Jimmys Renderings 6-1-14 I recently called one of our committee chairs to discuss committee business. She was evidently in her car, and I clearly heard her when she answered. It quickly became apparent, however, that she could not hear me. She laughed and said, “Jimmy, my husband and I are driving. He has just received a wonderful set of hearing aids with new technology to help with cell phones, and he linked it to my phone to try it out. I know you can hear me; I cannot hear you, but he can hear you through his hearing aids.” There was nothing confidential in the conversation, so I told him; he recounted it to her; she heard it; she responded to me; and I responded to her through him. To her husband’s credit, I could hear him repeating what I said to him, and he was amazingly accurate. I was reminded of the old game of “Gossip” that I am sure you played when you were a child. You remember: people sit in a circle and someone whispers something to one person who whispers it to the next and that one to the next and so forth. When it comes back to the first person, he has to say what the original words were and then what the final words are after they have been passed around the circle. It was fascinating to hear how much words changed when they were passed through so many people! I thought about the time when I was a student in high school, college and seminary. I was introduced to primary sources during those years; in fact, the use of primary sources was required when I prepared a book review or term paper. I found that such sources gave me an important opportunity to interact with the original materials and to process ideas without a lot of commentary from others. That was a far cry from what would have happened if I said what another person said about a document. It is very difficult for anyone to just state the facts and convey material with a purity that does not add editorial inflections, ideas or focus to what is being shared. One of the gifts our faith tradition affords us is the “priesthood of all believers.” We each have a right and responsibility to speak directly with God and to read the scriptures for ourselves, although I suspect we do not do enough of either. It is fine to read a commentary, listen to a sermon (certainly!) or read someone’s interpretation of a passage of scripture; but that is no substitute for spending personal time in The Word. God’s Spirit works in our lives to point out things God wants us to see and experience. We need to trust God to interpret and trust ourselves to hear what He is saying. As the Revelation puts it, “Let those with ears hear what the Spirit says . . . .” Commentaries and even articles like this one should push us toward a purer connection with The Word and with the Lord. They should make us feel inadequately prepared if we allow others to read and explain scripture to us without our digging into The Word. I can assure you that when Jesus invited others to give their interpretation of scripture, His purpose was to encourage them to think it through—and not to enlighten Him. As it is recorded in Matthew 7: When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. Jesus used original source material. So can we, as our spiritual walk with the Lord gives us access to these primary materials through His Holy Spirit. Hence, when we say we do things “by The Book,” it is not “The Book” as interpreted by others but as we are led to understand it. I fear we spend too much time listening to what others have written about the Bible rather than listening to what God is saying to us through the Bible. God speaks directly to each of us. We need to be familiar with and rely on the original source of life and hope. Your Pastor, Jimmy
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 13:45:03 +0000
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