Telling God's Story: A Parents' Guide to Teaching the Bible, Peter Enns (Olive Branch Books, 2010).

This is an outstanding book. At only 99 pages, it can be a quick read, but it is packed with solid and useful information. Enns wrote this book as a guide for parents who desire to teach their children the Bible. He presents a threefold approach: in the early elementary years, focus on the story, life, and mission of Jesus; in the middle school years, focus on the "hook and hangers" of the Bible, specifically, the "pegs" of the larger story that they will be able to "hang" later knowledge upon; and in the high school years, begin to flesh out the Bible in more detail.

Enns suggests this progressive approach against other approaches because it focuses on the main "person" of the Bible--Jesus Christ--and on God's redemptive story, rather than our own theories or concepts of what we want the Bible to be about. For example, he encourages us not to teach the Bible simply as "stories" or as character studies, because these are often reduced to moralistic life lessons having nothing to do with the redemptive backstory; nor should we teach it (to children) book-by-book, because this approach often requires more maturity and a longer attention span than children have; nor should we teach it defensively, as in the current "creationism vs. evolution" arguments.

Instead, we should see the Bible not as a book of rules or a manual for morals but as a complex and fascinating story with a beginning, middle, and end. Our role as parents is to slowly work through this material with our children, linking the different parts of the story together over time. The Bible does not address modern issues the way we would like it to, so we must remember that it is the story of God's deliverance of his people and it presents a vision of what it means to live in that context. We acquire wisdom for living as we understand The Story in deeper ways.

Enns concludes with a five chapter discussion of this overarching Story which is very useful and informative.

This is a book for all parents, regardless of how old your children are. Although Enns discusses a teaching program for children as young as elementary age, I can easily see that parents can pick up in the first stage and go from there. There is nothing missed by starting to teach a high schooler more in depth about Jesus. The program can either be compressed or modified as older children have questions.

I can also see value in this approach for church-based classes, even for adults. Beginning with Jesus, and his centrality to God's story, and then branching out into biblical narrative, and then into biblical theology, a teacher could present a congregation with a very rich understanding of the Bible.

I highly recommend this book for any believer.

I had something I was working on all day today so I didn't have time to create an audio devotional. Instead, I want to share with you two quotes from a tremendous book I'm reading called John Woolman's Journal.

John Woolman was an 18th century Friend (a Quaker) who spent a lot of time traveling the early American frontier visiting with different Friends groups and spreading the light of Christ. Woolman was convicted about slavery; he vehemently opposed it from a Christian perspective. This led him even to decline business where slaves were involved.

I hope you enjoy these two quotes. The first quote references Woolman's attitude at becoming a businessman, and the second quote references his realization after turning business away (he declined to write someone's will because the individual planned on passing his slaves to his children as part of the inheritance).

"I saw that an humble man, with the blessing of the Lord, might live on a little, and that where the heart was set on greatness, success in business did not satisfy the craving; but that commonly with an increase of wealth the desire of wealth increased. There was a care on my mind so to pass my time that nothing might hinder me from the most steady attention to the voice of the true Shepherd" (p. 18).

"I had fresh confirmation that acting contrary to present outward interest, from a motive of Divine love and in regard to truth and righteousness, and thereby incurring the resentments of people, opens the way to a treasure better than silver, and to a friendship exceeding the friendship of men" (p. 31).

What do you think of these quotes?

Peter Lovenheim, In the Neighborhood (Perigree, 2010).
ISBN 9780399535710

In Luke 10, after sending the 72 out on an evangelistic mission, Jesus teaches about neighborly conduct. In Jesus' understanding, being a neighbor is, or at least opens the door for, the mission.

Yet, we often would like to take the evangelistic mission without the charge to be a neighbor. After all, does it really matter? If we preach or teach and the person makes a decision, isn't that enough? But it was this mindset that Jesus challenged when he taught about being a neighbor. When we seek to justify our behavior we have missed Jesus' mission. Being a neighbor means being proactive and involved--the Samaritan used his time, resources, and money to help someone who, under different circumstances, would have been an enemy. We are encouraged to go and do the same.

Peter Lovenheim wrote an interesting book called In the Neighborhood. After hearing about a neighborhood family involved in a tragedy (a murder-suicide while the children were still in the house), he realized that he did not know the family and that likely no one in the neighborhood did. This realization set him upon a goal of creating a community within the neighborhood he lived in, to enable and help physical neighbors become real neighbors to each other.

The book is very enjoyable and a quick read. Lovenheim sought to learn more about his neighbors by spending more time with them, even including sleeping over at their homes! As he began to meet his neighbors more he began to become aware of needs and he was able to make neighborly introductions between neighbors.

One neighbor he met had cancer. He realized that to be a neighbor to her he was going to have to help her. One chapter is devoted to this quest. In that chapter, he states that "the real measure of success of my whole effort [to neighborize the neighborhood] would be if someone who previously did not know Patti...woud join me in helping her out. If that could happen...we would have a real community" (204). Thanks to Lovenheim's work, it did happen. Patti and several other neighbors connected and Patti did not have to struggle alone.

I really enjoyed this book. It left me with several ideas I am thinking through:

• Being a neighbor to others is hard work. It takes time and sacrifice to get to really know someone. We cannot be real neighbors to people we see simply on a casual basis. (Wake-up call to churches here--if we spend only an hour a week with each other, and most of that in passive listening, how are we being a neighbor to each other?)
• It takes dedication and persistence. Once we have sacrificed time and made a real effort to get to know someone, it takes time and effort to maintain the relationship! Sometimes, we may have to call a neighbor whose mail appears to be piling up. We may need to finish mowing our yard and then spend another hour at an elderly neighbor's mowing hers. This is what we're called to when we embark on a goal of being a neighbor to others.
• It is more than merely "being nice." We are not a neighbor to someone simply because we say "hi" when we're both out collecting our mail. Being a neighbor is a mindset; we need to be thinking and acting neighborly to actually be one.

Lovenheim concluded his book with a statement from someone else. It's a fitting ending to this post:

"If we all cared about our neighbors, we could change the world one street at a time" (236).

Let us go and do likewise.

How do you read the bible?

Ron Martoia, in his new book, The Bible as Improv, points out (accurately) that all bible reading is interpretation. To understand is to interpret. Otherwise, we bog down in details about what is timeless and what is cultural. In other words, what can we ignore and what are we obligated to do.

Here's an example: In 1 Timothy 2:8-15 Paul says both that women are to be silent in worship (women are not permitted to teach and/or assume authority over a man) and that women are not to have elaborate hairstyles and wear "gold or pearls or expensive clothes." In conservative churches, we uphold the former teaching as essential and required but not the latter teaching. I personally know of no church that bars their women from doing their hair however they'd like and wearing gold or pearl jewelry. I also personally know several churches that prevent their women from teaching men.

How do we hold these things together? How do we look at one passage, and in that passage find things that are universal and timeless on one hand, but on the other hand, find things that are cultural and time-bound? This way of reading seems very arbitrary and open to abuse of interpretation by the one reading.

Martoia proposes a different way--that of seeing the bible as a classic. He argues that, while the bible may be or is much more than a classic, it is at least a classic in that it forms and shapes our worldview according to the spiritual categories represented in it. We ought to read it as we read other classics of literature (Shakespeare, Homer, etc.) by reading entire books in one sitting, or by reading larger sequential chunks. Reading the bible verse-by-verse, in a piecemeal way, is not how it was intended to be read.

Martoia, building off the work of N.T. Wright, proposes that we see the bible as a script. This script is made of up of five acts of which we are missing the fifth (because the work of the church is the fifth act). The first four acts are 1) creation; 2) the fall; 3) the life and ministry of Israel; and 4) the life and ministry of Jesus. The fifth act, from which we take our cue, is missing. But we have clues about how it will end (Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 15) and how we are to "fill in the gaps" (the New Testament). It is up to us, as "actors," to understand the first four acts so we can live out the fifth act and complete the script.

Since we don't have the script in front of us, we cooperate with the Spirit to improv our way forward, much like jazz musicians improv during their play. We improv based on the themes and tones we pick up from the other four acts. As we read the bible in large chunks (and read books sequentially and straight through), we begin to understand the themes and tones and how they play out through the script-ure. We read the bible for this larger story, God's story, and discover the importance of the smaller details in this larger context.

Martoia offers some ways churches and groups might approach bible reading as an improvisation of the first four acts of a five-act script:

• Read a large portion of scripture (say, 9 chapters) and discuss both the themes that arise from this section and how those themes connect to previous themes from earlier readings. Which act of the script are you in and how does this act connect with earlier and later acts?
• Articulate answers to questions about plot, story-lines, characters, and the actions of key characters.
• Teachers should act as master story connectors who understand the sweep of the biblical story, facilitate conversation around that story, and help people connect their stories to God's story and imagine the future of their stories.

This is a really good book about bible reading and interpretation. Martoia popularizes the work of N.T. Wright, Walter Brueggemann, and James Fowler to discuss how to read the bible for spiritual growth and for faithfulness to God's story. It is very readable and even contains a study guide for groups to work through as they read it. Highly recommended.

Chapter 6: The Myth of a Christian Nation

In chapter 6, Boyd addresses several negative consequences of viewing the US as a Christian nation, which he refers to as the "myth of a Christian nation."

First, this myth harms global missions because US aggression becomes associated with Christ when America is identified as a Christian nation. This view compromises the spread of the kingdom of God (KoG) because the KoG is associated by others as tainted by or because of the kingdom of the sword, which is how all kingdoms of the world operate.

If we profess allegiance to Jesus, Boyd argues, we must commit ourselves to proclaiming in action and word the truth that the kingdom of God always looks like him. When the US operates by the power of the sword, it is not evincing the love of Christ to others. We must resist this myth for the sake of the spread of the kingdom of God.

Second, this myth harms missions within the US because civil religion is seen as real Christianity. Civil religion is useful to bind people together and to give them a shared vision to work towards, but it is only an aspect of the kingdom of God. There are two dangers in this: 1) We may lose our missionary zeal because we believe we live in an already-Christian nation; there is not much need to evangelize because most people already know God. 2) We end up wasting time and resources o the civil religion, trying to tweak it to make it more "right" or "godly," rather than spreading the kingdom of God.

Instead, what if we did the kingdom of God? What if, instead of tweaking the civil reigion, what if we fed the hungry, found housing for the homeless, etc. What if we replicated the loving sacrifice of Jesus to all people, at all times, in all places, regardless of their circumstances or merit?

Third, this myth tempts us to trust the power of the sword to create the conditions by which the kingdom of God might spread. This is faulty thinking because it assumes that, once overtaken by the power of the sword, people will be willing to listen to or accept the power of the cross. This myth causes us to trust the kingdom of the sword to change things rather trusting God in prayer.

What if, instead, we truly believed that we can influence God through prayer? What if truly believed that God was seeking to bring his kingdom to bear in our midst and we worked for that, "from below," as it were?

We can counter these myths by focusing on the kingdom of God. But it will be difficult and not all who claim to follow Jesus will be on board. Our goal needs to be to love Jesus and others in his name...not the expansion of the kingdom of this world.

What do you think?