Correcting Corinthian Context

The context of I Corinthians 13 leads me to believe that this discourse about love (which is not, in my opinion, the definitive discourse about love) is given primarily to govern and guide the community of believers in their actions and existence with each other.

I Corinthians 13 is part of a larger passage which we have canonized as chapters 12 – 14. The subject is that of spiritual gifts in the community of believers. I will not press into a detailed discussion of the problems of the Corinthian community, but suffice it to say by way of summation that they were a dysfunctional family. They were not, as Paul taught by illustration, acting as a cohesive body but rather as separate pieces of a body. In the middle of instruction about gifts is set forth the passage under consideration upon the topic of love.

Viewed in this context, and confirmed by remarks immediately preceding and following the passage, this teaching about love is insightful instruction as to how we are to relate to other believers in order to function in community – to be a part of the larger body. If we accept that a partial definition of “church” is the assembly of believers for the purpose of manifestation and administration of spiritual gifts, then it is clear that love is, if you will, the sinews and tendons which hold the various members together and allow the body to function as a larger entity.

With that in mind, I offer the following comments on I Corinthians 13, to wit:

1. If you are desire to advance in stature as a believer by pursuit of your giftedness, then you are in error and there is a superior way to be revealed to you (12:31).
2. Gifts and works without love do not further or validate one’s spiritual stature (13:1-3).
3. Love expresses itself in certain actions, listed as sixteen separate items (to be considered in more detail at another time) which offer practical insight on how to live in community with other believers (13:4-8a).
4. Love has a permanence in its practice and its results whereas spiritual gifts will become irrelevant when Christ returns and, further, love is fully revealed to us now whereas spiritual gifts are only revealed to us in part (13:8b-12).
5. Love is more important than faith and hope (13:13).
6. Love is the pursuit when you desire giftedness (14:1).

Further assistance in the understanding of love may be drawn from other passages, but it remains the context of this passage to assist us in living in community with other believers. I believe that the economy of God is revealed in this passage in some ways that may sound alarming. For instance, in God’s economy, love is what validates the exercise of a spiritual gift. Thus a seemingly gifted individual who does not live out the actions of love may and should be properly regarded as having nothing to contribute to the body of believers. Similarly, in God’s economy, spiritual gifts are a transitory, partial and occasional currency, while the worth of faith, hope and love are abiding, total and permanent. From this we may fairly “rank” the priorities of our communal function. Further insight is gained from the revelation that love is more important than faith and hope. Thus loving our fellow believers in actions aspiring to the standards of I Corinthians 13 should be more highly valued and regarded as more indicative of spiritual stature than any evidences of faith or hope, which are in turn far more favorable than any spiritual gift however manifested.

Having thus clarified the contextual position of I Corinthians 13, we can now bridge toward the examination of the sixteen listed actions of love contained in verses 4 – 8a. That is for another time.

Thinkin' About Church

I have had this particular composition on my computer since May or so but I want to spit it out here and start kicking it around a little. I admit this is pretty rough, but it is first draft . . .

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How about a revolution? Are we bold enough to accept the responsibility of a new paradigm for church? If so, march toward the sound of the guns.

Community is best in small body. But a small body cannot equal the resources present in a larger body. With that in mind, it is time to be bluntly honest about what church is and is not.

Church is not a large assembly once a week. Church is not about having a pastor, teacher, deacons and elders present in every single “body.” Church is not about what is accomplished by sheer mass.

Church is about following Christ not only as an individual, but in a committed and communal relationship with others. Assembling together is a key component to church. The size, format and elements of the assembling together are merely tradition and comfort.

So how about this as a model for central Indiana:

1. Effective immediately: you are not expected to be in your church this Sunday (or Saturday or whatever day you typically assimilate at a massive building).

2. Effective immediately: you are expected to find 2 other families of Christ-followers with whom you will begin to interact regularly in order to develop community.

2.a Your assembling together in small community will include the elements, style and format that are fitting for your assembly.

3. Pastors and other church staff are encouraged, if possible, to embrace this change and to see their roles as truly reaching the lost and administering to the needs of the larger assembly (as outlined below).

3.a Pastors and other church staff who desire to reach the lost may need to be re-trained in order to be comfortable with the concept of leaving their buildings in order to find the lost.

3.b Pastors and other church staff are encouraged to follow the scriptural principle of seeking vocational employment.

3.c Pastors and other church staff who are not comfortable with this paradigm are free to leave town. Today. By sunset.

4. At a few locations, large church buildings will be converted to administrative centers/fellowship halls/secure havens (let’s call these Anchor Centers, for now).

4.a Locations are chosen according to geographic centrality.

4.b All other assets of the church shall be converted to cash in order to assist in ministry or utilized as shelters or food pantries or the like.

5. Anchor Centers

5.a . . . shall serve as places where small assemblies occasionally gather together into larger assemblies for the purpose of encouragement, Q&A, concerts, etc.

5.b . . . shall be open 24/7 as a haven for any person.

5.c . . . shall contain staff that will administer the offerings of the small assemblies for the good of the larger body.

5.d . . . thus more fully leveraging the resources of the smaller assemblies for the needs of the body or ministry or to assist Christ-followers with needs that cannot be met by the small assembly.

5.e . . . shall provide a place for “regional” elders, deacons, pastors and apostles to meet.

6. Elders and Deacons shall be chosen to serve their “region” of small assemblies.

6.a They shall meet together as needed

6.b They shall be involved in their own small assemblies

6.c They shall be available to other small assemblies in order to assist with questions, discipline and administrative issues

7. Pastors and apostles shall be few in number, shall travel among the small assemblies and shall be primarily concerned with answering the call for education and teaching.

8. Small assemblies are expected to reach out to the lost in practical acts of love.

9. Any individual who feels withdrawal from the traditional corporate church to be uncomfortable shall be referred to any of several radio stations or any of several thousand internet sites where exists an extensive archive of traditional corporate church services and sermons on any topic imaginable.

Viva la Revolution

Pulse

Very busy lately.

But I have found time to thoroughly enjoy the new Pink Floyd DVD,Pulse. I relished the CD version of this concert. The set list on the DVD is different for disc 1, but disc 2 remains in tact ... Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety along with encores of Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb and Run.

It is excellent sound-wise and the video portion makes me remember the Delicate Sound of Thunder tour which I was privileged to see.

When one is busy, worn out from work and too mentally drained to read or write ... it is good to see some music of this caliber. I must try the sync with Pulse DVD playing the soundtrack for the Wizard of Oz.

Dark Side of the Rainbow - Live.

I wonder if the encores sync up?

W W J D is O K

Small rant here . . .

I tire of hearing the nit-picking crowd weigh in on WWJD. In case you've been excluded from the universe of marketing for WWJD, it stands for What Would Jesus Do? which is a catch phrase from an older but recently repopular book called In His Steps by Sheldon (I think).

In the book a minister challenges his congregation to walk in the steps of Christ's example (from a text in the book of Philippians). He sums it up by saying something along the lines of, "When you are faced with a decision, ask yourself 'What would Jesus do?'" The book then goes on to relate the story of a changed behavior in light of this check and guidance on the actions of the congregation. The book is definitely dated and uses some examples that seem alien to our culture today ... but the point is made.

So now there is a new-found popularity for this notion in the form of the WWJD movement (which is settled in now, hardly revolutionary any more). But I still occasionally hear someone snipe at WWJD, usually along the lines of, "It's not 'What would Jesus do?' but 'What would Jesus want me to do?'"

Yawn.

Drive-by-nit-picking-underread-overpreached-
nonthinking-crusty-traditionalists.

Don't get me wrong. I am typically suspicious of anything that is popular and trendy ... like cell phones and interstate highways. But let's at least have a criticism that is based in reason.

The entire point of WWJD is to ascertain how to make decisions or take actions in a way that is attempting to imitate Jesus. To take the sniper comments to heart, WWJD stands for the idea of daydreaming what Jesus would do and say if he were here without any compunction to follow that example.

It seems to me that if discipleship is a real pursuit and not simply a lip-serviced idealism, then WWJD is a fine habit of reflection. Maybe if we spent a few weeks practing the questioning of our decisions with WWJD we would come to understand better the walk of our faith. And maybe it would help our instinctive reactions, too, so that even when we don't have time for reflection we are more prone to behave in a way that is imitative of the impression we have of Jesus.

If you want to follow Jesus, then just do it. Oops ... that's probably trademarked at the least and offensive use of jargon at the worst.

Swoosh, brothers.

World War III?

This is what I posted to a web forum recently:

. . . I find that Newt Gingrich's recent characterization of the world conflict situation as "World War III" to be interesting. Newt is a historian and a good thinker, but he is also someone who would like to be president, so all his comments are laced with a certain self-promotion.

Personally, I agree more with Neal Boortz when he calls the current world scenario World War IV. Neal believes that WW III was the cold war, which the US and Britian won thanks largely to the leadership of Reagan and Thatcher.

Whether WW III or WW IV, I do think we are now in a World War. I have been reading about WW I lately and I am struck by the similarities of that time to our own.

All world wars are about alliances, but the alliances that harkened the onset of WW I are very like the alliances that are becoming apparent in the Middle East today. In WW I Germany was using Austro-Hungary as a surrogate in an attempt to instigate war with France (knowing that Russian and Britain might likely join in due to treaty alliances).

Much the same way it is apparent now that Syria and Iran are using Lebanon, specifically Hezbollah, to instigate war with Israel. But the alliances are present. The US, Britian and (don't be shocked) France will probably all back Israel to the bitter end. Iran and Syria are attempting to invoke Arab alliances throughout the middle east, but with little success to date.

Iran, however, is also forming/strengthening an alliance with North Korea. Reports now indicate that Iranian observers were present at the July missile tests in North Korea.

Beyond that, there is a shift occuring in our own hemisphere. Venezuela is replacing Cuba as this hemisphere's dangerous dictatorship. And Venezuela is a player in South America ... they could lure several countries into alliances (under the banner of trade) that would prove harmful to the US. All is not quiet here ... it's just not heavily reported. Mexico is facing issues on its southern border as immigrants work into their country, probably on their way to our southern border.

I will not be surprised if we learn that Venezuela is tied to North Korea. Maybe that link is already established, but I have not heard of it.

The primary difference between 1914 and today is two-fold. First, there is the great divide of nuclear vs. non-nuclear powers. That divide is as yet uncrossed by the Syria-Iran-North Korea-Venezuela alliance (so far as we know). Second is the presence of the United Nations. Bumbling and impotent as they ultimately are, they are a present reality that attempts to "short-circuit" other alliances that may form or threaten. But the recent history of the UN shows they have little to offer except food and words.

So here we are at the onset of a World War very much like the onset of WW I ... which did not starte precisely with an event (despite the assignment of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand as the starting point) so much as a "one thing led to another" series of events. That is what I believe we are witnessing now.

One thing leads to another. For instance, now that Israel has begun a serious conflict with Hezbollah that has uncovered (or made irrefutable) the link of Middle East terrorism with Syrian/Iranian promulgation, does anyone really think that this situation can conclude without a serious strike on Syria or Iran, or both?

The future, I am afraid, holds more escalation than negotiation.

Random

So, would you rather know a lot about a little, or a little about a lot?

On the one hand you would be an expert with a fascinating job that only a handful of people really understand and appreciate, but you would be rather boring at dinner parties and no one would want you for their trivial pursuit team. On the other hand you would be a morning radio show sidekick with a good bead on a bunch of pop culture that never saved anyone's life or converted a single thought into marketable product.

I suppose well-rounded means that you have enough expertise to be respected as a thinker/doer/teacher/practitioner but enough of an everyday-ness to you so that you can carry on functional conversations about politics or recent television series. I don't suppose that is bad, but I have this desire to be practical no matter where I fall in the spectrum.

I hope my expertise remains marketable and I strive to make it a practical good for my clients. The body of knowledge beyond my vocation is certainly random and far afield, but I hope it is practical for the most part. I could care less about knowing which Hollywood celebrity is now Oprah's favorite. I am caring less and less about what the political right or left or center think about any given issue. (To know one side is to know by definitional elimination the other side, anyway ... so there is really no more use for political partisan conversation. Declare yourself left or right or center or conservative or liberal or progressive or whatever -- it's all just labels at this point in our history. But I digress ...)

Being well read is very important to me: Important for you to be well read so that I will enjoy talking to you and important for me to be well read so that I have something of value to offer (beyond my endless gift of opinionation). Good fiction means that I always have something to share, even with people who are very little like me. Good history means I have perspective about current events that helps to elevate my conversation above partisan talking-points. Good spiritual material means that I have some insight - wisdom, if you will - to accompany my knowledge. Current events or sports will only interest me for a short time: Such things are the flat soda of conversation.

And if all we can talk about is television or movies then . . . yawwwwwn . . . "It is past my bedtime and I really should be going. Goodnight." Such entertainment is good for snack, but lacks the substance of real food.

All that said, I still appreciate a good comedian or morning radio show sidekick. After I conquer this planet I shall continue to have such specimens kept for my amusement. Court jesters, I believe they were called.

Hard to Forget

So I have been thinking some more about the idea of the Yahweh Factor, which is my term for the the accounting in my thinking that God is far bigger and far more imaginative than I can ever hope to be. The Yahweh Factor is the wild card that must exist in every situation in order to allow God to be God and to operate in the theater that we cannot limit.

What I have been thinking is that the scriptures are much, much more interesting if we can try to read it for them first time with the concept of the Yahweh Factor in place.

Here is an example. We all know the basic story of Jonah. God-says-go-Jonah-says-no-storm
-overboard-fish-new-perspective-message-delivered-message-received. In the time when I was a child (before children received the story from talking vegetables) I was taught this story on flannel-graph boards. Constant exposure has led the fish to be less dramatic, perhaps smaller and - most importantly - expected. The fish always shows up. Less and less of a Yahweh Factor and more and more of a "yeah, but what can you say about this story that is new?" element of thinking.

It is so hard to forget. Can you possibly imagine hearing the story and not expecting the fish? "Yeah, so they threw Jonah overboard and ... are you ready for this ... a giant fish swallowed him whole!"

To try and relate it that way makes me sound like a stoner. The Yahweh Factor has rubbed off of this story so that it loses some, if not most, of its mystique.

So what to do about this? Try harder to forget? Maybe. But maybe, too, we could come up with some new stories? True ones would be great, but we could also update and re-cast some of the old ones. Maybe this guy, named Stan, was supposed to go to Tehran to preach a message of repentance to that wacko-brained leader. Stan says, "Nuts to that!" but he cannot escape the burden of this calling. He thinks, "I've got to get away for a while; too much stress" and boards a plane for Miami, and from there he will take a cruise to Jamaica. But during the flight to Miami, a terrorist seizes control of the plane and Stan is forced to jump without a parachute. While he is plummeting to earth and certain death, he is caught by a rare and exceedingly large bird that grabs him. Stan is now suspended in the bird's beak and there he remains for three days. This bird just keeps flying - it never seems to tire. Finally it lands in a sandy terrain, drops Stan, and then immediately lifts off into the air. Stan is alone in a strange place with no credible explanation as to how he came to be there. He begins to wander around and before long realizes that he is in Iran, only a few miles from the city of Tehran.

Okay, so that's pretty simplistic and pretty lame ... but I just made it up while sitting here.

What if we obfuscated the story line enough that many readers would not see the direct parallel to the story of Jonah? Could they then accept a giant bird (or whatever came along to further God's plan) in the form of the Yahweh Factor? I think it could be a gateway to re-invigorate the imagination and open our minds to just how diverse and resourceful and clever God can be.

Just thinking.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Sky

Geeze it's hot.

I am stuck on the road today for several appointments and my poor car can't take much more. The engine is fine (rebuilt just about 18 months ago and running like a top) but the transmission is suspect and the AC is inadequate ... as I imagine most ACs are on days like this.

At exactly this moment I am tucked away in a Panera Bread where the AC is adequate, the water is ice cold and the internet is provided freely to all with wireless laptops.

The office was moved last Saturday ... all set up and ready to go. But that did make for a very long weekend. What with tackling the yard (most of it) on Sunday. And yesterday was a long one ... did not get home until 9:00 p.m. And it's hot. Therefore I will invoke the ultimate privilege of self-employment: I hereby grant myself 4 hours of vacation time tomorrow morning. Sleep, golf, write ... whatever I want to do so long as it is not work and I cannot be reached by telephone. All in favor, say "Aye." All opposed, same sign. Motion carries.

Well, that was hardly worth the effort to type, but there it is nonetheless.

There is nothing really weighty on my mind right now. I am continuing to debate my involvement in the networking group. I am getting very few leads, providing even fewer leads, and my heart is miles away from the goal of community with the other group members. In short, I am somewhat of a parasite on the group right now. But then again, the scant other membership consists equally of the parasite mindset. In fact, looking around with even marginal awareness I note that the group is on death's doorstep and has been for well over a year. It has been on death's doorstep for so long I am rather convinced it has already expired. That would make us less parasites and more ... what is the word for animals that eat dead carcasses? ... scavengers, I think.

Anyway, I will continue to evaluate the group.

Other than that I am somewhat distressed and somewhat burdened by my schedule. I feel that I must regain some marketing perspective or I will soon be out of work, even though I am overwhelmingly busy at the moment.

Well, that's enough. I don't have anything of an introspective or thoughtful purpose, so I am not going to keep just thinking "out loud" onto my keyboard. Good grief. Read a book or work out a Sudoku puzzle instead.