patheological: The Podcast for the Pastor Theologian

What would it mean to Harry Potter fans had J.K. Rowling stopped her series at the second book? Or, how would it play out had we not had the rest of the story in the Hunger Games Triology? Or, what would we make had there been only the first installment of, The Lord of the Rings?

We like our stories to end well. Ched Myers suggests the bracketed ending of the Gospel of Mark may reveal a long standing human interest in stories ending well. Leaving off at Mark 16:8, had you only Mark’s Gospel to go on, would require a second read to get to the aim of the way he tells the story of Jesus. Myers contends this may have been an addition with an imperial flair. It all works out, we even get to handle snakes.

But, what if the older manuscripts are correct and we had to deal with the end of Mark with three women running from the tomb, silent. Telling no one? Not that would force us to read Mark more closely and see just what he was up to along the way.

Here we are at Good Friday. We frame the Cross event in light of the Resurrection Easter morning. But, to do so in haste leaves us missing the Cross as a reflection of what we do to others when we choose power over peace and human flourishing.

Maybe Mark read on Good Friday and then Easter Sunday leaves us to live out the sequel, every day. Maybe the imagery of our own metaphorical death would be the location for the birth of God to show up in the midst of a world still torn by suffering of our own creation. Loving the world, and of course others, in Jesus’ Way may well be the sort of sequel that would get read.

Take a listen. Leave your thoughts in the comments after you do. Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher. Leave a rating, even if it is one star.

May you reflect deeply this Good Friday and faithfully live Resurrection in the world today.

 

Happy first day of Spring! Shortly I will be out pruning our decorative grasses for new growth. Herbs will be planted in their own little place. Weeds will be pulled from the flower beds. Garden sprinklers will readied for use. Here’s to hoping the actions of one will produce many enjoyable times in the yard this spring, summer, and fall.

The truth is Patty will help and what the two of us work will produce more than one of us.

Maybe that is the ongoing imagery in John 12. Jesus, the One, produces the many. The many produce many more. How so? Listen to the podcast and see what gets opened up in Jesus’ reflections on his own life and what is to come.

Copyright © 1999-2018
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:
63c770b5d5a7864a89cf6c2f630094ad)

Maybe we shun the label heretic too quickly. What if the Apostle Paul aimed to create heretical communities across the Roman Empire aimed at bringing peace in the Way of Jesus?

On this week’s edition of Thoughts From the Edge, we take a look at a section of Scripture that contains what may be the most memorized, and quoted, verse in the Scriptures in the Twentieth Century. The great fear is that we have not memorized its context. Instead, we have lifted and separated it and used it in service to a reading that makes it the summary of the Good News without allowing it to be just that, Good News for the world.

If God so loved the world, then why is it that many today seek to limit world to one segment of the human population rather than, the world and everything in it? Paul seems to have that in mind when he opens Colossians 1. Could it be prevailing Western Culture, with an eye to the individual, has influenced Christian communities, churches, rather than represent the very heretical communities the Apostle Paul envisioned for subverting the Roman Empire?

There is much to consider, much too much for the normal time slot given to this podcast. But maybe it will spur some healthy conversation and prod us in our declarations that God’s Good News is indeed in Jesus, whom He raised from the dead.

Thanks for listening. Feel free to leave your comments, thoughts, and even your pushback.

You may subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher.

Until next time . . .

Featured Image

 

Copyright © 1999-2018
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:
63c770b5d5a7864a89cf6c2f630094ad)

If you have read here for very long you likely know I am a fan of Inigo Montoya. The daft swordsmen in Princess Bride who puzzles over linguistic imprecision. His almost constant refrain makes the point,

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

On this week’s edition of Thoughts from the Edge we offer a mashup of Jason Micheli’s post, Cancer Has It’s Benefits, Jonnie Russell’s post, How To Make Sense of the Latest Killing on Skid Row, Bultmann on John 2, and a consideration of time made by John D. Caputo in his essay that spurred the book, It.

Some teasers . . .

From Micheli,

Cancer doesn’t make you wonder ‘Why me, God?’ Only a [d#@*] would get caught up with that kind of question.

No, cancer throws in you the scrum and makes you ask ‘Why them, God?’

From Russell,

Surveillance video showed the police officers’ confrontation with the homeless man, known as Africa on Skid Row. The wall on the right of this video is part of a chapel where we were preparing to have a graduation ceremony for men just like Africa—men who have been abused by countless systems and who are often plagued by addictions that are the result of the stressors our negligence imposes on certain groups. In other words, their illnesses are our illnesses too.

From Bultmann,

Jesus’ reply means therefore that whoever asks for a semeion (sign) will receive a semeioin (sign) – but not until it is too late. Jesus refuses to give a sign in proof of his authority, such would enable men to recognize him without risk, without committing themselves to him. (The Gospel of John, p.125)

From Caputo,

Anyone who calls for the coming of a new day needs the hardiness to say yes to the coming of what they cannot see coming. It may turn out to be a day in which you should never have gotten out of bed. (It,p.24)

 

 

Copyright © 1999-2018
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:
63c770b5d5a7864a89cf6c2f630094ad)

We train our children early how to expect more. Later we prod them to temper their appetites and do with less. Unlearning what it feels like to have more poses more of a difficulty than we realize. The same is true when after establishing habits of more we hear Jesus’ call for less.

The Season of Lent grow more popular with low-church, free church congregations. So much has it grown that it now serves as a nexus for polemics. Posts about why you should not observe Lent are countered with others touting the benefits. One would think people were made for Lent rather than Lent for people.

Sure, you will read your history as to the roots of Lent. But, as with any practice, it morphs in the hands of pragmatists who realize how to take the good of a practice and infuse it with a sense of means rather than end. At least we can hope.

Snow Hill will begin a new series for Sundays in Lent titled, “Doing Without.” Our underlying question will be what does it mean to do without as we explore the related Texts for each Sunday. It is likely that we will discover that giving up chocolate is much easier than letting go of our participation in systems that actually work against our communal and personal formation in the Way of Jesus.

In this week’s podcast we begin with some introductory thoughts about Oliver Sacks, Jason Micheli, Tony Kriz, and Father Richard Rohr. They combine to form a thought provoking concoction, at least I think so, intended to stir our thinking about the theme, “Doing Without.” Here are some links that went into this cauldron you might find stirring in their own rights.

My Own Life by Oliver Sacks

Tamed Cynic (Jason Micheli – pay attention to his posts that chronicle his discovery of cancer. If you missed my post on Wednesday about Jason, you may find it here.)

Tony Kriz – post by Frank Schaeffer

Father Rohr – quoted by Tom VanGallen

Tom VanGaalen

14 hrs ·

“By definition, the prophet has to be on the edge of the inside of institutional religion. It’s a hard position to hold, and it must be held both structurally and personally, with wisdom and grace. There are many times it would be easier to leave the syst...

Often we discover more about ourselves in the wake of an event than what we think we learn about another person. Two things come to mind. First, conservative reactions to President Obama’s remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast. Second, . . . 

. . . certain reactions to the movie American Sniper.

Human experience obtains many more such events on a more mundane level than coverage by the Press Corps and a story told by a famous Actor/Director. Often these smaller events go unnoticed unless of course we become introspective while we grapple with larger events.

Quickly we draw conclusions about the Messianic Secret, so described as Jesus tells those liberated from oppression to not say a word. Or, in the case of the man with an unclean spirit in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus tells the man to be quiet. The lesser events contain more of the same. Jesus would not let the demons speak about him because they knew who he was. Or did they.

What if Christians, and churches, learn more about themselves, discover their own secrets, every time they become self-aware of their responses to others/Others? Is it possible that what is getting done in Mark 1 could also find itself getting done in 2015 in Christianity and the Church?

What would a mashup of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s Do You Believe In Magic and the Gospel of Mark proceed? Find out in this weeks’ podcast.

That’s right, a 1965 hit single combined with the first “miracle” story in the Gospel of Mark provides the intersection for Thoughts On the Edge. Here are some thing to think about as you listen. If John represents the prophetic voice on the edge, what does it mean that Jesus left the edge, the Jordan, and went to Capernaum’s synagogue? Why not Jerusalem? Who controlled the structure of the synagogues or at least held authority? What was a demon possessed man doing in the synagogue on the Sabbath?

Too often the debate over Jesus has centered on how modern minds could imagine a world like that of antiquity where healing were a normal course of life. Our progress has surely led to more peaceful times and a better understanding of the material world around us such that we need not consider such things as “true.” Those who fear wha this might mean double down by utilizing the same criterion to make their case. Both sides, like Ched Myers notes, miss the event as a sign.

Listen for more . . .

Featured Image

Lovin’ Spoonful

Copyright © 1999-2018
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:
63c770b5d5a7864a89cf6c2f630094ad)

Cataloging your list of woes is not the same as doing something about a problem. Sometimes it seems Christians spend more time complaing about things as they are rather than taking an action to influence the world as it should become.

In this podcast episode we take a look at John as a figure “on the edge.” No, it is not about his attire and diet but his position in relationship to Jerusalem. What does it say about the powers at work in his day? How might we reenact what Fr. Rohr calls the prophetic position today?

We also take a moment talking about repentance, a change of mind. Too many fear talking about repentance as a change of mind does not go deep enough. They rightly note it is more than changing your mind about where to eat dinner. So, how might we illustrate what shape repentance takes without defaulting to a mystical piety?

All of this is couched in an interaction with he Gospel text for this coming Sunday found in Mark 1. If this is a help to your sermon planning, your Scriptures engagement, or stirs your imagination, leave a comment with your own reaction to the Text, or podcast as it were.

Thanks you for taking the time to listen. If you have a question or content suggestion for an upcoming episode, shoot me an email or leave a comment with your idea.

New Year’s Eve I will visit Dr. Womack. The question will be, “Have my eyes changed?” My wife tells me that the color of my eyes change. Here I am talking about the strength of my eyes. Will I need to bi-focals?

I am sure you are interested in the outcome.

We all have a lens through which we take in the experiences of life. Our filters are different. Think of the different ways the recent CIA report has been interpreted. On the one hand many are outraged the report was published. Concern for safety, if not embarrassment having to admit a loss of moral authority for the U.S., provides the rationale for the use of EITs. On the other hand many are equally outraged that this is even the subject of a report. That the United States would use such tactics is inhumane.

How you respond to the various articles and social media posts, in part, will be determined by your lens, your filter.

Brian Zhand comes out strong. Support for torture excludes one from being Christian. Read that carefully. While his first draft contended you could not be a Christian, his revision says you cannot be Christian. This is no subtle distinction. And, I might quickly add that I am not sure one may be a Christian long and continue to hold to torture as a viable option for a Nation-State.

The key lies in the word Christian as a descriptor of one’s system of values. Christians, to be Christian, cannot support torture. There are many things we need to learn not to deem as acceptable if we are going to claim we follow Jesus.

Jon Sobrino, see my last post, wrote in his Christology that one grave danger is moving Jesus out of his historical context. Doing so leaves us with abstractions when we should be working with the concrete needs of people and the world.

Listening to Tripp and Bo talk about the texts for Advent 2 came with this nugget of goodness. “Jesus edited Isaiah.” Most will not care for the way the point is made, but take a listen to the podcast here and see if you don’t come way thinking it was a good thing that Jesus edited Isaiah.

Reading the many Facebook comments, Twitter feeds, and some articles, one wonders if we have lost our ear for the prophetic. Rooting out things as they are could characterize the words of any an Old Testament prophet. One would think that now that we are in 2014, almost 2015, that even if one paraded naked for forty years we might opt for things as they are.

Once again I think Walter Brueggemann offers a way to think about how we might reflect on the prophetic when considering our current cultural climate. While we may not replicate the Bronze Age or the Iron Age, we do seem well adapted to repeat many of the same errors to which the prophet calls a people to avoid.

Here in this episode we take a quick look at Isaiah 40:1-11, specifically verses 1-2, and identify the mood the prophet addressed. After years of captivity anyone would exclaim, “It has been long enough.” The question that gets raised is when will God’s people join with those whose cultural narrative fits well with the theme, “It has been long enough?”

Russ Moore, President of the ERLC of the Southern Baptist Convention, surprised many and angered others with his response to the recent NYC Grand Jury that voted not to indict in the death of Eric Garner. It bewilders me that my denomination did not rise in unison to echo his sentiment. One wonders if a locust and honey eating baptizer came suggesting some minds need changing if that would be enough to prompt living in the present in light of the promise.

Copyright © 1999-2018
This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only.
The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:
63c770b5d5a7864a89cf6c2f630094ad)