Nonconformist Chronicles

The New Testament through Jewish Eyes

The prophets were not fortune tellers. Prophecy is too often misunderstood as predictions that came true, possibly years after they were spoken. It is wrongly assumed that the Old Testament scriptures are chock full of Messianic predictions that came true. Christians wonder why Jewish Scripture students do not see how Jesus fulfills these predictions.

I would say that there is little "predictive" prophecy in Scripture. Prophecy is inspired preaching and is not always predictive. When a prophet does make a prediction he typically refers to events that will take place within his own lifetime, not hundreds or thousands of years later. 

Yet there are many New Testament passages that relate back to Old Testament passages. But this rarely, if ever, refers simply to a prediction that came true. In the words of John Shelby Spong "Jews filtered every new experience through the corporate remembered history of their people, as that history had been recorded in the Hebrew scriptures of their past." 

Since the earliest Christians were Jews, they filtered their experience of the God presence they encountered in Jesus of Nazareth through the lens of their Jewish sacred texts. To the Jewish-Christian mind, the life of Israel and its salvation history are recapitulated in the life of Jesus. 

In Spong's book, Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes, he insists that in order to understand the four Gospels (or, for that matter, any of the New Testament) we must learn to read the Gospels with Jewish eyes. Spong demonstrates how the Gospel authors employ Jewish Midrashic style in relating Jesus to their Hebrew Scriptures. Midrash is basically rabbinical commentary on the Hebrew texts in which "stories about heroes of the past are heightened and retold about later heroes."  I would add that stories about events of the past are also heightened and retold about later events 

I cannot overemphasize the importance of recognizing the Midrashic principle at work in the New Testament. It revolutionizes our understanding of how the New Testament uses the Old. In the near future I'll touch on some use of the Midrashic principle in the life of Jesus, showing how the Gospel narratives about him correspond to the Jewish corporate history. I'll also mention Spong's theory on the origin of the Gospels in addition to some of his conclusions which I do not believe are necessary. 

(photo courtesy Flickr).         

Coping with the Stress of Transition

Transitions in life can take you beyond your stress thresh-hold. In Roy Oswald's book New Beginnings: A Pastorate Start Up Workbook part of his advice to ministers in a new work regards coping with the stress of transition. While some of the advice may be unique to ministers, much of it can apply to anyone.

In addition to moving, injury, and changes in job, financial status, or living conditions, stress is also produced by changes in marital status, the death of a loved one, retirement, celebration of holidays, a new addition to the family, or even by an outstanding personal achievement. You might need some coping strategies if any of this has been among your recent experience.

So what follows are coping strategies from Oswald, embellished by Yours Truly, and in no particular order: 

1) Don't make more radical changes. Having just been through a major transition, this is not a good time to start a new diet, change your sleeping patterns, or enroll for a university course. Give yourself some recovery time before launching into anything new. 

2) Be good to yourself. Now there is a difference between being good to yourself and self-indulgence. The latter can destroy your health, while the former can preserve your sanity. So take in a movie, have a favorite desert, or read for recreation. 

3) Stabilize the Family Structure. Follow up a major transition by spending more and not less time with family. You will not not function well if they have difficulty adjusting. Family rituals are one way to help with stability. In our family, we observe a weekly "popcorn-and-a-movie" night. It's usually Friday, but is sometimes made up on Saturday. Each week we watch something "family friendly." It might be Don Knotts, Shirley Temple, Roy Rogers, or Jerry Lewis. But we do this religiously even if we're in a motel with a portable DVD player and microwave popcorn. 

4) Exercise. Having a foot in two towns I've fallen down on this one, but I've taken some small steps lately. I recently stopped by Wal-Mart and bought a basketball. While I could spend my work breaks indulging in more caffeine, I now go out to the church parking lot and take a "hoops break." It's a real stress reliever. A two mile walk in the evening doesn't hurt either. 

5) Have a Support System. Keep up with friends by e-mail or telephone. Find some members of the church family in whom you can confide. With ministers it is often safer if those support systems are out-of-town (at least at first). I once heard a wise man compare a preacher who expects his needs to be met by the congregation to a doctor who expects his needs to be met by his patients. While some mutual ministry will likely happen, a minister is not there so the church can minister to him. He is there to minister to the church.

6) Ease into things. As Oswald states, it is tempting to bust a gut in the first six months of ministry until you settle into a routine. Avoid this temptation. Your first order of business is to get to know the members of the congregation. Know their needs. Know where they live. Visit them on their own turf, invite people over, and have lunch with the heads of the households. If I had past ministries to do over, I would have done far more of this sooner as I am doing now.  

Oswald states that in the first few months you are little more than lover and historian. It is not the time to initiate new programs or make sweeping reforms. Get to know folks individually and learn how the congregation functions as a group. 

7) Spend your first Sunday in the pew as a visitor. My current position is the only church where I have been able to do that. It gave me an opportunity to view the congregation through the eyes of a visitor. And I'm glad I did since I heard a great sermon on Habakkuk and just what I needed at the time. 

8) If possible, take some time between transitions. It was healthy for me to take a vacation between my ministries in Illinois and Kansas. And it was healthy to have time off from the ministry before beginning my latest job. Preaching a farewell sermon one Sunday and a sermon at your new congregation the next does not allow any recovery time.      

So there you are. Preacher or not, I hope some of this is helpful.           

Transitions and Stress

Here I am, posting as infrequently as ever. But as always I'm asking that you not give up on me. There is a reason for the infrequency.

Our family has been in transition for over two years now. Having started a new work in January, I am currently re-reading Roy Oswald's New Beginnings: A Pastorate Start Up Workbook published by the Alban Institute (while I believe this book may be out of print, there are others like it if you do a search of Oswald's name on Amazon). The first few chapters offer advice for coping with transitions and the next several deal with starting well in a new ministry. 

In regard to transitions, Oswald says that we are only able to tolerate so much change in our lives. If too little is familiar or predictable we risk getting sick, or even dying. The book includes a stress inventory listing several events which are said to produce individual stress reactions. The reader is assigned a score for every event listed that has occurred in one's life over the past twelve months. Here is a very small sampling from the list:

• personal injury
• forced out of last church (I assume this means fired)
• job change
• change in financial state
• change in living conditions
• change in residence
• change in schools

Again, this is just a small sampling of the list and each of those items listed above is something that has affected our family over the last twelve months. So have many other things on the list. Oswald says that a score of over 200 means you might be dangerously close to your stress threshold level. My score was 560. 

If by the end of 2009, we manage to sell our house and buy a new one, then all of the following will have happened to us over a two-year time period.

• I was in chiropractic care for several months due to a rear-ending auto accident. Gretchen was just released from therapy after an ice skating accident in December.
• Over the last two years I have had four different jobs, in two fields, in four cities.
• By the end of this year we will probably have moved four times in two years and lived in three cities.

But here is the good part. I'm not under a great deal of stress right now (and I'm not in denial). The leadership of the church to where I'm transitioning has been very patient as we gradually move. It's a lot easier when your new job is within driving distance of your home and within the same state. 

The stress of moving over a thousand miles to another state and the adverse effect this can have on marriage and health is something only those who have done it can possibly imagine. And I'm not talking about a move to or from college which is in a whole different category. I'm talking about an established life that is uprooted and relocated. 

But the whole experience has just confirmed to me how uncertain life is and that nothing can be taken for granted. It has forced me to finally get to a place where I can trust God like I never have before. Does this mean I'm glad all this stuff happened or that I somehow see it as God's plan? Absolutely not! Much of what we've experienced should never have happened. Nor should Joseph have been sold into slavery by his brothers, but it all worked out for good as our situation has and will continue to do so.

In my next post I'll mention some coping strategies that have proved helpful to those undergoing life transitions. I would have done better to apply these strategies more in previous transitions, but this time I am and they are working for me.

Some Favorite Authors

My new office has been set up for quite a while now. All the books are shelved and I've been in the swing of this new work for several weeks. I had said earlier that maybe I'd have an after picture when the books were shelved, so here it is.

I could not help but notice, as I sorted and shelved books, that the names of some authors kept recurring over and over. So below is a list of authors who appear most often on my shelves. They are listed in order of most books to least books, but each name represents multiple volumes.

Just because I have more books by a particular author does not mean that I necessarily like that author's works better. It just means I have more books by that author. I acquire books all kinds of ways. From mail order, to special sales, to gifts, or through trading. So here are the most frequent authors. Of course there are dozens more of whom I don't have but one or two books. Here's the list: 

- Max Lucado

- Rubel Shelly

- Walter Brueggemann

- F. LaGard Smith

 - Philip Yancey

- Gordon Fee

- Gordon MacDonald

- Leonard Allen

- John Ortberg

- N. T. Wright

- F. F. Bruce

- Gary Thomas

- Douglas Stuart

- William Willimon

- Eugene Peterson

- Henri Nouwen

- Richard Hughes

- Charles Swindoll

- John Mark Hicks

- Lynn Anderson

- Gary Holloway

I would probably read about anything from any of these authors. Who would make your list?

I'm Speechless

I woke up without a voice this morning. I got through Sunday in spite of some throat irritation, but this morning I've been unable to talk. My voice is completely gone. I know we take the ability to speak for granted considering my original intentions for today. 

- I was going to the bank to deposit my check, but how can I inform the the teller how I want my cash back? 

- I was going to check out the local seminary and see how we might mutually benefit one another. I was also going to check the status of the church's account at the office supply store. But how can I ask any questions if I can't talk? 

- I was going to call the cable company and set up a church e-mail account. But I can't call anyone if I cannot speak. This means I can't call to check up on the sick or  to set up any visits or lunches. If I went to see someone I could not talk to them anyway. 

- I was going out for lunch today, but how can I place an order? 

Of course I can still whisper, but just barely. Any attempt to talk, or even swallow, brings a stabbing throat pain--although not overly severe. I suppose I have some kind of virus since I awoke with sinus trouble and a cough as well. So I'll just have to be patient and maybe focus on my studies for now. 

But isn't the gift of language amazing? Some theologians insist that our ability for rational communication is part of what it means to be created in God's image. It's part of what separates us from the animals. While animals can communicate with barks, growls, mating calls, and warning cries, only humans can communicate on a sophisticated level that includes language. 

Speech is so powerful that many Scriptures warn against its misuse due to the damage it can cause. Speech is intended to encourage. But it has the power to either build up or tear down. Speech shapes our perception of reality as well as our self-perception. Speech can even create reality. God confused language when humans thought of themselves too highly at Babel. But he made language intelligible at Pentecost so people might humble themselves before Christ.

Our God is the ultimate communicator. He spoke creation into existence. In the beginning was the Word. Jesus is the Word personified--God's ultimate revelation to us--divine speech in-the-flesh. 

Among Jesus' miracles was his curing of those who were mute (Matt. 9:33; 12:22; 15:30-31; Mark 7:37). I never gave that much thought until now. I marveled at the miraculous restoration of sight to the blind and of hearing to the deaf. How terrible it would be if one could not see or hear. But I realize now that the inability to speak can be quite the inconvenience. I can't imagine going through life that way. But Jesus will return and all such afafflictions will be ultimately healed forever. Creation will be restored to its original state.

       

Greetings from the Deep Freeze

I know it's been a while and I keep promising to post regularly again. I hope that not all of you have given up on me. Life has really got in the way of blogging with all the transitions we've been going through since mid-2007. But I am now full time at my new job and so far I'm very happy with it.

My only complaint is that I'm tired of winter. We've recently had too many single digit and below zero days. Many other days have been in the teens. One day last week we had 8-10 inches of snow and it is snowing as I write this. The low tonight is supposed to be 9 and tomorrow it's supposed to be 8. Wednesday's high is predicted to be 17. 

But we've got a heat wave coming in this weekend. Friday it's supposed to warm up to a toasty 38 degrees--woo-hoo! And this weekend we're expecting the 40s. Time to break out the sunscreen! 

I see the forecasts for some of you guys in Texas and I see 60s and 70s. But I will resist the temptation to envy. Well--that concludes the weather report.

I finally got internet hooked up at my new office and I'm settling into a routine (or as close as a preacher can have to one of those). So expect to hear more from me and on more significant topics than the weather. I know, I know. I've said that before. But stay tuned. I may even have more to say this week. Right now it would be nice to hear from you.

Reasons to Read

Most of my books have been shelved now. I still have some journals, video and audio series, etc., but I've run out of space. My library has no room to grow. So the church will be commissioning an additional book case be built for the office. Perhaps I'll have an "after" picture to go with the previous post's "before" picture once the office is squared away.

I'll expect my purchasing to slow down now that I'll live in a town with a seminary. And I've already got a good technical commentary and a good homiletical study on each book of the Bible. 

But I will always buy books. I'll also commit to continuous weeding out since I don't want to outgrow my shelf space. A couple of comments on my previous post expressed interests in reference material. Whether this means commentaries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, or whatever, every Bible student needs a good core reference library. But in addition to that, I will always read books for at least three reasons: 

1) Professional development (Books about ministry, preaching, evangelism, etc.).

2) Personal development (Books on spirituality, marriage, parenting, devotion, and self-help). 

3) Intellectual Development (Biblical, theological, and historical studies).  

There are so many reasons that preachers need to read and so many categories in which we need to read. Preacher or not, what do you read and why?

Library Relocation

So I am now Preacher-elect of a congregation a bit north of here. I have assembled my transition team. I am headed for the square office. One church member observed that it looked as if a library exploded in there. The low quality cell phone picture proves her right. 

My library has been moved to this new office and the picture captures the process of unpacking and sorting my books prior to shelving them. It's an enormous task since I have hundreds of volumes and this is the third library relocation I've done in the last 18 months.

But my transition team was most helpful. My wife, Gretchen, and son, Justin helped me remove the seats from our mini-van (built prior to the seats-fold-down-into-the-floor models). We filled the entire cargo space with boxes of books and files. I drove up north alone and a teen-aged member of the congregation was gracious enough to help me unload on the other end.

Justin has been most invaluable at helping me unpack and sort the books. His job was to organize commentaries and biblical studies into stacks according to books of the Bible and to then put the stacks in canonical order. I was grateful for all those Bible classes where he was encouraged to learn the books of the Bible. It's great when your kids get old enough to help out and as Justin matures, he has been most helpful these days.  

Well, the biblical introductions, theologies, and commentaries are shelved. I'll do the rest this week. An advantage to this library work is that each time I manage to weed some out asking, "Now why have I kept this book for so long?" or "Why do I even have it?" I recently dropped off one hundred books at a media swap where I intentionally came home with far fewer than I donated.

I am reminded to purchase selectively which I've got better at through the years. I also come across books I need to read, but just haven't got to yet.  

I actually enjoy organizing my books. I don't go strictly Dewey decimal, but I have my own system that makes sense to me.

Feel free to comment on anything in this post, but I also want to hear from some of you book people. Tell us about your library. What kinds of books do you have? What topics are especially prevalent? How are your books organized?

A New Job!!!

I am very thankful this holiday season. I've been offered a full time preaching position with the church where I've been filling the pulpit this Fall. I had already preached there about seven times when they made the offer. So we might get in the Guinness Book for the longest job interview on record. We've actually been talking since July. So by now we should know each other well enough to make this work.

The church has a lot going for it including biblically based elders, committed deacons, a nice facility, and a really good number in the youth group for a congregation this size. We'll also have a greater number of peers than we've had in some previous works, with several couples within our age range who are still raising their kids. The town is neither too big, nor too small.

Another great thing about this opportunity is that it's just about ninety minutes  from our house (sometimes less depending on traffic). So this will be the shortest move I've made from one city to another in my adult life. We won't have to change our driver's licenses, bank accounts, Gretchen's teaching certificate, or Justin's charter school. 

The close proximity also allows me to get my office set up before going full time in January. I'll be taking some books and files up over the next several days. So I won't have the distractions of filing papers and shelving books while getting to know people in the congregation. I'm already studying the membership directory and putting together a tentative sermon calendar.

So I'll remain part-time through the remainder of the year while enjoying the holidays with my family. After that it is back to full time work. I am so ready! 

Thanks to all who have prayed for us, have shared job leads, or have continued to check in on this blog even when it was a long time between posts. Thanks to those who've offered words of encouragement. I'm sorry for my extended silence for so long, but I'm starting to feel like writing again. This time I mean it. So stay tuned.    

In and Out of Work

Well, I am out of work again--mostly. The job I had with the company who had the credit bureau contract has played out. I was not fired and I did not quit. The job simply ended. I'm still preaching most Sundays, but it remains to be seen whether this will become permanent. Both parties remain undecided as to whether this is indeed the best fit. So I guess that for now I am still available. I need a permanent living wage job sooner as opposed to later.

But the day job I had for the last six weeks was by no means a waste of time. Between that job and my part time preaching we've been able to just squeak by financially. Both jobs I've been doing have been much needed confidence builders--and you need all the confidence you can get when you've been through what I have and when you're going through what I am. The church where I've been preaching lately has been very complimentary of my ministry both in regard to my preaching and my people skills. All I need to be effective is a few folks who know how to encourage. 

But as for the other job, it's been a great refresher course on how "normal" people live. Here is what I dealt with on a week-to-week basis:

- Fighting morning traffic (One morning it was raining and it took me 25 minutes to go a quarter of a mile to get on the freeway ramp. I don't know what the holdup was, but traffic had come to a crawl). 

- Being tied up with an inflexible schedule 9 to 6 Monday through Friday. 

- Having to squeeze in most errands on Saturday morning before noon. 

- Punching a time clock and wearing a name badge. 

- Undergoing credit checks, criminal background checks, and drug testing (and BTW, I passed all with flying colors). 

- Looking forward to weekends, pizza and bagel days, and being able to wear jeans on casual Fridays. 

- Remembering what it's like to be a "worker bee" in the corporation while watching the middle management and recalling when I made about as much as some of them do. 

- Dealing with irate clients, while trying to focus on the majority who are pleasant and complimentary. 

- Being frustrated when the soda pop machine is sold out of Mountain Dew. 

- Having a limited amount of time to finish my lunch. 

- Wondering if I would accept a promotion, if offered, knowing it would mean more money, but far less time with my family (a moot point now, but I understand the struggle a lot better than I did in the past). 

- Rushing from work to get to my kids' events on time. 

- Overhearing ridiculous and uninformed conversation on religion and politics. 

- Trying to avoid the above conversations as well as all work place gossip. 

So there is a summation of my refresher course in the nine to five work-a-day world. I'm not opposed to returning to this world, but neither am I opposed to full time ministry, or even a bi-vocational situation. I'd even go back to school if necessary. We'll see what happens.