I like Scot McKnight’s fear of and fascination for the Bible that he expresses in this introduction to his book:

“I have learned that when we take our hands off the pages of the Bible, read and listen to its words, and enter into its story by faith, something happens.  It renews and continues to renew its powers.  It becomes what it was meant to be, something both more intimate than an old pair of jeans and more unusual than alien creatures, something like a familiar stranger or an unpredictable neighbor or a pet lion whose presence invigorates its surroundings. Something like the glory of the ocean, which on the surface appears gentle and strolling and pleasant to observe, but under that surface there’s a vibrant, teeming, swirling, dynamic world full of beauty and wonder. Or perhaps listening to the Bible is like having the most powerful person in the world sit down with you for coffee as a friend and chat with you.”

Anyone who feels like they’ve got the whole Bible thing worked out probably also thinks the collar and leash they’ve got on Aslan is going to hold.

In keeping with my general theme on this blog, I am not a Bible expert.  Or a seminary graduate.  But I do think that anyone who wants to can learn how to read the Bible the way God wants us to.  Given that assurance, and my huge background in hermeneutics (I read How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth in a small group!) I dove into Scot McKnight’s The Blue Parakeet this week.

It’s both more readable and more mysterious than How to Read.  The tone is much more conversational and casual.  But McKnight’s philosophy is much more …. philosophical … than Fee and Stuart’s.  I give a quick summary below – not so you know what it is about, but to help me process.

McKnight’s main question is “how are we to live out the Bible today?”  And in his answer is as follows:

1. Know the Story.  Know the Bible well enough to actually understand its big picture.  McKnight gives a great summary of Biblical theology here, and I agreed with it.  The very very short form is God created us for oneness, we fractured this into otherness, and he is restoring us to oneness.
2. Listen to God, and listen to church history. These are the two “walls” that keep us travelling in the right direction.  Reading the Bible requires us to desire most of all a relationship with God and to hear his voice.  The church history part is a little more nebulous.  It includes both exegesis and recognition of how the church has traditionally interpreted the Scripture.  But it doesn’t include following the rules of the past just because they are there.
3. Discern the pattern for today.  Here’s where I got uncomfortable.  According to McKnight, each generation receives God’s Spirit and direction for its current culture.  On the many parts of scripture which are open to interpretation, the “right” reading will change with the years and the culture.

McKnight spends the second half of the book working out how this looks for a single example – that of women in ministry.  But I’m going to avoid getting sucked into that, here, and think about what his hermeneutic means.

If McKnight is correct, then “how are we to live out the Bible” changes over the years.  And is even different among different cultures.  And that isn’t an idea that I’ve seen spelled out so thoroughly before.  The Story of the Bible does not change, and any new discernment must fit the Story.  But if the most literal reading of a section of Scripture does not match what we consider is the main Story (“it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church”), then we should seek more information about why that culture required the text in order to be part of the Story. 

The most reassuring part of the book was, for me, the reaffirmation that everyone “picks and chooses.” There isn’t anyone who lives the Bible literally.  And what McKnight continually reinforces as most important is that the Bible itself and the Holy Spirit are the most important tools to help us make the right decisions. 

I certainly don’t feel like I have a real firm grasp on this philosophy yet.  It’s the kind of thing that I need practice doing, now that I’ve seen it done for one topic.  Now that would make for an interesting small group…. yo, Scot?

Recommended for anyone curious about hermeneutics, about complementarian vs egalitarian views of women in ministry, or wants their world rocked a bit by an encouraging and loving author. 

I never did get around to explaining the title, did I?

I love Ann’s thoughtful discussion of reading the Bible deeply.  The goal is not so much to get the reading IN during the day, but to get the reading in my heart, and to actually work to apply it.

Read Ann Voskamp’s Lectio divina as oatmeal here, and her fabulous link to Dan Edelen’s World’s Best Bible Reading Program.

I’d love to see more posts on NOT reading the Bible on my iPhone or Blackberry.  More posts on using technology to meditate, to ponder, to clear the slate and focus, to memorize and apply.  Let me know what you’ve got in that direction.  I’m off to work on Philippians 2.

We have finished the small group I created on hermeneutics, so I thought it would be useful to post some philosophical feedback.  The practicalities can be found here on my small group site.

1. There is no small-group curriculum on hermeneutics. 

There are lots of Church small group curricula out there – everything from money to marriage to “bad girls of the Bible.”  But nothing higher up on the theological scale.  So I had to invent my own.  There are other churches doing this sort of theology classes, like Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz.  It would be nice to have material to work with. 

2. Book clubs on theology topics allow a leader to learn along with the class.

The book club format worked really well.  I’m good at keeping people who care on track, and we were all able to teach each other.  We also had a pretty high level of trust in the book, which is used in freshman classes at Biola University.  So the book was the teacher, I was facilitator and host, and we all were students.

3. When you advertise a class called “How to Read the Bible,”  people sign up who want to learn how to read the Bible. 

Okay, that was obvious.  But I intended the class to be on hermeneutics, and the book was CALLED “How to Read the Bible for all Its Worth."  It turned out that several people signed up who had never really been able to read the Bible, and wanted to learn.  Which leads to…

4. You can’t teach hermeneutics at the same time as teaching how to read the Bible.

Maybe YOU can.  But I couldn’t.  I tried.  So several people rather politely stayed in our book club, learning random things about exegesis and eschatology instead of about what they really wanted to know.  Which leads to…

5. I want to find a way to teach people who are not big readers how to read the Bible.

Any ideas?  I read several books on different techniques, and would love to do some more in-depth study of texts… but I LIKE to read.  How can we make the Bible more accessible to people who aren’t able to read well?  Audio Bibles?  Easier translations? 

This class was a great learning experience.  We are starting a new one on biblical theology in a week with the same basic format… stay tuned.

We have been running a series of short “book club” style small groups for our church.  For this last one I offered the previous group a choice of Christian classics that met the following constraints:

1. Had to be short enough to make good progress in six weeks
2. Had to be thoughtful and “deep,” but
3. Had to be accessible for those who don’t read for enjoyment

The book we chose was A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, by Eugene Peterson.  It has 16 chapters, but a study guide available on Amazon indicated that six weeks of one chapter a week was worth it.

I’ve posted the study questions we used on our small group site.

Overall, I was pleased with the study.  I love Peterson’s writing.  This is his first book and he’s a little less… literary than he is now.  But he still has this great focus on obedient, contemplative reading of God’s word.  Our group had people from all stages of growth, and everyone found something interesting to think about.

The major theme was continued obedience in spite of trials.  This was something I needed to hear.  While I am not surprised when trials hit, I tend to think of God as leaving us IN these hard places as a method of growth.  But the Psalms that Peterson talks about continually point out how God rescues us from destruction and we can trust him.  This was a great reminder.

We are starting a new study in January – God’s Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts, looking at biblical theology.

"Judgement Day" by Fra. Angelico

Each week of Advent has a reading from the Hebrew Bible, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles. This is the reading from the Epistles, according to the Revised Common Lectionary.

2 Peter 3:8-15a
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.

When I read the whole chapter in 2 Peter, I was struck by Peter’s exhorations to his readers.  “People will scoff!  They will say nothing has changed in the world!”  And that is certainly true… if what we are looking for is perfection now.  But our God is this mysterious melding of justice and mercy.  He is waiting patiently, working with those who seek him and try to live in his will.  There will someday come a time when judgement comes and fire burns away sin.  But we will not know when that is, and it isn’t our job to seek that knowledge.

Our job is to live holy and godly lives.  To look forward to the full presence of his kingdom, and help God in any way we can.  And to be patient with the weaknesses of this world.  Every day the Holy Lord waits is a day he is demonstrating his deep love for us.

Advent is a time of waiting.  But Peter tells us it isn’t a time to hide and wait.  It’s a time to work and wait.

The Revised Common Lectionary lists the beginning and end of Psalm 80 as the Week 1 reading of Advent.  As I read it, cleaning it up to post here, I was struck by the helplessness and pain of the author.  And his confidence that the coming of God would return him to peace.

Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19

1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
shine forth

2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
come and save us.

3 Restore us, O God;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.

4 How long, LORD God Almighty,
will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?

5 You have fed them with the bread of tears;
you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

6 You have made us an object of derision to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.

7 Restore us, God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
….
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.

18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.

19 Restore us, LORD God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.

I was struck by the imagery of light, and the cleansing strength and glory of God’s face.
And during this Advent season, the “resting of your hand on the man at your right hand” takes on new meaning.  The psalmist has no idea that this son of man that God has raised up will be pleated out of the kingdom dimension and be wholly present in our aching world.

And this shining of God, in response to our pain, is done with such power and gracious sacrifice.  God is with us.  At Christmas and always.

The Vanderbilt Lectionary lists readings associated with Advent as part of the Revised Common Lectionary.  As I have been part of a non-denominational evangelical church since junior high, I only barely know what that means.  But I am enjoying learning about Advent this season.

For Week 1, the reading from the Hebrew Bible is Isaiah 64: 1-9

1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down,
that the mountains would tremble before you!

2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze
and causes water to boil,
come down to make your name known to your enemies
and cause the nations to quake before you!

3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect,
you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

4 Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?

6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

7 No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and have given us over to our sins.

8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

9 Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look on us, we pray,
for we are all your people.

To me, this is a beautiful mix of exultation and fear of the power of God.  I would love to see the mountains tremble…. though I know that I would be trembling just as much.  And I see a recognition of our sin that has separated us from God… deserving of our fate, accepting.  But still hoping that we can be cleansed, refined.  Made new.  In the spirit of Advent, we are waiting for God to come.

I have spent lots of years in college.  And now I teach others how to be good at college.  So in general, I feel like I’m pretty good at getting meat out of reading and learning from books.

It’s a goal of mine to better apply this to the Bible.  I want to get more meat out of Scripture than comes from Sunday sermons and weeknight “small group” chats.  I’ve read the books and now I’m trying to apply them.  It seems pretty clear that the essentials are:

1. Dedicated chunks of time
2. Writing along with reading
3. Focusing on chapters within books, not verses

I distilled several of the techniques I found in books to three that I could share with my class:  manuscript study, “10 questions per chapter,” and book summary charts.  Today I tried the summary chart for the first time, along with a notebook to record the essentials of Philippians.  I definitely got more out of this time than I would have during just a quick devotional time in the morning.

But I am struggling with writing in my Bible.  I have a “study” Bible I have for just these times of study.  There’s no reason I can’t write in it (it has nice big margins), and I want to record my thoughts.  But what do I write?  Do I circle and draw all over the text so that it becomes illegible to simply read in the future?  Do I just write in the margins, with marks to the appropriate paragraphs?  Should I wait until I read the whole book, or start marking what I think is important right off the bat?  What if the emphasis changes?

I feel like I will mess things up if I write the wrong words at the start of the book.

Oh!

And now another video to process!  This continues the story in the post below.

Willow Creek’s Leadership Summit 2008 was just held, and they have several videos available.

My first watch was called “Leadership Unscripted: Reveal Insight” by Greg Hawkins.  They’ve just published a second book on how people move from seeker to Christ Follower, and guess what the number one mechanism to MOVE people to spiritual MATURITY is?  Yep.

Bible reading and reflection.