Musings: Notes From My Daybook

Sitting in a Panera in north Oklahoma City waiting for an appointment. . . .

Will and I have had a whirlwind run checking out schools. ACU on Wednesday, OC on Thursday. Today I have a couple of appointments and then later this afternoon to see some more family.

Interesting conversations yesterday with a colleague in OKC regarding the issues that face helping churches bring about healthy change. Our biblicism in Churches of Christ is to admired and embraced. However, our greatest struggle is not about thinking missionally or how we deal with social justice or whatever the topic du jour might happen to be. Rather, the place we must begin anew is how we listen to the Bible.

To put it another way, the question of the Bible's authority stands at our particular crossroads. We have, certainly, honored Scripture. But all too often the way we have embraced Scripture and used Scripture has not been consistent with the nature of Scripture. By treating various individual texts as ultimate statements or failing to listen contextually to Paul's letters or by ignoring large blocks of Scripture in forming our doctrine, we have failed to appropriate God's intent for Scripture.

So when we get around to talking about some issue or another or when we begin to ask questions about mission or "what the church should do" or "what the church should believe" we fall into the practice of simply finding a text or two that justifies either our traditional practice or what we want the Bible to say.

The Bible can be made to affirm just about anything. Satan could and does quote it at will (Matthew 4). As Martin Luther once commented: "I can take the Bible and make bad beer better than fine wine!"

So rather than thinking we can use the Bible like a computer programer uses a code book, we need to ask the profoundly important question of how we understand Scripture's role and authority for the church.

On the road today with son Will. After a meeting in Dallas we made our way to Abilene. Highlight of the evening was dinner at Joe Allen's (barbeque) with Vickie's niece Rachel and her new husband Daniel.

I haven't had a chance yet to crack them open but now setting on my desk in the study are couple of titles that I'm looking forward to reading. Eugene Peterson has launched an ambitious five volume series of spirituality with Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. And, hot off the press is Marva Dawn's Talking the Walk. Talking the Walk is a call to reclaim the language of the Christian faith.

Another new title on the desk is Wayne Meeks, Christ is the Question. This title is Meeks attempt to engage the "quest for the historical Jesus" and to reframe the question.

Any thoughts?