Some items from church this morning:
A. The youth pastor said that, when he is alone for long periods of
time, he feels less like himself. I thought of Donald Miller’s personal
observation in Blue Like Jazz that, when he lived alone, he
would start talking to himself. Speaking for myself personally, it does
make me feel better when I am accepted and feel integrated among people.
Some suggest that is because we evolved to be in herds, which are
places of protection, and we feel vulnerable when we are alone. When I
am rejected, I feel as if I am doing something wrong and am thus
powerless to change my environment in my favor. Also, talking with an
understanding person can change my perspective for the better, helping
me to go forward and meet life head on, feeling less like a mistake. But
there also is a place for solitude: joking among people can eventually
become like eating too much sugar. Plus, there is the reality that not
everyone will accept me, as that is life, and many people will not agree
with what I have to say. That works vice-versa, too.
B. The pastor’s sermon was about connecting with others, yet he also
mentioned barriers to connection. We are self-protective due to past
hurts. The impression we give is that we say “I want to be your friend”
even as we hold our hand out, trying to prevent that from happening. We
were also taught that certain topics in public are verboten, so we wear
plastic smiles in public, giving the impression that everything is all
right when it is not.
C. The pastor told a story about how, early in his pastorate, he went
everywhere he was asked to go. As a result, he felt exhausted.
Similarly, in the video that we watched for Sunday school, Zach Zehnder
said that we should not grit our teeth and try harder to be generous and
forgiving, as Jesus taught. We will become frustrated and exhausted. We
need to become connected with Jesus and be with him, then obeying
Jesus’s commands will be a joy. Having devotions is like Zehnder
practicing his golf game regularly: when he does so, he does better in
the game and has more fun.
D. We broke up into groups and talked about devotions. One person
said that reading prayers in a book can be helpful. That can help when
you do not know what to say to God, plus it can give you an opportunity
to pray for people and situations that you may not immediately think
about, since they are outside your immediate circle of life. We can also
pray to God throughout the day: asking God to send help when we see an
accident, thanking God when seeing something beautiful, and giving God
our concerns amidst life’s responsibilities. The acknowledgment of value
in reading prayers stood out to me, since I recall a teacher who was a
Baptist who did not identify with my practice, at the time, of reading a
Psalm each day for my prayer time. For her, prayer had to be so much
more than that: more personal, more intimate, pouring out one’s soul,
being in a relationship, truly connecting with God, and letting God
connect with you.
E. Now for some honesty. Many Christians talk as if having daily
devotions is the answer to everything, as if they give fuel for the
Christian life and transform a person for the better. That may be the
case for some people. I am a little more skeptical. I still do them
everyday, as I meditate on Scripture. I go through a grid, as I think
about what a passage of Scripture may teach about God’s love, grace,
sovereignty, presence, and hope (which I define in terms of eschatology
and Jesus’s fulfillment). I do that, as opposed to looking to the
Scriptures to see what rules I should follow. I feel edified in my
approach, but strengthened? I do not think so. Some, but not profoundly
so. Maybe stronger than I would be otherwise. It helps, but, for me, it
is not the magic key that Christians say it is. People may then say that
I am doing it wrong. Maybe I should be looking for rules to follow, but
I did that in the past, and I become discouraged because my nature goes
contrary to those rules. Complaining to God in the name of honesty is
basically stinking thinking. Scripture can be encouraging, but it can
also be depressing: there are so many dark sayings, especially about
God’s wrath, and, with some stories, it is hard to see much that is
uplifting. Then there is a caution on my part about projecting modern
Christian ideas on an ancient text, so I am hesitant to apply the
presuppositions to the text that many Christians apply. Part of that is
because I do not want to be guilty of eisegesis; part of it is because I
do not want to become bored with the Bible, seeing the same evangelical
message over and over.
F. Another topic that came up in small groups concerned using Scripture to edify others. Here, things do not work out that well for me, either. One can quote Scripture to others and come across as patronizing. Also, while I like reading the Bible, I do not enjoy talking with people about it. I feel as if I have to defend God's baggage as it appears in the Bible, when that baggage troubles me, too. Recently, someone asked me, because he knew I had degrees in religion, if this is the end of the world, since there is the coronavirus. I didn't know how to answer that. Some people can come up with glib answers off the top of their heads, but that is not easy for me. Plus, nothing in my education trained me to answer that question; much of my academic education treated the Bible solely as a human document, not as a guide to the end-times. Then, I do not want to tell people what to believe. They have to make their own decisions, based on what makes sense to them.