A Readable, Helpful Introduction

The Bible isn’t just one book, it’s a Box Set, and it tells a Big Story, but sometimes we suffer Big Frustration because we read it the wrong way. That’s the thesis of Stephen Burnhope’s new book How to Read the Bible Well.

It’s subtitled “What It Is, What It Isn’t, and How To Love It (Again).” This subtitle suggests that some readers have loved the Bible in the past but don’t anymore, probably because they think it’s something it isn’t.

Burnhope hopes to clear up a host of misunderstandings in this introductory work on how to interpret the Bible without getting a theology degree. Against those who contend that the Bible needs no interpretation, he insists that it does. Every reading is an interpretation, he says, so you need to know what you’re bringing to the text as well as what you hope to receive from it.

Burnhope is a pastor in the Vineyard tradition, and its evangelical roots are clear in his writing. But Burnhope does not fear to challenge many evangelical sacred cows. He’s clearly no biblicist. He says: “The purpose of the Bible has never been to draw us into a relationship with the Bible, but to draw us into a relationship with God.”

In conversational and not confrontational style, he dives boldly into such topics as the nature of revelation and inspiration, the notion of a single biblical worldview, the nature of heaven and hell, why people suffer, how the Old Testament applies to Christians today, and the different ways God is portrayed in the two testaments.

He offers a hermeneutic (a method of interpretation) that is Christ-centered. “Everything God commands and everything God says will always correspond to Jesus – it will always ‘look like’ Jesus and ‘sound like’ Jesus. He is our perfect ‘lens’ for knowing who God is and what he’s like and always has been like.”

I can’t say that I agree with everything he says (we come from different faith traditions, after all), but this is a readable and helpful work, and I recommend it, especially to recovering evangelicals.

A few highlights from the text:

“We should respect the Bible for what it is and not try to defend it as something it was never intended to be.”

“Good interpretation always starts with what the text meant then and recognizes that it will not mean now something that it didn’t mean then.”

“There is not and never has been any such thing as a ‘Christian’ worldview or a ‘Christian’ culture to look back on and wish for a return to. There is no current or preceding worldview that qualifies to be called that. There isn’t even one that comes close to it.”

“The biblical story does not start with “original sin” but with “original goodness.”

How to Read the Bible Well, by Stephen Burnhope, Cascade Books, May 2021

A digital copy of this book was provided to me by Speakeasy on the condition that I post a review of it.

Lest We Forget

While House Coverup Leader Kevin McCarthy and his Republican cronies tell new lies about the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, it might be useful to list some of the other the seditious members of Congress.

Election officials in all 50 states insist that the 2020 election was the most secure ever conducted, but the new GOP mantra remains that Trump won. This is lie, but too many people believe it.

These are the seditious 147 – those members of Congress who voted to undermine the presidential election of 2020. (The original list contained 129 names but 17 names have been added because they later voted to object to the results of the election in Pennsylvania.)

Senate

Josh Hawley (R-MO)

Ted Cruz (R-TX)

Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS)

Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)

John Kennedy (R-LA)

Roger Marshall (R-KS)

Rick Scott (R-FL)

Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)

House

Robert Aderholt (R-AL)

Rick Allen (R-GA)

Jodey Arrington (R-TX)

Brian Babin (R-TX)

Jim Baird (R-IN)

Jim Banks (R-IN)

Cliff Bentz (R-OR)

Jack Bergman (R-MI)

Stephanie Bice (R-OK)

Andy Biggs (R-AZ)

Dan Bishop (R-NC)

Lauren Boebert (R-CO)

Mike Bost (R-IL)

Mo Brooks (R-AL)

Ted Budd (R-NC)

Tim Burchett (R-TN)

Michael Burgess (R-TX)

Ken Calvert (R-CA)

Kat Cammack (R-FL)

Jerry Carl (R-AL)

Earl Carter (R-GA)

John Carter (R-TX)

Madison Cawthorn (R-NC)

Steve Chabot (R-OH)

Ben Cline (R-VA)

Michael Cloud (R-TX)

Andrew Clyde (R-GA)

Tom Cole (R-OK)

Rick Crawford (R-AR)

Warren Davidson (R-OH)

Scott DesJarlais (R-TN)

Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)

Byron Donalds (R-FL)

Jeff Duncan (R-SC)

Neal Dunn (R-FL)

Ron Estes (R-KS)

Pat Fallon (R-TX)

Michelle Fischbach (R-MN)

Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI)

Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN)

Virginia Foxx (R-NC)

C. Scott Franklin (R-FL)

Russ Fulcher (R-ID)

Matt Gaetz (R-FL)

Mike Garcia (R-CA)

Bob Gibbs (R-OH)

Carlos Gimenez (R-FL)

Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Bob Good (R-VA)

Lance Gooden (R-TX)

Paul Gosar (R-AZ)

Sam Graves (R-MO)

Mark Green (R-TN)

Marjorie Greene (R-GA)

Morgan Griffith (R-VA)

Michael Guest (R-MS)

Jim Hagedorn (R-MN)

Andy Harris (R-MD)

Diana Harshbarger (R-TN)

Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)

Kevin Hern (R-OK)

Yvette Herrell (R-NM)

Jody Hice (R-GA)

Clay Higgins (R-LA)

Richard Hudson (R-NC)

Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Ronny Jackson (R-TX)

Chris Jacobs (R-NY)

Mike Johnson (R-LA)

Bill Johnson (R-OH)

Jim Jordan (R-OH)

John Joyce (R-PA)

Fred Keller (R-PA)

Trent Kelly (R-MS)

Mike Kelly (R-PA)

David Kustoff (R-TN)

Doug LaMalfa (R-CA)

Doug Lamborn (R-CO)

Jake LaTurner (R-KS)

Debbie Lesko (R-AZ)

Billy Long (R-MO)

Barry Loudermilk (R-GA)

Frank Lucas (R-OK)

Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)

Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY)

Tracey Mann (R-KS)

Brian Mast (R-FL)

Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)

Lisa McClain (R-MI)

Daniel Meuser (R-PA)

Mary Miller (R-IL)

Carol Miller (R-WV)

Alexander Mooney (R-WV)

Barry Moore (R-AL)

Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)

Greg Murphy (R-NC)

Troy Nehls (R-TX)

Ralph Norman (R-SC)

Devin Nunes (R-CA)

Jay Obernolte (R-CA)

Burgess Owens (R-UT)

Steven Palazzo (R-MS)

Gary Palmer (R-AL)

Greg Pence (R-IN)

Scott Perry (R-PA)

August Pfluger (R-TX)

Bill Posey (R-FL)

Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA)

Tom Rice (R-SC)

Mike Rogers (R-AL)

Harold Rogers (R-KY)

John Rose (R-TN)

Matthew Rosendale, Sr. (R-MT)

David Rouzer (R-NC)

John Rutherford (R-FL)

Steve Scalise (R-LA)

David Schweikert (R-AZ)

Pete Sessions (R-TX)

Jason Smith (R-MO)

Adrian Smith (R-NE)

Lloyd Smucker (R-PA)

Elise Stefanik (R-NY)

W. Gregory Steube (R-FL)

Chris Stewart (R-UT)

Glenn Thompson (R-PA)

Thomas Tiffany (R-WI)

William Timmons IV (R-SC)

Jefferson Van Drew (R-NJ)

Beth Van Duyne (R-TX)

Tim Walberg (R-MI)

Jackie Walorski (R-IN)

Randy Weber, Sr. (R-TX)

Daniel Webster (R-FL)

Roger Williams (R-TX)

Joe Wilson (R-SC)

Robert Wittman (R-VA)

Ron Wright (R-TX)

Lee Zeldin (R-NY)

Go, Wally!

Her joy was a joy to behold. Wally Funk’s brief flight into space aboard Blue Origin fulfilled a lifelong dream. An aviation pioneer in her own right, she was denied a chance to fly in space 60 years ago because of her sex. Tuesday morning, at 82, she became the oldest human to ever fly in space.

The real story, though, is her perseverance in following her passion. She trained as hard – even harder – than the male candidates for space flight, but she was never allowed to join the elite (read: male) team of astronauts. Still, she never lost confidence that she would one day make it into space. Billionaire Jeff Bezos invited her to be a guest on Blue Origin’s first human flight to space. It was, finally, a dream come true.

A fun sidelight, at least for this retired United Methodist pastor: On Tuesday morning, 300 members of White’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Texas, attended a watch party at the church to cheer their friend’s accomplishment.

Soaring into space, lifted by the hopes and prayers of fellow church members as well as by a powerful rocket, she experienced the thrill of a lifetime. Most of us have dreams more firmly anchored to Earth. May we continue to pursue them as persistently and hopefully and successfully as Wally Funk.

Don’t Forget. Tell It Straight.

Forget the Alamo is provocatively titled and sometimes provocatively written. As snarky as some passages are, it’s a creditable retelling of the familiar Alamo story, and highly readable to boot.

The authors don’t actually want anyone to “forget” the Alamo. They do want to call a halt to the ways the story has been misremembered and used to demonize Mexican Americans, indigenous people and others.

Their most explosive contentions are that “the Battle of the Alamo was as much about slavery as the Civil War was about slavery,” and that it “might was well be a Confederate monument in the minds of conservative adherents to the Heroic Anglo Narrative.”

As revisionist as these statements might appear to be, they are standard fare for any decent Alamo book written in the last several decades. But those are fighting words if you are not informed by recent scholarship or just don’t care about facts – in other words, if you’re a Republican politician on the make in Texas.

A couple of weeks ago, more than 300 people were signed up to attend an event at a state history museum focused on the book’s take on history. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick led an attack that caused the event to be canceled.

So much for freedom of thought in the state of Texas. You don’t mess with the Alamo Myth, no matter how big a lie most of it is. In Texas, it appears that the bigger the lie, the more “heroic” it is.

For the record, the full title is Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth. It’s written by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford, Texans all.

They tell the story of the Texas Revolution and the Alamo battle in the book’s first 10 chapters, then devote another 10 to how the story got to be what most of us were taught in grade school and in such movies as John Wayne’s “The Alamo.”

A few more chapters continue the saga of how politicians and historians and preservationists have battled over how to properly manage the site of the 300-year-old Spanish mission that became a fortress and then a cultural shrine with religious implications.

My only complaint with the book is the chapter on the misadventures of British rocker and Alamo buff Phil Collins. I understand why the chapter is included, but I think it’s overlong.

Short take: Ignore the shrill attacks. This is a good book. You don’t have to be an Alamo buff to like it, and you’ll like it –unless you’re predisposed to hate it.

God’s Glory is Right Here

If you were to publish the book of Esther in a mass paperback edition, the cover might look like one of those bodice-ripper romances, and there’d be a hangman’s noose swinging ominously in the background.

Esther is a beautiful young Jewish woman who wins a beauty contest and becomes queen of Persia. Her cousin Mordecai learns of a plot to massacre Jews throughout the Persian empire. Mordecai tells Esther she must persuade the king to stop it.

She hesitates, explaining: “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law: all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden scepter to someone may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for 30 days.”

Mordecai replies: “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish.”

He adds: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

Esther tells Mordecai to call all the Jews in the city to three days of prayer and fasting.

She says: “After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

On the third day, Esther puts on her royal best and approaches the throne. The king is pleased to see her. (Reality check: Why wouldn’t he be pleased to see her? She’s the most beautiful woman in the empire.) He holds out the golden scepter and vows to give her whatever she requests.

Happy day! The plot against the Jews is foiled, the perpetrators are hanged, and Jews live in relative security in Persia from that day on. (Read Esther 4:1-5:3)

The Jews are saved not only because of Mordecai’s warning and Esther’s bravery. Though God is never mentioned in the story, the providence of God is implied in Mordecai’s statement to Esther: “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

Today I want to ask that “Who knows?” question of all of us. For what moment has God been preparing each of us? For what moment has God been preparing you?

God surely has prepared you for many things leading up to this moment. For what other things has God been preparing you?

Janice McLain spent many years in Africa as a United Methodist missionary. When she retired to the Paola area a dozen years ago, she said that looking back on her life, she could see how God was always preparing her for what came next.

She said: “It makes me wonder. What is God teaching me today that is going to be of use to me in the future that I don’t know about?”

I’ve always appreciated that approach to living. For what future is God preparing me that I cannot imagine today?

Mary Lou Redding, former editor of The Upper Room magazine, has a new book out titled God Was With Me All Along. It offers dozens of stories from everyday folks who look back at the events of their lives and realize that God was never far, in bad times as well as good.

Her thesis is that God is weaving a tapestry of love and redemption for the world. Each person’s story is a part of that tapestry. She asks, how does my story fit into this tapestry? Again, for what future is God preparing me?

There is at least one moment of decision and action for which I am uniquely prepared. What is it? When will it come? How can I be sure I’m ready?

Irenaeus, an ancient church theologian, once said that the glory of God was a human being who was truly alive.

John Eudes, a French priest who lived 400 years ago, expanded on that thought.

He said that each of us should base our lives around the thought, “I am the glory of God.”

We are each the glory of God, he explains, because we are where God chooses to dwell. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Our spiritual life involves making space within ourselves where God can dwell and where God’s Spirit can grow stronger and God’s glory can shine for the world to see.

Eudes asks, “Where is the glory of God?” It’s right here, he answers, in each of us. I am the glory of God. You are the glory of God. Just as God has been preparing a place within each of us to dwell, God also has been preparing each of us for a mission, for a specific moment, or for a succession of specific moments, times in which God’s glory can shine for the world to see.

For what moment has God been preparing you? How can God’s glory shine in you?

I am retiring from church ministry, so this is my last post based on a weekly Sunday sermon.

This post is a partial transcript of a message delivered June 13, 2021, at Edgerton United Methodist Church, from Esther 4:1-5:3.