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The Bible: Not Band-Aid or Magic Spell

10/6/2018

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By Minister Judy Stack
As a Bible scholar, one of the things I spent a lot of time thinking about and studying is how we tend to read and use the Bible and what ways of reading (and quoting) are faithful both to the kind of book the Bible is and faithful to the God we believe in.

A friend of mine, Emily, who is also a Bible scholar, posted this (here) about the Bible and suffering. How does the Bible serve as a spiritual resource and way for God's Spirit to comfort and encourage us when we face pain, difficulty, grief, loss, or fear? As she says,

"Pretty verses ripped from their context to be cross stitched and hung on walls or emblazoned across serene pictures to share on social media do not have the strength to carry one through the hard times....we must be careful to realize that the power is not in the words themselves because they are not some spell to be cast or ward to keep the demons at bay. They are powerful because of the One who spoke them."

Amen! While individual verses may have the power to remind of us great truths of scripture, it is the depth of the full story and richness of the larger text that will sustain our souls, like a meal sustains us better than a mini candy bar.

I hope you will be blessed by her reflection here and encouraged to drink deeply at the well of scripture!


​It happened again. Someone I know was facing a problem, people threw Bible verses at her, promised to pray, and then sat back and waited to hear a good report.

Guess what didn't happen? Anything good. In fact, things got worse. A lot worse.

She stopped talking to her Christian friends, she drew back from church, from God, and day by day a little more bitterness set in. Finally, she walked away from her faith as if it were a bad dream, a time where she was out of touch with reality, unable to address her real problems because she had sank too deeply into denial of what was really going on in the world around her.

Reality wasn't any less scary than the dream, it may have been even worse, but at least now she wasn't forced to face her problems and fears by muttering "For I know the plans I have for you..." under her breath to a God who didn't seem to have a plan at all. Or worse if he did, it was one of pain, frustration, and futility.

And I can't really blame her. I have been there myself, and faith does seem pointless when the only support your friends have to offer are words. Words supposedly written to and about me, about you, but which never seem to pan out.

But what else do we as Christians have to offer her or anyone else in a painful situation? It seems as if all we know about our faith is how it is supposed to make us feel, how it is supposed to be the answers to our problems, and how it the grand arbiter of all things ME.

We approach the Bible like a band aid or some prescription drug to be applied to our lives as needed. We pull out the passages that we like, that inspire us, or otherwise make us feel good about ourselves. We skip over those passages that are too ugly or too hard to understand. We label them as "irrelevant" or, if we are being honest, "too boring."

Oh, we might skim through them in our attempts to read through the Bible in a year or as we take our daily preventive dose in quiet time - because you know "a chapter a day keeps the devil away." But we don't study them, we don't dig into them, and we definitely do not sit and ponder what they might mean apart from ourselves.

I think this is the problem: we treat the Bible and its words as some sort of magic talisman that is supposed to serve us. And in doing so we have missed the point of why it was given to us.

The Bible, first and foremost, was written to reveal the tiniest glimpse of God's glory and power. It contains a record of how he has been present in history, weaving together the often selfish and sinful acts of man into a redeeming whole, redeeming even the worst of times to reveal himself as sovereign and almighty. But we cannot see this if we do not see how his word is constructed, story built upon story, verse upon verse, in a brilliant display of artistry and grandeur.

We can't see this if we refuse to look upon the ugly parts of this text, the confusing and horrifying tales of humanity at its worst. Because who needs a hero if there is no threat? Who needs to be saved if there is not destruction? Neither side of the story rings true if we neglect the other.

Pretty verses ripped from their context to be cross stitched and hung on walls or emblazoned across serene pictures to share on social media do not have the strength to carry one through the hard times. It is only when we realize that these beautiful words were often spoken at the most desperate of times do they have the power to inspire and heal.

Even then we must be careful to realize that the power is not in the words themselves because they are not some spell to be cast or ward to keep the demons at bay. They are powerful because of the One who spoke them.

Hurting people do not need more Scripture flung at their heads.

They need the God who gave us the Scripture, and that means they need you.

They need the you who was called to live out the truths written in this book, and they need the you who has been inspired by this book to move in faith and in awe of a God who shows himself to be faithful in the words of this book. But we cannot do that if we have been content to get our theology from the shallow pools of memes and inspirational sayings. That only comes from intentional study of his Word and a willingness to live in the light of the full truth revealed there.
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All Along Lyndale IV - Gotta Love a (Block) Party!

10/1/2018

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By Francisco Herrera
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​Block parties are one of the many distinct things I love about the United States. Other parts of the world have similar outdoor celebrations, packing streets with food and music and people seeking a little bit of fun, but the American Block Party is truly different - mostly because they tend to be relatively informal get-togethers that aren't so much interested in drawing outside attention as they are having people in a neighborhood get to know each other.

One of my favorite passages and all of the Bible is in 2 Samuel - the famous, or infamous depending on who you ask, scene when David is celebrating with the people of Israel after the return of the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6:16-23). Seeing him get his groove on in such a way that the party is can see under his tunic really makes his wife, Michal, very angry, but he didn't care. And yeah maybe it's a little bit embarrassing, nobody wants to be one of those people with a compromising YouTube video of their party performance plastered on everyone's Facebook wall.

​Yet David had a point, too. With the beginning of his reign, the people of Israel had won a major political and religious victory, and by returning the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem the Israelites had cast off what had been years of oppression by Philistine neighbors. And in such a situation, getting down and having a good time is not only expected, but even healing, even if David and company got a little bit loud and vulgar. 

PictureMembers of New Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist helping with break-down at the end of one of the block parties
​Thankfully, though, no one at any of the block parties got vulgar – but we all had a good time. And thanks to camera phones and Facebook Live, Gethsemane’s fans on social media had a chance to share in the joy.
Because first of all there was the food. And lots of it. Barbecue was the norm, especially grilled chicken (though this last weekend pork ribs from FireBox Deli certainly were welcome). Even nicer was watching these teams of grill chefs – mostly men – quietly size each other and their cooking skills up against one another – occasionally making playful jabs and taunts and giggling like children in a water balloon fight. Then there were all the folks helping to prepare sides – salads and curries and fruit – usually huddled in Gethsemane’s kitchen up-and-away from the grills and the smoke.

PictureMembers of Nu Way Missionary Baptist Church and their massive grill
​And the singing - oh my goodness, the singing! Minister Beverly certainly knows how to belt out all the old greats, and every time started off the marchers down Colfax with her gracious strut anyone within earshot couldn’t help but be moved and start along. Likewise when Minister Sims, one of the co-pastors at New Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, filled in for Beverly one day when she had to take a day off, he strolled down that street singing as fully and as beautifully as anyone ever could - sharing the call and response hymns that saturated his life in his home state of Alabama.

Children also played an enormous part - though not always obviously so. The folks at The Camden Kids Day Care frequently gifted the smallest block party revelers with that magical magnet of childhood mischief - a bouncy house. And true to form the children came, from all over, and their running around added a lightness to the day. Other children played basketball, some threw a football back and forth, while others made games and merriment out of any little thing they found - my favorite being jumping over the aluminum ribs of Gethsemane’s revival tent roof frame as about a dozen grown-ups carefully disassembled it on the last day.
​
But of course the best part was the relationships. There were seven congregations that came and collaborated with Gethsemane Lutheran in some way or another. Pastor Aaron of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church came down three times in order to bake bread from a handmade brick oven, and their Holy Smoke grill team blessed everyone with amazing pulled pork. The beautiful souls of Nu Way Missionary Baptist Church - and their BBQ Grill wide and long enough to cook about 35 lb of chicken at a time - always made a welcome sight for the afternoons. Intertwine, an ELCA Mission start from Northeast Minneapolis, provided performers as well as sound equipment on half of the Saturdays. The good people of our mission partner, New Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, and Bishop Divar Kemp were our constant companions and supporters in both the spiritual and practical parts of the events. Pastor Malachi brought the blessed partnership of North United Methodist Church. And of course, every single one of these churches brought their fair share of marchers and leaders as we moved purposefully but joyfully through sites of Lind-Bohanon's pain - praying and singing and weeping and begging God to transform us into repairers of the breach and restorers of the streets (Isaiah 51:12).

PicturePrayer stop in the Jenny Lind Community Garden
​And being part of a community, in the first part of the summer of 2018, that was brought together as a consequence of tragic acts of violence and pain - it was fitting that six acts of love and community would be the unequivocal response. Six marches that brought music and prayer up and down the block. Six groups barbecuing and grilling, the scent of which permeated an entire neighborhood and welcomed everyone to a feast. Six distributions of food that attracted people from all over Minneapolis, not just our little corner in the north. Problems in the neighborhood may still remain, but for the time being resilience, love, and togetherness also remain, and it was Gethsemane’s great honor, and great pleasure, to be the vehicle for such a blessing. Such love.
Martin Luther said that God doesn’t need our works but our neighbors do – and with our neighbors we have been able to testify to the wonder-working power of the Gospel in a way that we had never been able to before. And for this, we can be thankful. For this, we have earned the right to sing and praise.
And so for this, can we get an amen?

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4656 Colfax Ave. No.
Minneapolis, MN, 55412

T - 612-521-3575

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