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Bible, imagination, scripture
Bible, imagination, scripture Entries in Bible (19)
What Makes God's Word Living and Active?
Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 12:05PM 
In Monday’s meditation I suggested it’s not enough to read the scripture with our mind, because we are body, soul, and spirit. Hearing God requires all of our being. What makes God’s word “living and active?” I’d like to suggest it’s something more than our intellect.
We’ve explored what it means to bring our imagination to bear in narrative portions of scripture, but what about those didactic letters of Paul and his friends? This is where so many theologians like to live: defining words, developing systematic theology, and generally being the smartest guys in the class. May I speak plainly, and perhaps heretically? I have a basic distrust of systematic theology. I don’t like either word at all. Put them together, I find myself in full rebellion. Count me in the camp with Thomas a Kempis: "I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it."
I want to read the scripture with my heart: engage the Word body, soul, and spirit. I want to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength without allowing my intellect to dominate the other three. I joyfully put myself in the camp of emotionalism because the Creator of the universe is never impressed by our intellect, but he is moved by our heart and our faith.
Here is a passage from Paul’s letter to the Colossians:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ~ Colossians 3: 12-14
I’d like to suggest five ways to engage this passage imaginatively, and, should I say it? Creatively.
1). There’s a ghost in the book. In fact, the Ghost wrote the book. The first step in imaginative reading is to ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. It’s no mere formality: Paul, Peter or James may have written the New Testament epistles but behind the human agency is the loving heart of God. John, the disciple Jesus loved, wrote these amazing words to his followers: As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. (1 John 2: 27) Amazingly, John was dealing with the issue of false teachers in the church, and his solution was remarkably subjective! The same Spirit that hovered over the waters of creation is available to hover over us as we come to God’s word. Does this mean we are infallible interpreters of the word? No. But it does mean we have a loving guide.
2). Feel the love: this passage in Colossians opens with the description, “God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.” You may not need to go beyond these seven words. If we are dearly loved, shouldn’t we feel it? One of my friends engaged in this exercise: he sat alone in his office and expressed his love to the Father, then waited for the Father to answer. He quietly spoke the words, “God, I love you” and sat in silence, attending to the Lord. A moment later he felt a subtle physical sensation of God’s presence--a still, small voice or the subtle movement of a draft upon his skin. Too mystical? Too subjective? Perhaps we’ve been trained to avoid the experience of his presence: if the text directs us to the love of God, why wouldn’t he respond lovingly?
3). Clothe yourselves: why not extend the metaphor? He presents us with the image of someone preparing to move from private to public. No one leaves home naked! He invites us to extend the metaphor and see ourselves preparing for the day. How do you get dressed in the morning? What decisions do you make? No one puts on every article of clothing they own, but rather they select the clothing appropriate to the day’s tasks. Infants and toddlers must be clothed by others, Paul calls us to the mature response of clothing ourselves. It takes imagination to extend the metaphor into a practical vision for the day. There, in my prayer closet, I ask in advance: Where do I need to show compassion for the day? What kind of compassion will I need? Compassionate tears or compassionate sweat? How should I dress my heart? How can I prepare to meet the needs of others?
4). Imagine what the text does not say. I know: this is dangerous: every Bible scholar tells us not to make “the argument from silence.” Except I am not coming to the scripture to argue: I’m coming to hear the heart of God. Paul provides a representative list of what we need for life together; compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. But not necessarily intelligence, wit, or smarts. By imagining what is not on the list I understand that character trumps intelligence. That God desires mercy, not education. The Holy Spirit might even remind me that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
5). Finally, I’m invited to consider the mysteries of incarnation. As one friend commented on Monday’s Meditation, “I'd say the life in these passages is all from the same source: Jesus. Who is the Word; Who is Love; Who is Life. I think I'll remember this every time I'm thinking, What will I wear? I am putting on Christ.” I love this observation because it started me thinking about what it means to put on Christ each day. I started me wondering how Christ put on his humanity, and whether we can put on divinity in return. In short, it started me thinking of how I can be like him.
Some will think I am against using reason and intellect with the scripture. But I’m truly not. I only want to ensure that what comes into my mind will also travel 12 inches to my heart. How about you?
Monday's Meditation: What Makes God's Word Living & Active?
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 09:42AM 
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. ~ Hebrews 4: 12 Since my earliest days as a follower of Jesus I’ve heard this passage quoted. The same night I came Christ someone put the Bible in my hands and told me God would speak through the book. Yet my experiences with the scripture were decidedly uneven. Sometimes it felt as if the secrets of the universe were unfolding before me. Other times I was clueless as Republican at Burning Man.
Why is this book so special and such a mystery at the same time? What makes the word of God living and active? How can we enter into the life of the word?
It’s not enough to read the scripture with our mind, because we are body, soul, and spirit. Coming to the scripture is more than reading literature. If we want to hear the words of God it requires all of our being. Last weeks’ posts explored the power of imagination in reading the scripture and suggested some avenues to stimulate the imagination. Perhaps these posts helped some to engage the narrative and poetic passages of the Bible, but other people asked me if it’s possible to bring our imagination to bear upon the letters which make up such a large part of the New Testament.
This week’s Meditation invites you to engage the Epistles with your imagination. Consider this exhortation from the Apostle Paul:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ~ Colossians 3: 12-14
We know Paul is giving us more than good advice. These are life-giving commands. “Do you want to please God?” thunders the PreacherMan, “Then follow the instructions!” Perhaps you’ve even seen someone shake the book, declaring that the Bible is God’s Owner’s Manual. Yet I've never seen an owner's manual capable of changing my life.
I'd like to suggest there are at least five pathways to use your imagination--inspired by the Holy Spirit--as you come to this passage. To help get you started, why not live with this passage in the coming days, and ask these questions:
- If the Word of God is living and active, where is the life in this passage, and how is it acting upon me?
- What doors are open to me through these words--and what doors are closed?
- Can I apply my imagination to cut-and-dried commands such as the ones in this passage?
- How can I engage these words with something other than my understanding?
I invite you to suggest some possible answers in the comments below, and come on back Thursday as I share a few pathways I’ve found as well.
The True Story
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 11:49AM 
There is truth so small it can fit on a bumper sticker, but for my money give me a big story.
We thought Titanic was long at three hours until the Lord of the Rings trilogy weighed in at more than nine hours--but I want more. I need a story big as all creation, one that opens me up to eternity.
Of course, there is a story like that. When the word of God was first breathed out, the Spirit told us a story. Why, then, do we insist on treating the story like a book of law? We have missed the fact that nearly all of the Scripture comes to us as either narrative or poetry. It’s God’s truth, and he chose to reveal the truth by telling stories and singing songs. Why aren’t God’s people the singers and storytellers of our age?
Each generation is born with eternity in their hearts, imaginations capable of capturing the wind, voices eager to sing along with the Creator. But recent generations have been taught neither to sing nor to listen, but to distill God’s creative energy into systematic theology. Yet in my Bible the letters of Paul number 84 pages while the Psalms of Israel number 140 pages and 150 melodies--and that’s just the Psalms!
Consider the Old Testament: the story of God begins when he bends down and shapes humanity from the clay of the earth and kisses them with the breath of life. He made us in his image and walked with us day by day. The story continues through Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It’s one story, and it’s a story of divine unrelenting love. Nor does it stop in Genesis: the Old Testament narrative continues all the way to Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. One story, many characters, one Lover. Then the poets take over and lay down the soundtrack for the story, followed by the prophets, who--like the bonus features on a DVD--provide the Director’s commentary on all that has gone before. Who could treat the Old Testament as a legal textbook? To do so would be embrace religion while rejecting the Author of the story.
What we call the New Testament provides the most creative shock in history--the Author writes Himself into the story and reveals the full extent of his love. Yet he is not finished: just when we marvel at the climax of the tale, the Author turns his attention to we who are listening to the story and invites us to help write the coming chapters. And indeed, they are still being written. Finally, when it seems like nothing more can be said, the Spirit breaks into an apocalyptic stream of consciousness that seems never-ending. In fact it actually is never-ending: we discover we have only read the prologue. The Author invites us to feast at his house and help with the volumes to come.
Why didn’t someone teach me the Bible as God’s story? I like stories.
Some will mistakenly think I care nothing for truth. My real point is that God has chosen to share his truth in ways that go beyond precept and principle. God has chosen to share his heart, and if we capture his heart we will live in his truth. The truest things I know first took root in my heart and later changed my thinking. The transformations of my lifetime did not come from having a “Christian worldview,” but from the breath of God breathed into my imagination. The motion of his Spirit caused me to believe I could become what he planned for me all along.
I don’t want to read the Bible just so I can go to the head of the class. I want to go home with the Writer, the Singer, the Sculptor, and learn to create the way he creates. It turns out his studio is pretty big. He wouldn’t have told me so unless it were true.
Monday's Meditation: The Distance Between Me and God (Part Two)
Monday, January 10, 2011 at 11:25AM 
This weekend I was arrested by a tiny word. It caused me to put down the book and worship with a fresh heart. My cup of wonder, amazement and gratitude was dripping from the rim again. I was reading along at the beginning of John’s gospel and a two-letter word rocked my world. Perhaps it will mean nothing to you, but for me the lightning flashed, the thunder followed when I read the word, “he.”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The Word, the Life, the Light is also “Him.” Alive and personal.
It’s risky to share your personal response to scripture. Huh? Others say. Yeah, so, what’s the big deal?
Like so many passages in the Bible, I am tempted to think I already know the truth: until the truth breaks into the room and becomes alive. What was only in my head came and sat by my side. The ink on the page is a mere cipher, a code devised by the cunning of men. The true word was spoken and the universe began to spin. There was no air to carry the sound. There were no ears to hear the command. There was simply the Word. And the Word was a Person. Personal. Real. Relational. Alive.
The big deal, for me, is the amazing metamorphosis from Word to Person. Too often what passes for faith lives only in my head--the paltry collection of thoughts from (honestly) a bear of very little brain. Yet the Word became flesh, and lived among us in part, I suspect, to reinforce that brains have very little to do with life, but people--a Person--”he” is the source of life.
Monday’s Meditation for me (and my prayer for you) is that whatever passage of scripture you choose, the Truth will come and sit by your side. Grace to you, and peace.
Monday's Meditation: Encountering His Spirit in His Book
Monday, August 2, 2010 at 09:59AM How do we approach the Bible? Are we looking for information about God, or an encounter with God? When we say the book is inspired, do we mean that the Holy Spirit breathed upon those who wrote it, or do we mean that the Holy Spirit wants to breathe on those who read it now? I believe the correct answer is “both.”
I’d like to suggest a few questions about our time with God as we come to the scripture:
- When is the last time I experienced an emotional response to the scripture--sadness? anger? awe? joy? fear? doubt? confidence? grief? regret? remorse? hope? laughter? love? relief? gratitude?
- When is the last time I experienced a physical sensation during my Bible reading? Has my body ever responded to God’s word?
- When is the last time I was moved to action because of the words on the page before me? Have I ever been moved to call someone, go to someone, or help someone?
- Have I ever come to the scripture asking the Holy Spirit what he hopes to accomplish while I read?
I believe the North American church has come to value intellect over spirit and soul. The result for many believers is a dry and lifeless experience of his great gift--the very words of God spoken, captured, preserved and delivered to us today.
Sweet Holy Spirit, I invite you sit beside me, breathe on me, and guide me through your collected wisdom I hold in my hand. Come, Holy Spirit.