I’ve just spent the past week taking a course entitled ‘Living the Text in a Postmodern Context’. I love that ‘living’ was the focus. It wasn’t ‘just’ about preaching, although that was there of course, and it wasn’t about being clever with multi-media, although I’ve developed some skills in that area. Nor was it about being innovative in how we use words, although I’ve come to appreciate afresh the ways that words evoke dialogue, and silence and images. And it wasn’t certainly wasn’t about using visuals and textiles and smells so that children are entertained while the adults get on with the real business of engaging with Scripture cerebrally. It was about living the text. Finding the life in the text – actually no, maybe it was allowing the life in the text to find me! And draw me more fully into the life of God who shapes me and changes me and enables me to draw others into encounter with God through the text.
I appreciated the solid theological foundation that was laid out diagrammatically at the beginning of the course. God is the Word, and the Word was imaged to us in the person of his son Jesus. The early gathered community read and hear God’s word in the presence of the Word, growing as they engaged in dialogue with him and his people. Word, image, community and dialogue offered a foundation grounded in the New Testament story and a grid to keep before me in ministry.
This week I was introduced to a new, yet ‘strangely familiar’ concept, that of ‘DJing’. As a non-musician I was intrigued at the way Bono took a 1987 song and DJ’d it for a concert in 2006 bringing new depth of meaning to the song. Even more fascinating was the way that biblical writers DJ’d their culture in the text. Previously I’d known that 1 Peter 3:1-7 was based on ancient household codes. However using the DJ lens brought fresh insight. For me it was an ‘aha’ moment. I ‘got’ the text in a way I hadn’t before. But these ‘aha’ moments don’t just happen. They require thorough exegetical work, reading and re-reading. But my ‘aha’ moment enables me to explore the text with my congregation in a way that gives greater scope for them to experience relief and joy as they encounter ancient words in fresh ways.
Over the course of the week, there was opportunity to engage with a single text (Luke 1:39-45) in multiple ways. This began with a communal lectio divina on Tuesday morning, a reminder that the original hearers of God’s word were exactly that –‘hearers’ nor readers. Day by day I became further immersed in the text, with layers of assumptions and over-familiarity being peeled back and new meaning found as I explored it through my senses, enjoying the colours, smell and texture of God’s word. What an adventure to smell the Bible!! And to realize that God didn’t despise our smell or avoid our smell – he entered into smell through incarnation. So much of my theological education has focussed on words. Yet I found myself wondering about colour and the Spirit, sweaty bodies and dusty roads, sounds of greetings and gelatinous, knobbly umbilical cords that nourished and sustained Jesus and John in the womb. During the exercise with fabric and touch, I re-learned that I gain so much from God through others creativity and insights. We ARE a community of faith – to give and receive from one another. What if I only had my blue ribbon umbilical cords and winding shoelace road to the hill country, and white calico God who always keeps his promises? How much the richer I am because I’ve seen Elizabeth becoming unknotted, and the shimmer and the earthiness of Mary. By the end of the week it was as though I was swimming in the passage –truly ‘living the text’.
As another student noted in class, we’ve all been stimulated to use the variety of senses in helping people engage with scripture, but perhaps we first need to use them more to enrich our own preparation. As he said this, I became aware that I could take this one step further. To use my senses in those quiet moments of solitude with God – not for the sake of preparation, but because God has created me for encounter through my senses.
On Thursday I experienced firsthand that story, especially when told in the first person, touches one’s own story. And that living between the lines of the text are unnamed, unknown people whose lives were also impacted by Jesus. When painted with scholarly imagination and biblical integrity these characters add colour, drama and personal connection to the story. Story to story, heart to heart.
This past week I’ve been encouraged to venture beyond what feels safe. I’m fortunate to be in a church that welcomes diverse expressions of worship and creativity, especially during significant seasons in the church year. Jonny Baker’s idea of ‘curating’ worship challenges me to take this a further step and to explore the role of the art curator, working behind the scenes and open-heartedly giving opportunity for a wider number of people to use their creativity in worship and mission. Unpredictable? Risky? Of course. But what do I have to lose except control?
On Friday I was again out of my comfort zone – but with surprising results. When the opportunity came to plan a sermon outline based on the Black Eyed Peas song, ‘Where is love?’ my first reaction was to play it safe and choose one of the more familiar exercises. But I decided to be brave and leap into the song. As images jumped from the words and I read the rhythm – a sermon formed – a sermon I could preach. A sermon that might connect song-lovers to God.
The challenge that simmers away for me is that of engaging with and seeking to understand the culture I live in. As a pastoral leader it’s essential I immerse myself in the biblical text AND the culture, and to become as adept at cultural exegesis as at biblical exegesis. And to work hard at being as informed about contemporary issues as I am about spiritual formation. This will require intentionality and re-arranging of ministry priorities. And perhaps by reducing the time spent in my study and having more time in our local Housing SA flats and venturing into the world of my kids’ music, I may find myself better equipped to walk humbly with others who seek to live the text too.
