead of culturally-generated arguments.
If there are weaknesses in the book, they are weakness of technical merit, not heart or mind: some illustrations she provides may come across as trite, while others perhaps too emotionally laden. Yet her call to action is unmistakable and the larger vision of the Church is laudable in every respect.
James states her case clearly in the introduction and stays on point throughout the work: “When half the church holds back--whether by choice or because we have no choice--everybody loses and our mission suffers setbacks. Tragically, we are squandering the opportunity to display to an embattled world a gospel that cause both men and women to flourish and unites us in a Blessed Alliance that only the presence of Jesus can explain.” Who could argue with that?
You can earn a chance to win a free copy of Carolyn Custis James’ "Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women" by leaving a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random on Saturday.
Monday's Meditation: What Makes God's Word Living & Active?
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 09:42AM 
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. ~ Hebrews 4: 12 Since my earliest days as a follower of Jesus I’ve heard this passage quoted. The same night I came Christ someone put the Bible in my hands and told me God would speak through the book. Yet my experiences with the scripture were decidedly uneven. Sometimes it felt as if the secrets of the universe were unfolding before me. Other times I was clueless as Republican at Burning Man.
Why is this book so special and such a mystery at the same time? What makes the word of God living and active? How can we enter into the life of the word?
It’s not enough to read the scripture with our mind, because we are body, soul, and spirit. Coming to the scripture is more than reading literature. If we want to hear the words of God it requires all of our being. Last weeks’ posts explored the power of imagination in reading the scripture and suggested some avenues to stimulate the imagination. Perhaps these posts helped some to engage the narrative and poetic passages of the Bible, but other people asked me if it’s possible to bring our imagination to bear upon the letters which make up such a large part of the New Testament.
This week’s Meditation invites you to engage the Epistles with your imagination. Consider this exhortation from the Apostle Paul:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ~ Colossians 3: 12-14
We know Paul is giving us more than good advice. These are life-giving commands. “Do you want to please God?” thunders the PreacherMan, “Then follow the instructions!” Perhaps you’ve even seen someone shake the book, declaring that the Bible is God’s Owner’s Manual. Yet I've never seen an owner's manual capable of changing my life.
I'd like to suggest there are at least five pathways to use your imagination--inspired by the Holy Spirit--as you come to this passage. To help get you started, why not live with this passage in the coming days, and ask these questions:
- If the Word of God is living and active, where is the life in this passage, and how is it acting upon me?
- What doors are open to me through these words--and what doors are closed?
- Can I apply my imagination to cut-and-dried commands such as the ones in this passage?
- How can I engage these words with something other than my understanding?
I invite you to suggest some possible answers in the comments below, and come on back Thursday as I share a few pathways I’ve found as well.
