Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

Home Archives for Bible Reflection

Context, back-story and knowing God

Posted on Written by Leave a Comment

This is a guest post by Mitchell Hailstone, a student at King’s College in New York City:

“I heard once that they’d rather hear about memories than enemies. Rather hear about what was or what will be, rather than what is. Rather hear how you got it or how much it cost you. Rather hear about finding yourself or how you lost you. Rather make this an open letter about family and struggle and it taking forever, about hearts that you’ve broken and ties that you’ve severed. No doubt in my mind, that’ll make them feel better.”

Your Story ContextThis is a quote from Aubrey Graham, a popular rap artist who goes by the acronym Drake (Do Right and Kill Everything). His poetry might be an odd way to start a piece about taking on God’s perspective, but it might also be perfect. In this monologue located at the end of his popular track “Headlines” from the album Take Care, Drake reveals his strategy when writing compelling pieces: give listeners the whole perspective. You don’t merely tell someone what you’re feeling; you also tell them why you’re feeling it and the back-story leading you to your present situation.

His technique is a fundamental aspect of effective storytelling. In order to understand the present situation, a backdrop of narrative needs to be given. Only then will the listener fully appreciate and revel in the current circumstance with Drake. Why does Drake do this? He’s allowing his audience to get to know him. He’s opening up. He’s sharing his story, his emotions, his thoughts, his struggles with his listeners. He’s building a relationship with his fans. Of course, Drake isn’t breaking a lot of ground here, but he goes further than most in terms of the amount of reality he conveys in his songs. His songs are gritty, honest, dramatic, brooding, haughty, depressing, uplifting, and emotional. The bluntness and depth of his songs penetrates the listeners’ imagination. They gain a desire to know Drake more, and be a part of the narrative that he lays out.

In some sense, we use the same technique when we build friendships. This is what people do with their spouses, family, coworkers, and roommates. We get to know the other person’s narrative. We piece together the story of their life so that we can better understand the deeper meaning of their present circumstance. Your friend’s background and your friend’s future dreams inform your view of his/her present life. When your friend finally gets that job in NASA that you’ve watched him toil over, you rejoice more. You saw and felt his struggle, so you almost feel the same excitement he does in his success. Knowing his full narrative, the past and the desire for the future, allowed you to understand the meaning of the present.

Just like it is impossible to appropriately understand your friend’s current circumstance without context, it is also impossible to look at your own life without the appropriate context. Christians have anxiety and worry about their current circumstance. They look at the scope of their life and become confused. This anxiety could be found in something as little as your reaction to someone treating you poorly, or something as large as a job not working out. It could be a severed relationship, or a bad grade. In Psalm 37, God reveals that “the steps of a man are established by the Lord.” For God knows and understands the full context of each man’s scenarios. He says to Job in chapter 37: “Do you know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?” (explain what God is doing by asking this question) We know that God is outside of time and has all the hairs of your head numbered (Matthew 10:30). After all, the sovereign Creator must know his creation. He’s existed before the world began and thus knows our context more than any friend.

But, life with God doesn’t end with Him knowing us. God wants us to know Him as well. We are to take on the perspective of the Lord. God tells us in Ezekiel 36 that he gives us a new heart and a new spirit. These allow us, with the Word as a guide, to take on that all-knowing perspective of God. In this way, believers and those who put their trust in God are equipped to understand their life circumstance and the current situations around them in the proper perspective. This is what we call wisdom – knowing and acting according the big picture or the proper perspective. This is fundamental and imperative to the Christian life because it functions as liberation from the entrapments of the world’s ways. His rules and teachings are the proper way of living, and thus give the most life, joy, and freedom. Present circumstance suddenly loses its prominence. We know that each of us sins and destroys God’s plan. We know that throughout history, man has rebelled against God’s ways and created destruction. At the same time, God is active in redeeming the consequences of our sin. He also promises and gives us a dream of a future day in which we will be restored to our initial glory. Therefore, we are not presently surprised by others sin or our own. We know that despite the bad things happening to us, God invites us to a perfect future with him after this life. We will know that his promises are good and always fulfilled!

Imagine what would happen if everyone lived with God’s perspective as the informer of their present. Each person would be loved and taken care of. Love and acceptance would prevail over hate and fear. Anxiety would not exist, for we would take to heart God’s promises. Churches wouldn’t fall to pride and faction. Politicians would perform their duties for the benefit of society and not themselves. Businesses would be run honestly and efficiently. There are countless possibilities for restoration.. Alas, it is not possible as long as our rebellion lasts.

Like Drake, knowing the context and background of God’s character and relationships with the world is a pretty potent and engaging story. It is filled with honesty, grittiness, drama, haughtiness, conflict, and resolution. But unlike Drake, this is the God of the universe. His story and perspective will unlock truth, and has the possibility of changing the world. Tell the story, and surely people will listen.

Electricity, Hurricane Sandy and the Feast of Sukkot – Four lessons

Posted on Written by 6 Comments

Hurricane SandyHurricane Sandy made herself known in a big way in my area. In all the years that I lived in Southeastern Pennsylvania, I never experienced winds like we had earlier this week.

My family and I were blessed in that there was no damage to our home. Other than the minor inconvenience of being without electricity for a little over 24 hours, we came through the event quite well. Others have not fared so well and have endured major losses, my heart and my prayer is with them right now.

As the hurricane raged, it was difficult to think; it was quite enough just to take it all in. But once the storm began to wane, some thoughts came to me about life and hurricanes. Here are some thoughts in no particular order:

  1. Hurricane Sandy reinforced the idea that all we really need for physical existence is food, water and shelter. So many of the things we think of as indispensible are not. In reality, that iPad that you think you need is a nice-to-have, not a necessity.
  2. A major weather event such as Sandy demonstrates that man is not really the master of his own destiny, Jack Welshnot withstanding. The best we can do in response to such force is to find a shelter with sufficient strength to provide protection. Altering or controlling the storm is impossible. We may want to continue the illusion of control, but Sandy should be a clue to how little control we really have.
  3. The hurricane also demonstrated that we overestimate the importance of many of the things we do. When survival is on the line, it does not matter if the lawn is well manicured. When there is little water for cooking, it does not matter if the spice rack is alphabetized. The point is not that neat cupboards and attractive lawns are not good. The point is that when we take good things and make them ultimate things, we get our priorities out of whack.
  4. When something like Sandy comes along, it reinforces the need we have for community. When bad stuff starts to happen around us, we learn that we cannot live in a vacuum. We need, and are needed by, the people around us. We are called to live in community.

As I started to write these observations, the Feast of Sukkot in the Old Testament (Leviticus 23:34-44) came to mind. This is a Jewish feast also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. During this feast the Israelites would build temporary shelters and live in them. It was the original family camp.

Ostensibly the feast was to commemorate the Exodus of Israel from the nation of Egypt. The booths provided a physical reminder of how their forebears lived as they wandered through the desert. Yet I wonder if a side benefit of this feast was to demonstrate to the Israelites the four points listed above. Like us, Israel struggled to keep their priorities straight and to understand who was in control of their destiny. This feast could provide a yearly reorientation to a better perspective.

I do not want to downplay the hardship that some have had to endure in the aftermath of Sandy. But for those of us who were merely inconvenienced, I suggest that we think of it as a forced entrance into Sukkot. We have been given the chance to reflect on what is really important and to redirect our thoughts and resources to better uses.

We only need to stop long enough to reflect.

When labels are (mis)applied in the church

Posted on Written by 4 Comments

Name LabelWe like to categorize other people by applying labels to them. Liberal versus conservative, rich versus poor, informed versus ignorant, interesting versus boring, popular versus nerdy, the list of possible categories is inexhaustible. Politicians use this tendency to categorize to their benefit by trying to portray themselves in a popular category while casting their opponent as the opposite.

There is  danger in carrying this drive to categorize people into the church. In the church there are to be no such categories; we are all equal when we come to the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Yet in some churches, people are categorized and labeled. People can be labeled as troublemakers, critics, backsliders, emotionally unstable, emotionally repressed, etc. Positive labels such as leader, teacher and supporter can also be applied.

Applying labels to people becomes a problem when it prevents them from growing into their God-given ministry potential. This is especially true when the labels are applied based on erroneous or incomplete information. Stephen Covey relates the story of the boys on the subway to illustrate how easy it is to misunderstand another person’s situation and actions.

One day on the subway, while quietly reading a book, Stephen was interrupted by two wild children that got on with their father at a subway stop.

The children were out of control, jumping up and down, running loudly through the subway car.

The father seemed not to notice or care that his children were misbehaving and disturbing commuters…

Stephen approached the father and wanted to scold him for not controlling his children and teaching them respect for others…

The father agreed, and sighed sullenly, saying “yeah, I just don’t know what to do or say to them. We just came from the hospital where their mother died from a random assault….”

I have seen people who have made suggestions get labeled as troublemakers. I have seen people who identify problems get accused of being divisive. On the flip side, I have seen those who are successful in business get tagged as church leaders despite their spiritual immaturity.

Church leaders must resist the temptation to label and categorize people in their congregations. Remember Paul’s words in Galatians 3:28:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (NASB)

Look at the Disciples that Jesus picked. Among them was a terrorist, a traitor, two brothers with anger issues, a fisherman with a tendency to say the wrong thing and a thief. The man that wrote much of the New Testament was a murderer. Jesus trusted this rag tag bunch to found his Church, people we would likely write off as being of little help.

The point is that if someone is causing a problem in the church, that problem should be addressed without labeling the person. God deals with our sin without labeling us, who are we to refuse to do this for others?

A test for idolatry

Posted on Written by Leave a Comment

Farm GateGod is in the idol smashing business. Scripture and experience show this to be true. Much of the Old Testament is taken up with the story of Israel falling into idolatry and God confronting that idolatry through the prophets and the judgment of the surrounding nations.

The first two of the Ten Commandments deal with the issue of idolatry:

“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” (Exodus 20:3–4, NASB)

Few of us in Western Civilization literally bow down before an image and practice what we would consider idol worship. But that does not acquit us from the charge of idolatry. The decent into idolatry is subtle and can go unnoticed.

How then can we know when we are falling into idolatry?

When you find yourself thinking, “if only I had _____, then I would be happy,” it is likely that you are falling victim to idolatry. The blank will be filled by different things at different times, but if it is a person, place or thing other than God, it is idolatry.

Why would God be so hard on those who succumb to idolatry? I believe it is because God understands better than we do that the person, place or thing to which we look for fulfillment will eventually disappoint and frustrate us.

In a fallen world, things break or get used up, places have their bad points and people will eventually disappoint you. Even the best of us experiences failure, bringing disappointment to those we love. For this reason, God seeks to reorient our focus on himself, because he is the one person who will never disappoint us.

Perhaps this is why Jesus tells us that those who mourn are blessed. When we understand that creation is fallen and we participate in and contribute to that fallenness, mourning is the proper response. A line written by Wendell Berry about his farm illustrates this.

“My aim has been to go against its history and to repair the damage of other people. But now a part of its damage is my own.”

When we have this proper sense of mourning, then it will be less likely that we will fall into idolatry. With this corrected perspective, it will be easier to realize that God is the only person who will never disappoint us. Perhaps this is why the Apostle Paul tells us that “when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” (1 Corinthians 13:10)

May the perfect come soon.

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama