May The Force Be With You

I'm convinced that one of the biggest reasons mainline Christians have basically disappeared from the public faith conversation is that our theologians have made the whole thing way too complicated over the past several decades. (I mean does anybody know what Moltmann or Pannenberg were actually saying??) Our pastors come out of seminary so theologically tongue tied they can barely string three coherent sentences together (I've done those exit interviews, myself); and, once let loose in the pulpit, they nervously cling to their sermon manuscripts afraid of getting something "wrong." Our layfolk run the other way if somebody starts talking about religion or the Bible for pretty much the same reason. What they've learned has either been inadequate or incomprehensible.

One of the exercises I like doing with a big group of people is to, first, break them up into small groups of 4-5, and then ask them to tell the whole story of the Bible in one minute or less. If it's a mixed group (pastors and laity), I'll sometimes let them use words. If it's just pastors, no words are allowed. The stories they tell are pretty awesome. And simple. And true. Try it sometime.

And, if you need a little inspiration, check out the way this 3-year old manages to tell the whole story of Star Wars. We ought to be able to do half as well with the story that has shaped our lives.

Comments

[Tom in Ontario]

Last summer I read "Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neigborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith" by Diana Butler Bass. She writes about Ten Signposts of Renewal and one of them is "Testimony." I decided that I'd try to get people to testify, to witness, to share faith stories during Lent.

It's like pulling teeth to get someone to talk about their faith. Just last week in our No Experience Necessary session we read "No pastor or Bible expert—no one—knows more about your Christian faith than you." But I get things like "I can't do that. I've got nothing to say. Why would anything I say matter. I'm nobody special." I keep telling people it's not so much about telling "our" stories as it is telling God's story, the story of God's presence and working in our lives.

I had three laypeople speak so far. Two I asked (twisted their arms a little bit) and one actually volunteered. I get tired of begging people to do stuff so I gave a testimony this past Sunday. I want one more but I don't know who I'll ask. I put out the general invitation one Sunday but that rarely works. You have to peg an individual and ask them.

As for our theologians, I think they've been sequestered in their ivory towers so long speaking academicese that they don't know how to talk like ordinary folks. That's one thing I like about your writing. You write like real people talk. That's how I try to preach, just the way I talk. I am welded to my manuscript though. I type out every word, not because I'm afraid of getting something wrong but because I'll forget what I wanted to say and fill the time with a lot of ums, ers, uhs.

[annemarie macintosh]

I had the opposite experience. I asked 3 members to share their faith stories while I was to be away one Sunday. I gave them the summary of the lectionary readings for the day, just as a framework for their stories, and asked them to share how God has come to them in their life and been a blessing. And though 2 of the initial people I asked couldn't do it (one wasn't quite ready to get up there, the other unfortunately got sick) I was easily able to get 3 people, who seemed very willing. And the responses from the congregation to their stories was so positive. One person quite truly stated it was good to hear from others, not only the pastor's perspective. I want to do it again, when I will be present. But the best part is that a teenage boy told his mother he wants to be asked the next time we do this. He wants to share his story. Amazing!

[Doug]

I actually heard Pannenberg speak one time and pretty much understood what he was saying. But, no, it wasn’t a life changing experience. I don’t think, however, that he and whatever other contemporary theologians are putting seminarians to sleep these days are the problem. Rather, they are experiencing the same problem as the students and pastors reading their books. From the perspective of biblical, orthodox Christianity, they/we just don’t know what to say that has meaning or relevance for the modern world. That’s a pretty sweeping statement but I am coming to believe it is true.

In your previous post Kelly, “Are We Ready”, you talked about how important the Bible was in the conservative churches you had looked at. You also admitted to not liking the way the Bible was being interpreted in those places. I wonder if that can be dismissed so easily, as you imply, as an incidental consequence of their conservatism. You quote from your book saying:
"The truth is that when Christians read the written word of God, the living word of God always shows up. In other words, Jesus shows up. Jesus shows up when we read the Bible no matter what method of interpretation we are using...Jesus shows up in spite of all the prejudices and cultural biases we bring to our reading of the text. Jesus shows up regardless of whatever our political, moral, or theological agenda might be."
I think this is just not true. Where was Jesus when the Bible was read in Reformed churches in apartheid South Africa, or in Lutheran and Catholic churches in Nazi Germany, or in churches of all stripes in the Jim Crow South? It takes more than reading the Bible for the living word to be heard.

Why do we have such an aversion to saying the Bible has problems, even big problems? And that its biggest problem is simply that it’s really, really, old? With so much of the Bible incomprehensible and/or irrelevant to modern people it inevitably leads to the cherry picking of texts so common in evangelical preaching. Verses without context are patched together to try to show that the preacher’s political or psychological message is “biblical.” On the other hand, a dwindling remnant of exegetical preachers simply adds to the mega-church ranks with their lectures on arcane points of ancient and medieval doctrine and theology.

Are mainline clergy and lay people theologically tongue tied? You bet. I am increasingly convinced, however, that it is the Bible and the orthodoxy that goes with it that are at the heart of that mumbling and stumbling. I think I know the Bible pretty well. I’ve done my home work. And the more I read it the more I feel like I’ve stepped into a time machine. Its writers come from another world and we need to admit that much of what they talk about has little relevance to us. I shake my head in amazement as I listen to preachers try to take texts and stories written 2000 years ago or more and land them confidently on the shore of the 21st century. Most of the time what lands either has little to do with the Bible or little to do with contemporary life.

Our people do have stories to tell: about faith and hope and love and despair and all the rest, including even God. They are unwilling or unable to articulate them, however, because they feel obligated to do so in the language of the Bible—a language we no longer speak. I think it’s time we tell people: don’t try. Just tell your story in your own words. THEN we’ll do the theology. If the Bible helps, great, and if not, that’s OK. But what we won’t do is try to force our story into its mold. We just don’t need to anymore.

Well, this is obviously a contrarian view, but Kelly I really do respect and appreciate what you are doing. And I am not so sure that we are, in fact, all that far apart. I just happen to believe that the new, progressive, emerging church is going to need to be a lot newer than most of us realize or want to believe.

KELLY'S RESPONSE:

Thanks for the comment, Doug, a really thoughtful contribution to this conversation. First, I'm with you: I think the change will be way more radical than any of us realize. And of course I agree that the Bible has been problematic and is today. But I also know that when I open up that book and read those stories and, especially, when I'm talking about them with others...I always hear stuff I never heard before and/or hear it in new ways. I believe Jesus DOES show up there. It's not the only place Jesus shows up, not by any stretch of the imagination! But he does show up. And people are CHANGED because of what they experience. In fact, I believe the changes you describe will be radical precisely BECAUSE people are changed by the One they meet in the Biblical story. I'm hearing you, though. I am.

[Tom in Ontario]

I just talked to a parishioner on Wednesday night, a blue collar biker type, who said he just finished reading the Bible from cover to cover and said what an awesome book it is. He said it was the first time he'd read the whole thing. I had to admit I've never read it from cover to cover. In our No Experience Necessary study last Monday night we read a passage from Acts that I'd never come across before (Paul saying goodbye to the Ephesians?). I love Bible Study and I love the stories we read. These Sundays in Lent with Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the man born blind, "Lazarus, Come Out!" I have to agree with my parishioner. An awesome book.

[LutheranChik]

We tried an experiment at our church (in transition from a "family" church to one with a wide variety of members, both local and commuter), where each Sunday The Bag (an actual shopping bag) was given to a volunteer from the congregation, who was to fill it with three things important to him or her, then come back the next Sunday and share those things with the rest of the congregation. The kickoff Sunday, I remember thinking, "Eeeuw...that's just so...juvenile." But you wouldn't believe the eloquence of people's stories...and they all became faith stories. Our pastor "interviewed" each person with a few prompting questions, but otherwise just let people speak.

KELLY'S RESPONSE: Oh my gosh! What an awesome idea!!! Thanks for sharing it!!!