Back to Galatians

Beginning October 14 I will be returning to a series of sermons on Paul's letter to the Galatians. Background material can be found at:

http://joesgalatianblog.blogspot.com/

The Art of Reading Scripture

The Scripture Project, “Nine Theses on the Interpretation of Scripture” in The Art of Reading Scripture, Ellen Davis & Richard Hays, eds.

• Thesis One: Scripture truthfully tells the story of God’s action of creating, judging, and saving the world.
  
• Thesis Two: Scripture is rightly understood in light of the church’s rule of faith as a coherent dramatic narrative.
• Thesis Three: Faithful interpretation of Scripture requires an engagement with the entire narrative: the New Testament cannot be rightly understood apart from the Old, nor can the Old be rightly understood apart from the New.
• Thesis Four: Texts of Scripture do not have a single meaning limited to the intent of the original author. In accord with Jewish and Christian traditions, we affirm that Scripture has multiple complex senses given by God, the author of the whole drama.
• Thesis Five: The four canonical gospels narrate the truth about Jesus.
• Thesis Six: Faithful interpretation of Scripture invites and presupposes participation in the community brought into being by God’s redemptive action — the church.
  
• Thesis seven: The saints of the church provide guidance in how to interpret and perform Scripture.
• Thesis eight: Christians need to read the Bible in dialogue with diverse others outside the church.
• Thesis nine: We live in the tension between the “already” and the “not yet” of the kingdom of God; consequently, Scripture calls the church to ongoing discernment, to continually fresh rereadings of the text in light of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work in the world.
  

October 7, 2007 World Communion Sunday and Peacemaking

Peacemaking -- Part 2

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

A French translation of this Beatitude goes something like this: "Blessed are the artisans of peace." From the first time I read this in French, I have felt drawn to the realization that being a peacemaker is an art -- not a science. The genesis of this is in seeing peace as rooted in the human imagination. Peace seeking defies biological determinism; it seems counter intuitive to seeking human self-interest. On this Sunday, I will be exploring the art of peacemaking and its roots in the human creative spirit.

To help us celebrate this Lord's Day, our youth and children will offer an art fair around the theme of peacemaking. This should be a joy filled time.

Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), offers the Lord's Supper to all who have been baptized in the name of the Triune God. At the Table we see Christ as our host, and Christ welcomes all God's children for this simple, yet generous banquet.

Sunday, September 30, 2007 -- 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Peacemaking--Part 1

The first Sunday in October is celebrated as World Communion Sunday and Peacemaking Sunday. This week will be "jump start" for next week. Thus, Part 1.

To help prepare for Peacemaking Sunday, I will be looking at 1 Timothy 6:2b-19 and Amos 6:1a, 4-7. This is a slight variation of the lectionary readings for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Teach and urge these duties. ³Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness, ⁴is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, ⁵and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

⁶Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; ⁷for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; ⁸but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. ⁹But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. ¹¹But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

¹³In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. ¹⁶It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. ¹⁷As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, ¹⁹thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

I have highlighted verses which at this time seem most provocative.

• What is the meaning of "contentment" in this passage and how does it fit into being godly?
• Further, what is "godliness?"
• The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil brings a familiar proverb to our attention. It is the "love" of money that is at issue -- not money per se.
• And, "all kinds of evil" is brought up -- what are the evils that arise from greed -- another way of expressing the "love of money."
• Verse 13 draws our attention to God as the Creator and later we see that Christ is the "King of kings and Lord of lords." This put everything in the heaves and the earth under the watchful eye of God. In visiting several Orthodox church I have seen the image of God portrayed as a solitary eye that keeps watch and rules.

Do you have some thoughts you would like to add?

If you would like to read the whole of 1 Timothy 6, click here.

Special Youth Service -- Hope in Our Midst

Sunday, September 23rd, our worship service will be lead by the six young people who went to the Presbyterian Youth Gathering this past summer. Many of the members of Chapel Hill helped send these young people to an event that has been "life changing." This worship service is a "thanks" for the congregation's support. The theme for the services will be the same theme as the Gathering, "Hope in Our Midst."

It is my hope that you will will come and be with us for this celebration of the gifts of God with our youth.

Yes! I get a Sunday off from preaching. Thank you, youth!

Luke 15:1-10

The shepherd and the widow were persons from the margins of the social mainstream. Maybe that not exactly true, for the majority of the people at the time of Jesus were on the away margins from the power systems of religion and governance. But, suffice it to say, that the main characters of the two parables were not power people in their community.

The shepherd provided a necessary service for the community -- even a very smelly and unpleasant service, and the widow was dependent upon her son's generosity (or the charity of her community) for her well-being. I guess that it would not have been too hard for the people hearing the parables (not the religious leaders) to identify with the shepherd and the widow. Or, would they?

The religious leaders hearing these parables would have been threatened or befuddled by the messages.

C. H. Dodd's definition of a parable

The most thought provoking definition of parable comes from C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, Rev. ed (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1961)

“At its simplest, the parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.”

This definition allows a parable to be either a metaphor and/or a simile (sometimes a hangup issue among biblical scholars). But the key is the fascinating possibility that the parable creates a "sufficient doubt" thus provoking thought or "teasing" out thought/reflection. What a wonderful hope for keeping Scripture from being dead dogma, and being kept alive by the Holy Spirit. One might even carefully speculate that the Holy Spirit provokes doubt or, at least, is in the midst of it!