Category Archives: Bible

The God who speaks (a biblical reflection)

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In the beginning, God speaks.

God says, “Let there be light”, and there is light. God speaks the world into being.

In calling Abraham, God speaks.

God says, “I will make you into a great nation and you will be a blessing,” and despite all appearances to the contrary, Abraham believes. God speaks a nation into being.

In the Exodus from Egypt, God speaks.

God says, “I have heard my people’s cry”, and steps in to redeem them from slavery and oppression. God speaks redemption in being.

In the Old Testament Torah, God speaks.

God says, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and strength and mind,” and gives teaching and instruction to live out this relationship in practice in all areas of life. God speaks the Law into being.

In the Old Testament prophets, God speaks.

God says, “Return your hearts to me,” faithfully and persistently calling His people in each generation and situation to walk with Him. God speaks prophecy into being.

In the coming of His Son, God speaks.

God says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him,” revealing in human flesh His divine presence, Emmanuel, God with us. God speaks incarnation into being.

In Jesus’ life and teaching, God speaks.

God says, “The one who has ears to hear, let them hear,” inviting reflection and response to a new way of life. God speaks His Kingdom into being.

In Jesus’ death, God speaks.

God says, “It is finished,” declaring once and for all forgiveness, reconciliation, and victory. God speaks salvation into being.

In raising Jesus from the dead, God speaks.

God says, “He is risen,” proclaiming the arrival of a new era of abundant life available to all. God speaks resurrection into being. 

In pouring out His Spirit on the church, God speaks.

God says, “Your sons and daughters will prophesy,” empowering and equipping each follower of Jesus to proclaim and testify to his work in our lives. God speaks His church into being.

In sending His church out into the world, God speaks.

God says, “You will be my witnesses,” commissioning His disciples to take and speak the good news to the very ends of the earth. God speaks mission into being.

In every chapter and on every page of the Bible, God speaks.

In every moment and generation, God reveals himself to be a speaking God. 

So … how do we hear this speaking God speak to us through His Word today?

How do we listen to the Bible as the living, breathing, speaking word of God in our daily lives?

And what might God wanting to speak into being in our time?

Lament and Hope

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Last Christmas Eve, I shared a lament as bushfires raged around us, crying out for Emmanuel to come. And for the last couple of years, I’ve led my church’s Blue Christmas services, a space for people to name the griefs and sadnesses of the year and the challenges this season can bring.

As the year ticked over to 2020, a year long anticipated as a nice round number as well as for its association with perfect vision, perhaps we hoped the time for lament had passed. Perhaps we anticipated this year wouldn’t need space for being “blue”.

We all know how that went.

Now we come to the end of a disappointing and difficult year, a year where awareness of our frailties and weaknesses has been heightened, a year where lament has been a constant companion for many of us.

The words and spaces for sitting in the “blue” seem more important than ever.

And yet perhaps we are still hoping that ticking over to 2021 will make everything new again. Or perhaps we are pinning our hopes on a vaccine to bring about a return to “normal”. We find ourselves once again longing, yearning, expectant.

Lament and hope. Hope and lament.

This is our world. This is our humanity. In the midst of life we are in death. Joy and sorrow go hand in hand. We know this to be true. And yet we always find ourselves longing for more.

For me, this is why the biblical story is so powerful. It names this reality and it explains this longing. We were created for more. We live in the in-between. One day all will be restored. There is both space to lament and invitation to hope.

And at the centre of that story is the moment where lament and hope meet. When humanity’s groaning and longing is answered by a God who steps into the middle of the mess and brokenness. With the coming of a baby. Emmanuel. God in our midst.

This Christmas Eve my prayer is that we will find space to lament: to groan and cry out, to yearn and long, to name that where we live is not where we hope to be.

And in our lamenting, may the baby of Bethlehem, the promised Messiah, the Desire of God’s people and the Light of the world, meet us in the midst and bring true hope, hope for the restoration and redemption that is found only in him.

 

 

 

Writing, Speaking, Podcasting and Lamenting … out loud

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I called this blog Thinking Out Loud because that describes something I love to do – working out, wrestling with, and sharing my thinking externally. Writing is a helpful tool for this as it forces you to wrangle your ideas into some kind of structure and shape, that you hope will help spark ideas, resonances, and responses in those who read them. There is also some trepidation in putting your thoughts into ‘print’, as they can then be perceived as fixed and final, unable to be further nuanced or developed.

Podcasting is another great way of thinking out loud. I have a range of podcasts I’m loving listening to, hearing other people ponder and wonder, dialogue and debate, inform and imagine as they speak their words into being. (I need to update my top listening list soon). There is probably a greater sense of immediacy and connection with listening rather than just reading, which makes me want to think more about the engagement of our different senses in this context.

Many of the messages I preach are available as podcasts, and a friend and I have been imagining what a podcast we hosted could look like.

Last week I had the opportunity to be interviewed for a fairly new podcast, hosted by Andy and Mike, two guys serving as worship pastors in churches that are part of the movement in which I lead and serve.

Our topic was Lament, and in particular how the Psalms of Lament teach us and lead us in this practice as part of our worship. I really enjoyed sitting down and talking through some of what I have learned through my studies and teaching, preaching and practicing, of the Psalms.

The downside of talking over writing is that you don’t necessarily say everything you want to, and I did wonder if our tone was sometimes more upbeat than the topic might suggest, simply due to the enjoyment of having the conversation itself.

But having dialogue partners means you can bounce off one another in real time, which is great for both questions and tangents. Hopefully it leads to key ideas being both clarified and applied in helpful ways. I really enjoyed our conversation and it probably could have gone for a lot longer.

In many ways, learning to lament is itself a practice of thinking out loud.

The Psalms invite us to enter into their experience and relationship with God,  to experience their emotions and imagination and embodiment. I believe it is in enacting the Psalms, voicing their words as our own, that they form us.

The lament psalms in particular invite us to share our experiences of disorientation with God and with one another in the community of faith: asking questions in our doubt, weeping tears in our sadness, expressing anger at injustice, confessing our weaknesses and failings, standing in solidarity with the grief and brokenness of others. And doing all this in an attitude of prayer and worship.

I’m currently working on a few writing projects on the Psalms, but if you’d like to hear some of my thinking out loud specifically about Lament, you can listen to the podcast episode here: Captivate Podcast, Episode 8.