Corybanter

No, this post is not about what you may be thinking. The word I had in mind was…CHURCH. This word, which has been in the English language for a very long time, has also had times of unpopularity among people who consider themselves followers of Christ. I’ve been involved lately in a discussion on Facebook about what the Greek word εκκλεσια (ekklesia) meant in its New Testament context: was it another word for “synagogue,” or did it refer specifically to a group of people? And where did this English word “church” come from?

Well, it turns out that εκκλεσια has a rather complex history. In the Septuagint, it was often used interchangeably with συναγογη (synagoge) to translate the Hebrew word qahal, which is often translated “assembly.” In the New Testament, εκκλεσια seems to be used mainly to describe the group of people who recognized Jesus as Messiah, whereas συναγογη seems to describe the place where Jews gathered for prayer and Scripture study. And how about the word “church”? It was derived from a Greek phrase κυριακον δομα (kyriakon doma), which meant “the Lord’s house.” So we’re back to a word that describes the building instead of the people. Where it gets confusing is that the English word “church” is used in the vast majority of English translations to translate εκκλεσια. You can see how the whole thing got a bit confusing.

During the Protestant Reformation, reaction against the institutional Church (with a capital C) caused many of the reformers to use words that emphasized the congregational aspect of εκκλεσια. Luther’s Bible uses “Gemeinde” (congregation), rather than “Kirche” (church). And the original printing of the Geneva Bible, favored by the Puritans, used “congregation” instead of “church,” as Tyndale had done before that.

Which brings me to today. Here in Nashville, it’s been said that you can’t throw a rock without hitting a church. Indeed, we have lots of churches in Nashville. Most of them have the word “church” somewhere in their names: Charlotte Pike Church of Christ, St. Ann’s Catholic Church, St. John’s United Methodist Church, Christ Church Cathedral, etc. But I have noticed several congregations that have signs that read something like: Abundant Harvest Worship Center, or Bethel World Outreach Center, or Oak Hill Assembly. My favorite is the sign outside of Westminster Presbyterian Church that reads: “Westminster Presbyterian Church Gathers Here.” That is a neat way of emphasizing that the church itself is not the building, but the people who meet there. There is certainly a lot of baggage attached to the word “church,” and it’s no wonder that some churches (or congregations, or assemblies) are attempting to shed some of that baggage.

Should we drop the word “church,” especially in our Bible translations? Or should we do a better job of teaching people what the word actually means? Can we reclaim the word, so it isn’t considered a negative word? Possibly a worthy goal.

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15

May. '12

CBA Bible Bestsellers- June 2012

http://www.cbaonline.org/nm/documents/BSLs/Bible_Translations.pdf

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11

May. '12

Book Review- Called to Controversy: The Unlikely Story of Moishe Rosen and the Founding of Jews for Jesus

[I received a free copy of this book in ebook format from the blogger program at Booksneeze.com.]

I thought Called to Controversy: The Unlikely Story of Moishe Rosen and the Founding of Jews for Jesus (by Moishe Rosen’s daughter, Ruth Rosen) sounded like it would be an interesting story, despite its ponderous title. Boy, was I wrong. It was dull, excruciatingly dull. And although the author seems to be trying throughout the book to impress us with Moishe’s accomplishments, my overall impression of Moishe Rosen was that he must have been a pompous ass. Over and over, we read of how Moishe ignored people’s feelings or ideas, in his zeal for doing and saying things his way. We even read how Moishe, in an attempt to make a point, smacked one of his female assistants full in the face, supposedly to demonstrate her “trust” for him.

I don’t know if I thought Moishe’s journey from his mostly secular Jewish upbringing to Christian faith would be inspiring or fascinating, but it mostly made me sad. Not because he was such a good Jew or anything (he had been an agnostic, more or less), but because, in typical missionary style, once he decided all Jews must accept Jesus, he insisted on trying to convert his whole family, and just couldn’t understand why they would not jump right on board! That attitude is simply part and parcel of Moishe’s lifelong inability to empathize with anyone. Ruth Rosen even points out his lack of empathy towards the end of the book, and oddly points it out as one of Moishe’s strengths. Apparently, she (like her father) believes that missionaries have no need to empathize with those whom they are trying to convert. ”Get the job done, and get ‘em on our side,” seems to be the Moishe Rosen (and Jews for Jesus) motto.

Honestly, before I read this boring book, I used to think Jews for Jesus was a worthwhile ministry. Having read the book, I don’t think they’re really doing anything very laudable. I don’t believe they make a very good case for why a Jew should abandon his or her heritage. I imagine many Christians will read this book and find it an amazing story. I struggled to finish it, and found it a waste of time. One star.

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23

Apr. '12

In the beginning? #CEBTour

בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ׃

Genesis 1:1

In the beginnning, God created the heavens and the earth…

(most translations)

In the beginning of God’s creating the skies and the earth…

(Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the Torah)

When God began to create heaven and earth…

(Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses)

When God began to create the heavens and the earth…

(Common English Bible)

First this: God created the heavens and the earth—all you see, all you don’t see…

(The Message)

In the beginning, when God created the universe…

(Good News Translation)

Here we are, six words into the Bible, and it’s already difficult for translators to agree on what the text really says! Some of my Christian brothers and sisters who are more conspiratorially minded will no doubt accuse those who disagree with their favorite translation to be at best wrong, and at worst, deliberately leading people down a false path. I disagree. I think anyone reading the Bible as it truly is will have to notice that it isn’t all black and white, despite how it appears on the page. Right off the bat, there is confusion, somewhat like the chaos before creation that the book of Genesis describes. Yes, God creates order out of the confusion, but he doesn’t simply give us the answers in a neat, tidy format. The Bible is most emphatically NOT “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (B.I.B.L.E.)”! We would do well to remember that whenever we approach the Word.

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19

Apr. '12

Chances of dying

This is interesting, but it occurred to me, why has no one worked out an infographic on chances of living?

<br />Source: Best Health Degrees

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19

Apr. '12

Easter resolution

I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of anyone making an Easter resolution, and I didn’t make this one on Easter Sunday, but nevertheless, here it is. During this Easter season (from Easter to Pentecost), I am trying to kickstart my self-study in Greek and Hebrew. Frankly, it hasn’t gone real well thus far. I have been practicing reading Hebrew words, to really get the alphabet (or alefbet, rather) into my brain. But I think it’s finally time to tackle the grammar for real. I’ve heard that Hebrew grammar is not particularly difficult once you get the hang of it, but we’ll see. As far as Greek, I did take a couple semesters of New Testament Greek in grad school, so I need to review, and then try to go further. We’ll see how it goes. I have all the tools I need; I just need to use them.

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07

Apr. '12

A new, faithful spirit to go with a shorter beard? #CEBTour

“Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!”

Psalm 51;10, CEB

Oh, if only our sins, our worries, our fears, our prejudices, etc., could all be trimmed as easily as a forty-day growth of beard hair! Trimming the Lenten beard was a matter of about a half hour with clippers (I also cut my hair.) Bingo, all that extra hair ended up in the trash can, and I’m a new man…on the outside. Extra growth (of the bad sort) on the inside may not be quite as simple.

As the psalmist asks, may God put a new, faithful spirit deep inside of me. Or as the text I grew up with said, “Renew a right spirit within me.” I like that idea of renewal, and I like the CEB’s rendering of God putting a new, faithful spirit “deep inside of me.” Fortunately, we read these words in the New Testament:

“So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!” 2nd Corinthians, 5:17, CEB

May it be so. Amen.

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06

Apr. '12

Last day of the Lenten beard! #CEBTour

You must not cut off the hair on your forehead or clip the ends of your beard.

(Leviticus 19:27, CEB)

Yes, this is the last day I shall have the beard I have been growing throughout Lent! I shan’t be shaving down to bare skin, as I prefer having a trimmed beard. But I shall be losing this Charlton-Heston-as-Moses-style beard that I have been cultivating for the past 40-odd days. Oh what a relief!

People have asked me, when I have told them I have abstained from trimming my beard, “How is that giving something up? Isn’t it just easier that way?” Maybe for some men it would be, but for me it has been a trial. The mustache gets in the way of eating; my infant daughter loves to tug on the beard. Every time I see myself in the mirror, I think, “Who is that old guy looking back at me?” It’s not that I’m all that vain about my beard. It’s just that, in general, I have a mental image of what I look like, and it’s easier for me if I keep things pretty close to that image.

Tomorrow, when I actually trim this thing, I will post Before and After pics for my readers’ entertainment.

Meanwhile, have a meaningful Good Friday!

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05

Apr. '12

My big girl

Su just seems to get smarter and smarter every single day. A week ago, we noticed Lucy really loved to play with a ball that looks a bit like this:

I told Su it wasn’t really strictly a ball, as it has 24 sides. We looked online to see what a 24-sided polygon would be called, and one of the terms for it was “icositetragon.” The next day, I said to Su, “Can you get Lucy’s whatchacallit?” Su said, without pausing, “It’s an icositetragon, Dad…remember?” Wow.

Sometimes Su says things that I have only ever heard adults say. For example, the other day, she announced, “I ate broccoli, and it gave me the gas!” What five year old calls it “the gas”? Funny.

Being a parent can be frustrating and exhausting. I believe anyone who tries to tell you it’s all joy upon joy is being highly selective with their memory. But it can be extremely rewarding much of the time—watching them develop their own personalities, watching them learn, knowing that some day they won’t need you, not the way they once did. Sunrise, sunset…

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05

Apr. '12

Wrapping up Lent #CEBTour

Here we are, and it’s already Maundy Thursday! The end of Lent is only a couple days away. Where has the time gone?

A couple of posts ago, I quoted from Psalm 39, about time slipping away so quickly. I think I’ve been conscious of this process throughout the Lenten season this year. As I watch my baby daughter grow so quickly, and as my five year old daughter prepares for kindergarten, I feel as if each day is going by in a few seconds. As I’ve seen my beard grow into a mass of grey hair, I am reminded of my own aging. And as I prepare to celebrate the Resurrection in a few days, I have to stop to consider that this entire life is just a prelude to a much longer, eternal process. That is the hope of Easter, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

As I meditate on this idea of life everlasting, these words from Job have special significance: “If people die, will they live again? All the days of my service I would wait until my restoration took place. You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for your handiwork. Though you now number my steps, you would not keep a record of my sin.” (Job 14:14-16, CEB) ”Though you now number my steps, you would not keep a record of my sin.” Amen.

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30

Mar. '12

Faith vs. Works #CEBTour

During Lent, I often ponder the connection between faith and works. Or perhaps I should say the tension between faith and works, as this has often been a point of contention among Christians, particularly between Catholics and Protestants. Much of the argument comes from the inherent problem of reconciling passages like the two quoted below:

We consider that a person is treated as righteous by faith, apart from what is accomplished under the Law. (Romans 3:28b, CEB)

So you see that a person is shown to be righteous through faithful actions and not through faith alone. (James 2:24, CEB)

It didn’t help matters in the early days of the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther added the word “alone” after “faith” in the Romans passage, leading to the famous Protestant slogan “faith alone” (Sola fide).

The CEB kind of ties up some of the loose ends by translating the word usually rendered “works” as “faithful actions.” But this choice may be a bit too interpretive. The thing is, there is a tension between the two ideas. Faith is important, but so are works. Some Protestants say the faith is more important, or that it has to come first. Catholics may end up on the other side of the argument. Many Christians would land somewhere in the middle. Others, of course, will say one thing, but practice another. For example, I have often heard Christians say that faith is the most important thing, and that works cannot save a person. However, those same people will often tend to define their faith by listing things that they do or don’t. (I once talked to a woman who was clearly a conservative evangelical Christian, but she said, “I just hope when I die, that I’ve been good enough to get into heaven!” If I had asked her if she believed works could save her, I’m sure she would have answered with a strong negative.)

The Lenten journey is often a time of taking on some task, e.g. fasting, abstinence, charity, not as an attempt to gain favor, but rather to put faith into action. Lent is, for me, a time of getting into this tension between faith and works, letting the outward action inform the inward grace, I guess. When it comes to that balance between faith and works, I think Rich Mullins (the late Christian musician) may have said it best:

It’s about as useless as a screen door on a submarine,
Faith without works, it just ain’t happening.
One is your left hand, one is your right,
It’ll take two strong arms to hold on tight.

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26

Mar. '12

Pet Shop Boys- “It’s a Sin”

I don’t know if I’d ever heard this Pet Shop Boys song before. It’s an interesting lyric to consider in this season of Lent. Pay close attention to the recitation of a couple lines from the Confiteor at the end of the song. You can hear the original Pet Shop Boys version of the song on Spotify.

It’s a Sin by the Pet Shop Boys

(Twenty seconds and counting…
T minus fifteen seconds, guidance is okay)
??
When I look back upon my life
It’s always with a sense of shame
I’ve always been the one to blame
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too

It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin
It’s a sin
Everything I’ve ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I’ve ever been
Everywhere I’m going to
It’s a sin

At school they taught me how to be
So pure in thought and word and deed
They didn’t quite succeed
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too

It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin
It’s a sin
Everything I’ve ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I’ve ever been
Everywhere I’m going to
It’s a sin

Father, forgive me, I tried not to do it
Turned over a new leaf, then tore right through it
Whatever you taught me, I didn’t believe it
Father, you fought me, ‘cause I didn’t care
And I still don’t understand

So I look back upon my life
Forever with a sense of shame
I’ve always been the one to blame
For everything I long to do
No matter when or where or who
Has one thing in common, too

It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin
It’s a sin
Everything I’ve ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I’ve ever been
Everywhere I’m going to - it’s a sin
It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin
It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin

(Confiteor Deo omnipotenti vobis fratres, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione,
verbo, opere et omissione, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa)
[trans. “I confess to almighty god,
and to you my brothers,
that I have sinned exceedingly
in thought, word, act and omission,
through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault”]

(Zero!)

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26

Mar. '12

Time #CEBTour

“Time keeps on slippin’ (slippin’, slippin…) into the future,” as the old song by the Steve Miller Band goes. The psalmist puts it this way: “5You’ve made my days so short; my lifetime is like nothing in your eyes. Yes, a human life is nothing but a puff of air!” (Psalm 39:5, CEB) However you look at it, time does indeed keep slipping into the future.

The reason I began thinking of these verses (the psalm and “Fly Like an Eagle”) is because I was contemplating how little time I have today to work on the Mahler music that I’m working with the Nashville Symphony Chorus. The work is huge, and it takes a long time just to prepare to work on it. Then, when I actually work with the chorus, it’s amazing how quickly time passes. Before we know it, we’re out of time. Out of time…it’s something I say more and more. I just need a little more time. Give me some time. And on and on… Heck, just typing this brief blog post is taking up time that I could be spending working on Mahler!

Lent has always been concerned with coming to grips with how little time we actually have on the Earth. ”Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” goes the phrase as the ashes are placed on foreheads on Ash Wednesday. And even though 40 days seems like a long time when Lent begins, it’s often a surprise to me how quickly the time goes by. Then we have Easter, and rebirth. More time to celebrate, but the cycle goes on over and over again. In less than a year, we begin to contemplate the brevity of our lives, and try to make the most out of the little time we have. It’s not a bad thing to contemplate from time to time.

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21

Mar. '12

Dies irae, dies illa #CEBTour

Dies iræ! dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla:
Teste David cum Sibylla!

The day of wrath, that day
Will dissolve the world in ashes
As foretold by David and the sibyl!

-Dies Irae from the Requiem Mass

That day is a day of fury, a day of distress and anxiety, a day of desolation and devastation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and deep darkness…

-Zephaniah 1:15, CEB

The first quote is obviously not from the Bible, but we can see where the writer of the “Dies Irae” got his material, can’t we? I am listening to Mozart’s Requiem as I write this. I thought maybe it was time to deal with a nice dark subject during this penitential season of Lent. The modern Lenten thing is to focus on all of the positive aspects of repentance: developing a deeper relationship with God, focusing on spiritual discipline, etc. But for a long time it seems that Lent was a pretty dreary time. Ashes, fasting, more somber music, all that kind of thing. Well, you can’t get any darker than the Dies Irae text. And I’d love to pretend that the darkness of that medieval hymn didn’t come from the Bible, but as you can see from the passage in Zephaniah, there’s plenty of that kind of thing in Scripture.

A couple of weeks ago, a lady in my weekly Bible study was talking about how she was trying to read the Bible cover to cover, and she was a bit surprised at how racy some of it was. I asked if she’d gotten to Ezekiel yet. When she said she hadn’t, I informed her that there is an awful lot in Ezekiel about blood and whores. And it’s true, read it sometime, and you’ll see it’s not just funky stuff about a wheel in the sky and bones coming to live. Really, there is a lot of stuff in there about whores. Just read Ezekiel 23 to see what I mean.

I guess my main point here is that the Bible is not all sweetness and light. It’s not really a book that belongs in the “Inspiration” section of the bookstore. Grappling with the darkness in the Bible is at least as important as grappling with the light. But, on the other hand, as I listen to Mozart’s beautiful music, I find that some of the most beautiful music in his Requiem is the dark stuff: the Dies Irae, the Confutatis, the Lachrymosa…all of it dark and beautiful. If you get a chance this Lent, listen to it and enjoy.

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19

Mar. '12

All you need is love #CEBTour

Psalm 89:2

“Your loyal love is rightly built—forever! You establish your faithfulness in heaven.” (CEB)

“…love is built to last for ever, you have fixed your constancy firm in the heavens.” (NJB)

This morning I first read this psalm in the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB), and then looked it up in the CEB. I like both readings: the phrase “built to last” in the NJB jumped out at me (sounds kind of like a truck commercial), and I like the alliteration of the CEB’s “loyal love.” The point being, I’m sure, that love, particularly God’s love, is not fleeting, not capricious, but everlasting. Isn’t the idea of truly everlasting love a hard one for us to grasp? I’ll be honest, I’ve often had a hard time loving God. I respect, believe, honor, even fear God. But love? It’s difficult for me. I love my wife, I love my kids, I love my family, but it’s difficult for me to understand how to love God. So I have to ponder, where does my love for my family come from? Where does love itself come from? Is it based on affection, mutual respect, social convention? Or is it something more?

St. Paul says this: “God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8, CEB) I think this is important: real love is given sacrificially, most often to those who have done nothing to earn it. Certainly we have done nothing to earn God’s love. Come to think of it, a newborn baby has done nothing to earn its parents’ love, but they still naturally feel those feelings. And it may have nothing to do with affection or social responsibility. The parents should, if all is as it should be, love their child, and would gladly give up anything to protect that child. As in all things, if we can feel that kind of love, being limited humans, how much greater is the love of God, who has no limits?

In our culture, love has gotten wrapped up in all kinds of things which don’t necessarily have much to do with it: sexual activity, political definitions, social conventions, romantic ideals, etc. I think real love, at least as the Bible describes it, is far different, far deeper, and as the psalm quoted above says, built to last…forever.

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