What I’m Reading Today: Acts 3
I’m always amazed at what a huge difference there is between various translations/interpretations of the Bible. Case in point: today’s passage from Acts.
In the New Revised Standard Version, Acts 3:17-18 says that Peter told his audience: “And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what God had foretold through all the prophets…” This translation makes it sound as if God caused the actions of the people and their rulers.
In Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the passage, the message is conveyed slightly differently. The culminating words of the passage read: “But God, who through the preaching of all the prophets had said all along that God’s Messiah would be killed, knew exactly what you were doing and used it to fulfill God’s plans.” In this paraphrasing, it makes it sound more like God simply worked through their actions rather than caused their actions.
So what’s the difference between God causing something versus God working through something? Isn’t it simply a matter of semantics?
No. Or perhaps I should say, “Not for me.” I see a huge difference between the two.
It would be hard for me to embrace a God who I believed caused the heart-ache that all of us live with. It would be hard, for instance, for me to embrace a God who caused my mother’s degenerative bone disease that has kept her in constant pain for the last 30+ years. It would be equally hard for me to embrace a God who caused my friend Ryan’s addiction to drugs and alcohol – a problem that is literally destroying his life.
I can, however, embrace a God whose presence can be manifest in such difficult situations. I can embrace a God who has been present in the midst of my mother’s pain in such a way that all of us around her have learned to appreciate the moments of reprieve from pain - rather than take those moments for granted like most people do. I can embrace a God who has been present in the midst of Ryan’s addictions in such a way that those around him have learned the difference between helping and enabling – a lesson we might have never learned otherwise.
As you face the challenges of today, I would encourage you to explore for yourself the difference between a God who causes the occurrences of the day versus a God who is present in the midst of the occurrences.
Til next time…
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
What I’m Reading Today: Acts 1-2
During the recent debate on the health care, I found it fascinating how quickly some opponents of the bill were to throw around the word “socialism”. They acted as if that word represented everything that was opposed to what we as a people stood for. There were many folks in this camp who publically identified themselves as Christians.
Whenever that happened, I found myself smiling and wondering, “Do those people REALLY understand the values the early Christian community stood for?”
And what were some of those values?
Well, today’s reading gives us a great picture of some of those values. “And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony,” the author(s) wrote, “holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned,” the author(s) continued, “and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.”
Doesn’t exactly sound like a ringing endorsement of the values we would associate with capitalism.
Reading those words reminds me just how counter-cultural our Christian faith really is! The vision embraced by those early followers of Jesus was egalitarian in ways that many of us modern folks can’t even begin to understand.
Today I would invite you to explore your perceptions of the world Jesus calls us to create. As you flesh out those perceptions, I would encourage you to begin to take small steps that might move the world – or at least your corner of the world - in that direction.
Til next time…
During the recent debate on the health care, I found it fascinating how quickly some opponents of the bill were to throw around the word “socialism”. They acted as if that word represented everything that was opposed to what we as a people stood for. There were many folks in this camp who publically identified themselves as Christians.
Whenever that happened, I found myself smiling and wondering, “Do those people REALLY understand the values the early Christian community stood for?”
And what were some of those values?
Well, today’s reading gives us a great picture of some of those values. “And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony,” the author(s) wrote, “holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned,” the author(s) continued, “and pooled their resources so that each person’s need was met.”
Doesn’t exactly sound like a ringing endorsement of the values we would associate with capitalism.
Reading those words reminds me just how counter-cultural our Christian faith really is! The vision embraced by those early followers of Jesus was egalitarian in ways that many of us modern folks can’t even begin to understand.
Today I would invite you to explore your perceptions of the world Jesus calls us to create. As you flesh out those perceptions, I would encourage you to begin to take small steps that might move the world – or at least your corner of the world - in that direction.
Til next time…
Monday, April 19, 2010
What I’m Reading Today: Luke 24
When I worked for the public health department back in Spokane, one of the duties I had was to help staff the outreach center downtown. The outreach center had many functions. One of its primary functions was to get intravenous drug users connected with resources that would greatly reduce their risk of contracting HIV. This meant that I saw a very different side of the community than I had ever seen before.
After a while, most of the individuals who passed through the outreach center didn’t distinguish themselves. Many were people who had made a point of trying to seem invisible to others. It was their way of staying out of trouble.
There was one pair of teenagers who came in, however, that I still remember nearly 13 years later. The couple was made up of a young man who must have been around 17 and a young woman who was around 13. What made the couple stand out was the way the young man cared for the girl who had been thrown out of her abusive home. While many individuals in his circumstance would have preyed upon the young woman’s vulnerability, this young man did not. In fact, he did just the opposite: he provided protection for her on the streets, he showed her where to get help, and he helped her make healthier decisions that wouldn’t put her long term health and well-being at risk. When I looked at the young man as he got a list of resources available to them, I swear I saw more than a scruffy faced teen. The closer I looked at him and the more I listened to him, the more I felt the presence of Christ.
Of course lots of folks would say that was a strange place to bump into the presence of Christ – in a downtown outreach center created to reach at risk populations. But then again – as today’s passage from Luke reminds us – Jesus had an odd way of showing up in the places folks least expected to see him.
At the start of the passage, for instance, the disciples expected to see him in the tomb. When they went to look for Jesus’ body in the tomb, he wasn’t there.
The disciples walking on the road to Emmaus were sure they wouldn’t encounter Jesus anymore. And guess what? They did.
Then, as the group of disciples gathered to hear the story about the others’ encounter with Jesus, guess what happened? That’s right. Jesus appeared.
Jesus had a way of appearing in those times and places that you would least expect!
With this in mind, I would encourage you to keep your eyes and ears open as you move through your day. See if you might find Christ’s presence through the words and actions of another.
Til next time…
When I worked for the public health department back in Spokane, one of the duties I had was to help staff the outreach center downtown. The outreach center had many functions. One of its primary functions was to get intravenous drug users connected with resources that would greatly reduce their risk of contracting HIV. This meant that I saw a very different side of the community than I had ever seen before.
After a while, most of the individuals who passed through the outreach center didn’t distinguish themselves. Many were people who had made a point of trying to seem invisible to others. It was their way of staying out of trouble.
There was one pair of teenagers who came in, however, that I still remember nearly 13 years later. The couple was made up of a young man who must have been around 17 and a young woman who was around 13. What made the couple stand out was the way the young man cared for the girl who had been thrown out of her abusive home. While many individuals in his circumstance would have preyed upon the young woman’s vulnerability, this young man did not. In fact, he did just the opposite: he provided protection for her on the streets, he showed her where to get help, and he helped her make healthier decisions that wouldn’t put her long term health and well-being at risk. When I looked at the young man as he got a list of resources available to them, I swear I saw more than a scruffy faced teen. The closer I looked at him and the more I listened to him, the more I felt the presence of Christ.
Of course lots of folks would say that was a strange place to bump into the presence of Christ – in a downtown outreach center created to reach at risk populations. But then again – as today’s passage from Luke reminds us – Jesus had an odd way of showing up in the places folks least expected to see him.
At the start of the passage, for instance, the disciples expected to see him in the tomb. When they went to look for Jesus’ body in the tomb, he wasn’t there.
The disciples walking on the road to Emmaus were sure they wouldn’t encounter Jesus anymore. And guess what? They did.
Then, as the group of disciples gathered to hear the story about the others’ encounter with Jesus, guess what happened? That’s right. Jesus appeared.
Jesus had a way of appearing in those times and places that you would least expect!
With this in mind, I would encourage you to keep your eyes and ears open as you move through your day. See if you might find Christ’s presence through the words and actions of another.
Til next time…
Saturday, April 17, 2010
What I'm Reading Today: Luke 23
There have been many wonderful things I’ve gained from reading the scholarly work of individuals like John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg. They have helped me understand both the sacred writings of our faith and the traditions of Christianity in new and exciting ways.
One of the examples I would give of this is the way they have talked about the portrayal of whom was primarily responsible for Jesus’ death. Each of the Gospel, for instance, portrays the religious leaders of Jesus’ day as having primary responsibility for Jesus’ death. The political leaders come out looking remarkably innocent. Luke’s Gospel is perhaps the one that comes closest to putting some responsibility on the political leaders (i.e. pointing out that they didn’t see that Jesus had done anything wrong and could have let him go but instead decided to cave in to public pressure).
So why might the authors of the Gospels been so willing to put all of the blame squarely on the religious establishment and let the political leaders off the hook?
Traditionalists would say, “Because that’s where the primary responsibility belonged.” Folks with a more progressive bent like Crossan and Borg would say, “Because the newly emerging movement wanted to fly under the radar of the political establishment so they told Jesus’ story in such a way as to avoid offending the political leaders.”
Which of those perspectives captures the fullness of the truth?
Those of us who live 2,000 after the fact will never know the answer to that question with 100% certainty. Instead, our conclusion will be shaped by our faith – and that’s okay. Nevertheless, it’s important to understand that all events that happen do so within a context – and that context shapes the way we tell our story.
With that in mind, I would invite you to spend some time today thinking about the ways in which your particular context has influenced the way you tell Jesus’ story? How has your level of education, your social/economic location, your racial/ethnic identity and your religious background shaped your narrative?
Once you get in touch with the ways these things have shaped your experience of Jesus’ story, perhaps it will help you be more aware of/sensitive toward the way other people’s context has shaped their telling – and you’ll be able to give them more space and respect.
Til next time…
There have been many wonderful things I’ve gained from reading the scholarly work of individuals like John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg. They have helped me understand both the sacred writings of our faith and the traditions of Christianity in new and exciting ways.
One of the examples I would give of this is the way they have talked about the portrayal of whom was primarily responsible for Jesus’ death. Each of the Gospel, for instance, portrays the religious leaders of Jesus’ day as having primary responsibility for Jesus’ death. The political leaders come out looking remarkably innocent. Luke’s Gospel is perhaps the one that comes closest to putting some responsibility on the political leaders (i.e. pointing out that they didn’t see that Jesus had done anything wrong and could have let him go but instead decided to cave in to public pressure).
So why might the authors of the Gospels been so willing to put all of the blame squarely on the religious establishment and let the political leaders off the hook?
Traditionalists would say, “Because that’s where the primary responsibility belonged.” Folks with a more progressive bent like Crossan and Borg would say, “Because the newly emerging movement wanted to fly under the radar of the political establishment so they told Jesus’ story in such a way as to avoid offending the political leaders.”
Which of those perspectives captures the fullness of the truth?
Those of us who live 2,000 after the fact will never know the answer to that question with 100% certainty. Instead, our conclusion will be shaped by our faith – and that’s okay. Nevertheless, it’s important to understand that all events that happen do so within a context – and that context shapes the way we tell our story.
With that in mind, I would invite you to spend some time today thinking about the ways in which your particular context has influenced the way you tell Jesus’ story? How has your level of education, your social/economic location, your racial/ethnic identity and your religious background shaped your narrative?
Once you get in touch with the ways these things have shaped your experience of Jesus’ story, perhaps it will help you be more aware of/sensitive toward the way other people’s context has shaped their telling – and you’ll be able to give them more space and respect.
Til next time…
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