Greetings
"New insights" in the conversation between the LGBT Community, the Bible, and the Church rarely enrich my understanding. They come across as desperate: grand advertising about what amounts to very little of substance.
A few years back there was a strong push to re-work King David and Jonathan into being a Old Testament same-gender couple. "Stronger was their love than that of a man for a woman...", therefore, they were gay lovers?
More recently I've read a series of posts, and articles that declare the real problem with same-gender coupling is the following: "God made male and female as complementary partners. Marrying within the same gender is like marrying yourself, which is idolatry." Have they ever met a same-gender couple, or even watched one episode of "Modern Family"? Similar plumbing does not equal the same personality.
However, one "new insight" sheds compelling light on the Bible, Church, and LGBT conversation that is unforgettable.
David Gushee, a leading Ethics scholar within the evangelical community, released a book in 2015 called, Changing our Mind, that contains such an insight. (Or should I say, formerly a leading Ethics scholar within the evangelical movement: since the book's release the previously steady flow of invitations to speak to evangelical churches has all but dried up.)
I won't attempt to quote or paraphrase Gushee's insight here. I refer you to a YouTube video in which he presents the book's last chapter in its original format, a speech at an event sponsored by the Reformation Project. The entire speech lasts about an hour. You needn't listen to the whole thing, but the first 20 or so minutes present an insight that I believe is a "game changer" in this conversation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2o3ZGwzZvk - Dr. David Gushee: Ending the Teaching of Contempt..
I have been around long enough to bear witness to the historical/biblical/cultural shift he addresses.
Blessings
Chris
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Solid Preaching Selfless Editing
Greetings!
Thank you for glancing in my direction.
I am not one who receives random brilliant thoughts on a daily basis much less a weekly one. Such events are as rare as shooting stars, sustained weight loss, and the Detroit Lions in the Super Bowl.
My thought collecting centers around the crafting of a particular sermon during a particular week for a particular audience. The synapse army in my brain trains its nearly exclusive attention on the sermon. This results in my lack of original thinking on other topics, including movies and clever facebook posts, as well as my inability to tote other important information over short distances (that is, things I am supposed to tell Carolyn when I get home from church.)
Always the sermon gathering includes an overflow of stories/insights that never make it into the message.
And in spite of the occasional encouragement to "preach as long as it takes", believe me, no one would want to suffer through every Monday-Friday insight that any preacher concocted before the final cuts Saturday night (even the preacher her/himself).
Good preaching leans upon good editing to a degree that cannot be overemphasized.
So if you do hear a message I've shared on a Sunday morning that doesn't seem particularly strong, assume that I just left out the wrong things out that week.... please. Any alternative assumption lacks Jesus-y compassion.
Blessedly, on occasion, the thoughts, information and stories left behind and unheard Sunday mornings have sufficient vigor to remain in the back of my mind with a post-it attached reading: "This would be helpful to share too."
So the overall purpose of this blog is to share a few morsels from the left-behinds of my sermon preparation process. Some morsels will be links to the works of others, other items may be images that speak more enduringly than my words, and the rest? Whatever seems right.
My next blog should be by week's end and shares a really moving message from a gifted thinker regarding the Church and the LGBT Community. If I had only one more blog to share, it would be this one coming.
Blessings
Chris
Thank you for glancing in my direction.
I am not one who receives random brilliant thoughts on a daily basis much less a weekly one. Such events are as rare as shooting stars, sustained weight loss, and the Detroit Lions in the Super Bowl.
My thought collecting centers around the crafting of a particular sermon during a particular week for a particular audience. The synapse army in my brain trains its nearly exclusive attention on the sermon. This results in my lack of original thinking on other topics, including movies and clever facebook posts, as well as my inability to tote other important information over short distances (that is, things I am supposed to tell Carolyn when I get home from church.)
Always the sermon gathering includes an overflow of stories/insights that never make it into the message.
And in spite of the occasional encouragement to "preach as long as it takes", believe me, no one would want to suffer through every Monday-Friday insight that any preacher concocted before the final cuts Saturday night (even the preacher her/himself).
Good preaching leans upon good editing to a degree that cannot be overemphasized.
So if you do hear a message I've shared on a Sunday morning that doesn't seem particularly strong, assume that I just left out the wrong things out that week.... please. Any alternative assumption lacks Jesus-y compassion.
Blessedly, on occasion, the thoughts, information and stories left behind and unheard Sunday mornings have sufficient vigor to remain in the back of my mind with a post-it attached reading: "This would be helpful to share too."
So the overall purpose of this blog is to share a few morsels from the left-behinds of my sermon preparation process. Some morsels will be links to the works of others, other items may be images that speak more enduringly than my words, and the rest? Whatever seems right.
My next blog should be by week's end and shares a really moving message from a gifted thinker regarding the Church and the LGBT Community. If I had only one more blog to share, it would be this one coming.
Blessings
Chris
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