04-14-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
April 14, 2024
Outside of a scientific experiment, nothing happens inside a vacuum. There is no event, from the world-changing historic events to the rather mundane events in our daily lives, that occurs apart from other influences. Dr. Warren Carter’s study yesterday was extraordinarily helpful in understanding the multitude of events that shaped the central texts of the Christian faith, that is, the New Testament. So often, we try to simplify something extraordinary, or maybe we put the extraordinary event all on God, but even the extraordinary things of life are birthed from the messy and complicated, and the line from Point A to Point B looks more like the scribbling of a child. Though I will not attempt to summarize Dr. Carter’s wonderful presentation, I will express my appreciation for his overview of seven events that shaped the New Testament world (which is actually the title of one of his many books). Though he says in the book that there are, of course, more than seven, these worldly influences do not reduce my respect or appreciation for the New Testament. In fact, knowing some of the twists and complications adds both layers of beauty and depths of real faithfulness amidst the daily grind of human existence. Some might say it happened exactly the way God planned it, as if there was no free will, but I find the Jesus of my faith living and teaching, dying and rising within a historic period of time influenced by politics, social conflict, disease and natural disasters, greed, hatred, love, and compassion. I have no desire to follow a Jesus who lived apart from the world or sort of danced just above its muckiness. For that reason, I want a Bible fully rooted in all of that real, earthy and amazing muckiness of life.

I seek to know you, O Living Christ, beginning with the life you lived in a very complicated and painful time in history. You taught and served people who knew firsthand the full spectrum of human existence. There, you brought life and hope, love and peace, into the world. Thank you! Amen.