Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

I’m thankful for

  • The love of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
  • A loving, longsuffering wife
  • A brilliant, happy, healthy ten-year-old daughter
  • Freedom to practice my faith without anybody looking over my shoulder
  • The King James Version of the Bible
  • The Screwtape Letters
  • A warm house with a full refrigerator
  • Parents who care, help, and advise without being pushy
  • A job where I’m appreciated
  • Ray Charles
  • A church where I’m both challenged and comforted
  • The Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
  • Archbishop Malkhaz Songulashvili
  • The unforgettable experience of celebrating a Baptist Eucharist that involved vestments, chant, and real wine in a golden chalice
  • Writers who help me see Scripture in different ways
  • Interstate 75 (except around Atlanta)
  • The Charlie Brown Christmas Special
  • The Mercer University Children’s Choir
  • Two arms, two legs, and all five senses
  • The Internet
  • Students who indulge me by laughing at my jokes
  • Bedtime stories
  • Socks

What are you thankful for?

Posted in Life as Prayer, Who? Me? | 1 Comment

Spiritual Detox

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Here is something to cleanse the palate before heading into the craziness of Thanksgiving/Black Friday.

We, who mystically represent the Cherubim,
And chant the thrice-holy hymn to the Life-giving Trinity,
Let us set aside the cares of life
That we may receive the King of all,
Who comes invisibly escorted by the Divine Hosts.

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The Sermon that Might Have Been

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Touching (and heartbreaking) story from Chaplain Mike:

At the very beginning of the pastor’s message, these thoughts came to me. If what I just described had been the sermon, in my view it would have faithfully represented a plain and accurate understanding of the text at hand. Colossians 1:3-5 is a “thanksgiving” section — that is its function and purpose. The tone is completely positive, affirming, and joyous. It is warm, personal, and pastoral. There is no word of instruction or exhortation to the Colossians. It is all Paul — thanking God and praying and specifying the blessings of the Gospel in their lives for which he is so grateful.

However, that was not the sermon we heard.

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Is the Sermon on the Mount Gospel?

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

I think I already knew this, but I’m glad Scot McKnight expressed it so well:

Here Jesus rises to the mountain — surely an echo of Moses giving the Torah from Mt Sinai — to reveal God’s will for God’s people of the new creation. The first thing that strikes the reader of this Sermon is its profound christology: the Sermon is Christology on Steroids. The reader (or listener) comes away thinking, “Do I want to give myself to this Jesus?”

In this Sermon, Jesus who reverses all expectations of who is “in” and who is “out,” because Jesus points to people groups who are marginalized and says “The King’s kingdom includes these people.” Jesus says, “No, your way of classifying people is wrong. There’s a new way in my kingdom.” It’s very gospel like for Jesus to assume the posture of the New Moses and to begin classifying people all over again. Then Jesus, in essence, issues his mission: my followers, he says, are to be light and salt, one to the Gentiles and one to the Jews (?) (5:13-16).

Then Jesus utters what has to be one of the most gospel-ish statements in the whole Bible. I quote the words.

Matt. 5:17       “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.a 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now if the gospel is what Paul says it is in 1 Cor 15:3-5, then the gospel is a message about Jesus, a message that claims Jesus fulfills Israel’s hopes (and the divine plans for the cosmos) …. and that is exactly what Jesus does here: Jesus claims in public that he is is the fulfillment of Israel’s Torah and Prophets. That’s gospeling. We have too many diminishing Christ in order to make this stuff Law, or too many who diminish Christ to make this a global vision for global justice. First comes christology, everything else follows. If we get christology right, we get everything else right. Get it wrong, and the whole thing falls apart.

The entirety of Matthew 5:21-48 illustrates that very claim by Jesus: those snippets on vows and lust and divorce and loving your enemies are not morals but Messianic claims on messianic people. Jesus is King and this is how the King’s people live in the King’s kingdom. We dare not delete the king and grab his morals; this only works when we attach ourselves to the King and let the King shape how we live.

I could go on, but will leave that to you. The Sermon on the Mount, folks, is pure gospel because it proclaims Jesus (not just morals and Torah). This is why the Sermon ends with an invitation: take up my yoke, it is saying, and follow me. Jesus sketches his vision for his people and invites us to turn from our current way of life and give ourselves to him and to his kingship.

Posted in Ethics, New Testament, Theology | Tagged | Leave a comment

On Shakespeare

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Here’s an apt description of William Shakespeare’s contribution to the English language. If you follow the link, there’s also an interesting story to go with it:

You know when you’re making a pot you put it on a wheel, you make it round, and then you put it in the fire and it gets hard? It was the same with English, and the fire was Shakespeare.

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Every Church Has Its Thing

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Why isn’t the thing love?

If I study my Bible every day and have private devotions, but have not love, I am nothing. If I tithe to the church, and support good charities, but have not love, I gain nothing. If I pray day and night, and join the choir, and worship every time the church opens her doors, but have not love, it is nothing. If I teach Sunday school, and serve as a church officer, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Thanks, Weekend Fisher, for asking such good questions

Posted in Ethics, New Testament | Tagged | 1 Comment

Jesus Didn’t Teach What the NT Says about Him—But So What?

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Interesting thought from Larry Hurtado about unexplored premises in Historical Jesus study:

[B]oth sides have subscribed to a common premise, which goes something like this:  If a serious difference can be shown between what Jesus himself taught (especially what he taught about himself) and what early Christians believed (especially what they believed about him), then this would comprise a major theological problem for the validity of traditional Christian faith.  The one side seeks (with intent!) to establish such a major difference, and the other side seeks energetically to minimize it, both sides working on the same premise.

My own response is:  Says who?  What is the justification for the premise I’ve described?  Why should a difference between what Jesus taught about himself and what believers subsequently came to assert about him be a problem?  NT texts don’t say that the reason people should accept the christological claims that they advance is that Jesus taught them.  Instead, NT texts typically assert that their christological claims are based in the actions of God, and the greater realization/revelation of Jesus’ significance that came thereby.

Indeed, NT texts quite candidly say that Jesus now bears a status and significance that was conferred by God (e.g., Philippians 2:9-11, et alia), and that it was only after Jesus’ resurrection that his full significance was apprehended (e.g., Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:44-49).  Even the Gospel of John, in which we have the most direct christological claims on the lips of Jesus, tells us that these claims were revealed by the Spirit of God (“Paraclete”) after Jesus was “glorified” (e.g., John 14:25-26; 15:26-27; 16:12-15).  Indeed, the Gospel of John should probably be read as an account of Jesus programmatically written in light of what the author regarded as the revelation of Jesus’ significance by the Spirit in the “post-Easter” setting.

In sum, the basis for the christological claims of NT texts was never that Jesus taught and commanded them, but, instead, rested in what God had done, in raising Jesus from death and exalting him to unique heavenly glory.

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Random Thought

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Jesus’ enemies denounced him as a friend of sinners. He never denied the charge. In fact he augmented it: “I’ve come for people who are sick, not those who are healthy.”

It seems to me we do a disservice to Jesus and diminish the amazingness of grace when we take sin out of this equation. Yes, Jesus was a friend of folks who couldn’t keep up with all the religious rules, people who were mistreated and scorned by the hyper-scrupulous majority, people who were deemed “sick” because of factors beyond their control.

But Jesus was also a friend of adulterers, prostitutes, tax cheats, insurrectionists, and pagan idolators (like the centurion). At least once, after pouring out his unmerited, compassionate grace upon one such person, he said, “Go, and sin no more.”

It’s relatively easy to befriend misunderstood minorities or oppressed people, especially if you’ve been a victim of oppression, too. But to acknowledge that someone is destroying his or her soul through immoral behavior, to see the brokenness of their lives (whether we prefer to call it addiction, compulsive behavior, or simple depravity) and then turn around and love them unconditionally anyway? I’m not sure we have the courage or the creativity to do that. At least, I’m not entirely sure that I do.

Kyrie eleison.

Posted in Ethics, Life as Prayer, Ministry, Theology | 2 Comments

How to Frame The “Gospel”

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Scot McKnight says there are three options for framing the gospel message, and the last one is right. I agree.

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November Biblical Studies Carnival

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Darrell Pursiful

Tom Verenna has the hosting duties for this month, and his November Carnival (featuring posts from October) is scarily good.

Posted in +Fellowship, Bible | Leave a comment