I have had the song "Rent" from Rent stuck in my head these last few days.
Rent. Torn apart. Ripped. A rift between people.
A large portion of my circle of friends is having a tough time lately. People feel rent from community, from the support of their family, from love, from God.
And I don't know what to say. Words can be so uplifting and yet so empty.
So I listen. And I hug. And I pray.
Life isn't supposed to be this way.
Someday it won't be. God mends what evil rends. And when Jesus returns, all of creation will be mended.
We are the only ones that proclaim that our God died.
"Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Corinthians 1:20-25
Ah, Christianity, beautiful religion of sensical paradox.
I went to a discussion just now about the emergent/emerging church. My thoughts on this movement are still forming. Reading the book "How (Not) to Speak of God" really sparked my thinking: there are some things I reacted violently towards, saying, "That's not Biblical," and there were other parts (written about on this blog) that have really changed and deepened my faith.
Welp, tonight's discussion was more of the same: stuff I don't agree with and things I really think are vital. Here's one of the good points.
These two men shared, in response to a question concerning their beliefs on the Bible's authority, how their church community interacts with the Bible. They read whole books of the Bible over a period of weeks and months (they are currently through 34 of the 66 books). They believe this is a much better approach than pulling two or three verses out of the Bible and expounding upon them for a 30 min sermon. One man said, "Some people treat the Bible like their annoying girlfriend. She starts to speak, but he'll interrupt her to say, 'Oh, well, what she really means is this.' We should learn to let the Bible speak." This really resonates with me. My only theological training has been reading the Bible, cover to cover, time and again, since I was eight. I really think that reading this Word and spending time in prayer are the two best ways to learn what God is doing, and I am positive I would not be who I am without that constant saturation in the Word. Reading long, sustained chunks of the Bible forces you to wade through difficult passages. You can't avoid verses you're uncomfortable with, or verses that many pastors would never touch on a Sunday morning. These speakers pointed out that knowing the context and entire the story of the Bible shows much more reverence for its authority than memorizing a few isolated verses, not knowing the words that come before or after many of our oft-quoted favorites.
