Introducing the Psalms

The Psalms are the Bible's model prayers.  About half of them are written by the famous king David, as well known as a musician and worshipper as he was as a warrior and giant-slayer.  There's a psalm for almost every occasion we're likely to experience in life.  In the Psalms, we find beautiful songs of praise, testimonies to God's goodness, pleas for help, and questions asked when things don't work out as they're supposed to.  The Psalms are really meant to be prayed-sung even-rather than just read.  I find that I get the most out of them when I adopt them as my own, praying them as my own prayers.  I tend to pray them verbatim-doing so aloud and with gusto whenever possible seems to improve the experience immensely-but I know other people who use them as jumping off points into further prayer in their own words.  You might even want to try occasionally reading a psalm aloud together with someone else.  Take turns reading stanzas aloud.  At the end of the psalm-or in the middle of longer psalms-you could jump off-book to pray further about the ways the psalm connects to your own current life circumstances.

If you're like me, praying two common types of psalms might initially make you a bit uncomfortable:

• Extravagant claims of righteousness-occasionally, I find myself gulping when, aloud and with gusto, I end up praying something like, 'I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered' (Psalm 26:1).  I wonder if the proverbial lightning will strike me down.  Despite the fears of divine punishment, a few things have kept me praying these absurd boasts:
  • First of all, I've noticed that my praying of these psalms take on a tone of aspiration: it makes me want to be the kind of person who can pray those things without blushing.  That seems like a pretty good result to me.
  • Secondly, I get the feeling that the psalmist doesn't mean that he has never made any mistakes.  I think what he's saying is that he has never abandoned God.  That's still a pretty gutsy thing to say, but it's not quite a claim to perfection.  While the 'not faltering' thing still kind of trips me up, I think I can honestly say that ever since I met God I've taken my relationship with God seriously.
  • Thirdly, I have a growing suspicion that these extravagant claims to righteousness have less to do with my moral report card, as it were, and more to do with how God sees me.  I noticed that sometimes in the same psalm the author will ask for God's forgiveness and will make one of these audacious claims to utter blamelessness.  Once he's confessed and been forgiven, it's as if he never even took a mis-step.  Perhaps these psalms are saying that, because of God's goodness, we can be certain that God likes us, sees the best in us, and wants the best for us.  If that's the case-and I'm beginning to believe it is-then we can pray those crazy things with confidence and excitement.
• Calls for violent retribution-some of the psalms seem like they're more suited to a Quentin Tarantino movie than to the Bible.  While I sometimes still find myself a little squeamish at the sheer bloodthirstiness of some of these 'crush my enemy' psalms, I've been surprised to find them among the most helpful psalms to pray, for a few reasons:
  • They help me prepare for the difficulties of the day-if I start the day with one of these psalms, it reminds me that not everything is going to go my way.  I can prepare myself, and ask for God's help in facing the difficulties that are sure to come;
  • It's a faithful and non-violent way to vent-it's extremely liberating to unabashedly express just how I feel about the people who treat me poorly and unfairly.  But in the end, it's harmless.  I'm expressing it to God, not letting it leak out in my interactions with people.  I express my anger and my desire for revenge; then I leave it in God's hands to protect me and to vindicate me when appropriate.  Once I've expressed my feelings and left action in God's hands, I can much more easily let it go;
  • I primarily focus the prayers on my true enemies-the New Testament author Paul tells us that our real enemies aren't other people, but destructive spiritual forces whose entire purpose is to do us harm (Ephesians 6:12).  I have no problem praying that these enemies die a gruesome death.

Introducing Ezekiel

Ezekiel is one of the Bible's prophetic books.  When thinking of prophecy, we can tend to focus on the idea of predicting the future.  It's true that biblical prophets did at times speak about the future, but that really wasn't their main point.  The prophets were like God's official ambassadors to the people of Israel and Judah, and their function was to try to help the Israelites and Jews see current events through God's eyes.

Ezekiel was God's prophet during the period known as 'the exile.'  During the sixth century B. C., due to a long series of bad political and spiritual choices, the Jews found themselves at a distance from God and in trouble with Babylon, the major world power of the time.  The Babylonians went to war with the Jews, eventually destroying Jerusalem and deporting most of its population to exile in Babylonia.  Ezekiel himself was sent into exile before the destruction of Jerusalem: he was one of a group of Jewish leaders taken hostage by the Babylonians at an earlier stage of the war.  So, he's writing from Babylon, commenting on the events in Judah which will eventually lead to the fall of Jerusalem.

The portions of Ezekiel we'll be reading actually come after Jerusalem's fall.  Ezekiel shares with us God's plans for Judah's restoration.  He warns us not to rely on false hopes, but also never to underestimate God's goodness and his ability to bring something good out of even the worst circumstances.

As I read Ezekiel, or any of the prophets, it always makes me curious about how God sees our own current events.  You might want to be on the lookout for similarities between our times and Ezekiel's.  It might also be worth asking God if he has any prophetic words for you about things that are happening in our world today.

Introducing Proverbs

The book of Proverbs is classic Hebrew wisdom literature known for its large collection of short, pithy statements.  A large section of it is attributed to King Solomon, who was traditionally known as the wisest and most prosperous of all the kings of Israel.  Rather than being completely written by Solomon, this collection of sayings was likely compiled over time in 'the tradition of Solomon'-perhaps with Solomon's contributions serving as an original core.  Scholars think the collection reached its final form sometime in the 5th-4th century B.C. (about 500 years after Solomon).  Interestingly, one of Solomon's named co-contributors, Lemuel, seems to have been a non-Hebrew king from a neighboring nation.  Apparently wisdom literature was shared across national, cultural, and even religious boundaries.

Proverbs contains conventional rules for everyday life.  They are based on simple if-then rules; every action has some predictable consequence.  The proverbs cover everything from relationships to finance.  A common recipe for a Hebrew proverb is to contrast the ways of wisdom and folly.  Although I think you'll find it applicable for men and women of all ages, Proverbs is framed as a father's advice to his son.  As part of this framing device, the author often personifies Wisdom as an attractive woman to be pursued.  Continuing with the metaphor, he frequently contrasts Wisdom to what he calls the 'wayward' or 'adulterous' woman-a seductive woman whose charms ultimately wear thin or lead you astray.  This Wayward Woman might simply be a corresponding metaphor for folly; or it could be that the author is acknowledging that, for his adolescent child, temptations away from the path of wisdom would often come in the form of sex.

In applying the proverbs to life, it's important to keep in mind that the proverbs aren't meant to be treated as 'law' or 'absolute'.  They are pithy sayings meant to be applied according to the situation.  That's why you may come across two proverbs that seem to be giving different messages.  For example, Proverbs 10:15 says 'The wealth of the rich is their fortress; the poverty of the poor is their destruction' while Proverbs 18:11 says 'The rich think of their wealth as a strong defense; they imagine it to be a high wall of safety.'  The first takes a positive view of wealth while the second seems to imply that wealth isn't all it's cracked up to be.  And don't both of those strike you as true?  Wealth does indeed come in handy, but it also fails to make us as secure as we'd really want to be.  Because of the proverbs' situational nature, it takes some wisdom to know which of these wise sayings to apply at any given time.  It's helpful to take the proverbs in context with each other and in context with the Bible in general.  It's also worth asking God or wise friends which proverbs might apply best to our current situation.

The book of Proverbs is a hodge-podge collection of wisdom and can be broken down generally as follows.  The first 10 chapters are collections of speeches or essays about the virtues of wisdom.  Proverbs 10:1-22:16 are the 'Proverbs of Solomon,' an apparently unordered list of sayings attributed to Solomon.  Proverbs 22:17-31:9 can be classified as 'more sayings from wise people.'  Finally Proverbs 31:10-31 is a description of an 'excellent woman.'  This Hebrew poem is an acrostic, meaning that each line of the poem starts with the next letter in the sequence of the Hebrew alphabet.  This technique is sometimes used in Hebrew poetry to aid in memorization and is unfortunately lost in English translations.

I like the proverbs because they read like clever Mark Twain quotations.  They're easy to digest, yet provoke deeper thought and imagination.  In the original Hebrew they were meant to be memorable, like the English proverb 'haste makes waste.'  Unfortunately, reading in translation, we often miss their snappiness.  Readers of Hebrew tell us that they're full of puns, world-play, rhymes, and alliteration.  Even without reading them in Hebrew, they have a certain charm and refreshing bluntness.  They seem to be observations from actual life experience -- each statement could be prefixed with the words 'In my experience...'  When I read them, I often find myself nodding my head and responding, 'That's so true.'

If you find a particular proverb helpful, consider sharing it with your friends when it seems relevant.  Since proverbs are so short, memorable, and commonsensical, it's easy to share them even with people who aren't reading the Bible along with you.  If you're so inclined, you could even try making your own translation of your favorite proverbs, trying your best to add back in some of that zip and humor that might be getting lost in translation.

Introducing Ecclesiastes

The book of Ecclesiastes has an unknown author and an unknown date.  The author gives some hints that he could be King Solomon ('the son of David, king in Jerusalem'), but linguistic analysis places it between 400 and 200 B.C., much later than the reign of Solomon.  It's possible that the hints of Solomonic origin are a literary device to add weight to the wisdom of the writing. It also could be that Ecclesiastes was written by another king in Jerusalem.  Or maybe it was intended to be a work of imaginative fiction-an attempt to get inside the mind of Solomon.

Almost as enigmatic as the author and date is the style in which Ecclesiastes was written.  The Teacher starts by declaring that the theme of his writing is life's 'meaninglessness'-but then he alternates between expounding on 'meaninglessness' and offering very practical words of advice.  While the shifts of direction can feel a little lurching, the author's experience with the meaninglessness of life resonates with me.  One of the things I notice is the Teacher's continual shift between positive and negative thoughts.  In one sentence, he's imploring me to enjoy my short life, and the next he's pointing out the meaninglessness of it all! 

Unlike the simple conventional wisdom in book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes contains a more speculative and critical look at wisdom. Because of this tendency toward speculation, and because the Teacher is building a pretty subtle argument over the course of his writing, it's important not to take any single verse and immediately apply it to life: that single verse might very well be a false or tentative conclusion.  Wait until the end to try to decide what it all means.  If Ecclesiastes does, in the end, come to a conclusion, it might be about keeping life in balance: other than God, no pursuit totally satisfies; so don't throw yourself too fully into anything.

It could be, though, that it doesn't even mean to come to a conclusion.  Maybe the point is to ask, and provoke, the big questions: What is the meaning of life?  Where can I find happiness?  The tone of writing is very reflective, as if an old man is looking back his life and wishes to share what he's noticed with his family.

When reading Ecclesiastes, it might be helpful to think about times in your life that are similar to the author's.  Have you ever found a certain pursuit to be a total waste of time?  Have you been dissatisfied in your work?  Have you witnessed extreme injustice?  The Teacher seems to have experienced it all.  What can you learn from the Teacher's experiences?

Introducing Numbers

Numbers is one of the five books of Moses.  As you might guess from the title, it involves a lot of counting; the results of more than one census and the receipts from various offerings are listed for us in great detail.  So, Numbers is the place to go if you want to know how many people were in the Gershonite clan, or how much the typical golden incense bowl weighed (ten shekels, by the way).  Numbers also contains several collections of laws, mostly having to do with instituting national holidays and establishing patterns of worship.  But it also tells the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert, after God has rescued them from slavery in Egypt but before they reach the Promised Land.  That's the part of the book we'll focus on.

If I were to give a title to the narrative sections of Numbers it would be 'Second Thoughts.'  Now that they've left Egypt behind, the Israelites begin to wonder if that was really the best idea.  Is Moses really the right leader for us?', 'Can God really provide for us?', and 'Do we like God's plans?' are all questions that continually come up.  Now that they have a new life of freedom, the Israelites discover that it's a little frightening; and they often look back wistfully at the comfortable predictability of their slavery.

It's easy for me to be critical of the Israelites.  Their fantasies about the wonders of their previous lives as Egyptian slaves are often laughable, and their short memories regarding God's miraculous provision can be downright frustrating.  So, it's easy to look down on them.  And yet, if I step back for a moment, I recognize that I'm not all that different from them: I certainly have a tendency toward the-grass-is-greener thinking; I have a hard time waiting patiently; and it doesn't take much for me to begin complaining about how unfair life is.  Paul, the author of many of the New Testament's letters, tells us that the story in Numbers was written down so that we could learn from the Israelites' example and avoid their mistakes.  Seeing as the cost of their mistakes was that many of them died in the desert, never making it to the Promised Land, it seems like a lesson worth paying attention to.

So, if we're going to make the most of reading Numbers, it seems like it's going to take ridding ourselves of any feelings of superiority and instead asking a few humble questions:

• How am I just like the Israelites in the desert?
• What good things might I be missing because of that?
• And what would it take for me to root those things out of my life?

Our New Testament readings begin with the three letters of John.  John was one of Jesus' closest disciples, and with Peter he took on primary leadership over Jesus' followers in the early years after Jesus' resurrection and ascension.  These letters were probably written quite late in John's life.  Though short and simple, they represent the distilled wisdom gained from a long life of successfully and happily following Jesus.  Apparently, the recipients of John's letters have been distracted and confused by some persuasive teachers who have distorted or complicated Jesus' message.  John encourages them instead to focus on the basics: if you trust in Jesus, love one another, forgive others, and ask forgiveness, you can expect a joyful life and a happy future.

Since John's letters are so profoundly simple, it might be worth reading them in the same spirit.  Think of yourself as one of the 'dear children' to whom John is writing, and let yourself be encouraged by him into the peaceful life of love and joy John found in following Jesus.

Introducing 1 Timothy, Galatians, and Romans

After John, we move on to several letters from Paul, another one of the church's early leaders.  Paul was the person primarily responsible for spreading Jesus' message beyond the Jewish populations in or near Judea.  He was especially instrumental in starting churches in what are now Turkey and Greece.  We'll read Paul's first letter to his younger colleague Timothy and his letter to the churches in Galatia; then we'll start his letter to the church in Rome. 

As we read these passages, it's helpful to keep in mind that we are, in fact, reading someone else's letters.  Paul didn't know that we'd be reading these letters.  For the most part, he was writing to people he knew.  Because of this base of relationship and common knowledge, there are many things Paul doesn't bother to say.  Instead, he uses the letters to address specific occasions, questions, or concerns.  Since we're only reading Paul's half of what were probably exchanges of correspondence, we need to do a little bit of inference to figure out the situation or question to which Paul is responding.  It's sort of like overhearing one half of a phone conversation; it can sometimes be a little confusing or mysterious, but with a little work you can mostly get a pretty good idea of what the other people have said based on Paul's responses to them.

For the most part, Paul used his letters to clarify his teaching as it applied to specific, unanticipated circumstances.  Paul and his team would start new churches in new cities, and then rather quickly move on to other new cities.   They would leave each newly started church with the task of living out their newfound faith within the culture and circumstances of their city.  Inevitably, these new churches would encounter situations they didn't know how to respond to, hear teachings that they didn't know how to mesh with what they'd heard from Paul and his team, and run into other unexpected problems.  They would send messengers and letters to Paul asking for his guidance; and he would respond with these letters we're now reading.

1 Timothy was written not to a church, but to an individual person.  Paul had left his younger ministry partner Timothy behind in a city called Ephesus.  Timothy's task was to select and train a group of leaders for the new church they had started there.  This letter contains Paul's follow-up instructions, probably based on some questions Timothy had sent to him.

Galatians and Romans both, in different ways, address what was a pretty major area of concern for the early church: the place of Judaism in following Jesus.  As increasing numbers of non-Jews (often called 'gentiles' in the Bible-gentile is an Anglicization of the Greek for 'the nations') became followers of Jesus, it brought up the question of what their relationship to Judaism was supposed to be.  Did gentiles need to become Jews to be followers of Jesus?  If not, what relevance did the Old Testament have for these gentile Jesus-followers?  And if non-Jews could become followers of Jesus, what did that mean about God's previously unique relationship with the Jews?  It was a surprisingly thorny issue because it involved issues of culture, deep theology about the goodness of God and the reliability of his promises, and very practical questions of everyday living.  While the specific issue of non-Jews following Jesus is certainly less of a big deal nowadays, the big questions behind the issue-of culture, dealing with difference, how rules help us and hurt us, and the nature of God's promises-all still seem pretty relevant.

In applying the lessons of these letters to our lives, it's helpful to continually keep in mind that Paul is writing to specific groups of people with specific questions and problems.  It's not always possible or beneficial to apply Paul's instructions without some interpretation.  Our culture and our concerns can be quite different from those of the church to which Paul is writing.  In the effort to figure out how I can make use of Paul's advice to someone else, I find a good sequence of questions is,

• What problem or question is Paul addressing?
• What is his answer to his audience?
• What's the general principle behind his answer?
• Are there circumstances in my life where that principle would apply?
• What would it look like for me to take Paul's advice?

Particularly when Paul is saying something confusing, troubling, or even offensive to me-often because of cultural differences between Paul and me-I find it extremely helpful to toss around this list of questions with a friend, or a group of friends, to see if together we can find out what value Paul's advice has for us.

Introducing the Gospel of Matthew

Our gospel readings come from the Gospel of Matthew.  Matthew, also known as Levi, was one of Jesus' twelve apostles.  Before becoming a follower of Jesus, Matthew was a collector of taxes for the Romans.  It's hard for us to understand just how unpopular that would have made him: first of all, he was collecting taxes; secondly, it was taxes for an unpopular foreign government; and thirdly, tax collectors at the time were famously corrupt.  Perhaps the closest thing we have nowadays is a mobster running a protection racket.  So, Matthew goes from being completely outside of 'decent society,' to being one of the closest disciples of the new rabbi Jesus, to writing one of Jesus' biographies.

Matthew uses the earlier and shorter Gospel of Mark as a sort of outline for his story: the plot of the gospel of Matthew follows Mark very closely, and often they even have very similar wording for a story.  But Matthew then supplements Mark's story with significant additions.  Matthew includes a far greater amount of Jesus' teaching, and-interestingly for someone who would have spent much of his life on the outs with his fellow Jews-places a particular emphasis on Jesus as the fulfillment of Jewish prophecies.  Matthew, like Mark, places a lot of attention on the theme of the kingdom of God (although Matthew calls it 'the kingdom of heaven,' following the Jewish tradition of avoiding as much as possible using the word 'God').  Whereas Mark demonstrates the kingdom of God through Jesus' actions, Matthew illustrates the kingdom of heaven through Jesus' teaching, and particularly his parables. 

Since Matthew places so much emphasis on Jesus' teaching and on the idea of the kingdom of heaven, perhaps a good way to get the most of reading Matthew would be to focus on two different sets of questions:

• What kind of life does Jesus recommend in his teachings?  Is this an attractive life?  What would it take to follow these teachings?
• What does Matthew mean by the kingdom of heaven?  What picture of this kingdom does he develop over the course of his story?  What would it be like to be a citizen of this kingdom?