Often I'm shamed by how infrequently I post on my blog. The truth is that I've been a little too busy for my own good--not to mention the good of my family. Since my last post (you know the one where I was speaking at a camp)I have traveled to speak to another church, been a participant in a church planting lab, and right now I'm preparing a presentation for a church in town, as well as getting ready for a trip to Portland, OR.
That's a little much when you place it next to the day-to-day responsibilities of ministering to a church and being a husband and father.
Speaking of ministering to a church, I'm teaching a class right now on the gospel of John. It has been a lot of fun. I'm using my friend, Chris Seay's re-telling of John. Chris is shepherding "The Voice" Bible project and has been gracious enough to let me use his text, even though some parts have not been published yet.
Tomorrow, our class will be looking at the religious leader's questioning of John the Baptist in John 1. It's an amazing text and Chris captures it beautifully. Here is a scene where the leaders are asking all these "what" questions--questions about John's baptism and his authority. Yet here is John dismissing the "what" questions and announcing and proclaiming the coming of Jesus. Did you catch that? They are worried about the what questions, when the heart of the story is centered in the "who" question.
Perhaps that's a good primer to view the entire gospel of John--or all of Christianity for that matter. Perhaps we should focus on the who not the what. When Jesus says later in John that He is the way, the truth and the life, perhaps He is articulating a way of being in the world; a way focused on living life in the way of Jesus--following a person, rather than a religious construct.
Try this out: Read through John's gospel this week and deliberately ask "who" questions. See what that might do for your week.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
yeah and you said you blogged a lot when i saw you wearing your blog shirt. it's ok though, you're a busy guy. i'm leading a group this week at learning to lead! well have a great week.
"Who" over "what" is a wonderful reminder of God's Law. We, especially Christians, seem to get balled up in technical nuances of what is permitted, and how to do church, as if we could reduce salvation to mechanics. Your perspective on John 1, (and Matthew 22:35-40) seems to remind us that doing what God wants is about relationship--about who God is, and who other people are to us. Thanks.
Post a Comment