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Friday, June 20, 2008
A picture of connections in the biblical narrative
From the Everyday Liturgy blog:
Seems some people keen on visualizing the narrative intersections of the Bible have linked all the different cross-refrences, metaphors, images, and stories together in a biblical mosaic of color.The alternating grey and white at the bottom are the different books of the Bible, and the colored arcs connecting them are all the different narrative strands.
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
ISOT on Covenant-God, not Contract-God
[We should see our relationship with God not] in terms of a legalistic contract between humanity and God rather than a gracious covenant. Whereas a covenant is unconditional, Torrance explained, a contract is a legal relationship and has mutual conditions. 𦴧irst and foremost, the whole federal scheme is built upon the deep-seated confusion between a covenant and a contract, a failure to recognize that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a Covenant-God and not a contract God.�
Here’s the Torrance reference:
James B. Torrance, 飈ovenant or Contract? A Study of the Theological Background of Worship in Seventeenth Century Scotland�, Scottish Journal of Theology 23 (1970), p.66.
Related Resource
Worship as Covenant Renewal
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Corwin Smidt on political cues during worship
A belated link: CSR’s blog links to a draft of a working paper co-authored by Corwin Smidt of Calvin College as part of a research initiative supported by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.
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Thursday, February 14, 2008
Jeremiah, vocation, and hope, in Interpretation
Phillip Thompson gives a provocative ode to vocation in the current issue of Interpretation:
Jeremiah 1:1-10.(Between Text & Sermon).
Philip E. Thompson.
Interpretation 62.1 (Jan 2008): p66(3). (1474 words)Vocation is a divine gesture toward a world under God’s reign. As such, Gilbert Meilaender reminds us “vocation exacts a price and not all can pay it. Even though it may seem to draw us, its point is not happiness.... To follow the vocation does not mean happiness; but once it has been heard, there is no happiness for those who do not follow” (The Freedom of a Christian, 2006, 105). Vocation is compelling, and yet can create a pronounced lack of fit. Such was the case with Jeremiah (see 20:7-9). ...
[A]s a divine gesture toward a different world, to pursue a vocation is to hope. The final two verbs of Jeremiah’s call, “to build and to plant,” bespeak an assurance that God can work newness ex nihilo and create historical possibilities out of unmitigated chaos (Brueggemann, 24). Thus, even as vocation may create a lack of fit and even bring about separation, in so doing, it constitutes us as pilgrims who live in hope (Meilaender, 112).
Also see our worship service series on faith and work
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N.T. Wright on Heaven: ‘Surprised By Hope’
I devoted my first book and much of my thinking and teaching so far to rediscovering a more biblical view of heaven and the afterlife, so I’m thrilled to see a star theologian devote a new book to the topic: N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church.
Time magazine’s website did an interview with Wright last week about the book, under the headline “Christians Wrong About Heaven, Says Bishop.” I think Wright is right about Christians being wrong:
Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we are we are all going to heaven. They all say, Jesus is raised, therefore the new creation has begun, and we have a job to do.
Wright has been making his case in scattered essays and sermons for several years now--and of course his magnum opus is a huge book on the resurrection--but he’s never pulled together his eschatology into one book like this before. I hope the church takes it seriously and embraces a more biblical hope.
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Too early to think about preaching in the summer?
Preaching Today’s blog says no:
We got dumped with a foot of snow in Chicagoland two days ago, so I𠍿 happy to think about summer! But preaching, rather than weather, is what𠏋 on my mind. What are preachers to do when their people are 魀n and out� the whole summer? Is it possible to preach a sermon series even though half the congregation may have missed last week𠏋 sermon and will probably miss next week𠏋 sermon, too? Let me share how I approach this.
Also see our guide to Planning Worship for July and August
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
NTS on Awe in Revelation 4&5
The Strategic Arousal of Emotions in the Apocalypse of John: A Rhetorical-Critical Investigation of the Oracles to the Seven Churches
By David A. DeSilva
New Testament Studies, Volume 54, Issue 01, January 2008, pp 90-114
doi: 10.1017/S0028688508000064
Revelation 1.12-16; 4.1-5.14 can be understood largely as representations of God, Christ, heavenly personnel, and heavenly court ceremonial designed to arouse genuine awe - and this, most strategically. The extensive scholarly literature on Revelation’s interaction with, and opposition to, Roman imperial cult and court ceremonial leaves now little room for doubt that John attempted to evoke such a response, in part, to draw members of the audience away from the possibility of being impressed by the emperor, especially through all the pomp and circumstance of the manifestations of imperial cult in their cities, and to be more impressed - to feel more awe - in response to Jesus. The Glorified Christ trumps all the pretensions of human rulers and their pomp, their ‘aura’. John’s own response reflects the emotional response he seeks to kindle among his audience - being so overcome by the vision of Christ as he exists now in his post-resurrection, post-ascension state, that physical strength fails (Rev 1.17).
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Friday, February 08, 2008
NTS on Paul, redemption, creation, and the ‘cosmic covenant’
Romans 8.19�22 and Isaiah’s Cosmic Covenant
By Jonathan Moo
New Testament Studies (2008), 54: 74-89 Cambridge University Press
doi:10.1017/S0028688508000052Paul claims that creation𠏋 final release from this bondage will not be attained until the full revelation of the children of God, an event that Paul equates with a future 𩹨edemption of our bodies�. Yet there is ambiguity in the status of the 倴hildren of God� in Romans 8, who both are and are not yet God𠏋 children, and this ambiguity likely reflects the tension in Paul𠏋 view of the resurrection life and the new creation, which belong at once both to the unseen future and to the believers� present life in Christ. When this tension within Paul𠏋 eschatology is situated within the dynamic context of a cosmic covenant provided by Isaiah, there may even be created an opening for those who desire to interpret Romans 8 ecologically. For Paul, God𠏋 children and the created order are inevitably co-sharers in both suffering and glory; but, more than that, as through the Spirit the children of God are enabled 𩾷o become what they are�, there is perhaps hope even in 𩾷he present evil age� that individuals and communities orient themselves toward God and creation in such a way that the [ktisis] itself gains glimpses of its longed-for hope of freedom.
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SJOT on the Messiah Figure of the Old Testament
The Messiah Epithet in the Hebrew Bible
By Thomas L. Thompson
Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, Volume 15, Issue 1 June 2001 , pages 57 - 82Abstract
Rather than a reference ‘’to a present, political and religious leader who is appointed by God, applied predominantly to a king, but also to a priest and occasionally a prophet’’ as proposed in 1985 by the first Princeton Symposium of Judaism and Christian origins, the term ‘MSH’ in the Hebrew Bible is an epithet or title which functions within a literary and mythic but not an historical context. The role of the messiah as played in the Hebrew Bible is not uniquely Jewish, but functions within the symbol system of ancient Near Eastern royal ideology and functions within a theology of divine transcendence and immanence. The coherence of the mythic role of the messiah is identified in relation to concepts of messianic time, as in the functions of expiating and mediating transcendence, of maintaining creation through war against the powers of chaos and the establishment of eternal peace. David’s role as messiah in the Psalter is described in his role as ideal representative of piety, and as ruler over destiny bringing the good news expressed in various forms of ‘’the poor man’s song.’’ Finally, the role of the messiah myth is integrated with utopian concepts of a new Israel.
continued...
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Monday, December 10, 2007
N.T. Wright on “The Most Dangerous Baby”
Suddenly, Luke’s scene ceases to be a romantic pastoral idyll, with the rustic shepherds paying homage to the infant King. It becomes a clear statement of two kingdoms destined to compete, kingdoms that offer radically different definitions of what peace and power and glory are all about.
Here is the old king in Rome, turning 60 in the year Jesus was born: he represents perhaps the best that pagan kingdoms can do. At least he knows that peace and stability are good things; unfortunately, he has had to kill a lot of people to bring them about, and to kill a lot more, on a regular basis, to preserve them. Unfortunately, too, his real interest is in his own glory. Already, before his death, many of his subjects have begun to regard him as divine.
Here, by contrast, is the young King in Bethlehem, born with a price on his head. He represents the dangerous alternative, the possibility of a different empire, a different power, a different glory, a different peace. The two stand over against one another.
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
New blog by young clergy women
From Fidelia’s Sisters, a new blog funded in part by The Louisville Institute:
Fidelia’s Sisters is an online publication by, for, and about young clergy women, with new material appearing on a rotating schedule over the course of a month. We publish short stories, visual art, poetry, liturgical resources, personal essays, reflections, interviews, book reviews, and more. We strive to be a space where some of the professional and personal issues that young clergy women face are addressed with honesty, all the while recognizing that no one “kind” of young clergy woman has a monopoly on who young clergy women are.
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JSNT on the Head-Waiter and Bridegroom in John 2
Head-Waiter and Bridegroom of the Wedding at Cana: Structure and Meaning of John 2.1-12
Jean-Bosco Matand Bulembat, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya
Journal for the Study of the New Testament
Vol. 30, No. 1, 55-73 (2007)
This study of the account of the wedding at Cana in Jn 2.1-12 was prompted by reactions to the manner in which Jesus addresses his mother as `Woman’. The literary structure of the pericope is analysed, and the roles of Jesus and his mother compared and contrasted with those of the bridegroom and head-waiter respectively. It is argued that Jesus is the true bridegroom and his mother the true head-waiter in this story, reflecting their status and roles in the divine dispensation. The connotations of `woman’ need to be understood in their cultural context, and approximate those of `mother’, the term of respect with which many African people address women in their societies.
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Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Colossians 1 reflection from Interpretation
Between Text & Sermon: Colossians 1:15-28
by Richard L. Christensen
Interpretation v. 61 no3 (July 2007) p. 318-20The Christian community at Colossae faced a surrounding society filled with Greek cults that appealed to people. These mystery cults reserved the secrets of salvation only for initiates. But the mystery of Christ is available to all (Col. 1:27). And it is a very different notion of salvation. In contrast to the teachings of some Gnostic groups, which sought deliverance from the world of nature and history, Christian faith teaches that Christ does not deliver people from the created order but from the powers that enslave human beings. The powers that Christ overcomes are those that lead people away from the worship of the one true God. When he makes peace “by the blood of his cross,” Jesus Christ forgives our sins, delivers people from the darkness called “death,” and restores a right relationship, not only to God, but also to the whole creation. The purpose of God’s salvation is not to escape the world, but to re-create it. This God does through the cross and the resurrection. This mystery (1:26) is not a carefully guarded secret, but it has been revealed for all to see, not simply a chosen few. The reconciliation accomplished through the cross includes not just human beings, but “all things” (1:20). In Christ, God’s purpose is the healing and wholeness of the entire world. ...
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Thursday, July 19, 2007
BuildingChurchLeaders on preaching in a series
From BuildingChurchLeaders.com
Think in series. Preaching a series allows you to go into greater depth in the text, and spending several weeks on one theme allows the teaching to be absorbed more thoroughly. I recently finished a six-month series on the book of Acts, and it was wonderful to be immersed in the early church. I think one mistake preachers often make is to cycle through material too fast. Just saying something once doesn’t mean it will sink in.
Doing a series also gives you momentum. It makes your research more efficient, and spares you the Monday morning question of “What am I going to teach on next week?” It also helps give you balance, teaching through the whole counsel of God. Those things happen more readily when you plan your series in advance.
I usually try to think in terms of four-month cycles.
Related Resources
Planning Ahead: Preparing Your Worship Calendar
Planning a Summer Sermon Series from the Center for Excellence in Preaching
Planning Ahead: A Six-Month Calendar from the Center for Excellence in Preaching
Friday, July 06, 2007
Catapult on ‘In Sickness’
Catapult’s latest theme issue is on In Sickness, and includes a sermon by Stan Mast on Psalm 103 entitled “And Heals All Your Diseases.” Catapult’s introduction to the issue:
Often, the question of why bad things happen to good people is prompted by illness. A physical force we cannot control conspires against a body to interfere with daily activities and life plans. Every day, people find ways to manage these forces, if not heal completely--and every day, bodies surrender to death. On our attempts to negotiate times of physical and mental illness in ourselves andd others.
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