Ask The Question 2

 We ran out of time for a number of questions asked in worship in August. Here is the next installment on responses to those questions.

The onscreen text for the Lord's Prayer twice used kin dom instead of kingdom. At first glance this seemed to be a typo, but I suspect method to your madness. If this was intentional, please explain.

My initial response to this question was that either I have a sticky “g” key on my keyboard, or I’m a rampant feminist. I’ve decided I should be more honest than that.

When I write, I rarely use the word “kingdom.”  When I say the Lord’s prayer, I always use the words Kin Dom rather than kingdom.  It was an unconscious slip on my part that that phrase ended up on the screen for worship.  But since it did and someone wondered about it let me tell you about why I have difficulty with the word KINGDOM.

  Remember that this is my opinion only.  I encourage you to recite this most common prayer we have exactly as you would like to pray it.

What comes to mind when you think of a king?  For me, it’s a portly male with an ermine-trimmed cape and a bejeweled, gold crown with an ivory and gold scepter in his hand. He is seated on a throne of gold with servants all around him.  He is very wealthy because of the work his serfs do for him, because of the wars fought at the cost of his subjects’ blood, and because he has complete dominion over all that is around him.  The word, “Kingdom” means the domain of the King.  The domain of the king is complete control over the layers and classes of people he rules.  There are the elite who sit with the king and share in the bounty. And there are the common people and serfs who do the work of the ruling classes.  The common people and serfs in a kingdom are expendable, and pawns for the power of the king.  Their only value is what they can add to the value of the king. In today’s culture, the term King wears a lot of baggage; by its very nature, kingdoms in today’s culture are oppressive to the common people and the disaffected.

Now put that image aside for a moment.  What do you think of when you hear the word, “kin”? For me, it’s a clan, a group of people with whom I share a common bond, either by blood or by a shared perspective or experience. Within kinship, there is equal footing, and each person is valued for what they bring to the brood.  All are part of the greater family, and the aim is to maintain the common good. Kin is family where all around the table are gathered to share equally in the harvest and the bounty.  I think of the Realm of God as a domain of kin gathered around the table where God is the host.

I’m not sure this is actually a “feminist” view as much as it is a different understanding and different connotations of the term “king” between 1^st Century Palestine and 21^st Century USA.

If Jesus Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection fulfill Jewish prophecy, why aren’t Jews Christians? What’s fundamental difference between Jewish and Christian orthodoxy?  The answer lies within the question:  Does the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth fulfill Jewish Prophecy? One’s response to that question marks the fundamental difference between Jewish and Christian orthodoxy.  Christian tradition reads the Hebrew texts through the lens of their experience of Jesus of Nazareth.  Early followers of “the Way” (they did not call themselves Christians) did not consider themselves anything more than a movement of revival of ancient understandings of the Jewish scriptures. There is truly little that Jesus taught that was not supported by one ancient Rabbinical writing or another.  By the time the gospel of Matthew was penned, however, there was a split between the religious leaders and the followers of Jesus’ teachings that was more about power and control than about orthodoxy.  The spurned followers of the Way looked for support in the Hebrew writings for support of their correctness.  They read the scripture looking for ways that their narrative could fulfill the requirements of a “Messiah.”  Matthew and John state specific texts that are fulfilled by their narratives of Jesus ministry and teachings.  The Pauline writings codify this understanding. And the early church built all orthodoxy upon it. 

Jewish tradition does not understand the ministry of Jesus as anything more than one more teacher of an interpretation of scripture. Not necessarily a heretic; just not the promised one. 

what is your favorite version of the Bible? What translation do you recommend for easy reading?  My favorite Bible is difficult to narrow to one.  I always read 3 - 4 translations and I consult the original languages just to see what the source says.

If I had to choose between the vast array of choices of translation to just 2, I'd go with the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) AND the Message.  The first is a good translation from the original languages, but often misses the innuendo of the source in its attempt to be literally accurate.  The second is a "paraphrase" in common American English that completely gets the innuendo but is horrid about the literal accuracy.  The truth is half way between the two.

With majority of churches holding virtual services, how do we maintain our identity and distinguish ourselves from others?  Our “niche” has not changed. We offer inclusive and progressive beliefs; openness to diversity of thought, background, and creed; excellence of music; and a caring community.  I’d like to think that because we’ve been broadcasting longer than most congregations (since 2008), that we are in a better position to offer a better quality broadcast.  Many churches are livestreaming raw, unedited cell phone streams, holding Zoom meetings for worship, and offering poor sound and graphic quality.  I know we’re not professional quality, but we’re not beginners either.

How do we reconcile all our possessions with following Jesus who told the rich man to sell all his possessions and follow him?  Can we?  Consumerism is, in my opinion, our biggest idolatry.  We live in an economy that is consumer-product driven – which is why our sheltering in place is so very dangerous to the state of our economy!  It is difficult for 21^st Century US Americans to fathom selling all we have.  We an rationalize giving money to the poor (the part of the scripture not mentioned in the question).  But I (and I will only speak for myself) cannot imagine living the life of a monk with nothing to call my own, without the comforts of my furnishings, my electronics, my warm clothes, my car, my second home.

And so we turn to our rationalizations: “What Jesus really meant was….” 

·       Find your self worth in how well you walk the path of faith, not in what you own. Or accomplish.

·       Trust God to provide for your needs rather than thinking your self sufficient. 

·       Depend upon only God and not wealth.

·       Stockpile love and honor rather than stuff.

·       Keep up with Jesus, not your neighbors.

I cannot possibly reconcile Jesus’s teaching about possessions with what I own.  That makes me a hypocrite, a rationalizer, and probably a fake Christian.  But it also makes me all the more aware of how much I depend upon Jesus’ teachings about grace, forgiveness, and extravagant love.

 

COVID-19

In our Indiana home there was a gnome in my garden.  We have lovingly named him Gnomenclature.  He stood near the bird feeder with a watering can in one hand and a daisy in the other welcoming the ground feeding birds and keeping guard over the sprouting and flowering perennials in the garden.

Every spring, Gnomenclature got a "make over"-- fresh paint to recolor his clothes, boots, hat, eyes, cheeks, lips, watering can, and flower.  And, by the following Winter, he would sprout white spots that did not originate from the feeding birds.

One morning Gnomenclature had an unusual visitor, an interloper in the realm of the mourning doves and cardinals. They saw the visitor coming and quickly scattered to the branches above the feeders and the roofs of the neighboring houses.  The visitor offered no real threat to them; they weren't accustomed to seeing such a creature at their regular feeding place.

The interloper approached Gnomenclature cautiously.  This tiny elf looked and smelled like humans, but held terribly still like a rock.  The interloper crept slowly toward the gnome with ears and nose carefully focused to augment what the eyes were sensing.  When the visitor was certain that the acrylic statue offered no threat, s/he pounced on the rock beside the gnome and proceeded to eat the tender tulip that protruded through the freshly thawed garden.

As we move forward into the unknown future, we tend to do the same.  We approach the unknown cautiously; until proven otherwise, we suspect it will only do us harm. We sniff it throughly, inspect and listen to have our suspicious validated.  Only when we are nearly through the changes do we begin to relax and go about the job of finding nourishment for our souls.

But we were not born rabbit kits! We are God's favored children! The future is hope, grace, and shalom.  Scripture reminds us to "fear not!"

The news of COVID-19 is spreading fear more quickly than the illness itself, and with each news story, fear and anxiety increase. In this time when we are uncertain of what to expect, I encourage you to assume a posture of active awareness, of hope, and of faith. Paul writes to the Romans, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

In Hope and in Faith,
Carly