intention – Dancing In The Kingdom

Reorienting our institutions

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 18 – Entering the Dance

Reorienting our institutions

[Bible references: Jeremiah 29:1-14]

It is normal to organize ourselves to do as a group what we cannot do, or at least do as well, as individuals. Families can undertake the task of running a farm or a ranch better than any one individual. Communities can better protect themselves or do things like barn-raisings to replace a barn that had been destroyed. Communities also allow for the possibility for people with specialized abilities to earn income from the specialty while allowing others to focus on their own businesses more successfully. Businesses are organized to create products or services that could not otherwise be produced. Civic organizations are organized to handle various problems within our society and cultural organizations help our society to flourish. Governments allow communities to pool resources, create infrastructure to support our society and to provide law enforcement to keep the peace within communities.

It is to God’s glory that his image-bearing creatures can create organizations that exemplify our reflections of God’s creativity and transcendence and allow us to do all the sorts of things that help fulfill his intention for us to fill the earth and steward its resources. However, in our fallen world, the very large and pervasive problem with any institution we create is that communities and organizations are made up of people and – we must remember – all people, including ourselves, are sinful.

It then becomes our sinful tendency to dislike organizations, institutions, in general. One of the unfortunate organizations many of us tend to dislike – is the organized church. So, before we address other organizations, we need to address our attitudes towards the institution we call the church.

Emily Rose Gum suggests that it is from the creation narrative that we can see that God wants us to thrive in a way that allows our personal good and the common good to reinforce one another. But we and the institutions we create are fallen and need to be re-oriented toward the common good. Sometimes we need to create new institutions but sometimes we need to reinvigorate and restore fractured ones, such as our public education schools which provide education to our poorest neighbors. ^[1]

In the larger picture of reclaiming our institutions, Vincent Bacote reminds us of our dependence on the Spirit. It was the Spirit “hovering over the face of the waters” bringing life into creation and it is the Spirit who enables us to carry out the mandates of God, including the building of institutions to carry out those mandates.^[2]

“The mandate of creation is central to who Christians are before God. This mandate calls for obedience, yes, but this should not be viewed as a heavy burden. Indeed, in fulfilling this mandate Christian believers become more of who God intends them to be. Importantly, this is not a mandate for a few but for all—all are participants, all are enjoined to participate in ways framed by the revelation of God’s word in the creative and renewing work of world-making and remaking. And it is in the divine nature of this work that vocation is imbued with great dignity. It is, in part, the appeal to every person, regardless of stature, giftedness, achievement, wealth, power, or personality that makes the Gospel so radical. Every person is made in God’s image and every person is offered his grace and, in turn, the opportunity to labor together with God in the creation and recreation of the world.” ^{^[3]}

As we look beyond the church itself, we see that God has designated other organizations for service as well. Even those of God’s image-bearers who are not of the church may respond to God’s call to all of us to tend to His creation, however they may understand it. And just as God’s own church has a mixed record of accomplishment, these other organizations/institutions will certainly have a mixed record as well. We cannot assume, that despite not completely understanding God’s creation mandate, that within these organizations outside the church there is no good intended by them, and that God is not able to use them.

These “outside” organizations may include government, civic, cultural, and social organizations and are part of the ways in which God’s image-bearers are fulfilling his purpose for his creation. Humans cannot create institutions without some basis in faith, even if they try to ignore it. What we can do as Christians is bring to those institutions the sensibilities that are based on our faith.^[4] While we cannot make these institutions perfect (after all, even we are not yet perfect) we can help instill grace, mercy, and justice in whatever capacity we can.

Institutions sometimes try to re-organize their structure to make themselves better in some fashion, but structure cannot override the character of the people within the organization. In whatever capacity we have, if we are present in an organization, we can be the “salt” that preserves and adds spiritual taste to the organization.

^[1] Gum, Emily Rose. “Recovering an Institutional Imagination” Comment Magazine comment.org/recovering-an-institutional-imagination p.28

^[2] Bacote, Vincent. “The Spirit and Institution Building” Comment Magazine, Sept 2005, comment.org/the-spirit-and-institution-building

^[3] Hunter, James Davison. To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World Oxford University Press 2010

^[4] Chaplin, Jonathan. “Loving Faithful Institutions: Building Blocks of a Just Global Society” The Other Journal 15 Mar 2010 theotherjournal.com/2010/04/15/loving-faithful-institutions-building-blocks-of-a-just-global-society/Chechowich

Observe

Read Jeremiah 29:1-14. How should we try to influence the organizations in which we work?

The Discipline of Simplicity/Stewardship

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 15 – Reforming our Souls

Discipline of Simplicity/Stewardship

[Bible references: Genesis 1:28; Psalm 33:5; Micah 6:8; Hosea 6:6; Matthew 25:35-40; Luke 16:13; John 13:34; 1 Corinthians 3:9; 4:2; 9:24-27; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 9:6-8; Galatians 6:6; Philippians 4: 4,8-13; 1 Timothy 5:8; 6:6-10, 17-19; Hebrews 3:5; 12:1-3; James 1:17; 1 Peter 4:10; 1 John 3:17]

The central point for the Discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of His kingdom first – and then everything necessary will come in its proper order.^{^[1]}

There’s no point in simplifying your life if you are steering toward an end point that doesn’t matter to begin with.^{^[2]}

My schedule is far less about what I want to get done and far more about who I want to become.^{^[3]}

“We do not mean . . . that simplicity betrays itself in no visible signs, has not its own habits, its distinguishing tastes and ways; but this outward show, which may now and then be counterfeited, must not be confounded with its essence and its deep and wholly inward source. Simplicity is a state of mind. It dwells in the main intention of our lives. A man is simple when his chief care is the wish to be what he ought to be . . . And this is neither so easy nor so impossible as one might think. At bottom, it consists in putting our acts and aspirations in accordance with the law of our being, and consequently with the Eternal Intention which willed that we should be at all.”^{^[4]}

“If you want to have a spiritual life you must unify your life. A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for.”^{^[5]}

It is not enough to simply pare down one’s possessions or schedule, because they can become their own ends or become undone because we have not dealt with our habit of filling our time or possessions with something else. To successfully practice simplicity, we must have a clear center, a clear purpose. It is from that purpose that we can decide how to spend our time and resources so that our decisions can be based on how they fit our priorities. An indicator of whether you achieved your purpose can be if you feel fragmented and restless. Without a clear purpose, short-term distractions and pleasures can hijack our progress towards our long-term goals. Therefore, the goal of simplicity is to gain integrity of spirit, reduce temptations, distractions, and the need/desire for things so that we can better serve God.

Setting our priorities

To reach these goals, we must do less of some things but more of others. True simplicity is doing less of what matters least, and more of what matters most. You don’t just empty your life of the bad, you fill it with the good. Having a purpose allows you to discern whether a particular area of life should be constricted or expanded; purpose produces priorities. Once our priorities are set then we can make meaningful decisions about our activities. We may need to declutter our lives: we may have too many things in our home, or too many activities in our lives. What detracts our attention from our priorities? What things should we say “no” to? What habits do we have that move us from our goals?

The discipline of simplicity includes determining who we want to be and setting goals to achieve that, then setting our priorities, and then arranging our use of time, money, our spiritual gifts, and our relationships to meet those priorities. Simplicity is the essence of stewardship.

Stewarding our resources

Once we have centered ourselves and established our priorities then we can focus on how to manage the limited resources that we must accomplish the responsibilities God has given us. It is easy to get overwhelmed by all the needs we see around us in the world, it seems that there are not enough resources to meet the needs of the world. That is why we need to figure out what responsibilities God has to us individually. Then we need to trust God to provide what we need to for those responsibilities (Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.)

If we have set our priorities properly, then our priorities should be aligned with God’s priorities and desires. In Gen 1:28, we can see that stewardship is the first assignment God gave humans, so part of what we need to consider is what individual things that we, as individuals, have been given stewardship responsibilities over. We also need to consider God’s desires for how we carry out those responsibilities. We know that His desires are for us to love God and neighbor, act with justice and mercy, have a generous and overflowing love towards others (including our families, our fellow believers, and those in need) and to take care of the world he has provided for us.

As His stewards, we need to consider how to use the blessings God had given us, to serve in the way he would have us do so that we bring glory to Him in all that we do. We are not just a person with a vocation, or just a member of a family, or just a church member, etc. We are a who not a what. We are people created by God to be in relation with him and with others, and with multiple obligations.

^[2] Hybels, Bill. Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter Your Soul. Tyndale Momentum 2015

^[3] Hybels, Bill. Simplify: Ten Practices to Unclutter Your Soul. Tyndale Momentum 2015

^[4] Wagner, Charles. The Simple Life. McClure, Phillips & Co. 1901

^[5] Merton, Thomas. Thoughts in Solitude. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 1999

Reflect

What habits in your life move you away from pursuing God?

Observe

Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. How would following the advice in this passage help us to be better stewards?

Rejoicing in the hope of God

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 14 – Remembering our creation

Rejoicing in the hope of God

[Bible references: Psalm 42; Isaiah 40; Romans 5:1-11; 2 Corinthians 5:11-21]

The relationship between lament and hope is crucial. Reconciliation without lament cheapens hope. To be deeply bothered about the way things are is itself a sign of hope.^[1] It is because of our great hope that we can face the brokenness around us and within us, knowing that God still rules over all things and above all things, knowing that He has not and will not cease working to bring his mercy and justice, and knowing that God will eventually restore all of creation to what He has intended from the beginning.

That is the hope we can remember each time we share communion. In the broken bread we remember: Christ broken for us; our sharing in His brokenness; the Body of Christ, that the church now broken will be made whole when our joy will be consummated at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. In the wine we remember: Christ’s blood shed for us; our sharing in His suffering; the Blood of Christ which cleanses and redeems us so that with pure hearts and with one heart, we may enjoy the glorious presence of our Lord. And so it is, after facing the reality of our brokenness, acknowledging it with our lament, looking forward to the reality of the hope we have in God and seeking His desire to restore all things to Himself, that we can face the reality of what we need to do, so that we can join Christ in his redemptive work. If we have truly faced the reality of our brokenness then we will not be deceived by the illusion of progress in our culture, which ultimately is unable to overcome evil.^[2] Our hope is fixed solely in Christ who has defeated evil.

^[1] Katongole, Emmanuel. Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace, and Healing Intervarsity Press, 2009; Wright N.T. “Five Things to know about lament” NT Wright Online www.ntwrightonline.org/five-things-to-know-about-lament

^[2] Wright, N.T. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking, Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church Harper Collins 2008. Kindle Edition (p.84-86)

Reflect

How can communion provide us hope within the brokenness that we live in?

Observe

Read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. What do we need to experience before we can act a ambassadors of Christ?

Our Mandate

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 3 – Dancing in the Kingdom– Chapter 14 – Remembering our creation

Our Mandate

[Bible references: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25; 3:6; 39:22-23; Matthew 17:10-13; Acts 3:19-42; 1 Peter 5:10]

We have seen how our journey, the journey of God’s people, creatures made in God’s own image, began with our ordination in the Garden of Eden and we have seen what God has intended for our future. We have seen how that intention has not changed despite our rebellion which continues to this day, and how God has not ceased to work with us, His people, despite our persistent rebellion. We have seen God’s patience and tenderness in not totally abandoning us despite our rebellion and how He has called us generation after generation – from the patriarchs and prophets to the apostles and all who are called Christian – to join Him in His ongoing restoration of His Kingdom on earth.

As image-bearers, we still are charged with the work of stewarding His creation, However, we must be restored ourselves before we can fully join Him in His work. That work of restoration begins when the Holy Spirit comes within us to unite us to God and His community. That is the work God must do within us.

In the previous chapters, we have followed how God called his image-bearers to join in the work that he began and then how, through the years, his image-bearers have joined that work, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. In this chapter, as we prepare to consider how to move forward, we will revisit that multi-faceted call to rule over the earth, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it” and to cultivate^[1] and keep it, to create beauty. This call to act as God’s stewards of His creation is a call to use our gifts of intelligence and creativity, to cultivate the resources of the earth to establish a godly culture and civilization. This call is sometimes called the “cultural mandate,” where our culture includes all the things we discover and make and pass on from one generation to the next: our food, language, sports, arts, businesses and their products, civic organizations, and governments, etc.

The charge to “have dominion over” and “subdue” the earth and all its creatures includes physical, cultural, and intellectual activities such as farming, mining, manufacturing, government, arts, civic organizations, education, sciences, technology, and many other activities. But the primary place of God’s kingdom is to restore the souls of men. All would be well if all souls were in right relation to God, everything else would fall into place. Evangelization of the souls of all men is the ultimate goal. But if we think of the ways in which God, out of his overflowing abundance, finally managed to touch our hearts, there were many steps and many different ways in which we were individually touched by the hand of God.

As God’s image-bearers we are uniquely equipped to imagine and discover what kind of possibilities can be made of the overflowing abundance of God, the physical resources He has provided for us: turning grain to bread, grapes to wine, oil to energy and plastics, iron ore to steel, limestone and shale and clay to cement, and many other things we have made from many types of resources. We are uniquely equipped to imagine and discover out of God’s overflowing abundance what kinds of ways we can organize ourselves to fulfill our responsibility to subdue and cultivate the earth by creating organizations such as businesses, civic and social organizations, political parties and non-profit organizations, governments and educational and religious institutions.^[2] In all of these activities we can reflect God’s knowledge and wisdom by engaging in intellectual pursuits such as reading, writing, mathematics, sciences, philosophies, language arts, history, engineering, forensics, medicine, law, etc.

^[1] Huber, Dave. “Avodah Word Study” EFCA Today Summer 2012 www.efcatoday.org/story/avodah-word-study

^[2] Manahan, Ronald E. “A Re-Examination of the Cultural Mandate: An Analysis and Evaluation of the Dominion Materials” Docsbay Grace Theological Seminary dissertation May 1982 docsbay.net/A-Re-Examination-Of-The-Cultural-Mandate

Reflect

We were assigned priestly duties in the Garden of Eden. As believers, we are to be kingdom of priests. As God’s care for His Creation continues, so does our mandate. What things can you do (and are equipped to do), with God, to fulfill His mandate?

Observe

Read Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15; 39:22-23. How would the world be different if we fulfilled our duties towards creation in the same way the Joseph fulfilled his duties?

Patterns in the text

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Preface

Patterns in the text

[Bible references: 2 Samuel 11]

It should not be a surprise that although the Bible has some facts about the nature of the world, it is not a science text. Neither should it be a surprise that although the bible contains narratives of historical events, that it is not a history book. It should make sense that the Bible is primarily a theological text. When read carefully, the biblical text reveals patterns, patterns that are not only in the text (and they are abundant), but patterns for us to live into.

The careful attention to the sevenfold structure indicates that Genesis in its final form is a liturgical text. We may go further and state that, in fact, Genesis 1 reads as a sort of liturgical hymn.[1]

One of the problems that has obscured our understanding of the biblical text is the way we tend to read that text through modern western eyes instead of how the text was meant to be read when it was written 2000-3500 years ago. The historical accounts contained in the Hebrew Bible are not framed in a modern historical chronological framework, but are historical accounts written in a theological framework.

Biblical authority is tied inseparably to the author’s intention … when we read Genesis, we are reading an ancient document and should begin by using the assumptions that would be appropriate for the ancient world. We must understand how the ancients thought and what ideas underlay their communications … although the Bible is written for us (indeed, for everyone), it is not written to us … If we read modern ideas into the text, we skirt the authority of the text and in effect compromise it.[2]

This is not to say that the chronological and other details or those accounts did not happen as recounted but were framed for us to remember within a theological framework. The Bible is, in fact, a sophisticated book using literary techniques that were ahead of its time.

The Bible’s verbal artistry, without precedent in literary history and unrivaled since, operates by passing off its art for artlessness, its sequential linkages and supra-sequential echoes for unadorned parataxis, its density of evocation for chronicle-like thinness and transparency. Yet those who are take in will rarely fell the difference, however much they may miss, because they will not feel out of their depth.[3]

One such technique that is remarkably present in the book of Mark,[4] but also is used in the Hebrew Bible, is the technique of inserting a story within a story, and done is such a way, that sometimes it is obvious that the way the story is presented is not the exact chronological sequence of events.

Another technique is the heavy use of patterns such as the pattern of 7[5]. In Genesis 1 there are several items that occur 7 (or a multiple of 7) times:

7 words in Gen 1:1,
14 words in Gen 1:2,
7 commands “let there be”
7 paragraphs in Gen 1:1-2:3 marked by the phrase “evening and morning,”
With the concluding (7th) paragraph begins with 3 lines of 7 words
the words “God” appears (7×5) 35 times, “land” (7×3) 21 times, “skies” (7×3) 21 times.

The ubiquitous use of these patterns can make one wonder whether such details exactly portray what really happened or whether the narrator of the Biblical text adapted the details to make a particular theological point. While it is impossible to verify what actually happened, we don’t need to question the reality of the basic events recounted but we can accept the events as given, trying to understand the theological points being presented. So, as we encounter patterns within the historical accounts, we should keep in mind that events are not necessarily organized in a chronological framework, but rather organized in a thematic framework, where themes are used to organize how events are presented, in our case, theological themes. The chronological context of the biblical narration is secondary to theological themes.

In modern days, we sometimes remember events, not on the actual calendar date of the events but according to some other scheme, like we want to remember the event on a Monday because of the priority of the weekend. It is similar In Biblical texts, where events are remembered in a theological context. This is particularly evident in Exodus where theologians through the years have recognized that the events are not narrated in the actual chronological order. [6]

Another aspect to consider is that the Hebrew Bible, more typically referred to by Christians as the Old Testament, is a collection of Ancient Near East texts that were originally not so much designed to be read but rather to as to be listened to and meditated upon. If we examine those texts in that light, we can see how literary techniques are used to connect passages together and deepen the meaning each text.[7]

As you study scripture, be on the lookout for themes that get repeated.

———————

You will find that there are patterns in this book as well. They are there for a reason. There are many ways to tell our own story and God’s story and one goal is to give everyone an opportunity to see different ways to see God’s story so that we can figure out how to fit our story into God’s story. It turns out that most of us learn best by hearing stories which is why TV channels are primarily filled with different kinds of stories. So we can best understand God’s story if we can see how our story fits into it.

[1] Morrow, Jeff. “Creation as Temple-Building and Work as Liturgy in Genesis 1-3” Wisdom in Torah Seton Hall University www.wisdomintorah.com/wp-content/uploads/Creation-as-Temple-Building-and-Work-as-Liturgy-in-Genesis-1-31.pdf

[2] Walton, John. “The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Proposition 1: Genesis is an Ancient Document” InterVarsity Press. 2015 Kindle Edition.

[3] Sternberg, Meir. “The Poetics of Biblical Narrative” Ecosophia 2004 www.ecosophia.net/civilizations-fall-theory-catabolic-collapse

[4] Edwards, James R. “Markan Sandwiches: The Significance of Interpolations in Markan Narratives” 1989 Novum Testamentum XXXI, 3 193-216 jbburnett.com/resources/mark/Edwards_Markan-Sandwiches.pdf

[5] Rodriguez, Angel Manuel. “Genesis 1 and the building of the Israelite sanctuary” Ministry: International Journal for Pastors Feb 2002 www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2002/02/genesis-1-and-the-building-of-the-israelite-sanctuary.html

[6] Sailhammer, John. “Introduction to Old Testament Theology: Appendix B: Compositional Strategies in the Pentateuch ” Zondervan 2010. This thematic arrangement is also evident in the different Gospel accounts where the different authors related the events of Jesus’ life according to their own particular theological context.

[7] Palmer, Stephen. “Biblical Chiasm Exchange”; Christadelphians www.chiasmusxchange.com. One of the common literary techniques is the use of Chiasms. This website shows the extensive use of chiasms throughout both the Old and New Testaments.