December 5
All Ages Prayer
Labyrinth space
Conversation - what is Christmas for you?
Kid's Stuff is doing the Christmas story
December 12
All Ages Singing - carols!
Hot Topics - how many true meanings of Christmas have you got?
Kid's Stuff is doing the Christmas story
December 19 (our last Sunday for the year)
All Ages Jesus Meal and carol singing
Workshop - surviving Christmas by bringing a bit of Kingdom
Contemplation space
Kid's Stuff is doing the Christmas story
Christmas Day - get your donkeys ready, Gabriel's coming with a message.
9am champagne and salmon, stories and singing.
Sunday 2pm to 3:30pm. Chalice, 251 High St Northcote
Contact Paul Minty on paulm@solace.emc.org.au or 0418 307 475
http://solace.emc.org.au/SundayStuff.htm
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Owning a transforming initiative
I've written previously about the Sermon on the Mount and how the major section of it can be read as a set of transforming initiatives (thanks the Glen Stassen for the academic work behind this concept). This week at Solace, the staff sat down and worked through the Sermon on the Mount together, asking questions and seeking understanding together. We all liked the transforming initiatives, but some of the cultural gulf between us and the original readers prevented us from becoming fluent in the idea of transforming initiatives. We each attempted to write our own three-part teaching, to develop a better sense of what the Sermon on the Mount is about. Here's what I wrote.
You have heard it said that you should focus on your prosperity. But I say to you that only the control of all the world's resources and people can be considered truly prosperous. For true prosperity shall be measured by the removal of all threats to you and your families lives and lifestyles. So go, lose focus and be distracted by the scary and disaffected; waste your time on insoluble social ills, so that at least you can be part of the solution, rather than a cause, of the problem.
I must admit, I was quite pleased with my first effort! I tried to use the same sort of phrasing as I saw in the Sermon on the Mount and the result was a similarly confusing piece of writing. I picked a 'traditional righteousness' which is both common in our culture, but one that's actually pretty easy pick holes in (to give myself something easy to work with). I then explained how I thought seeking absolute prosperity can lead us down a vicious cycle of domination and greed and my transforming initiative is to relax about focusing on prosperity. I don't think my result is anywhere near as insightful as Jesus teachings! But it helped me understand how the teachings are communicated.
It's getting close to Christmas now, so this blog will start writing on that theme. We're hoping to take the theme of a transforming initiative into the season of Christmas. How could your experience of Christmas be made more joyful by sowing the seeds of the Kingdom?
You have heard it said that you should focus on your prosperity. But I say to you that only the control of all the world's resources and people can be considered truly prosperous. For true prosperity shall be measured by the removal of all threats to you and your families lives and lifestyles. So go, lose focus and be distracted by the scary and disaffected; waste your time on insoluble social ills, so that at least you can be part of the solution, rather than a cause, of the problem.
I must admit, I was quite pleased with my first effort! I tried to use the same sort of phrasing as I saw in the Sermon on the Mount and the result was a similarly confusing piece of writing. I picked a 'traditional righteousness' which is both common in our culture, but one that's actually pretty easy pick holes in (to give myself something easy to work with). I then explained how I thought seeking absolute prosperity can lead us down a vicious cycle of domination and greed and my transforming initiative is to relax about focusing on prosperity. I don't think my result is anywhere near as insightful as Jesus teachings! But it helped me understand how the teachings are communicated.
It's getting close to Christmas now, so this blog will start writing on that theme. We're hoping to take the theme of a transforming initiative into the season of Christmas. How could your experience of Christmas be made more joyful by sowing the seeds of the Kingdom?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Jesus wisdom teachings in the Sermon on the Mount
Most of the Sermon on the Mount contains radical and transforming teachings from Jesus. The longest section of the Sermon on the Mount contains teachings of Jesus; I'll call this section 'the teachings of Jesus'. The teachings are written in an unfamiliar style, and most western interpretations of them disregard the teachings as too hard for normal people to live by. However, recently a bible scholar from the Fuller Seminary in the USA, Glen Stassen, published an interpretation of the teachings which has helped unlock the teachings of Jesus for contemporary readers.
Stassen's contribution was to return to the way Matthew is written and take seriously the style of writing that Matthew uses. Matthew uses a three-part style to communicate wisdom and uses this three-part style consistently throughout the gospel of Matthew. The three-part style is used in other documents written at a similar time to Matthew's time of writing, making Stassen's interpretation a credible and persuasive approach. The three-part style includes reminding the audience of a conventional wisdom, illustrating how the conventional wisdom leads to a vicious and unhealthy cycle and offers a transformative initiative to break out of the vicious cycle.
The three-part style is most obvious in the first part of the teachings of Jesus section. The conventional wisdom is 'do not murder'. The vicious cycle is the festering hatred between men, which could lead to murder, in spite of the law against murder. The transforming initiative is to prioritise reconciliation above anything else, even practicing religious rituals of purification. I've laid this out below, adapted from a table in an academic paper by Stassen.
Traditional Righteousness
Matt 5:21 You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.”
In the Greek, “shall not” and “shall be” are futures, not imperatives; as translations of the Hebrew in the Ten Commandments, they do of course imply a command. Jesus is quoting commands rather than giving them.
Vicious Cycle
5:22 But I say to you that every one being angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire.”
There are no imperatives in the Greek, so this sentence isn't written as an instruction or command from Jesus.
Transforming Initiative
5:23-26 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there... and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then coming, offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser....
Explanation: lest your accuser hand you over to the judge... you won’t get out till you’ve paid the last penny.
(Italics mark the Greek imperatives. The words Jesus are using as direct instructions.)
Matthew doesn't follow the three-part form slavishly as we might if we used a code or a poetic structure; he follows the three-part form as a logical form of persuasion. Other parts of the teachings of Jesus section don't follow the three-part form as obviously. I have worked through the teachings of Jesus section on my own, highlighting what I thought were the conventional wisdom, illustrations of vicious cycles and transforming initiatives and I am satisfied the whole section uses the three-part form. Sometimes the transforming initiatives or the vicious cycles are omitted as they would be repetitive or so clearly implied that to state them would insult the audience's intelligence. If you are really keen, try to find all fourteen sub-sections and work out the three parts for yourselves. If you don't care for that kind of thing (I love it!) then Glen Stassen has written academic articles that are publicly available or some popular books including "Living the Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Hope for Grace and Deliverance (Enduring Questions in Christian Life)", available from Amazon.
The transforming initiatives taught by Jesus are incredibly helpful and are still radical in our contemporary world. I hope to unpack them further in coming blogs. A useful thing to ponder is whether laws (whilst absolutely necessary to bring justice for the victims) can hope to prevent injustice and harm - they may be a deterrent, but can law affect our passions and instincts?
Stassen's contribution was to return to the way Matthew is written and take seriously the style of writing that Matthew uses. Matthew uses a three-part style to communicate wisdom and uses this three-part style consistently throughout the gospel of Matthew. The three-part style is used in other documents written at a similar time to Matthew's time of writing, making Stassen's interpretation a credible and persuasive approach. The three-part style includes reminding the audience of a conventional wisdom, illustrating how the conventional wisdom leads to a vicious and unhealthy cycle and offers a transformative initiative to break out of the vicious cycle.
The three-part style is most obvious in the first part of the teachings of Jesus section. The conventional wisdom is 'do not murder'. The vicious cycle is the festering hatred between men, which could lead to murder, in spite of the law against murder. The transforming initiative is to prioritise reconciliation above anything else, even practicing religious rituals of purification. I've laid this out below, adapted from a table in an academic paper by Stassen.
Traditional Righteousness
Matt 5:21 You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.”
In the Greek, “shall not” and “shall be” are futures, not imperatives; as translations of the Hebrew in the Ten Commandments, they do of course imply a command. Jesus is quoting commands rather than giving them.
Vicious Cycle
5:22 But I say to you that every one being angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire.”
There are no imperatives in the Greek, so this sentence isn't written as an instruction or command from Jesus.
Transforming Initiative
5:23-26 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there... and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then coming, offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser....
Explanation: lest your accuser hand you over to the judge... you won’t get out till you’ve paid the last penny.
(Italics mark the Greek imperatives. The words Jesus are using as direct instructions.)
Matthew doesn't follow the three-part form slavishly as we might if we used a code or a poetic structure; he follows the three-part form as a logical form of persuasion. Other parts of the teachings of Jesus section don't follow the three-part form as obviously. I have worked through the teachings of Jesus section on my own, highlighting what I thought were the conventional wisdom, illustrations of vicious cycles and transforming initiatives and I am satisfied the whole section uses the three-part form. Sometimes the transforming initiatives or the vicious cycles are omitted as they would be repetitive or so clearly implied that to state them would insult the audience's intelligence. If you are really keen, try to find all fourteen sub-sections and work out the three parts for yourselves. If you don't care for that kind of thing (I love it!) then Glen Stassen has written academic articles that are publicly available or some popular books including "Living the Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Hope for Grace and Deliverance (Enduring Questions in Christian Life)", available from Amazon.
The transforming initiatives taught by Jesus are incredibly helpful and are still radical in our contemporary world. I hope to unpack them further in coming blogs. A useful thing to ponder is whether laws (whilst absolutely necessary to bring justice for the victims) can hope to prevent injustice and harm - they may be a deterrent, but can law affect our passions and instincts?
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