Threads from Henry's Web

Category: Thought Questions

  • When the Glory of God Shows Up

    Scripture:  1 Kings 8:10-11 (Proper 16B)

    I like to say that God is present everywhere, and that the difference between one time and another is much more with our awareness of God’s presence than it is with any action on God’s part.  But if we believe scripture, there are times when God’s presence is especially visible, and this passage narrates one of them.  You can get a better picture by reading all of chapter 8, rather than just the snippets that are included in the lectionary passage.

    The question I want to present is this:  Can we experience God’s presence in a special way today, and if so, how?  Further, how similar would that experience be to what is described in this text?

    Make sure that you don’t discount the text before you start.  It appears to me, at least, that we’re talking about an impact that is visible to all.

    Here are some links to blog posts or essays in which I discuss God’s glory:

     

    Ezekiel 1 – a Glimpse of the Glory of Yahweh (Energion: Religion, Philosophy, and Politics)

    This is my starting point.  It’s a college paper I wrote my senior year in college. I’d largely stand by what I said now.  The glory of God and its movement is a substantial theme in Ezekiel, and the positioning of the various elements is no accident.

    Eternity in Liturgy (Participatory Bible Study Blog)

    How does glory fit into liturgy?  This is one of the key questions that tie into those I asked above.

    Lectionary Texts for the Transfiguration – Cycle A (Participatory Bible Study Blog)

    The transfiguration gives insights into the nature of God’s glory and the purpose of its appearance.

     

     

  • Why did God give Solomon Riches?

    See 1 Kings 3:3-14 (Proper 15B)

    Why does God choose to give Solomon riches and make him great after Solomon asks for wisdom?

    God is pleased with Solomon’s request and grants it, yet he also grants him everything else he might desire.  The result, as we read further into the story, is that Solomon turns away from God and really becomes a not-so-good ruler.

    Would Solomon have also turned from God if he had been given very little?  We really don’t know. What we do know is that he did not use his wealth and the power he was given as wisely as he might have, given all that wisdom.

    I don’t have any certain answer to this question.  Scripture simply doesn’t tell us.  But by thinking about the question and this story, I think we can get some idea about God’s gifts.  Many in the church today are returning to the view tha many in Israel had, that rices indicates God’s blessing and approval while poverty indicates God’s disapproval.  (Prosperity theology implies this, I believe.)

    But in Solomon’s case, while he is blessed with riches, he remains rich as he turns further and further from God.  God’s gifts carry with them a responsibility.  One could say the same thing about the gift of wisdom.  Solomon clearly had both knowledge and wisdom, but in the end he did not rule wisely, as events showed.

     

  • Eating the Bread – Missing the Sign

    Our gospel passage (John 6:24-35) for Proper 13B is pretty tightly packed, so I’m going to write a couple of short articles about it this morning.  I’ve thought about many things as I was reading this passage, but I won’t have time to write about them all.

    First of all, as I read this morning, I’m using the Greek and Hebrew Reader’s Bible, which presents the text along with lexical information, including morphology.  I will have some comments on this resource as a tool later today on my Participatory Bible Study Blog.  (I’ll correct that link to point to the specific post as soon as I get the notes written.)

    In verse 26 Jesus tells the people that they believed not because they saw the sign but because they ate the bread.  I believe many people would regard those as the same thing, and this results in a continuing misunderstanding of the role of miracles in the church and in the world.  There’s a tendency to believe that seeing something that appears to be a miracle is simply a way to make people believe that God exists.  If you’ve seen the miraculous event, you’ve seen the “sign.”

    But Jesus here points to a different reality.  Jesus didn’t produce bread for people to eat simply because he wanted some bread.  He had another purpose, a deeper purpose.  It was quite possible to witness what we would call a miracle, and at the same time miss the point entirely.

    In modern times, particularly in charismatic or pentecostal churches, we expect God to work miracles on a constant basis to alter the physical reality of our lives.  (Note that I use “we” here because I tend charismatic.)  Then we complain when God doesn’t do what we think he should.  But God doesn’t perform miracles for the sole purpose of altering physical reality.  We’re living in the big miracle, the very universe, and then we complain when God allows (or causes) his universe to function consistently.

    When a miracle comes, we are thankful for the physical result, but do we see the sign?  Do we see the work that God is wanting to perform in our lives?  Do we even use the results of God’s actions to build God’s kingdom?

    The people who ate the bread began to think of Jesus as a good source of physical bread.  And God is the source of physical bread.  But the way God normally wants you to get physical bread is by following the patterns he has laid out in the universe and growing it.  This bread was to point people to Jesus himself, as the bread of life.

    Thought question:  In what ways can we “eat the bread” but fail to see the sign in our lives today?

     

  • Romans 4:13-25 – Abraham and God (Lent 2B)

    There are two questions I think will prove very much worth some meditation time.  This is a rich passage, so obviously there are more, but let me emphasize just two.

    First, Paul uses Abraham a great deal.  In an excursus on page 2015, amongst the notes on chapter 4, the New Interpreter’s Study Bible notes that “Abraham is cited more frequently in Paul’s letters than any other historical figure except Jesus.”  What is it about Abraham that makes him such an excellent example?  Paul uses him, James uses him in a seemingly contradictory manner, though one that I think is quite reconcilable.

    Abraham is “caught” by God outside of God’s community.  Though he is a descendant of the patriarchal line, he is known for worshiping other Gods (Joshua 24:2).  He has done no works to earn God’s favor.  God simply selects him and takes action.  Paul uses this to illustrate how God’s salvation is grace based, and I would reemphasize that it was always based on grace.  While there are distinctions in the way God interacted with those who had been saved by grace, there was never a time when one could earn a place in relationship to God.

    Don’t take the word “relationship” lightly.  We sometimes here this as a sort of “casual dating” relationship.  Not at all!  A relationship with God is a covenant relationship, a complete reordering of who one is.  This is a relationship that defines one’s identity.  There are works done “in” relationship, and works done to gain a relationship.  The latter will not work.  To me it seems pretty clear and obvious.  If God is the creator, he can not only create a million of me if he wants, he can create millions of planets with millions more of me.  So there is no way to make myself necessary to God.  It won’t work.

    God chooses to love me!  That is the amazing story of grace.  Thus Paul is right that Abraham is “made right” by faith, apart from works (Galatians 2:16), yet James can be quite correct, looking at this from a few moments forward when he says we are made right by works (James 2:24).  Part of the complete reorientation is the simple fact that works done in the relationship with Christ are completely different from works done outside.

    The second question is this:  How is it that Abraham gets treated as an unblemished character of faith?  As I mentioned previously, Paul ignores the negatives, and our lectionary passage cuts out Abraham’s laughter.

    I like to call this the faith view.  Compare all the heroes of the faith as described in Hebrews 11 with their stories in the Old Testament.  You’ll find that there are rose colored glasses involved here.  There are two views of heroes.  One encourages us by seeing them as real people with failings.  The Bible provides clear and honest stories in this sense.  The other encourages us by seeing them as extraordinary.  In a spiritual sense, I believe, both are true.

     

  • Questions on Judges 4:1-7

    Here are some questions that came to mind as I studied Judges 4:1-7.

    1.  Why does the lectionary reading end where it does?  Would the passage bring a different lesson if one read on to where Barak requires Deborah to accompany him before he’ll go?

    2.  Does this passage provide a universal justification for women in church and national leadership?  Why or why not?  Note that many take Paul’s comments on women in church leadership as universal, yet on this passage–not so much!

    3.  How does “God sold them” fit with your (our?) sense of justice?  Is hardship always (generally, often, rarely) caused by God’s direct action rather than by the Devil or other forces of evil?

    4.  Why does God choose to act through such limited instruments?  Could he not make things right more immediately and efficiently considering he’s the one who “sold them” into their current situation?  This question could be applied in many places.