Matrixminister

To conclude . . . finally. (Nope! I am not giving an excuse or a reason for my absence! Read smile here.)

Not Right/Wrong but Honor/Shame

We spend all of our discussions centered around whether something is right or wrong. That was seldom, if ever, in the equation during the Biblical era. The question for them was “Will this honor or shame my family?”

For example: When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I stole a candy bar from a local grocery store. My Dad found out. Uh oh. After the obligatory “punishment,” I had to go back to the store, apologize and pay for it. He made sure I did too. It would never occur in that fashion in a Bibilcal era. They dealt with things privately. If it were to become public, it would shame the family.

Read the passage where it is Jesus vs. lawyers or vs. the Pharisees. It almost always is an attempt to take his honor.

In their culture, honor was so important, that the position of honor was seated, not standing. To stand was to say you were the lesser. Teaching was almost always done from a seated position. Check out the stories in the Bible, e.g. Jesus sits on a boat to teach. There are exceptions, but not many.

Not Future/Present/Past but Present/Past/Future

In most of our discussions, we talk about tomorrow, the future, first. We talk about where we are headed, our vision, our hopes, etc. Then we talk about today. We barely discuss or learn from the past. We look to the past as a final resort usually.

Biblical personalities, are living in the present. It is like this, for the most part, they were poor. Today was important, not planning for tomorrow.” Today we look to the future and plan for it. They live in the present, which comes out of the past, and have little time to discuss the future. They asked for “daily bread,” we plan for retirement.

At Passover, a place is set for Elijah, and at one point, someone gets up and goes to the door to see if he is there. It is about the present welcoming the past.

Not Individual but the Group

There is no private rights. The rights of the group is key. All of life is very public. There is no discussion of a right to privacy in the Middle East even today. Everyone is in everyone else’s business. The idea is that the group is what is important.

All of these four items are crucial, but the final one gets me more than the others. What does that say about me?

It has been a while since I wrote anything that resembled a series. Perhaps it is time for the drought to end.

With the change in my “career,” “ministry,” or “work,” I have had many people ask me how it is going, what do I miss, etc. Those questions are easy to answer. I miss one thing more than all the others combined - teaching and preaching. This is not bragging, but I know what I am good at, and this is something I do well. That is one of the ways God has gifted me. That being the case, I miss it greatly. Last weekend while doing some work, I was listening to a friend’s teaching podcast. It was then that I was reminded once again, how much I miss teaching. So, I thought, if this new position does not provide that, what could? I thought of my writing. This is one place where that can happen. So here it goes.

If there is one characteristic of my teaching that stands above the others it would be my commitment to accurately exegete Scripture. That comes from my training. It was drilled into my head in four collegiate years, five seminary years, and four years of doctoral work. It has imbedded itself in me in 30 years of ministry.

There are two things that really burn my toast. The first is Christian “eisegesis” in place of “exegesis.” Exegeis is the ability to study and draw OUT of Scripture what it says. Eisegesis, is the reading INTO Scripture our views, our politics, our pet peeves, our interpretation, and so on. The second is small groups and “Bible studies,” sitting around sharing their collective ignorance. I will avoid the temptation, and not go there now.

When we start to try to accurately understand the world of the Bible, although it spreads out over 1,500 years, there are some marked differences from our own. I intend to talk briefly about some of them over the next few days. I have discussed these for years, but the language here is not my own. I heard someone else give several of these thoughts “handles.” So, whoever it was that gave me the verbiage, thank you.

Difference #1 - It is not Industrial / Technological but Agricultural

Some of you read that and said, “Ho-hum, next. This is so obivous.” That may be true in substance but in practicality it gets lost. We can so easily read today into pages where “today” does not exist.

When you read or study the Scripture, it becomes quickly aparent that all issues were about agriculture. They often talk about the crops, the flora, etc. The holidays were built around the agricultural season. The daily concerns were about agriculture. No wonder it is a big concern when there is a drought. The concerns with the poor were surrounded by the need to provide for them with the yields of the earth. To grasp Ruth, you have to understand the rules of gleaning set up to care for the poor.

Read through Scripture and notice the numerous references to the land and the crops. In our time of machinery and computers and knowledge, this simple fact can get lost, and cause us to lose an oppotunity to understand what is taking place on the pages of the sacred text.

According to World Vision . . . here are seven ways to pray in 2007.

1. When you take a shower, pray for clean water for those who are deprived of this necessity.

2. When you go to work, pray for child laborers around the world.

3. When you eat lunch, pray for hungry and malnourished children.

4. When you watch the news, pray for education for those who do not have access to it.

5. When you arrive safely home, pray for displaced children.

6. When you take your vitamins, pray for access to medical care for those who do not have it.

7. When you go to bed, pray for orphans who have no regular bed.

These are good simple, easy reminders for something we probably should not need to be reminded.

 

Almost one month ago exactly, I wrote about me taking a much needed diversion, biking Skyline Drive in Virginia in two days with three friends. The past two weekends I have taken a couple of well needed diversions of health that are of a totally different nature. The past two months have been incredibly intense and diversions of a healthy nature were very much needed. Here is what I just completed of a diversionary nature.

Diversion #1 – I love concerts. That is not news to anyone who knows me. I wrote a few months back that I do not simply attend concerts, “I emote them,â€? was my words. With that as a background, one of my favorite bands of all time is Fleetwood Mac. I love all their various styles (Peter Green, etc.), but I especially like them beginning with the Buckingham – Nicks era. That being said, when I was informed via his web site, that Lindsey Buckingham was releasing a new solo CD I was very excited. I made plans the other week to travel to hear Lindsey Buckingham in concert. The fact that I was able to see Lindsey in concert was extraordinarily cool. I believe he is one of the most overlooked and underrated guitarists of all time. He is a bit eclectic, which may be another reason I like him so well; but he is incredibly talented and this concert was one of the highlights of my year for many reasons. It was worth every mile of the five hour drive to simply enjoy music and “emote” a concert.

Diversion #2 – Gavin, my four-year-old grandson, and I traveled last weekend to NC to visit my brother Randy, who is in rehab recovering from a pretty severe stroke he suffered in late August. Gavin and I travel well together and quite honestly, I enjoy the little fellow’s company. He adores me, and I do him so it is a good match. He is so much fun. I will write in a day or so concerning him in a hotel room. What a blast! Anyway, this diversion was made possible because I accepted my new position (more on that in a future blog as well) and I had the time to take the, albeit brief, trip.

Sometimes, I am continually learning, it is necessary to take a change from the routine, a diversion if you will . . . for health.

“Life comes at you fast,� the commercial so creatively states. It is likewise, very true. Sometimes it is just good to do something you enjoy without the hectic stuff of normal activity. Three friends and I just spent two days riding the 100+ miles of Skyline Drive in Virginia. In the two days we climbed over 6,000 vertical feet on our bicycles. It was a purging as much as anything.

Day 1 was cool and much more difficult. Day 2 started in the rain, but became very nice and was not nearly as tough of a climbing day. It was a great couple of days. Here are some photos. In the group shot the guys are Right to Left – Me, Greg Toomey, Don Creasy and John Creasy (my son-in-law).

As I am making a major life change, I had the following words sent to me by several folks. It was a quote from a message I delivered 2-1/2 years ago. The text: “What is your integrity worth?’

Here is the context.

I stood in line at Taco Bell a few years back patiently awaiting my opportunity to order. (Yes, I am a connoisseur of fine dining.) I noticed that the woman in front of me act a bit squeamish and quickly shift down the line. As I completed my order and stood behind her, I overheard her whisper to the person in line with her, “The clerk just gave me a dollar too much change.� They looked at one another, said “Yes!� then gave one another a quick high five.

I thought to myself, “How much is your integrity worth? That woman just told me that she would sell her integrity for $1.00. Her integrity was worth $1.00.

How much is your integrity worth? What value do you place upon it? Where is there the line where you say “I am done�? That is a line I will not cross. If that is how you are planning it, then count me out.�

On the White Album, the Beatles sang,

We all want to change the world.
But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out?

For all of their talk about what they wanted to do, they had their line. There was a point where they could go no further.

What is your integrity worth?

Prologue: “Emo� – emotion as used here is not in the current juvenile vernacular where someone is so emotional that it affects their life in negative ways. It is hilarious to me that the age of individual who are the most driven, plagued, and hindered by emotions are the very ones who list being emotional as a bad thing.

Q: How many non-emotional teens does it take to change a light bulb?
A: No one knows. There is no such thing as a non-emotional teen.

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I am a man who thrives on passion. When I am at my very best is when I am driven by a passion for particular event or philosophy or idea or ministry. When I am at my absolute worst is when I am void of that passion and that ability to dream. And everyone knows that to be passionate is to be emotional about something. This does not necessarily mean in a bad sense, but in the best sense.

The very essence of motivation is emotion. How many underdogged, out manned, over achieving athletic teams have won games against a superior opponent by sheer emotion. Ever watched Hoosiers or The Replacements? And it is not only on the movie screen where that is a reality. The late George Allen and Dick Vermeil made careers out of keeping players playing above their ability by motivation.

Read the passage where Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. Read where he overturns the table of the money changers. Listen to him talk about the harvest being plentiful, but the laborers few. Do you hear any emotion? If not, read it again, this time with your eyes open.

All that being said in defense of well balanced emotions . . . I sometimes am a sap for those sorts of songs. (Notice I said sometimes. Sometimes they are just plain cheesy too.) The other week at my faith community, I played a song by a 1980-1990 vintage singer songwriter named Wayne Watson. It got me to listening to some of his other stuff. He had some really good things to say in his day that are still applicable.

I was listening to Watercolour Ponies while watching my grandson Gavin playing and the phrase “And little victories can go by with no applause.� It is in reference to children growing up and our support of them often lacking by our busyness.

I watched Gavin, at a month shy of four years old scream down our drive in his bike and ease on his brakes. This was a big deal for him to learn to ease on the brakes not slam on them as he had. It was a little victory. I walked over to him and clapped.

When was the last time you clapped for someone’s little victory? It does not have to be a child. It can be an adult. When was the last time you clapped for someone’s little victory?

Yeah. That is what I thought.

This past week was a difficult week in many respects. There is a lot of personal stuff taking place, but the real issue for the difficulty is regarding missing a couple of concerts. Last week in Pittsburgh Tom Petty and Sheryl Crow both had concerts here. I would have loved to attend both. Actually this summer there were six separate concerts I wanted to attend. Heck, I would have even taken my grandson to see the Wiggles! How bad is that?! Financial realities prevented it, but it did not prevent my desire to attend.

My wife has always sort of laughed at my love for attending concerts. Her philosophy is that you can buy a CD cheaper and listen to it over and over. My response is always the same, “A concert is not simply about the music.â€? It is an experience! A complete and total experience.

My friend Terry Timm said in a recent post of his that he is an “emo� kind of guy. Well, anyone who knows me knows that to be the absolute truth for me as well. (I will talk about that in my next post too.) But the “emo� thing is why I love concerts. I don’t just attend concerts . . . I “emote� concerts. Even in my younger days I NEVER attended a concert bombed out of my mind or incapacitated with substance abuse. I have never done that anyway, but even if I did I would never have done that at a concert. One beer, maybe two, is it! The concert is to be experienced and I want nothing to reduce my ability to experience it.

So, I am doing a very shallow thing. I am grieving missing concerts this year. I love Tom Petty’s stuff and will not miss the next one!

Several years ago a ministry colleague mentioned to me that he knows some folks who simply HATE to write articles. I remember thinking, “Not me.â€? I love writing. It is one of my main joys. I had heard about people experiencing writer’s block, but never imagined I would ever feel it.

Until now that is. I know you don’t believe it, but it is true.

The past few months have been extremely difficult ones for me. Consequently, since I am a private person by nature, I have been struggling with my blog and writing. Most people accuse me of being too prolific not too brief, so this time has been tough. This has been something totally foreign to me. (Many of you could never see me with “talkers block� either but that is another subject entirely.)

It is not that I did not have some things ready; I have at least twenty or twenty five articles in various stages of completion. It is that I just have not felt (there is my Myers Briggs getting me in trouble again) any of them have been appropriate.

So I guess these brief paragraphs are me confessing “writer’s block.� It is my AA sharing or my “coming out of the closet� moment. (I am not making light of those difficult decisions by folks, so PLEASE do not comment and make some hair brained accusation here that is totally inappropriate and totally misses my point. It is a metaphor people!!)

I promise to get back at this regularly, but at least folks now have a SMALL bit of explanation.