A free online translation of the Septuagint

Just discovered this resource for preachers and teachers of the Bible, an online version of the forthcoming New English Translation of the Septuagint (i.e. Greek Old Testament).

Preaching and Worship or Worship and Preaching

Sometimes we debate the 'top priority' in liturgy. Preaching > worship. No, worship > preaching. Says a third, No, mission > worship > preaching. So on. There is in fact a scriptural case for deeming nothing to be prioritised over another but to hold all such things as priority. The case goes like this (all revealed to me by that great means of learning something, teaching that something ... and this past semester I have been teaching Old Testament at Bishopdale Theological College, Nelson)!

Through the sweep of the Old Testament two great theologies jostle for attention. One is (so called) Deuteronomism which begins with Deuteronomy and its great thesis that Israel will be blessed if it keeps the Law given through Moses and will be cursed if it disobeys the Law; and then tells the history of Israel through Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings in the light of that thesis. The great triumph of Deuteronomism is to explain the shattering event of the exiles of northern Israel and then of southern Judah: disobedient (northern and southern) Israel has been punished.

The other could be called Zionism but to avoid confusion with modern Zionism, we will call it Templeism. Its primary texts are 1 and 2 Chronicles where the history of the world, and of Israel, beginning with Adam, is told in such a way as to make King David the central figure in Israel as the founder of Temple worship, and attitudes to the Temple and its worship the test of fidelity to Yahweh. Infidelity to Temple worship rather than to the Sinaitic covenant is the reason for exile; and the restoration of Temple worship is the great aim of return from exile.

Although 1 and 2 Chronicles in many places are word for word the same as passages from 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, the differences between the two accounts are striking. The Chronicler, for example, suppresses reference to David's decline through adultery, and subsequent failure to control his sons; to Solomon's foreign harem through whom came much worship of foreign gods; and to most of the prophetic activity through which Israel's disobedience to the Law is challenged. Striking also is an addition which the Chronicler makes to Israel's history when he tells us something omitted from 2 Kings: Mannasseh, one of the worst of the bad kings, repents, returns to Jerusalem and restores pure worship in the Temple (2 C 33; cf. 2 K 21).

These two theologies appear to promote what in today's church could be characterised as 'preaching'/'Scripture' and 'worship'/'liturgy'. The Deuteronomist seems convinced that the 'most important thing' is preaching the Word of God and urging obedience to it. The Chronicler argues differently. Vital to Israel is the worship of God by means of properly ordered liturgy. Which is correct?

Well, it is interesting that the wise ones of ancient Israel working on what was to be included in Israel's canonical Scripture determined that both theologies should be included, and made no comment about which was to be preferred. (Were they proto-Anglicans?)

The same Old Testament includes a glorious vision for the message of God being proclaimed to all nations. So there we have it. No need to debate priorities re worship, preaching, and mission. According to the Old Testament itself, all are equally important!

The importance of licenses

On Sunday I heard a sermon delivered by a lay person who began with a warning that what he had to say might be controversial but he observed that unlike his vicar (who was away) he was 'not bound by canon law'. Now this was in another diocese so it was not my place to enquire afterwards whether or not he was a 'licensed lay preacher' or not. The implication of what he said is that in fact he is not licensed because a licensed lay preacher signs declarations which do bind them to 'canon law' or, more precisely, bind them to preach in accordance with the doctrine of the Anglican Church of Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia.

Now on this particular occasion I do not think the preacher exceeded the bounds of our doctrine, not least because his message was not 'another doctrine' but a questioning of how we viewed the character of the 'truth' of the Bible in respect of its historicity and accuracy in reportage of speeches and the like. But the occasion does remind me of the importance of preachers who preach regularly being licensed. All preachers, not only the clergy, should be bound to teach in accordance with our doctrine, and not against it!

Testimonies

Our faith is increased when we hear a testimony.

This You Tube video gives an unusual but, I suggest, effective example of giving testimonies.

Its one of those videos that, even on dial up, just a little bit of it downloaded will give you the idea of the method used!

Celebrating Lay Leadership of Liturgy

In just over a week's time I have to give a workshop on the title of this post. I think an important question to guide my preparation is 'What can we do to ensure there is something to celebrate?' The answer involves developing, nurturing, training, honouring, and trusting lay leaders of our worship. My surprise in the church as I move around parishes is how little there seems to be to celebrate. I think there are less lay leaders of worship than there used to be (say) 10 years ago. Yet there is something to celebrate because the lay leaders I sit under are doing a great job.

My mind is often exercised by the question why there are less leaders. There are some answers around the busyness of people, the difficulty of getting people to commit to certain responsible tasks, let alone to sign up to extensive training. But I do wonder if a key for transforming the situation is a renewed vision among clergy for developing lay leadership.

Will keep you posted.

Text and sub-text

Many messages, perhaps every message consists of more than one message. There is the message (text) and an associated message (sub-text). A simple example could be a child saying, 'Mummy, I want a hug' with the sub-text being 'Its windy outside and I feel a little bit frightened.' A more complex example could be a TV programme of the mid-evening variety, say set in a hospital or family business, which sets out to explore an issue, say, abortion (text) but the sub-text is, say, the acceptability of abortion or the right of a woman to choose without restraint of moral or family concerns.

When we preach its worth thinking about the sub-texts of our messages. Both thinking about sub-text(s) we intend to be communicated and which are good and holy and worthy things to say, and about sub-text(s) we do not actually want to communicate.

We might set out to preach about God's expectation that Christians forgive each other. Along the way we provide illustrations which encourage our hearers to forgive one another with the (good and holy and worthy) sub-text being the message that a forgiving community is likely to be an attractive community for the gospel as people see how we love one another. But we might also take care because we realise that if we tell story X we will be giving a reasonably obvious sub-text about situation Y where it is well known to the congregation that some unfinished relational business needs to be conducted!

Sometimes we might bring the sub-text right out into the open. (Perhaps it is no longer a sub-text after that)! Our church might be enmeshed in a large building project which is a little bit controversial. We are going to preach on Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem. So right at the beginning we acknowledge the building project, acknowledge the differences of opinion, and then launch into Nehemiah. In this kind of case, not to mention the building project and its controversy could be to make members of the congregation feel that they are being subtley got at - that the message we were really bringing was not about Nehemiah but about the situation at our church. The problem with the sub-text then is it is likely to get people's backs up and they will fume way at the sub-text while the text - the message about Nehemiah sails over their heads!

Great construction

Yesterday I participated in a family service in an Anglican church ... do not try to guess where (unless you were actually at the service)!

Participated is a good word as the congregation not only sang songs and shared in communion but also enacted certain parts of a dramatic reading of the stilling of the storm, offered contributions to the intercessions, and exchanged the peace together.

All in all it was one of the loveliest and best constructed services I have been to for a long time. It had a theme and that theme informed each part of the service (with links being made, e.g. to a particular choice of song, being well explained).

It was a family service and I expect such services to (a) be concise to the hour (it was), and (b) be crisp in communication of message(s) (it was, with the sermon being particularly crisp and to the point).

And there was an excellent morning tea to follow - proper cakes and thick sandwiches!

Oh, and another point: the sound system worked well. How many services suffer from poor sound?! (Incidentally, its nearly always to do with the person responsible for the sound and not with the equipment).

The church was warm too.

Marvellous.