It's gonna be a good week...
I’m looking forward to what can happen on this Substack this week. We have some really good topics arranged for conversations.
First, Revelation, that is, The Book of. I want to sketch how the Book of Revelation instructs the believers of western Asia Minor to live a life of worship. Don’t imagine hymn sings or organs or pianos or guitars. Imagine small rooms with diverse persons who, in their worship, are resisting the empire of Rome in their own way. That is, worship for them was an act of dissidence.
Second, we turn to how the “identity” of so many Americans and Christians has become a mega-identity. Which means to be in good relation to them means to be adjoined to them in many ways — politically, theologically, racially, culturally, ethnically…. and how emotions rise when identities get so intertwined.
Third, Greg Carey’s got a wonderful chapter on what ancient peoples believed about the future, both for the individual and for groups. There was a bewildering diversity of ideas at work when Judaism and then the early Christian movement formed their eschatologies (not a singular).
Finally, on Thursday I have a guest post on the new biography of Beth Moore, and I hope you come back to read her review. It will be a good review of an important book about America’s most influential Bible teacher.
Friday Mike Glenn joins us again. As he has been for years. I’m grateful for his wisdom. Every week. To get all the posts and join in the conversations, please…
I’m excited about Monday! This topic has been on my mind for a while, because there are several differently-abled kids between my immediate and extended family. They tend not to fit neatly into any of the “cutting edge” missional approaches or identity tribes, which leaves them seeming less [valuable, Human, Christian, committed, important, etc.]. I hope that most visionary pastors are well-meaning and compassionate, and would point out that we all have gifts and limitations of one kind or another.
But I think it is important for pastors and laypeople to all acknowledge and practice (in a way that is not just taking it for granted) the essence of our identity - the reason we gather - is around Christ.
If it becomes easy for us to create program after program without feeling we are missing out on the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and guidance through the gifts in our autistic, depressed, quadriplegic, elderly, ptsd or chronic pain-suffering friend, then we have missed the point. It’s not about Christ anymore.