Audio of This Morning's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion (February 8, 2012)

The people of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, have been reading the Bible in a year's time and then, discussing it in weekly gatherings. This is audio from the morning's discussion, covering (ostensibly) 1 Corinthians 13 to Ephesians 3.



BIG MISTAKE in the audio: I said that the region of Asia Minor, basically modern Turkey, was the first place that followers of Christ were called, Christians. That isn't true. That actually happened in Antioch, in Syria. Nonetheless, what I say here about the importance of Turkey as, in many ways, the "cradle of Christianity" holds true.

Audio of This Morning's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion Group

We're reading the Bible together in a year at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio. Each Wednesday, we have two discussion groups, one in the morning and one in the evening, of the week's readings. This week's readings were Acts 16 through Roman 9.

A few points:

1. Von Staupitz told Luther to not come back to him with "puppy sins," not "baby sins," as I erroneously said here.

2. The question was raised as to whether Martin Luther suffered from epilepsy. No, he didn't. But he may have had Meniere's Disease, "an inner ear disorder that affects balance and hearing."

For your information: My favorite biography of Martin Luther originally written in English is Here I Stand by Roland Bainton.

Audio of Wednesday Morning's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion

At Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, we're reading the Bible together in a year, about three chapters at a time. Once a week, we get together to discuss the readings. This week's readings have been John 19 through Acts 15. Today's discussion mostly focused on Acts.

Audio of Wednesday Morning's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion

At Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, we're reading the Bible together in a year. This is the Wednesday discussion of this week's readings, Luke 19 through John 15.

Audio of Yesterday Morning's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion

We're reading the Bible together in a year at Saint Matthew. Each week since last March, when we began, we've been discussing the week's readings from the Scriptures. Yesterday, we discussed readings from Mark, chapter 13 through Luke, chapter 18.

I hope that you find it helpful.

Audio of Today's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion (Isaiah 34-54)

At Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, we're reading the Bible together over the course of a year. Each Wednesday, we have two get-togethers, one in the morning and one in the evening, to discuss the readings for the week.

Today, we discussed Isaiah, chapters 34 to 54. Isaiah is an important book for Jews and Christians. Chapters 52 and 53 figure large in the latter part of the discussion.

Along the way, we also make connections to the Biblical texts to Christopher Lasch's The Culture of Narcissism, David Brooks' The Social Animal, Bette Midler, Jimmy Carter, dysfunctional families, the work of prophets, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, name-it-and-claim-it preachers, and most importantly, the redemption and hope that come only through the God revealed through Jesus Christ and foretold by the prophet Isaiah.

In last week's discussions, I pointed out that there are a variety of theories on the authorship of Isaiah. But I am persuaded that the entire scroll was authored by the sixth century prophet to whom the first thirty-nine chapters of the book are attributed without dispute.

And remember that if you're going to be a prophet, you'll never reap a profit. But God will be with you now and in eternity!

Song of Songs

Reading Song of Songs (or, Song of Solomon) with folks from Saint Matthew this past week, it struck me how repeatedly the Bible conveys the beauty of sexual intimacy in a marriage between a man and a woman. 

Such oneness in the flesh is seen in the Bible as a gift from God to  husbands and wives. Even Jesus sees marriage between husband and wife as the only, appropriate, and beautiful place for the gift of sexual intimacy to happen. 

Yet some church bodies, including my own, seem to think that they know better than God about when and with whom people should have sexual intimacy. It's sad and ridiculous.

Of course, such presumption on the part of believers who should know better is nothing new. Solomon, traditionally thought to be the author of Song of Songs, himself violated God's will for human sexuality which God had revealed to him. This only goes to show how important is for people of faith to not be harshly judgmental, but constantly pursuing a life style of "daily repentance and renewal," turning each day to God for the help to live faithfully.

Learning to Follow the God Who Is, Not the God We Want Him to Be

One recurring theme popping up as many in our congregation read the Bible in a year together, is that God often tells us what we do not want to hear, what we do not want to believe, and what we do not want to do.

This is true when it has to do with His law, which puts limits on our voracious desire to be gods unto ourselves.

It's also true when it comes to His gospel, the good news of the free gift of forgiveness and new life for all who trust in the crucified and risen Jesus. This violates our pride because we have pretenses of being able to make it on the basis of our merit, goodness, or power.

The Biblical record shows though, that God is committed to puncturing our comfortable fantasies and bringing us back to reality.

God speaks the truth in love to us and as I read the Bible, I often wince, not wanting to hear the truth.

Steve Taylor once sang, "It's harder to believe than not to." It's true. But if I followed a God Who always did my will and saw things my way, He would be no deity worth following.

Audio of Today's 'Read the Bible in a Year Discussion (Psalms 111-145)

Here's today's discussion of the week's Bible readings. Tonight's discussion will be recorded too. If there's anything stunningly different from this morning's discussion, I'll post it here.



Read the Bible in a Year

Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio

A Few Thoughts on the Psalms

[This week, as we together read the Bible in a year here at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, we're moving into the Psalms. Below is the text of what will be both a handout for the discussion groups on Wednesday and an insert in this coming Sunday's bulletin.]

The Psalms are sometimes referred to as “liturgical poetry.” Leitourgia, the word that is transliterated into English as liturgy, literally means “work of the people.” To worship God for all His goodness, grace, and power is the work of God’s people and it’s something we’re to do 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But there are special times when God’s people come together to worship God. The Psalms, compiled over many centuries, are words that the Jews of ancient times and of today, have used for their public worship for centuries. As people who have, through Jesus Christ and our faith in Him, been made part of God’s family, the Psalms are for us, too.

Traditionally, the largest share of the Psalms has been attributed to David, Israel’s second king. Others are said to be written by people like Moses and Asaph. Some are ascribed to nobody in particular.

Who wrote the 150 psalms in this book isn’t as important as what each of them does. Basically, they function to help us have an honest conversation with God, no matter what our circumstances, feelings, or needs.

According to one prominent scholar, Claus Westermann, there are ten types of psalms:
•    The Community Psalm of Lament
•    The Community Psalm of Narrative Praise
•    The Individual Psalm of Lament
•    The Individual Psalm of Narrative Praise
•    The Psalm of Descriptive Praise or Hymn
•    Creation Psalms
•    Liturgical Psalms
•    Royal Psalms
•    Enthronement Psalms
•    Wisdom Psalms

In general terms, lament psalms give voice to feelings we have in times of trouble. They could arise from personal suffering and grief or national calamities. Examples of community lament include Psalms 44, 74, and 79. Examples of individual lament are Psalms 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and many others.

Psalms of narrative praise speak of God’s greatness through the narration of specific events. Examples of community praise include Psalms 106, 124, and 129. Examples of individual praise are Psalms 9, 18, 30, and many others.

Psalms of descriptive praise give honor to God while describing His blessings. They had a special place in ancient Jewish worship. Some in this category include Psalms 29, 33, 65, and 145-150, among many others.

Creation psalms speak of God as the Sovereign Who created and rules over His creation. They praise God as Creator. Psalms 8, 104, and 139 fall into this category.

As to liturgical psalms, Westermann says that those psalms referred to as “liturgies…are clearly shaped by…a combination of liturgical speech with liturgical actions.” Most commonly, this involves what we call antiphonies, when a worship leader or one group issues a call and all in the congregation or portions of the congregation respond. Good examples are Psalms 66 and 107. There are subcategories in this grouping like Pilgrimage Songs, sung by people as they processed or traveled to the temple in Jerusalem; Songs of Zion, which were probably Pilgrimage Songs specifically asking God to protect Jerusalem from attack; Psalms of Blessing, special benedictions for those who had worshiped in Jerusalem during a festival and were returning to their homes; and Entrance Instructions, dealing with entering the sanctuary during a festival.

Royal psalms have to do with the rulers of the nation, while enthronement psalms hail God as the one and only true King!

Wisdom psalms are liturgical poetry that present wisdom from God, akin to the book of Proverbs. Examples include Psalms 37, 49, and 112.

The word psalm refers to a sacred song or hymn. There are psalms in other books of the Old Testament and the categories into which scholars sometimes divide the book of Psalms can overlap.

But hopefully, this overview is helpful.

Tonight's Discussion of Job

Different Saint Matthew folks got together today in the morning and the evening to discuss this past week's Read the Bible in a Year chapters, Job 4-24.

In these chapters of what scholars believe is the Bible's oldest book, the increasingly contentious dialog of Job, a man who has suffered incredible grief, pain, and loss, and his three friends--Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar--are presented.

A good outline of Job can help us understand it more readily. One outline comes from The Message of Job (Augsburg Old Testament Studies) by Daniel J. Simundson (chapter numbers on the left):

1-2                   Prolog
3                      Job's passionate outburst
4-27                Three cycles of speeches of three visitors and responses from Job
28                   A poem about the inaccessibility of wisdom
29-31              Job's concluding statement-longing for old days and oath of innocence
32-37              Elihu's speech
38-41              Two speeches by God
40:3-5             Job's reply to God's first speech
42:1-6             Job's response to God's second speech
42:7-17           Epilog

Below is a recording of the evening session. Both sessions today got interrupted by "critters." In the morning, we had a bug of some kind. In the evening, we spied a bat in the church fellowship hall and decided to open a door in the hope that it would find its way out the building.

Reflections on Job and the Suffering of the Innocent

Along with members of Saint Matthew who are reading the Bible in a year, I'm wrestling with the Old Testament book of Job these days.

Job is no theoretical essay on the question of why faithful or innocent people suffer. (What the theologians call theodicy.) It's the story of the experiences and feelings of one faithful man who undergoes multiple tragedies. It also recounts the ensuing arguments he has with "friends" in trying to explain it all.

Despite their bitter disagreements, through much of the book, Job and his friends all believe in "retributive justice," the idea that when we suffer, it's punishment from God for sin.

It's a tempting argument. So much of life evidences "the law of cause and effect." And the Bible does teach that, in an ultimate sense, suffering is rooted in the human condition of sin, our inborn alienation from God, Who is the source of life. Ultimately too, the Bible teaches that those who refuse to turn from sin and turn to the God revealed in Christ for forgiveness and new life, will suffer eternal alienation from God.

But the Bible--including the book of Job--also affirms two disturbing facts about life in this world:

• The innocent sometimes suffer.
• The unrepentant sometimes thrive.

The book of Job is a warning from God against any simplistic thinking about human suffering. Anyone who, like Job's misguided friends, think they have figured out why people suffer would be well advised to read Job and then, clam up.

Both as a human being and as someone who's counseled people for almost thirty years, I believe (I know) that ultimately, no intellectual explanation of suffering will help people when they suffer or grieve.

That may be why the book of Job ends without an explanation, but a call for continuing reliance on God.

Today, heeding that call may be easier than it would have been for Job. The New Testament records how God came into the world in the person of Jesus and bore both the weight of human suffering and our debt for sin, then rose from the dead. For people who dare to hand over their sins and their lives to Christ, suffering and all its painful questions are not the last word. We have two incredible comforts:

• The presence of Christ with us, "to the close of the age."
• The promise of a new life, free of suffering, with God for eternity.

There are lots of things in the book of Job that disturb me and that I can't explain. And there are many things in this life that disturb me, driving me to fervent prayer. But, I ask God to help me be more like Job, who believed even when he got angry with God. I ask God to help me to keep holding onto Jesus whatever life brings.

How Do You Tell False Prophets from True Ones?

"Beware of false prophets." Jesus says this in Matthew 7:15.

But what's the difference between a real prophet, a person who speaks God's Word truthfully, and a false prophet?

One major difference is seen in an incident we recently considered at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church. (We're reading the Bible together in a year's time.)

The incident, recounted in 1 Kings, chapter 22, and retold in 2 Chronicles 18, revolves around the preparations of two kings for battle: Ahab, a thoroughly evil guy, of Israel (or Samaria), and a decent king named Jehoshaphat. They had formed an alliance and were getting ready to go into battle with the King of Aram.

Before taking to the field though, Jehoshaphat suggested that they should consult with God on the matter. So, Ahab got a group of four-hundred "prophets" together and asked them to give God's direction about their plans. "Go to it!" the four hundred replied enthusiastically.

But Jehoshaphat must have thought their answer was too glib. "Is there no other prophet of the LORD here of whom we may inquire?" he asked Ahab.

There was one other prophet, Ahab said. His name was Micaiah. "But I hate him, for he never prophesies anything favorable about me, but only disaster," Ahab revealed. Jehoshaphat, the more pious of the two, told his counterpart, "Let the king not say such a thing!"

So, Ahab relented. Micaiah was called to come speak with the two kings, both sitting on thrones. He was warned by one of Ahab's underlings that if he knew what was good for him, he'd tell Ahab what he wanted to hear, that God would give him success if he went into battle.

Initially, his voice dripping with sarcasm, that was exactly the "prophecy" Micaiah gave. Perturbed by his manner, Ahab pressed Micaiah to come clean. Micaiah told the king that he, Jehoshaphat, and their armies would lose the battle. For his honesty, Ahab had Micaiah imprisoned and put on reduced rations.

Of course, Ahab and Jehoshaphat went into battle (a decision Jehoshaphat regretted) and it turned out  as disastrously as Micaiah said that it would. Ahab died from wounds he suffered in spite of precautions he took to avoid being identified by the enemy.

There are several ways to know when someone claiming to speak for God really is speaking for God.

One way is to see whether what they say dovetails with the character and will of God as revealed in God's Word, the Bible.

Another is if they are delivering promises so good that only God could deliver on them (like resurrection for all who turn from sin and believe in Jesus Christ).

But, in the story of Micaiah, Ahab, Jehoshaphat, and the four hundred "prophets," we see another way of telling the difference between true prophets from God and false prophets.

False prophets will always tell you what you want to hear. If you're a person with a lot of money, false prophets tell you that God prefers the prosperous and that those without money are deficient in their faith. If the prevailing winds of culture say that sexual intimacy outside of marriage between a man and a woman is OK, false prophets will tell you that God agrees. If you're a king or president who wants to go into battle, false prophets will tell you that your cause is just, no matter what the Bible teaches about doing justice, loving kindness, or walking humbly with God and that real power doesn't reside in superior arms, larger armies, or fatter war appropriations, but in the God Who, over the long haul, fights for those who humbly trust in Him.

True prophets risk everything to tell you what you might not want to hear, what would be safer for them not to say, in order to help you live in sync with God, the only One Who can give you life, eternity, or purpose.

True prophets are willing to be proven wrong. They don't care the side on which the bread is buttered. Micaiah told Ahab after he'd given a prophecy the king found distasteful, "If you return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me" (1 Kings 22:28).

False prophets play to human egos.

True prophets make themselves accountable to God and let the chips fall where they may.

That's why they're so rare.

[You might want to check out 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 18.]

Audio of Tonight's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Gathering

Audio of Wednesday's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion

This is the audio recording of Wednesday morning's discussion of 1 Chronicles 13 to 2 Chronicles 6, at Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio. We have weekly opportunities for discussion, either mornings or evenings, of the chapters we've been reading that week.

Here is a general overview of our approach to Read the Bible in a Year.

And here is the list of readings.

A few notes on this particular discussion:
While the Babylonian Captivity began in 586 BC, as I say in the recording, some of God's people were allowed to return to Judah starting in 538 BC. They didn't have to wait until 400 BC, although many chose not to return ever.

Both 1 and 2 Chronicles were probably written about 400 BC for those of God's people who had chosen to go back to their land, who were interested in looking at their history for guidance on how to reconstruct their spiritual life as they reconstructed the temple in Jerusalem.

I mention Robert Farrar Capon's image of "the hat on the invisible man." It appears in his book, The Third Peacock. But in this image, Capon isn't referring to Christ embodying God--revealing Him, rather to the bread and wine of Holy Communion embodying Christ for us as we worship.

The Galatians passage I was trying to find during this discussion was Galatians 2:20:

...it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ Who lives in me...

Good Question from Wednesday Night Discussion Group

On Wednesday night, during one of our weekly Read the Bible in a Year discussion groups, a great question was asked about the prophets Elijah and Elisha, whose stories are told in the Old Testament books of 1 and 2 Kings.*

God empowered both of them to perform miracles, including bringing several dead persons back to life. The question raised was why neither Elijah or Elisha were hailed as the Savior of the world the way Jesus would be by some people about nine centuries later.

Here are a few possible answers that cross my mind.

First: Both Elijah and Elisha lived before anyone really considered the possibility of a Messiah. The two prophets lived in the northern kingdom of an Israel that had fractured in two after the death of King Solomon. The north, which took for itself the name of Israel, was mired in idolatry and arrogance while enjoying relative prosperity and stability. They weren't looking for redemption from Israel's God.

Second: Even if the people of the northern kingdom had had hopes for a Messiah, chances are that they would have been just as wary to see Elijah or Elisha in that role as the people of Judea (and their Roman overlords) were to see Jesus as Messiah eight centuries later. A Messiah/Savior rightly demands on our lives that we, as self-centered people, prefer not to meet. That's one big reason that many people spurn Jesus to this day.

Third: Neither Elijah nor Elisha ever made the same claims for themselves that Jesus made for Himself.

In John 10:30, for example, Jesus flat out says, "The Father and I are one."

Earlier in John's gospel, He tells some of His fellow Jews in a grammatically awkward phrase, "Before the Father was, I AM." "I AM," ego eimi in the Greek of the New Testament, translates the Hebrew noun and verb that Israel's God gave to Moses as His Name at the burning bush, Yahweh.

Jesus claims to be God in human flesh. From any other person, even miracle workers like Elijah and Elisha, this claim would be blasphemous. And it was on the charge of being a blasphemer that the Jewish religious leaders of His day sought Jesus' execution.

But Elijah and Elisha claimed simply to be prophets, people who go before others to tell them (and show them) the Word of God.

*Go here and type in 1 Kings, chapter 1 [1 Kings 1], if you want to see what we've been reading lately. Then, keep following the arrows leading you to the next chapters.

If You're Not Famous...Be Thankful

Rare is the person who can handle success, prominence, or fame. Fame often leads to a sense of entitlement and invincibility. Fame isn't good for a person's soul.

These lessons have been made clear as I, along with the folks of Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, as part of our Read the Bible in a Year project, have been recently reading about Israel's first king, Saul, in 1 Samuel.

Saul was, by turns, diligent in his duties one moment and arrogant in the abuse of power the next.

Saul never seemed to fully understand that, through his anointing as king, he had been made a servant of God and of Israel, not just of himself.

This lack of understanding once led him to quake among the baggage when his people needed him to command them in war. It also led him to disobey God, employing his own faulty judgment instead of depending on God, all in a gambit to win the favor of those he led.

In time, Saul came to view his fame not only as an entitlement, but as an extension of himself and his personal identity. That, in turn, fed a paranoia that--among other things--caused him to seek the murder of his best and most loyal military leader, David, and to treat the members of his own family as chess pieces to be moved around for his purposes.

As I watched an excerpt of the tearful press conference of Representative Anthony Weiner yesterday, I thought of Saul. Maybe if Weiner weren't a six term congressperson from New York, he wouldn't have done the things to which he admitted yesterday. But fame and prominence, even the smallest whiffs of it, can make the most stable and sober of us think that we're "all that."

A sense of entitlement--an idea that whatever might be vices in others really aren't vices in us--can actually come to any of us at any time, even if our name is known to only a handful of people.

Narcissism, total self-interested self-regard,  is something with which we are all born and which it's the job of every parent to wean out of their children.

This inborn trait is what the Bible is talking about when it teaches that we are all born in sin, sin being a condition of self-will over against loving consideration of God or others. (By the way, that's why Jesus says the Great Commandment is to love God and love others. And it's because we can't conquer the condition of sin that leads us to do all manner of stupid, hurtful things, that Jesus calls all people to turn from sin--or repent--and believe in, entrust their lives to, Him. Jesus can erase the power of sin over our lives and help us, in this lifetime, to be recovering narcissists, and in eternity, be utterly free to be the people God originally willed us to be.)

So, if you're not famous, be thankful. It can create such false notions of invincibility, power, and entitlement that it can close your conscience to heeding what's right or correctly identifying what's wrong at any moment in your life.

And if, like me, you're just another ordinary member of the human race, I hope that you can be honest enough to say that, even without fame, you've acted like a person of entitlement who treated God and others with contempt, as though they were bit players in the more important production of your life. If you can muster that level of honesty with God and with yourself, you'll be onto something. You'll be close to surrendering to Christ and His better will for your life.

Finally, if you're prone to join the late night talk show comics in laughing at Anthony Weiner, please don't. His actions are admittedly wrong, even childishly so. But what he needs more than our derision is prayer.

So do we all.

That, of course, doesn't mean that the people for whom we pray shouldn't be held accountable, if their actions are illegal or violate the ethics rules of their professions.

But we can pray for Anthony Weiner or any political leader of either party facing similar humiliation in the face of their own revealed bad judgments and hubris. In 1 Timothy, the first century evangelist Paul writes to a young pastor named Timothy:

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, ²for kings and all who are in high positions...

That's what I try to do for all political leaders on a regular bases. If you're skeptical about including leaders in government in your prayers, consider this: It can't hurt!

And while you're praying for them, you can also thank God that you're not famous.

Audio from Tonight's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion (Deuteronomy 1-21)

There's some overlap with this morning's discussion. But there's some other stuff here you might find helpful.

Audio from This Morning's 'Read the Bible in a Year Discussion' of Deuteronomy 1-21

At Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in Logan, Ohio, we're reading the Bible together in a year's time. During this past week, we've read the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, chapters 1 to 21.

On Wednesdays every week, we have hour-long discussions, one in the morning and another in the evening, of the latest readings. This is the morning discussion from today. I hope that you find it helpful.

Audio from Tonight's 'Read the Bible in a Year' Discussion

We talked about Numbers, chapters 16-36.

For more on the relationship between Numbers 21 and John 3:14, see here.

For more on Asclepius, from which the American Medical Association symbol is more directly derived, see here.

One known mistake is when cited 1 Corinthians 15, when I meant 1 Corinthians 11:29-30.