Individuality

One of the topics discussed in the Come to the Waters course was the idea of individuality.  The course material says:

We need to remember that in the culture of biblical times, people virtually never considered themselves as individuals, but as members of a tribe, family, or household. Individual identity was almost unheard of. If one member of the family was honored, the whole family rose in status; if one did something shameful, the whole family was shamed; if one killed someone, vendetta between the families was nearly inevitable.

We have a framed scripture hanging in our family room that was a gift from Steve’s (my husband’s) mother that quotes the second part of Joshua 24:15 – “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  While I like the declaration and commitment of it, I’ve always wondered how Joshua could make a statement of commitment for his entire household.  I was reminded of this when I read the portion of the assignment that discussed the culture of the time in which no one considered themselves as individuals, but as members of a group.  I was also interested in how this changed through history, so that the idea of individual baptism was born.

In our United States culture today, individuality is very important.  We value our ability to make decisions on our own, and we don't always consider the impact our decisions have on our family or our community.  We would rarely make a decision for another person if that person is capable of making a decision for him or herself.  In fact, when someone does substitute their choices for someone else's choice, we declare it to be a wrong thing to do. It is interesting to me to see this different way of living in the ancient world and the early church.

 

Perspectives: Cat in a box

 

Sprocket, our cat, was determined to fit into this box, so he worked and worked, until he finally did, even though it meant tearing the box.  Are we that determined to fit into a box?

A Litany of Confession from Psalm 40

L: We try to wait patiently, o God, and ask you to turn your ear toward us.

P: Hear our confession, and grant us peace.

L: So often we find ourselves in a pit made of our sin, a bog of our unfaithfulness.

P: Lift us up, Oh, God.  Forgive us, and set our feet on solid rock.  Make our steps secure.

L: Put a new song in our mouths, a song of praise to you.  Let those who hear us know that they can put their trust in you.

P: Help us to put our trust in you.

L: We turn from you, Oh God, and our pride stands in our way.  Idols block our paths to you.

P: Forgive us, Oh God, and bring us into your Joy

L: Amen.

Inspired by Psalm 40

 

Of the Well

One of Jan Richardson's poems from Circle of Grace is called Blessings of the Well.  I just noticed, as I write this, that the title is not "Blessings at the Well."  It is Blessings OF the Well.  As with all of her poems in this book, it is proceeded by a verse from the Bible: "A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.'" (John 4:7).  As you begin reading the poem, the image in your mind is the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.

The whole poem is beautiful, but a few lines jumped off the page for me:

Quiet your voice

Quiet your judgment

Quiet the way

you always tell

your story

to yourself.

How is it that we tell our story to ourselves?  I think most often, it is as Richardson writes.  It is a story that is reeking with judgment, like a closed room full of ripe ramps, or an elevator you travel with a smoker.  It becomes hard for us to separate the judgment from the story itself. 

For Richardson, these poems are blessings.  The defines blessing in the Introduction:  "An ancient literary form, a blessing is a distinctive constellation of words designed to call upon and convey God's deepest desire for our wholeness and well-being, both individually and in community."  This particular blessing calls upon us to release ourselves from the judgment we feel about ourselves; to "quiet the way" we tell our story to ourselves. 

God wants to give you wholeness, and perhaps what is stopping this gift is our own judgment of ourselves.

So, perhaps this blessing calls upon us to first, recognize how we judge ourselves, and secondly, to quiet that part of ourselves so that God can enter in.

 

Perspectives: Choices Abound

 Do you ever feel like there are too many options?  Too many different toothpastes?  We take it for granted, don't we?

A Different Look at the Laborers in the Vineyard

 I'm reading the book Short Stories by Jesus, written by Amy-Jill Levine.  I just finished the chapter called Laborers in the Vineyard, based on Matthew 20:1-16.  To briefly summarize the parable, a householder hires workers beginning at dawn, for a reasonable wage, and then continually, every three hours, throughout the day, until the last group is hired and works for only an hour.  They are all paid the reasonable wage of one denarius.  Those who worked all day complain about the fairness of the pay - they worked longer; they should be paid more.

Levine make a (good) case for the parable not to be a statement of God rewarding everyone the same - those who have been believers for a long time (or those who were Jewish followers) and those who came to believe just lately.  Instead, she asks that we look at the parable differently.  What if the parable is really about how the rich - those who have the means - should treat those who have need.  The householder goes and looks for those who need to work, employees them, and pays them a reasonable wage.  Everyone has the funds to support themselves.  Those hired first receive what can be expected for their work - they complain because the householder is generous. 

What if this is what the kingdom is like?  What if the kingdom of God is a place where those who are able, who have the means, provide for those who don't have the means?  What if the work of some of us supports all of us?  Levine says, "[Jesus's] focus is often less directly on "good news to the poor' than on "responsibility of the rich."  Can the workers be content with what is right rather than what they perceive to be fair?

What if the message of this parable is for us to learn "what it  means to act as God acts, with generosity to all."?  What would that generosity look like?  It would be counter to our entire society.  The goal of the householder (or the business owner) would not be to keep as much as possible and pay as little as he can get away with.  The reaction of the workers would not be to analyze what would be fair and complain about the good fortune of others, but to join the householder in generosity, grateful that everyone has enough money to live.  

Book Review: Circle of Grace

 Information about the book

Jan Richardson. Circle of Grace.  Wanton Gospeller Press, Orlando, Florida, 2015.  (Amazon)

Summary

From the Amazon description: "Within the struggle, joy, pain, and delight that attend our life, there is an invisible circle of grace that enfolds and encompasses us in every moment. Blessings help us to perceive this circle of grace, to find our place of belonging within it, and to receive the strength the circle holds for us." -from the Introduction.  Beginning in Advent and moving through the sacred seasons of the Christian year, Circle of Grace offers Jan's distinctive and poetic blessings that illuminate the treasures each season offers to us.

The book is a book of poetry blessings.  They move through the year, from Advent to Ordinary Time. The author calls the poems "blessings."

Impressions

This is a very lovely book.  I think it would be best read as in small bits, so that one could savor each poem-blessing.  Richardson writes well.  Each poem is very accessible on the surface, and then plunges to the depth of the spirit, bringing us profound understandings.   I highly recommend.  Be sure to also read the introduction for a wonderful description of what a blessing is.

Posts about book

Additional posts referencing this book will be tagged with Richardson Circle.

What Shaped your Church?

I'm taking a class called Women Speak of God with Be A Disciple and Wesley Theological Seminary as part of their Certification in Advanced Christian Studies.  One of the questions we answered this week was:

What are some of the historical factors that have shaped your church family? What kind of influences do people that join this particular community bring with them?

 

My local church celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2020.  Countless historical factors had shaped in through those years.  It has its roots in a church that was first imagined by Frances Asbury as he traveled through our area and was served by circuit riders, the first one of which served churches in a 200 mile area.  As the civil war approached, the Methodist church split into the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and our Guyandotte/Huntington area church split also; the church that would become Johnson Memorial UMC was the MEC, South.  After the Civil War, Collis P. Huntington began to plan and build the western terminal of his railway, and the town of Huntington was founded.

 

Tragedy shaped the church.  Rev. Johnson became pastor in 1889.  During a Masonic initiation, he fell down a shaft and was injured severely enough to die 36 hours later.  The church was named after him.  Over the years, the church has suffered through three fires; the one in the thirties destroyed all but the exterior of the building.  During the time of rebuilding, the church was invited to worship at the local synagogue; a strong relationship of support developed between the two congregations that exists still today.  After the third fire in 2015, the church was able to worship in the Fellowship Hall, but moved to the same synagogue for Easter worship.

 

The aftermath of World War II and the baby boomer generation saw great growth in the church.  In more recent years, as the population of the city has decreased, the church has grown smaller. As tensions in the United Methodist church have grown over homosexuality, our local church explored its beliefs and joined Reconciling Ministries. 

 

I think those who have joined this church over the years have brought influences with them that have changed us from a Methodist Episcopal Church, South, that more than likely would have supported slavery, to a church that voted overwhelmingly to join Reconciling Ministries.  The church has supported women in ministry and people of color as pastors.  We are a college town; members joined with a thirst for education; bible study and Sunday school have been important aspects of our ministry together.

Course Review: Devotion to Jesus

 Information about the Course

This is an advanced Lay Ministry course offered by BeADisiciple.com called Devotional to Jesus: Divinity of Christ in Early Christianity.  This is a course offered as part of the Wesley Academy for Advanced Christian Studies, created in partnership with Wesley Theological Seminary and BeADisciple.  The course instructor is Rev. Dr. Scott Pickering, and it is based on material written by Dr. Larry Hurtado.  The course is eight weeks long. Each week involves a small amount of Bible Study, viewing about 20 minutes of video of Dr. Hurtado speaking about the current topic for that week, answering four questions each week (and posting the answers) and participating in online discussions.

The course can be part of a certification called Certificate in Advanced Christian Study.  The certificate involves completion of six courses such as this one.  The course can also be taken as a stand alone option.

Summary

From the website: Dr. Larry Hurtado contends that worship of Jesus was a very early, widespread and radical practice for 1st century believers. A renowned professor at Edinburgh College, Hurtado is an expert in Christian origins. In this course, Hurtado utterly refutes those skeptical scholars that propose that belief in the divinity of Jesus grew incrementally over time. The more plausible explanation is that Jesus believed he had a unique relationship with God and that he was God’s decisive agent in human history.

Impressions

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this course.  I chose this one to get a feel for the courses offered for the certification and this one in particular because of the time it was offered (October through December of 2022).  I had never really considered the underlying question of the course: when did Christians begin to worship Jesus?  Why did that happen?

I've written earlier about the book recommended (but not required) for the course.  See the review of Lord Jesus Christ, by Dr. Larry W. Hurtado, here.  For me, reading the book really increased the depth of the course.  I've very grateful I was able to read the book as I took the course.  The course itself is well designed and was interesting; it was much enhanced by the book.  Having said that, I would recommend the course even if you are not interested in reading the book.

I can see the impact of the course in my faith.  When I participate in worship, my experience is enhanced by what I learned in the course.  The course strengthened my understanding of parts of the New Testament.  It also enhanced my faith, especially when I consider the potential role revelation played in creating an understanding among early Christians of the divinity of Jesus.

On the practical side, I was glad the entire course was posted at the beginning of the eight weeks it was offered.  This allowed me to work ahead to fit the course more into my schedule.  Note: while I could work ahead, I also needed to be aware that each week has deadlines to meet - working ahead is ok; getting behind is not. 

I highly recommend this course.

Posts about the Class

Posts about the class will have the tag DevotiontoJesus

Perspectives: Do you know?

 Do you know where you're going to? 

Individuals vs Groups

We have a framed scripture hanging in our family room that was a gift from Steve’s (my husband’s) mother that quotes the second part of Joshua 24:15 – “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  While I like the declaration and commitment of it, I’ve always wondered how Joshua could make a statement of commitment for his entire household.

Some of the assignment material in the Come to the Water course talked about the idea that in the time of Christ, people did not think of themselves as individuals, but as a member of a group.  Whole households were baptized - this was the way of things.

As the Church expanded, this changed.  For example, have you heard of Perpetua?  She was a believer who was arrested for her faith.  She was in a three year preparation time for baptism and had not completed it, but was baptized because she was headed to martyrdom.  Her father came three times to try to convince her to renounce Jesus (she did not).  She was executed in March of 203 "by the beasts on the arena at Carthage.  Terrible story, but certainly one that demonstrates how individualism was replacing the idea of household membership in the church.

Two questions come to mind:

1. What if we considered baptism so important that we required a 3-year preparation time for it?  What would the church be like?
2. How is the church different because we see ourselves as individuals instead of members of a group or tribe in our faith?