Q & A: Tuesday Wrap-Up: Week Eight

DSC00680

Somehow this picture from my surfing cache seems to capture our little band,
hanging out together in the water, encouraging one another to go deeper!

As I read through the linked posts this week, and re-read the comments section, I was just overwhelmed with gratitude for each one of you who has been reading along through this series. I truly didn’t have a clue what I was doing when I opened the door to this and I am so glad that our small band has stuck it out to the end! Thank you all for your thoughtful, sensitive, loving responses to me and to one another all the way along — this is, sadly, a somewhat rare thing out here in the wild and wacky world of the internet, the Christian internet, and I’m thankful that we took the time to care about the words we wrote and about the people who received them.

This week’s question stirred the waters more than most, I think. Some of us have been hurt by Bible-pounding in the past, by a church community (or a family) that pulled words out of context and applied them with a sledge hammer to tender hearts. May I just say how truly sorry I am for the ways in which the church has wounded you? And used the Bible to do it? 

These poignant words made my heart hurt! 

I soaked up the teaching not to succumb to a lazy belief in a wishy-washy god who just wanted to love everybody. It seemed that mention of God’s love always had to be tempered with the requisite counter-balance of His justice. It’s hard when every time you think of someone loving you, your mind adds “yes, but . . . ” Maybe part of the reason the Bible has seemed crammed with “hard” things to me, is because I have trouble accepting the love of the One Whose word it is.

I’m learning to rest my weight on His grace and love instead on my own anxious efforts and promises to do better. After years of regimented personal devotions, I don’t read my Bible every single day, anymore. I don’t have one specific time of prayer. I don’t have a plan. But I’m delighted to find how God’s word has taken root in me even through the difficult years. Verses of comfort surface, sometimes when I am half-asleep, and I am reminded of Jesus’ promise that the Holy Spirit will remind us of Christ’s words. I’m treasuring Bible verses that tell me of God’s love, tenderness, and care. And for now, I’m just leaving those hard things on the shelf. My brain is healing. 

This beautiful book of ours, which can be a rich source of both comfort and challenge, has too often been used to batter people. One writer wrote about the power of one group’s particular interpretation of just thirteen words in Paul’s second letter to Timothy:

The hard bits that ruled my life for so long, are still a part of my life.  When I look at my wedding photos and think of my family who should have been in them, when I hear one of my children asking who ‘that lady’ is, when they’re looking at a photo of my mother, when I wish I could talk to my sister like sisters do… so many things I have been robbed of, because of the way 13 words have been interpreted: ‘everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness’. (2 Timothy 2, v 19)

I’m not bitter, but I am hurt.  I will be hurt until the day I get to heaven, because there’s no getting round this one.  Sure, the raw edges have healed, but it’s like an amputation – just because the stump has healed, doesn’t mean that the limbs have been restored.

DSC00677

Some of us are paddling hard, some of us have been through the rough bits,
and some of us are taking the ride of our lives! And we’re all in it together.

One wise writer reminded us that we sometimes bring our culturally influenced mindsets to scripture when we read. He challenged us to shed the dualistic worldview that colors too many interpretations, to choose instead to see the wholeness of the human person, and of the word of God. 

In our day, the science/religion debate seems to me like a debate between a pre 17th century cosmology and a 17th century cosmology.  I feel that as the 17th century cosmology – that everything can be explained by the laws of physics – a mechanistic materialism viewpoint – as this view becomes more prominent: the dualism of the Greeks becomes more attractive.  It is almost as if contemporary religious thinkers accept fully the 17th century cosmology, but say “yes, that may be true, but there is another realm, the spiritual realm, and we have the key to that realm.”  “All you have to do is say the right words and you can be a part of this realm too, you can be saved and enter heaven.” 

Our traveling poet returned home with some rich words to share, underlining the importance of the Holy Spirit at work in us as we read and wrestle with the Word:

so I read with an interpreter
the Holy Spirit
gifted, poured out 
and into me

how much better
to request living water
and let go, trusting
He will make all things
the hard, complicated

sticky things
clear in His perfect timing

help me then, Lord
to remember to release it all
that my answer to 
what do I with the hard things?
would be

I lay them at His feet

Two writers wrote lovingly of their growth in understanding using more contemplative practices for reading the Bible. One combined prose and poetry to create a beautiful reflection:

Over time, my ‘bible-thumping-in-your-face-are-you-saved?‘ days gave way to deeper reflection and grace. Made space for the ‘not knowing’ aspects of faith.

Now I am leaning toward the Contemplative and finding church is everywhere 

So why should I, with great temerity,
expect You to reveal all things to me?
Should I not make room, give space
for the protective nature of Your grace
Allow for Your Spirit to open my eyes
in a gradual way ~ day after day
Knowing I can only handle so much
surprise, information, knowledge, as such?

The second referenced a wonderful book by Ruth Haley Barton (“Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation”) and included a great outline for the practice of lectio divina, which I heartily recommend. 

It is listening in a spirit of silence and of awe for the still, small voice of God that speaks to us personally.

It’s different than in-depth Bible Study, which is much needed and important to the understanding of scriptures.  Many of us have done a lot of that already, but this is a reflective reading.

Reading a passage of scripture, I listen for a word or phrase that strikes me in some way, stands out from the rest. And I pay attention to the words that bring resistance, for it is often in the things I resist that I find God has something to say to me. 

DSC00559

At the end of the day, it is good to rest on the water and enjoy the view!

The last of the linkers (linkees?) came at this question from a different angle, and from a different background — and reading her words was both informative and delightful. She took the word ‘hard,’ which most of us defined as difficult to understand, and stood it on its head a bit by defining it as describing those things which are difficult for us to do. What a great insight! Sometimes it’s easier for us to roam widely around a perceived error or culturally dense decree or some other fine detail in scripture which doesn’t demand one thing from us in day-to-day life. 

There are many passages which, with more cultural and historical understanding, become less confusing. We spend a lot of time on those but to me they are not really the hard parts.

The parts of the Bible that are hard for me are those parts where I learn that God wants me to live differently. When his expectations of his covenant people are laid out before my eyes and I know that I fall short. Not only that, I know that I don’t always want to change. But what I have found is that it is hard not to. If we keep at it, if we let the words work their way into the innermost parts of our being, change often happens.

SO true — all pieces of this! Often we don’t want to change, but if we hang in there, if we keep reading, and, as this writer suggests further in the essay — if we spend quiet, contemplative time with those words that are hard for us to live — we do find ourselves being changed! Amazing.

Readily acknowledging that some in our community have been battered by biblical misinterpretation and even abuse, she shared a different story:

No one ever used the Bible as a weapon against me. It’s just a place of great discoveries. New stories, new meanings in familiar stories. Poetry, proverbs, Wisdom, history, law, letters, gospels and even the still very odd in my eyes Book of Revelation. They are all wonderful treasures and they change me.

When I read the Bible I am learning about God and about God’s relationship with his people. I am one of those people. I am learning how God wants us/me to live.

EXACTLY! Our Book is a gift to us, despite the attempts of too many to use it as a weapon. It is, as the psalmist says, ‘sweeter than honey,’ and is one of the primary ways in which the Holy Spirit works within us to conform us to the image of Christ. Thanks be to God!

 

At this point, I am still uncertain if I will be undergoing surgery to repair the torn tendon in my left ankle, so I cannot say with what frequency I will be posting in the next few weeks. I’ve got several book reviews coming up AND about 4 columns/posts at two of the online magazines for which I write. All of these will show up over the next month or so; they’re in the queue and ready to roll.

I’d appreciate your continuing prayers as we make decisions and hear options. 

Get a personal letter from Diana twice a month

Sign up for *More Wondering. . . * a monthly personal letter from Diana to you, available only to email subscribers. As thanks, receive a copy of Diana's new ebook,30 Ways of Aging Gracefully.

powered by TinyLetter

To receive blog posts in your inbox, sign up below.


Comments

  1. Diana, thank you for all of this. All the questions, pondering them have been part of my “re-emerging” from a dark season when God seemed so far away – as in the clouds had obscured the stars, even though they were still there. A couple of my friends have joined the community here and we live the questions together. It has also given me the basis for blog posts as I started writing again in January. My friend said she knew I was “ok” again because I was writing again. Well, I do write most days in my journal, but being able to write and turn them into an actual blog was just soemthing I had not emotional or creative energy to do.
    So thank you, thank you for undertaking this huge project. Praying still for you and your decisions to make regarding surgury for you foot.

  2. Ro elliott says

    Thanks for being a gracious host…. Praying for wisdom for your decision

  3. I want to add my thanks as well. I have never done anything like this before and could not have hoped to find a more gracious and encouraging host than you Diana. I was nervous about contributing, anxious about speaking up from a very different culture. Time after time I was affirmed both by you, and by the wonderful people who have also joined in, either with posts or comments. I’ve learned so much from reading these posts. What has struck me most is the way that spiritual practices are not confined to particular denominations but rather they leap boundaries and are joyfully adopted by people sincerely seeking God. I did not know that evangelical Christians ever took part in Lent or practised Lectio. I did know that I envied them, their deep knowledge of Scripture and the apparent ease with which they can talk about God and their relationship with Him. I have learnt that all might not be as rosy with this as I believed but I can also see that there are deep roots of faith even in the wounded, that may, as some have said, be the result of so much exposure to Scripture. And , for this rather reticent, English Catholic, the ease and conviction with which so many of you talk about God and faith is moving and inspiring. I am truly grateful.

    • I would have normally been hesitant to participate is such a thing too… except for the gracious host! She set the tone and people shared their experience and nothing felt prescriptive. I have loved this. I would never have met the lovely people I have not met on this blog.

  4. praying, of course!
    You have been a most wonderful host here
    stirring the pot and our hearts

    • Thanks so much for those prayers, Karin. Today, we are feeling cautiously optimistic. Went to a second foot doctor yesterday and she taped me up and put me back in the boot and said, “I’m ordering you a different boot, one that inflates to keep you truly immobile. This one has way too much wriggle room.” Which has been my feeling the entire month I’ve been wearing it! And she told me to wear it 24/7 – I’v been taking it off at night per the first guy’s instructions. She also said that there is the possibility that the tendon could heal on its own if we do all of this. No guarantee, but at least HOPE. Also? She told me that if surgery is necessary, I need to be with an orthopedist, not a podiatrist. And she is a podiatrist. That says something important to me, about both of us. I needed to hear that and I think I needed to hear it from her. Does that make sense?

  5. Diana, I missed the last Q & A due to moving and all the kerfuffle that goes along with it!

    Thanks for this series, it has ministered to many – I have been enriched.

    I am praying for you, and trust that the Lord will lead the way.

    {Hugs}

    • {{HUGS}} right back to you as you settle in, Susan. Moving is a very big deal and I’m surprised and grateful that you’re ever here in the midst of it all!

  6. Gwen Acres says

    ” the not knowing aspects of faith…” And how to live with that yet grow in faith. That is where I am.
    I have been hesitant to open my Pandora’s Box regarding the hard and weird things of the Bible. So this time around I was quiet, listened and was blessed. Thank you to all the open hearts who shared and were such a blessing.
    Diana, you give so much. I pray that your physical needs will be met with skill and TLC.