Ignatian Reading

 Earlier, I posted a reflection of my devotional reading of the Luke passage for my class using Lectio Divina.  Another type of devotional reading we were asked to do was to read the post Ignatian Style.  I actually found that one to be more fruitful for me.

I read through the chosen passage, Luke 18:18-25. As I read, I noticed a couple of things I had missed before. This passage is also in Matthew (19:16-22) and Mark (10:17-31), and I think I was hearing those in my head when I read the Luke passage previously.  In Mark, the passage says, “Jesus loved him…” and in both Matthew and Mark, the young man leaves the scene, sad, before Jesus talks about the rich entering the kingdom, and how with God, all things are possible.  In Luke, there is nothing that says the man leaves, and Jesus tells HIM how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

When I pictured the scene, I saw it as Jesus, the disciples, and others seated on the ground (a cleared area, maybe sand) around a fire, talking.  I entered the scene as one of the people in the circle, listening to the young man and Jesus talking. I would have smelled the fire and the people around me, heard the crackling of the fire, Jesus and the man talking as well as the people around me whispering to each other. I would have seen Jesus and the man as well as the others, maybe not as clearly as I could have in the day because of the smoke from the fire. The light would have helped to illuminate the scene.  (I have no idea why I pictured it at night).

As I thought about the scene, I wondered how the people were reacting. I wondered if they would have resented the Ruler who felt sad about selling what he owned, but they don’t seem to be resentful.  By their questions, they seem to be defending the young man, maybe because they don’t like this reversal of the world – they don’t want to sell what they have, either. They think they are obedient; after all, they are following Jesus. They see in the young man part of themselves – the fear of letting go of what they own, the selfishness of not wanting to do what Jesus asks.  And they are disbelieving – how is this even possible. They don’t seem to be comforted by the idea that with God, all things are possible.

The thoughts in the third paragraph above are what I shared with God in prayer at the end of the time using this method.

Perspectives: Old and New

Notice on this light pole that one of the fixtures is an old style of lighting and the one on the left is a newer LED.  Old and new, living together.

I think there is a message there.  

Resources

In the class I was taking, I was asked to contribute 10 resources to a list of class accumulated resources.  Not all of these are my favorite, but I tried to keep to items on my bookshelves or the internet. 

• The Concise Concordance to the New Revised Standard Version (John R Kohlenberger, III, editor).  This is a concordance providing a list of words in the scripture and where to find them (as any concordance would). It provides references to both the Old and New Testament and is helpful when doing a word study.
• A Harmony of the Gospels: Revised Standard Version (Ralph D. Heim).  This book (another old one, published in 1947) lists in the Gospels in chronological order and attempts to align the four gospels in parallel columns. It includes all four Gospels. It can be helpful to see side by side how one story in the bible is the same and is different in the Gospels.
• Atlas of Bible History (Harper Collins).  This book provides history from early in the Old Testament through the the Early Church (and a little beyond) with images and maps. I find having a map helps me to place the scripture geographically. How far apart are Nazareth and Jerusalem, and what did it mean to walk from one to the other? A map is helpful.
• The New Interpreter's Study Bible (NRSV). This is a study bible. I find the introductions to the Biblical books and the extensive study notes to be very helpful. Footnotes share when a translation is uncertain or can be seen a different way in a different language.
• The New Greek English Interlinear New Testament. This book provides the New Testament in Greek with an interlinear English translation as well an an English translation in the margin. It can be helpful to see how the translations are made and what difficulties there were in translation.
• Discipleship Resources (https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning). This online resource from the UMC provides help for each Sunday, using the Revised Common Lectionary, including Preaching Notes and notes to help plan worship.
• Text Week (textweek.com). This online resources provides links to numerous resources concerning lectionary scriptures. It can be a rabbit hole to countless different sources.
• The New Interpreter's Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes. The volumes provide an introduction to each Biblical book, a exegesis of the biblical texts, commentary, reflections, and illustrations.
• Feasting on the Word, David Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors. This is a series of books, available in both physical books and PDFs, that are helpful when preaching from the Revised Common Lectionary. Each volume includes part of one of the three years of the RCL.  Each week examines the scriptures of that week's RCL, providing four perspectives: theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical.
• The New Daily Study Bible by William Barclay. This is a series of books, each one focused on a book of the Bible (usually - Biblical books' commentaries are combined into one of the volumes). Barclay (for the New Testament, other authors for the Old Testament) provide commentary on short passages of scripture within the Biblical book. One caveat - the series was originally published in 1956; the reader should take that into consideration.

I've "bolded" two of these because they are the references I use the most often - my Study Bible and Feasting on the Word.  

Birthday

Today is my birthday.

I have a District Committee on Ministry meeting (which is fine), and today is my biennial CLM interview.

I think I'll take today off from posting, but here is a nice picture to enjoy.

Perspectives: The Unexpected

 This is a castle in Lexington, Kentucky.  Some things are unexpected.

Book Review: Tempered Resilience

 Information about the book

Tempered Resilience: How Leaders are Formed in the Crucible of Change by Tod Bolsinger.  IVP, 2020.

Summary

This books leads the reader through the characteristics and needs of a leader who is leading through adaptive change. Adaptive change is that kind of change for which we have no precedent - we don't know how to solve the problems, and our usual methods for problem solving don't work well.  How do you lead a congregation through that kind of change? How do you change so that you can be that kind of leader?

Impressions

I liked this book from the moment I started reading it. The author is a Presbyterian minister, so his examples include incidences from his own experience as a church leader as well as biblical scriptures. He uses the process of steel-working to make his examples concrete.

I like that his theses and writings strike me as common sense - not easily instituted, but reasonable and not cliché. 

A few quotes:

• Leadership therefore is always about the transformation and growth of a people - starting with the leader - to develop the resilience and adaptive capacity to wisely cut through resistance and accomplish the mission of the group.  (pg 4).
• People do not resist change, per se. People resist loss.  You appear dangerous to people when you question their values, beliefs, or habits of a lifetime. (pg 22)
• While the nomenclature varies, the characteristics of transformational spiritual leaders and organizational change leaders make up a list of attributes for a tempered resilient leader: one that is grounded, teachable, attuned, adaptable, and tenacious.

I recommend this book.

Posts about book

Find my posts about the book with the tag Bolsinger Tempered.

Prayer Beads

I mentioned that I was (last month) involved in a class called "Reading the New Testament with Fresh Eyes." While working my way through that class, I came to realize that my prayer life has not been as intentional as it was during previous times of my life. So I decided to work to change that.

Once of the ways in the past that I have included intentional prayer time is through the use of Anglican Prayer beads. The link I've provided is where I first read about them, and where I have purchased them in the past.

I've mentioned them several times on my blog - you can find the posts (and some others that crept into the search) at this link. At that link, you'll find a post about how to make them if that is of interest to you, plus how to use them, and how I've used them.

I especially like them because using them with a particular prayer slows my mind down and centers me. When I reach the cross after one time around the beads using the prayer, my mind is centered enough for me to connect with God through my own prayers.

This is the prayer I use, called a Celtic Prayer.

Perspectives: Stained Glass

 Lamb stained glass from Barrackville United Methodist Church.

The Historical Jesus

 Why is it important to understand the historical nature of Jesus's life?

It is important to understand the historical nature of Jesus’s life because Jesus was a person, rooted in a time.

1. As humans, we are all shaped by our stories. What happens to us in our life – good or bad – shapes who we are. I’m not sure how much this applies to Jesus, but I imagine being the son of a carpenter shaped him. Certainly, being a Jew was important in his life and how he lived it.
2. Knowing the history of Jesus helps us to understand the outside forces of the time that impacted his life. We’ve already talked about Herod the Great’s impact on Jesus’s early life. The Roman Empire created a framework for his life and it shaped people’s expectations of him.
3. Knowing Jesus’s history – his birth, life as a child (as much as we can), his ministry, death, and resurrection shapes our faith. What happened to him, and what he allowed to happen to him are some of the building blocks of why we follow him.

 

Knowing the stories that shaped Jesus’s life, the outside forces that impacted him, and his own role in his biography helps us to understand the scripture with more accuracy and personal impact. The Gospel does not sit in a vacuum; our understanding of it (as much as we can) is bolstered by knowledge of the historical nature of Jesus.

Book Review: Reading the New Testament as Christian Scripture

Information about the book

Reading the New Testament as Christian Scripture by Constantine R. Campbell and Jonathan T. Pennington.  Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2020.  Cokesbury / Amazon

Summary

From Amazon: This survey textbook by two respected New Testament scholars is designed to meet the needs of contemporary evangelical undergraduates. The book effectively covers the New Testament books and major topics in the New Testament, assuming no prior academic study of the Bible. The authors pay attention to how the New Testament documents fit together as a canonical whole that supplements the Old Testament to make up the Christian Scriptures. They also show how the New Testament writings provide basic material for Christian doctrine, spirituality, and engagement with culture. Chapters can be assigned in any order, making this an ideal textbook for one-semester courses at evangelical schools.

Impressions

I purchased this book and read assigned chapters for a class I took from BeADisciple.  The class was called Reading the New Testament with Fresh Eyes - I'll be posting a class review soon. This text was a required purchase.

It is organized into 30 chapters.  The first 5 and the last one are general chapters covering background information that is helpful as one reads through the New Testament.  The middle 24 chapters are each written around one or more New Testament Chapters.

I found the information to be well presented and helpful in the work we were doing, and I imagine that it will be a resource to which I will return when preparing a bible study or sermon. I recommend it.

Posts about book

Find my posts about the book

Perspectives: Staples

 How  many messages have been stapled to this telephone poll?  Do you ever feel like communication is like this?

Devotional Reading Notes

For a class I just completed called Reading the New Testament with Fresh Eyes, I was asked to pick a New Testament passage for exegesis and sermon or Bible study preparation.  One of the steps in the process was to read the passage devotionally using Lectio Divina.  

My passage was Luke 18:18-27, sometimes called the Rich Young Ruler.  Here are my journaling notes after the devotional reading:

When I read the passage this evening, I noticed something I had not seen before.  The phrase that stood out to me was in verse 27 (which is beyond the passage I mentioned in the work a few days ago - I had planned to stop at verse 25, but 26-27 seem to go with it). I saw the phrase "What is impossible for mortals is possible for God."

I went back and looked at the passage again. In the beginning of it, Jesus and the man are talking about what the man could do. Then Jesus tells him that it is impossible for him. The man leaves (Special note - in Luke, the  man doesn't leave.  This story is in the three synoptic Gospels.  He leaves in the other two, but not this one.).  Jesus says "What is impossible for mortals in possible God.

Do we give up too soon? Do we try to do it all on our own, even when Jesus is telling us we cannot, and then we give up and walk away? Do we fail to rely on God - to put our trust and all we have in God's hands?  In God's hands, all is possible. In our hands alone, it is not.

What is it we could do if we gave up control?

There are those things that are impossible for us. And giving up control of them, and giving control to God, may not accomplish that which we want to have happen. We still live in this world of natural laws. Even so, when we move through something impossible with God - God can make moving through it possible.

Was it impossible for the man to sell all he had? Was it impossible for him to release it because he wanted his money more that he wanted God? Did he need to rely on God before he could let go? Why didn't he? Did he? Would we? Will we?

The Message translation said, "No chance at all,” Jesus said, “if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”

Book Review: Luke by Adam Hamilton

 

Information about the book

Luke: Jesus and the Outsiders, Outcasts, and Outlaws. by Adam Hamilton. Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2022.  Cokesbury / Amazon

Summary

From Amazon: In Luke: Jesus and the Outsiders, Outcasts, and Outlaws, pastor and bestselling author Adam Hamilton explores the life, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus as told in the Gospel of Luke. Through Luke’s stories we find Jesus’ care and compassion for all as he welcomes sinners and outcasts. As we study Luke and see Jesus’ concern for those who were considered unimportant, we hear a hopeful and inspiring word for our lives today.The book can be read alone or used for a group study and church-wide Lenten program. Additional components include video teaching sessions featuring Adam Hamilton, a comprehensive leader guide, free downloadable resources for children and youth, and a digital worship and sermon helps. The book includes a link to download the free teaching resources for children and youth.

Impressions

My initial plan was to read this book one chapter a week while tandem reading the Gospel of Luke. I found that I read it much faster than a chapter a week, and I did not read the Gospel of Luke with it. (Side Note - I did, a week or two later, complete the reading of the Gospel for a class I was taking, so it did work out).  There is reading plan you can download to go with the book at this link.

I liked the book and would recommend it. Each chapter focuses on a few chapters from the Gospel, leading the reader through the book of Luke.  The focus is - as the title suggests - on the outcast.  Reading this book inspired several blog posts (linked below).

I think this book would be a very appropriate source for a Lenten Study; I think its structure and topic would lend themselves to this type of group work. In addition to the book itself, there are several resources that would be helpful.

Posts about book

Find my posts about the book at this link.

Perspectives: Enough Already

 

This is not an image from this year, but can I just say, I'm tired of snow?