November 2007

Greetings to all on 10 NOV 2007

Word for the Day
Sea change - A paradigm shift of global proportion. The phrase “holy sea” is used to refer to the church catholic. [1]

Quote for the Day
It’s not the quality of the performance, but the quality of the relationship. [2]

Website for the Day
www.mindspring.com/~renewal
This is the website for Buff Scott Jr., lots of good reading.

Thought for the Day
In several previous issues we have broached the concept of reinterpretation. Recall that Jesus was a rabbi with s’mikah; he taught with authority, not as their Torah teachers (scribes). He had the power to make new teaching and reinterpret the old. What if we had that same power?

We do reinterpret frequently; we just don’t call it that. When we read about women keeping their heads covered or the men not keeping their heads covered, we easily dismiss that as a cultural quirk of the first century. The old proverb about sparing the rod and spoiling the child is applied by some and not by others. Jesus gave a clear command and example that we should wash each other’s feet. [JOH 13.14-15] Have you done that recently?

Some of us reinterpret the passages that have been used by others to restrict women from exercising their gifts of prophecy, administration or teaching. [ROM 12.6-8] We are familiar with the Roman Catholic teaching on birth control. But have you ever stopped to consider ... what if they are right? Perhaps we are to be fruitful and multiply. Happy is the man whose quiver is full of arrows. [PSA 127.5] The only passage I know of that relates to this issue certainly speaks against birth control. Do you remember the story about the sin of Onan? [GEN 38.8-10] This is another of those stories that you will never see as a VBS skit!

We choose how to apply, or even ignore, many scriptures. Although we would deny that, our practice belies our proclamation. But, what if that is accepted, even expected of us? My study of the Jewish tradition has led me to conclude that the text is purposefully in tension. That is, one verse may speak against another verse. Many details of application are left to our discernment. We are encouraged to wrestle with the text like Jacob wrestled with the angel. [GEN 32.24-28] Did you know that Israel means “he who strives with God?” Should we not expect to strive with God also?

In our lifetime, we have witnessed the "rethinking" of medicine, science and child-rearing, just to name a few examples. Back in 1610, Galileo rocked his world by proving that we live in a heliocentric universe, rather than a geocentric one. The traditional view was so entrenched that Galileo faced excommunication if he would not recant his heretical teaching. In 1600, Giordano Bruno aslo taught that the earth revolved around the sun. He was burned at the stake.

Now, we are experiencing the reevaluation of all things Christian. Our comfortable and settled liturgy is being rocked by an earthquake no less violent than the one described in Revelation 16.18. Congregants from every modern generation are crying out, “Why is this happening now? Everything was just fine.” Or, was it? We believe the Ruach HaKodesh is at work to reboot the church’s operating system back to its original form. [3]

While some retreat into a fortress mentality and lament the sea change that is eroding away the old walls; we welcome the storm that stirs the sea. The boats that are tied to the dock are in the greatest danger. Instead, we need to jettison all excess cargo and head into the storm. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Jesus is at the helm! [4]

May God Bless
Mike Toole
Lori Moores, ed.

1. Here is an excerpt from an article by John La Grou at:http://microclesia.com/personal/Deathofchristendom.pdfThis vertical reforming of community and information encourages a new spiritual emancipation, reawakening dreams buried in the slumber of institutional hierarchy and control. Visionary Christ-followers who “get” this ecclesial sea change have a remarkable new opportunity to broadly inspire the promise of new creation, to model the precedence of unity without coercion, to embody the ascendancy of agape. It’s a brand new “mission field” for the pioneers who care enough to straddle cultures with impassioned relevance.

2. Leonard Sweet, ZoeGroup Leadership Conference, Lubbock TX, March 2, 2007
Sweet quotes Edwin Schlossberg as referring to the shift from the boomer demand for excellence (as in worship performance) to the post-modern view of relationships being more important than the quality of the performance. I see far-reaching implications for this trend.

3. ibid.

4. ibid.