This past Sunday (January 8) we began a two-session process of discussion on our use of scripture at SJMC. Mennonite Church Canada has requested feedback on this as phase one of its "Being a Faithful Church" process on matters of human sexuality. If you weren't able to pick up a copy of the background materials MC Canada has published on this, you can download them here:
http://www.mennonitechurch.ca/tiny/1643 (the feedback tool we are using)
www.mennonitechurch.ca/tiny/1516 ("Being a Faithful Church" 1-3)
We had a pretty good start to these feedback sessions, and it's clear we have lots to talk about. Our experiences with the Bible have been mixed, and it's clear that our approach to the Bible has changed over the past decades. As usual, we ran out of time to get to everything, so here's an opportunity to do some work at home.
Since we're thinking about scripture and how we use it, it makes sense to engage scripture itself as we go. Perhaps the best-known biblical passage in relation to the purpose and function of scripture itself is II Timothy 3:14-17:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
A few things to take note of:
1. When this passage was written, there was not yet a "New Testament" to the Bible. The scriptures it refers to are the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures. Even though it's written before Jesus was born, these sacred writings are still able to "instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus"!
2. Timothy is commended for having known the sacred writings from childhood. Our engagement with scripture needs to begin early.
3. What does it mean that all scripture is "inspired by God?"
4. The passage mentions various intentions or purposes for the good use of scripture:
a) instruction (towards salvation through faith in Jesus Christ)
b) teaching
c) rebuking
d) correcting
e) training for righteousness and justice
f) equipping and making us proficient in Christian good works
This suggests that any interpretation of scripture that doesn't do these things, or that cultivates the opposite, is not a good interpretation of scripture
5. Does this description of scripture resonate with our experiences at SJMC? Are there things here we're uncomfortable with, or things we're surprised not to find?
6. Does this passage provide any insights to how or why we use scripture the way we do?
We'll take a few minutes at the beginning of this week's session to hear any responses that come out of this passage. Otherwise, we'll aim on Sunday to reflect more directly on our use of scripture in the context of congregational discernment and decision-making.
A few things I’ve been thinking about since our discussion on Sunday. Not sure I can articulate it all but I’ll try. There are a number of writers that have helped me to begin to rediscover the Bible in new ways – Wendy Miller - Jesus our Spiritual Director; John Bell – 10 things they never told me about Jesus;
ReplyDeleteGary Harder – Dancing through the Thistles in Bare Feet (others of course but these are more recent).
-Participating in Tending the Soul has reinforced the notion of spiritual formation for me; not just reading for information but reading the scriptures in such a way that it begins to change and transform us. Not sure the Timothy passage picks up on this but maybe it’s a matter of semantics.
-Understanding the scripture as narrative – the Bible is full of stories of God coming to humankind, and the ups and downs of that relationship and just as God was there in the past, God continues to come to us and loves us and is present with us in spite of our doubt, questioning and limited understanding, etc. just like those before us and for those to come in the future.
-Wendy Miller talks about the gospel writers making frequent use of the “historical present – a verb tense used in Greek but not English. The English version translates the Greek verb (which is in the historical present) into the past tense. The early church understood that when we read the narrative all time divisions collapse and we all become part of the story – past, present and future.”
-I think how we understand and interpret scripture is also related to the time in history that we are living.
The following quote by Tom & Christine Sine speaks to that: “the gift of postmodernity is that it enables us to move beyond certainty to uncertainty and places us in the humble position of a learner rather than a teacher. It gives us permission to admit that we do not know the answers to life’s deepest questions. In fact it gives us permission to admit that we don’t even know what questions we should be asking. It also frees us to admit that we don’t and never will understand God, which liberates us from the arrogance of modernity which tried to convince us that with enough knowledge we could understand everything. So in a post modern age we are once more allowed to live with the ambiguities of life and in the process our eyes are opened to see that is in our interactions with the world around us that we discover who God is and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. “
Looking forward to Sunday – Sue Shantz