Sex, Religion, Politics, and the Weather

That covers most of the stuff folks like to chat about, doesn't it?

First off, the weather. It's hot and humid here in Houston, just like it is every summer. Those of you who don't live on the Gulf Coast have a very different concept of "humid" compared to us Gulf Coasters. We giggle when we hear you use that word, because what you call humid is so dry to us that we break out the lotion to keep our skin from cracking.

So, I was mowing the yard, and sweating "profuciously" as an old friend used to put it, and was feeling a bit cranky. So, I started listening to the Gigolo Aunts on the phone to lift my mood. I got a bit of a smirk when the song "SuperUltraWickedMegaLove" came on, wondering what exactly Messrs. Jared and Douglas Wilson (no relation, AFAIK) would think about that song about seeking love through personal ads. Which brings us to sex. And the big kerfluffle brought on by insensitive and hurtful language used by the Messrs. Wilson in a Gospel Coalition blog post by Jared.

The Hermeneutics of Grief: Part 3

Sorry, folks, but I have to begin with a bit of a rant at some of those who would call themselves brethren.

Has John 13: 34,35 been removed from the Bible? Why does it seem to be doctrinal tenet for many Christians to spend so much time and energy telling other Christians that they're going to hell? If that's what they call "loving one another", then no wonder much of America wants nothing to do with church or Christ. We shoot our wounded in the street, then say to the passers-by, "Come on in, and getcha some of this 'love'!"

What precipitated this rant was a letter received by a minister and writer that I've recently come to know. He is also currently battling an aggressive form of brain cancer.

The Hermeneutics of Grief, Part 2

To recap from yesterday:

Recently, in a discussion forum I frequent, a Russian Orthodox priest who recently lost his son to suicide made the following comment in a discussion about salvation.

I know ... I am a grieving father ... but maybe that grief provides a hermeneutical key by which to properly interpret Holy Scripture.

What didn't get mentioned yesterday is that Father Alvin's son died an unbeliever. In effect, an automatic sentence to eternal damnation and torture, according to the prevailing wisdom from the "churched." An entirely different, and sad, commentary on much of the church is that many would feel no compunction at all in telling Father Alvin that his son was damned to hell.

The Hermeneutics of Grief, Part 1

Recently, in a discussion forum I frequent, a Russian Orthodox priest who recently lost his son to suicide made the following comment in a discussion about salvation.

I know ... I am a grieving father ... but maybe that grief provides a hermeneutical key by which to properly interpret Holy Scripture.

This got me to thinking about grief, and what our faith and practice could look like if we use grief as a hermeneutical tool.

Isaiah tell us that Christ is "a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief." His heart was broken at all of the lost souls, the starving beggars, the social outcasts, those despised for their diseases. He saw deeply into all of our pain, suffering, and grief, and was moved to do something about it.

"“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Taking up one's cross is a tremendous suffering and sorrow in the literal sense, so it stands to reason that we should be willing to look at it the same way in the figurative sense.

To use a hermeneutic of grief properly means to look at His teachings to us through the lens of His sorrows and grief, and not our own, lest we make discipleship merely a form of narcissism. His gaze was outward, looking at others, and what He came to do for them, not for Himself.