Mercy is Entirely the Subject

I ducked into my favorite local coffee shop early this morning and ordered an Americano in a warm mug. Sitting down, I felt slightly naked because I didn't have a book with me. I always carry something. (I think it's like policemen who carry guns.) At least I had my little moleskine journal.

Knowing that I needed to defrag from the flurry of papers I'm writing for classes, I thumbed through used books from the shop's corner shelves, and found a tattered gem: Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews. Interviews with poets like Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and Marianne Moore, and they're talking about the process of writing! (In 1963 it cost $1.65.) It's true. I get high on old books.

Robert Frost is interviewed first. His glib tone translates perfectly from those old tape recordings down onto the pages. I scribbled a handful of his words on the creative process, and a few concerning a certain ancient book:

"I noticed that the first time in the world's history when mercy is entirely the subject is in Jonah...Jonah is told to go and prophesy against the city and he knows God will let him down. He can't trust God to be unmerciful. You can trust God to be anything but unmerciful. So he ran away and--and got into a whale. That's the point of that and nobody notices it. They miss it." -Robert Frost

I like that Jesus even hides in the theology of old poets. In his pre-whale days, Jonah would only go to Ninevah if he could trust God to be unmerciful towards them. Since he (obviously) couldn't do that, Jonah runs, presumably pouting, "and got into a whale." Mercy is entirely the subject.

I am awfully good at pouting, I'm afraid. Isn't it strange how we humans want mercy for ourselves, but not for the ones we'd rather not forgive?

(Read the whole Frost interview here.)

(Mercy photo by Summers)

10 Questions

Scholarly John Hobbins has (creatively) responded to a new meme concerning the summarization of the Bible in about 10 lines. John offers us 10 pointed questions in Scripture that, he argues, sums up all of God's story. I was moved by his choices. He writes:

Here are ten paradigmatic questions in the Bible:
(1) “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) [God to Adam and Eve]
(2) “Where is your brother?” (Genesis 4:9) [God to Cain]
(3) “Where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7) [Isaac to his father]
(4) “How long, O Lord, will you forever ignore me?” (Psalm 13:2)
(5) “Who may dwell, O Lord, on your holy mountain?” (Psalm 15:1)
(6) “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” (Psalm 22:2)
(7) “Would you impugn my justice? Do you condemn me that you may be in the right?” (Job 40:8) [God to Job]
(8) “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46)
[Jesus to his disciples and the large crowd who accompanied him]
(9) “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29) [Jesus to his disciples]
(10) “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you pass sentence and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” (Revelation 6:10) [the martyrs to God]

The meaning of life consists in responding, asking, and bearing witness to these questions.

Read the full blog post on John's Ancient Hebrew Poetry.

How about that! The meaning of life in 10 questions. And some of them from the depths of despair and depression, no less.

I'm still commiserating on what I might add. What questions might you add?

Addendum:
I think I'd add the last words from Jonah, particularly in this age of globalization and the outstanding migration to the cities. It seems God is really fond of the city, while most of us grew up in suburbia being taught that the city is evil.

(11) "Should I not be concerned about that great city?" [God to Jonah] Jonah 4:11b

(Graffiti photo by Dullhunk)

The Majors: God's Theater

I've been reading through the major and minor prophets since summertime. I have some observations on the bigguns, the majors. I've scribbled them in my journal. (Feel free to add or subtract.)

What I Notice in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel:

1. God is willing to put the prophets on a stage and write them rated-R scripts in order to get the audience's attention.
2. Obedience ushers in life and rescue.
3. The prophet boys experienced some measure of astral-travel in their mystic encounters with God.
4. Exile was a gift of mercy to Israel.
5. God empowers sign, symbol, and metaphor.
6. The role of prophet includes being both a Watchperson and a Warner in order to persuade the people to turn towards God.
7. God has a special concern for his holiness being shown to the nations.
8. There is so much grace in God's wrath, particularly in his relenting.
9. God really likes palm trees as decorations!
10. God allows us to reap what we sow.
11. More often than not, God chooses to speak through some artistic devices or metaphor. I like that.

(Theater photo by Abbyladybug.)

Flying Red Pens

Tonight, red pens were a-flying in my room. We are studying 1 Timothy in my Fuller class. Oh, the legendary first letter to Timothy! The book that has caused many a woman to have imaginary boxing-matches with St. Paul over his apparent misogyny!

Well, N.T. Wright is helping me see Paul in a whole new light. I'm not so mad at him anymore. But, we'll save that talk for another post.

I must say, I find it awfully inconsistent that the folk who stand firmly on Timothy's famous directives against female leadership ("a woman should not teach a man") do not also stand on the other directives in the same passage. (That all men should pray with hands lifted up in the air, for example!)

As I read 1 Timothy 3:11 and Romans 16:1 in a few different translations tonight, I ended up throwing my red pen and shouting aloud in frustration.

Why? Because both of these verses show the likelihood of there being female leaders ("deaconesses") in the early church, and yet, the majority of English translations fail to fairly reflect this possibility. Some bury it in footnotes, and others--like my current favorite, the New King James--do not give any indication at all of this probability in the Greek.

Meet Phoebe, in Romans 16:1:

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea. (NKJV)

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon [a] of the church in Cenchreae.
Footnotes: Or servant (TNIV)

The vast majority of English translations side with Phoebe as a (vague-sounding) "servant," though the Greek is diakonia, offering the probability that Phoebe was a deacon. The nice new TNIV shows this clearly, while others do not. Check your Bibles, kids!

I've finally begun to wrap my mind around some of the texts that have centuries long been used in the church as arguments against women in pastoral leadership. More than ever, as I learn of the context of 1 Timothy, I am persuaded that this letter was written to address issues that were specific to a set time and place. And I am persuaded, from the design of Genesis, and the whole of Scripture that it is God's intention for men and women to work in partnership.

I must say, it feels good to throw pens when frustrated.

(Photo by: Mr. Wright.)

Stunned Saturday in Sofia

Tonight, in Sofia, Bulgaria my dear friend Brooke is reflecting on Jesus with around 250 postmodern teenagers. Brooke is the speaker for Young Life Europe's annual service project, a week-long camping experience to invite skeptics and non-skeptics into the adventure of serving the poor. Over the next week these international students from all of over Europe will help build playgrounds and work in Bulgarian orphanages. At night, all 250 will pack into a room for a Young Life club of carefully organized chaos. The pinnacle of each evening is Brooke's talk on the person of Jesus.

While I worked with Young Life in Europe I had the opportunity to take students from Portugal to 2 of these service projects, in Romania and the Czech Republic. I know that this week holds the possibility of enormous life-transformation in the lives of these students. My heart is still with Sarah, Will, and Stefanie, as they've just arrived in Bulgaria with a group of students from Portugal.

Brooke's husband, Tate, painted a bunch of canvases like the one above to use as part of her creative illustrations throughout the week. (Tate is also in Bulgaria leading his group of students from the UK.) Tonight Brooke opens with a talk from Mark 2, when Jesus heals (and forgives!) the paralytic who was lowered through the roof by his wild friends. The scene ends with everyone wondering aloud, "We've never seen anything like this." Tonight, Brooke will be challenging these postmodern minds to begin taking a fresh look at Jesus.

I'd like it if you locked arms with me in praying for Brooke and for these spiritually-starved European kids, especially as I post little reminders over this week.

I'm not sure why we don't celebrate today as a Holy Day. Maybe we could call it Stunned Saturday, and thank the Father that he always stands with us in the midst of our uncertainty. I'm sure on that sad Saturday the disciples were stunned silent and angry at God. I'm sure they found all of the Psalms that asked, "Where are you God?" and either whispered or screamed them aloud. I bet they remembered the days when Jesus stunned the crowds, like he did in Mark 2. May we all become more at home with all of our uncertainty, as we remember that He is still remarkably near us in our grief.

[Extra]Ordinary Stairs

I have a great deal to report, especially after a weekend of 24-7 prayer with the teens/pre-teens at my church. Tomorrow I will try to post some pictures from our wild little adolescent prayer room. But for now I'd like to turn to Zechariah, and to a vivid dream I had yesterday about stairs, worship, and community.

I've been itching to study the minor prophets for the last few years. They seem so underrated and mysterious and glossed over. (Those are my favorite kinds of anything, incidentally.) Well, I'm finally at a season in my life where I can sit down with a few commentaries and really study these minor keys. I'm starting with Zech.

Zechariah had 8 profound visions in one night. Taken as one, they all concerned the role of Jerusalem before the Messiah would reign forever and make all things new. The prophetic words greatly encouraged Israel at the time, because they'd recently returned from captivity, and were desperate for God's blessing once again. But Zechariah's words weren't fulfilled in his time. They spoke of a time to come.

All of this study about visions and dreams has me thinking about loads of things. But today, for one, I can't get out of my mind a dream I had yesterday. I was resting in the afternoon, after a nice drive back from Baltimore and lunching with Wanda and Renee. I fell into quite a deep sleep for just taking a nap, and I dreamt of stairs.

I was with two younger women, climbing ordinary-looking, unfinished wooden stairs that seemed to go miles high. As we started walking together up the stairs, I said, "These stairs will take us deeper into God's presence. I won't let you fall behind me." The young women nodded, and we climbed.

As we neared the top, the two panicked. They remembered another young woman was far below, still on the ground. She'd never started climbing. They looked at each other, and then at me, and shouted frantically:

"Vicky! We have to go back down to get Vicky. She needs us to help her up these stairs."

And so they made the long journey down, and helped Vicky begin making the climb up the wooden stairs. She was visibly reluctant, at first. But they managed the way upwards through their persistence as they walked alongside of her.

Now, I'm no Zech, and no, I haven't been listening to Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." But I do think there is loads in that dream that speaks of our profound need for each other, and of our deepest need to "come up higher" into God's presence.
There is much to be said about worship in the dream.
The stairs were so ordinary! They were unfinished and rough, but sturdy. There were no hand-rails! How risky the way up really was. I only knew that I was safe climbing upward with a few others beside me.

10 Books for 2007

I'm little disappointed with myself that I still haven't finished part deux of that Militancy of Worship post. But in the meantime, I'd like to celebrate two things with you.

One. Twenty-four days into 2007, and I've still consumed zero drops of high-test coffee! I think my body is less mad at me now. In 2006 the caffeine tanks in my inner being were really beginning to freak out. Honestly, the fact that I blogged about going decaf made me feel even more accountable to really following through. So, thank you! Lurkers and non, one and all!

Dos. Onething that I took away from "Onething" in Kansas City is this: I need a personal strategy to know God's words. To really know them, in context, and in depth. So, I've taken Mike Bickle's advice (Dr. Bobby Clinton's, too), and I've picked 10 books that I want to focus on studying this year. I'll fetch 2 commentaries to read alongside the books. I'm usually very anti-systematic when it comes to reading the Scriptures. But I'm celebrating this new plan, because I think it'll help me stay focused on the things I really want to study in 2007: Jesus, David, and the (intense) End-Times Visions.

Here are my 10.

Now that I know that blogging works as decent accountability, I'll try to check in from time to time with what I'm learning. I've divided the books up into months, so that I know when I'll study what. I'm starting out in Zechariah. The commentaries I'm using for ol' Z. (Thomas Constable, Merrill Unger) really are quite helpful.

Inquiring (Nelly) minds want to know:
(1) If you read the Bible, what are you reading lately?
(2) Have you ever used/developed a personal study plan that's been helpful?