Freewriting / Write Free

You are God's Masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10)

I should write.
I want to write.
I have things to say.
I have read and studied a lot and I want to talk about those things.

But writing is work.
And blogging was over, like, a long time ago.
At least that’s what I hear.

But I need to write.
I need to write for me, and also
I hope that maybe, just maybe, something I write will be helpful or encouraging for someone else.

I want to drop keys for others, bread crumbs to follow if they so choose.
To say: “this is how I got here”
I want to shout loud for all to hear that God is even better and more loving than we ever imagined.
That this whole thing is bigger than we knew.

I want you to know that you are deeply, unconditionally loved by God.
You are God's masterpiece, after all: created in Love, held in Love, made to Love.

I want to write free.

A Hermeneutic of Love, or How I Read the Bible (Part 1)

With a couple of exceptions, I have been mostly quiet (at least here on my blog) as over the past several years I have been actively wrestling with just about every major point of doctrinal difference or theological argument you can think of:

• Calvinism/Arminianism/Open Theism (The Open View of the Future)
• Hell: Eternal Conscious Torment vs. Annihilationism/Conditionalism vs. Christian Universalism (This is a great post on these 3 Biblical Options for a Theology of Hell)
• Atonement theories (Penal Substitution, Ransom Theory/Christus Victor)
• Women's roles in the church/Christian Feminism*
• The inerrancy/infallibility of Scripture**
• What do we do with the violence and even genocide that would seem to be sanctioned and even commanded by God in the Old Testament?** 
• 6 Day Literal Creation vs Creation via evolution
• And the list could go on and on...

And a large part of what has kept me from writing about this journey so far, is the tendency among many Christians (not all) to be so quick to accuse/question other Christian's commitment to Scripture. I agree with this statement from Rachel Held Evans:

"In some cases, folks are so committed to their particular views on these issues they seem incapable of making a distinction between the Bible itself and their interpretation of it, and so any critique of that interpretation is seen as a critique of Scripture itself!  And so we miss one another entirely. Instead of a lively, impassioned debate about the text, we engage in lively, impassioned debates about one another’s commitment to the faith. " -RHE, When our interpretations differ...

Please hear me on this. I still believe the Bible is inspired by God, I just don't buy into all of the same interpretations that I used to. And I am still working all of this out. But I read the Bible much more literarily now and much less literally, and this does not make it any less true.*** I believe I am being more faithful to the text when I read it this way, keeping in mind the genre or type of literature a particular book is and the historical and cultural context.

Some try to say "the Bible is clear..." about fill in the blank (if women can/should be pastors/teachers, as one example). But what about all of the times the Bible has been "clear" in the past?

The Bible has been used in support of a great many things that none of us today would support:

• manifest destiny,
• the earth is flat
• anti-Semitism
• slavery
• “separate but equal”
• banning interracial marriage

On the issues of biblical interpretation and slavery I highly recommend The Civil War as Theological Crisis by Mark A. Noll: “For over thirty years Americans battled each other exegetically on the issue, with the more orthodox and the ones who took most seriously the authority of Scripture being also the ones most likely to conclude that the Bible sanctioned slavery.” (Noll, 115)

Today, we see how wrong it was to use the Bible to defend slavery. And yet people are still making the same mistakes when it comes to interpreting the Bible on different issues.

In Torn, Justin Lee writes, “virtually all Christians recognize that there are passages in the Bible that can’t be fairly applied with only a superficial reading. We need context and interpretation, and sometimes that means we need historical insight or other kinds of analysis that comes only from a lot of study.” (Think Titus 2:9 - “teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything”; 1 Corinthians 11:6 - “if a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved, she should cover her head”; 1 Corinthians 14:34 - “women should remain silent in the churches; they should not speak…”.)  

Obviously, we do not follow these commands today, so how do we go about deciding which passages are speaking to a specific cultural context and which ones still apply in our time and culture?

Well, when Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, he responded by saying “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

In light of this passage, I would argue that the love of God and our love for God and people should be a lens for interpreting Scripture.

Augustine actually wrote about this same thing in On Christian Doctrine: “anyone who thinks he has understood the divine scriptures or any part of them, but cannot by his understanding build up this double love of God and neighbor, has not succeeded in understanding them.” (DDC I.35.40)

I like what Dr. Paul Allen wrote about this too: "God is continually acting in the power of love. It is a kind of love that moves the universe into existence. It is a kind of love that moves Israel and thence the world through the person of Christ into a loving relationship with God. God the creator and God the savior are two ways of talking about the God who is love." - Dr. Paul Allen

I'll end this post with two of the questions I am asking as I read the Bible these days:

• How does this passage fit with the truth that God is Love?
• How do I apply this passage with a true love for the people around me?

Read Part 2 Here.

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*Finally Feminist by John G. Stackhouse and A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans were really helpful to me on this topic.

**Derek Flood and Peter Enns have both written good books recently that deal with these topics:
- Disarming Scripture: Cherry-Picking Liberals, Violence-Loving Conservatives, and Why We All Need to Learn to Read the Bible Like Jesus Did by Derek Flood and
- The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture Has Made Us Unable to Read It by Peter Enns

***Tim Fall had a good post on reading the Bible literarily recently: I Read the Bible Literally

You Matter. You are Loved. You are Known.

What do we all want more than anything? More than money, more than fame, we want to know that we matter, that we are loved and known. And it's already true of us!

Something that has stayed with me from some sermons at church is the phrase, “the truest thing about you.”

For example, the truest thing about me is not my depression.
The truest thing about me is that all of my hope is in Jesus, the Messiah.

The truest thing about you and me is not our struggles or sin or shame or brokenness.
The truest thing about us is that we are loved unconditionally by our Good God.

You matter. You are created in the image of God and you matter.

You are loved. The One who created the entire universe loves you more deeply than you can imagine. You are loved.

You are known intimately by the One who knit you together in your mother’s womb. You are known.

These are reminders to myself as much as anyone because my bent is all that negative self-talk crap, and who has time for that?

I’m tired of believing lies.
So I’m practicing rehearsing Truth, for you and for me.

You matter.
You are loved.
You are known.

A Bit of Rambling on Writing and All the Feelings

Vulnerability is key to writing that has meaning and depth. So often I think this tends to be a factor in my experiences of writer's block. I avoid the rawness which writing requires of me.

But by now, don't we all know that none of us have it all together? So why do we feel like we have to continue pretending like we do? Why do I still feel the pressure to pretend to be perfect when I know I'm not fooling anyone, least of all, myself!

Why is it so hard to just be honest with each other and let Grace cover the mess of it all? Isn't that kind of the whole point? That we are all in desperate need of Grace? And that we need each other too?

We long for deep, genuine connection with people, but we have to be willing to take off the masks and come out of hiding for that to happen.
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So here's to the ones who feel broken, alone, or afraid,
to the ones who are hurting,
to the ones who feel unworthy or unloved.

For the ones who feel they are not enough:
not good enough,
not smart enough,
not skinny enough,
not fill-in-the-blank enough

and conversely,
the ones who feel like they are just too much…

Because -
I am the broken.
I am the lonely.
I am the hurting.
I am the one who feels like she is not enough…and too much...

And in the midst of all of the pain and heartache and brokenness of this world, I want to point to the Light, to the One who has kept me alive, the One that has kept me going, the One that holds all things together…

Over and over again, God has used other people in my life who have spoken words of Love over me and words of Truth into me and it has saved my life in so many ways.

So I want to say to you (and to me):
Because of Christ and in Christ you are covered by love and grace, 
And you are enough because He is enough.
His grace covers your imperfections.
He is there in your loneliness and He has not forgotten you. 
And He loves you more than you know. 

Compassion

Compassion is about empathy.

The word is derived from two Latin words: pati and cum – which mean “to suffer with.”

To empathize with someone is to feel their pain with them.

We are called to carry each other's burdens, weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn. (Galatians 6:2 and Romans 12:15)

It is the compassion that God first showed us, that Jesus showed us in becoming a humble man on this earth, feeling our pain, dying a painful death.

It is His love and compassion that can fill us and give us the ability to pour out this kind of love and compassion on the people around us.

Our God is compassionate towards us.

See Jesus weeping when he hears of Lazerus's death, even though he knows he is going to raise him from the dead! He weeps with compassion for Mary and Martha as they grieve the loss of their brother.

Hear God's heart towards you:

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
    and saves those who are crushed in spirit." - Psalm 34:18

"You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book." -Psalm 56:8 NLT

God has kept track of all of your sorrows and collected your tears in a bottle.

He sees you.

He knows you.

He loves you.

You are not forgotten.
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How have you been shown compassion?
How can you show someone compassion today?

One Another

Challenge issued and accepted:

If you isolate yourself from relationships to avoid hurt, you'll end up hurting yourself and cutting others off from the help that is you.
— Doug Bursch (@fairlyspiritual) April 18, 2014

@JenniferNeyhart This conversation is your writing prompt. :) @fairlyspiritual @sometimesalight
— Ellen Mandeville (@EllenMandeville) April 18, 2014

When we are hurt by someone our instinctual, defensive reaction is to throw up our walls and get the hell out of there as fast as we can. And I've observed in myself that this can cause a chain reaction, affecting all other relationships. Thankfully, some of my closest friends have helped me see and fight this initial response, but it continues to be a struggle. I am so afraid that it will happen again. I tell myself that if I let others in, they won't like what they see and they won't love me the same.

But God created us for community: for deep, meaningful relationships, with God through Jesus and with other people. He never intended for us to journey alone. Think of all of the "one another" passages in Scripture:

"Love one another. As I [Jesus] have loved you, so you must love one another." - John 13:34

"Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace." - 2 Corinthians 13:11
"Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." - Romans 12:10

"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." - Romans 15:7

"Serve one another humbly in love." - Galatians 5:13

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." - Ephesians 4:2

"Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." - Ephesians 4:32

"be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit." - Ephesians 5:19
"Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." - Galatians 6:2

Over and over and over again, we are exhorted to encourage each other, love each other, bear with each other, and forgive each other. And all of this must flow from the love of Christ in us. God wants to love through us. I've experienced his love through his people, and I don't want to deprive myself of that by cutting myself and/or others off from the relationships that we have. By the grace of God I will continue to choose to be vulnerable and open with the people I know I can trust. And by the grace of God, we will continue to grow together. 

(Even this post is an example of community and encouragement in action! This post would not exist were it not for the encouragement of @EllenMandeville =)