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 Judges

Judges tells the story of the Israelites, God's chosen people, just as they are settling into the new land God has given them.  It's a relatively quiet period in the history of the Israelites.  Each tribe, each clan, and each family settles down to the simple domestic task of enjoying their new land.  However, there's a danger in this peacefulness.  One word that the Israelites' earlier leaders, Moses and Joshua, often repeated was, 'Remember.'  Again and again, they encouraged the Israelites to pass on to future generations the story of how God had rescued them from the Egyptians, provided for them in the desert, and led them into the Promised Land.  Moses and Joshua continually reminded the Israelites that it wasn't by their own strength or effort, but by trusting in God's goodness and power, that the Israelites found themselves so abundantly provided for.  In the period of quiet and plenty following Joshua, the people do indeed forget.  They become complacent.  And when they become complacent, they find themselves at the mercy of marauders and oppressors.  The 'Judges' are people raised up by God to rescue the Israelites whenever they get into trouble.  They're a fascinating group of people, and I think we'll find the stories quite enjoyable.  We'll also have the chance to learn much about remembering, about mercy, about God's willingness to entrust even very flawed people with incredible gifts and responsibilities, and about just how much can be accomplished by people who trust in the goodness and power of a living God.

Introducing Job

Job is one of the Old Testament books of wisdom.  It's a long dramatic poem in which Job and a few of his friends debate about the meaning of suffering.  It is far from an academic discourse, though.  This debate is instigated by Job himself experiencing a series of unbelievable personal tragedies.  Because of its poetic nature and the sophistication of the debate, Job can sometimes be a challenging read.  It is also a fairly fascinating treatment of a topic of immense interest to all of us.  Because of this combination of difficulty and interest, we decided to treat Job in more detail than the other books we're reading, with daily reflections on each of the Job readings.

Introducing Esther
The book of Esther tells the story of a young Jewish woman who becomes the queen of Persia.  It's set during what's called the post-exilic period of Jewish history.  The Jews had lost a war with the world power, Babylon; their capital Jerusalem was destroyed and the entire upper class of Judea was sent into exile, to limit their ability to foment rebellion.  Shortly thereafter, Babylon itself was conquered by Persia.  The Persians gave the Jews permission to return to Judea, but many of them, including Esther's family, chose instead to stay in exile and, in fact, to spread throughout the Persian Empire.  The book of Esther is one story about what happens when the Jews, who had tended to remain somewhat separate before the exile, begin to mix more with other people and cultures in the larger Persian world.  It's also the inspiring story of the difference one person can make.  If you're interested, there is a Daily Guide of Esther, available on the Leap of Faith page.

Introducing Hosea
Hosea is one of the 'minor prophets,' so-called not because they are unimportant, but because their books are shorter than the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel).  Hosea speaks his prophecies during what ends up being the final days of the kingdom of Israel.  After Solomon's reign, there was a civil war which ended with the Israelites being split into two kingdoms: Israel and Judah.  For about two hundred years, both kingdoms existed side-by-side, behaving something like competitive siblings: often they fought one another; sometimes they banded together to fight other surrounding nations.  During Hosea's time, Israel draws the unfriendly attention of Assyria, a vast military power.  Hosea tells us God's perspective on Israel's Assyrian crisis.  In the book of Hosea, we also get an intriguing glimpse into the private life of a prophet: Hosea's own troubled marriage is used as an extended metaphor for God's relationship with Israel.

Introducing Acts

Acts is the story of what happens to and through Jesus' followers after his death.  It's the sequel to the gospel of Luke, written-no big surprise-by Luke, a traveling companion and teammate of Paul, the writer of Romans (you can read more about Luke in the introduction to his gospel below).  One interesting feature of Acts is that it may well have been originally intended for publication-it contains the acknowledgement of a patron, and it's written to be just about exactly the length of mass-produced scrolls

It's a gripping story, full of stirring speeches, dramatic action, plot twists, and amazing miracles.  The book of Acts is written to explain how a small group of people in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire ended up starting a movement that spread throughout that entire empire and to Rome itself within a generation.  Luke didn't experience it himself, but he probably wouldn't be surprised to discover that eventually the good news of Jesus spread throughout the entire world.

The book of Acts attributes this quick spread of Jesus' message to an entirely new experience in the history of humanity: the widespread pouring out of the Holy Spirit-the very essence of God-on people who hear that message.  This arrival of the Holy Spirit gives people a whole new access to the presence and power of a living and active God.  As we read Acts, it may be worth it for us to focus on the Holy Spirit.  What is it like to be filled with the Holy Spirit?  What does the Holy Spirit do?  How is life with the Holy Spirit different?

During the first seven chapters of Acts (which we read in the previous three weeks), the story focuses on the very earliest days of the church, when it was almost entirely a Jewish affair, located in Jerusalem.  During this part of the schedule, we'll read about how Jesus' message spread beyond Jerusalem.

As with Esther, there is a Daily Guide of Acts available on the Leap of Faith page.

Introducing the Gospel According to John

The book of John is the last of the four gospels.  Authorship is traditionally credited to John, one of Jesus' twelve closest followers, known as the apostles (the 'sent ones').  He refers to himself in the gospel as 'the disciple Jesus loved.'  This is probably both a mark of humility-n ot wanting to refer to himself by name-and of the deep affection that he felt from Jesus and for Jesus.  The book is dated at 70 AD which means that it was written later in John's life, about 30 years after Jesus died and later than the other three gospels.

John's perspective on the life of Jesus is notably different from those of the other three gospels (called the 'synoptic'-Greek for 'seen together'-gospels).  There are some differences in the timeline of events, for example the duration of Jesus' ministry, the overlapping of his ministry with John the Baptist, and the number of trips he made to Jerusalem.  In the synoptic gospels, Jesus is betrayed by Judas, but in John, Jesus identifies himself for arrest.  Only John contains the stories of turning water to wine at a wedding and the resurrection of Lazarus.  John's gospel contains more monologue and dialogue from Jesus with fewer miracles.  The miracles he performs in John are perceived less as demonstrations of power and more as signs of things to come; in other words, the symbolic meaning of the miracles is given more prominence in John's gospels than in the others.

The gospel of John's differences with the synoptic gospels raises several questions.  Is John mistaken on some points?  Can we reconcile the differences?  I think of it in the same way that two different writers can write a biography of the same person, ending up with two different but complementary stories.  For example, if Franklin Delano Roosevelt's wife Eleanor were to write a biography of FDR, she might focus on his family life during the World War II and the Great Depression.  His activity as the 32nd president of the United States would certainly play a role in that, but perhaps not as much as if Harry Truman (his last vice president and 33rd president) was writing the biography.  Truman would probably take a much more politically-oriented approach to FDR's life and leave out most of the details of his family.

John's close friendship with Jesus gives us a very special perspective of Jesus.  More than the other gospels, we see a Jesus that loves deeply and encourages everyone to love each other as well.  We also see that Jesus stresses the value of something called 'eternal life' and that it can be experienced right now.  Jesus also communicates the true nature of his miracle-they are signs of good things to come and proof of his divine nature.

As you read John, take note of the unusual way in which he dialogues with.  He speaks of being 'born again' in a way that is disturbing to Nicodemus.  He calls himself the 'living bread' and he offers a Samaritan woman 'living water', both of which he says give eternal life.  Why do you think Jesus seems to be intentionally confusing in his dialogue?  What do you find appealing or troubling about Jesus' view of eternal life?

For the time being, we'll stop our reading of John part-way through, when it reaches the final week of Jesus' earthly life.  We read the end of John as holiday reading during other parts of our reading schedule.

Introducing Luke

As we mentioned in the introduction to Acts, the book of Luke is part of a two-volume set with the book of Acts.  The book of Luke tells the story of Jesus' life and teachings; Acts tells us what happens to his followers later.   The author never gives his own name, but from very early in church history the books of Luke and Acts have been ascribed to Luke, a traveling companion of Paul, a famous early follower of Jesus who was largely responsible for spreading the good news of Jesus to Europe.  Luke was part of a small company who worked with Paul, sharing the good news and starting churches throughout the Mediterranean world.  Luke was a medical doctor by profession, and he was almost certainly the only non-Jewish author of the New Testament (and quite possibly of the entire Bible).  The audience for Luke may have been cultured, highly-educated Greeks (Greek was the dominant culture of the eastern Roman Empire): he writes in the same formal historical style that was fashionable in Greek society at the time.  There is some evidence that Luke intended his writings for wide publication: the Gospel of Luke and Acts are almost exactly the same length, which happens to be the length that was common in scrolls used for publication (IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament 187: InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1993).

Luke's gospel was probably written after Mark's gospel, another of the four biblical gospels, and is apparently based upon it.  Luke follows the same basic storyline as Mark, and about 40 percent of the material is drawn directly from Mark.  But Luke also has much material that isn't found in any of the other gospels.  Luke's unique contributions show up particularly in his stories about Jesus' birth and the teachings of Jesus he shares with us.  Perhaps because he is outside of Jewish society himself, he also shows a particular concern for Jesus' interaction with people who would be outsiders in ancient Jewish society: non-Jews, women, and the poor.

Once again, you can find a Daily Guide for Luke on the Leap of Faith page.