The majority of the New Testament books are pastoral letters written from a pastoral leader to a particular local church or churches with the intent of guiding them in how to think, feel and behave in reference to particular events of their day. While we normally teach from those letters, there is within the Church an important tradition of pastors from every generation following in that model of pastoral letters and speaking directly to their congregations in significant moments relevant to modern Christian life. As a pastor, I consider it my duty to help us reflect Christianly on the moment in which we live.
My letter this week is mainly in reference to the US Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, though it is also relevant more generally to other recent events. This letter revisits much of my sermon from Sunday, June 28th. To hear that message, follow this link.
People often mistake humility of manner with humility of character. As a result, we often encourage people all the more to try to build a humble manner without dealing with the deeper issues of humble character. After years of observing a person though, it sometimes becomes clear that a humble external manner may, in reality, have nothing to do with the humility of his heart and character.
Gordon Fee, in his book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth states that the Bible was written more to be listened to than read. That is, when the authors wrote it, they imagined people hearing it read out loud more than they thought of it being read off of the page. Before the printing press, books were enormously expensive and reading out loud was extremely common and something of an art form. It’s one of the reasons why Paul commands Timothy not to neglect the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim 4:13). That is how most people heard the Bible.
Although that is not entirely true today, do not underestimate how powerful a good reading of Scripture can be. I firmly believe what one South African seminary professor said: “If we read the Scriptures properly, a sermon is hardly necessary.” He wasn’t against preaching. He just understood how powerful Scripture can be when read for impact. If you read the Bible correctly out loud, people will actually hear the message the text declares. They will find themselves hearing things they had passed over. They will get a different sense of emphasis and a deeper sense of the gravity of the message.
So how do you do it? How do you read the Bible for maximum impact?
More people have asked me this question recently than ever before: “Should I attend a friends same-sex wedding?” Or, “Should I attend my brother’s same-sex wedding ceremony?”
Well, summer is coming to an end. The only thing that is comforting in light of that realization is the fact that the fall is also a beautiful time in Wisconsin, especially if you love hiking, hunting, picking apples, football, winter squash, walleye fishing, and a bunch of other things I’m sure.
Things are pretty exciting here at HPC. We just got in the copies of the book BLUEPRINT in the office last week. I really believe the six weeks of the fall series are going to be great. Let me put in writing exactly why we’re doing this and what it’s meant to accomplish:
Engage & Equip 