Monday, August 31, 2009

Eat this Book

In my sermon yesterday, I encouraged all of us to eat the word of God, to digest it daily that it may nourish us. We confess that Jesus is the Word of God (capital "W") who comes to us both through the word of God in the Holy Scriptures and in the Sacraments. Today I'd like to reflect on the regular practice of Christians eating and digesting the Holy Scriptures and allowing the Holy Spirit to nourish us through them.

As little as a year ago, if someone were to ask me how often they should read Scripture, I would have begun the conversation with something like, "Well, how often do you read the Bible now?" and then offered some suggestions for growing. If you are reading the Bible weekly, let's work on moving to daily, and so on. Now I am of a different mind.

If someone were to ask me today how often to read Scripture, I would ask them, "How often do you eat?" and encourage the same frequency for Bible reading as for eating. Every time you eat, every time you snack, match that with an equal time and frequency of reading Scripture. [You may actually want to track, just for one week, how much time you spend preparing and eating meals.]

I know it's daunting, that much Bible reading. But just as I would not encourage you to skip two meals a day, I don't think it is healthy for us when we regularly avoid digesting God's word. This food of Holy Scripture is more important, more dear to us, than even regular bread: one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD (Deuteronomy 8:3, cf. Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4).

Here are a few reflections and guidelines to aid in our feasting:

Fourth meal. What if you are an insomniac, like I am occasionally? Taco Bell advertises "Fourth Meal" as that meal between dinner and breakfast. Why not make a late night snack of God's word? Pray the Psalms.

Eat with others. Why not eat with others? Meals are always better with company, so why feast on God's word alone? Find a Bible study group that meets regularly and jump right in. Eat together.

Chew loudly. Try this practice if you have never done it before: read the Scriptures out loud for home devotions. The Word is meant to be heard. And try at worship to put down your bulletin and listen to the Scriptures.

Avoid junk food. All of what passes for devotional material is simply spiritual junk food. There may be a Bible verse but the reflections that follow often have little to do with the depth and breadth of God's word. Try lengthier passages of Scripture first, then good, solid food to supplement.

Snacks on the go. I imagine many of us have more than one Bible. Why not put one in different parts of the house, in the car, at the desk at work or school, etc.? This way God's life-giving food is always available.

Watch out. Daily engagement in the Word of God will transform us... making us over into the image of Christ. This can be a dangerous thing, loving our enemies, praying for those who persecute us...

Invoke the author. One of my favorite theologians suggests that reading Scripture is the second most dangerous thing a Christian can do, for when the Bible is opened the devil is nearby, whispering into our ears, tempting us. So when we read, we should invoke the name of the author, the Holy Spirit, to guide our reading and understanding. You may be wondering, what is the most dangerous thing a Christian can do? Not read the Bible.

Go online. One of the gifts of recent innovations in technology is that there are thousands of Bible reading plans right at our fingertips. Check the back of the Bible you have now; chances are there is a reading plan there.

Eat up, my Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

Other Events Coming Up...

Let's Talk About Sex
There are two opportunities to discuss recent decisions made by our denomination regarding human sexuality and standards for ordained ministers. The first one, with our synod Bishop, is this Tuesday from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at First Lutheran Church, 109 E. Lincoln St., Findlay, Ohio. The second opportunity is here at Bethlehem, September 16 (Wednesday) from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. You are welcome to join us for either, or both.

Church at Cherry's
We received an overwhelming response to our "Church at Cherry's" theological discussions, so we hope to continue those this fall. Tentatively, we will meet once a month (probably the fourth Tuesday: so September 22 @ 7 pm). If you have topic suggestions, please send them. Oh, and BYOB (Bring Your Own Bible).

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Ephesians 5: Getting Drunk

Getting Drunk

In Ephesians 5:18-19 (the text for this coming Sunday) we read:
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your heart (NRSV).

Those who have struggled with addiction to alcohol are some of my favorite Christians, because they seem to get grace, repentance and redemption in a very deep way.

The easy part of the text above is the "don't get drunk" part. However, I am concerned that we often read this as simply a word about too much alcohol. I think we need to say more than that. Many of the sins in our culture are sins of excess, sins of gluttony, sins of simply "too much." In other words, even for those who can count on one hand the number of times they had too much alcohol to drink (or perhaps have never had "too much"), most of us regularly "get drunk" on all sorts of things: excessive shopping, too much TV, too much technology... the list is probably endless. As a relative of mine once said: "Everyone has their vice."

What all of this excess leads to, as with alcohol, is a dulling of the senses, a lack of awareness of God and of the world around us. In other words, regardless of the object, "too much" is nearly always spiritually dangerous.

In contrast, Paul encourages the Ephesian Christians (and us!) to drink deeply of the Spirit. The verse above locates this deep drinking of the spirit in the center of the worship life of the Church: in particular in singing: hymns, songs and Psalms. The Psalms are a rich collection of prayers to God that form not just the first hymn book of the people of Israel but also for us as the Church. If you do not already have a weekly or daily practice of praying the Psalms, I would encourage you in that direction.

What are some other ways we drink deeply of the Spirit? Christians throughout space and time have centered on three or four disciplines of faith that put us in the right places and frames of mind to receive the Spirit:
1.) Prayer (daily, or multiple times daily)
2.) Fasting
3.) Works of Mercy/Charity
4.) Scripture Reading

But there is also a sacramental way that we drink deeply of the Spirit. In the Sacrament of Holy Communion we literally drink of the Holy Spirit as we receive the precious Body and Blood of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. We believe by eating and drinking.

May God the Holy Spirit fill you enfold you this week and always!

A few housekeeping items:

+ The "Church at Cherry's" Theology discussion continues this evening at 7 pm at Cherry's Pub on Front Street. This evening's topic will be: "The Way, the Truth and the Life?" exploring what it means that Jesus is the Way and how Christians relate to other religious traditions.

+ I am a bit behind in posting sermons from the past several weeks due to the New Orleans youth gathering and vacation, so please be patient. I am hoping to post Pastor Jim Miller's sermon from the Community Worship Service this past Sunday, but I have not yet checked the audio quality.

+ I am hoping to at some point consolidate this blog with my other one (revmatt.blogspot.com).