Sometimes in Texas it is hard to know when autumn begins. Even though stores are pulling out merchandise for Halloween and Thanksgiving and even Christmas, the landscape is telling a different story. But soon the leaves will turn from green to red to brown and then the trees will enter their tombs for a few months. Every year, nature speaks …
Bread for the World Sunday (Program and Homily)
Program Homily If it’s alright with you, I’m going to preach a little today. There’s a lot on the program today, so I just wanted to share some things I have on my mind, things that came up while working on this service. I’d also like, instead of having the immediate feedback of a conversation, to have folks go home …
Empty Bellies, Open Hearts
This Sunday, we celebrate Bread for the World Sunday. According to their website, “Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.” They lobby politicians to do the right thing, to live into the faith that the overwhelming majority claim as their own. To do so, they leverage …
How to Read the Bible (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon Outline (loosely followed) I. Introduction a. Review 1. Literal 2. Allegorical 3. Moral 4. Anagogical b. Read out loud 1. Jonah 2. God 3. Captain 4. Sailors 5. Narrator 6. Newsreader for the King of Ninevah II. Literal a. What does it say? b. What doesn’t it say? c. What voices are left out? d. Who wins and …
Biblical Authority as Subjective Encounter
For my family and sexuality in the Bible class, I was asked to reflect on how I viewed biblical authority. In the spirit of laying my cards on the table and to cap the How to Read the Bible series, I thought I might post it. Sorry it’s so long. — Scott ——————————————- Certainly, my current understanding of the authority …
Coming Out
Thursday was National Coming Out Day. I’m reading through Facebook comments of friends from high school to whose pain I was oblivious. I regret that I was not then the person I am sometimes able to be today, an advocate and ally. I am certain that through my frequent silence, constant blindness, and occasional word and deed, I hurt people. …
How to Read the Bible: The Reading
And finally we get to try out our new toys. We’ve spent the past few weeks talking about the classic understanding of the four senses of Scripture: literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical. We have explored the promise and the peril of each and looked at some new reading strategies that might open up the text, find the life that beckons …
How to Read the Bible: The Anagogical (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon Outline I. Review a. Literal b. Allegorical c. Moral d. Anagogical II. Classical a. Anagogical b. Destiny c. Prophecy III. Modern a. Dispensationalism b. Process theology c. Speaking prophetically IV. Post-modern Finally, we come to the anagogical sense, which interprets the things related in Holy Scripture “as they signify what relates to eternal glory.” This meaning is not …
How to Read the Bible: The Anagogical (Bonus: More Culture!)
I had to look that word up. Being in seminary, words like “hermeneutics,” “exegetical,” and “soteriology” creep into your vocabulary to the point that friends and relatives are certain you are making stuff up, but I have never heard “anagogical.” It is the final of the four senses of Scripture in the classical model. It indicates a layer of meaning …
How to Read the Bible: The Moral (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon Outline I. Ancient a. Do good, get good b. Do good, suffer, get good later II. Classical a. Bible as guidebook b. Problems with literal truth 1. Transmission 2. Translation 3. Interpretation 4. Application c. Problems with allegorical truth 1. Interpretation 2. Application d. Both create problems with moral truth III. Modern a. The Bible speaks authoritatively on …