Jesus Creed
Who will explore this incident as a parable of the Church at times? (By the way, my thinking has nothing to do with it being women.) |inline
Who will explore this incident as a parable of the Church at times? (By the way, my thinking has nothing to do with it being women.) |inline
Here is a reality so profoundly deep to adoptive parents that we can hardly take it in. Thanks to Dawn Husnick.
A time most of us simply cannot even imagine. |inline
This has been a heavy week for this blog, with more than the norm for comments, and I’m grateful to the many of you who contribute to this blog by encouraging remarks and by your comments. I’m proud of this blog and of those who carry forward our conversations. Now, the good news: school ends next week and I’ll have more time for reading blogs and commenting elsewhere. |inline
After reading the comments over the last few days about women and ministry, I’m now thinking this topic is impossible to carry on through a blog. Others can choose to blog about this.
Kris and I were invited to Eastpoint Community Church, in New-ARK Delaware, this weekend. Tom Ward has developed one of the finest church websites I’ve seen. |inline
Wisdom of the week: from Hamo about personality cults.
You know I’m a big fan of Pastor Jim Martin, who has the wisest blog in the world, but if you’re young (married less than ten years or thinking about it even), then you need to listen to his great advice on 41 things to know about marriage. And if anyone tells you it is one thing, don’t listen to them: there’s lots to learn, and the list gets longer the longer you are married. |inline
How important is history, real stuff on earth by real people with God empowering such stuff with salvific power, for Christian spirituality? This is at the heart of this part of Eugene Peterson’s em>Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. To ground spirituality in history, something many today seem to avoid, Peterson looked at the Exodus and now he turns to Mark’s Gospel. Peterson says that the “form” is inspired — that is, turning the story of Christ into a “gospel” is inspired. |inline
The following is a review of Ingrid Rosa Kitzberger’s important book, Transformative Encounters, and was not published. It was written to be read at an SBL meeting, and then the session fell through and I was left with this review. Somewhere out there in cyberspace this review appeared earlier. |inline
In this our last post on a generous orthodoxy that can genuinely shape a fourth way, I want to look at a basic premise of the younger generation and a premise that many of my generation find difficult to handle.
I begin with a story. In the Spring of 1981, Kris and I and the kids were living in Nottingham England and I was doing research for my PhD at Nottingham University. I had a desk at home, and often studied there. Late in the morning we got a phone call, I picked it up, and at the other end of the line was F.F. Bruce — who introduced himself and kindly invited all of us up to his home in Buxton the next Saturday for tea (which is more than a drink). We gladly accepted and the next Saturday we got ourselves up there (bought a Bakewell tart, too). I gave to Professor Bruce a brand new copy of Leon Morris’ book Testaments of Love, which he appreciated, and we had a splendid time (apart from Lukas spilling a glass of “orange squash” [a drink] on his rug, which he said was the norm for his home).
The reason I bring this up is that I asked Professor Bruce, because I had an audience with him, about women and ministry. My question was a big one: “Professor Bruce, what do you think of women in the ministry and how texts like 1 Cor 14 and 1 Tim 2 apply to the issues at hand.” Here was his response, and I shall never forget it and I sum it up here. “First, I think 1 Cor 14 is textually corrupt. Second, I think Paul would roll over in his grave if he thought we were turning his letters into a new Torah. And third, as for what I think about women in ministry, I’m for whatever causes the freedom of the Spirit.” What struck me most were answers 2 and 3.
In his words we find a paradigm for a new work of God in our midst.
Orthodoxy
If we are going anywhere in our day, it must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our creeds have always confessed the Holy Spirit — as God, as the giver of life, as One who proceeds from the Father [and Son], who is worshiped, and who has spoken through the prophets.
Orthodoxy believes this same Holy Spirit is here with us and can empower us still. It anchors itself in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it generates its power from the Holy Spirit, and it knows that all its works are useless if not attended by the Holy Spirit.
One of my favorite Holy Spirit books is Michael Green, I Believe in the Holy Spirit.
Generosity
But this means one big thing: we must trust the Spirit to be at work.
And we must trust the Spirit to be at work in each of us.
And that means we must listen to one another.
And trust one another to be doing what the Spirit is leading that person to do.
And that means we cannot demand conformity but let each person be led by the Spirit out of continuity with that orthodox confession we make.
This generosity is so evident in Paul’s letters. Yes, in Paul’s letters. Paul does not establish a “how to” guide for the Church, he does not establish a set of rules and regulations, he does not promulgate a new Torah, nor does he expect everybody in every place to be doing everything the same. He acknowledged in 1 Cor 8–10 the freedom of the Spirit in different places.
Paul’s motto, which is where FF Bruce got his own principle of the freedom of the Spirit, was “do what the Spirit leads you to do.” Read Galatians 5 and notice how Paul trusted the Christians who lived in the Spirit, and criticized those who didn’t trust the Spirit.
How many of us, if truth be told, really trust the power of the Spirit in the lives of others? If you are tempted to say, “But…”, I ask you to hold the thought and sit on it: see what the Bible really says.
So, in summary, a fourth way will truly get underway when Christians can genuinely trust the Spirit in others as much as they trust the Spirit in themselves.
The Spirit always brings freedom, another term for what I am meaning in the word generosity, as in generous orthodoxy.
This post is by Mimi Haddad.
For years, everyone wondered why my father had difficulty getting dressed, reading maps, and fixing appliances. We later learned the root of his trouble. During his pilot’s training course it was discovered that my father is color blind. He confuses primary colors and has trouble discerning colors that are similar to one another. Despite his best efforts, my father was denied a pilot’s license because he could not find the red switch on the dash or locate wires colored orange and pink. Fortunately, once his disability was diagnosed, he was able to compensate for it.
How many of us are left wondering whether some Christians today suffer from a similar condition we might call “gender-blindness”? Christian faith may have a masculine feel because those with gender-blindness do not see the many female leaders in the Bible. Nor do they perceive related concepts such as God is “spirit,” and that the work of Christ is inseparable from the work of the Church. Our rebirth in Christ opens doors to service in the church regardless of gender because it was Christ’s humanity, not his gender that made him a sacrifice for all people. Gender-blindness, if not recognized, can lead some to believe that the man they see in the mirror each day corresponds to the leaders they observe in Scripture. Like my father, we all need a little help, so we can overcome our blind spots and perceive the fullness of God’s Kingdom. (more…)
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